After the police officers took some details, they allowed Raze and his group to head off and leave the restaurant. But just before going, the police officer approached Raze one more time before leaving.
“Don’t worry about payment. I’ll take care of it. But be careful… and don’t use those words so carelessly,” the police officer whispered.
With that, the group continued on their way, walking down the streets of Alter. After they had gone quite a few steps, there was a large sigh of relief.
“Oh, that was finally dealt with. I seriously thought we were in big trouble there,” Liam said. “I can’t believe it. We were in Alterian for a few hours, and I thought we would cause trouble.”
“That reminds me of when I first went to Pagna… it was the same for me,” Aurora said. “I was so hungry I went to get some food, but out of anger I started to use my magic.”
“Ah right, I heard about that,” Safa said. “Thankfully the situation was solved without anyone using their fists.”
“Yeah,” Aurora said. “Thankfully it was. But I have no idea what happened there. The officer just went through a complete 180. Usually, they would still get the details of everyone, but he hadn’t done it.
“It was almost as if a spell or an artifact had been used on him.”
The others turned around to Raze all at the same time. When things happened that they couldn’t understand, it would usually be him.
“I didn’t do anything like that,” Raze answered, waving them off to continue enjoying and exploring Pagna.
The group was still just enjoying walking in a foreign land, seeing all of the interesting things around them.
While they were walking, Raze was thinking about the incident. Although he had told the truth, he hadn’t cast such a spell, the reason why the police officer had taken a turn was because of him.
At the time, I remembered what Kelly had taught me. The words of those that were from the Dark Guild. If I ever wanted to confirm someone was a member, I was to say the first part.
The others would confirm that they were a member as well by saying the second part. With how much the Dark Guild had expanded the last time I had arrived, I was wondering if it had grown even further.
It was a chance I took, that maybe one person in that whole restaurant would be part of the Dark Guild and help us in some way. I didn’t expect it to be the police officer though.
When Raze thought about it though, Harvey was also a chief of one of the squads in a particular district.
So for another police officer to be part of the Dark Guild made sense. If anything, with how much Harvey wanted to expand, he was also the type of person to go for those in important positions that the Dark Guild could use.
Thankfully, one of the rules that were set up for those that were in the Dark Guild was that they were to help each other out whenever they could, as long as they were part of the same guild.
I do wish to meet with Kelly or Harvey. I need to see how big the influence is of the Dark Guild now. Is it the same size as one of the bigger guilds? If it is, I also need to see how to utilize them.
While walking around, they had entered the busy shopping high street, and the group were shocked by the items that were available to sell.
Some of the games the children were playing, some of the items they were using, and even the street performers.
They were using real magic to put on shows, small displays of fireworks and more.
The group were just enjoying seeing everything, but at times, they did get a little disheartened.
When entering the shops, they had wanted to buy a few things here and there, but none of them had any money.
Raze was happy to offer power stones, but with the state they were in, the same thing would have just happened like last time.
Eventually, the sun was starting to set, and when the night sky came out, the entire group were still sat in the high street on a stone-made wall and observed the city around them.
“What is this… all of this is so pretty. Is it magic as well?!” Safa asked.
The entire city, the skyscrapers and screens, came to life at night. The different array of lights and the annoying advertisements of various things had become beautiful.
“My system is saying it’s all powered by power stones. So I guess not quite magic, but this is amazing.”
“Wow, Raze. Why didn’t you ever tell us about how pretty Alterian is?” Beatrix asked.
“How pretty it is?” Raze replied. “I guess… I never viewed it the same way as it’s being viewed in your eyes right now. This world to me… I have very ugly memories of it.
“Every place has its pretty areas. I liked the city of Rendon’s Lanterns that lit up the night. The candles that would be placed in people’s homes, and the architecture of the clan bases compared to this. I guess people just like different things,” Raze answered, and then finally got up from the wall and turned to the others who were staring at the lights like they were aliens visiting for the first time.
“I’ve made a decision of where we should go. We can’t continue on with no money, and I have no connections in this world either that I can really use, so we will all head to Aurora’s house together, to meet her brother!” Raze claimed.
****
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The reason for Raze’s demand was because originally, he had thought only about himself when coming to Alterian.
Being a Pagna warrior, the group could survive quite a long time without food. It was still a habit for most warriors to consume meals, but if they wanted to, they could simply cultivate.
The only thing was, it didn’t really end up being satisfying, not eating anything for the day.
