Ascension of the Dark Seraph

"Can't you see it, Tobias? You have my full attention now."

Lucivar spoke, slightly disappointed and furious that Master Tobias hadn't realized it on his own.

It made it clearer that Master Tobias had underestimated him.

But it doesn't matter now.

Master Tobias' eyebrows dipped into a confused frown—he didn't understand what Lucivar was talking about. It was especially so when he noticed the disappointed look Lucivar was giving him, like he was supposed to be better than this.

Noting the confusion, Lucivar straightened his back for a second and circled them.

"I've been noticing the inconsistencies in my surroundings from the very start, like the bloodlust inside our first house which now I know to be the Fire Primordial, how accepting you were about Delilah's death, or even when my identity as a fugitive and an Angel Hybrid was leaked," He stated—putting up a finger with every incident he recounted. "I'm confident in my intelligence—after my rebirth, and I'm sure I can piece things together if I want to."

He kept circling them, keeping the duo alert in case he made a sudden attack.

But Lucivar has no intention of attacking them suddenly.

It would be no fun; he wanted to savor this moment, as after tonight, he'll never get the chance again.

"I've had my suspicion on you, and I could've known that you were the master mind behind the family, but I didn't," Lucivar stopped at his original position, turning to look at Master Tobias again. "Can you guess why?"

Master Tobias remained silent.

His focus wasn't entirely on Lucivar, but he appeared to be.

Lucivar smirked devilishly, "Because every single time I suspected you, I always think, 'No way. Delilah trusted him, so he can't be the one behind this.' That kept on repeating in my mind over and over again, allowing you to get away with most things."

Hearing this, Master Tobias' forehead creased as his eyes narrowed.

It wasn't particularly easy to manipulate Lucivar with the abilities that came along with him.

Loki intensifies his wicked intelligence, and his Angel Hybrid gives him the ability to sense bloodlust.

Naturally, Master Tobias couldn't be perfect, which was why he put Delilah in the picture.

And as expected, it was working as planned.

Delilah's presence is impeccable for his plan, allowing him to get away with minor mistakes.

"But now that you helped me get over her… Now that her presence is not in the picture—what do you think would happen?" Lucivar asked, grinning from ear to ear. "I don't know what your end goal was for helping me, but perhaps—you've underestimated how strong I'd be after I've broken through to the Third Divine Elevation."

"Like I said, you now have my full and undivided attention. And for that, I can read you like a book."

Lucivar lowered his stance again, intending to continue with the game.

Rapidly, Master Tobias channeled his blood attribute, sprouting blood wings from his back and a blood spear in his hand. He waved the spear expertly, eyes locked onto Lucivar with the same calmness in his gaze that had always been there from the start.

"We'll see." Master Tobias said.

He also lowered his stance, holding the blood spear with both hands, and pointing the tip to the ground.

A stance that gave him an unobstructed view and also the swiftness to react.

"We'll see indeed…" Lucivar mumbled in anticipation, stabbing the black sword into the ground as if to give Master Tobias a leeway that he desperately needed. One less option he could scratch from what could be used to attack him. "I'm going to be a little serious now, get ready."

Not even a second later, Lucivar immediately made his move.

Boom!

Instead of attacking head-on, he slammed both of his hands against the earth's surface.

Master Tobias and Vanessa frowned, but the impact already rippled outward like a living shockwave—the ground heaved as though the earth itself had become a rising tide in the ocean. For a fleeting second, the area swelled in a wave of stone and soil before crashing back into place with a deafening quake.

Both of them staggered, their eyes widening in unison at what Lucivar had done.

Rocks that had littered the ground were floated due to the impact.

Dozens of them hovered weightlessly, suspended in a silent orbit around the pair.

Time seemed to slow down immensely.

Master Tobias' pupils dilated, his breathing stilled as he chanted his ability, "Gaze of Cassandra."

Almost instantly, time paused, and his foresight opened.

In that suspended instant, the world stretched like a canvas waiting to be painted. The clamor of wind dulled to a muted hum, every grain of dust frozen midair, and each flicker of motion—pulled into sheer crystalline clarity.

His eyes glistened with that eerie sheen, the mark of his ability.

And the next five seconds spilled into his vision all at once.

Lucivar's gaze snapped toward him, flashing with an unnatural emerald light.

An unfamiliar ability, but surely dangerous.

'He used Loki's ability at the first second, I should avoid meeting his gaze.' Master Tobias thought.

Then—he saw at the third-second, dozens of threads of violent energy unfurled like veins of lightning, spiderwebbing outward until they latched onto the floating rocks. 'Next come the rocks. I think a blood shield should be enough to fend them off, but I must be careful of its powers. One blood shield may not be enough'

At the fifth-second, droplets of sweat that were flung from Lucivar twisted into grotesque silhouettes.

