Divine Magus: Awakening
Chapter 52: The Hunt Begins!

Chapter 52: The Hunt Begins!

The beast had a shadowy, semitransparent body that flickered between physical and Spectral - like it was never truly in the world or the next.

Logan grabbed the shoulder of the young prince and threw him into the mouth of the beast, quite literally.

Prince William cast a bi-elemental mid-air.

"True Coffin." He stretched his hand towards the beast and clasped it.

Slabs of earth rose around the beast and trapped it in a sarcophagus.

The prison made of earth soon turned black as it released corrosive mist.

Watching this display, Logan couldn’t help but be worried.

It wasn’t the deadliness of the spell that was worrying; rather, it was the fact that the trembling permeating his legs had only worsened.

Squinting his eyes to get a better view, Logan gasped before vanishing in a pulse of shadows.

He appeared a few meters beside the prince and threw him aside.

A figure phased through the sarcophagus and hit Logan square in the chest.

However, to the surprise of the others, he wasn’t flung aside.

Instead, the figure entered Logan’s body seamlessly.

Landing on the ground with an eerie ease, Logan turned to Orion and the Prince.

"I killed. The. Creature." He spoke slowly, his voice changing with each word.

"Hey Logan?" Orion asked with trepidation.

"Logan? Logan. Yes, yes, I’m Logan. Yes?" ’Logan’ responded calmly almost too much so.

"Do you remember your girlfriend?" Orion smiled softly.

"How could I forget her?" Logan laughed off Orion’s question.

"Simple, because you don’t have a girlfriend. You’re a sad loner." Orion pointed an accusing finger at "Logan".

The latter screeched and lunged at them, tendrils of shadows surrounding him.

"Fuck!" Orion cursed under his breath.

Casting a spell, metal liquefied and made a small metal sphere.

With a thought, it fired off and hit Logan on his forehead knocking him out.

A figure phased out of his unconscious body and became material. It was the beast.

It growled and ran off into the forest line.

After a couple of minutes, Logan woke up to a massive headache.

"What- what happened?" He stuttered as he held his head.

"You were possessed by that beast. It seems like all inhabitants of this island might possess a particular affinity for souls." Orion deduced.

Letting out a sigh, Logan’s hand subconsciously rubbed where his mana core once was.

He wasn’t sure if it was because of the encounter with another soul-related entity or a side effect of the loss but he felt a light burning sensation in his vertebrae.

Standing up, he looked deeper into the forest line and gripped his tachi as shadows flared around him.

He had just about had enough of entities - humans and otherwise - toying with him.

The world cores in his legs emptied as Logan got surrounded by a surging wave of shadows.

Shivers ran down Orion’s and Prince William’s spines as they viewed the terrifying power that Logan held.

Sure, they didn’t know that he was going all out but that didn’t make it any more frightening.

Logan lifted his blade to the side and all the shadows coated it.

His mind flashed back to the lesson Aaron had given him.

’The whole point of having enchanted weapons is to empower your otherwise weak spells.’ The words played in his head.

He knew he wasn’t casting a spell but he hoped that the augmentation enchantment would still prove effective.

The blade from hilt to tip turned pitch black.

He slashed at the forest in a horizontal arc, sending a black crescent arc made of shadows flying through the forest.

The arc severed all the trees in its path while the semi-chaotic energy within obliterated anything that couldn’t be severed.

By the time the energy dissipated, about a kilometer of the forest was destroyed, taking the beast and plants inhabiting it with it.

A wave of dizziness hit Logan and caused him to lose his balance and fall to his knees.

Taking a deep breath to calm his heart rate, Logan sat down.

"I take that as a sign that we should take a break." Orion sighed as he noticed Logan’s pathetic situation.

"That power you just unleashed, it’s close to the power of a quasi C-rank spell!" The prince exclaimed with excitement and shock evident.

"Close to? Quasi? Logan here has actually cast a C-rank spell." Orion pointed out with pride in his tone, like he was the one who cast the spell.

Hearing this, Logan choked on the water he had just started drinking.

"Really?" The prince appeared as though any more news would make him faint from excitement.

"Yes, it’s true. I witnessed everything." Orion replied, nodding his head frantically.

From there, Orion went on talking to the prince about Logan like he wasn’t there.

The latter didn’t really care though. What bothered him was Orion spilling out details of his current battle prowess.

He doubted that the prince would make good on his claims to abandon the throne and would like to have a few nasty surprises for the royals and the kingdom if ever the need arises.

’Hopefully, it won’t.’

_________

On the other side of the island, two people had arrived in style.

One floated in on a throne of blood, the other appeared from a mass of water.

The man formed from the mass of water had a calm aura around him that put all minds to ease.

His Royal armor revealed his status as a Royal guard, but if the prince were there, he would’ve recognized him as one of the people assigned to him as a guard. One of the people who had ’vanished,

Minerva, the blood Witch, stood from her throne and slowly descended onto the ground.

"And you’re sure that the crown prince is here? I don’t want to waste my time." Her soft voice asked as he batted her eyes at the man.

"I advise you to keep your hands to yourself, you witch." He spat out in disgust.

"And yes I’m sure, he is still wearing the necklace I gave him. It’ll help us find him. Let’s go."