If Raze was on his own, then he would have wasted no time heading straight for his goal and trying to act toward it.
But now it was different. He was with others, and he could see the enjoyment they had on their faces just exploring the new world around them.
He had already spent an entire year in Pagna, and the rest of the Grand Magus were still living out their lives during that time.
Would wasting a few hours hurt, or even a day? Of course it wouldn’t. But because of him, and his selfish thoughts, where would the group sleep?
Where could they go? He didn’t want to go up to every stranger saying the link of the Dark Magus Guild until someone helped him out.
And selling power stones was a good way to get a target on his back or guild members following him.
So he thought of the best solution for what they wanted to do, and that’s how they had ended up here.
They had moved out from the city, traveling rather far. There was no need for them to pay for any transportation.
They had just walked to the edge of the city, and when there was no one around, the warriors started to run with their Qi.
While Aurora was able to use her wind magic to glide to the location. At first, she wasn’t really sure about everyone just turning up at her house, but with Raze there, she was reassured somewhat that everything would work out.
When they could see the manor in the distance, the group slowed down their pace and started to walk along the regular path.
“That’s your home? That’s huge!” Liam said. “Are you some type of rich noble or something? Why didn’t you say you were a big deal when you were in Pagna?”
“No, no!” Aurora shook her hand. “It’s nothing like that. My brother, he’s just a high-ranking member in the military. We come from a line of powerful mages, so we get paid well.”
“If you get paid well, then Raze must have been able to afford things like the whole city, right?” Liam asked.
“I was paid well,” Raze answered. “But not as well as other ranking mages near my level. I was a Nine Star Mage, those types of mages could only be counted on one hand.
“However, I had decided to be a professor. I was paid well enough to live my life freely to do what I wanted. There was no need for me to chase for more.”
Liam thought Raze was quite humble. He couldn’t imagine if he were in the same situation whether he would have been able to do the same thing.
“If Raze had joined the military or a large guild, maybe even created his own guild, he would have been one of the richest people in the whole continent,” Aurora stated, thinking Raze wasn’t giving himself enough credit.
“I mean, we always knew Raze was amazing anyway,” Dame answered. “Remember he’s the man that united all of Pagna before he left, and to him it was just a side project to get to his proper goal.
“Knowing that he was someone big here, it makes sense too, it was only a matter of time. It does make me wonder, if because of your magic experience, was that why you were able to learn so many skills quickly in Pagna?”
“I believe so,” Raze answered. “The concepts of controlling Qi and mana are nearly identical, so once I knew how to control the Qi, it was as if I knew how to use it all along. So yes, that did help me, and honestly, there were other things as well.”
There was one thing that Raze didn’t get to know fully about, and that was the Dark Faction founder.
He had a lot of involvement in all of this and had created the Dark Edge sword arts. Nearly everything. If a path hadn’t been left for Raze to follow, maybe he would have never been able to get this far.
Finally, the group had approached the gate, and just outside it there were several men in robes, enchanted, they were clearly mages.
“Finally, I’m back,” Aurora said with a smile on her face.
“Is that Lady Aurora? I think it is!”
“That is her, quick!”
Before Aurora knew it, the ground shifted underneath her feet and she was pulled over right by the gate where the others were.
Right after, one of the mages had taken out a whistle and blew on the device. A high-pitched sound was made, and instantly, several more mages were seen coming over.
They were jumping over the wall and appearing by the side, until there was a group of around thirty of them.
“No wait!” Aurora said.
“Take her to safety, quick! The kidnappers must have their demands. They so brazenly came out in the open like this, take her into the castle quickly!”
“No wait!” Aurora shouted. “They didn’t kidnap me, they’re my friends!”
“They must have hypnotized her or used an enchanted artifact. Look at these people, they are clearly here with reason to do harm. But they would have never expected the place to be so guarded!”
The warriors were stepping back a bit, all somewhat standing behind Raze.
“What do we do now?” Safa asked.
“What can we do? We have to fight,” Raze answered.
*****
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The mages were already casting spells in their hands and were ready to attack. Raze had dealt with these types of people plenty of times before, those who chose to act rather than think through the situation.
Although he should have expected it. Aurora had been missing for a large amount of time, and with no news about her, they probably thought she was done for.
Only her brother, Alen, knew somewhat the truth of the entire situation. But her brother would perhaps have become a lead suspect if he told all the mages to just drop the case and not worry.
Now, seeing her with a group of strangers, maybe it would’ve been weirder if they didn’t act.
