"Since you came, why don't you stay?"
Hearing a crackling voice behind him, Vicente felt his back go cold as his heart suddenly began to pound harder.
Feeling he shouldn't have his back to whoever was behind that voice, he jumped forward and turned to see who was there.
"Who are you?" He found the strength to ignore his sudden fear and ask.
"Hahahaha, do you think you can ask questions here?" The voice came again from behind Vicente, like a shadow trapped behind his back.
With sweat forming on his body and his heart beating faster, Vicente tried to calm himself by moving his mana around his body.
'I only have the option of trying to fight it!' He activated his two pentagrams, making his first Magic Gem glow under his mask as a yellow and a red pentagram appeared.
"Oh?" The crackling voice sounded curious, noticing something unique about the first person to fall into his trap in over 500 years. "You look more interesting than I thought, hahaha. Perfect! Your body will suit me!"
"My body?" Vicente narrowed his eyes as he picked up the magic stones he had brought to face the Mages he had invited to this place.
Electromagnetic Pulse!
His eyes glowed, and bluish lightning emanated from his body, spreading to all sides of the dark chamber he was in, momentarily illuminating the whole place.
In a second, Vicente saw what was in the darkness, noticing several skeletons around what looked like an altar where several red eyes were watching him.
His electromagnetic pulse lasted only a second, and soon, the intense darkness of the area returned while the creature that had been on his back a moment ago shifted his position.
"Is that all you have, human?"
Vicente finally saw the creature appear in front of him.
Standing before that thing, he took a step back, swallowing his saliva as his eyes quivered.
In front of him was a creature dressed in a cloak of darkness, with no legs, floating in the air, while his hands looked like the bones of a skeleton, without flesh or skin. But at the same time, even though they looked like bones, they didn't seem to be material. They seemed to be some kind of spiritual existence that didn't belong to the material world.
Where the creature's face should have been, Vicente could only see a purple glow coming from what should be the creature's neck, with a lot of darkness where the head should be.
"Shit! A fucking ghost! He realized what the creature was and cursed his luck.
Ghosts were one of the many types of magical creatures in Polaris Realm, a type of negative spirit usually associated with the Dark Path.
Ghosts could be created from the souls of living creatures, which, if certain requirements were met, depending on the conditions of the place where those creatures died, could form and return to the world of the living.
That was the basics about ghosts, the only thing Vicente knew about them.
There wasn't much information about this kind of creature in the basic academies around the Seidel Kingdom. So when he recognized the type of opponent he had unfortunately gained, Vicente was afraid.
'What should I do?' He asked himself as his two pentagrams glowed and the field lines around him formed a defensive sphere.
'Ghosts are spirits. That means there are no metals in their bodies, and they are basically made of mana and the element of darkness. How am I supposed to deal with that?' He thought, not wanting to waste his energy trying to form metal weapons to hit the ghost in front of him.
Apart from mental attacks, mana-based attacks, or attacks based on the elements of light and darkness, practically nothing else could be used against a ghost.
Vicente had no mental abilities, and his natural elements were Earth and Lightning. With only mana on his side, he was in a terrible situation!
"Hahahaha, human, your ability is amusing. Unfortunately, it can't stop me." The ghost said before moving.
As he flew towards Vicente, he passed through the electromagnetic barrier created by the field lines around the human and reached his target so quickly that Vicente had barely seen the enemy's movement.
Gulp!
'That fast?' Vice tried to move, but in front of this ghost, he seemed to be moving in slow motion, while the negative spirit could move freely.
As he saw the creature's skeletal hand approach his face, Vicente stopped using his pentagrams. Instead of wasting his mana on his useless skills against such a spirit, he poured as much mana into his body as possible, trying to create an extra layer of defense between him and that creature.
As he touched Vicente's forehead, the ghost noticed the movement of his little adversary and laughed at the child's futile hope.
"Are you trying to defend yourself? Nonsense! You're just an insect compared to the power of this Sovereign!"
He pressed against Vicente's head, exerting great force until the black-haired boy's body flew in the opposite direction.
Pow!
As he flew out of control, Vicente quickly slammed his back against one of the walls of that dark area, feeling the difference in power between him and that ghost with a single blow from his opponent.
Crack!
'This can't be...'
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaag!" He cried out in pain as he realized his helplessness in the face of that creature staring at him while several bones around his body broke.
"That's not good enough, is it? I'll show you what this Sovereign can do before he extinguishes your soul, human!"
Once again, Vicente saw the creature change position in the blink of an eye and appear in front of him while his body was trapped in the wall's rubble.
Unable to do anything, Vice only saw the ghost grab him by one of his wrists and then throw him to the ground, making him feel a few more bones break around his body.
As he tasted blood in his mouth and screamed unconsciously, Vicente felt he would lose consciousness at any moment as his mana ran out.
'Is this how I'm going to die?' He saw the creature reappear above his body and heard the strange laughter of the ghost as his screams came from its mouth.
"Hahaha, human, your body is not weak!" The ghost laughed as it grabbed Vicente by the scruff of his neck and lifted him into the air. "Others of your level would have been seriously injured after my first attack. But even after two blows, you're still conscious...
Hahaha, you are perfect for me! With your body, I'll reach the peak and kill those damned dogs who left me in this situation!"
He said aloud as streams of darkness formed around Vicente's wrists and heels.
As he moved away from Vicente, the spirit made a few seals, causing a purple magic circle to appear in front of him, glowing brighter and brighter as its chains bound the young human's body.
"Human, rejoice. This Sovereign will take your body to the pinnacle of magic. With me controlling your body, it will only be a matter of time before you become an Archmage!"
