Staring at the explosion, Lucas was flabbergasted.
'Wow, we underestimated the explosiveness of Cores.'
'They are just a container for a massive amount of energy in the end, it makes sense that it has a bigger effect.'
'Yeah, no shit, the thing is that those cores should be pretty empty, but they are still this powerful. If someone decided to blow himself up right from the beginning, wouldn't they annihilate everything around them?'
'Where would you find such zealots?'
'Any church or religion really.'
'...I guess you do make a good point for once, but that's beside the point. How's it looking?'
Lucas was about to spread his willpower when he heard a scream that shook even the ground. He was impressed of the power that a Rank 2 mage could bring into his voice. 'I can't wait to reach that Rank.', was all that Lucas could think of at that moment.
Checking the area with his willpower, he found the outline of a man with a few burns and tattered clothes. In comparison to the scream, the man looked fine, those few burns and scratches would be healed up in an instant.
"Shit, he's still perfectly fine."
Lucas already had a few shields at the ready, but felt that it might not be enough. Still, he prepared the most basic spells, a fire spear in his left hand while an earth spike was being kept in his legs.
He lifted his sword and awaited the monster that he had to take down. Asta wasn't hidden, but he was prepared and Eleven was ready to launch an ambush. Now he just had to wait.
A figure slowly came out of the pillar of smoke, step by step, it seemed like he was stumbling forward. Once he became visible Lucas saw a broken man. A face with red eyes filled with tears, a chest covered in blood, but not his own. Clothing that seemed like a suit, but completely ripped apart.
'Is this him? He looks so dead inside?'
'Just because he looks weak doesn't mean he is, prepare yourself.'
'I know, I'll deal with him for now, you focus on defense and the magic arrays.'
Lucas braced himself, one wrong move could spell the end for him. He heard a faint voice coming from the man.
"Was it you? Are you the one..."
Lucas thought it had to be the ramblings of a madman, but why did he go mad in the first place? The explosion shouldn't be strong enough to shake up his brain enough to go crazy.
The man looked around, Lucas felt a wave of power move through him.
'Was that his willpower?'
'Hopefully Eleven stayed hidden.'
Suddenly the man's energy started to gather, the ground started to vibrate in response.
"There's no one else alive, did you kill them all?! DID YOU KILL SAMMY!!!?? YOU MONSTER!!!"
The man rushed forward with a speed Lucas had never seen before. Despite the man's large build he arrived in front of Lucas within a few seconds.
BAM
His fist landed right in Lucas's stomach, making him fly backwards, destroying a few houses in the process.
Lucas jumped out of the debris and conjured another shield while trying to hide the damage Brutus inflicted.
'Speed! It's speed! We need to be faster!'
Mana flowed into Lucas's legs, this time it was his turn to attack. He rushed towards Brutus and released the fire spear on his way there.
Brutus slapped the spear aside, as if it didn't matter in the slightest. Lucas arrived right after and brought his sword down right on Brutus.
STOP
"Is this all you got?", Brutus caught Lucas's sword and stood face to face with him. The only thing Lucas could see were the red eyes that contained a mix of sadness and anger. The only thing keeping Brutus sane was his desire to avenge his family, but Lucas didn't know that, he could only see the raging eyes of a bull.
"IS THIS ALL?!", Lucas quickly released the earth spike that aimed for Brutus's back, but it broke apart the moment it connected. Lucas wanted to jump back, but his sword was stuck in the monster's hands. Right as he was about to fuel the sword Dark magic...
"WEAK!"
BAM
Another punch made Lucas fly away again. This time he couldn't help but cough up blood. Lucas was about to get up again before he saw the figure of Brutus stand in front of him.
"You're going to pay for what you've done.", his tone felt calm but emotional, like he was suppressing his rage in order to enact his own vengeance.
"No, I'm not!", Lucas blew a stream of fire straight into Brutus's face, not holding back on the amount of mana, it turned into a pillar of fire.
Catching his breath, he found Brutus to be completely fine.
"What?!", Brutus raised his fist before an arrow sneakily made its way to his side.
BOOM
Brutus was pushed aside, giving Lucas enough time to stand back up and create some distance. He stepped on an array Asta prepared for him, energy that was being gathered flowed back into his body. While one half was patching up the damage, the other created shields.
Lucas was as good as new, only his mental state had declined slightly. He didn't have to reserve any kind of magic as the arrays would be a great source of energy.
'What the hell do we do?'
'You're the combat expert, I'm already having a hard time protecting us.'
'Let's use that!'
