"Oh! Stop—stop now! I can't take it anymore, please, spare me. Maria, I need Maria!"
"And Jenny too, tell her to come up and help me…"
After a round of sparring, Madison had no choice but to call on Jenny.
She felt that Luke had become even stronger.
So strong it was inhuman.
Like a machine that never knew fatigue, holding her again and again.
Originally, Madison had still been thinking about how to call Jenny over.
But soon, before she could even ask, Jenny—wearing a translucent silk nightgown—suddenly teleported from downstairs straight into the room.
Jenny looked completely bewildered, her face flushed crimson.
"Teleportation? Is Jenny a sorceress too?"
Madison was stunned. Luke explained, "Heh! I did it. Don't waste time—let's get down to business."
Luke was currently testing something.
He discovered that after obtaining Jason's ability, he seemed to have become a perpetual motion machine.
Jason was a malevolent spirit, an undead being. After resurrection and rebirth, his body could move endlessly, never knowing fatigue until he died once more.
Luke now appeared to possess this trait as well.
Under a certain level of exertion, he seemed unable to feel fatigue at all.
With physical attributes ten times the human limit, he could already completely overpower Madison and Jenny, whose physiques were ordinary.
If the trait of a perpetual motion machine were added on top of that, it would truly be lethal.
However, Luke realized that his Stamina was still capped at one hundred.
He guessed this was likely a characteristic of Jason's physique—the "perpetual motion" was not truly infinite. In high-intensity combat, he could still become fatigued, but his recovery speed should be extremely fast.
Because of that, he needed further testing.
Unfortunately,
Jenny and Madison were too weak.
Luke took on two people at once, effortlessly forcing them under the bed.
This made Luke wonder whether he should modify Madison's and the others' stats.
Until—Hmm?
"You two rest for now. I have something to deal with."
Luke looked out the window and saw sorcerers surrounding the room.
At that moment...
Mordo was leading ten Kamar-Taj elites in setting up a magical array nearby.
Just as they were preparing to complete the array before taking action, a sharp shout suddenly rang out behind them.
"FBI! Everyone, put your hands on your head and squat down!"
Mordo and the others instinctively raised their hands. As sorcerers affiliated with Kamar-Taj, they had no conflicts of interest with secular authorities.
Under certain circumstances, they were willing to abide by real-world law.
And they were well aware of the FBI's reputation.
"Mr. FBI, we're not bad people…"
"Save it, Houdini! Orange robes? Bald heads? Sandals with socks? You look like the world's sketchiest traveling circus! I've seen that exact outfit on the sex-offender registry website—don't think I haven't!"
Mordo's eyebrow twitched so violently it nearly achieved escape velocity.
"I knew it the second I saw you. 'Come see the magic trick, kids! Step into my suspiciously orange van!' We need to go to the station, and there, you'll tell me why grown-ass people in that outfit are wandering around this neighborhood in a group in the middle of the night!"
The other sorcerers actually turned to look at their own robes in mild existential horror. Mordo pinched the bridge of his nose hard enough to leave bruises.
Good heavens.
After decades of discipline, meditation, and defending reality itself… he's being accused of running a predatory clown college.
This person was clearly trying to satiate his ego. Classic.
Mordo stopped arguing. When dealing with such an officer, he didn't mind using special methods; this was permitted within Kamar-Taj's rules.
He quickly turned and summoned the Crimson Bands of Raggadorr, which shielded part of his body. But the moment he clearly saw the person in front of him, Mordo's already charcoal-dark face sank even further.
"Luke Rowling!!"
He had been tricked!
The so-called FBI was actually Luke!
But why hadn't the barrier reacted at all?
Could it be that Luke's teleportation wasn't magic?
Luke crossed his arms over his chest, standing atop a rock ridge more than ten meters high, looking down at everyone below.
"Yo! It's me. So.. People of Kamar-Taj, what are you doing at my house in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Hmm.. If I remember correctly, I haven't done anything bad to be graced by your presence."
Before Mordo could speak, a tall, thin sorcerer beside him—one who didn't look particularly trustworthy—stepped forward.
