Chapter 487: You Could Never Teach Someone as Amazing as Me
"I-Impossible! My magic is having absolutely no effect on this brat!"
Precht stared in absolute horror as Noah effortlessly strolled through his demonic army.
Watching Noah blow apart the towering, magically dense purple monsters with single, casual punches, Precht almost questioned whether he had actually cast the true Nemesis spell. But the sheer volume of magic power pouring out of him, and the devastating craters the demons' stray blasts left on the ground, confirmed he hadn't made a mistake. The spell was perfect.
"That's some excellent feedback. These really are fantastic punching bags," Noah smiled, walking leisurely toward Precht.
"I don't believe this!" Precht roared. He commanded the remaining dozen demons to swarm Noah simultaneously from all sides.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Noah didn't even break his stride. His fists blurred into afterimages, striking out dozens of times in a fraction of a second. Every single demon charging at him exploded into a shower of purple gore simultaneously.
"Former Second Master Precht. Or rather, Hades. You might want to grit your teeth," Noah advised cheerfully. He dropped into a slight crouch, his fists held loosely at his sides.
Seeing Noah's terrifyingly bright smile, a sudden, primal panic gripped Precht's heart.
He tried to cast a spell, but Noah didn't give him a single microsecond. Noah stepped forward, instantly crossing the distance, and threw a straightforward right straight.
KABOOM!
The fist buried itself deep into Precht's stomach. The sheer kinetic force lifted Precht entirely off the ground, his arms and legs violently jutting forward from the impact.
Precht's consciousness literally blacked out for a second. When he finally came to, he was hurtling through the air at supersonic speeds, leaving a trail of displaced air behind him as he was blasted hundreds of meters away from his original position.
And right in front of him, Noah was rapidly closing the distance.
Panic setting in, Precht hastily raised his hand. A magic circle flared, and a clawed chain shot out, hurtling toward Noah.
Noah casually raised his right hand and flicked his finger. The claw was instantly deflected with enough force that it snapped back like a whip, shooting straight toward Precht.
Forced to cancel the spell to avoid being impaled by his own attack, Precht lost his only window of defense. Noah effortlessly caught up to his airborne body.
Precht only had time to cross his arms in front of his face. Noah casually placed his left hand against Precht's forearms.
A terrifying surge of physical force transmitted through Noah's palm. Precht's arms were violently crushed against his own chest. His backward momentum exponentially accelerated, and in the blink of an eye, he was blasted another several hundred meters away, soaring out over the open ocean.
Noah tapped his toe against the ground. The bedrock in a several-meter radius completely shattered, and Noah vanished, blurring after the dark mage.
Seeing Noah rapidly catching up, Precht desperately channeled his magic, altering his trajectory to angle himself diagonally upward into the sky. By the time Noah caught up, Precht was hovering several dozen meters above the ocean surface.
SWISH!
Precht's fingers blurred through the air. Several purple magic circles instantly materialized, completely surrounding Noah the moment he arrived below him.
Seeing the trap, Noah tapped his toe against the empty air. The sheer kinetic force of his movement physically indented the surface of the ocean dozens of meters below him. Noah's figure vanished from the encirclement.
"Detonate!"
Precht triggered the arrays just as Noah disappeared. A massive, spherical explosion detonated in the air. The shockwave slammed downward, violently parting the ocean and creating a massive, misty crater in the water.
Precht had clearly seen Noah escape the blast radius before he detonated the spell. However, once an array of that magnitude was fully primed, forcefully aborting it would cause a severe magical backlash. He had no choice but to let it detonate.
Knowing Noah was coming, Precht frantically swiped his hands through the air, summoning a thick purple barrier around himself.
Noah materialized directly in front of him, pulling his fist back.
CRACK!
Precht's barrier couldn't even slow Noah's fist down. It shattered like cheap glass upon contact.
Noah's fist sailed through the broken shield and connected squarely with Precht's face.
Precht's head snapped violently to the side, and his entire body was sent spinning backward through the air like a skipped stone.
Noah stepped on the air, launching himself in pursuit.
Precht violently twisted his neck back, his eyes widening as he saw Noah already closing in. He thrust his right hand forward, unleashing a massive, dark-purple magical beam.
However, Precht didn't even bother checking if the beam hit. The moment he fired it, he desperately tried to spin around and flee, having caught a glimpse of Noah vanishing from his trajectory a split second before the beam fired.
He only made it halfway through his turn before a foot materialized out of thin air, slamming brutally into his flank.
The kick not only arrested his momentum entirely but violently launched him flying in the opposite direction.
"GAAAAH!"
