Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

One drop after another continued to trickle down his nose, dyeing his gray beard a dark crimson. Blackwood raised his hand and wiped the blood off his nose, his eyes flickering with slight alarm.

…How?

He wondered to himself, replaying his entire battle with Marden inside his mind. Then, he glanced at the traitor, watching the victorious smile on his face. The Headmaster ignored it, instead looking for any discrepancies.

Finally, he was able to notice it. His eyes narrowed even further as he muttered in a hoarse voice:

"Your blade…"

Marden's grin turned even more sinister. His hands blurred as he weaved the physical component for a spell, his blood acting as the material component. At the same time, he answered, his tone condescending and filled with mockery:

"As expected of you, Headmaster. Your greatest strength is not your magical prowess, but your observational skill. Yes, you are correct, my blade indeed contained poison…a poison so potent that it could affect even a mighty Mana Core Magus such as yourself."

Two large star-shaped blades appeared in each of Marden's hands. Of course, they were made of his own blood. He then continued:

"Every time our blades clashed, the poison was released into the air. Of course, at such close proximity, it was inhaled by both of us. But as you can see, I've consumed the antidote, and you… haven't."

With that said, Marden rushed towards the poisoned Headmaster, turning into a crimson flash of light. Within a heartbeat, he was already upon the elderly Magus, hacking his twin blood weapons at him with relentless fury.

Blackwood's vision turned slightly blurry. This poison… it appeared that it didn't weaken his body. Not directly, at least. Instead, it targeted the nervous system, dulling his reactions and slowing his judgment and awareness. And that made him slow to react to Marden's attacks.

That made him go on the back foot as he continued to defend against the enemy's ruthless attacks. Marden, on the other hand, grew even more ferocious as he increased the intensity of his strikes.

Throughout the entire night, he had been subtly poisoning the Headmaster. His black blade was forged from poison and ore. Every time the blade was chipped in a clash, the poison would be ejected into the air, inhaled by both.

If not for Blackwood's tenebrous cloud that constantly engulfed the battlefield, the poison would have infiltrated his body even faster. Regardless, Marden had succeeded in his scheme, and all that remained was to kill the man before him and thoroughly cripple one of Acadia's limbs.

But deep down, Marden knew… that even with the poison, it was going to be difficult to slay Blackwood. He needed something more.

However, right at that moment, something unexpected happened.

Blackwood coughed a mouthful of blood, staggering on his feet. Shockingly enough, he was also no longer able to hold his sword properly. As his silver longsword clattered to the ground, Marden's eyes gleamed with a cold light, and he brought his star-shaped weapons together, transforming them into a great sword.

Then, without hesitation, he flew towards Blackwood like an ominous crimson ray of light, aiming to stab the man's heart. His lips curled into a triumphant smirk as the tip of the blood sword was mere inches away from piercing through his enemy.

But at the last possible moment, Blackwood sneered.

The weakness he had shown just now seemingly vanished. He easily sidestepped the attack, then gathered a ridiculous amount of mana into his right arm. The apparition of an eerie raven's head appeared behind the Headmaster briefly.

And then, the elderly Magus gritted his teeth and swung his arm forward with brutal force and intensity, striking Marden's neck and delivering a crushing lariat!

In that moment, Marden felt like his neck would be savagely severed from the rest of his body. He gritted his teeth and directed all his mana into augmenting his upper body so that it wasn't obliterated into meat paste.

There was a limit to the healing capabilities through his blood magic, after all. If his vital organs were destroyed, then no matter how much he tried, he would never be able to regenerate.

Blackwood's strike was so powerful, so devastating, that it ruptured the ground in a radius of tens of meters. The soil was upturned and a crater was immdiately formed. The air was torn apart as visible shockwaves rippled outward.

Then, like a cannonball, Marden was blasted away towards the city, easily smashing through the thick city wall and countless other buildings, carving a deep scar on the earth. His fate… unknown.

Meanwhile, Blackwood stood tall and unyielding, his aura warping the air around him. He tilted his head a little, then blew blood from his nostrils.

"Fool," his cold words echoed through the battlefield. "Did you really think poison alone could bring me down?"

He stretched out his hand, and the following moment, his silver long sword flew back into his grasp. That moment of weakness earlier had been nothing more than a faint to lure Marden into his trap.

Still, Blackwood had to admit that the poison was strong enough to dull his senses. However, something like that wouldn't hold him back from murdering the traitor!

The following instant, the blade of his long sword was engulfed in black flames. No… those weren't flames. Instead, it was pure darkness that had enveloped the blade. Immidiately, the temperture around the Headmaster dropped by countless degrees.

Blackwood shook his head slightly, forcing the diziniess aside. Then, he disappeared from his spot, leaving behing a small crater where he stood, and a heartbeat later… a thunderous of sonic boom split the air as he shot towards Marden.

CLANG!!

Not even a moment had passed, and the deafening sound of metal clashing against one another rang in the air. And in the next instant, a small section of Uptown Quarter was obliterated and reduced to rubble under the sheer force of that strike.

When the dust settled, Blackwood and Marden appeared at the heart of a fresh crater carved into the Uptown Quarter by their clash. The buildings around them had been obliterated, and the corpses strewn nearby had been reduced to scraps of meat by the shockwave.

Blackwood appeared, standing with a cold look on his face, forcing his sword down. Marden, on the other hand, knelt with a knee on the ground, blocking the silver blade covered in darkness.

His upper body was completely bruised and bloodied from the lariat earlier. And now, the bones on his forearms had shattered from Blackwood's sword attack. He was reluctantly forced to retrieve the black blade once again and defend with all his might.

As his injuries continue to heal, Marden spoke with a forced smile, "Ah, Headmaster… I must commend your strength. I nearly died back there."

Blackwood's response was ruthless. Still gripping his sword, he swiftly wove a hand seal, and the next moment, the shadows around them surged to life, forming thick spear-like spikes that shot up from the ground.

Hot blood sprayed through the air as Marden found himself impaled by half a dozen of these spikes!

Blood continued to drip from Blackwood's nose, but his lips gradually curled into a wicked smirk.

"Out of tricks, traitor?"