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The Gray Sage looked at the scene as his eyes were filled with conviction, the darkness around him was also trying to restrain him with every step, but as someone that manipulated darkness as well as light, it was possible for him to overpower it and keep walking.

The woman noticed him as the ritual continued, her phantasmal crimson-red eyes glared down at him with contempt.

"Hoh? You're getting closer? Even in the verge of dying, old man?

" She asked.

"…I have to.

" He said.

"Then come! Let's fight! And let us see if you can defeat someone already dead!

" Laughed the woman manically.

The Blue Sage submerging in darkness looked at the Gray Sage slowly walk away… his eyes were filled with shock and frustration.

"No… Wait… Please… Don't leave me…!

" he cried.

However, the Gray Sage didn't intend to back down.

He had already made up his mind.

The darkness tried to consume him, but his own magic aura was resisting, each of his steps was getting closer and closer to her.

"You're relentless… bastard old man…

" roared the woman.

She quickly gathered the phantasmal powers of her own body and generated a large phantasmal spear… shrouding it in chaos, and firing it at her!

"Die!!!

"

FLAAAAASH!

However, and suddenly, the old man's eyes closed.

And he began to concentrate.

The mana around him… he could feel it all.

His magic resonated with all of this darkness, as in a split of a second, he began to absorb it into his core.

FLASH!

The darkness flowed like an endless river of obscurity, as it gathered all within the palm of his hands.

And then, the brightest light he could conjure emerged at its side, light and darkness merged together, as the two opposite elements began to spin around one another.

Darkness and light…

Since the moment he was born, many years in the past, that he was one of the first people to learn and study magic.

Since he was a child with poor parents, he started the study of magic which led to the advancement in civilization.

Without him realizing, he had done a lot for the entire world.

This light and this darkness that he was able to wield… the contrasting elements that nobody ever thought could go together in a single person.

He was incredibly unique in that regard.

But he supposed that… it was already not enough, seeing there was a new girl with the power of all elements…

He smiled faintly as he recalled the thousands of memories within his mind.

Living for almost a thousand years really give you a lot to think back.

It is impressive that he had not forgotten a single thing.

Since the moment he stepped into this beautiful world, there was always something inside of his mind.

To protect and take care of such a beautiful world.

It was all so pretty, so wondrous, so beautiful…

He traveled all across the globe and realized how it was all so encompassing and precious.

The world was his greatest treasure.

And as the first Sage… he felt with the mission of using his own strength to protect the world from the darkness lurking behind society, an evil being that threatened all of creation.

And like this, he started through a journey that lasted many years. Through such a journey, he met uncountable people, some of them became Sages, and others were heroes lost in time, but that still lived within his heart.

As long as they were within his heart, they would always live on.

But now… they'll go with him.

He looked back at Julann, as he smiled faintly.

"It's up to you now, kid.

" He whispered.

FLAAASH!

The chaotic spear coming towards him suddenly stopped.

As if space and time had suddenly stopped.

As if there was now… a perpetual stop to all things.

Just what was this?

Julann looked with wonder.

This wasn't something normal.

What kind of spell was he using now?

It was clear.

Like the Red Sage… this was a spell that used all of his life to be conjured.

A powerful spell that transcended common sense and reached the realm of divinity, even if for a little bit.

A little bit of time was more than enough for the Gray Sage.

He was the first Sage after all, the one that started a generation of Sages, nurtured countless heroes, and saw the world develop.

For someone so amazing as he was, this was to be expected.

This was the pinnacle of his magic.

The end of his life!

This was… the power that he had been forging for very long.

The culmination of his emotions, of his love, of his compassion, of his incredible feeling of benevolence to all the world!

To all the beautiful world he had always loved since the moment he cracked from the shell of his egg, and glanced at the beauty of creation with his very two eyes!

"I won't let you have your way… Not while I live.

"

The Gray Sage said those last words as he looked at the woman in front of him, a flawed woman designed to revive an ancient evil of the world, a being that only desired to devour and consume it all…

No! He was not going to let him do as he pleased!

If he had to sacrifice his own life to protect this world… he was going to happily do it!

The woman's ghost felt an utter chill run through her entire phantasmal soul.

How could a ghost feel fear like this?

"Y-You… what… have you done?!

"

She looked at the artifacts around her, they had all stopped working.

Everything was simply put, in a perpetual stop!

Was this time magic?

No… but this was how much he had reached on his research of Darkness and Light Magic.

The combination of both spectrums created wondrous effects which no other than him were able to see.

It was the culmination of all his experiences and his research, of all his life…

The long life of the oldest of Sages.

The Gray Sage.

"Dawn of the End and Dusk of the Beginning.

"

FLASH!

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