Chapter Fifty-Two: Teacher and Students
Hey there, readers, here's the chapter for Day 2. Oh, and just a quick announcement, I must ask you to forgive me in advance if chapters come out late this week, I've caught a pretty bad cold, and standing up too long makes my head hurt a lot, so just putting that out there, but that's all I have to say, enjoy the chapter. Cya.
"Interesting"
The Witch Queen was currently watching the end of the fight between Kenos and Anna, it was quite intriguing to observe as it was a one-on-one fight, but there was something else she observed.
"That boy from the Black Bulls, Kenos Rossiu, the feeling I'm getting from him is undeniable...he's aligned with a sacred one, strange, I've never heard of a sacred one aligning with a human before, most of them usually aligned with beings of the race that lived long ago, that makes two people with abilities affiliated with that race, and Vanessa knows them both, very interesting,"
Meanwhile, as Kenos and Anna's fight was ending, Fanzell and Domina were still fighting Diamond Soldiers.
"Take this!" the wind mage exclaimed as he continued to cut down his opponents, he then turned to his wife. "How are things on your side, Domina?"
"I'm doing just fine," she replied as she cut spell after spell with her sickle, not letting any attack hit her before her grimoire flipped to a new page. "Vortex Magic: Pursuing Wind!"
At her call, magical wind gathered around and split up, shaping themselves into varying jagged wind projectiles, Domina wasted no time unleashing their sharp wrath on the soldiers in her way, multiple projectiles managed to lodge themselves in their targets, knocking them off balance and sending them on their way to the ground.
"We can't beat the traitors, they're too powerful!" one soldier exclaimed.
"No, it's not impossible, all we need to do is encircle them and attack them at once, and I have just the spell to do it," another soldier said as his grimoire flipped through pages before stopping on one. "Clone Magic: Army of Me!" he exclaimed as many clones of him, upon creation, they moved around quickly, effectively trapping the two fugitives in a circle of soldiers.
"Zell, stay close to me, I have a plan!" Domina called out.
"Alright!" her husband called as he quickly flew over to her, they stood back to back.
"No plan you come up with will save you!" the clone mage exclaimed as he and all of his copies fired large magic bullets.
"You have no idea how wrong that sentence is, Vortex Magic: Whirlwind Guardian!" Domina exclaimed as she conjured the cylindrical whirlwind to protect the two against the magical attacks coming their way, as the whirlwind dissipated, the woman smirked. "See what I mean?"
"Good work, Domina, leave this to me, duck!" Fanzell then said as his wife quickly did so, he gripped his sword tightly with both hands. "Wind Magic: Emperor of Slashing Winds - Mountain Wind!" he exclaimed as he turned his body in a 360-degree angle, all the while, a strong wind was emanating from his sword, his rotation causing it to disperse in every direction, destroying all of the clones in a matter of seconds, as well as taking down the mage himself.
Domina stood back up, giving him a thumbs up. "Awesome, we're working well with each other, just like couples should, although, I wonder how Mariella and Kenos are doing, I hope they're okay,"
"Mariella will be fine, I'm confident in her abilities, the one to be concerned about is Kenos, Brosnan is undoubtedly the strongest mage the Diamond Kingdom sent here, and Kenos is fighting him alone, and what's worse, Brosnan launched him over to somewhere else, so we can't even observe how their fight is progressing," Fanzell told her. "But there's nothing we can do about it, for now, we have to worry about winning ourselves, so we-,"
He interrupted his own words as his mana detection went off and he sensed an attack coming from behind him, he quickly turned around and cut it in half with his sword, he immediately looked around to see where it came from, but it didn't take long for his eyes to fall on Ladros and Mars, but more specifically the former as his hand was protruded in the wind mage's direction.
"Well, damn, it looks like you caught me, so teach, what're you going to do next?" Ladros asked while laughing.
"What am I going to do? I'm going to teach you a lesson, that's what," Fanzell replied before flying towards the two.
"Yay, I get to fight now, I'm going to kill you, traitor, you belong on the ground, like a dead roach, former teacher or not," the blond mage said.
