Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

"Ah, doesn\'t this bring back memories, Lucius? The days of me beating your rotten head to a pulp because you could not seem to grasp my lessons." Wally taunted. "Though it seems you were able to learn something from someone. Was I not a good enough teacher for you?"

Lucius grinned. "Not at all, Wally. I just found that the best teacher was experience."

Hundreds of students and several members of the staff had gathered in the viewing area. Rena was also present. She knew how this was going to end, yet she still showed up to support Lucius.

"I promise I will love you even with a few missing limbs!" She shouted from above.

Lucius shook his head and got into a ready position. He had recovered his mana by this point and would be able to go all out without concern. However, he would not be able to drop his Overcharge ability, even if he wanted to. There was also the slight issue that neither of them wanted to kill each other, so his deadlier abilities were out of the question…

"Don\'t worry about me, Lucius. Show me everything you have…um, except for the one that shattered the barrier… let\'s avoid that one."

He nodded in agreement and watched as a white-haired maid walked down the steps. She moved to a small rectangular stage on one side of the arena where the referee was to stand. After she got into position, she quickly turned and threw a dagger into the stone between Lucius and Wally.

The speed at which she threw the weapon surprised Lucius, as he had not expected such skill from a maid. He quickly noted that the girl was not to be underestimated in the future.

"Alright, Lucius. When Miss Natali\'s dagger vanishes from between us, the battle will start. To give you a handicap, I won\'t use my channeling." Wally instructed.

The next few seconds were tense as Lucius kept his eyes split between the dagger and the old man. Speed was his specialty, so he intended to capitalize on that here.

From the small referee stage, Lucius heard Natali, the maid, snap her fingers. Instantly, the dagger vanished, and Lucius lunged towards Wally. Lightning wrapped around his body and was switching between red and blue streaks. The air crackled, and the sky rumbled as a result of the Thunder Magic\'s intensity.

Wally appeared genuinely surprised by Lucius\'s power and speed and had to jump backward to gain time to cast a spell. He also elected to cast a rare type of magic just as uncommon as Lucius\'s Thunder Magic.

"[Eruptio: Magma Field]" .net

The ground below their feet rapidly heated up and began to liquefy. Lucius\'s footing became uneasy, slowing him down as the heat and give ruined his timing. Forced to leap away to avoid being swallowed up by the field of molten rock beginning to form around Wally, he growled in frustration.

"Damn." He grunted while pointing his sword at Wally. Mana condensed around the tip of his blade, and a bolt of lightning fired towards the old man.

"[Eruptio: Magma Tendrils]"

A dozen writing tentacles made from the molten earth shot out of the magma field and blocked Lucius\'s attack. Hot magma splattered around the arena, forcing Lucius to make efforts to dodge being hit. Though his attack destroyed most of the tendrils, they were able to stop his attack.

"You see, boy. Thunder Magic is strong. Earth Magic of the same level is too weak to stand up to its strength. And I feel the intensity of your lightning would turn metal magic into molten slag. So, I figured I would fight you with this. First time, right?"

Lucius simply growled in response and began to run in circles around Wally. He was frustrated that he had not made the old man move, let alone did so little he felt like he had the time to teach.

Lucius dodged several swipes from the remaining Magma Tendrils. A few came close, but Lucius was able to knock them away using Thunderclap infused into the snaps of his fingers.

As the battle continued, options for a way were getting fewer and fewer. Wally\'s Magma Tendrils continued to grow out of the Magma Field, which seemed to contain an unlimited amount of the stuff. It was during this point that he wished he had another type of magic to counter. Ice magic would be perfect to turn the liquid material back into a solid.

"Urgh!" Lucius expended a massive amount of mana and began to drag his sword along the ground. He ran a circle around Wally. With every clang of his weapon striking the stone surface, Lucius sent out a Thunderclap aimed directly at the old man.

Bits of Magma flew everywhere and collided with the barrier around the arena, keeping the audience and referee safe from any blowoff from combat. As Lucius had feared, the massive waves of force blew away the field between him and the old man, but it only took care of the surface. The magma was too deep for him to truly blow it away, which meant he was forced to fight at range.

The old man had him right where he wanted him. There was still one option, though it would be difficult. He also couldn\'t use it voicelessly yet…

Lucius gritted his teeth and decided to go ahead and use it. Through his Channeling, he pushed his Forsaken Arts and Thunder Magic into a spell he had not used yet in battle. Lucius raised his weapon into the sky and shouted, "[Tempestas: Roaring Thunder]!"

The sky darkened, and the bright sun suddenly vanished under gray storm clouds. A bolt of lightning surged down from the sky, connecting with his blade.

Lucius\'s weapon began to glow blue, then flashed to red, then back again. Meanwhile, Wally waved his hand and sent dozens more Magma Tendrils at him. Thankfully, they were scattered apart from the waves of mana pouring off of him.

Lucius lowered his weapon, aimed it at his master, and released the spell. Right in front of his weapon, a head of a dragon made purely of lightning with glowing red eyes and red streaks down its neck formed. The dragon roared in anger, vibrating the ground, and flew into Wally. It forced aside dozens and dozens more Magma Tendrils without effort, making Wally smile.

"Good show, but… "[Tempestas: Thunderclap]," Wally said with a huge smile at the same time as clapping his hands together.

A glowing dragon made of red and blue lightning suddenly met a wall of force and was forced back. It was able to resist the pressure of the man\'s spell for a second but then was scattered into nothing. Lucius felt as the spell collided with his body and threw him into the wall, making him nearly pass out.

There were a few uncomfortable cracking sounds, but he was unsure if it was the stone or his bones. Natali raised her hand in the air and voicelessly pointed at the old man, indicating his win. Rena ran down into the arena and hurriedly cast several healing spells. For a moment, he felt as though someone was glaring at him, but the pain was affecting his ability to think.

"Good job, boy. You got very strong, but you have a while to go yet!" Wally said with a grin.

Lucius gave him a smile. For once, defeat wasn\'t so bad… but to think… he didn\'t even use channeling. "I\'m going to beat that man silly one day." He laughed.