Invasion

|Alistair|

The DC officers, including Tessia, and I were in the meeting room waiting for Kai to set up the sparring shield. Suddenly, the shield turned crimson and its mana flow was off.

"What do you think you're doing, Kai?" I asked with suspicion as I approached him.

"I'm just trapping you all," he said nonchalantly, a triumphant smile on his face.

I quickly scanned the barrier surrounding the school, which also turned crimson.

"Shit!" I cursed, realizing that breaking through the reinforced shield would be difficult.

But I had an ace up my sleeve - aether. I gathered black flames around my palm and used it to tear through the shield. Kai's eyes widened in shock as he tried to flee, but water strings manifested around him and trapped him while he was distracted.

"Rachel!" Tessia and Kathlyn exclaimed as a blonde girl entered the room with a trapped Kai by her side.

"Quick, we must rush to aid the students!" I said, leading the other DC officers out of the meeting room. However, before I could take another step forward, a suppressed yet powerful presence barged in from the wall.

I quickly positioned myself in front of Tessia protectively, summoning Faithkeeper to my side while channeling my mana through my body.

My heart raced as I saw through the smoke and caught a glimpse of the figure's appearance and aura, which reminded me of the Vritra that killed my mother.

What was even more unsettling was the gnawing feeling in my heart, like when I had faced Gary before - an overwhelming sensation of being up against someone I could never defeat.

The young man, who appeared to be around my age, chuckled before his eyes narrowed to slits. In an instant, he exploded off the ground, moving at a speed almost too fast for me to track.

Thinking quickly, I siphoned aether and used aevum to slow down time, allowing me to predict his attack. His punch was aimed directly at my heart and mana core, a move that could have been an instant kill.

Despite being able to track his movements using my enhanced senses, dodging them proved to be a challenge. Our speeds were vastly different.

I rapidly calculated all possible outcomes and decided to parry his attack using my left arm. I activated Creation vivum, conjuring a purple exoskeleton around my arm before raising it to intercept his blow.

BOOM!

Even though I managed to deflect his attack and avoid taking the full brunt of it, my arm trembled from the sheer force of the impact that passed through the aether. The raw power was on another level.

"Not bad," the young man said, "As expected of a Dragon!"

My eyes widened in shock, but I quickly composed myself and signaled to the DC officers to evacuate the room. I could sense Tessia's scared and worried expression, but I ignored it and instead focused on the opponent before me.

Summoning Argentum Fang from my dimensional ring, I held it in my left hand and activated the foresight aspect of aevum, visualizing victory over my opponent.

Yet, my body began to tremble as I simulated thousands of possible futures, none of which resulted in my triumph.

"Show me what you can do, young Asura," the boy taunted, attacking me with blinding speed and conjuring black flames by his side.

I had to give everything I had to survive against this monster.

|Lancelot|

The ground was a battlefield, scattered with the broken bodies of both students and professors fighting against the invaders and the monsters they had managed to control. It was a dire situation where everyone's life hung in the balance.

Focusing on my three opponents, I recognized them as former professors whose powers had been augmented to match silver stage mages through elixirs that drained their life force. These potions were perfect to use on expendable assets.

I deflected a colossal orb of blue fire hurtling towards me using my wind magic. I fed it oxygen to intensify the flames and redirected it back towards the professor. In retaliation, the deviant professor released lightning arrows at me, which I countered with my superior arrows that injured him.

As the earth trembled, towering walls emerged around me, attempting to trap me inside.

[Spirit of Boreas]

My sword transformed into a halberd that blew away the magical barrier with ease. However, the water-based sword professor took the chance to combine his attack with the deviant professor's lightning spell, creating a deadly attack.

Recognising the threat, I quickly conjured a thick green mana shield, blocking all the attacks without fail.

With a deep breath, I made a decision. It was time to unleash my full power. My halberd shifted into a smaller sword as I called upon the wind to increase my speed.

Without hesitation, I struck the deviant professor who was already injured from my previous spell. The blade of my sword pierced through his chest, putting an end to his life.