Fanzell grit his teeth. "You're wrong, Ladros, I'm not a traitor, the Diamond Kingdom mercilessly experiments on its citizens, disregarding the fact that they're human beings with desires and hopes of their own, and they like to take things by force from other kingdoms, ignoring the suffering they could cause and the fact that they could obtain the resources they need in a much more diplomatic way. I haven't betrayed anything or anybody, it's the kingdom who betrayed its own sense of morality!"
Ladros' eyes narrowed seriously before they went back to their playful demeanor. "Betrayed its own sense of morality? So? That's perfectly fine by me, I remember reading that back in the old days, the Diamond Kingdom used to act similar to kingdoms like the Clover Kingdom and the Heart Kingdom, damn, things must've been boring as hell for them, I like our kingdom just the way it is, as well as the way we do things,"
"That may be the way you do things, but when I used to teach you, what did I always tell you to use your magic to do?" the wind mage asked, he looked at the mineral mage too. "Do you remember either, Mars?"
Mars looked directly back at him, but once more, he didn't open his mouth. On the other hand, Ladros had no problem answering the older man's question. "I honestly forget what it was, but who cares, it was most likely some bullshit we as kids ate up, it doesn't matter now, things have obviously changed,"
"Is that so, well even if things have changed, I'll make you remember!" Fanzell exclaimed as he started to fly towards him, but stopped as spells flew by him, he looked down as they came from under him and he saw four more soldiers.
"We'll get you this time!" they exclaimed in unison.
"Shit," Fanzell muttered, not wanting to take them on at the moment, and thankfully, a savior came to grant that wish.
"Vortex Magic: Imperial Wrath of Rising Wind!" he heard Domina exclaim, the quartet of soldiers were immediately lifted off of their movement spells and high into the air thanks to a powerful whirlwind, above himself and the two shining generals.
"And that's not it, Vortex Magic: Imperial Wrath of Crashing Wind!" the woman continued as the whirlwind appeared high in the air this time, sending them down as fast as they had come up. "Don't worry about the soldiers, Zell, I won't let them interfere with you, just focus on fighting those two!"
The wind mage couldn't help but smile. "Thanks a lot, Domina, after this is all over, I'm totally taking you out for dinner," he thought before his face grew serious again and he looked at the two mages. He raised up his sword, there would be no distractions, no interferences.
This fight was just between a teacher and his students.
Meanwhile, while everything was going down, Mariella zoomed through the forest, nimbly jumping from branch to branch, all the while observing everything around her for something suspicious.
"It's been some time since I separated from the rest, I hope that Master Fanzell, Domina, and Kenos are doing fine, I haven't been able to see them due to the denseness of these trees," she muttered.
"Uh, where the hell are they?" a voice asked aloud, Mariella quickly came to a stop by a tree, noticing that the sound came from behind the three she was on, she slowly looked back, seeing a tall, muscular man, he had short red hair in a mohawk, and beside him were three other mages.
The ice mage knew exactly who the red-haired man was. "Mohawq, an earth mage, as well as a minor leader in the Diamond Kingdom army, I didn't think he'd be here," she then looked at the trio of mages with him, taking into account what they were wearing. "And by the looks of it, those three with him are Diamond Kingdom scouts, I wonder what they're doing here?"
"I'm so sick of waiting, we were told by Brosnan to move on ahead and get a layout of the forest's interior as well as note the number of possible places an enemy could attack before they meet up with us. Well, two out of three of those things have happened, where could they possibly be, what could be keeping them, maybe they ran into some opposition, but regardless, I'm bored out of my damn mind," Mohawq said.
Mariella turned back and crossed her arms, a few seconds passed before a rare grin graced her features as she took out her grimoire. "If he's so bored, then why don't I come in and makes things exciting,"
A scout walked over to the earth mage. "Sir, if they aren't coming, should we carry out the rest of the mission ourselves?"
"I don't know, our numbers are hardly enough to take on the Witch Queen if she's as powerful as they say she is," Mohawq replied.
The scout was persistent. "But sir-,"
"He's right, trust me, going in alone would be a bad idea," a voice interrupted, they turned to see a mage coming at them, they could tell from the body that it was a woman, but her face was covered by a black hood that came with a black cloak that flowed in the wind.
