Roy was searching for his friend Pike, but even after minutes of searching he couldn't find him. He was accompanied by Lethren, a vulgar but nice friend of his. Roy was a special boy, gifted with magical powers, he easily awakened.
He was guided by his father figure, their boss to learn magic and grow as a mage, reaching Rank 1 in an outstanding pace. He had learned a few spells that had high offensive power, yet had a long casting time. Firing of a fireball was his favorite spell since it didn't take too much time to cast and had pretty good destructive power.
"If we find Pike, and he's injured can you heal him?", Lethren asked while scouting the street ahead. Lately Roy had been learning healing magic in order to save his friends. His dad had asked him to first learn powerful magic to protect himself, now he needed to learn how to heal others.
"Depends on his wounds, if he has a few scratches it shouldn't be all that difficult. But if he is missing a limb then I can't do anything to help.", Roy looked at the ground beneath his feet with a sour look. A hand was placed gently on top of his head.
"Don't worry about that, now. We're all strong warriors right? Pike is probably just playing around somewhere.", Lethren said with a caring smile on his face.
"You're right, and even if he is in danger, then we'll help him out!"
"That's right! We'll beat the baddies and go to a nice restaurant with the money we'll earn from this."
Roy pouted, "Don't treat me like a little kid!", but Lethren couldn't help but laugh. To him, Roy was his little brother who needed to be taken care off. They kept walking down the street in hopes of finding their dear friend. If they couldn't find him in half an hour they would leave and wait at their hideout. If he was still alive they would regroup there.
Seeing his little brother pouting, Lethren wanted to lighten up the mood, and if there was one thing that he knew for sure would put a smile on his face it would be magic.
"Hey Roy, if you learned healing magic as well, how many spells can you use?"
"Hah! Plenty,", Roy's face brightened up in an instant, "I can shoot fireballs and ice spears. If I take my time I can even create a giant stone wall to protect us from arrows!"
"Wow, that's so cool Roy, what else do you want to learn?", Lethren played along to entertain not only Roy, but also himself. He enjoyed watching the enthusiastic Roy tell his stories. Listening to Roy's bombastic plans for the future put a smile on his face, the naivety of a kid was something he lost long ago. Hearing all these fantasies made him remember his own dreams when he was young.
He wanted to go explore the world, find amazing treasures and slay monstrous beasts. Sadly, without magic, he was doomed to stay weak and serve the strong. Still, as he was right now, he was weak. Even as a Rank 1, he only got to that point due to items with enough magical energy. Artificially reaching Rank 1 always turned the core weak since it didn't grow naturally.
"Lethren?"
"What is it Roy, I was listening if that's what you're wondering about."
"No, I sense another mage."
"What?", both started to get serious, a mage in the slums was impossible. Considering they couldn't contact Pike they knew the mage had to do something with it.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know, I just know that they're close.", Lethren started to stand in front of Roy. Some mages were very strong vanguards, but the standard image of mages is that they stay in the back preparing their spells. This was true to the group of mercenaries, they supported each other to form a strategic group. Now they were only with two, a mage and a mercenary, the moment there were two attackers they would be done for.
"Roy, stay behind me. Can you still not sense from where they're coming?", taking out his sword, he stood strong in front of Roy, exposing their backs. It was a fifty-fifty chance of choosing the right direction, if he screwed it up they could get demolished.
Roy didn't know for certain where the enemy mage was at, he could sense there was a great source of magic coming closer. Accurately finding them was another task, he knew certain spells but not everything.
"I think they're in front of us.", Roy started to prepare a spell or two. Lethren on the other hand creeped forward ever so slowly. He reached the corner before something was thrown at his face.
Without thinking, he blocked the object only to find the decapitated head of his good friend fall to the ground. Seeing a shadow advance towards him, his eyes dashed upward and saw a young boy with emotionless yellow eyes rush at him with his sword. This was obviously Lucas.
