"Nothing changes if nothing changes."

Yasuke stared at Red for a while and only nodded silently. Red sprinted down the hill, in the opposite direction of Yasuke and the wooden guild hall building. Red began with a light sprint at first, very quickly getting into his full speed, and after a minute or two tapped into something more. Channeling the arcana in the area, he gathered it into his body and bolstered his speed massively, kicking up dirt into the air and leaving dust in his wake. The golden pillars continued to rise and fall, at a much slower rate now. Red closed a large distance in just a few minutes of running, and now could accurately spot where they originated from.

From a nearby hill, Red looked down at the area and sucked his teeth. The area that Red ravaged well over a month ago, formerly known as the Mystic Forest, but now housed little more than a large patch of mostly desolate land with disparate fallen trees scattered around.

“Did it look that bad when I left?" Red thought to himself.

Looking over the area more closely, he spotted a few indistinct figures standing opposite each other in the ruined area. Among them, a figure adorned in glistening gold caught his eye. As he slowly approached the scene, he could now accurately spot two individuals, one completely draped in gold and another in a long white coat. They stood opposite a legion of Britannius foot soldiers, all wearing the same green uniform. A few of them wielded swords, shields and hammers. Others held fire and ice in their hands, but none of them could match the presence and aura of the two men in front of them. The man in gold flung his arms up wildly, and a giant pillar of gold materialized from thin air, throwing many members of the small squad high into the air before they came crashing back down.

Red sauntered down to the base of the hill and got an even closer look at the scene. Many of the soldiers were burned by the liquid gold. It melted through their armor and seeped into the ground like molten lava. One soldier stood alone among the sea of golden corpses, a scrawny mage that barely survived the attack with a meager Sanctuary spell. As the spell slowly faded, the soldier stood with his hands on his knees, his face purple with exhaustion. The man in gold slowly approached the lone soldier and said a few words to him. Red strained to hear them, but he was out of earshot. With no hesitation, the man in gold grabbed the soldier by the throat and lifted him into the air. Gold spread from the man in gold's fingertips across the soldiers' body, and after a few seconds he was frozen into a solid gold statue.

Red stopped walking on for a moment and looked on at the golden soldier. He sighed and moved into the heart of the battlefield, standing face-to-face with the two individuals.

The man in gold moved in for an attack immediately, but the man in the white coat waved a hand, stopping his movement instantly.

The man in the white coat, sat down on a humongous log and the man in gold stared down at him, "He's strong Midas," the man spoke softly with a strange dialect, "Watch out."

Midas growled at Red and turned his head to face the man in white, "For you to acknowledge him…are you saying this punk is on that level Charan? I bet I could -"

Charan leaned back on the log, his voice now significantly more annoyed, "This 'punk' is the type of soldier the cleric is always talking about. Fight him if you want, just keep that in mind."

Red stepped up, approaching Midas slowly, "The cleric? You two must be from Socotra. I need one of you to tell me where Jeannot is. Now.”

Midas raised an arm up and summoned a giant pillar of liquid gold from the ground directly below Red's feet. The pillar easily reached into the sky, kissing the clouds, and dissipated a second later.

Midas looked into the air for Red, but he was not there. Midas turned to Charan, “See, he wasn’t any tougher than the rest of them.”

“He’s not dead, dumbass. He’s not even hurt. And he’s about to counter attack.”

As Midas turned his back, several bloody tendrils emerged from the dust and all stabbed Midas through the chest.

Through the smoke and debris, Red stood proudly with several long crimson tendrils protruding from his back. A few seconds later, Red slowly retracted as Midas reeled backward, placing his hands over the wounds on his chest.

Charan rolled his eyes and slowly removed his hands from his pockets. By simply placing his hand on Midas' shoulder, not only closed his wounds but healed some of his other bruises immediately.

"I've never seen anyone heal that fast, is he a true mage? Or something else entirely?"

Midas closed the distance in a second, and his arm exploded into a mess of gold spikes. Red dodged his advancing attacks with subtle movements and kept his gaze fixed on Charan.

There was something otherworldly about the young man; he stared out into the distance, uninterested in the events around him even as his comrade fought.

"Don't you know the first rule of any battle? Keep your eyes on your opponent!" Midas stopped his barrage of attacks suddenly and jumped back. Midas put so much distance between them that Red couldn’t even see him anymore.

Charan stood up and walked away slowly.

“Are they retreating? No, that Midas must be preparing a big attack.”

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Red pondered for a few moments on what the nature of the attack could be, until he felt rumbling. It felt as though something was under his feet, shaking violently and causing him to lose balance. Red struggled to stand up straight as he attempted to figure out where the attack was coming from. Then there was a sound. Like metal smashing against metal. It was far off in the distance, but it only got louder and louder.

Red jumped back far, and closed his eyes. As the sound of metal grew closer, he gathered arcana in the area. He did this for a few seconds until the arcana completely surrounded him, swirling with such pressure that it caused the foliage to rise into the air. Midas’ attack was now visible, and their were large golden spikes jutting out from the ground and approaching Red.

I don’t really have a name for this but we can call it…

“Arctic Defender!” Red shouted out. He stomped his foot into the ground and large ice crystals began to sprout up. The ice crystals grew bigger and spread further out, completely overtaking and freezing Midas’ attack, then expanding farther and piercing the clouds.

