Under the gaze of the silver moon, as the two sides mentally prepared themselves for another round of blows, nearly a third of the Minister’s manor finally caved from the punishment it had recently been forced to endure. Subjected to another collision of mana, its walls shattered and its roof collapsed. Two figures immediately shot out of the dust and rubble, each looking at the other with a complex mix of emotions.

Julius Barnes quietly floated in the sky, his long gray beard fluttering in the air. With his ragged breathing and tattered robes, he bore no resemblance to the usually light-hearted and whimsical vice-principal of the Academy.

Standing a few feet away from his ruined mansion was Albert Cross. Unlike the Grand Master from the academy, he was in perfect shape, wearing no signs of the recent battle. Sword in hand, his gaze intersected with his opponent’s.

The collapsed part of the villa revealed a group of unconscious men and women under the protection of what could only be described as a large bubble of air. It slowly expanded outwards, clearing the debris from the small patch of land with the passed out soldiers.

***

Moments before Julius and Albert truly faced off, Liliana and Amy barely managed to trespass into a room full of trophies. The noticeable flurry of guards outside left them puzzled and worried. Stranded, they hid in a corner until the sparks of the grand battle took everyone by surprise.

The sudden rise of explosions, the constant shaking and rumbling… the battle attracted every guard on scene.

“What’s going on?” Liliana panicked. Her hand on her wand, she was ready to fire a spell at a moment’s notice. She glanced at Amy who responded with a shake of her head, instead using the lack of patrols to lead Liliana out.

Forced to make a pit stop in the Minister’s office, they avoided detection and heaved a sigh of relief. There was no one in sight, but the dislodged entrance to a secret passageway was enough to leave them nervous and on high alert. Every step taken further into the dark and gloomy corridor was like a hammer striking against their palpitating hearts. But it was all for naught. The agitation, the excitement, the anxiety, all of it seemed to vanish at the sight of an empty room and bed. “You’ve got to be kidding!” Liliana cursed, stomping her feet, ready to burn the room to the ground. “So much secrecy for a bedroom?!”

Worried about Max, the duo retreated back into the Minister’s study only to find the manor in shambles. Several of the Minister’s guards lay sprawled on the floor accompanied by a few others in a different garb.

Hiding behind the only intact wall, the duo subtly peeked from the side to bear witness to a standoff between their own vice-principal and the dreaded owner of the now destroyed mansion.

“Professor Barnes?!” Confounded, Liliana turned to Amy for answers. “Isn’t the academy supposed to stay out of the Empire’s affairs?”

“It is.” Amy grimly affirmed, looking just as confused. “Maybe, there is more to this than we thought.”

Liliana trembled, not registering a word Amy had said. The entirety of her attention on Max, she instinctively drew her wand and almost charged out.

“Are you crazy?!” Amy panicked and held her back. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“But Max – he – look at him!”

Liliana’s words drew attention to Max’s pitiable state. Amy bit her lips, clenching her fists as she suppressed the urge to rush out herself. “I don’t know why, but August is with him as well.” She said, “He should be able to manage.”

Breaking free of Amy’s grip, Liliana resolutely responded, “I’m not taking that chance.”

“Neither will I, but we need to catch that man off guard. Blindly marching into battle will get us all killed!”

“Fine!” Liliana took another gander at Max, her teeth grinding against each other, threatening to turn to dust. “What’s your plan?”

While the two girls were waiting for an opportune moment, Julius conversed with the Minister, a wry smile on his face. “You hid your abilities well, Albert.”

The Minister shrugged. “Everyone has their trump cards… Mine just happened to be less flashy.”

“Less flashy…” Julius repeated, the corners of his lips twitching. Amidst his irritation, he spotted Max and August confronting Karl with guarded expressions and let out a pained sigh. But he wasn’t the only one to notice the standoff.

Gazing at Max, the Minister’s eyes flashed with fury. His grip on his blade involuntarily tightened as he flexed his shoulders and asked, “What now… old friend?”

Once again glancing at the Academy’s two budding knights, Julius tried to reason with the man he once called his friend. “It doesn’t matter even if you suppress me here.” He said, “The Royal family will definitely move tomorrow. So I say this again. Come with me and I guarantee a more lenient sentencing.”

“You disappoint me, old friend.” The Minister chuckled, the mana within him beginning to revolve. “You were never the sort to parley. Have you lost your fangs from your years at the academy?”

