End of the Magic Era

Lin Yun was still in good condition after more than ten seconds of the Lightning Shower, and even the two-hundred-meter-wide lava pond was still intact. The huge waves kept rising and falling, but with no effect.

Dubois coldly snorted in annoyance. He rapidly chanted, and numerous runes flickering with lightning flew out of his mouth.

Those runes attracted countless lightning bolts before transforming into a giant lightning spear that pierced down at Lin Yun. That several-dozen-meter-long lightning spear left a long trail behind it as it almost instantly struck the lava pond.

But suddenly, the lava pond’s position rapidly changed, moving several hundred meters away.

The thick lightning spear pierced the ground and instantly erupted with blinding light. It was as if an explosion was happening underground. Rocks fragments flew up and kept shattering within that light before completely disappearing.

“Rumble…”

Thunder boomed.

The white aura turned into a shockwave, and the power of the lightning was like a monumental tidal wave that roared several hundred meters in every direction.

The shockwave rushed into the lava pond and created waves of lava reaching up to several dozen meters in height. Waves kept appearing, but the lava pond still persisted.

A trace of surprise flashed in Dubois’ eyes.

‘It wasn’t an array! And he wasn’t extracting fire from below… Damn, how could that Mafa Merlin have so much mana? How could he do this while only relying on his mana?

‘He doesn’t have Extraordinary Power or Law Power, how could it be? He is just an Archmage relying on his mana! Even the strongest Archmage wouldn’t be able to persevere for so long.

‘Could it be… a Demiplane!? …Damn, that guy was actually lucky enough to inherit a Demiplane?’

As he thought of this, Dubois suddenly understood and sneered while looking at the lava pond.

“Mafa Merlin! It turns out you actually inherited a Demiplane! No wonder you have such formidable mana. But even so, there is no use. You are only an Archmage! You might have a Demiplane, but you are unable to properly exploit its power.

“Now let me show you why Heaven Rank powerhouses can’t be provoked, why Demiplanes can only display their power in a Heaven Rank’s hands!”

That black cloud vortex flowed backward, and the river-like bolt appeared to become slower.

Oppressive pressure emanated, and the lightning bolt appeared to become idle as the shadow of a huge world appeared behind Dubois.

That was a pure elemental world with endless wind elements whistling within, forming huge tornadoes. There was a boundless sky but no earth… Only innumerable wind elements. These wind elements kept congregating to form all kinds of wind spells.

Cyan lightning was converging in the upper part of the world, transforming into an ocean of lightning. At the core of the lightning ocean, a huge whirlpool was slowly revolving. Lightning bolts kept rushing into the vortex before disappearing.

It looked as if the lightning bolts would never stop pouring into it.

But eventually, lightning bolts gradually no longer poured into that vortex, and in the real world, there wasn’t any more thunder coming from the vortex.

In the illusory world, a huge and monstrous giant appeared.

It used lighting as limbs and a sphere of lightning as an eye, and the powerful wind elements converged to form a dark green cloud to form its body. The surrounding lightning bolts calmed down after that strange giant appeared.

That giant walked into the center of the illusory world and disappeared within the vortex.

Then, the illusory world disappeared, and the huge vortex in the sky became chaotic as it emitted an intense aura.

Lightning bolts and greenish-black clouds rushed out from within.

A black cloud giant that was over a hundred meters tall appeared. It was made of lightning and had fingers akin to the fork of the thunder tree.

In an instant, the entire world was filled with a fierce aura, and endless lightning bolts surged. As that ethereal giant leaned forward, a terrifying aura pressured down, as if a God had descended.

At that time, a Lava Giant slowly floated out of the lava pond, and with a huge wave of lava, Lin Yun was now standing several dozen meters high.

Seeing this illusory giant, Lin Yun’s expression became solemn.

He hadn’t thought that Dubois had already established his own Demiplane, let alone that living beings already populated that Demiplane.

