Chapter 35:

Alcaster’s eyes narrowed to a slit as he felt a slight sense of danger. Instantly he stopped creating bullets and started gathering origin around him, but before he could get too far he felt it.

A thin yet unbelievably fast strand of wind was approaching him.

‘I need to stop tha-’ His thoughts cut off as the spell drilled itself into his body. He had underestimated both its speed and strength.

Blood started dripping from the wound on his chest and his body shook in pain.

The ambassador smirked as he felt the heavy field of origin weaken. He could now move freely again. “Heh, you fared better than I thought you would, bravo,” He said in a tone dripping with sarcasm before turning toward Brohm. “You see now what I mean, Sir Brohm?”

However, despite being asked, Brohm did not look at him, but rather at Alcaster.

“Hey, are you listening to me?” The ambassador said snappily before quickly turning around in shock.

An amount of Origin unlike anything he had ever seen began to accumulate around Alcaster who stood amid the storm with his head down and body unmoving.

“You dare…” The magician’s tone was icy. “You dare draw my blood?” He uttered before looking up.

The ambassador took a step backward unwittingly as he felt chills run down his back. Alcaster’s calm eyes were nowhere to be seen and in their place, a billowing storm of rage blew mightily. Staring into the deranged madness that had now taken root within Alcaster’s pupils, the ambassador felt fear.

He had purposefully deviated the spell’s path from any major organs so that he could avoid angering the general, but now he realized how much of a mistake that was.

The raging storm of origin began taking form. Though unrefined, it was menacing nonetheless; as suddenly multiple tentacle-like appendages appeared.

“That’s-” The ambassador’s eyes widened in shock. Alcaster’s ability to shape origin seemed to suddenly rocket to new heights.

Unlike ordinary magicians, those who were called free-from did not need chants or mental models as they had the inherent ability to shape the Origin around them.

On the other hand, as compensation, controlling these spells was vastly more difficult; often requiring years of training for one. Imagine suddenly growing a pair of limbs. How long would it take you to learn how to use them? How long would it take you to start using them as well as you could the natural ones?

Immediately the ambassador began casting the summoning chant for his Origin Avatar.

But how could Alcaster let him?

The multiple limbs suddenly stopped their writhing and rushed their way toward the ambassador. Each limb was as fast as the bullets Alcaster previously used.

“{Scattered Winds}!” The ambassador yelled, seconds before the tentacles touched his flesh, and he disappeared from his spot.

Reappearing a distance away, he began uttering his next spell but he was a hair too late. As if knowing where he’d appear next, tentacles made of seething origin were already there and waiting for him.

The tentacles wrapped around the ambassador’s body and they restricted his movements before forcefully squeezing. Limb by limb, his body was being swallowed up by the Origin.

Luckily the very last thing the tentacles sealed was his mouth.

“{Verdant Phoenix, Come Forth!}” An almost muffled voice sounded amid the mass of tentacles and an emerald light began shining through.

In a burst of glory so great it shook the room, a majestic Phoenix made solely of calm and raging winds appeared. Its presence seemed to repel all else and the tentacles began writhing in pain.

“You’ve done well to push me so far, young one.” The ambassador’s voice no longer carried the notes of sarcasm it had before. Even he had to now admit it; this magician was strong.

“Go. End this farce,” The ambassador said solemnly as he ushered the Phoenix forward. He did not want to kill Alcaster but he sure as hell was going to hurt him.

The Phoenix’s wings curled as it dived towards Alcaster’s mass of tentacles.

Within the entangled mess of limbs, Alcaster stood calmly watching the descending bird.

Yet his mind was anything but calm, and such was reflected by his eyes.

Forcefully, he raised his hand towards the bird as if hoping to choke it with his bare hands.

Of course, he did not need to.

Every tentacle began to wrap itself around the Phoenix hoping to restrain it. Their momentum was relentless, even though many of them were being destroyed in the process, as for every tentacle vanquished two more appeared in their place.

