Magus Supremacy

"I… I… I did it," he croaked out, a sharp pain running through his body, especially his mangled arm. "And with a single arm, no less." He chuckled hoarsely as he turned around, his gaze fixated on the double doors behind him.

Pushing himself up, he staggered forward, moving past the crumbled-down gargoyles and towards the back of the room where he had pulled off his weights.

"I don't know what lies behind those doors, so it's better I don't put these back on yet," he muttered as he picked them up with a single hand and then slowly staggered toward the looming double doors ahead.

Finally, he stood in front of them, his entire body still aching, but now his mind was hesitant.

"Do I go in? What would I encounter there if I head in? What if there's something much more dangerous and powerful than the gargoyles I just faced? What shall I do?" Grey gulped, staring at his mangled, still-bleeding arm. His body throbbed with pain and fatigue, and his Ki had been drained down to a dangerously low level.

With a long, tired sigh, Grey placed his palm on the door.

"Not like I even have any other choice. I mean, there's no possible way for me to go back now without entering here. At least that's what that board said," Grey said as he pushed harder, and the door began to creak open.

The double doors slowly parted, their heavy movement accompanied by an ancient, groaning sound.

A wave of icy air spilled out from the room beyond, slamming into Grey with unexpected force, making his eyes bulge in shock. Beads of sweat cascaded down his face as all his muscles tensed up. His heartbeat quickened, doubling in pace.

His throat went dry. His entire body stiffened. He couldn't bring himself to take a single step forward.

"Wh… wh… what is this aura? Th… this feeling and this power… I… I… I… shit! I'm scared! I'm seriously scared of whatever lays inside." Grey gulped loudly as he stared at the entrance, legs frozen in place, unwilling to go in.

'No! Get it together, Grey. Be a man. Face your fears. You've come this far, haven't you?' he thought, forcing another swallow as he shakily took a step forward. Then another. And then another.

Finally, he was fully inside.

The doors behind him let out another groan before suddenly slamming shut with a loud bang, the sound echoing across the massive chamber. Grey yelped and spun around, eyes wide as he stared at the sealed doors in horror.

"Damn! So much for escaping if things get too tough," he muttered under his breath and turned around slowly, scanning the new room he had just entered.

"Huh? A throne room?" Grey mumbled, eyes narrowing with a mix of curiosity and dread.

It was indeed a throne room.

The ceiling arched impossibly high above, lost in a sea of shadows. Towering obsidian pillars stood like ancient sentinels, each one veined with glowing crimson that pulsed faintly, as if the entire room were alive, breathing in slow, ominous rhythm.

Each step Grey took forward revealed more of the overwhelming grandeur around him. Intricate carvings danced across the black stone walls, telling stories he couldn't even begin to understand. The atmosphere was heavy, sacred even.

At the far end of the hall, perched atop an elevated platform, was a colossal throne carved entirely from darkstone.

It stood in dominating silence, flanked on either side by immense chains that hung down from the ceiling, each link thicker than Grey's arm. Behind the throne, faint golden runes shimmered against the wall, almost as if syncing with the pounding of his heart.

But none of that held Grey's attention for long.

What truly drew his eyes… was the figure that stood in front of the throne.

A gargantuan gargoyle.

It dwarfed everything else in the room, standing easily five times the height of a full-grown man.

Its body was forged from pure obsidian which was smooth and polished in some places, jagged and cracked in others, like volcanic stone halted mid-eruption.

The contrast made it appear like a creature frozen between elegance and chaos. And though it stood perfectly still, unmoving and silent, Grey could feel the suffocating pressure it exuded.

It wasn't just presence. It was a warning.

His instincts screamed at him that this was not like the others. This one… was different.

Its eyes glowed gold not merely reflecting the light, but radiating an unnatural, divine luminance that made Grey's skin prickle. These weren't lifeless gemstones. They were aware. They were watching him.

In its hands, held like a grim offering to some ancient god, was a towering greatsword. The blade was the color of freshly spilled blood, its dark red hue pulsing faintly as if it, too, were alive and breathing.

The surface of the blade was jagged and marked with strange runes, carved as though it had been forged inside a storm of fire, hatred, and agony.

Embedded into the gargoyle's massive clawed hands were gauntlets the same deep, blood-red hue as the blade.

They were thick and intricately engraved with runes, humming with restrained, caged power. It was almost as though the sword and gauntlets weren't simply weapons wielded by the creature… but parts of it, extensions of its wrath.

The gargoyle was clad in armor of red and black. Its shoulder plates jutted upward in cruel, spiked ridges. The chestplate was layered with overlapping plates that gleamed faintly under the eerie glow of the room's lighting.

Black like the endless void. Red like raw fury. The armor carried the weight of death, yet was so regal and imposing it seemed almost ceremonial war regalia fit for a dark monarch or a nightmare emperor.

To either side of the walkway leading up to the throne stood rows of tall, narrow glass cases, glowing faintly from within. Some contained weapons and some things that he couldn't really see as they were hidden.

Grey gulped audibly, the sound echoing off the cavernous walls. He slowly turned and noticed a wooden board attached to the far wall, similar to the one he'd seen earlier. Without wasting time, he forced himself to walk over and read the message etched upon it.

"If you were able to enter this room, that means you managed to defeat the guards outside. Congratulations on that, because it shows and proves how strong you are. You must be a really strong mage, huh?"

"Wait, mage?" Grey raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar word he spotted. "What's a mag...ARGHH!" he cried out suddenly as a sharp pain stabbed through his skull. He stumbled, clutching his head as blurry, distorted images surged through his mind like a flood.

Blurry visions of people in long robes, chanting. Elements: fire, ice, lightning...raining down from the sky. Landscapes that didn't look like anywhere he'd seen before. The images came fast and chaotic, overwhelming and out of focus. And just as suddenly, they vanished.

He stood there panting, dazed and drenched in sweat.

'No need worrying about all that for now,' he told himself, trying to steady his breathing as he turned back to the board.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself. I know I said once you defeated the guards outside, you'd have your ticket out of here. Well… let's just say I kind of lied."

"What?!" Grey shouted, eyes widening as he stepped back from the board in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me…"

"It's not my fault. That gargoyle is different from the others. No matter how many times I try, it doesn't listen to me. So I don't think it's going to let you walk out of here unscathed. Once again, I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess, and I genuinely hope you survive."

Grey's hands balled into fists as he kept reading.

"But knowing who you're up against, I just want to say… dig a wide hole in the ground there. That's where you'll be buried. Good luck. You will be facing the general and commander of the gargoyle army. Thalos the Great!"

The moment Grey finished reading, a deep, thunderous rumbling shook the chamber. The ground trembled beneath his feet as the towering gargoyle in the center of the room stirred.

With a horrifying groan of ancient stone grinding against itself, the creature slowly raised its head. Its glowing eyes locked onto Grey. And then, without a word, it lifted the massive blood-colored sword and pointed it straight at him.

Grey's blood ran cold.

He spun around to face the monster, heart thudding violently in his chest.

"Of course," he muttered, voice trembling. "Of course it's alive…"