Augustinus proved to be more of an opponent than he initially though. Even so, a single Dark Beam would be enough to erase his existence. Still, it wasn't as if Lucas was going to kill him outright, the old man still had valuable information. If he killed him, that would be a waste, but losing an arm or two would only make him more cooperative.
Aurelian knew his current circumstances quite well, he almost immediately realized that he wouldn't be able to find Lucas unless Lucas wanted to be found. His opponent was skilled, precise, and cloaked in an invisibility spell that masked even the faintest hints of his presence.
'In that case.', he slowly closed his eyes as if he was going to sleep.
'Did he give up? Already?'
'No. There's no way it's that simple. He's closing his eyes to focus on sound and vibration in the ground perhaps?'
'Well, that's not gonna do much against a Fire Spear, try it.'
'I'll even check something else.'
Lucas conjured a small rock that he threw to the opposite side of the room while he simultaneously summoned a Blue Fire Spear, one that should damage him considerably. A simple explosion might not do much, but fire was a sure fire way to cause pain. He was quite experienced in that department.
As the pebble hit the ground, Aurelian didn't react in the slightest. The spear flew silently, its glow leaving a streak of azure in the air. Just as it neared, Aurelian moved. With a sudden and fluid motion, he twisted his upper body and struck the spear with his fist, shattering it into glowing fragments. Before Lucas could react, Aurelian followed up with a punch that sent a shockwave of wind barreling across the room, nearly knocking Lucas off his feet.
'Damn. That old man has been holding back!'
'How did he notice the spell?'
To Lucas, it didn't make sense. The pebble caused noise and vibration, the spell didn't. It might've given off some heat, but it would've been impossible to react to the change in temperature when you could only feel it when it was already too close.
What Lucas didn't know was that Aurelian had long surpassed his expectations. Through rigorous training and a determination matched by no almost no one, Aurelian studied how Starborn worked and figured out what he was lacking. A mental sphere that was capable of storing willpower.
To him, it was a foreign concept and recreating it was simply impossible. Instead, he tried to replicate it in his own way. By becoming one with his surroundings, he was capable of feeling the world around him.
This principle was something only the highest of mages would strive for, but he achieved it in a small dose so much earlier. A small area, a few steps wide at best, was completely visible to him. Each little detail and movement, Aurelian couldn't see in his mind, but feel in his body.
Something thought to be impossible, Aurelian achieved an artificial willpower. It was nothing compared to an actual mage, but among the people in the Underground, he was undefeatable.
Lucas kept shooting off spells at the man, each one he destroyed or barely dodged. Each time he used a spell, he countered with his own attack, creating a wind blast so powerful, Lucas feared what it could've done with decent mana control.
At a certain point Lucas started to use more Dark Mana spells to make him exhausted, but even then he dodged it all.
It was as if he could see what element Lucas used. It certainly annoyed him to see how much trouble he had with him. Seeing no instant solution besides his Dark Beam, Lucas set up a few spells around the man. Surrounding the man with Dark Spear arrays, he would have no room to escape.
He was capable of destroying spells, but what if doing so led to his defeat? Then he would obviously dodge. During his preparations, he kept firing of lower Rank spells to keep the man entertained. When he was finished, Aurelian was surrounded by arrays capable of firing off a basic Dark Spear.
'If the spells activate, the only way to dodge would be to jump.'
'Set up another spell to attack him when he's in the air.'
'No, remember that time with Galen? Even if he's in the air, he would still be able to attack. Instead, let's just lure him.'
'?'
Lucas was finished with putting down all his arrays as he gathered a large amount of mana, not that Aurelian noticed it. Letting go of the spells, a barrage of Dark Spears appeared all around him. Tanking any of those attacks would be suicide.
As the spell came in close, dozens of calculations went through Aurelian's head. His body moved almost instinctually as he tried to limit the damage to his body.
There was but one spot where he found a solution, instead of a Dark Spear, it was just a typical Blue Fire Spear, it was still strong, but nothing compared to Dark mana. Jumping towards the weak link, he punched through the entire spear, limiting the damage.
Just as he got through it a Dark Beam appeared, swallowing his entire arm as well as half the temple wall behind him with it.
Collapsing on the ground, Aurelian's face was hidden away, but Lucas imagined it had a painful expression now. He knew how it felt to lose an arm to a Dark Beam, and it was far from pleasant.
"Give up, Emperor, there's no way to win against a mage," Lucas was still hidden as he prepared a few more spells, waiting for a reaction from the old man.
Aurelian didn't answer as he tried to support himself, trying to get back up. The blood kept flowing out of where his arm should've been. His face, unchanging as always, kept a straight face as he silently looked at the ground.
Lucas could barely tell that there was a slight change in his eyes. He was thinking about something but seemed to discard the thought.
