Anthony stood up as if waking from a dream, the memories and pain of his past seemed to fade with each passing second. He tried his best to recall where he was and how he got there. Slowly he started to piece it all together like one big puzzle. He was helping Master Zoe defend this farmhouse from some ruffians, when...

He suddenly remembered his arms and legs had been wounded, his stomach had been shocked by high volts of electricity from a Fire Mage. Yet, his arms felt light and stern as did his legs, in fact he felt better than before except for a burning sensation at the tip of his head. He felt the area between his eyebrows where he felt something warm pressing under his flesh. It wasn’t a bruise and it wasn’t a fever, more like a second heart, warm and pulsing to the touch. He had felt his sensation once before, when he held a Fire Gem in his hand it was as if the fire in his head was alive and moving but trapped beneath the base of his skull. Before he had time to examine it further he heard a familiar voice crying out to him.

“Bios, Bios!” Master Zoe rushed over by his side, quickly kneeling before him and examining his arms and stomach for any sign of injury.

“Master Zoe...are you alright?” Anthony was in a stoic state.

“Am I alright kid, how could you be so reckless?” Zoe scolded him but with concern under her breath. “You can’t just take a full lightning force like that. You could have been killed, burned to cinders.”

“But I...I didn’t.” Bios looked at his arms and stomach as if he couldn't believe this was his real body.

“You really are stupid and stubborn aren’t you, kid!” Zoe said hold his hand. “You shouldn’t throw your life away just to save me, your life is more important than mine.”

“I had to save you, I had to save...Ida.”

“She ran into the woods, she’ll be fine. If she finds Clio and her family she’ll be safe, but let’s worry about you kid.” Zoe continued the examination of his body to make sure he was in good condition, but as she did Anthony couldn’t help but hear voices from over his shoulder.

He looked and he found the three mages from before, except now they were gathering together to look after one of their own. Castor the Fire Mage had never been burnt by his own fire, but for the first time he felt burns of electricity across his hands, the tingling in every finger. Notes the Wind Mage was busy attending to his wounds with the use of his Aeration. While it wasn’t as effective as High Master’s ability of Healing it did help to sooth pain when combined with the higher skill of Compression, allowing the body to heal wounds and cuts. Anthony watched as the one called Oceanus tended to his leader, while Notes healed the wounds, his water mage abilities helping to keep Castor’s wounds cool and soothed from the pain.

“It burns, it burns!” Castor called out even though his fist was practically covered in frost.

“It wouldn’t hurt if you didn’t move around so much!” Oceanus tried to keep a cool head as he tried to soothe the pain.

“I’ve never seen a burn like this, it’s like lightning shock backfired or something.” Notes examined the wounds.

“What do you know, you’re not a master mage!” Oceanus screamed.

“Just shut up and get the herbs, stupid!”

“What? They haven’t even proceeded!”

“Just do it before I burn you to a crisp!” His eyes were infuriated at the pain in his arm riddle with a blackened scorched march.

Notes quickly got the bundle of herbs to prepare a proper medicine. He needed to dry, and mix it with several substances to make a proper anesthesia. However, before he could even begin the first step, Castor took a handful of leaves and swallowed them whole.

“You seem fine, but there’s something on your head, I’ve never seen before.” Zoe put her thumb on the glowing mark between his eyebrows that seemed to be moving as she pressed against it. “What is that?”

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“I don’t know, but I think it saved my life.”

“I hope it’s got another miracle because I think they finally remembered why they’re here.” While Notes looked after Castor, Oceanus had left his side to enact his revenge.

“You’re dead, both of you are dead!” With a lift of his arm, Ocean summoned a great geyser of water from out of the ground.

His fury was so unbridled by rage he didn’t even bother to pull it from the well, but straight from under the dirt like a geyser. He gathered every drop from the ground and started forming a great circle of water. It spun around like a saw releasing droplets all around lining them out like rows of sharp icicles stacked up like a row of arrows. With a thrust of his right arm, he released a barrage of icicles directly at both of them, barely giving them time to react.

