"Blood and Fire" Part 1
Flames surrounded the entire place while, at the center, two people stared directly at each other.
Luciel held his sword, his golden armor shining even brighter thanks to the flames surrounding them.
Meanwhile, Armand had obvious disdain in his gaze, which was fixed on his own son, feeling that wasting more time than necessary would be absurd.
He simply raised his wand solemnly.
But even before he could pronounce a spell, the runes on Luciel's armor glowed faintly and his body moved at an exaggerated speed, leaving behind only a golden flash.
Armand barely raised an eyebrow with interest, but his eyes followed Luciel's movements with complete ease.
Until Luciel reappeared right in front of him, holding his sword above his head in a downward slash.
Though before he could get too close, a magical shield appeared around Armand, causing the sword to crash against it and crack it, but not destroy it completely, making the blade bounce backward.
Armand calmly raised his wand, aiming directly at Luciel's chest, taking advantage of his open guard.
"Confringo," he murmured, and a flash shot out of his wand straight at Luciel's chest.
But even with his guard completely open, Luciel quickly moved his sword, slashing toward the small flash as he simultaneously murmured:
"Confringo."
And his sword cut through the spell, which normally should have exploded into a violent burst of flames.
Instead, the magic itself was cut in half.
Causing Armand to show an interested expression.
But not too interested.
"Crucio," he pronounced immediately.
Luciel's eyes widened slightly and he instantly crouched down, narrowly dodging the torture curse.
As he lowered himself, he was already prepared to strike again.
Then he noticed how the flames surrounding them suddenly, with a gesture from Armand, lunged at him from both sides.
Forcing Luciel to jump backward and create distance.
But the flames, like fiery whips, kept trying to catch him, forcing Luciel to use the speed enchantment on his boots just to get away.
As Armand lightly moved his wand as if he were conducting an orchestra with complete ease and calmness.
Even while trying to kill his own son.
Once he gained enough distance, though he was still trapped inside the battlefield surrounded by the storm of fire around them, with several gravestones being destroyed by the flaming whips nearby, Luciel raised his sword and pronounced:
"Waddiwasi."
Watching the broken fragments of the gravestones.
Which instantly rose into the air at his command before flying at high speed like projectiles directly at Armand.
"Engorgio!" Luciel shouted again toward the fragments, which began growing larger as they shot at Armand.
This caused the flaming whips to stop for a moment while Armand once again raised his magical protection, making the projectiles crash against it and explode into smaller fragments and dust, covering the vision for a moment.
Luciel immediately took advantage of that moment to move toward Armand once again.
Though the instant he took a step, the flames moved again and formed a wall in front of him, blocking his path.
That did not stop him.
"Fiendfyre," he pronounced again as his sword began burning with red flames, swinging forward to carve open a path with his own hellfire.
And he lunged at Armand, whose vision was still covered by dust, delivering a powerful slash that split the dust apart for a moment.
Though when he did, Armand was no longer there.
Luciel's eyes widened slightly, but he quickly heard the sound of cracking pops coming from behind him thanks to his sharp hearing.
And instantly crouched down, barely dodging a point blank spell while Armand had used apparition to appear right behind him.
Luciel, after crouching down to dodge, quickly swung while the blade was still glowing red hot.
But Armand's body disappeared once again thanks to instantaneous apparition, reappearing not far away with his wand raised above his head, gently waving it as a massive amount of black electricity gathered at its tip before aiming at Luciel.
And a black lightning bolt shot forward, crashing into the surroundings without stopping as it raced straight at him.
Luciel quickly jumped to the side, pushing himself off the ground to dodge the attack.
But at the same time slashing through the air with his sword as he shouted:
"Expelliarmus!"
And the spell flew toward Armand.
He simply moved to the side, dodging it with complete ease, and with nothing more than a flick of his wrist aimed his wand at Luciel, causing the lightning bolts to curve toward him, destroying the gravestones around them.
Luciel once again used the enchantments on his boots to accelerate, pulling away from the lightning.
all while closing the distance toward Armand.
As he got within a meter of him, he saw a slightly amused smile on his father's face, instantly triggering every one of his warning instincts.
So immediately, before taking the next step, he abruptly stopped himself and jumped backward.
The ground where Luciel had been about to step suddenly split open while a massive black hand made of smoke and shadows emerged from it, nearly catching him.
But after failing to do so, it did not move too far away from Armand before sinking back underground once again.
While Luciel frowned after seeing something so familiar.
"Oh. Looks like you remember my little pet," Armand said with complete calmness. "You didn't actually think the last one you made me lose was the only one, did you?" he added mockingly.
"You…" Luciel could not help becoming frozen for a brief moment.
Because he himself knew exactly what that thing had just been.
There was no one in the magical world who did not know those creatures, because they were supposed to have gone extinct.
And after defeating Armand last year, he had been forced to investigate them much more deeply.
When a wizard suppresses their magic too much, it eventually creates a monster inside their body. A creature that slowly feeds on their magic destroying them slowly like a parasite that only seeks the destruction of its host and everything around it.
An obscurial.
One of the most dangerous creatures in the magical world.
"What kind of atrocities have you been doing?" Luciel could not help but ask.
"You'd be surprised," Armand added with complete calmness. "Remember, you were supposed to become one of them too," he added with a dark smile.