Brain, of course, knew perfectly well about the existence of his other personality.
The reason he had formed Oración Seis in the first place was to suppress that second self, because its urge for destruction was so intense that even he himself could no longer keep it under control.
Unless absolutely necessary, Brain truly did not want to let "Zero" out.
"Zero" was the name of his other personality, symbolizing the voiding of all things and the destruction of everything in the world.
It was an absurdly grand name—so overblown that explaining it to other people would honestly be laughable.
Especially now, when the prestige of Oración Seis had been completely torn apart in front of Marco, the name "Zero" felt even more ridiculous.
Naturally, Brain had no intention of introducing it himself.
Bzzzz!!!
There was no more time to hesitate. Brain directly released the final seal, and the last remaining magic crest on his body vanished as well.
The markings on Leader Brain's body represented the six members of Oración Seis. Each time one of them was defeated, one of the markings disappeared.
This magic was called Living Link Seal.
It linked Brain together with the other five members of Oración Seis to form six interconnected seals, all for the sake of sealing away Brain's other personality, Zero.
Once all six were defeated, the six seals would disappear. At that moment, Zero would emerge and completely reverse the situation.
And clearly, that most dangerous moment had already arrived. Brain desperately needed Zero to come out and turn the tide.
Boom!
With the seal released, Brain's entire aura changed at once.
If before he had still retained a trace of the bearing of a former Director of the Magic Development Bureau, now he had become a true dark mage through and through, his entire body radiating cold contempt for all things.
"So, Brain actually let me out on his own. Looks like the situation's pretty serious."
Freed from the seal, Zero stretched his body a little, then turned his gaze toward Marco, sizing up the handsome young man from top to bottom.
"So you're the opponent."
Looking at Marco, Zero spoke slowly, as though he had just received some information.
Since Brain's own consciousness hadn't been sealed away when Zero was released, it was only natural that he could share relevant intel with him.
"A split personality? One that exists specifically for combat?"
Seeing Brain's transformation, Marco wasn't especially surprised.
It wasn't exactly a novel setup—two personalities, two forms, that sort of thing had shown up in plenty of stories before.
'But his body hasn't changed. So even if another personality comes out, how much stronger can he really get? It's not like the magic source only recognizes the combat personality.'
Marco didn't think much of Brain's change in state.
After all, the body hadn't changed. It was still Brain's own flesh.
And the human body had limits.
Even if this "second personality" could draw out the body's functions to their fullest extent, the limit was still there. It wasn't like he could suddenly turn the world upside down.
If Zero were truly invincible, Brain would never have sealed him away in the first place.
But once Brain actually attacked again, Marco was genuinely surprised, because the attacks really were stronger than before. The force behind them was like a different person entirely.
Boom!!!
The eerie green glow of dark magic kept spilling out.
Zero floated into the air, unleashing all the magic power in his body.
He looked wild and arrogant, but he took Brain's information seriously. He knew this Marco was no one he could casually crush.
"Genesis Zero!"
Zero spread both arms as if he were opening the gates of hell. Evil dark energy spread without end, and a chorus of wails like crying ghosts filled the air, as though countless vengeful spirits had appeared.
"So flashy for nothing."
Marco's judgment of Zero's move was extremely brief.
He had thought this second personality might pull out something interesting, but in the end it only looked fiercer, had more magic power than before, and could use more brutal spells.
Against ordinary people, against normal mages, this kind of split-personality trick certainly had a huge advantage.
One personality gets beaten, then ding dong, the other one gets up to keep fighting—and it's even stronger.
That would definitely make an opponent start questioning life.
After struggling so hard to defeat Oración Seis, surprise—you get rewarded with Brain's hidden personality, and it's even stronger than the original.
Quite the nasty shock.
But in front of Marco, that trick was useless.
Reverse the situation? Did he even have that kind of power?
The Libra Gold Cloth appeared on Marco's body in place of his previous armor.
He took up a classic stance as draconic might rose from him.
Then, as he threw his fist forward, hundreds of dragons surged out, as if to devour everything before him.
"Rozan... Hyakuryuu Ha!"
Countless azure dragons roared forth from Marco's fist, swallowing up and obliterating all the ghosts and vengeful spirits Zero had unleashed.
Zero's terrifying spell—which should have devoured a target's body, memories, and very existence, making them disappear completely into the beyond—was simply smashed apart by Marco's Rozan Hyakuryuu Ha like roadside trash.
It stirred up no waves at all, leaving behind not even a trace of its ghostly wailing.
More than a hundred savage, majestic blue dragons howled wildly, their roars shaking heaven and earth, then crashed straight into Zero, completely burying him beneath the violent torrent of magic power.
"I thought that was supposed to be a speed bump."
After firing off the attack, Marco dusted off his hands. Even without using any of its weapons, the Libra Gold Cloth still possessed tremendous combat power.
And on top of that, he already had the Dragon Cloth, plus the Black Dragon Armor and Ki, which gave him an excellent foundation for using the Libra Gold Cloth.
Wearing this Gold Cloth made Marco feel like a tiger with wings.
Using Rozan Hyakuryuu Ha had felt especially smooth.
He was convinced that when he unlocked the Aquarius Gold Cloth, it would probably feel much the same.
In fact, it might even feel more natural than Libra did, because he not only had the Cygnus Bronze Cloth, but had also already mastered a high-level Diamond Dust, meaning he could transition perfectly into using the Aquarius Gold Cloth.
Even before the system popped up its mission completion notice, Marco was already celebrating in advance.
He couldn't help it—Oración Seis really had been underwhelming.
This Zero had at least shown some actual skill, but even then he had only just touched the level of one of the Ten Wizard Saints, about the same as Jellal before.
This Zero guy really was capable of overwhelming the other five members of Oración Seis, just as Marco had said before.
And by that same logic, Jellal could also have defeated those other five.
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