Gamer Magic: Level Seven ~ ?/1600 XP
Strength: 11
Speed: 8
Agility: 8
Stamina: 9
Endurance: 9
Stealth: 7
Wilhelm's head was unclear as he watched the ocean get closer, his injuries making everything foggy. It didn't catch up to him that he was going to fall into the ocean until he had already hit the water. The debris of the cliff saved him from hitting a hard surface, but once underwater the debris turned again him, a chunk of a boulder above him putting pressure on his chest, and pushing the teen farther into the depths. Making Wilhelm relive the lowest point of his life.
Galgaria rushed to the edge of the cliff, seeing all the debris falling, and most importantly Wilhelm. She had to get him quickly because he was too injured to survive for more than a minute after hitting the water at most. Quickly she turned around to rush for where her broom was.
"Where's the broom?!" The girl panicked as she looked around the area. Almost instantly a bird showed up in her vision and pecked her on the forehead, making the girl yelp and look at the bird. "Nero?"
It was Wilhelm's bird, Nero, who she had honestly forgotten had followed them. The anti-bird made sure it had Galgaria's attention before flying a few feet away and diving into the grass. The Blue Rose looked as the bird actually began to pull part of her broom above the grass for her to see.
"My broom!" The girl rushed over to the item and grabbed it, wasting no time to put mana into it. "Thanks Nero!"
With that, Galgaria shot off the ground with force, using more mana to speed herself up to get to Wilhelm. She didn't get a chance to see where Wilhelm had entered the water, but she knew the general area and quickly flew to that spot. Barely putting the brakes on as she got closer to the water, she jumped off the broom and dove into the water.
Swimming underwater was no issue for the girl, she had swam and went diving a lot before. However this was an exception. After being struck by the beast her ribs were cracked and that made breathing, or moving, under the water a bit more strenuous. The dark from it being the middle of the night also didn't help, her barely being able to see a few feet in front of her. However she kept moving, having to navigate around rocks and her own boulders that fell from the cliff.
Soon she would have to push back up and resurface, to get more oxygen, however she ignored that fact because she focused on a more important fact. If she was running out of breath, than Wilhelm as injured as he was, was out of oxygen completely. Her window was too small but she had to keep pushing, all because he pushed himself to fight that beast when she froze up, and it saved her.
Her chest began to burn, her oxygen running out, and that was when she saw Wilhelm. He was pinned under a boulder, one of her spells, that was bigger than him. It had put pressure on his torso, and unfortunately especially on his wound from when the beast impaled Wilhelm with its horn. What bothered Galgaria was that Wilhelm was not moving at all, not attempting to free himself at all. She knew that he didn't have the strength to keep breathing down here for long, but she had foolish hope that she'd get there before something like this happened.
Galgaria moved to Wilhelm and immediately made her grimoire open and manipulated her magic quickly. A stone pillar appeared from the ground below part of the boulder and she made it push the rock off of Wilhelm. With the boy freed she grabbed him, ignoring once again how much her chest hurt, and made a larger pillar appear below the two and push the two up quickly. Focusing to make sure she didn't black out as they quickly rose back up.
The pillar broke the surface of the water and Galgaria gasped for breath, taking in as much oxygen as possible. She turned back to Wilhelm, gaining panic from his still not moving at all. She made her grimoire flip to her recovery spell.
"Stone Recovery Magic: Stoneworker's Clay!" The girl made clay flow from her hands to Wilhelm, focusing mostly on the wound to his torso. She panicked as she saw her clay began to slow down, the girl being almost out of mana. She looked up at his face to see he had still not moved at all. "Come on Wilhelm!" She put both hands on his midsection, putting all of the spell into that wound. "Come on! Don't die!" She began to tear up as she felt the spell begin to weaken faster. As the spell ended, her mana spent, Galgaria looked at Wilhelm and hoped to see any sort of positive reaction.
Answering her prayers, Wilhelm suddenly jerked, moving to his side as he began coughing up the water still in him. Galgaria gained happiness at him showing life, and began to cry for a happy reason this time.
Wilhelm threw up sea water for a moment before making a groaning sound, and moving to his front side, attempting to push himself up.
"Wilhelm wait!" Galgaria put her hand on his back to keep him down. "You are heavily injured still!" Wilhelm still tried getting up, but his arms gave up from under him. He fell back down, Galgaria catching him. "Don't hurt yourself."
Again, Wilhelm tried getting up, this time Galgaria decided to just wait until he fell back over to just catch him again. His arms gave out again and he fell right into Galgaria's arms, and the girl set him The teen stopped moving partway up, and began violently coughing again.
"Please don't overdo it. I don't have anymore magic to heal you right now." The Blue Rose pleaded as she tried to set him back down on his back, and this time he thankfully stopped trying to get up.
Wilhelm took a few deep breaths before he could speak. "Where... did that thing go? Where is it?"
