By the time Jessie's transformation was complete, Uriah had mostly healed all his injuries and was ready to fight once again but he was wary of Jessie's change.
(What is that magic beast? I've read a few books in regards to magic beasts encountered by Magicians of the Magician Association but I've never seen this magic beast before. Hmmm...I suppose it kind of looks like a manticore from old myths except for those wings.)
Jessie remained in the sky by flapping his wings which continuously resulted in a kind of buzzing sound that reverberated throughout the nearby atmosphere. He kept his head directed towards Uriah's position but since his transformation had no visible eyes, Uriah awkwardly wondered whether it was really able to see him; he received an answer soon enough.
Jessie's tail that had the likeness of a live, black scaled serpent quickly extended in length as it moved through the air towards Uriah, revealing its four pointed fangs. Its speed was impressive, only reaching near Uriah after three seconds at which point Uriah internally snorted and cast a spell:
(Influence of Absolute Zero)
A gust of cold wind spread out from Uriah in all directions and soon collided with Jessie's menacing tail and eventually Jessie himself. The serpent's scales immediately became covered in blue frost, at which point it stopped its advance when it was less than one meter away from Uriah.
The frost that covered it quickly spread across its length and would soon reach the rest of the Jessie's body but when the frost had reach about half a meter away from the rest of Jessie's lower body, Jessie swung his right paw's claws at his own tail, severing it before the frost could impose on him any further.
His tail fell to the ground and continued to visibly freeze until it broke apart into pieces of blue, discolored flesh within moments. Jessie's body then radiated with magic power and its serpent like tail regrew from the stump of its old tail.
The effects of Uriah's spell on Jessie's transformed body was visible but not as extreme as it had been with his tail. Frost lightly covered his brown fur but the blind griffin had relatively thick flesh and its blood ran hotter than boiling water; also, with Jessie's magic power saturated throughout his transformed flesh, he was able to barely keep the cold from invading his flesh and vital organs but his wings did not receive such protection and were becoming hard to control so Jessie decided to get to the ground while he circulated his magic power, trying to deal with the cold.
Uriah decided that he needed to go on the offensive to keep the situation under his control.
(Magic beasts have the advantage of thick flesh and strong bodies, not to mention that magical transformations should require minimal magic energy to maintain. I have to finish this guy off before he builds any momentum.)
While Jessie was gliding towards a spot on the ground at about thirty meters away from Uriah, Uriah already began to run towards him, casting his next spell:
(Freezing White Aura)
A white mist was slowly generated throughout the atmosphere and the already cold temperatures that persisted because of Uriah's previous spells became even colder. The change did not go unnoticed by Jessie as he landed onto the ground some distance way from the now approaching Uriah.
(The air has become difficult to breath because of the frigid temperatures. I estimate that if I was not in a transformed state right now, I would have already felt the effects of hypothermia just from the ambient cold.)
Jessie felt a persistent chill on his fur and skin but was still able to move freely. He decided to halt Uriah's momentum as much as he could so he opened his mouth and howled, creating magically imbued sound waves that blasted towards Uriah with repulsing physical force.
"Huh?"
Uriah was suddenly bombarded by loud sounds that left his ears ringing and at the same time, he was pushed off his feet and sent back by the force of the sound waves. He gritted his teeth and cancelled Freezing White Aura, casting a different spell before he hit the ground:
(Embodiment of Cold)
Uriah's flesh and clothes instantly transformed into a bluish, cold wind that quickly flew forward despite the imposing sound waves being produced by Jessie. Wherever Uriah's wind flew, the ambient temperature dropped to over a dozen degrees below zero degrees and it only took him about fifteen seconds to cross over two dozen meters to nearly reach Jessie's position. When Jessie felt the saliva in his mouth freezing, he quickly closed it, ending his attack and was then immediately enveloped by Uriah's cold wind.
The blind griffin's wings immediately froze solid and shattered; its claws and tail were destroyed in the same manner only seconds later. Jessie could hardly breath as the moisture within the air that entered his nostrils froze and damaged sections of his throat and lungs, spreading a thin layer of frost over the surface of many of his internal organs.
With blood shot eyes, Jessie circulated his magic power throughout his body as intensely as possible, activating one of the blind griffin's innate abilities.
