Earth's Greatest Magus

"You are weak!"

The voice shattered the tension like a thunderclap, bursting forth with a familiar yet chaotic energy signature. The Khaos gate within him trembled, pulsing with eldritch light. The seal cracked open, and from within, a shadowy figure emerged.

In a flash of spatial distortion, the shadow tore open his domain and leapt into the battlefield.

"What do we have here?!" the figure howled, materializing mid-air. "I almost missed out on the fun!"

Everyone froze.

Because the voice had come from—of all things—a weak-looking, scrawny wooden golem barely worthy of laughter.

Even the female beastmaster stared in confusion. Then she burst into hysterical laughter. "Hah! This is your secret weapon?! What is this nonsense?!"

Still laughing, she barked a sharp command, and her corrupted godly beast responded immediately. The blight-toad snapped its gaping maw open, unleashing a whirlwind of suction. Its grotesque tongue lashed out like a whip, wrapping the golem in a crushing coil.

"Wait—hold on—I wasn't ready, you bastar—!"

CRACK!

In a heartbeat, the wooden golem shattered into splinters.

Only a wisp of spectral light escaped—Emery's soul—zipping back toward his true body who was still resisting the immense pressure of the blight toad's presence.

"...That was embarrassing,"

Emery grunted, blocking another swing of the blight-toad's limbs. His fused armor groaned with the strain.

"Let me take over the body!" Dark Emery hissed. "I'll go primal—rip that bitch to pieces!"

"No more jokes!!" Emery snapped, eyes burning.

His divine sense lashed outward, piercing through Dark Emery's core. In an instant, their minds locked. Memory and knowledge flowed between them.

The dark twin absorbed everything: the siege, the desperate defense of Northstar Stronghold, and the dying defenders clinging to their last hope. The light, Emery, in turn, saw what the other had glimpsed—reinforcements being mobilized, the massive fey army.

"What are you waiting for?!" he growled. "Send them all here!"

"Huh?! I'm stronger, yes—but not that strong!" the dark Emery snapped back. "They're on the other side of the continent! It's too far!"

Their debate was cut short by a new surge of enemy power.

The beastmaster had begun chanting again, her runes flaring in crimson and black. The blight toad roared and doubled in size, a grotesque expansion of muscle and plague. The Elysian vines Emery had used earlier shattered into smoking fragments. The beast stomped forward—unstoppable.

The monstrous beast lunged toward Emery.

But just as it would have crushed him—a stone wall surged into being. Multiple granite fists slammed into the toad's body simultaneously, pushing it back with force.

KUANG!! KUANG!!

The Chizpurs.

The five stone brothers, standing in formation, used their combined technique: Sentinel Guard. Their bodies glowed with shared energy, forming an unbreakable line capable of holding back even godly beasts—if only for moments.

Seconds bought. That's all they could afford.

"Let me take over the body!" Dark Emery insisted again. "I'll rip her limb from limb!"

But Light Emery narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

"No... there is another way!"

Two minds, one soul. With the link fully active, Emery made a gamble.

With a flash of resolve, the light Emery decisively canceled the fusion. The divine shimmer that bound him to Twik dissolved, and just in time—before the blight toad's maw came crashing down on his previous position.

The moment he was free, Emery snapped his fingers and cast a wide-area water spell, thick mist exploding outward in every direction. Visibility dropped to nothing as cold vapor swirled across the broken battlefield. He didn't hesitate—slipping through the fog like a phantom, he repositioned and pulled out the Varkhall Banner.

Emery gritted his teeth and activated the artifact.

Once again, it flared with its eerie dominion magic, seeking to seize control of the godly beast.

But this time, the beastmaster was ready.

"You're not pulling that trick again!" she roared, slamming her palm onto the toad's skull. A pulse of violet runes burned into the creature's flesh, shielding it with a divine ward that severed any foreign link.

The spell failed.

"Now—DIE!!" she screamed, gathering a vortex of blight magic above her palm.

Emery was at death's door again. He and the stone creatures work together, but the energy spike was too large to block and too fast to dodge.

But the Emery... smiled.

The beastmaster's expression twitched.

Why was he smiling?!

She swept her hand wide, clearing the mist with a single wave of blight wind.

From the center of the room, a figure rose—wreathed in spiraling cosmic energy.

Veyarel.

His wounds were gone. His aura had changed. Three Cosmos Grand Magus power pulsed from his very core, and a twisted, playful grin spread across his face.

This wasn't just Veyarel's resurrection.

No.

His eyes glinted with something foreign.

He raised a hand and the battlefield itself folded into a distorted domain. Walls of warped space pushed the beastmaster and her troops back.

Veyarel's voice came, calm yet laced with arrogance.

"This is... a good body. Very compatible."

The beastmaster's eyes widened.

This was Emery's dark half—merged with the dying Grand Magus, and empowered by Khaos. With the magus's weakened soul barely holding on, the dark half had slipped in and possessed him, restoring Veyarel's body to strength.

"You bastard..." she hissed, half in rage, half in fear.

She knew Veyarel. They had once fought on the same side.

But her fear turned to confidence again as more demonic barbarians spilled into the chamber from the collapsing ceiling above.

"There's nothing more you can do!" she shouted. "You are but one man!! You're outnumbered and cornered!"

But Veyarel just chuckled.

"You're right. I alone won't be enough…"

He turned casually and laid a hand upon the Stargate.

"Luckily—I brought friends."

The runes of the gate flared to life.

A sound like thunder tore through the air as a massive spatial portal bloomed open—its surface shimmering with golden mist and ancient symbols.

From within the gate, an elderly figure stepped out first—Grand Magus Soltz. Behind him—an entire battalion followed.

The Fey Army.