Chapter 1028

Alba, Mada, Kael, and Jay stood firmly before Upper Zodiac Two—Lucien Nightbane, the former Principal of the Lunaria Academy.

"Ah, Kael, Kael, Kael... the best of the best students back then..." Lucien greeted with a small smile on his face as his robes flapped wildly in the wind.

His crimson hair, which was neatly packed in a straight, clean ponytail, cascaded down his back as he looked intently at the four standing in front of him.

Kael didn’t reply at all as he simply tilted his head, looking directly at the man while a dark storm cloud formed overhead, crackling and rumbling with powerful lightning that was ready to be unleashed at any moment.

A mocking smile curved Lucien’s lips as he angled his neck to the side in a clear taunt.

"How’s your father—the Emperor, after our last little visit?"

For a single moment, Kael’s brows twitched in pure irritation, and the clouds overhead rumbled in suit.

"Less talking," Kael muttered under his breath.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three consecutive strikes of lightning slammed violently into him from above, instantly transforming his form.

A demonic mask creased his face, followed by a crackling armor of lightning, a pair of glowing boots, and a pair of lightning swords that were all arcing with powerful, lethal energy.

"... More killing."

BANG!

And then, without wasting even a fraction of a second, he suddenly exploded forward in a terrifying, literal lightning-fast lunge.

Within a blink, he was supposed to have reached Lucien, but the very next second, Kael suddenly found himself right back in the exact same position he had been standing in just a moment prior.

He paused, his eyes blinking in confusion, only to see Lucien still grinning at him mockingly.

"Huh? Didn’t you just dash forward a second ago? How exactly are you back here?" Alba questioned with a deeply confused expression.

Kael scowled immediately, his gaze sharpening.

"His affinity. He is an earth mage with an immense, absolute control over the attribute. He can shift and control the surrounding terrains as much as he wants. That’s how powerful he is."

’Yikes. If he can do just that at his base level, how much more powerful will he be if he uses his breakthrough or worse, a full domain?’ Jay wondered confusedly.

Mada drew his sword as a torrent of ki flooded the blade, and soon, a swirling mass of yellow energy waves surrounded the metal while he glared directly ahead.

"Let’s see him try to stop me," he growled, and then—

Bang!

Mada rocketed forward with all the speed he had in him.

His feet pounded heavily against the ground with each step he took, while his gaze remained fixed entirely on Lucien, who was still grinning.

A shift! Mada could feel it happening right beneath him.

But before he could do anything to counter it, a shadow portal instantly appeared beneath his feet, swallowing him whole.

Lucien scowled immediately at this unexpected sight.

Quickly spinning around, Upper Zodiac Two swiftly canted his neck to the side just at the right moment as Mada could be seen bursting out of the portal with a fast, sweeping slash aimed directly for his neck.

Crack! Bang!

The sword sliced through the air with a loud bang, but Mada missed the target by a few inches.

Intense flames immediately roared around Lucien’s hand, which he thrust forward with all his might.

A loud crack was heard as the fist flew forward like a blazing comet.

Bang! Bang!

Alba and Kael moved with blistering speed.

Within a second, they had closed the distance, appearing directly behind the man while exploding forward with a coordinated counter-slash at his exposed back.

Before the swords could strike through, however, a massive, sturdy earthen wall immediately rose upward from the ground, absorbing the impact of their slashes with a dull thud that shook the solid structure.

As for his fist of flames, a dense ball of water from Jay flew forward from behind Mada with rapid velocity, crashing violently into the fist and veering it an inch to the side.

This bought just enough time for Mada to quickly kick the air and vault backward, narrowly dodging the funnel of flames that roared out from the man’s fists.

It crashed against the air with a loud crack as Mada escaped from the heat by the skin of his teeth.

High-pressurized spears of water immediately materialized in the air and, without any delay, they were launched directly at the man, who simply tilted his head, allowing for another massive earth wall to rise in place.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The spikes struck the wall hard, yet they couldn’t do anything to it.

Not a single chip was made, and neither did a crack appear on the surface.

’Ah, damn. This is going to be incredibly difficult.’

.....

Meanwhile, Scarlet, Greg, and Raze were faced with a hundred gleaming metal swords from Vince that were currently hurtling at them from above with stunning speed.

Before they could even move or attempt to dodge, a shimmering bubble encased them in its protective barrier.

But it wasn’t quite enough to completely halt the momentum, as they were violently hurled to the side by the bubble, which successfully veered them away from the direct path of the descending swords just in time.

BANG!

The swords tore through the spot where the trio had stood a second ago.

It instantly shattered the terrain into a deep chasm that kicked up a massive storm of debris with it.

The bubbles gave way immediately, allowing for Greg to lunge forward with blazing speed.

He closed the distance between him and Vince within the blink of an eye and quickly lunged forward with a hack of a lightning sword crackling with intensity.

Though not as fast as Vince, it was like his instincts had been sharpened as he quickly deflected with a gleaming metal sword.

Clang! Booom!

Sparks of lightning burst out from the swords as they clashed with crushing force.

The floor cracked massively as both combatants put pressure on their feet.

Raze darted forward with lightning speed.

Kicking upward, he hovered above Vince for a few seconds.

A crackling sphere of lightning appeared around his hands as he looked down at the boy.

But there was no time to think about memories of the past.

His teeth clenched deeply, unleashing the sphere of lightning toward Vince with blazing speed.

Vince caught sight of this as Greg bound backward in time, leaving the Zodiac to face the racing sphere of lightning.

A second from hitting him, a dome of metal immediately encased his whole form, swallowing it whole and leaving nothing outside.

BANG!

The sphere smashed into the dome with the force of a gigantic hammer, causing a loud ringing sound to travel across the battlefield with intensity.

The dome was moved a few feet away as it tore deep grooves into the terrain.

Vince let the dome down only for Scarlet to be seen before him with flames roaring around her hands.

"If you won’t listen to reason, I just have to beat it into you!" She roared with her hand shooting forward like a blazing meteor.