Chapter 6: Chaos! Zephyr Galewing!

"So… We meet again… Chidori…"

Chidori's heart raced as the figure crossed the drawbridge and stood face to face before her. She knew this person well. Although she had only seen him twice, his haunting green eyes had continued to plague her even after years they had parted. The first time she saw him was when she was merely the age of eight. He had come to see her father over some important matter, and that was the first time she had gazed into those deep, emerald green eyes.

The second time, however, had left a wound in her that would never heal. She remembered seeing him in the midst of it the incident, the incident that was not supposed to happen. She remembered seeing him lying in a pool of his own blood; she remembered him calling to her, begging her to take something from him and run; she remembered him muttering a mysterious incantation, which made her feel weak and dizzy; and finally, she remembered him falling down dead, eyelids wide open, those green eyes still as haunting as ever.

Chidori stood there, not knowing what to do. She had already come this far, she didn't want to give up now, even though the enemy before her was an enemy far more experienced than her. Her body told her to run, but her mind commanded her to stay .Torn between the two, she did neither.

"What's the matter…? Chidori…" The sage called out again softly. "I trust you still remember me?"

Chidori dismissed his question with a laugh. "Of course…" she replied, voice still a little shaky from shock. "How could I ever forget you… "

"ZEPHYR GALEWING!"

Zephyr smiled, as he said, "I'm touched that you still remember my name…. I was so afraid that you would have forgotten me…"

"Get out of the way, Zephyr." Chidori said coldly, her senses slowly returning. Her initial shock of seeing him alive had passed, as she now found herself capable of thinking clearly once more.

"My, my… How pushy…" Zephyr mocked. "You must have inherited that from your father, yes… He was an extremely impatient man too." Zephyr said, his lips curling upwards to a smile.

Chidori found her coolness slowly vanishing, as her anger began taking over. She forced herself to compress the building rage within her, as she said to Zephyr, albeit this time through clenched teeth, "Get out of the way."

Zephyr shook his head and said, "And what makes you think I would? After all, I am the Chief Advisor of the King of Prontera. It wouldn't look good if I were to merely step away, no?"

"I'm warning you, Zephyr…" Chidori said, her anger steadily rising. "Shall you not move voluntarily, do not blame me for removing you by force."

"No one gets in without permission from the king, or his chief advisor…" Zephyr said, as he added, with an evil gleam in his eye, "which would be me…"

"The so be it!" Chidori screamed. She had enough of this nonsense. Her anger clouding her mind and vanquishing her fear, she conjured a blast of icy wind and threw it at him with a shout of "Frost Diver!" The Frost Diver enveloped Zephyr and closed in at him from all directions. Chidori smiled. She knew that he would soon be frozen solid, just like one of the guards was.

Zephyr didn't even flinch at the attack. All he did was merely extract a small wand from his robe. As the frost diver approached him, he flicked his wand and said softly, "Magic Rod."

Instantly the jet of freezing wind disappeared, as Zephyr turned it into raw mana and absorbed it with his wand. Chidori watched in disbelief as her attack vanished completely. The magic rod was an extremely powerful skill, one that required years of training before it could be perfected. Upon activation, all incoming magic targeted at the caster would be converted into raw mana to be absorbed.

The magic rod skill, however, required vast knowledge of the elementals, something that normal magicians lacked. Those who studied the elements intensively were the sages of Juno, those who forsaken power in their quest for wisdom. The Zephyr she had known was a wizard, not a sage who was adept at controlling the elements. If that was the case, how had he managed to perform the magic rod?

Chidori shook her head and dismissed those thoughts. She would deal with them later. She had more pressing matters to deal with right now. If single target spells couldn't work against him, all she needed was a large area spell, one that would serve to hold him tightly in place…

Raising her fist high into the air, Chidori began chanting the verses to the powerful Earth element spell, the Quagmire. Since it was an area afflicting spell, the magic rod would be useless against it. And since what she needed was a spell to disable the enemy's movements, the Quagmire was a perfect choice.

Chidori finished the final few verses of the spell, as the proceeded to shout aloud the final remaining incantations. "Quag…"

"SPELL BREAKER!"

Without warning, Chidori suddenly found her world turned upside down, as her head landed on the stony floor, and her legs ended p in midair. Chidori gasped, shocked at what at happened. In that brief moment she stopped her spell chant, her entire incantation was interrupted, as her Quagmire vanished, being disturbed before completion. Her world then reverted back to normal, as she saw Zephyr standing there lazily, his wand pointed straight at her.

Chidori knew this spell. This was yet another high leveled spell, one that forcefully disrupted the enemy's casting of the spell. By delivering a powerful neuron shock directly to the opponent's brain, one could disrupt the flow of impulse and stop the completion of a spell. This was the powerful spell, the Spell Breaker.

