The Divine Summoner: Godson of Altima

by Antony W. F. Chow

  Unknowingly, Luka became obsessed with light magic, and three weeks flew by!

  When Bel returned, he became shocked by Luka's physical appearance. The boy had pale skin, and his eyes lacked focus. Even worse, Luka mumbled to himself. The demon realized that the boy had not slept one wink since Bel departed. The rabbit silently circled the crazed child and attacked Luka from behind! Wham!

  Bel's paw struck the back of Luka's skull and made the boy unconscious! [What a troublesome kid!] Bel complained as he carefully laid the child on the ground. The rabbit tussled Luka's hair and sighed. Bel realized that he must stay with the boy, or else Luka will become obsessed with his magic training and ignore his health.

  Bel decided to resume his pupil's Demon Arts training. After all, the kid skipped physical exercise for the past several weeks. The demon king rubbed his paws and smiled with great anticipation for the future.

  Chapter 13

  Demonic Arts (Part 2)

  When Luka awoke, he felt his body was sore all over. But the haze which enveloped his mind dissipated, and the boy regained some clarity in his thoughts. Suddenly, he felt something smash into his stomach! "Ugh!"

  Of course, the attacker was Bel! The demon grinned as his big left toe tapped his victim gently on the chin. [How long do you plan to sleep, you lazy dog?] The familiar admonished with contempt before the rabbit hopped off Luka's chest.

  Luka slowly pulled himself off the ground. He felt a lump on the back of his head and rubbed at the spot. "Why did you knock me out?" he asked calmly. After all, there were no other culprits within this empty environment.

  [You went crazy in your magic practice. I had to stop you somehow.] Bel shook his head at the boy's obsession. The familiar realized Luka's action was due to his Singlemindedness character trait, and it served as a double-edged sword. While it helped push Luka to train harder than other people, the trainee could also fall into an unhealthy obsession. Thus, Bel took on the role of steering the boy back on-course -- with force.

  Luka thought back to how he spent the previous weeks by himself. "Yeah, I guess I did become obsessed with light magic," he admitted openly with mild embarrassment. In his past life, Michael Bauer acted similarly in school and often lost track of time until teachers and classmates kicked him out.

  [Since you slacked off on your physical training, we need to compensate for that by making you undergo more intensive training. For this entire week, you will not use magic.] Bel declared and stared into Luka's eyes as if daring the boy to reject this order.

  "Oh, fine!" the human huffed. Luka quickly realized that his body had weakened from a lack of exercise recently. Thus, he agreed to a week of intensive physical training with Bel even though Luka expected this training to be hellish.

  [Start running!] Bel ordered while giving the boy a swift kick in the rear.

  Luka withstood the blow without dodging because the rabbit didn't put much strength in his leg. The boy obediently started running and progressively increased his speed.

  Bel somehow landed on the boy's head and rode Luka like a horse.

  The human felt annoyed at first because the rabbit's extra weight made the runner off-balance, and Luka nearly stumbled as a result. However, the boy's Singleminded trait allowed Luka to focus on running.

  The rabbit grabbed two fistfuls of Luka's hair to remain atop of the boy. But otherwise, Bel left the child alone and instead enjoyed permitting his horse to run freely in the wild.

  Luka's body became more relaxed as he ran across the monotonous-looking landscape. His mind entered a zen-like state as Luka maintained his running form until Bel forcefully jerked his head up to make the boy stop.

  [How long do you think you ran?] The rabbit asked as he hopped to the ground and looked up at Luka.

  The boy returned a quizzical expression. "I have no idea."

  [You ran for five hours straight. Your Singleminded trait is awful. Without someone monitoring you, you will easily get lost inside your little world. But thankfully, you have me to watch over you.] The rabbit thumped his chest.

  Luka chuckled. But at the same time, the boy felt a warmth emanating from his heart. Without warning, the human grabbed Bel to his chest for a tight hug. "Thank you," Luka said softly.

  [Stop hugging me! I'm not your pet!] Bel protested while struggling to break free.

  When Luka ignored him, Bel chomped on his arm.

  "Ouch!" Luka dropped the rabbit.

  [Hmph! I'm warning you! No more hugs!]

