A Devious Plan

For the briefest of moments, Gladius's sword sense detected a particular surge, a great upswelling of Mana that frantically flowed through the bodies of the last two surviving mages. 

As the leaders of their respective groups, they were undoubtedly the strongest, the most powerful warriors present.

And when they witnessed their attacks failing so utterly against Gladius, when they saw their comrades cut down with such ruthless efficiency, neither of them wasted a moment questioning the nature of his newfound speed or the origins of his overwhelming power. 

Instead, they tightened their grips upon their staves until their knuckles turned bone-white, faces drenched in a sheen of cold sweat as frantic pulses of ethereal energy oozed forth from their foci.

Fire and Wind Mana alike soared to dizzying new heights, gathering momentum as if to unleash utter havoc upon the entire world around them in a single, apocalyptic strike.

In that moment, as Gladius's sword sense detected this great surge of power, a malevolent light glinted within his obsidian eyes – the spark of a sudden, terrible idea blossoming to life in his mind. An idea that would clear the path before him, removing these final obstacles in one fell swoop.

Gladius knew that these remaining mages would need several seconds, perhaps even longer, before they were done gathering the full extent of their magical power. They were practically throwing all caution to the wind in a desperate bid to end his life, consequences be damned. 

Perhaps they realized that further attempts at conventional attacks were pointless given Gladius's newfound, blinding speed, but they refused to simply give up and accept death without unleashing everything they had in one final, cataclysmic strike.

It was the desperation of cornered animals clawing for any semblance of life, any shred of hope that might allow them to prevail against the inexorable tide that threatened to drown them utterly.

Naturally, if Gladius were to simply slash out with his spirit sword, killing these two mages would be a supreme breeze, their lives snuffed out before they could so much as blink. 

But at the same time, there was a far more massive threat lurking behind them – the colossal Lion Beast, now roused from its slumber and undoubtedly waiting to shred apart anything that dared cross its path.

Why not take a few preemptive precautions, then?

Gladius flashed forward with his light air steps, his swift speed carrying him across dozens of meters in only a couple of seconds. Such shocking velocity felt exhilarating yet utterly natural to him, as if these simple, featherlight steps were merely his right as he walked unfettered through the world itself.

Focusing his gaze on the beast before him, Gladius saw that the Nascent Lion had immediately roused itself from its languid sleeping state. 

The beast narrowed its eyes, its feral senses honing in on Gladius as it detected the genuine threat emanating from his very being like a beacon of frozen menace.

Gladius favored the creature with a faint smile, then slashed out with his sword, a frosty chill permeating the very air around him. The condensed power of his sword ice energy streaked forth from the blade in the form of a small, glittering shard – a razor-edged sliver of pure cold that howled towards the beast at unprecedented speeds.

With a thunderous crack that split the air itself, the blade of ice escaped the Lion's senses entirely, smashing into the side of its skull with enough brutal force to split its tough, elemental hide and bore deep into the flesh beneath.

Blood streaked outwards in a crimson arc as a considerably large wound blossomed across the beast's head, the violent impact finally registering in its stunned mind.

'Oh?' Gladius found himself briefly surprised by the extent of the damage his casual strike had inflicted. 

The mages had claimed this beast was several times stronger by virtue of being at the Nascent Appertience stage, but his ice sword had still managed to open a grievous wound with seeming ease.

Yet at the same time, such a wound barely seemed to faze the Lion Beast. It let out a savage roar that shook the very foundations of the earth, the sheer power of its booming voice causing cracks to splinter across the ground beneath their feet. 

Searing flames burst forth from its eyes, the rampant Mana coursing through its body surging wildly as its massive form shot forward towards Gladius with terrifying speed.

Dust, soil, and chunks of rock were flung in every direction from the sheer force of the beast's charge, the air itself seeming to part before its unstoppable advance. 

The Lion was amazingly swift despite its colossal size, rapidly closing the distance between them until its gaping maw, filled with row upon row of wicked fangs, was mere seconds away from Gladius's face.

Of course, Gladius had no intention of simply standing as a stationary target. He lightly stepped upon the invisible currents of the air itself, unleashing a burst of blinding speed that easily outpaced the beast's charge. 

His form seemed to blur and distort as he carried himself back over to the two mages, their expressions a rictus of unbridled fury and desperation.

"Die!!"

When the mages caught sight of Gladius rushing towards them, nothing else seemed to matter in that singular moment. Not their lives, not the deaths of their fallen comrades – nothing held any importance save for the all-consuming need to utterly eradicate this existential threat before them.

Their magical staves were on the verge of shattering completely, pieces falling away in rapid succession as cracks spider-webbed across their lengths. 

The mages' bodies had also begun to break down from the sheer overflow of Mana they had channeled, the rampant power burning through their very souls and the ethereal energies coursing through their blood itself.

Rivulets of crimson vitae oozed forth from every pore, their once-handsome features now twisted into something utterly horrifying to behold as the full brunt of their desperation took its inevitable toll.

But in exchange for putting everything on the line, for sacrificing their very beings in pursuit of unbridled destruction, the mages had managed to garner a level of Mana power that far, far exceeded even their absolute peak states.

'Chi!'

Streams of searing waves erupted forth in an unholy conflagration, torrid tongues of flame howling outwards from the Ember Forge mage's staff with enough intensity to liquefy solid stone. 

And following right behind, with no gap for even the briefest moment of respite, came the radiant glow of Wind Mana bursting forth from the Gale Academy adept's focus in a roaring cyclone.

The furious power of the Wind Mana didn't simply tear at their surroundings, shredding the very earth itself with its unearthly keening – it perfectly synergized with the raging inferno conjured by the Ember Forge mage, superimposing itself atop the flames and generating an even larger, more catastrophic wave of elemental devastation.

The resulting firestorm grew to staggering heights that matched the towering beasts they had slain, equally as tall as the ancient trees of the forest itself. The ground began to sizzle and blister, trees within the immediate vicinity rapidly melting away into scorched husks as even the rocks and stones nearby started to smolder from the sheer, oppressive heat pressure alone.

Gladius favored the mages with another faint smile, seemingly unfazed by the face of this horrendous, extinction-level wave of flame that threatened to consume everything in its path. 

He sensed a considerable pressure emanating from the raging attack, a weight that promised complete and utter annihilation to any caught within its blazing embrace.

If he truly tried, if he exerted the full extent of his current abilities, Gladius knew he would likely be able to simply slice through the firestorm and end the mages' lives before they could so much as blink. 

But such an act would not be without its costs – he would undoubtedly sustain some form of damage, however minor, and risk becoming battle-worn before the greater threat was dealt with.

But why, Gladius mused, would he bother dealing with this cataclysmic wave of devastation when there was a prime combative specimen waiting right behind him, one perfectly suited to act as an elemental countermeasure?

Gladius's light steps smoothly carried him across the air once more, his form blurring into an indistinct streak of motion as he perfectly shifted his previous momentum without the slightest hint of effort. 

He deftly maneuvered out of the path of the firestorm, reappearing hundreds of meters to the mages' right in the blink of an eye, the blur of his passage little more than an optical illusion to their frantic senses.

At the same time, the Nascent Appertience Lion Beast's eyes widened, its pupils dilating to pinprick dots as its primal mind finally registered the fact that its prey had suddenly vanished, only to reappear right before the rapidly-approaching wave of annihilating flame.

The beast let out a howl that shook the very heavens, its claws glistening with a simmering sheen of elemental flame as the blaring heat radiating from its body soared rapidly to match the sheer might of the fiery onslaught it now faced.