Wesley refused to tell the elders before that the Pooles Kingdom was under attack and had let them think that he’d been spending his time acting as a bodyguard for the Kingdom’s diplomats. Although the village knew that Wesley’s team would partake in petty disputes from time to time, they hadn’t realized that a legitimate war was underway.

The village liked to keep to itself, and with Wesley’s status, he could ensure their protection. He could keep them safe by letting them stay ignorant of the dangers of the outside world. And if the village was happy being ignorant...

Wesley would do his best to keep it that way.

…

At the same time, a great distance away, nine figures sat around a round table, while another individual stood some distance away, giving a report.

“Of the twenty King-class mages that were dispatched, eleven have died. Fortunately, however, they were only rank 1 and rank 2 King-class mages, so these casualties are still acceptable. The remaining have successfully rerouted themselves to the target location and are awaiting further orders.”

Those around the table shifted in their seats until one finally spoke in a brutish voice. “This is pointless. Why bother with this facade? If we’re going to take over the Magmont Continent either way, why bother throwing so many talented individuals to their deaths? I’ll just go over there and kill all of their King-class magicians and they’ll be defenseless.”

A tall and slender female at the table immediately stood up. “Don’t be rash. The Eight Grand Magicians have been very clear about appropriate use of force. Don’t make things hard for big brother.”

“It’ll be fine. It’ll only take a moment. As long as everybody there dies, there won’t be anyone to alert the Eight Grand Magicians, right?”

“This... What do the rest of you say?”

A mixture of shrugs and grunts, as well as some other short signals of approval sounded from around the table.

“Just make sure you don’t let any of them escape. If you cause trouble for big brother, I’ll end you myself.”

“Well, then. I’ll take my leave now. I’ll be back in a few days with the good news.” The first speaker from the round table stood up and disappeared.

With that, those around the table left one by one.

The “big brother” was one of the Eight Grand Magicians, and therefore had a great deal of power at his disposal, both personal and through his position.

However, the power he possessed also came with a great deal of responsibility. He had his hands tied in many situations where he could have just simply ignored the rules before. For example, the other Eight Grand Magicians had warned him that he would lose his position if they found that he was using his power to abuse the Kingdoms of the Magmont continent. Hence, he and his allies were prohibited from engaging in battle; they could only send common soldiers and mages no stronger than King-class in their place.

After the meeting, the “big brother” left to his own private residence, where he notified the guards to not let anyone in.

The remaining figures that had sat around the table formed the core of the Empire, and were all Empire-class mages, a force that could rival almost any other in existence.

The only stronger power would be the Eight Grand Magicians, a council made up of Emperor-class mages from different powers around the world. This elite group of magicians has, since the dawn of time, governed magicians and protected the world from magic-related harm.

Or at least, that was their official purpose.

…

That night, Wesley and Grace, a few miles away from Affile Village, sat together outside an old shack, staring out towards an expansive lake.

Faint ripples spread throughout the lake as the wind gently caressed its surface.

Breaking the peaceful silence, Grace murmured, “I wish things could always be this peaceful.”

Wesley sighed and lightly nodded. “Sometimes, I do too…”

He reached for Grace’s hand, then pulled her into his embrace.

“After this war, let’s settle down… we can hire some people to build us an estate and we can live out our days in peace. Heck, we could open a school and teach the kids in the village how to use magic. Could you imagine?”

“Hmmm.” Grace leaned in for a kiss. “That does sound nice.”

However, Wesley had a prickling sensation in the back of his neck that quietly whispered to him that something, something, was wrong.

…

A few days later, Wesley and Grace met up with the rest of the team to head back out to the front lines.

About half an hour out from the Magmont Continent’s western coast, where most of the battles took place, Wesley and the others suddenly felt an impossibly strong presence approaching, tens of miles away.

“Halt!” Wesley raised his right arm and motioned for the others to stop.

Jasmine raised a voice of concern. “Should we run? Nobody from any of the Kingdoms could possibly be this strong. It’s likely to be one of the Empire’s Emperor-class mages.”

Wesley slowly shook his head. “They’re already too close. Even with our speed, it’d be impossible for us to escape. The only thing we can do is meet them and see if they come in peace. And if they don’t… we’ll have no choice but to fight and see if Emperor-class mages are really as strong as they’re said to be.”

However, they all knew – if it was an enemy, none of them would survive.

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Mere seconds later, they saw a small speck hurtling towards them. After another few seconds, a brutish, imposing figure hovered in front of them.

Imposing, because the speed this person had just shown… was tens of times faster than what any of Wesley’s team could achieve! Just this alone showed just how powerful he was.

Wesley calmly addressed this new arrival. “Greetings, senior. What business might you have with us?”

“I am looking for the King-class mages of the Pooles Kingdom.”

“...” Wesley narrowed his eyes and cautiously responded. “That would most likely be us.”

“Oh?” The anonymous figure smiled. “It seems that my luck is good, then!”

He pulled out a summoning stone and activated it, summoning a golden set of armor alongside a silver spear.

Without hesitation, Wesley began to shout orders.

“Back up! Get into formation with me as the core! Brian in front!”

Alas, Emperor-class mages were just too powerful. Just as Wesley’s team managed to settle into formation, the figure had already reached Brian and stabbed him with his spear.

Luckily for Brian, he’d barely finished a defensive magic seal before the spear had hit him. Even so, he coughed up blood and was knocked out of the formation.

Wesley had panic in his eyes now. After all, Brian was their defensive specialist, and his defensive capabilities far exceeded those of the rest of the team. If even Brian was taken out by a simple spear strike…

If any of the others were hit, it would mean certain death!

