World's Strongest

Chris indifferently placed the long needle between his fingers.

He leisurely swept all directions as if coming out for a walk in the middle of tens of thousands of great forces.

“It’s Rakis’s Duke Chris!”

Pernok shouted as if pulling taut thread.

All generals surrounding this place opened their eyes wide in surprise.

“The enemies are only two—Chris and Owen!”

As if boosting courage, Pernok shouted resolutely.

“Kill these two and we create Illumina’s new order!”

The confusion disappeared in an instant.

Flemyr first raised the Blood Sword high.

“Even the world’s strongest Magus is merely a plunderer who invaded our nation! Prove to those arrogant ones on this spot that Illumina is never easy!”

As if responding, momentum boiled up from all directions.

“Prince Vans is dead!”

“It’s Prince Pernok’s turn to become the new king!”

“Punishment to the plunderer who violated the border at will!”

“Advance!”

If the opponent were an S1 Magus, forces would have had reluctant hearts.

If the opponent were an S2 Magus, they would have waited until Pernok wielded his sword first.

But S3 was an existence that appeared rarely in hundreds of years of history, and Gram was the only one here who directly saw that power.

People don’t realize how large and dangerous something is until experiencing it.

Because they hadn’t directly tasted it, they didn’t know what kind of existence an S3 Magus was.

No, perhaps it was better not to know.

Because on an unavoidable battlefield, hesitation ultimately became poison that gnawed at oneself.

“Annihilate the enemy!”

Pernok refined the artifact into glove form and raised his fist.

When spiritual power seeped in and flowed hazy light, Flemyr led the royal army and stepped forward first.

Hundreds of cavalry and thousands of infantry charged, archers pulled bowstrings taut, and nature type magic overlaid there.

Pernok’s main forces rushed out as high-level mages following guild masters.

Gram dropped gravity only around Chris and Owen.

Concentrated gravity added pressure to try crushing their bodies.

Within the inescapable pressure, Chris asked leisurely.

“Now it seems there’s no place for you in Illumina.”

“I, I’ll join you!”

A faint smile hung on Chris’s lips.

“From today you’re a proud 13 Lord of Rakis. I’ll bestow the title as soon as we leave here. First, protect your own body with Magus Arts.”

“No, then Duke…?”

“I’ll finish remaining business and wrap up the situation.”

Chris opened his palm.

The moment the long needle fell to the ground riding gravity.

Crack crack crack crack bang!

Cracks starting from the long needle spread in all directions in an instant.

Ground reaching fully 3 kilometers split and collapsed.

“Neighhhh!”

Horses reared their front legs in surprise at the shattered earth.

Regular forces could no longer advance.

Only Magi and mages who predicted this situation leaped while stepping on the shattered earth.

The one who reached first was Pernok.

“Quite well-trained soldiers.”

Had the enemies who faced him until now felt this way?

Chris lightly flowed past Pernok’s fist techniques without showing any signs of panic or fear.

“Sallio, dodge!”

Suddenly Pernok let out a sound close to a scream.

Observation Eye predicted Chris’s movements 1 second ahead.

BANG!

When the long needle grazing past the side of his neck showed lightning-like speed, it caused ripples in the air.

It ‘amplified’ like Sallio’s waves and swallowed mages at once.

It was time when even blinking eyes wasn’t permitted.

At one shot of a long needle that burst simultaneously with sound, half the mages died without leaving traces.

“…Heok!”

Though only once, those who directly faced it struggled to catch breath.

If Pernok hadn’t warned, they might have been annihilated by one thin, long needle.

He didn’t particularly activate magic either.

He merely contained mana in the long needle and flicked it.

As the attack faithful to basics contained absurd might, it was a fresh shock to Pernok who’d only faced Magus Arts wielders’ brilliant Magus Arts until now.

“Good eye.”

Clatter-!

The sound of needles colliding inside the pocket was heard.

How many needles was he carrying?

What was the limit of mana that could be contained in one needle?