"Is that a witch?!" one of the scouts asked.
"It doesn't matter, take her down!" another scout exclaimed back as they began to take out their grimoires.
"Too slow," the mage thought. "Ice Creation Magic: Assassin's Blade Storm!" she exclaimed as she fired the multitude of ice daggers, they lodged themselves in the scout's shoulders, cries of pain escaped their mouths as they fell off of the branches, on their way to the ground beneath.
"Damn, she's quick," Mohwaq muttered before taking out his own grimoire. "Earth Magic: Jagged Quills!" he exclaimed as two medium-sized rocks floated beside him, they broke up into smaller pieces that were the same size and shape before shaping themselves into meticulously designed quills, he raised his hand toward the ice mage as the quills raced to her.
"Shit," she silently cursed as she landed on a branch and turned around, letting the quills hit the tree protecting her, her grimoire flipped to a different page before she revealed herself again and jumped towards him. "Not bad, but it's my turn again, Ice Creation Magic: Assassin's Dagger!"
She equipped the weapon as she landed on the same branch as the earth mage, quickly lunging at his throat.
Luckily for him, he was able to dodge it. "You may be faster than the scouts, but you're not faster than me, Earth Magic-," he was going to say.
"Wrong," she cut him off as she quickly turned around, slamming her free hand into his chest, sending him into the upper trunk of the tree. "Ice Binding Magic: Subzero Confinement," she said as ice appeared, encasing his entire body but his head while also binding him to the tree.
"Holy shit, who a-are you?" Mohawq asked with a stutter, already beginning to feel the freezing effect of being trapped in ice.
The ice mage took her hood off, revealing the third fugitive, Mariella, he gasped. "I-I know you, you're Mariella, s-so it's true, you really did leave the Diamond Kingdom, y-you're going to regret doing so, t-traitor,"
"A traitor, aye? Well, I do suppose that's what I am, but I don't mind being a traitor. Life in the Diamond Kingdom is shit when you're an assassin, I killed others because I was scared of what the kingdom would do to me if I didn't, I did it because of my fear of death, while also knowing that every one of my targets had the same fear that I did, but I ignored it. Leaving the kingdom has set me free, so now I'm going to atone for the lives I stole, by helping others keep theirs,"
"W-What bullshit, once I free myself, y-you're so dead," the earth mage threatened.
"Yeah, that isn't happening," Mariella simply said as she walked over to him and chopped his neck at a specific spot, knocking him out cold. "There we go, now you can just die of hypothermia, either that or-," she was in the middle of saying, but was interrupted as she heard the rustling of leaves.
"Is someone else here?" she wondered quietly as she hopped from branch to branch to see who it was, but as she located its origin, her eyes widened a bit.
The ice mage saw witches, and they were hiding behind the trees. "Um, I can see you hiding there, were you hiding from the Diamond Kingdom scouts? You don't need to worry about them anymore, I took care of them," she called out at a moderate volume.
"It's a woman, we can come out now," one of the witches said, joy creeping into her voice, the other witches came out too, Mariella noted that a decent number of them were present. "Thank you so much, miss, we were trying to fight, but those men zoomed through the trees and we decided not to engage, I must admit, they were quite fast, for men that is,"
"Regardless of their speed, I'm still quicker, assassins are trained to be faster than scouts due to the danger of our missions. But going onto to what she said, her sentence was very gender-biased, it's just like Domina said, this is a misandrist place with misandrist people, they showed disdain to Asta because he was a man, but they trust me because I'm a woman...I could actually use this," the ice mage thought. "Y'know, there are more of those people throughout the forest, but I have an idea to get rid of them, you in?"
"You're just a quick one, aren't you?!" Ladros exclaimed as he kept firing Magic bullets at Fanzell, but his former teacher either dodged them skillfully, or cut them in half with his sword. "I was never able to land many hits on you during our lessons way back when,"
"It's just like I said, Ladros, I taught you everything you know, nothing you did there surprised me, don't tell me all these years passed by and you haven't learned anything?" Fanzell said back with a taunt.
"That's where you're wrong, teach, I've picked up quite a few skills since then," he responded.
