The little mana that Lucas lost was replenished as his stamina was restored. Then the lines appeared again without any warning. Normally there was a voice to congratulate the victory, but now there was nothing.
The lines kept forming, this time it was a lot more complicated than before. There were dozens if not hundreds of tiny lines that spread all over the place. Then the color appeared again, with the scene forming, so did the temperature.
Suddenly, it got extremely cold, Lucas landed in a snowstorm. The cold ate at him in an instant, but Lucas regulated his body temperature right away, coping with the weather.
Lucas sighed, "Shit. This is going to suck.", Lucas said as he saw a very familiar cabin not far off in the distance.
Lucas dredged through the snow, which piled up to his knees. Forcing his way forward he reached the cabin in no time, the light was on, letting him know the owner was home.
Opening the door, he made his way inside, the warm air washed over him as the cold storm was kept out. Looking around he saw the old bookshelves, filled with books that entertained him during his studies. Covered in dust, waiting for the next embrace of a dear reader.
The soft couches and rugs were present as well. The faint smell of tea wafted over. Looking at the couch, he found Elam resting underneath a cozy blanket. His eyes closed up, making any onlooker think he was asleep, but Lucas knew him too well.
"Well, at least it's not that other bastard.", Lucas said to himself, unable to keep his thoughts in his mind.
'To be honest I've lost all motivation on trying to teach you how to act properly. But since you took care of Liam, I believe you can handle Elam as well. I'll see if I can help out.'
"Oh yeah. If Liam was physical strength and technique, this one should be magic."
Elam, who was enjoying a nice nap tilted his head slightly. "Are you talking to yourself again? You know, you should try to stop that habit, not that I have anything to say about it.", he turned in the couch, letting his back face Lucas.
"Hey, let's fight.", not holding back or even respecting his teacher's nap, Lucas called him to spar. Yet the man in the couch wasn't like Liam who often trained with Lucas. Elam barely moved during the aura training.
Elam raised his hand lazily and waved him out. "No thanks, study some runes instead. I haven't gotten a good sleep in a while."
Part of Lucas wanted to smile seeing how much of a sloth he was, but the other half reminded him of the time limit. Since it wasn't clear how much time was left, he shouldn't waste any time. Yet at the same time, part of him couldn't muster the motivation to fight someone so close again.
"I don't want to do this.", 'You take care of it.', Lucas switched as he stood there in the heated little cabin. The faint smell of tea made him want to take a quick sip, but he couldn't do that now.
'What happened? Why the sudden switch?'
'I already took care of Liam, I'm tired.'
'I thought you were just itching for a fight?'
'...'
'Ah, I see, seems like even you get attached to people.'
'Shut the fuck up and focus.', Lucas smiled to himself, to think he would have so much trouble acknowledging that he liked certain people.
"Elam, I just got back from the lesson with the guest teacher. He said that we had to fight in order to check something. He didn't tell me what exactly, but I know we have to fight now.", part of Lucas knew there was no way for Elam to voluntarily spar or fight him. The man was married to his bed and was cheating with the sofa.
The only way for him to move by himself would be to attack him regardless of his want or trick him. There was but one person Elam listened to willingly, the guest teacher.
Elam, who was laying in the couch heaved a heavy sigh. He slowly got up, a frown covering his face. "I suppose I don't have much say then.", the blankets fell from his body, his cover of warmth vanished as he was exposed to the air in the cabin.
Then Lucas found the cabin heated up, as if trying to put invisible blankets on Elam. "I guess I should fight you then, but, are you certain?", the room lost all of its comfortable warmth and peacefulness as Elam poured out his aura.
The entire cabin started to shake heavily, but Lucas kept a small smile. This aura had been ingrained in his body during his training, he was all too familiar with it. And this time, he wasn't going to lay down without a fight.
Releasing his own aura, the entire cabin started to shake even more as the mixture of both auras caused a chaotic mess. Elam's was cold, reminding Lucas of a harsh winter, while his own was madness and chaos incarnate.
The cabin couldn't withstand the pressure, breaking apart piece by piece, letting the blizzard outside storm in. The winds blew all around him, the snow blocking his vision. He could only grasp a few glances of Elam, letting him know he had long vanished from the cabin, but was floating in the air above him.
Elam lifted his hand lazily as the snow in front of him formed a ball, before compressing itself down and eventually turning into a Ice Spike. The size incomparable to a normal Ice Spike, it was three times the size of his own body.
