An explosion went off, obliterating a large hill and the surrounding outcrop. Once the smoke faded, a flying figure gently landed on the crater, "Casting 'Rain of Death' still takes a toll on me," Jered observed, inwardly annoyed that he couldn't display the spell's full power. He managed to level it up a couple of times during his harsh training, along with a few other Royal-Tier spells, and it was far from enough. But there was no time left.
John, who was sitting on top of another hill—it must have been a family thing that of sitting atop high places—hummed in thought, "It's barely been a week since you unlocked your fourth vein, Jered. Don't be impatient. 'Rain of Death' is the variant of one of Lucy's most destructive spells. It's natural that you can't master it in such a short time, no matter how talented you are. Give it time."
"I knooow..." Jered said with a drawn-out sigh. While he accepted that fact, he still didn't like it, "I don't know what awaits me in Archiland. Rainey made it sound like we're going to do something quite dangerous. I wish I had a more throughout grasp of my Royal-Tier spells."
After he bid his 'Farewell's to his family and Evelyn, John suggested going out of the city and into some secluded place for training. He did promise to take over his training once he became a Royal Magician. 'We don't have nearly enough time to make great strides into mastering all of your spells, so we'll focus on your Royal-Tier ones until you return.' The man had said, before proceeding to instruct and enlighten him in the best usage of his spells.
He even prompted his son that he could use his 'Ethereal Shadow Eyes' to look into his mana flow during the casting of a spell, find any issues with it, and fix them if needed.
That made his casting speed considerably faster, and maximized the power output of some of his spells.
John smiled, "You're plenty powerful as you are right now. Arch Maguses are pretty rare; let alone Lords of Elements. Naturally, depending on what she's planning, you might end up facing them... but you're more than a mere human, son. Abandon your human mentality, embrace the true nature of your blood. What do you have to fear anyway?" his smile widened, "You're my son. You're meant to follow in my footsteps. There's nothing that can stop you; except maybe for a holy spear right through your chest," he laughed, "Whatever obstacle gets in your way, climb over it, barge through it, crush it! Remember, our blood makes us stand above everyone else."
The sun dipped down the skyline. And slowly, his silhouette disappeared.
Jered knew he'd be seeing him again soon. It was his way of conserving energy; he couldn't stay manifested for long.
Besides, it was time for him to regroup with Rainey and Jerry.
However, before that...
"Status Window," he called out.
A sheet of information rolled down in front of him.
// Status Window //
[Name: Jered von Jacobs]
[Age: 17]
[Race: Human/? ]
[Class: Twilight Conjurer | Type: Magician]
[Title: Son of Shadows ]
[Rank: Royal | Unlocked Veins: 4]
[Magic Density: 4]
[Mana Pool: 3000]
[Soul: Mortal | Superior]
[Sin: Avaritia ]
"Library."
—Special—
[Soul Eater]
[Green Flames of Greed]
—Neophyte Tier—
[Mana Orb, Lv.MAX]
[Mana Beam, Lv.MAX]
[Everyday Charms, Lv.MAX]
[Fireball, Lv.MAX]
[Physical Enhancement, Lv.51]
—Adept Tier—
[Vizier's Light, Lv.MAX]
[Fire Wall, Lv.MAX]
[Giza's Gaze, Lv.MAX]
—Elder Tier—
[Mana Sense, Lv.99]
[Float, Lv.MAX]
[Telekinesis, Lv.99]
[Turbine Slash, Lv.89]
[Mana Barrier, Lv.98]
[Mana Control, Lv.20]
[Hell Spawn, Lv.41]
[Kinetic Blast, Lv.18]
—Royal Tier—
[Pharaoh's Flame, Lv.3]
[Shadowport, Lv.5]
[Rain of Death, Lv.3]
[Lanza del Diablo, Lv.3]
[Flight, Lv.9]
[Portal, Lv.MAX]
With a tug at his mana pool, he vanished in a burst of 'Shadowport'.
It was time to see Ashy Petals off.
----
"Something is about to happen," Ambrose sighed as he turned his back to his executives and stared out of the window. The sun had dyed the sky in crimson smudges, making that tingling in his stomach rather prophetic. Normally, he would have been better prepared, but the things he saw those past few days pointed in one direction. At one young man. Rehan, Mayers, and Harrison had their jaws tense as they whispered to each other. Carneval, on the other hand, was as calm and analytical as usual. Ambrose admired that trait about him, but he feared it might not have been enough.
"Since that's the case..." Rehan raised his voice, frustration dancing in his eyes as he clenched his fists, "... we have to start the plan ahead of time."
Mayers and Harrison were silent, but it was obvious that they concurred with him.
"What plan are you speaking of, Rehan," Ambrose had a sharp glint in his eyes.
Rehan smiled; it was an oily, snakey smile. Absolutely disgusting. He drew out a black, wooden flute and blew slightly on the slit. A weird, disturbing melody went off, and following that, an earthquake. It started as a small tremor, almost unnoticeable, then the whole building was shaking. Ambrose was impassive as he watched the walls crack, the ceiling weep dust, and the ground split apart. He was not worried about his life. However, the core members waiting downstairs didn't have that confidence.
"We're sorry about this, Ambrose," Harrison began evenly, "You've done a lot for us; we're thankful for that, but it's time to move on. Ashy Petals needs someone more competent."
"Someone like you?" Ambrose couldn't help the humor.
However, Harrison shook his head, "Not quite. We'll be the ones at the helm, but it'll be someone else showing us the path... the path to the future."
