The ashes drifted away.
"Anyone else fancies making unwanted remarks about Evelyn?" Jered stared at them, his cold smile going hand-in-hand with the green rivulets of mana swirling around him, "Hmm? No one? How odd. You were so talkative a few minutes ago. What happened?"
"..."
Ambrose didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't meet his eyes. They were supposed to be on the same tier, weren't they? Then, why did he feel so inferior?
The cloaked figures were in horrified silence. Quinnie was dead; the Basilisk was the backbone of their plan. With her gone, how were they going to survive against Ambrose—or worse, Jered. No one could have foreseen him unlocking his fourth vein so soon. It was inevitable, yes, but he not so fast.
Harrison was dead. And, all of a sudden, Mayers and Rehan didn't feel safe inside the barrier.
"You can't talk? Or are you refusing to?" Jered continued, his tone losing its humor as he slowly approached them, "I recognize you fellas. The Sems Lunar Cult. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"..."
"I haven't forgotten the humiliation of last time. I got over it, but I would never allow myself to forget it."
"You don't know who you're going against!" the leader of the group ground out, fists trembling, "You're alone, while we're in thousands! You can kill us today, but the Sems Lunar Cult shall live on! And they'll come for your head, Jered. Heed my words!"
"Yeah, blah blah blah. Big words for a little man."
"You...!"
Jered laughed as he 'Shadowport'ed right in front of them. The wisps of smoke faded, allowing the green ribbons of mana to burn brighter. He extended a finger and knocked the barrier with it, "You've used an item for this, huh? No wonder Ambrose was helpless against it," and then he let his whole hand rest on the surface, "Let's see if it can handle a true Royal-Tier spell."
The temperature rose dramatically inside the barrier.
"Wait," Carneval spoke up; he had been silent the whole time, so his sudden intervention piqued Jered's curiosity, "Would you mind sparing me? You can kill the rest."
Rehan and Mayers gawked at the betrayal.
Jered tilted his head to the side, "Spare? That's an unexpected request... and I'm afraid I can't comply with it."
"I've never been loyal to them. I've pledged my life to Rainey!"
Now, that was surprising.
"Rainey..." Jered mouthed out, blinking, "... how do you know her?"
Ambrose flinched at the name, never, in his wildest dream, expecting to hear it again. Not in Ashford Town, and definitely not from two 'members' of his organization—or whatever was left of it. The same was for the Sems Lunar Cult. For all the confidence and pride they had for their own cult, Rainey was someone that was far above them. She had made a name for herself, and for all the wrong reasons.
And while her current whereabouts were unknown, with some people even speculating whether she died or not... 'they' knew better.
Carneval had his hands up yieldingly, "She approached me, telling me how she had a bigger purpose for me. Hah, I didn't understand her at first... then I found out about you. And that, coupled with her power... I knew... I knew from the start that there was no way for us, or for the Sems Lunar Cult, to go toe-to-toe with such a line-up. So I decided to jump over to the winning side. And here I am..."
"..."
"..."
Jered laughed, "So vague. Can't you tell me what your purpose is exactly?"
"Information. Rainey wanted information about Ashy Petals and the ones pulling the strings. And it just so happens that I've got plenty of it. If you kill me, all of that would be lost."
"You..." the cloaked figures were not happy. Their leader whipped around and hurled a fireball at Carneval.
Unfortunately for him, the traitor was not a pushover.
Carneval's hands glowed, and he easily swatted the fireball aside, and followed up with a palm strike.
The leader was flung helplessly to the wall of the barrier, where he stood back up on rickety knees and coughed up blood.
"Oh, that's quite the twist. I'm not really sure what to do with you, though," Jered sighed, took a step forward, and phased through the barrier with a burst of 'Shadowport', "Alright, you'll be coming with me. I'll let Rainey be the one to decide what to do with you."
"H-How can you come in... this... should not be possible..." the leader gritted out, a line of blood trickling down the corners of his mouth, "W-What are you...?"
Jered promptly ignored him and grabbed Carneval before 'Shadowport'ing out.
"Does it really matter, at this point?" a laugh, not mocking in nature, but simply amused, "If you see my aunt down there, tell her I'm out to accomplish big things."
Naturally, the underlying meaning behind his words was lost on the leader.
"..."
