Creo and his guild got back on track and continued off their trek to the mystical kingdom known as Listmyca to find the sacred Philosopher's Stone.
Meanwhile the adversary Victor Alchemus, accompanied by the sorcerers Nightshade, Serena, Bruno and Morgan activated a portal from the castle and teleported to the outside of Listmyca.
"How much more longer until we eventually arrive to the kingdom of Listmyca?" Creo asked Zino whilst they continue on their journey.
"Well based on my observations, I can feel that we are heading closer considering I'm sensing a lot of magical pressure..." Zino said.
As they continued with their walk, the Bookkeeper felt something was off with what Zino said, the magical pressure was a bit different.
"Hmm, I've got a bad feeling about this..." The Bookkeeper sighed.
"What do you mean by that?" Athena asked.
"It's just that when Zino sensed there was magical pressure up ahead, for me it felt like a negative pressure of magic..." The Bookkeeper replied.
"Yeah, he's got a point as well..." Crimson Thorn said.
"I can feel something off around the area..." Zion Kishima mumbled to himself.
Suddenly a portal opened ahead of them, with the sky which was once light blue, is now turned into a blood red, which was similar to Crimson Thorn's entrance.
Out came the group of sorcerers led by the Listmycan ruler, Victor Alchemus, armed with his magical armaments as well as the Philosopher's Stone on his locket, which the heroes sought after.
They all walked forward, approaching the guild, one step at a time with the guild bracintg themselves, each of them gripping tightly to their very weapons.
"Brace yourselves, these guys are bad news..." Zino said.
The enemy group eventually stopped with Victor stepping forward to announce themselves to Creo's group.
"Well, I'm guessing that you people are travellers, am I right?" Victor asked.
"Yes, you are correct, good sir." Creo replied.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Victor...Victor Alchemus, ruler of Listmyca..." Victor said, extending his hand.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Creo Creatorius...King of Elderith..." Creo said, reluctantly shaking Victor's hand.
Victor simply chuckled and smirked at him, though his arrogance and ego nature is strong but so is his power as a sorcerer.
"So, I've heard stories about you, famed King of Elderith...I know exactly what you are here for..." Victor chuckled.
"You seek after the fabled Philosopher Stone which I possess... unfortunately for you and your dear comrades, I won't give it to you easily, in fact, this Stone is and will only belong to me..." Victor smirked.
"And if you're going to take it from me, you'll just have to kill me..." Victor chuckled.
"Then I, Creo Creatorius, king of Elderith, challenge you to a duel, king of Listmyca, do you accept?" Creo said coldly, unsheathing and raising his sword.
"Unless you are a king who hides behind the walls of your castle like a coward, then I brand you as an unworthy king if you do not accept my request..." Creo scoffed.
This response angered Victor and only increased his arrogance, his ego, his pride and confidence.
"Ha! You are bold to ask me to fight you, King of Elderith, nonetheless as the King of Listmyca, I will respond to your request, I fight for my pride and I will make you crumble before my very eyes!" Victor exclaimed.
"Now I'm only going to say this once, fall back with your group, retreat to wherever you came from, as an act of mercy..." Victor chuckled.
"I'm sorry but I will not back down from this, as a warrior and as a king, I will not simply surrender without putting up a fight and I won't go back empty-handed therefore I will defeat you and claim your sacred Philosopher's Stone!" Creo shouted at Victor.
"Very well, this is the choice you have made, now prepare to die..." Victor said charging forward at him.
Creo proceeds to dodge his attack at the last minute, he swung his blade at him, attempting to make a scratch and weaken his opponent.
Victor simply smirked and casted a spell at Creo binding him with his chains, with Creo dropping his blade on the ground.
Creo simply chuckled as he activated his Kontroligan Eyes and traded places with Victor Alchemus.
"Not bad...you are tricky..." Victor smirked.
Suddenly from behind, Creo was caught off-guard and was captured by a shadow caused by Nightshade.
"Long time no see...King of Elderith..." Nightshade said, taking his hood off, binding Creo with his shadow technique.
