Earth's Greatest Magus

Emery immediately focused his entire attention on the suspicious figure and noticed that the other party was wearing the Magus Academy's privileged class uniform under their black cape. Coupled with the mask that entirely covered their facial features, the figure instantly became his number one suspect.

The next second, he appeared right in front of the figure using [Blink]. Eyes glaring straight at the unknown individual, wanting to see through the facade that concealed the identity beneath, Emery spoke with palpable anger.

"You… did you take her!?"

A man's deep calm voice rang out as the figure spoke.

"Don't make a scene. Follow me." Without waiting for Emery's response, the figure turned and started walking away. Through all of this, the other party's attitude was calm, almost indifference.

Unfortunately for the unknown figure, with Klea's safety at stake, Emery was unable to keep his cool. Casting [Blink], he once again appeared right in front of the figure, stopping him in his tracks.

"Tell me what happened to her!"

The unknown figure, who Emery assumed to be a young man, was silent for a while before finally speaking, "She's fine.. Come with me if you want to see her."

Emery was annoyed by the calm demeanor the other party had, and he clearly showed it on his face. However, he didn't do anything else. He understood that the most important thing he needed to do now was to stay calm, lest anything happen to Klea, and see what the man was planning.

But of course, Emery quietly grabbed the communication stone that Magus Shena had given him. At the same time, he spoke to the unknown man.

"Where are we going? ….I'm telling you don't you dare hurt her, otherwise…"

The youth whose face was covered by a mask continued to maintain his composed demeanor as he continued walking, but Emery didn't mind it too much anymore. The two sentences he sent should be enough to inform the Dragon magus of the situation.

The two of them made their way through the bustling streets, heading towards the other end of the city. To be precise, the young man brought Emery to the city's industrial area filled with factories and warehouses.

It could be said to be the unpleasant side of the acclaimed city, with its surroundings filled with thick black smoke and ear-splitting noise. Nonetheless, such a place was indeed the perfect location if they were planning to harm Klea without anyone knowing.

"In here," the man said as he walked to one of the large warehouses in the area.

Quickly following the unknown man inside, Emery was greeted by an empty space. There was nothing inside, apart from the dozens of boxes lying in the corner of the warehouse. Not a hint of Klea's figure could be seen.

Seeing that Klea wasn't here, Emery turned to the figure and shouted, "Where is she? Why did you bring me here? What do you want?!"

Ignoring the questioning shouts, the man calmly walked to the center of the warehouse. He then turned around and touched the bracelet in his hand. The next second, Emery received a notification on his own bracelet.

[You have been challenged by: Anzi Tamasi - rank 6]

[Will you accept?]

Emery's eyes widened when he saw the notification. He immediately turned his gaze to the man again, shock evident on his face. He did not expect that this masked unknown man would turn out to be the next privileged acolyte he would challenge.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind as Emery began to think about the possible reasons why he did this. But in the end, he had no idea. He could swear that he had not had any interactions or problems with the other party prior to this.

Therefore, he said, "I will not accept your challenge, unless you tell me why you are doing this."

Anzi slowly opened his mouth, his voice calm and deep as he said, "I don't like crowds…"

Emery was annoyed, extremely so. That was not what he wanted to hear. Out of impatience, he shouted angrily.

"Are you playing with me!? If you want to fight me, why do you have to involve her, dammit! WHERE IS SHE?!"

Again, Anzi was silent for a while then said, "The Cross family has her in their custody. She's… a leverage, so you will never threaten Master Shatter's position."

Master? Shatter?

Emery's mind began to quickly go to work, hypothesizing possible scenarios of what was happening right now. In the end, he arrived at one name and the memory of what Roran had told him resurfaced. Ranked 5th on the privileged class leaderboard – Shatter Cross.

Moreover, the person who was ranked 6th in the leaderboard turned out to be a subordinate of the rank 5th?

In that instant, anger welled up inside Emery. Still, he repressed it for now because he still didn't know Klea's situation.

Responding to Anzi's words, Emery scoffed. "Huh! Your master has to kidnap a helpless girl to keep his position? How funny!"

However, to his surprise, the answer Anzi gave was unexpected.

"The girl is not helpless… It's not funny at all."

Emery inwardly heaved a sigh hearing that. Klea must have given one hell of a fight to whoever kept her now. Calming down his raging emotions, he looked at Anzi and spoke again, trying to gather more information.

"Shatter doesn't want me to take his position, does he? Then how about you?! Why did you send me a challenge?!"

Opening his mouth, Anzi spoke in a calm tone again.

"I want you to know that you can't beat me..."

Emery snorted when he heard those words. "Huh! If I really can't win against you, then your rank 5 master shouldn't have to worry about me and carry out kidnappings!"

"No.. He does worry… because you could forcefully challenge him without defeating me."

Emery was amused by the man's words which clearly implied something. "So… you're saying you're stronger than your master?"

"Yes.. I am.."

Hearing the calm voice saying those words, Emery inwardly heaved a deep sigh of helplessness. All of these privileged acolytes had the same irritating sense of self-confidence as one another, and it was really starting to tire him out.

Either way, unlike what his master feared, he actually had no intention of skipping the man. So this fight was actually bound to happen, only now it was happening earlier than planned.

Emery might as well defeat the man first, and deal with that bastard named Shatter later.

[Accept challenge?]

"Yes."

As soon as Emery accepted the challenge, Anzi took off his black cape. As the cape fell to the warehouse floor, Emery's attention was immediately drawn to his shoulders which were exposed by his clothes. They looked deform, like the wrinkled skin of an old man.

When Anzai reached for his mask and removed it as well, it revealed half the face of a handsome young man with dark hair while the other half looked as defrom as his shoulders. It was eerie, to say the least.

Emery naturally would not judge his opponents by their outward appearance. In fact, Anzi's unexpected appearance only made him worried. It was because either the man was born deformed or his defects were a side effect of experiments performed on him, and with the huge faction behind him, Emery chose to believe the reason was the latter.

Seeing Emery's facial expression, Anzi turned to smile wickedly as he said, "You don't seem disgusted? …you should…"

As soon as Anzi finished saying those words, Emery could clearly feel the overwhelming power emanating from his opponent. In the next second, Anzi's body suddenly darkened, his deformed skin turned hardened like a tree and his body grew rapidly until it reached twice its original size, a 2,5 meters giant.

What surprised Emery the most was that, through his Spirit Reading, he was able to learn that the other party actually possessed more power than any acolytes he had ever seen, including Zach in his Dragon form.

The young giant calmly said

"You will see that I am the strongest acolyte in the academy!"