This Round Is a Total Rout

The signal exploded in the night sky, and a ball of red Spark Spell burst into an umbrella shape a hundred meters overhead. Mars streamed down the ribs of the umbrella, illuminating the entire western slope before dissipating.

Regulus glanced at the fading Spark Spell and nodded in satisfaction.

Then he started to increase his intensity, going from casual to serious without any transition.

The wand swing suddenly became more expansive, the wrist and entire arm drawing a large arc, the tip of the wand leaving a trail of afterimages.

The footwork kept pace with the rhythm, and the Sidestep Charm was no longer just an occasional dodge.

He began to actively shift positions, his feet leaving a series of irregular imprints on the gravel. His body moved so fast among the core members that only faint shadows and intermittent flashes of incantations could be seen.

Thierry Garnier was the first to cross that threshold.

He had just stood up from beside the burning bushes, his hands pressing back to the ground, his fingertips not yet touching the soil, when Regulus's wand slashed diagonally in his direction, Reducto.

But unlike the one that blew up the mud swamp before, this beam of light was thinner, faster, and its color changed from white to a bluish-white.

Garnier's expression changed drastically. He suddenly exerted force with his calves and rolled to the side and back in a disheveled manner.

You dodged it, but you didn't completely dodge it.

The incantation crashed to his feet, scattering rubble and dirt, the impact sending him sprawling onto his back.

Before he could even get up, Regulus's second spell had already been cast.

Garnier lay on the ground, gripping his wand tightly, and cast an Shield Charm. A semi-circular barrier, like an inverted bowl, enveloped him on the gravelly ground.

Confringo, leaving a long, orange-red beam trailing behind it. The air was torn apart with a sharp whistling sound, and the temperature rose sharply where the beam passed. The dry grass on the ground curled and scorched the moment it flew by.

The spell struck the side of the barrier.

explode.

The shield shattered, and Garnier was thrown into the air again, somersaulting before crashing heavily to the ground ten meters away.

His right leg twisted at an impossible angle below the knee, bone fragments pierced through his trouser leg, and blood trickled down the gravel.

He lay on the ground, mouth open, unable to make a sound except for the gurgling of his breathing. His fingers twitched on the gravel, then remained still.

Collette got up from the ground, her face still covered in mud.

She took a few steps back, her wand pointing at Regulus again. The dark green light at the tip of the wand shone brightly once more, and she opened her mouth, silently chanting a spell. Poisonous mist surged from the tip of the wand.

What had spread out in one area condensed into a single bundle, like a dark green liquid rope, shooting straight toward Regulus's chest.

Regulus swung his wand forward, Exploding Charm.

The orange-red orb of light collided with the dark green mist beam, and the flames and shockwaves exploded simultaneously. The mist beam was torn in two, and the corrosive mist swirled to both sides, splashing onto the gravel slope with a hissing sound.

Collette staggered backward, her right hand holding the wand burned by the blast wave, the skin on the back of her hand instantly turning red and bubbling.

Before the flames of the Exploding Charm had even dissipated, the Cutting Curse had already followed.

A silver-white arc of light pierced through the tail flame, faster than any of the previous Cutting Curse.

Collette didn't have time to raise her shield or move her feet; she could only twist her upper body at an awkward angle.

The blade grazed her left forearm, tearing the sleeve of her robe and opening a gash in her skin. Blood gushed from the gash, trickling down her forearm and dripping onto the gravel.

She groaned softly, clutching her wound with her left hand, her wand still raised, its tip gleaming.

Then came the Piercing Curse, a thin White Line shooting from the tip of the staff, passing under her Left Arm where she was covering her wound, through her robe, and through the muscles of her outer thigh.

Collette's mouth opened, but no scream came out. Her legs buckled, and she knelt on one knee. Blood gushed from the piercing wound on her thigh, flowing down her knee and staining the ground with a small patch of dark red.

The young wizard Roman Fabre was already waving his wand when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Collette kneel down, and his eyes instantly turned red.

He swung his wand wildly, unleashing three chain Chain Curse succession, smashing them all out like a madman.

Three dark purple beams of light, trailing different arcs, flew toward Regulus from three directions. Each beam began to split during its flight, turning from three into nine, and the nine beams intertwined to form a purple net.

That wasn't all; at the same time, he pushed his left hand forward forcefully, Compressed Air Bullet that was more than twice the size of the previous one.

The solid projectile, compressed to its limit in the air, whistled sharply as it passed through the gaps in the Chain Curse, moving faster than the Chain Curse, and arriving in front of Regulus almost the instant it was launched.

