‘This is…!’

Legris was trapped.

He was constantly being barraged by Kuzon’s endless offensive maneuvers, and anytime he tried to strike back, he would be countered very efficiently.

‘He’s strong. He’s a bigger pain than those Constellations.’

Perhaps it was due to their inability to grow, but the Constellations were very poor at combat.

They didn’t have the tenacity that mortals possessed, and they lacked a wealth of experience that accompanied battle.

As a result, not only were their moves predictable, but when they were pushed to their limits, they could only resort to their excess Aether.

‘But he’s different.’ Legris looked at Kuzon in wonder.

‘He’s carefully weaving that excess Aether to defy the laws of reality and bend them to his will.’

This caused Legris to leak out a wide smile.

‘Isn’t that the true essence of Magic?!’

It amused Legris so much, and yet he found it endlessly infuriating.

‘I can’t let this drag on forever, can I?’ He mused internally.

Sure, Legris was trapped, but he wasn’t particularly suffering any kind of damage from Kuzon’s volley of attacks.

‘He doesn’t have sufficient power to hurt me.’

The only damage he had suffered was from his own attacks, and he knew better than to try it again.

‘Should I try escaping this domain? Yeah… let’s do that!’

~WHOOOOOOSSSHHHH!!!~

Legris began to break down the space around him with his End Magic.

This would tear a hole in the fabric of space itself, allowing him to leave Kuzon and the influence of his Primeval Magic.

However…

‘H-huh? What’s going on? It isn’t working?’ Legris gave a confused expression as he noticed no hole was forming.

‘No, that’s not it! Ahh… I see now! So that’s what he did!’

Turning to face Kuzon, he noticed the majestic figure of the golden entity floating a distance away.

‘He could close that distance in no time and stretch it on for nigh infinity.’

Legris could tell what he was doing as a result of that.

‘He’s stretching the space to infinity so that it can’t be broken down completely. I keep breaking it down but it’ll keep stretching on and on, rendering the process futile.’

He could try to fly off, but that would also be foolish.

‘He’ll also stretch out the space, or ensure there isn’t even any space to traverse.’

Right now, it seemed Kuzon held all the cards.

“I was wrong about you, Kuzon.” Legris admitted as he stared at his adversary.

“You’re as smart as you are strong.”

“Your flattery mean nothing to me.” Kuzon responded almost instantly.

“Oh, come on. It’s a compliment, not flattery.”

Kuzon did not respond this time. Instead, he kept hovering as he stared at Legris.

‘He must have figured out that he can’t harm me in any way, so he’s waiting for me to make a move so he can use that to hurt me.’

If none of them did anything, it would end in a stalemate.

“But you know… I like situations like this.” Legris widened his grin.

“Anytime I am at a disadvantage, my mind seeks to find a way out. It makes me stronger… smarter… better.”

Whether it was his old life and this new one, nothing about his nature had changed.

“Your Primeval Magic is pretty good. I can barely sense any weakness in it—nothing I could exploit.”

But so what?

“It is as close to perfect as it can possibly be.”

Even then…

“It won’t be enough, though.” Legris smiled, stretching both hands.

His words were met with narrowed eyes from Kuzon.

“You don’t believe me? Why don’t I show you?”

They all seemed like empty words that one would use to stall. However, based on experience Kuzon had learned not to underestimate Legris.

He was prepared to do anything to counter whatever Legris would throw at him.

“End Magic: Dark Horizon.”

Instantly, darkness rushed from Legris and swirled around him, threatening to consume everything that existed within the Constellation Domain.

“I don’t think so!” Kuzon stated, stretching a single hand towards Legris.

Once again, reality was altered, and the darkness began to consume Legris.

“Hahaha! It hurts, you know? It really hurts!” Legris yelled as the power he released swallowed him whole.

“But you know… I can take it. Even this much… won’t destroy me!”

The burst of darkness rose to an astronomical degree, and while the brunt of the force was directed at Legris, the surrounding areas began to be eaten up by the power.

“I can’t say the same about your domain.” Legris echoed in excitement.

“Let’s see who gives out first! Me or you!”

~VWUUUUUUUUUSSSSHHHHHH!!!~

More of Legris’ energy shot up and about, creating a swirling maelstrom that began to spiral out of control.

Even though Kuzon was doing his best to contain it and direct everything at Legris, the quantity and quality of the power kept rising.

“Guh!” Kuzon used both hands and all his focus, trying his best to layer his reality and ensure that everything could only be brought to Legris.

But that was impossible.

Kuzon could not control Legris or his energy the way he controlled his domain.

In essence, the more of Legris’ energy existed, the higher the chances of it eventually bleeding into everything else.

No matter how much he tried to stretch out space or close the distance of all the darkness.

In the end…

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!”

… Kuzon could not stop it all.

~BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!~

The eruption of Legris’ power eventually roared and consumed the entire Constellation Realm, just as it was intended to.

The result was the destruction of everything—from the Golden Palace to every other construct Kuzon had designed.

Everything was gone in the blink of an eye.

“Not bad…” Legris was now the one floating above the debris of everything that once existed in majesty.

He looked terrible, with a majority of his body covered in burns and marks.

However, almost as soon as he appeared, all the severe wounds began to heal.

The same could not be said about the opposing party.

“Haaa… haaa…”

Kuzon was currently on the ground, paralyzed and in his natural state.

His friends were behind him, all of them barely scathed by the explosion that had just occurred.

“I see. You protected them with your Golden Palace, and all those layered constructs. It was barely enough, but it seems you succeeded in keeping everyone alive.” Legris mused.

However, this was truly the end of the line.

“Your powers have been extinguished, and you’re in no shape to continue our exchange.”

Even if he managed to try again, Legris already knew how to break out of his Primeval Magic.

“The only thing you can do now… is perish.” Legris raised his hand just as the last of his injuries healed.

A dark sphere, almost five times as large as the initial seed manifested.

In the face of such despair, one would expect Kuzon, who was already losing consciousness, to shudder.

However, that was not the case.

“Haha… Haaa…” he chuckled as he gave a sigh, almost in reality.

A smile formed on his face as his lips brought forth words.

“Mission… Complete.”

~VWUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSHHHHHH!!!~

A bright light of multicolored layers suddenly appeared, illuminating the darkness and sending a fresh wave of energy coursing through the barren word.

From within the brilliant kaleidoscope, a man appeared.

He had long yellow hair, with bright eyes that seemed to hold worlds within them.

He had a long cloak that was reminiscent of a Mage, or perhaps a Sage.

“Thank you, Kuzon.” The man from what depths of light said with a smile.

He nodded at the weakened Midas with compassion.

“You can rest now.”

Upon hearing this, Kuzon returned the smile before finally giving in to his exhaustion and falling unconscious.

Before everything went dark, however, he had a single thought flowing in his mind.

“Go get him… Jared!’

*

*

*