Magus Supremacy

"Back to our lesson!" Thalos roared as he bolted from where he stood, charging toward Grey at full speed. "Time for you to learn the basic way a gargoyle fights!"

"Crap! I'm not ready!" Grey cried out as he saw the massive stone gargoyle rushing toward him like a runaway boulder.

SWOOSH!

Thalos' sword sliced through the air, the sound sharp enough to make Grey's skin prickle. It sped toward him with deadly precision, and sensing where and how the attack would come, he quickly leapt back, narrowly avoiding the strike.

Before he could even regain his footing, Thalos snapped his sword back and swung it upward from below with brutal speed. Grey had no time to react.

The blade smashed into his jaw, sending him stumbling backward, coppery blood dripping from his mouth to the ground.

"Come on! Are you just looking for an excuse to beat the shit out of me? What is our lesson?" Grey asked through gritted teeth. His grip on his sword remained tight despite the pain.

"Actually, I enjoyed beating you up so much that I wanted to continue, but you are right." Thalos chuckled.

"Wait, what?! You were just planning to keep hitting me? How mean can you be?" Grey shouted, glaring at the gargoyle.

"Don't let us get sidetracked here," Thalos replied.

"Sidetracked? Am I the one sidetracking us? You abandoned the main lesson for the day just to give me a beating," Grey shot back.

"Don't you know anything about forgiving and forgetting?" Thalos asked with a raised eyebrow and a cheeky grin.

"No, no I don't," Grey retorted sharply.

"Fair enough." Thalos sighed and swung his sword away, letting it embed into the wall behind him with a heavy thunk. "Look, do you still want to learn or not?"

"Tsk." Grey scoffed, refusing to answer.

"Fine. Come at me. Hit me with your best shot, and I promise not to attack you back." Thalos' smile was small but confident.

"Huh? I should come and attack you?" Grey asked with a faint chuckle.

"Yeah, sure. If you manage to land a blow on me, I'll give you a break for the rest of the day. But if you fail, don't complain when I continue giving you my training beatdown." Thalos smirked, eyes locked on Grey.

"Fine. I accept." Grey shifted into position, sword still in its sheath, feet set shoulder-width apart. His gaze locked on the gargoyle, shoulders loose, body balanced like a coiled spring.

"Huh? What's that stance?" Thalos muttered under his breath with a raised brow. "Why does this look so familiar?"

"Breathing technique: First Formation." Grey's voice was low as invisible steam seeped from his nostrils. His eyes gleamed faintly, and his hand twitched on the sword's hilt.

Ki swirled around his feet, gathering like a restless current, ready to launch him forward.

Then—

BANG!

The air split with a deafening crack as Grey shot forward at blistering speed, stunning Thalos for a split second. The wind howled around Grey's sword and sheath, carrying a sharp, cutting edge.

"Gust of the Wind," Grey muttered.

In a flash, he was in front of Thalos, his blade driving forward in a thrusting motion. The gathered wind surged with it, shooting out at full force toward the gargoyle.

"This… this technique." Thalos' eyes widened in disbelief. With a burst of speed, he pivoted on one foot, dodging the invisible strike by the skin of his stone teeth.

BOOM!

A gaping hole exploded through the wall behind him, the stone edges still crumbling from the sheer force of the attack.

"I'm not done with you!" Grey shouted as he twisted the hilt of his sword, his body moving in one fluid motion.

With a sharp pivot, he spun around and swung his blade in a clean, horizontal arc toward the gargoyle. In a flash, the edge connected, slamming into Thalos with every ounce of strength Grey could summon.

But to his surprise, Thalos didn't budge. He didn't stagger, didn't recoil—he stood there like an immovable mountain of stone, his feet rooted deep into the ground.

A faint smirk tugged at his lips as he stared at Grey, who could only return the look with wide-eyed disbelief.

"Be as solid as a mountain for defense," Thalos grinned, his voice low yet filled with confidence.

He took a deliberate step forward and slammed his stone palms against Grey's sword, knocking it from his grip with a force that reverberated up Grey's arms.

The weapon clattered to the ground. With a single stride, Thalos closed the distance, looming directly over him.

"Be as fluid and unpredictable as a leaf in the wind for an attack," Thalos continued, his grin widening as he wrapped one massive, stony hand around Grey's neck. "That is the gargoyle way."

"Alright! Time out, time out!" Grey shouted, quickly tapping against Thalos' rock-like fingers. His face was already flushing red from the pressure of the grip.

Seeing this, Thalos released him with a small chuckle and stepped back, his grin still plastered across his face.

"What was that? I thought you said my sword was of divine rank. So why didn't it penetrate you? Why didn't you even go flying?" Grey asked, lifting an eyebrow. He kicked the hilt of his fallen sword, flipping it into the air, then caught it smoothly before sliding it back into its sheath.

"That's because I concentrated all my energy around my abdomen where I knew you would strike. I firmly planted my feet into the ground, which greatly strengthened my defense. Doing that gave me the perfect chance to counterattack.

You were caught in disbelief, your mind lagging behind reality, and that moment of hesitation was all I needed to adapt and switch from defense to offense," Thalos explained. Grey nodded along, his brows knitting together in thought.

"So by focusing all my Ki on one point and grounding myself, I can prevent being knocked back. If I'm not sent flying, I can immediately shift from defense to attack and take my opponent down.

But that's only a one-time trick, right? The opponent would only fall for it once. After that, it becomes useless," Grey reasoned.

"Not if you're certain you can end the fight with that one counter. Your attack didn't affect me much because you're weaker than me. If you were stronger, the story might be very different," Thalos replied with an almost teasing tone.

Grey's eyes narrowed. "You said if you were given a beast ranking, you'd be divine-ranked, on the cusp of being a primordial beast, right?"

Thalos nodded. "Yes. Why?"

"What about me? If I were ranked on the beast scale, what would I be?" Grey asked.

A deep chuckle escaped Thalos, quickly turning into full-blown laughter. "You… you'd be Earth-ranked. Nothing more, nothing less. Which means you're basically cannon fodder unless you suddenly remember how to use your magic." His laughter echoed in the air, earning him a glare from Grey.

"Just watch me," Grey said firmly, his fists clenching. "Very soon, I'll be strong enough to tear down even corrupted primordial beasts."

"Oh yeah? Kek!" Thalos barked out a laugh. "Then become a god first, because between you and me, we both know it's unlikely. Unless someone with the strength of a god can handle a beast like that and to my knowledge, there are none on the Vayun continent—you'll be crushed."

Grey smirked faintly. "What if there is someone strong enough? What if it's me?"

"Then that day, it would rain fire," Thalos replied with mock seriousness. "Until then, let's get back to me beating the shit out of you." His grin widened once again, his stance shifting back into a ready position.