Chapter III

Shortly after a resplendent column of red light sprung up into the night sky from the center of the pentagram, the four remaining mages had started to take action. The mage that appeared to be their leader had issued some orders and then had started running to one of the nearby houses in the village. One of the mages started to command the skeletons to move a little further away from the site of the ritual. While another mage had started to command the skeletal warriors, that were watching over the newly created skeletons, to form up in front of where the mages were located to act as their shield should anything dangerous happen.

While the final mage had kept his eyes on what was happening within the site of the ritual. As all of this was going on the red light had started to slowly dissipate. The mage named Niek who was keeping his eyes on the ritual called out to the two mages who were near him, “Uhh, g-guys! S-something's happening!” The two other mages, Teun and Remco, turned their attention to the light that was slowly fading.

In just one breath of time the red light had completely vanished, with no trace of it left behind. “W-what just happened? D-did anything come out of the light!?” Remco tried to affirm if anything had happened. Niek declared, “The light faded and nothing came out. I guess everything's okay now, r-right?” Teun shook his head as he said, “Don't let your guard down yet. Remco, let's continue with our orders. It's better to be safe.”

Remco nodded as he responded, “Right. Better safe than sorry. But damn, talk about scaring the wits outta-” Suddenly an earsplitting roar of thunder shook the heavens as a violet lightning bolt struck in the center of the pentagram causing the ground to tremble violently.

Almost as if he had arrived with that lightning bolt, there now stood the figure of a man clad in a black hooded robe , right in the center of that pentagram. As he lifted his head up, the man's face was completely obscured in darkness by the hood. In the darkness there existed two dim purple lights that looked almost like two small flames flickering to life. Those two flickering flames moved to the right and then to the left, almost as if taking in their surroundings.

As those two flames moved about they suddenly halted on the group of three mages and as they did so, the two flickering flames suddenly bursted forth with vigor transforming into two small vivid purple spheres of light. The thunder that had accompanied the man's arrival was so deafening that the three mages nearest to where the lightning had struck were momentarily dazed.

Before they had a chance to recover, the man stepped forward and slowly lifted his right arm. As his arm was lifted the robe's sleeve gradually slid back revealing an arm and hand, devoid of all flesh. On his hand there was a platinum ring with a violet gemstone embedded in it. This man was none other than Azrael.

He pointed at the nearest mage and uttered two words, “Infernal Flame.” As soon as those words sounded out, a red-black flame the size of a head appeared at the tip of the finger he pointed with. As if the mage was a magnet and the flame was a piece of metal, it immediately flew forward and landed on his chest. The moment it touched his chest, the mage started to scream in agony, “AHHH-!!!” It instantly spread to engulf his entire body stifling his screams. Not even a full breath's worth of time had passed, yet the mage had already been burnt until nothing remained, not even ashes and almost as if having run out of fuel, the flame vanished.

The mage's scream of agony seemed to awake the other two from their daze. “Niek!!” The two nearby mages shouted simultaneously as their faces paled. As they did so, Azrael turned his attention towards them. Seeing his gaze, the two started to tremble. Azrael started to walk towards them and as he did so, the skeletal warriors were just now coming to the side of the mages. “Q-quickly!! Y-you ten! Shield w-wall!! Y-you ten! Atack him!!” A mage yelled out orders to the skeletal warriors that had just reached them.

The skeletal warriors were skeletons that wore a mixture of leather and chainmail armor while wielding swords and shields. Ten of them moved towards Azrael with the intent to attack, while the other ten moved in front of the two remaining mages and raised their shields, forming a shield wall. Azrael was undeterred as he continued to walk towards them.

 The ten skeletal warriors that had advanced towards Azrael to attack were now just two meters away. At this point Azrael raised his hand and uttered, “Soul Sever”. Immediately after those words left his mouth, a black colored shock wave exploded forth with his hand as the epicenter. It struck against those ten undead that were almost within striking range. The moment it came into contact with them, they collapsed like puppets whose strings had been cut.

