Sung Jin-Woo POV
As I walked towards them I used my powers to make a black, and purple map of Dicathen.
"Please sit down," I said
I could tell their confused gazes, as the Lances still stiff of my presence except for the elves since I've met them all.
"I came here today to announce something," I said
"The beast glades would be a place where the other continent sends most of their armies," I said
"And how do you know this for sure?" Bairon asked
"I've destroyed six portals that leads to Alacrya" I replied
The room became tense until Varay spoke up
"We should send people to eliminate them then," She said
"No it's too dangerous if a retainer of Scythe is in there I doubt you lances would get out of there in one piece" I replied
"Are you implying that their forces are stronger than ours?" Blaine asked
"Far stronger," I said as I scanned their mana
"For now she is the strongest here," I said as I pointed my finger at Varay
"For now?" She asked
"I'll amplify all your mana," I said
The room became loud all of a sudden questions were asked, and I stayed quiet before I left
"Tomorrow at the lances training hall," I said
"What do you mean you'll amplify their mana," Ash asked
"I'll use the monarch's as battery" I replied
"Are you crazy if they don't absorb it right they could die" He snapped
"Then that is their limit" I replied
"You're not growing them strong to defeat the enemy aren't you." He said
"You're using them to stall time" He continued
"I'll only use six monarchs and that's not including Baran and Antares. Antares will be with Arthur while Baran would replace the Iron Body Monarch at the beast glades for a while" I said
"How did you even come up with this crazy idea of having people absorb destructive mana," He asked
"When I was thinking about how you slowly formed and developed my body to be compatible to accept your powers" I replied
"Ok fair enough, but will their powers be compatible?" He asked
"I do not know" I replied
"I know that Varay should be compatible with the Ice monarch, I'll give Alea Querehsha, I'll give Bairon Beast monarch, I'll probably give Olferd Legia, Mica Yogumunt, Aya Iron Body, for now, I'll keep it like this for now until I see if their bodies reject the monarch's mana" I replied
The next day we were all in a training space to say that the place was big was an understatement. It was a massive room, I told them to reinforce their body with mana as strong as they could because I don't know how well they could fair against a monarch's mana.
Varay POV
It was a ridiculous statement that man made when he said he'll be amplifying our mana, but still, I was curious about how he'll do it, at the meeting room I saw how Alea and Aya weren't fazed by his appearance so I decided to ask them about the man, surprisingly the other Lances all ready had the same idea, and they were all at the meeting room.
"Aya, Alea it seems that you knew the man before this" Bairon said
"Huh what do you mean I don't know what you're talking about," Aya said feigning ignorance
"Don't feign ignorance" Bairon snapped
"Aya stop it" I could hear Alea whisper
Truthfully I've never seen myself as someone who would be curious of anyone, but the capabilities that man showed that day. The three dragons hovering above all of us made us feel like ants that they could step at any given moment. The mana pressure from each of the dragons emitted could rival that of a Lance.
"We need to know more about him," Olfred said
"Mica agrees with the old man with this" Mica replied
Aya turned her head towards me to see my reaction, I coughed and say
"Truthfully I would also like to hear more about that man," I said
Aya just grinned while Alea sighed
"We've met him once" Aya then said
"It was at Elenoir when he was Elder Virion's guest. At first, we didn't know that the elder had a guest, but when he wanted to appoint us as the elf's lances he asked us to spar him" Aya said
"How strong is he?" Bairon asked
"His strength shouldn't be the only thing you worry about." She said as she sighed
"What else?" Olfred asked
"His summons" I guessed
Alea nodded her head to give confirmation
"How bad did you guys get beaten," I asked
"First of all how rude for you to immediately assume we were beaten, second of all we couldn't even scratch the man while he pummeled both me and Alea." she sighed
The meeting room got tense when Aya told her that.
"What are our chances if all six of us were to fight him," Olfred asked
"You haven't seen his summons fight so naturally you wouldn't know, but it is impossible to fight him because his summons all regenerate instantly after getting destroyed" Alea sighed
"Those things can regenerate?" I asked surprised, but also afraid as I imagined fighting one of the dragons that could regenerate instantly
"Yes they can, and we fought them for more than three hours nonstop only getting some rest when we were inside Aya's mist but we both knew that the man could sense us," Alea said
"Well now Mica can't wait for tomorrow," Mica said excited but the room wasn't as excited as she was
The next day we went to the room where we were supposed to be, there we waited for all the lances to gather. As soon as we all gathered I noticed Aya's shadow moved away from her, and that man appeared from the shadows.
