“What are you doing here?” Lucia muttered while pinching the poor boy’s ear.
“Go back the way you came.”
The sad, disappointed boy quickly turned back and left. The trackers’s gaze moved with the boy as he was going back in the cover of the bushes.
“Do you think he saw us?” Dronn asked.
“He sensed us that’s why he turned back.” Solis responded.
“We should kill him before he alerts them.” Enzo proposed.
“Walt and Karim, go after him.” Enzo commanded and the two lunged through the woods towards the boy.
Alarmed by the sudden attack April and Nathan charged behind the boy to protect him. The rest of the seven swords emerged from the shadows of the woods to the trackers’s bewilderment.
‘How did we not sense them and how long have they been on to us.’ Solis the druid thought himself.
‘Their aura is like they don’t have any magic.’ Enzo thought.
‘They are either the best magic suppressors I’ve ever met or the weakest.’
“Who are you? And what brings you here?” Uriel asked, his eyes fixed on Solis.
“We believe you have something that belongs to us.” Solis replied calmly.
“Something that belong to you?” Uriel asked brusquely, trying to calm himself.
“Yes, the gold, bring it back and perhaps you and your families will be sparred when these villages are torched to the ground.” Solis said.
They all scowled at Solis. The rage they tried so desperately to suppress together with their magic heated and erupted like hot larva.
“Nothing east of the Nile belongs to you.” Uriel snarled defiantly.
“The boundary lines for Onis ends at the Nile river, anything east is Abalon territory.”
“Your forefathers broke the treaty and killed our people, made them slaves and stole our inheritance.”
“All this minerals you are mining are ours.”
“And you come here making threats?”
”Nothing here belongs to you, not even your lifes.” Said Uriel in indignation and conjured his silver hilt katana. A silver smoke covered the blade as it appeared before him and he tightly clasped it and paced towards the intruders.
Lucia was stunned. She had never seen Uriel use his katana since his fight with Octavia, their cousin, at the Yoshino war games two years ago. Five men, at the command of Enzo charged to meet Uriel. He swiftly and skillfully swung his sword 2 times in the air and sheathed it back. All that happened in a split second and in an instant the 5 men’s torsos split in half and their necks were sliced off their heads by an invisible laser. Trees behind the 5 severed corpses were also sliced into pieces by the two powerful laser beams.
Enzo the lieutenant, did summoning hand signs to create a portal for Julian, Draco and Fredis but the portal opened elsewhere. It send them inconveniently to the palace of Masia, the last place they wanted to be. Refilwe’s large scale contrary spells countered Enzo’s spell and she made Julian, Draco and Fredis pop up at Masia. The emperor was having breakfast of roasted quill, eggs, cheese and bread when the three generals appeared before him.
Their sudden appearance caught the whole courtyard off guard. Even Yorilis the emperor choked on his wine upon seeing the three men. But the most stunned were the three generals. They were supposed to be summoned in Abalon to retrieve the gold that the man they were now standing before expected three days ago.
Julian’s dazed mind quickly scoured as far as his imagination could take him, searching for the right words to say to Yorilis.
“My lord.” They bowed before him.
Their blood pressure had them perspiring like they ran from Pakresia to Masia without any rest.
“Why do you pop up in my palace uninvited?” Yorilis asked after he signaled off his guards to not attack the three.
They looked at each other looking for answers and but they couldn’t even find a way breath normally.
“We thought to bring you news about the gold.” Julian said in consternation.
“The man guarding the shipment of gold lost it to the Abalonian rebels.”
“We have tracked them down and located their stronghold.”
“So we thought we would come in person to tell you that we will bring the gold, together with more Abalonian slaves and the heads of those rebels who dare take what belong to my master lord Yorilis and king Yiannis.”
“You came here without the gold?” Yorilis retorted tempestuosly.
“All of you decided to come here to tell me you lost the gold that the king is expecting?”
“When you could have went after those filthy Abalonian bandits and slain them.” Yorilis spluttered in fury.
“We thought it best to bring the news in person and also let you know that this act is an act of war.” Julian said humbly lowering his head.
“A direct provocation that needs a harsh response.”
