Orrin made up his mind quickly and began casting his buff spells on the Odranan chancellors and Finley. His own will was topped out at one hundred after a few castings of [Increase Will] before a [Utility Ward] for him and Daniel. All his stats were at maximum.

At level three, an [Increase Strength] spell increased the target’s strength by four points for twenty minutes. One cast from Orrin brought Lady Tonsa’s strength up to forty. He could cast the spell five times on a single target but only needed three. Two and a half really but the mana costs the same. Orrin smiled as his mana pool barely dipped. His spells cast at a tenth of their base cost with his current intelligence.

Buffing his allies was a calculated risk. The twenty-minute time limit for a third-level casting didn’t increase and Orrin had yet to find anyone besides himself and Daniel who didn’t suffer severe withdrawal symptoms from the boosts after a certain point. If he didn’t keep an eye on the time and recast the spells, the temporary gain could backfire, leaving everyone writhing on the ground in pain.

Lord Sanerris used the moment to attack as well. A handful of hazy orbs moved from his hands as he ran toward the door. Lord Palmer shot nine arrows in the span of Arvin taking two steps. Most clattered to the ground around Arvin’s shield spell that had frustrated them during their last fight. A few of the arrows hit the orbs and distorted as they traveled through the air bubbles. Dust blew away on the slight draft in the room.

Lady Tonsa’s guard, Niels, moved in front of the chancellors. A six-foot-tall tower shield appeared in his hands. Slamming the sharpened bottom edge into the stone with a yell, Niels glowed with magic under Orrin’s eyes. Five copies of the man stood in a line, blocking the softball-sized globes.

For a moment, Orrin had hope. Palmer shot more arrows at the fleeing Arvin. Rhys’s mom was slowly getting up from the floor, dizzy after the sudden lost-and-found strength experience. Lord Wellan placed his hands on the stone floor. Orrin felt a rumbling deep underground. The stone cracked and vines climbed out, slowly spreading across the ground. Orrin could tell the spell was strong but it was slow… too slow.

The first bubble of time magic hit Niels. It moved through the shield without stopping. Two of the clones faded into dust. Three Niels screamed in pain before the center figure fell away from the shield. The other copies faded from existence. Lady Tonsa grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him from the slow-moving death balls. Niels held his hand against his body, rolling in pain.

Time bubbles? Orrin couldn’t focus on Arvin, almost to the door. Daniel said he was ready. He would trust his friend.

He cast a healing spell at Niels, not waiting to see if it helped. There was enough health in his cure magic to keep him alive for now.

“How are you casting my spell?” Orrin demanded, turning toward Anabella and summoning his swords. A [Ice Sword] and a [Fire Sword] conjured to each hand, he stalked toward the regal woman. She stood tall and proud, a furrow in her brow the only clue that she was agitated. She tilted her head as she raised her hand, this time pointing toward Orrin.

“You are an annoying pawn. I should have let you die when I had the chance. You have ruined too many plans. A shame, your magic is fascinating.”

Orrin saw the flow of magic gather. [Mind Bastion] knocked meekly at his thoughts, like a scolded child trying not to anger his father. He let the information flow in, reading the pattern with new eyes. Her freeze spell.

Orrin called a [Gust] through his [Fire Sword], bringing the blade in a skyward slash at the last moment. The sword disappeared in a burst of flames.

The magical matrices of Anabella’s spell were behind what Orrin could interpret. He’d understood that at a glance. All he could do was pray that Professor Hugh was right about different spell types and reactions. Fire magic had a slight edge to ice magic. He used the minimal amount of air magic from [Gust] to push the fire magic from his [Fire Sword] into the path of the incoming spell.

[Fire Sword]- summon a sword of pure fire. Does minimal damage but will not be quenched in the bitterest of cold. Each sword lasts one hour. 1 MP per sword.

The magic hit equidistant from each caster. The fireball that blossomed surprised everyone in the room, with both the intensity and cold heat that shot out in every direction. Orrin was launched backward in the air, tumbling head over heels before hitting a wall. A quick [Heal Small Wounds] brought him to his feet and he searched frantically for the next attack.

The blast had knocked Lord Wellan against the far wall. He raised his hand toward the hole in the stone floor. Vines continued to climb from the earth, moving with purpose.

Anabella Sanerris leaned against the door, breathing heavily. It broke a moment later, the hinges melted from the heat of the backdraft. Burn marks covered her right arm up to her shoulder, and the dress she’d arrived in was covered in ash. For the first time since meeting her, Orrin saw fear in her eyes.