Sound waves were quickly generated from every pore on Jessie's body and as a result, the atmosphere and ground vibrated violently. The cold wind around Jessie writhed about madly in response and soon flew away from Jessie to a spot a little over twelve meters away, at which point the bluish wind reverted into Uriah's human form.
Uriah appeared visibly in bad shape; blood flowed from his mouth, eyes and ears and he slumped onto the ground, having difficulty standing up. Jessie observed the effects of his method with satisfaction.
(The blind griffin is a rank 2 sound path magic beast that is arguably at the very dangerous end of rank 2. Although this transformation is powerful, I'm still having difficulty moving this body with natural ease and now that I've lost my wing's, this transformation has lost its edge in mobility. That being said, sacrificing my wings and claws was worth injuring that ice-for-brains so badly.)
Jessie breathed heavily and decided that he didn't want to continue the fight any longer since he had become so injured.
(I did not expect to meet such a tough opponent before I fought Nick Capitol but clearly I was wrong. I should leave before that ice-for-brains recovers, a fight to the death is not worth it but I can't cancel my transformation since the ambient cold will probably freeze my human body to death in seconds.)
Jessie shook his body, removing some of the accumulated blue frost from his fur and then ran way from the area using his transformation's four strong legs.
(The blind griffin doesn't have eyes but allows me to use the sound waves that it discreetly releases from its pores to guide me through the surroundings.)
Jessie moved fast despite his injured state and the surrounding coldness; within less than five minutes, he had moved too far for Uriah to see him on the grassy plain. Uriah eventually spat some blood out of his mouth and slowly stood up, having healed some of his injuries.
He looked towards the direction where Jessie had ran to and felt anger well up in him.
(Not being able to kill that man is unfortunate but now I know that there are formidable characters like him out here. That transformation that he used actually resisted the effects of the cold like a real magic beast by making use of its thick flesh. Hmph! I'll deal with him later. What did he say his name was again? Jessie...I think. I should leave too.)
Uriah was about to walk in the direction of his original destination when the white cloud that had been hovering high in the sky since the start of the battle quickly lowered itself towards the ground.
*****************************************
Will Crowley was surprised by the intensity of the battle between the ice path Magician and the transformation path Magician; he had never witnessed such strength from men of his own rank. He had decided that to avoid attracting attention, he and everyone else riding his cloud should stay put where they were until the fight was over. That was assuming the best case scenario that someone died and the other person was injured which would give Will and his associates the chance to leave unscathed.
However, after he saw that the strange magic beast ran away, leaving an injured Uriah by himself, an idea for revenge developed in his mind.
(I can't just let my brothers remain unavenged, especially with all these people behind me. I should take the opportunity to make an example out of that ice path Magician while he is still injured.)
The people behind Will sensed his intentions and were not quite sure how to react, they had accompanied the Crowleys in order to launch a crusade against Nick Capitol to compete for an inheritance, not to fight some random Magician.
When they were less than three meters to the ground, one student was about to voice his disagreement with Will's actions but he suddenly felt the ambient temperature plummet and closed his mouth in shock; he was not the only one.
Will hugged his shoulders as he felt like he was suddenly thrown into an ice bath completely naked and goose bumps soon rose all over his skin.
(What the hell is going on? This rank 2 party cloud has both magical and climate insulation. How can that man's ice path spells be affecting us so severely when he isn't even casting any directly at us?)
Will looked at Uriah from his vantage point and felt that the young man was stranger than he had expected but a little biting cold wasn't enough for Will to pass up an opportunity to kick a man while he was down.
Will summoned a special jacket from his space band and put it on, making sure to zip it up securely and the cloud descended to the ground and dispersed five seconds later. Will and his party were about ten meters away from Uriah at this point and before he dealt with Uriah, he wanted to make sure that everyone on his team was on the same page so he turned around in order to incite them:
"Everyone, I need your to help me avenge my brothers..."
Will's words immediately became stuck in the back of his throat when he caught sight of his own party's condition. They all had varying degrees of blued skin with visible frost attached to their bodies and spreading quickly. Will noticed that frost began to spread on his own clothes and skin as well but his skin still maintained the color of healthy flesh.
(What the fuck is this?)
"Are you guys alright?"
