Chapter 267 Here Comes The Sun
"There is no pleasure to be found here," Elandor replied coldly and arrogantly, not even giving Volud a good look. It was clear he no longer put his peer in his eyes, something which made Volud's face darken slightly, but he suppressed it and maintained his elegance.
"Well, seeing you come out like this, it's as if you plan to declare a Faction War against my Underworld Magisters, but that's impossible, right?" Volud laughed with mockery.
"Nothing is impossible in this world, for we are here precisely to declare war. You have 1 hour to prepare your forces for our attack," Elandor stated coldly.
Volud's laughter cut off as he looked with a hint of surprise and confusion. He glanced at Elandor for a while to see if his former rival had gone mad and realized he was serious.
Volud shook his head with disappointment. "And here I actually once measured myself against someone like you, thinking you my equal. Elandor, oh Elandor, do you really think that the brat beside you reaching the 9th Rank is enough to topple us?"
Volud clearly held disdain for Dante, for putting aside how short his time of practicing magic was, how strong could he possibly be? He likely just broke through the 9th rank using some forceful means, permanently limiting his future after that.
Besides, how many 9th rank spells could he have possibly learned in this time? Given his total cultivation time not even surpassing a year, he would be lucky to know any better than 2nd rank spells.
Dante was likely the weakest rank 9 mage around, no better than an 8th rank mage most likely. Such a person, apart from having endless disdain for them in his heart, Volud felt pity.
It would only take him a single move to deal with such a weakling.
Elandor could guess what Volud was thinking and also pitied him. If he hadn't felt it himself, he would not have believed it either and would have had the same train of thought. However, that was fleeting, and the battle was now.
Still, how could the various factions and powers spectating not interfere at this moment? With a sweep of magical power that was overbearing, three wizards, one old man, one old woman, and a young woman came over on the back of a blue-green wyvern.
They rudely flew in-between Volud and Elandor, facing the latter specifically. Even as Dante frowned and Volud smiled, Elandor remained cold and indifferent.
"Before you declare war, I would like to try and mediate the issue between the two factions. What say you, Elandor?" The elderly male wizard stated bluntly with his arms folded behind his back.
"Leave this place, for in an hour there will be a bloody fight that follows the rules of war. Anyone deemed to be around or interfering willingly breaks the rules and becomes susceptible to punishment," Elandor replied straightforwardly, making the faces of the three change.
"Elandor! How dare you speak this way! Your Celestial Arcanists dare to challenge the Wizard Council?" The elderly female witch screeched with anger.
"As far as I can tell, I am following the rules. By forcibly trying to coerce me under duress, I have leeway to report you to the Inter-Plane Magus Council. Unlike a mere city council like you, they will not be prejudiced against us nor favor you," Elandor coldly pointed out.
The faces of the two became incredibly ugly as they knew what Elandor said was true; otherwise, would they need to posture? Their council had more than twenty 9th rank mages, meaning that they could easily flatten the Celestial Arcanists if it weren't for a powerful and impartial overseeing force.
"Humph, Elandor, do not try to overestimate yourself. Nothing is set in stone. It's best to give the council face now and let this matter go than to completely fall out. This is my personal advice to you," the elderly male wizard took a deep breath to calm his rage and advised seriously.
"I know, don't worry. You can leave now," Elandor was nonplussed.
"I'm surprised; it seems like not all 9th rank mages live up to the hype."
Abruptly, a dark and cold voice spoke, which turned out to be from the young woman sandwiched between the two. When she spoke, she glanced at Elandor with a hint of disdain and derision in her eyes, like she was looking at a clown.
Suddenly, Elandor's eyes sharpened as he glanced at the girl, and a beam of greenish light shot out of his eyes towards her. Immediately, the face of the young woman changed from arrogance to fear, as she felt the pure threat of death wash over her body and soul.
If that beam hit her, not only would her body be destroyed, but even her soul would be rent into nothing, preventing her from reincarnating ever again!
"MASTER, SAVE ME!" She screamed as she tried to avoid the attack but felt like it had thoroughly locked onto her.
"ELANDOR, STAY YOUR HAND!" The female elderly witch cried out as she manifested a hasty barrier to block the sudden attack, but it was shattered with ease.
The male wizards saw this and rushed to help, manifesting another one, but it was also broken through, injuring him as he glanced at Elandor with shock.
"How can he be so strong?! Didn't the reports say he had stopped mediating and only managed the faction?"
The beam went on after being weakened twice, only having about 20% of its former power. However, when it struck the final barrier the girl erected to save herself, it easily broke through again and struck her sternum, sending her flying like a rocket.
She hit the ground with a thud and rolled for a long distance, her body no longer moving as her life and death were unknown. Seeing this, the female wizard who the young lady called master went crazy as her eyes became bloodshot.
