The Golem Mage Chapter 1099: Troublesome Gordons Duo 1.

In that instant, mages in the eastern stands exploded into thunderous cheers, their excitement bursting forth upon witnessing all five emerge together.

For the first time ever, they overpowered the northern fanatics in volume, silencing them entirely, since even the typically rowdy northern supporters stood dumbfounded and mute before these enhanced Takeda forms.

These elemental bodies appeared far more polished than previously, their weapons keener and noticeably advanced, further developed, as if they had achieved a breakthrough together with their creator.

Their clustering around him heightened the immense aura radiating from them.

“Are you done? Is that all? Then... is it my turn now?” Alec finally spoke.

His words pierced the tense air, capturing Takeda's focus, while the Progenitor body—hovering several meters above and apart from the five elemental bodies—gazed at Alec in evident shock, baffled by how Alec remained utterly calm and upright.

Beneath the crushing weight of six High-Rank auras, Takeda had anticipated Alec buckling, maybe dropping to his knees and struggling to breathe.

Yet Alec stood resolute, eyes gleaming with anticipation, for he endured such aura suppression nightly in the beast forest, ensuring Takeda's ploy wouldn't embarrass him.

This poised resistance greatly provoked Takeda; although Alec's frame quivered faintly, Takeda discerned it stemmed not from dread, but from exhilaration—raw, boundless eagerness.

“Get him.”

Takeda issued the order at last, evidently finished with Alec's nonchalant posture, prompting the Earth and Fire avatars to charge first.

As they pressed forward to shorten the gap, Alec countered immediately; with a rapid control gesture, the ground ahead of him churned—

A stone pillar burst diagonally upward, slanted rearward, crashing into him and catapulting his form backward at tremendous velocity.

Boom!

Alec didn't halt there, and as Fire and Earth Takedas grasped his tactic, they leaped ahead, weapons poised—the Fire Takeda assaulting from the left with a sweeping horizontal arc of its long odachi.

Concurrently, Earth Takeda closed from the right, axe clutched in its left hand, swinging it in a reverse horizontal stroke to converge with the Fire avatar's slash at the middle.

Meanwhile, flames erupted under Alec's feet, thrusting him higher aloft as he observed the approaching Qi from their strikes converging on him.

The flaming slash arrived first.

In that split second, flames wholly enveloped Alec's right leg, climbing to just below his kneecap, breaking beyond his boot; they flared outward as he whipped his leg ahead like kicking a ball, precisely when the flaming slash struck.

Bang!

His kick hurled the flaming slash skyward, followed by the earth-infused assault; Alec shoved his left hand out, manifesting a circular earth shield before him, etched with glowing runic inscriptions.

Yet it endured briefly against Earth Takeda's slash; the instant it clashed, the shield resisted only moments before fracturing and crumbling under the strain, with the leftover force of the earth slash surging toward him.

This time, though, Alec sensed far less pressure than the initial onslaught; those brief seconds he'd gained let him prepare properly, and he reacted without delay, thrusting his weapon—the still-sheathed Blood Changdao held in his left hand—ahead of him.

In mere milliseconds, his right hand seized the hilt and partially drew the blade, raising just enough of it vertically as a shield. The oncoming energy smashed into it—and cleaved neatly in two.

Bang!

Right then, as the split energies detonated behind him, a deafening blast reverberated across the battlefield, unleashing a massive shockwave that swept through the air.

The force blasted outward, rattling everything below; the battling mages instinctively froze, their gazes whipping upward to the explosion's origin.

The spectators grasped the situation immediately: the flaming slash Alec had booted away had smashed straight into the Creation Stone's dome.

On collision, it erupted, the barrier soaking up and containing the blast to keep it from leaking outside.

Otherwise, the shockwave would have struck the audience.

Instead, the dome flung the energy back inward—

And the rebounding shockwave, originating from a Tier 7 mage, operated on a wholly superior scale to anything a Tier 6 mage could unleash.

Witnessing Alec hovering motionless in mid-air emboldened the War God Academy mages to unleash their utmost fury.

“You have the guts to look elsewhere?! I’ll kill you for looking down on me!” Sojin roared, charging straight at Arthur. With a rapid flick of both wrists, he propelled two kunai hurtling directly toward him.

Arthur stayed utterly composed, his hands reacting on pure instinct—right fist sheathed in earthen might, left hand shimmering with a silvery metallic glow—as he swatted the thrown weapons away through exact, masterful sweeps.

Ever since Alec aided in evolving his golem, which had grown far stronger, Arthur's metal element had advanced alongside it. The hue of his metal manifestation now echoed his golem's frame—a vivid silver shade. Though silver ranked below gold in strength, Arthur knew his command and might had surged since the shift back to silver.

The instant he parried the kunai, Arthur sensed Sojin's absence. Yet rather than search around, he issued a soft, dismissive snort.

Arthur had clashed with shadow-element mages in the past. Knight's prowess fell short of Sojin's—save when Knight wore his spirit equipment set—but Arthur's repeated spars with Knight had taught him the core principles.

Exposed to countless shadow arts, Arthur could foresee the next move. Lacking Sojin's precise whereabouts, he still divined the ninja's scheme.

Arthur sprang into action without delay, dropping low as his danger instinct sparked. A split second later, a wickedly curved blade whistled through the air mere inches over his scalp.

That single arc revealed the truth—a lethal edge had sliced through with deadly accuracy. Opposite him, Sojin's gaze flickered wide. His assault had been flawlessly anticipated.

Still, he refused to falter. No shinobi quits after a lone botched strike.

Abruptly cutting his swing short, he twisted his hold and veered the blade anew, tilting its razor edge down to skim just over Arthur's shoulder, set to rend him from arm's length.

Arthur's riposte stood primed. Bracing his left palm against the earth for stability, he whipped up a ferocious kick with his left leg, slashing diagonally at Sojin.

Arthur's lightning-fast response demolished Sojin's offensive, arresting the plunging slice and compelling him to stumble back several paces.

While Arthur reset his balance, Sojin dissolved into the shadows once more. Abruptly, a known energy bloomed behind Arthur—a body flush to his back, the enemy borrowing his stance, even as Arthur mirrored the lean by reflex.

Refraining from a complete pivot, he sidelong glanced until Brandon's visage sharpened into focus.

“Yours being a pain in the ass too?” Brandon queried, met by Arthur's curt nod.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Arthur murmured, easing his pose just enough for Brandon to glimpse the devious smirk curling his lips.

“Let’s do it,” Brandon shot back instantly.

In unison, they hoisted their spare hands, weaving swift hand seals with flawless timing before bellowing together—

“Golem Summoning.”