Chapter 432 A Mages Ace
?The story of Eston and the guild he used to be in was widely known by those in the Noble Guild that he worked with.
They felt that as long as they had a commander like him on their side, no matter what they faced, what type of beasts, or warriors came in their way, they would be able to deal with the situation.
With the way things were going, it certainly seemed that way. The vortex’s attack that was coming from his arms wouldn’t let up and was pushing Amir down hard into the ground.
Even the sandstone underneath the sand could be seen ripping apart. The sandstone around the area was disappearing in front of their eyes.
“Everyone, we have to do what we can to help him!” Alba shouted.
The Crimson Crane weren’t so sure about the order, but they weren’t sure about a lot of things these days, so as usual, they would leave the decision-making up to Alba and follow her lead.
The group was on the move, rolling over. Lilly jumped on Tilon’s shield, who gave her a little push, and she headed straight for the vortex.
At the same time, Kizer lifted his large sword and was ready. He was limited with the amount of tenacity he had left that he could do, but even swinging it normally with Qi gave him great power due to the number of opponents around.
Then, Alba instead, rather than attacking the vortex, had decided to head straight for the circle of mages that were surrounding them, and she wanted to start with the ones with the pointed hoods.
‘These guys are the squad leaders and are most likely to have the troublesome items on them. I need to get rid of them first!’
Alba jumped from her position, attacking the spells heading her way, and landed right in the center. Immediately she struck the mage closest and she had her eyes on, the pointed hood man closest.
“We have a reputation as a clan in the world of Pagna for a reason, and I’m going to show you why!”
Back in the center, where the vortex was being unleashed by Eston, the other Crimson Crane members had used their attacks to try and disrupt the vortex.
Their strikes were powerful, and in using them, they managed to disrupt the vortex. The strong winds blew apart, but as it did, the sharp strong winds went out in all directions.
As it hit the sandstone on the floor, it cut them up, and the attack had hit some of the Crimson Crane members. Elvlin was scratched across the cheek. Lilly had a large cut across her arm. Several of the strikes were going toward Reno as well, but that’s when Tilon came in at the last second holding up his shield.
Some of the strikes cut his leg, causing his blood to soak the area beneath him, but he still stood there.
With his attack being stopped, Eston looked at the ones that were responsible. When looking down though, he could see the Hybrid with his long-barreled arm pointed right at him.
Amir fired out a large Qi attack. Tapping the side of his arm, a barrier appeared and the attack had been completely blocked.
Although the smile on Eston’s face was no longer there. “What are you all doing? Get rid of the others, I will deal with the monster!”
Eston floated back down rather quickly and started to create a sharp ball in his hand. It was swirling all over, constantly moving.
The ball was thrown right into Amir’s stomach again. “You have a pretty strong body to have not been killed by my last attack!” Eston said. “But, this is easy work for me! I have done much harder things.”
Amir’s feet were holding onto the ground, and although the strange ball was attacking him constantly like a sharp razor knife, where the attack had hit, his hard black skin was in place.
“You know, you being here, you got rid of your one advantage you have, and that’s because of getting too close to a warrior!” Amir shouted.
He bent down and delivered a large kick right under Eston’s legs. The attack had caused him to flip and fall to the ground.
Eston could see Amir’s large claw hand following up, and just before it hit, he threw out his own hand, bringing out another large vortex of power.
The two blows clashed, and wind attacks as well as Qi were sent out in the resounding areas.
The Crimson Crane were used to this by now avoiding a lot of the leakage from the two fights, but even some of the mages were being hit by the magic that Eston was using.
Amir continued with his strong punch, but he saw that it had hit nothing but the ground, and that Eston was already on his feet.
“I am quite a bit faster than the others you see. You shouldn’t be worrying too much about me.” Eston claimed as he threw his arms in the air.
Out of the power of his wind, it looked like a giant sword had appeared in the sky. It swung down, splitting the air itself apart.
Seeing this, Amir bent both of his knees and then jumped from his place; his barrel-like arm had changed to a giant cleaver.
Swinging it, he crashed into the sword, breaking it apart.
After which, his eyes were locked onto Eston. “What do you think is going to run out first, your magic or my Qi? I bet you don’t know much about Hybrids, do you?” Amir stated.
His hand, after destroying the large wind sword, was already turning back into that of a large barrel-like shape.
After that though, Amir moved his other hand, and that started to break down as well. Both of his hands were changing shape, and they started to form together.
In doing so, they were creating an even larger barrel-like object with a bigger opening on the end.
“The amount of Qi I have, due to what I am, is far more than that of an average warrior, and I wasn’t an average warrior to begin with!”
The end of his barrel started to light up, and the attack width and range seemed too large for Eston to just go away.
He activated both of the bracers on his arm, which created two large barriers in front of him, and he started to move his hands in the air, now creating large barriers of wind as well.
