Episode 37: Homecoming (3)
“This is impossible.”
Mustang Fury tried to dismiss the fear gnawing at him.
“I’m a seventh-tier dark sorcerer. I’m leagues above a low-class like him!”
In the world of sorcery, both sorcerers and dark sorcerers are ranked by tiers, with twelve in total. To be considered a high-ranking sorcerer, one must reach at least the seventh tier. While a sorcerer’s combat prowess varies by school, Mustang Fury was a high-ranking dark sorcerer from the Frenzy School, known for its combat specialization. His power was such that even mid-tier sorcerers were beneath his notice.
Yet, he couldn’t comprehend why he was so terrified of someone like Damian Haxen, a mere low-class sorcerer.
“What on earth is he?”
Despite his attempts to deny it, the murderous aura emanating from Damian was undeniable. Ignoring it would be foolish, and Mustang Fury knew better. He summoned his dark magic to its fullest potential.
Knights enhance their bodies with magic to gain superhuman strength and speed. The Frenzy School employed a similar method with dark magic. Mustang Fury’s massive frame, over three meters tall, vanished in an instant, reappearing behind Damian.
He clenched his fist, dark magic coiling around it like a massive iron mace.
“One strike to end it.”
Mustang Fury swung his fist down. The ground shattered with a deafening crash, toppling nearby trees from the sheer force. Yet, despite the destruction, his expression remained grim. The earth was the only thing he had destroyed; Damian Haxen stood unscathed.
“What trickery is this?”
Mustang Fury had seen it clearly. Just as his fist was about to strike Damian, its trajectory inexplicably shifted, slamming into the ground instead.
“Let me make this clear since patience isn’t my strong suit.”
Damian didn’t answer the question, muttering something incomprehensible instead.
“Tell me about Dorgo. Confess his whereabouts, and I’ll spare you.”
“Rubbish…”
Before he could finish, Damian swung his sword upward, slicing through Mustang Fury’s neck. The sound of snapping bones was unmistakable.
“Aaargh!”
Blood gushed from the severed neck as Mustang Fury clutched it, screaming in agony.
“Didn’t take my warning seriously, did you?” Damian’s eyes were cold and filled with menace as he glared at Mustang Fury. “Then let me make you feel it.”
Desperately, Mustang Fury pressed his head back into place, triggering a bizarre phenomenon. His muscles melted like jelly, and the severed parts began to reattach. The Frenzy School’s dark sorcerers fought by mutating their bodies, and their greatest advantage wasn’t brute strength—it was regeneration. They could heal cuts, tears, and even crushed limbs seamlessly.
“Rrrgh…”
With his neck reattached, Mustang Fury growled at Damian.
“I’ll kill you… I’ll tear you apart!”
“That’s not what you should be saying, is it?”
“Shut up!”
Mustang Fury charged again. His massive form vanished, reappearing right in front of Damian, fist aimed to strike. But Damian, with a calm gaze, read every move.
“Does he think he can win with just one hit?”
Mustang Fury wasn’t bothering with defense, relying solely on his regeneration to focus on attacking—a hallmark of the Frenzy School’s combat style.
“Time to show him how wrong he is.”
Damian deflected the incoming punch with his palm, redirecting it to the ground.
“What?”
Mustang Fury’s face twisted in confusion as the same phenomenon occurred again.
“That trick again!”
He swung his fist once more. His mutated body and vast dark magic made his attacks blindingly fast. Yet Damian effortlessly deflected every blow. Not once did Mustang Fury’s fists reach him.
“He’s really benefiting from that elixir.”
The realm of sword mastery, known as Omniscient Insight, allowed one to disrupt the flow of an attack and alter its trajectory. However, the stronger the opponent’s attack, the more magic it consumed. Until now, Damian couldn’t fully utilize this ability due to his limited magic reserves. But the magic crystal elixir had somewhat resolved that issue.
“How long do you plan to keep dodging?”
“Why? Bored? Then let’s play.”
Damian stopped deflecting and began dodging, drawing his sword to slash at Mustang Fury’s arm. A long, deep gash appeared on the dark sorcerer’s forearm.
“Useless!”
Mustang Fury summoned his dark magic, and the wound healed instantly. Damian watched with a satisfied smile.
“Good. I can cut you up as much as I want.”
“What?”
Damian closed in on Mustang Fury, slicing his side as he passed. The abdomen split open, blood pouring out though the organs remained intact.
“Aaargh!”
Mustang Fury howled, swinging his fist wildly. Damian easily evaded, slicing through the joints of his arm. The limb dangled like a broken branch.
“Damian Haxen!”
Mustang Fury’s voice was filled with rage as four tendrils sprouted from his back, lashing out at Damian. But Damian’s hands moved swiftly, cutting the tendrils into dozens of pieces.
“You!”
New tendrils emerged from Mustang Fury’s back, ready to strike again. But he couldn’t swing them. Damian had vanished.
“Where did he go…?”
“Here.”
The voice came from beside him. As he turned, his thigh was slashed, severing a bundle of muscles. Mustang Fury staggered, and before he could react, another voice came.
“Now here.”
Before he could turn, his knee was cut. Muscles, tendons, and even the joint bone were severed, causing his massive body to tilt.
“Aaargh!”
Mustang Fury drove his tendrils into the ground to steady himself, quickly regenerating his knee. But before it could fully heal, Damian slashed it again.
