Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Genhuis City.

Gillewart breathed out a sigh of relief.

It wasn’t much but he could rejoice a little in the fact that for now, he didn’t have to fight hard.

The rising smoke and untamed, scorching heat within the city was telling of the effort he had invested in keeping the infrastructure of one of Pelian’s three greatest cities intact. He and a group of other devoted combatants, that is.

Rebuilding was definitely on the agenda now, but one step at a time was the way.

Yet, just in case…

Gillewart sent his gaze upward and wore a solemn look.

He brought his hands up, as if in prayer.

“Gracious omen of the enduring crust, see the rise of my vigour and that of my fortitude,” Gillewart chanted.

Immediately, ripple rolled through the ground and swept through him. As it did, the City Guardian felt rejuvenated, the fatigue he had accumulated from straining his senses while applying his technique relaxing quite a bit. His reserves of mana were also hurriedly filled back up, bringing him back to full strength in a blink.

Though for now, the situation had been resolved, Gillewart felt better being at his best once again.

To achieve this, he had used his blessing, which became accessible to him with an extensive boost when he became an Incandescent Stage expert. Although it could only be used once every three days, it shone in times like this where a great number of uncertainties were lurking around the corner.

“You’re that nervous? Do you distrust my work? They are detained, and as far as I can tell the City has suffered its full share of misery for the day. You no longer need to be on guard, Gillewart.”

An elderly man adorned in a lengthy Mage robe, which, from the scaly fabric, could be identified as one created specifically to weather through rough battles, was by the City Guardian’s side.

In his hand was a white staff crafted from whitewood of unknown origins, and beyond its extravagant look, the item complemented the older man’s status as an Arch-Mage.

This was Arch-Mage Ryte whom Skullius had sought at the Reacher Academy some time ago.

Several Mages, some at the Grandmaster level and others at the Prime were assisting the Capital Service personnel with dispersing the adverse remnants of what had been a terrible show.

Since all the Fledging Null Badubs had ended up invading the city, a lot of buildings and solid land had been devastated, but the rest endured.

Thankfully, while most offensive spells had failed to put down the blue coloured beasts, Arch-Mage Ryte’s intervention with his mastery of the Binding Patch, which mainly consisted of formidable sealing spells, had saved the day.

At the moment, all five beasts – excluding the one Aurolio killed – were trapped within circular vortices of spinning fumes, obscuring the view of the creatures trapped within.

This was the effect of a high spell called Shocked Time.

As the Binding Patch was a section of magecraft outside the rudimentary applications like Transmutation, Elemental and Consolidated, it employed diverse concepts to create spells that defied natural logic. They were mostly impossible to cast for anyone under the Incandescent Stage and anyone with a purple mana core because of the sheer burden they exerted on the user. Not to mention, one needed talent to master such a patch, and an affinity to this field of magic could be detected from the very beginning, with how sensitive a Mage was to abstract concepts.

After all, a spell like Shocked Time required applications of time related concepts, though minute. This was not to say the ability to control Time was readily available to a Mage.

No.

It only meant that a Mage needed to be able to feel the essence of ‘time’, not its effects like age, for instance.

In fact, Gillewart and Ryte were close, and their relationship was what had sparked Gillewart’s obsession with understanding the true essence of ‘fire’. It was him following after Arch-Mage Ryte’s teachings.

Currently, each of the entrapments of Shocked Time were scattered around the city and being prepared for transportation to the Reacher Academy.

Before then, artefacts that helped manage the consumption of mana used for the spell which was keeping the enemies immobile, needed to be setup and it was this process that had halted much of the progress, causing anxiety to remain steadily concentrated in the air.

Unlike Ryte, everyone was as on edge as Gillewart, it seemed.

“It’s not a matter of distrust. You’re the only one who is able to contain these creatures, right? If by some chance they escape or the mana being fed into your spell is disrupted…” Gillewart voiced his concern.

“Don’t look down on us. The other Arch-Mages are capable of similar feats to what I can do, but in a more destructive capacity. Unfortunately, since these creatures resist spatial manipulation, I was left as the only candidate to deal with the crisis. We have to minimise damage, don’t we?” Ryte said, switching his tone to a lighter one with the last sentence.

Gillewart did not relax at all.

“I know you are hellbent on keeping the City safe, but you have to learn that this responsibility doesn’t fall on you alone. Previous circumstances… the more you hang onto them for strength and resolve, the more they weigh down your rationality. They cloud common sense and obvious answers. Look at all this now…” Ryte continued his attempt at bringing up Gillewart’s spirits.

He gestured before them were a large portion of the city remained more of less untouched, Capital Service Knights and Mages being seen moving around to assist each other with various tasks – mainly to disperse the harmful elements still clinging to the air.

“Asides from a few lives that were lost, and a few injured, the City was still saved.”

Gillewart nodded hesitantly.

He had no choice but to accept what Ryte said. Though he had experienced a rather impactful loss at the hands of the monster he had gone after at the Bryne Family mansion, he couldn’t bring it up and indulge in a bitching session… sadly.

Instead, he turned to another subject.

“Are you sure keeping these things at the Academy is wise? Wouldn’t it be better to transport them somewhere else?” he asked.

“And where would that be? There is no prison in the nation that can handle these monsters. Even the vast oceans are not enough to kill or contain them. Besides, we don’t intend to merely keep them as living trophies. We are going to study them, learn their weaknesses and then destroy them,” Ryte said.

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“I see.”

Ryte scoffed and patted his shoulder.

“I’ll say it again. Relax. If you are that concerned , you can come with me.”

The City Guardian thought for a bit.

“No. I think it’s better if I investigate a lead I have on this matter. There’s a definite connection.”

“Oh, there’s someone who you think is connected to this? Do tell.”

***

Thousands of miles from Genhuis, a certain man was shuddering in pain, fury and passion.

He bled profusely, and groaned endlessly while looking with pleading eyes at the feminine figure that had him and his friend trapped in a strange space that he couldn’t understand.

“Please….I told you why… I explained why I did it… Is the pain I also suffered meaningless… Was I so wrong that I deserve… death?” he strained to speak with tears in his eyes.

Sadly, the red haired beauty before him was not moved.

She simply looked at him with an apathetic figure while a kingly presence watched on from behind her, fulfilling the Divination that had been told long before for the umpteenth time…