The Twisted One

After leaping through the golden beam, Merlin found a place that looked different from before.

Looking around, he found that that place was an island with a golden-yellow ocean surrounding it. The ocean stretched further than one could see as if this place was the only island in this ocean. Nobody knew where in the world this place was located.

Numberless attendees were sent to the island’s beach, and Merlin was one of them.

On the beach, there lay an antique building: an old, grand tower. Even though it was far away, with its gigantic size, it could be seen clearly from here.

Its height towered up over the clouds in the sky. An ancient aura was coming out from that tower. The magical flow in the island area was turbulent all the time. And surely, that was because of the power of the Great Magic Tower.

The people who came here all wanted to find magical cloaks for themselves. To get out of this island, the attendees had to get to the tower and take the magical-seal stones out of that place.

Magical-seal stone was one of the materials that could create a magical cloak. After the holder of the stone combined it with his or her soul, it would turn into one’s magical cloak.

After acquiring the cloak, that person would be sent out of the island immediately. In some cases where someone died during the test, those ones would also be sent back, while their deaths were not real.

Nevertheless, dying on this island, that person would lose half of his or her magical powers; that was such a cruel penalty for wizards. And if they had magical-seal stones when they died, those stones would disappear right away. Also, that was a great loss because it meant that they would have to go back with nothing.

The participants on each floor of the tower, therefore, had to think very carefully when estimating their abilities. If they did not know themselves and overplayed, they would have to face the awaiting disasters.

But there was also another way to get out of the island: staying for the whole seven days. When the program was finished, they would be instantly sent out.

Seeing a lot of people already setting off, Merlin did not waste any time. He started moving towards the Great Magic Tower.

He walked slowly and calmly; he was not in any hurry.

A while after, after walking past the beach area, Merlin found a forest surrounded by trees. A large number of participants formed up in traveling groups.

They grouped up to use each person’s skill to get to high floors.

Most of the groupings were familiar people or students from the same schools. The rest who did not come from any schools like Merlin had to go alone.

Merlin looked at those interactions amazedly. Even though he was an old man in his former life, he used to be lonely. He always lived alone. During those hundred years, he had no friends, social life, or even any relationships with people around him.

There was no rivalry in his cultivation, only loneliness, and a resolute mind.

A man wearing a fighting outfit from head to toe, with eagle-like eyes, straight, pointed hair, thin lips, and two noticeable molds under his eyes, walked to Merlin.

“Hey! You…Do you want to pair up with me?” He asked. Merlin glared for a second then turned back. But it seemed like that guy would not give up so easily.

Merlin took a deep breath and said in a cold, indifferent voice,

“You don’t have enough quality to be my partner.” Merlin’s expression was arrogant; he said without even looking at the man.

“Ke ke ke! I was right. My eyes weren’t wrong; you had to be so good that you couldn’t even see me.” The eagle-eyed man spoke jovially. Merlin’s indifferent response and arrogant character turned out to charm him; he laughed.

The guy was unusual.

“Go on your way; I do not want to waste any time.” The little one responded loftily. His face had no emotions, and a frigid aura was coming out of him.

This thing really caught the audience around; a lot of people started to crowd around.

The eagle-eyed guy did not mind Merlin’s manners. He smiled then said,

“Your hubris is very intriguing. Looking at your magical aura, I could see that you are at the final section of the magic-practitioner level.” He paused and burst out laughing, “Eeek eeek eeek my name is Milazz but it seems people like to call me Twisted Lazz.”

The eagle-eyed introduced himself while acting aberrantly. He did not look like a normal person: his eyes were abnormally rolling left and right.

“Eeeek eeek eeek you still don’t trust me. I can tell you that I am the bearer of the bloodline limit and a wizard in the zone of sorcerers.”

Bloodline limit!

“Bloodline limit?” Merlin asked slowly; his eyebrows were knitted. He was not familiar with the words. But it seemed like this man was very proud of it.

Merlin closed his eyes and used his thoughts.

A short while later, he learned about the background of this word. He had read about it in the Waldecian Academy’s library and found it in the Lemegeton encyclopedia.

Bloodline limits were a kind of gift. And these gifts were passed down through bloodlines.

The bearers of bloodline limits would receive great powers from their ancestors: powers that exceeded any ordinary people. For example, if one was a bearer of fire bloodline limit, he or she would be able to use extremely robust fire. There were still lots of bloodline limits in this world.

In this realm, magic had three main courses: supporting magic, attacking magic, and transforming magic.