The sheer whiplash of abruptly changing directions, combined with the devastating physical impact, forced a sharp cry of pain from Precht.
"HRAAAH!"
After tumbling several dozen meters through the air, Precht finally regained his bearings. His fury ignited completely. He roared, pushing his magic to the absolute limit. A catastrophic wave of dark purple magic erupted from his body, completely saturating the surrounding airspace.
The sheer density of the magical miasma acted as a physical barrier, slightly slowing Noah's high-speed pursuit. Spotting Noah within the purple fog, Precht rapidly clapped his hands together.
Dozens of highly condensed, hyper-fast magical beams shot forward, relentlessly tracking Noah.
Noah didn't even bother dodging. He extended both hands, his palms blurring as he casually swatted the incoming magical beams out of the air with his bare hands, continuing his relentless advance toward Precht without losing a shred of speed.
Seeing his magical artillery prove utterly useless, Precht quickly retracted his expelled aura, drawing the massive volume of magic back into his body. Glowing purple runic lines began to spread rapidly across his skin, pulsing with intense power.
"Oh? A physical enhancement spell? Not bad at all!" Noah's eyes lit up with genuine intrigue. Golden analytical arrays materialized in front of his eyes, rapidly breaking down the mechanics of the enhancement magic.
"You insolent brat!" Precht roared furiously. The purple lines on his skin flared with blinding intensity. He threw a devastating, magically-enhanced punch directly at the approaching Noah.
Noah didn't retreat an inch. He threw a punch of his own to meet the strike.
KABOOM!
The two fists collided mid-air. An apocalyptic shockwave erupted from the point of impact, violently displacing the air and generating hurricane-force winds that ripped across the ocean.
"Excellent!"
Both mages were pushed back a short distance by the recoil. Noah's smile grew even wider, genuinely thrilled by the feedback.
"Dammit!"
Realizing he had been pushed back significantly further than Noah, Precht's face twisted in rage. The glowing lines on his skin pulsed even brighter.
"HRAAAH!" He roared, refusing to retreat. He launched himself forward, charging straight back at Noah.
"Hahaha! Bring it on!" Noah laughed uproariously, rocketing forward to meet him.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
The moment they clashed, the sky erupted into chaos. Fists and kicks were exchanged at blinding speeds. Every single collision generated catastrophic shockwaves that blasted outward, tearing the atmosphere to shreds.
Beneath them, the ocean surface was physically pressed downward into a massive, bowl-like crater by the sheer, continuous atmospheric pressure generated by their brawl.
Whenever the surrounding water tried to rush back in to fill the void, it was instantly vaporized or blasted into mist by the next shockwave pouring down from above. The ocean churned and boiled, generating massive, terrifying tidal waves that roared outward in all directions.
Yet, even the deafening roar of the raging ocean was completely drowned out by the thunderous, continuous booming of their fists colliding in the sky above.
Meanwhile, having realized the battle had moved out over the ocean, the Fairy Tail mages sprinted from the base camp to the shoreline to get a better view.
"UWOOOOOHHHH!" Natsu yelled at the top of his lungs as he ran, completely entranced by the sheer brutality of the high-speed brawl. Watching them trade blows ignited every combat instinct in his body, forcing him to scream just to vent his overwhelming excitement.
While the others weren't screaming like Natsu, they were equally captivated.
Ultear and Sorano watched Noah's dominant performance with sparkling eyes, a faint, proud blush dusting their cheeks.
BAM!
After exchanging dozens of brutal blows, Precht was completely overwhelmed. Finding an opening, Noah delivered a heavy punch to his chest, knocking him backward.
Huff... huff... huff...
Precht panted heavily, hovering in the air. Sweat poured down his forehead in thick beads.
CRASH!
Beneath them, the massive crater in the ocean finally collapsed as the downward pressure momentarily ceased. The displaced water violently rushed back into the center, colliding with itself and shooting a massive geyser of water dozens of meters into the air.
Amidst the resulting mist, Noah looked at Precht with genuine satisfaction.
Despite being over a hundred and ten years old, Precht's physical constitution—bolstered by his immense magic power and decades of forbidden research—allowed him to actually keep up in a pure physical brawl. Even if it was entirely reliant on enhancement magic, surviving this long against Noah in close quarters was an incredible feat.
Having finally gotten the chance to truly stretch his muscles after a long, intense string of physical combat, Noah felt thoroughly satisfied. His mood was fantastic.
"I'm genuinely impressed that you possess this level of physical capability at your age. Even with magical enhancement, it's quite remarkable," Noah praised with a smile.