Red summoned a blood spear and accelerated to Midas’ position immediately. Both of Midas’ arms were frostbitten and he hyperventilated as he attempted to ready another attack. Noticing Red, Midas attempted to jump back, but Red matched his speed.

The small pieces of gold scattered around the area slowly began to rise and join together as Red prepared an attack. Before Red could leap in, the gold had formed into a golden suit of armor holding a halberd and nearly took Red’s head off.

Midas finally created distance between them and he turned to Charan, who now stood next to him with his hands in his pockets, staring out into the horizon. Charan slowly turned and met his gaze before lethargically pointing a finger at the area where Red was.

Midas quickly snapped his head to the area, only to see Red was completely missing and his golden soldier was destroyed. Before he could examine the area, he was pushed to the ground Red stood over him holding the blood spear to his neck.

Charan coolly called out, “Morax! Apport Midas!”

A visage of a giant minotaur appeared behind Charan, then quickly faded away. Red looked up as Charan did this, then looked down to find Midas lying on the ground next to Charan.

Midas looked up at Charan, dumbfounded. Charan nonchalantly stated, "He almost stabbed you in the chest just now, and you're looking like you don't know what just happened. We've got a lot to brush up on.”

Charan bent down and placed his hand over Midas’ chest and called out, “Marbas. Nurse my subordinate back to health immediately.”

A ghostly jellyfish appeared and began to swim through the air, before landing softly on Midas.

Charan finally turned his attention to Red. Red still held onto the spear tightly with two hands and they stared at each other for a long time.

"Look Red, would you be able to forgive me? I thought it would be a good idea for him to see the gap between your strength and his, so that's why I let him fight you, but I suppose I grossly underestimated you. I can be your opponent now if you’d like.”

Red let go of the spear and let it dissolve into a crimson soup as he leaped back a few feet from the two of them.

"Insane physical strength, speed, teleportation and amazing healing abilities, if this guy fought me with even a little seriousness he'd stomp me into the ground. It might be best to let them bow out and try to look for Jeannot while they're licking their wounds.”

Red put his pinkies together into the shape of a diamond and pointed it in the direction of Charan.

Charan’s eyes widened and he backed up slightly, “You can use that? There was nothing in our records about anyone here being able to use Liminal Spaces.”

“Well I’m not just anyone,” Red said smugly. He yelled out, “Liminal Space!”

Charan covered his eyes, but nothing happened. When Charan uncovered them, he saw Red rushing toward him. Red punched him hard in the chest, sending him flying several feet backward, skipping across the grass like a rock thrown on a lake.

Charan was slow to stand up. He looked up into the sky and looked at Red. A crazed expression exploded onto Charan’s face and disappeared in the same millisecond, transforming back into the same deadpan expression he had before.

Runes swirled around Charan like a raging tornado. The sky turned dark. Charan bit his lip hard, “That was…boring. Are you sure you’re the Anima the cleric always talks about? The Hated One?”

The mana pouring of Charan completely overwhelmed Red. Despite standing several feet away, he still struggled to keep his balance.

Red put his arms into the air, forming an ‘X’.

Before any attacks could be launched, Midas, still laying on the ground, pulled on Charan’s coat hard. The runes around his body instantly disappeared as Charan put his hands together and bowed to Red, “Sorry! I got beside myself a little bit when I saw Midas battle. We’re not here to pick fights for no reason. Midas, I think we got a good read on the low and high ends of power that are present here, we’re leaving.”

Red put his arms down and attempted to close the distance between them, “Wait I’m not—“

Charan snapped his fingers and they both disappeared from the area.

Red dropped to his knees the moment they disappeared from his sight, the exhaustion of the long journey finally catching up to him and leaving him unable to move. He stayed this way for a long time as large explosions sounded off somewhere in the distance.

"Yasuke must have run into somebody, I wonder if it's Jeannot?”

Red tried for a long time to defy his body and get up, but he found himself unable to. Red slowly gathered in arcana to replenish his body's energy, but it did not speed up his rate of recovery fast enough.

Red sat on the ground, his legs crossed as he silently meditated and gathered more energy. Red looked around at the bodies of the fallen soldier's around him and shook his head. As Red finally began to feel his energy return, he noticed a giant fireball in the distance, in the same direction he heard the explosions from.

"Damn! I barely recovered any of my energy, but I don't have all day to wait."

Red sighed as he sat up and limped in the direction of the battle. One of his legs was completely unresponsive, but Red still forced it to move forward. After a few steps, Red nearly fell over, his body refusing to go on. He stood hunched over, his hands placed on his knees as sweat dripped down his face profusely. Just as Red allowed his knees to touch the floor, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and it suddenly felt as though as body was weightless. Moving his leg slightly, it felt light and limber. Looking behind him, Red spotted a familiar face and smiled. Day, with one hand placed on Red's shoulder and another holding an ornate staff, wearily smiled at him.

"Hey Redhead,” She panted heavily, her voice completely exasperated, "I ran over here when I saw those giant ice spikes."

"Day! I really need your help right now. I need you to teleport me to those explosions over there. Our ally is fighting and I think he needs our assistance."

Day let go of Red and placed her staff into the ground with both hands. Her smile faded as she barked out, "Put your hand on my shoulder."

He placed his hand on Day's shoulder confidently and thought to himself, “It's finally time to meet the man of the hour.”