Supporting magic was the magic supporting the fight whether the ones endorsing powers in all types of fights, healing magic, or even dimensional magic.

Attacking magic was mainly used in battle. However, there were several types of attacking magic in this world: long-range, short-range, mass attack, or conditional attack.

Transforming magic was the magic used in battle to transform the bodies into matter. They could even turn their bodies into liquid, objects, or even beasts.

Anyway, to use these magics, the wizards had to pay attention and use their magical powers suitably for the elements in their bodies. Normally in this realm, people were born with personal birth elements.

Most of the people had at least one element in their bodies while special ones could even bear two.

For the gifted ones with two elements, they could utilize those two elements to create a special non-primary element. For example, the bearer of water and wind elements could put together an ice element. It depended on that person’s gift at the end of the day.

Each element bearer had to use the magic of the same element because the concordance would strengthen that person’s use of magical power. But if they were different, one’s ability to use magical power would decrease accordingly.

So, every wizard had to practice using magical powers agreeing with the elements inside their bodies.

“I am a liberal person; it is not hard at all to be my partner. But first, you need to show me your skills.” Merlin looked at Milazz challengingly.

“Is he mad? Doesn’t he know Twisted Lazz? Surely Milazz is crazy but this kid is even crazier.” A guy spoke up while watching in the crowd.

“That boy just challenged Milazz. Does he want to die?” A girl standing nearby supported.

“People who are brave enough to dare Milazz must at least have some skills. But look at that kid, he is just a magic practitioner, not even a sorcerer yet. He’s just asking for death.” Another bystander said.

The criticism got consistently louder. The scene between Merlin and Milazz caught a lot of onlookers’ attention.

“Eeeek eeek eeek, how long has it been since someone had the guts to challenge me? Do not worry child; I will show you what Twisted Lazz’s got.” Having said that, Milazz started casting a spell immediately.

“I don’t even need guts to challenge you. Show me your skills and I myself will consider whether you are qualified to pair up with me.” Merlin still talked in a monotonous voice; he then sprung up onto a tree’s branch.

He picked a twig calmly and held it at ease.

Milazz was not using any weapon; he just cast a spell.

When the spell-casting part was finished, his bloodline limit was now manifesting in front of people. He was a transforming-magic user; his body was painted with blue-colored fire scorching every part of his body. The blue flames were spreading everywhere in his eagle eyes.

“Twisted Lazz’s show has begun. We should watch at a distance or else we might get caught in the crossfire.” Said a witness.

“That boy’s not going to make it. The name Twisted Lazz is not just a joke.” A guy next to him shared.

Suddenly, Milazz’s body under the blue flames started moving; he approached Merlin in a flash.

The blue fire was forced from Milazz’s upper arm to the end of his fist. A skull-sized punch was thrown; its speed was similar to an arrow,

The punch wrapped in blue fire dashed out with formidable power.

ZOOOM!

However, an unexpected situation happened: the kid thrashed the blue fireball with a twig swiftly. A thunderous explosion echoed throughout the area.

BOOOM!

That fireball turned into blue flames burning in the air; smoke and dust spread out all over the place and they went away not long after. All eyes widened; the audience was shocked watching the scene before them.

The boy’s body was not even slightly injured. Even the twig in his hand was still in one piece.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing? That child is perfectly fine.” Someone in the crowd muttered.

“Not only that, he used a twig to handle Twisted Lazz’s fireball.” Another guy added.

“How could that be? Isn’t that boy a magic practitioner? How did he destroy Twisted Lazz’s sorcerer-rank fireball?” The bystanders could not believe their eyes.

“Not bad,” Merlin stated, with a smile on his face.

How was it possible that this kid was smiling? That was the first time he smiled as if he was enjoying this situation.

“It’s not so bad using this guy to test my skill,” Merlin thought.

“I knew you were something. But the real thing is about to happen; so be prepared.”

After that, Milazz charged at Merlin right away. This time he jabbed the fireballs frantically. His face was painted with a smile like a twisted person. So this was it: the reason they all called him Twisted Lazz, a guy who loved fighting so much that it seemed twisted.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Smoke and dust were clouding the place obscuring the sight of that heated fight.

Although some people had the ability to see through smoke, they could not clearly see the fight because it was going very quickly.

ZOOOM!

Strange energy whooshed past Milazz’s body by a hair’s breadth. He was almost defeated by this bizarre energy rushing in.

It was the boy’s counterattack.

Milazz looked at his opponent with excitement. This was the first time he almost lost.

“So fun…SO FUN! Eeeeeeek eeek eek.” Milazz was laughing insanely.