Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

After isolating the trio, Priam knew he had to end this as quickly as possible.

Taking a step forward that cracked the ground beneath his feet, he charged at them, unleashing a relentless barrage of savage blows.

Daraen’s and Inigo’s fury exploded.

Their entire lives, they had been praised as unmatched geniuses. They had rarely encountered anyone of the same age and Rank capable of pushing them this far. Yet now, in front of everyone, they had been sent flying back in humiliating fashion.

Neither of them had ever imagined Priam was hiding such overwhelming strength. Their overconfidence vanished in the blink of an eye.

Their auras erupted at full power. Inigo charged forward explosively, swinging his blades in a desperate counterattack. Meanwhile, Daraen took a step back, drawing the string of his bow as his entire body shone with a blinding light.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

The frantic clashes between arrows, blades, and Priam’s fists split the earth apart, sending rocks flying like projectiles.

The display of power was so terrifying that the surrounding soldiers retreated even farther to avoid being caught in the shockwaves.

Watching the center of the battle from the corner of their eyes, the Priam standing there truly looked like the incarnation of a God of War. He blocked every attack head-on while continuing to push forward without pause.

He wasn’t merely holding his ground.

He was dominating.

The two Super Geniuses were making a Herculean effort just to keep him in check, desperately attacking and retreating whenever Priam got too close.

If this had been a fight to the death, both of them would have fled without a second thought. But their objective here was simple: hold him back for just a few more minutes.

To do that, they burned through every escape technique and movement skill they had to keep their distance, attacking from behind whenever the other managed to draw Priam’s attention.

If Priam had been facing only one of them, he would’ve used the power of the wind and crushed his opponent within seconds.

But because there were two of them fighting together while keeping a safe distance from each other, every time Priam focused his offense on one, the other’s attacks stopped him from landing the finishing blow.

Since this was a short battle, the two of them together managed to create a temporary stalemate.

Strangely enough, the only one who didn’t join the attack was Sallya. She had backed away, completely giving up on the fight.

Her scouting insects had warned her, right after she was blown back: something hidden and dangerous was unfolding in the shadows.

Trusting her instincts, she moved away from the center of the fight, stealthily making her way toward the chaos of the massive battle between the factions.

Priam noticed, but he didn’t care. A single Super Genius wasn’t much of a threat. With his three Generals working together, they could hold her off for a few minutes.

Current match time: eight minutes and thirty seconds.

At that exact moment, right after a violent exchange of blows that forced Priam several meters backward...

*WOOOOOOSH!*

Suddenly, the entire battlefield changed color, becoming drenched in a sinister, radiant shade of blue.

Inigo and Daraen shot off in opposite directions, coughing up mouthfuls of blood.

”WHAT?!”

The Elders watching from afar widened their eyes in shock.

”Hahahahahaha!”

A loud, arrogant laugh echoed through the air.

The very next second, Priam found himself trapped inside a translucent dome roughly ten meters in diameter. The instant the bluish walls sealed shut, all of his perception, senses, and connection to the outside world were completely cut off. It was as if he had been ripped out of the desert and thrown into another isolated world.

”An Enlightened-rank Killing Inscription?!” one of the Elders shouted furiously.

The Elder of Law, who was responsible for overseeing the rules of the competition, merely shrugged with complete indifference.

”So what? It’s not against the rules. Treasures and resources are also part of a Mage’s individual strength. Now then... that arrogant brat has completely lost.”

Hearing those words, the five ordinary Elders sent by the Elder Leader to supervise the competition narrowed their eyes.

Enlightened was the first Rank of a Sage.

An Enlightened-rank Killing Inscription was an inscription created using power originating from a Sage. It was the second most expensive inscription sold in the Outer Sect, and it couldn’t be activated by a single Mage.

However, if hundreds of Mages joined forces, they could unleash at least half of its power.

Walhart and his parents hadn’t spared any resources to obtain it.

But the real question was: why?

By using that inscription, the only benefit would be trapping Priam until the competition ended. Walhart’s faction would have to devote themselves entirely to maintaining it, while the other factions would be free to seize the flags and reap all the rewards.

Was it really worth sacrificing everything just for revenge?

Or... was he hiding another trump card?

