"Wow... you're really bad-tempered, Lucas."
Victor spoke as he tried to casually drape an arm over Lucas's shoulder, as though the two of them were close friends.
Lucas, however, simply took a step to the side.
Victor's arm passed through empty air.
He completely missed.
Yet Victor pretended that nothing had happened.
As though it had been intentional all along.
"I'm just curious to know what you and our dear leader are doing."
The corners of Victor's lips curved upward into a smile.
Lucas merely looked at him.
His expression remained completely indifferent.
"That's none of your concern."
Without waiting for a response, Lucas walked past Victor, turning his back on him.
But before continuing toward the exit, he stopped for a brief moment.
"And also..."
He glanced over his shoulder.
"Dogs need to know their place in the hierarchy."
After saying that, Lucas continued walking toward the exit.
...
The hall fell completely silent.
Not even the sound of Lucas's footsteps could be heard anymore.
It was as though, at that very moment, even the air itself had stopped circulating.
Lucas continued walking.
One step.
Then another.
And then...
He stopped.
Something was wrong.
A strange sensation ran through his body.
Something unusual.
Heavy.
Dangerous.
Until he heard a voice behind him.
"Lucas."
Victor's voice was different.
Very different.
There was something about it that resembled the voice of an animal.
Lucas slowly turned around.
And in that instant...
He finally understood the strange sensation.
It was killing intent.
Victor's killing intent was being directed straight at him.
Victor remained standing in the middle of the hall.
His smile was still there.
"You know..."
His voice carried an unsettling calmness.
"I don't care about little provocations."
He slowly raised his hands.
"Actually, I even have a little fun with them."
Lucas looked at one of Victor's hands.
His eyes narrowed.
Victor's fingernails were growing.
Stretching.
Becoming sharper.
They increasingly resembled claws.
Lucas shifted his gaze back to Victor's face.
Victor smiled.
"But you should already know that I hate being called a dog."
"Damn..."
Lucas thought.
"What an irritating problem."
"Calm down, Victor."
Lucas tried to keep the situation under control.
But Victor didn't listen.
The very next instant...
CRACK!
The ground beneath Victor's feet fractured.
And then...
He disappeared.
Lucas's eyes widened slightly.
"What...?"
In the next instant, Victor appeared directly in front of him.
His hands now looked like actual claws.
His right arm shot violently toward Lucas's face.
Whoosh!
The attack tore through the air.
Lucas reacted immediately.
His arm became covered in something resembling a crimson-colored material.
He raised his arm and blocked the attack.
CLACK!!
Victor's claws collided with Lucas's defense.
The force of the impact caused the floor beneath them to crack.
Small fractures spread across the marble.
"What are you doing, Victor!?"
Lucas shouted.
Victor bared his teeth.
"I'm going to show you who the damn dog is!"
Victor's pupils became extremely thin.
Almost exactly like those of a wild animal.
Then...
He attacked again.
This time, with his left hand.
The movement was even faster.
So fast that Lucas couldn't defend himself in time.
He could only dodge.
But not completely.
One of Victor's claws caught Lucas across the face.
Slash!
Lucas jumped backward.
Then...
Drip.
Drip.
Several drops of blood fell onto the floor.
The cut across his face began to bleed.
Victor looked at his own finger.
A small amount of Lucas's blood remained on his claw.
He brought his hand toward his mouth...
And licked the blood from his claw.
Lucas ran a finger across the cut on his face.
He felt the blood.
He looked at the tip of his finger.
Then raised his eyes toward Victor.
"Looks like you need to be properly trained."
Victor simply smiled.
Then...
Lucas opened one of his hands.
Three small spheres appeared.
The three spheres began floating behind Lucas.
They rotated around their own axes.
Slowly at first.
But with every passing moment...
Faster.
Faster.
And faster.
The air around them began to vibrate.
Lucas spoke:
"CONVERSION MAGIC:"
The three spheres began to shrink.
Little by little...
Until they completely disappeared.
They became invisible to the naked eye.
Lucas then finished:
"INVISIBLE SHOTS."
Victor felt a chill run down his spine.
His instincts screamed.
But before he could even understand why...
His body began moving.
Victor started running.
The moment he moved...
Bang!
Small holes began appearing where he had been standing.
One after another.
The floor was being pierced by something Victor couldn't see.
He kept running.
The holes continued appearing behind him.
And then...
They began following him.
It seemed as though something invisible was trying to hit him.
Victor didn't stop moving.
He ran.
And ran even faster.
He rushed across the enormous hall while the invisible attacks continued pursuing him.
Until he finally reached one of the massive pillars.
Victor moved behind it.
And stopped.
For several seconds...
Nothing happened.
Victor took a deep breath.
"Did it stop?"
He carefully peeked out from behind the pillar.
Then began thinking.
"That must be his magic."
"He's firing magic at me, but I can't see it."
"Even so, my instincts are warning me of the danger..."
"So I can at least get an idea of the direction they're coming from."
Victor narrowed his eyes.
"Continuing to run won't help me at all."
"I need to attack."
"It seems like he's only attacking me when he can see me..."
A smile slowly appeared on Victor's face.
"Then..."
He placed one hand against the pillar.
And clenched his other hand into a fist.
BOOM!
Victor punched the pillar with all his strength.
A massive cloud of dust exploded throughout the hall.
The dust quickly spread.
Covering the entire area.
Lucas immediately lost part of his vision.
"What the hell are you doing, Victor?"
Lucas was surprised by the amount of dust.
But he didn't panic.
He simply took a few steps backward.
He could already imagine his opponent's plan.
"He wants to reduce my vision..."
Lucas remained calm.