"Alright then, let's see what those skills are," the wind mage said as he quickly flew over to his former student, his grimoire flipped to a page. "Wind Binding Magic: Emperor of Slashing Winds - Whirlwind!"
At his call, he pointed his sword at the shining general, not even a second passed before four whirlwinds were conjured, each spinning around one of Ladros' limbs, effectively stopping him from any real kind of movement as well as keeping him suspended in the air.
"Alright, now's my chance, I'll make the most of it!" Fanzell exclaimed as he quickly flew towards the bound mage, ready to strike him down, but before he did so, his mana sense went off again, whatever attack was coming, this time, it was coming from below him, he quickly dodged whatever was coming his way. Now seeing the time to observe what was coming at him, his eyes widened as he saw that it was a big sword made of mineral.
"That spell may be new, but I still know where it came from, isn't that right, Mars?" he looked downwards, smiling a bit when he realized he was right, but tensed up almost immediately after remembering that if not for his mana sense, the sword would've cut him in half.
"Mineral Creation Magic: Laevateinn," Mars thought as he flew over to Ladros, the sudden movement on Fanzell's part had caused the whirlwind he placed to disperse. "You okay, Ladros?"
"Yup, I'm just fine, y'know, it sort of sounds strange that you would seem worried,"
"Brosnan hasn't returned from her battle, meaning that until she does, we're the ones who have to complete this mission, and it'd be better of us to have each other's backs," Mars simply replied.
"Have each other's backs, aye? I guess I appreciate it, but don't expect me to be watching yours, I'll be a little too busy taking out the traitor," the blond general said as he began to shoot a volley of bullets towards Fanzell.
"Damn, that's a lot, Wind Magic: Emperor of Slashing Winds - Blustering Force!" the wind mage exclaimed as he raised his sword into the air, wind then began to blow powerfully around before condensing to form a barrier of rotating wind, and the barrier did its job well as it repelled all of the bullets.
"Well shit, didn't know he could do that," Ladros stated. "Hey Mars-," he was about to say, but the mineral mage had already zoomed downwards. "Never mind, you're already on it,"
Mars raised his hand up, signaling Laevateinn to do the same, but he brought his hand down not long after doing so.
Fanzell quickly dissipated his protection spell before flying around the humongous sword to evade it, but then he flew to be just a few inches above Mars as he blasted him down with basic wind from his hand, sending the mineral mage down. But then, he started flying towards Ladros.
"Come at me, give it everything you got!" Ladros exclaimed as he noticed his former teacher flying straight at him.
"Okay then, remember that you asked for it!" Fanzell exclaimed as he jumped off of his sword, his grimoire flipping to a page. "Wind Magic: Emperor of Slashing Winds - Gale!"
His declaration was triumphant as he struck Ladros with a thrust of his sword, at the same time, he was being shot with rapid bullets of wind.
"AHHHH!" Ladros screamed. "Damn, wasn't expecting it to hurt this bad!"
"You asked for everything I had, so now I'm giving it!" Fanzell exclaimed back.
"Please, no more, no more, I can't take it!" the blond general screamed once more, but then, he suddenly stopped.
"Huh?" the wind mage thought, his attack was still going on, why wasn't Ladros making any more noise? The posture which the red-haired man had taken to attack had him looking at Ladros' chest, so he looked up, but once he did, his face contorted to one of horror.
On the general's face was an evil, sadistic look that could only really come from a person who's gone totally insane, but then he opened his mouth. "I'm full,"
"You're...full?" Fanzell was beyond confused as he ended his attack and boosted himself back onto his sword as he looked at Ladros.
"Hey teach, do you remember what made me different, from all the students you used to teach that is?" Ladros asked, his tone having a familiar seriousness to it.
Fanzell's eyes narrowed, he knew what his former student was talking about. "Yes, I could never forget...you don't have an attribute. Wind, vortex, flame, water, spatial, every mage who's born is born with an attribute in which their magic is affiliated with, but you weren't born with that,"
"That's right, and I remember all the older kids and adults who would ridicule me because of it, thinking that I was the product of a failed experiment, but there was someone who didn't care about that, and it was you. You treated me just like you did with all your other students, you even told me that despite what was wrong with me, I had the potential for greatness, life with you in it became so much happier, I adored you, but then…," Ladros began.
