A stray portal opened up in a catacomb somewhere.

Two men dragged an unconscious boy out by his shoulders. His feet dragging limply across the floor. His long black hair unkempt and rolled down his sides.

The Southerners do not have the tradition to keep their hair as a symbol of respecting their body given by their parents.

Mages have always preferred practicability over such nuances.

His long smooth hair, clean pearling teeth, and radiant complexion is a sign that he came from a well-to-do family. However, the clothes he wore are that of a Great General and one that had seen many battles. For someone his age, it isn’t strange to be on the warfront but to achieve such high military rank is impressive.

The boy’s eyes fluttered open, briefly taking in his surroundings, before closing again.

The interval between consciousness is becoming shorter. Given his condition, it is a miracle that he is getting better.

Most of the things he saw were too blurry to make out, but one image burnt into his mind. A familiar person chained to a giant boulder was behind one of the heavy doors with only a small metal plate, likely used to shove plates of food. They tried to cover up his cell but things are a little lax in a place where nobody should be able to escape and they left the food hatch unsecured.

A tiny opening was all he needed. He had to concentrate, of course. To direct all his will and remain awake, but he made sure he wasn’t being delirious before slipping off into unconsciousness again.

This is a person everyone is searching for, the emperor of Saint Empire, Galahad Vestimore.

He woke up in a metal chair with his arms, legs, and neck strapped.

Two man and a woman in robes and tall hats stood patiently next to him.

“Good. He’s finally coming around.”

“A miracle, considering he had multiple organ failures.”

“Unsurprising. With that level of life magic he can wield, his vigour must be off the charts.”

“Now boy, do you know where you are right now?”

Kairos took the time to look at the cell holding him. He is obviously in a prison cell. From his knowledge of the south, those who display magical talents are kidnapped to a school and this place certainly isn’t one.

He looked at the torture tools on the side. A clamp device for his fingers and toes, a set of prongs probably to remove nails and tooth, a few incision knives of different sizes, and a rusty old saw.

They are all very frightening, except Kairos could tell that they are placed here for show. Magic can pull out anything from a person that these objects can, and there were no signs that these items had seen use.

Besides, torture is a roundabout way of doing things when spells can get them further.

He looked at those present.

The older looking man in grey robes was the one that kidnapped him. With a magic portal, one can move across countries in minutes just like a teleportation rune except much more precise. White beard and hair, piercing green eyes and holding an ugly gnarled root staff adorned with yellow amber; A standard wizard’s gear.

The middle-age looking man wore blue robes with a black hat. There are white symbols and lines covering his clothes as magical enchantments. Unversed with the mages’ crafts except for what he learned through Aisa, he would not know much about enchanted robes.

The young woman had black robes like a witch’s but it is very tightly clad and flattering. She did not look a day older than twenty with brown curls flowing down her back.

There was a motherly look in her purple eyes and a gentle smile on her face and Kairos immediately felt as though he saw the most attractive woman on Gaia.

A charm spell.

He did not need elementary magic knowledge to guess what was at work here. His intellect is rapidly falling, replaced by strange thoughts; soon he will be obedient to what she wants.

Kairos’ eyes dulled for a moment and the woman’s smile grew brighter, “Now, you can tell us if you know where you are.”

Kairos returned her a goofy smile. Then she flinched.

“He broke the charm,” the woman admitted while pinching the top of her nose.

The kidnapper in grey robes laughed, “Looks like the boy’s mental capacity is beyond yours, Witch Queen De’velon Etrima.”

The Witch Queen stared at the older gentleman and smiled, “Mage Lord Stygia Rufus, perhaps you would like to give it a try?”

“I’ll give it a go,” the one in blue robes said with a confident voice, “In the name of Hades, I bound thee with Absolute Obedience! Cin Astobule O’ De vah!”

Kairos looked at him, blinked a few times, then said, “Or I can just answer your question. It is obvious I am in a holding cell somewhere in the southern countries. A torture chamber perhaps. Which means, you want something from me.”

It is apparent that the spell failed and it was a stronger version with incantation. The man in blue robes held his head in terrible pain, the rebound was stronger than a charm spell.

This time, the Mage Lord did not appear as amused with the failure, “Sun Oracle Titus Hermes, explain what happened.”

While the man is inebriated by the pain, Kairos helped him answer, “I can tell you what happened if you want. You needed to wait for me to be conscious before you try to get information out of my mind. I’m guessing the thoughts in my mind is dispersed and unintelligible when I’m out cold. To get the information out of me you needed me to give it to you either through charm or an obedience spell.

Though, I suppose you can also lift something out of my mind if I’m thinking about it?”

Unfortunately, my Mental Capacity appears to be beyond the two of them, and everything failed so far. How about we cut to the chase, and just ask me your questions then let me go?”

The Mage Lord smiled again, but there was no warmth in his eyes, only mirth.

He tapped on an arm’s cuff gently and then said, “We underestimated you, boy. We are the leaders of the wizards, witches, and diviners. Excluding the dark arts, this the three highest orders of magic. To best two of us, I must say, you have incredible potential.”

