"Holy shit!"
Seeing the effect of his own strike, Marco's pupils contracted sharply, his eyes widened, and he instinctively sucked in a breath of cold air.
The "Crystal Wall," which he had arranged beforehand in layers like a giant crystal honeycomb, was now shattered.
The terrifying magical shockwave, carrying ripples of destructive energy, was even more fearsome than the one at the "Tower of Heaven."
Even the surrounding air seemed to be instantly evacuated, forming a brief vacuum zone.
This time, Marco had focused almost entirely on defense, pouring nearly all his magic power into constructing the "Crystal Wall," while only inputting basic magic power into the attack casually.
Yet the final test result was still the complete shattering of the "Crystal Wall," which was enough to show the appalling power of this "Athena Exclamation."
This clearing deep in the East Forest, where Marco usually tested his skills, had long been pitted and sparsely vegetated from various magical ravages.
But at this moment, this large clearing had completely disappeared—disappeared in a physical sense.
What appeared before Marco now was a huge crater exceeding a hundred meters in diameter and bottomless in depth.
Looking down, there was only a palpitating darkness that seemed to devour light, as if an invisible, greedy monster had taken a huge bite out of the earth.
"Wait, isn't the actual destruction range of this move supposed to be small?!
When Saga, Camus, and Shura used Athena Exclamation to clash with Shaka, they only overcame the Tenbu Horin (Treasure of Heavens) and destroyed the Twin Sala Garden.
Nothing else was really affected. Its visual impact was less than other moves that could blast apart half a palace in one go.
'And I didn't even use my full power; I just inputted basic magic power for a casual try...'
Marco bared his teeth; this time he had really gone too far.
When he tested other skills before, even the "Galaxian Explosion" only scraped off a few layers of thick earth, and was then firmly blocked by the "Crystal Wall."
It was nothing like this time, completely erasing a whole patch of land, leaving behind such a shocking giant crater that seemed to lead to the abyss of hell.
Before the test, Marco had thought that since it was ultimately a skill released using magic power, even "Athena Exclamation" shouldn't be that abnormal.
The result far exceeded expectations; ordinary "Forbidden Magic" couldn't compare at all.
"But thinking about it, it's quite normal. After all, it combines the power of three Zodiac constellations and three Gold Cloths. It must be much more powerful than the Galaxian Explosion of a single constellation."
Marco moved his somewhat stiff body, joints making slight clicking sounds.
This move was indeed a trump card.
Although the wind-up was a bit long, the power was truly exaggerated. If used with full force, Marco couldn't think of anyone who could withstand it.
This move was different from the pure energy bombardment of "Galaxian Explosion."
"Athena Exclamation" obviously possessed more potent destructive power.
What that "small sphere" possessed was destructive energy that targeted the essence, enough to disintegrate everything in the universe.
If touched even slightly by the magic power bursting from that "small sphere," it would be hard to survive, just like this deep hole in the ground.
Looking at this big hole, Marco began to get a headache.
So much soil, rock, and the like disappeared instantly upon contact with the small sphere formed by "Athena Exclamation." There was nowhere to find them.
This didn't follow the conservation of energy at all!
"Fortunately, I added a thick Crystal Wall for protection." Marco sighed.
Although the power was unexpected, fortunately, apart from this big crater, no other damage was caused.
Although the safety measures of the "Crystal Wall" were smashed without suspense, they barely managed to prevent the shockwave from spreading, saving the rest of the forest and Porlyusica's hut.
It was just a pity for this clearing where he often tested skills; it was completely scrapped now. Filling this big hole would be difficult for Marco.
First of all, there was nowhere to dig so much soil.
"However, it might not be a bad thing. This big crater can also serve as a venue for testing skills. Testing skills down there will make it harder to affect the outside."
Looking at this big crater, Marco didn't hesitate much and jumped directly in.
His body fell rapidly in sudden weightlessness, wind whistling in his ears, clothes flapping loudly.
After a while of free fall, Marco landed with a "bang," his feet planting on the solid rock bottom covered with cracks and signs of melting.
The light at the bottom was extremely dim, with only a small patch of skylight projected from the hole above.
"You brat! What are you doing again?!"
Marco had just landed at the bottom of this big crater and hadn't started checking the situation when his old man's voice came from above, sounding anxious.
Obviously, he rushed over immediately upon hearing the news.
There was no helping it; Marco had to climb up quickly again.
After returning to the ground, Marco saw Makarov and Porlyusica standing by the edge of the crater, and beside them stood a red-haired girl.
"Erza?"
Marco was stunned, obviously not expecting Erza to be here too.
He thought it was just Makarov and Porlyusica.
"I came to check my artificial eye." Erza pointed to her "artificial eye" to explain.
The look she gave Marco carried curiosity about the ability just now.
Erza, Makarov, and Porlyusica were very close to this "crime scene" and were the ones who could best sense how powerful that force was just now.
Erza was naturally full of curiosity about this, and at the same time, she felt awe in her heart.
'As expected of Marco, his strength has become even greater!'
A sense of urgency rose in Erza's heart; she couldn't let Marco leave her further and further behind.
"What happened to the artificial eye?" Marco asked with concern.
Erza's eye looked fine, without any uncontrolled movement.
The quality of this artificial eye was indeed very good; no matter how carefully one looked, no problems could be seen. It was indistinguishable from a real eye.
"Before, it couldn't shed tears, but suddenly it can now. I was afraid something might be wrong, so I came to Granny for a re-examination." Erza spoke seriously.
This was indeed an issue, and Marco nodded in agreement.
Although this artificial eye couldn't shed tears before, at least other functions worked normally—it had a bug but could run.
But now this bug was fixed, and it fixed itself.
Whether problems would arise later was hard to say, so it was better to come to Porlyusica for a check-up.
"Did Granny find any problems?" Marco continued to ask, looking towards Porlyusica.
"No problems at all. I said long ago, I make no mistakes!"
Porlyusica kept a straight face and answered Marco's question.
She had always believed her surgery was absolutely successful.
If Erza's artificial eye couldn't shed tears, it definitely wasn't a technical issue on her part.
"Good that there are no problems, good that there are no problems." Marco accepted this answer.
Whatever the old lady said went; there was no need to argue with her.
She was also someone who needed to be smoothed down the right way, and an old tsundere at that.
You just had to go along with her.
And don't be unconvinced—who asked her to have such technical ability? Her medical skills were equivalent to a "Divine Doctor" in the martial arts world!
Offend anyone you want, but offending a "Divine Doctor" is just looking for trouble, isn't it? Normal people would maintain a good relationship!
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