The Novel's Professor

"...But," Aza muttered, raising his hand in the air. In that instant, a colorless weapon materialized in the air. The weapon was a long sycthe—not just any ordinary sycthe, but a sycthe with the appearance of a snake. Within its body handle, regal divine scales covered it in its entirety. On its tip, sharpness beyond any human weapon shone.

As soon as it finished materializing, he gripped its handle tightly. "You just ascended. I still have the advantage over you." Aza dashed in, his body appearing like a blur.

Woosh—!

"Argh...!" Rio groaned, his mind was being assaulted with information...! There were too much information. About the world. The void. Magic, and leylines. It was too much.

Before he could even react, a blur suddenly appeared in his position. Aza dashed in to Rio, his hand gripping the snake scythe tightly. He slashed it in an arc against Rio's body.

Woosh—!

Rio managed to move his body slightly—just enough to dodge the blade from stabbing him. However, the sycthed arched behind his back, preventing his body from moving backwards.

"Come over here," Aza said, his hand withdrawing the long snake sycthe. Rio's body was withdrawn with the blade—his body closing in to Aza.

Bam—!

Aza clenched his fist, slamming to Rio's head. Rio groaned, feeling dizzy from the attack. However, Aza wasn't finished yet, he nudged the sycthe he was holding—trying to slash Rio from the back.

Tngg—!

However, as the scythe moved—deep, black spikes suddenly protruded from Rio's back, blocking the snake scythe' from advancing.

"Haa..." Rio panted. Finally, the information transmission was finished. He raised his head, staring at Aza's eyes. He nudged his hand, manipulating the corrupted magical energy within him.

"Hm?" Aza's brows furrowed, his face scrunching up in a frown. He could feel a different, yet familiar energy hovering around Rio. Suddenly, his eyes widened, realizing what it was. "We truly are the same...so you too, are demonized from corrupted energy."

Rio raised his hand, applying a skill. In that instant, numerous dark pink lightning bolt conjured in the air. He pointed his hand to Aza, commanding the dark pink bolts. "Release, «Psyche Bolts»!"

Woosh—!

The dark pink lightning bolts moved—appearing like a blur as all of them instantly arrived on Aza's position.

Tngg—! Bam—!

Before the dark pink lightning bolts could hit Aza—a snake sycthe suddenly materialized in his hand, blocking the bolts with the blade.

'A sycthe..? How could the blade block a mental attack...? Nevermind that... when did that scythe appear?'

Rio's brows furrowed in confusion. He turned his head, looking at his back... The snake sycthe was gone. Not only, that but he saw something that made his eyes widened.

"..Oh? So you finally realized it, huh?" Aza chuckled, deflecting the numerous dark pink bolts. He nudged his hand, moving the snake scythe slighty. Suddenly, the scythe became faster—dark shadows following after it. "This weapon is the representation of an «Occultist» Divine Spirit. The Divine Spirit is what our Miracle Core changes into when ascending in the realms of Rank B. We—«Occultist»—call it [Divine Weapon]... a weapon materialized by a God's image itself. It comes with many benefits, such as—"

"Argghh....!!!" Rio suddenly screamed in pain. Behind his back, a grotesque scene enveloped. His flesh suddenly teared apart, decaying and rotting as a snake bite marked on top of it.

"—Decay, rot..necrosis and finally, curse. The moment my blade touched your flesh, it was already dead. Within the fangs of Qrqvitiq, all manner of living beings disentigrate and decay from a simple bite. None is an exception." Aza continued, his hand holding over the snake scythe. From the tip of the scythe, a line of blood dropped. "...This is over. From that slight mistake, you're going to slowly rot and die."

"Haa—! Ah—! Haa... so that was it," Rio uttered painfully, his eyes turning bloodshot. The cells from that particular body part had prematurely died, rotten and decayed. And within his blood, a curse spread. It was an attack that killed him both outside and inside. A deadly combination.

..But it wasn't over yet. He still had a card up his sleeve. Rio closed his eyes, restraining himself from screaming.... He had to focus. Concentrate with all his mind.

Analyzing the leylines. Understanding the void. Transforming magical energy to void energy. Intercepting the laws of reality. Texture—replacement.

Woosh—! Crack—!

Suddenly, a crack echoed on the air. Rio opened his eyes, his pupils holding depthless darkness. He muttered, "...«Dimensional Expansion»."

Crack—! Crack—!

The cracks loudly echoed. Suddenly, the air, the land—the texture of the world around Rio and Aza shattered. An illusion of depthless darkness slowly enraptured the area. The image of the void replacing reality, bit by bit.