“Albert…” Julius sighed, “I’m not the enemy here.”

“Oh?” The Minister sneered, “You barge into my house, send brats to snoop around, and then, you have the gall to say that to me?!”

“Listen to me -”

“Enough! Since you’ve come here uninvited, don’t expect to leave unscathed.”

“Albert!” Julius harrumphed, “I’ve tried to be patient, but you are forcing my hand.” A cold glint flashed past his eyes as the grip around his staff tightened. “One last time, stand down and tell Karl to back the hell off!”

“Now that’s more like the man I used to know.” The Minister replied with a smile, unperturbed by the threat. “Unfortunately, the die has been cast.” Taking a gander at his subordinate, he barked, “Karl! Spare the Kendall boy, but kill the brat!”

“Acknowledged.” Karl responded with a small nod before bursting forth with unbelievable speed. There was no hesitation in his sword. There never had been. But this time around, there was something else mixed in the swing of his blade. Besides the strength of his resolve, there was the will of a loyal subordinate in the sword chopping down at Max.

There was no time. No time to move. No time to dodge. Desperation filled Max’s eyes as he let out a roar and met the blade with all of his might. There was a tremor in the air as it resonated with Max’ will and seemed to rush to protect him. Violent wind blades slammed against Karl, trying to cut through his body.

Karl frowned. The air dug into his skin, pushing him back. Shocked for but a second, he imbued mana into his second sword, instantly changing his grip and unleashing a diagonal slash. The otherworldly attack destroyed, the battle worn Crusader mercilessly hacked down in another bid to claim Max’s life.

Max helplessly watched the sword inch closer, his limbs feeling weighed down. Death seemed so close, but August wouldn’t have it. “Not on my watch!” He yelled as intervened, meeting the blade with his own. Unable to withstand the force behind the slash, August’s sword snapped in two. “Argh!” Waves of mana ravaged his body and sent him flying into Max.

There was no respite. As they tumbled through the air, Karl launched another attack. His mana continued to surge as he thrust his swords towards his target’s chest.

Groaning, Max pushed August to a side before clumsily raising his arms to withstand the stabs. His eyes teared up. The pain was agonizing. On the ground, his gauntlets in pieces, his bones shattered and his hands crippled, Max sat up to stare at Karl with great difficulty. His eyes flickered with a red light before he momentarily blacked out.

Enraged by the Minister’s open defiance, Julius sprang into action, his attempt to make his way to Max thwarted by his stalwart adversary. The Minister’s onslaught of sword strikes had left Julius with no breathing space. Witnessing Max get impaled, he unhesitatingly took a blow to buy time and conjure a spell.

The short incantation summoned a powerful wall, one created purely from air. It manifested between Karl and the injured knights of the Academy, acting like an invisible force field, continuously resisting Karl’s relentless barrage of attacks.

While the spell held Karl at bay, Julius coughed up a mouthful of blood. Despair sunk in as he realized that the Minister was no longer the man he once knew. “Albert… You’ve gone mad!” He croaked, weakly grasping at the sword piercing his stomach.

“No Julius.” The Minister whispered. “I have never been more focused… More determined.” A hint of sadness flashing past his face, he sent the vice-principal smashing towards the ground. He calmly rose higher into the air and flicked his sword to remove the blood.

As Julius’s spell showed its first signs of collapse, Liliana was already tearing up. Worry and rage combined to unleash a powerful set of flaming meteors that were sent straight at the unsuspecting Crusader.

Alarmed by the sudden onset of heat, Karl responded by firing off a beam of mana, his attack easily plowing through the fire spells and reducing each to a dying blue ember. Relieved, Karl warily took a defensive stance. The spell works were far from over. After having averted Liliana’s magic, he had immediately become a target for Amy’s seemingly infinite flaming arrows.

A mere glimpse of Amy and Liliana stirred something inside Max. Amidst his blurry vision and the torturous pain, he forced himself to stand. “Not yet.” He muttered, the flames of his spirit still burning. A few feet away, feeling sore and broken, August spat a mouthful of blood. As he glanced at Max, he gritted his teeth and also attempted to get on his feet.

Clasping his injured stomach, Julius lay on the ground, gulping down potions to aid his recovery. With his eyes on the Minister, he grasped his staff and scowled. “So he can already remain airborne.” His suspicions had come to pass. Albert Cross had broken past the shackles of a Grand Crusader and risen to rank among Asterisk’s strongest.

