Luca's eyes widened as the dark ball accelerated in speed as he approached. He jumped to the side, ducking behind another tree as the attack narrowly missed him. The tree it hit, however, decomposed. Dark wood fell off as it shrunk and wilted.
'I need to get out of here,' Luca thought to himself.
He wasn't in any position to fight right now. He had learned only one spell!
But the robed person wouldn't give him the option for that.
Another slew of dark energy spheres bombarded the area he was in, destroying all the nearby trees and forcing him to break into the clearing itself. It left him open and vulnerable, with nowhere to go or stay.
From this distance, the appearance of the spell circle itself was more visible, and Luca realized he had gotten some things wrong before.
The mage actually stood in the center of the magic circle made with blood. It was a massive pentagram inscribed with many words and names that he didn't recognize. He held a small ceremonial dagger with a golden hilt and gem inlays.
Slightly outside the circle, however, a triangle made of blood was also drawn. Also inscribed with words from a language he didn't recognize. That was where the thick miasma was coming from as it flowed into the mage's body.
Luca didn't know a lot about magic, but he was fairly certain that what he was seeing right now was a..
'Demonic Summoning.'
Luca couldn't see the demon, but he was pretty sure that it was the thick miasma that entered the other mage's body.
If that was the case, he couldn't let this person leave here alive. Not because he cared or anything, but because he was rather certain they'd seen his face.
That was enough motivation to get him moving.
'I need to get rid of him.'
And it seemed like the other mage had the same idea.
"I won't let you leave here alive. Your body will be able to help me fulfill the sacrifice Pestwinde has required," he announced in a grating, unpleasant voice, "Now… I thank you for your assistance, but I'm afraid you must be on your way now."
He pointed the ceremonial dagger forward, and the corrosive mist obeyed the commands, shooting in a spiral form towards him.
Luca rolled to the side, making sure to avoid the circle of blood in the middle. He pulled his hand into his coat pockets and fetched two out of ten square wooden tiles he modelled after a board game that many people liked to play in their spare time.
However, the tile had a discreet but unique inscription on the surface, painted with the same black ink on his hand and a spell circle that didn't look all that different.
He channeled mana into the tiles and threw the first one up into the air, straight at the man in robes.
Although he couldn't see the man's face, his body shifted slightly with apprehension as he saw the tile.
His opponent was concerned. That put him at a slight advantage.
'I haven't revealed all my cards, but it looks like he has!'
The man in robes hurled another dark ball of energy, this time at the falling tile. A massive explosion rang out the moment the two things made contact with each other. Bright sparks of orange ember intertwined with the dark smoke, forming an ominous cloud in the air. For a brief second, this cloud covered the sky before it was dissipated by the wind.
Luca wasn't some brilliant inventor by any means, but a simple intuitiveness was enough to make a large difference, even if it had only been a few days of learning magic.
Talismans were described in the book, but there was no mention of how to make them. After a few dangerous guesses and tests, his Explosion tiles were the result.
In the split second before his opponent could react, Luca threw the second prepared talisman right down at the center of the magic circle where the mage stood.
However, it wasn't quick enough to earn him the win he'd initially wanted. Instead of another cloud of dark smoke to be shot at it, it appeared that the second mage had learned his lesson quickly.
This time, a purple miasma rolled off his body like steam, engulfing the tile and, surprisingly, not causing another explosion in the process; instead, it fell harmlessly to the ground.
Luca had prepared a countermeasure to that before it had even happened.
"Incinerate!"
A bright and short burst of reddish-orange flames hit the demon mage—this time, there was no response to attack. The flames caught his robes and spread rapidly across his body.
His guttural scream pierced the forest and scared a few birds off their perches, but Luca only watched coldly for a few more seconds till the screaming died down and till the man stopped moving without even a single twitch.
But…
"Something's wrong," he muttered, "The miasma. It's gone."
If it was truly a demon summoning ritual, and if that miasma was truly the demon being summoned. Then it wasn't supposed to have disappeared even if the summoner had died.
"It's supposed to remain contained as long as the circle's intact…"
He stepped slightly closer to see the circle and noticed that the bloody triangle and a part of the pentagram had indeed been destroyed.
This was maybe as bad as being dead, because it meant that now, instead of a demon summoner knowing his face, he also had a demon who knew his face.
"Oh, for Sun's sake," Luca cursed at the discovery.
Luckily, if the miasma was gone, then it meant that the demon didn't seem to have any interest in him for now, but that could change anytime. Demons were said to be unpredictable and nearly unpleasable beings.
Given that the other mage tried to sacrifice him, he made the safe assumption that this demon wasn't any different.
"Eh, whatever. I'll deal with that when the time comes."
His eyes shone when he looked at the body. Another mage meant more treasures, more knowledge.