Yes, I do understand that two weeks is a really long time, and I'm still in the middle of my examinations. I hope you can forgive my slow releases, and with everything said, this will be a slightly longer chapter than usual.

As always, please enjoy the chapter and leave down any thoughts or suggestions. Thank you for your support! :)

~ Capital Marth, West Capital Gate

Here I am, at the grand west gate of the capital, and even this early in the morning, there are just as many people as it is in its peak. People are lined up behind the gates, waiting for the guards to check their belongings and goods, and allow passage. Today, after all, is the first day of the Annual Marth Tournament, where all kinds of people from the East Edge come here to watch the fights, duel, and enjoy themselves for these three days.

Not too far into the west and across the large river, is the Capital Zenith of the Zekiel Empire. And of all times, it had to attack now. I don’t want to miss any part of the tournament, even if it’s a small part of the first day of the tournament. So, I thought I could make them delay the entire tournament today by just a bit using a flashy display of fireworks and a little bit of death.

Well, not waiting any longer, I showed my university pass to the guard and also my sack of magic crystals with the magic circuits I had extracted from the fake rocks to the guard. The sack is lined on the inside with the mana-blocking material from the fake rocks, so it wouldn’t be detected by anyone easily. I placed some normal rocks on top to disguise the stuff underneath.

The guard examines my bag with his squinted eyes for a bit, as if trying to detect anything suspicious or weird inside, before returning my things and allowing me passage.

Ahh~ the beautiful outside world, away from the stressful confines of the walls. On the right, vast expansive hilly plains with trees sparsely dotted all over. On the left, a silent but lush forest, flooded by the dense morning fog. In between the two worlds is a dirt road wide enough to fit two full-sized carriages side-by-side, smoothed out by its constant usage and weathering over the years. A long line of people are waiting on the road for passage into the capital, be it travelling merchants, families on carriages and on foot, and not to mention, fighters, and adventurers, all undoubtedly looking forward to the tournament.

However, admiring the scenery is not my mission today. I walked off the path into the forest looking like I was going on a hike, but when I got deep enough that nobody can see me, I flew through the forest along the road, bringing along the sack of crystals. This way, I don’t attract any unnecessary attention. Also, dodging all the tight trees and vines is also quite fun, but the feeling of the cool, refreshing morning air and fog over my body is still the best.

After flying a few hundred metres, I stopped and peeked out to the road. Alright. The coast is clear. I flew out across the road and into the green, soft hilly plains. Ahh~ freedom of movement is the best. I just can’t get enough of flying around in the air without constraints~

When I saw the capital army camp, I slowed down and made it there on foot while dragging along the sack instead of flying to make sure I don’t trigger anything from the guards.

When I got close enough, the guard on the right of the camp gate noticed me, and while unsheathing his blade, shouted, “HALT! State who you are and your purpose!”

A few other guards nearby heard him and came over to see what is happening.

“I am here on behalf of elder sage sorcerer Marelin to speak with the generals.” I spoke with a tint of condescending attitude, and activated the magic symbol for proof.

“We apologize for our rudeness! General Jax and Ceris are at the main tent at the center.” The guards immediately sheathed their weapons and bowed down as it was clear I am above them. Whew, this magic symbol is quite convenient, I have to say.

While I was escorted by one of the guards to the main tent, I looked up to check the position of the suns. Approximate position: 27° from the horizon, estimate time of day: 0800 hours. Looks like there’s just one more hour to prepare for the grand display.

---

I swear on the gods they are planning something. They haven’t moved a single inch for the past few hours, nor showed any signs of movement. Extremely suspicious.

“It’s probably just a stupid trick by those dogs to stall our time! We have the numbers to overwhelm them, our victory is certain!” Jax shouted out, and a few commanders nodded their heads too, agreeing with what he says.

I am afraid that they have a secret weapon or plan that is capable of dealing with us all. We have more than double the number of troops they have, yet they are still confidently sitting in the same spot the entire time with no movements at all. And what’s more, our scouts were unable to see what’s inside the enemy camp since they have mages forming a barrier around the camp. It’s very suspicious, but I have to agree with Jax… it may just an elaborate plan to delay us. Either way, we will never know until we attack.