Regulus stepped to the left, turning his body to the side, letting the Compressed Air Bullet graz his chest as it flew past.

Diamond Shield simultaneously appeared around his body: above his left shoulder, on his right waist, and in front of his knees—three shields in total—blocking the first three splitting spells that arrived.

In the gap between the remaining six flying streaks, he had already disappeared from his original position. The Sidestep Charm pulled him four or five meters to the right, and the moment his boots touched the gravel again, he swept his wand back.

Roman was raising his wand, preparing to continue Spellcasting, when suddenly all his joints were locked in place— the Bone-Locking Curse.

My arms are stuck in mid-air and I can't lower them, my knees can't bend, and even my jaw joint, which is already open, can't close.

He froze on the spot, then was thrown down by inertia, face down, and slammed into the ground with a thud.

In less than five breaths, the core combatants of the three core members all fell.

Luc began his operation at the same moment Regulus knocked down Roman.

He knew he couldn't win; he just wanted a single moment of direct confrontation.

His Chain Curse wasn't as fast as Roman's, but the angles were more tricky. Three dark purple beams shot out simultaneously from three angles: one towards the knee, one towards the left shoulder, and one towards the right rear, blocking any escape route.

There's also terrain manipulation; with his left hand pressing down hard, the rubble beneath Regulus's feet suddenly arched upwards, and a whole rock being pushed upwards from the ground almost lifted him off the ground, disrupting his center of gravity.

At the same time, he made a gesture behind his back with his right hand, and two core members who were still able to move pressed down from both sides simultaneously.

One used Reducto to anticipate and strike the top of the head, while the other used Transfiguration to solidify the air into sharp spikes and stab downwards.

The four movements were completed almost simultaneously.

Luc Charbonnier has followed Delacroix for over a decade, fought dozens of tough battles, and survived in the France Black Market to this day because he knows a little bit of everything and can use anything.

His greatest skill is finding time gaps in the chaos of battle that others can't see, and now he has found them.

The boy had just shifted to the side and his center of gravity was not yet fully stable. There were rocks pushing him upwards from under his feet, and two other people Spellcasting around him at the same time.

Regulus watched the encircling attack and a smirk appeared on his lips.

This person is the core of the tactics; the arrangement is quite impressive, with attacks from both the front and rear, disrupting the opponent's center of gravity, and two other people Spellcasting from the side simultaneously.

If they replaced them with someone more competent, this round should have ended in failure.

But it didn't work on him.

Regulus pointed his wand downwards, and a Transfiguration spell struck the rock that was rising upwards.

Grayish-white veins seep into the rock from its surface, causing it to change from grayish-white to light gray and become brittle.

Then, with a Reducto, he blasted the brittle rock into fragments. Using his left foot as leverage, he shifted his body to the right, avoiding the impact of the explosion beneath his feet.

Diamond Shield lit up simultaneously on the left side of the body and above the head, blocking the Reducto on the left and the solid spikes on the head.

With a horizontal swing of his right wand, a Cutting Curse swept towards the wizard on his right who was casting Transfiguration. Silver Light flashed across his forearm, and the wand and half of his sleeve fell to the ground together.

The Dark Lord's mouth was wide open, but he couldn't make a sound as he clutched his severed arm and collapsed.

Regulus turned around and his gaze met Luc's.

With a slight lift of the wand, a Reducto blasted straight at the target.

Luc activated his Shield Charm, and a white beam of light collided with the barrier and exploded. The impact pushed him back three or four meters, and the soles of his boots plowed two shallow furrows in the gravel.

Before he could even get his footing, the second Exploding Charm had already slammed into him.

Fine cracks Radiation outwards from the center of the impact, and the barrier shattered with a deafening roar, turning into pale blue Magic Power fragments that floated in the air for a few moments before dissipating.

The blast wave threw him into the air, his back slamming into the gray rock. His chest was numb from the shock, and his ears were ringing.

His body slid down the slope as he tried to raise his wand. Just as the tip of the wand lit up, a silver-white blade of light sliced through his right arm, cutting in from the middle of his forearm, through the muscles and bones, and out the other side.

His right forearm was severed below the elbow, and half of his forearm, along with his wand, lay on the ground. Blood gushed from the cut, and a dark red mist of blood exploded in the night.

Luc looked down at the severed wound on his missing right arm, his expression shifting instantly from shock to excruciating pain.

He covered the severed wound with his left hand, blood gushing out from between his fingers, sliding down the limestone, and the color draining from his face rapidly.

Then he saw that Regulus wasn't looking at him, and his wand had turned in another direction.

The battlefield was reduced to a scene of utter devastation within minutes.