"The beast?" Galgaria asked before looking around them. Looking at the water she didn't actually see it and that brought questions to her mind. She had wanted to believe it had just drowned and died in the ocean, but she had to be realistic. If Wilhelm, as horribly injured as he was, was still alive, than that thing also had to be alive. "I don't know where it is."
"... That bastard... isn't dead." Wilhelm kept having to stop mid sentence to breathe. "My gut says it is still... alive around here."
"As much as I agree... We can't do anything right now." Galgaria stated. "We are below a cliff with no way back up right now, I am out of mana, and your injuries are still bad." She hated that she was out of mana at that moment, especially because of all the injuries she still saw on Wilhelm. She was just close she had enough to revive him, and restore a good portion of his torso, especially where he had been impaled by the beast's horn. "I'm going to actually call for an emergency team to come get us." She went to her belt and tried to pull out her communication tool, only to not find it.
Wilhelm watched as the girl made a confused expression and began searching her pockets. "... What's wrong?"
"Nothing?!" The girl shouted as she continued looking, before realizing what she didn't like to realize. "I lost my communication tool. It must've fallen out of my pocket when the beast struck me and I fell through the trees!" Her panic began to rise again. She needed to get Wilhelm to someone who can heal him before he actually bled out and died.
After hearing that, Wilhelm rotated to his side, groaning as he put pressure on his arms again, and pushed himself up. This time he got to his knees and made himself stay there. "We have to... get to..." His arms gave out again, but Galgaria was ready again and caught him, helping him to a position of sitting on his knees. "... Crete. We have to get to Crete."
"We can't go anywhere from here." Galgaria pointed out. "I have no magic right now to even lift the broom." Her anxiety made her begin to tear up. "I can't get you help. I'm useless right now!"
"You're..." Wilhelm coughed. "...You're an idiot." Galgaria took an emotional hit from that sentence. "I would've... died if not... for you. That beast would've... killed me multiple times... and I could've drowned." He took a staggered breath, the simple act of breathing becoming more and more of a challenge. "... Thank you..." Wilhelm's posture dropped and he went limp, the teen losing focus and consciousness again.
"Wilhelm!" The girl panicked and moved to check on Wilhelm, who had collapsed next to her with a glazed look in his eyes. "Come on Wilhelm! Stay with me!" She looked around in the denial of hoping something would suddenly be there that was the key to helping Wilhelm.
What she saw was Nero, the bird who was floating in the air a few feet away and looking at Galgaria expectantly.
"Nero!" Galgaria didn't know what compelled her to speak the bird. "Help me save Wilhelm!" At this point she was desperate.
Nero looked around for a second, before flying away, straight to a rock made from Galgaria's stone magic, and spun in the air to state at Galgaria while staying above it. Galgaria looked at the rock, which was about her size, and got confused before she saw something on it.
"Wilhelm's sword!" The Blue Rose shouted as she realized it was his weapon, which miraculously had not just sunk into the ocean. The sword might be a way for her to gain mana! It absorbs mana and Wilhelm had used it to take away a lot of mana from the beast. If she could figure out a way to get the mana from the sword without it making her pass out, then she can use that mana to heal Wilhelm!
Without hesitation, and consideration of her cracked ribs, the girl dove into the water and swam for the sword. Thankfully, the rock it was on was not far away at all, but she did have to actually be careful about getting the sword over to Wilhelm, since it was heavy as hell. If the sword fell into the water she doubt she'd have the strength to pull it back up as exhausted as she was. Nudging the stone rock, she made it take the sword in the direction of the pillar Wilhelm was on. She made it go as fast as she could without making the thankfully flat side the sword was on rotate and throw the sword off.
Not even a minute after she had dived into the water, she had the sword close enough to the pillar that when she climbed back onto it, that she could grab the weapon. Not surprised by how heavy it was, but still almost falling from it. She moved the tool over to Wilhelm, falling over next to him out of exhaustion. She had landed on her hands and knees, dropping the sword in-between her and Wilhelm.
"Wilhelm!" The girl inhaled to steady herself after the sword made her tired from moving it. "Wilhelm! How do I take mana from the sword!"
"..." Wilhelm didn't respond with words. His eyes were barely open at the moment and his only response was to turn his head towards her and the sword.
"Come on Wilhelm! I can save you if I figure out how to take mana from it! I need the mana to save you!" Once again the situation was making the girl tear up.
Wilhelm's mind was quickly becoming black, he barely heard anything Galgaria said. The only thing he was able to comprehend was that she needed mana. He wished he could get her mana but he has no idea on how to help her.
Nero had flown back to the pair, and landed next to Wilhelm's left arm. The bird looked at Galgaria, then Wilhelm, and then the sword, before moving again. The bird grabbed Wilhelm's hand in its talons and lifted the limb, before maneuvering itself over the sword and releasing the mana-less teen's hand. Wilhelm's hand dropped onto the sword, and shortly after his hand landed on it, the sword began to glow with an intense white light.
