William looked over at Victoria with a cool but serious expression and asked:
"Victoria Nelson, right? If I am remembering correctly, you're ranked 16th in our year. I didn't know that you took a mission to be stationed in the Never Ending Battlefield. I'm guessing that you're also competing for the inheritance, am I right?"
Victoria silently nodded her head in agreement? William then continued speaking:
"Looking at your condition, you must of had a tough fight. So, is the inheritance real or not?"
Victoria sighed and replied:
"I have not been able to confirm that yet. I've been trying to deal with Nick Capitol over there ever since I met him but he is a hard stone. I recognize you too by the way. Bright light William Rollins, 2nd ranked in our year and second in strength only to Patrice Suez."
William nodded in understanding but also showed a little displeasure at being called 'bright light' and 'second in strength'. He then looked towards Nick who was putting some effort into recovering his magic energy by subtly meditating but Nick stopped as soon as he realized that the newcomer had turned his attention towards him again. William spoke to Victoria while keeping his eyes on Nick:
"I was in the midst of a battle of my own before you appeared and I will admit that it was getting a little too uncomfortable for my tastes but you provided me with the opportunity that I needed to recover so thanks for that."
Victoria felt weird that William was thanking her since she had not intended to help him and since the man that caused their current circumstance had severely wounded her. She replied:
"Whatever, I'm going to kill that man before doing anything else. You can join me if you like...wait, you said that you were in the midst of a battle. Where is your opponent?"
William smiled bitterly and as if in response, the temperature within the surrounding area rapidly fell to below zero as a white mist spread all around. Nick's right eyelid twitched when he felt the intense cold, thinking:
(Another troublesome Magician. I don't know how much longer I can carry on for.)
Nick looked at his two hands that were slightly trembling due to having been nearly electrocuted to death several times and instantly grew sick of the current state of things.
(I have to kill these people quickly.)
Before anyone could make a move , however, a thick layer of ice spread over the ground throughout the battlefield but avoided each Magician. A young man with silver hair soon walked out of the raised dust cloud that had frozen in many places, creating a thin ice wall, and glared at the other three Magicians with bright blue eyes; he quickly snapped his fingers and the thin ice wall all around then shattered and fell to the ground. Uriah spoke indifferently:
"You are all going to die here."
Nick raised his right eyebrow and responded:
"My thoughts exactly."
He quickly spread his special space throughout the surroundings and enveloped all three of the other Magicians, teleporting Uriah to Victoria's flank and then teleporting William closer to himself; Nick's magic energy reserves decreased by a few thousand magical units as a result.
(This light path Magician gives me a bad feeling.)
Nick quickly formed the laws of an untested spell that he had developed during the last few days within his mindscape and cast it:
(Dominate The Space.)
Nick's special space suddenly receded into his body and then his magic power burst out in all directions within milliseconds, subtly influencing the space around him in all directions.
William and Uriah frowned since they both had a keen sense of magic energy and they felt that Nick's actions did not bode well for them. Nick swung Pressure Piece with a downward motion toward William and an arc of crimson magic power formed where he swung and then launched forward.
(Dominating Splice.)
William felt the intensity of the strange magic power and was about to cast Instant Light in order to dodge the attack but the space around him unexpectedly warped, disrupting his plans and harming his intentions; he suddenly appeared less than a meter beside Uriah, exactly where Victoria had been standing. Uriah snorted and swung his right hand at William.
(Ice Barrage)
A curved mass of ice with a uniformly spiked outer layer was quickly formed starting at Uriah's right side, emerging from the layer of ice on the ground and it moved towards William rapidly, reaching him in moments and crashing into him. The ice spikes stabbed into William's right arm and upper right abdomen but at that moment, he was able to cast Instant Light successfully using his left hand and so he fled to a position eight meters above Uriah.
Meanwhile...
Victoria appeared in William's previous position near Nick; she internally cursed Nick for his actions.
