When Luke started learning magic, he prioritized heling type spells above everything. His idea was that by having the option to self-heal it raided his chances of winning fights and surviving.
Thanks to that, he managed to acquire a variety of spells such as detox, calm mind, numb pain, etc.
Of course, that includes the basic heal.
Right now, he was using heal on the princess to calm her mana and recover her fatigue from the rampage.
He saw her brows furrow prompting him to stop and wait for her to wake up.
He kept a safe distance in case she decided to attack.
*ughhh
Like a person waking up from a hungover, she slowly opened her eyes, her hazy vision started to clear.
Mumbling a few words, she got up.
-Where am I?
-Feeling better now?
A male voice brough her senses to high alert. She locked eyes with the source.
A silver haired boy around her age, dressed in fancy clothes, was standing before her with an indifferent expression.
The princess's expression turned grim, assuming the worst, she started channeling her mana.
-Who are you?
Luke answered with an indifferent expression.
- Luke Argenti your highness, now long story short, kidnappers are coming for us, and I need your help to deal with them.
-Why should I believe you? You could be one of them.
'Guess she does have a good head on her shoulders'.
-If I was, I wouldn't have bothered to heal you.
- Understandable. But you may need my help, but I don't, you're just a 1st rank mage I can deal with them on my own. So, I have no reason to team up with you.
Luke was dumfounded he thought she would prioritize survival above her everything but she's just going to charge at the enemy.
'Is it arrogance or confidence?'.
- I wouldn't recommend that princess, the enemy has knights and mages at their disposal, not to mention one of them is a late rook rank knight. It's better to…
Then a bright flash appeared nearby. It was one of Luke's flash marbles he dropped as traps.
'They are close'.
He turned to the princess, but she already departed towards the flash.
-Shit.
Cursing out loud he activated body strengthening, following her from the trees.
**
- AH FUCK!! What was that????
One of the knights Coursed out loud, he was the one who triggered Luke's trap, momentarily stunned the group.
The group's leader stepped in.
-Everyone be careful the are traps nearby! Mages survey the area and disarm them.
-Yes sir!!!
Currently 3 teams of 5 inside the forest looking for the princess. Advancing in an overwatch formation they were able to safely cover their blind spots and aid in case of an ambush.
Although they weren't expecting traps, the mages managed to clear the few left.
The leader was confident in completing his task.
'We have a total of 6 rook rank knights ,2 in each group, and 3 mages, each in one group, more than enough to deal with one person.'
*Rustle.
The leader reacted to the sound of the bushes moving, a figure jumped from it knocking down one of the knights, taking his swords the figure proceeded to behead the other knight.
The other members unloaded bullets at the figure, but it quickly dodged. It closed the distance, severing their arms in one slash.
The mage tried to cast a spell by was stabbed in the chest before it was completed.
The leader was stunned, he barely saw anything and a whole group was wiped in seconds.
The other groups reacted to the attack, they surrounded the target in a circle formation with the mages at the rear.
The sky began to clear, illuminating the figure. Golden hair and eyes, her beautiful face stained by blood and a wine-red dress that's been ripped to allow for better movement. The 4th princess stood in her stop with a sword full of blood.
Once the culprit was revealed the leader laughed out loud.
-HAHAHAHA!! To think our target would come to us! I advise you to come quietly princess we don't want to hurt you, too much at least.
Layla responded by entering a stance. Her sword raised above her shoulders, pointing at the leader.
- I refuse.
- that so? Fire!!!
At the order a barrage of bullets was unleashed.
Without a hint of fear, she circulated her mana.
(Royal guard sword style 1st form, reversal stream)
She swung the sword, executing a full 360 motion, mana flowed out behaving like a river stream, intercepting all the bullets before returning at the enemies at double speed.
Aside from the knights and mages most of the members couldn't react, dying after being pierced by the barrage of bullets.
Those who survived, pulled out their knives, rushing at her yet they all fell one by one.
Panic was visible in the leader's face.
'Shit, I was told she was a sheltered princess! No matter with the rest of the knights and mages its possible to subdue her!
Composing himself he issued the order.
- Surround her in a four 4-way formation! Mages cast buffs and prepare spells to limit her movements!
The mages divided their tasks, one casted body strengthening magic on the knights, one prepared a biding spell and the last got various wind bullets ready. The knights were already in position, blue gas like mana gushed out from their swords.
Even if they were of similar rank to the princess, they were more than confident thanks to the support they got.
But despite the disadvantage, Layla let out soft smile, rushing at the knight she judged the most distracted.
Closing the distance in a second, she brought her sword down.
(Royal guard sword style 2nd form, wave ripple)
The knight raised his sword to block it. Waves of mana races thought his body was they clashed inducing a numb feeling along with some internal injuries.
He fell to his knees, succumbing to the strength of the impact.
The others launched a joint attack from behind, aiming to catch her off guard.