Lowing his hand, the massive body of ice fell towards Lucas. Lucas first blasted his surroundings with a large wave of Blue Fire, removing any excess snow that blocked his vision. Using a simple fire wouldn't be able to destroy the snow efficiently.
While it seemed like a stupid move that wasted unnecessary mana, he had no choice. Looking at Elam with Magic Vision, every single particle of snow was magically created, containing Elam's willpower. Just like he had done in the past through rain, Elam had implemented the same technique on a much larger scale.
Being able to grasp the direction and speed of the Ice Spike, Lucas bent down before jumping on top of it. With his body enhanced and using a spell he learned from a certain Bullfrog that lived in the Underground, he was able to boost his leap massively.
Landing on the moving spike, Lucas jumped again before unleashing a similar Blue Flame wave, cleaning up the air.
Elam wasn't impressed as he lifted his hand again, summoning a bunch of smaller Ice Spikes. With all the snow around them, he practically had infinite mana. As the flames cleared up, Elam smiled a tiny bit as he saw Lucas standing in the air.
Flight was coveted among mages, so even the worst spell that replicated it somewhat costed a ton to learn, yet his student had accomplished exactly that without having any funds. It only meant Lucas learned it by himself or from someone else.
"So you've learned even that? Hahaha, how magnificent.", Lucas was flying in the air, his movements were a bit awkward as he didn't know how to move his body correctly, but that mattered little now.
His eyes focussed on Elam as he unleashed his aura, the surrounding snow turned red as he forcibly took over the mana within each piece of snow. It was impossible to switch between elements after a spell had been cast, but in this case it didn't matter.
All he needed was enough mana to block the incoming Ice Spikes. Using the surrounding snow lessened his own mana usage while also removing mana from Elam's stockpile.
"Is this all you have to show me? I don't think he would ask for us to fight if this is it.", Elam's voice lost its happiness in an instant. The freezing blizzard taking away all the warmth from his presence.
"Of course not.", his aura grew thicker, using his willpower as fuel, he increased the range of his domain, capturing more snow. Reciting the necessary runes, he started to gather the snow around him. A vortex of snow appeared around him, fighting against the blizzard.
Elam stood in the sky, waiting for him to finish his spell. If this was an actual battle to the death, there was no way that he would patiently wait for his opponent to attack, but this was but a mere reflection of a memory.
The snow gathered around Lucas, the chaotic nature of the mana made the snow quickly melt, turning it into cold water. Elam, as always, had his eyes closed, but the chaotic nature on display turned some gears for him. Opening his eyes to stare at the beauty of pure chaos.
Through a few gaps in the now water vortex, he noticed that Lucas had vanished. While all the mana was gathering at the center of the vortex, the perpetrator was nowhere to be seen. At least that would've been true for any normal mage.
Elam had long ago given up his ability to see normally. His worldview was created through willpower, and nothing escaped his mind. Closing his eyes, he instantly found Lucas, who had hidden himself with a camouflage spell.
"Are you trying to hide from me of all people?", Elam turned around to an empty space where Lucas was hidden.
"Hiding from you? No, that's not possible, but there's something else I can do.", Lucas said as he gathered a bunch of mana.
"And what might that be?"
Raising both his hands he unleashed a Dark Beam. It headed straight for Elam, who simply waved his hand to cause the blizzard to converge near his hands.
"You should know that while Dark Magic has the strongest destructive properties, it's also the easiest to deal with."
The snow was filled with both mana and willpower, giving it the density it needed to stop the never ending consumption of the Dark mana contained within the spell.
As the blizzard held back the beam, Lucas had to stop his spell. The expenditure of it was simply too much.
"Is that all the mana you ha-", an explosion occurred right behind Elam, the size of which was enough to blast them both out of the air. A chaotic wave of energy broke their spells as they plummeted down to the ground.
Lucas tried to reconjure his flight spell, but it was too complex to get it done in time. All he could do was summon some shields as he braced for impact. Crashing into the earth, Lucas patched himself up as quickly as he could.
If he could survive, there was no doubt at all that Elam would be fine as well. Hurriedly getting back up, he scanned the place with his willpower, only to find nothing of note in the air except his own spells going wild.
Elam was laying down on the ground not much further. "Wonderfully done.", he said with a slight smile as his face faced the sky. Opening his eyes, he stared into the black night above. The blizzard was forcibly reduced due to the Dark Beam and the explosion cleared the area of any snow.
"Where did you learn all of those spells? I'm sure neither I nor the guest teacher should've given you that and my books certainly don't contain such offensive spells."
"Experience."
