Chapter 378 Imaginary Elements
As he spoke, the surrounding space seemed to ripple.
One, two, three...
A steady stream of figures began to emerge from their concealment in various ways.
Some emerged from the distorted light, some rose from the shadows on the ground, some dispelled the illusion directly, and others approached cautiously from a distance.
These people were the last survivors in this brutal free-for-all, apart from Jemin and the two level-five wizards who had just left the scene.
They remained hidden nearby, witnessing this earth-shattering battle.
Jemin's gaze swept around, and figures appeared one after another like ghosts, exactly thirteen in total.
There are six level four wizards and seven level three wizards.
They subtly formed a loose encirclement, their positions seemingly random, yet they blocked most possible angles from which to break through.
Their auras were subtly connected, clearly indicating that they had reached some kind of temporary alliance.
"An alliance has been formed?" Jemin knew the answer and was not surprised.
Wizards are a profession that relies on wisdom and knowledge to survive. When faced with a powerful enemy that they cannot fight alone, choosing to join forces is a manifestation of rationality and wisdom.
The reason he was able to detect the presence of these people was not because of reconnaissance magic.
After all, with the spatial blockade and energy turbulence interfering, those methods were greatly reduced in effectiveness, and Jemin himself was not in good condition, so he was not able to pay attention to the situation around him.
He was able to detect the enemy based on a simple fact: Helios and Mephisto had already conceded defeat and withdrawn, but the [spatial anchoring force field] covering this area remained as stable as ever.
This only shows that the person maintaining the force field is still there, or that there is still enough power to support it.
His gaze finally settled on the figure standing at the very front of the alliance, his expression complex yet filled with unwavering fighting spirit—Rex.
A knowing smile appeared on Jemin's face as he said, "Rex, if I'm not mistaken, you're the one who could gather them together, right?"
Rex nodded, readily admitting, "It was me. Jemin, after communicating with you in the 'Justice' plane, I know very well that in a one-on-one fight, none of us here can match you."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over his allies beside him: "Especially after witnessing firsthand how you 'dealt' with those level-five seniors, I believe that joining forces is the only way we might be able to contend with you, or even... find a sliver of a chance to win."
Upon hearing this, Jemin became somewhat curious: "If that's the case, according to the optimal strategy, you should have launched a swift and decisive attack while I was in the midst of a fierce battle with those two senior students, or when I had just finished a fight and was at my most relaxed. Why did you wait until now, giving me a chance to catch my breath?"
Rex gave a helpless yet determined smile: "Because I have two reasons for persuading them. First, I can lead them to eliminate the most troublesome enemy, which is you and the other level-five wizards—fortunately, you've already dealt with most of them. Second..."
He took a deep breath and looked intently at Jemin: "I voluntarily relinquish my right to the final victory in this competition. My purpose is not to use a 'scapegoat doll,' but to have a real fight with you! I want to know just how big the gap is between us!"
“Me?” Jemin pointed to himself. “Are you sure it’s now?”
Jemin was in a rather disheveled state at the moment—his aura was unstable, the light of his Great Light Phase was dim, and the black giant legion in his inner space had almost been emptied.
"Yes, your current state is just right! This is my only chance to force you to use more methods and measure the gap!"
Jemin suddenly realized, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.
To seek validation of knowledge and strength, one is even willing to give up readily available and precious rewards—that's very wizarding.
He glanced around at the dozen or so wizards who were standing ready, then suddenly smiled, his tone carrying a strange ease: "So, those on the field now are the last ones left, right?"
When Rex saw his smile, his heart skipped a beat, and a strong sense of foreboding washed over him like a bucket of ice water.
Jemin sighed softly, as if regretting something: "If you are scattered across the vast battlefield, in my current state, I am truly powerless and can only admit defeat."
"Or, if you had attacked me with all your might the moment you met, I probably wouldn't have lasted long. But thankfully... you didn't."
"What?!" Rex's expression changed drastically. Although he didn't understand what other tricks Jemin had up his sleeve, his fighting instincts made him immediately want to shout and order a full-scale attack!
However, the moment he exhaled, an extremely strange and unprecedented feeling of suffocation suddenly seized his throat and chest!
It was a suffocating feeling, like an ordinary person suddenly thrown into a vacuum.
But Rex couldn't understand that wizards weren't ordinary humans, especially those at the level of formal wizards. Their bodies, after undergoing numerous modifications, would be perfectly fine even if they were thrown into a vacuum.
So he quickly realized that what he was feeling was not a physical lack of oxygen; the surrounding air was still there.
Rather, it is a deeper kind of "suffocation," as if the very foundation of one's existence has been shaken!
