The Fallout

I was carried back to the Rune Knight base and Barat forbade me from walking. With my wounds, it was probably the right call.

Fulmiur was carrying the 2 bodies and judging by his reaction he did not like it. He still tried to smile at me saying, "It's impressive that you managed to survive an ambush from 2 mages, Marcus."

I laughed sending a twinge of pain through my chest, "2 mages!? I was ambushed by 11. You are only carrying the 2 corpses I couldn't fit into my Requip Space. Only 1 escaped."

He was surprised, "11? How did you survive then? I know that you're strong but I would estimate that these corpses are at least A-rank mages."

I replied, "It's because they only had 1 type of magic, something to root me in place. That has always been my weakness so I made sure to prepare for it, learning Anti-Magic."

He whistled, "Anti-magic huh? That fits, most mages don't want to learn it as while casting any of the Anti-magic spells they cancel their own spells as well leaving them a sitting duck."

"But considering that a lot of your power does not come from magic but your martial arts style it is a perfect fit for you."

I nodded, "Yeah I am trying to reach the highest level of this an Anti-magic coat that completely surrounds me and blocks any spell from affecting me."

He nodded, "With that, you would be invincible in close range against any mage. Once you get a hold on them then they wouldn't be able to use any of their magic and would be a sitting duck."

Barat decided to cut in, "Stop your chattering, for now, we are near the base, and if you haven't noticed Fulmiur, Marcus has a hole in his chest and should talk as little as possible."

Both of us nodded and dismounted from the horse. Neat fact, if I am riding a living animal I don't get motion sick. It's why Natsu doesn't get motion sick from riding with Happy, I don't know the reason.

I was quickly ushered to the medical wing where the doctors started looking me over and when they found that none of my internal organs were damaged despite the hole, they were impressed.

One of them commented, "I should learn that martial art of yours. I didn't even think this was a possibility. A hole through you but little to no damage, amazing."

So once they managed to bandage me all up I was actually free to roam around the base with my arm in a sling. I guess they realized my vitality.

With Dragon Slayer Magic and Seimei Kikan, I was a bitch and a half to kill. Once I was set free Barat ushered me to a morgue.

He said, "Can you drop the bodies you have in your Requip Space here. We need to figure out who the people attacking you are and if we have to be worried about subsequent attempts."

I nodded and dropped the 8 corpses I had on the stone floor. He went to each one looking at their faces and then moving on. He stopped at the corpse of the S-rank Mage.

He said, "I recognize this one, he is Jaxian 'Hawkeye' Ilantial, a famous assassin for hire often used by the Balam Alliance. He was famous for his incredible sniping ability."

"He only had 2 magics, Clairvoyance and Bullet Magic which allows him to hit a target from kilometers away with overcharged bullet spells."

"He and his band of followers have killed many up-and-coming Rune Knight with their combination of firepower and binding magic. How did you get him?"

"With his long-range capabilities and incredible, I am sure that he is a near-perfect counter to you."

I said, "My Observation Magic was the ability that really pulled the most weight as it allowed me to react quick enough to turn his deadly shots into grazing ones."

He nodded as I continued on saying the rest of the story but leaving out my laser rifle. They still did not know that I had it and I wanted to keep it that way. Having a trump card is always nice.

Instead, I just talked about using my Wind Dragon's Roar and Kicks. The aftermath of being hit with the exploding laser and some of my more enthusiastic spells looked close enough that no one would look deeper.

Barat sighed after hearing the story, "You really have stepped up your game. When I heard you talking about Anti-magic on the way back I thought you were exaggerating your skill."

"That particular branch of magic is very unintuitive to many trying to study it. Often being the complete opposite of regular magic, which is why it works."

"That enhancement you got is truly showing dividends. I am worried that the Balam Alliance will be able to make more people like you."

"You went from being inept in your 3 innate magics to being proficient in more than half a dozen in little more than a year. A truly talented person with this enhancement I can't imagine."

I said, "I don't think that they will be able to replicate their success with me."

Of course, they won't. I am learning so fast because of the system and my incredibly high intelligence stat. I don't think the Balam Alliance can do that.

They will probably spend a lot of time and resources replicating what they perceive as my success but end up constantly failing.

Barat raised his eyebrow, "Care to give a reason why you think that?"

I shook my head and he dropped the topic. He said, "The bad news is that Jaxian will probably be only the first person aiming for your head."

"He works only for money and if he was willing to face you despite your reputation then whatever they are offering for your head it must be massive."

"So expect that other assassin will come for your head. With the mage that escaped though they will have a much better idea of your capabilities now so be careful."

"While you may have learned Anti-magic, it is not enough for you to become invincible. Powerful ritual magics can still probably affect you."

I nodded. He said, "I'll let the staff here get rid of the bodies. I will try and gather more information about your situation."

I did as he bid and we left on our own ways. With him going to research the problems that I might be facing and me getting trying to heal from my wounds.

----

Around 3 days later I was called back by my Barat to discuss what he had found regarding my situation with the Dark Guilds.

He said, "Ok I've got some pretty bad news. I was right the bounty on your head is high, incredibly high, higher than even most Wizard Saints."

"They want to get rid of you quickly and are willing to pay an incredibly high price for it. The only good thing is that they also want to catch you alive."

"The reward is doubled if you are caught alive. I am guessing they want you alive to study how their experiment affected you to try and recreate it."

I nodded, "Do you have any idea of the people who might take up the bounty?"

He shrugged, "There are 3 that I think are the most likely to take due to their close connection with the Balam Alliance and high power."

"I'm sure that you will recognize some of them as I remember that you have some pretty heated clashes and rivalries with some of them."

I vaguely remembered that the report I had mentioned some of these people but they were not based on anyone I knew so I didn't know much about them.

He said, "Obviously the first in the woman that recruited you to the Balam Alliance, Madame Irene. She has publicly stated that she wants to hunt you down for your betrayal."

"It has left a black mark on her nearly stainless reputation. As you know she is a master in ritual magic, specifically divination and curse magic."

"As far as I know the only reason that you aren't dead right now is that the blood she stored of you doesn't work anymore as a sympathetic link."

"I think that whatever the experiment did must have changed you enough so that it doesn't work as a catalyst. You need to be careful leaving any blood behind though."

"If she gets enough of it then you will spend every night fighting of curses, being spied on, or having an assassin being sent to you no matter your location."

Damn, that was good that the old blood didn't work. Maybe it was due to fact that I had basically possessed this body and booted the original tenant to god knows where.

The blood she has is that of Old Marcus, not me. That means I still have to be careful about her getting new blood samples. Better keep that in mind.

Barat continued, "The second one you might not know but they were famous back in the day. The Euchre brothers. They might want to kill you they have fallen on hard times."

"They have apparently gambled all their considerable fortune away and while they haven't publicly stated they want to kill you, it seems likely given their situation they will try."

"The older brother Marwin Euchre specializes in Take-Over Magic. Specifically that of beasts. He is known to be able to transform into beasts the size of this building or the size of a grain of rice."

"His ability to quickly switch forms and his sheer versatility makes him a nightmare to fight. You can start throwing a punch at a bear but by the time it hits you are touching a porcupine."

"The younger brother Hinal Euchre specializes in Cutting Magic. He can send invisible blades of force that can cut an unsuspecting person to bits in a second."

"He also carries a sword to supplement his magic making him dangerous both in close range and long-range. As you would expect they have perfect synergy."

They seemed like a pain in the ass to beat but I am pretty sure I can take them. They have gimmicks that I have to worry about. Just a simple straight-up fight, what I excel in.

"Lastly," Barat said, "we have the Terror Blast Pirates. They are still kicking around and have a grudge against you for killing their leaders."

"They managed to hold on by using Terrian remaining poisons as a deterrent. As far as we know they have run out but they have managed to get some heavy hitter again during that period."

"Tarik the Tamer as you can guess by his name has hundreds of beasts under his control. Most of his beasts aren't that powerful but he has total control over them."

"They often sacrifice their lives too by a moment for his 3 bigger beasts to get a chance to attack. Those three are a Cerberus, a Hydra, and a Roc."

"They are powerful creatures that stand at the tier of S-rank mages. They are dumb however so not much of a worry."

"Another threat is Apiloc as he is a powerful water mage able to control the sea around him in a massive area to attack you."

"On land, he is not much of a threat but on the ocean, he is a high S-rank threat. You have to be worried about him if you ever decide to go to the sea once again."

"Lastly we have their most mysterious member. Whose name or gender we don't know. We only have a magic that allows them to open portals to a pocket dimension."

"Unlike Requip magic, their pocket dimension is a full world. Granted it is small but it has all the components necessary for life."

"Many of Tarik's animals is held in there and so are a lot of the crewmates so you have to be careful. Not only that they can summon natural disaster that occurs in their pocket dimension."

"So you have to worry about a portal opening up to an erupting volcano or a tornado. He even mitigates some of Apiloc's weaknesses by summoning hurricane or water spouts."

"Be careful of this person and especially never get trapped in their world or you might never be able to escape."

Shit seems like this team is a pain in the ass to fight. Their types of magic synergize so well and their ability to deal massive area of effect damage mitigates my ability to dodge.

Hopefully, their ability to do single target damage is not that high so I can deal with them without getting too hurt.

Looking at the list of possible assassins coming my way and knowing that others may come as well I was annoyed and excited. They were all strong but could attack in many annoying ways.

Having to keep an eye on my blood, not go to see, and check every animal to see if it is a person in disguise were all so annoying. But it was good training.