SPELLCRAFT: Reincarnation Of A Magic Scholar

"Welcome…"

The voice was strangely calm. Its eerie softness echoed in the vacuum of space.

As the soft lips opened up to utter more words, the speaker's golden eyes radiated such warmth that it became scary.

"… I've been expecting you."

Right now, Ciel was floating a distance from the dark cocoon, her eyes fixated on the approaching group.

She had a pleasant smile on her face, and even though she was meant to be intimidated by the crowd that neared, nothing about her pleasant demeanor was tainted.

Her white attire remained stagnant as she stood still, waiting for the group to draw even nearer—until they stood a short distance from her.

"Only eight of you? I thought there would be more." Ciel smiled as she looked at the team.

She could see Maria Helmsworth, Anabelle Frederick, Beruel, Aurora Vindiel, Lemi Vindiel, Jerry Keller, Ciara Epilson, and of course Aloe Vida.

The gang was all present—or, almost.

"I see what you're trying to do. You want to distract me, or overwhelm me, with this first unit… while your specialized unit would go ahead to destroy the Cocoon." Ciel smiled, her eyes glowing even brighter.

"Am I right?"

As her question echoed in the void, a series of claps suddenly manifested.

"As expected. It seems that was a bust." Kuzon appeared, and so did Serah and Edward.

All three of them stood right in front of the other eight, their demeanors unchanged from before.

"Nothing escapes my eyes." Ciel responded. "Besides, Legris already informed me of your number and details. There's no way I could forget it if you were a few members short."

This, right here, was the weak link in their plan.

Even if they wanted to sneak past Ciel, it was impossible for two reasons.

"Your Clairvoyance and your caution…" Kuzon murmured as he sighed.

Ciel's Original Magic was [Eye Of The Wise], and it allowed her to see all things present.

In essence, perfect clairvoyance.

"I could see all of you from when you were a distance away. There's no way I would allow any of you to sneak past me."

This was where caution played a big part in.

As long as Ciel knew the group was incomplete, she would never allow herself to be distracted or overwhelmed by the rest of the team's onslaught.

If push came to shove, she would move to the defensive and try to buy time.

In essence, trying to be sneaky wasn't going to work on Ciel.

"Where's Stefan? I find it unbelievable that you'll be alone." Serah finally broke the silence.

The question caused Ciel to leak out a small chuckle.

"What's that supposed to mean? That I can't take you on myself?"

Her question was met with silence.

"The last time we fought, I was in a very pathetic state. I was drained, and in that state of weakness… I struggled quite a bit against you all." Ciel smiled, almost as if forgiving them for her disgrace.

"I admit that you've all grown stronger. You can all use Aether now, and I can sense Constellation Shards within every single one of you…"

Despite knowing all that, Ciel still had a confident demeanor.

"Still, I'm curious about how far I can go against you all…" She murmured.

Despite her ramblings, no one responded to her.

Everyone in the group already knew how pointless it would be to try to converse with someone as insane as Ciel.

Not only could they not reason with her regarding Legris' shady intentions, and how it would be detrimental to everyone, but they had learned from experience that Ciel was most likely on board with whatever twisted ideal Legris had.

This was the same woman who paved the way for the Nether's return.

She was just as evil as Legris.

"We don't have time for this. We're forcing our way through." Serah said.

It was clear that Ciel was trying to buy as much time as possible.

Stalling was not beyond her capabilities.

"Well, you're going to find that a little difficu—"

~WHOOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH!!!~

Before Ciel could conclude her words, Maria and Ana rushed towards her, their bodies glowing with pure Aether as they struck.

~BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!~

As soon as the explosion reverberated across the vast space, Serah, Kuzon, and Edward rushed forward, their goal standing right in front of them.

As they did so, the rest of the team charged towards Ciel, surrounding her from all angles to prevent her from even trying to prevent the advance of their assault unit.

The plan had still not changed!

"We'll hold her off! Hurry and do the needful!" Ana yelled at the trio who were now racing towards the dark ball before them.

It would take their combined strength to generate enough power to take down something of such magnitude in one charge, so they had to sync their attacks.

Kuzon glanced to his left and right, properly absorbing the determined expressions of Serah and Edward, as he too strengthened his resolve.

While his teammates were doing their best in their mission, he would try his best too.

Nothing else mattered at this point.

Nothing but the mission!

"Absolute Emperor—!"

Right as Kuzon was about to transform, same as the other two with him, the most unexpected rush of power interrupted them.

~VWUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSHHHHHHH!!!~

"W-wha—?!"

Shadows rushed forth, as if emerging from the black cocoon itself.

They lined up right in front of the trio, barricading their advance.

Normally, the three would have tried to force their way through.

Unfortunately… they could not try something that risky.

Not this time.

"Hahaha! It seems you've figured it out."

As Ciel's voice echoed all across the stifled space, she suddenly appeared behind the lined-up adversaries that stood between the team and their target.

Her grin widened, forming a wicked smile, as she took in their reaction to what they were seeing.

"T-this is…?!"

"No… no way…"

"He… didn't…!"

Right in front of Kuzon, Serah, and Edward, were apparitions that resembled their friends.

"Gerard! Z'ark!" Serah yelled out, calling for two of the nine shadowy existences that stood in their way.

At this point, their bodies were pale—grayed out by the corruption they had been submerged in.

Darkness clung tightly to their bodies, and they had lifeless expressions on their faces.

Clearly, these weren't the people they once were.

And what of the other seven?

Each of them had distinct looks—four women, and three men—with similar blank expressions written on their faces.

Their identical aesthetic oozed despair, and the slumpy way they acted made it certain what these were.

"Corpses. They're already dead." Aloe murmured, half in disgust with the other part holding in her annoyance.

At this point, the second group had rendezvoused with Kuzon's unit since Ciel vanished behind the undead battalion.

All nine of the current adversaries were clearly dead, yet thanks to whatever Magic was being utilized on them… they were alive.

"They have the same Inverse Energy as Legris. This won't be easy." Ana murmured.

"Why don't we play a little game?" Ciel announced, her grin only widening even further.

"Take your pick! Choose your adversaries, and fight to the death!"

Silence followed her words, as the group was still contemplating what to do.

"Defeat your adversaries and advance to your goal… is that not fair?" She asked, her eyes bulging with excitement.

No one spoke still.

"Very well. If you won't pick…" Her tone had a deadly undertone, enough to alert everyone who watched and waited.

"… I'll choose for you!"

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[A/N]

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Time to get into the fights! Should be fun!