Dark Magus Returns - Chapter 1604

Chapter 1604: The Hybrid Breakthrough

While locked in the brutal, unrelenting combat with the Masked Man, Dame had noticed a profound, unusual characteristic about his opponent: the energy surrounding the Cerebus warrior was strange, to say the least.

Conventional magical principles, such as Qi and Mana, although originating differently, seemed to share certain fundamental, immutable principles, rules that the world naturally flowed by, involving conservation of energy and measurable expenditure. Therefore, the core question became: was it truly possible for the Masked Man to possess an effectively infinite, self-renewing amount of Mana, specifically pure Light Magic, that allowed him to ignore these laws?

Could this elite Cerebus warrior genuinely constantly heal and regenerate while Dame was forced to expend his own energy, tiring out? It certainly appeared to be the case, as Dame felt himself growing progressively more tired, weaker, and slower with every grueling exchange.

Yet, Dame’s inherent logic, the logic that came from his hybrid nature, insisted this had to be impossible, unless a singular, radical idea he had considered was true: What if the reason the Masked Man was constantly able to heal was because he was reusing his energy, not generating new power? What if the Cerebus Guild had found some way for these specialized warriors to simply exist as energy itself, and that energy, being Light energy, constantly flowed back to heal their bodies and power their rigid, predictable beam-like attacks?

The fact that the Masked Men could only consistently perform these simple, concentrated beams of energy, rather than the vast, complex versatility of other mages, strongly supported this theory of energetic rigidity. Dame conceded that he could be entirely wrong, but if his theory was correct, there was an effective, revolutionary way to deal with the threat: hit the energy, not the body.

Instead of trying to inflict traditional, debilitating physical harm that would be immediately repaired, Dame needed to aim for the core energy source. Throughout their fight, Dame had subtly been working on this, doing everything he could to secure physical contact with the Masked Man. Once contact was established, he would passively attempt to extract and siphon as much of the circulating Light energy out of him as possible.

Dame knew he was not nearly as fast or as proficient as Raze in this specialized extraction technique, in fact, Dame doubted anyone alive could match the Dark Magus, but he could still achieve a measurable, crippling result. As that essential, life-giving energy was slowly and painfully pulled away from the Masked Man’s body, Dame finally saw clear, undeniable signs that the opponent was starting to get genuinely hurt. The light around him was dimmer, his movements less fluid.

“Now that you’re worried about getting hurt, you’re going to start fighting quite differently, aren’t you?” Dame challenged, pressing his advantage. He threw two of his fists in rapid succession, letting his own potent Qi fully charge the impact.

The punches hit the Masked Man directly in the wing and shoulder. For a critical moment, the Cerebus warrior paused. Instead of just ignoring the hit and letting his body instantly heal, the Masked Man involuntarily looked down at the struck part of his body to verify if the wounds were still present, a shocking hesitation that proved Dame’s hypothesis.

In that brief, fatal moment of distraction, Dame seized the opportunity. He slammed the Masked Man by the shoulder again, and another focused fist plunged right into the same, already compromised side that was struggling to heal. With one hand firmly attached and extracting power, Dame ruthlessly continued to push and pull the Masked Man, preventing him from gaining crucial distance or initiating a full recovery sequence.

The Masked Man’s desperate counter was swift: his entire body suddenly started to light up, gathering energy. It was a clear, final signal for a catastrophic counter-attack, an explosive release of golden energy in all directions, designed to atomize anything within range.

Instead of recoiling or retreating from the certain destruction, Dame made an insane, life-risking decision: he pulled the body in even closer, securing the Masked Man in a final, crushing, multi-limbed embrace.

“This body was forged by the strongest wild person I know!” Dame roared, the veins in his neck bulging. “He would have held on no matter what, and I will believe in the strength of this body!”

The explosion detonated with absolute, devastating force. Lightning energy instantly surged and surrounded as much of Dame’s body as possible for protection, but the golden light overwhelmed the field. When the blinding light finally started to fade, the result was immediately and profoundly noticeable, even to the bewildered Masked Man: the energy that returned to him for regeneration wasn’t nearly as much as before. The Light Magic was depleting. As for Dame, he was still standing, still holding onto him. Heavy burn marks were visible on his powerful frame, but he was fundamentally intact, the Iron Hard Lightning Body having absorbed the brunt of the assault.

“This body isn’t a regular body, I bet you’ve never encountered a genuine hybrid before,” Dame commented, his voice deep with triumph and exertion. “And besides, when I take this energy, where exactly do you think it goes? It doesn’t disappear into the air, it goes right back to me!”

Still holding onto the trapped Masked Man, whose regeneration had failed, Dame started to punch with all the fury and weight of his combined might. Two hands held the opponent tight while all of his other fists became lethal weapons.

Hit after hit landed, and the pain was searing, overwhelming the Masked Man’s entire existence. This was visceral, raw pain that he hadn’t felt for a long, protected time, a tangible consequence he had thought himself immune to.

He was in a state of absolute shock, frozen in place. Never since he had achieved this specialized form of existence, this energy being, did he imagine he would be defeated like this, that he would be subject to such agonizing harm again. Yet here it was happening. He froze up, his mind unable to process the failure. Every defensive action, every counter-attack, every step of the way, nothing had worked. His arrogance had been his downfall.

A final, colossal fist pounded the man right in the face, and the protective mask was seen cracking. The fissures spread across the gold surface. Another punch landed, and pieces of the mask started to fall to the floor. The mask was a symbol of their power, a sign that its bearer was untouchable. Now, it was utterly broken.

The protective shell gone, the Masked Man’s entire body withered and shrivelled up. All of the remaining golden energy flowed straight out of him, powering up the victorious hybrid.

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