Time resumed, and the System Windows vanished.
Lucian pressed forward, weaving through the familiar crowd of students.
As soon as he was about to reach the top, at the last step, a cold shiver ran down his spine.
It was sudden, too sudden. Lucian froze in his place as he felt something approaching him from his left.
First, his eyes darted to the corners. He scanned the area. Nothing but students.
Assuming it was a false alarm, Lucian raised his left foot and stepped on the last step. As soon as he did so, he felt a hot, burning sensation nearing towards his face.
His gaze shifted quickly to the left, and he saw a head-sized ball of rippling flames flying towards him at an incredible speed.
In the reflection of his pupil, he saw the flame growing bigger and bigger every fraction of a second, until it suddenly stopped.
No, it was still moving, though at an extremely slow pace.
But this didn't seem to be the work of the System, since he could not move his body either.
At the exact moment, Lucian felt his vision blurring. Not with darkness, but a deep crimson hue. A strange warmth filled his eye socket as his sclera began to turn crimson.
A bright line of deep red surged through the crevice of his eyes, slowly trickling down his pale skin before falling to the ground.
His vision changed.
Not just in terms of colors. But in that very moment, the world around him had changed.
The fireball that had flared inches from his face vanished. Instead, Lucian could see fine red particles swirling around in the air while condensing at specific spots, creating a unique pattern.
At first, Lucian simply stood there, clueless. But then, a thought crossed his mind.
Moments when one could analyze, interpret, overpower, and control someone else's spells were a hard feat, barely one or two could achieve.
But as of now, maybe. Just maybe.
The strange triangle-like pattern Lucian could see was the magic circle?
It was just a possibility. Something on which his life depended.
'If that's the magic circle, then those swirling particles must be the spells' flow.' his gaze remained stuck on the spell, as his brows dipped low in frustration.
Even if his assumptions were true, the problem lay in the "overpower" part of his plan.
Since before his arrival, Lucian's body had been crippled. Let alone absorbing, even using the most minimalistic amounts of mana made his body convulse violently.
In such conditions, using his non-existent mana to overpower an unknown mage, seemed out of his reach.
But he had no choice in that matter. It was a choice. Whether to die without trying, or take a chance with death.
And if he were afraid of death, maybe Lucian might never have gone against the entire world of politics.
Simply put, dying without trying, Lucian didn't claim it to be his way.
'Dying while trying sounds much better to me,' he thought as he began to channel mana through his hand. Forming a thin thread, he slowly extended it towards the magic circle.
In moments, a thin, hair-like strand connected the magic circle to his hand.
Now came the hardest part. The mana he had inside his body, was only enough for a single burst. Thus, with all he had within him, Lucian transferred all the mana he had through the string and began to control its direction.
In seconds, his facial expressions worsened, and a pain began to rise within his chest. His hand felt as though it was being ripped apart.
But he did not dare close his eyes.
With guided control, he spun his mana in the exact opposite direction from the spell's.
Each time it did so, the magic circle cracked slightly. After countless relentless cycles, as the magic circle trembled at the verge of being obliterated, Lucian spat blood.
His face had already been half-covered in the metallic scent of blood, but he did not give up.
Despite having worsened his insides, Lucian went out for the final blow.
Directing all of his energy towards the magic circle, he forcibly made his mana swirl in the same outlines.
*Crack!*