Katarina rage

 Blue lightning flashes twisted swiftly in the air toward Denis's head. The condensed air formed a thick wall, blocking the flashes.

Denis raised his hand, thickening the air around him. Spears of air then shot towards Alphonso.

Alphonso's reaction was lightning-fast; he swiftly dashed sideways, using the trees to shield himself from the attack. The spears pierced through the trees, causing them to crumble. Alphonso pointed his index finger at Denis. A marble-sized lightning ball materialized in front of his fingertip.

Denis re-condensed the air in front of him, but this time, the lightning ball emitted a blinding blue light.

An unpleasant feeling in his gut urged Denis to leap. An explosion sounded; he turned and saw the area where he stood moments ago was charred.

Blue flashes then appeared on both of Alphonso's legs, gradually intensifying.

Denis prepared to counter his attack, his eyes fixed on Alphonso's legs. But at that moment, Alphonso dashed away from Denis.

"Damn it! He intends to pursue Ultear."

Denis quickly ran after him, creating footholds in the air by condensing it, then using it to hasten his pace.

One after another, wind spears were launched, floating through the trees, slicing through foliage. Alphonso dodged left and right, evading Denis's successive attacks.

Alphonso extended both his hands sideways, creating ten glowing lightning balls. He then swung his hands backward, hurling these balls toward Denis.

An airball formed around Denis. The ten lightning balls exploded simultaneously, striking the airball condensed by Denis. Cracks appeared in the airball, fortunately, the lightning attack had ceased before it could harm Denis.

Denis found Alphonso's figure had vanished. He muttered, "Ultear will probably scold me again. Oh well, I'll block the others. Hopefully, Ultear can handle him there."

Ultear sensed someone rapidly approaching her. Instantly, rage consumed her.

"That man, what is he doing? He just had to detain him! Useless," Ultear berated Denis.

She couldn't contain her sense of helplessness. There were no S-class mages in the royal family; even A-class talents were incredibly rare. This was due to the Academy's strict surveillance over A and S-class talents, making it challenging for the Florent Kingdom to recruit them.

Denis had a B-class talent - solid air. Its advantage lay in robust defense and unseen attacks. However, facing Alphonso's speed advantage, Denis could defend but struggled to counterattack and restrain his movements.

Ultear was one of the few A-class mages working for the Florent Kingdom's government. She also had a rather special identity—she was the illegitimate child of King Redfield II. King Redfield II had many illegitimate children, but because Ultear possessed an A-class talent, she became one of the illegitimate children who received significant attention from the kingdom.

"That man will chase me in less than 10 minutes," Ultear mumbled. Knowing she couldn't escape from Alphonso's pursuit, Ultear prepared herself.

At the same time, Katarina slowly regained consciousness. She lifted her heavy eyelids, observing the vast forest around her. However, she sensed the forest moving away from her. After a moment, Katarina realized she was the one moving.

She then looked to the side and found herself being carried on the shoulder of a woman. Katarina assumed this woman was an associate of her kidnapper. Red thunder streams congregated on her arm; quickly, the silhouette on Ultear's body seemed to come alive. The silhouette emerged and firmly bound Katarina's arm.

"Don't get too excited, even though you have an S-class talent, you can't unleash even a quarter of your magical ability." Ultear's cold voice pierced Katarina's spirit.

Katarina tried to rebel, but more and more shadow tendrils emerged, binding her body. She didn't give up; the little girl tried to channel her red thunder throughout her body.

"Aaargh!" At that moment, Katarina felt the tendrils binding her sprout numerous small needles, piercing her skin.

A blue flash swiftly aimed at Ultear's head, but a shadow shield blocked the attack. The lightning spark illuminated Ultear, causing the shadow she used to restrain Katarina to vanish instantly.

The girl endured the pain she suffered, then staggered towards her father. Shadow tendrils once again emanated from Ultear's legs and headed towards Katarina. Alphonso jumped forward, emitting a bright light to drive away the shadows. He then hugged his beloved daughter.

"Katarina, are you okay?" Alphonso asked with concern.

"Dad, I missed you," Katarina cried. These past few days had been tough for her; despite trying to be strong, she couldn't hold back her tears upon seeing her father.

