NOVEL NEXT Chapter 102: The greatest mage of the century
To outsiders, it wasn’t clear what Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood were doing. A reasonable conclusion was that they were working together to divert the lightning strikes. Earl Rosewood couldn’t be so powerful that he was the only one defending and Prince Rian was just standing around for show, right?
Well, they were wrong.
Rian was the one playing defender and blocking King Augustus’s attacks by himself. Ren Xiyang was doing something else.
Over two years of magic practice and helping with the installation of underground pipes, Ren Xiyang was getting very familiar with natural earth.
This duelling platform was anything but natural.
The earth of the duelling platform was regular; there was no metal in the soil. This was part of what Princess Aurelia had ensured as part of ‘field preparation’, so that metal mages couldn’t create lightning rods to divert the lightning.
So Ren Xiyang extended his magic deeper until he found metal ore.
He had scouted it out earlier, so it was easy to find again. It wasn’t that far down, so Ren Xiyang didn’t know why Princess Aurelia didn’t remove it.
Oh well, better for him.
Ren Xiyang took heat from the air and the earth, turning it into magic for his own use. He extracted the metal from the ore deposit and pulled it up through the earth’s crust as tiny particles.
On the other side of the field, King Augustus noticed that something was off. The air was cold and dry. It was so cold that frost would have formed if it weren’t for the lack of moisture in the air; so dry that his throat and mouth were drying upon breathing in. His breath came out in white puffs.
King Augustus’s frown deepened. This time, he cut a ruthless path through those damned shields, aimed at their legs. With such a close endpoint, there would be no space for them to manoeuvre.
Just as he was releasing the lightning, a channel of air—so hot it turned to plasma—suddenly crossed his lightning path and headed straight towards him.
His eyes widened.
The lightning crashed down from the sky and split, half towards the Sedaverians and half towards him!!
ZZZZ! FLASH!
King Augustus swore as he batted away the lightning attack directed towards him.
C-CRK! BOOM! BOOM!
Rian calmly diverted the remaining lightning.
“That was awesome,” Rian praised, never stingy on compliments to his future husband. “Did you see King Augustus’s face?” he laughed.
Ren Xiyang’s lips twitched in amusement. “Hm, I did.”
Rian’s eyes were bright. “Since you did that, does that mean you’re ready?”
“Hm.”
Rian snickered. “Great.” The two of them both pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. Then they both pulled out a pair of noise-muffling ear-muffs and put those on too. The shield that Rian put up around them helped shade the flashes and helped muffle the noise, but a bit more protection was good for what was about to happen next.
King Augustus, Princess Aurelia, Duke Mauevine, and everyone watching: “..….….…..”
Chatting? Laughing? Wearing sunglasses?! In a middle of a duel against King Augustus?
With all the blinding lightning and ear-shattering sonic booms, this duel wasn’t for the faint of heart.
Count Aegean had felt constantly faint-of-heart during the duel so far. It was only because his heart had built resilience against Prince Rian’s actions that he could still stay standing.
Prince Rian’s heart though was on another level!
Before King Augustus could become incensed at Prince Rian’s disrespect, metal burst through the soil at over a dozen different locations around the duelling field.
King Augustus went cold. How was this possible? There shouldn’t be any metal in the earth!
The Angio nobles were just as surprised. The metal mages among them hadn’t sensed any metal—so where did they get it from?
Multiple lightning rods grew from the earth. Thin metal wires emerged from them, flying up, higher and higher.
King Augustus felt a sudden urgency. He drew multiple paths and released lightning, one after another—
Ren Xiyang’s eyes glowed red as wires of metal and plasma crisscrossed the air.
Rian narrowed his eyes and created alternative lightning paths towards the lightning rods to aid Ren Xiyang.
All of a sudden, multiple lightning strikes raced towards the ground faster than the eye could see. There were dozens of different lighting branches along all the different possible paths. The thin wires of metal vapourised under the intense bombardment, tracing out glowing lines like tendrils of a jellyfish.
The lightning rods glowed brightly as the lightning decided their endpoints.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!!
Deafening thunder rolled across the field. The vacuum shield around Ren Xiyang and Rian helped dampen the sound, but it still travelled through the very earth.
Rian exhaled and absently wiped away the sweat on his brow.
“Take a rest,” Ren Xiyang said. “I’ll handle the rest now.”
Rian quirked his lips. “As if.”
Neither of them could hear the other, but they could read their lips pretty well.