Galgaria looked at the sword in shock before the sword shot a beam of its white glow at her, and the girl herself began to become covered with the same glowing light. Before she could question how, she realized what was happening.
The sword was filling her with mana!
Without hesitation the girl threw her grimoire open. "Stone Recovery Magic! Stoneworker's Clay!" Her magic quickly went to work, the magic clay going onto the mana-less teen and to his injuries. She actually smiled as she was gaining more mana than she was using to heal Wilhelm, and the sword hadn't shown signs of stopping yet. She continued using the spell, with more effort into the magic to heal Wilhelm as quickly as possible.
After a minute, Wilhelm's wounds were closing better, and with her focus being mostly on his torso, that wound was now completely closed. The only sign of half of his injuries now were the tears in his clothes and the stains of blood on him and his clothing. Wilhelm opened his eyes slowly, and his vision became proper again.
"Wilhelm!" Galgaria was surprised to see him returning to consciousness so soon. "You're okay!"
"I'm not dead." He mumbled out the words in response.
"I still need to heal you more though."
"Save it for later. We need to get out of here."
"No! You are still badly hurt!"
"Can that wait until we are not by the water?" Wilhelm groaned as he moved himself to a sitting position, seeing the ocean around him. "Please."
Galgaria took a second to respond. She thought about how his please sounded, and assumed his almost drowning was what made him ask that. "Okay." Once we are back up on the cliff I am gonna heal you though."
He turned to her to respond and saw she was glowing, and pointed that out. "You're glowing."
Galgaria looked at the white glow she still had. "You gave me mana through the sword, it's doing that."
"I did?" Wilhelm looked down to his sword out of confusion, and unintentionally took his hand off the sword and cut the connection of mana to Galgaria. She lost the white glow, as did the sword.
"Wait, put your hand back on it!" Galgaria grabbed his hand and put it on his weapon.
Nothing happened, the sword didn't regain the white light, nor did Galgaria. Wilhelm looked at her with an apologetic expression. "I don't know how to restart that. I didn't even know I could do that."
"Nero somehow knew!" Galgaria pointed at the bird who was sitting nearby on the pillar. The bird had its usual bored expression at the moment as it turned to the Blue Rose upon its name being said.
Wilhelm looked at the bird, which looked back at him. "It did?"
"Nero made me see your sword was nearby, and I brought it back to you and then this happened. Nero is actually the reason I was able to help you at all." She didn't know how the bird was that smart, but was so glad it was.
"Guess I'm glad I didn't actually get rid of Nero." Wilhelm moved to stand up.
"Wilhelm wait! I don't care if I healed your injuries half as much as I did, stay down and just catch your breath for a moment while I get my broom!" She lectured him.
"I'm fine. I have lived with worse." Wilhelm brushed off her worrying.
"We have different definitions of fine." Galgaria gained a flat expression as she stood up next to Wilhelm.
Wilhelm immediately thought of Mimosa when he heard that, and wanted to mentally groan at the idea of now having to deal with two Mimosa's constantly on him about his so called recklessness. "... Where even is your broom?"
Galgaria looked around and realized it wasn't on the pillar, which made since given that she jumped off of the broom into the ocean before she even made the pillar. "Umm... There!" She pointed to the broom floating in the water several meters away. "Stay here, I'll get it."
With that, the Blue Rose jumped back into the water to go get the broom, and Wilhelm stayed on the pillar. He knelt down to pick up his sword, and upon standing back up, saw Nero flying a foot away from his face.
"What is it?" He asked the animal, figuring it would do something to indicate why it was there looking at him like that. It gave no response but looked at him expectantly. "Do you want gratitude? You did a great job Nero." The bird accepted that and moved to land on his head. Wilhelm genuinely was glad the bird somehow knew about his sword being able to allow him to pass mana to others that it had taken in, that information saved his life.
He looked out at the water and thought for a second. It hit him hard in that moment how close he was to dying, a second time in the exact same way as the first time. Drowning, all alone, crushed under something. That fact shook Wilhelm in a way that was worse than when he got impaled by that beast. Looking at the water around him forced to the surface every feeling, the pain of being crushed, the pressure of the water filling his lungs, the burning from not being able to breathe, the panic from being unable to help himself. All of it was too much and Wilhelm's eyes began to turn red as he closed his eyes to not have to see the water.
With his eyes still closed, Wilhelm heard Galgaria climb back onto the pillar. "I'm back. It was a little damaged from my kinda throwing it away so I could get you from under the water, but good enough to get us at the least back up there." Galgaria got no response from him, so she turned to the teen and saw him with his eyes shut. "Wilhelm?"
Without opening his eyes, Wilhelm responded quietly. "Can we get away from the water? Please?"
The Blue Rose nodded and moved over to him while putting her mana through the broom. "Yea let's get out of here." She wasn't going to comment on Wilhelm's current mood at all, knowing she was also shaken from everything that had happened also. With her broom beginning to levitate in her hand, Galgaria tapped Wilhelm to get him to look at her and the tool. "Get on and we'll fly back to Crete."
