It was a very scary show.
It was scary enough that Eric had surpassed me significantly in power but it was scary that even with that level of power, we were still struggling against people that called themselves Magician and Sorcerer level Irregulars.
Instinctively, I knew that if those two were struggling, we were only liabilities to them but I couldn't be seen depending on them just to survive but Eric had an exchange with one of them which ended in him being pushed back. He fell to the ground, his eyes closed while Casper warped space around us, shielding us from the attacks that were too follow.
The moment Eric opened his eyes, I ceased to sense any power from him but I it felt somehow similar to when I fought Casper. The white part of his eyes turned blood red while his pupils, which were a brilliant shade of blue, turned white.
It seemed they also noticed he had stepped into another level of power because they shifted back. Casper smiled and turned his eyes green (same as Eric's) as they sped past. They knocked out the entire army in an instant but the Trickster they called their commander didn't go down.
Eric looked at him and said "Not our usual Trickster now, are you?" "Nice guess" came the response just as Eric fired a blast at him. Just as it had been fired, a ball of water appeared out of nowhere and quenched the fire like it never even existed in the first place.
I couldn't tell if Eric had noticed something when he looked towards Casper because after a small exchange between them, he released a wave of flames towards him but, out of the blue, a tidal wave appeared with equal power to the flames, quenching it as the flames billowed forth. It was a pure contest of strength as both were not letting up on the power they released until all of a sudden, the wave of water receded completely as Eric's flames washed over him but just in time, Eric fell, leaving it up to Casper who said to him "I have a few questions for you." to which he smirked. "Who are you?" the first question went.
"Not someone you wouldn't regret messing with." came the reply but a calm Casper warped space around his right thumb ever so slowly, I could almost feel the pain as his finger snapped. "Who are you?" he asked again to which the guy answered, amidst pain "I'm Ten, the tenth Opposer. The Master sent me to finish a job which some comrades of mine couldn't do, which is to kill him." as he pointed to Eric.
"Who's your master?" the second question was asked to which he answered "The only thing I really know about the master is that he refers to himself as the 'True Opposer'. He's an Irregular that surpasses what your imagination can think of. He once took on a hundred Grimoire-level Irregulars and still came out unscathed." "I never said I wanted to hear your master's feats. I just want his name!" Casper said, clearly getting impatient. "As far as I know, he goes by the name of Cassidy."
At that, Casper was obviously shocked and he switched to another language which, if I remembered correctly, was the same language Eric used when he fought Luke. The only thing I really got from their conversation was the occasional mention of the name 'Cassidy'.
I felt strange but was relieved when Casper looked him straight in the eye after the entire conversation and said "Speaking with you was really entertaining but I'm afraid you have to disappear here" as he released the spell that caused him to vanish, appearing as dust on the ground. He smiled and said to us "Let's go." as we continued on our mission.
The mission was a relatively simple one. One of us was to infiltrate the Crickets in order to gain information while the rest of us keeps an eye on him for the time he would be with them. Though Casper seemed to be the same, I couldn't shake the strange feeling I had since he spoke with the Opposer and killed him. We got to their hideout with me disguised as the Opposer and Casper telling the others to keep watch from a distance.
Some days into our infiltration, I noticed that the Crickets, known for their nefarious activities, have not made any moves since I came in with Casper, and I haven't seen Casper since we parted when we came in until he came to me with a piece of paper which he put in my hands saying "Go give this to Eric. He'd know what it is."
I took the message straight to where the rest of our team was, running all the way while making sure I wasn't seen. The whole place, which seemed to be swarming with Cricket operatives, seemed eerily silent as I walked. I met up with Talia who was keeping watch while the others rested and gave her the message. I also asked her about any unusual activity to which she reported that since they took up position there, there had been no movements and strangely, they gradually moved away from that area like they had noticed them and were avoiding a collision. This felt strange to me but I decided to keep it to myself as I told them to keep watching and returned to Casper's position. Two days later, he suddenly said that we were going to return to school. I thought to inform Eric's company that we were to leave but he said to me "Don't worry. We'll meet with them at the academy."
It was chaos when we got back to the academy. Burning buildings, students sprawled on the ground as though dead, the ones able fighting against something I couldn't see, all leading to one place. All of a sudden, I turned and attacked....... Eric.