“That isn’t possible. You spent less than a month in low-level classes at my school. How could you strike down my System-granted spell?” Lady Sanerris coughed as she tried to move. Her right foot gave out when she put too much weight on it, falling to her knees. “What are you?”

Daniel popped into existence next to Lady Sanerris and drove his fist down into her face. She dropped to the tile floor limp.

Daniel rubbed his fist, Gertrude still strapped to his back. “He’s Orrin. I’m Daniel. You fuckers should learn to stop messing with us already.”

Arvin’s scream of rage turned Daniel and Orrin’s attention back to the pristinely dressed man. He clapped his palms together and… pulled the air. Orrin had no other way to describe it. A spell unlike anything Orrin had witnessed before began to form in front of the man.

Lady Tonsa danced around the room, using yellow balls of magic that splattered against the time-warp spells that still remained. Each target took multiple hits before fading. Finley abandoned his daggers and cast blasts of fire that exploded near Arvin’s first spell missiles. Each landed nearly perfectly, turning the drifting balls of death away from the rest of the group.

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A cry ripped from Lord Sanerris as he cast his spell. Orrin tried to read the magic again, grasping the barest elements of the mana before it struck Finley in the middle of throwing a blast of air. Finley froze in time. Lady Tonsa raised her eyebrows and abandoned the fight. She made it three steps toward the door, blown off its hinges by Orrin’s rebounded magic before getting caught in the time-spell. Niels threw Lord Wellan back but it was too late for either of them. Lord Palmer reached the broken door, nearly tripping over Lady Sanerris’s prone form. His hands reached for freedom before he too was enveloped and stopped moving. Like statues, the fighting force frozen in time.

Daniel darted in front of Orrin, laughing. He pointed Gertrude at Arvin and shouted, “I’ve been waiting to try this on you.”

A shadow of darkness surrounded Daniel in inky blackness before adjusting into a translucent sphere. Daniel glanced over his shoulder to make sure Orrin was inside. Orrin ignored everything else and tried to read the magic of Arvin’s spell right up to the last moment. He had no counter to time magic but if he could understand it, there might be a chance.

The wave reached them and nothing happened.

“Don’t move a muscle,” Daniel whispered. “On my signal.”

Orrin kept still, trusting Daniel. He tried to see the spell that Daniel was using but could no more grasp it than Lord Sanerris’s time magic. All he knew was Arvin’s spell had not worked on them. Within the sphere, Orrin and Daniel were safe.

“I have been forced to use that spell twice since I unlocked it,” Arvin huffed with exertion as he walked toward the still figures of Finley and Lady Tonsa. Tears of frustration filled Niels’s eyes but wouldn’t fall as the large man watched Arvin stand in front of his employer. “It is not pleasant to use.”

Arvin knelt down and picked up one of Finley’s daggers. “It’s unfortunate that the [Hero] showed up during our council meeting and killed everyone in a rage.”

The movements were quick. A few thrusts into Finley and a slash at Lady Tonsa’s throat. A thin line of blood appeared along the wounds. He kicked the vines on the ground that had stopped moving as he approached Maeve’s father. He left the dagger in the eye slot of the man’s helmet.

Arvin tsked as he skipped back across the room. “Palmer, you rascal. I needed your men and your tracking abilities. I’ll have to use someone inferior to find my target. Dey will be able to repel the [Demon Lord]. They are not the largest threat to us.”

Orrin ground his teeth. What are you waiting for Daniel?

Arvin kicked the Lord of Idrisid in the head. His eyes found a nearby arrow that had missed him earlier. “Poetic.”

Orrin took a half step forward as Arvin stabbed the arrow into Lord Palmer’s heart.

Arvin looked up in confusion, his eyes widening. Daniel moved quickly, two steps bringing him within striking range.

Gertrude swung down in an overhand strike. Arvin’s raised hand deflected the blade.

“How?”

Daniel attacked again, his giant sword moving through the air with a whistle. Each strike hit Arvin’s shield which seemed to cover him head to toe.

“You should be frozen in time,” Arvin muttered, finally coming out from his daze. He pulled his sword and moved to strike.

Orrin hit the man with as many debuffs as he could. Arvin’s shield flickered and he stumbled.

Daniel’s next strike glanced off Arvin’s shoulder.