Out from the barrel, Amir’s Qi was fired. A large blast went out of constant energy.
It broke right through the barriers, and now only Eston’s magic was holding up the attack.
The energy continued to hit Eston, and the others were unable to see a thing. The whole ground was shaking in the area.
The power felt from nearby made them feel sick.
Finally, the attack from Amir had come to an end. His arms started to split back apart, turning into what they were before, and he looked ahead, surprised to see his opponent still there.
“I guess you were a strong mage yourself.”
Eston was on the ground, huffing and panting for having used so much of his mana. He had managed to stop the attack without getting a wound on him, but at what cost?
It seemed like the fight would be over, and the two of them hadn’t even been fighting for long.
“You have no idea, no idea what I have been through!” Eston shouted.
“And why would I?” Amir replied back. “I don’t know you; this is the first time the two of us have met.”
Gathering some energy, Eston eventually stood up from the ground.
“A lot of people thought I left my old guild, was able to defeat the other members because of the items that Idore gave me as part of the deal of joining him,” Eston smirked.
“But, that wasn’t it at all. I only received the items from Idore after joining. Which means, I was able to take out 9 6-star mages, all by myself, do you have any idea how?” Eston asked.
Amir honestly had no idea what this man was talking about, but the reason he was cautious himself was that after such a large move like that he did, he was a little vulnerable; he just needed a little more time to gather his energy back.
“It’s because of one thing.” Eston placed his hand on his chest at that moment, and all of his magic was gathered in one place, around his heart, his magic core.
“Breakthrough!”
Chapter 433 A Mage Breakthrough
?The word “breakthrough” for a Pagna warrior and a mage meant two different things. For a warrior, it was when one was stuck at a stage and needed to do something different than they normally would to go onto the next stage.
The most common times one would be stuck in their cultivation were through the different stages: Initial, Middle, and Divine.
However, every person was different, meaning the times when they would need to break through might be more often compared to others.
For a mage, a breakthrough wasn’t a spell; it was more so a type of technique, something that only a few mages could do and had managed to achieve.
A breakthrough allowed one to activate all of the magic in their core around their heart. The core would essentially break in that moment, exploding magic all over the body.
This would make them immensely powerful, but there were a few things to note. Because a breakthrough involved the breaking of a magic core, the powers obtained would be related to one’s magic core and its base.
The other thing was the state only lasted a certain amount of time. Although powerful, they no longer had a core that could be used to control magic in the conventional way.
Which meant, after the breakthrough state was over, a person couldn’t perform magic until the magic core was repaired.
This would happen naturally and was nothing for the mages to worry about, but if one couldn’t defeat their enemy with a breakthrough, it certainly meant it was their loss.
Every breakthrough was different for every mage, regardless of if they had the same core or not, giving them strange powers.
Right now, Eston was performing that very same breakthrough.
“Breakthrough!”
The magic core surrounding his heart expanded and broke out, and mana was unleashed throughout his body.
A faint white glow could be seen lingering over his body. His eyes started to glow slightly to the point where one would find it hard to see the color in his pupils.
“I guess it takes a monster in its own right to defeat another monster!” Eston said.
Seeing this transformation, Amir needed to do what he could and transformed his hand into another long barrel, firing out a Qi shot.
In response to this, Eston opened his mouth wide, and a large amount of wind back had hit the Qi, to the point that it had been sent right back.
The attack crashed right into Amir, exploding on impact. However, Amir was strong in his form, and he continued to charge through with his unique body.
“You kept going on about how I don’t understand who you are or what you have been through, but it’s the same for me. You have no idea what I am capable of!” Amir exclaimed.
He burst with power forward, right at Eston. Before he could reach him, though, Eston had raised his hand and then lowered it to the ground.
At the same time, a massive amount of force was felt on Amir, slamming him into the ground and breaking the floor underneath him.
Just like before, Amir was unable to move, but there were worse things he had to worry about.
Hanging above in the air were several swords shaped by his wind magic. They had just appeared behind him, hanging around his back.
Right then, a sword went right down and pierced right through Amir’s back.
“It hurts right? You said I had no idea how strong you are, well why don’t you show me?” Eston asked.
Another sword flew from where Eston was and pierced right through Amir’s hand, breaking through the hard black armor.
“Wind at high speeds and velocities, condensed, is a very, very dangerous thing!” Eston said.
He lifted both of his hands, and being pushed by the wind magic, like some type of telekinesis power, he was lifted into the air.
Right after that, the swords that were hovering in the air followed, each one of them rapidly started to move and slice apart Amir’s body.
As they moved and flew in the air, he was getting cut all over, one place after the other, and blood was dripping from the sky, falling like raindrops.
“Alright, time for the more serious stuff!” Eston said.