(Damn it, this bastard. Because of my injuries and my current low magic energy reserves, his space magic can teleport me more easily than before. This man uses different types of magic so skillfully. It is really unusual.)
Victoria had already noticed Nick's use of soul magic as she had sufficient experience with fighting Magicians who specialized in it and was honestly mystified by Nick's equally skilled use of space magic; she also did not fail to notice that he mostly battled with a sword in hand.
She internally snorted and countered Nick's incoming attack by clapping both her hands together, at which point a flash of blue light enveloped her and the crimson arc.
(Thunder And Peace)
The crimson arc was rapidly bombarded with tens of thousands of volts of blue electricity but remained unaffected by the destabilizing influence as it advanced towards Victoria. Victoria was surprised by the resilience of Nick's method and unfortunately for her, she did not have the time to properly form another counter, so within milliseconds, the crimson arc sliced into her torso, starting at her right shoulder and ending at the middle of the right side of her abdomen.
Victoria spat out nearly a dozen mouthfuls of blood in response and fell to the ground with her new wound gushing out with blood. Almost three seconds later, streaks of dull crimson light appeared around the area of her new injury and quickly severed the affected parts of her body away from the rest.
The life within Victoria's eyes dissipated thereafter and she then transformed into specks of white light before disappearing. William witnessed the entire course of events from his elevated position but did not feel too much pity.
(At least I know a little more about what I am dealing with.)
He quickly cast Healing Grace on his right arm and abdomen which then glowed with a soft white light and within moments, the light disappeared, revealing his fully healed body.
Uriah's right eyelid twitched at sensing William's healed state.
(Healing magic again? His healing spell is very effective and it is fast acting. No wonder he was able to overcome the effects of my Absolute Freeze, Persistent Influence so quickly. There is a good chance that I'll run out of magic energy before I can kill this guy since he is both faster than me and has that annoying healing spell. Then again, that white top over there has an interesting space path method...)
Uriah turned his attention to Nick and shouted:
"Hey you, if we don't kill this light path Magician quickly, then we will both die, so let's work together for the time being!"
Nick shrugged his shoulders and replied:
"Works for me."
William smiled bitterly at hearing that. As he was about to respond, however, a loud bird like cry was heard coming from above them. William frowned.
(A magic beast? No magic beast below rank 3 should dare to approach a fight between Magicians this intense.)
Nick and Uriah also heard the distant cry and looked towards the source. Above them, flying close to the few clouds that could be seen from their position, was a relatively large bird like magic beast with four wings and blue feathers that covered its entire body except its face where its bronze complexioned skin was visible; neither of the three Magicians had noticed it before because they were too focused on the battle amongst themselves.
Jessie eyed the three men like a bird of prey and upon noticing that their attention had shifted towards him for the moment, he acted ruthlessly. A deep, azure aura quickly emerged from each of his feathers and the air him swirled violently with his slightly curved, pitch black beak as the eye of the disturbance.
An azure colored whirlwind was quickly generated, swirling around Jessie and from the perspective of the three Magicians on the ground, the magic beast now resembled an out of place twister.
Jessie immediately dived down towards the three Magicians with bullet like speed that displaced the clouds near him as they were affected by his incredible tail wind.
Uriah suddenly felt greatly distressed and reasoned:
(The magic power coming from that magic beast is too fierce; my magic sense is sounding alarms within my mindscape. I should...)
Before Uriah could finish his thought, however, he witnessed the azure whirlwind suddenly disappear and less than one second later, Uriah felt a light wind brush past his cheek before a heart wrenching bombardment of pain struck him.
"What the fuck!"
Nick and William, who was still hovering above Uriah some distance away, heard Uriah's distress and opened their eyes wide in surprise that the magic beast had struck so swiftly.
Uriah turned his head to look at his left side where his arm should have been but only found an ice patched stump at the end of his left shoulder. He quickly turned around and saw the magic beast, who was no longer enveloped by the azure whirlwind, flying away with a white complexioned arm within its talons' grasps.
