Mana strings encircled the cloaked figure as they hopped off the lamp post and sat down on it while crossing their legs.

"Well well, this's quite a pleasant surprise. When I had those bandits cause a ruckus I was expecting a few knights to show up eventually, like the last village, not for the top dog himself to show up." the figure remarked with a slightly seductive and condescending female voice. Zulcrestus remained silent, making the woman frown and disappointedly glare at him.

"You're no fun, at least the last group of Zelkio Knight were fun to tease.". The woman continued to complain and rested her chin on her. She watched Prima flying away before an idea came to her and a grin grew on her face.

"Maybe those two will be more fun to play with so why don't I bring them back." The woman remarked as she raised one of her dark purple arms with a crystally texture and three glowing magenta ring-like tattoos on her wrist. She tensed up her arm as hundreds of mana strings erupted from the magenta rings and rapidly pursued after Prima and the others. Suddenly the mana strings were instantly sliced into tiny pieces by a barrage of light slashes. The woman was left in surprise for a few seconds before her surprise expression shifted to a smug one. The mana strings fell and disintegrated past Zulcrestus before he pointed his light mana sword at the woman.

"Struck a nerve did I?" the woman snarked while resting her hands on her chin with a satisfied smirk.

"Identify yourself," Zulcrestus demanded in a somehow stern monotone voice. The woman giggled to herself as she swayed back and forth on the lamp post.

"Right that completely skipped my mind.". The woman spun around on the lamp before flinging herself into the air and landing back on top of the lamp post on her feet.

"As far as you're concerned, you can call me Majin," Majin remarked while giving a curtsy. Majin crossed and tensed up her arms, which both have the three glowing three rings on them, as mana strings emerged from the glowing rings and increased to five times their size. Majin let out a distorted giggle as she aimed her hand at the two bandits below her but slowly slumped it back to the side of her body. Majin yawned and the mana strings retracted back into her body.

"You really have to kill the mood don't you..." Majin said angerly and seemingly to herself before slowly glancing over at Zulcrestus, who slowly eased out of the overhead fencing stance he was in.

"Just so you're not confused I wasn't talking to you.". Majin reiterated what she said since Zulcrestus didn't show any response.

"Didn't you hear what I sai-". As Majin was speaking she blinked and Zulcrestus instantly disappeared without as much as the air making a wooshing noise. She darted her eyes around in every direction but that only served to make her more confused. She looked downwards and noticed that the bandits were gone.

"Sadly I don't have the patience to listen to another mentally deranged woman so I'll pass.". Majin's eyes widened before springing over to the neck lamp post and spinning around to see Zulcrestus was floating by the lamp post she was just standing on.

"H-how?! I couldn't sense him at- he can suppress his... got it." Majin disjointedly said mentally. Majin had a conflicting expression sprawled across her face until it eventually morphed into a demented smirk and she laugh.

"Haha! This is going to be great." Majin remarked as even thicker mana strings rocketed out from all six of her glowing wrist rings. Zulcrestus shook his head dismissively.

"If you intend on attacking me, I will not show you the courtesy of letting you surrender, willingly.". Majin being completely unfazed by his words instantly lunged at Zulcrestus, making him simple groan in a mix of annoyance and reluctant content.

"Righteous Reign," Zulcrustus stated before a large glowing white magic ring formed behind him. Zulcrestus aimed his free hand at Majin, as she gathered all her mana strings into three whips on each of her wrists, and snapped his fingers.

An onslaught of curving light mana beams erupted out from behind Zulcrestus and made a beeline for Majin. She quickly countered the barrage of light beams by spinning her mana strings around her arms into a large drill and piercing through the barrage. Zulcrestus hovered out of the way as Majin unintentionally drilled through the top of a lamp post. She quickly reverted the mana strings to their whip form while Zulcrestus was staring at the broken lamp pole. Majin excitedly turned to Zulcrestus with singe marks all over her right arm which quickly healed. She was about to lunge at Zulcrestus again but stopped herself when he suddenly tossed his light mana sword to his right.

Majin quickly glanced over in the direction the sword flew for a second and as she frantically spun her head back towards Zulcrestus he sucker-punched her in the stomach, making her spit up some purplish-red blood. The impact of the punch launched Majin flying and almost into the roof of a building but she came to an abrupt stop mid-air when she was surrounded by a teal glow that quickly faded. She placed her feet on the roof of the building and wiped the blood off her grinning mouth.

Majin's grin quickly shifted to a confused one when she noticed Zulcrestus was pointing to his left. Majin turned to her left and was swiftly impaled by the mana sword that Zulcrestus had just thrown and she was sent flying through the sky. Zulcrestus quickly flew after Majin as the sword took her out of the village and into a nearby field. Majin frantically tried to pull the sword out of her chest but couldn't budge it. She angerly sighed before her body went super transparent and the sword phased straight through her. Her body quickly went back to normal as she fell and landed on the ground. The Majin gleefully gritted her teeth as the mana sword raced towards her before she spun around and sliced it in half with her mana string whip, with the sword pieces digging into the ground before snapping in half and dispersing into a million pieces.

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"Intangibility, how unorthodox for a melee fighter," Zulcrestus remarked while hovering high in the air.

"What are you doing up there, are you a chicken or something?" Majin snarked. Majin even stuck her tongue out at Zulcrestus with a mocking deminer, while Zulcrestus formed a light mana polearm in his hand.

