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The bright green light disappeared; in its place, a spotless white stone floated in the air.
As if it had a conscience, it floated until it finally settled before the two of them.
“Is this
 the artifact of god, the Primordial Stone?” Theta stared at Stormwind with awe in his eyes.
He felt an inexplicable sense of great power in that tiny object.
Out of everyone present, he was the one most attuned to the wind attribute, so he knew better than anyone else that the Stone held the power to bring an entire nation to ruin. It was strong enough to bring thousands, no, tens of thousands of enemies to their knees on its own.
“Looks like I’m not Stormwind’s only choice.”
“Huh?”
Joshua's words shattered the moment of calm.
“You can see it from the way it’s deliberating between the two of us.”
Theta flinched and then began to tremble.
“But I—” He stopped, bewildered.
Theta was a man of great wisdom and clearly understood the dangers of unchecked authority and power.
He had seen what happened to a mage who was obsessed with acquiring power. After all, hadn’t he seen Jerath Dek Orbis’s tragic end?
“What are you scared of?”
“...!”
“At this point, there’s nothing else that you can lose, is there?”
“That—” Theta fumbled for an answer.
Joshua grinned lightly.
“If you’re still unsure
”
“...?”
“Then I’ll take it for a bit.”
“...!” Theta’s eyeballs bulged at Joshua’s comment. “You mean—”
“I gave you your chance.”
Joshua’s grin quickly became bigger. When it came to greed, he was the worst.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand Theta; it was just that his resentment towards Evergrant was equal to or greater than Theta’s.
Step.
Joshua took a step forward and reached out to take Stormwind. He had missed it once before because he had hesitated; he didn’t plan on missing it again the second time.
His hand clamped around the stone.
“Urk—!” Theta frowned, blinded by the sudden burst of lights.
The Primordial Stone, Stormwind, penetrated Joshua’s body with powerful energy, changing even his outward appearance. His black hair turned bright green, and a strange wind began forming around him. It was as if the wind was flowing all around his entire body.
“Do you think I’ll let this go?” Evergrant screamed as he looked on.
“The power of the pentagram that does not exist anywhere in the world!”
Theta heard Evergrant’s first stanza and reacted immediately.
“That chant
!” he exclaimed incredulously.
Among the seven classes of magic, fire magic was the most destructive.
“I, Evergrant, am going against the flow of the world!”
“No
 No!” Iceline shouted upon realization.
“Indomitable heat, annihilate the enemy in front of me! Set them alight and turn them to ashes! Obliterate them!”
“N-no!”
As a Class 8 Archmage, a large portion of the chant was omitted. But that didn’t mean Theta and Iceline didn’t recognize it.
It was

Whooooong!
“....”
An odd sound abruptly echoed through the air.
Not long after, a pattern in the shape of an inverted pentagram began forming underneath Joshua’s feet.
Once Evergrant saw it, he extended his staff forcefully and finished his chant.
“Lagna Blast!”
“Joshua!” Iceline cried out as the cluster of red lights began to fill her field of view.
Above the pattern, a pillar of flame rose. It was so powerful that the force felt like it would pierce the sky.
Nearby people flinched and retreated back because of the extreme heat, which was already burning their flesh.
Soon, Joshua was hidden from sight. He was trapped inside.
“That’s
 Class 7 magic—”
Gulp.
Gabiji choked down the lump in his throat as silence descended onto the place.
It had been a few seconds since Evergrant and Joshua had been swallowed by the flame. The onlookers called out to the other side, to no avail—no answer was ever received.
“The Tower Master!”
“...?” Gabiji's head turned towards the sound of the voice. It came from his fellow mages.
“As expected! Even Avalon’s monster doesn’t stand a chance against the Tower Master!”
A glow of astonishment filled Gabiji’s eyes.
That first cheer was just the beginning.
“Our very first Class 8 Archmage!”
“Mister Evergrant!”
“Our dream will come true! History’s first Magic Empire! To be with the person who will make that come true—!”
The moral of the mages of the Magic Tower was sky-high; in fact, there was so much enthusiasm that a few people actually started cheering. How could they not be happy when their enemy, the one who seemed more like a monster than a human, was defeated by their one and only Master?
However, there was someone who dampened that enthusiasm.
“That’s impossible.”
“Ash?” Iceline looked towards the person who spoke.
“At least as far as I know, there’s no way a regular human could defeat Joshua.”
Boom!
“...!”
Iceline’s pupils dilated as the pillar of flames was slashed in half by an enormous explosion.
Ash’s voice continued on.
“At this point
 There is no one who can defeat him.”