The sounds of incantations and flashes of light intertwined in the night, orange-red explosions, silver-white piercings, white-to-blue pulverization, and a silent, invisible oppression.

And with each spell came the sounds of tearing, explosions, bones shattering, screams, flying rubble, burning bushes, rocks being blasted into pieces, and deep trenches being plowed into the ground.

Regulus's wand-waving gesture was clean from beginning to end.

The wrist's curve is beautiful, the movement is fluid, without any unnecessary build-up or pause; after each beautiful swing, someone falls down.

Delacroix could no longer hide. He stepped out from behind the rock, raising his wand in his right hand while his left hand rested on the leather pouch at his waist.

From the start of the fight until now, he has been hiding behind the rocks, and even though most of his core team has been wiped out, he hasn't moved.

But Luc was different. Luc had been with him for over a decade. It was less of an employer-employee relationship and more of a partnership. Luc was another core member of their team besides him.

Now his right arm was gone, and the blood had stained the soil beneath him dark brown. He was a cripple, and the boy didn't even glance at him again.

Delacroix was forced to intervene.

A handful of dark gray dust was scattered from the skin, which, when it was flung into the air, transformed into dozens of extremely fine Curse Threads. These threads had no light and were invisible to the naked eye, leaving only burn marks on the objects they touched.

Delacroix simultaneously plunged his wand into the ground, and the ground beneath Regulus's feet suddenly collapsed as if its support had been removed.

Regulus watched the person emerge from the darkness, a slight gleam in his eyes.

The wand fell naturally, pointing to the ground beneath its feet. The collapsed ground solidified again, and the Magic Power penetrated deep into the earth, transforming the soil into granite.

Grayish-white rocks spread outwards from underfoot, creating a hard foothold.

At this moment, the Curse Threads converged from all directions, the fine threads intertwining into a net that swept down from above and gathered from the left and right towards the center.

Delacroix consistently positioned himself close to the core members who were still mobile.

A wizard with Piercing Curse nail in his leg was crawling forward on the ground. As Delacroix passed by him, he didn't stop, but shifted his body slightly so that the man's shoulder would block his left side.

Regulus's Diamond Shield appeared everywhere along the path where the silk threads converged, each one precisely wedged into the trajectory of a single thread. The threads snapped upon contact with the shield, turning into a wisp of grayish-white powder that drifted away.

He stepped forward simultaneously, flicked his wand, and a silver blade of light sliced through from the left, severing the three threads that were still gathering behind him. Diamond Shield spread out above his head, blocking the net that was swirling down from above.

In no time, Delacroix's entire offensive was broken.

Regulus looked up at the person opposite him and grinned.

The wand thrust forward, unleashing a Exploding Charm that hurtled head-on, its trajectory slow and straight, leaving a trail of flame in the night.

Delacroix dodged to the side, and the Exploding Charm slammed into a rock half a meter behind him, exploding and sending debris flying that grazed his back, cutting several gashes.

He staggered, his left hand reaching into the pouch again. Before he could even scatter the second handful of dust, another Cutting Curse grazed his Left Arm, leaving a bloody mark that stretched from his wrist to the middle of his forearm.

He took a breath, still holding the wand in his right hand, about to raise it to Spellcasting.

At that moment, a Slowing Charm struck him from the side, causing him to fall backward, his back slamming into a rock and his head hitting the ground. His wand was still raised, but the light at the tip had gone out.

Baruk cackled twice on Regulus's shoulder, and the spider tilted its head to the left.

In that direction, a core member was trying to crawl through the rubble to reach the wand that Luc had dropped, still attached to half of his arm.

Baruk stuck out his buttocks, shot out a handful of spider silk, stuck to the magic wand and pulled it back, landing it and the severed arm half a meter in front of the man.

He continued crawling forward, but before he could reach it, Baruk tugged at it again, and the wand slid half a meter further.

The man looked up at the spider, his expression a mixture of anger and despair.

"Alright."

Regulus reached out and patted Baruk's back armor.

Baruk retrieved the spider silk, leaving the wand in place. He raised the spider's head high, extended its chelicerae to their maximum extent, and made a long series of clicking sounds.

Delacroix leaned back on the rock, struggling to keep himself from slipping, his elegant and composed demeanor long gone.

He looked around. His core members lay scattered across the ruins, few of them intact, and none able to stand.

It's all over.

Everything was outside his plan, yet it all seemed to happen so naturally.

From the moment he decided to take on this deal, the outcome was already predetermined; he just didn't know it.

Then he saw the spider pulling at Luc's severed arm with its silk, teasing his subordinate as if he were teasing a Gnomes.

Delacroix's temple throbbed violently.