“How hard should we go?” Liam asked.
“Just don’t kill them,” Raze answered.
The mages started to hurl a mixture of spells, wind magic, some using earth magic, and more.
One had created a pillar from the floor, trying to attack Dame. As he saw this, he made a fist and punched his way right through the pillar, breaking it apart in one go.
The mages, seeing this, were a little shocked, but they continued as they used various magic, creating pillars trying to hit him from the ground.
Performing his martial arts, Dame almost felt like it was some type of special training for himself.
He was moving about, destroying pillar after pillar, trying not to get hit.
For Beatrix, there were a few wind spells cast her way. She had quickly drawn out the sword from her back and swung it, breaking through them.
Meanwhile, Liam and Safa were close to each other. Liam was avoiding lightning strikes, using his system to predict where they would go. And if anything got close to Safa, he could gather just enough Qi in his hand to whack it away.
“We don’t have to worry about this level of magic. It seems our Qi is enough,” Liam said.
The mages, seeing nothing was working, had decided to ramp up their attacks as they blasted a wave all at the same time toward the group.
As all the different magic started to form, Raze lifted his hand in the air. Wind was twirling around his arm, but just underneath that, he was powering his arm with Qi as well.
Then, when the attacks were about to reach the entire group, he swung it out. In one go, the large amount of wind magic had hit all the different types of magic across a vast area and had stopped them all.
The power of Qi added destroyed anything that came towards them, and when the wind hit all of the mages, they were forcefully chucked on their backs, falling to the floor.
The mages were quick to get on their feet, using magic to even push themselves back up from the ground.
“Damn it, what kind of wind spell has that much force? Is he an Eight-Star Mage?” one of them asked.
“If he was, wouldn’t we know about him? But it’s quite possible. What if they’re from that group?”
“You mean the Dark Guild? It does seem there are some strong mages from that group… it’s no wonder they were so brazen to come to us in the middle of the day.”
“Not just him, but those around him. Are they using some type of enhancement magic to make their bodies stronger? I can’t see any other spells being used.”
The mages were taken back by the one spell alone because they knew it now wasn’t a fight they could win.
“Will all of you stop being so stupid,” Raze said as he walked forward and gestured to the others not to come ahead.
“If we wanted to, we would’ve harmed you the moment we came here. I could have attacked you while you were on the ground.”
Some of the mages were startled by Raze’s advance, shooting out lightning from their hands. Raze, using lightning magic himself, coated his arm, and then with his Qi, he flung it to the floor, deflecting the attack.
“I could have redirected that lightning spell back toward you with twice the strength. But I didn’t. Don’t you be fools.” The moment Raze finished the sentence, a fire spell was thrown toward him.
With his fist this time, he punched through it, dispersing the flames behind him.
He then quickly moved himself, grabbing one of the mages right by the shoulder and gripping down hard, forcing him to kneel to the floor.
“Are you seriously making us do this?” Raze asked.
It was the first fight against true mages that the group was going up against. So Raze thought that maybe they could gain some experience, but seeing their skills and power, they just appeared to be too weak for any sort of experience.
“I told you, I don’t plan to hurt you,” Raze said. “Are any of you listening?”
The mages had now gathered around Aurora, so it seemed like none of them were listening, until, in the night sky, an orange glow was appearing on all faces from above.
Looking up, a dragon appearing as if it was made from flames was in the air. It then swirled around before it crashed into the ground and dispersed heat and flames to the ground.
“Man… magic is so beautiful,” Liam commented. “I’m kinda sad that I can’t learn it. Safa, you’re pretty lucky, you know.”
Although Safa was unable to do anything like that,
“What is this commotion going on right in front of the manor?” Alen said.
“Sir! It’s your sister. She has returned, and these people had come surrounding her!”
Alen turned around to see his sister who was there. He had to blink a few times as he saw her eyes welling up, she was really there.
“Wait, people delivered her?” Alen then turned around to look at one of the men.
“I kept my promise,” Raze said. “I brought her back.”
Alen had a large smile on his face.
“Everyone stand down… these people are our guests. Let’s head inside.”
****
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With Alen coming out of the manor, things had calmed down fairly quickly. He was the one sensible person, and something else helped as well.
The fact that Raze had met Alen in his astral projection form. Alen had recognized him straight away.
He had told the other guards to stay outside, thinking it was better for everyone, as the tension was still a little hostile after what had happened.
Now inside the manor, the other warriors were walking around, looking at the various interesting objects.