"I see you're still alive huh?" Creo said.
"Hmph, I've been better..." Nightshade scoffed, attempting to crush Creo using his shadow hand.
"That is as far as you will go...Nightshade!" Bookkeeper said, cutting the shadow hand of Nightshade.
Creo landed on the ground, and slowly stood up after the impact.
"It's not going to be easy to beat me and my group...King of Elderith..." Victor chuckled, standing in front of him.
Creo took the opportunity and stabbed Victor with his sword while he was distracted but else something happened.
"You think that is enough to stop me?" Victor chuckled.
Everyone in Creo's group was in shock as they witnessed that Victor Alchemus is still alive and moving after receiving a serious wound from Creo's sword.
"The Philosopher's Stone does have its benefits..." Victor said, pulling out Creo's sword from his body.
"Allow me to demonstrate..." Victor said, touching the ground and summoning golems made out of the earth.
The golems rushed toward Creo and his group, Zion rushed and sliced off some of the golems heads, Athena used her ice powers and froze the golems rendering them unable to move and eventually killed them by dismantling them.
Victor saw the opportunity and rushed towards Creo who was distracted from fighting the golems and stabbed him.
"Creo!" Athena exclaimed.
"You damn bastard!" The Bookkeeper exclaimed, rushing towards him.
Buni headed in front of him, blocking his path.
"This is as far as you may go...fourth-rate mage..." Bruno said.
"Armotura...Potentia!" Bruno chanted, as his magic summoned a giant defensive shield, blocking Bookkeeper from reaching the other side.
"You should have stopped when Lord Alchemus gave you the chance..." Serena chuckled.
"We aren't leaving until we retrieve that Philosopher Stone, so try stopping us..." Athena replied, charging towards her.
"How persistent you heroes are..." Serena chuckled.
Athena proceeds to infuse her fire power to her sword, swinging it at Serena much to Serena's shock.
"Impressive, you seem to be superhuman, looks like I underestimated you too much..." Serena smirked.
"And you're the type of person I'd love to punch in the face..." Athena said aggressively, swinging her blade.
"You're all bark but can you bite?" Serena smirked.
Athena proceeds to use her fire powers and shoots out a fireball aiming it directly at Serena.
"Let's see what you'll do with this..." Athena said, throwing the fireball at Serena.
Serena simply uses a defensive spell to block the fireball aimed at her, Athena uses that opportunity to swiftly charge towards Serena and catches her off-guard making her trip and fall down to the ground
"Hmph, and I thought you would be a bit stronger than that..." Athena smirked.
"Oh you misunderstood dear, I was only just buying some time..." Serena smirked.
Suddenly, Nightshade accompanied by Morgan confronted Athena, with Nightshade grabbing Athena using his shadow technique and Morgan opening a portal leading her to fall into the dungeon.
"That should take care of her for now..." Morgan chuckled.
"Now we should go after the King of Elderith..." Nightshade said.
Serena gets back up on her feet and follows the two to assist Victor Alchemus.
"Now where was I, ah yes I'll be taking you as my prisoner...King of Elderith...you're too big of a threat to intervene with my plans..." Victor said, as he began to chant his magic seal.
"Other than these third to fourth-grade fighters, you alone are a threat to my uprising...so I will send you to this dungeon where you will spend the rest of your life rotting...farewell..." Victor said, kicking him inside the portal and closing it off.
"Turn the shield off Bruno...it's not even worth fighting the other heroes...the only one I needed to be disposed was Creo Creatorius, come let us go back to the castle now..." Victor said, placing his hand over Bruno's shoulder.
Bruno proceeded to take off the barrier, Crimson Thorn, fueled by anger, took the opportunity to throw his double-bladed weapon at Victor Alchemus which somehow hit Victor.
"Damn...I did not expect that..." Victor said.
"You'll pay for this!" Crimson Thorn shouted at him.
He proceeded to use his secret ability at him, pulling him closer, grabbing him through chokehold.
"Impossible..." Serena said in shock.
