Warlock of the Magus World – Redux

"Did you truly believe that such pathetic elementary magic could kill me? You gotta do your best, or else you won't even scratch me!" -Leylin taunted, as he used the redhead's corpse to shield himself from a piercing lightning chain Halius had thrown at him.

The half-beast was too busy trying to pull whatever his chain had wrapped itself around when a red flask had already fallen on his feet.

"Halius!" -Alfonse shouted, as he tried to use his Knight speed to reach his subordinate, but he was too slow.

"Shit." -Those were Halius' last words, as the glass from the vial broke and the chemicals inside reacted, creating a vast explosion that obliterated the half-beast and the nearby pile of mutated lizard corpses.

"At last, we're all alone. No other nuisances to stand in my way of having a nice civilized chat with my new partner." -Leylin cooed from an unknown part of the chamber, as his movements blurred out from the amount of speed with which he was dashing back and forth.

Even with his Knight training, it was getting harder and harder for Alfonse to track him, compelling him to squint as he searched the room for his objective.

"Have you forgotten? I have a powerful Mysterious Entity at my beck and call! Mankestre Snake, exterminate this annoying pest at once!" -Alfonse bellowed while pointing his finger at the general area of the acolyte with black plate armor.

By now, the Mankestre Snake had already fully recovered from the damage it had previously suffered, and with its full strength, it drove its maw and the 7 rows of sharp teeth at the muscled body of Leylin. Given how its speed was far greater than Leylin's, there was no dodging this attack.

Apparently, the creature had succeeded in killing its master's enemy, since it made gulping sounds and its contented hiss made Alfonse smile.

'Damnit, I underestimated that Potioneer. That geezer Murphy told me he was smart and cunning, but driven by greed. I thought he would be the perfect tool, but I was wrong. Now my operation is compromised and I need to find new agents to handle the extraction... Oh well, at least it's now over.' -Alfonse reflected, as he dusted himself off.

However, his smile quickly disappeared from his face, as the sound of flesh being torn apart echoed throughout the chamber soon enough.

A giant hole appeared on the side of the Mankestre, as a semi-translucent orb of purple shadow energy floated down to the ground.

"Trying to get rid of me with a teenage serpent? You must be delusional if you assumed that your little pet could take me down." -Mocked a voice from within the orb, as the purple shadows opened up to reveal a sneering Leylin on top of a giant still-pulsating heart.

"I will thank you for the fresh Mankestre Snake heart though. Quite a rare and expensive alchemy ingredient it is... I shall make very good use of it." -Leylin chuckled, as he unsheathed his golden cross sword once again.

The Farlier Baron jumped out of the sphere, only for it close behind him and then fly away into the tunnel from whence the original group came from. Along the way, a couple of bodies were collected by sphere too.

"No, no, no! It was impossible for you to survive that! Not even I could do that, and I'm a level 3 acolyte!" -Alfonse tried to circulate his Mana Energy and Spiritual Force across his entire body. He was now convinced that this was the product of some type of illusion or deception spell.

'How did he appear so fast behind Keith?! Is he using an Agility-enhancing Knight Secret Skill? O a spell? Perhaps an elixir?' -Alfonse wanted to discover the secret resource Leylin used to gain the advantage since it would be the key to winning. Yet, he was still clueless. In Alfonse's eyes, there was simply no way a level 2 acolyte could surpass him.

"You spend too much time in your hopeless thoughts, and not enough in the actual battlefield." -Before the acolyte with acne could react, a cross blade had already etched itself on his right leg, causing his blood to spurt out.

He was a powerful Knight though, and he swiftly jumped back and took the sword out with a pained wince, dropping it furiously with a clanking sound.

"And did you think a mortal blade could kill me? I am far superior to you, worm! I am close to becoming a full-fledged Magus!" -Alfonse suddenly became enraged, and he began an incantation in the Byron language.

Within moments, the cave was filled with violent and unpredictable blizzards. If one of them touched Leylin, it would mean certain death.

[Doctor, that is a dangerous Rank 1 Ice element spell! Your enchanted armor will do nothing against it! Watch out!] -Aralis warned.

Without even blinking, Leylin brought out two yellow vials from his hidden sleeve compartment and crushed one of them in each hand, not minding the glass since his tough skin was not affected by it.

[The blizzards are low A-Class threats! Are you sure you want to risk it? Flee the cave before you are turned to minced meat!] -The A.I. called out in great concern for her Master's well-being.