  The boy laughed. "Or you'll do what?" he taunted.

  [Looks like I need to teach you a lesson!] The rabbit's brown eyes suddenly turned purple. An evil aura enveloped the animal's body. Bel snarled as his figure changed from a cuddly rabbit to a towering, monstrous form looming over Luka!

  The boy took several steps back. Luka saw a purple-skinned figure with a broad chest, a pair of thick arms bulging with muscles, two sharp goat horns protruding from the forehead, and hoof-like feet.

  [Are you scared now, little boy?] Bel asked while thumping his chest. He stared at the human with a malicious glint.

  Luka shook off his shock at Bel's sudden transformation, and his facial expression became calm. "How long can you maintain this form with your body under seal?" he asked.

  "Only a few minutes," Bel admitted out loud. His voice was gruff and scratchy, and his pronunciation sounded offkey to the human's ears.

  "Then let's have a good fight!" the boy replied and threw a sucker punch at the demon's chin!

  "Nice try, kid!" Bel chuckled and smashed the boy's fist.

  Luka grimaced when he felt the bones in his knuckles and fingers crack. Despite the pain, the human refused to back away from the challenge. After all, this was his first time facing Bel's natural form. On the other hand, Luka could heal himself after their spar. Thus, the question was how much pain Luka could endure while fighting Bel.

  The human gritted his teeth and continued to match fist-for-fist with the demon king. Luka felt astonished by Bel's strength and power. Soon, he realized that Bel had held back, or else the boy would not last after a single exchange. Indeed, the grin on Bel's face was a big tip-off.

  However, Luka's stout heart could not match his physical output. After twenty-odd blows, the human couldn't raise his arms anymore due to the sharp pain and heaviness in his limbs.

  Unfortunately, Bel refused to stop hitting the boy because he felt the pupil needed to endure and absorb body blows to refine Luka's body further. Hence, the demon continued to pound Luka's body like a hammer on an anvil.

  Luka ignored his impulse to drop to the ground and curl up like a turtle. Instead, he bravely withstood the hits without flinching. Pow-pow-pow! His body swayed like the wind under the demon's vicious assault.

  Bel expertly controlled the direction and location of his attacks. As the boy swayed to his left, the attacker threw a jab to push the human's body back to the center. Whenever Luka's feet stuttered backward, Bel quickly issued a hook to the boy's back and knocked him forward. In this manner, Bel acted like a conductor in full control of his pupil's figure, and the demon continuously struck the boy to temper Luka's body as much as possible.

  Finally, Bel sensed his demonic energy dissipate. He gave the boy a flying kick to the chest and knocked Luka to the ground. Once Bel returned to his rabbit form, he nonchalantly hopped over to observe his handiwork.

  The demon king's experienced eyes scrutinized every inch of the unconscious boy's body and felt extremely pleased. Bel successfully avoided damaging Luka's internal organs. Even though he fractured some of the boy's bones, Bel knew that Luka could mend those breaks with his magic. Thus, Bel wasn't worried about crippling his pupil.

  [Ah, that was a good workout!] Bel chirped as he hopped away to leave Luka alone to rest.

  When Luka awoke from his awful one-sided beating some dozen hours later, he stripped naked and carefully assessed his physical condition. The ten-year-old winced when Luka saw his entire body had turned black-and-blue
. The youth sat crosslegged on the ground, and he slowly gathered the light element from his environment. Luka prioritized healing his torso because that was where the evil Bel focused most of his attacks.

  Fortunately, the familiar avoided hitting Luka's face; this meant that the child avoided incurring head injuries, including a concussion. Bel did this for a simple reason: head injuries were much harder to heal. Furthermore, the demon was mindful that Luka was still a growing boy. Hence, brain injuries sustained during his childhood would significantly impact Luka's development into adulthood.

  Also, Bel had struck the boy in the back of the head during a sneak attack the previous day and knocked Luka unconscious. Hence, the familiar strongly wished to avoid hitting the boy's head again.

  Of course, Luka had no idea why Bel avoided hitting the boy's head. Instead, Luka assumed that his instructor wished to help the youth temper his flesh and bones.