Was Chris’s Magus Arts the type that strengthened objects?

Instantly, many thoughts flashed through his head.

Simultaneously, he judged he mustn’t give Chris time to shoot long needles.

Pernok stepped on footholds and stuck right to Chris.

Unless he was the type that strengthened the body, he thought hand-to-hand combat was advantageous to himself.

Rummmble!

Over Impact burst from the glove that started Circulation Link.

When he put that power into fist techniques to push from close range, Chris showed interest for the first time.

“Possible…?”

Though he couldn’t understand what he was saying, Chris clearly had his gaze drawn to Over Impact.

Shaaaak!

Flemyr contained the blood spread on the battlefield in the Blood Sword and aimed at Chris’s back.

Gram concentrated all gravity on Chris.

From the front, even Over Impact at its peak struck.

Chris’s lips twitched facing the joint work of three Magi.

“Good.”

At that moment, Observation Eye captured Chris’s ‘color’.

It was a very brief gap.

But when Chris momentarily amplified mana to his true body rather than needles, the soul burst overwhelming light.

‘Normally he hides mana inside his body so even S2 Magi can’t detect it. Conversely, that means he secretly condensed mana to a degree that it won’t be noticed.’

Since Chris became duke, Rakis didn’t wage any significant wars.

During the peaceful period, Chris condensed mana, and if that enormous mana amplified at high concentration and burst out?

SWOOSH-!

The mana took clear form and radiated light as if melting the entire body.

With the power of pure mana, he drove away gravity, covered the Blood Sword’s cutting power, and Over Impact of Circulation Link shattered.

“…!”

Pernok and Flemyr bounced away simultaneously.

And two long needles shot separately at each.

Though Pernok predicted movements in advance and barely dodged, Flemyr’s thigh was pierced through.

“Not something to dodge just because you have good eyes, are you good at sensing too.”

Chris intended to kill instantly, but Flemyr who contained battlefield blood and Pernok with Observation Eye avoided fatal wounds.

“I must have rusted.”

Simultaneously, Chris spread his longcoat.

Dozens of long needles stuck to the lining revealed themselves.

“Duke!”

“Urgh!”

Though Flemyr tried raising his body, he soon sat down.

He’d forcibly invoked Magus Arts in a state where wounds received from Buckingham hadn’t all recovered yet, and was even wounded.

To recover even mobility, he needed even one minute, but there was no leisure in Chris’s attacks.

The S3 Magus tried viciously and thoroughly swallowing even the slightest possibility.

He shook off all the longcoat’s long needles.

The moment dozens of long needles appeared in the air, Sallio’s group reached close at hand.

Gram’s Magus Arts was in the process of reorganizing.

All these processes appeared clearly like a slow screen.

Annihilation.

Five minutes after battle commenced, Pernok’s mind finished judgment.

Though there were two S2 Magi and tens of thousands of great forces were positioned, Chris differed in levl.

Information gathered that he was an existence one could compete with only after reaching at least 80 percent synchronization rate.

But within the seemingly reckless situation, Pernok’s body reacted before thinking.

Crackle!

Spiritual power reaching 60 percent synchronization rate seeped into the artifact and let out a thunder-like shout.

Simultaneously, Pernok activated the time Magus Arts taken from the previous Mage Association head.

The series of processes of Chris placing fingers on long needles became clear.

While time around him slowed, Chris’s individual bodily time was rapidly activated.

He used both halt and aging together while activating Divine Punishment.

Though it was an excellent link targeting this moment when Chris unfolded large movements, amidst Divine Punishment forming in the sky, Pernok was swept by strange unease.

‘What is it?’

Chris who shouldn’t be able to move was already turning his head before he knew.

He who met eyes with Pernok muttered.

“It was this type.”

And in halted time, Chris’s finger flicked the long needle.

The surreal that must absolutely not be forgotten surpassed Pernok’s common sense at once.

BANG!

The moment the long needle touched Divine Punishment, pure white lightning stopped in the air.

