Ivory approached the site of the old, weary hut. Its boards creaked as Gizli slowly made her way down the stairs that led from the door to the ground below. The Occultist’s feet met with the dry, cracked earth below. 

 

Gizli turned her eyes to Ivory. “You foolish girl…”

 

Ivory stared back at Gizli with her piercing eyes. Her pace did not slow and only increased. Gizli’s eyes began to widen with shock as she shook her head. 

 

“Such determination is admirable but absolute suicide,” Gizli muttered. Her gaze turned to Ivory’s new blade. “Do you think a shiny new toy will absolve you of your decision?” 

 

Ivory wasted no time in sparing words with the old witch. She lifted her tome and allowed it to hover in the air next to her from the help of her occult magic. Next, she began twirling her rapier in the air around her as two dark balls of occult energy formed. 

 

Gizli cracked a smile and lowered her head. “You’ll die here today girl.” 

 

A force of wind blew through the field between them. With it, came another sudden rain that began to shower the area. 

 

“Gloom Bolts!” Ivory sent them flying towards her class master.

 

Gizli’s feet began to rise from the ground as a dark aura swelled around her. With a sudden twisting twirl of her body, she spun around and repelled the Gloom Bolts with ease. Afterwards, Gizli shot forth with great speed, flying through the air. The velocity of her trajectory formed an air bubble around her, preventing the rain from touching her.

 

Ivory waved her empty hand around, forcing the tome to place itself in front of her. Ivory called upon her Black Orb and began to form it from the tome. Darkness swelled around while it came into a swirling mass of black mana. 

 

“No one can reject the Great Basilisk and yet still hope to obtain the blessing it offers us!” Gizli’s hands began to enshroud with more of the dark aura that surrounded her. It boiled and formed into two giant spheres around her fists. During her approach, Ivory shot the Black Orb towards her but Gizli simply punched through it with little effort.

 

The Black Orb split open and dissipated into nothing. Gizli burst through it in full motion and as she did, Ivory prepared herself. The Occultist found herself surrounded by a mass of tiny black orbs when she made it through. The Black Orb may have not done much to hinder Gizli but it served well in blocking her vision. 

 

“Doom Particles!” Ivory closed her hand, clenching it into a fist. 

 

The tiny black orbs followed with her motion, each of them shooting towards Gizli. Each one detonated upon impact, blasting the class master with wave after wave of occult magic. 

 

Ivory wasted no time in following up with another attack. She knew that this one ability was not enough to defeat her. Ivory lifted her rapier towards the sky and began twirling it in a circular motion. A dark fog began to appear around Gizli. It was Ivory’s Darkness spell and it was working in unison with the Doom Particles to cause a constant stream of damage going on Gizli.

 

“The Great Basilisk does not exist for me to worship it like I’m some sort of weak minded fool who needs a deity to become great,” Ivory cried out. “It was placed upon this land so that I may siphon what powers from it that I may need. I am not required to bow before it to obtain its power. I merely need to take what is rightfully mine!”

 

A cackling ensued from within the area and a bursting force of energy followed. Ivory went tumbling back onto the ground below as she watched her magic dissipate.

 

Gizli arose and hovered higher into the air as she began laughing maniacally. “Do you really believe that? If so then there is truly no hope for you. Even if I wanted to, I cannot teach someone like you. You’re far too stubborn and arrogant.”

 

Ivory lifted herself up from the ground and sternly gazed back at her. “I will not serve that horrid beast and I will not answer to you. I’ll defeat you and free those souls from the jar, then I’ll take the power of the Great Basilisk for myself, with force.”

 

Gizli bursted out with a crying laughter. The sounds of her raspy cackling filled the air. “AHAHAHA! Your soul isn’t even fit to join that jar. I’ll kill you here and now, child. Watch as your very life slips from your grasp!”

 

A nova of occult energy shot out from Gizli as she raised her hands in the sky. Ivory went sweeping back as the energy carried her.

 

“Feel the power of my Ruinous Quasar!” Gizli shouted.

 

Ivory grinned as she stuck out her tome, placing it between her and the pulse of energy. A bright light crackled in the air, pushing the dark energy around Ivory and repelling it away from her. 