That illusory world was Dubois’ Demiplane, and it was purely formed from wind elements. The upper half of those wind elements formed an ocean of lightning.

Thus, it could be inferred that Dubois had previously specialized in wind magic and comprehended the Wind Law before comprehending the Lightning Law.

That ethereal giant was the first living being born in Dubois’ Demiplane.

An Elemental God!

After a world was established and the Laws stabilized, the first lifeform to be born would be the strongest existence in the world, that world’s God.

The first lifeforms born on Noscent were Gods!

They were essentially the same thing, but the gap between the Ancient Gods and the Elemental Gods was incommensurable.

These Elemental Gods were just lifeforms born after a Heaven Mage established his Demiplane. The Demiplanes would still be in a growth phase, so although they were called Gods, they weren’t powerful enough to compare to the Heaven Mage himself.

This Elemental God was the Lightning Spirit born of Dubois’ Demiplane!

Its body was made of lightning and it was an innate master of that element. Although it wasn’t as strong as Dubois, it had one particular characteristic: It was very tough to kill.

This was very different from Lin Yun’s Natural Demiplane. The Natural Demiplane’s development potential far exceeded a Heaven Mage’s Demiplane. Because the Demiplanes of Heaven Mages Demiplane were created in the void, they were just like floating water lilies…

A Natural Demiplane was completely different. The first batch of Gods wasn’t something that this Lightning Spirit could compare to.

“Mafa Merlin, this is my Demiplane’s Elemental God Lightning Spirit. This is the correct way of using a Demiplane! Only using it for mana storage is a waste!

“Kill him, Lightning Spirit!”

Following Dubois’ order, the Lightning Spirit extended its huge hand made of lightning and the forking fingers made a grabbing motion towards Lin Yun.

Suddenly those fingers sharply lengthened, falling down like thick lightning bolts. It looked as if sharp lightning blades were slashing down from the sky.

The ground was cut so deep by the lightning blades that it looked like a bottomless ravine. The earth collapsed, and the destruction covered more than a kilometer. The blades of lightning cut through the lava pond, and the persistent lightning power spread over the entire lava pond like cobwebs.

Lin Yun’s Lava Giant Incarnation was given special care… The thick lightning blades intersected as they sliced over at him. The fierce lightning was as flexible as the Lightning Spirit’s fingers as they frantically twisted and turned, to the point where they could almost catch up to Lin Yun within the lava pond.

A lightning blade brushed past Lin Yun’s Lava Elemental Incarnation, and as light flashed, a meter-sized chunk of the Lava Giant was sliced off. That piece instantly turned back into lava the moment it was severed, and then was sliced up by the lightning permeating the air.

Lin Yun frowned. As the lightning bolts fell, the frequency and speed of the attacks increased. To a Lightning Spirit, controlling lightning was like moving a finger. They were superior to a Heaven Mage in that regard.

This was the path that Heaven Mages would typically take. After advancing to the Heaven Rank, they would open their own Demiplane in accordance with their Law, and once the Elemental God was born, they would possess a powerful, almost unkillable summon.

There was also a large amount of mana stored within the Demiplane, which could be used to replenish mana anytime in battle. That kind of pure Demiplane could add to the Heaven Mage’s power.

Only a Heaven Mage that possessed a Demiplane and an Elemental God could be considered a true Heaven Mage.

Heaven Mages weren’t just limited to Extraordinary Power…

In the sky, Dubois was sneering as he kept releasing spells to pressure Lin Yun, but he wasn’t spending a lot of mana to cast Extraordinary Spells.

Although the Lightning Spirit was born recently, it was innately superior and wasn’t something an Archmage could defend against.

Lin Yun was completely suppressed and couldn’t emerge from the lava pond. He kept moving within an area of several kilometers along with the lava pond.