The right arm quickly turned into solid ice and shattered. The magic beast tilted its head in confusion as a result but then quickly disregarded the event and flew upwards to its previous altitude, circling the three wary Magicians.
Jessie internally chuckled when he saw the rage filled expression on Uriah's face.
(That's payback for destroying my Blind Griffin Transformation's wings and claws before, you ice-for-brains. I didn't think that I'd meet you again so soon but it's funny how things work out. It's too bad that the whirlwind raptor needs to cry out before it uses its signature diving attack or I might have been able to kill one of them unawares.)
Uriah held his shoulder stump with hatred within his gaze as he kept a wary eye on the flying magic beast. The pain from his injury had only lasted a moment before fading completely due to his ice flesh talent. His shoulder stump had already frozen over and he was left with only his right hand to continue fighting. He reasoned internally:
(Things have gone south and that magic beast is an unpredictable factor. I have to retreat.)
Nick became uneasy as a result of the magic beast's speedy assault, thinking:
(Would I have been able to come out any better if that magic beast had targeted me? In any case, I don't recognize that specie of magic beast from any of the books that I've read so I have to be ready for anything.)
William currently levitated in midair and had put his hands into his pants pockets to keep them warm after seeing that Uriah became injured by the magic beast. He did not care about what its intentions were and was not the least bit scared of it but he had his suspicions:
(That magic beast is a whirlwind raptor which is a powerful rank 2 creature; it is a wind path magic beast and is commonly found in realms rich in wind type magic energy. I've been to the Never Ending Battlefield three previous times and have never encountered or heard about them being native to this realm and so that 'magic beast' is likely a transformed Magician. Things have gotten interesting, maybe too interesting. I should stop playing around for now and force Nick Capitol to tell me about the inheritance.)
William took his right hand out of his pants pocket and crossed his right index and middle fingers in front of his face. His body radiated a feint white aura as he quickly formed the laws for one of his spells within his mindscape. Uriah frowned intensely when he felt the magic power emanating from William; his magic sense raised his figurative alarms once again in response.
Nick also noticed the change and decided to interfere with Williams intent using his space path method but even with being a space path master, William was simply faster in casting his spell than him.
Clusters of glowing white light formed in midair and moved swiftly towards the tips of William's crossed fingers where they compressed into a glowing white sphere that was the size of a golf ball. The sphere radiated a pleasant warmth into the surroundings that slightly raised the temperature despite Uriah's Freezing White Aura still being active.
Uriah ignored his injury and also tried to interfere with William's actions but he was even slower than Nick in reacting with his own magic powers. William's spell was ready:
(Glorious Jewel)
When the magic power at William's finger tips felt the most intense, the sphere of light twinkled like a miniature star, but then...
BOOM!
William was suddenly hit by an explosive projectile and a large cloud of black smoke spread throughout and around the position where he was last seen levitating. Nick and Uriah quickly looked over towards the direction where the projectile had come from and realized that they could now see people running over the horizon towards their position.
*****************************************************
A young man withdrew his eyes from his binoculars and gave a thumbs up to the man behind him, saying:
"Vinny, you got a direct hit with your cannon. One of those bastards is probably toast."
Another young man who had short, straight, red hair and wore a simple white t-shirt and jeans shorts that reached down to his knees held up what looked like a retro iron cannon, like the ones that sailors used to use on their ships except that it had gold colored laws drawn in Valteese on its exterior. The man holding the cannon mused, then replied:
"This blast powder cannon has great range and power but has dog shit accuracy so I was concerned about missing. It's a lucky thing that I have a spell that can adjust my cannon's trajectory based on the magic power of my targets."
The first young man nodded in approval, saying in response:
"I bet they did not expect your attack, not only is that cannon silent but it conceals the magic energy exhaust that is produces. Where the hell did you buy it?"
The man who was apparently named Vinny grinned and replied:
"That's none of your damn business."