With Amir still in the air, Eston’s own body started to float up at an amazing speed, to the point he was now above Amir.
The power he had, the mana, it was as if he had never been fighting or hurt in the last attack, and his next attack was just even more proof of that.
“Double vortex!” Eston shouted.
From his hands, two large vortexes twirled and intertwined with each other like dragons before they crashed into Amir’s body.
He tried to fight it with his Qi, tried to fight it with the rest of his power, but it was doing nothing until he was slammed on the ground.
The rest of the tornado followed, pushing Amir further and further. The power of such an attack caused the wind to ripple out in the area.
It lifted the other mages off their feet, sending them back. The Crimson Crane, who were close as well, were unable to fight it as they started to slip away, being pushed out, and at the same time, Reno could do nothing, as Raze was flung from his back.
He bashed on the floor, being hit across the sand a couple of times until the attack had eventually stopped.
Eston landed back on the ground next to the large hole he had created; he was unable to even see where Amir was.
The power was still glowing around him; he still had plenty of strength to use.
“Come on then, do I have to do everything myself? You guys, get rid of them!” Eston shouted.
The mages, in their daze, snapped out of it and began to attack.
Meanwhile, Reno was doing his best to look around; he was twisting and turning his head until he could see Raze.
He ran over as fast as he could; Raze’s body lay flat out on the ground. Reno had arrived and could see he didn’t look to be in any harm.
“That’s good to know,” Reno said, looking at Raze’s face.
“Watch out!” Tilon shouted, diving in again. A number of lightning, fire, and ice spells had come their way; his shield took the brunt of the attack, but his grip was weak and flung in the air landing in the sand.
Now Tilon had nothing left to protect them.
The mages that were near them continued to use their spells as well.
Tilon tried to get up, but his body was hit by a flame ball in the chest, causing him to kneel off and part of his body to be shredded.
“Tilon!” Reno called out, but he felt something pull his leg, a giant plant growing from the sand dragged him out.
The two of them could do nothing, and when more spells came their way targeting all of them. They had also gone past them.
In particular, one lightning strike-like spell had continued past, hitting Raze’s body.
Reno witnessed it light up right there and then. “Crap!” Reno shouted, he managed to leak some of his power onto the plant burning the tip like some acid, and then started to make his way over.
“If he’s like this, and gets hit any more, he could die, I have to protect him!” Reno said to himself.
When moving closer though, something was felt as he took a step. The sand around Raze, it was swirling in a circular motion.
Another step closer was taken by Reno, and a strange power was felt, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.
The third step was taken, and a large pulse of energy, similar to that of a heartbeat, spread out like a ripple.
‘Is this… coming from Raze?’ Reno thought.
Chapter 434 Kill Everyone
?Everything around Reno almost went silent. He didn’t quite know what was happening to his senses. Every step he took forward toward Raze, he could feel a stronger surge of power.
Yet, what was this power? How could one emit it when they were still asleep like Raze currently was? He still hadn’t gotten up from the floor; he was still lying there just sleeping.
‘I have to continue to take another step forward, I have to keep going forward, but why, why is it so hard to force my body to? It’s almost as if it doesn’t want me to!’ Reno thought to himself.
It was a crazy thought to have, and he could see the mages almost trying to target him soon. So, ignoring his fears, ignoring what his body was trying to tell him, he continued to take a step forward.
Another step through the sand, closer than before, and the strange feeling had intensified. Every cell was vibrating in the other direction, trying to pull him away, and the sick feeling was growing in his stomach.
Still, trying to ignore his gut feelings, he got one step closer, and that was when he learned that it was just a step too far.
“You…” The sound around Reno had almost drained. The look on the mage’s face, the color of the sand, all of it was draining away from him, and all he could hear was a soft whisper of a female voice.
“You, stay away…” The voice said.
Before Reno could do anything else, before he could properly act, he felt a great pressure on his chest. He was unable to see anything; all he could hear was the voice.
As it pressed on his chest, he felt a large surge of power in the area. His legs were lifted up from the ground, and he saw his entire body go in the completely opposite direction.
“Reno?” Tilon’s head was tilted, confused by what he just saw. No one was next to him; he still had at least another five meters or maybe more before he would reach Raze, so what was going on?
Right then, Reno’s body crashed into Tilon, sending them both tumbling into the sand. When they finally stopped, Reno managed to look up and glanced towards Raze’s body.
“What was that?” Reno asked, feeling his heart racing and the strong power through him. His whole body was covered in sweat.
It was the first time, in a long while, since he had felt a type of true fear, and his body was reacting to it. Everything had somewhat returned the color and the sound in his ears, but now he was even further.
“Hey, hey, hey, what happened? Did the commander guy knock you away?” Tilon asked.
The commander seemed to be observing the rest of the Crimson Crane. After dealing with Amir, he was trying to see who was the most troublesome to get rid of, and his eyes had landed on Alba.