The sight brought great shock to the ambassador and he couldn’t help but want to ask how one was supposed to control so many spells at once. Alas, he did not have the leisure to do so.

“H-how?” He asked incredulously as he watched the Phoenix’s momentum slow down. All at once, he felt powerless. He had drained all of his Origin into his greatest spell yet even that was not enough.

And to make matters worse, two tentacles of a particularly larger size detached themselves from the brawl and darted towards his body directly.

The ambassador’s heart squeezed as he realized the true dangers of this fight.

“Is this it? Is this my end?” Coming face to face with his own mortality, he couldn’t help but lament the frivolous nature of his demise. He had secretly hoped that Brohm would intervene if things got out of hand but judging by how he remained seated, that did not seem to be the case.

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‘Wait, what is that?’ He asked as he noticed a mass of origin darting towards him from behind.

But soon his misery turned to relief as he felt its familiar heat.

“Pull yourself together Sally. You’re embarrassing us. Losing to a kid? Really?” Jordan said mockingly as she appeared behind him.

“Must you be so crass?” Despite himself, the ambassador could not hide the relief in his tone.

“{Burn It All, Scarlet Dragon}!” Behind the two ambassadors, a massive roar shook the earth, and a beast known only in stories appeared.

The dragon’s momentum was unstoppable as its slender body moved forward disintegrating the tentacles in its path.

The Phoenix turned its vision towards the dragon and nodded imperceptibly.

Surprisingly the dragon did not slow down as it reached the Phoenix and it drilled through it.

What came out of the jumbled mess of origin was a scarlet dragon adorned with verdant wings.

Alcaster’s eyes twitched at the majestic sight, his jaw becoming unhinged.

The tentacles stood no chance.

A thunderous collision so large it could destroy an entire human city erupted.

The room’s furniture was obliterated and the building’s foundations shook heavily. If not for the barriers placed by the general’s staff, preventing the origin from fully rampaging, the entire place would have been brought down.

Both ambassadors breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of their attack hitting.

Unfortunately, when the dust cleared, they were not greeted with the sight of a dead Alcaster.

Brohm stood there calmly with his arms crossed as he whispered words to the unharmed Alcaster behind him.

Judging solely based on appearance, Brohm seemed completely ordinary; however the more astute of magicians would be able to see the faintly shimmering layer of origin coating his body and even his clothes. This Origin, though thin, was dense to an absurd degree. It formed a barrier so impenetrable it could tank the combined attack of two eighth-grade magicians. A truly remarkable spell.

“This fight will end here,” Brohms calm voice declared. Then, turning towards the other people within the room, he asked: “Does anyone else have any comments on the placement of Mister Alcaster?”

His question was met with silence.

“Good, let us continue with the meeting.”

…………………………………………

Rine woke up feeling dizzy, tired, and hungry.

“So you’re finally awake.” The sudden voice snapped his attention to the front where he saw Cort preparing a couple of rabbits for roasting.

Immediately sobering up, Rine stood to his feet and confronted the youth before him. “You’re a coward!”

“Oh and how so?” Cort said as he continued prepping the rabbits.

“You ran the moment you sensed the beast.”

“That I did.”

Rine was stunned momentarily at the abrupt honesty. “But, why? You could have easily killed it. Why did you...Why did you…”

“Say it.”

“Say what?”

Looking up from his chore, Cort stared straight into Rine’s eyes. “Ask the real question,” He said before standing up and approaching him.

“I-i…” Rine stuttered and took a step back. He knew what he wanted to say but he did not know why he wanted to say it.

Cort came to a stop close in front of him, his calm eyes urging him to continue.

Rine closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. The faint sound of rushing water cooled him off slightly.

“Why did you abandon me?” He finally said.

Cort nodded before retorting. “So it really was abandonment issues huh.”

“What?” Rine asked before he was suddenly kicked.

Though it did not hurt, the kick had enough force to launch him backward.