Fanzell raised a brow. "But then?"
"But then you left!" the general exclaimed angrily for the first time that day. "The ridicule returned, the confidence that I had built up slowly began to crumble since you weren't here to encourage me. You said earlier that you haven't betrayed anyone or anybody, but you're wrong, because you betrayed me, everything went back to how it used to be, back to nobody caring, back to everyone mocking, so I decided to change!"
The wind mage looked down with some guilt in his eyes. "Ladros, I…," he began thinking, but didn't know what to possibly say.
"I screwed over bonds, and the happiness one feels because of someone else, I dedicated myself to the Diamond Kingdom and rose up the ranks, doing whatever was necessary. I gave my adoration to others, but unlike how it was with you, the objects of my adoration merely acted as a checkpoint of power I wished to surpass, with a little respect laced into it as well since they earned their place. And of course, that leaves friends, I left that in the dust, people were free to say what they wished, think what they wished...and do what they wished, as you showed me, it's never guaranteed they'll stick around, especially during the time you need them the most, but you know something?" Ladros went on another rant before asking.
"Um, no, what?" Fanzell asked.
"That I ended up liking it!" the general exclaimed, the playful tone returning once again. "All that friendship and bonds and morals crap are so constricting, not having to worry about anything or anyone just makes me feel so free, all I have to worry about is me, which then led to this thing right here," he pointed a thumb at a crystal embedded in his chest. "A little while back, Morris implanted this crystal into me during one of his genius experiments, which gives me a neat little ability called absorption and emission,"
"So, is that why you didn't seem to be affected by my spell after some time, but seeing that you stated you were full, there is a limit of magic that you can absorb," the wind mage deduced.
"True, but I've got tons of magic stored in here, and even though the ability is called absorption and emission, it didn't really roll off the tongue, so I gave it a new name: basic magic,"
Fanzell narrowed his eyes. "Basic Magic," he thought, but then he pushed it aside as there was something he had to handle first. "Look Ladros, I'm sorry that you feel like I abandoned you, you know I would never intentionally try to hurt one of my students, but I had to leave, I just couldn't fight for this kingdom anymore,"
"Hey, you don't need to apologize, there are times when I think that if you stayed, so much stuff would've changed, but as I said, I don't mind, I like how I am now, and while the past me resented you for it, the present me couldn't thank you enough," Ladros finished.
"I'm sorry, Ladros, I didn't know how much my leaving did to you, it seems I have more to atone for," Fanzell thought, but was dragged out as Ladros began speaking again.
"But now storytime is over, we have a fight to return to, I have to release all this magic you so gratefully gave me," he said. "Of all the attacks I can use with basic magic, there's one that's undoubtedly my favorite. I hope you don't have anyone in that forest that you're close to, teach, because I'm about to make them all disappear!"
Fanzell widened his eyes. "No, Mariella is in there, as well as the other witches!" he thought as he began flying over there, ignoring the maniacal laughter coming from Ladros.
"I hope you don't mind that I named this after one of your spells, Brosnan," he thought as he grinned. "Basic Magic: Million Lasers!"
Just like with the golden eye mage's spell, a translucent white orb encased Ladros' whole body as lasers came out from it indiscriminately, traveling in every direction.
"What the?" Domina wondered aloud as she was fighting soldiers, she then heard Ladros' loud exclamation, and was soon met with a large cloud of dust. "Shit, what did Ladros cast?" she thought as the dust eventually did settle, but once she was able to see, her eyes widened.
A whole part of the forest had been virtually cleared, the luscious green that she had grown accustomed to was now gone, but then she noticed something else, it was a good distance away, but in the now barren section, the bright color of red hair was easily visible, and she knew who that hair belonged to.
"No, Zell!" she exclaimed as she flew down as fast as she could, once she landed about six yards away from where she was planning to land, she saw Fanzell, he was laying down on the ground, both his emperor sword and his hovering sword was gone, but thankfully, his hand twitched, showing that he was still alive.
