Chapter 111

I opened my hand and shut it several times, savoring the newfound strength surging within me. Every facet of me felt fundamentally different. It was like I was in the early days of my time in Marvel again, discovering my skills for the first time.

"I need to test out a few things…" I said.

"Understandable," Yao nodded, dabbing her strained face. The spells had taken a toll. "I can't say I'm not excited to see what new abilities these changes bring. Jean, could you open a portal to the East Mountain Arena?"

Wait what!

I looked at Jean in surprise, and she blushed slightly under my gaze.

"I've been practicing," she explained as she slipped on a Sling Ring. A red-golden portal opened up, and we all stepped through.

"Wow, Jean," I nudged her. "I'm impressed."

Jean's value just skyrocketed now that she knew magic. Telekinesis and Telepathy were already overpowered, but she could be truly invincible with magic. This also meant that we didn't need grumpy Aaron to ferry us places.

"Know any other spells?" 

She made a face and struck a familiar martial art pose with startling accuracy, generating a shield of eldritch energy in front of her. I poked at it, pleasantly surprised. 

"So, where do you want to get started?" Jean asked as she vanished the shield.

"Preferably, I'd like to test a few things on my own. I'm not sure anyone here can keep up with me except maybe Yao. Maybe if you two came at me together," I said, looking at Mordo and Kaecilius.

Mordo laughed. "I like the confidence." 

"Arrogance is what it is," Kaecilius said with an irritated look. "We've trained decades under the most powerful sorcerer to live in the last 500 years. You're delusional if you think you stand a chance against either of us when we're serious."

"Weren't you serious during the Garok fight?" I questioned. "I'd hate to think you held back, and a lot of people got hurt because of it." 

"Tactics differ from when you're in a group than you are by yourself," 

"So, what you're saying is you're ready to face me alone?" 

Kaecilius had a complicated look on his face before he huffed. 

"If that's what it takes to properly educate you, then…"

I waved him off. "Look, I'd rather not hurt you or anything. I'm still figuring things out and…"

"Nonsense," Kaecilius insisted, causing me to trade looks with Jean, who looked equally puzzled. We couldn't telepathically communicate for now. Our link got scrambled when I went through my upgrade. Still, I got the gist of Jean's look. 

'He might surprise you.' 

 "Let's go then," I sighed. Jean could be right. "I'm just going to limit myself by not using weapons, just until I get a handle on my new body."

"Do what you want."

I frowned. "Do you have something against me?" 

"Of course not," Kaecilius snorted, and I frowned. I could still hear him speak even though his lips had stopped moving. I followed him as we made our way to the center of the arena.

'It's those eyes, that face. He stole from us and disappeared when we needed him the most. What's stopping him from doing it all over again.'

Was he talking about me or Vergil, and did I just hear his thoughts?

It had happened once already, and while I was curious how my increased Mind affinity would translate into a new skill, I hadn't expected...well this.

Kaecilius's feelings about Vergil were not a surprise, given how dedicated he still seemed. I knew that was bound to change once he found out about Dormanmu.

Curious, I scanned Mordo to see what he thought about our little exchange. Thankfully, he was not thinking about me. He was more concerned about Kaecilius.

'What does he hope to achieve?'

Yao was next.

I got static for the first few seconds, but then she turned to me. 'Trying to peek into my mind, are you? Telepathy? Huh. I'd have never guessed.'

My eyes were as wide as saucers.

'You have telepathy?'

'No, but I have a spell that keeps telepaths out,' she explained. 'Believe it or not, telepaths are a dime a dozen, especially on the demon's side.'

'I'll keep that in mind,' I swallowed. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that we haven't had the unfortunate pleasure of fighting a telepath yet.

'I'll let you get back to your fight.'

Congratulations: You've learned the demonic technique: Telepathy (Basic)

Listen and Transmit thoughts directly into people's minds. 2DE per second. Cost increases based on distance. Communication can be easily rebuffed by telekinetics powerful enough. Each person simultaneously linked requires +50 in Demon Energy for up to 4 people.

The skill provided no compulsion, illusion, or memory stealing, but I was not about to complain. It was crazy useful as is already. My mind went crazy thinking about what I could accomplish by just listening and talking telepathically.

I stood about 10 feet from Kaecilius in a loose martial art stance, deliberating how to approach his ass whooping. I decided to rush at him at half-speed.

Still, 60 Dexterity was nothing to sniff at, especially when you had over 100 Strength to back it up. Surprisingly, Kaecilius wasn't all talk. At the very last second, he raised an eldritch shield, and I punched it with half of my strength. The Shield flared but otherwise remained solid.

