The Rescue Mission

'The Rising...'

The water hit the side of the boat splashing against it and rocking the boat from side to side, no doubt throwing most people who stood on it over. The many people in the hull would not be having a good time...

Oliver pressed his back up against the ships wall as he silently began to move through the ship at a slow speed making care not to to trip or make a sound...

"I might be in over my head..." Oliver sighed slowly looking out from over the side of the boat. In the distance he saw the city several meters away in the distance. He still had plenty of mana left as he had used his Grace to break the lightning spell, and a Grace takes the mana from the world not the user, however even with all his mana it didn't matter. He wasn't good with magic. He'd need his wand, or that demon blade to cast a spell. "Maybe I should just give up and wait for help..." He said slowly... "But..."

No...

He couldn't quit now! This boat was an illegal vessel filled with kidnapped victims. It had to have some magical trinket lying around somewhere. A magic sword, or a wand or something. Anything that could help out and allow him to cast his spells again. He didn't need to find his old gear. He just needed to find something.

Anything.

Just something that would allow him to cast his spells.

Wands were sort of like training wheels for Wizards. Most kids grew out of them and no longer needed to use them to cast spells but he never grew out of that need. Time Magic was rare and almost never seen so most people simply didn't know how to teach him so he had been on his own...

That said...

He just needed to find some kind of magical trinket to cast his spells.

Luckily for him, this boat wasn't all that big. Unluckily for him, that meant it was way easier to get caught by the two extremely powerful bad guys who were on the boat who could easily beat him even if he had his sword with him.

"Damn it..." Oliver whispered folding his arms. "If only I had Cath here... If I could use her power I'd win for sure... Cath alone could beat the snot out of those guys..." Oliver took a deep breath for a moment as he rested up against the back wall of the metal ship. Past that point, he could see the two random wizards, not the two, that had captured him both quietly chatting about something.

They were just random goons. Nobodies. They seemed to be complaining about their boss.

"Damn that Kaen asshole..." One of them muttered leaning back and taking a swig from his mugs as the liquid dripped down his chin. "He's a real piece of work ain't he. Him and that Pako guy who worships him... Those two can piss off for all I care! If not for the money I'd just say screw em both!"

"Shh! Are you an idiot." The second guy hissed out. "Pako will hear us... They say he has an electric field around this boat that allows him to hear all... Don't dare insult his Master or..."

"Right right I get it..." The man rolled his eyes as he leaned up against the wall. "Hey. Check it out. A wand. I haven't seen one of these in a while. Don't only babies use these to cast spells? There are a lot of crazy stuff in this box? Even a sword made of Gold."

'A wand!' Oliver thought with wide eyes. 'Yes! If I can just get my hands on that...'

"Yeah. I heard we picked up a... Well... You know. One of those kids from the village we burnt down. Some little girl apparently... She was the only one left alive after our boss burnt that entire village down to ash. I tell ya he's a scary one laughing the entire time as he burned family after family down to ash."

The two men laughed for a moment before they went back to searching through the piles of stuff they had.

"Damn..." Oliver said under his breath as he ever so slightly glanced into the room where they were... The two of them were sitting down on wooden chairs and had a wide variety of stuff laid out in a box. No doubt things they stole from the other victims. Among the pile several trinkets that could definitely come in handy. One of which that caught his eye was his gear. His simple yet expensive wooden wand, and his shinny golden sword he spent all his Bells on. "How the hell am I gonna get in and grab that..." He wondered.

"Yes." A loud voice exclaimed from behind Oliver making him jump slightly. He whipped around and saw Pako, was standing directly behind him with a small frown on his face. He reached out placing a hand on the boys shoulder as he stared Oliver down. "How are you going to get your hands on that? And better yet how are you going to stop me from shoving you back into the hull with one attack?"

"Y... You! How did you know-" Oliver jumped back but felt his back collide with the two men who were now out of the room when they heard one of their bosses. They both grabbed a hold of the young boys arms squeezing down and gave wide grins when he hissed out in pain.

"Wow!" The first one laughed. "You weren't kidding. Those blue eyes, and that murderous look he is giving us... He is one of 'them' isn't he. I think I might just crack his head open and let his brains out for what his family did! Would serve him right wouldn't it."

"Now now." Pako raised his hand up as lighting covered it. "No need for that. After all, we can sell him. But it is a bother that he managed to escape." Pako placed his hand on Oliver's stomach as it began to glow, lighting flickering off of his hands. "Give me a moment so I can snap his spine and make sure he doesn't walk again-" Pako stopped for a moment as his mustache twitched. "Why do I hear yelling-"

"Look out below!" A pair of voices yelled.

'Boom!'

The roof of the ship caved in as something slammed into the boat nearly flipping it over. The force was so strong the boat began to split in half, and a massive tidal wave slammed into the boat blowing it back. It began to crash into the docks as the entire thing shook and everyone was thrown to the ground. The boat slammed into the sand flying out of the waters.

"I don't know what's going on boy but I can't have you running around! Row Lightning Blade!" Pako let out a growl and lunged forward with his lighting covered hand intending to impale Oliver with his lighting blade, only for a hand to reach up and grab it seemingly unaffected by the lightning..

"Got you." The voice of Athena announced grabbing onto his hand. He stared at her shocked as the lightning seemed to flow over her body but didn't shock her. In fact it seemed to be pulled into her skin like a sponge in water.

Everyone began to process the fact that Athena, and Davi, now stood in the room. Davi held Cath, as well as Athena's stuffed animal, and Athena herself now stood in front of a shocked looking Oliver holding the lighting covered hand like it was nothing. The electricity covered her but she didn't even seem to flinch from it.

