Inside a broken and destroyed village, the shattered remains of the houses littered in the ground, evidently showing that a great battle took part moments ago.
"Hahahahahahaha!" Dallas laughed, amused and relieved. He wiped out the sweat of his forehead as he spoke, "You scared me for a moment there, I thought I was a goner!"
He had genuinely thought that the man was Rank B. The rank rank in which he desperately vyed for, the realms of the true miracles. Then if it wasn't the case, how did the man do that? He raised his head as a stroke of realization passed through his mind.
"Oh! I get it! It was so obvious, I was a fool to not notice it!" Dallas spoke, admittedly he was quite a fool for not noticing it sooner. He slapped his thigh as he continued, "Now here I was wondering on how you easily teleported, and have a full augmented body! It was a 4 or 5 star rarity skill all long, and a skill that takes away heavy amounts of magical energy! Let me guess, the skill can only make you go in that state for about...5 minutes? Or 10?"
"It doesn't matter." Ciel shook his head while his eyes stared at the group of men calmly, "Aren't you going to kill me?"
The leader of their group was right. He was just a Rank C Miracle Invoker, he still couldn't use the skill to it's maximum potential. At best, he could only use it for 15 minutes before his magical energy reserves run out.
The skill was given to him by his leader, the Captain of the The Lion's Shadow. The skill's use was to transform it's users body into a being of shadow, making the user able to teleport between the darkness and act like the reaper itself. It was not without drawbacks however,
First, to teleport to another place, the user needed to be within close proximity with where he wanted to be. For reference, when he was in the sky, he couldn't teleport downwards because he was too far away from the shadows.
Second, the skill was taxing to mind and body. When the skill is turned on, the mind was heightened to it's peak senses, making him able to see, hear and touch more swiftly, however in return the mind would easily get exhausted by the sheer speed of the senses.
The body on the other hand, was constrained and enraptured by darkness. In exchange for making him more faster and stealthy, in return he was far more vulnerable and weak to other attacks.
Finally, the last drawback and the reason for his lost, the skill was a living drainer of magical energy. It exhausted his magical reserves quickly. There was nothing he could do about that, because the skill he was using was just a downgraded version of the true skill for Rank B and above.
However, despite the skill's obvious and game changing drawbacks, the skill was still amazing on it's own. If it was sold in the public market, countless guilds and Miracle Invokers below Rank B would go crazy and bet their entire life savings over it.
"Wait, wait...I can spare ya' you know?" Dallas spoke, his eyes filled with greed, "Just give me the skill glyph, or instructions, and you get away scotfree!"
Ciel bit his lip as he hesitated. He could do that...even if the skill was important, his daughter was far, far more important. Nothing would come close, even the world wouldn't.
"What do you say eh?" Dallad asked, his lips forming into a smirk.
"Haa..." Ciel heavily sighed before he raised his head. Who was he kidding? He was not stupid nor a damn idiot. He raised his hand, flicking a middle finger to the dark skinned man, "Fuck off."
Dallas scowled as veins protruded on his forehead. He gritted his teeth as he spoke, "We can talk about this you know? Or are you really that eager to die?"
"Die?" Ciel scoffed, his voice filled with ridicule. "As if I'm gonna survive even If I give it away."
"Damn it..!" Dallas muttered angrily. He raised his hand pointing at the black haired agent, he ordered with a shout "Kill hi—"
Thud—!
However, before he could even finish his words. A heavy thud resounded. Dallad and Ciel turned their heads to where it came from, and there they saw a body. A corpse, fallen to the ground.
The others took a step back in confusion as they stared at the body in the ground. One moment the person was just standing, and without everyone's notice the body fell unconscious.
Dallas opened his eye wide in shock, he turned his head to Ciel as he asked in wariness and confusion, "...You have an ally?"
"I do?" Ciel wondered as he tilted his head in confusion. There was someone helping him? Who was it? As far as he knew he was alone in this mission, and besides the only...the only...
