Earth's Greatest Magus

Without further ado, Emery was once again involved in a brawl with the Dragon protege.

Realizing from his previous bouts that he was unable to defeat Zach with his strength alone, this time Emery tried a different approach to tackle this foe of his. As the ground in front of him was illuminated by a large circle of runes, dozens of green figures rose up from within.

Casting one of the newest additions to his spell repertoire, Emery called upon an army of Jade Warriors – to fight the Dragon protege and overwhelm him with sheer numbers.

Sixty-four Jade Warriors immediately raced forward and surrounded the half-blood Dragon in their profound Dao formation. Their steps on the ground created a rhythmic momentum, deterring those who saw them.

Emery sent his army of summons in two; the Sky and Mountain Array attacked from two sides yet supported each other. However, just like the occasion where he fought Anzi the Inhuman, these Jade Warriors were proven to be not strong enough to stop the half-blood Dragon's overwhelming power.

Each swing of the other party's sword strike or kick would shatter them to pieces in an instant, forcing Emery to quickly summon another wave of replacement to fill in the number. In all honesty, the Jade Warriors looked like a colony of ants fighting against a mighty elephant.

Before long, the full offensive formation this summons adopted changed as Emery realized the futility of such an approach towards his opponent. The Jade Warriors swiftly weaved among each other, forming a zone defense formation with eight groups of eight attacking in waves.

The sole order Emery gave to his summons was to focus on suppressing and restricting the Dragon protege's movement. And in order to further the effectiveness of the formation, Emery quickly joined the fray.

In response to the aggression, the Dragon protege breathed in the surrounding air while unleashing his [Draconic Flame]. As his entire figure was engulfed by blazing, smoldering flames, the illusionary figure of dragon flame roared indignantly followed by the powerful [Mega Flare] that swiftly burned all the Jade Warriors in the area.

These Jade Warriors were like moths attracted to a bright bonfire, one by one being incinerated into ashes.

"Bad strategy." Emery said as he clicked his tongue, blaming his lapses of judgment for attempting to use such strategy against the Dragon protege.

Even though his summons were all basically taken care of by his opponent's two moves, the word of give up never once crossed Emery's mind. Once again, he brandished his Savage Sword and spells to try to defeat Zach through his skills.

Multiple exact copies of himself, created through the spell [Void Mist], worked in harmonious unison as they unleashed an onslaught of sword strikes. Each and every one of those strikes was suffused with the extremity of the [36 Dao Divine Sword], able to keep the Dragon protege at bay.

Emery even attempted to be more creative in his assault by using his newly learned light spell [Blind] into the mix. Surprisingly, Emery's erratic timing of bright flashes managed to keep Zach distracted.

But of course, fighting against a powerhouse such as the Dragon protege was still a mounting task. In fact, there were many occasions throughout the battle where Emery was forced to use his [Aegis of Void] to block attacks that could incapacitate him.

Still, although not overwhelmingly, Emery was able to keep his ground and push Zach back.

Throughout the fierce battle, the female grand magus continued to sit and watch in silence. Even when Emery and Zach were seriously injured from their clash, she did nothing and just watched as their bodies regenerated and healed the wounds it sustained.

Time went on and hours had passed without realizing. At this point, the two weapons in Emery and Zach's hands had clashed more than a thousand times. The two of them had lost count of how many wounds they inflicted and healed from.

Emery was starting to feel tired. Despite being battered to a whole new height, his body was still fine and good for a few more laps. However, the fierce battle that he was fighting began to weigh on his mind.

Nevertheless, the entire battle did give him a chance to experiment and find ways to effectively utilize all the spells he had in real battle.

Seeing that his opponent was still capable of continuing, Emery gritted his teeth and persisted on. He fought fiercely and was able to corner Zach a few times throughout the battle. However, the longer they fought the more difficult he found himself in. He could feel how Zach's sword only got faster and stronger as the battle went on.

"What's going on?!!"

Emery was confused by what he was feeling. It was either because the fatigue had finally caught up or that Zach had simply become stronger. Unfortunately, the question had to remain unanswered as the counterattacks from the Dragon protégé came like a tidal wave.