No one answered Will as nearly all one hundred students grappled with the sudden and intense change in their condition. Some opened their mouths as if to speak but no words came out. Will soon heard an indifferent voice sound:
"That's an interesting jacket you have. Must have been expensive, right?"
Will turned towards the slowly approaching Uriah and glared at him, saying:
"What did you do to these innocent people?"
Uriah shrugged his shoulders and replied:
"Nothing. At least not on purpose. What's happening is their own damn fault for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. You seem to be doing well though despite the cold. What's your secret, big boy?"
Will instinctively grabbed his jacket with his right hand and thought:
(This jacket is actually a magical tool made from parts of a rank 2 muscle bear. That magic beast's skin has incredible resistance to the cold. It is fortunate for me that I managed to convince father to buy me one before the exam.)
Will did not answer Uriah but the truth was that Uriah only asked his question in passing and did not care about the answer.
(These people are really unlucky; anywhere I use my ice spells experiences a persistent cold for a certain amount of time that keeps the ambient temperature way below zero degrees. The fact that they were affected so easily means that their magic power is pretty weak, which again, is their own damn fault. I'm already sick of this area, it's time to get back to going after my inheritance.)
With that thought, Uriah's body erupted with magic energy and being only eight meters away, Will was intimidated and so cast a spell quickly in order to resist the still injured Uriah:
(Restriction Cloud)
Uriah stopped his movements as chains that seemed to be made of cloud suddenly formed around him, wrapping up his limbs and body tightly. Will quickly summoned a revolver pistol from his space band and pointed it at Uriah, opening fire without any warning; Will shot at Uriah three times, hitting him once on the forehead, once on the throat and once on the left shoulder.
"You're done fucker, what a clean head shot! "
Will did a mini celebration by doing a light cheer but his face became somber when five seconds passed and Uriah still remained standing. He took a closer look at where he shot Uriah and realized that those areas were not bleeding and formed patches of ice instead.
Uriah looked at Will indifferently and shook his head, saying:
"That revolver looks expensive too. You should probably spend more of your money learning better magic instead of buying fancy objects, just saying."
A shiver went down Will's spine at witnessing the sight and it was not due to the cold.
(Is he using a spell? But I didn't sense any change in his magic power? I shot him right in the head and he tanked it like it was nothing.)
"What are you?"
Uriah sighed, replying:
"Just another Magician, same as you."
(Influence of Absolute Zero)
A gust of cold wind blew away from Uriah in all directions.
Will sensed the attack and went on high alert, ignoring his discomfort and casting a defensive spell:
(Cloud Covering)
A mass of white cloud formed around Will and completely enveloped him. The cold wind soon made contact with everyone present. It is not that the students did not try to defend themselves but everyone except Will was already experiencing hypothermia so their minds were too sluggish and their thinking too impaired to cast their defensive spells successfully.
Will quickly realized that he was no better off than the other students because somehow despite his special jacket and his cloud path defensive spell, the cold still invaded his body, forcing him to tremble uncontrollably. His skin soon became bluish and his entire body began to go numb; frost quickly spread over his skin and clothes, starting at his feet and then moving towards his upper-body.
(The effects of his spell passed through my Cloud Covering! How?)
Will cancelled his defensive spell, seeing that it was useless and decided that he would run away from this place with the other students but when he looked at heir conditions, he was shocked.
The other students were completely frozen in place with blue frost and ice covering their bodies; they were like statues. Will turned towards Uriah who remained a little over six meters away from him and said:
"Let us off this time, I'm sure that we can work something out. My family has money and I know quite alot of powerful people."
Uriah's indifferent expression was momentarily cast aside as he softly chuckled, shaking his head from left to right and replying:
"I don't negotiate with dead people."
Uriah snapped his right thumb and index finger together and every student except Will broke apart into fragments of hardened flesh and ice, transforming into specks of white light and disappearing right after.
Will already lost the ability to move and his hypothermia and internal panic prevented him from being able to successfully cast anymore spells. As the frost on his person spread up to his head, making him resemble a statue of ice and flesh as well, he begged:
"Please..."
But Uriah was having none of it and interrupted:
"Rest in peace."
