Ascension: Strongest Fateless Mage

All the participants climbed to the 1st platform and maintained a certain distance between each other. However, nobody stood at the edge.

Zevien and some others floated in the air near the center as everyone waited for the round to start.

"After I finish counting to 0, everyone can start fighting."

"One!…"

Everyone's face changed as nobody expected Melissa to start with one. However, she wasn't finished…

"Hundred!"

The participants and audience almost fell on their faces at this joke.

"Hahaha!"

But the audience started laughing a second later while the participants looked speechless.

"Sorry, haha," Melissa chuckled before pausing for a second and smiling brilliantly as she opened her mouth. "Zero!"

"Shit!"

"Fuck!"

The participants became tensed for a second before the chaotic battle started!

Zevien rolled in the air to dodge an incoming wind ball and flew behind as he kicked someone with his full power.

*Swoosh…*

"Wha-!" the person Zevien kicked could fly, but he was still thrown back twenty meters away. 'What the fuck is that physical strength?'

Zevien didn't pay any attention to the person he kicked since other people were near him. He covered himself in a purple-hued barrier and oozed out Despair Aura using Somatic Sadness.

A few more attacks arrived at him randomly, but he dodged them narrowly. 'I shouldn't float in the air just to be targeted randomly.'

*Swoosh…BOOM…*

He used Somatic Anger to buff his physical body and landed on the platform with a bang as he punched with his full power, creating short waves that threw the balance of some people near him.

'Let's start!' Zevien laughed inwardly. He clenched his fist and dashed towards the nearest person as he punched him before opening his fist into a palm and releasing a purple orb that followed the person he hit.

"NOO!" the man hit by Zevien was thrown out of the boundary!

*BOOOM…*

Boundary-break! Eliminated!

Zevien saw several people coming toward him, but he flew up and did a spin kick towards the nearest one, 'want to gang up on me? Heh, that won't be so easy in this messy fight.'

He flew a few meters away and landed again before using Brilliant Burn four times as four rectangle-shaped brightly burning curtains flashed.

"Argh, why the fuck does a vampire have that annoying spell?"

Several affected participants were annoyed by this spell that blinded them and burned their eyes such that they had to close them and release spells toward Zevien quickly.

But Zevien grinned. He had expected this development, so he quickly dispersed the Brilliant Burn curtains and flew up before their magic spells could hit him.

*Boom…Crackle!…Zap!…Swooosh!…Dhoof!…*

None of those spells hit Zevien, but they hit other participants, and two of them even got eliminated!

"STOP!" Melissa shouted as she clapped once and a magic circle appeared on the 1st platform that forcefully dispersed everyone's spells. "Ten people are eliminated! Move to the 2nd platform!"

Participants went to the edges of the 1st platform and jumped by infusing mana in their legs to reach the 2nd platform, which was five meters high. The seven people who could fly flew instead and arrived on the 2nd platform.

Melissa counted to 0 for everyone. This time, she did it correctly from 3 to 0.

The chaotic battle started again, but Zevien decided to target specific people this time.

*Swoosh…*

He zoomed towards the nearest participant that was flying, a girl with a big bust and butterfly wings. Zevien released a Nyxite Claw with a Blackout Bubble following right behind it towards the girl.

The girl saw Alucard targeting her and snorted as she clapped her hands and flapped her wings vigorously towards Zevien. 'Combo magic: Thunder Gust'

She used two magic spells that complement each other as a powerful shock wave with a gust of wind shot towards Zevien. The Nyxite Claw and Blackout Bubble were thrown away and dispersed!

'Wow,' Zevien was impressed, 'so this was her trump card? But too bad….'

Zevien conjured a barrier using Somatic Sadness around him that blocked the powerful gusts of winds and used Somatic Fear to release a mind attack on the girl.

The girl closed her eyes as she received a sudden, painful headache that caused her to discontinue her Thunder Gust combo magic.

*crack….* Zevien's Somatic Sadness barrier was also on the verge of getting destroyed as countless cracks appeared on it.

'Ok, it is truly confirmed now. My barrier can mutually destroy the incoming spell and its atmospheric effects so that the spell's aftereffects wouldn't pass through it,' Zevien thought as he confirmed the true nature of his Somatic Sadness barrier after he was not pushed back by the shock waves from the gust of winds despite them hitting his Somatic Sadness barrier.

If Zevien didn't conjure the Somatic Sadness barrier and let the shock waves from the gust of winds hit him, the badge's barrier would have absorbed the damage, but it wouldn't have nullified the effects. He would've been pushed back due to the gust of winds. However, his Somatic Sadness barrier absorbed the damage and nulled the effects. So as long as he activated his Somatic Sadness barrier, he could perfectly defend himself.

'I should name it Omni-Barrier. I need to check if it can also block Mind-type magic spells,' Zevien thought as a grin formed on his face, and he renewed his Somatic Sadness barrier while also arriving near the girl and kicking her.

A barrier flickered in existence around the girl when Zevien's kick neared one meter of her.

*Smash!*

The kick threw her away, but she quickly flapped her butterfly wings to stop herself. However, she was hit by Blackout Bubble right after she stopped.

"AAAH!" The girl screamed for a second as she lost all of her senses abruptly. But she calmed down a second later and started releasing her magic spells chaotically around her in defense.

Zevien was taken aback and backed off while the people near her attacked her and eliminated her quickly.

Another thing that was hard to notice for others was that the participants that Zevien passed by were mentally affected slightly because of the Despair Aura, and that caused them to get distracted with a drop in their performance.

"STOP!"

A magic circle appeared on the platform that dispersed everyone's magic spells. Ten more people were eliminated, much quicker than previously.

"Onwards to the next platform, please!"