"It seems like we're all here how about we start with a little demonstration," He said
All six of us ready ourselves in combat position as the man just stood but his hands were already holding a black-red, and black-green dagger. We looked at each other for a while until Bairon charged towards him with his spear, with Olfred spewing magma. Aya, and Alea created mists, and a cluster of vines around the man, Mica was pressuring him with gravity, while I slowly created a dense, and large ice spear. But as Bairon was about to strike him, Bairon knelt at the ground while Olfred was pushed back. The mist and vines were dispersed as Mica's gravity had no effect on him. I looked at my Ice spear to see cracks on it, I jumped back and it shattered.
"Is that all you got?" He said in a deep voice his eyes glowing purple
We all shivered in fear but that didn't last long as his shadow spread around him revealing dozens of black-purple knights, and monsters.
"Show me your worth," He said as his summons charged towards us.
The summons wasn't that strong but as Aya, and Alea described it, it was indeed deserving the name Immortal Army no matter how many we killed them they only ended up regenerating and kept fighting us. His summons kept on fighting us for hours without end, as the man just watched from above his purple eyes gazing at us.
"We need to find an opening" I shouted
Bairon and Olfred nodded as the rest was too absorbed with their fight
Olfred started to combine all his golems into one flattening his summons, as Bairon charged his spear tip with lightning pointing it at his enemies. The summons was disintegrated, but it took them longer to repair themselves because of the amount of damage that was inflicted. Meanwhile, I froze all of them in an ice coffin, as all three of us nodded we charged towards him, I was holding a dense ice dagger, Olfred with his gauntlet, formed from hardened lava, and magma armor, and Bairon with his spear. As our attack was about to land a barrier blocked us as a monster came out of his shadow holding a red orb, a large orc with glowing red skin and glowing blue eyes. He wears a long black hooded cloak and a necklace of skulls.
"Ok this should be enough" As he snapped his fingers all his shadows returned to him
I turned to see Aya, Alea, and Mica exhausted from the fights some scratches but no major injuries. While me, Bairon, and Olfred were also in the same condition.
"Now I'm going to start amplifying your mana but before that recover your mana first then we'll start," He said
We rested for fifty minutes and came towards him to start the training
"Ok I need you to now augment yourselves in mana as dense as possible, and sit down far away from each other," He said
We didn't question him as I felt all the others did as he told. He then stepped a few backs, and six figures came out of him, they were different from his previous summons they were more powerful and destructive. We were all looking at them the first one to come out was a huge, muscular man with tan skin, glowing purple eyes, sharp teeth, and wild black hair. He also wore silver fur pelts, a ragged skirt with a thick silver fur waistline, and gold-trimmed white armor on his right shoulder and over his groin area. The second one was a muscular old f with blue skin, long silver hair with a single long strand dangling over the right side of his face, same purple eyes, and round ears. He wore a ragged white cloak with a black collar over a tattered white shirt, ragged black pants, and a pair of black boots. the third one was a handsome young man with blonde hair and the same purple eyes. He wore a long white coat with a glowing blood-red collar, black pants and shoes, small earrings, and a simple gray undershirt. The fourth was a huge, muscular man with bluish-gray skin, long messy black hair with a sloppy beard, and purple eyes. He wore a long tattered white loincloth. the fifth one was a beautiful young woman with purple eyes, pale skin, long flowing black hair, purple lips, a perfect hourglass figure, a large bust, and insectile hands and feet. She also wore greenish-black armor that left her upper cleavage and shoulders exposed. The sixth and last one was an old man with gray hair, purple eyes, and a blood-red blob symbol on his torso. He wore a tattered blackish-purple hooded cloak, a pale yellow bone-like mask over his mouth, and two metallic horn-like objects extending from his upper back. Each of the summons walked towards us until the old elf was in front of me.
"For now the ones in front of you would be your training partner, now the problem is I only have one summon that is compatible with one lance which is the one that is paired with Varay," He said
"Although your growth won't be as much as Varay for now they will produce mana for you to absorb" He continued
Looking at the old elf I felt a cold breeze shower me as he began releasing his mana. I turned to see the others also doing the same thing. So I closed my eyes and started absorbing the mana the old elf gave. As minutes turned to hours, my body was feeling to change as I power surged from inside me. I felt refreshed when I opened my eyes the elf was no longer releasing his mana, I turned to see the others still meditating, but their partners also not releasing mana anymore. I looked forward to see the man sparring with an ant, they were loud.
