Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

Priam took a deep breath. The red aura around his fists was actually not even 10% of what he had used at the beginning of the fight against Hemakra, before burning the power rune.

That was because his body was indeed severely depleted of life force. But...

Inside the Nexus Seed within his soul, that small crack that had appeared at its center shortly after Priam started synthesizing various things was now overflowing with life force. (Chapter 8)

Back when the crack first appeared, Priam felt that it emitted life force identical to the one inside his body, and because of his basic knowledge of Magic and Energies, he was certain of it.

It was when he began learning the Blood-Feast Fists and conducting tests inside that cave that he noticed a major change.

The life force flowing from the Nexus Seed began overflowing and restoring his body, becoming much more active the more he burned the life force within himself. It was as if that mysterious power possessed consciousness and wanted to protect him from death.

Because of that, Priam became even more excited about that sinister woman’s Magic Art and did everything he could to learn it properly, even if it put him in danger.

Originally, this Magic Art required using other people’s life force as a sacrifice. It wasn’t difficult to burn your own life force to use it, but obviously, nobody was stupid enough to do that. But Priam didn’t care, trusting in the power of the Nexus Seed.

After that battle against Hemakra, Priam deliberately remained exhausted. He knew that if he tried to activate the Magic Art again, attempting to drain the remaining life force from his body, the Nexus Seed would release more life force to keep him alive.

In fact, every second, the Nexus Seed was already recovering him, but it was very slow. Therefore, Priam was now simply encouraging that anomaly within his soul to work faster.

”He actually... blocked it!”

The people in the arena were almost paralyzed with shock. Priam seemed like a monster to them. Even without life force earlier, he was displaying the impossible right before their eyes.

[Dominate?] [Yes / No]

Priam accepted and looked at Gangrel indifferently. Then he casually threw a punching motion through the air in his direction.

A wave of power shot forward.

’Wow! Wouldn’t that be a legit hadouken?’ he thought with a smile, remembering how much he used to play a fighting game with Bruno back on Earth.

He didn’t even take a step. But that wasn’t just the power of his fists; Priam took advantage of the wind element Gangrel had used and left in the environment, dominated it through the system, and transmitted his power through the air.

That naturally left Gangrel even more frightened. Had Priam really dominated his wind element?

He hurriedly swung his sword in attack.

*RUMBLE!*

The attack exploded, and wind spread in every direction.

But... the wind didn’t disperse, surprising everyone.

Everything began spinning violently!

*Wooooosh!*

In a fraction of a second, an extremely terrifying storm formed above the martial stage. Amid the storm, Gangrel couldn’t breathe or even open his eyes.

He was clearly terrified and failed to think rationally.

He merely snorted, then concentrated his strength into his legs and leaped dozens of meters into the air to escape the storm.

He rose to the highest point, just below the barrier’s limit.

”AHHH!”

With a roar, a large portion of the Ether inside his body erupted like a tsunami.

Suddenly, behind him, the silhouette of a giant green eagle appeared, proudly spreading its wings as if preparing to soar.

”Manifestation of the Sovereign of the Skies! And that Magic Art is only one step away from Earth class!”

Someone in the audience spoke in admiration. This was a wind-element Magic Art well known among the clan’s most powerful members. But it was something that wasn’t in the library, and very few people could even dream of learning it.

Everything happened within mere seconds.

Gangrel descended from the skies in a controlled fall. As he came down, his entire body merged with the silhouette of the giant green eagle. He looked like a mighty eagle diving at incredible speed.

He pointed his sword forward. Emitting an incomparably sharp aura, he thrust it toward Priam’s chest. The sword was unbelievably sharp, and the air itself seemed to split apart in waves.

Priam felt the terrifying premonition of having his chest pierced. However, he remained completely unfazed and punched toward the sword that was already above him.

”Is he crazy?!”

Someone shouted, but in that same second... the power behind that punch made everyone swallow hard; slight distortions appeared in the air between the two.

”!”

People jumped in shock as Gangrel instantly avoided Priam’s strike. He didn’t want to clash with the punch using his weapon, making an astonishingly agile movement in midair.

