Abyssal Lord of the Magi World

Zatiel was in his laboratory, inscribing a rune on his forehead. Due to the localization and the effect of the rune, the pain that it carried was immense even for him. But still, his hand was steady and his movement flawless.

Normally, it would be easier to just inscribe the rune on a parchment and then transfer it to the body as the loss in effectiveness on a rank 0 rune is almost null.

But the one that Zatiel was inscribing was a rank 1 rune so to not lose power, he inscribed directly.

When the process was finished, Zatiel almost crumbled to the floor and his face was pale due to the exhaustion. On his forehead now was a pentagram with strange symbols going around it.

'I guess now I can call myself a rank 1 runemaster,' smile and pride were evident on his face.

This was not the first rank 1 rune that Zatiel had created, some were for Ezequiel and Sophia, to enhance their abilities for a fight. Inscribing a rune on yourself is much harder than inscribing it on others so his abilities are more than enough to gain the title.

Of course, Zatiel would not reveal his skills with the runes before advancing to rank 1. At that time although his abilities would be considered those of a genius, it would not be at the level that would attract too much attention. He was not worried about someone spying on him and finding his progress, after all, unless you are a much more powerful runemaster than the opposite party or you have seen the power of the rune yourself, trying to identify its rank just from the exterior appearance was foolish.

'It has been seven months since the trip to the Underground, there is not much left to do before fighting that Magus,' Zatiel was serious as he went through the plan for the fight.

They were going to fight a Rank 1 Magus while being rank 0 and not only were they going to defeat him but the plan was also to capture him alive. This was something that not even the greatest genius of this world could think it had absolute certainty of accomplishing.

Even though Neo-Demons are superior to Magi, their greatest advantages are unlocked when they advance to rank 1 so Zatiel needed to make sure that everything is taken care of.

As for advancing in power during a fight, although it was not unheard of such a thing happening, he would not rely on something so uncertain, especially when defeating the Magus was what he needed to advance.

Zatiel looked at the corner of the laboratory where Sophia was finishing her pills. Her body had more runes than before and there was a particularly powerful one in her arms, 'She is also ready'.

"Little EZ, come here," Zatiel used the core to call Ezequiel to make the last inspection and go through the plan with the three before leaving the tower.

It didn't take long for the boy to arrive. His height was greater as was his strength, and just like Sophia, there were more runes in his body and the most powerful one was covering part of his legs.

Zatiel looked at the runes of the boy and nodded. Although adding more runes could be helpful, the body has a limit of how much it can withstand. Actually, just a rank 1 rune would take all the capacity of a pseudo-Magus and it was only their constitution as Neo-Demons that allowed them to have more inscribed on them.

"A.I. Chip, scan the three of us."

[Bip... scanning the targets

Name: Zatiel

Race: Neo-Demon

Strength: 16.5

Physique:19.7

Agility:15.9

Abyss Aura:20.5

Name: Ezequiel

Race: Neo-Demon

Strength: 16.1

Physique:16.4

Agility:19.5

Abyss Aura:20.3

Name: Sophia

Race: Neo-Demon

Strength: 12.1

Physique: 18.9

Agility:18.4

Abyss Aura:20.2]

'All of us have reached the peak of Rank 0. Trying to enhance more of our energy will only be a waste of time and will not improve our battle power.'

Now that all three were together and he was sure that they were individually prepared, he started to communicate through their core.

"Although our abilities allow us to kill Pseudo-Magi easily, when we face a real Magus it will be very different. There are three main characteristics that a Magus has that makes them so powerful."

To Zatiel this was basic information, but to Sophia and Ezequiel this was something very important.

The information about Magi is only given to apprentices that had signed a contract with some family or were part of one already. And since both of them have refused any type of recruitment they had very little valid information about what makes a Magus special.

"The first one is the ability to use rank 1 spells. This type of spell is not only much more powerful than rank 0 but also they can be used in a faster way due to the mastery that the Magus has over their particular natural energies."

"Second, their Rank Spell. When an apprentice reaches the level of a Pseudo-magus, they choose a spell and they start to learn how to use it without the help of a spell rune. The energies in their bodies start to familiarize themselves with this spell to the point that they can activate them with a single thought and it is almost instantaneous. Most of them chose a defensive type, and when they can activate them from every single part of their bodies, not only will their bodies become more powerful, they would fulfill one of the most important conditions for advancing to rank 1. When they advance to a rank 1 Magus, this spell that they master during their stage as a pseudo -Magus becomes their Rank Spell, meaning that this rank 0 spells can become a rank 1 spell with them and can be continuously activated using an insignificant amount of energy like a cloak that protects them at all times."

When Zatiel finished speaking, Ezequiel made a confused expression so he made a sign for him to ask.

"Master, we have never needed a spell rune to use our spells, and I have mastered my Lightning Armor to the point it is almost instinctively activated, so that means I have already met the condition to my Rank Spell?"

Ezequiel and Sophia were concentrating on the response of Zatiel, after all, this information was important in their advance to rank 1.

"Yes, the reason I gave the two of you a spell that has defensive abilities is that I was hoping that they would be useful as your rank spell. As for the reason we don't need to use spell runes since the beginning, it was because as Neo-Demon, our bodies are strong enough to withstand the natural energies going through them from an early stage unlike a human, and also the help our core gives us into gaining proficiency in them is important. The difficulty in mastering them is what makes a lot of Pseudo-Magi never advance, after all, there are hundreds of medicines that can increase your energy, but things that help you to master a Rank Spell are few because it has a direct connection with your proficiency in using the natural energies of the world. Of course, to us, there is another important thing we need to have to advance, and can give us something even more powerful than a rank spell."

After hearing the words of Zatiel both of them nodded and a lot of questions were answered. As for the thing they needed to advance to rank 1, they already knew it. It was revealed to them the moment they achieved the peak of rank 0 by their cores.

"Ok, the third one is Consciousness. The consciousness is related to the soul and can be considered the part that gives us our sense of individuality and helps us interact safely with the exterior. If you were to eliminate the consciousness of someone and avoid injuring their soul severely you will get an ownerless soul. When you advance to rank 1 the soul is strengthened, so is the consciousness. In rank 1 you can make part of your consciousness leave your body, using it to explore your surroundings, among other things. Dragons call it Draconic Sense, for a Magus it is called Spiritual Mind, as for us we have Primal Chaos Consciousness. Going back to the point, the Spirit Mind of a Magus makes any attempt of a surprise attack not very effective unless you can use your consciousness to block theirs."

When Zatiel finished, both Ezequiel and Sophia had a solemn expression.

Any of those three points alone can make a fight against a Magus extremely difficult but all three together made it sound like a suicide mission.

'Good, they understand what we are going against.' Zatiel was happy to see those expressions on their faces. After all, if you don't truly comprehend what you are facing, only defeat awaits you. Besides, their will had not shaken it at all.