Uriah snapped his right index and middle fingers once again and Will Crowley broke apart into pieces of ice and flesh, transforming into specks of white light and disappearing before all the pieces hit the ground.
Uriah took the time to observe the once grassy plain in front of him but now all the grass within this area had died because of the frigid cold and the ground was now covered in a thin layer of blue ice for over six dozen meters all around.
(The quality of my magic power seems to be getting noticeably better. All the years that I've spent meditating and practising my magic within this realm have not gone to waste.)
Uriah turned towards the direction of his destination and started to slowly make his way there while healing the rest of his injuries.
****************************************
Jessie ran across the grassy plain while still maintaining his Blind Griffin Transformation. The frost that had spread over his fur had now completely dissipated and Jessie no longer felt the effects of Uriah's magic power; due to the innate healing capabilities of the blind griffin, his body was completely healed of injuries by now, except that he could not regrow his wings and claws.
(Alright, this should be far enough.)
Jessie stopped running and quickly cancelled his transformation. He became enveloped in a white light that hid his features but which writhed about until Jessie's form became human again, at which point the white light faded and a white young man with a head full of short, black hair and light-brown eyes was revealed.
He did a few jumps off the ground and flexed his arms before stopping to say:
"That ice-for-brains was pretty tough; I should have tried to get his name, oh well. I probably could have beat him if I had taken the fight seriously but I have a feeling that he was holding back as well so I am still a little uncertain which one of us is stronger..."
Jessie sighed.
(My Auburn family is one with almost two thousand years of history and we even had a rank 8 Magician among us during our early establishment but every man must earn his own stripes. I had never fought someone of my own rank that was so strong before. Admittedly, since this exam started, I've been in Shelter Town practising my magic and studying the portion of my family's inheritance that I have received so far but I at least thought that I was a cut above the rest considering my pedigree. That was naive.)
Jessie shook his head, saying:
"I still have to go after Nick Capitol for that inheritance though. The news might be fake but if it is true, I'm not going to just let someone else take such a prize so easily. I surely deserve being promoted to rank 3 more than a nobody from nowhere."
Jessie was also a student of Richter Order Academy so he had heard about Nick Capitol before and he had a little background information on him along with many other students, provided by his family of course. As soon as rumors about Nick spread throughout Shelter Town, Jessie reviewed the information that he had on Nick.
(The information suggests that he is a nobody from nowhere but then how could he defeat licensed Magicians if that were actually the case?)
Jessie felt that there was something suspicious about Nick Capitol's details but since he did not know much about him other than the information his family provided, his suspicions would have to go unaddressed.
"Nick Capitol should be residing somewhere in the south east direction from here, near where the mountain range formerly stood. I don't know if he actually stole away an entire mountain range but I'll get to see his abilities soon enough."
Jessie's magic power surged and he cast a spell:
(Whirlwind Raptor Transformation)
Jessie's body transformed as he was enveloped in a bright light and within less than fifteen seconds, the light disappeared and a bird like creature was revealed which had navy blue feathers covering all of its body and was also twice the size of a grown bald eagle from Grand Earth but had four wings, each having the length of almost one meter.
Jessie cried aloud, a shrill screech echoing throughout the surroundings.
(This transformation is one of my favorites but fifteen seconds is a really long time to complete one transformation; I still have to work on it. I'll aim to get to Nick Capitol within five days at most while I explore this plain. Five days should be enough time for others to wear him down so that I can go in for the kill with less trouble to face.)
Jessie willed and his transformed body flew high into the sky at the same altitude as the clouds and moved south at a speed that made him indistinct to any observers.
*******************************************
"Captain Taylor, do we really need to go after some young man still attending an academy? This is disgraceful."
A white man that looked to be in his early thirties and sported a faded haircut that accentuated his short, black, wavy hair asked another white man that looked to be a little older but who had a completely shaved head and professionally styled facial hair; both men were wearing a standard, green Ministry of Magic military uniform.
The ten other uniformed men in the unit looked at their captain with a mix of expectancy and respect, waiting for his reply. Captain Michael Taylor who had been quietly observing the terrain of the grassy plain for a while turned to address his subordinates with an unshakable confidence, saying:
"Of course we need to, those were the instructions of a supervising sergeant. You all need to stop thinking about the young man as a student, he is a Magician first and foremost. He has also caused our people to experience some shame so he needs to be disciplined so that other students don't become as rowdy as him."