'Ha! Is that it!' I practically heard him sneer as he flicked his fingers and rotated his palms with startling speed and efficiency. Several energy halberds emerged from the Shield's face, prompting me to take a swift step back to dodge, but Kaecilius was not done. 

I heard him think of the attack before it happened. His Halberds fired as one, and I flipped through the air, easily dodging all 15 of them. Two strange Mandalas of overbearing light emerged, and he slammed them together, generating a sustained flash of light that bathed the entire arena, blinding me completely. Luckily, I had Kaecilius's mind and my other senses to rely on for navigation. 

Multiple whips sliced through the air, aimed straight at me. I hopped over the first set, swerved over the second, and flipped over the last.

'How is he doing that!'

I heard Kaecilius's mind racing as he opened a portal in front of me, but I sidestepped and did the same for the one placed in front of my falling left foot. 

It was fascinating watching the panic creep in as I dodged attack after attack. In a blink, I was in front of Kaecilius's shield with my fist cocked. 

His eyes went wide as my fist connected. Under the full brunt of my strength, it shattered like paper. 

Predictably, Kaecilius's body winked out of existence just as the punch hit. He'd substituted himself with an 'Image of Ikonn,' A.K.A an illusionary duplicate, when he blinded me. Kaecilius stood on a platform above me, prepping a powerful spell. But I was unphased, specifically because of the nature of the spell.

I looked Kaecilius dead in the eyes and smiled, startling the man. He still unleashed the spell.

'Suns of Cinnibus.'

A ray of superheated fire speared out of several layered Mandala and came down on me like divine judgment. The spell was so powerful that it created a small crater on the arena floor.

'You imbecile! Why didn't you dodge!' I heard Kaecilius mentally yell out. 

I was slow to climb out from the crater just to really milk his panic. I was completely fine, of course. Nether Fire, my new perk, made me completely immune to fire. The concussive force of the attack did more damage than the actual fire. At most, it felt like I was standing in a mildly hot shower. It was genuinely disorienting.

The look on Keacilius's face was priceless. It quickly transitioned to abject fear when I seemingly disappeared from view. I darted left, then leaped into the air with Burst.

That turned out to be a huge mistake. 

I wanted to appear behind him and pull up a boogeyman scare, but I'd severely underestimated my speed and the power of the Burst. 

I overshot considerably, and as I flailed in the air, watching Kaecilius panic, I used another Boost, facing downward. This time, I lowered my speed by 25%, which was easier said than done. I popped up in front of Kaecilius's stunned face and thumbed his face so hard that I sent him flying. A punch would've killed him. 

Kaecilius showed more skill than I expected, opening a portal, which he fell into, and then another portal behind me that unleashed a mini-tsunami. It hit me so hard and fast that it stole a quarter of my health bar when it crashed into me. The pressure and water would've been enough to end me if I hadn't undergone my latest evolution. 

I punched the arena floor and dug my hand in so the water current couldn't whip me around. I stacked multiple bursts on my chest, facing the arena floor, and let a rip. I shot out of the water, flipping wildly before I righted myself. 

Kaecilus frowned when he saw me. He thought that one water tsunami would be enough, but clearly, he'd underestimated me, so he decided to stop holding back. His hands blurred as he opened multiple portals, releasing jets of pressurized water at me. 

As I darted around the air with Bursts, navigating the attacks, I couldn't help but acknowledge that Kaecilius was impressive. With enough setup, he could bury most opponents. Unfortunately for him, I was not most people.

I activated my Cloak, setting myself on fire. Instead of being covered in the layer of orange fire I was used to, my Cloak was blood red with large streaks of black fire that evaporated the water in the air around us.

The description of my fire cloak hadn't changed, but the sheer amount of power flowing through me was unreal. The feeling came close to how I felt on Devil Trigger. Was this what the highest mortal tier in Fire Affinity could provide?

Burst threw me up in the air with a sonic boom and a Nether fire discharge that evaporated most of the water behind me. Kaecilius, clearly expecting an ass-whooping was imminent, decided to kick things up a notch by opening the largest portal I'd ever seen. It was connected to the bottom of a frozen lake, and I knew where we were because of Kaecilius's mind and the cloudy surface of the water. The ice-cold water evaporated before it touched me, raising a curtain of superheated steam that had Kaecilius teetering on the edge of his platform.

I moved through the mist, deactivating my Cloak, and stopped on the eldritch platform he was standing on in the air, fist inches from his head.

"You lose," I said. There was a stretch of silence before Kaecilius conceded with a sigh and a stoic face. The anger radiating off him told a different story, though.

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