'Those numbers are good enough for me. I will not retreat today, Aralis. Not when I finally have the duel I have been looking forward to. This is my chance to sate my bloodthirst! Set the ESP Matrix to overdrive, I want two of my Spiritual Force points allocated into predicting the movement of the ice shards within the blizzard! The Griffon Liver distilled essence I drank earlier plus Neela's Secret Skill will allow me to stay on top of the situation, so long as Alfonse does not activate a Secret Skill of his own... If I can dodge most of the ice shards from his spell, my defenses will hold.'

Leylin utterly refused to follow his assitant's recomendation. His thoughts were focused only on defeating the enemy in front of him.

A bright yellow light enveloped Leylin, and he began using his lesser explosive potions to carve a secure perimeter around his position. Whenever the blizzard came close, the spontaneous fires and his precise dodging enabled him to prevent 90% of the damage targeting his arcane shielding.

By the time the ice storms dissipated and the panting Alfonse was scanning the chamber for the mangled body of his opponent, he was met with a sight that made him want to puke in anger and frustration.

Leylin's body was completely unscathed, and many spots of dazzling yellow light enclosed his pristine-looking armor. He smiled with crossed arms, signifying his indifference towards the acolyte's attack.

"The most common weakness amongst even the advanced acolytes is that they usually lack effective measures to protect themselves. As you have witnessed, I am not lacking in that aspect, despite being only a level 2 acolyte from a mediocre House. Now you see the difference between a god-to-be and a pebble on the road like you." -Leylin announced haughtily, as he chuckled enjoying Alfonse's stupefied look.

The defensive spell models for Rank 0 spells were extremely rare, as they were not very practical in the sense of how the duels between magicians normally went. When an acolyte was being attacked, they would seldom have time to chant those defensive spells. As a result, in magic battles, whoever was struck first by a spell would end up being defeated or killed. This scenario would last until one reached the stage of an official Magus.

Apart from this, there was another more forgiving method to protect oneself, which was to borrow power from special items. For example, arcane or strange items that could instantly activate a defense formation. However, such high leveled defensive items were difficult to obtain for even official Magus. Thus, seeing them appear in the hands of an acolyte was a 1 in 1000 chance.

As for those yellow elixirs Leylin had employed, they were part of his latest experiment's result. The Revolving Shield Potion. A brew like this had already separated itself from the category of elementary potions. It was a kind of beginner's potion, and even amongst the beginner potions category, it was extremely difficult to concoct.

Regarding the effect, it would produce a temporary shielding layer of light, which would defend against any spell or physical attack of up to low A-Class. Nonetheless, all official Magi attacks have an attack strength of over mid A-Class threat, so this Revolving Shield Potion was best used only at the level of battles between acolytes.

These potions were naturally not easily affordable by others, each bottle costing at least 500 magic crystals. Even direct heirs to large families would not necessarily be able to afford it. However, Leylin had used Aralis to optimize the ingredient cost of the recipe and he had managed to brew five of these with only 1000 crystals worth of materials.

"HOW?! IMPOSSIBLE! That was my best spell, my trump card! No, I can't lose to you!" -Alfonse did not wait for another second, as he laid out dozens of golden sigils with the crest of a Rank 1 Light element spell. It was nearly as powerful as the first ice magic he had used.

Unfortunately for him, before he was given the time to recite the incantation, Leylin was already next to him, pointing at him with his hand. A beaming green sigil was on it.

Six thorny vines shot out of it, and they cut all over Alfonse's body, giving special attention to his arms and neck.

"Why you... bastard!" -He was beginning to bleed profusely, even though the scratches were superficial, making him panic at the idea of bleeding out.

The vines returned and began to constrict him. It was the end for him.

But then...

"I'm getting bored. Go ahead, cast your grandiose spell. I want to see what a cornered level 3 acolyte fighting for his life can do, hahahaha!" -Leylin declared arrogantly, as the vines retracted into his hands, and he disappeared once more using his nimble dashes.

Alfonse immediately stood up and gulped down his pain, as he began to set up a killing zone of various sigils. Nonetheless, his mind and body were significantly damaged after that vine attack, so he could only keep three sigils up.

He did not mind this and recited his incantation, but as he was about to release the spell, another thunderous laugh sounded out.

He looked in dismay at the place where Leylin had appeared only to see him holding a giant purplish-black claw made out of shadows. The claw was set up as a shield in front of him, and he seemed to be challenging Alfonse.