Jered waved his hand, and a dome of 'Pharaoh's Flame' covered the barrier, like a scorching blanket knitted with brimstone and hellfire. It burned so brightly that just looking at it made Carneval's eyes uncomfortable. Not a few seconds later, screams went off. The barrier didn't give in, but everyone inside was being cooked directly by the elevated heat. Eventually, the purple surface began to crack, and the tongues of fire seeped through it.
Limbs flailed futilely as Mayers, Rehan, and the Sems Lunar Cult's members were consumed by the raging flames.
The heart-wrenching screams slowly ceased.
And when the flames retreated, nothing was left. No corpses. And no barrier.
Carneval was once more reminded of how unbelievably powerful the young next to him was. Even more so now that he was a Royal Magician. Ambrose had a solemn look on his face, but he wouldn't run away; it was not in his nature. Jered turned around and stared at him, "Now, this is where it gets a bit more complicated. Ashy Petals is dead, but you're alive. A pity, actually. I wanted to peruse the library, but at this point, I highly doubt you'd have anything that would interest me."
"Are you going to kill me?"
Not an ounce of fear made it to Ambrose's face. Though, understandably, there was apprehension.
"That's my problem. I'm not 100% sure if that's what Evelyn wants. And you know women, you have to defer to them when you want to kill their father. Relationship goals."
The older man seemed to have aged in an instant, "Does she hate me?"
Jered took his time to consider that question, "Hard to say. She definitely doesn't think of you as an admirable grandfather figure, but maybe that's due to her... loss."
"I failed her... I know that."
"You're going to become the great grandfather of my child."
"I knew she was pregnant... so it was yours, huh?" Ambrose sighed, not sure whether to be happy or frustrated about it. While he considered himself above common decency and the respected morals of a relationship. Jered was still too young, and his affiliation to Rainey was concerning, to say the least. The only silver lining was that Jered seemed genuinely willing to help her, and protect her—that was pretty obvious from the way he annihilated his ex-executives and the Sems Lunar Cult's members.
"It was an accident," Jered said bluntly, "Gotta take responsibility. That's partly why you're still alive."
"Partly..." Ambrose laughed; it was a drawn-out, tired laugh, "You've only gotten more arrogant, but I guess you do have the power to back it up."
Jered didn't really think of himself as arrogant. What he was stating wasn't an opinion, it was a fact, "I don't have time for this. You'll be my parting gift to Evelyn."
And before Ambrose could properly react, he found himself struck down onto the ground by an incredibly powerful burst of 'Telekinesis'. The concrete underneath him cracked, the plumbing splitting and spewing water everywhere. There was no way he was going down like that without a fight. A golden sheen coated his body, renewing him with more muscle strength and mana output. Ambrose whipped his hands up, and the intricate design of a water dragon flew out towards Jered at high pressure.
Jered narrowed his eyes. 'Green Flames of Greed'. The swelling ripples of emerald fire twisted around the incoming dragon, like tendrils, and crushed it. The water was immediately vaporized, and through the billowing vapor, a hundred of 'Giza's Gaze' came raining down at Ambrose. The compressed, crimson beams of heat impacted against an urgently cast 'Mana Barrier'. It easily shattered, not even slowing them down. Fortunately, it had bought Ambrose enough time to fly out of the crater and prepare a new round of spells.
The golden sheen around him glowed brighter, to the point that he had become a miniature sun himself—though nowhere near as hot as one. A second spell was cast. The same wind spell he used against his rebellious executive. What followed right after was the dragon-shaped jet of water that Ambrose initiated the battle with. Lastly, he erected a 'Mana Barrier' around himself; mostly for protection, but he was not afraid of wounds. His healing was as fast as any other Royal Magician, but he had to avoid an instant kill, or even he couldn't recover from that.
Jered was a bit surprised by the apocalyptic combo of spells coming at him, but didn't panic. He loaded one hand back, his fingers clutching a squirming blob of darkness that slowly took the form of a shadowy spear. Contrary to before, he pumped copious amounts of mana into it. His 'Lanza del Diablo' grew so much it had as big as a two-story building, and half as large too. The wisps of darkness the spear emanated thrummed with power, twisting and tearing the air around it.
"Why do you have to make this more difficult than it needs to be? I was not going to kill; that is Evelyn's job. I was just going to make it a bit easier by incapacitating you!" and this time there was genuine irritation in his voice. After all, he did think that his logic was flawless. Why resist when you're obviously outclassed? Ambrose was making him waste time. And he didn't like that.