Furthermore, the formation had been disrupted.

After knocking Brian out of the formation, the figure rushed forward, only to meet an ice wall that Wesley conjured to buy the team some time.

“Hmph! Trifling spells!” The Emperor-class mage was slightly perturbed by this tactic, but before he could shatter the ice wall with his spear, Wesley’s team had already regrouped with Grace as the forward piece.

She had summoned her defensive armor, called the Shi Set. It came with magically reinforced granite armor, as well as a similarly reinforced granite shield that could be split into two parts, one wielded by each hand. With this set of armor on, Grace’s defense was only slightly inferior to Brian’s.

At the same time, Katherine activated her Arcane Expansion seal.

In quick succession, Jasmine finished Venomous Vines to ensnare and delay the attacker, then the rest of the team seized the opportunity to bombard him with spells.

Finally, Wesley finished off with a self-created spell that he endearingly called, “Snow Globe!”

A sphere of ice formed around the attacker, then quickly compressed itself.

Normally, this would squish the target into meat paste, but this was an Emperor-class mage! With a simple shake of his spear, the sphere of ice broke apart and shards of ice crashed toward the ground.

“Die!” The Emperor-class mage drew back his right arm and lunged forward. One instant the spear was in his hand, and the next… it had flown past Grace before she could block it and pierced Jake’s head! Immediately, his body fell limp and dropped to the ground. He lay motionless with the spear still impaled through his face as his teammates and beloved friends hovered in the air, mortified and frozen with shock.

Seeing his close friend die, Wesley was livid! With his gaze as cold as a winter storm, he turned back toward the Emperor-class mage and softly asked, “What is your name?”

“Name’s Charles. Now, let me have some fun; I’ve been rather bored lately.” With a grasping motion with his right hand, the silver spear disappeared from Jake’s head and reappeared in Charles’ hand.

He flew forward and smashed Grace’s shield with his spear, knocking her out of the formation. A mere moment later, Charles impaled Jasmine in the head and knocked Lawrence down with the butt of his spear.

Hurtling toward the ground, Lawrence’s eyes filled with blood as he watched his wife’s body fall to the ground with him.

“You… I’ll kill you! We’ll die together!” With a sudden burst of determination and hatred, Lawrence flew back up, directly towards Charles.

On the side, Wesley saw Lawrence’s actions. “Wait, Lawrence, no!”

But it was too late. Just as Lawrence was about to reach Charles, he clasped his hand over his heart, shouted his grief toward the heavens… and exploded.

A monstrous wave of pure energy thundered out from Lawrence’s previous location, buffeting Wesley as well as the rest of the team.

Fortunately, Wesley had understood Lawrence’s intention from the beginning and, as the core of the remainder of the formation, drawn the others away from Charles.

After the waves of energy subsided, Wesley peeked back toward Charles’ location.

Charles was still there, hovering in the air, definitely looking worse for wear. However… there was no sign of injury.

Then his mouth moved.

“Alright, alright. NOW it’s getting interesting!” Charles suddenly dashed forward through the air and appeared, as if through teleportation, next to David and Katherine.

With two swift thrusts, the two King-class mages fell from the sky, never to soar again.

At this point, it was overwhelmingly clear to Wesley that while it was unlikely for any of them to survive if they ran, there was no chance of survival if they stayed!

“Run! Split up and if he chases you, try to buy as much time for the others as you can!” Wesley shouted this order of retreat with a mixture of grief and desperation in his voice while dragging Grace through the air as fast as he could away from Charles.

“Hmph.” Charles was not impressed. “Splitting up? It’s just like killing chickens…let’s save the leader for last, eh?

“Let’s see… I injured one of them earlier. He should be an easy picking and… ah! There he is!” Having found Brian, Charles lifted his spear again and chucked it in Brian’s direction. Seconds later, Brian’s body plunged toward the ground with a spear through his back.

“So, one down, three to go. Hmm… they actually fly quite fast. Looks like it’s time for a change.”

The golden armor and the silver spear faded from his body as he took out another summoning stone.

The Silver Eagle Set! Wearing this set of armor tremendously increased the wearer’s speed.

Charles tapped his foot downwards and sped after his prey. A moment later, he had caught up with Alina.

“Hello there, beauty!” Charles casually slashed down with his hand, cleanly cutting Alina’s body in two.

“And now, for that loving couple…”

Instinctively, Wesley and Grace fled toward the little old shack next to the calm and beautiful lake. It was their place of safety, of comfort.

However, less than a minute after they had fled from Charles, Wesley could feel an ominous presence closing in on them.

Shit!

Wesley spun himself around in midair. “Keep going, Grace! Don’t look back!”

He prepared his last magic seal: Sealed Revelation!

There wasn’t enough time! Wesley stared at the incoming Emperor-class mage with discontent in his eyes.

He frantically drew, but he wasn’t going to make it!

With a wave of his hand, a scimitar appeared in Charles’s grasp. He raised his hand and slashed down!

Wesley watched the scimitar descend from above, expecting it to end his life in the next moment, when suddenly another body entered his field of vision.

With a ‘shhhhhlick’ sound, Grace’s body split in half right before Wesley’s very own eyes.

“...” Wesley eyes glazed over as he watched Grace’s body fall lifelessly to the ground, as if in slow motion. He heard a roaring in his ears and his chest tightened almost to the point of collapsing. Consumed by grief, Wesley could not move, could not make a sound.

An instant later, the scimitar curved back around and sliced Wesley’s body in half as well.

As the light faded from his eyes and his vision turned dark, Wesley heard an anguished shout of grief in the distance.

He faintly wondered who had shouted, and what that person had lost.