12 Old Man Pond

Ysabeau's eyes turned dark the moment she heard those words. Her hands gripped hard onto Fluffy, causing the bird to squawk loudly.

"I'm gonna take a look at Fluffy, something went wrong," said Mavislin, taking off once more. Raiyen, Baldwin, and Matias stood near each other, attacking enemies within a huge radius.

"What happened? Why was Fluffy so noisy?" asked Mavislin, approaching the girls. Ysabeau's expression was filled with worry as she relayed the information to Mavislin.

"And so?"

"Old Man Pond is back." When those words left the High Queen's mouth, Mavislin immediately dived down, towards the battle below. A huge cloud of lime green smoke blanketed the area. Baldwin was unfazed, but the same could not be said for the rest. One by one, the reinforcement troops began to fall. Fluffy was forced to go higher, rendering to two women on her unable to see the battlefield.

"It's gonna kill them! We have to help," pleased Nova. Ysabeau flared out, showing off her Aura slightly. This cause Nova to buckle.

"My orders were to take care of you. Your parents are old enough to handle themselves. Besides, you'll die even before you are able to see the enemy," warned Ysabeau, voice thundering through the clouds. Nova shivered slightly at the aggressive High Queen.

Meanwhile, Raiyen was trying desperately control the Poison Cloud but had been overwhelmed. Mavislin swooped in and grabbed the Time Boy by the collar.

"Need some assistance?" asked the playful Mage, sparing through and above the Cloud.

"I'll try to control this using my Earth Elements," explained Raiyen, looking at the mess below.

"No point," replied the flying Mage.

"And why not?" asked Baldwin, who calmly stepped out of the fog like it was nothing.

"This is Commander Pond's Poison Cloud." Baldwin looked shocked while Raiyen looked indifferent.

"And to think I've been trying to find that troublemaker, he turns up here," mumbled Raiyen, glitching out of Mavislin's grasp.

"True that I've wanted to get away from the radar, but I had no intention of causing trouble," said a voice within the thick fog. With a single gust of wind from Ysabeau, the Cloud cleared.

"Hmm... Looks like the lovely Ysabeau is around, eh?"

"Shut it, Poison Thing! And besides, you are the trouble, killing our allies in that way," said Raiyen, disgusted in the method that the man used.

"Not my wish, by someone else," replied Old Man Pond, shrugging his shoulders.

"You're the main enemy for us to go against, who else would it be?" asked Baldwin, summoning his Ancient Relic. The staff was outlined in a dark purple hue, the pentagram spinning slowly. He pointed the staff towards the Old Commander.

"I think little Mavislin here would have a clue," chuckled Old Man Pond, upsetting the Angry Man further. The Commander tilted his head at Mavislin, causing a shock wave towards her area.

"Don't you dare touch her!" bellowed Raiyen, launching himself against the mighty Commander. The old man merely placed a single hand up and it was more than enough to send Raiyen flying back. Landing properly, Raiyen went back to assaulting the mighty Commander. Glitch after glitch, it seemed that he wasn't running out of any Elemental Energy any time soon. Mavislin could hardly keep up with the speed that Raiyen was attacking with. It was true; Time truly helped in growing his abilities. With both hands wielding his best daggers, Baldwin and Mavislin could only see slashes of gold and silver light. Though Raiyen's power had significantly improved, Old Man Pond had yet to move.

"Semiramis' Weapon," chanted the Commander. Two serpents appeared from the palms of his hands, aimed straight for Mavislin.

"Black Wave Hibiscus!" Despite throwing up her shield, Mavislin still had to duck from the poison pests.

"No way, it dissolved the flower in an instant," mumbled Mavislin, in a daze.

"Looks like the cloud has cleared, can we go get a better scene of the battle?" asked Nova, determined to not stay by the side and enjoy the show. Ysabeau sighed as she silently agreed. With one sharp turn, Fluffy was once again hovering above the battle that was unfolding beneath them.

"I doubt that they are able to defeat him," said Ysabeau, disappointedly.

"Why not? They are all powerful, there's no telling of the outcome."

"Old Man Pond, otherwise known as Matthew Pond, was the one who founded the Congregation. In other words, he was the boss of Gillian and me," explained Ysabeua, point down.

"But the fact that the Congregation had crumbled is proof that you guys are much stronger than him," questioned Nova. Ysabeau let out a bitter laugh.

"Tell me, young Princess. How are you able to defeat the teacher that had taught the current two most powerful Mages when the duo were just rookies? Just because the organization had failed would mean that the people who founded were weak."

"If that's the case, why did they gave up on the organization? Did something tragic happened?"

"They were simply bored of saving everyone."