A Partner: a weakness or strength ?

The sun rose over Firewood Town, and Ray, Rhys, and Luna were already awake. Waiting for Syn and Snow to come out of the house, Ray, Rhys, and Luna went to the nearest food shop to have breakfast by themselves. Luna questioned their lateness, and Rhys informed her that they were probably tired from yesterday's activities, referring to last night.

After finishing their meal and some morning exercises, they resumed questioning the townspeople. The three of them reached a dark alley on the edge of town where they heard a voice calling. A cloaked man emerged from the shadows and asked what they needed. They explained they were searching for answers about those responsible for recent events. The mysterious figure informed them that he could help, but only for a good price.They questioned his needs, and when he answered that he wanted the girl who was with them the day before, snow appeared and questioned the three of them about syn's absence as the guy took a stance to attack her Ray's hand reached his throat in mere seconds. With a menacing gaze he informed him that not even the four kings along with the emperor can save him if he touches that girl. 

The second Ray took off the mysterious figure's cloak, he sensed a different energy flowing from him.

"Guess you don't want to cooperate with us," the figure said, freeing himself from Ray's grip and backing off to prepare for an attack.

He didn't expect Ray to already be slicing through his arms

"Guess you don't want to cooperate with us," Ray mocked.

"Blue flame," Ray said, and with those words, he drowned his opponent in a small lake of blue fire.

"IV," another cloaked figure intoned as he appeared.

In an instant, a half-circle zone expanded rapidly, turning the entire town into a grey stillness. No one moved, except for the second figure who now faced Ray.

"The SS-ranked guy," he said with a smile, t "Even you, with your speed, aren't faster than time. Neither you nor the 'Rive' guy can escape this." said while turning his head in Rhys's direction.

The cloaked figure helped his comrade from the blue flames lake and reached for his blade, preparing to cut down Ray, Rhys, and Luna.

"Eliminate..."

the guy's eyes widened as he saw his time-stopping domain shatter like broken glass. Turning his head, he caught a glimpse of a red blur. He kept looking around until the red blur stopped, revealing crimson eyes like bloody flames gazing at him, waiting for a reaction. In a panic, he took a fleeing stance, grabbing his comrade and running away before the time spell completely broke.

As he reached the nearby forest, he sensed Syn just behind him. "XII," he murmured, casting an even more concentrated spell than before. However, before the expanded zone could reach Syn, it shattered again under the same elimination spell.Realizing they had reached a distant place from the town, Syn retrieved his trident. "Eradicator Lightning," he cast, throwing his trident with a spell that turned everything within a 4-meter radius to ashes. The attack hit its target directly, leaving nothing behind.

Returning to the town, Syn found only three of his comrades: Ray, Rhys, and Luna. He questioned them about Snow's whereabouts, but they didn't know. Syn's mind raced through the worst-case scenarios and remembred that she was sure that the organisation would follow her to the edge of the earth.

Feeling a tense pain in his heart, Syn activated his crimson eyes, pushing his senses to the extreme, extending his range to 400 miles. He sensed her mana 100 miles away and, reopening his eyes, launched himself with tremendous force. Reaching her in mere minutes, he saw five figures with a strong flow of mana holding her tied-up body. Seeing her hopeless face, he moved with tremendous speed towards his enemies and uttered:

"Eliminate."

Once more, he used his spell to make the ties vanish. The moment he did, Snow used a wind daggers spell to knock her kidnappers down. Just as they reached for their weapons, time stopped. The same spell again? Yes, but more concentrated and faster to cast. The time circle extended even to the town where the other three members were. In this colorless range, only one thing had color: bright, ruby eyes.

"now it make a sense, your eyes aren't actually colored red but you are having your original eye color but enfused with a very concentrated flow of mana" a man said with a confident voice.

"This time spell creates a bubble in which time flows differently compared to the outside world. This can be explained as creating an extreme gravitational field similar to a black hole but on a smaller scale that dilates time. However, time doesn't affect mana, which is something very familiar to you to use. Just like the mana field created automatically before me using my spell." the man continued

Sensing a threat, Syn questioned the man's identity, but the man didn't answer. Instead, he assured Syn that he could keep Snow, as she didn't know anything. He referred to her as just a pawn for him. As he spoke, he manipulated the space around him and vanished. Syn didn't understand how this man could know about him using mana instead of magic, and concepts like black holes that were only written about in the "Chronicles of Mana."

After the ordeal ended, Syn assured Snow that everything was over and they made their way back to the town. He pondered why he felt compelled to help her, feeling a sense of vulnerability due to love. As they reached the town, Luna came running to ask about their condition. Snow informed her that they were alright, but before Syn could resume talking, she questioned him about his elimination spell, asking for its logic. Sighing, he said:

"Remember when I explained to you about atoms? It's similar. Atoms and nuclei are matter. Using the concept of antonyms, there's something called antimatter. With this theory, I manipulate the space element with mana to fuse antimatter and matter. What happens when you combine 1 and -1?"

"0," Luna answered.

"Exactly. Matter and antimatter annihilate each other, resulting in a massive release of energy. This reaction typically leads to an explosion. With mana, I concentrate the energy from this reaction, which creates the air crack that happens when I use the spell."

"and the only one who can use pure mana to create the spell is you," the voice inside said mockingly.

With these complicated explanations, Luna felt her mind was about to explode from the sheer amount of information.

"We leave tomorrow?" Rhys barged into the conversation, eager to change the subject.

"Guess so," Syn replied, nodding.

With that, they all made their way back to their respective houses, the tension easing as they prepared for a night's rest to resume the journey tomorrow.