She had managed to kill another one of the squad leaders with her skill and perseverance and was now battling with another.
“I guess, with her gone, there isn’t really any more that can trouble us,” Eston thought, lifting up his hand and pointing it toward her.
The glow started to surround his hand until he was interrupted by a cry.
“AHHHH!” A mage screamed from the side.
Turning his head, Eston could see the mage that was screaming; his arm was bent the wrong way, his bones were sticking out, and blood was on the floor.
Yet, there were no warriors next to him; he was only standing next to other mages.
The mage was in incredible pain, screaming at his broken bones, before a large force was felt on his knees. A loud cracking sound followed as he fell to the ground, his knees caving in and his legs bending the wrong way.
Lastly, a twist of the head silenced the screams, as the rest of his body fell to the floor.
The mages next to him took a step away, unsure of what had just happened.
“How did he… how did the mage die? It looked like someone twisted his head. Is it a type of spell?” One of them guessed.
They were looking towards the other warriors. They were the only enemy they were going up against. So it was only right for them to think that this attack had occurred from them.
Yet, they were scattered and so far away, at least from the mage that was hurt in question. Soon though, the startled nature of them changed, and they started their attack on the Crimson Crane members again.
They had their hands held out, ready to cast spells, that was until one mage met the same result again. This time, his fingers twisted, breaking apart, then it went to his wrist, snapping, right before his head was caved in and blood splattered in the air.
The mage had fallen to the ground, another one suffering a cruel fate.
“What is going on? Is it some type of ghost?” Some of the mages started to point their hands and spells right where the last victim had died and continued to fire away.
Yet, it did nothing but disturb the sand in the area, leaving a hole in the area.
“Did we get rid of it?”
“Get rid of what, the sand?”
“The ghost that’s killing us!”
Using this as an opportunity, Kizer swung his sword and managed to slice a few of the mages apart, while others were lifted in the air from the outburst of the attack.
“Whatever it is, it seems like it’s on our side!” Kizer said as he continued to fight.
However, Reno, who was still next to Tilon, wasn’t so sure about that.
“What’s going on? I’ve always considered you the smartest out of us, so do you know why is everyone getting taken down by some invisible force?” Tilon asked.
Reno wasn’t quite so sure either, but he couldn’t forget the strange feeling he felt, the voice that sounded in his head, and then the push right after.
‘Could it be… is this all coming from Raze? But how could he do such a thing while being unconscious?’ Reno thought.
He didn’t want to say it out loud, for it sounded like a madman, and even from the things he had seen so far, it still felt like this was out of the realm of possibility.
That’s when he was keeping a close eye. There had to be a link; not everyone was getting attacked.
The spells continued heading towards the Crimson Crane members, and now with Reno’s powers, he was the one blocking the attacks that were going to hit Tilon, but he was still worried about Raze.
That’s when he saw a mage lifting its hand, pointing it at none other than Raze. The magic started to flow, and just before he could finish his spell.
His elbow popped up with part of the bone ripping through the skin, and right after that, a loud crack was heard, and an indent was seen on the chest.
Blood filled the mage’s mouth before falling to the ground.
“I can’t believe it, anyone that’s targeting Raze… is being killed. What is this, is this his doing?” Reno’s hands were shaking, and he didn’t even realize it.
‘No, it was that voice, that female voice, what is going on here?’
Chapter 435 We’ve Been Waiting For You
?The link, the link that all of the mages were looking for and that Reno was trying to find, he felt like he was the only one who had figured it out so far.
‘The ones that are being attacked are those that are aiming their spells at Raze who is still on the ground. Some might not have directly aimed it at him, but anything that seems to be going in his general direction or line of fire, they’re getting killed.’
The force being used to do such a thing was immensely strong. Reno had felt it firsthand, but he was also wondering why he had been spared.
Was it because whoever was protecting Raze right now knew that they weren’t enemies? If so, why not let him come close, or why give such a warning? And what was it about this mysterious voice that shook Reno to his very core.
As things continued, more mages were getting their heads twisted, blood appearing on their bodies, or being hit away.
As the mages were radically using more spells next to those that had died and were continuing to attack all of the warriors in sight, panic was setting in within the warriors.
“What is going on, why are our people getting hurt?” One of the squad leaders was also trying to observe the situation.
Before this, he was getting ready to deal with Alba. He still had the special coin in his hand, but now there was a bigger issue at hand.
And that’s when he had a theory as well, something was clicking in his head.
‘One of their people, he hasn’t tried to go close to the body. Just before all of this happened, it looked like he was desperately trying to protect the white-haired kid on the floor.’ The leader thought.
This was when another thought had occurred in his head as well. ‘Now that I think about it, didn’t that hybrid say something as well, to protect the White Dragon? Could he mean the person on the floor, is there something special about him.’
