Even the molten steel, burned down to liquid iron, was uncontrollable—Wyatt could only let the iron fall, waiting until it cooled enough to be manipulated again.
Wyatt, face darkening, watched Leon continue to cast spells. He pulled out a piece of Silversteel—etched with strange patterns—and casually tossed it. Instantly, the metal transformed into a spike and, with a chant, vanished from sight.
The molten iron, continually melted by the Infernal Guardian, just repeated this cycle endlessly. The Rodney Family had even developed this method into a distinct steel spell—no one had ever seen through it before.
Wyatt’s face was grim, silent as he continued to hurl countless steel spikes and steel balls at Leon—an overwhelming assault. Leon floated calmly, casting another Infernal Guardian, then raised the Doombringer Staff. Behind him, a massive purple dragon phantom appeared, cradling the image of Leon’s magical wheel in its arms.
A blinding light flared at the tip of the Doombringer Staff, crackling with lightning. In an instant, the sky filled with thick clouds, rapidly gathering into a mass of blackness that stretched for thousands of meters.
Boom...
A muffled thunderclap echoed as Leon used water magic to draw in vapor, compressing it into black clouds. Now, the lightning at the staff’s tip wasn’t just stray sparks—it had become a blinding ball of electricity.
Rune after rune spilled forth, rapid incantations chanted in succession. The black clouds overhead thundered even more frequently, and thick bolts of lightning writhed through them like serpents.
Watching Leon’s movements, Wyatt felt a twinge of unease. His steel magic was powerful, but Leon’s Infernal Guardian was a ninth-level fire spell—its temperature and defense were among the best of any fire magic at that rank. Yet, even so, the steel pierced it with ease.
The family’s steel magic is always vulnerable to fire spells with terrifyingly high temperatures—I know that much. But what’s happening now? Damn it, why does my magic iron lose control as it gets close to Archmage Leon Merlin? It just can’t approach him. Damn it, someone tell me what the hell is going on...
A cold, sardonic smile curled at Leon’s lips. Recently, the semi-plane’s earth, fire, water, and wind had split into four extremes. After the main rules for each element emerged, branch rules began to evolve.
Fire spells, lightning spells—these were new rules birthed in this period. Leon’s grasp of the four elemental laws ran the deepest, so he naturally comprehended the other rules evolving within the semi-plane.
Wyatt, that fool, didn’t realize—the Thunderstorm Barrage wasn’t targeting him, but every steel object on the battlefield. Once thunder’s power infused them, they gained something the world of Northend had never considered: magnetism.
Electricity and magnetism are easily interchangeable—especially with all this steel, magic iron, and Silversteel around. Temporary magnetization is child’s play. Add a Thunder Shield for repulsion; even a slight angular deflection means none of Wyatt’s attacks can touch Leon’s Thunder Shield...
Clearly, Wyatt couldn’t begin to understand any of this...
Wyatt, dazed and looking as if he’d seen a ghost, drew a strange smile from Leon.
Wyatt tried again, commanding all his steel to become spikes and launch at Leon. The same thing happened: at a hundred meters, they started to veer off; by fifty meters, they’d completely changed direction. Not a single one could hit Leon’s position...
Wyatt was utterly dumbfounded—he had no idea what was happening.
From the phantom wheel behind Leon, countless runic patterns erupted—most of them crackling with lightning. The air vibrated with a low, electric hum, tension thick as thunder.
The runes rapidly condensed before Leon, forming in mere seconds into a massive railgun barrel, over ten meters long and pulsing with thunder-light. The air sizzled, as if reality itself was bracing for impact.
Leon casually retrieved the Silversteel at his side—an exceptionally precious steel, found only in major iron mines and refined through a painstaking process. Even with a Silversteel-rich vein, refining hundreds of tons of steel might yield only a few grams of Silversteel.
With the barrel complete, Leon produced a specially crafted projectile—just twenty centimeters long, but made from rare magnetic materials he’d searched for ages to find. Alchemists considered it low-grade, barely worth collecting, but with added hard metals, it became the perfect railgun round.
He’d finished the projectile as soon as he sensed the semi-plane’s earth, fire, water, and wind beginning to evolve—just waiting for this experiment.
Leon aimed the Magitech Railgun at Wyatt. Though danger didn’t register, Wyatt still shielded his body with steel and raised his Rule Fusion Shield, ready to dodge at the slightest sign of trouble.