He subconsciously tried to concentrate his most skilled explosive technique, extending his mental energy to try and capture and guide the fire element around him.
But something strange happened: his mental energy clearly sensed "something," but he couldn't control it as easily as he used to.
Those "things" were extremely inert, ignoring his mental commands and even showing signs of rejection.
He had finally managed to gather enough elements to barely construct an unstable spell model, but it collapsed instantly upon activation due to its extreme incompatibility with the surrounding environment. The backlash of mental energy made him dizzy.
"What's going on?!"
My magic has failed!
"The elements... the elements are not obeying my commands!"
A wave of panic and whispers immediately swept through the surrounding area.
Other wizards encountered the same situation, and a few wizards with strong mental power or who relied on their physical body or special bloodline managed to launch a few attacks.
However, their power was greatly reduced, their trajectories became skewed, and they were easily blocked by Jemin.
A mysterious "suffocation," an invisible barrier, the widespread failure of witchcraft...
Rex suppressed the discomfort on a spiritual level and frantically scanned his surroundings with various detection spells—no energy fluctuations, no force field interference, no known curses or domain effects…
All test results showed "normal", but their spellcasting ability was mostly destroyed!
This feeling is like being suddenly thrown into a strange dimension with completely different laws, possessing great power but having no way to use it.
“It doesn’t exist…it can actually have an effect…it can interfere with elemental responses…” Rex’s brain raced, eliminating one possibility after another.
Suddenly, a concept he had only seen in classical texts flashed through his mind like lightning!
He abruptly looked up at Jemin, who was calmly and slowly walking towards him, his eyes filled with disbelief and horror, his voice hoarse and barely audible:
"Fake...Imaginary Element?! Your laws...the laws you wield, could they be...the Imaginary Element?!"
Jemin walked up to Rex, who was kneeling on the ground, struggling against the "suffocating feeling."
Hearing this, he calmly nodded: "Yes, that's roughly how you understand it."
“Imaginary element…” Rex repeated the word, his face showing utter bitterness and relief.
Seeing his expression, Jemin shook his head.
What Jemin just did was not to unleash some powerful offensive magic, but to use the "spiritual energy law" that he controlled!
His overall grasp of the laws of spiritual energy is not very high, but he is proficient in one key technique—elemental-spiritual energy conversion!
During the brief pause in his conversation with Rex, Jemin had already silently activated this ability.
Centered on himself, he massively transformed the various basic elemental particles that wizards relied on to cast spells within a certain radius of the surrounding space into another form of energy—spiritual energy!
This sounds like just a conversion of energy forms, with no direct lethality.
But just as in ancient times, when oxygen first appeared in the Earth's atmosphere, it was nothing short of a devastating and toxic disaster for anaerobic organisms at the time!
Elements and spiritual energy are among the foundations that constitute the world.
However, for a wizarding spell model built entirely on an elemental system, the mental guidance mode would be catastrophic if suddenly placed in an environment filled with "spiritual energy," a "different" fundamental particle.
Their mental commands cannot effectively guide spiritual energy, their spell models cannot function stably in a spiritual energy environment, and the "rules" upon which they depend for survival are temporarily covered or distorted!
This is why Rex and his colleagues feel "suffocated"—it's because their souls and cognitive systems are rejecting and maladapting to unfamiliar fundamental rules.
This is why witchcraft fails—because the “bricks” (elements) that make them up are temporarily replaced with incompatible “wood” (spirit energy)!
This is why no anomalies can be detected—because spiritual energy itself is not a curse or a force field; it is simply an "objective existence." It's just that conventional detection methods in this plane are based on an elemental system, so they naturally cannot identify or understand it!
Under the influence of the laws of the plane, the spiritual energy that was forcibly converted is being rapidly corrected by the plane itself, returning to its original elemental form.
But this takes time, and that time is enough for a battle.
Rex looked at Jemin standing in front of him, feeling the "otherworldly" environment that was gradually fading but still made him feel powerless.
In the end, all his fighting spirit and resentment turned into a long sigh, and he lowered his head:
"I lost."
"We concede defeat."
...
With Rex's surrender, the other wizards also gave up resistance and withdrew.
Occasionally, one or two people, unwilling to give up, would try to rush up using their physical strength or special tools, but they were easily defeated by Jemin's extraordinary martial arts skills and had to leave the scene with resentment.
One after another, beams of teleportation light lit up, sending the defeated wizards away from the battlefield.
In the blink of an eye, only Jemin remained on this ravaged, scorched land.
He felt the spiritual energy surrounding him being rapidly "purified" by the plane, and a relieved yet slightly smug smile finally appeared on his face.
"We won."
With a flash, he was enveloped by the teleportation power and disappeared from the dueling arena.
(End of this chapter)
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