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At the headquarters of the Mage Hunters in the Bay of Clarinets, three hooded and masked figures observed the base from the trees, blending into the environment.
"What's the plan?" Katarina asked Mark while checking her daggers, and Riven also examined her gear. "Let's see," Mark murmured as he studied the base.
The headquarters seemed to have been built atop a Petricite tree, and from what he remembered, its underground interior was vast. Finding the prisoners and navigating the traps would undoubtedly take time.
His eyes swept over the sentries and then to the entrance, where he got a bold idea.
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Meanwhile, inside the base...
Hesbeth, the vile alchemist of the Mage Hunters, was conducting experiments in his lab. Since the current story takes place long before the mage rebellion, he hadn't yet made significant advances in his research.
His laboratory was filled with tools, magical chemical compounds, and the corpse of a mage on a bench—probably an unlucky soul Hesbeth had decided to experiment on.
At that moment, Hesbeth felt light tremors in the room, making him frown. "What was that?" he muttered, putting down his tools as he headed out of the room.
He didn't allow guards on the same floor where he conducted experiments to avoid interference with his research, but now this decision proved inconvenient as he had to climb the stairs to find the guards.
**Thump!**
The tremors became more frequent and stronger, causing Hesbeth to frown and quicken his pace. He swiftly climbed the stairs and entered the floor where the prisoners were held.
Peeking his head through the door, he saw two hooded figures standing in the hallway, whom he assumed to be mage hunters and decided to call out to them.
"Hey, you two, tell me what the hell is going—" Hesbeth began, but the words stuck in his throat as he climbed the last step and looked at the floor around the two figures, who slowly turned to face him.
On the ground lay a dozen mage hunter guards and mages, their throats slit or chests pierced, filling the air with the strong scent of blood. Hesbeth gulped as he saw the two female figures wearing fox masks staring at him.
"Are you Hesbeth, the alchemist?" the woman with white hair asked him. Not daring to respond, Hesbeth turned to flee, but before he could take two steps, a sharp wind whistled through the air, followed by a searing pain in his left leg.
"Argh!" Hesbeth groaned in pain, collapsing to the floor and bleeding. A dagger had lodged deeply in his thigh, thrown by the red-haired woman.
The two figures quickly approached him and grabbed him. "You're coming with us, but first, help us free the mages here," Katarina demanded, grabbing Hesbeth by his clothes and dragging him down the hallway as he screamed in pain.
His relentless cries woke the numerous prisoners in the dozens of cells lining the corridors, and one by one, the mages approached the cell doors.
Riven, holding a key ring she had taken from a dead guard, began to open the cells one by one. The prisoners, however, dared not leave and only peeked out curiously as all the cells were unlocked.
Inside were children, women, adults, and elders of all kinds and ages—ordinary people who had experienced magical awakenings and been captured by the Mage Hunters.
The fire of life had already been extinguished in their eyes, leaving only despair and loss reflected in their gaze. If Mark were there, he would have said a prayer to Janna before tending to them one by one.
After freeing all the cells, the prisoners began to step out, following the two women who had released them. At that moment, Riven turned to face them, causing them to stop in their tracks.
"I know you have many questions, and they'll be answered in due time, but right now, our companion is fighting on the surface against countless Mage Hunters. Follow us, and you'll gain freedom. Stay, and only death awaits you," she said sternly. Just then, the prison trembled again, and dust fell from the ceiling.
The people murmured, unsure of what to do, but then a small girl, about five years old, stepped forward. "If we follow you, will we truly be free again? Will the Mage Hunters stop chasing us?" she asked, approaching the two women.
To Riven's surprise, Katarina let go of Hesbeth, who groaned in pain, and stepped forward before kneeling before the little girl. "I think I'm beginning to understand how Mark feels when he sees these people," she thought, her heart tightening at the sight of the child's small eyes, full of hope and fear.
It was a new feeling for her, but she thought about what Mark would do and placed her hand on the girl's head. "Everything will be okay, little one. I'll protect you so no Mage Hunter will ever dare to come after you," she said. The little girl extended her pinky to her.
"Do you pinky swear?" she asked. Katarina hesitated for a moment before linking her pinky with the girl's. "I swear," she said, standing up and approaching Riven.
"Change of plans. You take the alchemist and retrieve that black feather Mark mentioned. I'll help them escape," Katarina said. Riven nodded, grabbing the injured alchemist and dragging him down the stairs.
With a determined gaze hidden beneath her mask, Katarina began to run toward the stairs, and the crowd followed her upward.
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On the surface...
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**BOOM!**
A fiery explosion erupted, sending dust and screams into the air.
"Damn it, there are too many of them!" Mark shouted as he performed acrobatic maneuvers to dodge numerous stone projectiles conjured by opposing mages.
