Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

Inside the inscription.

Priam looked around, taking a deep breath as he calmly assessed his situation.

Walhart’s arrogant voice echoed from every direction, completely filling the isolated space.

”Hahahahah... Pathetic insect! Did you really think your mediocre ability would be enough? Your foundations are laughable, and your potential is nothing compared to mine. Unfortunately, I can’t kill you here... but your time won’t be long.”

Priam snorted.

The pressure inside that space was real and overwhelming. Every bit of energy surrounding him belonged to a level he still couldn’t comprehend. Without a doubt, it was a power beyond that of a Mage.

He slowly reached for the blue runic wall with his right hand.

[Dominate?] [Yes / No]

”!”

Outside, Walhart’s eyes widened for a brief moment. Suddenly, one of the soldiers responsible for maintaining the inscription shouted in panic:

”One of the runes is gone!”

Walhart frowned, immediately taking direct control of the inscription’s core.

Fortunately, the structure contained nearly seven thousand runes. Three thousand were being used exclusively to keep Priam sealed—the maximum number the soldiers could manage.

For Walhart, it was enough to move one of the reserve runes into place to replace the one that had been destroyed.

”Another rune disappeared!” the soldiers began shouting one after another.

Walhart narrowed his eyes. For the first time, a genuine chill of fear ran through his body.

How the hell could a mere Mage disable runes imbued with the power of a Sage?

Even in shock, his hands kept moving with incredible speed, replacing the lost runes as fast as possible.

Back inside.

Priam spent ten seconds dominating runes before abruptly stopping.

Every full second, he could barely subdue a single rune. He realized immediately that, at that pace, he wouldn’t be able to break the barrier in time.

Current match time: 9 minutes and 20 seconds.

Priam trusted his Generals to hold back the Super Geniuses, but he wasn’t the kind of person who left things to chance.

He needed to get out of there now.

’How can I overcome the power of a Sage? Those idiot Mages controlling the inscription don’t have complete mastery over it. I just need something with enough brute force to destabilize every rune at once... after all, an inscription links all of its runes into a single network.’

He remembered the little he’d read about the subject.

If the controller had absolute mastery over the inscription, the only way out would be a vastly superior power or destroying the core itself.

But that wasn’t the case here.

Walhart’s soldiers were merely operating a tool far beyond their own capabilities.

Suddenly, Priam’s eyes lit up.

Something above the power of a Sage?

He had something like that.

It wasn’t the cursed branch, since he still couldn’t control the power sealed within it.

Priam extended his hand and took a deep breath.

Inside his body, his third Bloodline—something he rarely had the chance to use—finally awakened.

*WOOOOSH!*

A terrifying black flame appeared in the palm of his hand.

It was something he had created some time ago. (Chapter 91)

At that very moment, every rune within the inscription reacted ever so slightly.

Priam smiled, his eyes gleaming.

”The Hellfire is finally going to shine.”

Without wasting a single fraction of a second, he gathered every last bit of Ether remaining in his body, combining the power of the wind with his ultimate attack.

Then he leaped toward the top of the dome.

The black flame was raised above his head, crashing directly against the barrier’s ceiling.

**KBOOOOOOOM!!!**

The very fabric of time and space seemed to tremble and roar.

Outside, all the armies fighting suddenly came to a stop, startled.

A colossal pillar of destructive energy shot straight into the heavens, tearing through the clouds.

At the same time, the side walls of the blue dome began cracking like tempered glass, collapsing into thousands of fragments of light.

Priam had calculated correctly. By leaping up and striking the top, he directed the entire eruption of Sage-level power vertically. If he had attacked sideways, the shockwave could have killed the disciples nearby.

The Elders were completely frozen.

None of them could process what their own eyes had just witnessed.

Current match time: 9 minutes and 50 seconds.

Priam landed on the ground, gasping for breath.

His Ether was completely depleted, but he was already prepared to burn his own life force if necessary to keep fighting.

He swept his eyes across the battlefield, searching for Dandara.

There she was.

Dandara remained in the rear, still holding all of the faction’s flags.

Around her, only a few centimeters away, a squad of five support Mages had formed a flawless protective barrier.

Priam let out the breath he had been holding, relieved.

In the end, his soldiers had done a perfect job. He hadn’t even needed to rush so desperately to break the inscription. Now, only ten seconds remained. In the current situation, nothing else could...

Priam’s expression froze.

His blood ran cold.

”BE CAREFUL, DANDARA!” he roared with every bit of strength he had left.

Dandara barely had time to process his warning. In the next instant, a sharp, tearing, violent pain pierced both of her sides.

The impact was so brutal that she immediately vomited a mouthful of blood.

Priam watched helplessly as the worst possible scenario unfolded before his eyes: the attackers were actually the five support Mages who had been protecting her from the beginning.

They were traitors.

With terrifying synchronization, one of the supports pulled out a strange runic crystal and crushed it between his hands. Two others plunged daggers into Dandara’s ribs, immobilizing her. The final two, with a single precise movement, ripped away all of her flags.

Everything happened in less than five seconds.

The Generals and soldiers on the front lines, covered in blood and exhausted from the frantic battle, didn’t even notice what was happening in the rear.

Priam was too far away, without a single drop of Ether left to use his movement technique.

The space around the five traitors distorted under the effect of the shattered crystal.

*WHOOSH!*

The five disappeared, leaving only Dandara kneeling on the blood-covered ground.

Priam turned his head.

In a secluded corner of the desert, a flag-bearer mage from Walhart’s faction was smiling.

A short-range teleportation portal briefly opened in front of him, and the stolen flags fell directly into his hands.

He quickly stored them away, displaying an expression of victory.

One second later...

**DONG!!**

The gong echoed across the entire desert, announcing the end of the ten minutes.

The competition was over.