I raised my hand from behind the wall and aimed towards the ceiling of the cave.

-Lysce gymnu!

A spark of lightning shot right past all of the defenses, curving downwards, behind the enemy shield.

I didn’t intend to kill, so the zap was not that ominous-looking, although it still was flickering with a good amount of mana.

To my absolute surprise though, it did not reach the target. As soon as I spoke the words, I realized that the third person that was behind the wall suddenly flinched and their mana replied in kind.

I didn’t hear the spell, neither did I see the effect, but as soon as the lightning reached the top of the wall, it fizzled into a cloud of mana.

-That’s concerning.

-What was that?!

It was Kon. He managed to finally snap out of the initial stun after his spell was countered.

-Your spell just disappeared?!

Ah, so he was able to tell, too.

-Someone countered it. Doesn’t matter.

As I was saying that, I just repeated the spell.

And like before, it disappeared.

Again, like before, as it reached the wall, it turned into a harmless puff of mana. I am not sure, but I think they were even trying to prevent me from seeing how exactly they were countering.

-Don’t bother, I think they have shieldied themselves - said For and was about to toss a fireball in their direction, but I stopped her.

-No fire! - I warned her. - You don’t want to ignite this shit!

-Ignite what?! - she yelled, annoyed. - Haven’t you seen the amount of fire THEY are pelting us with? Like that matters?!

-Yes, and have you noticed WHERE the fire appears?!

She squinted, trying to focus on seeing through the wall, but for naught.

-The fire only appears on our side of the cave! They don't want to ignite the mana that is around them. So be careful. Can you toss anything else towards them?

-I never used anything else other than fire…

-So just copy me! Same with you, Kon.

-What…?!

-You heard me. Lysce gymnu!

I fired another lightning towards them.

Got countered again.

-See? Doesn’t work!

-And that doesn't matter. Just do it!

-I…

-Lysce gymnu!

Kon did not need that much encouragement.

His lightning was weaker than mine, although only if you looked carefully. If you were to just take a look and not compare amounts of mana, it would’ve definitely scared you, because in his inefficiency, he wasted a lot of energy on also producing sound and a lot more… “effects”.

If mine was more comparable to a light spark, his was a thunderbolt.

I wasn’t really planning on that, but it actually sort of worked.

It actually reached one person behind the wall, because I noticed one of the people fall down, and, luckily or not, fall right back through the portal.

-Nice aim - I said, not hiding my surprise.

-Holy damn!

Even For noticed the effect.

It was actually not something I planned on.

I expected that every single spell that would get even remotely close to that puff of mana would just dissipate like mine before, but it was not the case.

It also made me flinch in worry that he’s going to ignite the loose mana into a large fireball. While it would definitely be a very powerful attack, I was not so keen on trying to make the cave collapse on top of us thanks to some stray explosion.

-It’s working!

-Damn, whatever, I can try… Lysce gymnu!

For, encouraged by his success, launched her own spell.

Considering the fact that it was indeed the first time that she was using this kind of magic, the effect was quite decent.

The lightning didn’t have that much mana behind it as Kon’s had, but it definitely was as loud and as bright as his.

This time though, the spell was stopped.

Just like with mine, it dissipated into a puff of mana as soon as it got behind the wall.

-Fuck.

-Nah, you succeeded too. Look.

The barrier in front of us no longer was shooting fire towards us.

The two people that I saw earlier that created that combined spell were now focusing on something else. I was not sure what that was, because although their mana was still active and I could tell that they were in a process of casting some kind of spell, I was not able to tell what kind.

Hell, I was not even sure about the element they would attempt to use.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

-We have a chance, don’t stop! - yelped Kon and launched another lightning towards them.

For followed suit and so did I, shrugging.

This time I put even less mana into the spell, and instead just paid attention to the other side of the wall, seeing how exactly they were dealing with it.

As the triple lightning shot towards them, forking between each other, I noticed that everyone behind the wall suddenly focused their mana and… shot it towards the lightning?

From my perspective it was absolutely counter-intuitive. After all, what you normally see in that case would just be our spell draining the mana from them and magnifying its effect, but what happened was quite the opposite.

As the two “streams” collided, both of them exploded, but not in destructive force of fire or lightning, instead just akin to a puff of smoke, they dissipated into the air, spreading the remains around the whole cave.

What caught my attention though was the collision point.

I expected for it to be full of mana, probably the densest point in the whole room, since it was essentially the epicenter of our clashes. But instead, it was completely dark.

A spot, hovering mid air, that was devoid of mana.

They were using some kind of item to destroy the magic around them.

It sort of reminded me of an aura I’ve seen around Felix a long time ago, when he was still with his book and the “artifact” hidden inside.

Did they have something like this as well?

But it couldn’t be the case, could it?

First off, they wouldn’t be able to take something like this with them through the portal. At least I thought so. And since they were also pouring mana towards it, it made no sense…

I tossed another lightning at them, just to make sure.

Yep, the reaction was just as last time. Although I managed to notice another small thing.

Just as the lightning was about to hit the dark spot, it first hit something else. And at the same time, I noticed that the mana of the people behind changed a little bit. It was just for a split second of the impact, but it did. Just to dissipate into a puff of smoke once more.

