Elemental Portal

Blood pooled underneath the three lions. They showed no signs of regaining their feet.

With the fire lions taken care of, the Succubus looked back at the Witch. There was a magic circle under her feet, glowing with the colors of each of the six elements. The Witch was going to seal the portal with the Six Elements Seal, the strongest sealing magic of them all. The portal size was too big, and any other sealing magic might not be sufficient to close down the portal.

The Six Elements seal was a sophisticated and complex ritual. It was almost impossible to do alone. Even the condition to initialize the seal—manifesting all six of the Elements—was extremely challenging for one person alone.

Usually, an arcane artificer would be able to manifest and sustain two elements, or three at the most. This was because most arcane artificers have compatibility or affinity to two or three Elements at most. While it was not impossible to manifest Elements they are incompatible with, it would be a difficult task. It would be like asking an extremely introverted person to make a public speech.

The Witch would have to manifest and sustain all six elements on her own if no other arcane artificers came.

With the danger of the elemental monsters breaking the barrier, the Succubus had to keep an eye on the portal and couldn’t help the Witch.

The ritual also required a great amount of mana to nourish it before it became fully activated and ready to use. The amount of mana needed went beyond how much a normal arcane artificer stored in their bodies.

The Witch, with her longevity, had stored a great deal of mana. Unfortunately, she was a bit lazy and didn’t bother growing her affinity for the other Elements too much. She could quickly spew them out in succession but not manifest and sustain them all at once. She had no choice but to do it one after another.

It would be extremely taxing to manifest and sustain the elements and provide mana simultaneously.

The magic diagram contained six Elemental circles. A ball of fire already hovered over the Fire Element section, and a tiny tornado twisted lazily in the Wind section.

With the Fire portal not far away and the gust of winds in the area, the Witch had taken advantage of these Elements and borrowed them, enabling her to use less of her own Fire and Wind energies.

The Succubus knew that the Witch could do the ritual by herself given enough time. However, with the city still full of civilians, the faster the portal closed, the better for the humans. The Witch would be unhappy if there were too many human causalities.

The Succubus stepped out of the portal and put up another dome barrier on the human side that mirrored the one inside the portal. Temporarily safe, the Succubus went to the Witch.

Inside the magical diagram, the Witch’s frown was so furrowed that it looked like it could squeeze lemons. With such great concentration, the Succubus wasn’t sure if the Witch noticed her approach.

Above the Earth section, rocks and dirt hung in the air. The circle for the Water section was pulsating, signifying that the Witch was in the middle of manifesting Water. The whole diagram glowed in even bright light as the Witch continued to pour mana steadily into the ritual.

The Succubus sighed in admiration and awe. Most people would probably opt for a Five Elemental Sealing magic with just Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, and Light. That’s because most humans weren’t good at manifesting Darkness.

They believed Darkness to be evil, so most arcane artificers had some stigma towards honing it. The Witch, being part demon, had developed a natural affinity to Darkness as she grew to accept the demon powers within her.

“My Lady, I’ll take care of the Darkness and Water sections. How about you start on the Light manifestation?” the Succubus suggested.

There was no response from the Witch, who couldn’t seem to hear the Succubus.

It had only been less than five minutes since the portal opened. The fight with the fire lions was fierce but ended quickly, and no other arcane artificers had arrived yet to help.

Since the monsters were kept at bay with the double layers of barrier, the Succubus had some attention to spare. Before the Succubus could lend a hand, a loud banging from inside the portal stopped her.

The Succubus turned and saw a horde of fire hyenas throwing themselves at the inner barrier. They surrounded the dome without a gap in between. They were almost twice as large as the ones in the human world. Their laughs and screeches produced sonic attacks that barraged the shield. Their red eyes raged as they kept failing to break through.

The barrier would hold for a while, and the Succubus was worried about the Witch.

Keeping an eye on the fire monsters, the Succubus entered the magic circle.

Beads of sweat ran down the Witch’s face. Summoning a handkerchief from the void, the Succubus gently patted the Witch’s sweat away from her face and neck, careful not to disturb the Witch’s concentration.

Once again, there was a loud bang at the portal. The Succubus turned and saw that a giant had arrived at the scene.

The huge male giant was easily taller than any structures in the city. It had four hands and two heads, one in the front and the other in the back. A large serpent-like tail whipped about from its behind. A long, snake-like, red tongue slipped in and out from large protruding fangs. It wore skulls of various animals strung over his neck, bare chest, and waist like a belt. Covering the giant’s middle was a fur hide sewn together from different animals’ skins.

The giant stared at the Succubus and the Witch with angry golden eyes, and raging fire swirled in place of the whites of the eyes.

When the giant saw the Succubus turning to him, their eyes met, and the giant let out a thundering scream. He raised his giant club and smashed down at the barrier. Under the repeated smashing, cracks began to form.

The Succubus clenched her jaw. She was annoyed that she didn’t even have the opportunity to help with the ritual.

With no choice but to leave the Witch, the Succubus returned to the portal. Raising her hand, she poured mana into the cracks, sealing and strengthening the shield. The inner barrier that the Witch put up was cast in a hurry, to begin with, so it wasn’t the strongest the Witch could do.

