"So Hunter, why have you decided to pursue your own demise by attacking my home?" Manuel asked in a tone that was far too calm for someone who just had his house blown up. But Hunter knew that the man was not faking this. That monster was simply confident in the fact that Hunter posed no reasonable threat to him at the moment.
"Isn't it obvious?" Hunter smirked and gestured towards the book floating beside the old man.
"I see," Manuel hummed thoughtfully. "So you seek to covet the Dark Grimoire? I shall inform you now, many have come before you, men with far more power than you possess, seeking the same thing..."
His gravelly voice boomed loudly as he stared down passively at Hunter. "... all have failed."
"Well then I suppose I'll just have to try my luck then."
Manuel's eyes flashed with a brief annoyance before returning to their normal blankness.
"So be it. Prepare to die blood sorcerer," he declared and raised his hand towards the dome of flames.
The earth rumbled and shook violently as the flames shot up into the sky. A massive gate decorated with scorched skulls and bones rose out of the ground like a monument, its presence radiating an infernal energy that corrupted the land around it. Manuel waved his hand and the gates creaked open, revealing a horde of misshapen unearthly creatures that had been blackened by the eternally burning flames of Hell. Some of them carried crude, cursed-looking weapons while some had body parts that had been adapted for combat but all of them had their burning yellow eyes focused on the lone human magician in the field before them.
"Oh wow," Hunter remarked with a smile. "Isn't that a nice view?"
"Rip him to pieces my Infernal legion," Manuel ordered and the demons surged forth like a tidal wave.
As much as it pained Hunter's pride to admit it, it was true that he was no match for Manuel as he was right now. Hunter knew that he had gotten lax over the years. Otherwise he would never had let Jeffrey surpass him the way he had.
But if there was one thing that had to be said about Hunter, it was that the man was a core pragmatic. The years he had spent in his self imposed exile had not been wasted solely behind a desk. Hunter had always been fascinated by the study of the body. And in those years, he had conducted so many experiments both on other subjects of all kinds and natures and himself as well. All to discover the hidden secrets of Magic. And today Hunter was pleased to say that his efforts had paid off.
First the incantation... "From the World Tree, nine realms were born..."
A wind picked up around him, swirling and growing in intensity with each word that left his mouth. "...Asgard, Midgard, Jotunheim, Svartalfheim, Vanaheim, Muspelheim, Niflheim, Alfheim, and Helheim...
The wind was soon accompanied by a burst of raw magical energy that swelled up to storm-like proportions. The mana in the air was so dense that it tore apart the earth around Hunter, shredding the first line of the demons to pieces and forcing the rest of horde to cease their stampede.
"... each one flourished and grew in its own manner over the centuries. But as with all things that have a beginning, an end was inevitable..."
Up in his perch in the sky, Manuel raised an eyebrow at the level of magic the blood sorcerer was casting. It would be all too easy to simply interrupt his casting and kill at this moment. But Manuel would never stoop so low as to attempt such an act. When he would defeat this sorcerer, he wished to do so in plain view to show him the difference between them.
Besides, he was quite curious to see the end result of this unfamiliar spell.
"... The Æsir foretold of this disaster... the destruction of the worlds, the doom of the gods... the end of all things..."
Hunter brought his hands together as if in prayer and called upon the last verse of his spell.
"... On the day of the end, everything shall be obliterated.... I summon thee, the first herald of Ragnarök, Fenrir!"
The mana in the atmosphere surged out in an explosion that blasted back the swarms of demons. Like a tornado, it howled and screamed as it converged to form a massive sixty meter tall wolf-like creature that roared into the heavens.
With the shredding storm of mana abetted, the demonic horde rushed forth again and were met by the gigantic wolf. The creature moved with unnatural speed and agility despite its size, crushing demons beneath its paws and ripping those unfortunate enough to be caught within its jaws to shreds.
As Hunter observed the carnage being wreaked by his creation, he felt a spike in the Infernal Magic energy around him. Immediately he turned to face Manuel who held a pitch black magic circle above his hand and aimed it at Hunter.
"Impressive," the old man commended. "But it will not be enough to defeat me."
A wide beam of Infernal magic shot out of the magic circle and Hunter immediately took control of his mana in the air to grant himself flight. He dodged the first attack of the beam, only to be surprised when it curved around to chase after him.
The blood sorcerer flew haphazardly through the air in an attempt you shake off the attack that stuck to his tail. As he made a sharp turn left, he felt his danger senses scream at him and he immediately threw himself down just in time as the beam suddenly accelerated and passed over head to vaporize a large section of the land below.
Hunter heaved a relieved sigh that soon turned to disappointment when he realized that the beam had simply bounced off the ground and was quickly heading towards him once again.
"for goodness sake!" He cursed and took off again.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Manuel casually flipping through the pages of the Dark Grimoire and an idea came to him. Was he planning on summoning another demon? Hunter was already barely hanging on as it was. Something like that would completely wreck him.
Changing his flight pattern, Hunter streaked through the air with the beam of death close behind. His hand glowed brightly with yellow flames which he shot forward towards Manuel in a continuous stream. Predictably the old man summoned a circular shield that blocked the attack. The flames covered the shield completely although they did absolutely no harm to the man within.