“His shield goes down if I hit him with enough spells,” Orrin yelled, keeping Daniel between himself and the advancing time mage. “Try to time it with me.”

“Now,” Daniel shouted as he swung. Orrin recast his spells, using the moments in between to cast [Heal Small Wounds] on each person in the room. They might be dead but if even one of them survived, the extra mana expenditure would be worth it.

The problem with announcing each attack became apparent as Arvin simply dodged the attacks now. Orrin gave it to the man. With his best spells rendered useless, he still attacked with his sword. All of Daniel’s training and System skills worked overtime as the blond man attacked with feints and thrusts that were barely turned away. Arvin blocked one cut with his sword and almost lost hold of his weapon from the strength behind Daniel’s attack. He didn’t make the same mistake again.

Arvin skipped back and raised his hand, casting something. Orrin saw a bit more of the magical pattern before it fizzled against Daniel’s sphere. Lord Sanerris cursed and glanced at the door.

“You aren’t getting away, Sanerris,” Daniel challenged him, using his foot to shove Arvin’s mom away from the door. He planted his feet and raised his sword at the man, an avenging angel burning with anger. “You fucked with my friends. You made me fight in your pointless war. All to grow your own power. This ends today.”

“If you kill me, all of Asmea will be overrun,” Arvin said as he kept Daniel occupied with light attacks of his own. “The [Demon Lord] is just the beginning. They mean to end us all. The One Who Seeks won’t stop. He hates humanity and will bring an end to our way of life. You should be working for me, not against me.”

Orrin didn’t know who the One Who Seeks was or if Arvin was making up some new distraction. He bet on the latter, as the man kept one hand behind his back. A small stream of mana was working its way into a new spell. The different aspects worked together in a similar way as Arvin’s other spells. It almost seemed…

Orrin heard the ding of the System. No new notification popped up but a quick check of the Store showed a blinking cursor near his Spells selection.

[Time Ward] - creates a ward around yourself and your party within 50 feet that protects against Time Magic. 20 MP. -1 AP.

Did I just break the System? Orrin assumed his study of Arvin’s mana manipulation gave him enough understanding of the magic field to trigger a new ward type. He’d always needed to buy the spell before but it made sense. The System gave him a deeper knowledge about the magic type inherently when he purchased a spell. Could I just study different forms of magic to unlock more wards?

Daniel tried attacking again but Arvin’s sword skills outmatched the [Hero]. He was slippery and damn near omniscient.

Orrin purchased the spell and cast it.

A bellow from behind them made all three turn.

Rhys had been in their Party. Orrin had completely forgotten the young man was still in the room covered by his initial [Camouflage Ward].

“You killed my mother,” Rys screamed. His glaive appeared in his hand and bladed projectiles flew across the room. “You killed Niels. I’m going to murder you.”

Arvin deflected the first two metal blades that were thrown and cast the spell he’d been preparing. The spell was similar to his earlier floating balls of death but condensed into one, fast-moving ball of magic. It hit Rhys in the chest.

“The entire Tonsa family gone in one night,” Arvin spat. “Such a waste of talent.”

The next blade bounced away from Arvin’s shield. He recovered quickly but Orrin moved faster, hitting him with a round of debuff spells. Rhys landed three blades into center mass.

Arvin yanked the metal from his chest and narrowly dodged Daniel’s next attack. His eyes widened as Rhys advanced, unharmed.

Daniel and Rhys positioned themselves on either side of Arvin, harrying the man back toward the corner of the room. Neither alone was Arvin’s equal in combat but together, and with Orrin knocking his shield down from time to time, blood flowed from multiple cuts. Arvin let Rhys hit him more as Daniel’s swings were backed by enough strength to break through his sword if he parried properly.

Orrin evened the field more by casting buffs on Rhys. His glaive overshot its target and Rhys ducked to avoid a riposte from Arvin. His body literally hit the ground and bounced.

“Your stats are increased. You can move faster and hit harder,” Orrin explained.

The fight took a turn for Arvin as the two men badgered him in turn. His spells fizzled against Orrin’s constant upkeep of wards and the long reach of both weapons outpaced his own shortsword.

“I surre—”

Gertrude struck Arvin’s arm just as his shield went down. The sword clattered to the floor. The tip of Rhys’s glaive pierced through his chest a moment later.

Arvin Sanerris, former chancellor of Mistlight and ruler of Odrana, was dead before his head hit the floor.