"You must be a possessor of Blood Manipulation, am I not correct?" Victor smirked.
"You are right, and now I will take away the blood that flows your very own body..." Crimson Thorn scoffed.
But as Crimson Thorn was about to expel the blood from Victor Alchemus' body, Nightshade along with the rest of the other sorcerers charged at him, with Nightshade using his Shadow Hand, not only on Crimson Thorn but everyone in Creo's group.
"I'll buy some time, take Victor back to the castle..." Nightshade said.
"Very well, me and Bruno will take him to the castle, you and Morgan do your best in holding them off..." Serena replied.
Serena and Bruno opened a portal and headed off to the castle whilst Nightshade and Morgan are holding off Creo's group.
"Now what do you think we should do with them?" Nightshade said, waiting for Morgan's response.
"Well I was thinking of dropping them from the sky and making them land in some lake, how does that sound with you?" Morgan chuckled.
"I guess that also works..." Nightshade replied.
Morgan proceeds to open a portal, leading to a lake, Nightshade proceeds to drop the rest of them down inside the portals where they will eventually fall into the lake.
"Now let's go catch up with the others shall we?" Morgan smirked.
"Alright then." Nightshade replied, opening a portal.
Meanwhile The Bookkeeper along with the others were falling down from the sky as they were about to crash down into the lake.
"Hang on lads, I'll get us out of this situation..." The Bookkeeper said.
The Bookkeeper proceeds to use his magic to teleport everyone from falling to the sky to the nearest land area that they can settle.
"Well that was a close one..." Crimson Thorn said.
"No kidding, that magic required a lot of mana from me considering there were a lot of us falling down from the sky..." The Bookkeeper said exhaustingly.
"For now let us rest and tomorrow we will begin our plan in rescuing Creo and Athena from Victor Alchemus' clutches..." Crimson Thorn replied.
"Right..." The others replied to him.
Meanwhile back at Victor Alchemus castle, Victor is getting his wounds treated by healers.
"That blade from that masked man earlier, out of all the weapons, that had the most effectiveness in hurting me...I wonder...who is that man..." Victor said.
Victor eventually stood up from the chair, he proceeded to grab and button up his polo.
"I'll be resting in my room, for the others, you guys can also rest for the day, anyways, how are the prisoners doing?" Victor sighed.
"The prisoners are being heavily guarded by our entrusted mages, they are second to first rate mages, therefore these prisoners won't be able to escape so easily..." Bruno replied.
"Is that so?" Victor said.
"Hmph very well, reward yourselves, my dear compatriots, all of you get some well-deserved rest..." Victor said.
Victor navigated around his castle, he made his way to his quarters, as he entered inside his room, he was surprised to see Serena laying down on his bed, looking at him with a seductive look.
"What brings you here in my quarters, Serena?" Victor said, approaching towards her.
"I came to check up on you, don't you trust me Vic?" Serena smirked, playing around on his bed.
"If this is your way of comfort then you're better off trying something else..." Victor smirked, turning around.
Serena holds his arm tightly, not wanting him to go.
"What's the matter, Serena?" Victor asked, sitting on the bed next to Serena.
"I want you to rest, but can I rest with you?" Serena asked, Victor waiting for his response.
"Sure, let me just do something first..." Victor said, standing up from the bed.
"Well you better make it quick cause I don't like waiting too long..." Serena chuckled.
Victor approached the door and locked it, he took off his necklace that contained the Philosopher's Stone and kept it safe inside his cabinet.
"You like playing things safe don't you?" Serena smirked.
"You have no idea, now where were we?" Victor said, approaching towards Serena.
Meanwhile back in the dungeon,, Creo and Athena are imprisoned and chained, guarded by mages around the area.
"Well looks like we messed up big time..." Creo sighed.
"No kidding, that sorcerer proved to be stronger than we initially thought, he got hit directly at his heart...and yet he moved as if he was unfazed..." Athena replied.
"Hmph, it looks like you two also got caught by him...well I guess because through the help of his lackeys and his use of the Philosopher's Stone, that would be the reason he caught you..." A voice called out.