Through his observations, it didn’t take long for him to figure out what was going on as well.
“Be careful with your attacks on the one on the floor!” the mage warned. “It seems like the unconscious one is involved.”
The mages heard the word, and it spread to the others, but they couldn’t quite believe it. That was until one of the mages wished to test the theory out by holding out their hand.
The moment they started to cast magic, their head was twisted, and they fell on the floor.
It appeared as if the death of the mages was getting faster as well. Since more people were trying to attack Raze.
“It’s true, so what do we do then?” One of the mages asked.
“Maybe if we get closer we can do something!” One of the mages called out and rushed in.
As they did though, the same thing happened. They witnessed his head being twisted, and he soon fell on the floor.
Right after witnessing that, no one wanted to do a thing. They didn’t want to try casting a spell near the body on the ground or move close to it, and they all took a step back.
“What is going on, is no one willing to attack?” Eston said, his voice trembling with anger. So much the magic from his glowing body pushed out again.
The mages close by had to use magic to protect themselves or lift their hands to stop the gust of sands from going into their eyes.
“Fine, if no one else can do it, then I guess I will just have to do it myself!” Eston said, as he raised his hand.
When he did, the magic continued to flow out from his body strongly, in all areas. The glow around him started to extend out, and he could see part of it flickering.
Almost as if areas of his aura were being hit, but nothing was getting to him.
“It looks like I’m too much for whatever this is, so let’s kill the kid!” Eston said.
Right before the spell was unleashed, he felt something wrap around his hands and pull it to its side.
Right after that, a large fist came out, and a kick hit him right in the face.
The kick was filled with Qi, causing his body to skid and scrape across the floor. With his wind powers, he stabilized himself up and looked at who had just done the damage.
“You, are you still not dead yet!” Eston shouted.
Amir had come out from the hole that had been made for him. His body was reverting back to what it was. The hybrid parts of himself were going away, including his tentacle hand that he had just used.
Finally, all parts had disappeared, and it looked like all of the wounds that had been made on his body from the attacks before had disappeared as well.
“A hybrid’s body is a lot more sturdy than you think, I will live from an attack like that.” Amir commented.
Just as he finished his sentence though, Eston flicked his finger and a wind sword had gone right through his body from behind.
Blood was soaking him once again. It didn’t take long for Amir to fall on his knees again.
“If I beat you when you were at your strongest, what makes you think that I can’t just beat you, with the way you are now?” Eston said, as he prepared his hand again and faced it toward the man on the ground one more time.
However, this time, he was a bit stunned because he could see two people next to him.
Reno and Tilon had run over to Raze’s side.
“Hey, I thought he was the cause of all this, how come we didn’t get hit away like you did earlier?” Tilon asked.
“I could feel it when that guy used his powers. It seemed to suppress whatever it was that was helping him. We need to check if everything is fine with Raze and get him out of here!” Reno explained.
Reno went to pick up Raze; he wanted to grab him and tie him up before the others realized it was safe to attack him again.
When he went to touch his skin though, he could feel his fingers slipping slightly.
When looking at them, he noticed that there was a thin film; his thumb and tips were smudged in black.
“Is this residue from his body… the impurities,” Reno commented.
“Impurities, wait if that’s impurities from his body doesn’t that mean?” Tilon looked at Raze’s body on the floor.
While asleep, some crazy things were happening to this person but, how could that even be.
While looking at his own fingers, Reno noticed something else as well. Raze’s finger, it was twitching.
It continued to twitch bit by bit, and a surge of Qi pulsed from his body again.
‘This feeling, it was the same as I felt the first time when I came closer to Raze, this immense power.’
The pulsating continued like a heartbeat, a power surging through both Reno and Tilon.
‘I thought it was that mysterious being from before, but what if that power I felt before… it was actually Raze!’ Reno thought.
And that’s when he could see it, a small smile appeared on his face.
“It took you long enough… you’ve caused us a lot of trouble while you were asleep.”
Chapter 436 Escape the Academy (Part 1)
?Inside the Red Headband base on the second floor, all of the students were gathered in a single room. They had somewhat formed a plan for what was to happen next after finding out that the portal was closed.
A contingency plan was needed if Raze never returned. Otherwise, all of them would be in major trouble.
In their minds, they were thinking things would be okay. They were the ones that were attacked by the Lethal Bite Clan. They hadn’t done anything wrong.
Staying in the room though, Cronker had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of the group again. He then looked out of the window.
There was a group of those with masks on their faces coming toward them, and they appeared to be talking to the current guards that were looking after them inside.
“It appears we have a problem, from the way they are acting they have found something out,” Cronker said.
“This isn’t good, it’s as I thought,” Dame said as he headed to the door in front of him.