The sword was aimed for his stomach, leaving him barely enough time to parry the attack. Parrying Lucas left his back vulnerable. Lethren slashed downwards, but Lucas dodged with impeccable timing. They were in a standoff, Lucas moved his left hand to form a bunch of random symbols.
"Increased weight, weapon strengthening, weapon sharpness, muscle enhancement!", Lucas chanted a bunch of supportive spells before rushing at Lethren once more. The pressure increased with each spell, Lethren was scared, he knew what a full-fledged mage was capable of.
'I need to block!', Lucas heaved his weapon above his head, leaving his stomach exposed. Lethren wanted to take the chance, but attacking now would result in death for both parties.
"HYAA!", Lethren raised his sword horizontally above him to take most of the blunt force. 'Huh? Shit!'
The attack felt extremely light, Lucas had already let go of his weapon, ducked under Lethren's weapon and clamped his hands on Lethren's face. His hands felt boiling hot, his fingers were forced deep into his eyes.
"AAAAAAARGH", the screams were terrifying, Roy could only helplessly watch as his big brother's face started to catch fire and slowly melt. Lucas's hands let go of the man's face, but that only made it worse to look at.
Healing his own hands he grabbed a nearby sword, throwing it towards the mage. Roy barely had enough time to process what happened, he tripped backwards avoiding the sword by sheer luck.
"Giant Fireball!", a sphere of pure blzaing flames was shot at Lucas, dodging it would be no issue for him, but he had a better idea.
Boom
The fireball exploded, Roy could see a silhouette in the flames, the shadow's arms were flying around, and the screams pierced his mind. Not because of how horrifying the sounds were, but because he recognized them.
"How evil, killing your friend like that.", Lucas walked from behind the standing pillar of fire. Taking Lethren's sword he sliced his head off without hesitation.
"Leaving him suffer so, you must have really hated him?", the cocky smile coupled with his words infuriated Roy to end. "You're the one that killed him! You're evil! How dare you kill Lethren!", but Lucas could only smile.
Roy started to cry, but his anger overpowered him, he had to kill him if he wanted to redeem himself. He started to chant to his absolute limits, if he had to die here, but avenge his brother he would be happy.
Lucas knew it was about time to go back on the offensive as well, it was good that he could gain a few seconds to regain his thoughts and stamina.
Roy's chant felt endless, but it kept repeating itself, a massive amount of fireballs started to form around him but stayed still for now.
'Shit, is that Venion's Ring of Fire?'
'No, they seem separate from each other, they're all basic spells.', the spell he was referring to would form a complete circle around the user, protecting them while also giving them immense offensive power. Any part of the circle could be shot forward and turned into a fireball. Considering Roy's fireballs weren't immediately shot at him meant that they were different from the normal spell, but not much stronger.
"C'mon boy! Is that all you got? Do you want to kill me like how you killed your good friend?!"
Taunting Roy only made him more furious, he would kill Lucas no matter what, his core was already empty, but he kept chanting. The magic in the air flowed into him to immediately be turned into a spell. Without being processed by the core the magicules slowly degraded his body.
Lucas barely ducked under another orb of fire before he gathered a bunch of his magic and forced it to his will. 'Time to finish this!', the magic gathered around his hands before being released from his body.
This wasn't a spell, this was just brute forcing magic out of his body. Earlier he did the same with fire magicules, this time it was ice. The rapidly changing temperature around his hands made them hurt like crazy. This would've seemed stupid at first, but the ice claws that started to form around his hands spoke otherwise.
The feeling in his hands started to disappear, but he didn't need any feeling to attack. Lucas rushed towards Roy without any hesitation, the fireballs kept coming, though at a lesser pace.
The ice was so concentrated it obliterated any fireball it came across. Punching a fireball that came straight at him, the heat made a bit of the ice melt, but not nearly enough to stop him.
"Why won't you die! Urgh!", Roy coughed up blood, seeing his own red stained hands he knew his time was up. Looking back up he could only Lucas surrounded by a sea of fire. As Lucas slowly started to walk over, he glanced at the claws of ice. His own fantasies and dreams were gone, he would never achieve them.
