Succubi Chapter 107. Calculating…
Diven wasn't playing around.
I barely had a second to react before he closed the distance. Fast. Too fast.
I rolled to the side, hit the edge of the ring, then Shadow Step, teleported two meters behind him in a flicker of dark mist.
His staff cracked the floor where I'd been standing.
A heartbeat slower and I'd be eating dirt.
'Okay, cool. He wants to break my bones. That's fine. Totally fine.'
I turned, hand up, and summoned Dark Orbs.
They burst into existence with a flash of violet-black energy, twenty spheres so far, flickering with unstable gravity. They spun out in a loose triangle around me, hovering like hungry satellites waiting for the word go.
He raised an eyebrow. "Summoner type?"
I grinned. "Depends on my mood."
Then I snapped my fingers.
The orbs pulsed, gravity flaring in tiny implosions. They didn't hit him directly, but the pull was enough to yank at his footing.
He adjusted mid-stride, flipping backward with that goddamn perfect calm like this was just training day at the park. His staff twirled into a defensive arc, blocking the second wave of orbs that exploded just short of his shoulder.
He landed on one knee, breathing steady, and smiled.
"I like this set."
"Thanks," I said. "It's new."
"You're holding back."
"Little bit," I admitted.
"Don't."
And he charged again.
This time he didn't aim for me.
He went for the rune.
Above me, glowing red, my target glyph spun lazily in the air, an arcane eye of judgment just waiting to be shattered.
Diven leapt…
A midair rune circle appeared beneath his boots, giving him a second jump…
He soared upward like a damn parkour angel, staff cocked back to deliver a crushing aerial blow.
I panicked.
'Shadow Blade!'
The dagger of dark energy erupted in my hand.
I launched it not at him, but at his rune.
A bluff.
He noticed. Twisted midair. Canceled the swing and dropped defensively, using the spell-cancel ripple to stabilize himself.
Smart.
Too smart.
He landed in a crouch just a few feet away, the floor cracked beneath him.
I was already casting Death Wave.
It pulsed outward, a ring of unstable magic that rippled low along the ground. Not a hard hit, but enough to force spacing. It clipped his shoulder and sent him sliding backward.
"Nice," he muttered. "You're reactive. But you haven't gone on the offensive."
"I'm calculating."
"You're stalling."
He flicked a glowing stone into the air, a distraction, then shot through the smoke left by my orbs, closing the gap before I could cast.
Staff slammed toward my gut.
I blocked with Devil Armor, shadow-forged plate erupting across my torso in a split second. The impact cracked it, but I stayed upright.
I grabbed his wrist. Tight.
He raised an eyebrow.
Then I muttered, "Surprise."
Shadow Step.
I teleported again, taking him with me.
We reappeared ten feet in the air, right beside his rune.
His eyes widened.
"Smart bastard—!"
Too late.
I kicked off his chest mid-air, flipped backward, and hurled a charged Dark Orb at his rune point-blank.
-Boom!
The mini-gravity pulse exploded, just barely nicking the glowing glyph. It flickered, wobbled, but held.
He crashed back to the floor, rolled clean, and landed in a crouch.
I landed too, barely, and stumbled one step. My mana was burning fast. My breath hitched in my chest.
"Alright," he said, brushing dust off his sleeve. "No more games."
"Oh," I panted, "that was the warm-up?"
Diven tapped his staff against the floor.
A massive sigil bloomed out, twelve-layered, complicated as hell. My eyes widened. He was casting a delayed seal.
I couldn't let him finish.
I summoned two Shadow Blades, one Dark Orb, and dashed straight through my own orb cluster to use the micro-pulses for momentum. Each one pushed me forward, closer, faster.
I got right up in his face just as he activated the sigil.
"Null Ring!"
My spell fizzled in my palm.
"Fck—"
He swept my legs out and planted his staff against my chest. Not a kill blow—but enough to end it if he followed through.
I grabbed the staff shaft and forced a grin. "You really wanna win that easy?"
He blinked.
I triggered Dark Healing.
His grip faltered. It wasn't an attack, it was a drain. A sudden, parasitic siphon of energy from his hands to mine. Only a few points, but enough.
I slammed my knee into his ribs. He grunted, staggered back.
I dove sideways, tumbled, came up with Death Wave prepped in my hand and launched it toward the floor beneath his rune.
-Boom!
The wave slammed the tiles, ricocheted upward, and clipped the bottom of his target rune.
It cracked.
Like glass.
A long line split across the glowing glyph.
He turned just in time to see it flicker. Then…
-Snap!
His rune shattered in a burst of harmless sparks.
Silence.
I dropped to one knee, panting hard.
Diven stood there.
Stared at me.
Then… laughed.
Low. Dry. But impressed.
"Well damn," he said. "You cheated."
I wiped blood from my lip. "Tactical creativity."
"Dirty trickster," he muttered, walking over and offering a hand.
I took it.
He pulled me up with zero effort and clapped my shoulder once. "You're a menace."
I grinned weakly. "That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all week."
Elise's voice rang out from across the arena.
"Match concluded. Evan Drakos win."
I looked over. She wasn't smiling.
But her eyes?
Sharp. Focused.
She saw it.
Everything.
Every move. Every decision. Every spell cast under pressure.
She gave a tiny nod.
And from Elise?
That was basically a standing ovation.
I limped off the ring, mana still sizzling in my veins, blood buzzing, head high.
Adrian met me halfway, eyes wide.
"Dude. That was—"
"I know."
"No, like, insane. You teleport-suplexed a grown man into the sky and exploded his rune."
"Pretty sure that's illegal in at least three kingdoms."
"I love you."
"Buy me dinner first."
We both laughed.
And yeah.
Maybe I wasn't the strongest.
Maybe I wasn't the fastest.
But I fought smart. Dirty. Clever.
I was a damn Arcana demon in mortal clothes, after all.
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