Desperately driven by Zach's powerful blows, Emery took out his Lightsaber and started to fight using dual swords. With Savage Sword on his right and Lightsaber on his left, Emery mounted a retaliation against his opponent.

The decision naturally caused several missing, unnatural steps in the execution of his sword techniques, but it bestowed Emery a more powerful strike in return which allowed him to deal with the Dragon protege's heavy strikes.

It helped him to hold off against Zach's relentless bombardment. But on the other hand, it also created much more opening in Emery's moves, and once again he was pushed to a corner and wounded all over.

The [Undecaying Flesh] went into an overdrive to heal all the wounds he received. Thanks to that, Emery managed to resist for an hour against the seemingly unstoppable wave of attacks Zach pulled off.

But in the end, he was completely overwhelmed and badly defeated.

Seeing Emery unable to wield his swords anymore, the Dragon protégé quickly halted his movements. Looking straight into the former's eyes, with a disappointed look on his face Zach said,

"Is this all you got? I guess I judged you too quickly."

Normally, Emery wouldn't be easily provoked by words like that. But somehow, in this particular moment, when it was said by this particular figure, he could feel his emotions churn violently and his primal urge once again come into the surface.

With his badly injured body and turbulent emotions, Emery had neither the ability nor the will to stop the feelings that were threatening to explode into the world. He let out a deafening howl, shouting out the emotions in his heart.

HOWWLLLL—!!!

Unknowingly, Emery took out his [Blade Claw] revealing the pair of deadly weapons in his possession. From the looks on their faces, the sight seemed to take Zach and the female grand magus by surprise.

In the previous duel with Zach that took place before the mid-test, Emery never really got to use this weapon against him. He also had no plan to use it this time since he knew the Dragon protege was a fire elemental acolyte.

However, now that he had shown his innate ability, he might as well use it.

His feet kicked the ground and his figure disappeared, shooting towards Zach at breakneck speed. His claws were stopped by Zach's heavy sword, but Emery wasn't done yet.

HOOWWLLL!!

Letting out another howl, Emery launched a series of ferocious attacks that completely disregarded his own defenses. Retaliation and counter-attacks were swiftly delivered by the Dragon protégé, but he continued to press on.

Finally, at the cost of receiving several slashes to his body, Emery managed to create an opening. Unwilling to waste the golden opportunity, he acted nimbly and directly used his claw battle art technique.

[Rake Strike]

Swish!

Spllaattt!!

Crimson liquid flew into the air as Emery's three blade of claws managed to pierce through Zach's dragon scales and embedded deep into the Dragon protege's chest. It was not enough to incapacitate Zach, but sufficient for his ability to kick in.

[Spirit Devour]

A wild grin appeared on Emery's face as he managed to draw out a portion of Zach's spirit force. This action of his earned him an instinctive smash from Zach's fist to send him away, but the current crazed Emery grabbed hard and held on tight.

"Arrghh!! Get lost!!" Zach shouted as he felt his energy leaving his body.

Knowing he was in a precarious situation, the Dragon protege used his battle art technique [Hellraiser] to forcibly make Emery off his body. The attack landed squarely, inflicting a long deep gash on the latter's chest which threw and knocked him down to the ground.

It was certainly a reckless move that Emery had just committed. However, he was rewarded by the blood and the annoyed expression of the Dragon protege.

"You!! It's a devouring ability!" Zach shouted realizing what Emery did.

Emery just smiled widely in response. Even though a pool of blood was forming underneath his body, the injuries on his body were severe, and his spirit core was in chaos thanks to Zach's fire elemental spirit energy, all of that didn't seem to have any effect on his broad smile.

Realizing the trouble with his spirit core, Emery quickly tried to sit in lotus position. He closed his eyes and swiftly tried to expel the fire spirit energy he absorbed from Zach as it could cause some complications if left unattended.

In the process, however, Emery discovered something surprising about the Dragon protégé. In the spirit energy he had devoured, he discovered another element he was very familiar with amidst the abundance of the fire element.

The darkness element, which was surprising as it was something that Zach had never shown before.

On the other hand, the annoyed Zach was calling out for another round of fight when finally the female grand magus stood up.

"I've seen enough!"