He nodded and grabbed the broom also, and Galgaria lifted them off the ground and flew straight back up the cliff. As the ocean below them got farther away, Wilhelm felt less anxious.
Once they passed the cliff's edge, and were back to where Wilhelm had fallen from, Galgaria turned the broom to fly even with the ground. Once she had turned the broom though, a blade made of ice shot through the broom, right in-between the duo on the tool, and the broom broke in half. The duo were sent falling to the ground, luckily on top of the cliff. Wilhelm hit the ground at an angle, rolling to an upright position on his knees before standing up in a fluid motion. Galgaria had used her magic to make a stone pillar come up from the ground to catch her.
The two looked at where the attack had come from, and Wilhelm immediately spoke as he saw the person.
"You again." The mana-less teen instantly pulled out his sword as he looked at the ice magic using girl who had been sent to assassinate him a few weeks ago.
The girl didn't even have her cloak up, not hiding her identity. She stood closer to the trees than them and had her pink eyes locked onto Wilhelm. "Hello again."
Galgaria pulled her grimoire out and got ready to use a spell. "Why are you here?!"
"Him." She didn't move, keeping focus on Wilhelm.
"That Diamond mage still wants me dead?" The mana-less teen asked as he gripped his sword, trying to plan how to get closer to attack her.
"He does, and I am still required to kill you. However I want to fight you." The girl responded.
"I think that's in the process of you trying to kill me."
"I could've killed you the second that girl went down that cliff to save you. I was here from the moment the Minotaur impaled you with its horn." The girl spoke in a monotone voice.
"The Minotaur? That's that thing's name?" Wilhelm asked. "Why do you know its name?"
"It was made in Diamond, and got loose and ended up here." She explained.
"Why didn't you kill me while Galgaria was trying to revive me? Or kill Galgaria before she could?" He asked.
"Like I said, I wanted to fight you." She answered like it was obvious.
"Why? Got mad I broke your nose?" He tried to provoke her so she'd just attack him.
"No. I said you put up a better fight than most people I encountered and I meant it. You also have been the only person I enjoyed fighting, and I looked forward to when we crossed paths again."
"Oh I am sooo honored that the girl who stabbed me wanted to meet me again to be able to stab me again." Wilhelm replied flatly. "I already have another girl who is annoying and wants to fight me. I'd rather take her giving me a concussion over whatever you want."
The girl gave Wilhelm an annoyed look. "I request a match."
"No." Wilhelm responded even though he knew she'd probably attack him and make them fight. Granted, he had Galgaria there with him.
Speaking of Galgaria, the Blue Rose was waiting to strike, trying to make her own plan that required seeing who made the first move. She initially figured she should provide support for Wilhelm, given that his style was more geared towards taking conflict head on than hers was.
The Diamond girl gained an irritated look at Wilhelm. "This situation doesn't provide a chance for you to really decline, I was just being formal since this was a first for me."
"It's a first for me too, and I still say no."
"How about I give you information that you may want to know?" The girl offered.
Wilhelm looked surprised, trying to guess what her information was. That and he wasn't really used to people trying to put in effort to get his attention. "Depends entirely on what that is."
"The Minotaur is still alive, and I know where it is." She responded.
Wilhelm broke his stance, lowering his sword and moved his head to the side. "What?! Where?!"
"I will only say that if you agree to this fight." The Diamond mage replied.
Wilhelm exhaled hard, and then put himself back into his stance. "Fine, I'll fight you. Where is the Minotaur?"
The girl smiled at his acceptance of the fight. "It is in Crete, sent there to destroy the town and give Diamond a chance to slip in and gain the territory here."
Both Wilhelm and Galgaria gained different expressions from that. Galgaria gained worry and panic at the idea of the town being destroyed and slaughtered by that thing, and Wilhelm gained frustration at it still being alive at all. Even if he believed it was alive earlier, hearing that it was alive and running around nearby frustrated him.
"Before you can go attempt to defeat it like I assume you are planning, you have to fight me first." The girl made a sword made of ice appear in her hand.
Wilhelm's expression hardened, not liking having to stay here and fight the girl instead of being able to leave and kill the Minotaur finally. He saw really no opportunity to just leave and readied his sword. "Let's fight again then."
"My name is Mariella by the way." The girl revealed her name. "Given that you have given me one of the few exciting moments I experienced, you deserve my name."
"Well I don't give my name to girl's who stab me." Wilhelm got impatient and rushed forward at her.
Instead of annoyance, Mariella actually grinned and raised her sword to clash with Wilhelm's. He attempted to bring his sword down on the girl in a slash, which she blocked but had to take a step back from the force Wilhelm put into his attack. She realized he had gotten stronger physically since the last time they crossed paths, and now could overpower her, especially with his sword she knew the capabilities of.