"I see.", Elam lifted his hand to take a look at something pinched between his fingers. "Distracting me with a powerful Dark spell, making me focus on your frontal attack, just to ambush me from behind. To use sharp pieces of sand in an explosion. Looks like I've gotten rusty over the years."
It was then that Lucas realized that he wasn't in a death match, but merely a spar between student and teacher. If this was a fight to the death, Lucas stood no chance. He was up against someone who had walked further down the Path of Magic and the environment was extremely in favor of Elam.
There was no way for him to win in a real battle. The blizzard was gone, but all that did was remove the weapon Elam had from the start. Elam probably hadn't even used up any mana from his core, and while Lucas still had some reserves, it paled in comparison.
"Elam, I don't know how to explain this, but.. I have to kill you.", Lucas said as he prepared some spells beforehand. He didn't exactly know how this memory of Elam would react to such a statement. If he had to continue the fight, the chances of winning were abysmal.
"That's fine. I have nothing else to teach you anyway. If my passing helps you on the path, it would be a worthy death."
"Why?", yet the answer he received blew his expectations out of the way.
"Why? I'm living on borrowed time, I should've gone to sleep long ago. I was prepared to die at any moment. The fact that I was able to finally see you grow so much means that I've chosen correctly this time."
The resolve that he showed was something that struck Lucas in an unconventional way. Was the Elam he knew this prepared to give up? To die? He was a lazy teacher who had trouble waking up in the morning. He was a man who trained without moving a muscle, the epitome of a sloth.
Yet all his worries dashed away as he saw how peaceful Elam laid there. Lucas had no words, the constant pressure of the unknown time limit and the hurdles to come pushed him to finish this as soon as possible. While on the other hand, he didn't really want to kill Elam.
Even just as an illusion or memory, it felt wrong.
'You do it, I can't do it.'
'Why should I fucking do this? You're the one who fought, you finish it!'
'You handled Liam so well, why can't you do Elam as well?'
'It's because I already took care of Liam that I want a break, get your act together and just do this.'
Lucas stood there, the mana in his body felt directionless as no spell could be formed. They were just in battle, Lucas had tried to kill him then, yet with each attack, he knew that it wouldn't be the end of Elam. He was too powerful for him.
As Elam waited for eternal sleep, he noticed the hesitation in Lucas. "Should I do it myself?", Elam lifted his hand above his own head. As a mage, killing yourself was extremely easy. It would take him no effort at all to die a painless death.
"No.", Elam stopped himself before lowering his hand once more. He waited as Lucas stepped forward. The mana gathered in his hand was enough for another Dark Beam, it was certain to be a painless death.
Elam could tell there were tears building up in Lucas's eyes, but he kept his smile. "Don't worry about me. I've been plagued by terrible nightmares since I can remember. Now I'll finally sleep peacefully."
Lucas let the spell loose, creating a massive hole in the ground where Elam's head was supposed to be. The environment quickly turned into a blend of pure white and a bunch of darker lines.
"Fucking pussy."
Staying in the white space, he recovered his mana enough to be back in a perfect state. Since he used a lot in the fight, he floated there a lot longer compared to the first transition. This wasn't the worst since he had to calm himself down.
Taking the time to meditate, Lucas thought about whom the next opponent would be.
'If Liam was physical strength and Elam was magic, what's the next one supposed to be?'
'Aura?'
'Then who would represent that? I don't remember anyone that was special with their aura besides Elam.'
'What about that goody two shoes dude from the church?'
'Micheal? Even if he was the opponent, he's too naive and innocent to fight us. Although knowing him, he would probably be a good sparring partner.'
Time passed as Lucas fully recovered. By the time he was finished recuperating, the black lines started to move again. Lucas paid close attention since at this point he knew that the location was tied to the person. While Liam had his training grounds, Elam was accompanied by his blizzard and cozy cabin.
The next place would decide how he would have to act. The black lines moved quickly to create a rough stone floor made out of large blocks pushed against one another. The stones felt cool to the touch, their color a dark gray.
Large pillars appeared on the side, the length of which seemed impossible to measure. Looking up, there was just pure darkness with the pillars disappearing within. The only source of light came from the torches placed on the never ending pillars.
The strangest thing of all, there were no walls, only endless columns reaching for the darkness above. A massive room filled with giant pillars, repeating itself until he couldn't see anymore. Stretching his willpower and pouring it in every direction, there was nothing of note.
Inspecting the scenery, Lucas had absolutely no idea who this could possibly be. He couldn't think of anyone that would be fitting, this wasn't even part of his memory, so how did this trial create it?