Sword God in a World of Magic

Lord Starsky looked at the person in the blue cloak with narrowed eyes.

He wanted to kill all five people, but he couldn't. Otherwise, the person in the blue cloak would essentially blow up Star City.

Sadly, the only thing he could do was comply. If he managed to win against the enemy Mage Lord in a duel, he could kill them and then kill the other four.

That was his only shot.

"Fine," Lord Starsky said.

A moment later, his two partners left the arena.

The colosseum was massive, but for Mage Lords, it wasn't big at all.

Being a hundred kilometers away from a Mage Lord was essentially like standing beside them.

So, even though the two Mage Lords had left the arena, to the blue-cloaked person, it was still like they were standing just beside them.

Obviously, Lord Starsky wasn't playing fair.

He was acting like he accepted the fair duel, but the presence and constant danger of his two friends would put pressure on the enemy Mage Lord since they could attack at any moment.

"Good," the person in the blue cloak said.

Then, Lord Starsky and his opponent flew into the sky. The destructive power of a Mage Lord was too much for the arena to handle. The arena was built to withstand Ancestral Beasts, not Mage Lords.

After ascending for around 150 kilometers, the two of them stopped.

At such a height, the air became quite thin, and the surroundings were quite chilly. However, since Aterium was so much bigger than Earth, the two Mage Lords were still well within Aterium's atmosphere.

Of course, at such a height, only the Ancestral Mages could watch the fight. A normal Archmage only had a Spirit Sense with a radius of 50 kilometers.

Many of the warriors and Archmages wanted to watch, but they were too scared to get closer.

They had never seen Mage Lords fight, but they could imagine that the powers of destruction released during such a fight would be terrifyingly dangerous.

Meanwhile, the Ancestral Mages became quite excited by the prospect of watching two Mage Lords fight. There were many things they could learn by watching such a fight.

Of course, since Shang's Spirit Sense had a radius of 250 kilometers, he could also watch the fight, but no one needed to know that.

The size of one's Spirit Sense was a strong indicator of a person's Battle-Strength.

Most people thought that Shang was an Ancestral Mage, but there were also a couple of people that knew that Shang was only at the Peak Fifth Realm.

Having a Spirit Sense with a radius of 100 kilometers was already quite impressive and put someone in the top 5% of Archmages.

A Spirit Sense with a radius of 150 kilometers would put one in the top 0.1%. These kinds of people could enter any Empire they wanted. Sadly, only the absolute strongest of these 0.1% could become the chosen ones of the Empire.

Having a Spirit Sense with a radius of 200 kilometers counted as legendary for normal people. The general public wasn't even sure if that existed.

Of course, people like that existed, but their existence was kept very confidential.

These people fought each other for the singular spot of King Contender in a given Empire, and if they failed to gain the spot, they would become the highest leaders inside the ranks of the Mage Lords.

They would gain spots like an assistant to a Mage King or leaders over important territories.

For example, the Manager responsible for Areas 61 to 80 in the Lightning Manor was one such person. Areas 61 to 80 were where a huge portion of the Lightning Manor's Mage Lords came from, and managing these Areas was of paramount importance to the Lightning Manor.

And a Spirit Sense with a radius of 250 kilometers?

There wasn't always someone like that in the world.

Having a Spirit Sense with a radius of 250 kilometers was only possible if one comprehended five level two Concepts before becoming an Archmage, which was absolutely ridiculous and nearly impossible to achieve.

Only High Mages that used up a majority of their longevity while being given mountains of resources by an Empire could hope to achieve something like that, and even with all that, it was rare.

The tournament for the next spot of Mage King happened every 1,000 years, and a Mage Lord could live for up to 25,000 years. So, theoretically, every Mage Lord had 25 chances to take part in the tournament if they were very quick.

When the God had said that Shang belonged to the top 10, he wasn't referencing the people that were currently in the Archmage Realm.

Instead, he was referencing the currently ten strongest Mage Lords and how powerful they had been at Shang's level.

If Shang managed to keep his current Battle-Strength at relatively the same level when compared to people on his level, he would reach the level of these Mage Lords.

Of course, Shang's power could also fall when compared to others on his level.

This was how legendary someone with a 250-kilometer-radius Spirit Sense was.

At this moment, in all nine Empires combined, there was only one Archmage with such a Spirit Sense.

On Average, all Empires combined would give birth to one of these people every 200 years or so, but there were times when there wasn't a single one, and there were also times when there were three.

As for the general public, none of them even entertained the thought that there could be an Archmage with a Spirit Sense of 250 kilometers.

That was just ridiculous.

If Shang said that he had a Spirit Sense with "just" 150 kilometers, he would already invite danger.

Because of that, Shang acted like he couldn't view the fight between the two Mage Lords.

As for the Temple of Blood?

They knew partially of Shang's power.

They thought Shang had a Spirit Sense with a radius of 200 kilometers, someone with the power to rival the secret elite of the Empires.

That was also why they were so willing to invest in him.

Shang's influence over warriorkind was worth a lot of money, but his personal power was worth just as much.

Because of that, the Mage Lord from the Temple of Blood fought at the height of 150 kilometers.

Like that, Shang could still watch.