Earth's Greatest Magus

Emery was slack jawed hearing the other party's words. The man dared to claim himself as the strongest acolyte. 

To be honest, Emery found the man's words a little amusing knowing well that there were five other acolytes standing above him. However, seeing how serious the man was with his words, he decided to give the latter benefit of doubt and looked at the data that appeared on his bracelet.

[Anzi Tamasi]

[Mental score 10350 - rank18]

[Physical score undefined - rank 1]

A gasp escaped Emery's mouth as he saw what was written, before he abruptly turned his head towards the man.

"Rank 1 in physical score!?"

Currently, Emery took the fifth rank in the physical department. He knew that the Titan's bloodline Zetto held the third rank, while Zach Talon occupied the second rank. Therefore he didn't expect the silent man in front of him to be ranked first.

He once heard Klea mention that the person occupying the sixth rank was known as the Inhumane. Now seeing that said person exactly, Emery couldn't help but wonder if it talked about his strength or the severe deformation of his body.

The undefined score, however, only meant that the man managed to pass through the limit set in the physical test first than everybody else. It didn't actually mean that he was definitely stronger than his predecessors, but also vice versa.

This fact, plus seeing firsthand the strength the man was capable of, once again Emery's primal urge for battle emerged like crazy, tempting him to let go of all inhibitions and brawl against the person standing in front of him.

However, with Klea's safety still at stake, Emery decided to fight with all his strength from the start, so he could end the duel as quickly as possible.

[Twilight Transformation]

With his strongest transformation active, Emery's myriad of spells were further enhanced and hopefully would be an added factor for him to win the duel.

"I'm ready!" said Emery, staring at Anzi with a serious gaze.

The latter, however, didn't do anything. He stood still where he was, confidence radiating from his body with his arms folded across his chest. Seeing that his opponent didn't seem intent on making the first move, Emery didn't hesitate.

"Alright. If you don't want to, I'll go first then."

At this point, Emery had already enough experience with privileged acolytes to know that they were all uniquely strong in their own rights. Hence the key to fighting and winning against them is to know what exactly is their uniqueness.

For that reason, he took out the Savage Sword from his Spatial Space and swiftly channelled his spirit energy into the weapon. His figure then streaked down a curved path before swinging his sword, sending a powerful slash of dark energy towards Anzi.

[Shadow Edge]

His attack flew swiftly through the air, taking only seconds to reach its target. In response, Anzi's body turned slightly and swung his arms, using the back of his enlarged hand to receive the attack.

BAAAMMMM!!

A deafening sound occurred as the two clashed with each other. However, that slash of energy couldn't push Anzi back a step. Emery saw his attack only made a small scratch on his opponent's hand.

Nonetheless, he did not stop and ran to the other side, throwing [Shadow Edge] one after another at the inhuman.

BAMMM!! BAMMM!!

Emery was surprised to see the three Shadow Edges he threw were stopped empty-handed. If what he had previously thought was just an assumption, this scene clearly proved that Anzi's tree-like bark was extremely durable, reminding him of Twik's body if not better.

The three strikes that Emery sent were a test of Anzi's strength, and from what he saw, it seemed that the sword he always wielded might not be as effective against this one particular opponent.

"You can throw those energy blades as much as you want.." sneered Anzi with a thin smirk. "They won't have any effect on me."

But then, as soon as he had said such words, a drop of black liquid fell onto the warehouse floor. As his blood dripped from the wound on his hand, a look of surprise could be seen on Anzi's face. 

It seemed that Emery's attacks were stronger than Anzi expected. Nevertheless, it only slightly surprised him.

"What kind of fighter this man really is?"

Meanwhile, Emery was brainstorming how to deal with this opponent. At first he assumed that the man had low agility like his huge build suggested, but seeing the way the latter quickly moved his hand to receive attacks, that didn't seem the case. Probably, it was the lack of mobility, seeing that from after he finished transforming, Anzi still had not taken a single step.

Not wanting to rush things, Emery decided to further test the man's abilities in one other way.

[Jade Warriors]

After creating 64 of them, the summons quickly surrounded Anzi in all directions, locking the man in their formation.

"Attack!!"

Without further ado, the formation formed by 8 groups consisting of eight Jade Warriors began to act. They took turns fighting, attacking from various sides simultaneously, and managed to deal dozens of hits to Anzi's body. But the man seemed unfazed by the onslaught, as he calmly grabbed the Jade Warriors one by one, crushing them with his bare hands.

Right now, Anzi was like a fortress on a hill. He didn't move an inch from where he was standing, but there was no way to confront the man either. 

From the looks of it, the Jade Warriors was a wasted effort, as they were simply not comparable to the man. Hence there was no reason for Emery to summon them back after they were all destroyed by Anzi's slow yet steady retaliation.

While observing and waiting for Anzi to finish off his summons, Emery steered his spirit pool, replenishing the spirit energy he had depleted for the next round.

Finally, a few minutes later, all of Emery's Jade Warriors fell under Anzi's hands. 

Throwing the last Jade Warrior aside like trash, the latter looked towards the former and said, "Like I said before, I am the strongest acolyte; even your rival Zach is no match for me. The only reason he can have his current rank is because he didn't fight me."

Emery actually found his opponent's words hard to believe, but what he had seen so far did give some credibility to it. The man had agility worthy of being on par with other top acolytes, formidable strength and extraordinary endurance. As for magic, he most likely didn't have one except for some regeneration-type which made fighting him even more annoying.

Normally it might be easier to keep distance against Anzi in battle, but in duel, to win against the man was to break his defence. Therefore Emery thought of his two strongest offensive and chose one.

Channelling spirit energy through his two cores, Emery cast [Void Mist]. His figure disappeared for a moment before reappearing with four copies of himself that could be phased in and out space like a spectre.

The four Emerys shot forward, attacking their opponents in four different directions. This time, Anzi seemed to have finally gotten serious as he used a battle art that allowed his two large arms to move swiftly like shadows and hit all four figures at the same time.

Swissh— BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Four consecutive dull sounds rang out in the air as the four Emerys were hit and flung in various directions. However, Anzi soon discovered that none of them were the real figure of his opponent.

It was at this moment that the real Emery suddenly burst out of the mist that enveloped the warehouse, two energy spheres could be seen spinning above his hands. Emery brought the two together and released a powerful [Dao Matter] directly at his  opponent chest.

KABBOOOMMM!!

A huge explosion occurred inside the warehouse, shaking the entire building down to its foundations. Smoke was everywhere, so visibility was obstructed. Nevertheless, considering how Anzi had received the attack, Emery expected the spell was enough to destroy half of his body.

However, just a second after the explosion, Emery saw his opponent coming out of the smoke. Caught off guard, the latter managed to grab one of his arms. He immediately tried to break free, but it was too late.

CRAAAKKKK!!

"ARGGGGHHHHHH!!!"