“I hope for your sake you did not come here to ask for my men to help you clean this mess.” Yorilis warned sternly.
“Because I will have your head and feed it to my pigs.”
Yorilis might look like a short skinny man who couldn’t fight off a little but he meant it when he said he’d feed his head to the pigs. His best buddy Iris knows him well. And by the terrified look visible in their faces, they understood it well that he was someone to not play with.
“No my lord we only came to deliver the news.”
“The towns of Aciri, Akanza, Caciris and Pakresia have a united army of 28 000 men.”
“We will be marching to their strongholds in a week.”
“Okay then, go and bring back my gold and Abalonian slaves.” Yorilis said sharply .
“I give you 2 weeks.”
“If you don’t bring it back within those three days then you three and your master Lori will be on spikes at Memphis.”
“Be rest assured my lord, victory is ours.” Julian said as they were lowering their heads. They left the palace and along the way to the city gate they broke the awkward silence.
“I’m going to kill that Enzo guy.” Draco ranted.
“How dare he embarrasses us like this.”
He was evidently angry at the events that just occurred even though Enzo did them a favor because they needed to give Yorilis an explanation to why the shipment had not been delivered. He only gave them a push since they were too scared to come to Masia. They should be thanking him, not being angry at him.
“They must have meddled with his summoning spells.” Fredis said in a bitter voice.
“This stupid Abalonians have got the better of us.”
“And they humiliated us in front of Yorilis.”
“We will make them pay for this.” Julia said shamefully.
“It’s personal now.”
“Yes it is and now we know just how powerful they are.” Draco said.
“We will crush them with our true powers.”
After some time when they were on the journey back to Pakresia with no horses, Julian vented the thoughts that had been haunting him.
“I assume Enzo, Solis and their squad are dead now.” He said in a melancholic voice.
Walt and Karim, The two men that Enzo instructed to take out the boy charged through the forest. They bit their index fingers and blood poured out as they pointed at the boy. Immediately blood drops exploded from their fingers whizzing through the air. The blood bullets shot through leaves one after another towards the unsuspecting boy, some exploding on branches. They closed in for a better shot and the boy, in panick lost his footing and tripped over a log. Karim shot a blood bullet through the boy’s hamstrings and when he prepared to take another shot his hand was sliced off his arms and twirled into the air. Black blood splattered the green unbothered leaves. Before he could register, his head was sent flying and he gracelessly dropped dead to the ground.
Nathan went to the boy and checked his vitals while April lunged at the Walt. Unlike his dead comrade, he had a chance to see April.
He cut ten of his fingers at the tip and pointed at April. A barrage of blood bullets were fired out from his finger tips towards April who skillfully dodged them and slashed them with her sword while closing in the distance. The blood bullets turned black when they were precisely cut in half by the blade and they lost moment and scattered in the ground. She closed the gap until she was at point blank and still the Onisian man couldn’t hit his target. She put him out of his misery with a black slash to the abdomen and he fell face down to the ground.
April quickly went to the boy.
“He is not responsive.” Nathan said as he was trying to wake him up.
“It’s the type O blood toxin.” He added.
April quickly covered the boys face with a blue veil of magic to supply him with oxygen. He lifted the boy and carried him back to main group.
When she got there, only Enzo, Solis and Dronn were still alive. The rest Uriel killed before they even made peace with their gods.
“Tell me how your poison works and I will spare one of you. “ she asked bitterly.
“He is good as dead.” Solis replied.
“The O toxin is untreatable.”
“How does the poison work?” She shouted.
She didn’t know the boy until three days ago when he saw him playing with Ethan but she was feeling sorry for him. She didn’t want him to die. And if there was anything she could do she would to help save him. They were right, O toxin is untreatable but she was a quad mage. Nobody knows what they are truly capable of.
“The toxin causes heart attacks.” Solis responded
“He probably has had two heart attacks by now.”
April put the boy down and with her healing magic she cast a spell on his circulatory system to prevent the toxin from spreading and the spell also boasted his immune system to fight off the toxin.
“If he survives the toxin then maybe I will spare you, if it doesn’t I will mercilessly kill you.” She said coldly.
