Wondering why fighting a group of eastern-rite sorcerers was so irksome, when the number of Magisterium wizards taking part in the combat was more than double?
Apart from the fact that some eastern magic arts were closely related to the application of cultivation—Strengthening the body, soul, and mind at the same time to produce greater magic power (even for the sake of attaining divination or theosis)—Wizardry was arguably too "shallow", at least for other mystic arts practitioners. Indeed, most of the wizards were people relying upon the brain. With their intelligence and their innovative kismet, they often found "shortcuts" in mastering magic, either through methods or the creation of new magical equipment. However, with the existence of these results, the obtained effect was the mystic art of Wizardry was laborious to develop in terms of spells. Sure, this went against the principle of the shortcut itself. One example of such superficiality was the fact that Wizardry lacked a spell to create image duplicates of the caster—a shadow, one could say—that could act as well as battle on its own. Absolutely lousy.
Several sorcerers in the room instead mastered the image duplication magic. Icons of Imajik, magic that created clones of the caster coming out of one's body. No wonder their numbers have multiplied; the fact was, they almost outnumbered the mages of the Magisterium!
Wizardry might be the last resort for someone who desired to study magic (like they had a choice!). But that did not mean the fate of losing was upon these scholars. History had recorded their magical intellectual prowess. History said otherwise, and the Wizardry practitioners trapped in space illusion did not intend to tarnish that record.
"Hey, don't just let Barthie blocks the door himself! Help him!" exclaimed Grand Magus Haddock in the midst of the complicated skirmish.
The monks indeed began to shift their priority to chasing the figure of Alicia, who had escaped with her friends and a group of other "scholars". And the wizards inevitably had to pull them back and keep fighting to the death, so that the others could get out safely. Barrier magic was installed as well, bringing in more bookshelf monsters to guard the door. Once again, an irony—to want themselves stuck in the cursed room willingly.
It was a sorcerer and his four shadows surrounding Grand Magus Haddock, who was actually going after Merlin's three guardians. They blocked Haddock's path while Merlin—always ready to test his might as ever—calmed behind him.
Those five personages suddenly ambushed him at the same time! Haddock pushed one sorcerer, then fired magic at another. When they got too close, Haddock utilised Static Ligaveris to slash them one by one. One of the shadows locked him from behind, then the other also threw punches all over his body.
Grandmaster Haddock still appeared resilient, despite the bruises on his countenance. Oh, it was just a simple clone spell! He had gone through worse than this! His dignity would never be restored if he, a Grand Magus of the international magic congregation, submitted to some people who were not even real people!
The Grand Magus' long blue coat writhed violently. Those who surrounded him went petrified for a moment, and his coat kept twisting. Obviously, this was a blow from the wind from swinging his body here and there. Curious, they so were; they did not realise that their faces were approaching what was inside the suit. A grave mistake. An utter grave mistake.
It was natural not to peek at someone's underwear at random. One could not tell where these monks came from, they were not taught such manners. But worry not, they should learn it soon enough.
A magic broom darting out of the Grand Magus' suit! KRACK! Sounded the cracking of the approaching monk's skull. Blood and brain splashed. Coming together to form a grotesque harmony. The flying broom crushed the head of the monk like a racing torpedo.
Fortunately, the victim earlier was a mere shadow. His body, as well as the remains of his head, flashed before vanishing into the air. Still, one could not argue how terrifying the prior scene was.
The image that was flanking Haddock earlier became unguarded as well. Haddock took advantage of this by elbowing it in the stomach and freeing himself. The Grand Magus finally stood on his feet with his favorite magic broom.
This was the same magic broom that shattered the throat of Plaxenin-3499, the necromancer Agosh Grendi's favourite pet. A glossy solid dark blue cane, specially made of blue gemstones, beautifully engraved. Each strand of glittering golden fibres was made only of Hapikern gold fibres. Hapikern was a golden substance full of magical power and capable of absorbing one's mana to be used as the caster's wish. The Hapikern substance itself was imported from El Dorado, the continent of Mu. Looking at its appearance and its constituent components, it was strictly forbidden to use it to sweep the floor. Haddock's perky magic broom was a cleaning tool; a cleaning tool to cleanse the presence of annoying "pests". And it was hungry for pests.
"Gentlemen, introducing Jubilant Jay!" Haddock cheered, "or, The Gay Jay! People like to call it The Gay Jay. I don't know why they are fond of calling it that, but every man for himself! This is no ordinary magic broom at all. This broom requires mana and you, good men, are fish full of mana! You cannot run away. You can't, because you miss your opportunity to do so!"
Haddock straight gave directions to Jubilant Jay with his wand. The broom found its first prey and intended to dart through the monk's flesh to suck his mana. When Jubilant Jay sped towards his target, the target chose recklessly to run to it. He managed to jump and forcefully board Jubilant Jay! But Jubilant Jay bowed to no one but the Grand Magus Haddock. It then rebelled, flying about at high speed—It even tended to graze the monk against the surface of an obscure wall on purpose. The monk gradually gained control of the broom with force, and now he directed Jubilant Jay at its own master, still busy fighting with the others.
WHUSSH! Jubilant Jay swerved from the fresco sky past the multitudes. It rushed toward Haddock. Thankfully, Haddock was nimble to counter. When the broom arrived, he kicked the other sorcerer's shadow and then evade it.
The monk riding Jubilant Jay is about to snatch the wand from Haddock's hand!
He managed to grab hold of the golden blue stick, pulling it with all his might. The wand slipped from the Grand Magus' grasp, but something happened; Jubilant Jay suddenly got stuck, as if something was holding it back from flying. The monk saw Haddock; the wizard was almost drawn to fly with him. But no, albeit his body tilted, his sturdy legs were still firmly on the floor. The expression on the Grand Magus' face showed a look of shock, then returned to relief after a while.
As it turned out, the Grand Magus' wand had not completely separated from him! It was still stuck to a metal rod with a diameter slightly larger than the wand's diameter. The stem had a kind of spring mechanism, so it could extend a certain distance and be pulled back to its original position. In addition, the same handle was attached to a device made of metal and leather that covered the wrist to the base of the upper arm, resembling a skeleton. All of that was shrouded in the clothes he was wearing. If one could not get the grasp: In Haddock's hand, there was an automatic mechanism, used to keep the wand from being easily stolen from his own hand. Of course, another toy from Wizardry scholars' thought!
"You're a hundred years late to wrest a wizard's wand!" Haddock uttered aloud. He did something with his hands so that the automaton and the wand attached to it instantly retracted into the Grand Magus' wrist. The pulling force of the mechanism was so high, the sorcerer just fell straight from Jubilant Jay! Haddock immobilised the monk instantly with his Fractionem Tonitura Custos electric spell.
After the monk was defeated, Haddock and Jubilant Jay hunted down other sorcerers, who were pestering him as well. Jubilant Jay managed to banish five artificial sorcerers and crashed into three other sorcerers. All three were critical even though they were safe, but their mana had been sucked out. The shadow sorcerers he slew turned out to have mana, too. The sorcerers cast more clones to surround the Grand Magus.
"Time to shine, Jubilant Jay!"
The Jubilant Jay did shine, through the carvings on his wand. Standing up straight, Jubilant Jay spewed out a sonic boom from the accumulation of the foe's mana, throwing his besieger into their subconscious in agony!
Then it came for the head of all monks, Merlin himself. []