Rian didn’t want to stop yet: now that Ren Xiyang had relieved him of lightning-diversion duty, he wanted to clear away those storm clouds.
The lightning rods grew higher and higher. Ren Xiyang sent out multiple new metal wires and plasma channels, faster than before.
King Augustus was about to call down more lightning when he suddenly realised that there were metal wires and plasma channels heading towards him! Not to mention, the field was absolutely covered in hundreds of alternative paths for lightning, making it highly dangerous. If he called down lightning without precautions, he might strike himself!
Fuck, what should I do now?? There was a burning sensation in King Augustus’s chest and stomach, made up of frustration.
But while King Augustus paused, Ren Xiyang didn’t.
His metal wires and plasma channels reached the thunderous clouds.
The audience gasped as lightning discharged down like a waterfall of light, like growing branches of trees and leaves. It was beautiful and stunning, and it made them feel eternally grateful that they weren’t standing on that duelling field.
Earl Rosewood and Prince Rian… What kind of monsters were they? How deep was their internal sea of magic?
King Augustus had to go into defence mode, creating a shield around himself to deflect the rain of electricity.
This was the first time the Angio nobles had seen King Augustus on the back foot!
And neither Earl Rosewood nor Prince Rian were lightning mages! They were beating King Augustus using his own element!
The people in the city felt dazed and numbed. They too could see the deadly lightning and hear the thunder. Before, they jumped each time a strike came down. But now, it was like a constant rumble in the background. As long as they didn’t think about some poor person dying, it was a once-in-a-lifetime dazzling (un)natural wonder they were witnessing.
Rian’s eyes sparkled. Ren Xiyang was so handsome!
With Ren Xiyang and Rian working together, the storm clouds visibly lightened and the lightning visibly lessened. The thunder was constantly rolling and absolutely deafening.
Then, they stopped.
The sudden quiet was almost eerie.
King Augustus breathed heavily. He didn’t have any sweat on exposed skin—that evaporated immediately in the dry air and joined Rian’s water shield.
Rian removed his ear muffs, leaving them to rest around his neck, and took off his sunglasses. With magical enhancement, his voice carried through his shields and across the field, “King Augustus, do you yield? You should have duelled us individually if you wanted to have a chance of winning.”
King Augustus snapped.
His face twisted and his eyes turned red with anger.
HOW DARE THEY? HOW DARE THEY INSINUATE THAT? INSOLENT!
THEY DESERVE TO DIE!
King Augustus’s hands clenched. His magical power flowed out. He started to create the biggest lightning path he had ever made, from the sky straight down onto the Sedaverians.
Rian hurriedly put back on his protective sunglasses and earmuffs.
Ren Xiyang exhaled, and hundreds of metal wires and plasma channels rose into the air.
Rian quickly started weaving some metal into a rough cage around them.
King Augustus growled. Measly metal and measly hot air were not comparable to his lightning magic! He gritted his teeth as his lightning path connected with the two Sedaverians below.
—DAMN THEM!
The moment the path came close to Earl Rosewood and Prince Rian, it started to disintegrate.
Ren Xiyang and Rian were breaking down his magic from the air and taking it for their own use! Magical conversion was easy for them—they had to know all about it to develop their magical technologies.
FUCK THIS. King Augustus pumped more power into his lightning path, reaching up and down at the same time.
Somewhere, some of the vapourised metal in the air formed a sharp edge, razor thin and razor narrow.
King Augustus raised his head to the sky, ignoring the insignificant metal in the air. His lightning path reached out to the storm clouds above. He was going to use every single bit of lightning to crush them.
Rian’s and Ren Xiyang’s magical power twisted together, amplifying their strength. Their raw magic sunk thorns into the magical lightning path that King Augustus was building as multiple metal threads and plasma channels crisscrossed through the path.
Duke Mauveine had noticed something flickering at the edge of his vision. He glanced at the spheres and then looked away, only to quickly look back again.
King Augustus’ clear sphere turned red, signalling that blood was drawn!
“The duel is over!” Duke Mauveine shouted.
King Augustus’ path—
“His Majesty King Augustus’s sphere has turned red! His blood has been drawn!”
Princess Aurelia jolted. What, how was this possible? The blood detection spell had detected King Augustus’s blood?! “Your Majesty!”
—completed.
With the path complete, all of the lightning blasted down from the sky.