Most of Taylor's subordinates nodded their heads in understanding but a few still remained skeptical about their captain's intentions. Taylor noticed the suspicion of some of his people and thought:
(Hmph! It's not easy to fool everybody I suppose. I don't care about sergeant Griffiths's orders and I certainly don't care about the shame of my colleagues. What I do care about is the fact that there might be an inheritance that can help me promote to rank 3. I have been at rank 2 for nearly twenty years and I'm sick of it. Many of my former peers were promoted and I was left leading a single irrelevant unit, my family only values my older brother who explores realms for a large private organization and my girlfriend of three years cheated on me with a higher ranked officer just to spite me. Being rank 2 sucks.)
Unbeknownst to his subordinates, Taylor's emotions surged as he thought about all the failures in his life due to his own low rank.
(If I can manage to promote to rank 3, things will become much better for me. Nick Capitol therefore needs to die.)
The captain continued addressing his subordinates:
"We will be at Nick Capitol's last reported position in two days if we keep pace so prepare yourselves to bring him down. We have to work as a team when fighting someone so formidable."
Most of the people under Taylor's charge voiced their agreement:
"Nick Capitol is toast."
"I can feel his face under my boot already."
"I wonder what kind of magic he will use to fight all of us."
"He's got some great luck but that will end in a few days."
...
Captain Taylor thought:
(Luck? I am very familiar with Sword Demon Jackson and the Blood Stone. Both are incredibly strong and should be very close to reaching rank 3 but they still lost to Nick Capitol. I doubt that Nick Capitol beat them by being lucky so I need to be careful and use my people rightly when we face him or I'll end up shamed too.)
GGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!
Captain Taylor and his unit turned their attention towards a sudden distant growl and found that a large magic beast had appeared on the horizon and was heading in their direction at rapid speed. Taylor squinted his eyes and assessed the magic beast with clarity:
(That magic beast seems to have the likeness of a bull but has a height of two meters and a length of about the same; it also has albino skin. It looks very frenzied and is moving at an incredible speed. Hmmm...this should be a rank 2 mad bull. They are dangerous because of their fast speed and harsh attacks that allow them to ram through steel but with our team work, we should be able to kill it in less than five minutes.)
Formidable magic beasts, even at rank 2 had the advantage of strong and durable bodies, far stronger and more durable than a human's body at the same rank and so generally, rank 2 Magician's had to be careful when fighting them so as not to get mauled before they were able to kill the magic beast with their magic powers.
"Ready yourselves for battle!"
After giving that command to his unit, Taylor's body erupted with magic power as he started preparing one of his spells. The mad bull arrived within thirty meters of the unit after only one minute but before any of the soldiers could launch an attack, the clouds above them became visibly dark and began to gather to a position above the running magic beast.
Taylor raised his right eyebrow when he suddenly heard the loud, stern voice of a female:
"...and the lord sent thunder!"
A booming sound then echoed from the dark clouds above them before an almost blinding blue flash of light suddenly emerged from the cloud and enveloped the mad bull.
Captain Taylor and his unit were shocked. Taylor thought:
(A lightning path spell? That magic power is incredible, probably on par with our strongest rank 2 Magicians but I don't remember there being someone among our ranks with such powerful lightning path methods.)
There were about two thousand soldiers, including ranked officers that were stationed within the never ending battlefield and there were many magical paths that a Magician could walk so it was often that someone unknown with powerful never before seen methods appeared, after all, the soldiers were not generally close and gossiping was strongly discouraged by the higher ranks so many strong Magicians were still unknown.
When the flash of blue light dissipated, Taylor and his unit saw that the mad bull and the terrain within about a one meter radius around it had been charred black and were now lifeless. The carcass of the mad bull revealed that various sections of its body had exploded apart and the air became filled with the smell of burnt flesh. Captain Taylor asked out loud without thinking:
"Who electrocuted the magic beast?"
Suddenly, a bolt of blue lightning descended from the sky onto the ground amidst the charred grass beside the mad bull's carcass and within a few moments, a young woman was revealed after the light faded. The woman had an athletic, slightly muscular but feminine body, a head full of long, black hair that was currently tied up into a pony tail; she wore a pair of fitting blue jeans pants, a white, long sleeved, buttoned up blouse and a pair of brown hiking boots.