The other man felt a shiver go down his spine, hearing Vinny's words and looking at his playful grin at the same time. He skillfully changed the subject:
"...In any case, whoever those people are, they sure caused a ruckus. It looks like they not only attracted the both of us to them but also people from all over these grassy plains."
Vinny replied while readjusting the trajectory of the cannon on his left shoulder; the cannon was almost two meters long and had an internal radius of fifteen inches, being barrel shaped, but Vinny seemingly moved it with easy by guiding its left side using his left hand and holding its grappling trigger with his right hand. He spoke enthusiastically:
"I don't know what all the fighting is about and I don't care. What I do know is that if you want rewards, you go where the action is; it is that simple."
The other man was a little doubtful of Vinny's logic but since Vinny was so strong, he just went along with it.
"Are you ready for another shot, Vinny?"
Vinny replied several seconds later, just as he felt that the time was right and that his spells were ready.
"Like Freddy."
(Blind Accuracy)
(Enhanced Combustion)
The other man became confused.
(Who's Freddy?)
Vinny's cannon silently went off, sending a cannon ball forward over five hundred meters with the speed of a bullet, resulting in Vinny taking five steps backward due to the recoil; the cannon's mouth piece emanated a rush of grey vapor and the laws on its exterior that were now lightly glowing were hot to the touch. The launch was somehow a silent process but when the cannon ball hit something, the sound of its explosion reverberated throughout the grassy plain.
The other people approaching the site of the battle felt their teeth ache just from seeing the initial impact.
**************************************************
Less than one minute before the second cannon ball struck...
Uriah's magic sense warned him of something life threatening being prepared in the distance and he lost his usual cool composure. Nick noticed the change in Uriah's mood but still kept his eye on the cloud of black smoke at and rising from William's position.
(The light path Magician is not dead, I think that he's waiting on something or that is at least what my intuition is indicating.)
Uriah did not care about William or Nick and quickly poured most of his magic energy into forming the laws for a spell within his mindscape. Uriah's magic power surged within moments and twenty seconds later, his spell was ready. Uriah stooped down and placed his right hand onto the ground, casting.
(White Crystal Ice)
Five fifteen meters wide by twenty meters high, thick ice walls quickly rose up from the ground consecutively, blocking Uriah and the others at their front; unlike Uriah's previous ice methods, this one involved ice that was ghost white in color and gleamed like crystal.
Only a few seconds after the ice walls were erected, a flash of golden light appeared on the horizon of the grassy plain and before anyone could react or see anything flying through the air, an intensely glowing projectile smashed through three of Uriah's ice walls and then exploded, sending heat, intense gold light and magic power in all directions.
Ice shards flew everywhere and waves of magic power dug up the ground and sent even more ice along with dirt and grass flying; all this happened within seconds of the cannon ball's impact. The remaining two ice walls quickly crumbled as the force of the explosion and its accompanying magic power advanced.
Uriah coughed out two mouthfuls of blood as his spell was broken through, it being the kind that had to be continuously maintained. His mind went into chaos and he became unable to defend himself further but he then sensed a pulse of magic power burst out from behind him.
(Dominate The Space.)
The space within the area of impact subtly quivered and the explosion stopped advancing, then its heat, light and magic power receded towards a central point in midair, about twelve meters above the ground. Within seconds, all of the explosion was condensed into a marble sized orb of brightly glowing gold light.
Sweat fell from Nick's face in beads as he tried to contain the magical explosion and he was not done with his counter just yet.
"One more time!"
(Dominate The Space.)
The space immediately around the orb of gold light warped and the condensed explosion disappeared right after; only then did its former surrounding space become still again.
*******************************************************
The young man at Vinny's side withdrew his eyes from his binoculars which were pointed at the Magicians in the distance, to his front; his expression revealed his bewilderment as he asked aloud:
"What happened to the rest of the explosion?"
Vinny opened his mouth, about to ask him what the man was talking about when at about the same time, the area that was concentrated with people over sixty meters to their right flashed with bright gold light.
BOOM!