“We will launch an attack on the enemy.”, I gave the final OK sign. Jax immediately went on to explain the attacking plan, which actually sounds… pretty legit. We may actually have a chance with that.

Just as I was about to relay the plan to the messenger and back to headquarters, a guard interrupted me. “Generals, this boy says he needs to speak with you…”

At this time? I cried out, “What?! A BOY? How did you let a bo-”

Before I could finish the sentence, a grand and powerful aura filled the small tent, rendering all of us speechless. The sheer pressure of the aura made even the simple act of breathing difficult, but that was nothing compared to what we felt - shaken down to our bones from just the power that was hidden in the aura. All of us immediately recognized this aura, even if it was only for a single second we felt it. That is, the elder sage sorcerer Marelin… and the boy that is here, can only be her apprentice. And I can only think of one boy that fits the category…

He walked in, not a single bit intimidated by the presence of us at all. Clad in his weird white coat still, his long black hair is still as perfect as it was when we first met him, his flawless peach skin sparkling in the morning sunlight, and not to mention, the perfect physique for a boy his age. His eyes look the same as any other young boy should be, yet it felt… odd.

“Aren’t you the rascal that we picked up? Hahaha! What business do you have here?” Jax was the first to recover. His face recovered from the pale white colour he had since this morning, revived by the sight of Earth.

“Sorry to intrude on your meeting, but the truth is, grandm- Master didn’t tell me to convey any message, but that’s not the point here. What’s important, is that I have a plan to eliminate the enemy while causing no casualties on our side.” He spoke right to everyone without a single hint of hesitation, and he seemed to be very confident about his plan.

One of the commanders still thought that what he just proposed was ridiculous and joked, “Haha boy, if you’re looking for peaceful negotiations, you should just go back to your school like a kid your age should. Where are your parents, boy?”

“Please, don’t be stupid, who would want to do peaceful negotiations with those worthless scum. Of course, it is very easy for me to control the enemy leaders’ minds since they are lower than animals, but I would rather choose to wipe them from the face of this planet, like trash should be. Heck, even trash could be recycled and reused, but not them.

Enough of that, here’s my plan - the army will create some distractions outside the enemy camp, and I will sneak in and blow everything up. Simple. Use whatever distractions you want, but once the signal is up, retreat. I will make sure that nobody from our side is hurt.” Earth pointed to the large sack that he had brought along as he explained the details. What is he, is he really just a young boy?

The commander that joked at him went over and retrieved the large sack with suspicion.

“Isn’t this just rocks, what are you trying to do with just rocks. Is this a joke?” He commented after looking inside the sack. I swear I could’ve seen Earth rolling his eyes at that moment.

Earth retrieved the bag and moved it over to the table with magic. He held the sack open so all of us could see clearly. There was just rocks, as the commander had said. I couldn’t feel anything from the sack either.

He started removing the rocks, and slowly we could see something revealed under the rocks. It had the texture and the look of rocks, but it’s flat and inseparate pieces… and they are slowly peeled off in layers. By the third layer, I could feel mana emanating from the sack. Could that strange material be mana-blocking material?! How did he get his hands on such a thing, and so much of it? All the other commanders were also shocked, but it wasn’t at the mana-blocking material anymore. It was the ridiculous amounts of high-grade mana crystals, and not only that, each of them had a strange circuit attached on them.

“Let’s just say that the enemy had gifted our city with these mana crystals, and I went on to collect them. These are all bombs which will detonate in less than an hour. I will execute the plan at that moment, and there is no need to worry about me as well, my safety is not compromised. The city is currently under protection by my Master, and I have cleared the city of these threats. Trust me.” Earth spoke with a more serious tone this time. The commanders now have nothing more to say, as he drew out a circle on the map, where the enemy camp is.

He then took over our jobs and immediately started to plan the attack with everyone.

---

Time check. 20 minutes to detonation. The soldiers are informed and briefed about this mission, and are ready to go. Four battalions are split up into separate squads to surround and distract the enemy from all directions, while a larger force will be attacking from the front to catch their attention. I will be infiltrating the enemy camp from a blind spot at the upper right side of the camp and slowly make it to the center. Once I am there, well, the show shall begin.