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Having witnessed this scene the two mages couldn't help but start to tremble. “W-w-what do we d-do R-remco!?” One of the mages addressed the other. “S-shit! S-shit! Teun!!! S-start chanting your s-spells now!! We can only b-buy time until Klaas finds s-something in the tome to deal with this!” Azrael continued to approach unhindered. “Attack him!!” A mage ordered the remaining ten skeletal warriors.

As the warriors moved to intercept Azrael, the two mages were chanting their spells. Before the warriors reached Azrael, one of the mages lifted their staff towards Azrael as he just finished his chant, “Fire ball!” A ball of fire that was about half a meter in size appeared in the air at the end of the mages staff. It hung there in the air for but a second before it hurtled through the air towards Azrael.

Before it could reach him, he murmured, “Negate Magic.” The fireball was one meter away from hitting him, but before it could do so it extinguished in midair. “W-what!? W-what magic is t-that!!?” The mage who had cast the fireball yelled before immediately starting another chant. The warriors had almost reached Azrael, but once again he raised his hand and uttered, “Soul Sever.” Once more a black colored shock wave erupted from his hand as the epicenter and struck those warriors. These warriors, just like the previous ones, all collapsed to the ground becoming piles of bone, armor and weapons.

The other mage finished his chant and raised his staff towards Azrael, calling out, “Ice Lance!” Ice solidified in the air near the mages staff and formed into the shape of a large spear. After it formed it shot forth with great speed. But before it had the chance to impale Azrael, once more he uttered, “Negate Magic.” The ice lance had been close to hitting him, but right before it could, it suddenly evaporated.

Having seen his spell fail, the mage couldn't bare the pressure anymore and turned to run away. But before he could run, Azrael had already raised his hand and uttered his spell, “Chain Lightning.” A black colored lightning shot forth from his palm and flashed through the air as it struck the mage that was trying to run. It then jumped from him and hit the mage that was chanting a spell. Both mages were struck. Standing on the spot, they began convulsing uncontrollably as electricity surged through their bodies. Smoke started to rise from them as their skin started to char. Finally they collapsed to the ground dead.

Azrael stopped moving and looked around the village. At the edge of the village he could see the group of unarmed skeletons standing in rank. However, he continued to look around. When he had just returned to this realm, he saw that one of the mages was close to one of the houses. Azrael wasn't going to let this mage live.

Azrael walked towards the house that he had seen the mage near. He raised his hand towards the house and uttered, “Infernal Flame.” A red-black flame appeared in front of his hand and then flew forth. It collided with the wall of the house and the red-black flame quickly spread to engulf the entire house.

Two breath's of time passed since the spell was cast. Azrael stood there watching the flames as they burned, waiting for the house and everything inside to turn to ash. Abruptly, the front door of house exploded outwards sending splinters of wood everywhere. Sprinting out of the house was a mage holding a thick looking book. “Fuck! Fuck! It's hot!!” The mage yelled as he exited the house. As soon as he exited he stopped in his tracks as he realized what was in front of him.

The two spheres of vivid purple light under Azrael's hood stared at the mage. He slowly lifted his hand towards the mage. Seeing this, the mage trembled and immediately fell to his knees. While stuttering he pleaded, “My Lord Elder Lich! Please have mercy!” There seemed to be no effect as Azrael did not stop. The mage continued, “My Lord Elder Lich! Please! I will serve you! I am a fellow practitioner of death magic! I can be of service to you!!” Hearing this Azrael paused for a moment.

The mage's face immediately lit up. 'I'm going to survive! Yes! I'll bide my time and find a way to escape the first chance I get!' Extinguishing the mage's thoughts was Azrael's voice that was deep, emotionless and calm. “Corrosion.” “NOOO-AHHHH!!!” The mage's scream turned to one of agony as his skin started to wither up and tear open causing blood to flow out. His body started to become thinner as he was nearing an emaciated state. His scream finally turned to gurgles as blood streamed out of his mouth, eyes, ears and nose. He collapsed to the ground a bloody, withered husk.

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