Faust was shocked beyond belief but didn’t have the time to think through the implications of the revelation.
Roaring, he swung his blade with all his might at the fiery spear.
BOOM!
The air exploded at the point of impact and Faust was sent flying by the recoil into the carriage behind him.
Crash!
The wooden vehicle was obliterated on impact.
The harnesses that bound the horses snapped as they neighed and fled in every direction. The unlucky ones that didn’t survive the violent inertia bled from all orifices from the destruction wrought by the violent opposing forces on their internal organs.
As for the soldiers in the Iron-wall Formation, they were sent flying as their ‘iron wall’ crumbled like it was made of sand. Whether they were alive or dead, no one knew.
The battlefield was stunned into silence.
The defenders were routed and the attackers too flabbergasted by the disgusting display of power.
Faust whose blade hand still stung from the previous attack, looked into the sky above. The latest displays of power had leveled the immediate forest and he could now make out the clear moon that hung in the sky. Not that he had the mind to admire it at this point.
He moved his head from side to side producing cracks that rung clear as day in the now quiet battlefield. He rose from the rubble to stand tall in the wooden debris. He pointed his sword to the sky. There, three figures stood like deity’s passing down divine punishment.
Faust spat out the blood that he kept himself from coughing up. The action displayed his disdain for the three’s pompous and presumptuous actions.
Inhaling his biggest mouthful yet, he yelled, “DISPERSE!”
The order was louder than the soldiers previous battle cry. The heavens shook and the earth trembled.
After that, Faust took one almighty step that turned the rubble around him to dust and shot into the sky. By the time the Shockwave hit, he was already in front of the great mage scion.
Caldwell’s expression changed drastically as he sent a palm towards the frozen scion that had yet to react to the drastic change in the situation.
Boom!
The scion was sent tumbling for hundreds of meters before stabilizes himself. The shock and horror of seeing death loom over him caused his face to pale as cold sweat formed on his forehead.
Back at Elder Caldwell and Faust’s battlefield, an awesome battle was unfolding. Rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth as clangs of metal was replaced by booms of thunder with each blade strike.
Two supernaturals! I never expected supernaturals! And a great mage to boot!? Faust was cursing up a storm inside his head.
With rage and indignation, he swung his blade sending the younger of the two supernaturals flying before exchanging a few blows with Caldwell.
He was clearly stronger than the two supernaturals individually. But if the two worked together, they could just match him. The tie breaker was the great mage on the enemy’s side. The situation was truly headache inducing.
The only silver lining is that mage seems quite inexperienced. Faust kept observing the still frozen great mage in the distance cautiously. Mages all had mystical arcane arts that were difficult to deal with and he didn’t want to get caught with his pants down.
But the mage just kept standing there shaking like a leaf. It was truly vexing.
Seems like this one kept cultivating his strength in hiding and hasn’t tasted true battle. A scion of a noble lineage? At that thought, only the Ronoan Empire of Magic came to mind. They were the only ones who could produce such a greenhouse flower of a great mage with two Supernatural protectors to accompany him. And filtering out the current superpowers in conflict with Aurum, Faust was even more certain of his speculations.
With every strike, Caldwell was sent flying backwards but when Faust tried to capitalize on his advantage and close in on the frozen mage, he would be repelled by a suicidal attack of the younger of the two supernaturals.
Faust had no choice but to commend the young warrior for his conviction. Even knowing the disparity in strength, the man chose to disregard all defense and exchange injuries with his stronger opponent to buy time for his liege. This was how a knight should be. And while they were enemies, he respected the man’s valor.
Just as Faust engaged the enemy in relentless battle, his expression shifted and he shot back a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
Looking at his previous position, air had solidified to form wind blades that would have reduced him to meat strips had he not noticed the mana fluctuations.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Expression grave, Faust rode the air as wind blade after wind blade attempted to sever his existence. Amidst the magic ambushes, Faust still had to repel the attacks of the two warrior supernaturals which put him at a momentary disadvantage.
The enemy disadvantage didn’t last long, however. Faust had long since noticed the weak link of the team and thus he focused majority of his energy on trying to cut down the inexperienced mage. While he didn’t succeed, he at least managed to restore the battle to equilibrium.
As long as Faust did not lose, he would win.
Elder Caldwell was no fool either. He knew that a protracted battle would only be a detriment to his side’s mission.
Gritting his teeth, he yelled, “Leave this place to us! Go secure the target!”
In the distance the scion floated in the air with a ferocious gale of wind circling around him. He was weaving hand signs and chanting an Incantation when he heard the elder’s voice.
He ignored him.
“Come, Ampelia Fylakisis!” The mage roared.