"How did I not hear this?" I asked myself
But my question was answered as the old elf snapped his finger, and a barrier was formed around us, and I couldn't hear anything from outside the barrier.
"It seems like the break is over shall we continue," it said startling me
"You can talk?" I asked
"Yes I can" He simply answers
"Then can you answer me, he said that you're compatible with me, what does it mean," I asked
The elf held out his hand as an Ice spear instantly appeared, sure it was easy but his Ice spear was denser than mine by more than tenfold. I would estimate that I could conjure that kind of dense spear in around five minutes. The elf let me inspect the spear as he gave it to me, I was amazed by how much compact Ice the spear had. It could be compared to Bairon's spear in toughness. As I returned the spear he snapped his finger, and the ice spear melted into cold water washing my hands something that amazed me more. He then started to release his mana again. Unable to ask any further I went back to a meditating position and absorbed his mana again. We spent inside the training room for a few days. those few days consisted in us getting pummeled, and absorbing mana
"It seems like all of your training is well, and there was no problem with the mana you absorbed," He said
"What do you mean by problem," Bairon asked
"I was afraid that the mana would reject you, and explode," He said
"But all went well so there shouldn't be a problem" He continued
"Wait you're telling me we could've died" Bairon asked
"No not die, but the collide of mana could've created an explosion around you, but there were barriers protecting you" He answered
I checked my mana core at first it didn't feel that much different, but as I chaneled mana my Ice magic was much more fluent, pure, and stronger. I also noticed the changes the other had, and how strong they've grown.
"How?" I was still confused
"Well that's a secret" He answered
"All right it seems like our training time has come to an end I do hope you all the best as I have other things to attend to" He said as he dissapeared.
(A/n: they can now barely be compared to Baran now, btw let's just assume Baran is stronger than Bellion cause I still don't know who is stronger)
Sung Jin-Woo POV
I received a call from Cynthia. She asked if I could meet her at Xyrus in her office, so I headed there. When I arrived I was greeted by her assistant, and she led me to Cynthia's office.
"Good to see you doing well Jin-woo," She said when I entered
"Good to see you to the director, may I ask what you need from me?" I asked
"Simple I want you to be a teacher, but you'll mainly be finding, and cleaning radical group from Alacrya that has already infiltrated the academy." She said
"What teacher am I going to be," I asked
"Field training teacher and you are allowed to abuse the students as long as they become stronger" She replied
"Very well, I am expected to be paid right," I said with a smile
"Oh, of course, you'll start today, here is your class." She said
"Is this coincidence? I asked
"Oh my you read it so fast" She commented
"I tend to be careful when receiving reports" I replied
"No it is not I just need them to be stronger" She replied
"I'll see what I can do then" I replied as I walked towards my class.
I arrived at the room and entered it was similar to the lance's training hall, but a lot smaller like ¼ the size, and had a lot of trees while the center was empty but a few boulders of rocks. I scanned the area and looked around for a few minutes before I saw a group of students enter the room. My class consists is Arthur Leywin, Tessia Eralith, Kathlyn Glayder, Curtis Glayder, Claire Bladeheart, and Elijah Knight. I didn't bother to show myself as I altered my voice.
"Hello my dear students," I said startling them all
"Today I would like to assess you all to see your capabilities so I hope you don't mind my rudeness," I said
I summoned a dozen Ice elves as they started to charge their ice bows, as I continued talking.
"It's simple don't die or get heavily injured" As I finished my sentence the elves fired, and their ice arrows flew towards them. Elijah conjured up an earth wall that deflected a few of the arrows which froze his earth wall when the arrows hit it. While Arthur did something similar and conjuring winds to mess up the arrow's trajectories. I continued to summon a few of my mages letting them fire some basic speels like fireball, lighting, water bullet. I messed with them for around two hours before stopping.
"Marvellous you could survive this long," I said
"Why don't you show yourself and fight rather than firing spells at a safe distance" Elijah shouted
"All right," I said so I did as they requested I got out from my tree and used Ruler's Authority on them making them kneel, and their heads facing the grass floor.
I released them after a few minutes, so they could finally see my face.