“… And, you’re going to ask if I want to be your student,” Kairos added.

“You’re right, boy. So what do you say?”

“I believe we should finish the deal with putting me here in a torture chair first. To have the three leaders personally be here, the answer you want from me must be quite something. I’m guessing, it’s the spell I used?”

The witch suddenly asked, “It’s a Circle 9 healing magic. Do you have any idea what it means?”

“No?”

She looked at him with scrutinising eyes and said, “It means that you stole a spell from us, and now we’ve caught you.”

Kairos almost burst out laughing, “I doubt that the head of a magic order will be present to interrogate a thief. Isn’t it foolish to try and frame the Supreme Commander of an army?”

The Sun Oracle roughly grabbed Kairos by his neck lining. He had recovered from his terrible migraine with an equally great temper, “Even if you are a king, you are nothing here!”

With their faces only inches apart, Kairos could see the pure rage from the man, “If it’s the spell you want, I’ll teach you.”

The Sun Oracle smashed a fist into the boy’s face and screamed, “Where did you learn it from?!”

At his level of Physical Rank, Kairos did not so much as blink, “Oh, we’re dropping the pretence now? Okay. I learned all my spells from a dragon.”

“The Guardian Dragon, Thrym? Do you know what we do with those who play a fool here?”

The existence of Thrym is known by only a select few. As a divine dragon placed here by the gods to prevent the escape of devils, Thrym only reveals itself to those that could help its cause.

“I know Thrym is of frost element. I was taught by another dragon,” Kairos said, pretending not to see Titus Hermes nursing his rapidly swelling fist.

With the truth behind everything unravelled by a few words, the Sun Oracle felt there was no ways to trick this boy and made a daring suggestion, “Lord Magus, Witch Queen, we can uncover his memories with a union spell.”

The two fell into thought, and Kairos silently awaited his fate.

They did not bother to confirm the existence of another dragon besides Thrym on Gaia. The boy can say whatever he wants and there’s simply no way for them to tell if it’s the truth except to take his word for it. It is surprising that he knows the existence of Thrym, although it can be a wild guess on the frost element with the dragon’s legendary reputation.

It’s unfortunate but no one here is confident to surpass Kairos in mental strength.

The two others quickly nodded.

They don’t just want to learn a spell, they want all the secrets he knows about magic, the dragon if it really exists, and most importantly, the boy’s corpse.

A boy with magical talents far beyond them and mental aptitude that no one can match is a monster they want to nip in the bud.

Also, if they dissect his remains, they might find out why he is such a potent conduit of mana. When they were at Kairos’ age, none of them touched Circle 9 magic. Even channelling a Circle 6 magic can fray their internal magical conduits and kill them.

After much discussion, the three of them stood around Kairos and started chanting in unison. Union spells, not to be confused with fusion spells, are created by overlapping several magic circles to create a far more potent one. It had to be executed simultaneously by several mages in perfect synchronisation.

However, they are still uncertain if it will work on Kairos since it did not take the boy any kind of effort to break the charm and obedience spells. They cannot measure his limits and if their magic breaks again, a rebound of a spell this powerful could cripple them.

If the three leaders of the magic orders become fools overnight, the south will fall into anarchy.

Because of this, the spell they weaved is also a Fusion spell. They cannot be sure to lift memories from him because his mind is too strong, but with the right adjustments they can get their answers straight from his soul.

The brain is a powerful and complicated device that could lie to even itself, but the soul is forever honest.

A fusion spell is when two or more kinds of magic are mixed together to create the effect a spellcaster wants.

It’s an extremely advanced form of magic that can be broken with the slightest error. Moreover, this isn’t a single caster but three people weaving multiple high-level spells at the same time.

The level of complexity it entails is beyond understanding for any mage below their class, but unavoidable because the magic of souls is far beyond mortals normally.

However, the three Grand Mages did not need a rehearsal and formed the spell circle perfectly.

A series of magic circles combined to form one beautifully entwined spell.

Kairos can only watch mutely as they delved into his soul.

The three mages’ consciousness flew into his body and entered his heart, the container of the soul.

Inside, they found a massive astral body, one beyond the likes of anything they had ever heard before. Not even Heracles the hero of heroes and Ozymandias the king of kings were recorded with such a soul.

In the heart, the astral body is unrestrained and they can see the full glory of its power. Soul strength that broke the Saint Cadets Academy’s measurement crystal.

Kairos’ soul is in the form of the War God’s Epithet, a fully armoured warrior holding a shield and a sword. He looked down at the three tiny consciousness hovering before him like they were flies and the spell amalgamation shattered all at once like it touched something it never should. Something so sacred and untouchable that anything with the slightest impurity will be destroyed in his presence.

The abomination that is their spell was a transgression.

The rebound threw the three Grand Mages to the end of the room as wild magic spiralled out of control.

Strange powers beyond explanation was at work in this room, and few could tell its effects.

The mire of magic quickly stabilised, turning into a powerful vortex.

The chair which Kairos is sitting on was the first object to be destroyed. Followed by the torture tools.

Just outside the reach of the vortex, the three Grand Mages lay unconscious.