Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Marden hadn't even seen Adam perform any of the spell components. Yet, the youth had already teleported before him like a ghost, his mysterious black staff crashing down on him.

The cultist crossed his arms, coating them with mana, then raised them in front of him to block the attack. At the same time, he could see Adam's visage more clearly.

And what he saw… caused a chill to crawl down his spine.

Adam's face was a ruin, corroded so badly by acid that parts of his flesh had melted away. His right cheek was eaten through, exposing the line of his teeth beneath. Whole patches of hair were gone, leaving him half-scalped, as though he wore the charred remains of a human skin mask.

Yet, worse than his mutilated appearance… were his eyes. The whites were bloodshot, and the pupils were so cloudy and dilated that they seemed inhuman. And deep within, a faint gleam of divine light flickered. It was something so otherworldly it made Marden shudder to his core.

Marden couldn't fathom what horrors Adam had endured to end up in such a wretched state. Whatever it was, he guessed that it had also driven the youth to the brink of madness.

Madness among Magi was not uncommon in this world. Some lost their minds after conducting countless arcane experiments, others after gazing at forbidden things in the spirit world. And many more simply cracked beneath the weight of repeated failures and hardships life threw at them.

But whatever Adam had gone through, Marden truly welcomed it. The more Adam was driven towards the brink of insanity, the better it would be for his own insidious plans.

As the Staff of Calamity came crashing down, Marden's lips curled into a grin as he thought:

You wanted a worthy vessel, eh? Then, how about a vessel brimming with madness?

And just as the black staff was about to come hammering down on his arms… it suddenly vanished!

Once again, Marden was caught off guard. And then, before he could even blink, Adam had reappeared behind him, his staff descending like a hammer, aimed straight at Marden's skull.

BAM!!!

A large crater was instantly formed beneath their feet as Adam's attack connected. However, much to his dismay, Marden had shifted his body ever so slightly at the last possible second, narrowly saving his head.

But still, Adam's attack did quite a number on the Elder, who now found his right shoulder completely decimated. His right hand hung limply to the side, and his shoulder was caved in.

Marden quickly turned into a blur and put distance between the devilish youth. He looked at his grievously injured shoulder, which was rapidly healing thanks to his magic. However, he couldn't stop the dark frown from shadowing his face. If he had been a little too late, he might have truly died.

Me? Dying at the hands of a broken Mana Vortex Magus? How laughable!

His gaze towards Adam shifted. He now treated the youth no differently than an enemy Mana Core Magus. Marden couldn't afford to act frivolously in his presence. Adam's mastery over the art of teleportation was far greater than he had expected.

No, there has to be a price for such flawless teleportation, he wondered, his thoughts drifting to the faint white light he had momentarily seen in the depths of his dead eyes. But he couldn't be sure if the two were correlated.

Adam, meanwhile, ignoring the splitting pain in his mind, extended the Sphere of Resonance and soon located Marden. He turned towards him and muttered hoarsely:

"Professor Whitaker… Lady Benton… Headmaster Blackwood… I will avenge them all. And when I slaughter you, they shall laugh from beyond the grave… Yes, laughter in their hearts, laughter all around them…"

Marden frowned, but soon, his eyes flickered with a cunning gleam. His lips curled into a devious smirk, and he muttered:

"But those are just the ones you know of. I've killed many more people that you care for. For example… Gerald Acadia is dead."

Adam froze, his heart beating rapidly.

Meanwhile, the smile on Marden's face widened. "Ah, yes. Who else? I wonder. So many of your friends died at Saratoga. I suppose your disciples were slaughtered as well."

He paused, shrugging casually. "Perhaps they've already been turned into undead. Ah, come to think of it, that pathetic little gnome died as well. And his mutt? Yes, we burned him alive—"

Before he could even finish speaking, a colossal black pillar streaked towards Marden with terrifying speed. He easily dodged the pillar, but then the space before him trembled, and Adam suddenly appeared like a ghost.

Then, with an enraged look on his face, Adam thrust his palm forward.

Hand of Doom: Coiling Palm Str—

"Fool," Marden muttered coldly as he effortlessly grabbed Adam's wrist. "Did you really think you're my match?"

But Adam didn't hear his words at all.

The Laughing God continued to whisper inside his mind.

And the Eternal Soul Lotus continued to suppress those ravings.

His mind was in shambles, and bloody tears streamed down his face. Yet, his lips twisted into a wide, ominous grin.

"Laughter… from beyond the grave… they will be avenged! Kill… kill… I will kill you… and then… laughter… laughter all around me…"

Crack!

He ruthlessly snapped his own right wrist with precision, then pivoted on his heel and unleashed a crushing roundhouse kick with his left leg.

Once again caught off guard, Marden was forced to release the youth's hand, then raise both his hands and block his right side.

However… the attack never came from the right.

Adam had already teleported behind his back and delivered a ferocious kick to the back of his skull.

BAM!!

Marden felt his head nearly explode from that vicious attack. If not for him, augmenting his upper body with multiple layers of mana, he feared he might have died. He had severely underestimated Adam's physical strength.

No Magus should have a physical body that strong!

Marden was hurled into the distance, rolling several times before coming to a stop. He gnashed his teeth as he hurriedly got to his feet.

"…How embarrassing," he muttered under his breath.

And then, he heard another faint 'crack', forcing him to look upward.

The faint 'crack' earlier was the sound of Adam forcing his broken wrist back into place. The raven-haired youth was already upon him, weaving a set of complex hand seals. And in the next moment… the world above Marden was dotted with large flaming spheres.

Rank 3 Spell: Adam's Fireball Barrage!

Marden glanced at Adam and his spell with a condescending look on his face. He harrumphed in arrogance, then took flight. Easily maneuvering through the rain of Fireballs, he caught up to Adam, then ruthlessly grabbed his face, nearly crushing his skull.

"Have you had enough yet?" He muttered coldly.

The only response he received from the youth was a word spoken in snaketongue.

"Return."

The very next moment, the black staff slammed into Marden's side, blasting him away and breaking his grip. The youth fell miserably to the ground, coughing up mouthfuls of blood and clutching at his head in sheer agony.

Before the youth even had a chance to catch his breath, Marden was already upon him. The cultist plummeted from above and crashed down on his stomach, crushing his lungs and driving the air from his chest.

The ground caved in beneath him with a thunderous crack, a fresh crater forming as Adam's broken mind blurred on the edge of unconsciousness.

"You're good, Adam Constantine. You are very good."

Marden praised sincerely as he grabbed the youth by the neck like a broken ragdoll.

"But still not my match."

Receiving no response from the youth, Marden slapped him a few times. "What's the matter? Is that all you got?"

However, his words never reached Adam. Instead, the ravings of the Faceless Mask assaulted his mind endlessly.

"…Shut up," he whispered.

The breaking point, Marden thought to himself, his lips curling into a cruel grin.

He just needs one last push.

Marden brought Adam closer to him, then whispered:

"By the way, your sister… what was her name? Ah, yes. Anna Fireborne. Do you know that my men have already—"

In that moment, something inside Adam snapped.

The Laughing God continued to whisper.

And the Eternal Soul Lotus struggled to suppress it.

Adam's hands turned into a blur, and the next moment, he viciously grabbed Marden's face with brutal force.

The youth's lips curled into a wide grin, a crazed grin, a painful grin as he said:

"You wouldn't dare…"

And then…

For the first time, Adam did something he had never dared before.

The lotus patterns in his lifeless eyes blazed with a blinding light... one last time.

A heartbeat later…

A loud, miserable, and blood-curdling scream tore through the air.