Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"Very well, now it's your two's turn." Pandemonica's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Both of you decided to use the Phenex's safeguards, so you both rely on your regeneration; therefore, some rules will be changed during the mock fight." She began to explain. "The fight will end when you can immobilize your opponent or one of you surrenders. Lady Grayfia has the right to intervene at any time during the duel at her own discretion." With that said, she took a step back while Grayfia took a step forward.
Once again, a teleportation circle enveloped me, and I let myself go. I barely had time to look around when Grayfia's voice called out to both of us.
"My name is Grayfia Lucifuge, Queen of Satan Lucifer. Today, I will act as your evaluator and referee for this mock fight. Good luck to both of you, please begin." Grayfia said politely. "I made a face as I dodged to the side, avoiding a fist that would have hit my head."
"Tch," I guess this 'Hood' wasn't going to wait. Grayfia had barely finished speaking when he had already launched himself at me. He was fast, very fast. If I weren't burning metals and decanting metallic minds continuously, he would have caught me off guard.
I looked at my opponent and- oh, he had changed.
Hood had changed; gone was the human-like devil who was dressed in a hoodie. He was now a large, muscular devil, almost twice my size. His neck was long, and his head was peculiar; he still seemed to have his hood worn, and his head was nowhere to be seen.
snap I snapped my finger, and Hood immediately was engulfed in flames, with just a scream before launching himself at high speed towards me once again. His body instantly changed, his arms turning into wings, and what looked like jets appeared on his shoulders.
I easily dodged the incoming attack; my reaction speed and movement speed were high enough that I could dodge Hood with ease.
snap I set Hood on fire again. This time, I made my flames hotter, much more lethal; I let my demonic magic flow into them.
I had several ideas while practicing with my new magic; in fact, it served as a series of supports for the skills I already had.
Specifically, my fire alchemy. My fire had reached its peak; it was versatile, precise, easy to use, and fast. But the problem was that it was still 'natural' fire. I used alchemy to generate fire, but the fire generated was still subject to natural physical laws; it had its limits in terms of the intensity and temperature it could emit.
And that's where demonic magic came in. I didn't need to recreate all of my flame alchemy; in fact, my alchemy was perfect, as it worked, was useful, and had few weaknesses. The levels of precision and control I had with my flame alchemy were top-notch; it would be hard to replicate that with my other magic.
So the only thing my flame alchemy lacked was lethality. More than it already was. It was downright lethal against normal people, people without any form of defense or resistance against fire. But those who did have it? Even those who were able to resist normal fire found it wasn't dangerous; it was rendered almost entirely useless.
I had tried to replicate my flame alchemy with demonic magic. It had been difficult to replicate; I needed to copy all the equations and other required calculations for alchemy to convert my demonic magic, and I did.
The result… was not good.
Turns out, molecular and atomic manipulation and restructuring are stupidly demanding for magic in general… who would have thought.
It was much easier to create fire directly with magic ex nihilo than to molecularly transform the gases in the air into oxygen, allowing them to be used in flame alchemy. Or even manipulating the existing oxygen to increase its density and concentration was more expensive than simply creating fire from nothing. But creating fire lost all the fine details I was used to with my flame alchemy.
The consumption was certainly nothing compared to my massive magic reserves, but compared to the near-zero cost of my alchemy in general, it was an enormous difference. Something that bothered me. I could use my alchemy all day long and never tire of it, which was a nice benefit.
So I focused elsewhere. I didn't need to change something that was clearly working wonders, but instead, I found a way to improve it. And I always came back to the same thing: the temperature, the intensity of the fire.
I used demonic magic so that the moment fire was generated, its heat would increase exponentially, thereby enhancing its destructive power. I didn't need to manipulate it in any way; it just makes the fire 'hotter', and I had succeeded. Now I could reach unnatural levels, making my flame alchemy more dangerous.
Hot enough to reduce Hood to ash in a matter of seconds. By the time he realized and reacted, Hood's arms and limbs were gone, reduced to atomized ash. Hood let out a wild scream and shot back up into the sky with his jets.
I increased my speed, narrowing my eyes as I followed him with my gaze. It took a few moments for him to regenerate fully, and I snapped my fingers again. I clicked my tongue as I saw the fire generating behind Hood. Even with my near-instant alchemy, as long as Hood was moving, I couldn't hit him.
And that was something he noticed. He increased his speed and began to spin around me before diving down towards me. I could see his arms change in the air; they quickly lost their wing shapes and returned to being a pair of really big and scary fists.
I looked up.
I disappeared from where I had been dodging Hood, who crashed into the ground and created a shockwave that destroyed dozens of meters of the space I had been in: enhanced strength, a nice combination.
snap A massive pillar of fire erupted where Hood was, too hot, I could feel it from where I was, almost 100 meters away from Hood, flying in the air without my wings.
His scream alerted me that I had hit the target.
I really, really hated apparating; the way it felt like I was being squeezed from all sides was annoying. However, it's significantly faster than my portals, making it more feasible to use in combat.
I dodged to the side once more; this time, Hood didn't even wait to heal. Half of his body was missing, but his jets were still there. Hood didn't stop this time; he started to spin around me as he tried to charge me head-on without ever stopping.
