Occult Awakening: From Commoner to Archmage

"Die for me."

Jonny's face froze in shock at the sudden burst of lightning, but his body kept moving.

Luca was faster than Jonny could register. To him, it was only a blur of black and flashes of white. The Titan's Breath potion had taken full effect.

THUD!

He appeared at Jonny's side and hurled him over his shoulder. The man hit the ground with a heavy crack, his back smashing against the hard earth.

"AUURGHH–"

The scream that tore out of him was raw and guttural. Luca pressed his Lightning Arm over Jonny's mouth as he thrashed below.

BZZZT! BANG.

A concentrated bolt erupted through Jonny's skull. It was precise, leaving the head intact but life instantly gone.

This all happened in the short frame of a few seconds. Vito had not even gotten the time to react, but he saw everything with wide eyes.

The large man stared between Luca and Jonny's suddenly still body.

It had happened so fast that he couldn't even see a thing.

"Do you have any last words?" Luca asked.

"Y-you… you killed Jonny?" His voice cracked, disbelief turning the statement into a question.

Luca raised his arm, charging lightning again. Torture was pointless. That would mean they mattered to him in some way or the other.

They simply didn't. Vito and Jonny were petty thieves and insects at best.

Luca had no feelings toward the pathetic lowlifes. The only reason he decided to even take care of them now was because he saw that they wouldn't stop being trouble.

"So?" he shrugged.

Vito stumbled back, nearly tripping over a root, dagger shaking in his grip as he clung to a tree for balance.

"You're a mage… you've been a fucking mage this whole time? Have you just been messing with us? Playing along for this very moment."

Luca only stared, wordless.

"I'll kill you bastard..."

There was plenty of room for Vito to run, but it seemed almost as if he was cornered, by a beast far larger than he was.

But at this moment something seemed to change in his eyes. They always said cornered prey was the most dangerous kind of opponent.

"I'll kill you. I'll avenge Jonny. And they'll even praise me for it."

Luca let out a small chuckle. Vito had completely lost it. The man's spittle flew out and his voice was raised intensely. However Luca only found this funny.

"You're delusional. What makes you think you'll leave here alive?"

"She told me to use it… if that thing defended you again. I'll kill you!"

At this point Vito was more rambling to himself than talking to Luca. He fumbled inside his coat, pulling out a small vial hidden in his palm. The cork popped, and he downed the contents in one gulp.

'What the hell?'

Luca stiffened. Whatever was in that potion worked instantly. Vito's frame ballooned, shredding his clothes. His irises slit into bright reptilian yellow.

Flesh and muscles overlapped on each other at his upper body while his lower body remained largely the same. It was a strange sight to see.

THUMP. BOOM.

He launched forward, the ground caving under each step. A yellow tentacle burst from his back, lashing through the air like a whip. Luca slipped aside just before it carved the space where his head had been.

BOOM!

A tree behind exploded into large splinters.

More tendrils slammed down, gouging the forest floor. Luca wove between them, but one finally caught him, wrapping around his torso.

A stinging fluid seeped from it, burning into his skin.

'Not good.'

Warm liquid seeped out of the yellow tendril, sending a steady sting through his entire body.

'Shit! Not good.'

He pumped a load of mana into his left arm.

"Judgement Bolt!"

Blue sparks gathered, collapsing into a single roaring lance.

The tentacle convulsed violently, dropping him as a scream ripped from Vito's throat, shaking the trees.

Luca landed and sprinted, zigzagging in sharp bursts. Vito's mutated form matched him, tendrils hammering the ground in pursuit.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Its large tendrils landed everywhere he was, and it eventually began using its massive arms to try and catch Luca as well. Each swing of it sent a tree crashing down into the earth.

Luca frowned. 'I can't let this drag on any longer.'

There was no point in holding back at all.

He clapped both hands together, causing a faint show of orange and blue sparks to erupt.

Mana poured into both arms. His left crackled with lightning, while the glyph concealed at his right sleev swelled up with mana at the exact same time.

FWOOOSH!

Wind whipped up around him, stopping Vito's transformed body right in its tracks.

"Judgement Flame."

Both attacks propelled forward at incredible speeds, merging into themselves in the process.

It originally started off as Judgement Bolt and Incinerate in two separate forms, but there was a resonance created as they were fired off with just the right amount of mana put into the two.

Lightning and fire resonated, fusing into a blazing serpent of radiant blue flame. Even at a distance, the heat ignited grass and trees.

BOOM! ROAR!

The inferno-beast arced through the sky and crashed into Vito head-on.

BOOOOM!

Black blood spewed out, only to be consumed by the firestorm. The flames of judgement spread, devouring his warped body until almost nothing remained.

Thud.

His severed head dropped to the dirt.

And yet, he lived. The charred neck strained to stitch itself back together, but the blue flames clung, refusing to fade. His reptilian gaze dimmed back to human shape, though the yellow color lingered.

Luca picked the head up by its hair. Vito regained some of his sanity in that instant. Cold sweat dripped down his head to the ground.

A question floated around his mind the entire battle. So he asked.

"Why did Thalia do this?"

***

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