Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 406: Sorry to interrupt

In the aftermath of the battle against Belron the Fiend, Caius had been hard at work improving his chances of surviving another battle such as that.

He went all in with his Erratic spell combinations. He realized that while named spells, with actual powerful effects in their own right, made more potent erratic combinations, they were also the most difficult to handle.

Even though he was now at the Fourth Circle, combining two spells hadn’t become easier because the spells were stronger now and, as this was not something he was supposed to be doing, his body was not scaling with it. This meant, that the stronger Caius became, the more difficult it would be to make Erratic combinations.

However, he also realized he could cut down that difficulty a lot by simply using ’unnamed Spells’.

Named spells are powerful. They possess identities and are ’complete’ and so, they vehemently reject combining with anything else.

Unnamed spells, however, are much weaker. They have accomplished the bare minimum requirement to be a spell but are not quite ’complete’ so they are much more willing to combine with others.

The combination is easier between two unnamed spells. And of course, this relative ease doesn’t completely erase the erratic nature of the combinations which means the combined effect gets to be more powerful than the two spells that made it, and also vibrates enough to bypass defences.

The two massive spell circles Caius had conjured were unnamed Spells. He made them as large as he could to increase their potency and yet, even now, large as they were, If they could still be shrugged off by even a fourth Circle Mage/Mage-Knight. However, when combined...

*CRACKLE!*

... They created a spell circle that spread all over the entirety of the concrete stage, boasting strength somewhat past the Fourth Circle. And while the spells that made this massive combination were unnamed, Caius named their combined effect;

~Discordant Rain~

From the casting of the two unnamed spells to their combination, hardly five seconds had passed. And while the spell primed to unleash its effects, Caius cast another set of the same two unnamed spells, combining them to create a second humongous spell circle.

And then the first unleashed its attacks in the form of lightning streaks backed by the *whooshing* sounds of wind. Before the barrage of the first spell circle had even hit the ground, the second unleashed its own as well.

Alexia had her head raised. At such a higher circle, despite how quick Caius’s actions were, she was able to follow them with ease. If she put more effort into it, he might have even been moving in slow motion as far as she was concerned.

She smiled when he cast the two spell circles, knowing well neither could do her any harm. But then frowned when he combined them.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked.

She was well aware of the repulsion between spells and how dangerous it was to attempt to combine them. She expected a backfire but was stunned when the combination worked. Sure, the energy coming from it was erratic and dangerous but Caius had it all under control as far as she could see.

"Incredible— Wait, fuck, he’s making another one?!" Alexia exclaimed when she saw Caius do the crazy thing a second time.

But then the streaks came down and she swung her sword at the first few that almost hit her, only for her eyes to widen as the particles of the magical attack vibrated right through her sword, wracking her body with their electric and forceful wind charges.

"Ngh!" Alexia groaned. She realized just a weapon would not defend her, so she cast a defensive spell but the streaks just went right through it and struck her still.

"Ah!" She let out more in surprise than anything else.

’They bypass defenses,’ she realized in amusement.

There was no defending against the streaks. There was only avoiding them. But there were a lot and while Alexia dodged the majority, a few still hit her. The effects were negligible though. They were like stings that eventually stopped getting reactions from her.

Right when the steaks began to dwindle, Caius came down on her from above with a blazing sword. He had bided his time and accurately guessed where Alexia would be herded by the lightning streaks so he could come down with his most powerful sword attack.

He wasn’t surprised that the lightning streaks were just an inconvenience to her. In fact, he was glad to be able to see how a Sixth Circle Mage-knight had reacted to it. Now he could return to his experiments and see how much he could do to improve the strength of his erratic spells.

When Alexia raised her sword to meet his blazing blade attack and wasn’t moved an inch, Caius smiled and raised his knee to strike against her midsection.

Alexia caught the knee and pushed Caius back with ease. He managed to keep his backtrack to only a few feet and surged back at her, while thrusting a hand forward to cast a spell circle.

The moment he was within range, he swung his sword through the spell circle, turning the spell it should have conjured into a lightning-charged slash. In other words, he combined the effect of his spell and his martial attack.

Another thing he had been working on in the days since facing Belron.

Alexia swung her sword and cut the lightning-slash in two. But then, Caius was close enough to her for them to clash swords. Here, the spar shifted from ’anything goes’ to a simpler swordsmanship exchange. Alexia had the upper hand of course. She was faster, stronger, and more skilled. Without any advantages on his side, it was impressive that Caius wasn’t cut all over.

Alexia was definitely holding back. However, considering she was not averse to using Fifth Circle spells and sword slashes against his Fourth Circle magical and physical strength, Caius’s remaining in the contest was notable nonetheless.

He didn’t get to stab his sword through Alexia and whenever she had a chance, she ’gently’ tapped him with the butt of her sword. Those taps had Caius aching all over and they made him so agitated, that he made mistakes. Like the time he thought he saw an opening, and took it by striking out with an Erratic fireball.

Alexia simply sidestepped it and smacked him with the flat of her blade. The smack had enough force to send Caius to the ground and while that added to the multiple aches he already had, he laughed.

Alexia smiled at him.

"Can you keep going?" She asked.

’Can I?’ Caius asked himself with another chuckle. He still had a trump card in Divine Energy that he hadn’t tapped into yet.

And then, he and Alexia turned their heads and noticed they were no longer alone. They turned their head toward the doorway where Arlette now stood.

She had been away from the Estate to deal with ’Ophiuchus’ business and upon arrival, she thought to find Caius when she was informed that he was here with his cousin.

Alexia looked her over.

"And who’s this sexy number?" She asked in a slavering voice.

"This is Arlette Louvene. Alchemy Professor at Lochxen," Caius introduced, "Arlette, this is Alexia, my cousin."

"Sorry to interrupt," Arlette smiled lightly and walked into the Arena.

"Nonsense," Alexia said and held out a hand, "Nice to meet you."

Arlene shook the hand.

"Likewise," she said, "I like your hair. Very blue."

Alexia shrugged.

"A rebellious phase that started with a single streak, snowballed very fast," she said.

"Well, it suits you," Arlette said as the two let go of each other’s hands.

"Thank you," Alexia answered, "And you’re far more appealing than the Alchemy Professor I had during my time at Lochxen."

"I’m sure they did their best," Arlette said with a little chuckle.

"It’s not what he did that matters. It’s how he looked," Alexia said,

"I’ve always said. Employ hot teachers and watch the literacy rate skyrocket."

"Really?" Arlete said, amused,

"In my experience, it’s the opposite. Less distractions lead to more learning."

Alexia laughed and waved her hand,

"I suppose we must agree to disagree."