Chapter 994

Devan’s knees buckled for a moment under the heavy smash from Grey’s Ki war hammer.

Unfortunately for the Supreme Magus, the impact wasn’t quite enough to end the struggle.

The weapon shattered the instant it served its primary purpose, dissolving into useless light.

From behind, Devan’s own hammer was already in motion, swinging to repay the warrior mage for the audacity of his strike.

As if he possessed eyes in the back of his head, Grey darted to the flank almost immediately.

He successfully evaded the massive weapon, which suddenly halted mid-strike as if it were registering the absence of its target.

Skidding backward with sparks flying as his boots scraped against the parched earth, Grey’s eyes darted across Devan’s towering physique and the shattered terrain the giant occupied.

He was searching—looking for a vulnerability or a detail he could exploit.

Mid-analysis, his thoughts drifted back to his encounter with previous Stage Nine warriors.

’Orion was far more skilled in the refined arts of Ki. He utilized thousands of Ki swords, blistering velocity, and his specialized clan technique to batter us down and hold his own against our group that day.’

The moment Grey came to a firm halt, Devan spun around and, in a fluid motion, hurled his war hammer straight at the Supreme Magus.

The weapon broke the sound barrier, screeching through the air as it hurtled toward its mark.

Grey quickly dove to the side just in time; the hammer obliterated the terrain where he had stood, carving a massively deep trench into the crust of the world.

Rolling to his knees, Grey commanded the earth to surge upward.

Immediately, jagged pillars of stone shot at Devan with fluid speed.

The man batted and swatted the incoming attacks away as if they were nothing more than annoying insects.

The stone shattered against his hands as Grey continued sending wave after wave of elemental strikes while his mind continued to race.

’... Borfan... although he wasn’t technically a Stage Nine warrior, as his strength couldn’t be accurately measured when he was a celestial. But he still utilized overwhelming speed and raw strength against me. He wasn’t as technical as Orion; he was a brute force of nature. Those were their distinct fighting styles.’

Glaring at Devan, who was still batting the earthen pillars away, Grey clicked his fingers and sent five hundred lightning swords rushing forward in a jagged blue tide.

’Then there is this bastard. He is a walking tank. He consistently absorbs everything thrown at him without flinching. He is a walking colossus—one punch from him is capable of pulverizing a person’s innards.

I didn’t take Borfan down, but I defeated Orion. I countered his speed with even greater velocity. So, should I attempt to counter Devan with superior durability?’

As his mind wondered how he was supposed to achieve such a feat, the cacophony of explosions in the background crashed into his ears.

The lightning swords were proving unable to bypass the giant’s sheer resilience.

’... Hang on. In order to eat a very tough piece of meat, one has to keep chewing and chewing for minutes until the fibers soften.

If one possesses enough patience and continues attacking the meat with their teeth, it will obviously give out and become soft and easy to digest. I just have to think of Devan as a piece of meat.’

"..."

His eyes gleamed dangerously as the wind began to howl around his body with fierce intensity.

He could feel Ki flooding his veins, boosting his reaction time and physical capabilities.

He hadn’t lunged forward yet, as the last dozen lightning swords were still finishing their work against Devan’s guard.

Grey compressed his Ki beneath the soles of his feet, holding the energy tight while, all around him, shimmering lights began to manifest.

Soon enough, another two hundred lightning arrows, five hundred wind swords, and three hundred fireballs appeared, hovering in the air like a localized storm.

"... I will just have to chew through you. Ha..."

Looking forward, Devan heard Grey’s fingers click together.

Almost immediately, the gathered elemental attacks surged forward with blistering velocity.

They hurtled across the distance in a jiffy.

Devan was still grinning.

Ki flooded his body, causing his reddened skin to turn an even deeper shade of crimson as he proceeded to turn his back to the incoming elemental barrage, confident that the strikes wouldn’t harm him.

BOOOM—! BOOOM—! BOOOM—!

The attacks exploded on Devan’s back with such massive force that smoke and dust billowed together, intertwining into a thick, choking veil.

The behemoth was sent sliding forward, the sheer momentum of the barrage proving immense.

However, the strikes failed to harm him as he had predicted; a few scorch marks marred his crimson skin, but nothing was debilitating.

He was perfectly fine.

Bang—!

Grey rocketed forward, forcing the sound barrier to give way before his advance.

The speed and power he carried caused the very soil to bend and groan beneath his weight.

Within a span of time that went unrecorded, he materialized before Devan.

The giant was only just turning around when he saw the Supreme Magus grinning at him, a fireball the size of a miniature sun orbiting his hands.

"Peek-a-boo."

Hurling the sphere forward, the warrior mage blinked away in a flash of light.

"Explomb."

The fireball detonated against Devan’s face, throwing jagged pellets of flame in every direction.

Some of the fire nearly reached his eyes, forcing him to shut them tightly.

He could feel the searing heat burning into his skin, causing his teeth to clench in a hard line.

He wasn’t in pain—he was merely irritated.

His skin crawled with instinct, forcing him to spin around even with his eyes closed.

His arms were heavily coated in Ki as he crossed them in a defensive guard.

WAM—!

A war hammer smashed into his forearms with crushing weight, the impact sending him sliding backward once more.

Snapping his eyes open, Devan caught sight of a disappearing Grey at the final moment.

Twirling on his heels again, he spotted the young man perched on a gigantic wind sword a short distance away.

Around him, a thousand Ki swords appeared, their tips pointed at Devan with sinister intention.

With a sharp click of his tongue, Grey let the weapons loose.

They flew forward like divine arrows of death. Devan frowned, the persistence of the situation finally getting to him.

In retaliation, two thousand Ki swords materialized around the giant and lunged forward to intercept Grey’s.

BOOOM—!

The Ki swords collided with such devastating force that a massive shockwave blasted in all directions, uprooting boulders and shattering the earth.

Grey’s brows knit as he prepared to move again, but a voice rumbled through the chaos.

"My turn."

All it took was one step.

Despite his hulking, mountainous frame, Devan moved like a blur, closing the five-meter gap between him and Grey in the twinkle of an eye.

’He can move this fast?!’

Grey was taken aback.

He hadn’t expected this level of agility from a man who resembled a walking peak.

Ki had been surrounding his body in protection, but in the next heartbeat, the thought of safety evaporated.

Devan’s fist was hurtling forward like a blazing comet.

The wind itself bent around the strike, and then—

BAM—!

It crashed into Grey’s midsection with the crushing weight of a falling star. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The mage’s eyes widened in a mixture of horror and agonizing pain.

"Kuk...."

Blood sprayed from his mouth as a deafening bang echoed across the field.

The Supreme Magus’ body cut through the air like a spent arrow.

BAM—! BAM—! BAM—!

The warrior mage’s body could be seen ricocheting across the ruined terrain like a bouncy ball, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.