GDK 392 – I admit defeat
The dark major’s number one practice field was extremely wide. The sparring between Han Shuo and Crowley had attracted numerous teachers and students over to watch. Among them were Amyes and Dean Emma, who were the witnesses for the battle as well as being in charge of ensuring everyone’s safety.
There was a barrier deployed within the practice field to prevent the strength of the magic from spreading out. On top of that, Emma personally partitioned a separate small space for the audience to hide in while they watched the battle. The recruitment outside could be considered to have been temporarily ceased.
“Dean, why are you willing to let the two of them duel on such an occasion?” as Amyes and Emma stood together, Amyes who was dressed in a spotless white robe and appearing otherworldly refined, had a smile on his face as he asked Dean Emma.
Emma glanced at Amyes who was just walking out of Babylon Academy of Magic and Force. Previously when Amyes was studying in the light major, Emma was already the teacher in charge of the space major. Emma could also be considered as Amyes senior within Babylon Academy. Hence, Amyes was very respectful toward her.
“During that time, that fellow Crowley was proud and arrogant. I see that he has not really changed even after such a long time and dampening his spirit isn’t a bad thing. Besides, Bryan had just become a grand magus necromancer and probably still isn’t very adept at controlling some of the new necromancy magic. A spar which doesn’t cause disharmony would actually really be beneficial to their progress.” Emma benevolently smiled, her face covered with wrinkles as she explained to Amyes.
“In that case, who do you think will win?” Amyes pondered for a while, before inquiring.
“Hehe, I believe you ought to be clearer than me on this?” Emma faintly smiled as she glanced at Amyes, as though implying something.
Amyes chuckled when he heard Emma’s response, nodding his head without replying. As one of the heavyweights of Dark Mantle, Amyes knew of Han Shuo’s accomplishments in recent days. Through the baptism of blood and fire, Han Shuo, as a necromancer who grasped mysterious techniques, had already done many hidden large-scale moves.
Apart from Redbud Knights’ leader dragon rider Celt, Han Shuo had also fought with the Church of Light’s Red Archbishop Kosse multiple times. Amyes was also aware of other news. To be able to kill light grand magus Ferguson before becoming a grand magus himself, regardless of how you saw it, Han Shuo had a higher chance of winning.
The reason why Amyes was interested to judge the battle this time around, was simply because he wanted to personally witness Han Shuo’s improvement. In fact, Amyes wouldn’t be surprised at a victory. Han Shuo beating Crowley was something both Amyes and Emma felt was inevitable.
Members of every faction were full of expectations as they watched the two grand magus in the center. The eyes of necromancy major’s Fanny, Lisa and other students were even brighter, their gazes fixed on Han Shuo, wanting to clearly see Han Shuo’s every move.
“Within the Lancelot Empire, it isn’t that there aren’t grand magus necromancers. However, those people were absorbed in exploring magical knowledge and rarely appeared before others. This would perhaps be the only time your generation would be able to watch a grand magus necromancer fight. No matter what, you have to watch attentively.”
Although Fanny was worried for Han Shuo, there wasn’t much she could say now that things have developed to this point. As an instructor for the necromancy major, Fanny gave instructions to all the students to watch carefully, with Fanny herself also completely focusing her attention on the fight.
“Teacher Fanny, don’t worry. We will earnestly watch Bryan’s moves.” Lisa shouted excitedly, her bright eyes fixed on Han Shuo’s figure from the beginning.
“Although it’s just a spar, Mister Crowley shouldn’t hold back. Hehe, I’m a necromancer, if you give me the time to summon undead creatures, I think that would be disadvantageous to you.” Han Shuo smiled calmly as he said to the opposing Crowley who had taken out a green magic staff.
Han Shuo had complete confidence in dealing with Crowley. As his mental strength had once again improved greatly after just returning from the netherworld, Han Shuo’s mental state was unprecedentedly good. Having reached the separate demon realm, Han Shuo could monitor Crowley’s every movement with the assistance of a few mystical demons. The strength and speed of his body were also something Crowley couldn’t compare to. As Han Shuo stably surpassed Crowley in all aspects, he appeared extremely confident.
“In that case, I wouldn’t be polite. Count Bryan, please be careful.” Crowley, who had learned of Han Shuo’s prowess from Deo and Amyes just before entering the practice field, did not underestimate him because of his age. He instead regarded Han Shuo as the strongest opponent in his whole life. Once Crowley, who did not dare relax the slightest, finished speaking, the magic staff in his hand started emitting grayish-brown light following his incantation. The dark elements within the practice field suddenly seemed to enliven like elves. As Crowley slowly chanted his magic spell, six huge Hands of Death suddenly formed around Han Shuo, fiercely crushing down toward Han Shuo.
The grand magus ranked Crowley was indeed outstanding, already using the mighty Hands of Death as his first move. Furthermore, he was able to form six at once, clearly treating Han Shuo as his life’s most formidable opponent.