Alphonso then gently rubbed her back, comforting the little girl.

The scene was touching, but unfortunately, Ultear had no intention of appreciating it. She used her tendrils to uproot a tree and hurled it towards Alphonso.

Alphonso extended his right hand, forming a lightning sword that cut the tree in half. Other trees were thrown following the first one. Alphonso kept cutting the trees while running back to his comrades. He wasn't someone obsessed with fighting; he understood his purpose and prioritized it: rescuing Katarina.

Ultear created a large shadow hand, then leaped onto it and was thrown by the shadow hand, causing her to soar through the air.

"Blue lightning, even though it's only a B-class talent, its light attribute is one of the weaknesses of my shadow king," Ultear quickly calculated in her mind. Her mission had essentially failed now that all the children had been saved; hence, the Vollen Academy would likely suppress this incident.

Thinking it through, Ultear felt it would be better to kill Katarina. The girl was a valuable asset to the country, but if the reasons behind this incident were exposed, she might become the kingdom's biggest anti-establishment figure. Therefore, Ultear decided to kill her.

It was common knowledge among mages that creating something was more challenging than controlling something. The energy consumption from controlling shadows in the forest and beneath her feet was smaller compared to creating shadows out of nothing.

"Shadow World."

Ultear expanded her shadow like a cloth in the sky, causing the mountain area to lose access to light. The shadow-covered area expanded ceaselessly.

Alphonso, sensing something ominous, accelerated his pace. Unfortunately, the shadow's expansion was faster than him. At that moment, he suddenly threw Katarina. The next moment, dozens of black tendrils emerged, piercing Alphonso's body.

Katarina, thrown away, stared blankly at her father. She then saw a smiling face appear on his own. Blood slowly trickled from his lips, dripping and staining the green grass.

Alphonso opened his mouth and said, "Live on... Save yourself... Father loves you, Katarina."

Red, the color then filled the girl's mind. The sky turned red, trees turned red, grass turned red, in Katarina's world, everything changed to red.

"Aaa!!" Katarina screamed loudly. Her mind shattered, all that came out of her father's mouth was the color red. The anger triggered her mage power.

A red aura surrounded Katarina's body; she levitated a meter above the ground, her hair floating in the air, and red thunder sparks created a storm-like environment around her. Trees burned and shattered, explosions turned the forest into a field.

She lifted her head towards the figure floating in the air. Her right arm extended forward, at that moment a blood-red laser aimed at Ultear. Ultear's reaction couldn't match the speed of the laser. The red laser destroyed Ultear's right hand and pierced through the shadow fabric covering the sky.

The attack caused Ultear to fall, and her fate remained unknown. However, Katarina's rage didn't stop; she continued to destroy the surrounding forest without any regard.

"W-What's happening?!" James stared at the raging red thunder from afar. The level of destruction was approaching an actual S-class disaster.

"That power belongs to Katarina; something terrible might have happened to Alphonso!" Vania, as a teacher from the Vollen Academy, understood her student's mage power.

"We must calm her down immediately; if this continues, the girl will endanger her life," Zenith added.

Meanwhile, Denis, witnessing the destruction of the shadow world and chaos caused by Katarina, immediately fled. He had managed to restrain James, Zenith, and Vania using his powers more suitable for combat than those of the three, but now Ultear might be injured, so rescuing Ultear was the best choice.

Thinking about that, Denis fled. James and the two Vollen Academy teachers also headed towards Katarina; their priority was no longer Denis but Katarina and Alphonso.

Meanwhile, the chaos in the Palvas mountain forest soon attracted the attention of the village. Moris then followed to the Palvas mountain, carrying Adam, who insisted on coming along.

After Vania and the others arrived, they found Alphonso had died from the tendrils' piercing shadows. However, they didn't have time to mourn because Katarina, who was still rampaging, had now shifted her attention to them.

Vania attempted to use smoke to block Katarina's view and make her faint. However, Katarina grew stronger and attacked in all directions. Fortunately, Moris's arrival managed to improve the situation. Moris succeeded in making Katarina faint without causing too much harm.

Finally, Moris and others handled the danger situation very well.