The woman tapped the carcass of the mad bull and it disappeared while the device on her wrist glowed a subtle white light. One of Taylor's subordinates spoke to him with much dissatisfaction in his tone:
"Sir, the mad bull's carcass is a valuable rank 2 bone path material. Are we just going to let her take it? I'm pretty sure that she is a student and not one of our own people."
Captain Taylor slowly shook his head, saying:
"She killed it, let her have it. We are going to continue on to Nick Capitol's position."
A soon as the captain said that name, the woman who was about thirty meters away from his unit looked at them with interest, her face remaining stern. Within the next moment, her body sparked with blue electricity and she then took a step towards Taylor's unit at which point, her body sparked even more intensely and she suddenly appeared within less than eight meters of the unit at which point the sparks on her body dissipated; she asked in an audible tone:
"What do you know about Nick Capitol?"
Captain Taylor frowned at this woman's presumptuousness, asking him questions out of the blue. He snorted and replied:
"That is none of your business, child! Stay out of our way so that we may go in peace and don't you dare use your magic while we are within range again."
It was now the woman's turn to raise her right eyebrow as she said:
"I thought that MOM soldiers would be more cooperative but I guess it's my fault for being so forward. Let's start over, my name is Victoria Nelson and I am a third year of Richter Order Academy. I left Shelter Town in order to pursue Nick Capitol a few days ago and admittedly, I know very little about him. Considering that it was your superiors who mentioned wanting Nick Capitol put down, I think it reasonable that you share some background information with me. Don't you also think so?"
Taylor was taken aback by this woman's frank reasoning but knew that she was right on the face of it at least. Before Taylor decided on his reply, however, one of his subordinates stepped out ahead of him and spoke to the woman with a smug tone:
"Victoria Nelson? Never heard of you. Anyway, we don't have to answer your question but I will say this, if you spend some time with us brothers, maybe we can work something out."
Taylor frowned at his man's forwardness but taking another look at the woman, she was beautiful despite her obviously trained body. Taylor rubbed the hair on his chin and decided to wait for the woman to reply.
(If she is willing to follow us, I don't mind sharing our information with her since Nick Capitol is only a student and this is not really a high priority or secret mission anyway.)
The woman's right eyelid visibly twitched in response to the soldier's proposition and she replied by simply pointing her right index finger that sparked with blue electricity at the older man.
(Shock Ray)
A beam of blue electricity shot out from Victoria's finger at light speed and went straight towards the smug man. The soldier sensed the incoming attack but was too slow in countering it so he had to endure it with his own body.
(How strong could this puny attack of this little girl be?)
Within the next moment, the man lost control of his own body as he spasmed involuntarily. Electricity spread throughout his body quickly, blue sparks frequently jumping off his skin and soon the smell of his own burnt flesh spread into the atmosphere, making his companions grimace. Captain Taylor watched the scene with indifference.
When the woman's attack ended and she put her right hand to her side, the man still remained standing but only the whites of his eyes were visible and smoke emerged from his mouth; his clothes were tattered and there were third degree burns all over his skin. Less than three seconds later, the man's body began to fall to the ground but transformed into specks of white light and disappeared before reaching it.
The woman spoke again, this time with a visible frown:
"Let me ask again, what do you know about Nick Capitol?"
Taylor looked at the woman with clear defiance, thinking:
(This woman is not normal. Although she is still attending an academy, she is already at the level of a licensed Magician and her magic is powerful. But does that mean that I am easy to bully?)
Taylor willed and a quarter meter thick wall of clear glass formed from seemingly nothing and spread out in front of him and his subordinates. He spat on the ground and spoke harshly to the young woman:
"You didn't have to die today."
Maintaining her frown, the woman's body intensely sparked with blue electricity and she replied:
"I hate stupid men the most."
Ten minutes later...
Victoria Nelson flexed her arms until she was satisfied. The ground around her was littered with dead grass that had been charred black and no one could be seen near her. She spoke absentmindedly:
"I only asked a simple question and those soldiers got weird. The problem with being outside the academy is that I have to deal with all these idiots. That junior of mine better make all this trouble I'm going through worth it when I confront him later."
