"Cale!"

Aletta's horrified scream burned through his entire body. Within seconds, Cale had stormed into the room above him, only to see Aletta kneeling beside the High-Magician with wide, teary eyes, giving her friend a despairing look.

"I don't know... what happened. It... was all... fine... until just now", she gave voice in panic and despair as Cale sat down across from her and reached for Grischa's hand. To his surprise, he was awake.

"Risztus, what happened on your end?", the Eldest's voice came faintly to Cale's ear as he watched in fear as his friend's mana pool dropped to 5RM.

"Aletta. The Holy Mana idea. Do it", he directed with a shaking hand, looking up at the healer. The girl was panicked and needed a moment before she too reached for the High-Magician's hand, desperately trying to calm herself.

"It saw us and tried to escape. Luc managed to tag it, but it's dozens of miles away than it was a moment ago. It really can teleport!", Sefra spoke up over the crystal.

Cale didn't dare to start cursing now. The healer closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she began to pass her Holy Mana to Grischa. He instantly frowned and moaned softly in pain. There were now four different sources of mana in his body. His normal Mana, his Igrikum, the marking and Aletta's Holy Mana. Clearly, this did not seem to pass him by unnoticed.

"Sefra...", Yusuf's voice could be heard softly. The cold, dry way he pronounced her name instantly gave Cale goosebumps. "I sense another source of Grischa's mana."

Cale froze.

His head spun and he instantly felt sick as he turned to the Eldest. The experienced mage stood about two meters away from him in the room, holding the crystal with one hand and returning Cale's gaze. The Eldest had lost all color and his eyes were dead. Neither of them had expected that.

"That's... there's another one with Grischa's mana. Where did they all come from? Do you guys see the creatures?", Yusuf added a moment later, which only made the whole situation worse. But Cale and the Eldest realized something neither of them had thought of. Something that was now their downfall. There were several of them and the creatures were passing Grischa's mana among themselves. Why hadn't they thought for a moment that such a thing was possible? Why had they gotten so stuck on the fact that there was only one Kormandent they had to eliminate? How could they have overlooked something so... logical?

"Kmnn..."

Aletta's soft voice snapped Cale out of his stupor. Instantly, he turned back to her and could see her passing masses of mana to Grischa. Like an infinite hole, Grischa's body devoured his mana and now attacked Aletta's mana.

His own mana had fallen to zero.

The only thread keeping him alive right now was Aletta. Her inflow of mana could still maintain the balance, but as soon as she stopped using mana transfer, the Igrikum would win. Grischa would lose his humanity at that moment.

"Merensen. Merensen's mana... Mirai, can you sense Aletta Merensen's Holy Mana?", the Eldest gave a shout. Immediately, Cale understood what the Eldest was trying to do. Since the creature absorbed the Holy Mana without thinking, Yusuf had to sense it. Hope spread through Cale. He prayed that the Kormandent would choke on their mana. He prayed that the High-Magicians were near the creature that was the source of it all. After all, the beginning of the chain had to be somewhere nearby.

"Caleb..."

Quietly, Grischa's voice could be heard. Shocked, Cale looked into his friend's staring green eyes. He actually managed to stay conscious. His eyes filled with tears and now Cale couldn't hold back his emotions either.

"It's going to be okay, Grin, don't be scared. This might be a little painful right now, but you'll feel better tomorrow", Cale replied in a shaky voice. Meanwhile, with both hands, Cale held Grischa's ice-cold hand tightly in front of his head as he focused on saying his words calmly and looking confident.

"Aletta's mana?", Yusuf gave voice over the communication crystal, almost confused. He felt silent for a moment before he realized why the Eldest was asking him this question. It was as if everyone realized all at once what was going on in the Magistrat right now. There were some indignant voices from the other High-Magicians, but Cale ignored them. His attention solely on Grischa.

"Look at me, Grin, look at me", he announced softly. But his friend had difficulty focusing on Cale's face. He might have been able to hear him, but his gaze was completely blank. "I promise you, you will live. Don't be afraid and trust me, okay? When have I ever lied to you?"

Cale could sense several things at once. He felt that the Eldest slowly stepped closer to the bed, as if only now he dared to look at Grischa properly. At the same time, Cale also noticed how Aletta's Holy Mana was coming to an end. She had about 30RM and only 9RM of it left. He heard the voices of his colleagues in the background, shouting in confusion and Grischa's name kept coming up, but most of all he noticed one thing.

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Grischa's smile. His gentle smile, as if saying goodbye.

"Always", the High-Magician replied, closing his eyes. All at once, Cale blanked out. Everything around him turned white and he saw only himself and Grischa. He had to remember their first meeting, in his second life. After the second wave reached Exarion and claimed the life of his joy, Cale was desperately trying to fight his way to freedom. Dozens of mages followed his example, fighting their way through the crowds for hours until he encountered Grischa in the middle of nowhere. The High-Magician held only his son Fabio in his arms; there was no sign of his wife Ibellina. If he hadn't recognized Sefra next to him, he wouldn't have noticed Grischa at all and probably wouldn't have realized who he was for quite a few decades.

