Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 69: Hellsong Dash

Kaya took a spell-casting stance that thrust her arms forward and splayed her fingers as she unleashed her Mana, congealing it into a massive green Spell circle teeming with Nature energy.

She slammed the spell circle into the ground at the very center of the inner ring and it melted into the concrete before its aura spread to the circular edge of the inner ring.

With a sound of ground cracking, thick vines, complete with thorns, began grow, twisting into each other until they had created a dome that covered her completely and left very little gaps that showed Kaya still keeping her stance as she nodded at Caius and Delia who she had essentially locked out of her protection.

”No one is getting in,” she said in a voice that made it clear she meant that for the opposing team most of all.

Speaking of which, Aurelius, Baler, and Doran were done with their preparations—whatever that was—and stood in a line staring at Caius and Delia who stood opposite them, side by side.

”Interesting turn of events, this,” Aurelius said to Caius with an almost goofy smile, ”Allies last week, opponents today.”

Caius returned the smile with a shrug.

”Always happens if you give it long enough,” he said which caused Aurelius to chuckle at the exchange of jest.

”Hello, Baler,” Caius said to the grey-haired boy standing beside Aurelius. The one whose icy eyes had never left his face thus far.

Baler smiled but there was an intensity in them that creeped even Delia out. She recoiled and turned her nose up at him before she reluctantly glanced to her side at Caius.

”He seems to hate you,” she said.

”I’ll say you two have that in common then,” Caius said jokingly.

”Hmph,” Delia said and turned her face away from him, ”Least I’m not trying to kick your ass. Not today anyway.”

Cynthia backed out of the outer ring then and raised one beautiful gleaming arm.

”Are you ready?” She asked and following nods from both teams (with Kaya’s being slightly obscured), she dropped her arm and announced,

”Begin.”

Immediately, Doran cast a movement spell that created a slab of Earth under his feet and allowed him to slide off in a wide arch to avoid Caius and Delia as much as he could and go after Kaya instead.

Caius drew his arm back and was just about to cast a spell to interject when he heard Kaya yell out to him from behind her dome of thorny vines.

”Leave him to me! Face the rest!”

Almost as soon as she said that, Caius felt a chill at the back of his neck and transitioned his spell casting from attack to movement.

~Wispy Feet!~

The two spell circles appeared under his feet, granting him the speed boost to leap to the side and just barely avoid a barrage of icy rods that descended from the sky.

If Caius had thought that would be the end of it, he was in for a surprise when the rods lifted off the ground and each came spinning at him individually, and feeling like they were imbued with their caster’s hatred.

~Wind Scythe!~

Casting the wind spell over and over again, he sliced through three of the rods only to be smacked in the stomach by a fourth, struck in the ribs by a fifth, and slammed in the jaw by a fifth.

”Ack!”

The jaw strike spun Caius’ head to the side so hard he could feel his body being forced to turn completely to the side. Rather than resist, he let it happen and controlled the momentum to not only avoid getting hit by a seventh rod but also spin out a kick aimed right at it.

*Bang!*

The rod spun so hard away that barely anyone saw it until it struck against a far wall and splattered into snow that quickly melted into Mana. The move looked impressive, sure, but the only one who knew how dangerous it could have been was Baler Khione.

Baler’s eyes were wide because he felt the rod spin about two inches from his face. Any closer and he was sure it would have struck him hard enough to instantly knock him out. That wide look of fear lasted maybe a second before it became an intense look of hate as he seemed even more determined in his attack.

He only had one icy blue spell circle active but thrust his other hand forward to cast a second one just as Caius unleashed a spell of his own.

~Fireball!~

Caius yelled out in his head and struck his hand forward at the rods still coming at him. Even the ones he sliced in two earlier came at him in individual halves. Fortunately, they were all gathered up so a powerful flare of flame was enough to blast them all away with an impressive *Boom*.

The ground beneath him iced up and Caius slipped as he struggled to maintain balance. He managed not to fall on his ass and rather went down on one knee as he cast ~Fireball~ once again to slam it into the icy ground and melt it.

He succeeded but Baler had expected that and was able to quickly ice the ground over again. Before Caius could even melt the ice a second time, icy spikes appeared all over and grew continuously larger until he was surrounded by multiple Platforms of ice from all sides besides his back.

”Ah,” He let out when the part of the ground he was on also became spiked and stabbed right through his uniform and shoes to cause him pain. The material of the uniform didn’t get damaged but all the protection and cushioning effect it offered was overall broken past.

The icy aura was also chilling and numbing Caius’s mind.

And then, he felt the ground shifting. The ice was being manipulated to move him closer and closer to the edge of the Outer Ring with the ultimate aim being to push him over it and get him disqualified.

Sure enough, there were only two words Baler was repeating over and over again with a look of strain on his face as he controlled his icy spell circles to continue as he had intended.

”Get off. Get off. Get off. Get off. Get off. Get off. Get off. Get off. GET OFF!!!” Baler said and yelled at the very end.

Caius smirked.

”Idiot.”

The icy ground was indeed moving but its formations (the spikes) remained right where they were so it was easy for him to pick spots to place his fingers and also place the tip of his feet like a track star at a starting line.

With the way the Spectator seats were arranged, the class would almost always have a good view of what was happening in the Arena below. So, as high as the platforms of icy spikes became, they could all still see Caius get into that pose.

Aylin Khione especially looked excited for it as she leaned forward with her icy blue eyes wide and just all too ready to hopefully see her brother’s ass kicked.

Now forcefully moved by the icy ground to about five meters away from the border of the outer ring, Caius took a breath and brought to mind his most recently learned spell.

~Hellsong Dash~

There was a chime sound as the spell circle appeared around his ankles burning a bright red before vanishing right as flame burst forth from Caius’ feet.

*Boom!!!*

The force of the flame was like an explosive blast. It melted the ice behind Caius’ feet and left a red trail as he was boosted forward. But as fast as he moved, Caius was still very much in control. It didn’t feel like being in a car moving fast but rather like he himself was fast. His brain adjusted and observed things well enough that he knew when to jump and do a flip in the air so he could push his feet at the platform of icy spikes in front of him...

*BANG!!!*

... breaking a gigantic hole right through it.