Before she could counterattack, or the two pull their swords away from the clash, Wilhelm raised his foot and slammed it into Mariella's shin, sending her to her knees. He made to swing his sword in a horizontal slash at her, but was stopped as Mariella made ice burst into existence in-between her and Wilhelm. The ice would've hit Wilhelm, he having no reaction time to actively move away, but was saved by stone raising from the ground between him and Mariella, forming a wall that went several meters in both directions.
"Wilhelm!" Galgaria made her way closer to him. "Forget her and get to Crete! Your sword can kill the Minotaur! I'll stay here and keep her busy!"
"But-"
"No!" She pushed him in the direction of Crete. "Go! Get there as soon as possible to stop it before it does too much damage!" She knew it had to be Wilhelm to kill that thing, all of the mages and people she knew only could fight with mana, and that beast used people's mana to strengthen itself. Only Wilhelm and his sword that took mana away could stop it. "I can do this, and you have a beast to cut the head off of and show everyone what you can do!"
Before Wilhelm could respond, ice burst through the stone wall next to them, making the two have to move away. Both got ready to have to attack or defend from whatever Mariella would do.
Mariella moved through the wall and gave Galgaria a dirty look. "Mind your own business. You are the magic knight here, you go try to defend those people."
"Wilhelm go!" Galgaria immediately used her Stone Rain to makes boulders materialize and throw them at the Diamond mage. Mariella in return made ice that smashed the rocks before they could reach her.
Without a single word, Wilhelm turned around and began to run, moving in the direction of Crete.
"Stop!" Mariella shouted and had ice begin to coat the ground, the spell rushing after Wilhelm in an attempt to freeze his feet to the ground.
"Don't turn away from me!" Galgaria redid her Stone Rain and threw the new boulders at Mariella, forcing the girl to have to turn her focus away from the departing teen and back to the Blue Rose. More ice collided with the stone as the girl began to walk towards Galgaria, a pissed off expression on her face.
"For the first time in my life, I had something to look forward to." Mariella spoke. "And instead of being able to enjoy it, I have some girl, far out of her league, butt in and ruin it."
Galgaria gave no response to that, instead opting to focus on spells. "Stone Creation Magic: Stone Arrow!" She made several arrows of stone shoot out at the Diamond mage, moving from her position to make room between her and Mariella.
Galgaria wasn't stupid, she knew she had to keep distance between her and Mariella. Seeing the girl eager to engage Wilhelm of all people in close combat made Galgaria know for a fact that Mariella outclassed her at close range.
Mariella sliced most of the arrows way with her sword, but one managed to get past her weapon and leave a cut on her arm. Mariella retaliated by making several blades of ice rise up and shoot at Galgaria, who defended herself with another stone wall.
The Diamond mage cursed. "You are going to be a nuisance. I wanted to fight Wilhelm, but now they will have to kill him." She grabbed something from her side, and Galgaria saw the girl pull out a communication tool. Mariella raised it to her mouth and spoke. "The mana-less foreigner is still alive."
It was Galgaria turn to curse, realizing that Mariella was calling reinforcements to go after Wilhelm. She attempted to make Stone Rain to strike the girl, who without a word made ice rise up and over her to shield herself.
Mariella continued to speak into the tool. "A member of the Blue Roses prevented me from pursuing him and he is on his way to Crete to attempt to kill the Minotaur." She finished her message and Galgaria cursed again.
"Dammit Mariella." A voice responded through the tool. "We'll handle your mess."
The Diamond mage looked annoyed over everything, and looked at Galgaria. "Because of you, he'll now have to face those two, and they will be a lot crueler in how they handle Wilhelm."
"Yea, because you stabbing him would've been nice." The Blue Rose retorted.
The ice magic user gave no response past a look of irritation, before rushing forward and swinging her ice blade at an attempt to slice Galgaria's throat open. The stone magic user had barely enough time to make a stone pillar just out from under her, and strike Mariella in the midsection. The stone pillar kept going after striking the ice user, and sent the girl a good several meters away from Galgaria.
Mariella landed on her feet, readjusting her sword in her hand before making several blades appear and shoot at Galgaria once again. As the blades flew through the air, Mariella also made her way back to Galgaria.
The Blue Rose couldn't react to everything one after the other, knowing her reaction time is not at the same speed as this Mariella's attacks were, so she opted for one move to defend from them all. Making a stone wall rise from the ground as fast as she could. The stone blocked a vast majority of the attacks Mariella had thrown, but two blades got through. One ice blade scraping against Galgaria's left shoulder and leaving a cut, the other going right into Galgaria's right bicep, stabbing up to her bone.
The Blue Rose winced as she clutched her impaled arm and scanned her stone dome to check for signs of Mariella breaking through, and saw cracks appear on her right side as a glacier like piece of ice burst through.
"Just like last time, you are outclassed." Mariella spoke as she moved through the hole made by her ice. "Nothing about this is interesting."