Mastering the spell breaker, though, was no easy task. Due to the nature of incantations, one's mind would be usually closed from external intrusion during spell casting – hence explaining why some spell casters would turn momentarily deaf during the casting of a spell. Some spells were so powerful that they even temporarily removed the sight from the caster while being cast. Eventually, many wizards got used to casting spells in the dark that they found it hard to concentrate while NOT casting in the dark, therefore the blinker was invented – so that those who preferred casting in the dark could concentrate.

Each spell, however, shares a common weakness. During the course of the spell, there is always a brief transition where the incantations are brought to life, are given material. It is during this transaction period that the mind opens itself up, and it is also during this time that spell breakers can hack into the minds of these spell casters to forcefully cut their spell short. Despite this weakness, each spell has a different transaction period, and depending on the spell, that period may be anywhere from the beginning of the spell to the end of it. In order to fully utilize the power of the spell breaker, one had to do extensive research on EVERY spell created, before further analyzing them to find their true weakness. Such hard work was unfavoured by wizards, but mighty popular among the sages, whose knowledge of spells and spell castings made breaking spells a breeze.

Chidori's mind raced. Magic rod was bad enough, spell breaker was the icing on the cake. Possessing both skills made Zephyr completely immune to ALL of her spells, as spells were generally categorized as single target magic and area based.

There was, however, a third type of spell, one that was completely above the other two. The nature of these spells made them so powerful that they could not be learned, only passed down, usually from generation to generation. The legendary Forbidden Spells, which only ran through a specific clan and their offspring.

Chidori was at her wits end. She had no choice to but execute a forbidden spell, one that was so powerful that it would probably destroy the entire drawbridge in its wake. This was the only option she had, since Zephyr clearly resisted the effects of both single and area spells. Slowly, she chanted a short poem, one that triggered the powerful forbidden spell.

"Stairway to Valhalla, show your light"

"Let this unworthy soul take flight!"

"Reveal your passage to the clear blue sky"

"Strike down now, the wrath of the Valkyrie!"

"LORD OF VERMILLION!"

At her command, a huge, crimson bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, followed by three similar spears of scarlet red. This was the powerful Forbidden Spell, the Wrath of the Valkyrie, one that would summon four heavenly javelins of light to smite the foe. Upon crashing down upon the ground, the bolts of light would then reflect back up to the sky, causing massive explosions in its wake. This spell was often accompanied by the darkening of the sky, as well as huge, earth shattering explosions where it rebounded of the surface of the Earth back to the halls of Valhalla, leaving a trail of death and destruction. Chidori watched as the four spears of light she had summoned coursed down towards Zephyr, who stood there, open to attack.

Without warning, another four bolts of lighting sheared down from the sky, this time moving in the opposite direction of Chidori's Lord of Vermillion. Chidori watched in awe as the two attacks collided in midair. Large, crimson red sparks flew everything, striking all tall objects within their reach. The sky was dyed a deep red as the two bolts of fearsome intensity clawed at each other, each attempting to break the other.

There was a sharp snap, as Chidori's Lord of Vermillion snapped into two. Massive thunderbolts rained down upon the ground, as the remaining bolts collided with the initial bolt and bounced off, causing massive explosions to flare up in the sky. The other Lord of Vermillion, although it proved to be superior to Chidoris', was also thrown off course, as it hit the ground outside of Prontera, causing a massive shockwave to vibrate throughout the field. This was followed by another three explosions, as the remaining three bolts crashed into the ground, splitting it apart. A huge fissure emerged, as a result of the Lord of Vermillion impaling it with full force.

Chidori looked at Zephyr, who had undoubtedly cast that Lord of Vermillion. "You seem to have forgotten who taught you that skill, Chidori…" Zephyr said menacingly. "Eight years ago, I begged you to do me a favour, and that was to protect this skill, so that it would continue to exist in this world. With my remaining power, I transferred all knowledge of the Lord of Vermillion into you, which explains why you can execute such a powerful skill."

"The Galewing clan specialty, the wrath of the Valkyrie, the Lord of Vermillion."

Zephyr raised his staff, and said, "Now, after three unsuccessful tries at eliminating me, I think my turn, no?" Without waiting for an answer, Zephyr began chanting his spell.

Suddenly, another earthquake rocked the area, as Zephyr and Chidori were thrown off balance. From outside the city walls, there was a shrill cry, followed by the sound of hundreds and thousands of insects squealing. Then there was a loud roar, a roar that symbolized a challenge, a duel.

It was a battle cry.

Chidori's face turned pale at the sound. "No…" she said. "It can't be…" Zephyr, too, was equally worried. "I'll postpone our duel for the time being," he said, as he turned to leave. "I need to inform the King about this right now!"

Chidori wasn't even listening. She knew that only a monster could make that cry. And not just any monster. It was a monster filled with anger, filled with fury, filled with hatred towards the humans. A monster that despised the very existence of humans, and wanted nothing more than the utmost annihilation of the human race.

A Most Valued Personnel, an MVP.