The air grew heavy as a dense, ominous pressure began to press down on the rocky desert.

  In the heart of the chaos stood a half-naked, bloodied old man, fag a figure covered in bck, separated by a tense distance.

  A blood-soaked part hovered beside the old man, but his gaze never wavered from the figure across from him. His bloodshot eyes burned with a fury so inte was as though he were staring at his most hated enemy.

  Maverick's expression hardened as his Magical-Sense fred with dahe bloodied part pulsed with malevolent energy, its oppressive darkness intensifying.

  The overwhelming forpelled him to retreat a few meters, but his gaze remained locked on the old wizard.

  A low, maniacal chuckle escaped Morvain, dripping with madness and disdain as he watched the figure across from him.

  Then, as if sensing something, his eyes narrowed, gng upward briefly before returning to the figure before him. "So, your owner's been watg all along, hasn't he, dog?"

  Maverick too, cast a quice upward as his Magical-Seected a powerful barrier enclosing the area. He knew his teacher was nearby and assumed it was his doing, so he paid it no further mind and shifted his focus back to the old man.

  He watched as the old man began muttering frantically in an unfamiliar nguage, and soon after, the bloodied part beside him began glowing ominously, pulsing with crimson light.

  Then, with a sudden, maniacal ugh, the old wizard raised his hand to the sky.

  "GREAT DEMON SLIFER! GRANT ME YOUR UNHOLY POWER!"

  With the old man's manic scream, Maverick immediately felt the pressure around him intensify. A wave of raw power struck him, f him to cross his arms in a defensive brace as he was shoved back several meters.

  The grouh him began to rumble, and even the once-clear sky darkened as clouds formed at an unnatural speed, signaling that something ominous and dangerous was about to be unleashed.

  He saw the bloodied part disied into crimson light, which then coalesced into a small, glowing, blood-red bead, before embedding itself into the old wizard's chest.

  Everything unfolding before him felt like an evil ritual, or perhaps an made in exge for something far worse. The air was thick with an uneasy, dark energy. Maverick could sehat whatever the old man had just pleted, its sequences were about to unfold.

  Sure enough, a dark, malevolent energy began to spread from the old wizard, filling the air with a chilling presence. Maverick watched as the old man's eyes turned an unnatural pitch bck—empty, soulless voids, as if they were no longer human.

  He heard the old man speak, but the voice that came out was not his own. It was distorted, unnatural, as though something a and terrible was trolling him. The few words he spoke carried a chilli, their meaning even more terrifying.

  "A THOUSAND INFANT SOULS..."

  It was a statement, a price to be paid, a sequeo be faced.

  Almost immediately after the voice faded, the old wizard's pupils returo normal, but his whole presence had ged.

  Maverick saw the old man zily i his body for a moment before looking ahead aing his gaze.

  He spoke in an eerily calm voice, as if reting an old story. "For turies, I have bargained with the fallen for life, hoping that one day I might elevate my rank..."

  "You see, boy, I spent years relentlessly gathering my magic, seeking a breakthrough, but life is cruelly fihere is no spell, no potion, no entment to stave off death ohe sands of time run out—unless, of course, one dares to delve into darker paths. Equivalent exge... sacrifices must be made." He paused, his gaze hollow, as though reliving the deeds he'd done.

  "I wasn't like this at first. Cruel. At first, I detested it—the blood of magical virgins staining my hands. But then I saw... we wizards, who are meant to stand above all others, debase ourselves by mingling with lesser beings... choosing to mate... with animals."

  He paused once more, as if daring ao judge him, "So tell me, what is so unspeakable about sacrifig the byproducts of such loathsome unions? Half-breeds, mongrels—creatures with magic but none of its dignity. Animals, nothing more, nothing less."

  Morvain's voice dropped to a low, menag whisper as he tinued. "turies I have offered them, and for my devotion, I was rewarded. Today, I stood on the brink of assion—at the peak of the Great-Magus, just oep from a breakthrough. And you, you insignifit child, have made it all meaningless..."

  His tone shifted, darker now, ced with rage.

  "Just a few more decades, a few more s, and I would have reached the ranks of those seven monsters. I was so close... it was within my grasp."

  "Now I'll have to offer tless more lives than ever before, a sve to their demands... and for what? A fleeting surge of power to deal with a nobody like you—a whose name I don't even know," he growled, his calm fa?ade crag uhe weight of his fury.

  Maverick listened quietly to the old man's rant, his fak.

  The old fool tried to justify his evil deeds, but iy, he was nothing but a btant racist. It was clear now.

  Maverick watched as Morvain's grip on his wand tightened, his eyes turning bloodshot, until finally, he let out a furious roar.

  Then, a wave of raw, unpreted power burst from him, surging outward like a massive wave and engulfing the entire area in its crushing grip.

  Rumble!

  Rumble!

  It felt as though gravity itself had multiplied tenfold. Maverick staggered uhe weight, as if a mountain had colpsed onto his shoulders. His senses wavered, distorted by the crushing pressure.

  It wasn't just physical. It went deeper. The weight pressed on his very spirit, trying to shatter his resolve ainguish his will to face the man before him.

  He kly what this was. Dominant Spirit! The very maion of magical will. But for someone like Morvain, who had not yet asded to Arch-Magus, to unleash it at sutensity? Maverick figured it likely had something to do with the ritual and the temporary power boost it had granted Morvain.

  There was no time to dwell on it though. The force had pletely enveloped him, as if it sought to make his spirit kneel.

  Gritting his teeth, he slowly lifted his head, his determined gaze log onto the old wizard's wild, furious eyes.

  Then...

  BOOM!