Inigo and Daraen slowly got back to their feet, both wearing pale expressions. They stared at the bluish dome and swallowed the blood rising into their throats.

Everything had happened far too quickly, and they hadn’t been able to react in time to escape when they felt space itself begin to distort.

It hadn’t just been the activation of an inscription.

Walhart had also burned a spatial treasure to temporarily distort space within a specific area. That way, Priam had absolutely no chance of escaping. And because the treasure had been activated almost instantly after the inscription, he hadn’t even had time to realize what was happening.

When the inscription appeared, the two Super Geniuses had been violently blasted away by its power, suffering serious injuries.

Without wasting a second, both of them swallowed emergency healing pills.

When they turned around, they saw Sallya already engaged in battle against Priam’s faction.

Only then did they understand why she’d backed away earlier; she’d sensed what was about to happen, but obviously she wasn’t going to warn them. After all, they were all competing against one another.

Without hesitation, the two of them rushed forward.

At that moment, Shione, Lumiere, and Flaris took a deep breath in perfect unison.

The army of only twelve hundred soldiers under their command had, up until that point, achieved a truly heroic feat: holding back the combined assault of the other factions.

Of course, that resistance was only temporary. If the battle of attrition dragged on for another five minutes, they would be completely wiped out. But they didn’t need that much time.

They only had to hold on for a few more moments.

However, the arrival of just one Super Genius on the battlefield had already pushed them to their limits.

Now, with all three advancing together, the mission became nearly impossible.

Even so, none of the three Generals thought about retreating.

The Ylisse Clan and their families depended on their results and efforts. Priam trusted them.

So there wasn’t the slightest chance they would lose without fighting with everything they had.

”One each!” Flaris shouted coldly.

The other two simply nodded, dividing up their targets in the blink of an eye.

Current match time: nine minutes.

There was very, very little time left.

Fortunately, throughout the competition, the three members of the Ylisse Clan had conserved their own energy, letting their Elemental partners do most of the heavy lifting. Thanks to that decision, they still had most of their strength left.

”COME!” Flaris roared.

Her body instantly ignited as Yin flames erupted around her like a towering pillar. Drawing her sword, she charged straight at Inigo with the ferocity of a starving tigress.

On the other side, Lumiere made a quick series of hand signs.

The entire space around him lit up.

Hundreds of tiny fire runes materialized out of nowhere, expanding aggressively. In less than a second, he was surrounded by fireballs nearly a meter in diameter.

”GO!”

At his command, the entire barrage of heavy firepower shot straight toward Sallya and her ravenous swarm of insects.

Meanwhile, Daraen kept her bow fully drawn from a safe distance, ready to fire a deadly arrow.

Suddenly, her pupils contracted.

A chilling sensation ran down her spine. She tried to twist away, but it was already too late.

Without her noticing, Shione, who had positioned herself strategically from afar, had already manipulated the elemental particles surrounding the archer.

If Daraen had been at full strength and uninjured, she would’ve detected the trap immediately. But now, exhausted from the fight and still waiting for the emergency healing pill to fully take effect, her senses were severely dulled.

*Eternal Ice Castle!*

The entire area around Daraen froze in a fraction of a second.

It was a conceptually simple technique originating from the Mortal Plane, but one Shione had trained to absolute exhaustion. Her execution at that moment was surgical and flawless.

*CRASH!*

A violent explosion of expanding, colliding ice echoed across the battlefield.

Daraen found herself completely trapped inside a geometric prison of solid ice, shrouded in a cold, eerie mist.

Desperately, she fired arrow after arrow, destroying the frozen walls only to watch them rebuild almost instantly.

The freezing mist invaded her lungs and numbed her mind, while the icy walls kept closing in, gradually shrinking the space around her.

It had turned into a brutal contest of pure endurance.

At the same time, the other two battlefronts erupted into deafening clashes.

On one side, the shrill metallic sound of swords colliding at incredible speed.

On the other, a colossal rain of fireballs and swarms of insects crashing together in the sky, lighting up the desert like a massive fireworks display.

The impossible was happening before everyone’s eyes.

The three legendary Super Geniuses were actually being held back.

Meanwhile, the soldiers continued fighting against the invading army. Many were covered in blood, yet refused to give an inch.

It was an astonishing battle, one that made every Elder nod in admiration.