He hurriedly turned his head to one of the rooftop in one of the houses. In the distance, a person could be vaguely seen. However despite so, the features of the person was unique enough to entrace other people into comitting the person's appearance to their mind.
The person was a man. A blonde haired man with a charming and youthful face, and his eyes were dark and empty, exuding a serene yet cold aura around the him. The wind blowed, propelling his coat alongside it.
As if the man noticed their stares, he raised his head and smiled. They didn't know whether it was a devil's smile or an angelic one. Or maybe, it was both.
—
In the rooftop on one of the houses in the distance, Rio stared at the group of men as he smiled.
'Huh...that's pretty terrifying smile you have there,' Faust commented, 'Color me suprise, kid.'
'You think so?' Rio non-chantly asked in interest.
'Take my word for it, but nevermind about that...' Faust spoke as he shook his head, 'What are you going to do about them?'
'Do you have any advice?' Rio asked as he stared at the remnant spirit beside him.
'Now, we're talking..' Faust happily answered, 'Ofcourse I do! Just listen to my instructions and this is as easy as slaying third rate demons!'
'Aren't you a Martial Artists though?' Rio wondered.
'I am! But that doesn't mean I don't know something about ya' tiny cowardly magicians,' Faust scoffed as he floated around, 'Since you're a Sorcerer, your best advantage right now is your distance..'
Rio nodded wordlessly as he stared at the group of men in the distance. He had already brought one of the stronger men down by his «Psche Bolt». It was truly a strong skill especially for stealthily defeating others.
'Alright!' Faust shouted before whispering, 'First, and foremost here's what you're going to do...'
Faust leaned in to one of Rio's ears as he whispered loudly, 'You do that...and do that...and you got it?'
"That makes sense..." Rio nodded as he listened to the muscular man attentively.
'Now, hurry up and go do it!' Faust shouted as he carefree floated in the air.
Rio nodded as he brandished his wand tightly. He was finally going to use a skill solely, and worthy of a Rank C Miracle Invoker. The skills he had mostly used as of yet were single target and more on focused on knocking down individuals.
This time, the true prowess of a Rank C Miracle Invoker in the Sorcerers path would be unleashed. There was nothing stopping him. The village was already destroyed to bits, and the enemies far outnumbered him.
Rio once again brandished the wand tightly. He raised his hand as he pointed the silver wand at the air. Accessing magic from the body. Redirecting the flow of magic. Dictating the will of magic. Conjuring non-existence to existence. Unleashing natures power. Miracle Creation.
In the sky, dark and gloomy clouds suddenly gather above the village. The other people stared at it, their hearts sensing premonition of intense danger they possibly couldn't escape from.
"Sorcerers! Use protect on me!" Dallad shouted as he ordered the backlines.
The backlines, or sorcerers on the other hand, stared in awe and disbelief at the sky. They hurriedly used their staff as they casted the protection skill on themselves instead, ignoring the dark skinned man completely.
"I think..." Ciel muttered while staring at the sky, he shifted his eyes to the panicking dark skinned man, "We're fucked."
Rio closed his eyes as he focused intensely at masterfully using magic. It took all his concentration and computation to use this. On the tip of the wand in his hand, a small bright light shone, albeit small and luminiscient bright.
Crackle—! Rumble—!
The thundering roars of the clouds resounded, bringing forth it's destructive powers. The village shook, whether out of the sudden thunders that dropped in the sky, or simply by their imagination.
'...Not yet.'
Even if it was already destruction incarnate, it was not over yet. Rio bit his lip as blood oozed from his lips. His closed eyes were now open. If Martial Artists were indestructible forces of nature, then Sorcerers are the destructive calamity bringers of the world.
Suddenly, everything stopped. The storms stilled. The rumbling froze. The shivering of others halted. Rio stared.
"«Zeus, The Thunder God's Roar»." Rio muttered loudly.
Rumble—! Crackle—! Boom—!
Then, the village shook. The storms raged. The rumbling continued. The trembling and the helpless demeanor of ants resumed. Rio smiled.