  An equally powerful surge of magic erupted from him, instantly shattering the oppressive force pressing down on him. The wave of his own Dominant Spirit cshed with Morvain's, slowly pushing it batil the two forces met in an unyielding stalemate.

  The csh of their wills intensified, causing the air around them to tremble violently, so much so that it began to affect the weather itself. The already dark sky ed, swirling storm clouds spiraling above, as if the heavens themselves were reag to the chaos of their frontation.

  "IMPOSSIBLE!" Morvain bellowed, disbelief etched across his face. "YOU'RE JUST A MARQUIS!"

  Maverick said nothing, pushing his will forward. He watched as the old wizard first showed disbelief, then anger, which soon turned into fury.

  AAAAHH!

  He screamed, losing the st shred of his sanity. Then, with a desperate surge, he thrust his wand forward, his voice crag as he roared, "E! HELL FIRE!"

  A torrent of crimson fmes erupted from his wand, surging forward with terrifying speed. In that instant, both wizards instinctively ceased their struggle of wills.

  Maverick reacted swiftly, propelling himself backwards while a shimmering shield of magied before him, proteg him from the ining inferno.

  He accelerated, retreating further, but the fmes showed no sign of ceasing their relentless expansion. It wasn't that they were following him, but rather that they were growing—swelling rger and rger with every passing moment.

  In mere seds, the fire transformed into a monstrous sphere, over half a kilometer in size. The grouh it turo molten va, and the roear the mountain's base liquefied uhe intense heat.

  "RISE!!!"

  The old wizard's frantic scream pierced through the chaos, his voice barely audible over the roar of the fmes.

  Then, to Maverick's astonishment, the fire began to shift. The once chaotiferno slowly morphed into a massive, humanoid figure—crimson fmes swirling and reshaping into a t form, as tall as the mountain itself.

  A deafening roar erupted from the fiery creature as it swung its fming arms, each swipe bsting ks of the mountainside away.

  Maverick watched, frozen in shock, his hands shaking untrolbly as the monstrosity took form. He could feel the intense heat radiating from it, despite being hundreds of meters away.

  But it wasn't just the searihat shook him—it was the power. The magic. The sheer weight of the malevolent energy emanating from it. It was the same energy he had felt when the old wizard's eyes turned bck, when the demonic voice had spoken through him.

  His mind raced, weighing his options. There was no time for hesitation. The illusion spell, which he might have relied on earlier, was pletely useless now. Morvain's magic had bee far te, erratid unstable. Any attempt to cast such a spell would be instantly ed.

  That left him with two choices. He could signal for his teacher to intervene—or...

  His thoughts moved to the system.

  Over the past year and two months, his points had accumuted into the thousands. Of those, nearly 2,000 had beeo increase his wizard rank to Great-Magus, and another 1,000 had bee on upgrading the new spells he had accumuted during his travels.

  Now with nearly 3,400 points left, the time had e to make a choice. He hesitated for only a moment before making his decision. There was no time to waste.

  It was a choice between Transfiguration or the most destructive spell in his arsenal.

  Fiendfyre.

  Grindelwald had nearly turned half of Paris to ash with it. Maverick believed only the former Dark Lord had achieved Master-level proficy with the spell i history.

  The other option was raising his Transfiguration talent to Master level. But upgrading a talent from Advao Master proficy would burn 3,000 points, and that was simply too much for the moment.

  With a ched jaw, Maverick pushed 1,000 points into upgrading Fiendfyre from Advao Master proficy.

  He didn't stop there. As the rush of memories and experience flooded his being, he pushed another 1,000 points directly into his Magical Energy. Exhausted and with little stami, he o replenish it quickly, and this was the fastest way to make it happen.

  It wasn't the most effit use of his points, but Maverick didn't have time to be effit. Though this wouldn't restore him to full strength, it would bring him close enough, and the added Magical-Energy would amplify the power of his spell.

  As the familiar surge of energy coursed through him, Maverick briefly g his status s, firming the ges.

  [ Name: Maverick Caesar ]

  [ Css: Wizard ]

  [ Rank: Great-Magus ]

  [ Magical Energy: 5,782+ ]

  [ Points: 1,359 ]

  [ Extraordinary Characteristic Points: 0 ]

  [ Extraordinary Characteristics: ][ Excellent grade spellcasting ][ Excellent grade Indepe Expanded Dimension ] [ Excellent grade Flight ]

  [ Talents: ]

  [ Magical Energy Manipution (Advanced +) ] [ Magical Sense (Advanced +) ] [ Spacial Rift (Advanced +) ][ Dominant Spirit (Advanced +) ][ Transfiguration (Advanced +) ][ Alchemy (Advanced +) ] [ Potions (Intermediate +) ]

  [ Spells: ]

  [ Aquired Master Proficy: ][ Fiendfyre + ]

  [ Aquired Advanced Proficy: ][ Illusio Lunam Le + | Flipendo + | Bombarda + | Bombarda Maxima + | Expelliarmus + | Sanare Vipra (Advanced healing) + | Protego + | Finite Intatem + | Petrificus Totalus + | Stupefy + | PatronusCharm + | Episkey (Healing) + | Reparo + | Revelio + | Disillusio + | Wingardium Leviosa + | Occlumency + | Legilimency + | Apparition + | Mirror World spell + | fundus + ]

  [ Aquired Intermediate Profibsp;] [ ... ]

  With the added points to his Magical-Energy, Maverick felt his stamiurn. The exhaustion that had weighed on him lifted, repced by a sense of crity. More importantly, he felt stronger, more focused and his fidence grew as the power inside him settled, ready to be used.

  —————————

  Author's Note:

  Just a quick update — up to Chapter 87 is already avaible on P AT r30n!

  PAT r30n [.] / RyanFic