The Dark Mage Part 1

The group of Pacifists cautiously approached the mansion. Rain held a shield, almost as large as his body, before him. Mylia held a short staff with a golden sun on it. Sadie held a bow with an arrow in her hand. Gillen held a spear with both hands, and Kamille clutched a one-handed sword, holding a small round shield ready in his other hand. All eyes were on the building, with a look of caution and determination. When they were only a few meters from the building, the guards became aware of them.

Rain stopped and raised his clenched fist above his head.

The waiting mages activated sigils at that moment, emitting blue light. A slightly glowing transparent wall began to rise from all the seals and cover the building.

"Hah? What's going on here?" Asked one of the guards as she noticed the newcomers and looked around as a dome of magic rose from all sides.

The defensive barrier rose quickly and covered the entire mansion. As the barrier walls met above their heads, a wave of light passed over them once before becoming completely invisible.

The captain of the guard appeared and began shouting orders to his men to calm them down before turning to the Pacifists.

"You are from the temple of the God of Light. What are you doing here? Explain!" He ordered.

Commander Rain Kilian, who did not remove his shield, watched the assembled guards and counted.

"If you do not answer, we will be forced to claim you as an intruder!" Shouted the captain of the guards again.

Commander Rain finally spoke. "We are here because of Lady Selene Derevell, who is accused of using black magic!" He replied. Of course, he could not tell the Order's guards about Dark Magic, but Black Magic was bad enough.

"What kind of nonsense is that? Lady Selene Derevell does not use Black Magic!" The captain of the guards was stunned by this statement and could not believe it.

"You do not need to understand that. All you need to know is that we are here on behalf of the Pope." Kamiel's determined words rang out.

The guards suddenly stopped moving, one by one.

Rain let his gaze sweep over them, summoning his Power of Light, and his shield glowed white. "It's here. Get ready."

The Pacifists continued to spread out, readying their weapons. Gillen's staff and Kamiel's sword glowed. Sadie's bow and arrows, as did the top of Mylie's staff, also glowed.

"Remember. Try to spare as many of them as possible." Reminded Rain.

The captain of the guards stepped forward and spread his arms as if to welcome them; his lips twisted into a tortured smile while his eyes were black as tar.

"You came for me, huh? Fucking Pacifists."

Commander Rain frowned as he saw the eyes of all the guards darken, and their faces contort into an expression halfway between pain and derision.

"Dark Manipulator Selene. Surrender, and there may yet be a chance of redemption for you." The commander replied.

"Ha! What a load of shit coming out of your mouth! I have already been redeemed!" With those words, all the black-eyed guards drew their weapons.

A window on the upper floor shattered, and a dark figure flew out.

Selene hovered in the air, her body glowing faintly with a poisonous green glow. But the appearance of an angel was gone, and in her place was a dark angel. Her golden hair was black and twisted like living snakes with black tar dripping from it, her delicate hands turned into black claws, and her face was marked with black stigmata.

"How did you know about me?" She asked, and everyone she controlled did the same.

The mansion's door opened then, and more people came out. The servants, the cooks, the butler, the gardeners, and the family of the count himself. Every single one of them had black eyes and pain-distorted faces.

Rain frowned and did not answer Selene but fixed his gaze on Gillen. "Gillen." Said he only.

"Roger that."

Gillen turned to the newcomers from the house and approached them.

"Mylia, Kamiel. Move forward."

"Yes, sir!"

"Of course."

Rain then turned to Selene, "Sadie."

"Sure, boss!"

The two moved toward the Dark Manipulator. Selene snorted and raised her hands, which glowed green.

"You'll regret this." She hissed and pointed her hands at the two. Green mana began to accumulate in front of her palms.

Rain and Sadie did not wait for her to finish the spell, but both ran. That Sadie was fast, which was natural if she was a Runner, but Rain was not slow either, which was odd since he wore a large shield, and even his armor was the most robust of the group.

Sadie fired a glowing arrow at Selene as she ran and immediately fired another. Selene clicked her tongue as she was forced to shoot an unfinished spell forward and dodge the arrows. Green mana missiles flew like fastballs. Rain immediately moved in front of Sadie, who crouched behind him. The white light of the shield took on a blue hue as Rain used the mana, and a mana-transparent shield formed in front of them.

* BOOM BOOOOMMM *

There were two explosions as green missiles hit the shield, dirt flew in all directions around them, and the ground shook under their feet. Rain held the shield steady, but he could feel its vibrations.

Sadie immediately rushed out from behind Rain again and began firing shot after shot at Selene, preventing her from using her mana.

Meanwhile, Gillen made his way to the civilians, slowly moving in his direction. Most of them had something in their hands. Knives, garden shears, and one even had a rolling pin.

Gillen raised his spear above his head, and the light at the spear's tip began to glow brighter. The small being from the Raccoon race calmly observed the controlled humans approaching it. He ran forward as the white light at the spear's tip grew brighter. With nimble movements, he weaved his way through the controlled humans lashing out at him with makeshift weapons.