  Indeed, Bel had this intention. After all, practitioners of the Demonic Arts School of Body Refinement believed in this motto: "Strengthen through breaking and mending." In other words, the body will become stronger via destruction and healing. Thus, the demon mercilessly attacked Luka's bones to fracture them and force the boy to mend those injuries. And during this process of break-and-heal, the youth's body will grow stronger over time.

  As Luka healed himself, Bel silently approached and observed from a short distance. This examination permitted Bel to understand Luka's healing abilities as this would allow the evil teacher to push his student even further during Luka's training. In other words, Bel planned to use Luka's healing ability to set the boundaries for the demon's next assault of the child!

  Unfortunately, Luka was preoccupied with his treatment and didn't realize that he was digging his grave! Instead, the mage felt happy at this opportunity to practice light spells without being bothered by Bel.

  When the youth finished his task, Bel approached and hopped around Luka's body to inspect the boy's physical condition. The rabbit nodded in approval. [You're rested and healed. Let's start sparring again.]

  Luka looked at Bel. "What's the point of sparring if you can't release your true form?" he pointed out.

  [Who says I can't?] The familiar smirked. His eyes turned purple, and an evil aura enveloped the animal as Bel swiftly grew larger until he turned into a demon king.

  "How is this possible?"

  Bel thumped his bare, massive chest proudly. "I can release my true form for ten minutes daily. Aren't you lucky?" the demon grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Stop stalling! En garde!" The monster appeared before the shocked boy with a single step forward and punched Luka's chest!

  Whoosh! The human felt air movement from the incoming blow. Luka immediately bent his knees and crossed his forearms across his chest to brace for impact. BAM! The boy grimaced as his forearms fractured from the sneak attack. In retaliation, Luka threw a knee at Bel's gut. However, it felt like hitting a brick wall!

  Bel snorted and straightened his back. He placed his big hands on his hips and allowed the boy to attack freely.

  Luka didn't need an invitation! The youth activated his Critical Insight and discovered that Bel's solar plexus was a weak point. Hence, he directed all his strikes at that spot! Luka threw his fists, elbows, and knees continuously like a river stream. Within a few breaths, the boy made twenty-odd strikes!

  Unfortunately, Luka was at a severe disadvantage because the boy fractured his forearms to block Bel's sneak attack. Consequently, he couldn't put his full strength into those punches.

  Also, Luka couldn't activate Enragement because he was making precise, targeted strikes. This technique's side effect decreased the user's intelligence and wisdom. Hence, Luka didn't think he could hit Bel's solar plexus while affected by Enragement. Thus, he declined to use the skill to increase his power.

  Luka didn't know that Bel had secretly used a mid-tier Demonic Art known as the "Call of Demonic Bloodline." This skill released a pheromone, which enhanced the physical abilities of demonkind and simultaneously decreased other races' abilities.

  Since Bel possessed a top-quality bloodline as a demon king, his pheromone offered an astonishing 50% effect! Consequently, Luka's attacks became halved under this secret skill since he was a human. Thus, Bel barely felt the boy's blows.

  If Luka knew that Bel was cheating like this, the boy would quit in protest! Too bad that Bel kept quiet and allowed Luka to make a fool of himself!

  After nine minutes, Bel started his counterattack! The demon threw an uppercut at his opponent's chest and sent the boy into the air! Wham! While Luka's body took flight, Bel took a giant leap and slapped the youth in the back with an open palm. But the attacker didn't hold back in using his strength; the slap immediately sent Luka to the ground! Boom!

  "Pancake!" Bel yelled with glee. His enormous body dropped from the sky and squashed the human on the ground! Wham!

  Fortunately, Luka created a Light Barrier in time to block Bel for a split second before the barrier broke apart. Nonetheless, the timely block granted the caster just enough time to roll away.

  Bel landed lightly on his hind legs. Since his ten minutes limit just ended, and Bel became a cute-looking white rabbit again. Bel used his paw to pat Luka's cheek. [Good spar. Let's do it again tomorrow!]

  Luka grabbed the animal by his neck and tossed Bel away.