"Let's see whose spell is the strongest. Your Rank 1 Light or my Rank 0 Darkness!" -Leylin's face twisted in a deranged manner, as numerous vines crawled from the ground and circled around Alfonse and began dancing around him.

The vines swayed from one side to the other, occasionally moving forward as if readying to constrict the acolyte once more. They wouldn't touch him, but he was unwittingly pressured into releasing the spell before it was complete. He also couldn't understand how Leylin was able to cast so many consecutive spells without tiring or even chanting.

Light was a Positive Energy whereas Darkness was a Negative Energy. A savage collision of opposing energies ensued when the spears of purifying light shot out of the golden sigils and reached the shadow claw.

All of the dead bodies inside the chamber, Mankestre Snake or otherwise, were instantly disintegrated by the sheer amount of power irradiated by the consistent struggle of the energies.

However, as time slowly went by and the casters poured their Mana into the arcane formations, the light became dimmer and dimmer, until only a reduced version of the claw remained. It held out perfectly, and Leylin had not felt the need to use the last of his defense potion's effect.

"Turns out I was better than you. Big surprise there. You released your spell without even half of the incantation done. And with how little Mana and Spiritual Force you put into it, I think it is safe to say that your Light spears possessed a below-average potency. Mid Rank 0 at best, would you not agree?" -Leylin's observations were laced with irony, as he sheathed the cross blade that his vines had already recovered for him.

Alfonse fell to his knees. He was already broken. He could not fathom how this acolyte who was supposed to be a greedy individual he could manipulate, suddenly turned on him and defeated his posse without batting an eye.

'I'll have to use that! It's the only way I can survive this lunatic!' -Alfonse decided, as he tapped into the confines of his body and poured the last drops of Mana Energy into a hidden item he had on his belt, praying to all heavens that it would activate.

Leylin walked closer to his victim, feeling high on his victory, but then he abruptly stopped 10 meters away from him.

"Oh, I almost fell for your last-ditch effort. A one-time-use magic artifact capable of mimicking the Water Mirage Rank 0 spell, is it? And I suppose you have a dagger behind your back? Cute." -Leylin smirked, as he instantly cast a normal-sized Negative Energy Fireball directly at some random point in the cave.

As the dust from the booming explosion cleared out, a bloodied Alfonse could be seen limping his way to a giant rock for support, only for him to collapse face-first.

"So you bought a second and a third one? I can do this all day." -Leylin was still talking jovially, as he now used both hands to launch two miniature Negative Energy Fireballs at two more places on the ceiling of the cave.

The Flash Jellyfish were turned to ashes immediately, as yet two more corpses of Alfonse fell dead to the ground. The power within those spells had been condensed, so as to create more force on impact.

Moments passed, and the three bodies of the acne acolyte changed into bubbling dark blue water, as it seeped into the rocky floor.

At that moment, an enormous and fast-moving Ice Spike was flying towards Leylin's nape, but he casually swatted away the spell, as his hand glowed with yellow light once more.

"I us- I used all of my disposable magic artifacts... Those spells I spent years practicing... And it wasn't enough... I was humiliated by a stupid brat!" -A cleary winded Alfonse with torn robes revealed himself through the shadows, as he began to cough blood. He tried stopping his hemorrhages with his hands, but it was futile. A puddle of blood was already forming under him.

Leylin just shrugged as a couple of brown thorny vines surged from beneath Alfonse's footing and clawed into his ankles, wrists, and neck, driving him to lay against the rocks as if he was on an operating table.

"I don't know how you did it... Achieving this type of casting speed without even chanting... Did you acquire the Phrase Casting technique...?" -Alfonse's voice was missing all of the confidence from earlier. Now he truly seemed like a weak nerd facing his demise.

The yellow light around Leylin shattered into many pieces at that instant, before finally dissipating into the air.

"That is not for you to know, meatbag. But rejoice, we have much playtime ahead of us. I haven't even shown you what I can do with my skinning knife." -Leylin muttered coldly, any sign of enjoyment gone from his countenance.

His expression was resembling that of a statue, as he noticed that Alfonse's injuries had quickly sent him into an unconscious state.

"Oh, no, you're not gonna die on me so easily, little Alfonse..." -Told Leylin with a sweet tone, as he took a hemostatic potion from his satchel and poured it all over the acolyte's stiffened body.

The bleeding stopped, and with it, the wicked smirk came back to Leylin's face.

"There. Now we can move on to the main dish of tonight. It's time for you to know how good I truly am with torture and interrogation..." -Leylin enunciated, as he began laughing without restraint. His mask was completely forgone.