The Focus of the Mage started to burn fiercely again.
"Fireball!" the Mage shouted.
An instant later, a huge fireball shot out of the Focus, right towards Shang.
BANG!
Shang evaded to the side with a Fire Blast.
"Remote version!" the Mage added with a smirk.
BOOOOOOM!
Instead of continuing, the fireball exploded just as it passed Shang.
Shang's legs became severely burned, and the skin on the rest of his body didn't have it any better.
He hadn't expected that the Mage could detonate his fireball from a distance!
Luckily, the bit of Mana Shang had regenerated over the fight allowed him to heal his body, but he was out of Mana yet again.
BANG!
Nevertheless, Shang continued shooting at his opponent again.
By now, he had gotten rather close. Only twenty meters were between them.
BANG!
The Mage also released his own version of a Fire Blast to escape, but Shang kept charging after him.
In comparison to Shang, the Mage had to use his own Mana every time he did that.
Several small embers were left behind as he retreated.
As Shang shot after him, the Mage turned around with a grin.
"Fire Mine!"
Then, he snapped his finger.
BOOOOOM!
One of the small embers exploded violently just as Shang passed it.
The right side of Shang's body turned black, and his right arm essentially became useless.
Shang could only grit his teeth.
He didn't have any Mana to heal himself anymore.
The Mage gained a couple of meters due to this attack.
"You know, it's kind of unfair that you can control the temperature of your body!" the Mage shouted at Shang while retreating. "I would have used my Fire Domain otherwise!"
Shang's brows furrowed. "You have a Domain?" he asked.
This had been the first time Shang had spoken during the fight.
BANG!
Shang moved to the side again as he barely evaded a concentrated beam of fire. Yet, his right arm was now completely burned off.
He knew that True Mages had a terrifying ability to regenerate Mana thanks to Mana Tranquility, but this Mage had been throwing a rapid avalanche of attacks with intense power at him.
Shang was certain that the Mage was using way more Mana than he was regenerating.
"Not your kind of Domain," the Mage shouted back. "It's a Spell I invented! It makes the surroundings very hot!"
"Anyway, it's time to end this fight!" he shouted with a smirk.
Shang didn't answer.
By now, three fireballs were floating around the Mage. He had been preparing them while he was retreating from Shang.
And then, the three fireballs shot at Shang.
BANG!
Shang shot upward, leaving only one fireball shooting directly at him.
Then, Shang swung his sword, and a wave of fire left it.
BOOOM!
The fireball in front of Shang exploded as Shang's ranged attack hit it.
BANG!
Shang released another Fire Blast and charged right towards the explosion.
It was almost like he wanted to die!
BOOOOM! BOOOOM!
The other two fireballs exploded diagonally behind him, severely burning his body and blasting him even faster into the explosion.
Shang entered the explosion.
But a moment later, a bloodied figure came out of the explosion.
Shang had activated his Domain of Entropy again, and he had sacrificed his skin to survive the explosion.
Shang was now very close to the Mage.
His expression?
The Mage only looked with disgust at Shang.
"Ew," he said.
BANG!
And then, a spear of fire shot out of his robe, right towards Shang!
Shang's right eye narrowed, and he shot another wave of fire at the spear. Sword had absorbed a lot of Fire Mana just now.
BOOOOOM!
The two attacks hit and exploded.
Behind the explosion, the Mage only smirked and lifted his hand again.
There was another fireball in it.
But then, his eyes widened.
BANG!
A black beam shot out of the explosion and hit the Mage's chest.
The Magic Circles on his chest activated again, but this time, they broke.
His robes would no longer protect him from now on!
The black beam had been Sword.
Shang had thrown it towards the Mage.
Normally, Shang wouldn't throw his weapon at a Mage. After all, their Mana Shield would just block it by using up a negligible amount of Mana.
But this Mage didn't have a Mana Shield.
The power of this throw was even stronger than when Shang had hit the Mage in the chest with his elbow.
The Mage was thrown back and flew towards the ground, not being able to control his trajectory.
BANG!
His body hit the ground.
CRACK!
Several of his bones broke, and blood leaked out of his body as he rolled across the ground.
Eventually, his body stopped, and he could see Shang approaching.
The severely burned, skinless figure looked scary and simultaneously disgusting in his eyes.
Sword returned to Shang, and he would soon reach the Mage.
"Hey, is the Soma Universe X7 out yet?" the Mage suddenly asked.
Shang's world stopped.
What did he just say?!
Did he hear that right?!
But… how?!
'A smartphone?! He knows about smartphones?!' Shang thought in shock.
Yes, the Soma Universe was a smartphone.
Shang paused in his attack due to his shock.
And then, the Mage only smirked.
The fireball he had prepared earlier was gone.
An instant later, his chest became red and then black.
"You don't get my points! Fuck you!" he shouted with a laugh.
Shang's instincts were screaming at him.
However, there was nowhere to go.
And then…
BOOOOOOOOM!
The Mage's body exploded with a violent explosion, and Shang was in the middle of it.
Shang activated his Domain of Entropy by sacrificing his bones.
This explosion seemingly took forever, and Shang's body slowly collapsed onto itself.
When Shang ran out of bones, he had to sacrifice his flesh.
And eventually, the explosion passed.
…
The cheering returned.
However, Shang was injured too heavily, and he died just a minute later.
He got the points, but he wouldn't get the points for the next two levels.
The trial was over.