His shirt was already torn, with small cuts and marks spread across his body as he faced the horde of Mage Hunters before him.
"You damn mage, just die already!" one of the hunters yelled, attempting to conjure a wind blade in mid-air. But with a wave of Mark's left hand, the spell destabilized, resulting in a wind explosion that hurled several Mage Hunters into the air, injuring them.
"This guy's a monster," murmured Killan, Sylas' former mentor in the Mage Hunters. He had been nearby when several magical distress calls reached his squad, prompting them to rush to the scene.
But what they encountered was pure chaos: charred and bloodied bodies of paladins and Mage Hunters littered the area. Strange red flames engulfed the scene, burning only the corpses while leaving the forest untouched. In the midst of it all, a lone man wearing a sheep mask—like a god of death—dominated the battlefield with wind and fire magic, overwhelming both the defenses and reinforcements that arrived.
At first, Mark had simply been launching fireballs and wind blades, pummeling any paladin who dared get close with flaming fists, leaving his enemies no room to counterattack.
However, as reinforcements poured in, Mark began to feel the pressure. Spells of water, stone, and other elements came at him relentlessly, forcing him to erect barriers for defense.
Soon, it was he who was on the defensive, passively fending off attacks. Sensing the enemy's growing confidence, Mark became irritated, thinking quickly of a way to turn the tide.
It wasn't exactly a solution but rather a new method of attack. Recalling the bending techniques from *Avatar*, he had a sudden revelation: the greatest challenge for mages when casting spells was their reliance on focus. With few exceptions, spells required channeling energy through the body and controlling it mentally.
But Mark, inspired by the *Avatar* universe, devised a simple idea: **"I just need to guide the energy with my body, not my mind."**
Coming to this conclusion, he dropped his wind and fire barriers, allowing numerous spells to rain down on him.
"We got him!" a Mage Hunter exclaimed, only for his eyes to widen in disbelief in the next instant.
**Swoosh!**
Using wind magic to propel himself into the air, Mark spun his body, accumulating fire in his hands before releasing a stream of flames toward the mages. They scrambled desperately to defend themselves.
He began to move fluidly across the battlefield, performing acrobatics to optimize his spellcasting. At first, his movements were clumsy, allowing some spells to hit him. But thanks to his divine lineage and the *Sharingan*, what started as a rough concept of magical martial arts quickly became a reality before everyone's eyes.
This led to the current situation.
"He's evolving while fighting us!" Killan realized in horror. He immediately wanted to warn his comrades to end the battle quickly, but at that moment, the man stopped moving and raised his hand, signaling a pause in the fight.
No one knew why, but all the Mage Hunters stopped casting spells and stared at him in silence, afraid that any noise might provoke him into attacking again.
Mark glanced at them, dusting himself off with a look of satisfaction.
"I haven't introduced myself to you yet. My name is Mark!" he declared, pausing to glance at the headquarters' entrance.
At that moment, Katarina and the freed mages emerged. Freezing for a moment at the sight of the battlefield, they hesitated, but Katarina urged them on, forcing them to run.
One by one, they passed Mark, heading into the forest. The Mage Hunters watched in silence, knowing that if they dared pursue, the battle would turn into an all-out massacre, with their bodies inevitably joining the charred remains on the ground.
When the last mage disappeared into the forest, a Mage Hunter captain stepped forward.
"Surrender, Mage Mark! If you surrender now, we'll spare your life, and perhaps you might even join our ranks. But if you resist, all that awaits you is pursuit and death!" he declared confidently.
Mark remained silent for a moment.
"Maybe I should put on a little show?" he thought playfully, recalling several charismatic antiheroes and villains. Deciding to have some fun, he slowly hunched over, clutching his stomach.
"Haha... MUHAHAHAHA!" He chuckled softly before breaking into a booming, maniacal laugh, straightening up as he glared at the Mage Hunters.
"YOU! TAKE MY MESSAGE!" he shouted, pointing at them while slowly arching backward. *(Note: JoJo pose.)*
"I WILL DESTROY THE MAGE HUNTERS! I WILL BURN THE HYPOCRITICAL DEMACIA TO THE GROUND AND FROM ITS ASHES BUILD A JUST KINGDOM FOR MAGES!" he proclaimed, his voice thundering like a storm, searing itself into the minds of the Mage Hunters, who unconsciously took a step back.
At that moment, Mark opened his arms, and a wall of fire erupted in front of him, separating him from the mages.
"REMEMBER ME, FOR I AM VENGEANCE! I AM JUSTICE! I AM... BATMAN!" he shouted. The walls of fire burst upward before slowly dissipating, revealing that Mark had vanished.
The remaining Mage Hunters stood drenched in sweat, their eyes filled with fear.
"Contact Lord Eldred—no, contact the King. He needs to know about Batman!"
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