New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live



The Duke of hell looked at Astaroth in fear, unable to move. Two reasons prompted his inability to move.

The first reason was his state of pure shock. His illusion domain spell was not something just anybody could break out of, after all.

The second reason was that even if he had wanted to pull back, something was holding him there. Breaking out of his torpor, he realized the mortal was holding the tip of his estoc between two fingers.

Pulling with all the strength in his arm, the sword refused to budge for him.

Astaroth looked at his struggle, smirking in response.

"Sorry. Did you want your toothpick back? Here, take it."

Pushing the blade back, Astaroth tilted it upward slightly, lifting the demon off its feet, before giving it a firm push. The results were a bit more than he had expected, as the Duke of hell went barreling backward in the air, only stopping at the cavern wall.

The difference between their brute strength was visible for all to see. Aberon was a tad disappointed that his disciple still used his physique more than his magic, but it was to be expected.

Astaroth had always been more prone to use weapons over magic. It was most likely due to how he had learned to fight in the past.

Astaroth raised his hands again, pointing his finger guns at the crater in the wall, where the Duke of hell had just impacted. There was no doubt in his mind that the demon had regenerated a lot of its lost health, so he had to pump out the damage again.

His Hyper Stimulated state allowed him to perceive time faster, allowing for an interesting boon. His cooldowns were also much shorter.

Just like when he used Thousand Thoughts, his mind could form spells at a much faster rate, allowing him to ignore shorter cooldowns. He had long since understood that the quicker he could form spells, the shorter cooldowns would become.

Sadly for him, magic was not something he was very proficient with. He was certain that in the future, Violette and Phoenix would cast spells much faster and much more powerful than he could.

But to each their strengths.

Unleashing a torrent of Magnet Bullets at the ground toward his opponent, and all around him, before plunging one shot into his chest, Astaroth smiled at the battered demon. Although the impact in the wall had shed only a bit of its health, he was looking more for the stun status it inflicted.

And he still had a few moments of the demon being pinned down. But it wouldn't matter anymore.

Astaroth had effectively caged the demon in a magnetic cage, with all the Magnet Bullets around it acting as restrictions. He was surprised the system didn't register that as an extra spell, but he guessed the system judged it as a creative use of one spell instead of a new one.

But it didn't matter. His goal wasn't to create a new spell with that attack.

What came next was.

Astaroth converted mana into Aether, charging his next Magnet bullet with Aether instead of mana. The bullet swelled in size, arcs of electricity jumping off the projectile as it spun in place in front of his hand.

Once it was formed, Astaroth could already feel the drain on his body. Aether was not simple to convert from mana, and it took a toll.

But he didn't care. He was willing to pay this price.

Releasing the spell toward the demon, the projectile suddenly sped up, reaching incredible speeds, as it continued to speed up all along the path Astaroth had formed, until it hit its intended target.

The head-sized bullet, which would almost be more fitting to call a cannonball, if not for its shape, hit the Duke of hell squarely in the chest, passing through his body like it was a bullet through paper.

*454,904!*

Astaroth grinned as the one attack killed the demon, sending it back to the ring, defeated.

Turning to Solomon, the old man had a grin on his face too. Aberon, who was still standing next to him, was speechless.

The old man was well known for his affinity with all elements, which made him a terrifying opponent to battle against. But even he did not know what combination Astaroth had just used in his spell.

If he knew that what Astaroth used was a common type of weapon in his world, he would probably pass out. Of course, the requirements to build a functioning railgun in the human world were not that easy to meet.

Astaroth had a bit of knowledge of the simple science behind it and cheated the rest of the way through magic. He wasn't the first to do something similar, and would not be the last, either.

"I knew you would pull through, you Elf. I'm impressed at your application of simple magic. I think your kind will bring a wind of change to the world of magic in our world."

Solomon was glad the one who had found his ring was someone with a wide breadth of knowledge.

Magic may be a rigid science, in terms of affinities limiting what you could do with each element, but the simplest of spells could always be turned into powerful tools, if well used.

Aberon snapped out of his daze, looking at Astaroth like he was an alien.

"Are you still the young, talentless mage I taught a decade ago? This makes no sense. What was that spell? How did you make it so powerful? What elements did you use?"

The tirade of questions came out like a cascade of words, making both Astaroth and Solomon laugh.

"I can answer all your questions later, Aberon. For now, I would like to finish this challenge and get my reward before taking a long nap."

Aberon stopped his yammering, closing his mouth, and nodding his head.

Looking at Solomon once more, Astaroth smiled.

The old man waved his hand, making the Duke of hell reappear. The demon stood there, gaze empty, his mind still locked in the memory of his death coming at him at Mach fuck you.

Finally realizing he was back out of the ring again, his head snapped toward Astaroth. He threw himself at the feet of the mortal he had so despised and smacked his forehead to the ground.

"Master Astaroth!"