Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1478: Bodies of Mana

With the constant losses the Central Academy had suffered, and with the crushing pressure of Ibarin’s expectations hanging over them like a blade, the students’ backs were against the wall. Failure was no longer an option. They all felt it, the suffocating threat that if they disappointed him again, the consequences would be unbearable.

And so, almost in unison, they reached for the same desperate measure.

One after another, the students consumed the pills. It was not coincidence. The moment the first pill was swallowed, the change was undeniable. A violent spike of mana erupted outward from the student’s body, spreading in all directions like a shockwave. It was the kind of sudden flare only seen when a mage achieved a breakthrough into a new star level, the kind of energy burst that made everyone nearby instantly aware.

The others, upon sensing it, knew.

If one of them had gained such a terrifying surge of strength, then the rest could not afford to fall behind. Within seconds, nearly all of them had swallowed their own pills, each body trembling as the forbidden energy ignited inside. Only Kelly refrained, watching the others with a calculating calm.

The battlefield shuddered as wave after wave of mana burst outward. The Wilton students, unprepared for the sheer pressure, were driven back. Liam in particular felt the weight slam into him, forcing his knees to buckle until his hands braced against the ground. Even with the natural strength of his Pagna-trained body, the force was overwhelming. He knew that if he had not been reinforcing himself with Qi, the mana alone might have crushed him.

And then came the true transformation.

When the Wilton students raised their eyes again, their opponents no longer looked entirely human. The students of Central Academy now glowed with an eerie orange radiance, their bodies shimmering as though they were no longer flesh and blood but vessels sculpted from raw energy itself. Their skin blurred, their outlines flickered, and the glow rippled like firelight dancing across a molten surface.

“This… this isn’t just a breakthrough,” Raze thought, his sharp gaze narrowing as he studied them. His mind pieced through everything he knew. “No… it’s different. This isn’t the pill that simply forces a new star level. This is something more. It feels like their entire bodies are encased in mana, like an outer shell… why can I feel so much of it bleeding into the air?”

His instincts screamed danger.

“Safa!” Raze called, his voice steady but urgent.

She came quickly to his side, her golden irises shimmering as she activated her God Eyes. The glow reflected the truth that ordinary vision could not perceive.

“What do you see?” Raze pressed.

Safa focused, her expression growing tense. “I… I can’t see their mana cores anymore. Not at all. In fact, I can’t see the flow of mana within their bodies either. It’s almost as if their entire bodies have become the mana core itself.”

Her words hung heavy in the air.

Raze’s fears deepened. The mana core was not merely a reservoir of energy. It was intimately bound to life itself, to a mage’s very existence. To alter it, to tamper with it in such a way, was to meddle with the foundation of both power and survival.

“There must be a cost,” Raze muttered under his breath. “There has to be a backlash. The Grand Magus wouldn’t experiment like this unless the price was buried deep.”

But the immediate danger left no room to consider long-term consequences. Already, the transformed students were unleashing their newfound strength.

From Bones’s hands, from Kayzel’s fists, from the others all around, golden beams of condensed mana burst forth, tearing through the battlefield. The attacks weren’t shaped spells or elemental constructs, they were raw power, condensed into streams of destructive light.

Piba and Moze, standing shoulder to shoulder, tried to resist. Moze conjured roaring fire while Piba enhanced it with a surge of moon magic and reinforced it with slicing wind. The two spells fused, streaking forward to meet the beam head-on.

The result was devastating.

The fire and wind shattered like fragile glass against the orange beam, consumed instantly as though they had never existed. The attack plowed through without slowing. Only Beatrix’s quick reaction saved them. She slammed her staff into the ground, shifting the terrain beneath her allies’ feet. The earth lurched violently, sliding Piba and Moze out of the beam’s trajectory just in time. The scorching blast carved a burning trench where they had stood moments before.

All across the battlefield, similar struggles played out. Chiba and Yolden combined their magic, summoning a flame tornado that twisted upward with furious heat. It crashed into one of the transformed students, striking directly against their body.

And yet, nothing.

The flames vanished as they touched, smothered into nothingness. It wasn’t resistance. It wasn’t defense. It was as though the mana making up their bodies simply erased the magic itself. Another spell, aimed at their arms, slipped straight through them, leaving no mark, no injury. The crowd gasped.

“This is incredible!” a spectator shouted.

“What are we even seeing? Mages whose bodies can erase spells?” another cried out.

“It must be some kind of breakthrough technique,” a third speculated. “No… no, look! They’re all glowing the same way. This has to be a special training method, something only the Grand Magus could have devised!”

“A new technique of magic, unveiled right before our eyes!”

The audience erupted with awe and excitement, blind to the truth. To them, it was spectacle, entertainment. They believed they were witnessing history, a new era of magic being born.

But to the students themselves, the ones who had consumed the pills, the truth was far less clear. They felt the overwhelming power coursing through them, yes, but they did not understand it. They could not see the hidden chains that came with their transformation.

Only one among them did not share in their ignorance.

Kelly stood quietly apart, her lips curling in a small, knowing smile. Her hand rested casually at her side while the others blazed with dangerous energy.

“Well,” she chuckled softly, “I suppose it’s a bit obvious that I haven’t used the pill.”

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