The mages unleashed the spell they had prepared. Multiple Chains imbued with various elements warped around her body blocking her movements.
Despite the predicament, she remained unfazed. Increasing her mana output, she managed to break the restraints just before the swords reached her.
Without delay she raised her sword to meet the attack.
(Royal guard sword style 3rd form, horizon streak)
Executing a horizontal slash in a rapid motion, a wave of mana traveled along the sword path.
As their swords made contact, the wave of mana swept through the knights, sending them crashing on to the nearby trees.
Two of them managed to protect themselves with mana but the last one didn't react fast enough, sustaining several injuries along with a broken sword.
Capitalizing on the advantage, Layal rushed toward the defenseless knight, stabbing her swords trough his heart.
She immediately lunged toward the other two who were surprised by her speed, but two fists of wind about a person's size struck her, sending her rolling through the ground.
Using her sword to stop her momentum, she took a moment to calm herself. Those wind spells were 3rd rank magic so even with a mana reinforcement they did some damage to her.
Taking a deep breath, she readied herself in time, just as the mages finished casting more buffs on the knights, they clashed once more.
**
From a nearby tree, Luke watched the fight with the upmost focus.
He was surprised about the princess's battle prowess, it looked like she has some experience with dealing with multiple opponents.
'But I did not expect this kind of dominance'.
Even if her opponents were around the same rank as her. Her vast mana pool and sword
'But that's not going to last long'.
Despite managed to get a kill, they were at a stalemate, and thanks to the leader's strategies, she was bound to lose in a battle of attrition.
With his plan formed, Luke began casting his magic. He decided to interfere.
With his magic ready, he threw a smoke grenade in the middle of the field. Confirming everyone was caught he launched his spells, 3 wind bullets flew at fast speeds, piercing the heads of the confused mages.
The three instantly dropped dead on the ground.
He quickly moved between the trees, landing behind the leader, with a knife in his hand, he silently dragged him to the bushes, ending his life with a quick neck stab.
Once the smoke cleared, all of them were surprised by the lifeless bodies of the mages on the ground and the leader nowhere to be seen. Instead, a young silver haired boy stood there with a knife soaked in blood and a light ball the size of a baseball stood above his head.
All three were looking at Luke with a surprised look. Naturally he took advantage of the situation, with a simple gesture, the light ball fired a beam of light at one of the knights.
(2nd rank light magic, solar trace)
The latter barely managed to react, the beam hit the tree behind him, leaving a scorched hole on it.
Luke spoke to the princess in an authoritative tone.
- I'll take one, focus on defeating the other.
She wanted to retort but he already charged towards his target.
The knight saw Luke close the distance.
'A mage fighting at close range? Is he crazy?
He didn't dwell in it for long, he was confident he could kill him.
Luke unleashed his spell again, various beams of light were fired at his opponent. This time he managed to dodge them.
Holding his knife in a reverse grip, he clashed with the sword.
*clank
The sound of the clashing metal echoed through the forest. Despite using body strengthening and weapon enhancement on the knife, the silver haired boy fell in one knee.
The knight showed a delight expression and began to pour more force on the sword.
As if he was waiting for his moment, Luke tilted his knife, letting the sword slip trough its surface, falling on the ground.
He quickly spun up connecting an elbow blow to the assailant's face.
*Baang
-Arrrrghh
Letting out a loud scream, he staggered a few steps back.
Luke, with his magic already prepared, rushed at the knight. The latter having already recovered, swung his sword, aiming for Luke's head.
The boy was faster, ducking under the sword, he gave powerful slap on his ear, shoving along a miniature ball of wind in.
Luke took a few steps back and began to motion a countdown with his fingers.
Once it reached 3 the knight's face began to abnormally expand, exploding like a balloon.
(2nd rank wind magic, air bomb)
Usually, the air bomb spell was about the size of a tennis ball, but Luke managed to modify it to the size of pebble, allowing it to detonate in small places.
'The mana consumption on this is no joke'.
The took a potion from his coat, his mana quickly recovered.
Turing to the princess's fight, they were still clashing at full power, but the last knight had multiple cuts all over his body. Despite them both being oh the same rank, the lack of technique was the deciding factor.
Plus, all the buffs he had from the mages were gone the moment they were killed, also he no longer had the number's advantage.
However, the princess had yet to deliver the finishing blow.
'This is taking too long'.
He casted a flash bomb at their direction. The blinding flash made both abruptly stop their duel.
Luke pulled out his revolver.
*BANG.
A clean shot to the head, the last terrorist died.
Recovering from the sight she saw the dead body of her opponent lying on the ground and Luke holding the gun.
She dashed towards him, grabbing his collar she spoke in a meaning tone.
- I told you I didn't need your help.
He brushed off her hand.
- You were their target princess, if this fight had prolonged any longer, they would…
Luke stopped speaking, felling an ominous aura approaching.
He turned to the source, a tall silhouette walked from the shadows.
- Well this is quite a surprise…