"So it's only able to spiritually manifest..." Rio muttered, clenching his hand. Suddenly, the depthless darkness—the void around them tightened. He released his hand.

Woosh—!

The depthless darkness bursted, spreading to the area they were in. Aza's eyes widened, he tried to move his snake scythe to his body. However, before he could move it—he heard Rio's voice.

"Dissapear."

Woosh—!

In that instant, the snake sycthe within Aza's hand vanished. It was as if erased from existence. The blade simply dissapeared, turned into nothingness as if it never existed in the first place.

"You...!" Aza shouted in disbelief, his hand trying to rematerialize the weapon again. However, he couldn't see it—he couldn't feel the weapon. It was as if... he was grasping nothingness. "What kind of power is that?! How could it erase my [Divine Weapon]...?!"

"I'm not answering that, do you think of me as a fool?" Rio answered, his head shaking. He manipulated the depthless darkness in his surroundings once more—this time covering the wound of on his back.

In that instant, the curse turned to nothingness.

Rio sighed in relief. Finally, the pain dissapeared.

...What he had just used was the perk or power that came with being a Rank B Sorcerer—a Dimensional Expansion, meaning an own pocket dimension. Every Rank B Miracle Invoker had one and every other has different and unique uses.

For example, his [Dimensional Expansion] was that of a void. He had a pocket dimension mirroring the void itself. It brought many capabilities and powers to himself. Namely, the only one he knew how to use for now was—«Essence of Nothingness»

It only had a simple description to its self. The ability to turn anything within the area to nothingness. Complete, utter erasure of existence.

...He had just used that power to remove two things within the area from existence. The [Divine Weapon] Snake Scythe and the curse within his blood. However, it wasn't as overpowered and easy as it appeared to be.

A downside is, he couldn't erase things with a long history behind its existence. For example, he couldn't erase Aza, or even a portion of the man's body because the man's historical existence comprised of years. He couldn't erase the sky, the land, the forest, not even himself.

However, the sycthe—surprisingly, was only new to this world. It was brought out only today, not only has the world or universe barely recorded a portion of its history, it was new to this world, so he could easily erase it from existence.

The curse was in a similar situation with the scythe. It only existed a few moments ago, so it was easily erasable from nothingness.

To use such Dimensional Expansion, one would have to understand the leylines around their area—as a Rank B, it was easy to do so. The next step was to replace the texture of reality. Before one could apply their Dimensional Expansion in the world, one must intercept the laws—and slowly replace reality.

The biggest problem was that the sorcerer itself was the placeholder of the dimension. If something would to happen to the sorcerer, the Dimensional Expansion would simply vanish and dissapear. It needed concentration and focus before any else.

...And because the Dimensional Expansion replaced reality temporarily. If the dimension vanished, anything that took effect would similarly dissapear. It needed some time before the "event" inside the Dimensional Expansion would be recorded in the events of "reality".

For example, if there were flames around the Dimensional Expansion and burned everything into cinders, it wouldn't register into reality yet—it would take time before it does. If the Dimensional Expansion vanished before registering into reality, the flames and the things burned into cinder would reappear without a speck of damage.

..He wasn't in an exception to this. If he lost control of his Dimensional Expansion right now, the curse and scythe would come back and easily kill him.

Rio sighed, his head shaking. He raised his head, staring over Aza's shaken pupils. He spoke, "This is over."

Woosh—!

The wind blew. Aza suddenly closed his eyes, restraining his anger from erupting. The silence stretched. Just as Rio was about to speak, Aza's eyes opened.

"Hahahahaha...!" Aza chuckled, his head shaking. "What are the odds? To surprise me continously and almost make me lost anger, I must commend you, Rio. But did you forget something...? I, too, am a demonized human."

As soon as he said that, behind his back—large dark red tentacles suddenly appeared, appearing squirmish and grotesque. Aza chuckled, his eyes turning deep dark red. "..Not only that, but I have far more experience and strength than you. Additionally—"

Before Rio could move his body, the corrupted magical energy in his body suddenly stopped flowing. It was stuck, unable to be operated and used. Rio frowned, trying to move it—however it wouldn't move. It was as if his magical energy was disabled.

As if realizing the cause, Rio raised his head, staring directly at Aza's inhumane appearance.

"—Disable." Aza uttered, manipulating the corrupted magical energy within him. Applying the skill «Ruler of Desires: Greed» to Rio.

Aza straightened his back, controlling the large dark red tentacles behind his back. He slammed it to the ground, shattering the land beneath. From afar, he looked like a demon from hell itself.

"Now... this battle would finally start. Demon to demon."