"That was faster than anticipated."
Rachel spoke with a sense of clarity, she knew Cedric would emerge victorious from the battle but what she certainly didn't expect was that it'd happen far faster than what she originally assumed.
Helena had already taken off with the Heaven's Paradice so it should be safe for now at least.
"Now then."
Rachel turned her attention back to the third ranked mage of Tendon Seis who approached her carefully. Seeing how the second highest ranked was taken down a little bit to easily he had to be cautious, Crimson Heart was not a guild to be taken lightly.
"Crimson's Heart most strongest woman, Rachel Yoshida. It really is an honor, you can call me Brian"
Rachel chuckled softly which surprised him, she was known to be one of the kindest individuals out there but her response to his compliments said otherwise.
"It doesn't really matter how long you try to stall me, it won't work."
Brian grunted as he realized she had already seen through him.
"Impossible, she couldn't have."
He pondered in his thoughts whilst Rachel smiled at him.
"No it can't be, I haven't even made a move yet. She's testing me.."
Brian dashed forward towards Rachel swiftly drawing out a knife from his pocket, as he went ahead and attempted to stab her, Rachel instantly turned around before utilizing her water magic encasing her two hands with it.
"Hydrokinetic blades.."
She spoke softly raising her right hand up and her hydro blade clashed with the knife of another Brian.
"What!?"
He exclaimed with concern as Rachel jumped slightly using a roundhouse kick to propel him backwards on the ground. Landing on her feet the Hydrokinetic Blades dissipated as Rachel stared down at her opponent who was dumbfounded.
"H-how did you figure it out that easily!?"
The question was quite easy to answer.
"Your magic is Illusion magic am I correct? I suggest you don't use this during the day time."
Brian made use of the Illusion system which entailed creating illusions based on the user's perspective. It was a truly powerful magic for deceit but has a great weakness.
"There wasn't any shadow."
Using the illusion technique in broad daylight is risky gamble if your opponent was paying attention to their environment. In this case Rachel was able to detect that the Brian which rushed her wasn't a real one as he didn't exist 3 dimensionally.
"Tsk...it doesn't matter, you won't be able to see me if your not given the chance to!"
Brian clapped his hands and swiftly multiple illusions of himself surrounded Rachel from every angle possible.
"Catch me if you can, before you die!"
They all spoke at once and rushed towards her, indeed it would be difficult to pick out the real Brian with this many illusions.
She didn't have time for a game of cat and mouse so she decided to end it all in one move. Rachel closed her eyes and joined her hands together as the several two dimensional manifestations of Brian rushed her at ones.
"Water Magic: Vortex Torrent."
As Rachel opened her eyes, they shone bright blue for a moment before a huge magic circle appeared on the ground with her standing in the middle of it. All the illusions and the real Brian himself were also standing on top the circle.
"What is this!?"
A distressed Brian yelled.
Suddenly a huge spiraling vortex of water shot up everywhere excluding the spot Rachel stood in like a geyser. It was highly pressurized and eventually the real Brian was caught in this and knocked into the sky before landing hard on the ground right in front of the Shinigami's forest.
The illusions disappeared as the caster was rendered unconscious.
"Well that was quick, at least I showed mercy."
Rachel turned around to face Cedric who had arrived at the scene, she smiled at his statement before facing the direction of the erupting flames of Nageyama.
"There wasn't any time to be merciful, come on we have to find Helen before the rest of Tendon Seis does."
Swiftly they ran towards the direction Helena took off in, she was a powerless mage so she was a prime target.
"I just realized something, why is it Tendon Seis is referred to as the strongest dark guild and their top two mages are this weak."
"Well that's because-"
Rachel realized that this was a trap, or rather it was part of Tendon Seis plans to separate Helena from them. She ran faster with Cedric hot on her tail.
"Wait up!"
[Meanwhile]
The scorch marks on the ground caused by the eruption of Nageyama's flames evolved into a river of melted ground, his flames grew darker and his power level exploded off the charts.
"W-what are you?"
I wasn't afraid or anything, well maybe a little bit but it was amazing meeting a mage of this caliber.
"That's right...as an acknowledgement to your strength, I'll bless your death by introducing myself properly to you."
BOOM!
The already melted ground beneath Nageyama's feet cracked and exploded as he took off dashing towards me. I wasn't able to read his movements, it was beyond what my eyes could comprehend.
Instantly my mouth was filled up before I forcefully ejected saliva from my mouth as the fist of Nageyama which connected with my abdomen threw me way backwards and I fell to the ground.
I tried to stabilize my breathing as my eyes twitched and my body trembled after taking that hit, I couldn't believe it.
"I am Nageyama, the Dark Sage of Tendon Seis."
He spoke softly as he revealed his true identity to me. The magical rankings of our world varied according to the users capability. From an apprentice mage to a mage, to a great mage and finally a Sage, it's the same for the dark guilds except they were evil.
The greatest ranks among them all was the Legendary Sage, which was divided into the Arcana Sage and the Dragon Sage respectively, but those ranks were not gained. They are gifted.
So this was the mission my system wanted me to complete? Pretty brutal if you ask me.