'So this… this…' Grey thought, his eyes bulged out as he stared at Kael who with every step, his armour left his body.
With each step Kael took, a bolt of lightning tore through the sky, striking him and stripping away a piece of his armor — first his boots, then his chestplate, mask, and finally his sword.
Yet, when he stood before them, robe fluttering in the wind, not a single scratch marred his body. His presence pulsed with raw power, calm yet overwhelming.
'This is the strength of the demonic student...' Grey's heart pounded like a war drum.
"Kael… Kuh!" Ryan groaned, blood coating half his face. He staggered to his feet, his once-pristine robe now tattered, barely clinging to his shirt and pants.
"Captain Ryan," Kael said with a level tone, glancing around until his eyes landed on a crumpled figure lying near an unconscious Amir. "Where's Captain Amir?"
Before Kael could make a move, a powerful gust swept past him. A brown-haired youth crouched beside Amir, then lifted the captain gently with a swirl of wind magic, retreating back to safety.
Kael narrowed his gaze. "I can't believe Captain Amir defeated a general… and yet you…" His voice held both surprise and disdain as his eyes settled back on Ryan.
Ryan scowled. "Don't look at me like that. I got the short end of the stick. If it had been anyone else, they wouldn't have even landed a scratch on me."
"Yet there you were, flat on the ground like the rest of these weaklings," Kael said with a scoff. The other students lowered their heads, shame etched into their faces.
"Wh—" Ryan started, but the air suddenly crackled with tension as heavy footsteps approached, each one pulsing with restrained fury.
"Who the hell are you calling weaklings?" Grey growled, fists clenched, teeth grinding. Dante darted forward, catching Amir mid-air with precision.
"You all, of course. Who else would I be referring to?" Kael replied smoothly, raising a brow.
"Them, maybe," Grey said, gesturing at the battered group behind him. "But not me. That bastard I fought used magic far superior to mine."
Kael smirked. "And doesn't that still make you weak? I mean… I stood unaffected."
Grey's eye twitched. "That does it! Eat lightning!"
With a sharp snap of his fingers, two blazing arrows of lightning surged forward, searing the air.
Kael remained unbothered — shadows surged from the ground, engulfing the bolts before they could touch him.
"If it's a fight you want…" Kael said, stepping forward. Lightning roared from above, forming radiant boots around his feet. "Then that's what you'll get!"
The two collided in a blinding flash. Kael moved a fraction faster, appearing behind Grey and launching a bolt of lightning.
Grey, muttering "Mana…" beneath his breath, enveloped himself in wind magic, his speed tripling. He darted aside, the bolt striking the earth and exploding it in a flash of debris.
"Suck on this!" Kael roared, reappearing in front of Grey and slamming a lightning-charged kick into his face. Grey hurtled backward, blood trailing from his lips.
Just before crashing into a building, Grey twisted mid-air, stabilizing himself with wind magic. With a burst, he launched forward.
Mid-flight, he snapped his fingers. A dozen wind-forged swords screamed through the sky toward Kael, who raised a wall of shadow to block them.
But Grey was already behind him, wind condensing violently around his form.
"Wind Magic: Sky Cutter!" he cried.
A razor-sharp horizontal slash of wind burst forth, cutting through the air with a screech. But Kael blurred and reappeared elsewhere just as the attack tore the ground apart and split a carriage in two.
"Yikes, that was close," Kael muttered, brushing imaginary dust from his shoulder.
"Fusion Magic!" Grey shouted, hurtling through the air, wind trailing him like a comet. Kael unleashed lightning arrows, each one a crackling lance of energy.
Grey twisted, flipped, and hurled a gust of wind to deflect one, but another slammed into his shoulder. A searing jolt ripped through his body, electricity dancing across his limbs.
Gritting his teeth, Grey surged forward, eyes blazing.
"Fusion Magic: Thunder Gale!"
A compressed crescent of wind infused with lightning exploded toward Kael with a sonic boom. Kael's smile thinned.
"Fusion Magic: Shadow Protector!" he said, a shield of shadow-etched lightning erupting before him. "This shield can withstand an attack from even a level 11 beast!"
But the Thunder Gale roared with relentless fury, tearing through the shield and gouging a trench through the ground.
Kael launched into the air just in time as the blast obliterated the last standing building nearby.
"Yeah? My attack can rip through the hardest metals," Grey said with a grin.
A sudden spark flared behind him.
"What—?" A lightning bullet pierced his leg. Pain screamed through him as he crashed hard, blood pooling around the wound.
"You don't get it, do you?" Kael said, lightning swirling ominously around his palm. "I was testing the new 'demonic student' the whole time. But I must say, you're not impressive. You're overhyped."
Grey staggered up, leg trembling. The hole in his leg throbbed, but he didn't stop. His eyes burned with fury.
"You killed a level 7 boss beast. Twice. First year. Big deal. I took down a level 9 beast my first year," Kael gloated, electricity dancing around him.
"Oh, and let me guess… you are going to tell me how you mastered a breakthrough in an hour too?" Grey scoffed. "Who cares? I'm not a demonic student. I'm the Supreme Mage. Get that into your thick skull."
"I've been holding back. But now? Now I'll show you why I've earned that title."
Energy erupted around Grey, crackling arcs of wind and lightning lacing the air, his narrowed eyes gleaming with focused rage.
"Oh?" Kael smirked. "Holding back, were you? Guess what—so was I!"
Dozens of shadow portals tore open in a circle around Grey, lightning arrows emerging from each, honed to kill and screaming forward at breakneck speed—
"Enough of all this!" a voice thundered.
A crystal dome enveloped Grey in a flash, the lightning arrows shattering harmlessly against its gleaming surface. A massive crystal pillar surged from the side and slammed into Kael, launching him backward and dragging a line through the dirt.
The clash of demons! The clash of OP characters 😂 consider this as if Gojo and Sukuna in JJK were clashing 🥲