A loud explosion followed and dozens of specks of white light were seen appearing, then disappearing. The ground faintly rumbled and a smell similar to gun powder spread throughout the surrounding area.
A man emerged from the ground two minutes after the explosion took place; he had escaped its fury and destruction by using his earth path spell to dig into the ground. He then looked over towards Vinny who still held his cannon on his thick left shoulder and screamed at him:
"You did this! What the fuck?"
Many other persons' attention was drawn to the site of the explosion, then to Vinny and then to the screaming man. They begun loudly discussing:
"That's Vinny Kellits, isn't it? Did he cause those explosions from before?"
"It should be him. Word is that he specializes in weapon path and that he is the only person who does at Raylam Priest Academy. Weapon magic affinity is rare, after all."
"Who cares about his affinity, he just blew up dozens of people for no reason."
Some of the people scratched their heads in doubt while one person replied:
"I'm not so sure that he did it on purpose. It looks like he had used that cannon to shoot at those distant battling people. One of them must have countered."
"Yeah. The battle going on with those people should be what attracted most of us here. The magic power that was coming from this area was off the charts crazy. When we were coming here, we even saw large groups of magic beasts fleeing from the surroundings. Does anyone know who those people are?"
"Wait! That white hair...isn't that Nick Capitol?"
When everyone heard that, their gazes became intense as they all had the same thought:
(The inheritance!)
Dozens of people ran forward at break-neck speed, many using their magic powers to do so. They were not going to let the opportunity in front of them to increase their own fame by killing Nick Capitol or by seizing the rumored inheritance go by without acting.
Before any those people reached more than one hundred meters away, however, an object flew over their heads at rapid speed and fell to the ground a few meters in front of the person in the lead. The persons closest to the object frowned and spoke:
"Why did someone get thrown over here?"
"Hey, isn't that Vinny? There's a gaping hole in his chest now...so much blood."
"What exactly happened?"
...
While Vinny's corpse transformed into specks of white light and disappeared, the persons who had been previously moving towards Nick and Uriah stopped their motion and turned around to see what had caused this turn of events.
Vinny's companion quivered on the ground next to the blast powder cannon that was now broken in half and pointed at a muscular, black haired youth in front of him that was wearing a green track suit and whose right fist was currently glowing with deep-red colored magic power; he accused the youth shamelessly:
"You dog! How could you break Vinny's cannon and punch him like that? If it wasn't for him, would we even know that Nick Capitol was so close by?"
The surrounding people snickered at the man's nonsensical logic while the man in front of him rolled his eyes and replied:
"That explosion that Vinny had a hand in causing killed my girlfriend, man. I wasn't going to let that slide."
The face of Vinny's friend turned sour before he replied:
"That's why you killed Vinny? You idiot, it was not his fault and Vinny is one of Raylam Priest Academy's untouchables. Aren't you afraid of being targeted."
The muscular man shrugged his shoulders and replied shamelessly:
"Now that my girlfriend is dead, my nuts won't be targeted any time soon so I don't really care about Vinny's status."
The man on the ground opened his eyes wide in shock at hearing that unreasonable reply but before he could respond with words, the muscular man suddenly ran towards him with the speed of a charging bear and bent down to punch him in the stomach with his glowing right fist. The muscular man's fist pierced through his abdomen, resulting in a sickening popping sound and no more than two seconds later, Vinny's friend transformed into specks of white light and disappeared.
The muscular man stood up after seeing that he had succeeded in his intentions, at which point he cancelled his spell and put his right hand to his side, thinking:
(I can probably find another girl to 'play' with while I'm out here. I'll get on it after I personally question Nick Capitol.)
PSSSHHH! PPPPAAACKK!
Suddenly and without warning, a faint gunshot was heard and a bloody hole appeared on the muscular man's forehead as life vanished from his eyes. Within moments, his corpse began falling to the ground but before it even reached half way, it too transformed into specks of light before disappearing. Everyone present was shocked and looked towards the source of the gunshot.
