A fate worse than death awaits you if a mage decides to make you their test subject.
Adam knew that Clarke was hiding something up his sleeve, so he continued to restrain him using magic from a distance.
Clarke cursed. Adam knew his tricks, but no matter what, he needed to drag Adam to hell with him.
At this moment, the apprentices from Bran Village approached.
In Riley's view, Adam abandoned them at the most crucial moment. Seeing Adam take credit when they drove the antimage to a dead end enraged her. She immediately imbued herself with wind magic and dashed towards Adam aggressively.
"Stay away from him, you betrayer!"
Riley was too fast, and William and Terry were unable to hold her back. However, Terry had the same view as Riley -- Adam's clothes were spotless, as if he didn't battle at all. William frowned, knowing that Riley and Terry were in trouble.
When Adam saw Riley dashing towards him, he ignored her, and continued to bind Clarke with psychic force, layer by layer.
Riley was blinded with rage the closer she got to Adam. She couldn't believe that someone could be so shameless, and she refused to believe that Adam was as strong as the rumours suggested. Besides, how could a coward and betrayer like him possibly hold great power? As soon as she got close to Adam, she waved her staff, conjuring a water arrow and shooting it by Adam's feet as a warning shot.
"He won't dare to kill me here, otherwise the Academy wouldn't let him go," Riley smirked with certainty. Seeing that Adam didn't move, she continued to conjure more water arrows, hitting Adam's psychic barrier. Clarke saw Adam's psychic barrier shatter under Riley's spell and smirked.
His opportunity for revenge was coming and took advantage of Adam's psychic barrier temporarily going down. He mustered his remaining magic to dispel Adam's bindings, and rushed towards Adam.
Adam was getting impatient with Riley, and conjured a fireball to end her once and for all.
However, before the fireball could be launched, Clarke crushed a crystal ball in his pocket and roared, "Go to hell! Feel my wrath!" A sharp whistle sounded from his mouth, and intense negative energy erupted from his body. Clarke's body immediately started to disintegrate, and the negative energy within him exploded.
"Riley!"
"Get out of there!"
Two shouts sounded one after another. The first one came from William. He knew Adam didn't desert them for no reason, so he believed that Adam dealt with the problem without them knowing.
However, if that were true, Riley is in danger, and Adam will never show mercy to an insect like her.
The second shout echoed throughout the forest, and a tornado flung Riley and Adam out of the way. William looked up and saw the Black Mage dash towards the village.
With the Black Mage's knowledge, it was easy to gauge what Clarke's magic could do, and he knew how much damage Clarke's magic could do.
He didn't know nor care who Riley was, but Adam was his favoured student. Besides, Crystal personally asked the Black Mage to save him.
The Rune Barrier shattered upon being hit by Clarke's magic, taking the brunt of the spell. The Black Mage transformed into a gentle wind, shielding most of the apprentices from the incoming blast. Even so, the apprentices fell to the ground sluggishly.
Riley wasn't protected by the Black Mage's wind and the spell hit her with full force. Tears flowed from her eyes immediately, and her brain shut down from the immense dread and despair flooding her brain. Before she could shoot a water arrow in her own head, she fell unconscious, her soul shattering into a million pieces.
The Black Mage returned to his original form and rushed towards Adam, and Crystal's words rang in his head.
After receiving the distress call from Bran Village, the Black Mage casually told Crystal about Adam taking a vacation at the village. Crystal requested the Black Mage to save Adam, and he asked, "Do you like him?"
Love is an intense emotion, so it had no place in the mage world. Emotions only hinder a mage's path, and the Black Mage doesn't want his student to be blinded by emotions. Love isn't something a mage has to worry about for a long time.
Unexpectedly, Crystal answered, "No, respected Black Mage. Adam changed me; he saved my life. The only reason I can survive until today was because of him -- hence, I want to surpass him. I don't want him to die like this."
The Black Mage unconsciously smiled upon hearing Crystal's answer, and he couldn't help but think of Wollaston, his former companion. However, Wollaston transcended, and the Black Mage was left behind, and he was determined to pursue the path of the mage.
Adam was surrounded by strange, grey energy, and the Black Mage knew that he wasn't able to shield Adam from Clarke's spell either. Clarke's spell was the culmination of the despair of tens of thousands of human beings and it was simply impossible for Adam to bear it.
Adam stood still, staring into the distance, holding the egg gingerly in his hand.
Clarke's fatal blow was indeed powerful, but thankfully, part of the spell was absorbed by the egg. Adam's internal system had to go into overdrive to completely suppress the negative feelings of despair to avoid his brain processing the intense emotions.
Adam felt sick, feeling that the remaining energy was unable to be cleansed out of his system.
The egg tried to absorb some of the remaining energy, but couldn't. Adam guessed that the egg was too full and was unable to continue swallowing.
Adam looked up at the Black Mage and greeted in surprise, "Respected Black Mage! Nice to meet you. How are you?"
The Black Mage's face was painted with worry. His body absorbed the surrounding ether like a black hole, replenishing his mana. He hovered gently over the ground, and Adam could feel a light breeze wash over him.
The Black Mage looked at Adam and sighed, "It's a Death Mark."
Adam was stunned, "What is it?"
"That antimage's magic marked you for death. Any mage who practices the same magic as him will know that you killed him, and within a certain range, they can pinpoint your exact location."
Adam frowned. This was incredibly troublesome. He knew from Clarke's monologue that his grandfather trained him personally, and his grandfather was a qualified antimage.
Adam wasn't powerful enough to deal with a qualified antimage.
The Black Mage comforted him, "I don't have a way to help you, unless someone more powerful than me is able to cleanse your soul. Another way is to become a qualified mage, but you're not allowed to do that yet."
Adam was silent for a moment and nodded. He was still at the Mage Continent, so he knew he was temporarily safe.
The Black Mage looked at the egg and said in surprise, "Where did you get this devil's larvae from?"
Adam's questions were answered -- this wasn't an egg from the abyss, but a devil's larvae, which feeds at the soul. No wonder it could absorb negative magic!
"This is a gift from the Dean, Mage Victor. I thought it was simply an egg of an abyss creature, but I didn't expect it to be... a devil's larvae."
Devils aren't as strong as an abyss creature, but they are lawful creatures. They will abide by the master-servant contract rigidly, but like devils, are incredibly unpredictable.
The Black Mage thought that the egg had saved Adam from certain doom and silently thanked the egg for saving him. The Academy wouldn't want a genius like Adam to fall like this.
The two walked back to Bran Village, and left Riley's corpse behind. Even if Riley survived the magical blast, they would leave her here to rot.
Adam asked softly, "Respected Black Mage, I heard that antimages need the essence of human beings to be fully promoted to a qualified antimage, but Clarke was clearly powerful enough to do so. Why did he come to the Mage Continent to risk his life, then?"
Clarke may be stupid, but he was powerful. This question bugged Adam since the start.
The Black Mage glanced at Adam and explained, "Antimages are known to gather negative energy in crystal balls..."