Legendary Mage vs. Lord of the Void

"Director Planck." Sidney stared in shock at the white-bearded old man. "How are you here? Are... are you tracking me?!" "I am not tracking you. I came for your mentor, Marshall. Sidney, he has hidden himself within your mind." Planck shook his head slightly and stepped forward at a measured pace. "Do you remember? In the director's office, you asked me for help. Marshall betrayed his faith and proclaimed himself the Lord of the Void. He had already fallen into becoming an evil god, and you wished to sever that sinful bond between master and disciple with your own hands." "There... was something like that..." Sidney looked dazed, his thoughts clouded and his memory severely deteriorated. Yet he did not believe that about himself. Locking his eyes onto Wayne, his face twisted into a snarl. "Thank you for your kind intentions, but they are no longer necessary. Marshall promised me that as long as I sacrifice this brat to him, he will never plague me again." Wayne furrowed his brows. Thinking it over, matters were far more complicated than he had imagined. The Lord of the Void was a fallen legendary mage. Before abandoning his humanity, his name was Marshall—Sidney's teacher. To free himself from his teacher's haunting grip, the unlucky student had reached out to Director Planck for help. Planck had searched for traces of the Lord of the Void and found Sidney, who was parasitized by him. Once he grasped the cause and effect, Wayne backed away several paces to stand behind Planck. The name Planck sounded steeped in quantum mechanics; the man was unquestionably a heavyweight. Planck cast a curious glance at Wayne. "Sidney, why is your teacher so obsessed with a young man? What is so special about him?" "Nothing special, and I couldn't care less." Pain showed on Sidney's face. "Director Planck, I am one of the attending physicians at Red Leaf Forest Asylum. He is merely a magic apprentice. For the sake of Red Leaf Forest, hand him over to me." "I'm afraid that won't do!" Planck refused flatly. Ever since accepting Sidney's commission, aside from attending the gathering at the Great Cemetery, he had spent the rest of his time tracking the Lord of the Void. The cosmic Void was vast and boundless, rife with lurking perils; even a legendary mage dared not linger within it for long. Planck's method of hunting the Lord of the Void was to wait for him to show himself. With the aid of several old friends, Planck had finally intercepted his quarry this morning. He hadn't acted immediately, first to give Sidney a chance, and second to see what the Lord of the Void was truly searching for. Planck had been thoroughly astonished: the Lord of the Void cared about a mere magic apprentice. What was so remarkable about an apprentice? Had the Lord of the Void gone mad? Well, yes, he certainly had. Yet that was not the point. By Planck's deduction, the Lord of the Void had regained a portion of his sanity and had not dissipated into nothingness like other legendary mages. His persistent fixation on an apprentice, even to the point of projecting his consciousness back to the God-favored Continent, could only mean the apprentice was far from as simple as he appeared. Intriguing. He had heard that the Holy See of the Heavenly Father was also secretly searching for something. With that in mind, Planck offered Wayne a genial, kindly smile. "Allow me to introduce myself: Planck, Director of Red Leaf Forest Asylum. Young man, with me here tonight, no one will lay a finger on you." "Wayne. Thank you, Director. I'll be counting on you tonight." Wayne took another few steps back. The old rascal had an odd smile—it looked welcoming, but something felt off. If pressed to describe it... It felt lecherous. The curl of his lips, the look in his eyes—leering, as though he coveted Wayne's body. Considering the land beneath his feet was the Kingdom of Windsor, Wayne decided to keep his distance from Planck just to be safe. "Planck, he's just a magic apprentice! I am an attending physician at the asylum, a Golden mage, and quite possibly a future High Priest of the Church of Nature!" Sidney was beside himself with fury. It was a complete giveaway question, yet Planck had managed to get it wrong. "Sidney, keep your mind clear. Your thoughts belong to you alone. You are fully capable of severing your tie with Marshall," Planck advised. "Don't spout nonsense in front of me! At least I am far more rational than you! I know what choice to make!" Hearing that made Sidney even angrier. A voice whispered in his ear, reminding him that once he cut ties with the past, his consciousness and magic power would shrink drastically. Without strength, he would be worthless, never able to realize his ambitions. "Sidney, you will go mad. You will end up just like Marshall." "Shut up, you old fossil! Those words are mine to say! Look at you, all disheveled and raving—you're the lunatic!" Sidney roared savagely, catching contempt and mockery in Planck's tone. The roar transformed into acoustic waves, sweeping up stray wind elements and pouring down like rain. For certain reasons, the downpour was rather light. The fine mist shot downward, rippling as it struck the