Magus Supremacy

"Did something bad? The hell?! He actually did me a favour by beating the shit out of Zach for me!" Dame replied with a chuckle.

"What?!" Grey and Finn shouted in unison, both stunned at the sudden change of events.

"Yup. I have been meaning to beat him with my own hands, but because of who I am, I'm forced to stay civil. So thank you, Supreme Magus, for fulfilling one of my longest wishes. I owe you one… again." Dame said with a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Tch! Fool." Finn scoffed before storming out of the room, slamming the door shut so hard that the walls trembled.

"By the way, here are the cores you sent me to get. Twenty-five earth-tier beast cores." Dame said, stretching the small sack in his hand toward Grey, who collected it with a raised eyebrow.

Looking closer, Grey could see faint bruises on Dame's body—scratches along his face, a bleeding arm, and other minor injuries.

'Huh? Did he hunt these himself?' Grey thought, and his suspicion was quickly confirmed when he noticed the cracked pair of gauntlets on Dame's hands.

'He really did.'

"I don't know what you need these beast cores for. But it was really a hassle getting them, so I hope they're worth it. Anyway, I take it you'd want to work in peace, so I'll leave you alone.

When should I come back though, to check up on you? Because I'll be quite busy myself." Dame asked, his tone casual, though there was a hint of weariness in his voice.

"In four days' time. And then on the fifth day, there's no need to come here again because we'll be gone—without you knowing where we went." Grey simply replied.

"Huh? What do you mean by gone?" Dame asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He means we'll be returning back to where we came from on the fifth day. Is that so hard to comprehend?" Thalos asked with his own brow raised.

"Oh! Okay then. I'm leaving now." Dame said as he turned away and began walking out. "Take care of yourself, Supreme Magus… and his sidekick too." He added before exiting the room.

"Wait! Sidekick? What the hell w… no need, he's already gone." Thalos almost screamed in anger, his voice echoing off the walls, which earned a chuckle from Grey.

"Don't strain and damage your throat, sidekick." Grey burst into full-blown laughter, staggering to the middle of the room while pulling his hood down to reveal his bloodstained face.

"Who the hell are you calling a sidekick?! I'm not one!" Thalos roared, his face twisting in outrage.

"Yeah. Yet you follow me around like a leech. Kek!" Grey chuckled, clearly amused when he saw a vein bulging across Thalos' forehead. He didn't care, though, as he crouched and began working on drawing magic circles across the ground.

"Not like I care or anything, but aren't you supposed to be resting after such a tough battle? You're injured and still bleeding." Thalos said with a frown, his voice softer but still filled with irritation.

"There is no rest for a man who wants to one day surpass the world. I can't be caught slacking, otherwise I'll be thrown under the world's radar and deemed trash." Grey replied without looking up, his hands moving meticulously as he drew intricate symbols and signs along the ground. His voice carried the weight of his determination, every word sharp and resolute.

'I need to first create a few pills for myself. I only have twelve cores left personally. So I'll use ten of them to craft four purple pills and three blue pills for myself before I begin working on Dame's.' Grey thought as he immediately brought his remaining cores outside, arranging them in a small pile before him.

'The remaining two cores would be used to power my magic circles back to Aetherian Academy.'

And with that, he began working on the magic circles meticulously. Every single line was drawn with utmost precision, and not a single rune was left unchecked as his hands moved with steady concentration.

"I also need to find a way to mass-produce the pills instead of creating them one at a time. But how?" he mumbled as he worked on the circles, his eyes narrowing slightly as he decided to alter them a bit.

'Let's see if this will work in mass-producing the pills.' He grinned inwardly, his fingers twitching with eagerness as the thought of endless possibilities filled his mind. Without wasting any more time, he got to work on his own personal batch of pills for the night.

__

Meanwhile, after leaving the inn, Dame could be seen walking back toward his clan. Within a few minutes, he stood before the colossal structure known as the Huge Fist. Without hesitation, he leaped inside and landed gracefully on one of the massive chains, which rattled noisily under his weight for a few seconds.

The entire area was suffocatingly hot, waves of heat rolling through the air like invisible flames. Yet, for Dame, this was nothing new. He had grown up here and was more than accustomed to the environment.

'Damn! Getting those cores sure was a hassle. I just hope Dad hasn't heard of i—'

"Young master Dame," a firm voice cut through his thoughts just as he prepared to descend the chains. "The clan master, your father, demands your presence immediately."

'Oh shit! I'm dead.' Dame gulped loudly, his throat tightening as unease gripped him. He quickly waved the messenger away before letting out a deep sigh.

With determination flickering in his eyes, he swirled his Ki around his feet and then…

POW!

The spot he stood on exploded with force as he plummeted downward. He dived further and further, descending the massive structure known as the Fist Base. The deeper he went, the hotter and more oppressive the atmosphere became.

He streaked past multiple levels and layers carved into the interior of the structure, each glowing faintly red from the overwhelming heat.

The descent seemed endless, and the air thickened with the smell of burning stone until he finally landed with a soft thud at the ground level.

The moment his feet touched the ground, Dame's body was drenched in sweat. It wasn't entirely out of fear, though a small trace lingered in his heart. Instead, it was the brutal heat that pressed against his skin, trying to melt him where he stood.

He found himself standing before an enormous pair of double doors that towered high, forged from blackened steel and faintly glowing with fiery veins.

"Come in." A voice echoed from within, commanding and heavy, before Dame even laid a hand on the doors.

Taking in a sharp breath to steel himself, he pushed the doors wide open and then…

WOOSH!

BAM!

A wave of scorching hot air slammed into him like a physical wall, drenching his entire body in sweat in an instant. The heat in this place was unbearable, so intense it felt as though he would collapse at any second.

If it were any ordinary person, they would have been unconscious on the spot. Yet Dame, strangely enough, pushed through, his steps slow but steady as he walked into the wide chamber that resembled a grand office.

At the far back of the room, a colossal volcano had been trapped and bound with countless chains of glowing runes. It spewed magma and belched hot air endlessly, serving as the core reason behind the unbearable heat saturating the place.

Directly in front of it, sitting cross-legged with an overwhelming aura that crushed the atmosphere, was the man Dame came to see—his father, the clan master, and the ruler of the Demonic Clan.

Borfan Grimvale!