Lucas rushed through the forest, nimbly moving between the trees. His adrenaline was starting to overflow even though he wasn't even fighting yet, his desire drew it out of him involuntarily.
"30 people, how much can I use?", being so excited about having control again he forgot how to think to himself. Speaking out loud, many would see him as a madman, especially with the evil grin on constant display.
'90%, leave the final 10% for running away.'
"Perfect, there are some things that I wanted to test out.", while one side was busy with the plans and social relations, the other was always focussed on how to improve his combat style. New spells, tactics, strategies, everything he could think of in his boredom he improved to the fullest.
Spreading his willpower forward, he would announce his presence, but that's exactly what he was hoping for. This wasn't a stealthy and tactful approach, it was meant to show everyone the games weren't over yet. Things could still change drastically.
The moment he noticed the life force of someone else, he made a sharp turn and sprinted in that direction. Taking his longsword out, he balled his fist around the hilt before fusing stones with his arm. The sword was now locked inside his fist, he could still bend his arm, but his wrist was blocked now.
He was experimenting after all, now he could simply use pure momentum to attack and spare some mana on muscle enhancement. But most of all, he just thought it would be fun.
Dashing through the dense thicket he jumped up, seeing his first adversary in a defensive position. He already had a shield and an incantation ready. Suspended in midair, Lucas made for an enticing target.
The mage unleashed a barrage of wind blades, swift and elusive. Though originating from a mid-tier Rank 1 mage, the strength wasn't to be looked down upon. Undeterred, Lucas simply moved his stone arm, abusing the high defense of the fusion of stone and flesh, he easily blocked them all. Lucas performed a midair turn to gather momentum and slashed diagonally down right on the shield, breaking it in two. His landing pushed the mage back.
The mage was taken aback, his shield wasn't weak, it was even pretty sturdy, but it got crushed in a single slice. Lucas pressed on, seizing the opportunity presented by the mage's bewilderment. Planting a backwards foot forward and deftly pivoting to make a complete turn, Lucas initiated a powerful slash, its trajectory widened by the elongated reach of his longsword. The blade sliced through the air, closing the distance between them.
With a resounding impact, Lucas struck the mage, the blade cutting through flesh, opening a gash across the mage's abdomen. The mage, caught off guard, groaned in pain, instinctively reaching for the grievous wound. Lucas could tell he was about to heal it, leaving no room for error, he swiftly closed in and pierced the mage's heart. The mage tried to grasp Lucas's sword, but the sword easily pierced through it all.
'Using wind to accelerate our movement does seem smart. I assume the stone is to keep our arm from bending the wrong way? Still, this doesn't seem the easiest method to fight, or even that efficient?'
"I know, I'm just trying to see what works. Since you're always in control I have no idea what's feasable or not. Using the momentum is fun, but leaves a bunch of openings. Plus, it's not often I get to be in control, I'm going to savor every second. Now, let's see how strong a mid-Rank 1 core's explosive power is."
'Oh god. Well, at least we'll have gathered attention. Don't forget the slate, please.'
Removing the stone from his arm he moved on to the next tactic he wanted to try out. Moving his wrist around, he put the sword in his ring.
'Um, what are you doing?'
"What? I'm testing shit out, let me handle this. Trust me, I'll achieve our goal."
And with that Lucas moved one towards the next one. This time it was a group of 5 people together, they seemed to be a lot more coordinated than your average group. Yet Lucas had a massive grin on his face.
The group were in a small clearing in the forest. It seems they were eating some kind of bread around a campfire. The clearing was the perfect place for defending against monsters coming from the woods, but would never expect what would happen next.
"The best way to destroy a group that feel safe by relying on one another is by introducing pure chaos!", Lucas took the bloody core from the mage he killed and ignited it before throwing it. Seeing the core fly towards the group, a voice from the woods appeared as from nowhere.
"Watch out!", a final member of the group had hidden himself, so much so, that even Lucas couldn't see him through his willpower. "Oh you son of a bitch!", Lucas didn't even look at the massive explosion that came from the core. He was dead set on killing this hidden member first.
The explosion made the surroundings rumble and cracks started to appear in the ground. The explosion was so massive that Lucas as pushed to the side, yet he never stopped running. The final member used his spells to hide again, they were a scout, not someone that fought on the front lines.