"I know. I concede, you have won.", giving up as he stood there, the blood flowing down his side. Lucas didn't fully understand what he was thinking about, but also knew this was the most obvious result. There was no way for him to win in the first place. This whole fight could've been avoided if Aurelian accepted his limitations.
Lucas undid his hiding spell. The old woman suddenly appeared between them as she stared at Aurelian. "You have lost this battle, you have become obsolete.", her voice was hoarse as she lifted her gnarly hand towards Aurelian's head.
"Wait!", Lucas interjected. "What are you doing?", the woman paid him no mind as her hand kept getting closer to the unmoving Aurelian.
"What if my wish has something to do with him?", suddenly her hand froze in place. She turned around, her movements surprisingly swift for a woman her age.
"You care not for this man, he has lost, his life is worthless.", Lucas knew it from the moment she moved that what she was planning on doing to Aurelian wouldn't have been beneficial to him.
Lucas could've used his wish in so many other ways, but for some reason, his heart kept pulling his rationality to the side.
"If he lost the fight to me, shouldn't I get to decide what happens to him?"
The old woman looked at Lucas for a long time before she showed a look of uncertainty. Like if she would go through with this, it might be a problem later on, or perhaps not. "What is your wish?", she said with a more serious tone.
Lucas could've wished for anything, information, strength, protection, anything that came to mind was pushed away though. There was a single thing that Lucas could think of that could result in a massive boon later down the road.
"Give him a Mental Sphere.", the woman's eyes widened for a second before she disappeared. Lucas's eyes and willpower instantly scanned the room, but found absolutely no trace of her.
'That crone better not have run away.'
'What could we even do against her?'
'Still, why ask for that? You think Aurelian will be budy budy with you know? I fucking doubt it.'
'No, I.. I can't fully explain, but him calling us a pawn and the old woman... it all seems like we're following along someone else's scheme. I just hated that feeling of being toyed with, so I wanted to create an unexpected variable.'
'Well, if that costs us an entire wish, sure, ruin our future while you're at it.'
'What would've we asked for? A copy of that tome? A dragon's body? Can't do the ritual any more anyway.'
'There are plenty of things I can think of, but fine, fine, I never said anything.'
Lucas frowned for a moment before Aurelian took a step towards him. "Why spare my life? I was destined to either die or be reborn here."
"Who told you that? To me, there's no such thing as fate."
Aurelian stared at Lucas as his wound kept pouring out blood, Lucas was starting to get a bit distracted with how calm Aurelian truly was. Even he would be in serious pain, keeping a straight face would've been impossible.
"I was contacted by her a long time ago. She predicted the future in a lot of different occasions, she even knew you were coming to this place."
"So you know of the world above?", to which he nodded slightly. "I've been looking into this world for a long time. I know about mages and willpower. I know how to control my mana, but I haven't been able to conjure up any elements."
"I see.", Lucas nodded, it was but a simple conclusion, even he wouldn't have gotten into the world of mages without the help of Venion that taught him back at the estate. Without any help, it was basically impossible. Whoever the first mage was, was an absolute genius.
"You still haven't explained why you let me live. I don't see any value in that."
Lucas mulled it over, his reasoning was purely selfish, but saying that to him felt wrong. He could only speak so openly with Asta, or perhaps Thurin.
"Thurin misses you."
For the first time, there was a slight twitch in his eye, it was barely noticeable, but Lucas had long spread his willpower, making him see it. "So he is still alive?", the man looked relieved somehow.
"How come you care so much for him? Wasn't he destined to rule the Empire by himself? You faking your own death certainly didn't help him."
"The seer said that you would rebuild the Empire together with Thurin. And.. I can't fully explain it in words, but Thurin is like me. When I picked him up from the battlefield, I felt a strange desire to protect him. I never had that with any of my own children."
He spoke matter-of-factly, even if he was looking down on his own children. "Does that mean you knew about the Queen?"
"Yes, I was aware of her scheme, but I let her, since I knew that I would eventually end up here. The only thing I had hoped for was to be reborn."
Lucas was about to ask what that meant exactly, but the woman suddenly appeared again. Despite her age and slow walking movements, she moved at a speed that neither could even perceive.
"It has been approved.", she looked exhausted and a bit angry. "Is this truly thy wish?", she asked once more.
Lucas nodded to which she sighed before sticking her hand out to Aurelian. Without hesitation, he grabbed her hand only for both of them to vanish into thin air.
'Well, that's a wish gone.'
'Stop whining, now imagine the information he would willingly share? And besides that, if we can train Augustinus a bit, we'll have an extremely powerful pawn.'
Lucas moved on, deeper into the hall before finding the exact same set up he found through all the other temples in the Empire. The only difference being that this crystal was a tad larger and the array on the ground looked even more complex than before.