Magus Supremacy

"Are you deaf?! I said rub your nose on my feet and use your damn tongue to lick off the stain on my boots!" The young man thundered again, and this time, he swung his foot viciously toward Grey's face.

"Huh?!" Grey muttered in confusion as he casually leaped back, avoiding the strike. The foot sliced through the air, smashing into nothing but emptiness.

"I already apologized. Why do you have to be such a dick?" Grey asked in anger as his gaze sharpened on the men standing in front of him.

"I'm being a dick? You bumped into me, spilled my drink, and now you want to act like some entitled bastard?! Tch! How arrogant. Do you k..."

"Do I know who you are? That's what you want to say, right?" Grey cut him off sharply, his voice laced with irritation. "Tch! You're all the same. Crazy-ass people who want the world to bend to their every whim. Aren't you the real entitled bastard here?!"

The orange-haired man's face darkened, his teeth clenched as his fists trembled. His fury practically radiated in waves, and the scar running across his cheek seemed to twist as he glared at Grey with killing intent.

Those passing by began to stop one after another, their curiosity drawn to the growing commotion. But the moment they noticed the black attires, the orange-haired figure, and the scar across his face, every expression shifted to shock.

Not because they pitied Grey. No—everyone was terrified for the robed figure who had dared to stand against the orange-haired youth.

"Damn! Who the hell in their right senses would piss the Orange Tiger off?" one of the townspeople whispered, his voice trembling.

"Exactly. He's the strongest student from the Noxarian Academy, and somebody's foolish enough to provoke him? Tch! That guy's nothing but dead meat."

A few others muttered in agreement, shaking their heads, some even backing away as if they didn't want to be caught in the crossfire.

Thalos, standing a few metres away with his arms folded across his chest, watched the scene with quiet amusement. His lips curled into a smile, and his eyes glimmered with dark glee.

'You call yourself the Supreme Magus, huh? Let's see how you handle this without my help. What will you do now, Grey? Will you use your wind magic? Or will you rely on Ki instead?' Thalos mused, his anticipation growing with every passing second.

"I'm the entitled bastard? From… from your filthy mouth?" the Orange Tiger growled, his voice low but filled with rage.

"Jokes on you. I'm standing two metres away while your lapdogs are practically breathing down your neck. So tell me, whose mouth is filthy?" Grey replied with a mocking smirk, though his face remained hidden beneath his robe.

"Curse you!" the Orange Tiger roared. In the blink of an eye, he dashed forward at full speed, his movement so sudden that the crowd gasped in unison.

His companions reached out instinctively, trying to stop him, but it was too late. Within just two seconds, he was already in front of Grey, his palm surging with terrifying strength as it slammed into the robed man's stomach.

"Kuuk!" Grey choked as blood spurted from his mouth. His body was flung backward, skidding several metres across the ground before he managed to stop. His insides churned violently, pain wracking his body from the sheer force of the blow.

'Fck! How fast can he move?! I… I couldn't even see him! He's just as fast as that damn direct descendant back at the academy. Wait—don't tell me… is he a Stage Four warrior too? Sht! Am I cooked or what?!'

"You are cooked in my hands today!" The orange tiger roared in anger as he bolted forward, moving almost like a blur.

'No! If I lose hope so quick, how will I take down Mada and his gang? Think of this bastard as a new stepping stone. Go full throttle, Grey! Don't hold back.' He hyped himself up, clenching his fists tightly as he could see the young student's punch heading for his face at full speed.

"Wind magic." He softly called out while pointing his palms towards the ground. "Aerius." He muttered under his breath.

A powerful gust of wind erupted, bursting outward and hitting the ground with immense force.

The blast propelled Grey a few metres back, just in time to avoid the incoming punch that slammed into the air with a deafening bang, shaking the surroundings.

"Don't run from me!" The orange tiger bellowed as he began punching the air in rapid succession. To the untrained eye, it looked insane, but Thalos could sense it clearly.

'Crap! That's the second stage of Ki—the ability to emit invisible Ki outwardly. Fuck!' Thalos thought inwardly, his eyes widening in disbelief as he wondered if Grey had noticed it too.

'Huh?! There's an unnatural energy headed my way. Is this his doing?!' Grey thought, narrowing his eyes. He could not see the attacks flying towards him, but he could definitely feel them.

Instead of waiting for disaster to strike, Grey took matters into his own hands.

He pivoted sharply to the side, avoiding one of the invisible Ki strikes that smashed into the ground where he had stood moments ago, throwing up a cloud of dust and rubble. He leapt back to evade another attack, then ducked low to dodge the next one.

And so it went on. Grey kept moving, twisting, turning, ducking, and weaving, relying on pure instinct and sharpened senses to evade the deadly barrage.

'How can he do that? Luckily, I can sense any form of energy disturbance in the air, and that helped me. If not, I would have been a goner if one of those connected.' Grey thought grimly as he pivoted on one foot again, narrowly dodging another attack that slammed into the earth, cracking it apart with terrifying force.

"Coward! Come face me instead of standing at a distance throwing pitiful attacks at me!" Grey thundered as he spun away from yet another wave of invisible strikes.

"So be it." The orange tiger muttered. Without hesitation, Ki flared wildly around his feet, and in the next second, a thunderous bang erupted across town as the ground beneath him shattered. His figure blurred and vanished, charging straight towards the robed figure at impossible speed.

Seeing this—no, more like being unable to see it—Grey's throat went dry. He gulped loudly.

"Maybe that was the wrong thing for me to say." He muttered, and in the blink of an eye, another explosive bang rang out as the orange tiger's fist slammed into his gut with bone-shattering force. Grey's body convulsed from the impact, and he couldn't help but cough out more than a mouthful of blood.

The crimson liquid sprayed from his mouth as his body went hurling backwards, crashing violently into several stalls, reducing them to rubble with a resounding crash.