Shelia grinned childishly as she held her chrome colored sniper rifle like an expert marksman, saying audibly:
"One less muscle head to deal with."
Everyone suddenly realized then that being so close to each other was not a good idea and so they all scattered while ultimately running or flying towards Uriah and Nick. Some of the people at the front most positions who had witnessed the murders frowned, thinking variations of:
(I can't let my guard down. These people are crazy.)
That sentiment spread throughout the scattered mob like a disease and fights soon broke out for no good reason. Fire, darkness, ice, wind, and water were commonly seen being launched at students while fists punched, bullets flew and explosions massacred. The seen quickly devolved into a free-for-all brawl.
Nick and Uriah were not quite sure why the new comers were suddenly fighting amongst themselves but they both sensed an opportunity as it appeared. They both had the same thought almost simultaneously:
(I should leave.)
Before they could carryout their intentions, however, the cloud of black smoke that had been stagnant at William's position was suddenly displaced by a flash of bright white light which soon faded to reveal William who had an annoyed expression plastered on his face. He turned his body towards the approaching mob of people and his body burst out with a feint white aura.
Clusters of white light once again concentrated and compressed at the tips of his crossed right index and middle fingers that were now positioned in front of his face and within moments, the sphere of light at his finger tips twinkled brightly and was launched high into the air, about forty meters above the ground.
(Glorious Jewel!)
Starting at the shining sphere of light that was now visible to everyone present, a halo of white light emerged and shone down scorching white light intensely on the mob of students and also on Uriah and Nick, suddenly causing their insides to heat up rapidly and make audible popping sounds; both Uriah and Nick as well as those in the mob that were affected coughed out several mouthfuls of blood and developed third degree burns on their body from the inside out. William himself bathed in the light like most everyone else but remained unaffected by it.
With an uncharacteristic indifferent expression plastered on his face, he then impatiently declared:
"Play time is over!"
*************************************************************
"Sergent Reynold, sir! Permission to speak freely."
The blonde haired man who currently rode on a horse along side his small platoon rubbed the braids at the right side of his head in annoyance and replied:
"Permission granted."
The short, black haired man walking beside Reynold's horse patted his chest with his right hand, then spoke:
"Sir, this mission is bullshit. I don't see traces of a rank 3 fire path magic beast anywhere out here."
Reynold discreetly rolled his eyes at his subordinate and reprimanded:
"Captain Oliver Marks, we received a conclusive report of a fire path magic beast operating within this area. Are you suggesting that we ignore the report and go home?"
Oliver put on an expression of one who had been accused and replied:
"Of course not, sir. I was just thinking about the circumstances of our people. If they keep walking aimlessly like this, they might fall over and trip your pristine horse."
Reynold's right eyelid twitched when he heard that and felt the urge to grab the man and give him a few tight slaps but he controlled himself and replied calmly:
"Your concerns has been taken into consideration. Since you're so worried about the platoon's alertness, you should go and march ahead of them to give them a proper example."
Oliver's expression became bitter and he tried to reply:
"But..."
Sergeant Reynold was having none of it, however, and interrupted with a stone cold command:
"Go, now."
Oliver immediately shut his mouth and went to the front of the platoon to show them how to keep pace and remain alert.
"He, he, he."
A man walking on the other side of Reynold chuckled and spoke at this time:
"Sergeant, he means well. He's just a bit uptight with how resources and productive time are used."
Reynold waved his hand and replied:
"I don't think anything of it. I've spent my whole life around prep school kids. I'm used to their impudent insinuations. I read assessments relating to both of you before I carried you along with me on my expedition, captain Tait, so I already know the value of you both."
Reynold turned his head around and looked at the woman steadily walking behind his horse and spoke to her:
"I am also aware of your value as well, officer Renice."
The woman who had long, shiny, black hair and maintained an indifferent expression nodded her head in understanding although she was a little irked by how the sergeant freely used their first names. She replied:
"I'm glad to be here, sir."