 

Gizli snarled, visibly becoming frustrated. “Your cheap tricks won’t save you everytime, girl! Eventually they will fail you and when they do, that will be your end!”

 

Ivory began to summon a dark aura of her own around her. Her feet began to ascend from the earth below as she hovered in the air just as Gizli did.

 

“Ah, so you have finally achieved your Occultist’s Reverence form,” Gizli noted. “It’s worthy of recognition but that’s about all it’ll get you with me. You may have just now unlocked it, but I’ve mastered it.”

 

“Just unlocked it?” Ivory smiled. “I’ve been saving it for the right occasion.”

 

“Aww, how sweet,” Gizli mocked her. “It’s almost a shame that I’m going to kill you now.”

 

“Enough talk from you.” Ivory launched forward with her rapier held back. “Lingering Death!” 

 

Gizli looked on as Ivory’s weapon became enshrouded in a separate aura of darkness. 

 

The adventurer put her tome in front of her, as if she were preparing to cast a spell. It seemed as if Ivory were using the rapier to catch Gizli’s attention, then follow up with a spell from her tome to get a quick hit on her.

 

“Thought you could fool me with a sleight of hand, eh?” Gizli put her hands up and formed a barrier in front of her. “Let’s see your spell get through my Dire Palisade!”

 

Ivory grinned as she quickly spun around the barrier while her tome remained in front of Gizli. With the Occultist’s eyes locked firmly on the relic, Ivory appeared from behind Gizli and slashed her rapier across her back. 

 

Gizli’s barrier immediately dissipated but she quickly spun around and shouted the words, “Calamity Shatter!”

 

A burst of occult energy quickly formed and exploded in front of Ivory, sending her flying back towards the ground yet again.

 

“Foolish girl!” Gizli was appearing to become more and more frustrated by Ivory’s actions. “That was a slick move but foolish nonetheless. What good will a melee attack do coming from you? Even with your boost from Lingering Death, it is still not enough to break through my defenses.”

 

“That’s what you think.” Ivory arose to her feet once more, still determined to keep fighting. “My melee attacks can be just as deadly as my spells with the right circumstances.”

 

Gizli shook her head. “No, you fool. An Occultist’s true power comes from their spell casting. Melee attacks are merely a utility for us to utilize.”

 

“We’ll see about that,” Ivory remarked. “Black Orb!”

 

“We’ve been through this before, girl!” Gizli shot forth with great speed. “I’ll burst right through it and send you straight into oblivion as I destroy you with my Black Hole ability!”

 

A swirling mass of dark energy began to form in the palm of Gizli’s hand. The Occultist tore through the Black Orb as if it were a simple task. She brought her hand up as the dark energy swelled into a giant mass of darkness. It appeared like a great black sphere and Gizli launched it towards Ivory. 

 

“Dark Arrow!” Ivory shot forth her spell into the Black Hole but it simply absorbed the elementary spell.

 

“Fool! Now die as it consumes you!” Gizli cackled.

 

The black sphere moved towards Ivory. However, another grin crept upon her face. “Dark Arrow!”

 

Ivory began launching several more of them with each one aimed at the sphere. The spells collided with the Black Hole one by one. 

 

“What are you doing?” Gizli shook her head in confusion. “Your spells do nothing my Black Hole! You’re only wasting your time.”

 

Again and again, Ivory shot her Dark Arrows at the target. Though each spell seemingly had no effect on the target, they were simple Heretic spells that consumed little mana. Ivory could keep this up for a while.

 

Gizli recoiled as she noticed the effect that the spells were having on her Black Hole. “Very clever! So your Dark Arrows may not be able to stop my ability but they serve to slow it down tremendously.”

 

Ivory smiled as the Black Hole began to slow to a crawl, barely moving in the space between her and it. However, Gizli was not amused and began to form a strategy of her own. The Occultist pushed her arm out and began to project a dark beam from her hand. 

 

“Devastation Ray!” Gizli shouted.