He was already accustomed to people using this kind of strategy against him.
Then...
A small smile appeared on his face.
"But I think that, with all this dust..."
He looked around.
"You won't be able to see me either, right?"
However...
At that exact moment...
Lucas felt something approaching from the front.
His body reacted immediately.
"Since he can't see me, he came in a straight line..."
"So what's the point of all this cover?"
Lucas clenched his teeth.
"You only wanted to nullify my long-range magic?"
He extended his hand.
His voice echoed through the dust.
"You really think I can't defend myself at close range!?"
His right hand began to be covered by his magic.
Lucas lunged forward.
Attacking whatever was approaching directly.
His strike collided with something.
CLACK!!
The pieces of the pillar...
"So that's what he did..."
But before Lucas could react, footsteps began approaching through the dust.
Coming directly from the front.
TAP... TAP... TAP...
Lucas narrowed his eyes.
Through the thick cloud of dust, a silhouette slowly began to emerge.
Then Victor's voice echoed through the hall.
— I may not be able to see you... but I can still smell you.
Victor stepped out of the dust.
At that moment, his right arm had completely transformed.
It looked like the limb of a beast.
Gray fur covered the entire arm, while his hand had become a set of sharp claws.
Without hesitation, Victor lunged forward and attacked Lucas with that same arm.
Lucas's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
He immediately realized that there wasn't enough time to dodge normally.
"Got you."
Victor smiled.
But...
When he took another step forward, he suddenly felt as if he had tripped.
The ground beneath his left foot had suddenly disappeared.
— What!?
His balance was completely broken.
His attack missed.
Lucas looked at Victor and spoke calmly.
— CONVERSION MAGIC.
He raised one hand.
— As you should already know, I can convert anything that isn't alive into a crimson material. For example...
Lucas glanced toward the ground.
— The air.
His gaze returned to Victor.
— Or even the ground you're standing on.
SHIIING!
A small red sphere appeared from the floor.
The next instant—
WHOOSH!
It shot directly toward Victor's head.
By a matter of mere millimeters, Victor managed to dodge.
He moved his head upward, causing the sphere to pass dangerously close to his face.
Victor immediately looked toward Lucas.
— You bastard...
But before he could finish—
BAM!!
Lucas landed a clean uppercut directly on Victor's face.
— Agh!
Blood sprayed from Victor's mouth.
The impact was so powerful that Victor's body was lifted several centimeters off the ground.
Lucas didn't give him any time to recover.
He stretched one hand out to the side.
A massive amount of mana began gathering in his palm.
The crimson energy twisted.
It stretched.
And slowly took the shape of a massive serpent, while several magic circles formed around it.
The mana began to roar.
Lucas declared:
— CONVERSION MAGIC: SERPENT'S BITE!!
BOOOOM!!
Lucas drove his fist directly toward Victor's stomach.
Victor couldn't react in time.
THUD!!
The attack struck him head-on.
— Agh!
Even more blood spilled from his mouth.
His body was violently launched backward.
CRASH!!
Victor slammed into a wall.
The impact shook the structure, sending a massive cloud of dust throughout the hall.
Slowly...
Lucas's mana began to settle down.
The dust began to clear as well.
Victor was now sitting on the floor.
Debris was scattered around him.
Blood covered his face, with several drops still falling from his mouth.
Lucas looked at him.
— I hope that serves as a lesson for you.
Victor remained motionless for several seconds.
Then...
Movement.
His fingers twitched.
Then his arms.
Victor slowly began to stand.
PLOP...
A drop of blood fell onto the floor.
Then another.
And another.
Victor finally stood upright.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked directly at Lucas.
A smile appeared on his face.
— Yes...
He let out a small laugh.
— It was a lesson.
His smile widened.
— A lesson that it's finally time to put an end to this little game!
Suddenly—
Victor's skin began to change.
Its color slowly turned gray.
CRACK...
Fur began growing across his body.
His appearance became increasingly similar to that of a beast.
Lucas became serious as he watched the transformation.
— You really want to take this all the way?
Victor answered without hesitation.
— Yes.
Lucas's mana began increasing once again.
The air around the two of them grew heavy.
They were both about to charge at each other once more.
But then—
— That's enough!
A calm yet commanding voice echoed through the hall.
Both of them stopped immediately.
Lucas's mana vanished.
Victor's transformation also ceased, causing him to return to normal.
— You two have already caused more than enough trouble here.
The voice continued to echo through the hall.
However...
It was impossible to tell where it was coming from.
Lucas immediately placed one hand over his chest and slightly lowered his head.
— I'm sorry about this, Haru.
Even Victor responded.
— I'm sorry too.
The voice let out a sigh.
— I already expected this from a brat like Victor...
There was a brief pause.
— But not from you, Lucas.
Lucas lowered his head even further.
— I'm completely ashamed that I allowed myself to be influenced by him.
— It's fine. I'll ignore this this time.
The voice became slightly more serious.
— But next time, I'll tell the leader.
The two remained silent.
Neither dared to answer.
Then—
— Understood!?
It was Haru.
— Yes.
— Yes.
They both answered at the same time.
— Tch.
Victor clicked his tongue.
Then, as if realizing that Haru had already left, his expression changed again.
He kicked a stone on the floor.
CLACK!
The stone slid across the debris.
Victor began walking toward the exit.
As he passed Lucas, he continued glaring at him and calling him several insulting names.
Lucas didn't respond.
He simply remained standing there.
Alone.
He looked around.
The floor had been destroyed.
There were impact marks across the walls.
Pieces of stone were scattered throughout the hall.
Dust still lingered in the air.
Lucas sighed.
Then muttered:
— What a troublesome guy.