Book 1: Chapter 18

The Lightning Emperor had just cast a high ranked spell.

Baccaus and the rest of the guild masters could feel the fluctuations from the spell even from 20 miles out.

Baccaus’ face paled and he regretted leaving Cyil by himself. If anything happened to Cyil he would...KILL! The Lightning Emperor would die!

Baccaus turned to face the Space Prison; a concentrated and placid look in his eyes. A visible stream of deep green and black clusters began to wrap around Baccaus’ fist. It was almost like he was wearing a gauntlet made out of elemental energy.

When the guild leaders saw what Baccaus was doing they all exclaimed in shock.

“That’s the legendary Dual Casting--using two different elements!”

“Not only is he Dual Casting but he’s actually mixing the two elements together.”

“What strength! This is a whole new spell, never before seen. A self-created spell!”

Baccaus ignored the ramblings and focused even harder on his spell. It took a full five minutes of concentration. Apparently, casting this spell(s) was very taxing, despite the instantaneous casting from the saint equipment. Planting his feet, Baccaus cocked his fist back and then punched out, slamming into the Space Prison.

Darkness Seeping Whirlwind Punch

Upon contact there was no sound at all. It seemed as if the punch was too light and didn’t damage the Space Prison one bit. Then, a second later, cracks began to spread from the point of contact and across the rest of the Space Prison.

*BAM*

The whole Space Prison collapsed and vanished into thin air. It was almost as if Baccaus’ punch shattered the surrounding space! Not only that, but all the trees in the standing behind the punch’s direction had disappeared. It was like a tornado had cleared and scarred a path through the forest in a straight line, 1000 meters long.

Baccaus exhaled a breath of hot mist; his face visibly paler than before. “Time to go,” he said calmly.

Just as Baccaus was about to use his 2nd teleport of the day, he noticed the air in front of him shimmer.

Alarmed, Baccaus dodge to the side, barely avoiding a snaking lance that shot out from that air pocket.

“Come out,” Baccaus shot out three Wind Blades towards the spot where the lance came out from.

“Hmph,” a voice responded with a scoff and the lance met the wind blades head on. The wind blades were easily dissipated.

A moment after, a tall handsome man walked calmly out of thin air. He carried with him an air of royalty and arrogance. In his hand was a seven foot lance that radiated piercing light. His armour made of steel also seem to shine.

This young man smiled at Baccaus. “Long time no see younger brother.”

Baccaus frowned. A troublesome opponent had appeared.

“I don’t have time to play with you, Ramiel.” Baccaus edged back.

Ramiel took a step forward. “We haven’t seen each other since father died. Let’s have a nice long chat. And while we’re at it, you should return the holy book of the wizened and those two saint equipments to me.”

“Those things are what father gave me for safe keeping until I find the next Wizened to inherit the position. They don’t belong to anyone. Not even the Mage association.” Baccaus shook his head.

The guild leaders on the side heard were shocked to hear what Baccaus had said. From what they were told, Baccaus had stolen the holy book of the wizened and the two saint equipments, but now they heard something different.

And thinking about it, what Baccaus said did make sense because his now deceased father was the 76th wizened of the human empire. The guild leaders could determine what was right or wrong at a glance but they wouldn’t dare renounce the mage association’s claim so they vowed to keep this secret to themselves.

Ramiel twirled his spear and said, “I’ve already found the perfect candidate to inherit the position. Give me the things now, or I’ll have to use force against you, little brother.”

“No.” Baccaus replied in a flat tone then prepared to flee. He knew Ramiel wasn’t an easy opponent to beat. Ramiel was his half-brother and while Ramiel’s mother was of nobility, Baccaus’ mother was a commoner. Ramiel was born with a high-grade light elemental body whereas Baccaus was born with a low-grade wind and darkness elemental body.

If not for Baccaus’ hard work and dual elemental body then he would have never gotten to where he was today. Ramiel on the other hand had things easy because he had the most acclaimed element in the human kingdom and he even had a high-grade elemental body.

As things are now, Ramiel was a rank 8 level 3 mage whereas Baccaus was stuck at rank 7 level 10. If they really fought, Baccaus estimated his odds of winning at a conservative 70%. But Baccaus had no time to fight and he was in a rush to find Cyil so he did what he was known best for doing: fleeing!

“No?” Ramiel creased his brows. Although he had expected the answer, he wasn’t used to getting no for an answer. “Very well, then let’s fight!”

Ramiel positioned his lance horizontally and brought it up towards his chest. “Take my strike, little brother!”

“Take your own strike.” Baccaus made sure there were no other attacks aimed at him and used his 2nd teleport of the day to go straight to Fayburn. As he teleported away, he felt something was off. Teleporting was instantaneous and he had teleported many times before but this time he didn’t reach his destination. Instead, Baccaus felt like he had was suspended in space and time. He did not reach Fayburn but was instead in a dark place. There was darkness all around him and he didn’t know where he was or what had happened.

