"Professionals have standards"

or, at least they should

Rev attacked first

he specialized in negative frequency Arcana, and so he used various spells of that nature

meanwhile, while as not skilled in magic, Homic kept dashing past Rev's shots to get toward him, but Rev managed to keep his range and fire off more shots at him

this was all happening within a space determined by Vol, as he had erected some posts with Arcana out of the ground marking out the circular area

it was medium sized, larger than the average fighting ring but smaller than an open sport field

Rev continued to fire off shot after shot of umbral energy, the negative frequency's equivalent to fire, by forming it into a gun-like shape and shooting the energy out in "bullets"

nonetheless, Homic was not a slow guy, so he eventually caught up with Rev using physical enhancement magic and some earth magic

Homic hit him down to the ground, jumped on him, and prepared his sword to cut off Rev's head when Vol spoke up

"that is enough" he said in a loud voice

"oh really?" Homic said "I don't think so"

just then, Homic's group of about 20-30 demons jumped Flam and Vol, who were watching the battle, detaining them and holding them still by grabbing their limbs

Flam, clearly very uncomfortable, was about to break free, but Vol stopped her

"kill it is"

he nodded at Rev, who was looking up at Vol while on the ground

when Homic looked back at the Rev he was supposedly pinning down, he saw nothing

instead, he heard a voice from behind him

"do you surrender?"

Rev had used spacial magic to teleport behind Homic and point the Arcanic equivalent of a double barrel shotgun at the back of his head

Homic's eyes were filled with fear, and then anger

he swiftly turned around and knocked the Arcana out of his hand, dissipating it, and began to charge while swinging his blade around

Rev began to teleport short distances to avoid Homic's blows, shooting energy wherever he could, but never landing a solid blow on Homic's flesh

then, he decided to stop running

he knew that after this, the two would probably be next, and he had not seen Vol in true combat ever since that day, so he did not know if those two could handle Homic, much less his men

using the last bit of his magic and energy left within him, he formed a umbral sniper rifle using the energy, and shot right down the lane at his heart, using his lens for aim

it shattered Homic's blade and hit him square in the chest, knocking him down

exhausted, he fell down on the ground backwards

then, to his dread, Homic got up

bloodied and with a shattered blade, he got up still

the very bottom portion of his blade was still intact, so he began to walk towards Rev with a fire in his eyes

he got to Rev, who was trying his best, and punched him in the head, knocking him back down

with anger and malice in his voice, Homic spoke

"you did a number on me, you bastard. now, as your punishment for existence, you get what you deserve: death"

Flam began to struggle, but the soldiers grip tightened, and Homic looked over

"after you two people are gone, I'll take the girl as my own. She looks a bit small, but i bet she'll grow and make me some fine children" Homic laughed

he stopped laughing when his hand with the broken blade was severed from his body

Vol, who had previously been observing, decided that now was the best time to intervene

Vol stood next to him, hand pointed to his head

"that was unnecessary"

Homic barely even had time to turn before Vol punched him into a pillar of earth, which Homic broke with his body's impact against it

"ah" Homic said, coughing up blood, "its you"

Homic continued, seeming to be on the verge of death, "one day, nine years ago, I went out on a human village pillaging with the previous leader of our town. he had took his daughter to do a human sacrifice ritual, a common rite for children of chief demons."

"but on that day, a power emerged like none before"

"it slaughtered our army, leaving only 30 men out of the over 200 that had been their before alive"

"i survived that ordeal, and reported it to our village"

"no one believed me, until my comrades", he stopped for a second to cough up more blood, " also reported the same thing"

"and to think you would still be here nine years later"

"time flies, doesn't it?"

Vol knew he had failed to kill them all, but he didn't know that the effects would have such a butterfly effect

"it is time for you to end" he said, pointing a high energy pistol at Homic, "any objections?"

"not really" Homic responded, "i was soundly defeated by you, and therefore my life is in your hands"

"I apologize, that was not meant for you"

while Homic was confused, Vol turned his head to face Rev and Flam, who was helping Rev to his feet

pained, Rev spoke as he approached the crumpled demon

"Do you truly not regret your actions?"

Homic became filled with rage, "their lives were my right, you fu-

Homic never never got to finish his sentence

Vol had used his pistol to blown a hole in Homic's chest, obliterating essentially everything except his head and the lower part of his legs

Both Rev and Flam were in in awe

without missing a beat, Vol used concentrated solar magic to form small, high energy lasers from his fingertips and quickly cut out the arcana crystal from within Homic's now body-less head

every creature, as Vol had discovered after his numerous years of research, has a crystal in the center of their brain that allows them to harness and use the unique energy located in this world to form arcana. It also held the memories and emotions of the user, so Vol theorized it was the container for a person's "soul", but he had yet to actually prove such a fact without the help of someone like Deus.

"do you know why you lost?" asked Vol

"because he was stronger than me, obviously"

"not stronger, smarter"

"smarter?" rev asked, confused

"up until now, you've faced 2 different enemies: beasts, and me going easy on you"

"now, you just fought your third: a person"

Vol flicked the crystal at Rev with his thumb (like a coin), and Rev caught it after it bounced around a bit in his hands

"why are you giving this to me?" Rev asked, "I lost, so you should get it"

"it is because you lost that i am giving this to you" Vol answered, "why would I withhold strength from those who need it, especially you two?"

"how will a crystal make me strong?"

"you can use it to make stuff out of it, like your handy lens or Flam's object"

Flam took out her object, now reverted back to it's anomalous shape, and looked at it

"you had to kill a guy for this?"

"no, I use the one's from beasts to make your equipment, including your clothes you have on. they are embedded in the patterns on your clothes."

Rev, following the logic here, then asked Vol, "so you're gonna teach us how to make arcanic tools out of this?"

"exactly right"

"cool"