As Isaac chased Snid and the hypnotized reptoid, the red magic slowly consumed his emotions. But with experience, he had learned how to stay clear-headed by thinking of people close to him, Aaron and Gabriella, and by remembering his family, Henri and Alex Tremblay.

He looked down at the mass of humans. There were people from all over the continent. Some had even come from overseas. They stepped back one step at a time as Zephyr Dragos’ army rushed through the theme park’s gate.

Some wizards focused on controlling their skeletons, while others battled against dying mages or took down the aircraft and missile launchers.

Some of the skeletons had weapons. They were resurrected rebels, fallen soldiers from the Western Army, or sentient, stronger ones that had scavenged the thousands of corpses.

The reptoid, carrying Snid on his back, prepared to jump again.

“Wait!” Snid stared at a shocked human mage. He hypnotized him.

“You can jump now!” The reptoid leaped ten metres above the ground.

Isaac put his hand forward. “They’re going to escape at this rate. I won’t catch up to them before they pass the gate. I need to do something!”

He accumulated red magic in his hand, preparing to emit a powerful red magic beam.

However, he was surprised as a giant water wave threw him off his platform, sending him spinning in the air.

“What?!” Isaac made a new barrier beneath him. Another wave came from below. He narrowly dodged to the side by making another barrier to jump on.

The mage underneath wasn’t even trying to hide. The red magic mage put his arm forward and prepared to fire.

“Dammit! What am I doing?” he stopped, “I might kill someone else if I do this!”

He shook his head and threw red magic beams behind him, blasting himself toward Snid.

He was slowing down because more and more hypnotized soldiers tried to stop him. Isaac protected himself with extra barriers, but this consumed much more mana.

The reptoid jumped again, Snid grabbing onto his shoulders.

Isaac closed one eye and put an arm forward again. The red glow accumulated within the palm of his hand as seconds passed.

“I can’t penetrate the reptoid’s scales, but I don’t need to, Snid.” He had a blank expression when arriving within fifteen metres of the snake humanoid. He finally released the beam.

He wasn’t aiming at the cursed lizard but at the smooth-skinned snake.

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-BANG!

The blast cracked Snid’s ribs. He gasped, losing control of his senses for a moment. The reptoid was instantly sent into a brief vegetative state as they crashed into the army.

“Where’d they come from?!”

“Who cares? Kill the retpoid!” A soldier pointed his assault rifle.

“Ah?” A bullet impaled his cerebellum. It came from another soldier whom Snid had taken ahold of.

Isaac landed. He had already made a spear.

“Why don’t we both go on our separate waysss? This fight won’t end well for either of usss.” Snid couldn’t get up, so he made the reptoid stand before Isaac.

“No, you have to die,” Isaac’s monotonous voice was covered by an explosion at the frontline.

“Fine then!” The reptoid shattered Isaac’s barrier with his fist.

The hypnotized human fired at Isaac, making bullet holes all over his body.

In pain, Isaac thought of making a red magic beam, a strong one that was sure to kill even a reptoid. ‘No. There are too many people around. I can’t go all out!’

He blocked the reptoid’s strike with another red barrier and summoned two spears on his back. While blocking against the reptoid’s heavy strikes, he secretly moved these two flying spears.

Snid had lost sight of them. Suddenly, he felt two sharp pain sensations on his upper body. The spears penetrated his shoulders, ravaged his organs, and stuck into the solid ground.

Snid’s body was locked in place. His high-pitched hissing rang into everyone’s ears. His cries were interrupted as blood swelled into his throat, forcing him to vomit it out.

‘This can’t be happening. I refused to be the snake people’s leader specifically because I didn’t want to risk dying. Yet I just had to participate in this war… I should have just waited in my cell. No, I wouldn’t have gotten locked up if I hadn’t fought when they entered Slitherland. I-’

“I am stupid.” Snid closed his eyes.

Confused, the reptoid regained his senses. Before he could react, Isaac had already pierced his neck with the other spear.

“Die, you snake!” The previously hypnotized soldier fired the rest of his ammunition, breaking his skull apart.

Snid’s brain had exploded into pieces. All that remained of his head was his lower jaw. His forked tongue was perfectly intact, slithering over his broken teeth.

Snid collapsed flat on the ground as Isaac’s glowing spears vanished.

“Thanks for saving me. You’re Isaac Tremblay, right?” The soldier regained his composure, saluting the young mage.

Isaac nodded and made barriers under his feet to get above ground.

…

The frontline was a bloodbath. The soldiers died without warning. Some of the mages could fly. One tried facing a cursed wizard, only to have his head blown off five seconds later.

“Where is Seth?” Isaac scanned the souls around him. He looked at where the veteran had fought. His soul was easily distinguishable amidst the dark sea of souls trapped inside carcasses, but the glow was faint. Seth was near death.

Isaac ran towards Seth. He avoided attention by staying as far away from the street as possible, grazing the buildings. He found the old mage and quickly removed the pile of bones burying him.

“Seth. Are you alright?” Isaac brought his hands over his injuries to heal him with red magic.

Seth opened his eyes. “Isaac? It’s a good thing you’re here. There are still nine more wizards and plenty of reptoids. We should kill as many as possible to help the army.”

“But you’re exhausted!”

Seth got up. “You healed me, and I still have some mana left. It doesn’t matter as long as we end this quickly. Plus, it’s the only chance we have.