Freud grit his teeth against the pain, sitting in front of Mercedes, who was unconscious, to protect her. She was already so beaten up that if she took any more, it was likely that she would die. And Freud had promised himself he wouldn't let any of them die.
Already, he was afraid that that promise had been broken; it was getting harder and harder to hear Afrien's thoughts. The dragon had jumped in front of Freud, taking the curse the Black Mage had fired at him. Freud had shouted at him to fly away while he still could, and Afrien, recognizing the wisdom of it and knowing he was useless after the blow he had taken, had flown away with difficulty, nearly crash-landing several times.
Freud couldn't stand losing his best friend of all, the king of dragons. He turned his mind back to the fight and slowly, he gathered his power, closing his eyes and feeling the magic in the area. His own gathered in slow, steady and powerful waves, until it pooled around him in a bright aura.
This was his back up plan, for if they were unable to kill their greatest enemy. But it would only work for so long. He had been afraid that it would come to us, and it took a great deal to make Freud, the greatest and only dragon master in Maple, afraid.
"Subsisto tempus," Freud whispered.
And time, all around them, stopped, except for Freud and Luminous. Clenching his jaw against the draining of his power, Freud began talking hurriedly. "Luminous. I set up the seal points to seal away the Black Mage. I need you to pour your magic into them. Quickly, before I can't hold this any longer," He hissed.
Luminous nodded briefly and in flashes of light, teleported to each of the points of the seal, completely focused on his task. Freud put all of his being into focusing.
A bead of sweat trickled down Freud's forehead, stinging a bloody cut over his eye. His every breath was shallow; it was physically affecting him, holding the halt in time. His grasp was slipping.
"Luminous- I can't-!" Freud shouted hurriedly, just before his energy ran out. Luminous was just teleporting to the last point.
And all that happened next began in a rush; the Black Mage began moving again and, quickly surmising the situation, he attacked.
Freud's eyes widened as a chain made of magic shot forward and wrapped around his ankle, dragging him across the floor into the sealing area. He struggled desperately and weakly.
And just as Luminous reached the last point and the seal began to form, trapping both Freud and his enemy, the Black Mage fired a curse at Luminous, Mercedes, and Phantom, who had just skidded into the temple, looking panicked.
Everything went white.
AN: Don't be discouraged by the shortness of this, it's just a prologue.
I'm so absurdly excited to write this!