Few month has passed with not much really happening. Leo continued to study with a focus on magic theory and more or less go an idea how his spell to enchant himself worked. It used fire mana to give the muscles energy to contract at much faster and a more energetic way to achieve better results then physically possible and his enchanting mana worked under that process to both enchant the way fire mana worked and make sure the force didn’t tear his muscles and break his bones.

He thought himself lucky that he used this kind of spell and nothing wrong happened but later when he asked principal about it and he learned that Mr. Alexander knew how it worked all along, he just wanted for him to figure it slowly on his own.

Knowing that he figured out he could increase the ratio of light mana to ensure that his body could handle even more increase in power but at the same time the energy required to keep that up grew exponentially.

He also had some theories on how he could use his light magic to heal himself. It was quite simple in a way but also dangerous. He forced his body to regenerate at much quicker pace than usual, the problem was that it used resources other than mana to fuel that. So it would burn whatever muscles and body fat it could to regenerate the wound, which if left uncontrolled would suck him dry quickly. In a way that was way worse than water magic that rebuilds the body itself to heal wounds.

Leo also wasn’t really willing to start cutting himself just to test it and his mana formation for that spell lacked something so even if he wanted to try it now it would end up with him becoming a living flashlight again and the effect would be minimal at best.

After consulting with Mr. Alexander, he decided to give up on this spell, for now, it wasn’t like he had much of a choice anyway since there was no device that would help him progress the spell to a higher level of efficiency. On the other hand, he decided to practice something else that Mr. Etan recommended to him.

Those were two light mana enchanting based spell that focused on defense. First increased a strength of bonds between atoms that consisted of his skin to increase physical defense, while increasing it too much would make it awkward to move, the level on which it would be possible to stop blades from cutting him would still be manageable, it worked similarly to how his first spell supported his muscles.

Apparently, the protective devices they used in spars would also take that into the calculation of what damage would put its user out of the fight.

The second spell was a spell that the arenas used to absorb mana, while it always would use more mana then it absorbed the device he got with which he practiced the spell had slightly over 50% efficiency. It was still very useful for him. Since he didn’t have any way to counter ranged magic and now he could protect himself from the spells he couldn’t avoid.

And while he couldn’t create a shield in front of him with it as it was intended to be used normally because of his condition, he could apply it to his skin with the same effect after some modification.

With two of those devices that he borrowed, that were normally not used on human bodies, he slowly started learning how to use those spells. Still, even after two months of work he couldn’t replicate the spell alone to any useful degree, for now, it started to slowly seem actually possible to do. He decided to work hard on it.

His days consisted mostly of school, physical training, and magical training, all the while when his friends had fun and played games in their virtual reality simulation machines that used mass illusion magic to connect everyone to a single main illusion. His friends invited him to play with them some kind of game that setting strived to reproduce old ages when heroes and adventurers fought demons but he didn’t really see the appeal. Why would he want to play heroes of legends when he could use magic and fight in real life. That was a secret to most of his classmates though.

-*-

It was early in the morning. Leo was eating breakfast before getting ready to go to school. In the background, as usual, a holovision was on and latest news was being reported.

“Breaking news, just now at the University of Magic in the capital city has been attacked by an unknown group. The state of what is going inside is currently unclear. We will connect now to our reporter on the site.” Said the host.

That got Leo’ attention, looking at the holographic screen he saw a big building with a lot of pillars and great wooden door at the front, there was also a lot of police special force wearing combat suit armor outside of the gates ready and waiting. The reporter on the screen started speaking.

“For now the special task force is waiting at ready for the order to move in but as a current situation inside is unknown they can’t act. The security devices inside the building have been breached and there is no response. For now, we are waiting for a move from the other side.”

For a time nothing happened and there was silence on the screen, then they returned to the studio and some people in suits started talking about how such thing could happen and who was at fault for this.

Leo was finishing his meal as the image returned to the academy. “Something is happening.” The reporter said, “The door are opening!”

The giant wooden door opened and behind of them something got dragged out by an invisible force, it looked like cloth.

“A black figure came out of the door! It looks like if it’s dragging something!”

Leo looked but didn’t see anything, for him it looked like something invisible is dragging the thing.

“Ah! Can you hear me?” a voice come out of the screen but no one seemed to be talking. Leo shuddered after hearing the voice, it reminded him of something he didn’t want to remember. “Ah right. Like this, people on the hv won’t see me… right…”

Suddenly at the close-up of the door, a black figure appeared. It was the one Leo saw a long time ago, the one that called itself and him a reincarnated, a demon. Leo looked frightened at the screen.

“Hello world!” The figure said and waved. “Ah! You should say hello too.” He said bringing up the thing he carried.

It was a man with a long grey hair and beard, he wore a blue robe. His whole face was covered in blood. The face of the reporter looked frightened at the sight of this. “They have the headmaster as a hostage! How did that happen!?”

The headmaster of the University of Magic in the capital was always chosen from the best magicians in the whole country, seeing such powerful person in that state, shocked and frightened Leo even more.

The figure opened it’s mouth and spoke with a vigor that couldn’t be expected from someone in such battered state. “Kill him! Kill this demon even if you have to kill me!” He screamed.

“Oh shut up!” a black shadow covered the elder mouth. “Oh right! Yes! I’m a demon, right, still not used to it. Well, I should do something demonic, shouldn’t I? You should like this. Right?”

A black shadow extended from the figure and brought up the headmaster by his hand up in the air.

“Now, this is only the beginning of the payback I’m going to give you for what you have done to me and people, oh sorry, demons like me.” In one second many black spears pierced the elder body and tore it into parts, making the blood spew everywhere. The screen was hastily shut down and brought back to the studio. The people there seemed at a loss for what to say, then they started screaming and arguing with each other but Leo couldn’t understand what they were saying in the mess.

Suddenly the image returned and the reporter looked shocked. “What? We are getting hacked?!”

The figure was being shot on by the elite squad but the energy beams seemed to pass through the figure and it stood there as if nothing happened.

“Now, now, that’s so kind of you, but I really don’t have much more to say.” The figure said. “Till, the next time, oh no, I forgot, right, I hope you are watching Leo!” the figure said and waved before disappearing like the last time he has seen it.

Leo and his parents looked shocked, they just started forgetting about what happened that day and their life returned to normal. No one moved for a second.

“Leo, you don’t need to go to school today. Don’t worry we will protect you.” Said Leo’ father.

“Yes.” said Julie standing up to hug her son.

Leo could only nod. Not even knowing what he could say.

Later on, it was reported that over 400 people were found dead in the building and over 100 in a stasis induced state.