"Your cheap taunts aren't necessary," Zulcrestus stated before he placed his feet on the righteous reign ring and propelled himself at Majin, as the ring rapidly increase in diameter. Majin hurled her mana string whips at Zulcrestus, who easily deflected all the whips. Zulcrestus went to impale Majin but she dodged out of the way while going intangible for a split second. Majin barely avoided the barrage of piercing thrusts from Zulcrestus' polearm while he only used one hand. Zulcrestus lifted his free hand and put his thumb on his middle finger. Majin's eyes widened and she instantly went intangible while jumping backwards from Zulcrestus.

"Ok, this might be getting a little out of hand." Majin thought to herself as Zulcrestus was lowering his hand with his thumb and middle finger still together. Majin and Zulcrestus stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Majin had a perturbed look on her face until it suddenly turned to a smug one, making Zulcrestus tighten his finger-snapping hand. Majin suddenly sprinted full speed at Zulcrestus with a devious grin on her face. Zulcrestus quickly took a step back while aiming the tip of his polearm at Majin.

The moment she stopped being intangible Majin suddenly spitted out a small black pellet. Zulcrestus instantly used his telekinesis to stop the pellet from hitting the ground but Majin reacted to it by stomping on the pellet. Zulcrestus instantly jumped back as a mist of black smoke erupted out from under Majin's foot and completely enveloped her body. The smoke swiftly dispersed and Majin was gone. Zulcrestus tried to sense Majin but couldn't sense her nearby.

"That must have been the escape plan the bandit mentioned earlier, what an oversight.". Zulcrestus dispelled the large righteous reign ring before flying back to the village.

Yumi tilted her head at the girl, who Zulcrestus had saved, and wiped the soot off her light skin. The girl was talking to Yumi while she was holding her mother's hand. Prima picked up a large piece of debris as she spotted Zulcrestus approaching. Prima quickly placed the debris on a pile of rubble before racing over to Zulcrestus. Zulcrestus landed on the ground and Prima stopped next to him.

"How'd it... go?" Prima asked before quickly looking behind Zulcrestus with a confused expression.

"They managed to escape with some sort of teleportation or portal magic.". Prima looked Zulcrestus in the eyes with an exacerbated shooked expression.

"What?! That coward, how could she try to fight you and then run away!". Prima continued to pout as she complained about Majin running away. Zulcrestus placed his hand on Prima's head making her stop complaining about Majin.

"The safety of civilians is our top priority, so it cannot be helped.". Zulcrestus ruffled Prima's hair a little and said she did a good job nonetheless, making Prima giggle, before taking his hand off her head. Prima had a big smile on her face and proudly marched off towards a large piece of debris. Zulcrestus watched her easily pick up the debris before he slowly looked down at the hand he had placed on Prima's head.

"Z," Yumi said loudly. Zulcrestus looked up from his hand and spotted Yumi with the two he had saved from the blast stone approaching him. He lowered his hand as they all stopped in front of him.

"I'd like to properly thank you for saving me and especially my daughter, Magistrate Zulcrestus." the mother said while bowing. Zulcrestus thought for a few seconds about what to say.

"As I've said many times in the past, the safety of those in danger is a knight's top priority, so there's no need to thank me.". Despite Zulcrestus' words the mother continued to thank him anyway. Zulcrestus felt a tug on his cloak. Zulcrestus looked down and saw Yumi with his cloak in one of her hands with the other hand pointed at the mother's daughter. The daughter had sparkles in her cyan eyes as she stared up at Zulcrestus in amazement. The short silver-haired kid held up a disk-shaped insignia with a phoenix on it.

"One of the bandits dropped it when you brought them over earlier." the girl said with a timid/quiet voice. The girl placed the insignia in Zulcrestus' hand and he looked it over.

"Thank you, I'll make sure to include this in the report, miss..."Zulcrestus said, followed by a short pause.

"I-I'm Suzie...". Suzie nervously twiddle her fingers together as she tried to say something else.

"Is there something else you'd like to say?". Suzie's body jolted a little but she quickly pulled something out of her mother's handbag. She presented a plushie of Zulcrestus with his completely white and cloakless armour and of Callie in a white g-force spandex suit with a yellow visor, and a fighter jet-themed armour with four thrusters on its back.

"C-could I get your autograph?". Zulcrestus let out a content sigh as he put the insignia into a small colourless bubble and it instantly disappeared before the bubble disappeared as well. Zulcrestus offered his hand and Suzie happily placed the Zulcrestus plushie in his hand. Zulcrestus gather his mana around his index finger before he inscribed a message onto the arm of the plushie. He handed the plushie back and asked Suzie if she'd like him to sign the other.

"That'd be nice, but I'd...". Suzie started to mumble and fumble her words.

"I see, so you want... Call-oukus to sign the toy of her herself?". Suzie slowly nodded her head with a guilty-looking frown.

"If that's the case the airship she's on will arrive here in about two and a half hours, so I'll have her sign it for you then.". Suzie's eyes lit up again and she thanked him before she and her mother walked off.

"Who would have thought you'd get to meet your two favourite Magistrates while we were visiting your grandparents, sweetie." Suzie's mother remarked while the two walked off, to presumably Suzie's grandparents' house. Zulcrestus felt the tugging on his cloak continue, and he looked down at Yumi, who was pointing at her forehead extremely enthusiastically.

"You... want me to draw on your... forehead?". Yumi, with a flat expression, shook her head dismissively.

"No, pat," Yumi stated.

"Oh...". Zulcrestus placed his hand on Yumi's head before head patting her a few times, making her smile ever so slightly. Zulcrestus once again felt a calming sensation course through his body, he could also feel some of his emotions being nullified but couldn't tell which ones were being suppressed.

"It's that sensation again, did Callie give her some strange ability, I'll have to ask her later." Zulcrestus thought as he continued to head pat Yumi.