SPELLCRAFT: Reincarnation Of A Magic Scholar

Neron gasped in pain as he clawed at the ground in an attempt to stand up.

His strength was fading as the miasma's poison coursed through him.

The more he tried to stand up, the more his legs gave way and after a few futile attempts, he gave up entirely.

Each breath was a battle and each slight movement he took tormented him.

The Beast circled him drawing closer as though it was playing with a meal.

Its eyes were glowing with malice and it was buoyed by its victory over the numerous slain Adventurers.

Neron knew that he couldn't fight anymore in his present condition—for one his body refused to obey him, and his vision swam in and out of focus.

"Nero!"

A feminine voice cut through the haze, panicked but resolute.

His ears quickly picked up the voice and his heart grew warm as he recognised Serah.

He had been worried about her as he feared that she was one of the many Adventurers that littered the ground.

She stumbled toward him, coughing violently, her hands glowing faintly with the last remnants of her magic.

She was pushing herself far past her limits, the same poison draining her life as quickly as it was his.

Neron wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or not but he was sure that he saw Legris fighting besides her.

He was actually holding his own against the beast and even appeared to have an edge in the fight.

Looking around him, he saw that other Adventurers had joined them.

They were the ones that had been separated from the others by the fairy and it felt good to see them converge once more especially as it was to fight a common enemy.

Some of them were even familiar faces. People he had known in the short time that he had spent at the guild.

"At least we now stand a chance," He said weakly, smiling to himself despite the pain he was in.

As he watched the fight take place, his expression gradually changed till his mouth was agape.

Despite the number that amounted in the hundreds, the beast quickly made short work of them and reduced their number to half within a few minutes.

He saw Legris and Serah both running towards him.

Legris armor was scorched and dented and his blood was running down his side, but he gritted his teeth, determined to help.

"We have to get him out of here," he rasped, kneeling beside Neron.

Serah nodded, though her face was pale, her eyes unfocused.

She reached out to touch Neron's arm, her fingers trembling as she attempted to summon a barrier spell.

But the magic fizzled, sputtering out in a weak flicker of light.

The Beast let out a deep growl, its massive claws scraping the stone floor as it stalked toward them.

They didn't have time. Legris gripped his sword with both hands, pushing himself to his feet with sheer willpower.

"Stay behind me," he commanded, his voice hoarse. "I'll hold it off as long as I can."

Serah shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. "You can't… you're too weak…"

But Legris had already moved, stepping between them and the Beast. He swung his sword with everything he had left, meeting the creature's claws in a violent clash of metal and bone.

The force of the impact sent Legris flying back, his body crashing into the temple wall.

Blood sprayed from his wounds as he hit the ground, motionless.

"Legris!" Serah screamed, her voice breaking.

The Beast reared back, preparing to strike again, and Neron forced himself to sit up, gripping his sword with numb fingers.

He wouldn't let it end like this—not without a fight.

But as the Beast lunged, darkness closed in, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

"I-is this the end…?"

The world felt blurry as a sea of blood ruined the atmosphere.

The musky stench of death overwhelmed the senses, fueling the embers of despair that choked the young man who managed to leak out his thoughts.

At this point, to his left and to his right, the marred bodies of his comrades decorated the devastated landscape.

Everyone was dead.

Even if they were alive, he had no way of telling.

"Haaa… haaaa…"

Heavy breaths now escaped his lungs as he removed his eyes from the gaping mouths and bloodshot eyeballs of the mangled corpses all around him.

Right now, something else demanded his attention.

And it stood right in front of him.

"Huff… huff…"

A monolith of utter destruction—a creature unlike anything he had ever seen before.

This beast had been the one who had laid waste to all his comrades, destroyed everything in sight, and now had its eyes set on him.

It snarled, almost in satisfaction as it gazed upon the young man.

Its eyes brimmed with a primal desire for carnage.

Its towering height told of an overwhelming power that could not be stopped.

Something about this creature—this thing of absolute destruction—seemed inevitable.

… Unstoppable.

"Y-you did this…"

The hollow voice of the young man rang out as he rose to his feet.

The injuries he had soon began to fade as some sort of power swelled within him.

His jet black hair turned white, and his dark irises saw the light.

At that moment, the world began to tremble.

"You made me do this…"

Every fiber of energy within the vast landscape of chaos shook in the presence of the magnificent power being birthed.

No… not the power of the beast.

The beast was strong, but not to this magnitude.

This was… something else.

"I didn't want this."

The young man's body was fully healed now, and the entirety of the fragments that ran amok slowly gathered around him.

Everything was his.

"I didn't want to use this…" action

His white hair broke through the darkness, and all of a sudden everything seemed to stop.

… As if time itself went still.

He inhaled.

And then, he spoke.

"… Original Magic."

After those mere words, the world was soon bathed in light, forever changed by the power of a single man.