"Don't worry, I'm coming!" the vortex mage exclaimed as she started to run to him, but she stopped and gasped when she saw Ladros and Mars land next to him.
"So, it seems you survived, and it looks like you suffered minimal damage too," Ladros said before scanning in front of him. "But I'm not seeing any dead bodies, so I guess there was nobody here, what a bummer," he then looked back at the spiky-haired general. "See Mars, I nearly took him down,"
"Hey!" a voice exclaimed, the two generals turned to see Domina a good distance away.
Ladros chuckled. "Ah, there's one, but she's on her feet,"
"Get away from him, Vortex Magic: Imperial Wrath of Tornado!" she exclaimed as she sent a large tornado towards them, ready to shoot them away and give her a chance to take her husband and hide.
"Don't worry, I've got this, I'm a bit hungry anyway," Ladros said as he jumped in front of the tornado, but to Domina's surprise, the basic mage completely absorbed it. "There we go,"
"No way, what did he do?" Domina wondered to herself, but she brushed the worry away, she had no time for that, she had to get to Fanzell. "There's something else I can do, Vortex Magic-,"
Her chant was interrupted as Ladros suddenly appeared in front of her, he grabbed her collar and lifted her into the air. "No more casting for you,"
"S-So fast," the vortex mage stuttered.
"You can thank my magic for that, Basic Magic: Quick Flash, just a common speed-boosting spell in which I emit the magic I absorb behind me to move faster," Ladros explained, but then he looked at the woman again before grinning. "Oh, Dominante, the teach's lovely wife and fellow traitor, I almost didn't recognize you from so far away, I thought you were still fighting the soldiers," he walked back to the other two. "Since we have this time to chat, I want to know, how's home life going, you keeping the teach healthy, have you made any kids yet?"
"I'm not telling you anything, so you can just shut up!" Domina exclaimed.
"Oh, feisty, but what's wrong with chatting, just trying to be friendly...before I kill you that is," the basic mage said as he tone shifted from playful to threatening.
"You're not going to succeed then, I won't die here!" Domina exclaimed defiantly. "I'm going to live, for the sake of my future, but more importantly than that, for my desire to protect Fanzell!"
While Ladros didn't seem overly moved by her declaration, the same couldn't be said for Mars, the mineral mage, who so far hasn't said much, remembered something from his past, from a happier time.
[Flashback]
Years Ago. The Diamond Kingdom.
"Nice try, Mars, try adding more power to your step," a younger Fanzell said.
Within the outdoor area of a training facility in the Diamond Kingdom, the wind mage, back when he was still a commander, was in the middle of one of his lessons with his students. At the moment, he was training with a young Mars and Ladros, with Mars and Fanzell fighting with wooden swords while Ladros was using his magic to add Mars from a distance.
"Yes sir!" Mars replied enthusiastically as he did so, forcing Fanzell to a minor defensive stance, he spoke up again. "Ladros, now!"
"I'm on it!" Ladros responded as he fired small magic bullets at his teacher. Mars quickly ducked to make sure they wouldn't hit him.
Fanzell easily cut the attacks in half. "Nice teamwork and communication, but sometimes during missions, communication can be compromising, so eventually, learn how to act together without talking to one another,"
"Yes sir!" they replied in unison.
Fanzell smiled. "Good, now come at me again," he said as he once more engaged Mars in sword combat.
Ladros watched carefully as the two clashed multiple times, he then saw Mars strike before moving to the side, ready to attack another way, but the future basic mage used that chance to fire two bullets.
A proud smile came to Fanzell's face. "Good Ladros, using an unintentional opening, now it's your turn to impress me, Mars,"
"Okay, I'll do my best," he said back before running at his teacher.
"Time to see," the wind mage muttered as he put his hand up and blasted a small level of wind, but it wasn't aimed at the future mineral mage, but rather, his partner, unfortunately, Mars noticed that it wasn't coming at him, and therefore ignored as his partner softly fell to the ground.
"Alright, that's enough," Fanzell said with a clap, Mars put his sword down as the older man walked over to him.
"Did I do something wrong?" the child asked innocently.
"Not exactly, your movements were impressive, but there was a mistake you made, when I shot my wind at Ladros, you ignored it instead of trying to stop it and keep your partner safe," he explained. "And what did I always tell you to do with your magic?"
