Chereads / Tale of the Forsaken Mage / Chapter 27 - Onslaught

Chapter 27 - Onslaught

Pov of Aaref Fayeworth:

With the departure of the other mages, the battlefield began to clear up. All that mattered now was aiding the Kingsmen of the Star and protecting everybody behind us. My eyes swept back and forth the arena for a final assessment. Shit, I thought. Around the golem laid bodies and debris. The rear sides of the arena were almost empty as people accumulated toward the front of their rows.

My primary vision shifted into my peripheral sight. I couldn't see anything, but behind the thick walls of the rear side arena lurked the presence of numerous men. I could sense them; their malicious intentions crowded the arena.

Thump!

A blast of wind rushed forward over us. Nearly knocking me to the ground with a few others, it swept through the arena. Debris from the broken tiles and structures followed in its trail. I threw my arms up. The blast had passed.

Around me, dozens of the remaining mages stumbled to pick themselves up. The golem was now in vicinity to where its shockwaves could reach us. Its movement slugged at the resistance of the Kingsman of the Star.

"Quick! Eliminate the threat before it can get any closer," their Captain yelled out.

"Lucian!" I called out to him. "You guys take care of the Golem and we'll aid you while the rest of us make sure the people evacuate safely!"

"Right!" he nodded.

"To the rest of you," I looked back and shouted to the mages, "divide yourselves into those fearless enough to fight and those courageous enough to aid the evacuation!"

I ran ahead of everybody else until I was the closest person to the golem. Tracking my approach, its head followed. It raised its arm at me with the intention of grounding me into a pulp. Still running, I stared at the hammering fist falling upon me. I accelerated past it and a large crater formed in its impact as another powerful shockwave erupted.

Now, leaping past the golem's chest, I cocked my fist back. No spell casted, I accumulated a pool of my mana into my fist. I wasn't able to reach its head, but I was just underneath its chin. This blow—if executed right—would knock its head off and end the attack.

A spur of magic rushed out from behind me. My eyes darted to see the culprits of the attack as it brushed past me. The masked presence had revealed itself and surrounded me. Two groups of cloaked individuals emerged from behind each side of the arena walls. Perfect, I thought. You fell for my bait!

As more attacks of fire and wind darted toward me, I dodged them in a quick accelerated burst upward.

"What? Where'd he go?" one of them asked.

I dashed behind him before he could notice. The mana in my fist flowed back into my arm, and I used that same hand to poke him in his back. He turned around too slow to do anything. His face grimaced with fear, but it was too late. I blasted him back to the ground with a hole through his chest.

However, I was now surrounded by a threat on either side of me. A sly smirk crossed my face as I noticed the fear in their faces. The one to my left was nearly shaking out of her clothes, and the man to my right was moving in slow motion as if his mind couldn't process what had just happened.

With a quick lateral acceleration to my right, I appeared behind the man. A shift in the wind pressure followed. I could feel the wind moving freely against my skin. It laid softly over my hand as I poked the frightened man to his demise as well. The attack, also leaving a hole in his torso, knocked him back to the ground.

I turned my head slightly back at the girl. She had barely moved in that timespan. Her face was drained even more of the life it had possessed. Inching forward, I sensed a disturbance behind me. A large sum of mana was accumulating.

"Combination Mag—" I heard.

The growing fireball shrunk and dissipated within the wind as a trident of light struck one of the two spellcasters. His arms dropped and his body followed leaving a view of Lucian prepping a second attack. He launched another trident through the remaining spellcaster before giving me a smirk and nodding. I smiled back.

Although the other enemies were bothersome, the golem posed the largest threat. It'd be important to neutralize it before it could spread more damage or weaken our forces, I thought.

The closest threat to me was now the golem. A few of the cloaked mages also surrounded me, but the rest of them were battling it out with the mages on the ground. It'd be impossible to focus on the golem completely without ignoring the other mages.

"Lucian!" I yelled out. "Have half of your men defend and stall the golem while the rest of you get rid of the enemies on the ground. I'll take care of the rest of them up here and then regroup with you to stop the golem."

"Gotcha," he yelled back.

I glanced back down to see at least a couple of the mages fighting alongside the Kingsmen of the Star. Among the few, I noticed Laquinn Evergreen and her gymnastic maneuvers advancing through a group of cloaked men. She had broken a sweat, but it looked as if she was handling them with ease. However, her senses must have dulled as one of them blindsided her and knocked her away with a huge fiery blast.

Izain rushed over and came to her rescue as she lay vulnerably on the floor. He stretched one of his arms outward and repelled another fireball. No ice had manifested from his attack but I could sense his mana being used and felt a slight chill in that direction.

Remarkable, I thought. I smiled at the talented mages and the thought of their potential moving forward. Shit, I thought as I noticed the nearby enemies were attacking.

"Wind Magic: Gale Thrust!"

"Fire Magic: Flaming Arrowheads!"

A few other spells were cast and I soon found myself facing attacks hurling at me with great speed. I stuck my hand out quickly before the attacks could reach me.

"Velocity Magic Negative: Reverse Flow!" I cast my spell.

The attacks slowed drastically before reversing back at the mages who cast them. Some of them were blasted to oblivion, and others fell from the sky as the rest of them remained where they were.

One of their hoods flew off during the attack, and I could recognize the distinct look of his pointy ears. An elf, I thought. Those damn bastards. Is this an act of vengeance? Prejudice? Would they really risk the years of peace between us to reopen old wounds?

***

POV of Laquinn Evergreen:

"Thank you," I told Izain as he lifted me up from the ground. He left quickly and joined the frontlines with the king's mages. I looked around to perceive the threat of other enemies, but none were nearby. They either laid dead or unconscious with the exception of a few who would later join them at the hands of other mages.

One of the last groups of them had surrounded a mage to the left of me. I moved my feet to help, but an overwhelming presence struck me from that direction. It filled the atmosphere and caused other mages to turn their heads as a large explosion burst from within the center of the group. The explosion devoured any and everything in its way leaving nothing but debris, ashes, and smoke. From the smoke, a silhouette of one mage stood. Its eyes glinted with devilish flames.

The mage walked out from behind the smoke. He was tall with a slender shape. His dark hair had white tips which were stained red by the blood of those he slayed. He smiled. It was a cocky smile.