Deep down, Priam found it amusing to see just how cowardly this idiot was. Priam’s previous fight had created a sinister shadow in Gangrel’s mind, making him avoid direct clashes with him as much as possible.

This Gangrel was, in the end, just a young man slightly above average in talent who had been spoiled and convinced that he was someone powerful and important. That had turned him into an idiot who, when he truly felt fear and was pressured by Priam, instinctively acted like a coward.

Gangrel dodged Priam’s attack and spun through the air while a cold and determined gleam shone in his eyes.

The giant eagle silhouette behind him suddenly spread its wings, while the light-green glow emanating from the sword pulsed even more intensely and surged forward.

His movement carried with it a sharp aura that continued advancing, piercing toward Priam’s left shoulder like a razor-sharp spear.

Flaris was alarmed, and her face instantly turned pale.

Looking at the sword thrusting toward Priam, the clan Elders let out slight sighs.

”Despite a few surprises, everything went as expected. The outcome is already decided.”

As he stabbed toward Priam’s shoulder, the corner of Gangrel’s lips curved slightly upward...

The sharp blade of that sword was enough to pierce thin steel. He was absolutely certain that the moment the strike hit its target, Priam’s shoulder would be easily pierced, and his energy would invade his body.

After that... he could wreak havoc inside him, causing completely irreversible damage.

*Pierce!*

The tip of the sword tore through the clothing and then sank into Priam’s body. The smile on Gangrel’s lips slowly widened, but...

...an instant later, his expression completely froze.

As his sword pierced the flesh, blood sprayed from Priam’s left shoulder.

However, the sword also became stuck in that exact position and couldn’t penetrate even a single centimeter further. It was as if that layer of flesh were an indestructible block of deep iron.

”What... What!?” Gangrel was completely shocked, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Priam smiled as he felt all of his opponent’s offensive wind power being sucked into his Nexus Seed. This idiot was a complete amateur; 90% of his attack came from the wind element and Ether, while his physical body itself barely possessed any strength.

The moment it touched his body, Priam removed all of that energy. With only Gangrel’s mediocre physical strength remaining, it wasn’t capable of penetrating his Ether-filled body, which he had worked hard to train with the system’s help.

Priam launched an explosive counterattack at that moment.

He punched, and a violent flow of air made every hair on Gangrel’s body stand on end.

Without thinking twice, he released his sword as quickly as possible and leaped backward with all his strength, retreating about ten meters.

Still panting, Gangrel looked at Priam’s shoulder with a shocked expression.

On his left shoulder, a small bloodstain was slowly spreading across his clothes, but it stopped bleeding only a few seconds later. Judging by the stain, the injury didn’t seem serious, and the bleeding had already stopped completely...

The corners of Gangrel’s eyes twitched constantly.

It wasn’t just him; the most powerful people in the audience had witnessed the entire scene with greater clarity and wore expressions of complete disbelief.

All of them had personally witnessed the strike, using an incredibly powerful Magic Art and astonishing precision, piercing into Priam’s body. But when the sharp blade touched him, it was as if all of its power vanished.

”A pathetic strike, relying only on elemental power without any real strength behind it. Well... I wasn’t expecting much, but even so, you surprised me with this level of mediocrity,” Priam said slowly.

”If I remember correctly... you said I could attack and you wouldn’t move, right?”

People’s gazes locked onto Gangrel, and in everyone’s minds, those ridiculous words from earlier, when he said Priam could attack him ten times, now felt like the ramblings of a ridiculous clown spouting nonsense.

Without saying anything else, Priam placed his hands behind his back and looked at the idiot with a smile.

At that moment, the entire arena fell completely silent, and all the Elders had strange expressions.

That was because Priam was now emitting the vigorous life force that someone his age should normally possess.

Had he deliberately used something to deceive them? How? There was no way he should have been able to fool the senses of Elders far more powerful than himself...

”This...”

At that moment, the people in the stands noticed something else. Everyone was shocked to realize that throughout the entire fight, Priam’s two feet had remained in exactly the same position the whole time, without moving even a single centimeter!