Reitz ignored the pain that was clawing at him he was biting down hard gritting his teeth. It hurt like hell but at least for now the wound did not bleed. In the split second that he decapitated Allister. The four mages surrounded him without the guard suppressing them. They were quicker than Allister. The mages were noble rank around of that of a baron. Two of the mages had a rock gauntlet wrapped around their arms the other two bent over touching the ground. They made a depression on the ground whilst the two mages that had rock gauntlets jumped on the two that were crouched. After which the depression flew like a catapult flinging the two rock gauntlet wielding mages toward Reitz.
The two masked mages, flying toward Reitz, aimed for the head while the other aimed for the legs attempting to smash Reitz. Reitz then somersaulted in the gap between as they flew past him he materialized two blades out of his body one aiming at the upper mage and the other at the person flying lower. They flew past as their insides were impaled with the fire lance. The mage on top seemed to have weaker magic armour. His body was pierced instantly turning him into dust. The one under him was pushed down by the momentum of the flame lance's thrust. Reitz landed and stomped on the ground as he crushed the head of the mage beneath him turning it into fine ashes.
He looked at the two remaining mages.
"Forty mages? Just forty of you? Are you insulting me?" Reitz shouted angrily. Reitz was indignant at the gesture.
"Forty Baron level mages? You better let your employer kill me instead. You small-fry don't' have the ability. You little sh*ts. Do you think I am some low ranked lord? "
Reitz dashed toward the position of the two as they quickly retreated.
"You are not going anywhere you little sh*ts." He moved toward the both of them and then started to chant.
[Oh most wondrous, Fire of heaven the sun, thy light shines upon both valorous and evil. By day thee art the scorn of toil, the scourge of darkness. May thy frown beest upon those who doth me harm and the fire ablaze pour forth toward mine enemies. Fire Implosion!]
The two masked mages were in shock. They could not believe it. They had thought that Reitz 's injury would severely impede his skills. The mage they saw before them could actually shift cast while suffering a serious injury. Shift casting was an advanced magic cast method where one could move about while chanting. This relied heavily on one's ability to focus and multitask. Reitz already did chantless magic on his fire armour which should have consumed most of his willpower, as well as an ongoing decline of mana plus on top that he had already had a grievous injury shift casting under these circumstances, should have been utterly impossible to do for nobles.
For an instant, the fire armour that Reitz sported disappeared. The masked mages were ten yards away from him. They saw this moment of weakness and prepared to counter-attack but they felt something strange. There was an abnormal heated area 10 inches behind them. They were taken aback. No mage should be able to manipulate magic this close to them, the magic concentration of the other party in the vicinity should be much less than their own. Reitz was 10 yards away so therefore the area immediately around them should only be manipulated by them. But they had no time to ponder this. One of the mages tried to defend but failed to do so in time.
BOOM!
There was a loud explosion. Both of the mages were blown to fine fragments. The head of one mage skyrocketed and disappeared out of sight. The bodies of the mages had exploded into fragmented chunks of flesh.
Reitz had to release his fire armour for a brief moment because he had cast his magic. Unknown to both of the masked mages Reitz was actually already targeted the spaces that they would be on, predicting their movements. He just aimed the magic at that point. From their perspective, it was as if he manipulated it instantaneously.
A hush suddenly overcame the battlefield. And then an audible wisp of sound.
"Ashbringer."
Then ever so slight whisper started to brew.
"Ashbringer"
The sound started to be heard by every ear.
"Ashbringer"
The volume started to increase into a chant
"ASHBRINGER!" The chant became a roar.
The name was in every mouth of every soldier on the battlefield.
It was their war cry it gave them hope and courage to face the mages that had toyed with them
As this happened, the mages that flanked the army retreated to regroup. The four that blocked the path also followed suit. They tried to regroup and resist the assault of Reitz. They were waiting for their comrades to reinforce their ranks but they were still at the mountain one hundred and fifty yards away. The two that had flanked the army quickly rushed to the position of the four mages behind the earthen barrier.
But Reitz was fast. He followed the two. His fire armour again flickered away but from his outstretched hand, a spear had formed 20 yards of length which pierced the mage behind. The other one tried to bolt faster. Reitz armour again flickered out. The archers that had aimed for the bandits behind the earth wall switched targets and aimed at the fleeing mage.
A shot pierced through the leg of the mage farthest away from Reitz which slowed the advance of the pursued mage. Reitz charged forward overtaking and impaling him with a flame sabre leaving the corpse in cinders.
The four bandits fled from the earth wall with their lives. They were running out of mana. They could not stand the onslaught of the frenzied Reitz. As they fled they chanted spells to impede Reitz's advance. No matter what they tried, Reitz was catching up to them.
Then a boulder suddenly launched toward Reitz's back. It came from behind but he noticed in time and jumped on top of it. He used the inertia to further propel him toward the direction of the fleeing mages. He caught up easily and impaled two of them at the same time from behind. The other two cast stone bullets at him and hit his torso. But the shock was absorbed by his flame armour disintegrating the stone bullets.
"You little sh*ts are just annoying flies in my path. Begone."
The two mages steeled themselves for the impact of Reitz's magic. But as Reitz was about to form his spear. A hail of fist-sized stones shot at him. Reitz dodged but as he dodged there was an oncoming boulder one yard in width. He quickly ducked but the ground beneath him opened beneath him simultaneously. As it was opening he grabbed on to the ground and launched himself upward fleeing the barrage of attacks. The bandit's reinforcement had arrived.