-I think I am starting to understand what’s going on… - I mumbled.

-Then get on with it and do something!

-Calm down. They stopped their attack, it’s not like we are in some kind of danger or anything like…

I spoke too soon.

In the middle of my sentence, I noticed that someone else had emerged from the portal that was still up and running all that time. And this person meant business.

Not even waiting to emerge completely, a spell darted across the room towards us, a familiar one too boot: it was a lightning orb.

And not just a regular, small, orb like I usually made, no. It was larger than our whole barrier, meaning that if I wasn’t going to stop it, it would definitely reach us even hidden behind.

-Fuckin’... Jomva sypna!

Reflexively, I essentially recreated the spell I was looking at, but made it as powerful as I could, or at least as much as I felt safe in current circumstances.

Even then, it was a little bit too much.

The orb I created was smaller than the one flying right at me, but it was as powerful as it, if not more.

The clash was the loudest thing I’ve heard in a while. Back behind me I noticed Kon and For had to even cover their ears just to not be deafened.

I didn’t have that luxury available to me though, because even though the spells clashed, neither of them seemed like it wanted to overpower another. I even added a bit of mana to give mine a push, but it only made the noise worse.

On the other side, I could tell that they were struggling. Three of them were focused on fueling the spell so it wouldn’t get overpowered, while the fourth one, that by now was fully out from the portal, was focusing on something else.

Judging by the mana signature and my inability to read the spell, I assumed that it had to be something similar to the trick they were doing before, that they used to disrupt our spells.

And I was right, although the way they went about it was sort of strange.

After a few seconds of this tug-of-war, they seemed like they gave up. Suddenly, the mana that was constantly being poured into their ball lightning got cut off, and in a split of a second my lightning overpowered it and flew right towards the wall.

I hesitated for a second: I never intended to make the spell powerful enough to actually do much damage, yet during our struggle I had to empower it quite a bit, so I was no longer sure if it would not just kill someone, instead of just shocking for a while, like I intended.

Before I made up my mind though, someone jumped in front of the spell and stopped it.

It was the fourth person, the same one that was preparing something.

They were dressed exactly as the others I’ve seen before, but this one felt like their mana was weaker, which was doubly strange, since they deliberately jumped out of their hiding.

They had a good reason, though.

In their hand there was something akin to a staff, with a rather flat, large box on one end. It somewhat looked like they were holding a large traffic sign, although completely black and blank. And thicker.

Whatever that was, it was the source of the blank spot of the mana I noticed before.

But this time, the blank spot was covered in thicker mana, surrounding it like a strange ring. I honestly was not sure what I was looking at, but my doubts were cleared as soon as the person holding it started swatting at the barreling spell with that strange “staff”.

As soon as the lightning reached the object, it immediately got dispelled, turning into a cloud of mana.

It didn’t even take three swipes to completely nullify the whole ball lightning and fill half of the cave with mana residue.

They were not wasting time. As soon as the spell was gone, the trio jumped out from behind the rock and, all at once, flung their spells at me.

They launched three different spells. I assume they wanted to make sure that I won’t be able to deflect them with a mirrored one, since they used different elements.

First one used lightning, just like before.

They launched something akin to the lightning I used, but this time it was in the shape of a spear: it appeared in their hand, about as long as they were tall, and tossed it right at me.

Second one used fire.

That one was more classic, just a regular fireball. Maybe not as large as the lightning, but definitely as powerful.

The third one used something new.

From their palms, suddenly a growth sprouted: a long, green vine, covered in thorns shot towards my legs, in an attempt to trip me.

Interesting magic, albeit fruitless.

I thought of just trying to defend myself with some kind of spell, but decided against it. After all, none of those would harm me. None of the people in front of me looked like they were attempting to use light magic, so I should be fine.

And on top of that, I was banking on the fact that seeing as their attacks were pointless, they would be more willing to talk.

Hell, in hindsight it was a bad idea: it would probably only intimidate them, but nevertheless it was too late.

I raised my hand and grabbed the fireball flying right at me mid-air, making sure that it wouldn’t reach my remaining clothes. Or, well, rags at this point.

At the same time I ignored both the plant and the lightning.

With one squeeze, the fire dissipated, while the plants reached my legs, withering in a span of less than a second.

I flinched when the lightning hit me. Their aim was on point: it struck me right in the middle of the chest, but it only made a lot of noise, nothing else. All the mana that they wasted quickly got absorbed by the Origin Crystal and that was it from their attack.

Both of us stood there, looking at each other. Or at least it seemed like it, because the eyes of my adversaries were still hidden by the veil.

-What now, hm? - I finally broke the silence that fell onto the cave after this exchange of loud spells.

None of them spoke, frozen in place. They didn’t even look at each other, focused only on me.

-I am not your enemy. I am just a bystander I am afraid.

No response.

Not like that was going to demoralize me.

-If Axelrod is the one you’re looking for, I am afraid you’ve missed him. As far as I am aware he left this island just before we arrived.

On the mention of his name I finally noticed some recognition.

While they didn’t flinch nor speak, I could tell by their mana that they tensed up as I spoke his name.

-I see that you also have something against him. I can assure you, I am no friend of his. As a matter of fact, he tried to kill me, so take that as you will.

-And why should we trust a creature like you?