The afternoon Sun scorched the slums as clouds of dry dust spread across the entire district, lifted by the conflict between the mages. Small shockwaves and powerful wind gusts emerge from the battle as magetants on both sides fought with all their power in the skies above the district.
The two sides were firmly locked in close-quarters combat as the expanding security teams clashed with the retreating enemy magetants, leading to the battle becoming an intense close-quarters combat.
WHOOSH!
Cæ spun in the air a dozen meters in the air as he evaded a lethal spear charge midair, emerging several meters behind the enemy magetant as he pirouetted past the magical spear thrust.
VMMM!
The spear thrust unleashed an intense beam of light emerging from the thrust, a simple but powerful spell that applied the Fundamental Form of Conjuration and the light element, while integrating the spell into the spear martial arts of the enemy magetant.
Within a split second after the magic circles emerged in front of Cæ's sharp gray eyes, his attack had already commenced.
Powerful air blast emerged from Cæ's wand to the hooded enemy spearman magetant several meters ahead of him, threatening to blast him out of the sky. And yet, the hooded magetant was too quick, swinging his spear as though it were a staff, while unleashing a powerful beam of light against the incoming blast of wind.
VMMM!
The powerful magic beam of light was intense enough to scorch the very wave of air that threatened to knock him out of the sky, protecting him from the attack. With a blindingly fast motion, the spear magetant surged forth, threatening to unleash a powerful spear thrust that unfurled an even greater magical beam of light straight at Cæ, threatening to impale him then and there.
And yet, it was an attack that Cæ foresaw.
BOOM!
The powerful beam of light churned against a conjured earth shield before Cæ. The spearman magetant narrowed his eyes as he surged forth, activating a powerful maneuvering spell with his body-casting, allowing him to maneuver around the shield in the blink of an eye, launching a light beam thrust with his spear.
VMMM!
The spearman's eyes widened with shock as his attack impaled thin air.
With Cæ nowhere to be seen.
A darkness and light magic spell to create a simple illusion that allowed Cæ to maneuver out of the way without his opponent ever noticing.
A remarkably sophisticated spell for a novice apprentice.
By the time the hooded enemy mage realized what had happened, a powerful wind blast crashed into his body, knocking him into the distance.
BOOM!
"Rgh!"
The hooded enemy magetant gritted his teeth as the powerful blast of wind knocked him a dozen meters away. And yet, despite the almost point-blank attack from Cæ, the senior mage has still managed to rapidly stabilize his position in the air with a spear-style magic maneuvering spell.
Not once did a single magic circle or incantation emerge from him.
Martial magic relied on body-casting, where eidos templates were strongly associated with specific body movements, allowing it to be cast much faster than incantations and even magic circles, with the downside that it had very little room for complexity of runes.
And yet, what shocked the spearman magetant was the fact that Cæ was extremely fast with his magic casting despite relying on a slower form of magic casting than body casting. Less than a second after magic circles emerged in front of his eyes, his magic had already been cast.
It was a level of speed that the spear magetant hadn't seen from any other mage using magic circles.
It was as though the magic circles weren't even necessary for his casting of magic.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The spearman mage gritted his teeth as Cæ continued bombarding him with attack after attack.
Blasts of wind.
Conjured boulders.
And even beams of light.
The sheer diversity of attacks that Cæ had at his disposal was stunning to the martial mage, who was much more limited in his arsenal of magic.
VMMM!
The spearman magetant's expression grew severe as he used his Imperial Light Spear Style, a style of spear martial magic that originated in the Estroycia Federation, to just barely intercept all the attacks that Cæ threw at him.
BOOM!
With a powerful beaming swing, he sliced a launched boulder cleanly, splitting the two halves to avoid the attack.
VMMM!
With a powerful thrusting spear beam, he dispelled an inferno that threatened to consume him alive.
BOOM!
He intercepted Cæ's light attack with his own, causing a great impact to emerge from the collision.
With remarkable speed and agility, he thrust and whipped away all the attacks that Cæ blasted him with from a great distance, still stunned by the sheer versatility that Cæ brought to the table in battle.
He could fight in close quarters as well as long range.
He could use conjuration and manipulation.
He could use all elements.
And above all, the sheer speed of his magic casting made it so that the spearman didn't have as much of an advantage in that regard. Despite body-casting with body language instead of spoken language or written language, he was still unable to edge out much of an advantage in magic speed.
In his eyes, Cæ was an anomaly of prodigious talent.
He understood that he couldn't allow this man to live to grow stronger and master his endless potential, lest he become an unfathomable threat against the Underworld.
He needed to kill him then and there.
Despite being instructed not to kill him, the hooded spearman magetant simply couldn't bring himself to spare this stunningly strong novice apprentice.
His dark eyes flared with bloodlust as the air tingled with peril.
His body shifted as he body cast a maneuvering spell, based on the Fundamental Form of Manipulation of his own body, allow him to rapidly surge forth before Cæ in the blink of an eye.
One moment, he was a dozen meters away from Cæ in the air above the slums.