Galgaria's mind raced through her thoughts. As she tried to make a plan it jumped to two questions. What would Selena do? What would Wilhelm do? Both of them were clever in their own rights and pushed through their situations, meanwhile Galgaria was obviously just outclassed by far. She then remembered that Wilhelm himself was in the middle of running to Crete while still incredibly injured just to risk his life again to save the town from a monster, and she had to buy him time. With that she quickly shook her doubts, knowing she had no time to waste on doubt. She knew what she had to do and put her half baked idea into action.
"I may be outclassed, but I'm not done yet." Galgaria waved her arm and made her grimoire fly to her most used page. "Stone Creation Magic: Stone Rain!" The boulders created by her magic rose and were immediately thrown at Mariella, who raised her ice to defend herself. To Mariella's surprise though, the half wounded girl also rushed right at her. Galgaria used the surprise to try to throw a left hook, but was stopped by Mariella reacting quick enough to maneuver her sword and thrust it right through Galgaria's stomach.
As Wilhelm ran through the trees he kept his ears focused on listening for possible sounds of someone approaching, not sure how the fight between Galgaria and Mariella was going.
Breaking through the teen had made it to the fields before the farmland that bordered Crete, meaning he had perhaps half an hour or so at most before he had made it there if he didn't stop.
As Wilhelm thought of that, he was thrown off as a portal opened under his feet, dropping him through it and falling towards the ground. Before he hit the ground he was struck by a hard object that was flaming hot, flipping him to his back and making the teen land on his back.
"So... this is the filth, up close and in detail." Wilhelm looked up to see two figures in familiar looking robes, the speaker having a grimoire open that had a flaming red glow to it. The man sneered as he looked at the teen. "Disgusting."
"To think that Jin actually let himself be intimidated by this." The other one responded.
Wilhelm quickly moved to his feet, putting a hand on his sheathed sword to withdraw it. Before he could pull his weapon out however, a tendril of flames came at him and wrapped around his wrist tightly. The teen winced in pain as his arm's skin began to burn.
"Stop right there filth." The flame user spoke. "I don't think you are thinking through how bad your situation is right here, against two mages from Diamond you stand no chance. You won't get lucky like against Hedri."
Wilhelm glared at the man, hearing that title they gave him setting off a rage in him. "I already stabbed one of you fucks in the neck, I have no issue doing it again!"
At that the man actually stopped, and released Wilhelm. "You... you were the one who killed my brother?!" The man made his whip of flames turn and swung into Wilhelm, striking the teen against his cheek and sending the teen to the ground.
"James..." The other mage spoke to the flame user. "Take all the time you need to teach him a lesson."
The fire magic user threw off his cloak, revealing his outfit underneath as shirtless with scars and burns all over his torso. Whips made of flames appeared in his hands as he rolled his shoulders and grinned sickly. "With pleasure."
Galgaria didn't move as the sword went through her, it's icy material sending chills through her stomach around the entry point of the blade. For the first single second that it was all the way in her, she froze.
Mariella had a expressionless face, feeling nothing from this fight anymore.
Galgaria moved after the first second, grabbing seemingly uselessly at Mariella's midsection before the Diamond mage reacted by striking Galgaria in the chest and removing her sword from the girl. She took a step back as Galgaria fell backwards.
"Pitiful." Mariella commented as she turned to leave. flicking her ice-made sword to remove the blood from it. "A pointless move to rush someone better than you."
"You might be stronger..." Galgaria coughed as she raised her arm and what she had stolen to her mouth. "...But I am smarter."
Mariella turned to Galgaria to comment before she saw what Galgaria had in her hand, Mariella's communication tool. She had stolen it when she got stabbed, meaning the girl purposely took that lethal attack to take it.
Galgaria had filled the tool with her own magic, and tuned it to the frequency of the Blue Roses, and spoke before Mariella could stop her. "This is Galgaria! I need emergency backup at my location!"
Mariella threw her sword and it went right through her own communication tool, and Galgaria's hand. The sword stabbed cleanly through the Blue Rose's palm and pinned it to the ground. Before she could attack again, Galgaria made a stone shield to protect her.
Mariella scowled and fired several shots of plain mana at the stone, cracking it partway through the barrage and making a hole at the end of it. Before she could do anything with her opening, Galgaria fired off two Stone Arrows and managed to make one cut Mariella again, the other being blocked.
Galgaria quickly followed up her attack with a stone pillar that almost struck Mariella with how quickly it rose from the ground, but the Diamond mage moved out of its way at the last second. The Stone magic user stumbled out of her shield to make space between her and her opponent, but fell over from blood loss.
"By the time they find this location you will be dead." Mariella claimed as she walked around the pillar and made a new sword of ice appear in her hand.
"Not if... Gina has anything to say about it." Galgaria stated as her words came true, a portal of multiple colors bursting open nearby and two people coming through.
"We're here to take names and kick ass!" Gina announced.
"Galgaria!" Selena gasped as she saw her squad mate in the state she was.
Mariella gained a scowl as she turned to face the newcomers. To her it was just more people in the way of what was the one person she actually wanted to fight.