A fraction of a second ago, Ren Xiyang’s pupils had contracted. He suddenly realised that their alternative paths weren’t enough. They couldn’t take down King Augustus’s lightning path in time.
Next to him, Rian had realised the same thing.
King Augustus was using all of his magical energy to ensure they would die and leave nothing but dust. Unlike before, King Augustus was much more precise and accurate. The risk of the lightning striking them was too high for comfort.
Rian’s goading had gone a little too well.
Ren Xiyang and Rian would need to use all of their magical energy to survive.
Ren Xiyang’s eyes glowed demonic red. There was no time for emotions, only action.
A fraction of a second later, lightning crashed down, blinding everyone in the vicinity.
King Augustus’ lips curled up.
“—the duel is over!” Princess Aurelia’s sentence finished.
“Xiyang!” Rian suddenly cried out. The name was completely obscured in the deafening sonic boom.
Ren Xiyang started to fall.
Rian reached out and caught Ren Xiyang before he could fall. His eyes went red, his heart beating rapidly. “Xiyang,” he whispered, not that he could even hear his own voice.
Ren Xiyang’s mouth moved slightly.
“Fuck,” he muttered, in a lot of pain.
—The lightning had come down, branching out different possible paths. In a millisecond, it had chosen to strike them.
The metal cage around them had heated to super hot temperatures and melted. The cage collapsed and the lightning passed through.
Their luck had run out at the last moment.
Ren Xiyang’s hand had reached out, a fraction closer to the lightning than Rian. Ren Xiyang had made the split-second decision to take a majority of the lightning’s power—after all, he was better than Rian at this.
The lightning immediately latched onto him first, travelling over his personal shield. This shield was specially created to function like a Faraday suit. Some of the lightning skimmed over the shield and successfully discharged into the ground.
But the rest of the lightning shattered the shield.
His clothes went crisp and the lightning entered his body.
In a fraction of a second, Ren Xiyang had to set up his own lightning path in his body, into skin, through body, out of skin, avoiding all key organs and key nerves. The excess lightning discharged out of his other hand and two feet and into the ground below.
It hurt, almost like when he had burned himself alive years ago.
But it worked, and Rian was able to divert the rest of the lightning without obtaining any injuries.
“Xiyang,” Rian whispered. He pulled off their ear muffs and sunglasses.
“I’m going to nap,” Ren Xiyang mumbled. “Don’t wake me for breakfast. And don’t forget the money.”
Ren Xiyang’s last action was to quench all the flames on his body before falling asleep (unconscious) to the sight of Rian’s distressed face.
Rian immediately pressed Ren Xiyang against his body. There was the smell of ozone, burnt cloth and burnt flesh. His own heartbeat was so loud that it took him too long to check that Ren Xiyang’s heart was still working. Shock gave way to soul-deep exhaustion and pain—he had used all his magic. Rian ended his personal shield, folded his legs, and sat down on the dirt, Ren Xiyang still in his arms.
They had both trained for this. They knew the risks. With the “Faraday shield” as Ren Xiyang called it, they would also be protected against the attacks of most lightning mages.
Rian hadn’t expected Ren Xiyang to change their plan at the critical moment though! If they had shared the lightning equally, they’ll both be injured but Ren Xiyang would be less injured!
At the other side of the field, King Augustus stepped forward, gnashing his teeth. “How?!” he shouted. “You little bastard!”
He had felt that lightning touch them. How could Prince Rian still be alive? That amount of energy was enough to kill the entire audience, let alone two half-grown boys!
King Augustus suddenly realised something was wrong.
He couldn’t detect any electricity in Prince Rian’s and Earl Rosewood’s bodies. Were they dead after all? But Prince Rian was clearly alive—
King Augustus panicked.
He couldn’t feel the electricity in his own body.
Yes, he had used up his magical energy in that last lightning strike, but he always had his natural sense of electricity and lightning around him—
But he couldn’t sense anything behind his common five senses. He couldn’t feel the lightning in the storm clouds, he couldn’t feel the electricity in other people’s bodies.
There was nothing.
What did that Sedaverian bastard do to him??!!
Forced discharge of lightning: https://viktor-sbor.tumblr.com/post/698630882259599360/forced-discharge-of-thunderclouds-a-projectile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34NpyA2OuaE
So, who do you think was the “greatest mage of the century” named in the title?
Also, thank you to Turducken and Arro for your support! At least one reader jokingly (?) said that this will be a +300k story. I don’t that will come true…but I’m a lot less certain than I was 100k words ago…