The very next moment, he arrived before Cæ with a thrusting attack threatening to kill him then and there.
And yet, it was within Cæ's predictions.
Moments before the attack landed upon him, the final runes of Cæ's incantation escaped his mouth.
"…ᚳᚩᚾᚠᛖᚱᚷᛁᛝ ᚳᚱᚢᛋᚻᛖᚱ "
Chills crawled across the spearman magetant's skin as he leaped away with a fearful expression.
And yet, it was too late.
BOOM!
An extraordinary amount of air and sound spiralled into the spearman magetant, converging upon him with great pressure in a singularly powerful sound wave.
BOOM!!
CRACK CRACK CRACK!
"Arrgghh!" the spearman magetant roared with pain as his body enhancement failed to enhance his durability enough to withstand the powerful omnidirectional converging air and sound blast.
His bones cracked as his skin and flesh tore as the sheer impact knocked him out, causing his magic to disappear as he collapsed from the sky from a great height, falling headfirst.
WHOOSH
His body slowed down in its descent as Cæ gestured with his hand, causing his body to slow down just before he collapsed to his death.
It wasn't an act of mercy.
Cæ would have had no problem watching him die from falling headfirst from a great height.
However, the more they captured, the more they could deliver to the Elendir Investigation and Intelligence Bureaus for interrogation.
And since Headmistress Lenolia had a strong connection with the current Mendel Administration, she would easily not only be able to get her hands on the classified intelligence reports into the investigation, but also potentially find proof against the elite families who undoubtedly conspired to work with the Colohen Mafia to crush the slum talent acquisition program.
Of course, everybody knew that the elite family was undoubtedly up to no good with the Colohen Mafia.
However, just because everybody knew it didn't mean that was enough to inflict any consequences upon the Karjakin Family, among others. Cæ hoped that the detailed interrogations would reveal the evidence needed to bring about consequences against the Headmistress.
And yet, it was clear that the Colohen Mafia had no interest in allowing one of their mages to be caught and interrogated.
"You are too much of a threat, Mr. Cæ."
A chilling voice reached him.
Cæ turned to find himself face to face with a senior mage.
The hooded woman had appeared behind him before he could even react.
"It truly is better for you to die in the cover of conflicts in the slums while you are still weak."
Her icy tone was chilling.
His eyes widened as he leaped away while seven sixth-circle magic spells appeared before her.
Her red eyes sharpened to slits as she activated her magic.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
In the blink of an eye, several extraordinarily intense bolts of lightning emerged from the wooden scepter in her hands, raging forth with great speed and power.
Bolts of lightning conspicuously shaped in the form of rabbits that ran towards him with great speed.
An attack that was an order of magnitude more powerful than anything he could possibly deal with.
BOOM!!!
A powerful shockwave emerged from a thundering collision.
Cæ's eyes widened with shock as he found himself defended by a great shield of water, snuffing the powerful lightning rabbits.
"You have done well, young director."
The aged voice of the leader of the senior magetant team emerged from behind him as his hand patted Cæ's shoulder approvingly. The older man had a long, white flowing beard while attired in baggy raiments with numerous encrypted runes and magic circles running across the mana-conductive fabric.
His eyes sharpened as he beheld the leader of the enemy senior mages a dozen meters away, displeased that her attack to kill Cæ had failed.
"You are the Hare of Lightning, are you not?"
His tone was knowing.
While there were a lot of senior mages, there were those who had earned their own monikers due to their proficiency in magic. The elderly leader of the senior magetant team grew serious upon identifying the caliber of opponent that they were dealing with.
"…Hare of lightning?" Cæ asked with a severe tone, his sharp gaze returning
"She is a known asset of the Colohen Mafia," the leader magetant informed Cæ, never once taking his eyes off of her. "She is known to be dangerous."
She snorted contemptuously, her face buried in the darkness of her hood.
"If I'm going to be recognized, then I would rather not have to wear this stuffy clothing. Curse Mordir."
FWIP
In the blink of an eye, she discarded her hood, revealing a brilliant magic raiment crackling with power beneath her hood. Her red eyes were sharp with hostility and intensity, while her short black hair curtly stopped before her shoulders.
Chills crawled across Cæ's skin as her bloodlust flared.
"As long as I kill the two of you, then it would be no different."
In the blink of an eye, several more sixth-circle magic circles emerged before her.
CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE!
Many magical rabbits of lightning emerged before her as a single whip of her staff spurred them forth with great power and speed. And yet, the leader of the senior magetant group wasn't hired for his spot by the Elendir Institute of Magic for no reason.
With a gentle and elegant whip of his wand, the elder mage conjured a flood of water with great speed and power, allowing him to not only defend against the battalion of lightning rabbits that emerged from the Hare of Lightning but also overwhelm the powerful attack.
BOOM!!!
A thundering explosion rang across the entirety of the district.
Cæ's eyes widened with shock as chills crawled across his skin from the sheer onslaught of energy output between the two powerful senior mages.
And yet, the intensity of the battle only escalated from that point.