Unlike the rest of Alterian, which was filled with technology and magical artifacts, the manor had a more rustic feeling to it.
It felt almost like one of the kingdoms’ palaces when they would enter, but they still found odd things interesting.
As the art styles were different, what was one group’s junk was another’s treasure.
Alen had sat down on the couch, and Raze sat on another opposite, with a table in the middle while the others continued to explore, but were listening with a keen ear.
“They seem to be interesting… it’s almost as if they’ve never seen these things before,” Alen said.
Aurora was holding onto her brother’s arm and rubbing her head against him. She was wondering if he was real, and doing this made her feel it was very real.
“That’s because they’re not from here. They’re not from Alterian,” Raze answered. “Do you remember what I said, where me and your sister were trapped?
“Well, it’s another world, and these people are from that world.”
Alen had his hand pressed against his head. It was hard to believe, but through portal expeditions, they had discovered signs of life, just not human life.
At times, they did discover civilizations from humans though, so it was always believed there would be that possibility, and now they were in his house.
“So, you all came from there, and you really did bring back my sister as well. I have to say thanks for that… I really do,” Alen stated.
“It was so scary!” Aurora said. “The world was so scary. As soon as I got there, there were so many mean people, and I had no clue where I was.
“It was good that Raze was there with his friends. They looked after me… but it was so scary. How was I meant to know it was a world without magic?”
“A world without magic… that’s interesting. I always wondered if all humans were the same across out there,” Alen said. “But if they don’t have magic, then how do they fight? How do they operate? It makes me wonder if our forces would have trouble against theirs.”
The words were what Alen was trained to do, to always think of these particular situations.
But it had caught the attention of someone in particular.
“You wonder how we fight? We are not so weak,” Dame stated. “Your mages were able to do nothing to us, and it was not because of Raze’s magic.
“If you want to, why don’t you cast one of your spells on me and see?”
Alen looked at Raze, wondering what to do. He didn’t mean to cause offense, but he could see how it would be now that he thought about it.
“It will be interesting to see. Feel free to cast a spell at him.”
Alen was a little reluctant, but in the end, he clicked his fingers and hurled out a small fireball. It wasn’t large enough to do real damage.
But if it hit a regular person, they would be blasted off their feet, and their clothes would set alight.
Dame then tightened his fist, and threw out his Qi. The power of the Qi exploded forward and extinguished the flames completely.
“Wow… and that wasn’t done with any magic at all. He hit it with his bare fists. That is quite impressive,” Alen said. “I see, so warriors who power their bodies.”
“Correct. They use this concept called Qi, which is similar to mana energy, only it’s controlling energy from within. Taking the energy from the world to cultivate the strength of the body and allowing one to use a mass amount of energy from inside.
“A battle with them would not be so easy. Believe me, I know,” Raze answered.
Hearing all of this, Alen was glad that Raze had helped out his sister. But there was still one thing he knew nothing about, who was Raze?
Other than a powerful mage that now had made it back into this world.
“All right then, I guess we should cut to the chase,” Alen said. “Whenever you come here, you always do so asking for a favor. You didn’t come here to personally deliver Aurora, I know that much.”
Raze nodded with a smile.
“Right. Well first, for safe delivery, I think there should be some type of reward and payment. Right now, none of us have any finances. We have no place to live or stay… so I was hoping you could help with that.”
“That should be easy enough,” Alen said. But he still had a feeling there was more to all of this.
Not just that, but his sister started to pull away now, the tone of the conversation was getting slightly more serious.
“As for the second thing, well, that’s more of a larger personal favor. You know this entire time I have been feeding you information on the Grand Magus.
“I’m sure you’ve figured out a number of their wrongdoings on your own. I’ll be honest with you, my goal is to take down the corrupt Grand Magus.”
Alen said nothing for a while. He had somewhat figured this might be the case, but he didn’t have an answer for Raze apart from one thing.
“The task that you want to do… you should know that’s impossible,” Alen replied.
“It’s not,” Raze answered. “I know, because the Grand Magus Enaxx is dead. And I was the one that killed him.”
****
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Alen’s lips moved several times, but no words came out. He was trying to process what had just been said, but it wasn’t quite connecting in his mind.
Then, out of sheer disbelief, laughter escaped his mouth, the only natural reaction he could muster.
“You almost got me there. Every time we meet, it seems like you’ve got something ridiculous to say,” Alen said with a forced chuckle.