Gillen dodged them effortlessly and arrived in the middle of the small gathering. He leaped into the air and rammed the spike into the ground with all his might, landing gracefully on the weapon's blunt end.

White energy began to expand and crackle through the ground, spreading outward from the impaled spear.

Everyone hit by the white energy began to twitch and fell to the ground. Half of those controlled stopped moving.

Gillen snorted and jumped to the ground as soon as the white light faded.

"Easy." Dealing with ordinary people was always easy. Now he has to beat the rest of them up a little.

He had no intention of dragging things out. He wanted to get into the main battle quickly.

Kamiel and Mylia had a harder time dealing with already Enhanced warriors. Their movements were slow, but they could still use their mana.

* CLANK *

Kamiel deflected with a small shield the incoming sword attack and struck the guard in the face with the flat side of the sword. The guard staggered but did not fall. Kamiel repeated the blow before the guard finally fell. The Power of Light did not immediately affect those possessed in this way. If he did not want to stab them, he had to come into contact with the Power of Light several times with blunt blows before it had enough effect.

Mylia used her mana to create a shield around herself and then pointed her staff at the warriors before her. The sun signs lit up white, and a white bolt of white lightning shot out, striking the first guard, passing through his body, and chaining itself to the next.

"Ugh. Manipulators are the worst." Murmured Myia when she hit the head of another guard who came too close to her with her staff.

Sadie sent arrow after arrow at Selene while Rain cared for her defense. Around them, some craters were already caused by the fierce spells of the dark mage.

Selene suddenly lost her height and hit the ground. She put her hands on the ground while dark tendrils of smoke rose into the air.

"Going into the Dark One's lair is not a good idea." Selene hissed and pressed firmly on the ground. A shockwave appeared.

Selene winced as a white glowing arrow bored into her shoulder, a hissing sound was heard, and the wound around the arrow bubbled and boiled.

Selene raised a mocking green glowing eye towards Rain, who immediately began to close the distance to her and attack her directly.

Sadie fired again, but a dark tentacle shot out of the ground and blocked the arrow. Rain stopped abruptly, and it began to move away instead of moving toward Selene.

The ground began to shake, the earth groaned, and a large number of thigh-thick dark tentacles began to shoot into the air.

"Regroup!" Shouted Rain as he saw that this was not the end. It was not just the ground that was shaking but the mansion itself.

The rest of the group immediately stopped caring about the people they were controlled by Selene and rushed to their commander, who immediately began protecting them with shields, both the Power of Light and the Mana Shield.

"Hahaha! Poor bastards! You have not seen any of the Dark One's power yet!" Scoffed Selene as she jumped back into the air and looked at the mansion.

The mansion shook harder and harder, suddenly breaking in two as a huge black head pierced it.

"By the Holy Light, what is that?" asked Kamiel as they all watched the octopus-like creature make its way out. Its body was all black and seemed to be made of slime. It was almost as large as the building and moved slowly, with tentacles digging into the ground to propel itself forward.

Rain gave the creature a stern look.

"The Dark Ones have their monstrous helpers. But I have never seen a Dark Beast of this size. This is not the work of a Dark One, a mere 2 Rank."

"Someone stronger?" Gillen asked quietly.

"Absolutely."

*****

Gray ran through the woods. He looked haggard and had a wound on his side. However, it was only a superficial wound that only served to restrict him so that he could be hit more easily with a blowgun. They were not trying to kill him but to kidnap him. He did not quite understand what was going on. Who was trying to kidnap him?

The only ones that came to his mind were his father's political opponents or Elizabeth. And he instead guessed her because that was her style.

He spat out silent curses as he went to Derevell House to seek help. His attackers were still in pursuit and would have caught up with him long ago if the dense undergrowth had not stood in their way and Gray had attacked them with his sword. But he was also running out of mana. Gray was an Enhanced Attacker. His fighting style was not suited for an endurance duel.

He felt a chill down his spine, so he immediately jumped behind a tree but did not stop. He heard a thudding sound as something crashed into the tree trunk. For some reason, there were only two chasing him. Where the third was, he did not know, but he feared he was trying to catch up. If he ended up surrounded, it was over.

"Finally." He exhaled as he could already see Derevell Manor through the trees.

The sight gave him new strength, and he accelerated even more. He used his mana to power his legs and shot forward, deciding he could do it with the increased speed. He sprinted out of the forest onto the road and hurried toward the mansion.

"No, you can not go in there!" the man shouted.

Gray turned his head and saw Magus standing nearby, golden light streaming toward Gray from his hand. The Golden Net? Why was everyone trying to catch him?

Gray swung his sword, and a blue bolt of lightning shot out of the blade, breaking the spell and not even slowing down his movement.

A cold feeling suddenly ran through his body; he looked ahead and stopped in shock. The residence of the Derevell clan was suddenly destroyed, and a hideous tentacle monster emerged from it.

Dark tentacles emerged from the ground and attacked everything around it.

Gray stopped, and his mouth opened. He caught a glimpse of a familiar figure hovering next to the monster.

"What... what... no... Selene?"