"Who are you?" Creo asked.
"Just a fellow prisoner of that oppressor, I don't have an identity, but you may just call me the Accursed Sorcerer..." The man replied.
"Um if you don't mind, could you please tell us what made you earn that title?" Athena asked the man, waiting for his response.
"Well, it all started when Victor Alchemus took over the kingdom of Listmyca, I was one of the few of those protestants who show no support towards that man, for I knew he was nothing more than a vile villain in this world." The sorcerer replied.
"And so I when I tried to expose him of his dirty deeds, me and him engaged in a battle, it was a close match with me nearly reaching success until he used a dirty play into our battle,as he brought out his secret weapon...the Philosopher Stone..." The sorcerer continued.
"Once he activated, my hopes of defeating him already shattered before my eyes, now I'm stuck into this position..." The sorcerer sighed, looking up at the ceiling of the dungeon.
"Well me and my group are planning to stop that mad man and take away that Philosopher Stone from his hands..." Creo said.
"Hmph, you guys are like a resistance huh, then in that case,bi support your ideals and count me in as a part of your group..." The sorcerer chuckled.
"Ok then...now we'll just have to plan out how to escape and regroup with our comrades..." Athena said.
*Flashback*
A young boy with black hair was playing around with his group of friends a game of hide and seek,until he stumbled upon himself being separated from the others and he found himself entering inside an an ancient temple as his hiding spot, inside contained a mysterious artifact at the center.
The young boy who was filled with curiosity and couldn't hold it any longer, he decided to snatch the necklace and escaped from the temple, where a young girl saw him from afar.
After that moment, ten years later, when word was heard of a thief who had stolen the necklace from the temple, the kingdom's military officers went ahead and looked for the boy, who is now a grown up man and on the level of a second-rate mage, running away from them.
"Damn, it's not my fault that the necklace looks so fascinating..." The boy, now adult said, rolling his eyes, whilst being chased.
"Stop now if you wish to prove your innocence!" An officer said, about to chant a spell upon him.
"How about no, considering I know that this necklace is too much for the kingdom's own good..." Victor said.
"Don't you dare!" The officer shouted.
Before the sorcerers could even react, the man wore the necklace and then used the necklace's powers, the aftermath was a bloodbath with the sorcerer officers getting brutally slaughtered due to the necklace' immense sheer power.
Eventually more reinforcement arrived and immediately arrested the poor man.
"Look at the brutality this man has created, he who has slain our fallen brothers..." An officer said
"This is the reason why ordinary people shouldn't be allowed to possess this kind of power..." The superior said to officer.
"Did you get the name of this man?" The superior asked.
"Yes sir, according to our records, this man's name is Victor Alchemus, he has been in possession of this artifact when he was 10 years old, we have successfully retrieved the necklace and he's currently serving his time in the dungeon..." The officer said.
*Back to the present*
Victor woke up from his nap, with Serena hugging him from behind, giving him a little bit of comfort.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Serena asked, stroking his arms.
"Yeah I did..." Victor said, turning to face Serena.
"Was it that same dream again?" Serena said worryingly, caressing his cheek.
"Yeah, it was that same dream from before..." Victor sighed.
"Shhhhhhhh, it's alright...I'm right here by your side..." Serena said, pulling him closer.
"Thank you Serena, for being a loyal confidant...and for being my lover..." Victor said tiringly, nuzzling at Serena's neck.
"It's no problem, I just want to help you with your cause to begin with..." Serena said, patting her hand over Victor's head.
"Well tomorrow, let us go and check up on the prisoners shall we?" Victor said, closing his eyes.
"Yup, it's alright..." Serena sighed and closed her eyes.
And so, both Creo and Athena have been captured and the rest of the group were sent far away from their initial route, with Victor Alchemus' past slowly being hinted at and his intentions with the Philosopher's Stone, will the heroes be able to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone from Victor Alchemus or will they fail and Victor Alchemus will continue to use the Philosopher Stone for his own purpose, stay tuned to find out.