The Golem Mage

Finally, all of Takeda’s avatars were dead, the whole crowd watched as Takeda stretched out his hand and calmly waited for the last power core, which was infused with wind energy to condense into his palm before swallowing it whole.

As this unfolded, the supporters of the War God Mage Academy couldn’t help but wonder why Alec wasn’t making his move to finish him off.

But while they believed it was the perfect moment to strike, Alec sensed something different, a shift in energy, so he waited patiently, watching as Takeda absorbed the final core.

Seconds later, Takeda threw his head back, as his energy surged violently, even from a distance, Alec could tell that Takeda was now emitting the aura of a Tier 8 lifeform.

Though unstable, however; it was still enough to make Alec realize something critical, this version of Takeda could rival a standard Tier 8 mage.

It also explained why the battle had dragged on longer than expected and his golems were unable to fully dominate them, it was because of the fact that just like Alec’s golems, Takeda’s avatars had been capable of fighting above their natural mage realm, though not to the same extreme degree as Alec Golems.

“I thought you would have made your move by now. What has stopped you so far?” Takeda asked, as he spoke, he pushed both hands forward, his fingers weaving through a series of hand signs.

When he finished, his appearance changed greatly, as layers of fabric formed around him, shaping him in a more domineering ninja attire, the only thing missing was the ninja mask to complete his badass Equipment set.

On his back rested a katana angled to the right, with an axe secured on the left. A wakizashi hung at his left waist side, while a kusarigama was coiled at his left waist side, and a clawed gauntlet manifested over his left hand.

For the first time, his full spirit equipment set was revealed, and with it—His unstable aura stabilized completely, it was as if the equipment set itself had harmonized the chaotic energies within him, bringing them under perfect control.

“Of course I’m not foolish enough to run into a trap, you clearly have an invisible trap array still circulating around you, anyone who tries to get close would be hit by the full force of that formation.”

“Too bad for you, I have very discerning eyes,” Alec said, pointing to his eyes, which glowed with a faint blue light.

“Well then... I guess playtime is over,” Takeda replied, as he finally made his move.

Boom!

The sheer speed of his dash created a muffled explosion in the air, as a semi-transparent ring of pressure formed where he had just stood, in the blink of an eye, he was already in front of Alec, his right fist driving forward toward Alec’s face.

Even before the punch landed, Alec’s eyes tracked the movement perfectly, predicting its path, however his body just seemed unable to keep up with the new speed.

Boom!

A second explosion rang out, louder than the first.

To many of the spectators who lacked higher-level perception, it looked as if Takeda had simply vanished from the spot he once stood and the next he reappeared where Alec had been standing, while Alec himself disappeared entirely from everyone’s view.

A split second later, the ground beneath collapsed inward, as pillars of earth burst outward from the sheer force of the impact of Alec’s back slamming hard on the ground.

Ting!

Not far away, Legion immediately adjusted his approach, switching his weapon into a firearm and unleashing a barrage of bullets toward Takeda, in which Takeda responded to, with a casual swipe of his hand.

Which caused a blizzard to surge into existence, forming a natural barrier that deflected the incoming bullets effortlessly, unlike his avatars, he could merge their multiple elements together, to create entirely new phenomenal elemental attacks.

But before even a second passed, he noticed something was wrong, the storm he had just created... was being cut apart, a white-red streak of light sliced through the blizzard, tearing it open and dispersing it completely.

Yet Takeda didn’t have the luxury of focusing on that alone, because in that same instant he could feel some presence creeping on him using his metal senses—All of Alec’s golems were already closing in for the kill.

Butcher appeared from the left, his Lightning Axe raised high, at the same time, the eerie half-spider, half-woman golem was on the ground, her fingers twitching in mid-air as she watched him with a strange, unsettling smile.

Around them, several smaller spiders had already taken positions across the terrain, though Takeda was confident enough that he could crush them easily; however his instincts warned him otherwise, that if he dared to descend, he might be the one to regret it.

In one smooth motion, he drew his katana from his back with his right hand and swung it in the same fluid movement, releasing a blade of Qi toward Butcher, at the same time, he pivoted and slashed toward the direction where his blizzard had just been split apart.

Butcher managed to deflect the incoming Qi blade, though the force of the attack had pushed him back several meters before he could accomplish that, as for Legion, he maneuvered cleanly around the flaming arc slash sent his way by opening the glide wings behind him slightly.

The moment he regained his position in Mid-air , Legion’s first thought was to hurl his laser spear forward like a javelin.

Seeing it coming, Takeda reacted instantly, as he lifted his leg and struck the spear at just the right point, just after the spear head tip, causing it to spin midair, now, the spear reversed direction, on its way of slowly turning back toward Legion.

However, before Takeda could complete the motion and fully redirect the attack back to legion—Butcher struck, with his thunder axe slamming into Takeda’s back, releasing all the stored lightning at once.

The surge coursed through Takeda’s body, temporarily numbing his muscles in place, for a full second, his body trembled violently.

Then after, he regained partial control of his body, and he instantly reacted—As his right hand, which was coated with the Stone Fist spell, swung backward and struck Butcher across the face in the course of action, sending him flying backward.