"You brat..." Precht's gaze was entirely devoid of its earlier arrogance and confidence. He stared at Noah with absolute, profound gravity.
No matter what he threw at him, Noah countered it flawlessly.
In terms of magical combat, Noah was a master of countless spells, effortlessly dismantling his every attack.
In terms of magic power—both in raw volume and purity—this twenty-year-old kid was entirely equal, if not superior, to a man who had studied the abyss of magic for nearly a century.
And in close-quarters combat? If Precht hadn't used his ultimate physical enhancement spell, he would have been beaten to a bloody pulp within seconds.
"Dammit all! To think Makarov possessed such a terrifying chess piece!" Precht gritted his teeth, glaring viciously at Noah.
"It's all thanks to Grandpa's excellent teaching that I've become this strong. Unlike you, who could never teach someone as amazing as me," Noah taunted, completely unfazed by Precht's glare.
"YOU BASTARD!" Precht's face contorted into a mask of pure demonic rage.
"Hahaha! Let me enjoy this a little longer!" Noah laughed uproariously.
Having fully warmed up his body, Noah was practically buzzing with adrenaline. He decided to stop suppressing his magic. He wanted to go all-out, clashing with Precht on every conceivable front while carefully controlling his lethal output so the fight wouldn't end too quickly.
A blinding golden aura erupted from Noah, the sheer pressure generating a massive shockwave that instantly blew away the surrounding sea mist.
Seeing Noah power up, Precht didn't waste time talking. He pushed his own magic to the limit, his dark purple aura exploding outward to contest Noah's golden shockwaves.
"Maguilty Söd!"
Noah casually raised his hand, firing a massive, devastating golden beam straight at Precht.
"Hmph!" Precht mirrored the motion, firing an equally massive dark purple beam that collided perfectly with Noah's attack.
BOOM!
A catastrophic explosion erupted where the beams met. But Noah had already vanished.
He materialized directly in front of Precht, throwing a heavy punch.
Precht hastily raised his arms, blocking the strike, but the sheer kinetic force sent him skidding backward through the air.
Noah didn't relent. He raised his hand, firing another point-blank golden beam.
Precht hastily flew to the side, narrowly dodging the blast.
Instantly, two more golden beams shot toward him from different angles. Realizing he couldn't dodge, Precht swiped two fingers through the air, summoning two purple magic circles that perfectly intercepted the beams.
But the moment the beams detonated, Noah appeared right beside him, throwing another punch.
Precht, relying entirely on his enhanced reflexes, barely managed to raise his guard in time. However, Noah's punch carried so much force that it crushed Precht's guard against his own body, launching him flying once again.
Noah fired another beam, vanished, and reappeared to strike again.
Caught in a relentless, suffocating cycle of high-speed magical artillery and brutal close-quarters combat, Precht was completely overwhelmed. Forget counterattacking; he was barely managing to block Noah's strikes, and many punches were slipping through his frantic defenses.
"Keep hitting him! Hit him more! Don't stop!"
A cheerful voice echoed from below. Noah glanced down and saw that the Fairy Tail mages had run out across the ocean on a massive ice bridge created by Ur. They were standing directly beneath the aerial battlefield. Sorano was waving enthusiastically, cheering for him to beat Precht to a pulp. The others were watching with equally excited expressions.
"I'M ALL FIRED UP!" Natsu roared, his body bursting into flames as he watched the absolute beatdown in awe.
Seeing everyone cheering him on, Noah's smile widened. He significantly increased his speed and striking power.
Precht instantly felt the pressure skyrocket. The few strikes he had been managing to block were now tearing straight through his guard. A relentless flurry of heavy fists and kicks began raining down on his body.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Noah ruthlessly battered Precht, systematically dismantling his defenses until the dark mage was entirely incapable of fighting back.
"HRAAAH!"
After taking dozens of brutal hits, Precht finally managed to gather enough magic into his fist. He threw a desperate, heavily empowered punch, managing to knock Noah back a few feet to create some breathing room.
Huff... huff... He panted heavily, desperately trying to recover his stamina and magic.
"Heh." Noah chuckled.
He didn't give Precht a single second to recover. He instantly blurred forward, resuming his relentless barrage of punches.
Precht frantically rallied his remaining magic, trying desperately to re-engage. However, after blocking only a handful of strikes, his guard collapsed entirely, and Noah resumed pummeling him without mercy.
Precht tried to muster another desperate counterattack, but Noah had completely read his timing. Noah smoothly swatted aside Precht's magically charged fist and continued his brutal, unrelenting assault.
~~~
Get early access to 50+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn