Mage Battle

Lucas looked at the horizon remembering what his father told him to say while Barthiz rushed into the home to get some refreshments. The plan was to make a good impression so the magicians would be more inclined to give him more resources and nurture him properly.

Although he was already guaranteed to be taken in as an apprentice due to his "Talent" that did not mean that they would give him as many resources as someone who had both great talent and a good personality. Lucas stood in the field with a smile on his face as he waited for the magicians to arrive.

Out of the corner of his eyes though he noticed something terrifying there were a large group of black lights flashing towards his direction as well. Immediately after he noticed this it seemed that the black and white lights noticed each other as well as all but one from each group split off as they clashed in the sky.

Lucas had to lift his hand in front of his face to block out the blindingly bright light that resulted from the clash. After the bright light subsided Lucas had no time to react before he was hit by a shockwave resulting in him being lifted off the ground blown 100 feet away from the spot he had been standing.

Lucas tumbled several times through debris that had also been kicked up from the shockwave. When he finally came to a stop he had no time to process what had just happened as he felt a searing pain in abdomen and realized he could no longer move his legs when he tried to stand up. Upon looking down at his abdomen he could see that there was a piece of metal sticking out of his stomach.

Panick stricken he looked around for Barthiz before spotting the wreckage that had been the house they were staying in. Sounds of fighting and spell chanting continued in the background as Lucas began to collect his thoughts while trying to ignore the severe pain in his stomach.

'Barthiz must have been hurt by the impact as well I can only hope she is ok but right now I need to focus on getting the fuck out of here. I can't feel my legs so my only option is to turn over and drag myself across the ground. First I must get this damn thing out of my stomach first.'

Lucas grabbed the metal sticking in his stomach and closed his eyes tight as he prepared to pull with all his might. With one tug he yanked the metal out and screamed as loud as his throat would from the resulting pain. The pain quickly decreased to a manageable level though thanks to the demonic power inside him.

He also stopped bleeding fairly quickly making Lucas want to undo the seal so he could possibly recover even fast. As he looked around though he quickly decided against it. There were too many powerful entities around right now if he attracted attention he would be done for. Even if he wasn't killed directly as soon as the battle was over if the mages won they surely would not take him with them.

At least not as an apprentice as for the other people fighting, he would not want to find out what they would do to him even if he didn't reveal his demonic power. He did not know anything about the other party who they were or what their motives were. Such being the case Lucas endured the pain as best as he could as he rolled over dragged himself away from the battle area.

Due to the large amount of physical strength he had grained recently from the demonic power he was able to move fairly quickly even without using his legs. After moving what he thought was a sufficient distance away he rolled over again and looked at the battle while waiting to recover desperately hoping his legs would recover.

--Barthiz POV--

Barthiz was pouring a few glasses of ice tea made using some special leaves that Artemis left behind saying that his tea alone would improve their impression on them. Although she did not know herself what the leaves were she had tasted before and knew it absolutely tasted amazing and left her feeling invigorated.

As she was pouring the last glass she suddenly felt as if the air surrounding her became still from a brief moment before she felt a massive mana fluctuation happen. Having sensed danger she rushed out of the kitchen to the door planning on running with Lucas. Just before she reached the door she felt the ground shake as a shockwave reached her tearing apart the house and blowing her away with.

As she was in the air being blown away she looked around trying to find Lucas amidst all the debris in the air from both the house and the rest of the town. She managed to see him for a split second and was about to call out to him as she was hit on the head with incredible force causing her to lose consciousness along with a huge gash appearing deep enough to see her skull.

The only thing keeping her from dying on the spot being the demonic power that flowed vigorously through her veins in an attempt to keep her alive.

--Grand Council Mages POV--

The eight mages continued towards their destination at a comfortable pace as it entered their view for the first time. Each of them chuckled lightly as the view of a torn up town with a single home standing and a handsome young man standing in the field seemingly waiting for them entered their sight.

Just as they were chuckling though the one at the front of the group suddenly stopped soon followed by the rest of them as well. Each one of them furrowed their brows as they sensed dark magic quickly approaching heading in the same direction they were.

After a few moments, they finally saw the source of the dark magic causing each of them to have an enraged expression on their faces.

"Those disgraces dare show their faces here?! Not only that but they seemingly knew we would show up considering they aren't fighting each other but instead working together! They likely see the young man as just a source of vitality!"