The swordsmanship professor was right beside him, but before he could react, I was already behind him, striking him down with a swift and deadly blow that went through his heart and mana core.

The earth magic professor, seeing his colleagues fall so easily, began to tremble and attempted to flee. But before he could, blue strings made of water magic encircled him, sealing his fate.

"Rachel," I said with a small smile, knowing that she had my back.

"Lancelot, hurry!" Rachel urged me. "We need to go help Alistair! He's in trouble!"

|Arthur|

With each swing of my teal blade, mana beasts fell before me, my sword gleaming in the brightness of the Aurora Constellate. As I approached the Xyrus Academy, a crimson barrier came into view, surrounding the grounds and pulsating with ominous energy.

Sylv shuddered in response to my heightened emotions, echoing the sense of danger that permeated the air. My every instinct screamed at me to turn back, to retreat from the peril that awaited within the Academy walls.

But I couldn't. Not when I knew that innocent lives were at stake. Steeling myself, I stepped forward, determination coursing through me as I prepared to face whatever lay ahead.

With a deep breath, I focused my mind and summoned the power of the Realmheart. The aether around us surged and swirled as I used spatium to teleport past the red-tinted barrier, holding Sylv tightly in her white fox form.

As we materialized inside the Academy, the scene that greeted us was one of horror. The once vibrant halls were now littered with the lifeless bodies of students, their blood staining the floors and walls.

Sylv shivered in my arms, her white fur bristling with fear and sadness at the sight before us. My own heart ached with grief and anger as I took in the devastation wrought by the invaders.

As I turned the corner, a looming figure greeted me with an arrogant voice. He was tall, well over two meters, and despite his hunched posture, he towered over everyone else. His body was entirely wrapped in thick dark bandages, concealed under a shabby black mantle that perched on his shoulders. Messy bangs peeked out from underneath his tattered hood, accentuating his peculiar appearance.

I could sense the immense power radiating from him, comparable to Gary to a certain degree.

'No, Sylv,' I cautioned my bond through our telepathic link, keeping her hidden from the danger ahead.

Realmheart surged, transforming my auburn locks into wheat blonde and replacing my azure eyes with golden irises. I launched a sickle of frost towards my opponent, but he quickly countered with a type of magic I had never seen before.

Using Realmheart's amplification of my affinity to ambient mana, my senses were heightened, and I could feel the disturbance in front of me before I could see it. I swiftly dodged the barrage of black spikes that had materialised beneath me, while Sylv kept herself out of sight.

"Not bad, Pup," he commented. His condescending tone sent a chill down my spine, and the ground trembled as he took a step closer. Each of his movements seemed to carry the weight of the earth itself, making me feel small and insignificant in comparison.

I tightened my grip on Dawn's Ballad, feeling the comforting warmth of the runes on my arm. With a deep breath, I focused on coalescing the ambient mana around me, imbuing my sword with the elements of ice, fire, lightning and wind.

As the blade shimmered with a scintillating array of colours, I knew that only this weapon could withstand the massive amount of mana and aether I was imbuing it with.

With a surge of aether, I augmented my body and charged straight at the invader, the tip of Dawn's Ballad pointed towards him. The clash of metal rang out as my sword met his black spikes, and I felt a surge of adrenaline course through me as I poured all of my strength into the attack.

|Gary|

I surveyed the raging inferno that was once Xyrus City, my enhanced eyes piercing through the smoke and flames to observe the chaos and destruction below. Adventurers and mages fought with desperation against the hordes of mana beasts that swarmed the streets, tearing through buildings and leaving destruction in their wake.

"It seems the conflict has commenced," I murmured, my voice low and contemplative.

Alpha, my trusted subordinate, turned to me with a furrowed brow. "Sir, do you plan to intervene?"

I paused, weighing my options carefully. "Not immediately," I said at last. "The Paladins are likely defending the city. They should be able to hold out against this level of attack for the time being."

Unbeknownst to me, the invaders were far more powerful than I had initially anticipated, and the true extent of the danger looming over Xyrus City was beyond my comprehension.