Lucas's eyes stared daggers in the woods where the member vanished. They couldn't have gone far, using Magic Vision was useless since the core made mana fly everywhere. "Second experiment.", he placed has hands together and aimed at the woods in front of him.
A pillar of fire appeared from his hands and never seemed to stop. With a constant stream of searing fire, all the trees in front of him were unfortunate victims. The flames raged through the forest, scorching anything it touched, Lucas sprinkled some Blue Flame between the normal ones to increase the destructiveness.
"Now, where are you, you little rat? Ah!", Lucas looked through the flames and destruction to find a mage trying to protect himself from the fire. Lucas rushed towards him and summoned his new experimental sword. It didn't have a hilt or a guard, just a large mass of concentrated fire shaped in the form of a blade.
'An imitation?'
"Yeah, a poorly one maybe.", he closed in on the mage who gave up trying to escape. He pulled a dagger out and was ready to block any incoming attacks. Lucas lifted his fire sword and swiftly brought it down upon him. The beam of fire hit the dagger, relieving the mage, but then he noticed. There wasn't any weight!
Lucas never stopped his motion, the beam of fire cut off when it reached the dagger. The moment Lucas's hand reached below his weapon the beam grew again to its original form. The fire scorched the throat and upper chest of the mage. The mage had trouble breathing, reaching for his neck, Lucas swung his sword in random directions since he knew it would always hit the mage at some point.
"See? That asshole got his fire sword to be solid somehow. This is the furthest I got.", Lucas explained to himself while toying a bit further. The corpse of the mage was unrecognizable at this point. The stench of burning flesh entered his nostrils. Yet his relaxed and unbothered tone showed how twisted his mind could be. He then turned around and checked if any of the other mages survived his initial attack.
Of the five mages he surprised, only two seemed to have survived.
'The explosion of a core is more powerful than I thought.'
"No, they are just normal people. They seem to be a group that works together to cover each other weaknesses.", like Lucas said, not all mages were extremely powerful and ruthless. Some people were just trying to live a happy life and never focussed on getting stronger.
'But the moment that structure collapses, they're doomed.'
"Pretty much."
'Could you stop talking out loud? You're making us look like a madman.'
"I don't see the issue.", Lucas casually walked towards the explosion site. Whatever was left of the clearing in the woods was now surrounded by blood or flames. The corpses of their friends lay between the remaining mages. They looked tired and hurt, but the approaching Lucas didn't give them any time to rest.
"Let me show you something else, I'm quite happy with this one.", as he walked towards one of the mages, he tried to quickly stand up and draw his sword. It looked like a broadsword, but he needed both hands to hold it steady.
Lucas enhanced his muscles and dashed forward, with his fire sword in his hand he swung down, tricking the man in defending. When his hand reached below the broadsword, a different sword appeared in Lucas's hand, piercing the mage's neck. Pulling it out sideways, he almost fully decapitated the man. The blood shot out to the side, giving the final member of the group a terrifying scene.
'Interesting, you cancelled the spell and summoned the sword at the perfect time, we could easily launch a few surprise attacks. Though, now that I think about it, how bad is our hand looking?'
"Oh, well, since you always nag that I don't focus on protecting our body, I created this!", he put away his sword and revealed his hand. Tiny plates of stone were etched at the top of his skin. There was just enough room for his digits to move around. The flesh around the stone plates did contain burn marks. The heat from the fire sword was still very present, parts of his flesh were scorched. Pain was annoying and distracting, but some parts of Lucas could easily ignore it.
"Impressed?", Lucas seemed extremely smug while leisurely taking his time strolling towards the final mage. From the mage's perspective he seemed like a complete lunatic. Talking to himself and using spells nobody had ever seen before. He even had a spatial artifact helping him out. The amount of wealth needed for such an item would place him at a very high position in noble society.
The mage knew perfectly well that it was stupid to try to fight, especially since he just easily handled their strongest member.
"Please wait! Don't kill me! I can help you out, I'm a healer, I don't know any offensive magic! I can't do you any harm.", the mage wasn't completely lying, he did know certain offensive spells, but they wouldn't do anything to the monster in front of him.
Lucas took his sword out again and squatted in front of him. His eyes with yellow irises seemed to pierce through his mind. Seeing him simply sitting there, the mage took his chance.