 

The beam of darkness struck the back of the Black Hole, increasing its momentum again. Ivory was forced to react with a myriad of more Dark Arrows, however they were of little effect against the force of the Devastation Ray. It projected the sphere towards her with an increasing amount of speed. 

 

“Doom Particles!” Ivory formed the spell in the space between her and the giant sphere.

 

“Try all you want but it won’t be enough!” Gizli mockingly shouted at her. “Now stare back at the approaching hands of death!”

 

The Doom Particles began to explode one by one as the Black Hole passed through them. The particles did little except a visual effect as their little came with small pockets of smoke as they usually did. Ivory utilized this guise to evade the Black Hole, dodging far off to the side and out of sight of Gizli. 

 

Though it was foolish to get within such close range of her, Ivory rushed towards Gizli. The adventurer readied her rapier and lashed out at the Occultist. Ivory’s blade slashed across her side, halting Gizli’s Devastation Ray.

 

The Black Hole struck the ground and began to explode with a massive burst of energy. Both Gizli and Ivory were pushed back by the winds stirred up from the explosion.

 

Gizli reared up her leg and kicked Ivory square in the stomach, sending her flying off in another direction. “You like melee, huh?”

 

Ivory clashed with the ground, rolling multiple times over the hard rocky surface. “Ugh!”

 

“I’ll give you the beatdown of a lifetime if that’s what you desire so greatly!” Gizli burst forth with great speed again, raising her fists as they power up with a dark aura. “Your Lingering Death is nothing compared to my Necrotic Demise!”

 

The aura around Gizli’s hands turned to a light green smoke and her fists had a transparent image of a skull wrapped around them. She began pummeling Ivory as she approached the adventurer.

 

Ivory took on a barrage of strikes from Gizli. The adventurer attempted to repel the attacks with her tome but only a few could be blocked. While she struggled to fend off the oncoming blows, Ivory struck back with her rapier. Each slash of her blade was absorbed by Gizli’s dark aura. The Occultist took each strike head on so that she may continue to land blows on Ivory.

 

In Gizli’s mind, she knew that her Necrotic Demise empowered her enough to a point that Ivory could never match. With each strike, Ivory was hit with a wave of occult energy that propelled through her entire body. 

 

“Do you feel that, girl?!” Gizli asked. “Do you feel the power that I hold?”

 

As the Occultist brought another fist across the air, the green smoke began to fade from Gizli’s fist. Another strike landed on Ivory but this time, the force of the blow was much less severe. A few more came swinging towards Ivory but she simply repelled what she could and countered in return.

 

“What is this?” Gizli stepped back and looked down at her hands. The aura around had begun to fade just as the green smoke did. “What is happening?”

 

“It’s about time it took effect,” Ivory muttered as she hunched over, struggling to catch her breath. “I was waiting for that…”

 

“Waiting for what?” Gizli looked back up at her with a shocked demeanor. “What did you do to me?!”

 

Ivory grinned and raised her rapier up in front of her. “Gizli, I’d like to introduce you to my new weapon…this here is called Mazael’s Needle.”

 

Gizli’s eyes lit up with surprise. “No! It can’t be!”

 

“It is,” Ivory remarked. “This blade will be your undoing, Gizli. With every strike of the blade, I have sapped more and more mana from you. Not only that but you’ve been consuming quite a bit yourself to fuel your spells. It appears your mana pool has finally run dry.”

 

Gizli raised her hands to the air and attempted to form another spell. “Black Hole!”

 

However, this time instead of a giant black sphere forming in the sky, a brief hint of dark energy sparkled in the air. Nothing would form for Gizli as her spell had failed. Without any mana, she could not rely on her spells.

 

“It’s like you said,” Ivory began, “an Occultist relies on their spells. Without it, they’re pretty much useless. You’re done, Gizli. Now release the souls from your jar of imprisonment and surrender your power to me.”

 

Gizli slowly began to waddle over to her hut which was still nearby. She reached her hand into the cold dark area and pulled the jar from it. The mad class master turned around to face Ivory, holding the jar out towards her.

 

“You mean this one here?” Gizli asked. 