The six Hands of Death were much more lifelike than what Emily had used. The six gigantic Hands of Death even had fine veined patterns on their palms, as though really belonging to some dark world’s creature. The coarse and long fingers also had sharp hook-like fingernails, appearing extremely terrifying.
It could be seen that Crowley was extremely cautious and didn’t immediately attack Han Shuo violently. He simply nimbly manipulated six Hands of Death to gradually approach Han Shuo. In this way, he would slowly cause terrifying pressure to Han Shuo yet still abiding by the principles of a spar.
When Han Shuo saw the six Hands of Death uniformly pressing on, he understood that Crowley really did not intend to gun for his life and was really in accordance with Emma’s words to purely spar. This caused Han Shuo who was prepared to deal with sudden changes to have a favorable impression of Crowley.
Taking out his white bone staff, Han Shuo recited the incantation for the Soul Vortex necromancy magic. Out of a sudden, hundreds of wraiths appeared, revolving rapidly in the void in front of Han Shuo, forming a vortex that sucked up the surrounding magic elements. The six Hands of Death that were slowly pressing toward Han Shuo suddenly felt the intense force of attraction generated by the Soul Vortex, one after another involuntarily being sucked toward the Soul Vortex in front of Han Shuo.
‘Soul Vortex’ was a grand magus ranked necromancy magic that Han Shuo had just mastered. This necromancy magic utilized the power of wraiths. In the netherworld, a single wraith’s strength was next to nothing. However, by controlling hundreds of wraiths with his mental energy and forming ‘Soul Tremor’ according to necromancy laws, Han Shuo was able to generate enormous might.
Against those peculiar magic that contained magic elements, this ‘Soul Vortex’ was able to create an intense suction force, pulling these magic attacks into the vortex and using the numerous wraiths to grind them away little by little. Furthermore, if creatures with souls were sucked into the ‘Soul Vortex’, the numerous wraiths could directly bind the creature’s soul and dragging it from the Profound Continent into the netherworld.
For all living creatures in this world, once they were dragged to the netherworld, their soul would never find the way to return. To the people in the Profound Continent, creatures who were dragged into the netherworld can be considered as dead.
After the ‘Soul Vortex’ was formed, Han Shuo’s silk-like mental energy entered the spell, assisting the revolving of the wraiths and vortex. The strength of the suction force gradually increased after the insertion of Han Shuo’s mental energy and the revolving of the vortex. The six Hands of Death which were slowly pressing towards Han Shuo suddenly became extremely heavy, as though becoming a stream flowing into the ocean, slowly entering the ‘Soul Vortex’.
Crowley and Han Shuo were separated by a big distance, hence Crowley wasn’t affected by the pull of the ‘Soul Vortex’. Furthermore, the suction force formed by the ‘Soul Vortex’ was only effective toward attacks formed from magic elements and living creatures possessing souls. It wasn’t effective toward ordinary objects and physical attacks.
When Crowley saw the six Hands of Death actually being absorbed completely, his expression became even heavier. He understood in his heart that Han Shuo’s grand magus necromancer strength was indeed extremely formidable. The disappearance of the six Hands of Death caused Crowley to be fearful and simultaneously become even more cautious.
Following his reciting of another spell, the green magic staff in his hand started slowly emitting gloomy light again. When Crowley finished reciting his spell, he pointed the green magic staff at Han Shuo, causing a mysterious contract to suddenly form between himself and Han Shuo.
Dense dark elements suddenly condensed together, violently crowding into the space surrounding Han Shuo. Han Shuo’s body suddenly tense and was actually unable to move. Not only his limbs were bound, even his mouth seemed to be covered, the dark elements were like a rope, slowly constricting around Han Shuo.
‘Prison of Darkness’ was an advanced dark magic, utilizing one’s mental energy to gather the dark element and form a contract with the enemy and firmly imprisoning the enemy, causing the enemy to be unable to move his body.
In just a sudden, apart from his mental energy and demonic yuan energy that could still be circulated, Han Shuo’s physical body had been firmly bound by the dark elements. During this process, Crowley waved his green magic staff once again and five Spheres of Destruction slowly formed and approached Han Shuo.
Crowley had a slightly pleased expression. This was his most proficient and most confident magic. Han Shuo had just advanced to become a grand magus necromancer, hence his mental strength definitely shouldn’t be as resilient as his own. ‘Prison of Darkness’ was actually just a contest of mental strength. For a high ranked dark grand magus like Crowley, he could use ‘Prison of Darkness’ to completely imprison magi who had lower mental strength than himself, causing them to be unable to move.
He had specifically focused on this weak point of Han Shuo just advancing to become a grand magus necromancer, believing that Han Shuo’s mental strength was definitely not as abundant as his own. This was why he had suddenly unleashed the ‘Prison of Darkness’. When Han Shuo was restricted by ‘Prison of Darkness’ Crowley felt pleased with himself, thinking his heart that such a prominent figure was actually restricted by the ‘Prison of Darkness’.