Victoria suddenly became enveloped in a flash of blue light that extended towards the clouds and then disappeared along with her.
********************************************
POW! THUD!
A white, young woman with short, curly brown hair just used one of her grey revolver pistols to create a now bleeding hole on the head of a magic beast that looked similar to a silver back gorilla except that it had two mouths on its face instead of one. The magic beast fell to the ground, lifeless as could be and the woman tapped the carcass with her space band, storing it.
A young woman beside her observed her actions for a while and then asked:
"Marsha, why are we not immediately going towards Nick's position? If there really is an inheritance that can help someone promote to rank 3, why are you still here hunting weak magic beasts?"
Marsha Cassidy looked at her female companion with her brown eyes and replied softly:
"That's because I already experienced my bestie, Nick's, strength first-hand. He was tough then and if he is even tougher now, I'd rather let other people tire him out first before taking action. Besides why are you in such a hurry to see him, Kathrine? You'd think that after he fucked your ass so hard the last time, you wouldn't want to see him again."
Kathrine Dell frowned and replied:
"That only happened because I made a deal with you. Don't mention it again! You said before that we were equals now, right? Well, I want to stop wasting time here and move towards the action. The grassy plain where we'll find Nick is only a few days from where we currently are."
Marsha rolled her eyes at Kathrine's seemingly upset mood.
(Hmph. No one knows yet since I mostly use magic tools to do things but I practise enchantment magic and so I am extremely attuned to human emotions. My dear Katherine, my magic already indicated to me that you enjoyed the time that you spent with my bestie. You just keep acting shy.)
"Fine, we will do as you say. I only stayed here to do some training with my enhanced guns anyway and since the exam will end in a little more than a year, I need to put my new skills and methods to the test. Same goes for you, right?"
Kathrine nodded her head and replied:
"We've been in this realm for more than eight years but I and most everyone I know have either been using the time to study or practise their skills. I don't know anyone who has actually been gathering points seriously. Rumor is that many of the strongest third years had been to the Never Ending Battlefield more than once and used its ten year duration to develop their skills each time. I think our time here is intended to be more of a training opportunity as opposed to an exam."
Marsha nodded her head in agreement, saying:
"That's about right. I don't know much about the third years since we don't interact with them regularly but I know that a few of them are close to reaching rank 3 already."
Rank 3 was every rank 2 Magician's goal but getting their was extremely difficult and there was no definite path to get there. Everyone of them knew, however, that once they got to rank 3, there lives would fundamentally change for the better so every student would grasp at opportunities, no matter how trivial, in order to get there.
Nick's supposed inheritance was therefore the ultimate lure for all kinds of characters. Just as Marsha and Katherine were about to leave their current location, Marsha's mind suddenly jolted and she became alert, turning around and using the revolver held in her right hand to shoot at a spot a few meters away from them, however, the bullet soon exploded, giving off a bright white light. A deep male voice then sounded from near their position:
"Shooting at an unarmed person would get you imprisoned on Grand Earth, you know."
Marsha replied with wariness:
"We're not on Grand Earth and a Magician is always armed."
The voice sounded jubilantly in response:
"Ha! I guess you're right."
Suddenly, ten meters away from Marsha and Kathrine's position, the figure of a person was slowly formed seemingly out of nowhere and when the person was fully revealed, a man wearing an open leather jacket, a white t-shirt, a pair of light-blue jeans pants and a pair of black Kickers stood observing the two women with a light smile.
Kathrine frowned and asked:
"Who are you and what do you want?"
The man rubbed his chin with his right hand and then replied:
"Well...I don't have to tell you who I am but I will tell you what I want. Since you are clearly second years, I am hoping that you attend Richter Order Academy and are able to give me some background on Nick Capitol."
Marsha unholstered her second revolver pistol from her left side with her left hand while replying:
"And if we don't want to answer your question?"
The man put both his hands into his pants pockets and put on a thoughtful expression before replying:
"Then I suppose I would have to force you to speak but since that wouldn't get any of us the best result out of this situation, I say that you two should just be smart and play ball."
Kathrine had enough of this arrogant man and swung her right arm in a forward arc.
