Earth was rumbling.

In distance it was possible to see the epicenter of terrible forces of nature, with fiery dome encompassing a land inside. Every now and then explosions would shatter the silence of the fields. Behind the blazing flames two huge figures were rushing around, metal clanking at each of their movement.

"Man, is it really THAT hard to simply NOT DIE while casting a spell!?" A man in a golden and silver coated manasteel armor, that covered every inch of his body, was dashing side to side in an attempt to evade multitude of projectiles coming at him from every direction. In his hands an enormous sword revolved rapidly, protecting the knight from metal blades and fire charges.

"Not everyone can control mana as well as you do" emotionless answer came in his direction. His comrade was hiding behind a huge tower shield, which seemed to be on a brink of shattering, but yet it was tenaciously protecting its wielder.

"Then why are they still inventing Armageddon spells that will explode in a face one day? It hasn't been a single day without a new aberration appearing!"

"Pride, I think. And..." shield wielding knight bent back, evading metal spike rising from the ground in an attempt to impale him. -"... a pinch of overconfidence."- He then smashed the spike into splinters with a kick and began weaving a complex spell.

"Hey, Leonard, I thought there are already enough spells already on the field!"

"This one is fine."- Leonard finished his spell, instantly converting all fire around them into ice, encompassing them in frozen walls.

"I take my words back. What was that?" a knight in bulky armor calmly walked towards his friend, while observing the scenery.

The ring of flames was gone, and fireballs turned into frozen spheres on the ground, harmlessly laying in piles. He even nonchalantly kicked a couple of ice spheres on his way towards Leonard.

"Council asked me to test this spell when we will meet fire based aberration."

"Huh, a nice one to have. Why you though, I thought I am the Captain?" He said, while embedding his greatsword into the ground and leaning on it.

"Elezar, in was you who ignored their advice about development path and now you don't possess required organs to use it. Also, your body is too conductive." Leonard was checking his armor for cracks. Manasteel was the best protection and weapon against magic, but a skilled mages are able to control mana inside, so the only real use was dealing with aberrations.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It will rip you apart the moment you cast it."

"..." Stunned Elezar blankly stared at his teammate. "You win this time, Leonard."

"Were we competing in something?"

"Forget it" he waved his hand and began stretching preparing for the next wave "You are too literal, mate. It's hard to fool around you, especially mid-fight. I don't want to spend next hour explaining."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"... Okay. Did you feel that?"

"Yeah, whoever decided to experiment here really wanted to give us as much headache as possible. I will take on the abomination while you will cover me." Elezar took out his greatsword, effortlessly spinning it around a couple of times to check balance, and rushed towards a crack in an ice wall.

Leonard took his shield and began weaving another spell, sniping any stray fireball from the sky. He didn't like fire based aberrations, since fire was his speciality, but their duty was to deal with anything that appears on the territory of Republic. He watched as Elezar danced around nothingness with the heavy sword of his, but he knew that in an astral world there is a real carnage happening. Too bad he couldn't see it, only feel with his soul.

Meanwhile Elezar was busy using his manasteel sword to cut, slash, shatter, pierce and smite a horde of appendages the abomination grew. He wasn't happy that an astral body of every mage who fails to control a spell acquires a dozen or two of tentacles, eyes and other limbs, but at least they were easy to cut with manasteel. He manipulated dense mana inside his sword to direct it mid-swing, threw it forward and pulled back, imbued it with spell after spell to set the monster ablaze and freeze solid. Eventually, the endless flow of claws, teeth and razors died down, and Captain managed to pierce the center of former mage's body, dividing it in half. Instantly, everything around them dissipated, freeing knights from the barrage of spells.

The ghost's astral body began draining mana, making it deflate and lose shape. Now there was only vibrating crystal of deep violet hue laying where raging catastrophe subsided. The ground around them was scorched and covered in frozen mud, metal spikes towering over them. Elezar took out a bottle and carefully placed a crystal inside, avoiding touching it with anything but a pair of pincers. He then sealed it shut and observed it from all sides.

"What do you think the Council needs them for?"

"They said something about amulets that would prevent aberrations from happening. Maybe they need remnants for tests."

"But if they will create the amulet, will we be needed even?.." The idea that Aberration Fighters would become obsolete saddened Elezar. He was genuinely enjoying fighting dead mages.

"Not really, there will still be mages daring enough to risk their lives for a perfect spell."

"Yeah, there are always enough madmen. Take us for example!"

"But I am sane."

"Right...". - Elezar took his sword with disappointment and turned around.

"By the way, what did you mean by "cover me"? Should I have cast a shield on you?"

Elezar turned back and looked Leonard dead in the eyes "... Pfft! No way you said that just now! Ha-ha! HA-HA-HA" Elezar couldn't contain his laughter, his loud voice resonating inside his helmet. Heavily panting, he looked at his unamused teammate. "What are your excuses, mate?"

"Hmm, I guess I should have asked back than."

"Ha-ha! Boys won't believe this. Let's go with us! The beer is on me!"