Sergeant Reynold smiled at her like a doting father.
(Sigh, poor girl. Her family's situation makes her no more than Griffiths's slave. I'm glad I was able to find an excuse to bring her out here.)
Reynold then turned his head to their front once again, saying:
"The fire path magic beast was reported to be an early stage doomsday cat. If neither of you have ever encountered one, let me tell you, the mature doomsday cat is a magic beast at the peak of rank 3 and is almost impossible for one single peak stage rank 3 that doesn't specialize in a contradicting path to defeat. Even at the early stage, a doomsday cat has excellent control over its flames so its not surprising that we haven't seen any significant traces but the magic beast has already been tagged by one of the ministry's beast trackers and I am aware of its general location."
Captain Tait appeared pleased at the news but felt a little sorry for Oliver who seemed to have made a fool out of himself for nothing. Tait spoke to Sergeant Reynold with anticipation:
"We will be leaving this arid region very soon after having searched it thoroughly and finding nothing. There are three adjacent regions that the magic beast could have migrated to. Which one are we heading to?"
Reynold made a quick, unnoticeable check with his method and declared:
"The magic beast has already migrated to the nearby grassy plain. That's where were heading."
Tait put on a thoughtful expression and remarked:
"Isn't that the area that has received much attention recently because of a student residing there?"
Sergeant Reynold replied with an indifferent tone:
"It is indeed the same region but the student who you're referring to isn't as big of a problem as some people have made him out to be. I'm not interested in that matter whatsoever."
Renice who had been listening intently this whole time seemed unsure of something and asked:
"Sergeant, why exactly are we pursuing the doomsday cat? Even if rank 3 magic beasts are trouble for the lower ranks, one prowling around isn't enough to put a dent in the ministry's operations. In addition, couldn't you have let one of the field supervisors subjugate it? In fact, I know of a colonel that should be only a weeks away from this region by foot. He could probably be here in less than a few hours if we requested his lone assistance."
Reynold knew the colonel that Renice was referring to but was not interested in getting his assistance because he had his own intentions that were not strictly related to the safety of the ministry's operations and he had other concerns.
(The Ministry of Magic, although generally a meritocracy is rife with nepotism and ranks are not necessarily rewarded to only those who have earned them. The career progression for rank 3 Magicians is usually sergeant, then lieutenant, then colonel but there are many colonels and lieutenants who were put in place because of family connections rather than skills and since Renice is relatively young, she is not aware of the possible discord between rank and actual power. I, myself am just as strong as lieutenant Andrew Wiles who supervises most officers below the rank of colonel but his background far exceeds mine and therefore his position is higher at the moment. The colonel that Renice is referring to is strong but is weaker than myself by a few stages, not to mention that he specializes in wood path; it is unlikely that he would be of much help in defeating the doomsday cat.)
"Officer Renice, out in the field rank isn't everything and I chose to do this task because I am the one most qualified to accomplish it without mobilizing any of the supervising lieutenants or higher ranked officers. Besides, if four rank 3 Magicians could not handle one doomsday cat, we would all need to find new lines of work. Ha, ha..."
Sergeant Reynold lightly laughed and dodged Renice's initial question. Renice noticed this but she did not bother pursuing the matter since it was not especially important as to why they were hunting the doomsday cat.
Suddenly, when the platoon was only a few hundred meters from reaching the border of this arid region, the ground began to tremor and the platoon stopped moving forward. Captain Oliver quickly used his method to try and discern the cause of the disturbance.
(Partial Ice Phoenix Transformation)
The captain's eyes suddenly hardened with ice, his pupils transformed into vertical slits and both eyes began glowing with an intensely dazzling blue light. Oliver's method allowed him to view up to ten thousand meters in front of him, using a kind of thermal vision. It wasn't long before he discovered the source of the tremors and went to Sergeant Reynold to report after cancelling his partial transformation.
"Sir, large groups of different species of low ranked magic beasts are currently migrating and will soon cross our path."