Phantoms.

Each one was as strong as Lucivar, minus the divine powers.

Master Tobias' eyes burned a little, knowing that his time was up—he could only suspend time to see the future for a few seconds at best, even though his mastery over the ability was high, and he was also a Savant-rank Hybrid.

But then again, the Eyes of Cassandra is an incredibly powerful ability.

And since he only has a trace of Cassandra's bloodline, a few seconds might be his limit.

He strained his eyes to see a fraction of a second longer, enough to see Lucivar's body twitch.

As he blinked, the foresight ended abruptly, snapping him back to the present.

The rocks were still levitating motionlessly, the threads not yet spun, the phantoms unborn. But he had seen it. He had seen it all. Master Tobias knew the shape of what was to come, and the few seconds his ability gave him were enough for him to make a plan.

"Vanessa, avoid his eyes and grab the rocks!" He roared.

Swish!

Lucivar's eyes glowed emerald as he activated the power of his mask.

Even though he was still growing accustomed to his newfound strength, Loki's power was the easiest to control out of the three active Gods in him. Perhaps it was because Loki had been the first God he came to know, granting him the longest familiarity with the trickster's power, or perhaps Loki's Divine Blood within him ran the deepest.

But whatever the reason, he could summon the mask's power with effortless command.

In an instant, the power reached out to Master Tobias and Vanessa, yet it couldn't take hold of them.

Lucivar's brows narrowed as both avoided his eyes with perfect timing.

On the other hand, Vanessa reacted swiftly when she heard Master Tobias' command.

She drew her ether from her Supernatural Ego and clapped her hands.

Swish!

From underneath, astral hands emerged, clawing their way out into existence and reaching out towards the rocks as Master Tobias directed. She did it at the same exact time as Lucivar used the Monstrification Meter to turn the rocks into monsters.

Not enough to make them conscious, but enough for them to heed his command.

Seeing them reacting perfectly, Lucivar clicked his tongue in displeasure.

But it was already too late to pull back, so he had to go through with it.

'How about the phantoms?'

Just as three phantoms were forming to complete—from his sweats, Master Tobias already summoned three blood spears. He threw them at the same time—with enough force to turn the spears into bullets, aiming right where the phantoms were about to appear.

Before the phantoms could form, the blood spears already shattered them.

On the side, the rocks shot towards them.

The astral hands stopped their momentum from starting, but there are some who pierced through.

Once again, Master Tobias already anticipated this.

Upon throwing the blood spears, he already summoned three blood barriers stacked together.

Clang!!

As expected, the rocks managed to pierce through the first and even second layer, but stopped at the third. It was right for Master Tobias to make three layers, or else it would've been bad. 'That's all the things I see clearly,' Master Tobias thought urgently. 'No… that's not all!'

He snapped his gaze back to Lucivar.

Since all he did fail miserably, he activated his Gleipnir's Echo.

Clearly, he was going to use its active ability, Snare.

No matter how strong Master Tobias was, he couldn't possibly have a way for everything.

Snare was a mental attack—something Master Tobias had never shown he could resist.

But as soon as the ring was active, Lucivar heard a sharp whistling sound.

Complying with his instincts, he tilted his head a little, narrowly avoiding a blood spear that was aimed at his head. Had he been a second too late—he would've had his head impaled, and probably pinned against the tree behind him.

"Phew…" Lucivar reached for his cheek and saw blood. "That's a very close one."

Glancing back at Master Tobias, he smirked.

"I expected you to defend—but you chose to counter instead. Clever." He nodded in approval, almost proud of Master Tobias's quiet retaliation. Outwardly, Master Tobias looked defensive—but in truth, he struck back in secret. "Once I kill you, I'll claim that ability of yours. Imagine it—my brain combined with the power of foresight."

Lucivar whistled playfully.

Just imagining that alone made his blood boil in excitement.

His planning, coupled with foresight, would make him unstoppable.

In fact, he was already pitying his future enemies for fighting that version of him.

"Are you done playing around?" Master Tobias said tightly, lowering his stance again—but this time, a strand of darkness emerged from within him. Bloodlust. "Don't underestimate me too much, or else you will die with regrets. Get in position and start the last attack. I'm going to kill you in our next clash."

Master Tobias said it with confidence.

But this widened Lucivar's smirk, his eyes glistening with a peculiar, deadly light.

"Ah… Now that's something we can both agree on," He mumbled, dispersing all his Divine Armaments as if he didn't need them—for their next clash. "I also happened to figure you out. Seems like the next one would be either you die or I do. And I just got a feeling, you're going to lose."