Albert gazed at Liliana. She was the final piece of the puzzle, the key to saving the one he cherished most. He would never let her escape.

Liliana and Amy continued to support each other as they released a volley of spells. Their attacks gradually turned bolder and stronger which only seemed to annoy Karl. With a rare expression of annoyance, he obliterated almost an entire batch of the conjure projectiles. The unbridled power behind his strike charged straight for the girls, forcing Julius to make a move.

Having found a chance, the Minister unemotionally glanced at Max and vanished. Appearing right behind the unsuspecting teenager, he silently stabbed Max through the chest.

Time seemed to stop. Liliana faltered as fear and anxiety flooded her soul. Hands and lips quivering, she stared unblinkingly at the scene, the bloody sight too much to take in. The sound of Max collapsing was like a boulder crushing her heart. The colour drained from her face, she shrieked in horror, her grief filled shout reverberating in everyone’s souls. “NOO!”

Despite the numerous wounds, Max was still relatively sensitive to pain. He lay on the ground, feeling the sharp pang of discomfort in his chest. Blood gushed up his throat and into his mouth while his blurry vision began to fade altogether. Coughing, he shivered and barely noticed the Minister’s ice cold face staring back at him.

“Albert Cross!” Furious, Julius roared and unleashed one of the strongest spells in his arsenal. A natural disaster descended on the world, bringing with it the full fury of a Grandmaster mage. The clouds parted to reveal a powerful cyclone that ruthlessly came crashing down.

The Minister turned serious as he clashed with the winds. With a hint of solemnity, he struck forth, drawing out his strength as a Paladin to overpower the artificially created calamity.

Using this opportunity, August swiftly made his way forward. Ferociously aiming his half broken blade at the Minister’s neck, he showed no mercy. He was thirsting for blood, the desire to kill filling his body like a torrential flood.

Karl sheathed his sword and returned to the Minister’s side just as the latter effortlessly knocked August out. He sighed when he saw Liliana and Amy ignore their surroundings and rush towards Max. He said, “You shouldn’t have interfered. I had it under control.”

“If you had stopped holding back, I wouldn’t have had to.” The Minister scoffed.

“No, no, no, no… Max… Max… Stay with me… please… open your eyes!” Sobbing, Liliana gently placed her hands on his chest, applying pressure in the hopes of keeping the bleeding in check.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Amy sat beside her roommate, her heart thrown in turmoil. The tragedy that was Max’s impaled body was too much to take in. His pale face, the blood, it was a sight that left her trembling. Eight years ago, it was her brother. Now, with Max in this shape, the feelings of fear and powerlessness were far too overwhelming.

Julius gradually approached the crying duo and let out a pained sigh. A simple glance had confirmed the finality of Max’s situation. There was nothing he could do.

In his final moments, Max lost all sensation in his body. The only thing he could feel was his own consciousness slowly stepping closer to nihility. Death was welcoming him with open arms, but he lacked the energy to resist, his last few thoughts filled with regrets. ‘Damn it! Not like this… Not like this! What about Liliana and Amy? There’s still so much I have to do. How - How am I supposed to face mom?!’

“Amy! We – We have to do something! The bleeding… it won’t stop!” Liliana turned to Amy, stuttering in despair.

Amy sniffed woefully. “It’s too late.” She whispered and gently closed Max’s eyes.

Julius ruefully lowered his head, anger in his eyes. He had used almost all of his mental energy and was near powerless against the newly ascended Paladin. If the Minister chose to silence everyone, he would have no way to protect the remaining students.

Trembling, Liliana paled and shook her head, whimpering. “No… No! You’re lying! He’s even fought off a league of assassins. He won’t… Not from something like this… He can’t –”

The Minister crept up behind Liliana and grabbed her by the arm. “That’s enough.” He indifferently said, “The boy is dead.”

“How dare you?! Get away from her!” Screaming, Amy conjured a giant, flaming hand in a bid to subdue the Minister. In her moment of rage, she didn’t care about the repercussions, she wanted his life.

The Minister responded to the attack with a flick of his hand, effortlessly dispersing the blow.

In the depths of despair, Liliana felt the tug at her sleeves. Slowly, she turned to meet the Minister’s gaze, her eyes lifeless, filled with nothing but emptiness. Rage and hatred soon replaced the anguish as her face contorted with fury, the change in expression bringing with it an abrupt change in the surroundings.