“Listen up everyone, remember what I said, the best place to head to is the forest. Right by the edge of the furthest side there is the fog, if you head down there, there should be a cave and from there we can decide what to do,” Dame stated.
“It seems that something must have happened to Raze, and this whole situation might have blown before it even started.
“It’s up to you what you want to do, you can either follow me now out of this place, or stay here. You guys should be fine.
“If you stay, you don’t have a lot to worry about. Even if the Academy runs an investigation, nothing that happened was your fault in the first place.
“And if they need a person to blame, then you can blame me. Say that Dame Narfous, from the Demonic Faction, the Neverfall Clan was the one that forced you.”
At that moment, Dame removed the mask from his face revealing to all in that room who he was. Many had seen his face before, but they had no clue about that name.
Hearing it though, Mada and Ricktor couldn’t help but click their tongues. Now they realized why this student was so young.
“That family name, are you related to the head of the Neverfall Clan?” Ricktor asked.
“I am, but I am no longer aligned with them and just with Raze, anyway, I have given you a scapegoat, the rest is up to you.”
Out of all of them there, Dame was the only one if he was caught it would cause a lot of trouble. So no matter what, right now he had to make a move.
Lifting his arm up, the black gauntlet started to slowly appear. Then, gathering his Qi, he took a step forward, and burst into the door.
Dame’s entire hand had gone through the door, and when he pulled it forward, the door was ripped off its hinge and on the other side was one of the guards that was covering the door.
Dame’s hand had gone through his body as well. Swinging his hand, the door and the man were chucked to the side, and he was quick to move into the hallway, getting rid of the others as well.
Safa was ready to move, and went ahead, so did Liam, but Simyon quickly grabbed Safa’s hand.
“Hey, he’s giving us a chance to just carry on at the academy, I’m not so sure, if we should just follow him,” Simyon whispered.
The sound of fighting was going on outside, Dame was clearly making a mess, and Tinson and his group had decided to follow Dame.
They had a hatred for the academy to the point they couldn’t even live normal lives. They were scared with every assessment something would happen to them since at two of the assessments that very thing had occurred.
Following along was Ricktor and Liam, and Mada had hesitated for a few moments but had decided to follow Ricktor as well.
It was to the point that the only two that were in the room were Safa and Simyon.
“What are you talking about Simyon, Dame has been with us for a while now, he’s helped us out time and time again, and we need to help him out now as well, if Raze was here he would do the same thing,” Safa stated.
Simyon had let go of Safa’s hand, but he couldn’t stop thinking about what he had seen. He was sure of it, Dame was the one responsible for the student’s death that had started the whole infighting below.
Sure, Raze had done some Dark things before, but there was always a reason behind it. He would never just act out like so for no reason.
It made him wonder if Raze knew the truth would he still be working with Dame.
“Look it’s hard to explain but…”
Just then, straight from the window, a masked warrior had come crashing through.
“It looks like the students are trying to escape!” The man drew his sword, but at the same time coming from the side with a dagger was Cronker.
It had sliced right under his neck, killing the other warrior in one blow.
“I understand your concerns, but the world of Pagna warriors is more complex than you could imagine. As you get older you see certain things more and more,” Cronker explained. “But I can tell you one thing.
“Out of those from the Neverfall Clan, Dame is not one of the bad ones. He may do things that seem like they are a little too far, but trust me, he sees you as on his side.
“If he wanted to escape this place on his own, he could have done it long ago, but he knows the position some of you are in.
“So he is taking responsibility. Now decide, as I promised I would protect you.”
Safa looked into Simyon’s eyes. After hearing these words, he was a bit more convinced and nodded and the two of them were off.
The entire group was traveling but it felt strange to them because they were traveling right toward the main academy. Where their attacks were coming from.
With Cronker, Dame, and Ricktor, the three of them had managed to get rid of most of the guards that had been sent. So there would be a delay in the reports.
They had a small window before the principal found out. They needed to get out of the area as quickly as they could.
When they were just about in front of the academy, they were getting ready to jump up on the walls, and head to the back of it as quickly as possible, but the walls were high.
Dame could scale them quickly and so could Cronker, but not the rest of them with their skills.
That was until there was one person standing in front of the academy.
“What are you doing here,” Mada said, gritting his teeth as the entire group stopped.
“What do you think I’m doing, I’m helping my brother get out of here, before he gets himself killed. All of you, follow me,” Gunther ordered.
Chapter 437 Escape The Academy (Part 2)
?Gunther stood in front of the academy main gate, the place where the group needed to head inside. He was dressed in his gear from head to toe, and even both of his weapons were seen on his back.
This was a man who had helped and caused issues for the group before. Gunther, having found out that Raze used demonic energy and more had decided to keep things to himself.
However, at the end of the day, he was working for the academy under the fact that he was a member of the Flowing Force Clan, just like Mada was as well.