"Go get Wilhelm!" Galgaria shouted at her squad mates. "Other Diamond people are going after him south of here!"
"Gina." Selena said the girl's name as she gave Mariella a hard expression.
"On it." Understanding her task, Gina made a portal opened under Galgaria and take her away to safety, before making a new one and going through that one herself.
"You are in the way." Mariella spoke flatly to the Water Magic user. Selena didn't respond as she made her grimoire turn to a spell.
Wilhelm was thrown back again as a flaming whip struck him across his chest, falling into his back and yelping in pain as the attack left a seared wound across his torso.
"I imagined it was one of those damned Blue Roses that killed my brother." James swung another whip, Wilhelm barely rolling away to dodge it. "But a piece of scum like you!" The man grabbed Wilhelm's ankle with a whip, and swung the teen across the ground, slamming him into the stump of a tree.
Wilhelm coughed up blood as he felt one of his previously patched up ribs definitely crack again. He tried to move but one of the whips was brought down on his back, burning the flesh that was ripped open. Wilhelm again tried to get up, and a whip was brought down on the same wound, slamming him into the ground again.
"I will make you wish your pitiful existence never started." The Diamond mage growled as he moved his arm to swing the whip a third time, but before he could go through the motions a small object flew at his face, and scratched right into his eye. The man stopped attacking Wilhelm to yell in pain and clutch the ruined eye. "AHHH! What the hell?!"
"That looked like a bird." The other mage claimed.
Hearing that, Wilhelm immediately knew Nero was once again looking out for him and that was all he needed to force himself up as quickly as possible, pulling out his sword finally and dashing forward to slash at James.
The Diamond mage barely had time to react, taking a step back to avoid a fatal slice, but still having the sword leave a decent gash right across the man's chest. The gash made him scream in pain again and he retaliated by swinging his whip and making it wrap around Wilhelm's sword to keep the tern from using it.
"You... filth!" James exclaimed as he made to swing his other whip around to attack Wilhelm.
Wilhelm gained an enraged look as he used his strength to pull his sword away from James, the whip wrapped around it forcing James to stumble forward. The mana-less teen's sword absorbed enough mana from the whip that he weakened it and the sword ripped through the flaming weapon. As James' stumbled forward Wilhelm dropped his sword into a thrusting position and moved forward, the attack ready to go right through the Diamond mage's heart.
At that moment however, a portal opened between Wilhelm's sword and the man, and a second portal next to Wilhelm's head. In a slowed down moment Wilhelm saw his sword go through the first portal and out the second, the sword less than a second from going through Wilhelm's skull. He had no way to stop his momentum at that moment.
Before his sword could pierce him, Wilhelm saw the sword curve upwards away from him, and without questioning that bizarre event, Wilhelm used the opportunity to pull his sword back and out of the portals.
"Hiya Wilhelm!" He heard Gina's voice and turned to see the girl open a portal that made James fall a few meters away onto his back. "I'm here to be the hero!"
"Blue Roses? What the hell did Mariella do?!" The Spatial Diamond mage cursed.
"You bent my sword." Wilhelm looked at Gina.
"Distorted it, and only for that second, right now it's as straight as normal." Gina pointed at Wilhelm's sword and made him realize the sword was perfectly fine, and that Gina really just used her odd spatial magic to make it not impale him. "Anyways Galgaria called for backup and I was here to get you."
"This isn't time for chit chat." James had gotten up and swung his flaming whip at Gina.
"I have the Spatial magic!" Gina made a portal of her magic open and make the whip go through it, the whip smacking James across his own back. "I make the rules!"
"Gina!" Wilhelm shouted to get her attention. "I need to get to Crete to kill a rampaging monster." He hated that he intended to leave this fight, his rage with that Diamond mage was something he wanted to act on. However he also know Galgaria risked a lot to make the opening for him to get this far, and he didn't plan on wasting her efforts.
The girl dropped her goofy grin and nodded. "Gotcha, so we aren't tag-teaming these dorks. I'll just portal you to Crete and mess with these guys until Selena gets here."
"Can you handle them on your own?" Wilhelm remembered that Gina herself said she had no virtually no offensive skills.
"No questions from the people being teleported!" Gina opened a portal to near Crete below Wilhelm and made him fall through it before he could argue. Before Gina could close the portal she saw Nero dive through it after Wilhelm.
With that, it was just Gina and the two Diamond mages in the area, and both men turned to the small girl.
"You realize we out number you and I can use my own spatial magic to pursue that filth right?" The Spatial magic user of Diamond asked.
Gina gained a scowl. "He is not filth. If anyone is filth, it's you jerks trying to cause a town to be destroyed. And I am not letting you leave here."
"Pay attention!" James swung his flaming whip at Gina, who waved her arm at it and the Diamond mages saw the air in front of her begin to look distorted, and the whip bend away from Gina and collided with the Spatial mage. Caught off guard by the unexpected counter, he was struck blind and across the chest, falling onto his back. James looked at the girl in shock. "What the hell was that?!"
