Modern World Warlock

As the members of the GTS and the Jade Dragons kept exchanging information, the siblings asked their Granny why she seemed so upset about the cathedral.

Imera explained that all Sacred Beasts had a grudge against the Pantheon of Four, as they were the ones who sealed the 'true' gods of Terra.

Sacred Beasts were a direct creation of God Arkanos and Goddess Discordia, so when the four godchildren turned against their parents and sealed them, many of the ancient races started to resent the pantheon.

During her explanation, Imera turned to Dante, wondering how he managed to live for so long.

It wasn't uncommon for warlocks to extend their lifespans with demon contracts, but Imera could tell that Dante had used another method.

"Heh, it's a pretty long story…" Dante replied.

"We have time…" Imera said with a gentle smile.

When Dante told her the story of Goddess Aelara descending and giving the warlock and his party the "Ageless Blessing," Imera angrily clenched her fists, knowing that the blessing was just a trap for the goddess to control her own soldiers.

Dante and his party were aware of that fact, but they couldn't deny the goddess at the time, or they would've been killed.

"I'm sorry, little warlock…" Imera said with a somber tone.

Dante shook his head, telling the woman that there was nothing to apologize for, but he still appreciated her sentiment.

"Honestly, it's quite relieving to know that you have been here all this time… I thought you were dead," the warlock continued.

After the group kept talking for a little while, Imera inquired about Megan and Zac's abilities, as she could sense a strong pool of umbra flowing from them.

Dante explained that he had made a contract with them, using soulstones that had the remnants of hundreds of different demons he had absorbed in his lifetime.

Imera found it interesting and praised Dante for his idea, prompting the warlock to ask about the mana control of the two leaders of the GTS.

"That girl is an elementalist, right?" Dante asked, shocking Lindsey, as nobody outside her family had ever said that to her.

"And you… Hmmm… A fire wizard?" Dante continued, glancing at Curtis.

The group was silent for a brief second, with Imera breaking into a light chuckle, praising the warlock for his insight.

"How about a little spar session between them?" Imera commented.

"Eh?" Zac hummed with confusion, wondering if they were talking about him.

After the group spent a little more time listening to Dante and Imera talking about issues from another world, they were guided to a room in the center of the mansion.

In the middle of the room, an elevator chamber wholly surrounded by glass walls opened up for them, taking them to an underground room beneath the mansion.

When they arrived, the Jade Dragons noticed that it looked similar to the lab at Camille's skyscraper, and they even had their own version of the MET room for training.

Imera wanted to see how her grandkid, Curtis, would hold himself against someone like Zac, so she asked them both to step into the training room.

The space was expansive, so they had a lot of room to move around. However, there were no obstacles to use for cover, which Zac usually relied upon during his fights.

As the two men stepped inside and locked eyes, Curtis maintained a serious frown, while Zac seemed a bit nervous, a drop of sweat coming down his temple.

'I didn't know they would make me fight if I accompanied them…' Zac thought, crying in his mind.

"Where is your weapon?" Curtis asked, his tone slightly arrogant.

"Uhh, I left it at the hotel… It's fine, though—since you don't have a weapon either," Zac replied.

The redhead didn't mean for his words to sound condescending. In fact, he was trying to be chivalrous by showing that if his opponent had no weapon, then he wouldn't use one either.

However, Curtis completely misunderstood his tone. ('Does he think he doesn't need a weapon to beat me!?') he thought.

After the two combatants were settled in their spots, standing a little over five meters away from each other, Imera signaled the start of the fight.

Curtis raised his palm and pointed it at Zac, making a luminous, arcane circle appear in front of him.

'Woah…' Zac thought, admiring the beauty of the magic circle.

"Fireball," Curtis muttered, making the redhead widen his eyes.

From the arcane circle before the blond man, fire accumulated rapidly into a projectile the size of a football and was shot straight at Zac.

The spell seemingly hit the redhead straight-on, producing a cloud of smoke at the point of impact that prevented the spectators from looking at Zac.

"Hmph," Curtis scoffed, lowering his hand and thinking the battle was over.

Suddenly, a loud clap could be heard coming from the cloud of smoke, dispersing it away and showing Zac standing in the center of the impact, with his forearm slightly burned from the spell.

'That was so cool! An actual fireball spell!' Zac thought after receiving the attack, unaware that his opponent was shocked at his resilience.

"What the hell are you?" Curtis asked his opponent.

Zac raised an eyebrow in utter confusion, wondering why Curtis looked so frustrated after casting such an excellent spell.

"H-how did he take that fireball head-on?" Lindsey asked her Granny.

Imera smirked. "That's because that boy is a berserker… Although, he seems quite unaware of his own strength," she said.

Lindsey remembered the times she and her brother were practicing magic, and Curtis' fireball spell would always explode and leave gaping holes in trees before they burned down.

Nevertheless, Zac had taken the same spell head-on, using his forearm to protect himself and barely getting a scratch.

The girl wondered aloud if her brother had used less mana, afraid of killing his opponent. Still, Imera denied it, saying that it was the same amount of power and that the redhead was simply too resilient.

'What the hell…?' Lindsey thought, staring at Zac with a small hint of fear inside of her.

Contrary to the confidence that his opponents were perceiving from him, Zac delved into his thoughts for a brief moment.

'I should thank him later for going easy on me… A real fireball would probably kill me instantly,' Zac thought, utterly unaware of the actual situation.