Chapter 57

An uneasy silence fell over the arena as Eileen stood there awaiting her trial, though strangely Vonder wasn't the one testing her.

No one seemed to know who'd be conducting the test as everyone looked around, a bit curious as the kid remained in the center of the arena by herself, the wind blowing through the area being the only sound.

Just when she wanted to give up, the rhythmic tapping of footsteps followed by a wooden tap came echoing into the arena, likely from the same area that they'd first arrived.

Soon a figure emerged from the castle, an air of curiosity and discomfort filled the air as a figure who clearly didn't belong stepped into the arena.

He was a man who looked like he was ripped right from the real world, Lily could easily picture him walking the city streets… yet something about him didn't sit right with her.

His outfit was simple, black framed glasses sat snugly on his face, a long black raincoat covered most of his body, black dress pants and work boots could be seen towards the bottom of his outfit, along with this he seemed to be wearing some kind of black leather gloves, lastly and most strangely he had a black stained wooden cane with gold accents, however he didn't seem to be injured at all.

The man's appearance was also strange, pale ghostly white skin that looked like he'd never seen natural light, dark onyx eyes that were nearly pitch black, and an ever present plastic looking smile on his face.

"Well, I see the stage is all set then." His voice was soft, almost like a whisper as he spoke, it seemed slightly strained… yet it held more earnest kindness than the smile on his face. "I take it you're the little witch that Vonder wished to test?" He calmly asks while looking at Eileen who quickly backed up a bit.

"That's right." Vonder calls out without a care. "If anyone can gauge her abilities here… it'd be you." He says much to his own annoyance.

The strange man nods a bit before placing a hand over his heart. "Before we begin, allow me to introduce myself." He gives a rather exaggerated bow, though it clearly lightens the air a bit as Eileen doesn't look as scared. "Morgan Hadinson, at your service."

Eileen thinks for a moment before squeaking out her name. "Eileen… I'm Eileen."

Morgan stands upright once more, placing his cane in front of himself with his smile still present. "It's nice to meet you Eileen, now… I want you to hit me with your strongest spell."

Everyone begins murmuring as Eileen's eyes widen, her grip tightening a bit as she processes what he said. "Huh?"

"You heard me, I want you to attack me with everything you've got." He states nonchalantly, locking eyes with her. "Do not worry about me in the slightest, just give it everything you've got."

Eileen shook her head, absolutely terrified out of her mind as she backed up. "I can't, I really can't… no one would survive."

"That's what you think, but trust me, you've never seen what I'm capable of." Morgan says confidently, slowly raising his free hand. "Now, fire away when you're ready, I promise everything will be fine."

Eileen pauses and looks to Lily, seeking confirmation before she even considers letting her magic loose.

Lily slowly nods her head, eased on by Six's presence reassuring her that everything was indeed fine.

Quietly Eileen took a deep breath and backed up a bit, readying her staff in front of her while closing her eyes.

Then everything began to change.

Clouds began to form, darkening the skies around them as lightning rumbled loudly.

The magic in the air swirling around them, becoming denser and heavier than anything Lily had ever experienced… it seemed heavier than what most would experience as most people were now down on their knees struggling to get even a gasp of air.

Only Vonder and Morgan were left standing, even Lily had to swap out with Six to keep from blacking out entirely.

A magic circle began forming under Eileen, a bright yellow one that began to stretch further and further the more she focused, stretching far beyond the castle walls and easily encompassing the entire city.

"What is this power?!" Vonder asks in awe as he looks around, eyes widening as he'd only experienced power like this twice before, neither time being good. "Morgan!" He calls out, only to stop when he sees the strange man unfazed by all this.

Morgan did not budge, all he did was simply remove one glove revealing his pale and scarred hand, a mysterious purple eye ring resting on his ring finger.

It seemed to be glowing in response to the mana swirling in the air, an ominous and evil shine to it as he stands at the ready.

Eileen opens her eyes, sparks of electricity forming around her as her eyes glow the same elemental yellow as the magic circle.

Slowly she raises the staff and points it at Morgan, the magic in the air becoming so heavy that even Vonder was forced to kneel.

Sparks of electricity jumped around violently all around the arena as the magic circle began to shrink, condensing back into a single spot right under Eileen, the spell reaching even further heights.

Slowly she opened her mouth and cried out the spell's name as loudly as possible, putting all possible power she could muster into the attack.

"Heaven Piercer!"

In that moment everything seemed to slow down as Vonder and Six watched the sparks roar to life as an impossibly fast spell was launched off.

Though the building of the mana took forever it was no small feat to have a divine level spell form and fire in an instant.

A ball of energy forming at the tip of the spear and quickly turning into a larger than life ray of golden electricity shaped like a spear, quickly engulfing Morgan as he stood there and took it full force.

The lightning cracking and roaring, threatening to devour not only Morgan but most of the castle as well.

Vonder could only look on in horror, fearing they'd underestimated what the little witch was capable of until amidst the roaring magic a faint laugh can be heard.

"Oh, now this is good! I haven't seen magic this impressive in years!"

Then came the bright purple glow as the lightning swirled, being absorbed into what looked like a black hole attached to Morgan's hand, his smile ever present and not a scratch on him.

Slowly but surely this destructive power was absorbed until nothing was left, every drop of lightning being absorbed into the black hole before it turns back into being nothing more than a ring.

As the dust settles and clouds clear Morgan is the only one left standing as even Eileen drops from exhaustion, her eyes wide as she doesn't understand what happened.

All her magic, every last drop of power… gone, just like that.

Confusion and fear were the only thing on her mind as she watched the strange man casually slide his glove back on and dust himself off, his smile never leaving.

"I must say, I now know why Vonder was so interested in you… if you can produce that much power at such a young age you'll easily become the next Forgotten in no time, after all divine magic like the Heaven Piercer is only a few steps away from Ancient Magic." Morgan calmly and politely says, now walking over to Vonder to help him up. "I know you also already have a magic teacher, but do consider letting me teach you a few things, Eileen."

All Eileen could do was look at the ground, her mind racing as she tried to process what happened.

For as long as she knew there was never anyone who could counter her strongest spells.

The only reason that the Quarlian could beat her was because of the handicap imposed on her and its unique creation.

This though… this was something different.

Even the strongest mortals should've shown signs of being affected by a divine spell, it was impossible not to.

Whoever this man was he wasn't normal, no it was clear now what she was seeing with her vision wasn't just darkness like she thought.

She was seeing true honest to goodness divinity, just not divinity of this realm.

Eileen slowly used her staff to stand up, ignoring Lily approaching her with concern.

A fire was now burning inside the witch, excitement, jealousy, ambition all melding together into the fuel she never knew she needed.

Now she knew there were people who were legitimately stronger than her.

Not just one like Lily, but multiple.

She was no longer the strongest.

Now she legitimately had a goal in mind.

To gain more power, to hone her craft even further.

To one day have the same capabilities as Lily… and to eventually beat Morgan in a fight, after all who can say they had the chance to beat a deity?

Calmly she took a deep breath before asking both Lily and Morgan "When can we start training?"

Both figures look at her in surprise, Morgan seeming to think for a moment before Lily smiles and steps forward.

"Whenever you are ready we can begin." She says in a calm tone, one that Vonder and Eileen weren't used to.

Quickly Eileen holds her staff in front of her, letting her mana recover and exhaustion fade. "I'm ready!" she says, the fire of ambition clear in her eyes.

Morgan steps forward, his smile seeming more genuine now, an interested look in his eyes as he gazed down at her, his darkness seeming smothering but never putting out the little witch's flame.

"Then, let us begin."