Captain Tait found something amiss about Oliver's words and questioned:
"You said groups of different magic beasts. Magic beasts of different species do not typically migrate alongside each other. Were you able to determine the cause?"
Captain Oliver shook his head and replied:
"I couldn't determine the cause as it was not evident."
Sergent Reynold nodded his head and spoke calmly:
"In any case, large numbers of migrating magic beasts are trouble that I'd rather nip in the bud. We will wait here until they get close so that I can deal with them personally."
Renice was surprised by Reynolds orders; she asked:
"Wouldn't you prefer that one use us deal with them instead?"
Reynold replied heartily:
"Ha, you three became rank 3 only recently so I'd like for you to witness the difference between the power of someone at the peak of rank 3 and your own."
The three understood Reynold's intention and remained quiet at his sides and back. The rest of the platoon were allowed to summon chairs or stools from their space bands so that they could wait comfortably for the magic beasts to be dealt with. From their perspective, the advantage of being led by a rank 3 sergeant was that they rarely had to fight their enemies themselves.
Ten minutes later, the hordes of magic beasts came into the view of the platoon and the tremors on the ground grew even more frequent and intense; Oliver guessed that the total number of magic beasts had to be at least ten thousand. Reynold took note of this and breathed out, his breath taking on a navy blue color. Even though Renice was at his back, using one of her methods that she maintained in order to keep proper watch over the platoon, she noticed the sergeant's breathing.
(His magic energy is mixed in with his breath and it even has its own color. That means that his mindscape has to at least be divergent grade.)
Magic energy, even if processed by a Magician's foundation laws was usually colorless when it appeared outside the Magician's body unless its appearance was the result of it being manipulated by a spell. In that case, it was typically called magic power and not magic energy. Renice knew from experience that when a person's magic energy appeared having a color, it usually meant that it had very special characteristics but that did not mean that every Magician with a divergent or special grade mindscape had such magic energy.
Reynold quickly began forming the laws for one of his spells within his mindscape and within less than a second, the spell was ready. While still sitting on his white horse, Reynold raised his right index finger and tapped at the space five inches away from his face.
(Tribute By Water)
Starting at his finger tips, thousands of extremely thin streams of water formed from the moisture within the atmosphere and extended towards the approaching magic beasts, soon branching out in all directions to spread throughout the entire horde. The thin streams of water mixed into the magic beasts' fur, wrapped around their limbs and sections of their body and some even entered their bodies through their orifices and wrapped around the magic beasts' organs.
The entire scene looked like a strange moving spider's web with Reynold's streams acting as the spider's silk threads. Almost fifteen seconds later, Reynold felt that the time was right and he willed for the streams to change from watery to course and flexible, like real threads. Within an instant, the little over ten thousand moving magic beasts tugged on the water threads and each simultaneously split apart in varying proportions; whether they were big or small, bulky or slim, fragile or robust, no magic beast escaped this outcome. Their cleanly sliced flesh and body parts fell to the ground and created an expansive pile of blood and flesh.
The blood drained from the pile dyed the arid rocky ground red for many meters all around and the thick smell of iron would make someone unaware of the massacre think that there were mining operations nearby.
Tait, Oliver and Renice looked on with awe, not because of the carnage because they had seen plenty already but at the ease and profoundness at which Reynold's magic was used to create it.
A fanatical gleam appeared in Renice's eyes while Tait and Oliver clenched their own fists in excitement. All of the rank 2 soldiers were also in awe but most were still sickened by the thick scent of death.
Reynold flicked his right index finger and the water threads that had been dyed red by now vaporized like they had never existed. He then loudly commanded:
"All troops form up and advance!"
The rank 2 soldiers quickly stored their seats within their space bands and followed Reynold's order, soon marching forward in perfect unison, with far more energy and discipline than before. If before they could have been said to be an orderly group, they were now the parts of a war machine.
Reynold then spoke to his three rank 3 subordinates while looking into the distance with a far more stern expression than before:
"I won't tolerate failure."