"Hello I'll be your new Practical teacher from today onwards, you can call me Jin-Woo," I said with a bright smile
They were all shocked they've all mostly seen what I was capable of except Claire, so since my class with them would be the last class I decided to extend the class, as I said this I could see Arthur's, Tess's, and Elijah's face paled as the other was a little confused.
"Do you want to fight me directly or do you want to train your reflexes?" I asked
"Fight you" Arthur answered, followed by the other students
I took a few steps back, as my dear students got ready. They attacked me while I limited myself in my speed, strength, and ruler's authority. They TRIED to hit me for an hour or so until they started to drop one by one, and the last one standing was Arthur.
"I have to praise your tenacity Arthur," I said
"It rivals that of a cockroach" I continued mentally as I dashed towards him giving him a kick in the waist sending him flying to a tree
"All right let's end class," I said
"We weren't even able to hit you" Claire complained
"If you want to leave after managing to land a hit on him is the same as spending a lifetime in prison" Arthur replied
We all left our class, and I locked up. I managed to put a few shadows on them to spread further in the academy. As I walked around suddenly a fire appeared from one of the buildings.
"It seems like you're going to be paid today" Ash commented as he got out of my shadow
"Welp it seems like it's time to clean this mess up," I said
I went towards the fire, as I found traces of mutated, and corrupted mana beast in the academy. I sent my soldiers to deal with most of them as I heard someone talk through a voice enhancer. "ATTENTION RENOWNED STUDENTS OF XYRUS ACADEMY!" a rather high-pitched grating voice echoed throughout the campus. "AS YOU MAY ALL BE AWARE, YOUR INSTITUTION IS CURRENTLY UNDER ATTACK BY MY LITTLE PETS. NO NEED TO FEAR FOR I AM BOTH JUST AND MERCIFUL!" The voice seemed to taunt us
"Today seems like quite the eventful day," I said
"Agreed" Ash replied as he manifested a broad long sword
"All right let's start this party," I said
"HUMAN STUDENTS, AS LONG AS YOU RAISE BOTH YOUR HANDS AND SWEAR YOUR ALLEGIANCE TO ME, THE MANA BEASTS WILL NOT ATTACK YOU! ELVES AND DWARVES, DO NOT STRUGGLE AND ALLOW MY PETS TO DESTROY YOUR MANA CORE AND YOU WILL BE FREE TO LEAVE!" The voice let out a deranged laugh
"He reminds me of the old Beast Monarch," Ash said as his sword penetrated a helpless mana beast
"Yup" I agreed
"AHEM! TESTING... AH AH... PERFECT!" The sound was coming from the bell tower near the center of campus. "STUDENTS AND FACULTY MEMBERS OF XYRUS ACADEMY—I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME ALL OF YOU TO JOIN US FOR THE FINAL CEREMONY. I ADVISE EVERY ONE OF YOU TO MAKE YOUR WAY TOWARDS THE BELL TOWER, AS THIS IS SOMETHING YOU GUYS WON'T WANT TO MISS! DON'T WORRY, MY LITTLE PETS WON'T BITE ANYMORE~ I PROMISE."
"Definitely a mix of the Beast and Antares in terms of mental state," I said as Ash sighed and nodded at me
We went to the bell tower all three of us concealing our mana, as I saw what was happening a mana barrier was around the bell tower.
"WELL, IT SEEMS THAT EVERYONE ALIVE HAS MADE IT TO THE GRAND FINALE OF TODAY'S SHOW! I THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING!" The high-pitched tenor had a piercing quality that made everyone turn their attention back towards the bell tower.
We came a little too late as when we came to the man already killed a dwarve as I was going to destroy the barrier.
BOOM!
A crater formed underneath a boy as the marble floor around him continued to crumble and cave under the pressure of his might. As he continued smashing against the barrier, blood began streaming down his arms as his hands were shattered by his own strength. Despite that, the fury never left the boy's eyes as his icy gaze never left the masked man.
"COME OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME, YOU COWARD!" Theodore howled, a deranged look shrouding his eyes.
But as the man got close I came in and grabbed his neck my hand got through the barrier
"It seems like your fun ends here" I said to him as I released my mana suffocating not only him, but the other students, and teachers around me. My gaze turned to see them a warning to those who wanted to attack any further as I returned my gaze towards the masked man I reached my hand to his mask.