That was fine with Hunter. The flames had never been meant to do so after all.
The moment he got within six feet of Manuel's shield, Hunter dismissed his flames and banked left sharply, leaving the old man face to face with his own attack.
To Hunter's greatest shock, a smirk crossed Manuel's lips right before the old man moved with blinding speed to grab and condense the beam itself into a longsword that was comprised solely of Darkness. Then the old man vanished and Hunter had to throw himself backwards to avoid being split in two by the sword of pure Infernal Magic that slashed through air where he had just been.
Manuel followed after him in a blindingly fast dash that barely left Hunter enough time to conjure up a barrier of blood. The dark sword shattered the barrier effortlessly in one swing and sliced the form of the blood sorcerer in half. Manuel grinned darkly at the frozen shock on the dead man's face.
Out of nowhere an explosion engulfed the old man's figure in the sky. It released a burst of crimson energy intermingled with Light that burned the skin of some unlucky demons before Fenrir killed them.
An overwhelming pulse of Dark energy dispersed the remnants of the blast, revealing a mostly unruffled albeit extremely pissed off Manuel. His clothes were only slightly scorched due to the insane amount of defensive charms he had woven into them but that was not the point. Dark gray eyes observed the violently flickering barrier around him as his shield struggled to maintain its corporeality. Manuel noticed that the link between his magic and the the barrier had been weakened by something that gave off an extremely repulsive feeling to him.
"This is... Light?" He muttered confusedly.
"Surprising isn't it?!" The obnoxious voice of Hunter called out from several dozens of meters away. There was a crystallized blood bow in his hands and he looked at the old man with a mixture of mockery and arrogance.
"I was quite certain that I had killed you," Manuel remarked calmly as he turned to face the blood sorcerer. "Care to explain how you're not dead?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Hunter taunted.
"Indeed I would," Manuel answered honestly. "But I do not suppose that you intend to tell me."
"I will if you'll let me have the Grimoire."
Manuel's eyes hardened and darkness exploded around him. "That will not be happening."
"Yeah I thought so too," Hunter replied and mentally willed the crystalline bow to morph into a double edged sword which he flooded with his mana. "Let's do this hmm?"
Both men shot forward, leaving a trail of darkness and crimson behind them. Manuel struck first, his sword of darkness slashing diagonally. Hunter parried the blow with his own blood sword, feeling his arm tremble under the immense strength of his opponent, before he countered with series of lightning fast stabs.
Manuel's Dark shield sprang forth to repel the attacks, leaving the old man to concentrate fully on offense. He attempted to decapitate Hunter but the latter had already seen the attack coming a mile away and sidestepped it. The blood sword struck out again thrice and was repelled by the impenetrable shield.
'That defense is becoming particularly annoying.' Hunter had the old man beat when it came sheer combat skills. Manuel was no slouch either but he was a summoner. And like all summoners, his main power lay in his summonings.
A summoner's strength was measured by the strength of their summons. Manuel was a sorcerer who could command the legions of Hell at will. There was not much that remained to be said about that.
Although Hunter was better skilled with a blade, the old man's strength, speed and reaction time were off the charts. Not to mention that ever present shield that activated autonomously to repel all of Hunter's attacks that seemed like they would connect.
In a seemingly desperate move, the blood sorcerer released a flurry of rapid slashes that the old man met in return. Hunter's left hand summoned a red magic circle and he thrust his sword through it to coat it in an aura of flames. When he swung it again, it released an explosive blast of fire that swept forth to engulf Manuel.
As always, the shield of Dark energy manifested to block out the attack. Under the cover of the flames, Hunter appeared behind the old man and brought his sword down in a powerful slash. At first Manuel ignored him in favor of charging up another beam of darkness to punish the blood sorcerer's impudence.
That quickly changed when just before the blood sword could make contact with the shield, it gained a glowing light along its edge. The sudden infusion of Light energy worked like a jammer, interrupting the connection between Manuel and the shield and causing it to fail. Caught off guard, Manuel was barely able to avoid getting his arm sliced off.
The blood sword cut through the sleeve of his robe and in return, Hunter was met with a faceful of Darkness that vaporized his entire body in an instant, leaving not even a single trace behind.
"Hmph, insolent fool," Manuel scoffed and turned to deal with the gigantic wolf that was still tearing apart his demons below.
Only for a long crimson blade that glowed with Light to protrude from his chest without warning.
"W-what is this?!" Manuel yelled in disbelief.
Behind him, Hunter grinned darkly. "Call it retribution."
The air literally darkened with the summoner's rage. He glared at Hunter hatefully with one eye from the side. "YOU LITTLE.... RAAARGH!"
A powerful explosion of Darkness blasted Hunter away from the man. Before the blood sorcerer could right himself in the air, Manuel appeared above him, fingers wrapped tightly around his face. The old man shot down like a rocket, smashing his opponent into the ground furiously. His hand rose up, dragging Hunter's head with it before bashing it back into the earth again and again.