"Grischa!", Cale shouted indignantly, shaking his hand, but the man did not respond. His smiling face during their first conversation came back to him.

After Cale had focused on magic in his second life and had been ruthlessly stabbed by his companion, he had focused on learning both swordplay and other hand-to-hand combat techniques in his third life. In his third life, he had fled to Sylve, along with William and the rest of the group. Also like in the other lives, Sefra Risztus and Miguel Heriog became known worldwide, but it wasn't until his third life that he really learned about Grischa Vonstetten, Theorik and Katarina Ursus. He had met Grischa in Bellator, along with his wife and son. That had to have been six months before the third wave, as far as Cale could remember. There had been riots in the city and William, as well as Cale, had been able to put an end to the disputes. At the time, Grischa was impressed with how well Cale handled the brawl and the skill with which he took out his opponents. When Grischa asked him about the mana he carried, Cale merely smiled at the question and asked a counter question. 'Who was he and how did he know Sefra?' Grischa had been quite surprised that Cale knew Sefra, but answered his question. Only in his third life, Cale learned that Sefra's companion in his second life was the 1st seat of the Magistrat, Grischa Vonstetten - the developer of quite a few magic crystals from his previous lives. He already knew his name and face, but not his past history and defensively not his connection to the Magistrat. How this could have passed him by, Cale still wondered to this day.

In the third life, Cale also saw the newly established Magistrat for the first time and witnessed Grischa attempting to contact Frignez. The attempts were unsuccessful and with the third wave Sylve was destroyed. Cale died fighting a group of Gardells about 20 years after this war. That was the only time in his life in which he died before William and the others.

In his fourth life, he started completely different. He became a soldier of Sylve and secretly learned the swordsmanship of the palace, changing his appearance into that of one of the noble soldiers. Unfortunately, the royal family became aware of this, so he set out early to look for new teachers - other swordmasters. Naturally, he therefore set out for Frignez and disguised himself as a local, walking around with blond hair and blue eyes. He kept this face for the future, since he associated it with positive experiences from his first life. In fact, not Miguel himself became his teacher, but his master Jonat Paseru. Originally, Jonat did not want to take on a second student again, but when Cale easily defeated Miguel in a duel, he decided to do it. However, the two did not assume that Cale knew who they really were. In his fourth life, he became a swordmaster and stayed away from his friends. He stayed in Frignez and in the hopeless fight in the third wave, they all fled across the boats to Sylve. To his group, Cale was a stranger at that point, but during their journey at sea, they slowly became friends. It was a good thing, too, because Cale persuaded them to continue together until they reached the 21 islands, while the rest got off early. In his fourth life, Cale worked for the Magistrat for the first time, but they still couldn't protect the world. His friends died when Cale turned just 60, and he was devastated, but thanks to his abilities and his hatred of creatures, he lived until he died at 98, of poisoning.

His fifth life was therefore still normal, although the beginning was a disaster. He disappeared after the attack on Groka and traveled the world to meet all kinds of people. At that time he was also in Winstest and Tsuke for the first time, in which he met Theorik and Basil saved him from a predicament in which he was on the verge of suicide. Out of desperation, he ended up in Tsuke after a few weeks, using his Igrikum openly for the first time in decades before killing hundreds of thousands of creatures that night. When he calmed down and was able to look at the situation soberly, he eventually went to Altona and learned at the Magistrat, but remained undetected until graduation. At 23 and looking like his true self, he took the High-Magician exam and was accepted into the Magistrat before experiencing it all over again. He sneaked into Sylve for a week, escaped to Norgram with the group, quite a few refugees and Sefra, successfully defended Frignez against the third wave until they first receive signs of life from the other lands. The rest of his life was based on reclaiming the land, in cooperation with Sylve, but in the end he lacked the strength and influence, which is why he died during a battle at the age of 69.

"Grischa!"

His friend had always been there, in those worlds. He had never really known him, but he knew of his existence and his importance. Therefore, Cale made it his goal to gain Grischa as a companion in this life. He knew from the beginning how powerful and influential the 1st Seat was, which is why he wanted to take advantage of him, until life took an unpleasant turn and Grischa became a true friend to Cale. A person Cale wanted to protect at all costs. A person who became more important to him than his own life. A person he had managed to put on par with William, Ben, Philippa and Aletta within a few years, something that even Cale had thought as impossible.

Anger flared in Cale as he thought of the creature responsible for all of this. An anger that he had only felt towards the dragons before. All the hatred, rage and also fear that Cale had accumulated up to that moment, he released in that moment.

He lost control of himself as he used his Igrikum and dissolved his first, inner barrier.