Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

A suffocating sense of despair began to eat away at Priam’s mind.

Even while using 500% of his natural strength with the Manifestation of Heaven’s Will active, he still seemed painfully insufficient against those six Wills of the Sovereigns.

He had studied a little about Wills with the knowledge he had gained from the System. Even a weakened Will, one that lacked full consciousness or complex reasoning, still carried, embedded in the most fundamental level of its being, the combat experience and instincts of beings that had ruled a world for eras.

Within minutes, the six had perfectly adapted to Priam’s fighting style.

Realizing that his greatest strength lay in physical offense, they solidified their own matter into a defense specifically designed to absorb, redirect, and disperse the kinetic energy of his blows.

To make matters worse, the six fought in perfect synchronization. Whenever Priam tried to concentrate too much power into a single attack, the other five intervened in the exact same millisecond, dividing the impact between themselves or forcing him to defend.

Priam felt like a kid thrown into an arena against six veterans of ten thousand wars.

The disparity was ridiculous. And they didn’t even have a real consciousness!

Priam tried changing his approach. However, his elemental physique and the power of his cutting winds proved useless—the elemental power he could wield was far inferior to his own fists in this state.

Burning his two bloodlines to use Whirlwind Flare?

That was a suicidal risk. The six Wills would find a way to disperse the attack’s power between them, and as soon as the explosion passed, Priam would be completely without that option again.

[Time remaining: 50 seconds]

’Shit...!’

Priam exchanged ten more punches and blocked three brutal kicks, feeling the bones in his arms creak. Every second that passed felt like another charge against an iron wall that couldn’t be brought down.

’What else do I have?! What can I use?!’

His mind worked desperately, going over every possibility.

*CRASH!*

After a violent frontal collision, Priam unleashed a devastating uppercut, hitting the chest of the gigantic Beastly Will head-on.

Its body gave way with a thunderous crack, and a deep fissure opened across its ribcage, releasing a dense mist of crimson energy.

That scene had already repeated itself several times. In less than three moments, the body’s structure would be perfectly healed...

’!’

At the exact second the mist seeped through the air, Priam’s eyes flashed with a daring idea.

Taking a step forward at lightning speed, he extended his right hand directly toward the crimson mist.

[Dominate?] [Yes / No]

The unknown crimson energy was ripped out of the air and sucked into the Nexus Seed.

Priam snorted and spun his body to the left, narrowly dodging a deadly thrust.

”DISAPPEAR!”

*CRASH!*

With a thunderous backhand, he crushed the shoulder of one of the humanoid Wills. Another fracture opened, releasing more of that crimson energy.

’Dominate!’

Sucking in the new portion of energy, Priam propelled himself backward with a spatial shockwave, leaping dozens of meters away to buy a fraction of a second of isolation.

As the six enemies readjusted themselves in the air, Priam plunged his senses deep into the Nexus Seed.

Inside, he kept countless pure energies condensed into runes—reserves accumulated throughout his entire journey.

This was his final card.

The instant his consciousness entered...

...the precognitive senses of Sovereign Synthesis buzzed furiously deep within his soul!

Priam’s heart raced.

When Priam had started purchasing knowledge of fixed and useful syntheses, he had stopped using Synthesis randomly, preferring to invest his resources into more reliable Power Runes.

Because of that, this old ability of his was rarely used anymore. However, in that moment of desperation, it was his last hope.

Among those stored energies, he noticed three that, when combined with the crimson energy he had just stolen, seemed to possess immense potential!

[Synthesize?] [Yes / No]

Priam had never considered synthesizing something during that battle before, because he knew that any Power Rune created under normal circumstances would be useless against beings of that level.

The System had limitations—it couldn’t synthesize something capable of killing an immortal, for example, if his base strength was that of a mortal.

However... with the Manifestation of Heaven’s Will active, everything changed.

His temporary authority distorted reality itself. He was operating at the level of a world’s avatar! As long as he provided equivalent ingredients—the pure energy of the Sovereigns he had just dominated—the synthesis could reach an inconceivable level!

Without wasting a microsecond, he confirmed the fusion.

The Nexus Seed shone with blinding light as the energies collided and fused together at a terrifying speed.

[Power Rune created: Transcendental Curse (Reduced Strength)]

[Effect: Applies an absolute dispersion curse upon contact. Forces the disintegration of the highest-level energies and elements, preventing regeneration, damage sharing, and any defensive arcane manipulation for a short period.]

Priam’s eyes burned with a predatory gleam.

[Time remaining: 30 seconds]

The six Wills closed in instantly, shooting forward from six different directions in a coordinated assault to crush him once and for all.

Priam smiled, a dark and cruel smile, then clenched his fists.

A crimson aura so dense and dark that it bordered on absolute blackness erupted from his arms, covering his fists with the glow of the Transcendental Curse.

*BANG!*

The first punch imbued with the Transcendental Curse sank directly into the chest of the Beastly Will.

Unlike before, the crimson energy didn’t flow into it to regenerate its structure.

The area around the impact simply rotted away, corroding into black dust. The curse spread like a plague across the monster’s body, nullifying its ability to heal and preventing the other five Wills from helping it.

An even more brutal and predatory gleam filled Priam’s eyes.

”NOW IT’S MY TURN!”

Priam transformed into a blur. He abandoned any trace of defense and charged forward like a berserker in a frenzy, unleashing an insane barrage of punches that tore through the fabric of space.

*RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-BOOM!*

[Time remaining: 20 seconds]

With every devastating impact, the Transcendental Curse pierced through their bodies, ripping open holes that refused to close.

Where there had once been six invincible entities, there were now only six grotesque figures riddled with holes, dark mist leaking from every direction—looking like shattered pieces of Swiss cheese.

With energy draining uncontrollably through every hole, the strength, speed, and coordination of the six Wills plummeted dramatically.

[Time remaining: 10 seconds]

Mutilated and collapsing, the six attempted one final desperate assault, but their movements had become slow and erratic. Priam dodged effortlessly, driving his bare arm straight through the torso of one humanoid figure and decapitating another with a brutal knee strike.

However, the Manifestation’s countdown was reaching its limit.

The six could still fight! Even in that pathetic state!

[Time remaining: 5 seconds]

Priam felt his power begin to waver deep within his soul. If even a single speck of those Wills remained alive when the ability vanished, he would be destroyed.

There was no room for mistakes.

”BURN!”

Priam incinerated his two bloodlines at once.

With a single movement, he pulled the six toward him, then roared with everything he had.

*Whirlwind Flare!*

An apocalyptic storm of flames and cutting winds erupted from his body, merging into a cataclysm. Priam managed to manipulate the attack with his last remnants of power, making it expand around him.

*KBOOOOOOOOOOM!!!*

The entire crimson space collapsed.

The final shockwave pulverized the reality around him, covering every inch of that domain with hundreds of deadly spatial cracks and tears.

Long seconds passed before the cracks began to stabilize and silence finally returned.

At the epicenter of the devastated void, a single figure remained floating.

Priam was pale, covered in blood and breathing heavily. His clothes had been reduced to burned rags, and every muscle in his body screamed under agonizing exhaustion.

He no longer had a single drop of Ether left, not even enough to heal himself.

However, when he raised his head and looked at the surrounding space...

There wasn’t even a trace of the six Wills of the Sovereigns.

They had been completely eradicated from existence.

He had won.