Refilwe and Atlas arrived on the scene and a few moments later Midori, Dara, Arthur, Lelato and Aurora arrived. The 3 remaining trackers were outnumbered significantly as April was waiting for the boy’s vitals to be normal.
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Enzo could create a portal for them to escape, he thought about it but after what happened with his earlier attempt that failed miserably, he was not keen on trying again.
‘What if the portal sends us deep in this stupid kingdom.’ He thought.
The boy was still alive but there was no way of telling if he will survive.
“I’m going to need just one of you to take the message back to whoever sent you here, choose who should die.”
Without any thought Solis responded.
“Spare my men and do unto me whatever you wish.”
“Fight me.” Ethan interjected.
“If you win then we will spare your men.” If you lose then we will leave only one alive to convey our message.
They agreed on the terms of the fight and went towards the border.
With Refilwe’s instructions they halted near the border.
She didn’t want them to fight outside her spell boundaries because they could escape or even worse, summon their warriors.
More Abalonians arrived on the scene after they were alerted by Leo including Giannis.
Ethan had wanted to fight someone strong for a long time. Someone who he could test his full potential with. He had strong siblings who were way powerful than him but their sparring was not a real fight. So he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to fight an Onisian to the death.
Giannis, with his wood magic, cleared the trees and created a circular stage for the fight. Inspired by his brother Nathan, Ethan took out his cloak and went to the center of the circle wearing bracelets on both his arms.
Atlas was the referee. Before he could signal the start of the fight, something gleamed in the sky and landed on the ground at devastating speed. A cloud of dust rose and soon as it disappeared everyone was awestruck.
It was Joel. Most of them haven’t seen him in more than a month and he had changed a lot. His skinny body was now toned and muscular and his magic aura was unrecognizable. He had finally awakened his magic.
He went towards his brother Uriel, who was with the rest of the seven swords. Everyone was all impressed by his physique and the speed he displayed .
“You guys are having fun without me.” Joel said jokingly.
“You like being away at fun times.” Uriel replied as they bumped fists.
“Hey guys.” He greeted them and hugged his sister Lucia.
“That was quite an entrance.” Lucia said.
The loudest of the greeting came from Nathan. He had trained with him, together with Uriel, Lucia, April and Cassie before they were stationed at Matsushima.
“Look at your arms.” Nathan said as he was poking Joel’s veiny biceps.
“What have you been eating in the mountains?”
“I have been eating mountain goats spiced with dragons bane.” Joel responded and they all cracked into chuckles.
“I want to be big as you Nate.”
“At this pace you will even become bigger than me.” Nathan replied.
“Who is that weird guy, Ethan is fighting?” Joel asked
“Onisians who are after the gold.” Uriel responded.
“Oh the gold you told me about?” Joel asked again.
“Yes and by the way how did you find out that there was a fight here?” Uriel asked curiously.
“I sensed weird magic when I was atop the mountain. And when I looked towards the direction I felt the magic coming from, I saw you guys.”
“You sensed and saw us from 230 km away?” April asked in shock.
“Yes, but I only saw you because I was at the top of the mountain.”
“Wow even I can’t see that far with my enhanced wedge-tailed eagle vision.” Lelato said in envy.
“What is your spectra?”
“And what kind of magic do you possess?”
Before he could answer, Atlas started the fight. He had already gave the men the instructions that the fight will last five minutes and that going outside the circle or above the tree line will forfeit the fight.
Solis quickly leapt back to the far end of the circle and squatted down. He touched the ground with his palms and I mmediately the ground began to shake.
“What could he be doing?” Ethan asked himself as he was raising his feet from the ground and suspending in the air.
“Whatever it is, I must do something to stop him.”
Ethan did a hand sign and a spiraling wind the size of his hand grew larger in front of him. It blasted towards Solis who saw it coming and dived to his left side, rolling over to safety. He reached for his pocket and took out two stones and they immediately spread out in front of him, suspending in the air. He then went down and touched the ground yet again with his palms and just like before, it began to shake.