"We are to use our magic to protect the people of this kingdom!" the students all replied together.
Fanzell gave a smile that would even make the proudest father jealous. "Good, make sure to remember that, and I assure you that you all will be great mages someday,"
[End Flashback]
"Protect Fanzell? No offense, but how is that working for you?" Ladros asked sarcastically. "I don't know whether I should kill you first, or my old teach,"
"W-Wait, Ladros," a voice weakly stated, they all looked down to see Fanzell, his arm struggling to stay up. "Don't kill her, your quarrel is with me, I'm the one you have a grudge against,"
"Sorry there teach, but you know that I can't do that, she's a traitor too," Ladros said. "So, I've decided, she'll die first, and you'll get to watch!" he then threw her into the air.
"Domina!" the wind mage screamed, with how close they were, he knew she didn't have enough time to counter it with a spell.
Ladros fired a large magic bullet, ready to take the woman's life, she braced herself, but the time never came, she slowly opened her eyes as they widened, with Fanzell's doing the same.
"Protect others,"
Domina's savior came in the form of the mineral mage, Mars, those two words left his mouth as he used Laevateinn to cut the bullet in half, as well as carrying Domina in his arms.
"Master Fanzell, what you always told us to use our magic for when we were your students, it was...to protect others," he said.
Fanzell was beyond grateful. "...Thank you, Mars...thank you for remembering,"
Ladros on the other hand was not so pleased. "So, we got another traitor, and to top it off, Brosnan still isn't back, must I be the only one to get shit done around here, well, no matter, I'll take care of you too," the basic mage said as he fired magic bullets, but Mars blocked it with his sword.
"Sorry, Ladros, but I won't let you," Mars said, but just then, in the extremely far distance, everyone saw a pillar of flame erupt into the sky.
"What the?" Fanzell wondered to himself. "That place looks pretty far away, it must be where Asta and his friends are fighting the Eye of the Midnight Sun, that pillar must've come from a strong source because I'm feeling a huge surge of magic," his eyes then widened as he remembered something important.
"So, is that why you didn't seem to be affected by my spell after some time, but seeing that you stated you were full, there is a limit of magic that you can absorb," he recalled himself saying after learning of Ladros' ability.
The wind mage gathered his strength and stood up. "Wind Creation Magic: Emperor of Slashing Winds - Hovering Swords!" he exclaimed as he hopped on one. "Mars, I'm going to need you to follow me, I have a plan,"
"Alright," he replied as he put Domina down and hopped onto another sword.
"You're kidding yourselves if you think I'm just going to let two traitors get away," Ladros said.
"That's what we're counting on," the wind mage thought, but then, he saw something in the sky. "Shit,"
Coming right at them was what remained of the diamond soldiers, which was still a decent number, and based on the dirty look on some of them, their numbers also comprised of soldiers who had been sent to the ground.
"We will not fail our mission!" they exclaimed.
"Damn it, I left my fight with them to come to Zell," Domina said as she got ready to battle, but a familiar voice caught her attention.
"There they are, attack!"
The vortex mage turned around before a grin appeared on her face. Not too far away, she saw the ice mage, and behind her was what looked like an army of witches, all flying on their broomsticks.
"You're going to pay for destroying our forest!" they exclaimed as they took out their wand and fired at the soldiers.
"Mariella!" Domina exclaimed before waving, the former assassin heard her and waved back, the vortex mage then turned to her husband. "Zell, you and Mars continue your plan, I'll stay to help the witches. And Mars, thank you for saving me,"
"You're welcome," Mars simply responded with a respectful nod.
"But Domina, the witches, and you," Fanzell said with worry.
His wife knew what he was concerned about. "Don't worry, with what's going on, I don't think they'll be paying attention to an outcasted witch, now go,"
"Alright then," he said as the two flew towards the pillar of flame.
"Still not letting you escape!" Ladros bellowed as he summoned his mode of transportation and pursued the two traitors.
Fanzell turned around and Ladros on their tail. "Let's just hope this works," he thought.
The rest of the way to their destination was silent, but the stakes couldn't be higher.