The winds howled and the earth trembled as the mana flowed chaotically, taking form in the shape of blue streaks. Her body like a magnet, Liliana was like a beacon, attracting all the mana in sight. Glowing with a slight haze of blue, she glared at the Minister with spiteful eyes. “It’s your fault! You did this!”

The unexpected turn of events let Amy, Julius and Karl gaping in shock. The Minister hastily retreated, his eyes flickering with a complex gleam of emotions as he murmured, “Overdraw.”

“The blood of Alcatraz?!” Forced back, Amy remained flabbergasted, unable to handle the sudden influx of mana. She stood by Julius’s side, sharing his astonishment. “How is that possible?!”

A unique ability limited to the direct descendants of the Saint and the Paragon, Overdraw randomly manifested in the members of the Royal family, giving them the ability to temporarily make the surrounding mana their own. Only a handful had managed to awaken the power, and those who had were renowned geniuses who stood at the forefront of the world.

“This is your fault!” Liliana roared and raised her wand. “None of this would have happened, if only you didn’t exist!” With a simple thought, she conjured four pillars of fire which speedily warped into large serpents. The four snakes seemed to have a life of their own. Flicking their tongues, they stared daggers at the Minister. Under Liliana’s command, they mercilessly shot at the man, aiming to incinerate his limbs.

The unusual power behind the fiery reptiles, however, was not enough to overcome the large gulf that was the difference in their strength. The Minister swiftly subdued the strikes before calmly closing the distance between them.

“Just die!” Liliana screamed, the failed spells replaced by a battalion of fire snakes. Numbering in the tens and burning with a hint of blue, the newly created reptiles rushed for the Minister without a need for a command.

Liliana’s frenzy was nowhere near its end. She recklessly invoked one spell after another, her hysteria slowly taking control. Despite the madness, she subconsciously refused to step away from Max, sitting by his side, one hand clasping his.

The power of Overdraw was not without limits. As the blue hue around her grew stronger, the side effects from the prolonged usage of this power began to show. Ragged breathing, blood oozing out from her facial orifices, the loss of self, Liliana quickly began to spiral out of control, attacking anything and everything in sight, unable to distinguish friend from foe.

Noticing the initial signs of degradation, Amy immediately snapped out of her stupor. She countered the occasional stray spell and carefully made her way towards Liliana, constantly calling out in the hopes of pacifying her grieving friend.

Not far from her, the Minister deflected another attack and frowned at Liliana’s rising decadence. Annoyed, he used his superior speed to appear right by her side. The raging flames were forcefully suppressed and he gently knocked her unconscious.

Taking this chance to crawl up to Liliana, Amy eyed the Minister and furiously yelled, “You won’t get away! The King, my father… they’ll have your head! I’ll make sure you pay for what you’ve done!”

Albert sorrowfully sighed at the sound of her threats. He glanced into the distance, silently taking note of the scrambling troops heading for the mansion. “Everything I do, I do for her sake.” The Minister blandly said, “If it takes one life to bring back another… then so be it.”

While the Minister took Liliana into his arms, Karl pushed Amy to the side, apathetically warning the Duke’s daughter. “Leave while you still can.”

Julius lamented his own powerlessness. In no shape to cast any noteworthy spells, he drew his hidden dagger in the hopes of catching the two men by surprise.

With a tight grip on her wand, Amy pursed her lips, watching as the Minister stepped further away. She rose unsteadily to her feet, ready to launch a sneak attack. However, her plan was thrown into disarray by a long and drawn out sigh that whispered into her ears.

Albert, Karl and Julius froze. The sigh was like a delicate breath beside their ears, but it bore down on their souls and sent chills down their spines. Their chests constricted from fear, their shoulders and heads pressured by an invisible force, the trio were being forced into submission by the sudden emergence of a serene yet frightening aura. Like small boats in a stormy sea, they were on the verge of being swept away, the flames of their life on the cusp of being snuffed out. Faced with the boundless power and prestige, they felt insignificant, involuntarily shuddering and standing unmoving.

Eventually, courage trickled in and the found the strength to peek at the source behind the monumental pressure. Their eyes widened in shock as their gaze remained transfixed on the unexpected figure. Staring at the silhouette, Amy began to tear up. She covered her mouth and held back a cry.

While bathing in celestial light, a young man stood with his back against the moon. He was drenched in his own blood and seemed to be half asleep, his face still as pale as it had been moments ago. Like a true immortal, he stood aloof from the world… Standing before the group was none other than Max.