"Luke Rowling, you have seriously endangered the safety of the magical world by recklessly using magic in Crystal Lake Town, New York. You must immediately come with us to Kamar-Taj and await the Ancient One's judgment!"
Thanks to Jason's spectral vision, even the darkness of night could not obstruct Luke's sight.
"Oh? Look who it is. So it's you, kid. Hmm, what was your name.. ah! Kaecilius, I thought you would have betrayed Kamar-Taj by now."
The moment those words left his mouth, Kaecilius immediately felt the gazes of the surrounding sorcerers turn toward him.
Mordo also looked at him with suspicion.
"Senior Brother, please believe me! In my heart, there is only the Ancient One—only one sun! I am absolutely loyal to the Ancient One! He's slandering me! Slandering me!"
Kaecilius glared viciously at Luke, wishing he could kill him on the spot.
Mordo withdrew his gaze. Naturally, he wouldn't question Kaecilius's loyalty to Kamar-Taj based on a single remark.
He still remembered when Kaecilius first arrived—it had been the summer of 1995.
More than ten years later, Kaecilius had also become a renowned genius sorcerer within Kamar-Taj.
His daily performance could be summed up in just two words: Absolute loyalty.
What had happened earlier was merely an unconscious reaction.
"Luke Rowling, don't try to sow discord. You're surrounded. Surrender now—the outside is full of sorcerers!"
Mordo raised his hand and summoned a magical staff.
The movement seemed to be a signal. The other sorcerers also began condensing weapons with magic—mostly staves, though some formed magical whips.
Luke was not intimidated; instead, he burst out laughing and pointed at Mordo and the others. "Guys, you're all sorcerers! What era is this? Are you still playing with medieval toys? Here, let me show you."
Luke waved his hands, and round objects suddenly appeared beneath Mordo and the others' feet.
"What's this?"
Kaecilius glanced down curiously, then his pupils shrank violently.
"Damn it—they're grenades!"
"What the fuck?!"
The sorcerers quickly opened portals and fled.
Luke shook his head in exasperation as he looked at the sorcerers who had reappeared a hundred meters away. "Eh? Why are you running? I haven't even pulled the pins yet."
"…"
The sorcerers exchanged looks, all of them momentarily speechless.
With grenades right under their feet, who had the time to stop and think?
Kaecilius said angrily, "Bastard, you're also a sorcerer—why are you using grenades?"
Luke raised an eyebrow. "If you don't use modern technology, how are you supposed to become the Sorcerer Supreme?"
"Gentlemen, times have changed!"
Luke waved his hand again, and grenades began to rain down like a torrent.
There was no doubt that Kamar-Taj's magic was powerful.
But not every sorcerer could master it.
And no matter how powerful a sorcerer was, they were still only one blade away from death.
Not to mention the grenades.
Mordo and the other sorcerers could only run.
They didn't dare gamble their lives on whether the grenades would explode or not.
They practically turned into Mordo's Runner Club.
"How about it? Aren't grenades more effective than your magic?"
Luke still stood atop the rock ridge, watching Mordo and the others leap and scramble like monkeys.
"Enough!"
"The magic of Kamar-Taj will not tolerate your insults!"
Mordo was furious. Rotating his hands in a circular motion, the surrounding environment suddenly inverted.
Streetlights, skyscrapers—everything seemed to turn into illusory bubbles, forming a surreal world that defied physical laws..
The Mirror Dimension!
Luke was slightly surprised. "I didn't expect you to know this move. Interesting."
"There is far more magic than you can imagine!"
Mordo struggled to maintain the Mirror Dimension, standing on a rooftop higher than Luke, looking down at him.
"This place is my world! Here, I am like the Creator, able to control everything at will!"
The other sorcerers looked at Mordo with admiration.
Even Kaecilius was among them.
The Mirror Dimension was advanced magic.
In all of Kamar-Taj, the only one who had previously mastered this spell was the Ancient One.
Truly worthy of being the Senior Brother!
Kaecilius shouted loudly, "Surrender! This is Mirror Dimension magic—it is invincible!"
"Oh?"
Luke noticed something interesting and gave a knowing smile. "Are you sure you can control everything here?"
"Of course," Mordo replied confidently.
"Then… shall we test it?"