"Yes, you're not a good match for my granddaughter... I can't believe she fell for someone like you."
The wind raged harder around them, almost replicating the power of a type 2 hurricane, though it was vastly limited in range. The water dragon sailed at him, boosted by the gusts of wind empowering it from behind. Jered frowned, stirred his mana pool, and cast an immensely powerful 'Giza's Gaze'. The shaft of heat lasered through the dragon, though Ambrose was surprisingly quick to cast another one. Still, it barely made a difference. Jered's 'Giza's Gaze' powered through the continuous bursts of dragons flying at it.
Ambrose was sweating profusely by his fifth 'Aqua Draconis'. He couldn't say it was a top Royal-Tier spell, but what the hell... why was it so weak compared to that Elder-Tier spell? It didn't make sense! His control over his spells was weakening as his mana pool dwindled dangerously. And because of that, an opening was formed. Jered immediately capitalized on that. The moment Ambrose paused to breathe and try to re-cast 'Aqua Draconis' as fast as he could, it was already over.
A wave of darkness encroached at supersonic speed.
His 'Mana Barrier' was like paper in front of it—wet, worn-out paper.
Pain.
It was not unbearable, but it was certainly incapacitating, as Jered had mildly put it. His limbs felt like they shoved in a shredder, along with his insides and his will to fight back. He was mana-drained, after all. At the mercy of an opponent centuries younger than him... who was dating his granddaughter, who also wanted to get rid of him. When the darkness receded, he thumped down on the wrecked, muddy ground.
Blood pooled up around the stumps of his limbs. No arms or legs. Granted, Ambrose could regenerate them if he was spared, otherwise, he was dead meat. Literally.
The winds tapered off, and Jered floated back down, ambling over to him with the gait of a victor. Carneval was slightly behind him, as pale as he was.
"You're not dead."
"..."
"It's not up to me to deliver the final blow," he said, slowly, deliberately.
And then he pulled out his phone, dialed Evelyn's number, and waited until she picked it up, —"Jered, miss me already?"
He smiled at that, though he couldn't say the same about Ambrose.
—"I do, I really do. A couple of nudes right now sound nice," he continued in a teasing tone, unbefitting of the atmosphere around him.
There was a short pause as Evelyn laughed heartily and tutted, —"I'll make sure to send a few every day, but would that be healthy to you? Won't you be under a lot of stress?"
"..." Ambrose could deal with physical damage, or even death, depending on the situation. But listening to the inappropriate talk between Evelyn and her... fiancee... made him long for that darkness once again.
—"Oh, you know I fight harder under stress," he stared at Ambrose, and was reminded of why he had called her in the first place, "I almost forgot... I actually called to say that Ashy Petals doesn't exist anymore. Everyone is dead. And Ambrose is quite close to that inevitable end too. And before you ask who did that. Well, it was me. I know that you wanted to become its leader and lead it to prosperity, but that future looks bleak, honey. Might as well restart anew. Besides, I have a better proposal in mind... one I hope I'll have enough time to discuss with you once I'm back. For now, this is my gift to you."
—"..."
Silence.
Jered continued merrily, —"Come to Ashy Petals' headquarters. Your grandfather is here... looking not quite good. I know you have a beef with him, so I decided to leave his... fate in your hands. Whatever you decide to do, I'll respect it. I may have outdone myself a little bit and destroyed the whole building. Ah, but worry not. I'll compensate."
—"Jered... you..."
—"Don't say anything. I acted without consulting you; you might hate me for that... but I did everything with you in my mind. I wish I could stay for a bit more, but duty calls. I will see you very soon. Take care of yourself and the baby."
He hung up, much to the disconcerted stares of Ambrose and Carneval.
"We gotta go," Jered said, hand on Carneval's shoulder, "You better hope that Rainey still wants you in our team, because I won't be as merciful as I am right now."
A burst of smoke went off, and once it faded, Jered and Carneval had disappeared.
Ambrose let his eyes drift skyward, feeling a weight on his chest. Would Evelyn actually kill him? Maybe.
And perhaps it was for the best.
He had basically lost everything.
There was nothing else worth hanging onto life for. With that thought in mind, his eyes fluttered shut, and he passed out.