Maya looked at the contents of the box that Arthur had opened. Inside the box was a medal and a black pistol that had streamlined edges and an aesthetically minimalistic design. Although the slender pistol seemed sturdy and unsophisticated, yet somehow, perhaps owing to the way it was stored, it seemed like it was formidable.

"What are those?" pronounced Maya.

"As I've said," replied Arthur, taking the pistol and holstering it in his pants, "they are relics."

Arthur took the medal and put it inside his pocket. "We've got company," he said.

Maya turned around and noticed at once the blurred presence of a dark figure watching them from a distance.

'He noticed it?' she thought, 'I didn't even feel anything.'

"Let me handle this," she said, making a stance. "You're a level 4, you'd only slow me down."

"Very well," agreed Arthur, "what weapon do you use?"

"Hmph, for this fight, unarmed techniques will be enough."

Immediately after, Maya disappeared and reappeared in front of their observer.  Those who practiced techniques developed two types of circuit: a weapon type and an unarmed type. The unarmed type used the body as the circuit itself, subconsciously activating it to improve martial-arts movements. Nonetheless, very few would be so confident enough as to fight without using a weapon circuit.  Only true masters had the courage and ability to do so.

The instant Maya appeared, the man hurled a fireball towards her, which she dispersed by using a fist technique utilizing an aether barrier. Maya had subconsciously activated a thin barrier around her fists even before she attacked. The moment her fist hit the fireball, she caused the barrier to burst, dispersing the fireball with it.

"Fist technique: exploding fist!"

The figure jumped backwards to increase their distance but Maya was relentless. She coated her two feet with aether and instantly released them to the ground, propelling her forward in a blink of an eye.

"Footwork technique: rabbit's leap"

Maya flashed and appeared behind the man; in an instant, aether gathered to the tips of her fingers to form sharp claws ready to slice her opponent.  She launched her clawed fingers to her target at speeds normal eye couldn't catch, but the strange figure raised a hand and began a short incantation.

"Water, form thy protection."

Water droplets appeared in the air and converged to obstruct Maya's attack, what followed next was a series of instantaneous convergence of more droplets that had formed around Maya, trapping her in a spherical water prison. Maya struggled for air but couldn't escape, so she swirled her hands in front of her, creating a vortex of aether, pushing the water outward and scattering it, thus, freeing herself.

"What a strong mage," admitted Maya. "So, who do you work for? Merlin or Arthur?"

The mysterious figure did not answer, instead he placed a hand on the ground and began a chant.

"Heed me, O guardian of the earth; manifest your power before me and cleanse the land!"

Mages used incantations whenever they were about to use a high-level spell. For low-level spells the incantations would be short, while the opposite was true for high-level spells.  Nonetheless, the amount of mana a mage put in a particular spell also affected its potency. If the high-level spell of someone with low-level mana clashed against a low-level spell of someone with high-level mana, the favor obviously goes to the one with more energy. In this case, Maya could clearly see that her opponent had an enormous mana reserve.

From the ground came a monster golem made of rocky materials. Its height was double that of Maya and its body built was broader and much sturdier. It started launching fist after fist towards her, which she deftly avoided through the use of her unarmed techniques. Her school of martial arts was called The Art of the Forest, where moves are based upon movements of the flora and fauna found in nature. Minutes later in their exchange, the golem managed to land a clean hit, throwing Maya far to the back; but she wasn't done yet. She dashed towards the golem at astonishing speeds while readying a fist to her side.  Her fist began to glow in earnest as she congealed aether into this single point.

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"Fist technique:" she shouted, "strike of the scorpion."

The moment she hit the golem with her fist the congealed aether drilled into its hard surface. The energy of the attack vibrated outwards affecting every structural part of the golem until it collapsed to the ground.

"It seems," crackled the disguised voice of their assailant, "I have to take this seriously."

The figure took a magic wand from under his cloak and brandished it in front of him, drawing something in midair.  Magic artifacts such as a magic wand or a staff were used by Aetherean's to amplify their magic. They could also use them to substitute incantations with gestures to cast magic. The thing he drew in the air was similar to the golem incantation, only this time, it was more powerful. Dozens of golem started sprouting from the earth, surrounding Maya at the same time. Maya, however, was about to get serious too. She took from her pocket what seemed to be gloves and put them on. The gloves had a metal plate attached to it on the backhand part that had numerous directional paths drawn on it.

"I suppose I should stop holding back too."

The golem started ganging up on her, attacking her in coordinated, but predictable movements. However, Maya swiftly activated her technique, making her gloves glow and releasing punches upon punches towards the golem that surrounded her.  

"Fist technique: explosive punches!"

This time, her explosive punches were even deadlier. The aether coating around her hands—thanks to her specialized weapon circuit—took the form of dozens of fists, and launched at the golem in quick sucession before exploding upon contact.

Minutes ticked by and Maya was successful in containing the golem and destroying them. The mage was unfazed, however, as he launched as a last resort an array of laser beams towards Maya.

"Fist technique: turtle shell!"

Aether flowed through Maya's gloves, which she released to form a hard-turtle-shell-looking barrier. The laser was able to destroy her barrier, yet it bought her enough time to get out of the laser's way.  Immediately after, she used rabbit's leap to jump to the back of the mage and hit him at the neck, hitting his vagus nerve and knocking him out.

***

"What are we going to do with him?" asked Maya, looking at Arthur who was walking towards her.

"Interrogate him," replied Arthur, "I doubt Pendragon would hire a mage to do his bidding. He may have been sent by Merlin, but we have no evidence."

"Shouldn't we be hurrying? If we take him with us it would be difficult to continue."

"I understand your reasoning," Arthur chimed, "however, I still cannot fully trust you; in the first place you're a government spy."

"Oh please Mr. Arthur, I don't obey Pendragon, I obey my conscience. If Arthur would go so far as to accuse someone without going through the proper process, then acting against his orders is praiseworthy.  In addition, Sasha personally asked me to help you. Also, there's something I need to say in front of that shameless guy's face."

Maya couldn't still get over Arthur Pendragon's utter rejection of her months ago. She wanted to see what's so great about this Aisha who was at the center of it all.

"Had it been the two of us who met that day, none of this would ever have happened."

"Oh, so you're that Maya?"

"Indeed I am."

"Well," said Arthur shrugging his shoulders, "what's done is done. Right now, I want to focus on finding a way out of this mess."

Arthur looked at their cloaked-and-masked assailant and reached for the mask, intending to remove it and take a peek at his face. However, before he could do that, the mage suddenly woke up and used teleportation magic to put distance between them. Arthur spied him with a suspecting glare.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked.

"I am one with those who will change this world," crackled the figure's voice. "This world that has become so filthy over the years. We are—I am—Bach."

The next second the air started stiffening and the falling leaves from the trees around them began to freeze in midair—the world had suddenly become so silent, as though space and time stopped moving.

'An anomaly?' thought Arthur.

Immediately reacting, Maya dashed quickly towards their assailant, ready to slice the man to bits with her claws. However, before she could reach him, out of a sudden, she dropped.

"It seems my mana poison has taken effect," whizzed the strange voice of the figure. "She won't be able to move for a while."

Indeed, Maya couldn't move nor talk, but she was still conscious. Now that she fell to the ground she promptly realized the danger Arthur was in. She couldn't betray the trust her friend had given her so she decided to use 'that' as a last resort. However to her surprise, Arthur—