space before Planck, vanishing without a trace an instant later. Planck did not strike back, seemingly waiting for something. Sidney interpreted this inaction as disregard; his fury burned even hotter, and his bellows grew increasingly inhuman. Sidney's muscular frame swelled and bulged. Two pale arms tore through his suit jacket and burst from his back. He doubled over, vomiting violently and spewing great sheets of white frothy flesh. The white froth split and fused, fused and split again. Vein-laced tentacles covered the sewer walls, surging toward Planck like a flood breaking through a dam. "Marshall, you're finally willing to come out." This was precisely the moment Planck had been waiting for. Dark light blossomed in his eyes, and a shadowy mindscape rolled out slowly beneath his feet. Sidney might have this flaw or that, lusting after power and harboring immense ambition, but what mage in this world didn't? No one was perfect; everyone had desires. Planck believed Sidney could still be saved. At the very least, he had served Red Leaf Forest Asylum for years; if not for his merits, then for his toil. The legendary mage's life force field unfolded. His consciousness plucked at the Void, pulling down a projection to construct a unique three-dimensional space. This space superseded the original sewer, anchored to the God-favored Continent while insulated by Planck's mind. Within this space, the Lord of the Void could no longer conceal his will. A humanoid tentacle monstrosity clung to Sidney's back, hands clamped over Sidney's eyes while tentacles wrapped around and manipulated his limbs, murmuring whispers directly into his ear. Sensing Planck's gaze, the Lord of the Void lifted his head. His chaotic facial features warped into a sneer. "My student, he envies your talent and fears that one day you'll become director. What an ugly creature he is!" Sidney roared at the top of his lungs, his sanity plummeting rapidly. His flesh and blood began fusing with the humanoid tentacles, and the teeth in his mouth morphed into pale squirming tendrils. Suddenly, sacred light flooded the darkened space, dispelling the decadent gloom and infusing it with strength and hope. Planck turned into a humanoid lightbulb. The brilliant radiance, like an invisible giant hand, gripped the humanoid tentacle beast and hauled it away from Sidney's torso. The Lord of the Void's features stretched long as his tentacles clung desperately to his student. Where their flesh touched, the fused skin tore away in nauseating strands of white mush. Seeing that he was about to be stripped away, the Lord of the Void unleashed his own life force field as well. Two unique spaces, two starkly different shades of darkness collided and ground against one another. An indescribable sound left Wayne dizzy, saliva welling violently in his mouth, his teeth tingling with a phantom ache. A continuous ringing filled his ears, distorting his vision with double images. Where the two expanses of darkness clashed, he saw a massive scatter of bursting four elements. A massive amount! An enormous amount. Though not quite as boundless as the elemental space, it was still enough to fill Wayne's life essence to the brim. These four elements seemed domesticated; each knew its way back home. One moment they were tangled in chaos, the next they parted cleanly, heading unerringly back to their masters. Wayne's mouth watered at the sight. His poor countrymen were locked away in a cellar, subjected to torment and suffering—someone had to step up and rescue them! Alas, they couldn't be saved! Profiteering from a war at a juncture like this meant that even if Planck won, Wayne would face a reckoning afterward. Judging others by himself, Wayne could already picture the scene. Planck rubbing his hands together like a fly, grinning like an evil god: "You little rascal, how did you manage to act so dumb? Come here, let Grandpa Director give you a physical checkup." After a brief stalemate, Planck expelled the Lord of the Void from Sidney's body. The humanoid tentacle beast coiled in its own space, its two eyeballs fixing separately—one on its student, the other on Wayne. "Marshall, your life has merged with the Void. The God-favored Continent is no longer territory you may tread. Go back. Here, you are no match for me," Planck said gravely. When not acting eccentric, the director was quite imposing. It wasn't just his aura, but his array of artifacts: rings, medals, a holy grail, a crucifix, keys, necklaces... These magical items hovered around Planck, each enveloped in its own dedicated halo. Wayne was utterly dumbfounded. Just what sort of sacred being was this old codger? How could his repertoire be so wild? With so many faiths, did he even have time to pray to them all? If his mind wandered for a second and he sang praises to the Goddess of Nature before the Goddess of Death, wouldn't he drop dead on the spot? "Hehehe, my life has merged with nowhere. On the contrary, I have discovered the true essence of life." The Lord of the Void swayed his anthropomorphic form, proclaiming himself the perfect lifeform and sneering smugly, "A mortal vessel only shackled my mind. My current body was forged through life magic. It is the primordial organism, the very essence of the entire universe." Planck shook his head, unwilling to waste words on a lunatic. Raising his left hand, he condensed a javelin of blood-red crystal and hurled it with full force, skewering the Lord of the Void's head. Before the Lord of the Void could retaliate, Planck's right hand—hidden under his white coat—cast a rope of sunlight, looping it around Sidney's neck and dragging him over to his own feet. Darkness surged. Wayne's vision blurred, and he found himself back in the familiar sewer. He glanced around, unable to find the shadowy realm, but in the rift where the two spaces had collided, he spotted four elements spewing and dispersing in an endless torrent. *Gulp!