“Aaagh!”
The repeated injury doubled the pain, and Mustang Fury screamed.
“Slow and clumsy.”
Damian moved relentlessly, carving into Mustang Fury’s body. Each time his voice rang out, blood splattered and flesh tore. Eventually, Mustang Fury collapsed, unable to move.
Pinned to the ground, Damian appeared before him to deliver the final blow. Just as he swung his sword toward Mustang Fury’s neck, the dark sorcerer’s eyes flashed.
He opened his mouth wide, dark magic gathering in his throat.
“Try dodging this!”
Mustang Fury unleashed the dark magic in a radial blast. As it surged toward Damian, he thrust his sword forward. The blade met the dark magic, vibrating fiercely and emitting a resonant hum. The hum formed an invisible barrier, deflecting the dark magic, which scattered harmlessly.
”…!”
With his trump card thwarted, Mustang Fury’s eyes widened in disbelief.
The Dark Sword - Void Breaker. A technique from a past life, used by the Sword Demon to absorb an opponent’s attack and form a protective shield. Though primarily defensive, it could also be used offensively.
“I need to hear about Dorgo, so I won’t kill you.”
As the dark magic continued to batter the barrier, the hum grew louder. Damian flicked the blade with his finger. The hum amplified, a tidal wave of sound engulfing Mustang Fury.
Swept away by the sound wave, Mustang Fury was flung far, rolling across the ground multiple times.
“Cough… cough…”
Lying prone, he spat blood. The recent attack had inflicted severe internal injuries. His organs were ruptured, and his energy channels torn.
“Quickly… regenerate…”
He tried to use his dark magic to heal himself. But no matter how much he summoned, his wounds remained.
Even the Frenzy School’s dark sorcerers couldn’t regenerate indefinitely.
Each time he healed his wounds, it drained his stamina and dark magic, so there was a limit to what he could do.
“Damn it…”
Footsteps echoed in the distance.
Mustang Fury struggled to lift his head, only to see Damian Haxen approaching. He looked just as unscathed as before, not even a bead of sweat on his brow.
“Da-Damian Haxen…”
Mustang Fury stared at Damian with a face twisted in fear.
“Who… who are you? How do you possess such power?”
“Do you think I spared you just to hear that nonsense?”
Damian rested his sword on Mustang Fury’s shoulder.
“Tell me. Where is Dorgo?”
“Do you really think I’ll tell you that?”
“Then you must die.”
Damian raised his sword high. At that moment, Mustang Fury shouted.
“Rebecca! Now!”
Mustang Fury’s voice rang out.
From a distance, Rebecca unleashed her dark magic. She hadn’t been merely observing; she had been preparing for this very moment.
A shadowy figure appeared behind Damian, a skeletal form draped in tattered rags, its scythe poised at his neck.
“It’s the instant death curse of a seventh-rank necromancer!”
Mustang Fury shouted in triumph.
“No one has ever survived that curse at such close range!”
Even with death looming, Damian’s eyes remained unchanged.
“So that’s what she was preparing? How pathetic.”
Damian spoke with a bored tone. Mustang Fury gritted his teeth.
“Let’s see if you can still talk after you’re dead! Rebecca, kill him!”
Rebecca formed a series of hand signs, and the skeleton swung its scythe toward Damian’s neck.
In that instant, a symbol appeared on the back of Damian’s hand, glowing a fierce red. The skeleton recoiled, covering its face with its bony hands as if it had seen something terrifying, and then shattered with a ghastly scream.
“Wha…?”
The sight was so shocking that Mustang Fury was left speechless.
They couldn’t comprehend what they had just witnessed.
Devour.
One of the seven powers Dorgo had implanted in Damian in a past life. It could dismantle and absorb magic, dark magic, any form of power.
With this power, Damian could never be defeated by a dark sorcerer.
“Impossible… This is dark magic we’ve studied for a lifetime in Yuran! It can kill even a high-class sorcerer if the conditions are right!”
“So this shoddy dark magic was your secret weapon?”
Just as knights had their secret techniques, so did sorcerers. But unlike the knights, sorcerers often developed their spells over a lifetime or within specific groups.
“And you strutted around with such arrogance with just this?”
Damian loathed dark sorcerers. Their very presence was repulsive to him.
This time, their pitiful overconfidence had truly tested his patience.
He couldn’t rest until he crushed them completely.
“Before I send you to the afterlife, let me give you a parting gift.”
Damian unfastened a bracelet from his wrist.
It was a relic he had taken after killing Agito, a leader in Yuran. It could store any energy and conceal it perfectly.
Damian had been storing dark magic in it, just in case.
“Let me show you what real dark magic is.”
He raised a finger.
No magic circle, no incantation was needed. He simply manipulated the dark magic.
The night sky turned pitch black in an instant.
The twinkling stars, the moon, the sky brightening toward the horizon—all of it was swallowed by darkness.
“This is…”
Mustang Fury couldn’t recognize the dark magic Damian was using.
And for good reason. It was a spell Dorgo had kept as his ultimate secret.
Eclipse.
A dark magic of the highest rank, capable of crushing everything within its range.
In a past life, Damian had used this spell to obliterate a castle fortified with layers upon layers of protective magic.
Damian lowered his raised finger.
An invisible force crushed Mustang Fury and Rebecca.
Before they could even feel pain, their bodies were completely obliterated.
All that remained where they had stood was a pool of blood.