Baron Mordo hadn't expected it.
That Kamar-Taj could produce a genius like this.
Back then, he'd never personally witnessed what the Ancient One's talent was like.
But Karl's talent now—he was seeing it with his own eyes.
This kid…
Was anything but ordinary!
Baron Mordo felt that if this kept going, it wouldn't take long before the brat completely surpassed him.
He took a deep breath.
Then Baron Mordo spoke.
"Kid, I know you learn spells fast."
"Now that you've learned this spell, how does it feel?"
"Feels pretty good," Karl replied.
Having mastered the Ancient Body of Hoggoth, even if he ran into an enemy on Dormammu's level, he felt confident he could fight.
Not bad. Powerful!
Karl grinned to himself.
"Good. Since you're so confident,"
"then let's test it."
"If we don't test it, how will we know how strong the spell really is?"
Baron Mordo looked at Karl as he spoke.
There was an excited look on Baron Mordo's face.
Finally, it was his turn to attack this brat.
Now he could vent a little.
He wasn't a Master Sorcerer who got by on hot air!
Karl looked at Baron Mordo—way too excited—and couldn't help twitching at the corner of his mouth.
Seriously?
This Master Sorcerer had zero composure.
But…
Since Baron Mordo said so, Karl couldn't exactly refuse.
"Since you, Master Sorcerer, have said it, then I'll comply."
"Please go a little easy on me, Mordo-sensei."
Karl spoke helplessly.
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
A bright smile spread across Baron Mordo's face.
Pa!
A soft crack.
Baron Mordo grabbed with both hands and yanked—like he was pulling hand-pulled noodles.
A platinum-white bolt of lightning instantly appeared between his hands!
Kamar-Taj's strongest offensive magic—Thunderstorm's Wrath!
Crack!
Baron Mordo whipped his arm.
That lightning crawled from the ground, surging straight toward Karl.
Platinum-white lightning spread rapidly across the ground.
At the same time, cracks hundreds of meters long ripped open in the earth.
Feeling that terrifying power, Karl's expression changed.
Baron Mordo, this Master Sorcerer…
Was no fraud.
The power of his magic was shocking.
But this time…
Karl had no intention of blocking with a Magical Shield.
He simply stood there, unmoving.
The crawling lightning slammed directly into Karl.
Boom!
A pale green glow appeared.
Karl was like a glass statue—shattering on the spot.
Fragments of pale green luminescence scattered everywhere.
The next instant—
That green light abruptly shifted.
All those pale green motes transformed into green butterflies, fluttering through the Mirror Dimension.
Compared to Baron Mordo's spell,
Karl's Ancient Body of Hoggoth changed even more drastically, producing far more butterflies.
In a blink—
The entire Mirror Dimension filled with pale green light.
"…That's not right."
"This feeling—something's wrong."
Baron Mordo stared at the pale green butterflies, feeling something deeply off.
He was sensing danger from them!
At the level of a Master Sorcerer,
one had a certain instinctive warning for danger.
After so many battles, even the body itself would react—moving to avoid threats on its own.
And now…
Looking at those butterflies, a chill rose from Baron Mordo's gut.
The hair on his arms stood on end.
"Not right…"
"What's going on?"
Baron Mordo was still thinking—
when he suddenly saw it.
A single beautiful green butterfly.
Its abdomen began to glow.
Like firelight flickering inside it.
"—What the hell?!"
Baron Mordo's eyes widened.
In the next instant—
Pale green light flashed.
At the same time,
all the pale green butterflies Karl had transformed into—
exploded!
Their abdomens flared with red light, then flames erupted outward.
One butterfly exploding set off a chain reaction.
All the butterflies detonated.
In an instant,
the entire Mirror Dimension was drowned in red explosions and firelight.
The Mirror Dimension itself looked like it was being violently twisted and reshaped over and over.
Even worse—
the firelight from the explosions blasted through the Mirror Dimension, blooming across the sky above Kamar-Taj.
For a moment, Kamar-Taj looked like it was setting off fireworks.
Everyone in Kamar-Taj saw it.
Only after several minutes
did the continuous explosions finally fade.
Hah…
Baron Mordo emerged from the Mirror Dimension, covered in soot and scorch marks.
He'd even been blasted away, flying a whole stretch before dropping down from the Fire Knights Order.
But Baron Mordo seemed to pay no attention to how miserable he looked.
He stared at the surroundings—like the place had been carpet-bombed—and the corner of his mouth twitched.
Damn it.
What the hell had just happened?
Had Karl just used some terrifying offensive spell?
That level of power…
was barely any weaker than the Bolts of Balthakk.
And that was supposed to be a life-saving spell?!
A spell like this is for saving your life?
This was taking someone else's life instead!
Even him—if he wasn't prepared—would probably be seriously injured on the spot!
Who would've thought…
that something as beautiful as butterflies could turn into something this lethal?
Baron Mordo looked at Karl slowly reappearing from the void, and instead of relief, he felt worry.
This kid…
was getting more and more monstrous.
Learning spells at a glance wasn't enough—
he could even improve them based on his own temperament and power.
That kind of talent…
Could the rumor spreading all over Kamar-Taj really be true?
Was this kid actually some god's illegitimate son?
Baron Mordo couldn't help feeling deeply suspicious.
And outside the Mirror Dimension—
inside Kamar-Taj.
The Ancient One's eyes glimmered with an uncanny light.
If one looked closely, they'd realize:
what the Ancient One was watching wasn't the "mirror" in front of her at all, but somewhere else.
Clearly,
she was using the Dark Dimension's power to observe what was happening inside the Mirror Dimension.
And she had been watching for a long time.
Yet neither Baron Mordo nor Karl sensed anything.
The Ancient One's power was obvious.
But at this moment—
even this overwhelmingly mighty existence
felt her heart churn like a stormy sea.
She kept fanning herself, forcing her emotions down.
It was obvious.
What had just happened in the Mirror Dimension
shocked her deeply.
Learning a spell infused with godlike power in a single go was one thing—she'd already seen it more than once, and she'd grown used to it.
But…
to go further and actually reshape a spell of that level,
then unleash an even greater power—
that wasn't something simple at all.
That required taking one's magic cultivation to the extreme,
and also having real understanding of divine power.
Both demanded time and an enormous amount of knowledge.
Yet Karl, at such a young age, had already grasped so much.
This talent…
was truly unbelievable.
Before, she had believed the "Three Dark Knights" must be the greatest geniuses—herself, Balthakk, and a few other top figures.
But now,
the Ancient One realized—
she was wrong.
Karl was the true genius.
No—he was so gifted it was downright abnormal.
(End of Chapter)
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