Oliver felt himself fall back as he stared up in shock at the two strangers from earlier. They had once again saved him from certain doom. "Who are they!" He asked.

"You can have this back," Davi said handing Cath back to Oliver giving a smile which showed off his many fanged teeth. It was like seeing a shark smile.

"Hey who the hell are you two-"

One of the two men tried to say but in a flash Davi appeared behind them. He hit them over the head with both his hands delivering to powerful karate chops to the back of their necks causing them both to fall to the floor with their eyes rolled in the back of their head both unconscious.

Athena herself slammed her fist into the head of the shocked Pako making the man slam into the bottom of the boat as hard as she could. The entire boat wouldn't stop shaking as it slammed into the port and nearly flipped over. It crashed down onto the beach of the city slowly collapsing down and nearly shattering.

"Whoops." Davi laughed stepping off the side of the boat. He fell a few feet down landing on the sand. Unfortunately, he had his hand on Oliver's arm dragging him over the side of the boat as well.

Oliver let out a yell as they crashed down into the sand. Athena quickly stepped off the boat as well and landed on Oliver sitting on the boy.

"Oh God..." Oliver groaned face down in the sand as Athena rested on his back. "Please for the love of God let me turn over."

"Looks like we found you," Davi said casually.

"Don't sound so casual!" Oliver yelled.

Athena got off of him as they turned to look at the boat. Several people were thrown overboard as the entire boat slammed into the sand covered beach. The docks were ruined and several people were screaming as the boat crashed down. Several items such as coins, swords, and wands, rained down. Stabbing into the ground a few feet away from them was the golden sword.

"Yes! My demon blade!" Oliver said grabbing his sword and pulling it out. His wand also rolled through the sand landing at his feet so he picked it back up.

"Demon Blade?" Davi frowned.

"Yeah. The guy who sold me this sword told me it was a Demon Blade one of the ten weapons that existed back in the day of King Arthur!" Oliver announced.

"Uh. Oliver I hate to break it to you but that's not a Demon Blade-"

'Boom!'

Lightning exploded out of the side of the boat as Pako crashed into the ground in front of the three boys. He was huffing and puffing as blood trickled down the top of his head from where he had been hit.

"Oh cool, he's still alive," Athena said without any emotion. "I guess he's sort of strong."

"A... A single punch and did that..." Oliver muttered. "I... I'm starting to suspect these two aren't normal people..." He let out a nervous laugh and hugged Cath closer to his chest.

Pako growled as waves of lightning exploded out of his wrists. "That's it..." He hissed out. "You two have gotten in my way one to many times..." He grabbed his robes and ripped it off leaving him in just his long pants. He showed his chest off which had several powerful abs, and toned muscles. He flexed slightly as lightning seemed to cracked around him and he pointed a finger at Athena. "Vil Lighting Gauntlets!" He hissed. The lightning covered his arms and hands like blue liquid gloves. The Lightning flowed more like water, and seemed to be quite literally dripping off of him despite the fact that it was still lightning. Like a liquid plasma. "You two are dead!" He yelled.

"Athena." Davi said.

"Yes?"

"Kick his ass." He said handing her stuffed toy back to her.

Athena ran her hand over the top of the toy as it lit up and began to glow shocking Oliver. The toy began to grow larger and seemed to become a red metal as the roar of a lion could be heard.

"T... That Stuffed Lion is a Magical Artifact?" He asked in shocked. "Like my sword or wand?"

People with Arcane Energy had three main things, sometimes four. The first was their Magic Type. This was like Oliver's Time Magic. This was something a person would either have to learn or be born with. The second was what was called a Magic Skill. These were rare but it was like what Pako had. He was able to use his Lightning in order to sense people. Magic Skills were rare abilities some people were born with and couldn't be learned. Next was a Grace... A Grace was even rarer than a Magical Skill. A Grace was a type of magic that was above all other magic and could do effects magic normally could not. Like a Magic Skill it came in many forms and could do different things. It had to be gifted by a God... And lastly... Magical Artifacts. A Magical Item was something made by an Enchanter or Alchemist and was designed in a way that anyone could use it even those without Mana. This was because a Magical Item had a type of Magic placed in it as well as the Mana already being placed in it. It had limited uses however. Like a Gun with Six Bullets, a Magical Item only had so many charges before it would have to have more Mana placed into it. A Magical Artifact wasn't this... Artifacts could only be used by those with Arcane Energy. They were powerful, but not rare, Magical Weapons with an Enchantment placed on them. They used the mana of the wielder meaning that it would drain the users own energy rather than the mana placed in it...

Most Arcane Hunters had one of these magical items.

But Davi and Athena weren't Hunters...

Just who the hell were they...

The Lion finished changing as it morphed into its true form becoming Athena's weapon. It was a large maul. The handle was long making it a two handed weapon and the metal was a dark red. At the head of the hammer was the red metal head of a lion its mouth opened in a roaring gesture. Flames began to slowly seep out of the mouth as she twirled it around.

"Aka Netsu..." Athena said twirling her weapon around. "A Hero Class Artifact imbued with Heat based magic." Lightning began to seep off of her body as her single yellow eye stared at the man.

"W... Whoa... So she has Lightning magic and she's using a weapon with fire magic?" Oliver asked.

"Oh. Athena doesn't have Lightning Magic." Davi grinned.

"What?"

"You'll find out..."

"I hope you're ready." Athena said flames pouring out of the mouth of the lion. "Because you're going to be fighting me now."

Pako let out a roar and jumped into the air spinning around and clasping his hands together making a large electric lance which he stabbed down. "I'll turn you to ash! Ril Lightning Blast!"