"Dad.."
PIERCE
The ice claw punctured straight through his heart. Even if Roy didn't have any magic left and his body was in tethers, Lucas didn't like taking chances. The lifeless body slowly fell to the ground. "Finally, our reward.", Lucas used his claws to slice open the boy's belly. Destroying his own improvised weapons and heating his hands up by the nearby fire he reached inside the boy's gut to grab a tiny spherical object.
He immediately put it away in fear of being seen. "Now to get rid of the body.", he dragged the corpse to one of the houses that seemed to be ready to collapse. Throwing it in without a second glance, he was done.
"ROOOOOOY!!!", a scream so filled with emotion even Lucas got riled up. A giant man with a broadsword was standing not much further in the street. His eyes focussed on the burning body of his foster son.
The man screamed out his terror before it fueled his madness, nothing mattered anymore.
"RAAAAAGH"
'So fast!', despite his build, the man was faster than Lucas. Before he realized the man was on top of him. Swinging his broadsword Lucas knew that if he got hit he would be dead.
'Magic Shield!'
CRASH
The magic shield busted within a second.
BOOM
Landing in of the burning houses, Lucas quickly cast another magic shield. The building hurriedly collapsed on top of him, only with his magic could he survive. Crawling out of the debris he could already see the man sprint towards him.
"Crazy fuck!"
Lucas didn't have a lot of magic left over, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn't even find a weapon before the broadsword was aimed at his neck.
"Shit!"
CRACK
The third magic shield was destroyed in a single hit. Through the force of the blade he landed on his back not much further. The blade was lifted once more this time aimed at his head. His only option was to dodge, but he would be too slow. In that mere second every possibility started to form in his mind. What could he possibly do to survive in this situation? His magic had run dry, he didn't have a weapon, his stamina was about to be depleted, what was left?
He was about to die if he didn't do anything, all his anxieties and fears started to combine with his anger and bloodlust. If strong emotions were necessary to produce what he needed he would go all out. His memories of his village, the scarlet moon, the monsters, the fire, the loss, the despair. All flowed into his mental sphere.
"Stop."
A word spoken with a normal tone but filled with emotions. The pressure around the man must've had quadrupled. The force made him falter, barely making him capable of wielding his weapon. The man groaned as he was forced to take a knee.
Kneeling in front of his son's killer was the biggest shame he could receive.
"I WILL KILL YOU!", he wasn't done yet, in his left hand was a small dagger. Even if he had to crawl to Lucas, he would do so, step by step he gained ground. Lucas was too focussed on keeping up the pressure, leaving him defenseless.
Seeing the dagger get closer and closer to him, Lucas upped the pressure even more, using his frustration and anger as another fuel source. But even then, he couldn't keep himself so emotional all the time. The pressure started to lessen and increase at random intervals.
The mercenary leader got close enough to stab Lucas, but he wanted the neck, then he would be sure.
"As Thou protect us from evil, protect my son from any harm.", a chant came out of nowhere creating a golden see-through-bubble around Lucas.
'Took you long enough.'
Micheal and his fellow believers were all present taking care of the fires and healing the people caught in the skirmish. They rushed into the buildings in order to save even the most worthless of lives. This was the slum, these people didn't have anything to give, yet the church went to great lengths to rescue as many as possible.
The mercenary leader felt the pressure evaporate, giving him the chance to retaliate again, but the golden bubble around Lucas protected him from any attacks.
"You won't get away with this!", the leader calmed down. He knew he couldn't hurt Lucas now and fighting against the church was suicide. He would rather willingly take his punishment than to fight.
"Priests, don't misunderstand, I'm not the one who brought this much ruin to the slums. It was all done by this mage!", the leader yelled at the group of priests. They all had looks of suspicion in their eyes. Micheal who stood at the front decided to deal with this himself, letting the other priests help the commoners out.