It was as if it halted the world’s time.

Observation Eye captured this strange change.

“…!”

Chris’s mana was spreading.

Simultaneously, it intertwined in a special way and was born as Magus Arts of the same nature as time Magus Arts.

Though it seemed similar to the ability of Cargoras that showed might in the demon beast mountain range, it was subtly different somewhere.

A feeling of imitation rather than means like copying.

But that might was more than enough to swallow this entire area.

“So it was that!”

A voice mixed with ecstasy shook the halted world.

It was Gram’s Magus Arts.

His gravity was sublimated into a new realm reaching ‘reversal’ beyond the level of simply crushing and lightening.

As if this were the original Magus Arts, Gram reversed time.

He accelerated Divine Punishment falling on Chris, rewound the group’s time, and induced all pressure to head toward Chris.

“Imitating my Magus Arts…!”

Though it was an excellent opportunity, Gram’s thoughts didn’t continue long.

BOOM!

Simultaneously with Divine Punishment falling, the reversal disappeared.

Chris lightly tore through the pure white light and emerged.

Though he tilted his head whether the spiritual power remnants clinging to his body were mysterious, the appreciation didn’t last long.

“…Cough.”

Before he knew, Gram knelt while coughing blood.

Observation Eye didn’t capture the long needle shot while hidden by Divine Punishment’s light.

The secret move targeting the blind spot of vision pierced Gram’s chest.

“Excellent, Prince Pernok.”

The entire series of processes all occurred according to Chris’s will.

And he gazed at Pernok with a cold expression.

“You truly wield Magus Arts difficult to understand. A talent whose next 10 years are anticipated.”

Crack crack crack bang!

As the halted time flowed properly, dozens of long needles burst in all directions and swept away allies.

As if receiving bombardment, massive pits formed everywhere.

Where high-level mages coughed blood and screamed, Chris placed the last one long needle between his fingers.

Pernok poured cold sweat for the first time in the lower realm.

It was a battle that must be done, and he’d judged it a high-probability fight.

He moved after sufficiently considering S3’s danger.

When Magus Arts overlapped, he was confident in victory.

Even if he shook it off with his true body’s mana, he could prepare the 2nd, 3rd shots.

But he didn’t predict one thing.

Versatility.

He barely grasped the special nature of the Magus Arts Chris possessed.

That was.

“You could imitate targets’ Magus Arts.”

Like rewinding time reversely, digging into the principles of a target’s Magus Arts once faced and conversely wielding it himself.

Just before, he didn’t use only Pernok’s time Magus Arts.

Certainly, when Divine Punishment struck his body, Chris even imitated Gram’s ‘reversal’.

“You pass.”

Chris looking indifferently as if giving teachings tried spitting out the last strike.

Pernok had no particular means.

This time, even if he foresaw actions with Observation Eye, his body wouldn’t follow.

“Even that popularity.”

However, Chris’s finger moved to the right.

Not here but beyond there.

The long needle shot to a place with considerable distance.

Bang!

Mana comparable to Chris surged in an instant and blocked the long needle.

Before long, the existence that appeared in the blink of an eye surprised Pernok once more.

As if everyone in this place didn’t predict, they concentrated gazes on the veiled woman wearing pure white divine robes.

She dropped the long needle grasped in her palm to the ground and drew a beautiful smile.

“It’s been a while, Duke Chris.”

Chris’s eyes twitched.

The Holy Kingdom that maintained presence quietly without interfering in other countries even amidst the world’s countless wars.

The existence that broke that historical framework now stood here in a form Chris didn’t predict.

“I thought Gram alone couldn’t defeat the empire’s nobles. Though I had other forces in mind, was it you, Arisha.”

The world’s other S3 Magus.

Holy Kingdom’s High Priest Arisha smiled while protecting before Pernok.

“Under the Sacred Emperor’s holy will, the Holy Kingdom supports Prince Pernok as Illumina’s new king. Even if the Rakis Empire blocks, this will absolutely never change.”