The dark spears pulsated with a black light, surrounding Ray and Elena in a symmetrical fashion. Each spear was exactly two meters apart from the other, forming an octagon, inside of which lay a smaller one, where the two stood.

Faint, almost invisible threads connected the two shapes together as they pulled in all the mana from the area. The air became thinner and the ground cracked as the feeble amount of mana got drained away into the formation.

The wind howled as silence prevailed over the battlefield, and not even the birds dared make any sound.

Haniard’s hair swayed back and forth as he calmly watched his disciple trembling slightly inside the octagonal prison.

Ray’s heart sank into his stomach as the gravity of the situation descended upon him. His eyes dropped to the ground as a wave of despair washed over his body, regret and sorrow filling his heart. He bit his lower lip as his finger ran over his spatial ring, and he injected small amounts of mana into it as he faced his master.

“I assume you know what this is,” Haniard said slowly, unable to hide the shiver in his voice.

“Yes, I could have never imagined you would take the time to set it up, we really played into your trap, huh?” Ray replied sarcastically with a bitter voice.

Haniard ignored Ray’s rhetorical question, instead saying with a chuckle, “Not even the former king had the right to see me use this Dark Siphoning Array, the cost was simply too great for…” he lingered on his last words as he looked at Elena, “such an easy fight.”

“However,” he continued, “you have too many secrets up your sleeve. Every time I thought I had you beat you rose back up, I didn’t want to give you a chance anymore. It’s a pity, but…” he took a small pause, a sinister smile manifesting on his face as he said, “Your wife will be more than enough to make up for the vitality I will expend to activate it.”

Ray’s hand clenched into a fist as he increased the amount of mana sent into the ring, his face twitched and his pupils contracted as he glared at his master. He gritted his teeth as he endured, knowing that any sudden movement would cause Haniard to activate the Array, and they would be dead in mere seconds.

Elena’s face darkened, and her hand flew to her chest as it tightened, her heart skipped a beat as a wave of anger washed over her after hearing what Haniard had said about her and her father.

She glared at him with a murderous gaze, however, she didn’t dare act either after seeing her husband’s helpless state. It looks like this Array isn’t so simple…

Ray kept his head cool as he took advantage of his master’s ego, preparing his escape plan, the chance of success becoming higher with each second they delayed.

Cracking the thing is impossible… damn it! I wish I had listened more closely to this lesson… He sighed inwardly as he regretted the idiocy of his younger self.

Haniard watched them carefully and looked to be in contemplation as he brought his hand to his face, his fingers running across the long scar. He frowned as he still felt the sharp pain running across his back, and he let out a bitter laugh as he addressed the couple.

“Originally, I wanted to kill you one by one, but… I won’t take the chance…” he closed his eyes as his voice lowered, and his decisive gaze turned slightly softer as he looked at Ray.

“Farewell…”

He made some hand seals as the last word left his mouth, and half the color drained off his face, along with some of the luster on his eyes and lips.

In that same instant, Ray’s body twitched as he cast away the sword, pulling out five dozen red and white crystals as he turned his back from Haniard, hugging Elena as he shouted, “Explode!”, stacking a few flimsy barriers at the same time.

The crystals exploded immediately, enveloping both him and Elena in a blinding light of fiery mana. The Array shuddered constantly as the shockwave tried to escape the contained space, and the sound of cracking constantly rang in the battlefield as cracks spread over the barrier keeping them in.

An intense sound of shattering glass resounded in their ears as the Array collapsed, releasing the vast mana pressure and sending Ray and Elena flying backward with great speed.

Haniard also got blasted away, his injuries flaring up as he coughed a mouthful of blood, barely processing what Ray had just done. What madness?!

An intense wave of anger washed over him as he watched the couple fly toward their home. He gnashed his teeth as his metallic left hand dug deep into the scorched ground. That idiot! To think he’d use such a way to escape the Array… I definitely need to create a fail-safe…

Ray and Elena shot toward their house with incredible speed, the wind current was so great that they couldn’t even find it in themselves to chant a spell, and they arrived in front of their house in just a few seconds.

I fucked up! Ray cursed inwardly as he could barely move his arm, his scorched back burning with intense pain as the threat of imminent death loomed over them.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

If they were to actually hit the wall at this speed, accompanied by their waning vitality and wounds…

A sudden gust of wind slowed them to a halt, gently descending upon the ground as their organs placed themselves back in place. They turned their heads in confusion to see who was it that cast the spell, only to see their son, Kai, running toward them with his wand.

“Mom, Dad, are you alright?” he asked, kneeling next to them, observing his parents’ conditions. Both of them were breathing with heavy and irregular breaths, and his mother’s arm and legs were burned from the explosion.

Her body and lips lost some of their colors, wrinkles appeared on her face, and her hair had turned from a beautiful silver to a depressing white.