The building, at that point, was falling apart. The windows shattered, and Ambrose decided that conversing would not resolve anything. He shot his palm forward. An incredible wave of energy swept through the office, bringing destruction and dust. Unfortunately, a purple barrier appeared out of nowhere, blocking the attack. Ambrose was almost led to believe that he didn't put enough mana into that spell, but the devastation of the room told him that it was not the case.
Screams rang out from the floors below.
Ambrose gritted his teeth as he lashed spell after spell upon the barrier. The more his mana raged out, the faster the world around him crumbled. Yet, the barrier didn't even crack. The floor gave in and caved, showering the members on the lower floor with chunks of concrete. Ambrose floated quietly, watching a couple of cloaked figures fly over to them. He immediately guessed their affiliation by the way they hovered behind his executives.
"You're betraying me, huh? I was expecting something like that, though seeing it... makes me disappointed."
"Oh, no no," Rehan shook his head, smile still in place, "This is not betrayal; this is just a change of management."
Harrison continued with a nod, "You lack ambition, Ambrose. But don't worry. All we want is your heart, your granddaughter won't be harmed, though we'll keep an eye on her. And, of course, on the baby."
"..."
Ambrose was not intimidated, "I'm afraid you'll have to pull it out of my chest, old friend. And if you think you can rely on those useless pawns behind you, then I overestimated your intelligence."
A bright, golden sheen outlined his body, waves of potent mana rolling off. The wind around him stirred, sweeping up debris, dust, and the corpses of loyal members. His anger materialized flashes of lightning in the raging wind. All of that power ready to strike them down at Ambrose's calling.
"Scary..." Mayers breathed out, genuinely nervous at the display of power. It had been a long time since they saw their leader in action, after all. But there was nothing to fear, they had a reliable back-up.
"No matter how old you get, a Royal's power is truly worth fearing," Rehan said slowly, eyes narrowed into slits, "Unfortunately for you, we are prepared."
As if on cue, the cloaked members floating behind them drew out their own flutes, and began playing them.
This time it was not only the building. The entire world seemed to be crying, quaking, and darkening.
An ominous feeling rooted itself deeply in Ambrose's stomach. Something about that melody was disturbing. And as if to prove him right, the ground around Ashy Petal's building collapsed. A shadow shot up from the wreckage, elongating and wrapping around the infrastructure like a snake. It was jet black, with blinking, crimson eyes covering its scaly body. Ambrose looked up at the monster's head, and was met with a lone, cycloptic eye on its triangular head, a hood flared threateningly around it.
"What the hell is that..." he couldn't help but mutter out loud.
The power the creature was emanating wasn't any less than his.
"That's... one of our leader's many pets," one of the cloaked figures finally spoke up, "We attained it by breeding an adult Basilisk and a Cyclop. Oh, and we call this precious baby... Quinnie."
Quinnie flicked its forked tongue out, splattering venom all over Ambrose.
Luckily, he erected a 'Mana Barrier' just in time, but he might have underestimated the venom's potency.
A sizzling sound went off as smoke billowed out of the barrier. He immediately canceled it and retreated, watching as the drops of venom fell down, eating away at the ground.
"Hahahahaah! SCARED?" the cloaked man yelled with a maddened laugh, "YES! Be scared! You can't stop us!"
However, right at that moment, the world turned dark for a fleeting moment.
"Uh?"
Something had blocked out the last remnants of the sunset. A mass of pure darkness that grew larger with each second.
"..."
And before they could even react, the mass that vaguely resembled a spear, impacted against the building. Specifically, against Quinnie. A shriek rang out, followed by a burst of darkness that swallowed the building. Literally. A black hole hung in the air, stretching the building towards it. A new round of screams went off as everyone inside was torn apart by the extreme gravity. And, naturally, Quinnie wasn't spared either. The Basilisk tried to slither away, but the mana that powered the 'Lanza del Diablo' was greater than Quinnie's mana pool.
She was quickly sucked inside the black hole, her lone eye splayed wide open in fear.
With its objective carried out and completed, the hole closed itself.
Silence returned to the world, along with the last wisps of twilight.
Ashy Petals' headquarters wasn't there anymore. All that was left was the foundation of the building.
"Oh, sorry. Did I come at a bad time?"
A voice, dipped in sarcasm, rang out. It was an extremely familiar voice.
Everyone looked up at the sky, where a youngster floated down, hands in the pockets of his billowing coat. Eyes—greener than Quinnie's venom—stared them down. An oppressing weight surged in their chests. The cloaked figures lost their composure in the face of the newcomer's power, "It's Jered..." one of them said with a shuddering breath, "... the reports said not to have any conflict with him..."
The leader of the group was aware of that. Frankly, he didn't really believe those rumors. But the videos were online for him to see, and he knew that they were not fabricated by the Arcane Underground Combat. And now, he finally saw why everyone was in awe of that young man. The power coming out of him was clearly that of a Royal, and the spell he used? He saw that in a video too, though it was nowhere as powerful as what he just displayed.
Quinnie, a Royal-Tier creature, was instantly killed.
"I heard something about... a baby..." Jered continued evenly, a mantle of green flames licking his body as he made his descent towards them, "... Harrison, was it? Care to repeat what you said exactly... about my woman? About my child?"
"I—"
Harrison's vision turned a hazy green, then came the pain. White-hot pain. He immediately stared at his hands, and then at the rest of his body. He was engulfed in emerald flames. The white of the flames consumed him, turning him into a black, flailing silhouette inside the fire.
In nigh a few seconds, Harrison was no more.