"Hey dummy, I use spatial magic." Gina never lost her scowl from hearing them call Wilhelm filth. "Prepare to have a little girl make you look like clowns." She made her grimoire open.
"It's coming!" A guard shouted as he readied his spell, a spear of wind that he was going to throw.
"Hold!" Another guard shouted as he readied his own spell, a bolt of lightning, front of him that he held in position, ready to fire.
Seconds later, with a ground shaking roar, the Minotaur broke through a tower and rushed right at the group of mages defending their town.
"FIRE!" The first guard shouted as all eleven of the mages released their spells, all striking the beast with their magic.
Their attacks were wasted, as the Minotaur was still standing, unscathed from the efforts of the town to put it down. The beast got within range of the mages and began attacking, striking the first mage with a fist that sent the man into a burning building meters away. The beast attacked a second mage, smashing his fist down on the woman and crushing her against the ground, cracking the stonework below her. As the beast made to attack a third, a wall of steel was brought up in-between it and the mage, before spikes of steel burst from the wall and attempted to impale the monstrous being.
Each spike hit the Minotaur's body and created sparks, not getting through the shield of mana that the town had not figured out yet, or had no choice but to attempt to attack through regardless.
The Minotaur raised its fists and brought them down, shattering the wall in one attempt, and moving through the wreckage and slamming a hooved leg into the Steel magic using mage, kicking him away and into the side of a broken building.
"We need to find its weakness!" A mage shouted as he made a spell activate, creating a being of fire next to him that he made rush at the Minotaur. It was just as useless as the other spells, slapped away by the Minotaur who grabbed that mage from the ground and threw him with force into another mage, sending both away to collapse on the ground in a mess.
The Minotaur stomped its foot onto the ground, shaking the area and making some of the mages stumble. Without missing a beat, the beast moved to attack again but a giant wall of brass was created.
"Get away from them!" A young girl shouted at the beast, she was the one who had created the wall. She had no grimoire open, still months away from gaining her own grimoire, and used only the basic magic she could at that moment.
"Lady Ariadne?!" A guard exclaimed. "Get out of here!" He was shocked that the daughter of Minos was there somehow, and not already among the people who were supposed to already be evacuated.
The Minotaur turned and looked at the young girl, and made to move towards her, dropping to all four to charge at her.
The girl tried to throw more basic brass at the beast, only to do nothing to it. Right as the beast got close to her, it prepared to kill the girl, when someone new entered the conflict.
At first no one had noticed this person moving through the town center, his movements quick and far less noticeable than those of the Minotaur, that was, until he clashed with it.
The person's sword collided with the beast, across its face, a massive amount of sparks erupting from the impact. His sword still did damage however as the blade scraped across the surface of the beast's ruined left eye. The ruined flesh not able to be as reliable at holding the shield of mana it could make, left it as an opening that the unique sword capitalized on. The attack was enough to not only stop the beast, but make it reel backwards and roar in pain.
Everyone turned and looked at the wielder of the weapon that harmed the Minotaur, and saw the mana-less teen Wilhelm. The sight of the teen put everyone off, from his ruined clothes, the scars with his first battle against the Minotaur, to the obviously fresh wounds that left ugly burns across his skin, topped with his own blood covering a majority of his face and the tears in his clothing. The beaten look of the teen, coupled by the look of rage in his eyes, gave Wilhelm a savage aura.
"I said your fight was with me." Wilhelm raised his sword and got ready to fight the beast once again.
The Minotaur searched for the attacker, and saw Wilhelm, and it filled with an equal rage at seeing the teen who had done more damage than anyone so far has ever done, and it disregarded everything else to focus on him, eager to kill the teen.
A/N: That's the end of part two of three of this arc, which I still haven't named lmao. Things are getting close to the climax of the night.
Hopefully I don't take too long to make part three and the conclusion, given that I know how I want it to all go down, and it is gonna be good.
Before anyone tries to groan about Mariella having a crush or something on Wilhelm, Imma stop you right there, she doesn't. She deadass legit just finds him interesting to fight because unlike everyone else, his fighting style is unique because of no magic. Most basic mages become kinda cliche in how they fight, and Mariella is an assassin, so she has seen this by now even at 15. Wilhelm has no real set way of fighting past how he has no magic, so he has to get up close to fight. It's like finally having a challenge, even if she is basically holding back her magic to participate because the situation is a refresher of sorts. So no crush, only that Wilhelm makes fighting exciting to her.
I actually would've had this chapter out last week, but a day before I would've been done, I looked back and believed I wasn't writing it right, going down a different path that kinda changed the mood of the arc, so I rewrote the entire chapter. If anyone wants to know what the original plan was, you'd have to ask me on Discord.
Speaking of which, as I say at the bottom of every chapter, I have a discord server with the link in my Bio.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know how it was and have a good day!