When Leon dropped the projectile into the massive barrel, Wyatt still felt no threat. But as the round accelerated toward the muzzle, a sudden, overwhelming sense of mortal danger exploded within him.
Steel plates surged before him, forming layers of defense. But as soon as three shields appeared, they instantly collapsed—his steel defenses shattered, and the Rule Fusion Shield was torn apart before it could even respond.
At the very last moment, Wyatt dodged to the side—but in an instant, something impossibly fast ripped through his right shoulder, shredding his arm, shoulder, and half his chest. The sound was a deafening, metallic shriek—pain and shock twisting his features.
The terrifying explosive force and shockwave blasted Wyatt’s body away, while the projectile vanished into the distance with a thunderous boom, echoing across the battlefield.
From the phantom wheel behind Leon, countless runes surged forth—most of them crackling with thunder and lightning.
These runes rapidly condensed before Leon, and within seconds formed a massive railgun barrel—over ten meters long, shimmering with thunder-light.
Leon casually retrieved the Silversteel beside him—a steel so rare it only appeared in large iron veins, and refining hundreds of tons might yield just a few grams.
With the barrel complete, Leon produced a specially crafted projectile—just twenty centimeters long, made from magnetic materials he'd hunted for years. Alchemists called it low-grade, not worth collecting, but with added hard metals, it became the perfect railgun round.
He'd finished the projectile as soon as he sensed the semi-plane's earth, fire, water, and wind evolving—just waiting for this experiment.
Leon aimed the Magitech Railgun at Wyatt. Though danger didn't register, Wyatt still shielded his body with steel and raised his Fusion Shield, ready to dodge at the slightest sign of trouble.
When Leon dropped the projectile into the massive barrel, Wyatt still felt no threat. But as the round accelerated toward the muzzle, a sudden, overwhelming sense of mortal danger exploded within him.
Steel plates surged before him, forming layers of defense. But as soon as three shields appeared, they instantly collapsed—his steel defenses shattered, and the Fusion Shield was torn apart before it could even respond.
At the very last moment, Wyatt dodged to the side—but in an instant, something impossibly fast ripped through his right shoulder, shredding his arm, shoulder, and half his chest. The sound was a deafening, metallic shriek—pain and shock twisting his features.
The terrifying explosive force and shockwave blasted Wyatt’s body away, while the projectile vanished into the distance with a thunderous boom, echoing across the battlefield.
Wyatt crashed from midair to the ground, looking utterly miserable—his chest, right arm, and shoulder gone, his head covered in wounds, his face streaked with blood. If his right side hadn't already been transformed to metal, even a glancing hit would have torn him apart.
Even Leon was a little stunned...
First, he was shocked that anyone would try to face a Magitech Railgun head-on...
Second, the spell's power was far beyond his expectations—the speed so great Leon himself could barely perceive it. In just three seconds, the projectile was already ten kilometers away...
A few seconds later, he'd completely lost all sense of the projectile.
A spell-forged Magitech Railgun—its power was simply unimaginable, with a range of at least a hundred kilometers. The only problem: the projectile was ridiculously expensive to make...
If he bought the materials, each projectile would cost at least tens of thousands of purple gold coins—and some ingredients couldn't be bought at all...
Dismissing the spell's rail, Leon flew toward Wyatt. Wyatt lay collapsed, coughing up blood. His right half, now steel, was ruined but not fatal; his left, still flesh, had been battered so badly that his heart hadn't exploded on the spot only by sheer luck...
The Magitech Railgun was born from Leon's half-baked knowledge—a spell forged at his current limits. Its destructive power far surpassed that of a typical fourth-tier Heaven-rank spell.
Each second, the projectile traveled at least three thousand meters, and with specialized construction, could fly over a hundred kilometers. Of course, at that distance, its power dropped considerably.
Leon hadn't put much thought into this projectile—no hurricane enchantments, no anti-magic alchemy arrays, no speed runes. It was just sturdy and compatible with the Magitech Railgun; nothing more.
Still, there was no denying the spell's power. The railgun's track used extraordinary force, but the projectile itself had no supernatural power—yet it still unleashed a transcendent spell's might. Leon was genuinely impressed.