“Joshua!”
Unlike Iceline, Evergrant was not at the very least shocked. At the first hint of a change, he had already been plotting his next move. Evergrant clasped his hands and started chanting again.
“Blaze at the bottom of the earth. The pinnacle of all fire. I bring forth the fire that only exists in Hell. Consume everything that you can reach, even heaven. Swallow it all if you desire.”
Woooosh!
“...!” This time, even Ash’s expression contorted, too.
The flames that appeared in front of Evergrant’s face were not red in color. It was hard to imagine that fire could have that deep blue color.
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“Hellfire.”
In Evergrant’s hand, a Class 8 spell finally came into being.
‘Although it’s memorization which doesn’t need casting, Class 8 magic still needs to be verbalized. In the end, your arrogance will be your doom.’
Half of his mana hall was exhausted instantly, but Evergrant felt nothing but calm as he looked at the blue flames floating in front of him. Nothing existed in this world that Hellfire couldn’t burn.
Evergrant's grin broadened quickly as he caught sight of Joshua emerging from the blaze. He was not hurt, and the clothes on his body were in good shape as well, but at this point, it was useless.
“Can you block this? However divine the wind may be, it will always lose to fire.”
Joshua took in Evergrant’s words and laughed out loud.
“I was wondering what you were blabbering about again, but you’re only talking about affinity?”
“Kekeke
 ‘only’?’” Evergrant's eyes narrowed dramatically. “You have a high opinion of yourself if you think you know the key to affinity. There’s nothing as important as an affinity for mages. Maybe if it was the Primordial Stone of Earth, but Stormwind—”
“That’s why
” Joshua mumbled before Evergrant could finish.
Evergrant bit his tongue.
“You’re a mage.”
“....”
Joshua’s voice seemed to contain mana; it was so powerful that it seemed to pierce the ears of everyone there.
The reaction was instant and explosive.
“That bastard!!!”
“Mister Evergrant! Show that Avalon dog what magic can do!”
“Please show him!”
Evergrant’s eyes took in the hope and ambition in the mages’ eyes before flicking back to Joshua.
“Alright
 If you’re so confident, then stop this.”
Woosh!
It was at that moment that the floating, dark blue flames suddenly grew to terrifying proportions with a resonant hum. Evergrant had put in every last bit of his remaining mana.
“Can I tell you something?”
Evergrant flinched.
“Huh?”
“In addition to the capabilities associated with its traits, each Primordial Stone possesses a unique set of abilities. Bronto grows, Magma delivers extinction,” Joshua continued to mutter in the midst of their bizarre confrontation. “So, then, what abilities does Stormwind have?”
“That thing—” Evergrant instantly had his staff fully extended in Joshua's direction. “That thing is insignificant when faced with Class 8 magic!”
The dark blue flames of the Hellfire had grown as big as a body; it flew towards Joshua.
“HAHAHAHAHA!”
Evergrant’s madness leaked out. He had no doubt that the person whom he thought of as an eyesore was going to become fodder for the Hellfire one way or another.
“The answer is
” Joshua lifted his spear with a grin on his face and aimed it toward Evergrant. “Symbiosis.”
“...!” Evergrant's eyes widened in surprise. Something changed, and Evergrant did not fail to notice this.
There were three objects, all a different color, embedded in the spear. Evergrant stared intently at them. He realized what they were when he saw the white object that was so perfect it didn’t have a single blemish on it.
“Primordial Stones!” Evergrant cried out, once again shocked.
It was impossible. It should never have happened.
Primordial Stones of unknown origin and a mysterious spear which Evergrant did not fully know of its origins, but could make a guess.
How could the incompatible objects take shape like that?
Smack!
“...!”
The raging Hellfire Evergrant had launched earlier came to a very anticlimactic stop just a few inches before it hit Joshua’s face; it was as if it had simply been turned off.
It was such a close distance that if it had been a normal person, then even their bones would have disappeared, but Joshua was no regular person.
“Earlier, I gave you a little peek.”
He stared at Evergrant. The mage had become stiff as a statue under Joshua’s gaze at that point.
“Now, this is the real thing.”
Woosh!
A bolt of flame sprang from the earth and erupted.
Boom!
Next, white lightning bolts crashed to the earth with a deafening scream.
Whooooo!
The gale that had been swishing around them both now converged on Joshua.
“The darkest pits of hell welcome you, Evergrant.”
“...!” Evergrant opened his mouth dumbly with no idea what to say.
A dull roar filled his ears.
Thud.
Joshua pounded the earth with the butt of his spear.
At that instant, the land split into two.