The Succubus sneered at the giant, who looked down at her with disgust on his face. But the giant didn’t give up. He backed away a fair distance and knelt on the ground like a sprinter. Eyes fixated on the Succubus, he dashed towards the barrier with frightening speed, his raging eyes never leaving her face.

Unflustered, the Succubus kept pouring mana into the shield.

The giant jumped right before he arrived and rammed his shoulder against the barrier, shaking the earth underneath in both the elemental and human realms. The hyenas that couldn’t escape in time turned into a mess under the giant’s foot. The injured ones struggled to free themselves, whimpering desperately in pain as steaming hot tears poured from their eyes.

Even though there wasn’t a crack in the barrier, the impact reverberated throughout the wall. The giant went back even farther and repeated the sprint into the barrier, this time with even greater strength and speed.

Behind the Succubus, shouts rang. Other arcane artificers had finally arrived at the scene. The Succubus could only hope that they could help the Witch finish the ritual faster. However, what happened next was something that completely caught her off guard.

As the Succubus was busy keeping the barrier in top-notch condition, something struck her back and bounced off her tough skin. The attack was no more than a demon child’s weak throw, but the Succubus swiveled her head and glared at the attacker.

Some young-looking arcane artificer stood scared outside of the portal, his hand extended in front of him, his legs shaking uncontrollably, and his face the very picture of fear.

“What the hell was that for? Couldn’t you see I’m defending the barrier?” the Succubus yelled at the young man.

Shocked, the young man fell to the ground, whimpering. Coming up right behind the young man was another arcane artificer. He looked like a scholar with the intricate glasses, but he also wore the robes of a mage.

“Coward,” the Scholar Mage said, glaring at the young man. “Go help the Witch with the seal. You can manage to do that properly, at least, couldn’t you?”

The Scholar Mage surveyed the other arcane artificers who arrived and assigned them tasks. They followed him without any objections.

He turned to the Succubus and bowed courteously, “My apologies. The apprentice just passed the test this morning. Very green.”

The Succubus rolled her eyes.

The Scholar Mage stood tall and regal and had an air of refinement around him. With how easily he ordered people around and how elegant he bowed, it was obvious that he was a noble.

The Scholar Mage had a head of long silky black hair that flowed down his back. The side bang over his elaborate scholar glasses softened his face, making him look more like a gentleman. His royal-blue mage robes shifted colors between different shades of blue as he moved, and the trims were sewn and embroidered with shimmering gold threads.

Any arcane artificer could become a scholar if they could finish with the highest degree from the Arcane Arts Academy. However, the course was so challenging that only a handful of people became scholars every year.

Therefore, scholars were seen as the second strongest class of arcane artificer next to wizards, and the others readily obeyed him.

When the young man still did not move, the Scholar picked him up and threw him at the magical diagram. Landing right outside the circle, the young man finally returned to his senses and scrambled up to help pour mana into the ritual.

“Help out with the Elements first,” the Scholar said. He pushed his glasses up with his finger as he observed the magic circle, and the lenses shifted colors as if the Scholar had done something to them. “The Witch looks alright with the mana contribution so far.”

“Yes, sir,” the Apprentice said, and he stepped into the circle and faced the Light element.

Fire, Air, and Earth had already manifested and still remained stable. The water element that was vibrating before had stopped. The Witch switched her focus to conjuring up Darkness instead.

“That’s some scary skills she has,” the Scholar muttered under his breath before going to the Succubus.

The giant had been ramming against the barrier, and the battered area was starting to show fatigue. The mana thinned out with each hit, and the surface began to bend.

“I see that you changed the property of the barrier and made it more flexible,” he said. “Instead of cracking and breaking into pieces, it would dent but still hold up.”

“Yes, I did,” the Succubus said, then frowned with a realization. “How did you know when you just got here? Have you been watching this whole time and didn’t help?”

“I rushed here as fast as I could by running on the rooftops from over there,” the Scholar pointed casually behind him, the direction in front of the portal’s opening. If he had approached from that angle, the portal would have been directly in his sight the entire time, and he’d been able to see all that transpired.

“Fine,” the Succubus said. She moved her hand and poured mana into the weakened part of the shield.

The giant, seeing that all his efforts were being wasted, glared at the Succubus. He turned his head to the sky and let out an ear-piercing howl. It was so loud that it could be heard outside the city.

In answer to the howl, a massive beam of magic shot out from beyond the giant and hit the shield.

The Succubus and the Scholar raised their hands against the blinding light. The attack struck the shield with such force that the shield rippled all around in giant waves.

Even with mana still pouring into the shield wall, the Succubus could feel that it was a losing battle. Under the relentless beam and the giant’s attack, cracks formed faster than she could pour mana into them and patch them up.

The fissures, cracking like ice, spread from the beam’s point of impact to the rest of the shield, and the giant’s bashing exacerbated the damage.

Like glass exploding from an opera singer’s piercing voice, the shield shattered into a million pieces, and the beam attack stopped, having finished its purpose.

The giant laughed and banged his chest while the hyenas rushed forward with gleeful screeches. The Scholar grabbed the Succubus, hoisted her on his shoulder, and ran.