His father’s back was almost completely charred black, and his shirt fell off, revealing countless wounds on his abdomen. He tightened his grip on his wand, his eyes gleaming as he steeled himself.

“Kai,” Ray grunted as he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Go back inside the house, it’s too dangerous out here…” Blood dripped from his mouth onto his scarred chest as he tried reaching for Kai, his hand barely reacting to his commands.

Kai didn’t reply, nor did he shake his head. He knew he couldn’t do anything against such an opponent, and his heart threatened to jump out of his chest as he felt Haniard’s cold glare on his back.

He helped his father pull out several potions from his spatial ring and quickly helped him down them as he said “I know I won’t be able to do much, but…” his voice cracked, unable to make himself finish the sentence.

Elena also drank a few mana regeneration potions as she did her best to heal Ray, whose entire body was trembling from the pain. I don’t have much mana left… Will this… be enough? She sighed inwardly as her eyes snapped to Haniard.

A twisted smile plastered on his face as he panted heavily, doing his best to heal his wounds with whatever vitality he had left. I can’t believe I wasted half my vitality… only for him to blow himself up… that fool!

He gazed behind him, the remaining soldiers were watching the battle with awe and fear, and the mages that maintained the spatial lock could not do so for that much longer, their mana and mana veins exhausted faster and faster.

The spatial lock will only hold on for a few more minutes… Haniard sighed inwardly as he slowly marched forward.

A grin formed on Ray’s disheveled face as he came to the same conclusion. He let out a pained grunt as he pulled out a silver sword from his spatial ring, propping himself on it as the color slowly drained from his face.

The seed’s vitality is about to run out… and once it does… He stopped his train of thought as he glanced at Kai and Elena, and he straightened his trembling back and he let out a deep sigh.

Elena stood next to him, and her expression pales as she sensed the dwindling life force within her husband. Her shivering hand flew to his face as she gently caressed his scorched beard, and they nodded slightly as they looked into each other’s eyes.

A bitter expression formed on their faces as they thought about Kai, who wouldn’t last long if they perished. Haniard won’t give us enough time for the mages to run out of mana… he will definitely do everything in his power to kill us. Ray thought as he downed another mana potion.

Without waiting for Haniard to move first, they dashed toward him, and Elena shot up into the sky once she was a few dozen meters away from him, her wand once again turning into a huge sword that channeled a large amount of mana, and she kept herself hovering using wind magic.

Ray rushed toward Haniard, the wind cutting his skin and causing his face to go numb. He imbued his silver sword with all the magic he could muster, its blade glowing with a cool black light as cracks covered it slowly.

In that same instant, Kai also started chanting the strongest spell he could use: Double Phoenix Destruction.

Haniard looked indifferently at the scene, his heart skipping a beat upon sensing the trio’s magic. He sighed and placed his sword diagonal to the ground, its tip glowing with a small red dot.

Countless crimson strings manifested around it, connecting the red light with the soldiers surrounding him, including the magicians. Their expressions didn’t flicker as the thread penetrated their foreheads, rapidly draining their vitality.

The sword tip absorbed the majority of it, Haniard only receiving a small amount that slowly healed him. The red dot slowly turned from a bright red color to a dark crimson hue, and Haniard gradually lifted its tip, emitting an indomitable might that surpassed all life.

A shiver ran down Ray’s spine as he approached the sword, but he didn’t falter, picking up the pace as he thought, Regardless of what technique he came up with, he is also weakened, there is no way he can unleash it completely!

He struggled to raise his speed once again, hoping to stop Haniard’s attack before finishing it. He arrived in front of his master at the same time that the sword had been lifted to about 80%.

Ray slashed at him with all his strength, the black aura around his sword shooting straight toward Haniard’s forehead, and at the same time, Elena had finished her spell.

Her sword had become as big as the trees, and she cleaved down as a blinding sword light shot toward Haniard.

“Original Magic: Execution!”

The sword light passed right through Ray, its only target being Haniard, who watched the attacks with a deadpan expression on his face.

Kai also finished his spell, and two large phoenixes of contrasting colors shot toward Hanird at rapid speed, leaving a trail of red and blue fire behind them.

The sky got covered in four different colors, one mightier than the other, all of them aimed straight at one man, who calmly raised his sword as its tip trembled violently.

He did nothing to protect himself, not even casting the smallest barrier. As the attacks were about to connect with his body, his sword slowly fell to the ground as all the leftover vitality in his soldiers and mages got sucked away by the red threads, and they instantly turned into ash, their armor and clothes falling to the ground with a loud thud.

Ray’s vision blurred, and a red hue covered his sight and the world disappeared under his feet. The only thing he saw was the clear blade of a crimson sword that descended upon him like an arrow show from a crossbow.