 

Ivory watched as Gizli removed the lid from the jar, revealing the shining contents within. The Occultist swirled it around so that it whirled into a circular motion inside the jar. 

 

“All those souls…” Ivory shook her head in disbelief. “To think they would have been trapped here forever if not for my actions here…”

 

“I wouldn’t celebrate your victory so soon, girl!” Gizli raised the jar to her mouth and began to gulp down the contents within.

 

“No!!” Ivory shouted back at her. She reached out to take it from her but it was too late. 

 

Gizli threw the jar to the side, smashing it upon the ground. It was empty as she had drunk every bit of it. Gizli wiped the excess from her mouth and smiled back at Ivory. 

 

“Delicious!” Gizli said as she placed her hands on her hips. 

 

Ivory began to shudder as her rage began to boil inside her. “H-how many?”

 

“How many what?” Gizli asked in return. “Speak up girl.”

 

“How…many…souls did you just doom?” Ivory questioned. “How many of them were lost to the abyss by your evil deeds?!”

 

Gizli began to cackle wildly. “None, you absolute fool!”

 

“Wh-what?” Ivory wondered. “What do you mean?”

 

“I mean that not a single soul was doomed!” Gizli answered.

 

“But you said-!” Ivory began but was quickly interrupted.

 

“I know what I said!” Gizli snapped. “And there wasn’t a single soul within that jar. It was werazo milk. I collected it myself this morning. Stuff goes bad if you let it sit for too long though so I chugged it.”

 

“Wait, so you mean to tell me that it wasn't a jar of souls?” Ivory asked for clarification. “But why would you tell me that?”

 

“To push you to greater heights,” Gizli responded. “Too many of you kids come through these swamplands expecting an easy pass but that is never what they receive from me. You see, child, it is not my duty to just allow anyone to obtain ascension to a higher class. This world is full of many dangers that a vast amount of adventurers are simply not prepared for. Everyday, I’m approached by many would-be Occultists that seek to further themselves in the occult arts. However, in my day I have turned many of them away. This is not done for selfish reasons. No…this is done for their own benefit. There are far greater challenges that await them in this world than me and if they cannot best me in combat then they are far from ready. However, on this day you have managed to overcome the obstacles that lay before you.”

 

Gizli turned and entered her hut, disappearing into the darkness of it. After a brief moment, she reappeared with a dusty book. The Occultist began brushing the dust off it before reaching out towards Ivory to hand it to her.

 

“It won’t do you much good since you’ve already seen most of my abilities but the few that you haven’t seen you can learn about from this,” Gizli suggested. “This is a tome that details the many abilities of the Occultist. It is given to those that I deem worthy of becoming an Occultist.”

 

“You mean that I passed?” Ivory looked back at her with a confused expression. “I did it?”

 

“Of course you did,” Gizli replied. “You beat me, did you not? Besides, you need my permission to advance anyways. Without it, the Adventurer’s Guild would never recognize you as an Occultist. Now take the tome. You’ve earned it, kid.”

 

Ivory took the tome and began to flip through its pages. Many of its pages were filled with runic symbols and depictions of dark and malevolent beings. Within the tome were instructions on how to perform a variety of occult spells.

 

“But you said I could never achieve it without accepting the Great Basilisk,” Ivory mentioned.

 

“I said you could never beat me without doing so,” Gizli claimed. “However, you still managed to defeat me despite the odds. You may not have the blessing of the Great Basilisk but you have shown great ability and skill on this day. While mastering the Occultist class will be far more difficult without it, one such as you may still be able to forge such a path.”

 

“So what happens now?” Ivory closed the tome and placed it within her bag.

 

“Whatever you desire,” Gizli answered. “There is nothing left for me to do for you. As of this moment, I recognize you no longer as Ivory the Heretic. From henceforth you shall be known as Ivory the Occultist!”

 

Ivory smiled and looked back towards the dead forest that led back to town. The dead trees began to shift and sway in the wind. The lone adventurer had journeyed through dangerous and troublesome roads to get here. Ivory had fought hard and won recognition from her class master. With her newfound class and knowledge, she was ready to depart back to Bea Lardi, where she could meet back up with her companions.