Emma and Amyes who were by the side both watched him attentively. Adding that Crowley had only wanted to make use of Han Shuo to become famous, he would definitely not plan to kill Han Shuo. Thus, when the deadly Spheres of Destruction were formed, Crowley did not immediately launch them at Han Shuo and had slowly sent them toward Han Shuo instead.
“Count Bryan, you’ve lost. Concede before the Sphere of Destruction hits you!” Crowley had a confident expression, smiling as he looked at the motionless Han Shuo.
Hearing this sentence, the surrounding spectators were in an uproar, evidently not foreseeing such a situation to happen. Those necromancy students that had joined due to Han Shuo’s reputation all showed doubtful, hesitating expressions. Lisa upon seeing their expressions suddenly shouted angrily, “You brats, what kind of expression is that. How could Bryan lose to such an old fellow.”
Lisa’s fiend-like appearance actually intimidated the new students, causing them to involuntarily turn their heads and not dare to look at the fiery Lisa, so as to avoid Lisa unleashing her anger on them.
“Hehe, Crowley is indeed Crowley. Once he spotted the weakness in the brat’s mental strength, he used the ‘Prison of Darkness’ to restrict him before he could summon any undead creatures. Who would have thought, it seems like Crowley is really going to win!” Dark major’s teacher-in-charge Deo couldn’t repress his happiness, his voice sounding happier than usual as he explained to the surrounding dark major’s instructors and students.
Contrariwise, Dean Emma and Amyes both had calm expressions, as though not at all anxious for Han Shuo and instead gazed amusingly at Han Shuo, wanting to see how Han Shuo responded.
Having absorbed a serene luster gem, Han Shuo’s mental strength wasn’t weaker than Crowley’s. However, Han Shuo did not use his mental strength to resist Crowley and instead incited his demonic yuan energy to strengthen his body once again. When Han Shuo suddenly struggled, a sharp and clear “Pa” sounded.
“That doesn’t seem likely!” Han Shuo smiled as he replied. The ‘Prison of Darkness’ had been broken and he waved the white bone staff, shooting out rows of bone spears, smashing apart the five Spheres of Destruction that had yet to reach his body. He then summoned an old fey demon to charge toward Crowley, before summoning a few evil knights and an undead army to emerge.
“Crowley lost!” Emma smiled as she said, before looking at Amyes and asked, “However, how did Bryan break Crowley’s ‘Prison of Darkness’? I did not detect any fluctuation in his mental energy. Hehe, Amyes, did you notice how he did it?”
Amyes shrugged his shoulders as he replied gracefully, “Even the Dean did not see it clearly, how could I have figured it out. Hehe, however, Bryan has always been following Lord Candide. I believe based on your relationship with Lord Candide, you ought to be more familiar regarding Bryan’s situation.”
Amyes had previously focused his attention on Han Shuo, precisely to see how he reacted. He had never doubted Han Shuo’s victory because as a character who could defeat Celt as well as Red Archbishop Kosse, Han Shuo was definitely not someone Crowley could defeat.
Merely, what surprised Amyes was that even with his complete attention, he did not decipher how Han Shuo had achieved victory. However, the only thing Amyes could confirm was that Han Shuo really did not utilize mental energy!
Right, it must definitely be that mysterious martial technique. This fellow could already unleash such strength just by using his martial technique. With his strength as a grand magus necromancer in addition to that, it seems that Lancelot Empire would really be his to control in the future. To have such a mysterious martial technique, who exactly is his master? Why have i not heard of him and have also not been able to find out? This is indeed too strange. Amyes thought silently as he gazed at Han Shuo.
“Did you see that, did all you fools see that?” Lisa was ecstatic, shouting at the youngsters, cheering after Han Shuo easily neutralized the Prison of Darkness.
When Han Shuo summoned his undead creatures, these youngsters had all cried out in surprise. Some of the youngsters were incomparably excited as they saw the sinister dark creatures, shouting to their companions, “Look at that, that’s called an evil knight. It’s as powerful as a human earth knight but its physical body is even harder.”
The girls were somewhat instinctively fearful of these fierce undead creatures. However, with the explanation of these youngsters, they became extremely inquisitive. In particular, Lisa’s shouting had allowed them to relax and start to timidly size up these undead creatures.
From the moment Han Shuo opened his mouth to speak, Crowley knew that he had lost. When he saw the enormous undead army appear, Crowley had thoroughly lost confidence in achieving victory.
In the Profound Continent, the bane of necromancers are light magi. Apart from them, in duels between magi of the same rank, once numerous undead creatures appear, it would essentially signify the necromancer’s victory. For instance, just the old fey demon that had appeared this time was enough to cause a headache for Crowley. Adding on the numerous undead creatures, apart from rapidly purifying them with light magic, magi of other majors would appear to be out of options.
Sure enough, even before the old fey demon had reached Crowley, Crowley sighed dejectedly, putting down the green magic staff in his hand and shouted loudly, “Count Bryan, I admit defeat!”