(Wind Scythe)
Kathrine used her magic power to launch a greenish gust of wind that soon transformed into the shape of a scythe's blade at the man and the attack almost crashed into him. Marsha stood at the side inwardly cursing Kathrine for being a fool.
(You dumb bitch. Didn't you realize? The way that man snuck up on us and destroyed my bullet suggests that he is very strong and has powerful magic. Don't just attack him.)
Marsha practised enchantment path which was a sub-branch of wisdom path, meaning that she had among her abilities, one that could intuit likely facts from very subtle information. One of her spells that she usually maintained continuously had warned her about the man's presence before she could see him and now another one of her spells was indicating that the man was troublesome for her to deal with.
The man's smile faded in response to Kathrine's attack and he raised his right hand from his right pants pocket at a speed that both Kathrine's and Marsha's eyes could not keep up with and he then used his right fingers to form an 'O', at which point a white beam of light shot out going past Kathrine, narrowly missing her head but then the man's body disappeared and and he suddenly appeared a the location where the beam of light ended before dissipating, right behind Kathrine. Kathrine visibly broke out in a cold sweat in response to the man's move.
All this happened within moments and Marsha was shocked as she turned her body to see the man so close to them. Her thoughts spun rapidly and her intuition lead her to a few conclusions. She spoke with some nervousness:
"I know who you are. You're bright light William Rollins!"
The man cringed at hearing that nickname and replied:
"Don't call me that. Since you've guessed my identity, you should be from Richter Order Academy and at least are aware of my rumored strength. Are you going to cooperate now?"
Marsha glared at Kathrine with a stern expression that suggested:
'Don't you dare do anything stupid or you'll get us killed.'
Marsha holstered both her guns and and put on a more genial expression. Seeing this, Kathrine got the hint and followed suit, turning around to face the man with a light smile but she was confused.
(Who is William Rollins?)
Marsha had a feeling that Kathrine was unaware of the man's identity and used one of her spells to communicate directly with Kathrine's thoughts:
(That man is a famous third year at our academy. He is one rumored to be close to reaching rank 3 and he is a part of a very wealthy legacy family. Let's cooperate with him since he doesn't seem to be interested in killing us; he certainly could have killed you already after you attacked him.)
Kathrine understood the situation better now and dropped any thoughts of fighting with William. Instead, she took the lead in introducing Marsha and herself:
"My bad for the earlier attack mister Rollins. My name is Kathrine Dell and this is my friend, Marsha. We can easily give you information on Nick Capitol if that is what you want."
Marsha rolled her eyes at Kathrine's 180 degree flip in attitude, thinking:
(This slut...)
William put his right hand back into his pants pocket and replied:
"Oh, so what do you know about him?"
Both Marsha and Kathrine took turns speaking about Nick and their encounters with him minus the sensitive parts that involved themselves as well as the rumors surrounding him and his action over the past few years.
All of that took about thirty minutes and afterwards, William nodded his head in understanding, saying:
"Your cooperation is well appreciated. When I left Shelter Town, I only had rumors to base my actions on and the second years that I encountered afterwards did not know much. In summary, you're telling me that Nick Capitol practises soul, space and maybe blade magic?"
Marsha replied:
"It is as you say. I don't understand what he is intending either by practising so many kinds of magic but that should be the truth."
William felt weird about the information that he just received.
(Most people I know who practise multiple kinds of magic are unfocused and weak. There is no way that someone like that could defeat military personnel and attract all this attention. There is probably more to that man that these two don't know about. Fine, getting this much information is already good; it's time to go visit Nick for myself.)
Before leaving, William looked at the two women and said:
"When the exam is over, you two can come look for me for a reward for you cooperation."
William's body then faded away as if he was never there and he disappeared. Marsha then spoke her thoughts aloud:
"Nick's going to be getting a good beating soon."
Kathrine's opinion was different, however:
"The rumors say that Nick defeated famous rank 2 soldiers, he may not lose out to William or the other third years. Even if he loses, that doesn't necessarily benefit us. How do we get the inheritance if even people like William are vying for it? Our chances seem slim."
Marsha clenched both her fists at her side, knowing that Kathrine was right but that did not mean she was going to give up on trying. She spoke eerily:
"At worst, we'll die going after that inheritance."