But there was no laughter from Raze. Not from anyone else in the room. Even his sister, Aurora, eventually tilted her head, giving her brother an awkward and serious look.
“Alen… he’s not lying,” Aurora said softly. “Enaxx, the Grand Magus, he was there in that other world. He crossed over. I saw it myself, I saw the things he did, the power he wielded. And Raze… Raze is the one who stopped him.”
Alen blinked rapidly, overwhelmed by the wave of new information. The death of the Grand Magus, it was the kind of news that would shake the very foundation of their world, yet it was being spoken so plainly… in his own living room.
He was supposed to believe that one of the most powerful and revered mages in existence had been defeated by the young man sitting across from him? Someone he had only encountered a handful of times?
Yet, if there was one thing Alen could trust in all of this, it was his sister. He could always tell when she was lying, and this wasn’t one of those times. Her tone, her eyes, everything about her was sincere.
Before coming into the manor, Aurora and Raze had established a few important ground rules with the group.
They were allowed to use his real name, Raze. It wasn’t an uncommon name in Alterian, so no one would immediately associate it with the infamous “Dark Magus.”
Second, they were not to mention who Raze truly was. The title of Dark Magus carried weight and suspicion. Very few would accept the truth. And with someone like Alen, a commander, it was especially sensitive. He acted based on what he could prove, what he knew. Which is why Raze needed him to see things for himself first, before asking for his support.
“You should be able to figure out it’s the truth for yourself,” Raze said calmly. “The Grand Magus, Enaxx included, they were up to something.
“They were trying to reach this other world for a reason. I believe, in the process, that’s what caused the portals to open. That’s why your sister, and others like me, ended up in that strange world.
“Enaxx found a way to cross over. He was working with a particular group of mages already embedded in that world.
“Together, with their help, we defeated him. He tried to launch an attack on their world, and failed. Although you already know… I’ve been feeding you bits of information about his corruption for a while now.”
Raze leaned forward slightly.
“So, ask yourself: why has there been no sign of Enaxx for weeks? No sightings. No messages. No reports. Nothing.”
Alen, being in the military, got access to information faster than most in Alterian. And he couldn’t deny it, Raze was right. There hadn’t been any word from Enaxx in some time.
The media was quiet, but internally, there was unrest. The military, the governing bodies, even the members of the Glory Guild, all of them were growing increasingly uncertain. With no leadership, no guidance, everything was starting to fracture.
“It’s… it’s so hard to believe,” Alen finally admitted. “You’re telling me… you all killed the Grand Magus. That he invaded another world?”
“It’s all true,” Dame said as he stepped forward. “That mage tried to kill us the second we appeared. If it wasn’t for Raze, we’d be dead. He united us, gave us a chance, and led us to victory.
“And that’s why we’re here now. He told us the same mages that nearly took over our world are trying to destroy his. So why wouldn’t we help him?”
Dame’s words were exactly what Raze needed in that moment. It reminded him how good Dame was at lying when it counted, but in this case, it wasn’t even a lie. It was the truth.
“How is the world supposed to handle this news?” Alen said, almost to himself. “What happens when people find out Enaxx is gone? What happens to the Glory Guild without him?”
Alen’s face reflected more than disbelief, there was sadness there, too. His connection to Enaxx wasn’t just professional. Enaxx had taught him most of his fire spells. He had been a mentor. A trusted guide.
Which was how Alen had managed to get his hands on highly classified files, documents detailing many of Enaxx’s actions. His secrets. His wrongdoings.
“Even if Enaxx was corrupted… to fall like that, in silence, and for no one to know?” Alen stood up suddenly. “No one will believe it. And if the other Grand Magus find out, you’ll be hunted! And if they know you were involved too, Aurora… they’ll come after you next. This is dangerous. This is beyond dangerous!”
It was the first time Aurora had seen her brother like this, shaken. Alen, the one who always kept calm no matter the circumstance. The one who earned his place as commander in the military through calculated leadership. Seeing him panic now only drove home how big this really was.
The fall of a Grand Magus, it was more earth-shattering than a prime minister being assassinated. It was a threat to the stability of the entire continent.
“I already told you,” Raze said, rising to his feet. “You don’t need to worry. We already took down one of them. That’s the first step. My goal is to take down the rest, and expose every last thing they’ve done.”
He paused, locking eyes with Alen.
“And I came here… hoping you might help. Not directly. You don’t have to fight. But from the shadows, use your position, your knowledge. Give us the edge we need to finish what we started.”
*****
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