Published at 5th of June 2026 5:54 am

Chapter 1779 The Strongest

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In a hilly region, far away from the main battlefield, yet another clash was about to unfold.

The Hermit stood all by himself as he faced the Stone Lord, Leland Haynam, and a Mana Core-level azirai under Volgron's command.

Even as the two sides prepared to fight, Leland couldn't help but turn toward Marden's battlefield in the near distance. The two battlefields lay adjacent to one another.

Why did he choose to fight them all by himself? Leland couldn't help but wonder.

Their side clearly had more Mana Core Magi. Yet Marden had been strangely insistent about fighting the two Ravenfell Magi alone.

Has he still not gotten over what happened at the Battle of Ravenfell? He wondered.

Leland could only come to the conclusion that this was Marden's way of completely cutting off all ties with the people he had once known. He understood that both Daniel and Nylian were like family to him. Well, at one point, anyway.

"Satiate my curiosity, human."

The azirai's harsh, grating voice snapped Leland out of his thoughts. The Stone Lord turned to his partner for the battle — a gray-scaled devil with leathery wings — and couldn't help but instinctively frown.

Something about the devils felt nauseating. From the way they looked to the way they talked, everything about them felt wrong. One would expect such creatures of carnage to be chaotic, yet they were strangely disciplined.

It was a contradiction in and of itself. Perhaps that was the source of the sickening feeling.

"That lantern," the devil pointed to the artifact the Hermit was holding. "What does it do?"

"This?" The Hermit glanced at the item in his hand. It was impossible to ascertain his appearance, let alone his expressions, inside the shadowed cowl.

"It does quite a few things," the Shadow Sect's leader said.

"Oh, does it?" The devil cackled as he retrieved the whip fastened to his waist. "Pray tell."

"You see…" The Hermit began in a slow, gentle voice.

"This lantern is passed down from sect leader to sect leader. Its origins are shrouded in mystery, just like our first sect leader, Lao Ren."

His tone turned reminiscent as he spoke of the enigmatic founder of the Shadow Sect.

"Lao Ren was a legendary figure in our lands. Did you know? He once prophesied about an outsider who would one day descend from Mount Hoshigane, and that this person would be the harbinger of great change.

"Don't you think how spectacular it is? That a prophecy spoken thousands of years ago has come to pass in our age. At first, I thought that the 'change' spoken of in the prophecy referred to the Fourth Great War that ravaged our lands decades ago.

"But I was mistaken… the 'change' Lao Ren spoke of was none other than the war we are currently participating in. You must have already realized who the 'outsider' in this prophecy is, haven't you?"

"You talk too much!" The devil's cold voice suddenly echoed. But it sounded far closer than before.

At some point, the azirai had arrived behind the old man with sheer speed alone and viciously lashed out with his barbed whip.

"Sometimes I get carried away," the Hermit sighed. The whip was only mere inches away from him, ready to brutally sever his head.

But at the last possible moment, just as the whip touched his body… it felt no resistance at all, and seamlessly passed right through.

The Hermit's figure vanished like a mirage!

"You asked what this lantern does."

His voice suddenly echoed from all around the battlefield.

The azirai's expression instantly turned solemn. He hadn't seen the Hermit weave any hand seals. In fact, he might have just been staring at the 'wrong' Hermit all this time.

"The answer is simple."

An elderly voice suddenly echoed right behind the devil.

The azirai's pupils constricted, and he launched fire magic from his palms, burning everything behind him.

But no one was there…

"It deceives."

This time, the voice sounded from directly behind the Stone Lord.

Leland's eyes widened as he spun around while simultaneously weaving hand seals.

And there he was…

The mysterious Hermit brought his staff crashing down with the might of a towering mountain.

Boom!

A massive explosion erupted across the battlefield, engulfing everything in dust and debris.

When the dust settled, Leland appeared to be relatively harmless. At the last possible second, he had managed to block the attack. Even so, he was still shocked by the sheer strength behind that strike.

He quickly regrouped with the devil, and both of them wore extremely solemn expressions on their faces.

Because when the battlefield became visibly clear once more, what they saw made their blood run cold.

One… two… three…

They saw countless Hermits now surrounding them, and they all looked the same.

Worse yet, they all radiated the same aura and mana signatures!

***

The air within the small section of the hundred-mile-radius no-fly zone grew heavy and oppressive.

It was as though the very space shuddered to hold the two beings currently present there.

What was about to unfold was no ordinary clash.

It was a battle between beings who stood at the very peak of this world. They were arguably two of the strongest Magi to have ever walked this planet.

The surrounding mana stirred restlessly as the two powerhouses stared at one another in silence. The skies above them gradually darkened, and even the earth faintly cracked beneath their feet just from the weight of the mana that flowed from them.

One was a man who stood at the peak of martial arts in the mystical lands of Yen-Lu.

His birth had forever altered the balance of power on that continent. Through strength alone, he ruled everything beneath the heavens.

And the most terrifying part? Most people didn't even know he existed.

The other was a man who grew in the shadows of great rulers, only to surpass his predecessors. He was the greatest emperor to have ever ruled the lands of Acadia.

His brilliance stood no differently than the sun itself.

On one side stood a man with long black hair. He wore loose silk robes that fluttered in the wild winds. He held a long, wooden pipe in one hand and smoked lazily from it.

On the other side stood a blond man in golden armor. His aura was noble and full of grace. His white cape billowed heroically behind him as he stood with his arms crossed and chin raised.

"No weapons?" Lucian asked.

"No weapons," Tian Di answered.

A moment later, the Hidden Ruler's lips curled into a light smirk. "No armor?"

Lucian's eyes narrowed.

But then… he grinned.

"No armor," he said as he put away the several Rank 4 defensive artifacts he had donned.

Now, both men stood facing one another with nothing but pride as armor and wielded confidence as their weapon.

The Strongest Magus of the East put away the pipe and got into a fighting stance. "Do remember your place. You are the challenger."

The Strongest Magus of the West sneered as he, too, got ready to fight.

"You're the one attempting to prove yourself here."

The air around the two Magi distorted, and the ground beneath them cracked and caved in. Their eyes blazed with fighting spirit.

The Honored One versus the Proud Sun.

And today…

Their battle would sunder the heavens themselves!

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