Garantep’s crescents filled the sky, still growing bigger by the second. But within the mass of Darkness, crimson dots were spinning at blinding speeds.

Garantep had a stupid amount of energy, but James wasn’t a slouch either.

The durability of his body had been greatly increased over the three months of training, and yet the skin on his hands was beginning to crack and bleed from the sheer amount of mana that he was pumping out.

Normally, a mage wouldn’t be hurt by his own mana like that, at least not someone as powerful as James.

But James’s mana pool was far higher than that of an ordinary mage. And he was now dumping it all out forcefully.

His mana worked differently than other peoples’. His mana pool was immense, but it still had a caveat. His total mana was like an endless ocean, but he couldn’t use all of it at once. He could still use more than hundreds of mages put together, but there was still a limit.

It was as if he had an endless ocean within him, but he could only use a sea’s worth at a time. A sea that would be quickly replenished by the ebbs and flows of the ocean.

But under the effects of so many stacks of [Reckless Abandon], he didn’t even need to wait for his mana pool to be replenished. It was like the walls between the sea and ocean within him had been broken.

His hands felt like they were burning as the blood shot out along with the mana. But that didn’t matter, all he cared about was winning.

As more and more mana was exploding out of him, the crimson sparks of the Chaos Flower were growing bigger and even faster.

“Why won’t you die? Why? Just how much do you have within you?” Garantep shouted.

Darkness was flowing out of Garantep as fast as mana was shooting out of James.

Both were even visible any more within the sea of energies that they had unleashed. Their almost translucent bodies looked like they were fading in and out of existence, especially as they were dodging each other’s attacks, constantly flinging and flying around without standing still for a single millisecond.

James’s group was watching the battle from afar, frozen in awe and fear and a million other emotions.

“My God, can we help him somehow?” Lunaris cried out, even though she knew the answer.

“The best thing we can do for him right now is to stay out of his way.” Helios replied while hugging her.

The dwarves had their hands clasped together, their eyes closed as they were praying for James.

Emilia and Denmac hugged each other like two scared bunnies, too paralyzed with fear to do or say anything.

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Huddled within their barrier, they felt like ants on a plank in a tumultuous ocean, praying that a stray wave won’t turn the plank over.

They all wanted to do something. To help James, Helios and Lunaris would’ve even jumped into this ravaging storm of energies that covered the sky. But there really wasn’t anything they could do. This was a battle way above their level.

James’s whole body felt like it was burning, mana forcefully pouring out from every single pore.

And yet, he was smiling.

It was beautiful. A sight he couldn’t have seen if his eyes were still working.

His crimson sparks were shredding Garantep’s Darkness. Even though oceans of Darkness were flooding out of Garantep every second, James could sense his crimson storm ripping through it, breaking down the Darkness as soon as it was coming out of him.

“Do you know how many years I’ve saved up all of this? I could’ve conquered entire countries with this much Darkness. And you think you can beat me? Your little storm is but a drop in the ocean! You can’t possible keep this up!” Garantep clenched his jaw and even more Darkness began pouring out of him.

James’s crimson sparks were still shredding the Darkness. Even though he was bleeding out of every pore, the beauty of seeing his crimson tear through the Darkness was far more impactful than any pain could ever be.

But he feared Garantep was right. His crimson was shredding the Darkness, but he couldn’t keep this up for much longer.

Technically, [Reckless Abandon] was still in full swing, and he still had plenty of mana left. And even though his body was burning, he could endure it as long as he was still alive.

But even though he couldn’t see, his ability to sense mana became even more refined. He didn’t know for sure, but it seemed like even after all this, he still didn’t have enough to beat him.

What if the sparks couldn’t cut through the Darkness before he ran out of mana? Garantep burned through a lot already, but he didn’t seem to be slowing down. If anything, more and more Darkness was pouring out of him. He didn’t look like he was bluffing, and the monster would probably pour out Darkness until he was nothing but a shriveled skeleton.

James had friends relying on him. If he died here, the monster would target them next.

Even as he was watching the crimson storm spinning, and the sparks eating the Darkness like wildfire spreading through a forest, James felt a strong sense of anxiety.

He didn’t have anything else to give. He was literally burning his body up, dumping every ounce of energy and strength he had within him.

And even though his crimson sparks were burning everything they touched, shredding the crescents apart, muddying and distorting every ounce of Darkness coming out of Garantep, he was beginning to feel genuine dread.

There were no more twists left within him. No clever strategies he could use. No fancy spell he could invent at the last moment.

This turned into a battle of raw power. And for once, it looked like he faced an enemy that seemed to have even more than him. Somebody that was better at his greatest strength than even he was.

He had spent so much effort and pain to gain power, and yet it all boiled down to needing even more of it.

James still had plenty of mana left, but he could feel it depleting by the second. And Garantep didn’t look like he was slowing down at all.

“I can feel it in your soul.” Garantep cackled maniacally. “You know this is over. There’s nothing you can do, I simply have more energy stored up within me than you do.”

Garantep laughed. Seemingly energized by the tide turning, even more Darkness exploded out of him. His torso was beginning to disintegrate, but he didn’t care one bit, his laughter echoing throughout the sky.

As he was pouring out everything he had within him, down to the very blood that was shooting out of his pores, James desperately tried to think of something. Anything he could do. Any twist that could pull off, anything that could turn the tide of battle.

But there was really nothing else he could do. He was already using his strongest attack, giving everything he had. There was literally nothing else he could throw at him, nothing else he could put into his attack.

This was it. And it wasn’t enough.

And then he thought of something stupid.