Right now, they were unsure, why was he here, was he really here to help them?
“Hey, that’s Gunther, he’s one of the principal’s right-hand men in this place, right!” Tinson said. “Crap, are we going to have to fight him?”
Cronker was traveling with the group, staying between those at the back, hunched and hiding his presence.
He was a middle-stage warrior, the only one of the group that could possibly face Gunther.
“It looks like I finally get to see your face, I knew something was up with you,” Gunther said. “And I knew you guys would end up in this situation. You’re heading to the forest right, come on, I’ll take you directly there through the academy.”
However, as Gunther gestured for them to move forward, nearly none of them did. They were afraid and were ready for a fight.
“What are you waiting for, if you take too long then the principal will come and get you!” Gunther claimed.
Even then though, his words sounded as if it was a trap to them. That was until one person had decided to vouch for him.
“It’s okay, we should follow him, we can trust him,” Mada said.
“Well, of course, you would say that,” Liam stated. “The guy is your brother.”
“Well, although brothers, or related doesn’t mean they are close, and that is the case of his family, I can guarantee it,” Ricktor stated.
What Mada didn’t want to do was state his reason why, but he knew he could trust Gunther. If his brother had wanted him dead, then he would have let the Lethal Bite Clan take him out.
Why save him back then to take him out now?
“He won’t harm me, I trust him,” Mada said, running forward.
It only took one, and after that, Dame had decided to give it a shot as well. The two of them did have a conversation before, and based on what he knew about Gunther, he didn’t really seem the type to care about the academy so much.
It was almost as if there was an ulterior motive as to why he was here.
Once Dame followed, it didn’t take long for the rest of them as well. Entering the academy through the gate, Gunther continued on a path through the building that would lead them straight to the back door.
“How do you know we were heading for the forest?” Dame asked.
“There was a time when I had eyepatch boy spy on you, and to report to me just what was going on with you guys,” Gunther replied. “He was my inside man.”
Hearing this, immediately both Simyon and Safa stared at him with a mean look.
“This was before we were friends, you remember before I made that promise to you guys!” Liam said.
The two looked away and grunting, and continued to run forward.
“I assume there’s something there that allowed you to get out of this area last time, and you know, with the White Dragon disappearing and then coming back with you, it was pretty easy to figure out.”
“It’s a good plan,” Gunther stated. “In the reports that I have found, no one knows of an exit or entrance in that place. Get out of this place, live your life as warriors, it might be best if you don’t stay in the Dark Faction too much either.
“Murkel is a powerful man that has connections everywhere.”
Gunther wanted to ask something else, out of those traveling with them he was surprised to see Ricktor was with the group. It made him wonder just what had happened in the assessment before that had brought them all so close together.
“It looks like we’ll never get to have that fight to find out which of us is stronger,” Dame joked.
“Right, but you’re an initial stage warrior and I am at the middle stage, the fight wouldn’t exactly be fair,” Gunther replied.
“You would be surprised, as days go by, it looks like more and more people are breaking that barrier between stages.
“Techniques, skills, strength, items, and deep dark secrets that people have over each other. I could be one of them.”
“Well then, just live so we can fight, and hurry up.”
The group had finally reached the back gate. Gunther had access to open the door and using his key he pushed it open for the rest of them to get through.
While watching them go into the forest one by one he thought back to the entire reason why he had accepted this job.
He had been stuck in the middle stage trying to increase his strength further. The reward from the Crimson Crane, for finding out the Dark Magus, he believed he could use the reward to advance his cultivation further.
When the reward was taken down, honestly, Gunther wanted to leave the place almost immediately, but because of one individual he had decided not to, and in a way, he was glad he didn’t.
“I’m coming with you,” Gunther said. “Not the whole way, but I’ll escort you to the edge, we never know what’s going to happen.”
The entire group continued to run through the forest, they were going further and further, and as they were approaching the large open edge cliff face, Gunther had heard something zip above them.
His footsteps were slowing, but it was too late. By the time the whole group had exited out of the forest and were at the cliff’s edge they could all see a long-haired individual in black cloth staring at them all.
*Clap *Clap *Clap
“You have done extremely well to be able to escape this far, but what was your plan, to jump off this cliff and let fate decide what was going to happen to you?” Murkel, the principal asked.
“The fact that all of you are running, must mean that all of you have something to hide. I didn’t believe it, I was just going to ask you a few questions and let you go.”
“But now, all of you, in on something, what could it be? What secret could be so big, that even a member of my own clan would decide to betray me.” Murkel said, and when he spoke these words he was looking at Ricktor.
The two of them stared at each other, eye to eye yet there was no facial expression change. No emotion between the two.
It appeared what Ricktor said about Murkel not really treating Ricktor the same was true.
