Chapter 117: A Clash of Darkness

“Hey… you’ve seemed to cause quite a ruckus.”

Corvus gave a weak laugh, more because he was tired than actually threatened. Even my spell didn’t touch him, the darkness itself seemed to avoid him as he stood in front of me.

[Professor, please return to your station immediately.]

The speakers blared out.

Corvus wasn’t supposed to be here; he wasn’t supposed to move yet.

“W-What are you doing here…?”

I instinctively stepped back. I wasn’t in the right state of mind to fight someone like him right now.

But…

Maybe this was actually a good thing?

A powerful opponent—someone who could withstand all my attacks, even if I went all out with my spells. With him here, I finally had the perfect excuse to unleash everything, a clear reason for why I went completely nuclear.

Better than just scorching everywhere I walked without reason.

At least now I had an actual, tangible target.

“For fun, I just wanted to see the destruction firsthand—”

FWOOSH!

I didn’t want to let him finish.

I couldn’t give a shit about why he suddenly moved before his assigned schedule for day 5.

All I know is… as long as I defeat him—or our fight tears apart most of the entire examination arena—this annoying examination will finally be over. Then I could finally return to Evelina again.

This time, there would be no teasing and no strange energy subtly lingering on my body to keep me frustrated.

Corvus shifted back a step, casual as ever, just before Endless Fang could open his throat.

“Whoa, easy there!”

He let out a low chuckle, but his gaze sharpened, pupils narrowing as he tasted something wrong in the air.

[Echo]

FWOOSH!

FWOOSH!

[Dark Manipulation]

Darkness erupted between us like a point‑blank bomb, the blast hurling us to opposite ends of the district. He reacted the instant he felt it—just barely managing to cast a spell to spread us apart before that monstrous blade could kiss his neck.

“T-That kid… that thing could’ve actually killed me…”

Hands still buried in his coat pockets, Corvus dug his heel into the shattered ground. The air around him was already shimmering as he prepared to fight.

“What godforsaken labyrinth did he get something like that from?”

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

I refused to give him the answer he wanted.

This time, I wouldn’t even waste breath taunting him.

Lethal beams of darkness screamed toward him—dozens at once, converging on his position—but unlike me, he still had mobility spells on his side.

[Dark Step]

[Dark Step]

Corvus snapped his fingers, and the darkness I’d used to smother the sky vanished in an instant, as if it had never existed.

He commanded the battlefield; where I was reckless, he was cold and calculating.

[Profaned Shadow Parade]

But I didn’t let that stop me. If a simple barrage of beams couldn’t bring him down, then I’d bury him under more—an entire miniature shadow army, swarming him from every angle to tear his focus apart.

Corvus immediately summoned his daggers, and with them came his signature.

It came in an instant—darkness crashing back over the district. But it wasn’t mine. This wasn’t the storm I’d unleashed before.

This was his.

And the pressure was crushing.

But…

[Profaned Prince]

BOOM!

I lunged.

Corvus was still busy carving through my mindless shadows, daggers flashing as he slipped between the serpent’s beams. Perfect. His focus was split.

There was no way he could still track everything.

SLASH!

He caught my first strike, steel screeching against my blade—but he realized instantly that blocking once wouldn’t save him.

His body twisted violently, spine snapping into a desperate contortion just before my echo triggered, barely keeping my blade from cleaving him in two.

SLIT!

Blood beaded on his cheek.

“Tch…”

He clicked his tongue and tapped his foot, trying to wrest control of the battlefield back to his side.

[Abyssal Devour]

Every shadow soldier I’d summoned shuddered and collapsed toward his heel, my army condensing into a single writhing mass beneath his boot.

CRACK!

He stomped.

My entire shadow army shattered at once, erased in a heartbeat—leaving only me and the relentless barrage of beams.

Dealing with both was easier said than done.

SLASH!

CLANG!

SLASH!

CLANG!

Parry. Strike. Parry. Strike.

We hammered at each other in a brutal rhythm, each exchange heavier than the last, both of us trying to drown the other in sheer force.

The ground buckled. Foundations groaned. The air itself warped as our magic thickened, reality straining at the seams under the weight of every clash.

And while he had the sheer destructive advantage, my weapon still far outclassed his.

“Kneel!”

[Profaned Prince]

Corvus’s knees buckled, his eyes widening as the sudden command caught him off guard.

BANG!

A brutal downward slash came for his skull, aiming to split his head in two.

He tried to block, but his weapon gave out before his body did. The twin blades of his daggers snapped, shattering as Endless Fang tore straight through them.

[Shadow Screech]

He fired back with a violent sonic assault, making me lose my grip on my blade as it went flying to who knows where from the screech.

Good thing I had unlimited extras prepared.

[Endless Fang]

[Profaned Screech]

Not only that, but I’d like to give him a taste of his own medicine.

BOOM–CRASH!

The last few buildings that were still standing didn’t survive the clash. Our sonic waves slammed into each other, the impact ripping through what remained of their structural supports.

One of those buildings—a five-story giant—began to tip, groaning as it prepared to collapse right on top of us.

CRRRRRR—

Concrete screamed and glass rained down first. Then the shadow swallowed everything, for a split second, the world dimmed under the falling mass.

Corvus clicked his tongue.

“Annoying.”

[Dark Step]

He vanished.

Of course he did.

Leaving me alone under five stories of reinforced stone and steel.

BOOM!

“…Tch.”

[Profaned Recovery]

I didn’t bother moving.

Didn’t feel like it.

If anything—

Good.

It gave me a brief moment to reassess the situation, even though my mind was still foggy. It wasn’t as helpful as I’d hoped, but it was a chance to rethink things nonetheless.

[Endless Fang]

[Endless Fang]

[Endless Fang]

[Endless Fang]

I raised the blade lazily. Dozens of others appeared all around me in a radius of a few feet.

Then swung downward.

One clean arc.

And the rest followed…

KABOOM!

First, a crater exploded outward from me.

And… just a few seconds after, another explosion.

BOOOOOOM—!

Dust erupted outward in a violent ring.

Cars flipped.

Streetlights snapped.

Chunks of rubble bounced and skidded away from my feet.

I stepped forward through the smoke like nothing had happened.

“…You’re actually insane,” Corvus called from somewhere behind me.

His voice echoed weirdly, bouncing between shadows.

I couldn’t tell where he really was.

But that didn’t matter.

[Endless Fang]

[Endless Fang]

[Endless Fang]

[Endless Fang]

[Endless Fang]

This sword wasn’t called endless for nothing.

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