Seconds later he splashed into the water and the coolness pierced into his bones. The refreshing sensation made him momentarily forget about the troubles he had been through.

“Wash up, I'll start roasting the food,” Cort said mildly before turning around to continue his chores.

…………………………………………

A few minutes and one refreshing bath later, Rine sat in front of the fire as night descended upon them.

He had properly cooled off and while the chilly night air nipped at his nape, he scooted closer to the fire.

When the meat was done cooking, the two youths sat around eating in silence.

Rine did not like the awkward atmosphere and he opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off.

“You should be somewhere around the second level of Origin Accumulation. Considering the norm, you are slightly above average in progression. In terms of levels, I am around the early mid-tier of warriors; Roughly guessing, that would mean I would be as strong as magicians of the fifth grade.”

“So you wanted to evaluate me?”

“Yes.”

“You could have just said that.”

“Why?”

“Well… I don’t know. To be nice?”

“...”

Silence made its return and neither moved to break it.

After dinner, they found themselves on the riverbank with their feet submerged in the water.

“Are they dead or do you not know?” Cort asked.

Immediately, Rine knew what he meant and it puzzled him. “How do you know my parents left me?”

“Last time you said you were going to visit your grandfather, not your parents. That and the major abandonment issues you got going on make it pretty clear...”

“What does that mean anyway? Abandonment issues?”

“I don’t really know how to put it, I guess the best way is to say you can’t handle being left alone.”

“I am fine being alone.”

“Never said you weren’t. You just can’t stand being left that way by someone.”

This only confused Rine more. “You make it sound as if you know everything,” He said before clicking his tongue.

“I don’t know everything, but I do know a bit about your circumstance," He paused as if pondering whether he should continue.

"At least your parents dropped you off at your grandfather’s house, mine left me at some orphanage.” He decided to do so.

Rine’s eyes widened in shock. “Your parents left you too?”

“Yeah”

The young magician seemed to need time to process the information as he spent a while staring at the river.

“Why did they do it?”

“I don’t know,” Cort replied casually.

“You never thought to ask? Never thought to look?”

“I did. A couple of years ago, I looked them up. They went separate ways shortly after dropping me off. They each have a family now. Apparently, they did not have the money nor maturity necessary to raise me at the time, so they just left. I said that was a fair point and we made peace.”

Rine’s brows furrowed. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“After all those years you had nothing else to ask or say”

“No, I did at first, but as time went on I realized it did not really matter.”

“Didn’t really matter?”

“Yes, they did what they thought was right and I’m grateful for that.”

Rine seemed to have trouble understanding this as he repeatedly opened and closed his mouth, only to then stare at the rushing water while deep in thought.

A few minutes later, Cort continued speaking. “That move you did last was pretty good. 60 points.”

“Sixty?”

“Out of a hundred, yes.”

“Why only sixty?”

“Minus ten for the fact the move actually hurts you, and another ten for the fact you failed to kill using it.”

“What about the other twenty?”

“The name.”

“...”

Rine was about to retort with a witty comment before he felt himself being struck by a light object.

‘What’s this?’ He asked himself as he picked up a pair of what looked to be gloves. The soft leather implied it was of high quality.

“What are these?” He asked as he donned them. They fit perfectly.

“Fire-resistant gloves, the leather belongs to a beast commonly found in the lands of fire making it highly resistant to flames.”

“Huh,” Rine muttered as he conjured up a small ball of fire. With the gloves on, he could now grasp the bundle of flames with ease. Some of the heat was still being transferred into the gloves, but it was more than bearable. So bearable in fact, that he started playing with the spell.

“Nice gloves kiddo~” It was then that a sudden voice started him and he accidentally sent the spell into the water. With a small pfft it was extinguished.

Looking over his shoulder, he could see old man Carson with his wide grin.

The old man then sat between the two youths and submerged his translucent feet into the water.

“So what are we talking about?” He asked.

“Nothing much,” Rine answered. “Hey Cort, thanks for the gloves.”

“No problem.”

…………………………………………