“And Gunther, for you to aid them, just what type of treachery has been going on right under my nose, this entire time.” Murkel’s power was starting to grow from his back.
The situation they were in right now was the worst that it could be, and Dame had no idea how they were going to get out of this one alive.
Chapter 438 A Dark Mage
?All members of the Crimson Crane were struggling heavily. They had been fighting for a while now, exhausted and having used up large amounts of Qi, with a large number of enemies still to deal with.
On top of all of this, there was Reno, who had been given the task to look after Raze. He had him tied up on his back for a while. He hadn’t been in much of the fight but everything was mentally exhausting for him.
He had been avoiding strike after strike that were coming his way, and when the Dark Magus was hit, a panic was settling in him. It was more than just a task that had been given to him by his leader, but he felt like he had a responsibility.
And then, crazy occurrences had started, people dying left and right and himself being pushed. There was a lot that had been playing on his mind, all up till this point, where Raze’s eyes were now open.
“Your eyes.” Were some of the first words that had come out of Raze’s mouth, as he lifted his upper body off the ground. “They’re watery, it seems like you’ve been through a lot.”
Raze could remember what had happened just before, his head and mind were clear. He had passed out. After using the Cursed Qi pill and then several Qi pills after that, his mind couldn’t take it anymore to the point it had completely given out on him.
He remembered summoning the Crimson Crane, so it wasn’t such a surprise that he could see Reno, but why were his eyes watery?
That was an answer that even Reno couldn’t quite answer himself. Maybe it was everything the group were going through, or the responsibility he had, which was now lifted off his shoulders.
Besides, even if the Dark Magus was awake, what could he do? After all, he was just one person. A person who could do the same things as the others, and in Reno’s mind, he couldn’t get out the worry that Alba had.
What if the Dark Magus was just a normal person compared to all of these that were different to them, someone who was on the run. The fact was, now that Raze was awake, it wouldn’t change much.
Standing up from where he was, Raze was looking at the situation, trying to observe as much of it as he could.
‘The Crimson Crane, they are fighting with mages, and the Vice-principal is here as well, it looks like he’s been hurt.’ Raze’s eyes were set on the man standing next to him and the glow coming off his body.
He was surprised to see something like that, and knew instantly what it was as well.
‘The mage, they’ve performed a breakthrough. Which means they are quite skilled.’
With everything the way it was, and him trying to analyze everything, he had come to a conclusion.
‘Things have become a lot worse than I ever expected. The mages are here, but I don’t seem to be their target. The one thing that I know for sure, is that the Crimson Crane must have done a good job protecting me from all of this.’
Looking at the mages as well, Raze was familiar with the large golden I that was on their hoods and clothing. It made him tense up for a few moments but he thought there was something more important at hand.
“You have protected me and all of the Crimson Crane has protected me well.” Raze stated.
Reno started to wipe his tears away. He never realized before, but for some reason the Dark Magus’ words right now, they were so soothing to him, and were quite calming. A confidence was building up in him.
He wanted to mention about the strange ghost that had protected him but thought it wasn’t the right time for now as he used his sleeve to continue wiping his tears.
“We tried… but now we’re in this situation. I’m sorry, I need to do my best to help them.” Reno answered, as he started to gather his own Qi.
He had been out of the fight for a long time.
“It’s okay.” Raze said. “I owe you a favor, and I always pay back my favors. I’ll get rid of them, I’ll get rid of them all for you.”
Some of the mages that were close by hadn’t moved in. They were still a little worried after noticing what had happened before, but they couldn’t help but laugh at the outlandish claim this mysterious white-haired man had made.
“You get rid of us all, good luck with that!” The mage held out his hand, and fired out a quick and sharp fire spell. It left and the flame came directly at Raze.
Seeing this, Raze lifted his hand, and Dark Magic started to swirl into the palm of his hand. With his hand, he caught the fireball of magic. Slowly the darkness was eating at the fireball and when Raze clenched his hand into a fist the fireball had completely disappeared just like that.
The mages seeing what had just happened, were looking at each other in disbelief, they were stunned and shocked.
They had frozen in place and their skin was turning slightly paler.
‘What’s going on?’ Alba thought, as she took a step back from the squad leader she had been going against. ‘Why are they acting that way. Sure he stopped their spell, but many of us can, and surely that’s something that they can do as well.’
That’s when she heard a word coming off from the squad leader in front of her.
“That’s… Dark Magic, he knows Dark Magic.”
To Alba, and the rest of the Crimson Crane they just saw everything in one boat, as all types of magic and had no clue why seeing someone use Dark Magic was so surprising.
Lifting his hand up, Raze then pointed it toward one of the mages.
“Dark Pulse!”
A beam of energy went out, slicing right through its head. The mage’s body fell to the floor dead on the ground.
“I guess this is your first time, fighting against a Dark Mage, right?” Raze said.