SPELLCRAFT: Reincarnation Of A Magic Scholar

Legris was annoyed beyond description.

Veins appeared on his face as he glared at Jared from his position.

Right now, they were engaged in a Martial Arts battle, but Jared kept sending invisible waves that disrupted his moves.

He could read the flow of Jared's attacks, since he was much faster and had better senses, but the invisible waves constantly annoyed him.

Was it Magic? Was it Martial Arts?

Legris didn't know any longer.

He just wanted to crush Jared for good!

~WHOOOSH!!!~

He brought his knee close to Jared's face, while noticing that two more versions of Jared were approaching him from different directions.

'What an eyesore!' He thought to himself, sending waves of his 'End' dancing around him.

The power disrupted everything that existed, ensuring the duplicates of Jared would vanish instantly.

'If he spreads himself this thin, there's no way he can maintain a quality of Aether that gets past my defense!'

As a result, the multiple duplicates of Jared vanished in an explosion, while the Jared right in front of him was struck by an attack from his knee.

In the end, all of his foes came crumbling down at the exact same moment.

"Just to be safe, Legris erected a safe wall, also invisible, around himself, that prevented any assault from reaching him.

Even if one was to break past the defense, he would know already.

'In the meantime, I should figure out how to… huh…?'

Legris felt something strange tugging at him from his knee.

"What is tha—?'

Before he could respond, he felt his bones shatter throughout his legs, his knee being the point of contact.

Yet another invisible force!

It had just struck again.

'What's this? Why is this happening?!'

Legris strengthened his senses and focused strongly on the energies around him in an attempt to figure out what was happening.

Unfortunately, he sensed nothing.

There was no external energy that was messing up his attacks or body.

'Unless…!' Legris' eyes widened and he focused on the knee itself.

That was when he figured out what was happening.

"Haha! You finally noticed me, huh?"

Legris furrowed his brow as he made the discovery.

There was no invisible force or Magic that prevented him from landing those hits.

That was far from it.

"Y-you…!"

Clinging to Legris' fractured, but rapidly healing knee was a small Jared—so tiny he could be deemed insignificant.

"I never told you I couldn't appear in multiple forms, did I?" Little Jared grinned mischievously as he made to strike Legris once more.

"Enough!" Legris created a much bigger pulse, surrounding himself with his invincible power.

Every Aether around him was bound to get destroyed tk the smallest and most insignificant level.

"You're so annoying!"

Legris had thought fighting with Jared would be a fun way to engage in an interesting fight, but it felt like a never-ending game.

He was definitely superior to Jared, but the latter kept using tricks that made him annoying to deal with.

'If I attempt to destroy the Aether Tree again, he will just stop it like last time.'

That meant the best way to defeat him was to ensure he was incapable of doing anything while he destroyed the world.

'I'll use Magic to render him invalid.' Legris decided, awaiting Jared's next appearance.

"Here I am!"

Following Jared's announcement, the young man launched himself at Legris.

Of course, Legris could see everything happening, so he made to counter him.

'All I have to do is touch his head and connect to his neurons. No matter if this is a projection or not, it should be connected to Jared's mind.'

If he could hack into the mind of the central figure through one of the avatars, he would win.

As Legris' hand neared Jared's, a sudden blow reached Legris from the side, and Jared's physical form vanished.

"W-what?!"

It felt like Jared had become a cloud of dust, thus escaping Legris' touch.

The physical blow from Legris' side came from another Jared, who was most likely using [Perfect Unknowable] to mask his presence.

'I guess this is what I get for fixating too much on one Jared.'

Legris spread out his senses so he wouldn't get caught in such a senseless trap again, but at that point it was too late.

~WHOOOOSH!~

Two Jareds approached him, ready to strike.

'I've got this!'

Legris surmised that he only had to overpower them the same way he did before.

When it came to Martial Arts, he was superior as well.

… Or so he thought.

~POW!~

~WHAM!~

Both Jareds evaded Legris and dealt him joint strikes on both cheeks at the same time.

'H-huh?' Legris' thoughts echoed in confusion.

How were they able to keep up with his speed!

How were they able to bypass his defenses so easily?

How…?!

The two didn't give him any chance to think, as they once again thrust their fists to land another hit on him.

Legris leaned away from one of the Jareds and decided to focus on the other.

However, as soon as he leaned in, a kick from Jared sent him flying back to the one he was avoiding. n((In

The blow Legris thought he had escaped forcefully pressed upon his face as he let out a tiny shriek, before his back was hit with a follow-up strike from behind.

"Gah—!"

Another hit landed on his face, causing him to twirl, while a strike stopped him in motion almost instantly.

He tried to find his right footing to counter, but a simple downward kick caused him to lose his balance, and an uppercut sent his upper body shaking.

His body flailed back and forth like a ragdoll as born Jared's kept granting him multiple strikes, passing him to each other as if they were playing a game.

"Keuk!"

"Oof!"

"Ack!"

Legris kept suffering blow after blow, blindsided on all ends as the hits kept arriving one after the other.

The moment he finally blocked one, a second hit would arrive, causing his initial grip to lose power and the hit he had blocked would come biting him back.

After lots of rinse and repeat, Legris found himself battered and bruised, with his healing barely able to keep up with the damage being inflicted on him.

Jared, whatever he was doing, was working well against him on all ends.

'This… this is…!'

Legris was flabbergasted.

He had yet to suffer such a humiliating round of combat from anyone in this lifetime.

Even now that he had become a Primordial, how was he losing to Jared?!

'Jared of all peop—!'

"Puack!" A hit to the stomach forced his thoughts to reset, and he recoiled thanks to the damage.

'That's enough! I've had enough!'

Legris began to charge up his power, ready to destroy everything and swallow it all into the 'End'.

He didn't care anymore.

The pain and overwhelming confusion that constantly enveloped him was too much to bear.

Legris just wanted it all to END.

'[End Magic: Diminishing Return]'

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Damn! Our boy Jared really knows how to throw hands.

At this point, I don't even know who to root for.