Magus Supremacy

"Guys! Get away from here now, otherwise we are dead!"

'Am I deaf?' Mada thought as his eyes widened, staring at the beast in front of them. 'D…did…did Rivock just say we would die?!'

'Crap! I didn't even need that warning. I can feel the suffocating aura from the beast. It's… it's different.' Noelle thought as sweat cascaded down her face while her heart thumped louder and louder, almost as if it wanted to burst out of her chest.

'My… my knees… my knees won't stop trembling. Why am I shaking so hard?' Liam thought as he stared at his hands, which were trembling so badly that his grip on his sword loosened more with each passing second.

'Why do I feel like we are cooked? Is this really the end for us?' Grey thought as his body felt frozen, refusing to even budge because of how intense the fear gripping him was.

"Guys! Freaking move!" Rivock roared again, this time snapping the students out of their frozen state of thoughts—

but it was already too late.

The beast had already set its eyes on its first target and in an instant, it blinked right in front of him.

It was Mada who couldn't move in time. Just a second ago, the beast had been about five metres away, and with one blink, it was suddenly standing directly in front of him.

Now, its fist shot forward with immense speed. In the twinkle of an eye, it looked like the blow would connect, but…

BANG!

BANG!

Two loud consecutive bangs echoed across the entire place as two individuals moved in perfect unison.

"Fuck this, mehn!" Rivock roared in anger. In the blink of an eye, he was already in the air. He didn't waste a second as he delivered two solid kicks that pushed the beast away from Mada.

The second individual was Grey. Though a little slower, he managed to appear beside Mada, for the beast's talon-like claws were still inches away from the descendant's face even after Rivock's intervention.

Grey grabbed Mada and yanked him away just in time, right before the claws sliced through the air with a terrifying sharpness, like a blade cutting effortlessly through paper.

"How dare you touch me with your filthy hands?!" Mada roared as he yanked his arm out of Grey's grip.

"I was trying to save your pitiful ass!" Grey snapped back angrily, his voice rough with irritation.

"Did I tell you I needed saving?" Mada shouted as his glare pierced through Grey.

"It sure did look like that." Grey scoffed, his lips curling into a smirk.

"You guys should fucking focus!" Rivock roared angrily as he landed back down smoothly, his eyes never leaving the beast. His expression was grim, his posture taut, his attention fully locked on the monster before them.

The beast, surprisingly, looked stunned. Its twisted face carried an almost human-like expression of shock, as if it couldn't believe a mere human had pushed it back so easily.

"Tch!" Grey and Mada scoffed at the same time, unwilling to back down from their bickering even in the middle of danger.

"What's the plan?" Ray asked as he cautiously stepped forward, unsure of what exactly he could contribute but unwilling to stand idle.

"The plan?" Noelle repeated with a raised brow. "What good are you yellow bands in this battle? It's definitely a boss and you think you can help?"

"Wrong. It's not just any boss, it's a corrupted beast." Rivock corrected firmly, his voice heavy.

The moment those words left his mouth, everybody's eyes widened in absolute horror. Even Grey's usual composure cracked, and for once, he looked genuinely shaken.

'A… a… a corrupted beast? Aren't those the same kinds of beasts Thalos said usually failed their evolutions? That kind of nightmare is what's standing in front of us?' Grey thought, disbelief etched across his face.

"A corrupted beast? Those things are real?!" Liam shouted, his voice breaking as his mouth hung wide open in terror.

"Depending on how strong this beast was when it failed its evolution, that's how tough our battle is going to be," Rivock muttered as a yellow glow began appearing in his hand. In an instant, a longsword made entirely of Ki materialized in his grasp. "Let's go!" he roared, before shooting forward at full speed.

Noelle cracked her whip behind her, the sharp sound ringing in the air, before she sprinted forward along with Mada. Both of them moved in unison, clearly deciding to back Rivock up without hesitation.

"What do we do, Grey?" Ray asked in confusion, his brows knitted as his eyes darted between the fighters and the beast. He seemed utterly lost on what role they were supposed to play.

"You heard them, stay in your lane. We're too weak to interfere, so let the supposed strongest deal with this," Grey shrugged, his tone flat as he turned his attention back to the battle about to unfold before them. His eyes narrowed, quietly analyzing every move.

BANG!

The sound of Rivock launching himself into the air echoed like thunder. He soared upward, coming at the beast from the side with his longsword raised high above his head, ready to strike with deadly force.

But the Lycan only grinned, its sharp teeth gleaming as it tilted its head. A heartbeat later, it disappeared from view. Rivock's attack came to a sudden halt mid-air, his eyes darting around wildly as the beast was nowhere to be seen.

In the blink of an eye, Rivock felt the sudden shift in the air behind him. His instincts screamed, and he spun around instantly, raising his Ki sword just in time. The Lycan's massive, talon-like claw was already descending toward his face, brimming with violent intent.

The two attacks collided violently, producing a deafening boom that erupted outward, blowing a wild gust of wind across the battlefield. Rivock was sent flying out of the air, his body tossed backward like a ragdoll.

He twisted and flipped a few times before landing smoothly on his feet, his glare burning into the beast. His grip tightened around his sword.

'It's fast. Extremely fast.' He clenched his teeth. By the time his thoughts formed, the beast had already moved again.

It streaked forward in a blur, its speed impossible to track with the naked eye. Rivock quickly pushed himself off the ground, rolling away at the very last second. The Lycan's claws slashed downward like a blade, carving through the spot he had been just moments ago.

The claws smashed into the earth with terrifying force, slicing straight through it and kicking up a massive cloud of dust and debris.

"Perfect," Rivock muttered under his breath, using the opening. He sprang forward like a coiled spring, thrusting his glowing sword straight at the beast's exposed back.

Sensing the Ki surge rushing toward it, the beast snarled and spun around, leaping backward to evade the attack. Rivock's blade struck the ground instead, sparks and Ki flaring violently on impact.

The moment his feet touched down, Rivock twisted his body, swirling Ki around him in a spiral. With a burst of force, he propelled himself upward again in a fluid motion, refusing to give the Lycan even a second of advantage.

But it was already too late. The Lycan's claws were once again descending toward his face, this time faster and deadlier than before. Rivock's pupils shrank. At that speed, there was no way to dodge. The attack was about to land when…

WOOSH!

The sharp sound of something slicing through the air rang out. A whip cracked forward like a serpent, coiling tightly around the beast's claws. Its furry arm was yanked backward with surprising strength, pulling its deadly strike just inches away from Rivock's face.

"Now!" Noelle roared, her voice cutting through the chaos.

In that very instant, a deafening bang thundered as Mada's body blurred. After performing the flash step, he shot forward with explosive speed, leaving afterimages in his wake as he aimed straight for the distracted beast.