  Chapter 14

  Secrets of Divine Summoning

  The pair continued their harsh training for a year and a half without a trace of Alectos. Luka didn't mind because he had Bel as a companion in this otherwise dreary environment. The apartment provided the duo with their living necessities, and the storage chest had enough food to last for decades.

  As a change of pace, Luka began to incorporate his magic into his daily spars. But surprisingly, his partner possessed many tricks to counter Luka's spells. For example, Bel used a burst of speed to smash into the poor boy and physically interrupt Luka's casting. Furthermore, the kid received backlash from such disruption, and he became dizzy and stunned momentarily.

  Against a veteran fighter like Bel, Luka's condition was equivalent to A-KOs! Thankfully, the demon held back and patiently waited for his pupil to revive. At the same time, Bel believed that forcing Luka to endure magical backlash in this manner would benefit Luka for two reasons. First, this situation caused the youth to reconsider his stratagem. In particular, Luka had never thought about how to cast his spells without enemy interruption. These episodes with Bel forced the child to increase his situational awareness and pinpoint the perfect timing to cast spells.

  Second, Bel applied the break-and-mend theory of Demonic Arts training against spell disruptions. In other words, the more often Luka received magical backlash, the more his mind acclimated to the discomfort and dizziness. Bel's ultimate (and secret) goal was to make his pupil develop resistance to spell disruptions altogether!

  If Alectos were around and realized what Bel was doing, the God of Magic would immediately boot the demon from the magic realm! Because the familiar was very reckless with his half-knowledge. The problem with magic backlash was that each occurrence created a risk of the magic caster losing his mind and becoming an imbecile!

  Fortunately, Luka adjusted his tactics quickly, and he suffered only a half-dozen magic backlashes in total. The mage developed numerous tactics to avoid spell disruptions. For example, Luka discovered that he could gather light or spatial elements (albeit not simultaneously) and store them within his body until the mage spent them to cast a spell. By pre-gathering the ingredient in question, Luka decreased his casting time by more than half!

  Second, the boy learned to spell cast while moving! In the past, Luka had to remain in one spot as he cast spells. In doing so, he became a sitting duck for Bel's attacks. Again, Alectos would be amazed if he witnessed his pupil do this because the "cardinal rule" of casting required the mage to stay still since a minimal distraction could disrupt the casting. In a sense, Luka benefitted from Alectos' hands-off teachin
g style because the student avoided these rigid rules and thought outside the box.

  The most significant advantage in moving physically while casting spells was that Luka could dodge and evade attacks! These movements negated rogues and archers' orthodox tactics, who typically used projectiles to disrupt magic spells.

  Alectos finally showed up one day. He secretly observed Luka's spar with Bel and felt astonished by his pupil's movement while casting. At this point, Alectos felt ambivalent about Bel's influence on Luka. The teacher revealed himself. "Luka, I'm glad to see that you're working hard. Now, show me your light magic," he ordered.

  The student promptly demonstrated his spells: Light Ball, Light Bolt, Light Barrier, Light Cure, Light Armor, Illusion, and Doppelganger. This last spell created a clone of Luka with 10% of the original's health.

  However, Alectos wasn't a passive observer during this process. The teacher interjected periodically to conduct a variety of tests. For example, Alectos asked Luka to adjust the barrier from a tiny bullet to a giant dome the size of a football field. The master threw a few magic missiles while his pupil received armor protection.

  The god was visibly impressed by Luka's high-level control of the light elements to create his illusions. Finally, he marveled at the boy's ability to use Doppelganger because it demonstrated the student's ability to convert light into matter, or in this case, a flesh-and-blood replica of the caster. Unfortunately, Luka could maintain his clone for only ten seconds.

  "Excellent, lad! I'm glad that you worked diligently in learning light magic. As a reward, I will teach you a few more light spells." Alectos raised a finger, and a ray of light struck his pupil between the eyebrows.

  Luka closed his eyes as the warmth entered his mind. He appeared in an inner realm and watched as Alectos demonstrated Light Burst, Holy Hammer, Banish Evil, Holy Seal, Turn Undead, Ray of Enfeeblement, Create Food and Water, and Command. The child was impressed with Light Burst, an Area-of-Effect (AoE) spell that inflicted tremendous light damage.