Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

Lucan followed Gilbuzz out of the manor.

"So what sort of competition will I be partaking in?" He asked, trying to pry information out of the devil.

"You will see when we get there." Gilbuzz replied.

"I remember you saying I will be team leader, and something about supporting five teammates. Can you explain how that will work?"

"Don't twist my words around. I said you wouldn't be competing directly. I complimented you by saying "Your skills are better served in an advisory capacity." But that doesn't mean you are going to advise anyone. I only ever said that I think you would be a good team leader, who told you that you would be leading a team?"

"Umm… What is going on then?" Lucan said after realizing that he had been misled about the situation.

"You will understand after we arrive. Stop asking questions."

Gilbuzz reach out his hand. The chain appeared from his wrist, connected to Lucan's neck. The warlock understood that if he didn't shut up, it was likely that he would be dragged to their destination.

They walked towards the western edge of the city. After half an hour the buildings became sparse and fields of blood red grass could be seen. Up ahead was an arena larger than the one Raze hosted in Vertshadow.

Lucan silently followed Gilbuzz inside.

They ascended to the top floor and entered a room with a large balcony. Inside the room was another horned devil and behind him stood some sort of caster holding a fancy looking staff.

"Ronbellus, it seems like you came early?"

"I was in the area. Shall we get started? The others have already begun their matches." He said motioning out towards the balcony.

Lucan followed Gilbuzz and took in the sight below. Tens of thousands of devils were in the stands. The center of the arena had turned into some sort of viewing device. It looked as if water or a strange film, covered the entire floor. On the water there were several different moving images. He was amazed to see that the eye of Mentas, worked through the images. It was like he was looking at the true contents and not just a display.

The warlock looked towards the closest image. It was a long lane, based on the size of the people in the video, he guessed the lane was a mile long. At each end was a strange floating magical object. Each end of the lane had five players that were pushing towards the other end, except each side also had towers that fired projectiles to slow their advance.

Gilbuzz stood next to Lucan and spoke. "Each team of five has to take down the towers and deal with the opposing sides players. Whichever side destroys their opponent's core wins."

Lucan nodded. He was familiar with the game style. In the center of the arena, four of the five lanes had been taken and were in use. Each lane had their own unique terrain and were interesting to look at, except the one that hadn't been chosen. It was just a plain grassland.

As if sensing Lucan's thoughts, Gilbuzz spoke. "The other lanes look better because they are in use. I already have my team of five. You will be acting as the environment and the final boss who protects the core, as well as controlling the infantry. You will take control of a puppet and work through that. I am sure you have questions, but it will be easier to understand once you start."

RonBellus finished whispering to the caster he had brought with him and turned to Gilbuzz. "Are you ready?"

Gilbuzz nodded.

They both looked towards the door in unison.

*Knock* *Knock*

After nocking, a slim five-foot-tall red skinned devil walked into the room.

"Generals." He said with a bow. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Let's get on with it."

The small devil stepped froward and presented an orb to both Lucan and the sorcerer.

"Activate these and your mind will be sent into the guardian puppets in the pocket dimension below. You will have one hour to prepare before the contest begins."

Lucan took the orb and looked too Gilbuzz who motioned him to activate it.

He pushed pure mana into the device. Adjusting his eyes and looking around, Lucan realized he was inside of what Gilbuzz had called 'the core'.

A new set of menus appeared before him. Opening the first one, Lucan quickly read about the rules and how things worked.

The five players on his side would be making the press towards the enemy's core. But they wouldn't be alone. Regular groups of infantries would head out and break down the towers on their way to the core. The infantry was a little special in the fact that they were each only two feet tall and went out in groups of ten.

Lucan was given his first choice. He could use infantry that could fire shadow bolts up to 10 feet as their form of attack. They launched one bolt every second, or he could use infantry units that could do a telekinetic slash at five feet away every .9 seconds.

There were several other options but they were grayed out at the moment.

To be safe, Lucan chose the units with extra range. He chose to go with the shadow bolts.

He kept scrolling through the rules and the explanation.

The infantry would get stronger over time. Every time the players on his team killed an enemy player or took down an opposing tower, everyone would receive upgrade points. The players themselves would become stronger while Lucan could chose to spend his share to upgrade the tower, infantry, or the core's defense. There were several options to chose from, but most belonged to those three categories.

Lucan took a look at the three towers. They came with an automatic arrow shooter. He could upgrade the ammunition later, but right now he needed to decide on a spell to be place in the tower that the players could manually activate. It would be the same spell in all three towers, and it was on a five-minute cool down. A few of his spells met the qualification to be placed in the tower, now he just needed to pick one.

He had his three basic phantom options available, as well as soulfire, but that would only last for 10 seconds. He opted for the phantom fighter. When activated, two of them would appear fully loaded.

Ten uses of telekinetic slam could be pretty useful to bully the other players. He could interrupt moves or push them away from the tower. Or heck, he could even make sure they couldn't leave the firing range of the tower. Soulfire would be nice, but the phantom fighter had so much more utility.

After confirming his selection, he kept reading.

The puppet/final boss he was controlling, had a fixed amount of health and magic that would never regenerate. He could use it how he liked to an extent. He had to remain within his domain. His area of control stretched from the core to his furthest tower. Every tower he lost would cause his domain to shrink.

He was strongly encouraged to stay near the core. That was because if he went past the first tower the core's shield would deactivate.

After confirming that he understood the rules, his half of the lane underwent a change. Clouds blocked out the sky above and the land turned dark. Shadows overtook the area. Trees and plants grew densely along the length of the lane on either side. The trees were black or dark gray in color.

The wooden towers transformed into shadow obelisks that rose thirty feet out the ground.

His half of the lane had taken on a shadow vibe as the dark environment was the best battle ground for Lucan.