As one of the mages stated this each of their expressions became even more unsightly as waves of rage crashed inside each of them.

"Such impudence! They have the gall to work together and still come after knowing we were coming! I say we finally rid Avaar of these scum!"

Each of the mages nodded their head in agreement as they decided who would fight and who would go to defend the young man.

"Ivaxium, Idore, Azavius, Suzor, Omlenor, Zamarin, and Octaz go rid Avaar of their disgraceful existence I'll go make sure the boy is safe!"

Each of the magicians nodded before taking off to meet the dark magicians that were heading towards them as well. Azavius looked back before yelling.

"Aoras if we can't defeat them quickly don't forget to use the spatial gem!"

After yelling Azavius turned back around and joined the others. Aoras hurriedly tried to make his way to Lucas as he realized there was a dark mage on his way to intercept him. Aoras had no choice but to try and stall the dark mage for as long as he could hoping the other mages would finish the fight quickly.

This hope was extinguished as quickly as it came though as he sensed a powerful magic aura that came from an artifact one of the dark magicians had just pulled out. His eyes widened as a bright light flashed due to him being used to such sights from being a powerful magician his eyes quickly adjusted as he looked to see what was happening inside the light.

What Aoras saw enraged him as two of his brothers he had known for hundreds of years turned to dust in front of his eyes. After witnessing this each of the grand council mages realized one thing. For the first time in hundreds of years, they could feel the signs of death approaching.

Although this did not mean they were guaranteed to die this told them that there was a very real risk of being fatally wounded during this fight. Aoras had just enough time to prepare a magic defense as the shockwave from the artifact hit. As the shockwave destroyed the last remaining home in the town and caused the other debris left behind from the mana storm to rise he quickly remembered the young man he was supposed to protect and desperately searched for him among the flying debris.

Just as he spotted the young man and was about to fly towards him he felt a lightning bolt coming towards him. He had no time to prepare a counterspell or a defense so he had to instead maneuver his body so the bolt would hit a non-essential organ. Aoras felt searing pain as he was hit by the lightning bolt as the impact threw him to the ground.

He barely had any time to react as he saw the dark magician speeding towards him giving him barely enough time to evade and counterattack. As he evaded he quickly drew an S like shape in the air followed by a pentagram outside it before hitting it with his palm. This was a basic defense attack and counterspell one would learn as an apprentice but in the hands of a Grand Council mage, it became terrifying.

A hazy gray dome covered his body and released a dense fog into the surroundings. Not only would this fog disrupt the enemy's vision but on the level of Aoras who cast it, there was an additional effect. The water particles in the fog were incredibly dense causing being in it to be similar to being underwater. Any enemy who could not react fast enough would drown not realizing what had happened.

Unfortunately, the dark mage he was facing along with the rest of them were not so simple. Due to the fact that there were higher restrictions on becoming a council mage and obtaining the resources of the Holy Empire, there were naturally mages who turned their back to find their own ways of surviving.

These dark mages were precisely some of those people who were on equal levels to the Grand Council mages the only difference being in their ways of obtaining power and their reputations. The dark mages were viewed with disgust, hatred, and fear and for good reason.

Dark mages who were desperately trying to find a way to live forever due to their fear of death finally found a way but it was despicable. They would kill people and absorb their vitality but it was not only this that made their reputation so horrible. If that was all it was they would simply be seen as another hated crime organization or something similar.

The difference that these dark mages often targeted children or babies due to them having more life potential than people that had already lived a large amount of their lives. As a result of this having children became a secretive affair all over Avaar due to fear of a dark magician coming and snatching away your newborn child.

As a dark mage aged more and more the required amount of vitality required would also increase resulting in the older more powerful dark mages to destroy and kill entire town populations many times in a single day. Each of the dark mages that the Grand Council was faced with today was one of those powerful dark mages.

As a result, the fog that was dense enough to actually drown someone was quickly dispersed as the dark mage looked for his target. Upon looking around the dark mage saw nothing but had a horrible feeling creep up on him due to this the dark mage decided to try and flee.

His main purpose for coming here was to increase his lifespan after all not to have it end but unfortunately for him, it was too late. During the few moments that the fog had lasted Aoras had hopped around making a large formation on the ground with the dark mage being the center. Unknown to the dark mage his fate was already sealed as a large golden thunderbolt descended from the sky turning him to dust.