Could this be an illusionary spell? Or perhaps I met some spatial disturbances along the way, because the space prison had just been destroyed? Baccaus didn’t know what to think but he just wanted to get out of this space as soon as possible.

Without hesitation, Baccaus used his 3rd and final teleport of the day to try to exit the empty space but found that he couldn’t!

Frustrated, Baccaus flung out spell after spell while charging forwards into the great darkness…

***

Cyil was still sitting on the straw bed. He stared, shellshocked. His eardrums had ruptured and was bleeding but he didn’t notice the pain. Where was Betsy?

Cyil opened his mouth but nothing came out. “Betsy! Betsy!” Cyil called out, louder and louder each time. It wasn’t until he was shouting that he could faintly hear his own voice calling out for Betsy.

Cyil scrambled off the bed down to the blackened soot.

He lightly patted the soot, trying to arrange it into a neat pile. “Betsy, where did you go? Are we playing hide and seek?”

Cyil began to laugh at himself. “I see. You were a mage all along! You used a spell to disappear, right?”

Cyil puffed up his chest and declared, “well, I have a surprise for you, too. I’m a mage Betsy! A mage. Like those we used to talk about all the time a dreamed about being. Not only am I a mage but grandpa said I’m a saint!”

“Betsy, isn’t it cool we both turned out to be mages?”

“Betsy, now that you know my biggest secret, you can come out now. I give up. You win!”

Cyil slowly sifted through the soot he had just tidied up, as he continued to rambled on. On the bottom of the pile he found a wooden toothed brush that belonged to his mother. Amidst the soot the toothed comb looked to be perfectly fine.

Cyil picked up the brush and remembered that earlier that night Betsy had tried giving it back to him but Cyil declined, saying that he wasn’t a girl so he didn’t need it.

Betsy reluctantly kept it, saying she would hold onto it until Cyil’s mother had been found again.

Cyil saw Betsy put the brush away in her pocket and she had not taken it out since then. So, why is the brush here?

Cyil shook his head. “Betsy! You dropped mom’s brush. You need to take better care of it or I’m going to take it back.”

Cyil called out to the moonlight streaming down from the missing roof and yet there was no answer from Betsy. Cyil was just about to call out again when a booming voice shot out from above.

“You’re quite annoying! Betsy this Betsy that! Grow a pair, kid. Betsy’s that little pile of soot you’re touching there. I killed her.”

Cyil couldn’t make out what the voice said but tried to locate the voice, hoping it was Betsy.

Cyil looked around but didn’t see anyone. Then he looked up towards the shining full moon.

Just as he raised his head, a figure dropped down from the sky and onto the blackened soot Cyil was still clutching. The impact blasted all the soot from the ground all over the hut.

“No, no, Betsy.” Cyil grasped at the floating soot trying to keep them together.

“Heh, so you do know that your friend is dead.” The figure standing in front of the kneeling Cyil had a bare chest, showing off his bronzed muscles. The moonlight revealed a rugged face belonging to middle aged man.

“Betsy, Betsy, I have you, don’t worry.” Cyil ignored the man in front of him and focused on gathering the soot.

“Tsk,” the man kicked Cyil in the chest, sending him flying through the wall of rotting logs. “You dare ignore the Lightning Emperor!”

The Lightning Emperor had wanted to kill Cyil but he needed to keep him alive if he wanted to capture Baccaus. It wouldn’t be too late to kill him after the fact.

The Lightning Emperor strood out of the hut to the little body who was struggling to get up.

Raising an eyebrow, the Lightning Emperor approached the boy and quickly inspected him. “A grade 7 defensive magical equipment, no wonder. So that’s how you’re still conscious after my kick.”

“Though that’s no use for me, I’ll take it off your hands. Baccaus gave you some good stuff!” The Lightning Emperor took off Cyil’s shirt and sent some energy into the cotton shirt, reverting it back into a glossy black cloak--the shadow stalker cloak.

Cyil didn’t pay any attention to the Lightning Emperor or his actions. Blood dripped from his mouth and has organs were aflamed but he was still struggling and staggering towards the hut. “Betsy, I’m coming. You’ll be okay.”

At this point, the Lightning Emperor who was famous for his short-temper became thoroughly enraged.

“Ignore me again little boy.” The lightning emperor sent a roundhouse kick to Cyil’s spine, sending him flying in the opposite direction, directly towards the hut and into it again.

Cyil didn’t know what was going on, but he felt that he couldn’t move his legs anymore. He tried to get up. He tried really hard but he just couldn’t summon the strength from his legs so he just laid there, staring up at the big hole in the hut and at the full moon in the sky thinking of Betsy’s blushing face.

It was a beautiful moon. Then the moonlight was gone and all was dark.