The moment he saw Hop, the skull‑headed wand let out a panicked voice, "Weren't you going to the 'Nirvana' control room? Why are you back all of a sudden?!"
"You're saying that?"
Hop pointed his right index finger to his forehead, "Of course I learned what happened on the ground through the 'Thought Speech' magic."
After using the 'Thought Speech' magic earlier to relay part of Brian's memories to his companions, because his mana was low, Hop temporarily didn't dispel the spell.
He had intended to make communication easier for everyone while exploring 'Nirvana'.
He didn't expect to first hear Leo's call for help.
I have to say the strategic value of the 'Thought Speech' magic is extremely high; otherwise Hop couldn't have rushed back so quickly.
"Anyway, you're just a wand, yet you can talk and even have feelings—how peculiar."
Feeling Hop's heated gaze, the skull wand swished behind Wu, pulled out its skull head and taunted, "I was created by Master Wu himself; you lowly thing even dare to covet my body..."
Before it could finish, the skull wand was instantly snapped by Wu.
The skull head rolled on the ground, its hollow eye sockets staring incredulously at Wu, "Master Wu, my mission was executed so brilliantly, why..."
"Bored."
Wu crushed the skull head with a foot, "How boring!"
Dark green mana erupted from his whole body like boiling magma; Wu slowly turned, his blood‑red, swirling pupils locked onto Hop.
"Oh? Is that you?"
A more excited, more ferocious smile spread across Wu's face, "You were the one who defeated Midnight and forced my worthless personality to break the seal, weren't you?"
The mana filling the air suddenly became several times heavier; tiny stones on the ground began to defy gravity, floating upward, then disintegrating into dust the instant they rose.
Wu spread his arms, and a larger surge of mana gathered instantly, a dark magic laced with destructive energy hurled toward Hop, moving so fast that even afterimages were hard to catch.
Though it was the same body using the same 'dark' magic, Wu's power was far beyond anything Brian could compare to.
Hop twisted his body, the dark torrent brushed his hair; he brought his right index and middle fingers together, a brilliant silver light like a star flared at his fingertips, and he jabbed it at Wu's wrist.
A sting shot through Wu's wrist, and the mana he was outputting began to crumble slightly from the hit.
For dozens of exchanges, each time Brian's powerful spell was cast, Hop found a flaw and countered it with a less mana‑intensive magic.
"Interesting."
Wu licked his lips, the blood in his eyes deepening, "'Moon's Annihilation'—you've even learned that spell, but you burned so much mana earlier, now you can only resort to these petty tricks."
"Let me see how long you can still let me enjoy!"
"Eternal Dark Fantasia – Hundredfold Concerto!"
Dark green mana surged wildly in Wu's eruption.
In an instant, hundreds of dark mana bolts shot at Hop from all angles.
Worse yet, these powerful bolts kept splitting and multiplying mid‑flight, like a swarm of living dark bees.
He spread his five fingers toward the sky, his palm rotating a complex rune circle of silver; silver moonlight fell from above, colliding with the bee‑like dark bolts.
A chaotic, fierce roar rang continuously.
The ancient city's ground, which had been relatively intact, was scarred by the shockwaves of their magical clash, leaving grotesque wounds.
"Hahaha!"
"Not bad! People like you are truly worth destroying!"
Wu went completely berserk; while maintaining the full output of Eternal Dark Fantasia, he still found a hand free to cast another spell.
He pushed with his right hand, and the dark green mana suddenly gathered into a massive spiral spell, blasting straight into the curtain of moonlight that had descended.
The stalemate was broken in an instant.
With his mana already low, Hop had no time to counter and was swallowed by the overwhelming dark magic, which also bombarded the central tower behind him.
The harsh explosion echoed for a long time.
The tower, buried underground for over four hundred years, had only just seen daylight before being completely reduced to a burning ruin.
With his mana nearly depleted, Hop couldn't handle such an attack; watching the tower's ruins, his desire for destruction was slightly satisfied, and he laughed heartily.
"Indeed! Destruction is the most satisfying!"
Meanwhile, the audience—Liu Mo, Leo, and the others—looked oddly unsettled, because Wu, who had supposedly died under the tower's rubble, was now standing with them in the spectator seats.
Apart from his depleted mana, the guy was fine.
Sensing the strange atmosphere, Wu turned and saw Hop now beside Eric, waving at him, and his anger flared instantly.
"You despicable scoundrel! You've run out of mana and now try to threaten me with my own children?!"
Hop was stunned—what was this guy talking about?
Valuing family and comrades is a line even a big villain like you can utter?
This world is insane.
Hop stepped forward a few paces and said generously, "Relax, I'm not as vile and shameless as you dark mages; I act openly."
Wu snorted coldly, "Being open requires skill; with your mana exhausted, what can you use against me?"
Hop nodded, "Indeed, even my 'Thought Speech' has been forced to disconnect; I can't squeeze out a single drop of mana now."
"When I cast magic, you should have already fallen by my hand; since you won't fall even with your mana gone, I'll have to show you other forces."
As if hearing a cold joke, Wu sneered.
Aside from magic, a mage's only other weapon might be martial arts, but for someone of his caliber, martial arts are only effective when magic is evenly matched.
"Just because..."
Before he could finish, Wu saw Hop's figure suddenly vanish from the spot.
So fast!
Wu's eyes widened, unable to keep up with Hop's speed; that guy had no mana left, how could he move so terrifyingly fast?
Before he could react, Hop had already flashed to his front, a fist with no mana attached slammed into Wu's face!
Wu seemed to hear the sound of skulls cracking.
The massive force hurled him like a cannonball toward the nearby wreckage.
And Hop had already reached the endpoint, punching at the charging Wu; the wind of the punch turned the surrounding brick and stone ruins into powder.
"Magnetic Field Rotation – Thirty Thousand Horsepower!"
"Killer Whale Overlord Fist!"
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