‘I should not allow him to touch the ground.’ Ethan thought as he was unleashing a more powerful wind attack. One charcoal stone hurled forward to meet the wind. As it came closer it became red like burning coal and collided with the wind. An explosion rocked the stage, sending shrapnels into the air. These stones are kamikaze stones. They are attracted to magic and explode on impact, negating any magical attack. In the midst of the smoke and flames from the blast, Solis fired one more kamikaze stone towards Ethan. As it wafted through the smoke, Ethan sensed it and leapt backward. It followed him while getting more red. It exploded a safe distance away from him and his magic armor deflected and absorbed the blast wave.
Due to Ethan’s intense magical powers the kamikaze stones heat up and explode before they are in close range. Ethan noticed that and decided to charge towards Solis, to close the distance so that the stones could explode at Solis face. He took out his katana from it’s scabbard and lunged at Solis. The closer he got the more the ground shook and suddenly water erupted out from the ground intensely in multiple openings. The water gushed out hitting his face and obstructed his view.
Solis who had been squatting down, got up and reached for his cloak. He took out three more stones and they suspended before him.
Meanwhile water filled the circle stage rapidly. It did not over flow out of the circle but filled the circle stage and it went as high as the tree line. Ethan who was floating on top of the water, feared to be disqualified and he submerged underwater to continue the fight.
He knew he was at a disadvantage because He thought of suppressing his magic so that the stones would not explode. But now that he was submerged underwater it was no longer an option as he needed magic to breath.
‘So he was drilling underground water.’ Ethan thought as he was descending down.
‘I’m fighting in his domain now and I won’t move as fast as I would.’
‘So I should be very careful.’
‘April was right, saying there is still a lot for me to learn.”
Ethan’s feet touched the ground and without wasting time Solis torpedoed one kamikaze stone towards him, getting red along the way. It exploded a safe distance away from Ethan. Precisely the same distance as the one from earlier. It should have been a safe distance but it was not.
April jumped up in worry as Ethan was blown away to the Edge of the pool. The explosion rocked him so bad that he wailed and opened his mouth wide open and gulped over a litter of water. What was it about this particular stone that caused him this much damage? Well there was nothing different about the stone. The first stone did not cause any damage to him because it was a surface explosion and the atmosphere absorbed and compressed the blast wave. However underwater explosions are a lot different. Water is incompressible. It does not absorb pressure like air does, but moves with it. So underwater explosions transmits pressure with greater intensity over longer distances than surface explosions that is why the explosion blew him away.
The density of a human body and that of water are the same so the wave went right through Ethan without being reflected and the wave hit the air filled pockets of his body and instantly compressed the gases there. The waves that hit the side, the surface, and bottom of the pool bounced back inflicting even more damage.
He coughed out blood and immediately channeled his magic to heal his internal organs. If it wasn’t for his magic amour he could’ve had blocked blood vessels, ruptured lungs and tissues, even brain hemorrhaging. But he sustained only a damaged lung injury.
‘He is a tough kid.’ Solis thought after he felt Ethan’s heart still beating.
He fired two more stones at Ethan who was still trying to get his wits together.
Ethan limped off the ground and did hand signs and his yellow glowing eyes and a more intense bright flaming ring glowed around him. The stones exploded and Ethan pointed his hands towards the pressure wave. A stream lined body of water formed at the tip of his fingers and most of the wave passed on his sides. However the waves that did hit him were still painful enough to make him groan in pain.
‘I gotta take him out and I gotta do it now.’
‘I’m already injured so even the least powerful attacks are still painful.’ Ethan thought to himself.
This is what he wanted. A real fight to the death. And it seemed like he got what he wished for as he saw Solis charging swiftly through the drag of water.
‘How is this guy moving so fast in the water?’ Ethan asked himself.
‘There is a lot to learn ey.’
Solis unsheathed his sword and slashed the water. A thin powerful wave blasted towards Ethan who deftly lowered his head. And it narrowly missed him. Solis slashed the water five times and five waves Slithered towards Ethan. He leapt up and the wave crushed at the far end of the pool. Solis met him and parried his sword at him towards his upper body. Ethan deflected it sluggishly due to the drag and Solis remise was even more impressive than his first parry. He circled around Ethan swiftly and thrusted his sword into Ethan. With quick thinking Ethan dodged and landed a safe distance away. There was no way Ethan could match his speed underwater and he knew the best way of this drag of a situation was a long range attack.