As the Lightning Spirit slowly fell towards the ground, more and more of the ground was burnt black. The earth had been washed over by lightning bolts countless times, and not a single moderately-sized rock could be seen. Even the temporary base had completely disappeared. Everything had been crushed during the fight, and not a single familiar shape could be seen.

Lin Yun looked as the Lightning Spirit slowly fell, the lava pond already exploding from the raging lightning. Unless he used large amounts of mana, he wouldn’t be able to maintain the lava pond.

“Mafa Merlin, you are much stronger than I thought, much stronger than all Archmages, but I can see that you are reaching your limits. The mana within your Demiplane has already been consumed.”

A smile could be seen on Dubois’ face. A Demiplane could replenish one’s mana, but that mana wasn’t unlimited. Even if mana was constantly being stored in the Demiplane, the Demiplane itself had its limits.

An outstanding Demiplane could at most store two to three times the mana of a Heaven Mage. A Demiplane that could store three times a Heaven Mage’s mana would be rated as first-rate and be considered very formidable.

After the mana was consumed, drawing power from the Demiplane would result in absorbing its Origin Power!

Origin Power was the most important part for the Demiplane’s growth, so unless they were in a life or death situation, no mage would extract the Origin Power of a Demiplane.

The loss of Origin Power would inevitably reverse the Demiplane’s growth, and a huge price would have to be paid for recovery. Moreover, the Demiplane’s growth speed would be restricted after recovery.

If the loss of Origin Power was too severe, a Demiplane could even completely collapse. The consequences were just as bad as the Magic Conducting Rune or Mana Whirlpool of a mage under the Heaven Rank collapsing.

After the Demiplane’s collapse, the Heaven Mage’s strength would forever be halted, and if unlucky, they could even fall from the Heaven Rank.

Lin Yun sneered as he heard Dubois’ psychological attack.

Dubois only noticed that Lin Yun had a Demiplane, but he didn’t know that Lin Yun possessed a Natural Demiplane, and one with four stabilized Elemental Laws. Furthermore, it was maturing into a true world and had a large number of Mana Vines propagating, continuously absorbing mana from the void.

The Natural Demiplane was maturing at an extreme speed, and even then, the mana wasn’t enough for the Demiplane’s growth. But with that much mana for a single person, he would never have to worry about personal consumption.

Lin Yun hadn’t reached the Heaven Rank, so he couldn’t use the Demiplane to fight and couldn’t make the Natural Demiplane continuously replenish his mana. Every time he needed to replenish his mana, he would need a slight instant to do so.

But this also had an advantage that a Heaven Mage’s Demiplane didn’t have: He only needed an instant to completely replenish his mana reserves!

Lin Yun didn’t say a word and only attempted a token counterattack, not caring that the Lightning Spirit’s body was slowly falling closer and closer…

Dubois and the Lightning Spirit attacking together prevented Lin Yun from leaving the lava pond, and his mana was consumed like a flowing river.

The calm Mana Pond in the Natural Demiplane was now continuously fluctuating, and from time to time, a finger-sized thread of water would fly out of the Mana Pond before disappearing in the void.

At the exact same time, Lin Yun’s rapidly consumed mana would instantly be replenished. Every time the lava pond was about to be overrun by lightning, Lin Yun would replenish his mana and maintain the lava.

Dubois clearly sensed that Lin Yun had replenished his mana five times, yet his ice-cold smile didn’t wane. The pressuring Lightning Spirit was already fifty meters above Lin Yun.

The surrounding lightning bolts had already transformed into an ocean that spread over the sky, about to drown Lin Yun.

Lin Yun’s body had entered the depths of the roaring sea of lava. At the bottom of the ten-meter-deep lava pond, countless lava runes had appeared out of nowhere, but these fluctuations were covered by the fierce fluctuations of the lava.

Even Dubois couldn’t sense the situation at the bottom of the lava pond through all the chaotic fluctuations.

The lava pond was getting deeper and deeper as the earth underneath kept glowing red before transforming into lava.