Behind the castle lies the Black Bull Knights' base, a vast and flat piece of land. According to Yami, he once wanted to build a castle there, but with the few members they had, it was never built. This land is considered ideal for battles.
At this moment, both Luck and Valen made their way to this piece of land.
"Finally, I get to fight you!" said Luck, his face full of excitement.
The next moment, Luck's grimoire glowed with a silver light and began to float automatically in front of him.
"Thunder Boots!"
Luck opened his grimoire, and in the next moment, a pair of silver boots appeared on his feet, with lightning flashing around them.
At the same time, Valen opened his grimoire, and his eyes turned gray with strange symbols shimmering in them.
"Are you ready? I'm going to attack!" Luck couldn't wait.
Valen nodded, waved his hand, and his grimoire started flipping pages.
"Flame Magic: Land of Flames."
The temperature of the ground began to rise, and Luck showed an excited expression as he started hovering in the air. Suddenly, a sea of blood-red flames spread, burning everything around it—grass, small rocks, all turned to ash.
Seeing the Land of Flames surrounding him, Luck grew even more thrilled. Suddenly, hundreds of flaming arms appeared.
"Go!" Valen commanded the flaming arms to attack Luck.
Hundreds of arms surged towards Luck in an organized manner. Luck tried to dodge them as best as he could, kicking away the ones he couldn't evade with his feet.
Thanks to the Thunder Boots, Luck's speed became extremely high, and if not for the density of the arms, dodging them would have been easy for him.
Valen observed Luck's movements carefully, and after a short while, he smiled.
"Close combat! This is perfect for training my physical skills and my eyes!" Valen thought to himself.
With a wave of his hand, the hundreds of arms vanished, retreating back to the Land of Flames, and disappeared from Luck's sight.
Luck was momentarily surprised and said, "Hey, don't stop!"
Valen replied with a smile, "No, I've changed my mind. It would be boring to fight with long-range magic against close combat magic."
Luck looked at Valen in confusion.
"What I mean is, you can attack my body directly," Valen added.
Luck smiled and took a fighting stance, saying, "Alright, here I come!"
In the blink of an eye, Luck was beside Valen and raised his foot to strike him.
"Boom!"
Luck struck the ground where Valen had been standing, a bit surprised. Valen had used his eyes to dodge Luck's attack.
"Senior, don't hold back! You didn't put all your power into that kick!" Valen said with a smile.
The truth was that Luck hadn't used his full strength because he wasn't sure how strong Valen was and feared he might cause significant harm if he went all out.
"Wow, you're amazing, Valen! You have some unique eyes," Luck said, delighted.
But in truth, what mattered to Luck was the fight itself, not the number of flames or the power of Valen's eyes.
Valen smiled and said nothing.
"Holy Flame Magic: Flame Boots."
Then he leapt forward to attack Luck at incredible speed.
In response, Luck took a few steps back.
In the next moment, he launched an even faster attack at Valen, reaching his maximum speed.
Valen exhaled calmly and summoned a massive flame blade, knowing that if Luck's Thunder Boots connected, it wouldn't be a trivial matter.
"Boom!"
Luck's foot struck the flame blade, forcing Valen to step back several paces.
"Really, Magna wasn't lying. Valen is incredibly strong!" Luck said, excited, as his speed increased even more.
The battle continued for long hours, and while Luck's speed began to diminish, Valen only grew stronger, his attacks more destructive and his flame magic hotter.
Finally, Valen decided to end the fight.
"Alright, Senior, are we done?" he asked.
Luck stood on the ground, about to say something, when he was suddenly bound by chains of flame.
Valen said with a faint smile, "It's over, Senior. I won."
Luck replied stubbornly, "No… I haven't lost yet!"
Valen smiled and said, "In that previous moment, I could have burned your body completely. So, that means I won!"
The flame chains disappeared from around Luck's feet as Valen turned back towards the castle, saying, "Alright, go take a rest; I need to train." He returned his grimoire to its place and deactivated his eyes.
What Valen never expected was that, at that moment, Luck's entire body was sparkling with lightning.
"To win! To win!"
As Luck mumbled those words, thunder and lightning surged across his body, his eyes wide open with a manic grin.
If Valen had seen this scene, he would have surely been stunned.
A voice kept echoing in Luck's mind.
"To win… to win, Luck, you have to keep winning."
·····
Suddenly, Luck called out to Valen's back, "Wait a moment! Things are getting more and more interesting, Valen!"
"Huh?"
Valen turned around instinctively, and when he saw Luck's expression, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
While speaking, Luck's Thunder Boots changed, and with a "clang clang," claws grew from the boots, like an eagle's talons.
He also wore silver gloves on his hands, similar to his feet.
Lightning crackled everywhere.
"Come again! Come again, keep fighting!" Luck said to Valen with a strange smile.
In the Black Bulls' base, Yami stepped out of the bathroom with a cigarette in his mouth.
Suddenly, he felt a surge of mana behind the base and recognized it.
"That's Luck… has he turned into a crazy demon again?"
He then heard an explosion.
"Boom!"
He quickly headed out to see what was happening.
At the same time, the rest of the Black Bulls, hearing the explosion, rushed outside.
Everyone was shocked at the scene.
Valen lay on the ground, his body covered in blood, while Luck was smiling maniacally and muttering.
"I won… I have to win!"
Yami became serious.
Asta shouted toward Valen.
"Valen!"
But at that moment, a terrifying pressure descended on the Black Bulls' base.
Everyone felt suffocated by the pressure.
Asta, Noelle, Magna, Gauche, Vanessa, and Finral all fell, while Yami stood there quietly.
They all heard a low, chilling laugh.
"Heheheh."
Valen began to rise, his body drenched in blood, seemingly unconscious.
"Kill… kill… kill… kill."
This word echoed from Valen's mouth.
His grimoire floated up and began flipping pages rapidly until it stopped at a page glowing with a dark light.
"Chaotic Flame Magic: Awakening the Realm of Chaotic Flames."