Immediately, the earth rumbled as vines as thick as tree trunks shot up from the ground. They were green and had thorns big enough to skewer a mammoth. They shot towards Faust with such speed and precision that the man had no time to dodge.
BOOM!
The air rippled and distorted as Faust was sent flying through the air.
That wasn’t all, however. There were still tens of vines remaining and they homed onto Faust's position giving him no chance to breathe.
Blood covered Faust’s body as he struggled to regain his footing. With more of the dreadful vines approaching, he inhaled deeply as he also weaved hand signs of his own.
Energy left his body as mana coated the blade of his sword. He then used it to draw a semi-circle in the air and wherever it passed a blade condensed from fire type mana took form.
There were six blades formed in total formed. Identical in appearance to Faust’s own blade but larger in size – almost the height of a full-grown adult human – they radiated explosiveness and the desire to burn everything in their path.
This was his battle art!
“Rargh!”
With billowing killing intent, Faust cut down humongous vine after humongous vine that dared to enter within ten meters of him. One blade in hand and six around him, the man looked like a war deity as he weaved through the sky.
With the great mage being assaulted by the six mana blades, the two supernaturals were back to being suppressed.
“LEAVE!” Caldwell roared once more. “The Elves will have noticed the disturbance and will send a scouting party!”
The mage’s expression shifted numerous times but in the end he complied. He wasn’t stupid. He also understood the gravity of the situation.
Without the departure of the great mage, Faust’s full strength bore down on the two supernaturals. They also deployed their own battle arts but Faust’s strength was too overbearing
How laughable. Caldwell’s junior supernatural thought self-deprecatingly. Of course the king’s son would be protected by a premier powerhouse. What did we expect?
***
On the battlefield below, everything was in even more disarray. Man and beast alike fled frantically in search of cover. Any stray energy or random shockwave would be enough to snuff out the existence of any mortal warrior, no matter the rank.
By the time the scion landed on the ground, there was only destruction and desolation left. Looking around, he could see isolated body parts lying around. A head here, an arm there, and even shredded intestines were all a testament to the apocalyptic might that still thundered in the night sky.
When he arrived at what remained of the carriage wreckage, he noticed what looked like two mangled corpses dressed in the signature armor of the Aurum Imperial Guard. He ignored them to look around and breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that there were no remains of children.
“Looks like elder Caldwell was right,” the scion muttered under his breath. “That mage attendant must’ve taken the children in a different direction when they discovered the shade.”
The scion rubbed his chin with a serious expression on his face. Then he spread out his mana sense.
Immediately, a region of five thousand meters appeared in his mind. The first thing to enter his vision was what remained of the scavengers and bandits he had hired, the next thing he saw was a burly apelike creature that was dressed in red and yellow daoist robes. It sat in a tree snacking on an apple.
When the scion’s mana sense reached the ape, it stopped snacking mid bite and turned its head in his direction. Then it waved its hand and the image in the scion’s mind shattered.
Color drained from his face as he coughed out a mouthful of blood.
After regaining his composure, he paced around the wreckage with a dark look on his face. Things were getting too troublesome. His mana sense scan did not pick up the targets he was looking for. While it was only a cursory scan, he didn’t dare perform anything too detailed as he risked offending existences such as Beast Kings if he was too forceful in his probing.
The scion rubbed his nose in displeasure.
A few meters away, a burly man was approaching sheepishly with two black cloaked figures in tow. He had noticed the troubled expression on his employer’s face and decided to offer some assistance.
“Lord envoy,” he begun.
“Call me young master,” the scion abruptly cut him off. His brow was still knit together with a deep frown on his face.
“Yes, young master,” the man corrected. “If you are looking for clues on the children you mentioned, we may be able to provide some assistance.”
“Speak!” The scion snapped his head back to look at the three new arrivals. While he did not harbor much hope, any lead was better than none.
The three men immediately felt their knees buckle from the sudden aura that pressed down on them.
Realizing his carelessness, the scion withdrew his aura with a click of his tongue. “Tch. Aren’t warriors supposed to have sturdy physiques? How fragile.”
The scion did not bother to conceal the contempt in his tone.
“So? What did you want to say?”
The burly man immediately looked at one of the men by his side.
“Pardon, young master.” One of the men spoke taking a step forward and dropping to one knee. “A little past day’s peak yesterday- “
“Get to the point!” the scion snapped. He did not have the time to bother with these imbeciles.
“Apologies young master,” the man cowered with a shiver. “There is an outpost roughly thirty kilometers east. Maybe that is where the ones you seek are headed. There are two experts in resident. Their strength should be at the stage of shedding mortality at the very least. The outpost is protected by a high-grade barrier formation that can isolate or absorb environmental mana. There are also superior tier 1 herbs inside the formation. We think they are guarding an ore vein.”
The scion’s eyes widened in astonishment.