'No, no, no, that's way too soon, combine your attacks with Asta and Eleven.'
'Fine.'
Looking ahead he could see Brutus stand back up from the explosion, he was still fine, Lucas was wondering what kind of shield would be this powerful. The only thing he could think of was Dark Magic, but then he needed to be certain of his attacks.
Brutus stared daggers at Lucas. He knew he only had a limited time before Brutus would be right in front of him again.
"Asta, slow him down."
Brutus almost flew back to Lucas before he suddenly stopped, a chain of pure mana was tightened around his leg.
"Nothing will stop me.", Brutus used his other leg to simply stomp the chain into nonexistence. But in that split moment of distraction Lucas was right in front of him again, he lunged his sword forward.
"A sword cannot-"
Crack
The sword pierced the shield and broke it apart. Lucas focussed a large amount of dark magic on the tip of his artifact. In that momentary lapse of judgement, Lucas rushed to deal as much damage as he possibly could to Brutus.
He forced all his magic into his arms and pushed it out as fast as he could, overwhelming Brutus in a wave of pure Dark Magic. Once his magic was up, he ran back to the nearest array to regain some energy. One wasn't enough to fill his entire core, but he had a bit of time.
Brutus was locked inside a large amount of Darkness, if he didn't defend in the slightest, he would simply disappear.
Step, step
Brutus walked out of the massive ball of Darkness with a halo of Light around him. He raised his hands towards Lucas before a massive pillar of Dark shot out, only a second passed, but the dark had eaten up everything in its path. Lucas was lucky to escape.
"Asta, Eleven, again!"
Lucas wasn't one to give up though, his sword pierced Brutus's shield once, it can do it again. The halo of Light that Brutus had would nullify Dark magic, but that wasn't the only card up his sleeve.
Conjuring up a shield or two, Lucas waited until he saw the shards of pure mana fly towards Brutus. Most of them were aimed around Brutus, to not give him any space to escape to, but Brutus didn't need to move, he easily grabbed the shards with his bare hands.
"Hahaha, idiot!"
SHATTER
The shards exploded into multiple small pieces that could easily penetrate any kind of shield or skin, the small cuts on his skin vanished in a mere moment. The only thing Lucas noticed was the halo that shined a little bit less.
'He doesn't have a shield? Battle of attrition?'
What Lucas didn't know was that having a healing aura and shield active, they needed to be compatible. Some mages work to achieve such a combination, but Brutus didn't, so he needed to choose.
'Against a Rank 2? The moment he gets serious, we're dead. He's too emotional right now, his rationality isn't all there. If he gains clarity, it's over.'
'So we need to keep him emotional?'
'What?'
Lucas stepped forward and raised his arms. "Hey, fat pig! Did you enjoy Sammy for the last time? Because I don't think anyone else would be willing to be with you!"
Brutus halted in his steps.
'I think it's working!'
'What the hell are you doing, idiot!'
'Following your advice.'
The ground started to shake, energy was being gathered at a rapid speed. An explosive arrow landed right on Brutus, but this time, it didn't do anything. The healing aura instantly healed up any kind of damage.
As the explosive arrow failed to have any impact on Brutus, Lucas realized he was treading on thin ice. He had managed to keep Brutus emotionally charged, but the time for words was running out.
Brutus's eyes glinted with a sinister light as he unleashed his power. The ground trembled violently, and a shockwave rippled outward, knocking Lucas off balance. The very air seemed to crackle with energy as Brutus prepared for his next attack.
Lucas knew he needed a plan, and fast.
Brutus was hard to approach right now, but if they let him do as he pleases, then they would all perish. Suddenly the pressure of a Rank 2 started to envelop the entire camp. Lucas could see Asta fall on his knee before pulling himself straight. A bubble of pure mana was around him, but it wasn't enough to hold the pressure back.
Seeing Brutus slowly approach Lucas, he only had a final card left.
"Asta! When I'm done, disable the arrays and hold me down! Eleven, don't approach me and prepare yourself!"
Lucas focussed on his Mental Dome, both sides of his personality were staring at the moon. They might not agree on much, but they were both nervous about activating it.
'Are you certain this is the only way?'
'I don't see any other way, we're simply too weak to do anything.'
'Sigh, I have to agree with you on that. I'll leave it up to you.'
Reaching out his hands he touched the Scarlet Moon that was on top of the dome. The dome quickly changed color into a deep dark red. His thought became incoherent, his vision started to blur. Emotions, the one thing mages were learned to control started to take over.