* x2 Wayne swallowed hard, itching to lead his poor countrymen away from the battlefield at once. Remembering that two legendary mages were right there, he decisively greased his heels. Run first, think later. Now was hardly the time to snatch bargains. Two steps in, Wayne realized something was off. Why were there two gulps? Who else had swallowed? Sidney. In the dark realm, the Golden mage had lain motionless like a dead dog, but back in the sewer, he was instantly wide awake. Right now, he was staring at the unowned four elements, calculating whether to make a quick profit. In the end, fear triumphed over greed; just like Wayne, he didn't dare make a reckless move. Seeing Sidney awake, Wayne didn't linger. Gripping his handgun, he dashed down the sewer with an exaggerated cry. Sidney cast a sideways glance and scoffed disdainfully, "What's the use of running? Even if you run out of Londan, you can't escape their gaze." Even as he spoke, Sidney's abdomen seized with sharp cramps, his insides churning violently. Something seemed to crawl up his esophagus to the back of his throat. Sidney's face drained of color. He hastily jammed his fingers down his throat, attempting to induce vomiting. Sharp pain shot through his fingertips. His mouth was wet and slick, and two fingers were bitten until blood flowed freely. "Sidney, my promise still holds. Sacrifice him to me, and I will never come looking for you again." The Lord of the Void's voice issued from Sidney's mouth. Under the bewitching sway of that voice, Sidney forgot his hatred and fear of his mentor, obeying the command to pursue Wayne. The Lord of the Void urged him on with desperate haste. To claim Wayne, he had not hesitated to split his consciousness in two, one half to hold back Planck and the other concealed within Sidney. The part holding back Planck went without saying—nine times out of ten, it was a write-off. To keep Planck from suspecting anything, the portion left behind as the rearguard was substantial, amounting to a grievous loss. The Lord of the Void felt agony as though cutting off his own flesh, consoling himself that he had achieved a strategic success: he had avoided a meaningless battle. Now, as long as he captured Wayne and reclaimed the elemental space, all the sacrifice would be worth it. Spurred on by the Lord of the Void, Sidney moved like the wind, his actions blazingly swift. But his mind and sanity had suffered irreversible erosion. His eyes turned milky white, and frothy tentacles spilled from his mouth; barring a medical miracle, he was beyond saving. This was inevitable. To accomplish his strategic plan, the Lord of the Void was ruthless enough to butcher his own mind. From start to finish, his student Sidney was nothing more than a tool—and why would he care about the life or death of a tool? Sidney's consciousness was grievously damaged, causing him to forget his magecraft; he only knew how to run after Wayne on foot. Wayne, warned by his supernatural danger sense, sprinted like a hare. Wayne's physical constitution far surpassed that of an ordinary man: greater strength, superior speed, formidable endurance. With Sidney having forgotten his magic, the distance between them gradually widened. At last, berated by the Lord of the Void, Sidney abandoned his humanity altogether. Great masses of frothy tentacles burst from his body. His bizarre scuttling crawl was unnervingly fast—even an Abnormal titan would call it grotesque. The slithering sound of tentacles scraping against the walls drew closer to Wayne's ears. Spinning around, he fired several shots before dashing forward once more. This time, no life barrier appeared. The bullets punched straight through the jelly-like white froth. *It penetrates defense! He takes damage!* Wayne caught this instantly. Waving his hand, he raised earthen walls and sheets of fire to obstruct it, attempting to grind down the tentacle beast's health bar in a war of attrition. It was a fine plan, but as the Lord of the Void progressively took over Sidney's body, his terrifying consciousness birthed more and more frothy mass. Within a few breaths, Wayne's foe was no longer Sidney. A flood of white foam surged through the sewer, closing in on Wayne from multiple angles. Seeing enemies on all sides, Wayne had no choice but to abandon flight. Planck had interrupted his transformation earlier, but this time, he would show the Lord of the Void what true horror looked like. *Death Knight, time to log on!*