7 Chapter 7

It was coming fast.

Too fast.

Even at her level, Curtis wasn't able to cast anything fast enough when there was only a tenth of a tenth of a second between the wind blade and Thaddeus's body.

At most she could use her body to try to block it for him. But with how wide that thing was, even if the majority of it was taken by her, the kid would still have to prepare to lose some blood and flesh... and that was only under the condition that her body got there in time, which was honestly quite unlikely.

But she attempted it anyway, trying to dive at Thaddeus as fast as her body would allow her.

But before she could even close half the distance, the blade had already begun to cut the skin near his abdomen.

At this rate by the time she reached him, the only thing holding the boy's body together would be a little bit of his spine and whatever skin was left intact on his back.

Luckily, she wasn't the only one attempting to stop the attack as a great-sword put itself in the left over skin thick space between the blade and the boy's flesh.

Since Arthur has been watching from afar, he saw the attack coming before it was too late.

Picking up that great-sword as of from thin air, he lobbed it like a javelin before rushing in.

It reaching in time was simply an act of God in combination with his muscles working in full crisis mode.

And even then it still scraped off a layer of the boy's cuticles.

Something the boy should be thankful for considering he had kept his life.

A part of the wind blade was blocked by the sword but partial, baby finger's length of it passed and landed on Thaddeus's hip.

It hasn't even have time to bleed.

None of them had even processed what just happened or were able to sigh in relief.

And Arthur was still running.

Despite the attack being stopped, the battle was not over, a small figure blurred past the great sword in mere moments.

Thanis's two bodyguards saw the crippled kid coming at them and assumed he was running away from the assailant.

Not noticing that he was making his way past them and towards Thaddeus himself.

Only Thaddeus saw from end to beginning, all that was going on.

He had his eyes on Tasha since he attempted his spell, him being the target and all.

And he'd seen Tasha react exactly as his magic circle was half way done, waving his hand in front of him.

His brain was going to make the conclusion that Tasha was about to break his silent facade and get scared in the face of a proper spell.

It wasn't allowed to reach that conclusion though.

Without even a trace of the light of a magic circle, suddenly a wind blade was whipped his away.

Only after everything happened and a sword gave his skin a bit of a burn from rubbing against it did his brain contemplate that he was ever quite so close to death.

And at this point not far enough away from it.

He noticed that Tasha was already going past his guards without them doing a thing.

And once more this time, he had his hand raised.

Previously, his attack came from a seating position maybe a meter or two away from him. Even then he almost died.

But now the boy was one walking step away from him. If he waved that hand down, it'd fall right in front of his nose.

This time however, he had suddenly slowed down.

Ritsuko wasn't staying idle on the side when such a thing went on, she immediately cast Slow, a very basic ice spell, but the best one to use in such a critical juncture.

It worked wonders.

Tasha who had been working in split second intervals was slowed down enough so that Curtis could step in and block his hand.

The first thing she felt, was it thumping on her palm much harder than any 12 year old should be capable of.

The next one was the wind blade that followed suit, crashing onto her, creating a gash upon her from just below her eyes all the way down to her thighs.

Tasha was surprised to see that the cut didn't bleed, looking more like a layer of earth had split apart right on top of Curtis's skin.

Having caught his one arm, her other hand grabbed his collar and she attempted to slam him into the tavern floor.

But his leg was already on her abdomen as soon as he felt himself being lifted.

Softening the landing, he took that momentum and put himself into a roll which took Curtis with him, throwing her behind him as he stood up and once again advanced forward.

In the next instant however, he was flung back.

A whip made from wind had smacked him square in the chest, ironically knocking the air out of his lungs and him into a set of tables.

The perpetrator of this was Thanis, who took the opportunity while all the others were opposing the kid, to take a shot right at the perfect moment.

He'd see what this kid did to his son, and he wasn't going to let this kid get back up. Ever.

In a moment, he raised his hand above his head, the wind ship stretching violently from some magic symbols circling around his hand.

And he brought it down on the boy's head, preparing to see it smash apart like a watermelon, and it's bits and pieces flung about by the winds.

But before his wrist could pull it down, a hand squeezed it from behind.

Well, it's more proper to call it a vice than a hand as it stopped Thanis from moving even a muscle in his arm.

"What are you doing!?" Thanis shouted at Arthur. "That kid tried to kill my son!"

"And your son attempted to kill the kid." Arthur replied calmly.

"You think a level 1 spell from an acolyte can kill that kid? When he's waving around level 2 spells like nothing!?" Thanis retorted.

"Neither you or your son knew that, if he was up against any other 12 year old, we'd be protecting the other kid from your son." Arthur explained calmly.

Seeing that he wasn't able to reason against this man, Thanis turned to his body guards, "What are you idiots doing!? Kill that kid!"

"And you!" He turned back to Arthur, "Do you think you can oppose the Glaive family!? I'll have this place burned to the ground within the hour!"

The two body guards weren't even able to take a single step as they'd found the lower half of their bodies encased in a pillar of ice, courtesy of Ritsuko.

And in front of them, Curtis had already run back into the fight and was standing between them and Tasha.

"You can try, but you can then tell Lars the reason he can no longer drink his favorite drinks and why his family is being uprooted by a usually very peaceful arch mage." Arthur pronounced his words one by one, firmly and slowly to make sure the words sank in.

"How dare you speak those names!? Do you think just anyone on the streets like you can call upon his name without having his tongue cut out!? And... a.. arc... mage?" Thanis was about to retort once more, but suddenly he felt Arthur's aura spike up until he surpassed even Curtis's.

"Please, by all means continue, you were saying something about me having my tongue cut out?" Arthur spoke.

None from Thanis's group could respond in any way.

No one wanted to be on the bad side of even a single arch mage.

Forget having the archmage bother enough to attack you themselves, even the hordes of factions and people who wanted to chip in a favor with an archmage was enough to bury any big family twice over.

"Now..." seeing the man shut up, Arthur continued, "who's going to pay for today's festivities?"

Even while it was a very small event, some tables and floorings were still damaged, and Arthur didn't want to cover it out of his own pocket.

"Well...he said he could pay for us tonight.." Ritsuko shamelessly brought up Thanis's earlier attempt to get close to them.

At those words Arthur simply gave Thanis a glance and said kindly, "Why don't you settle things at the front desk?" To which Thanis, still unable to overcome his previous shock, simply nodded.

Thaddeus wasn't in that much better of a state. Without anyone noticing, the cut in his hip had begun to bleed profusely.

With how quickly everything had happened, he hadn't even been able to notice the throbbing pain that came with the wound.

In his mind, he replayed the two attacks that were attempted on him.

And every time.

Every single time.

He saw himself in two separate piles.

No one noticed when, but the warm blood running down his body had been mixed with some clear fluids.

...

Arthur watched as the group of four meekly made their payment.

Thanis, doing as any man from a rich family would, put his card down on the counter without checking the bill.

Which was probably for the best, considering the amount of excitement everyone already went through tonight.

"As for you guys..." finally Arthur set his sights on Ritsuko and Curtis who were giving him all their attention.

"I'd find your kid and meet me in the back office."

As both Curtis and Ritsuko turned around, they'd noticed the boy was no longer there.