I clicked several times and created a world of fire. I calculated the position where Hood would pass and made the air explode with force many times, but Hood did not lose speed., I hurt him, but everything regenerated.
I sighed tiredly. It was really annoying to fight against someone who could regenerate. I really didn't want to use Harpe. So I came up with another plan.
I waited for Hood to charge me once more. I began to build up my physical strength and took Hood head-on. I felt like a bullet train had hit me, and the lack of any place in the air to steady myself caused Hood to take me head-on. He even seemed surprised that it had happened.
And that was what I was waiting for. I placed my water tattoo on Hood and activated water alchemy. Hood was instantly frozen, and his thrusting stopped abruptly. Hood's arms were still around me, so with some enhanced strength, I shattered both of his frozen arms and freed myself.
I grabbed Hood and grimaced. I hope he didn't freeze to death. I tried to make it as safe as possible. With his regeneration, I'm sure he'll be fine.
I approached Grayfia with Hood in hand, only to stop when I heard ice cracking. I looked down and saw Hood breaking free. I sighed tiredly. It really couldn't be that easy.
I threw Hood away just in time to see him break free. He let out a scream before taking off again at high speed. I sighed as I reviewed my options.
snap I created a net of fire in front of Hood and used my demonic magic to make it tangible and hold the net in place. Physical fire, somehow it worked, it was weird, but what works. Hood was stopped for a few moments before passing through the net while ignoring the burns resulting from touching the fire.
I dodge Hood once again.
Okay, I'd have to do enough damage to him to be able to contain him. If I could shrink him down to his heart or head, depending on which one his core is, I would do both, just in case.
And I needed something fast that could reach me and… I only had one option, right?
I sighed as I projected a large black arc. I held it in one hand and grimaced; it felt wrong.
I materialized my arrow in my other hand.
"I am the bone of my sword."
The words flowed from my lips, and I felt the discomfort throughout my body as my demonic energy surged in all directions.
"Go, Hrunting." I barely released my bowstring when Hrunting shot out, turning into a red bullet that traveled the distance between Hood and me. Hood barely reacted to Hrunting and barely managed to dodge it. Unfortunately for him, Hrunting violently changed direction and collided with him. Once Hrunting made contact, it exploded, like a broken phantasm, a totally unstable projection filled with demonic power.
I was already placing a second Hrunting on the string. Shooting Hrunting consecutively had its disadvantages; each shot took longer, but it increased the power behind the arrows I launched.
Still, 20 seconds was too long, but it was nothing dangerous; it was just enough time to see the legless Hood fly away again. I released my second Hrunting while following him with my scope.
Hood tried to lose Hrunting as he turned sharply, taking impossible curves, but Hrunting followed him through everything. Hrunting did not give up, and above all, Hrunting was faster. So, eventually, the second arrow hit Hood harder, and this time the explosion was almost three times stronger than the first.
Loading my third Hrunting. Twenty-five seconds wait.
This time, Hood had lost half of his body. He let out a scream as he began to fly away, only to regenerate. I clicked my tongue as I apparated once again. This time, much further away from Hood, almost 500 meters. The waiting time was over. I released my third Hrunting. Beowulf's sword shot out at a terrifying speed. Hood tried once again to escape from it, but without success.
Hood's shape began to change in the air; he began to take on a more aerodynamic form, his jets gained power, and his speed increased. But Hrunting was tireless; my bow followed Hood as he began to gain more speed. Hrunting approached behind him, shortening the distance more and more.
Just as he was about to hit, Hood stopped his jets, did a half turn, and his jets turned back on once more as he spun, which propelled Hood's body into a rather extreme spinning strike. His right arm changed again in an instant, and with a strong punch, he knocked Hrunting back.
My arrow was stopped in midair and repelled.
Seeing the projectile being deflected, a cry of victory arose from Hood as he looked at me from afar.
Unfortunately for him, Hrunting wasn't going to stop because of that. Hrunting exploded in speed once more, but since Hood wasn't paying attention anymore, the arrow pierced through his body with ease, staring in disbelief at the embedded projectile before it exploded once more, with much more power.
I created my fourth Hrunting. 30 seconds.
My eyes quickly scanned the site of the explosion, and I snapped my fingers. Even at this distance, my flame alchemy was reaching out easily, and I didn't need precision; I just needed a glorified explosion, a shockwave to blow away the dust and smoke. And so I did. The blast removed all obstacles from my vision, and bingo.
Hood. Or at least parts of him, an arm here, a leg there, lots of blood and guts everywhere, and… his head. His eyes moved, and I could see the edges of his neck begin to vibrate and move, the burned flesh starting to disappear.
His head was the core.
I immediately unprojected my bow and Hrunting and appeared next to what was left of Hood. I pulled out a piece of metal from my inventory without hesitation, clapped my hands together, and struck it with both hands. The piece of metal quickly moved through the air and transformed into a glass box with vents on it before closing completely around Hood's head.
I quickly applied an unbreakable enchantment with my demonic power to the box.
Perfect capture.
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