"Let's see what your hiding under the mask," I said
To my surprise, the mask was glued to him. "It seems like there is no other way than to pry it open by force," I said with a smile as I pulled his mask out of his face, and then
SNAP!
the mask got off, but the man's face also came along with it. As I saw the only thing remaining on his face was one of his eyeball, and a ruined face. Flesh could be seen in his face, and mask as I inspected it for a while.
"Come on you're no fun a minute ago you were shouting like a happy mad lad," I said as I threw him to the tower bell's wall, and gave him a healing elixir.
"We already got what we want so it doesn't matter if you kill me or not." He said
"What are you saying," I said as I snapped my fingers Arthur, Tessia, and Elijah appeared behind me Arthur was the only one awake surprised to see me. It was funny looking at the man's reaction as he tried to widen his eyes but the skin around his eyes was on the mask
"Did you think I'll let anyone escape from here" I whispered to his ear
"Ash Detain him, and leave his mana core alone, it'll be more entertaining to torture him while he still has mana," I said as Ash's shadow spikes pierced throughout the man's arms, and legs.
"Now be a good boy, and stay out as I clean this mess," I said as I walked away from him, of course, I didn't forget to attach a shadow on him.
I slaughtered and kept on killing mana beasts, and enemies for a solid ten minutes as it was annoying how to spread out they were.
I then felt mana similar to a scythe awakening from Elijah.
"Art takes Tess away from Elijah," I said mentally
"NOW" I shouted as I ran towards them
A blast of black fire appeared around him. I used Ruler's Authority on him, but he was stronger than he was before, as he could withstand my Ruler's Authority.
Suddenly the air became dense as I saw a figure hovering around the sky. A man with smooth skin and a sharp jaw. He has vibrantly scarlet eyes and massive horns sprouting from the sides of his black hair like an elk's antlers, except shiny and black, each coming to a spear-sharp point. His horns have several gold and silver rings wrapped around the many prongs, and bejeweled chains also trace the lines of the horns.
"Agrona" Sylvia said her voice filled with malice and hate
As I looked closer I realized that Agrona had Arthur, Sylvie, and Tess
I teleported beside him and said
"Nice to meet you Agrona Vritra," I said with a smile
He flinched for a moment but then attacked me with fists of black fire. I parried his punch with a part of my death armor only covering my hands.
"Leave children out of this," I said
But my words were mistaken as fear that I could hurt the children. As Agrona had his hand around Tessia's neck. I sighed and snapped my fingers, Agrona was confused at first but suddenly Antares Appeared beside him punching Agrona in the gut. then taking Arthur, Sylvia, and Tess from him.
"Nice punch," I said
"Thank you for your praises master" He replied which honestly I could never get used to that
"It seems like you aren't a lesser, tell me who are you" Agrona said as he grunted from the pain
"I am The Shadow Monarch" I simply replied with a cold gaze and tone
He snapped his finger, and I saw Tessia at his arms, and a bracelet glowing at her wrist. "It's ok I just came here for the girl" He smirked
"An artifact?" I thought but soon I appeared beside him ready to hit him again, but I sensed an attack towards my waist. I immediately jumped back. It was Elijah, then they disappeared.
"Dammit" I shouted as I heard a crack in the barrier
"Antares" I turned to him
"Never mind" I sighed
Antares kept on carrying Arthur, and Sylvie as all six lances came in through the crack
"Took you long enough," I said my voice irritated
"My apologies, we came as soon as we felt an anomaly of mana around the academy," Varay said
"You can keep the rest, but I'm bringing the red hair man with me," I said
"And the Elven Princess was kidnapped," I said
She nodded, so I took the man and left to interrogate him, while Ash already returned to my shadow.
Varay POV
It was a horrifying sight as students, teachers, and enemy corpses towered high like a mountain. But when I saw the condition of a red-haired man I nearly threw up as I saw his face ruined. We all approached the man who we later learned the name was Jin-Woo. But as I saw a handsome middle-aged man with long red hair, a neatly trimmed red beard, and glowing purple eyes. He also wore silver-red armor with a high collar and a reddish-brown tailcoat. His purple eyes indicated that he was also one of Jin-Woo summons similar to the ones he used as our partners, but his powers were filled with malice, and destruction even more than the six I met combined.
"He was holding back a lot when he sparred against us," I thought as I saw him take the red haired man, and disappeared in his shadow.