"Elandor, how dare you attack the innocent! You are using your power to bully weaker mages!" She accused with hatred.
Elandor snorted. "If that were true, you would have called down for a trans-spatial arbitration. The reason you stand there and not even attack is because you know you hold no ground."
"Your apprentice violated one of the sacred rules of magedom, which was to disrespect a 9th rank mage!" Elandor pointed out.
The eyes of Volud flickered as she nodded secretly. In truth, he had been appalled when that girl dared to speak to his rival that way, not out of any feelings towards Elandor, but because it was a huge taboo.
Even the two mages with her only blocked Elandor's attack slightly and didn't dare to negate it or fight back because getting blasted away was a mercy. If Elandor seriously pursued this, he could have had her spiritual cores shattered then imprisoned, a far worse fate.
By doing this, he was giving them face and saying that he was not trying to get into conflict with the Wizard Council. Given the situation, they could no longer cause trouble easily and could only pick the young lady away.
The elderly?male wizard glared at the female one darkly. "You and your apprentice will have to explain yourselves to the council for this."
"Hmph, that has nothing to do with you," she retorted fiercely, holding her unconscious apprentice gently.
"It is precisely because of your foolish coddling that she has become like this and even dares to do something like this! Next time, I will not raise a finger to help you defend her if you do not plan to discipline her!" The male mage said angrily and looked away.
The elderly female mage's face became even uglier, but she could not say anything as the male mage had stepped out of his boundary to help protect her disciple just now.
Dante heard their talk through his spirit sense which covered the entire area and was amused. That Wizard Council in the city should not last much longer with this much nepotism and carelessness in its ranks, because they might provoke a monster one day.
For example, the current Dante could flatten them completely if he wanted, but he wouldn't because this was basically his last bit of 'immersion' before pulling out of this world completely.
If anything, he might leave behind a few protagonists and pull them out later when he developed Quantum Entanglement further.
An hour soon passed as more forces came to watch the show while the others remained in the back without putting any more trouble up front. Volud had long retreated into the base of the Underworld Magisters to take charge of their magic arrays for defense.
The apprentices of various ranks below in the Underworld Magisters were nervous as their palms became sweaty and full of worry even as they manned their defenses. Meanwhile, those of the Celestial Arcanists were even more nervous as they were the besieging faction and would definitely suffer more losses to take the enemy down even if they won.
This is why Volud criticized Elandor's declaration. Even if he won, it would be pyrrhic as he would have crippled his own faction at best. At that time, the next bloke three feet over could also declare war on you and enjoy the spoils of both defeated factions.
To work hard for someone else to enjoy… how could anyone tolerate this? This is why Volud truly thought that Elandor had only made a show and planned to issue a non-fatal challenge, like a martial competition or something.
However, the elderly half-elf's actions caused Volud to be filled with worry and fear. The sheer confidence he had now and the power he displayed earlier were even higher than his own!
Just as the hour came to an end and the Celestial Arcanists expected their leaders to roar out the charge, they noticed that a huge surge of elements was rushing towards the area behind them.
They turned to look and were silenced into shock as Dante raised a finger above his head, a large ball of fire hovering above the tip of his index that grew larger and larger per second until it was twice the size of the base below.
Everyone raised their heads to glance at the monstrosity with different expressions, with most of them being shocked, fearful, and confused. They could not understand what they were seeing, even the 9th rank mages in the crowd.
According to the spell fluctuations, this was the 1st Rank Fireball spell that every mage knew, regardless of whether they practiced the fire element or not. However, even a 9th rank mage with 10 fire spiritual cores could not produce something so large so fast.
Well, that was obvious. After all, a typical 9th rank mage had 10 cores with varying Intelligence from 100 to 200 and sometimes 300. Dante's single spiritual core for fire alone had 20,000 points within, ten times the total amount of a 9th rank mage.
The amount of fire element he could mobilize and how far he could pull them from was not something these mages could possibly comprehend. Putting aside the base 150% boost, the fireball above Dante's head was dark red, to the point of almost being black, but don't confuse it for hellfire.
It was just heat elements so hot and pure that it visually took up such a color. Dante did not waste time and tossed the fireball down when it was large enough. Elandor suggested that they enact the war properly with the apprentices fighting and then mages of different ranks joined in later.
However, Dante was not patient enough for that and opted to solve everything at once. This led to the current scene, where everyone seemed to stand in stupefaction as the fireball slowly fell down upon its target.
Suddenly, a mesmerized voice spoke slowly, almost dreamily, but it was like thunder in the ears of everyone spectating.
"Looking at the size of that thing and the power contained within… should we really be this close?"
...
FUCKING RUN!
Immediately the dignified and elegant spectators of varying top factions began to scatter like mice while screaming in fear. If this was the spectators' current state, could you imagine how the Underworld Magisters were feeling?
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