"My name is Gregory, I'm part of Simon's troops, but not anymore. I was never someone that believed in Simon in the first place, I was just trying to get along with everyone. Simon was a beacon in our school, that's all.", he was capable of gathering some courage to speak clearly.
"What do you think?", Lucas said out loud, looking at the mage with emotionless eyes. Gregory didn't know whether or not he was talking to him. Not taking any risk, it was better to answer.
"I.. I would like to join you on your journey and heal you whenever you need. I'll be your servant. I was already Simon's servant anyway, so I don't mind following you now. You're clearly a lot stronger than him!", Gregory could only hope his life could be of some use.
Suddenly the emotionless eyes seemed to gain a glint of something. The psycho stood up and dusted his clothes off. He reached out towards Gregory with a smooth smile. The weird primal and brutal way of acting vanished into thin air, instead a proper gentleman was in front of him.
"You've piqued my curiosity, Gregory. If you're willing to follow me, would you mind doing something for me?", Lucas kept his gentle smile, ignoring the fact that his hand was burnt and covered in extremely hot stone plates. The blood on his hands and arm, even parts of his face were holding patches of blood that weren't dried yet, dripping down his cheeks.
Gregory didn't know whether to accept his hand or to stand up by himself. It would be more symbolic for him to go through a trail before changing sides, so he grasped Lucas's hand. He was about to shout out in pain, but gritted his teeth and hastily stood up so he could let go. The heat was so hard to bear, Gregory was glad he specialized in healing magic.
"I...I will follow your commands, sir.", his display of loyalty was shabby at best, he could only hope it was enough to survive.
"Then tell me Gregory, how do your groups work? I think I caught a lot of attention, and they'll be rushing towards this place. So how should I fight against them?", giving away crucial information on how they operated would be seen as treason, but it also gave Gregory a chance to prove his usefulness.
"Simon divided his followers in different squadrons, each containing 6 people, but there are only 5 people that meant to fight. One member stays hidden and is meant for scouting. Then each group has a healer, like me, two are for long range attacks, one for close range and the final member is the leader. He is good at most things, and can change positions."
He wanted to say that most members also learn different skills so that they can compensate the loss of another member. Revealing he might have the capacity to use offensive spells could only end bad for him. So he conveniently kept that part a secret.
"I see. Then, would you mind searching for your friends and bring them back here?", Lucas said with a lighthearted smile. Gregory didn't know why, but his gut was warning him to stop interacting with the monster in front of him. Not giving an answer did mean his death, so there was little choice.
"I'll go and get them, sir!", Gregory didn't even know who he was following, but the chance of escaping seemed too tantalizing to not follow the orders.
"Ah, wait.", Lucas got close to him and reached out to him. "You need to prove you escaped from me, or else they might not believe you. Your choice, give up your arm or give up your slate with all your tokens."
Posing such a dilemma would immediately show Lucas what kind of man Gregory truly was. If he had high ambitions and loyalty, he would get rid of his arm. The dedication to still get some kind of victory even at the cost of himself would show the kind of determination Lucas lusted for. On the other hand, if he chooses the easy path, he would be disappointed.
There were plenty of slates to steal from others, but both knew that wasn't what this was about. He would have to convince the others that someone was hunting them. Showing up without an arm would be a lot more persuasive.
This was a test, and no matter how scared Gregory was. The new slate in Lucas's bloody hand proved that he didn't have what it took.
"Then I'll go and get them right away, sir!", he hurried away into the burning woods, hoping to find his friends. The glint in Lucas's eyes vanished without a trace and the emotionless ones reemerged once more.
"What a fucking loser."
'Oh well, we tried. Start getting it ready, I can't tell how fast he'll reach them.'
"I know, I know, stop nagging already."
Lucas gathered the corpses together and slates. Collecting the previous owners' tokens, he didn't gain much.
'Even the so-called leader of the group barely had thirty. They probably bring their loot to Simon on a daily basis.'
"How boring, they're all just scared of him."
'Boring or not, we have things to do. I'll leave this part to you, since that's your expertise. I'll prepare the necessary arrays. Just place them down around the center.'
"You got it.", Lucas said with a strange smile on his face. He was already covered in blood, and what he was about to do would make it a lot harder to ever get those stains out of his clothes.