Of course, this spell was only a prototype, with obvious flaws: the projectile's path was a straight line. Dodge two or three meters, and it would miss entirely. The railgun's shockwave couldn't shake a Heaven-rank mage's Fusion Shield.
Leon didn't care. When he first developed the Fourfold Elemental Bomb, it had the same flaw—only attacking in a straight line, never detonating if dodged. But after countless refinements, it became a mature spell series, its storm strike more powerful than a spell torrent. The Fourfold Elemental Bomb's destructive force was even greater than most ninth-level transcendent spells. Most importantly, Leon had invented it himself.
The Magitech Railgun's power exceeded Leon's expectations. With improvements—auxiliary runes, rare materials, even extraordinary force—the destructive potential could be even greater.
Or, as the Fourfold Elemental Laws continue to evolve, the Magitech Railgun could become a pure spell, its power incalculable...
Leon pondered these questions. Last time he met Agalon, Agalon said that the stronger a Heaven-rank mage gets, the less they rely on spell torrents—lacking extraordinary force is a fatal weakness.
Only extraordinary force is truly essential in battle. This fight with Wyatt proved it.
Against a typical third-tier Heaven-rank mage, the Fourfold Bomb Storm alone could suppress and exhaust them. But against Wyatt, it was useless.
He'd thought his recent power increase meant he could handle a fourth-tier Heaven-rank opponent easily—no need for the Book of Ten Thousand Spells, the Wheel of Ten Thousand Laws, or help from Theo or Andafa. It was supposed to be a test of his strength.
He hadn't expected Wyatt to be so troublesome. The steel magic was terrifyingly strong—if Wyatt had enough resources to swap all his magic iron for Silversteel, or even higher-grade steel, Leon would have been in serious trouble.
Wyatt lay on the ground, grievously wounded as if blasted apart by the railgun—blood pouring from his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. The last impact filled his body with cracks; his heart split with a dozen fissures. If he hadn't broken through to Heaven-rank, he'd be dead. Only a transcendent's vitality kept him alive.
As Leon floated in midair, lost in thought, a glimmer of malice flickered in Wyatt's eyes.
That damned bastard—so strong, and his magic perfectly counters our family's steel spells. How could this happen?
He doesn't dare kill me. Sure, he wrecked half my body—I'm riddled with wounds, and any eighth-level spell could finish me off. But he won't dare!
If he kills me, he'll anger the ancestor. That's right—he fears the Rodney Family's ancestor. That damned hick from Andalusia, does he really dare kill me?
Enduring agony, Wyatt's magic surged. Instantly, silvery liquid—like mercury—poured from the steel side of his body, transforming into a dozen thin needles that shot toward Leon's head and heart.
Sensing danger, Leon's four Thunder Shields instantly stacked, forming a solid cube of lightning. As the needles reached him, the cube absorbed them all.
Leon glared coldly at Wyatt, instantly conjuring a Fourfold Elemental Bomb rune and launching it at the fallen enemy.
The Fourfold Elemental Bomb was pure destructive force, infused with earth, fire, water, and wind—it appeared before Wyatt in the blink of an eye.
Staring at the Fourfold Elemental Bomb, Wyatt was utterly hopeless—his eyes full of despair and disbelief.
He's really going to kill me. He actually dares... He's really going to kill me...
I can't die. I don't want to die. I just escaped the ancestor's wasteland—I can't die here. I'm a Heaven-rank mage, the most gifted in Rodney Family history...
"Ancestor, save me..."
Wyatt screamed in despair, his voice shrill as a bullied girl, trembling with terror and hopelessness.
At that moment, deep in the Rodney family's rust-scented forbidden zone, the ancestor raised his head—a cold glint flashing in his eyes, distorting the space as extraordinary force surged outward.
In an instant, molten steel around Wyatt condensed, encasing him in a gigantic steel sphere.
The Fourfold Elemental Bomb slammed into the steel sphere—there was a deafening blast, and the shockwave swept across the land. Within a kilometer, the forest was pulverized, and the shockwave swept thousands of meters beyond.
A mushroom cloud soared thousands of meters high—pure destructive power filled the explosion's core...
But at that moment, Leon's expression changed. A vast, crushing pressure emerged from the blast's center—just the aura made him feel unable to breathe. A deadly sense of crisis thundered in his soul, warning of a power that could end his life.