"Get me his head!" Jiro pointed and the two magical constructs suddenly moved, rushing forward at Raven, swords drawn to do their master's bidding. Raven moved at the same time, he waved his free hand and summoned a wave of black fire that engulfed the two magic knight constructs. However, the flames did not slow them down too much, and only dealt some damage to them. It would take much more concentrated attacks to be able to stop them.
But Raven was not betting on such a measly move to stop them. He only wanted the flames to block their vision of him for a moment as he used a move that he had only recently figured out.
Raven fell into the shadows, quite literally, as he vanished from view. Everything became darker around him, and he could only traverse through the shadows to avoid being seen. This was an advanced application of Dark Magic that Raven ordinarily should not have come in touch with, but for some reason, he was able to execute it.
Jiro was startled when he saw that Raven vanished from sight under the cover of the flames. His first thought was that Raven had run away, but he soon threw that thought to the back of his mind. He doubted that Raven would take off so easily when they had yet to officially clash.
Whoosh!
Jiro jumped and held up his wooden staff with a glowing blue gem on its crown. One of the engraved spells on the staff instantly activated, creating a shield of water around him just in time to stop the black dagger that was aimed at his neck.
"YOU INSOLENT BRAT!" Jiro was frightened. The spell that was engraved on the staff was not something he had made by himself. It was something that was granted to all inspectors of his level. If it were not for the instantaneous activation of the spell in response to the perceived threat to his life, then he would most likely be dead at this time!
Jiro quickly channeled his mana as fast as he could, words blurring past his lips as he conjured a large spell. With him at the center, a strong current of wind suddenly expanded outward in a circular shape, knocking back everything. Grass, branches, leaves, and all other things were blown back, exposing everything in the surroundings.
Jiro's eyes were sharp, sharp enough to pick up an abnormality where a certain location resisted the effects of his spell far better than everywhere else.
'Got you!' His eyes glinted as he had already began casting another spell. He held up his staff as streams of flame began to appear out of thin air, condensing into a fireball that eventually grew to the size of a person's head.
"Eat this!" He exclaimed, and sent the fireball hurling forward. It arced through the air and crashed right in the spot where the anomaly had been seconds ago. The delay of a few seconds that came as a result of his chanting speed allowed the anomaly to move, but the explosion radius of the fireball was large enough to produce more clues for Jiro.
Whoosh!
Following their master's orders, the two magic knight constructs dashed forward and chased after what they could not see. They could only wave their swords and hope that they hit something.
Jiro's eyes were almost crazed as he felt the rush of excitement from the thought of victory. This was a young boy, but it seemed as though his accomplishments in Dark Magic were quite notable! If he was able to secure victory, then there was no doubt that the merits he would receive would be increased greatly by virtue of removing such a future threat to the White Empire!
He would have continued to hurl fireballs around him in a bid to force Raven out, but his mana levels had already nosedived. As a low ranking mage, he did not have high mana reserves. The spell with the wind had been especially draining on his mana reserves. Now, he only had about half of his total reserves left. He could only afford a few more spells at most, so he would leave the bulk of the work to the magic constructs.
Clang!
Soon, one of the magic constructs clashed against something and was pushed to the side. While its balance of was off, a hand wreathed in a black flame gauntlet reached out from the shadows and grasped its head before bursting with a wave of scalding hot flames that dug into the openings that it could find. And there were many openings, considering the fact that the construct was basically a set of armor that was held together by mana.
Then something remarkable took place. The mana that was once pure and untainted began to change in color, turning darker with each passing moment, before patches of black mana began to pop up here and there. Even the armor was not spared, with some parts of it starting to look rusted and worn.
This was the decaying effect of Dark Magic that had been intentionally exploited in order to make the most of it. It was for this reason that many beings of this world feared Dark Magic. There was nothing good to associate with it most times. Just the effects of the Decay that was rooted in Dark Magic was enough to scare off most people, as even those who used Dark Magic were not spared from it!
Jiro jumped back in fright, not wanted to even get grazed by the mana that spilled out from Raven. He commanded the other construct to exploit the opening that was made when Raven attacked the first one. Without hesitation, the magic knight moved, heading straight for Raven. It raised its sword and swung down in an arc when it came close enough.
However, something shocking happened in the next moment.
Clang!
The arm of the magic construct under Raven that held a sword suddenly came up to block the sword strike, preventing it from injuring Raven!