Every mage can make runes, it's actually quite easy to create your own rune. The only issue is that giving that rune meaning and turning that meaning into a usable spell is extremely hard.
The Scarlet Moon Rune was created with anger, fury, hatred, despair and an unquenchable desire for power. If that rune activates and follows it meaning, what would it create?
In a slight moment of clarity, Lucas thought of one thing.
'Kill that bastard!'
Lucas's transformation was drastic and immediate. The dark, crimson energy of the Scarlet Moon enveloped him, shrouding him in an aura of pure malevolence and despair. His eyes, once filled with determination and fear, now glowed with an eerie red light. His hair gained a shade of red as his power continued to grow.
Brutus, who had been steadily advancing, suddenly hesitated. The overwhelming pressure of Lucas's newfound power was fighting against his own. He had never seen a Rank 1 fight back against his own pressure. Lucas was lucky Brutus wasn't a legitimate Rank 2, or his own pressure wouldn't be strong enough.
Lucas launched himself at Brutus with incredible speed, leaving a trail of darkness in his wake. The ground quaked with each step, and the air crackled with malevolent energy. Brutus barely had time to react before Lucas was upon him.
He was barely capable of blocking Lucas's fist, a feat that should've been extremely easy. Their clash was brutal, a maelstrom of dark magic and pure force. Lucas's strikes were relentless, each blow infused with the power of the Scarlet Moon. Brutus, despite his formidable rank, found himself hard-pressed to defend against the onslaught.
Brutus could only block for now, each time he took some form of damage his halo of Light healed him, but also shone less and less. He had never seen something like this before, his mind turned clear the moment his own life was being threatened and that's when it happened.
Brutus knew that he had to either retreat and survive or fuel his own emotions until either he or Lucas collapsed. Any rational person would retreat to secure their own survival, but Brutus couldn't help but agree with what Lucas said earlier. The thing ahead of him in life was a dark abyss, he had lost everything.
Still, if he had to die, he would do everything in his power to take the perpetrator of all this with him!
Brutus's aura grew back, he might be artificial, but he was still a Rank 2, Lucas was pushed back but not for long, magic started to flow to his entire body. Every part of him started to glow eerily dark red. His aura grew until he could stand toe to toe with Brutus.
Brutus could see the state Lucas was in, any form of rationality was gone. He wanted to throw caution to the wind as well. Both screamed out their anger and despair. The houses in the camp couldn't hold anymore, collapsing in the quake.
Both had stopped using spells like normal mages, now it was simply a fist fight between the two. Dodging wasn't an option, they just needed to hit harder than their opponent.
The clashes between them grew stronger and stronger, magic was being sucked from all over the camp, every array that had some energy was being activated to give Lucas as much energy as he could handle.
Lucas hands started to gain a visible red aura, the same the advisor had. His punches started to contain the different elements. Fire, ice, dark, stone, any element his mind could think of started to materialize as long as it could damage Brutus.
Brutus on the other hand also didn't let up, his punches grew heavier and faster, surpassing Lucas's speed by a lot, but like Lucas, he didn't want to dodge anymore.
Chunks of flesh were being punched away while immediately growing back.
The battle between Lucas and Brutus raged on, a titanic clash of dark magic and brute force. The two combatants were locked in a fierce struggle, their blows creating shockwaves that shattered buildings and sent debris flying in all directions.
Despite the power of Brutus's halo of Light, he couldn't completely negate the damage, and his own aura started to wane.
Brutus, fueled by his desire for vengeance, fought back with all his might. He delivered devastating punches that sent Lucas flying, but the relentless onslaught forced him to continuously expend his energy to heal his wounds.
The battle had reached a point where both combatants were on the brink of exhaustion. The camp around them lay in ruins, reduced to rubble and ashes. Brutus's core was empty and Lucas didn't have any arrays to gain energy from.
Standing on a pile of dirt and rubble, Brutus could barely conjure up any magic, but he had enough for a final attack. Lucas on the other hand was almost a standing corpse with nothing more than pure willpower holding him up. His aura waned, and his mind came back, but he didn't have the slightest amount of energy to do anything.
He could only look at Brutus slowly taking a step forward to deliver a final punch.
Swish
BOOM!
An explosive arrow landed right on Brutus's back, obliterating him into pieces. The explosion was too much for Lucas to handle as well, making him fall over.
Lucas was forced to look at a dark sky with a bright moon looming above. Pillars of smoke reached for the dark as he laid there. His body was exhausted, his mind was ruined, and his core was completely empty.
'...did I do a good job... Marie...?'