An intense aura pulsed out of the injured soldier as he glared at me with a twisted smile. Blood dripped down from the spot where his left arm should have been attached to his shoulder.
"I thought it seemed....awkward for a child to be in here...."
Blood trickled from the man's mouth as he raised his remaining arm, wand gripped tightly.
"Although I must admit... You are quite capable, you even remind me of someone... as cunning..."
At that moment, I realized I had almost no options left. The shadows were too exhausted due to taking the previous attack head-on without any defense. I myself wasn't exhausted, but in a battle of actual magic, even if he was near death's door, that guy had the upper hand.
Honestly, if it weren't for the shadows, I would've been dead long ago.
"I will put an end to this..."
'Oh Fuck!'
As a massive magical circle began forming before the magician once more, I raised my hands and channeled half of my remaining mana into a spell.
A colossal blade, larger than any I had seen until now, tore through everything in front of me. At the same time, a radiant golden magical circle appeared—almost shieldlike in form—as my Pure Mana collided with the man's Wind Mana.
Even for Almun, this was a shocking sight. Not only had he ascended to the stage of Argos II due to the beasts' assault. But being able to block a spell of this caliber was something most people wouldn't be able to do, especially not a child at that.
After several seconds, both spells vanished into thin air, and I kept gasping for breath as a golden window appeared before me:
}————{ Arcane }————{
Name: Wendel E. Maelstrom
Age: 12
Mage: Thaumus III
[Progression]: 90%
Physical: Gladiator II
[Progression]: 5%
Core Capacity: 47%
Blessing: Purity
Gift: Absorption, Inner Circulation, Pure Body, God's Language: Arcanum, Arcane Creation, Formula Drawing, ?Transference?
…
..
.
}————{ End }————{
In the 'Gift' category, there was a new ability—one I didn't recognize, though I had a faint idea of what it might be.
Each time I had an idea, the 'Arcane' seemingly gave me a gift which correlated with that following idea. It had been like that with the Formula Drawing as well.
"...Interesting... that magic... no, you overall... You don't have any Mana inside of you... that much is clear... But you can still cast spells, and some rival those of higher Thaumus mages..."
The man breathed heavily after every sentence, his lungs clearly damaged. Had he not ascended after being wounded, he would've been dead already.
'All or nothing...'
As the soldier kept analyzing me as well as reminiscing about my defensive spell, I channeled a bit Mana into my finger tips. Putting my hands back down, I carefully put one hand on each of my comrades.
Fortunately, despite being a high-ranking mage, he couldn't sense my Pure Mana. That gave me a chance to quietly infuse both spirits with my power.
Because if this didn't work... I was finished.
I began injecting Pure Mana into both entities, focusing with everything I had. With each second, I grew weaker as more and more Mana drained away.
Core Capacity: 47%
Core Capacity: 41%
Core Capacity: 29%
Core Capacity: 16%
Core Capacity: 3%
"Normally I would take you in.... but you are too big of... a threat to be kept alive... especially when you... can control these things..."
This time not only 1 giant magical circle appeared before Almun but 3. They slowly rotated, glowing brighter than usual as they accumulated power.
Core Capacity: 1%
Blang!
Just as I braced myself for certain death, nothing came. Instead, a blinding light consumed everything around me.
"Ma...ssss.....terrrrr..."
As the brilliance faded, what appeared before me defied all expectation.
A gigantic golden sphere surrounded me—but I wasn't alone inside of it. In front of me stood a being cloaked in white, with a hood over it's head. Its arms were pitch black, laced with glowing golden cracks that pulsed rhythmically.
The hood was tattered, and its entire form appeared to be made of shadow, lacking any visible face. Behind it hovered a golden disk of Pure Mana, reminiscent of something biblical.
Out of the disk, tons of golden chains shot outward, anchoring the being in place but allowing its arms freedom of movement.
"Naaaa.....mmmmmmm...eeee...."
The space surrounding the sphere, everything was in shambles. It looked like a cyclone had wasted the entire area.
Not too far away from us stood Captain Almun, as his mouth agape in disbelief.
He had unleashed his most devastating spell—one that even a seasoned Argos I would struggle to endure. Yet somehow, the being before him had not only endured the blast—it emerged unscathed.
However, in some way, that thing in front of him not only successfully blocked the attack, their defense didn't even seem to be damaged.
Slowly, the golden barrier was sucked back into the palms of the being as it stared wordlessly at the soldier.
A wave of dread crept over him, yet he raised his wand like a sword hilt. As if on cue, swirling winds gathered, shaping into a blade of storms.
'It...worked...'
While the two faced off, I noticed the two ethereal spirits had fused into the entity before me.
"Naa..meee..."
As it repeated its earlier plea, I snapped out of my trance.
Looking at it, a certain word from my old language came to my mind. The light it emitted, its sudden appearance—it reminded me of a falling star.
A shooting star.
"Stäreschnäiz."
"..."
Stäreschnäiz kept its gaze fixed ahead, then gave a single, solemn nod.
"What shall I do?"
"Get rid of him!"
Instantly, several chains detached from its body and launched toward the soldier.
In response, Almun braced himself and swung his stormblade in a wide arc. As the wind and chains collided, they scattered—only to redirect midair and return dashing to their target.
Almun leapt back and ran away from the golden projectiles as to gauge their length as well as power.
Trees were being ripped apart as the chains collided with the man several times and all I could do was watch in awe
I was far too tired to move my limbs while the thing in front of me seamlessly kept hunting after the soldier.
As their clash continued, the expression of Almun kept getting grimmer, as he realised he didn't have much time until his Man Reserves were exhausted and he would break down.
"Lancelot!"
Screaming at the top of his lungs, he channeled the remaining Mana he had left to exhaust into his sword forming it into a lance. It kept growing till it seemed heavy even though it was air.
It suddenly started spinning, the desperate soldier dashed forward in an attempt to pierce me with it.
'Kill'
The cracks of Stäreschnäiz in his arms started glowing intensely as an Arcane circle materialised in front of it—identical to mine, except for one key difference: it had multiple rotating rings of runes.
As the spell assembled, each ring spun at breakneck speed until beams of light burst from the center, slicing through the air like nothing could stop them.
The soldier's lance was the first to be pierced.
"I'm sorry..."
The last thing Almun saw before being skewered by the light rays, was an image—a little girl with vibrant purple hair and golden eyes, and a small boy with maroon hair and light green eyes, smiling brightly at him.
To him, they were the most precious memories he had.