‘Ethan glared at Solis and from his eyes, a wave surged through the water. Solis sensed it and released a kamikaze stone but he didn’t anticipate the speed of the wave. It closed the gap so fast that the stone had barely left Solis when it exploded. And he didn’t have a chance to deactivate it. It exploded and sent him flying. As he was being dragged away by the pressure wave, Ethan released another similar wave, Solis reached out his hands towards the incoming wave and conjured a barrier but the wave was too powerful. It went through his defenses and dissolved his hands all the way to his shoulders.
If it was not for this barrier though, his whole body would have evaporated.
The attack took a toll on both of them. Ethan who was injured and tired, released two bone dissolving wave attacks in quick succession and it drained most of his energy. The last attack had him panting and holding his left abdomen. But he was in better shape than his opponent.
Solis concentrated his energy on his shoulders so that he won’t bleed out. Ethan prepared for a wind spell and as he was reading himself for the final attack, Atlas blew the whistle, signaling for the end of the match. Five minutes had passed so the fight was declared a draw.
Immediately the water receded and April attended to Ethan’s wounds. Solis managed to draw with a quad mage, so they were free to go back unharmed. Well at least for the other two.
Atlas approached Solis as his comrades were attending to his injuries.
“You are free to go. But on one condition.” Atlas said.
“You don’t tell anyone of the magic powers you witnessed today.”
“Yes the condition is fair.” Solis whimpered.
“We accept.”
Atlas reached out his arm to Enzo to finalize the agreement on behalf of Solis who no longer had hands of his own. The men then left for Pakresia. Before that Enzo handed out a paper to Atlas of a bounty on the three bandits, Nathan, Leo and Amaros. The whole squad laughed hard when they saw Amaros the slayer with 1000 gold coins bounty on his head. 800 more than Nathan.
Uriel conveyed a message through them to take to the leaders of Pakresia.
When Solis and his remaining men arrived at Pakresia four days later, they found an army camping outside the walls. The men were taken to a tent where Lori, the three generals, lieutenants and druids were gathered for a meeting.
Lori, the druids and lieutenants were happy to see them alive. Solis was wearing a long cloak covering his body so they couldn’t tell at first glance that he had amputated hands. The most hostile were the three generals. They were incensed that Enzo’s stupid little spell sent them to Masia the last place in this horrible world they wanted to be.
“Good to see you guys.” Lori said in dead voice, reaching out his hand to Solis.
He wanted to ask them why they were there without his gold but he decided to calm himself because there were many military officials who would see how more-than-ready he was to send them to their graves for the gold.
“I lost both my hands.” Solis replied bitterly.
“If only it was you Enzo, and not just losing both your hands but your head too.” Draco shrieked.
“Your summoning spell sent us to Masia.”
“I should have you head for it.”
“Calm down Draco, let them explain themselves.” Julian said.
“They better have a good reason.” He responded.
It was like Enzo was not around. He was quite as a rat hiding from a hungry cat.
“We do have a good reason why things spiraled out of control.” Solis said.
“And most importantly we have intel.”
“They were on to us before we even crossed the border.”
“Their magic is undetectable and we fell right into their ambush.”
“Enzo tried to summon a portal for you but there was a contrary spell already at play that sent you to a different location.”
“They are strong people possessing powers I have never imagined I would ever see.
“Amaros their leader did not even come.”
“He sent young boys and they we’re all strong as him.”
“A young boy I was fighting evaporated my hands with just his eyes.”
Solis said as he was taking out his cloak and their jaws dropped.
“He must be the one reported from Purli.” Lori said.
“We should match at once at day break tomorrow.”
Atlas was at Yoshino when this events were taking place, he felt an itch on his right palm and looked down. His Japanese tattoo, ‘covenant’ glowed. The tattoo then changed by itself to a symbol of a huge explosion and back at the tent where the army leaders were gathering, Solis’s body disfigured and exploded. A green blast wave and a mushroom cloud rose from the ground going high as the eyes can see. Laying waste to anything in a 300m radius.
This is one of Atlas’s magical powers. He makes covenants and when someone breaks them they die however he chooses. He chose an explosion because he wanted to kill everyone who Solis would report back to.