Master Zoe quickly reacted by waving her hands in large circles to the sound of several large blasting sounds. Although it wasn’t bombs, it was a larger versions of a Thunder technique that Anthony had seen before. This one created multiple shock waves all around with so much force that it shattered the deadly icicles in shaved ice that flurried all around the ground. As she concentrated on defense she called out to Anthony.

“Get your knife, kid, you’re not dead yet!” Zoe protected Anthony long enough for him to come to his senses and grab the knife he had lost before.

It shimmered in the grass cover in his own blood, but he grabbed it quickly wondering how a non-mage could help a battle of such power. A peculiar thing happened the moment he touched the hilt, the blade made from the talon of ruby Salamander suddenly grew bright at its core. Anthony had seen this happen many times before, when his blade had made contact with fire but never of this magnitude. It was as if it was alive, for the first time in a way that he had never seen before, as it started to dance with sparks of electricity firing from the tip of its blade. Anthony didn’t know how this would affect the outcome of this fight, but he hoped that it would.

As Master Zoe kept on defense, Anthony kept his eyes wide for an opening. He found it, the moment Oceanus stopped firing Icicles and decided to take it up the next phase. An Ice Collapse was a level of Water Master Mage craft that, in a natural circumstance, could turn rain into deadly projectiles. However, with the rush of geyser pressing water droplets from the sky it made a perfect environment for an aerial assault. He released the water circle and pressed the geyser forward turning every water droplet that fell into a deadly spray of ice headed straight toward Zoe. Even if they were small and ineffective, the velocity and number was enough to overwhelm even a master.

Anthony knew this the moment he saw Oceanus ready to bring down the deadly Ice Collapse. At that time he gathered every ounce of speed in his body and headed toward him as he released his water ring. His body felt faster, super charged, as if the energy that he had found had been absorbed into his body and made his muscles move at higher speeds. It wasn’t fast enough as the ground became cold and the air became freezing she realized she had been wrong. This wasn’t an Ice Collapse this was an Avalanche technique, the highest level of and Water Master Mage.

Master Zoe could handle the barrage from above, but would not be unable to protect herself from the water flowing down below. An Avalanche would release ice shards from all directions to a single area, meaning an effective death sphere. Anthony knew this and yet still he charged without hesitation and without fear because last time it had cost him dearly. No matter what, he remained adamant, thrusting his blade forward as shards of ice started tearing his flesh again. The shards were sharp enough to shallow cut his flesh, but not enough to stop him. It was enough to slow him down so Oceanus could narrow step away.

His knife had barely cut his arm but Oceanus flinched in exacerbating pain. Electricity ran from the blade into his wound and ran throughout his body with a force so powerful it might have well have been struck by Lightning. His concentration broken, the sharp ice returned to water as the geyser resided back into the earth. The force was so great that the water around him turned to steam under his feet as Oceanus fell to his knees.

Anthony was in other shock that such a small cut would have such a tremendous effect. More curious how the glow of the blade suddenly receded but still incredibly potent. He touched the blade, to be sure but it didn’t shock him in the least. whatever had just transpired he needed to do something quickly before Oceanus recovered.

“You son of...” Before he even finished his sentence he felt a sharp pain in the pit of his stomach.

Using the hilt of his blade and fist he started repeatedly punching him over and over again. Each punch was amplified by the charge of the same as before, the blade lightning began to slowly fade until it returned to its dormant state. With his last blow he used his regular leg to kick Oceanus across the face causing him to fall to the ground unconscious. Anthony felt the warmed fading from atop his head as Master Zoe noticed the mark had completely disappeared.

“What just happened?” Anthony said, looking at his hands wondering how he managed to produce lighting from his dagger.

“I wish I knew, kid, I really wish I knew.” She stood staring at the fallen Water Mage’s body.

This battle was won, but the war was not over, as Notes started to notice Castor’s body spasming into consciousness. When his eyes opened he noticed they had taken on a strange greenish hue from his veins. Notes knew what this was, and knew that the worst was yet to come if he didn’t run away.