I am riding along with the 25th squadron, which will be in charge of distracting the upper right side of the enemy camp, luring enemies away from the blind spot.

This is meant to be a fast attack, and the enemies would notice it after a bit that it was only a distraction, but that bit of time was all that’s necessary.

I got off the horse, and the squad immediately went on to do whatever they needed to do. The enemy guards upon sight of the squad disturbing them, quickly moved away from my position to the source of the problem. There, the blind spot all clear and inviting. Of course, I accepted it.

Sneaky sneaky, sliding through the ranks without anyone’s business. Easy enough, I got to the enemy war room. I put my sack down and took a little rest on one of the crates near the tent. Don’t worry, there’s still 2 minutes till detonation. Our army should be retreating by now. The enemy are also calming down too, getting ready for the ‘surprise’. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t the surprise they were looking forward to.

I did some stretching and exercises to warm up my body. Alright, here goes.

FULL POWER MODE - WIDE AREA TELEKINESIS! I can feel everything getting enveloped in my telekinesis. Every nook and cranny, people, and plants. But I can’t control the enemy since they have their aura shielding them, the wide area telekinesis is not strong enough to penetrate them. But I don’t need to do that.

It doesn’t matter how much mana I use here; it’s a dead zone anyway. Using that wide area telekinesis already took half of my mana, and with that, I created a large barrier of air around the enemy camp. I pushed those little insects that had gone too far out back into the camp using a little more power, which probably took away all my mana. With that, I started to absorb mana from the surroundings.

The green grass turned brown and withered, the dirt cracked and dissolved, and all the people nearest to me started to suffer the same fate as the grass. I flew upwards into the sky with the sack. I began to prepare containing the blast. It needs more power. Compress, harden, compress, harden. And I held my breath.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

*boom*

It wasn’t very loud at first. The blast was successfully contained in a small sphere half a metre in diameter. The superheated air glowed like a third sun, but it needs MORE POWER.

I released all my limiters.

The mana from the surroundings are vacuumed up and dumped into the small sphere, and the mana flowed through my entire body like never-ending tsunami. I twitched and flinched, unfamiliar to this uncomfortable rate of flow. But it doesn’t matter.

When the ball of death started to burn my skin inside out, even after I layered myself with so much protection, I know, it is complete. The area below was already a wasteland. It is time to clean it up.

RELEASE!

I opened up a hole in the air barrier around the camp. The sheer force from the blast almost broke my bones, even when I had diverted it upwards and softened the impact. I was sent flying out for at least a few kilometres before I could regain my bearings.

The air barrier contained most of the initial impact, but it broke after that split second and a visible wave of shockwaves propagates outwards, and after that, revealing a beautiful mushroom cloud.

That wasn’t the end though, as I felt a pull back towards the explosion, churning my insides and almost made me vomit out my breakfast. The operation is a success, if you ignore the little things like uprooted trees and some flying dirt. My instinct tells me that this is not a good time to report back to Jax and Ceris.

I descended to the ground to take a rest and replenish my mana while admiring the beauty of the rising mushroom cloud.

“Salty, how’s the situation?” I asked for a report.

“...enemies are completely gone, and no casualties suffered on our side…” Salty gave a proper report, but that is strange in itself and her tone is shaky.

“Are you alright? Wait, what am I saying. Of course you aren’t. Is your prophecy coming true?”

“I… don’t know. I can feel it… something fearful… I remember this feeling. I… I… AGHHhhh…” HEADACHES! Salty’s head hurts, and it made mine hurt too! Looks like something is triggered… arghh… it hurts…

The ground began to shook as if there’s an earthquake… I lied down on the ground in hopes of soothing the pain, but it didn’t work…

As I turned my head over to face the capital, I noticed the proud pyramid standing at the top began to… erupt?! Come on, I haven’t explored that yet!

*ROAAAARRR*

A deep, loud cry shook my insides for the second time, and it was at this point that, I thought,

“Crap.”

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