Chapter Ninety-Six: Arena Battle, Part 2

  Sia is right: High Mage Aegon is not okay. He looks like he could become a skeleton anytime soon, his face frail and his eyes glazing over. Xavier, Th’ul, Anni, and, strangely, Jade are all around him in Th’ul’s room, and I quickly rush to his side, grabbing his hand.

  “Are you alright?” I ask.

  “Of course not,” the High Mage wheezes. “What does it look like?”

  “Like you’re a dead man walking,” I admit.

  “Exactly,” He responds. “I got stabbed, and it ripped my magic away. I need to lie low for a week or so.”

  “Who did this to you?” I ask. High Mage Aegon closes his eyes slowly, and wheezes on the bed. Opening his eyes, he fixes his gaze on me and shakes his head sadly.

  “I can’t tell you who it was,” He responds. “I will, but now is not the right time. All I must say is that the Cult is involved.”

  “I’ll murder them,” Xavier breathes.

  “No,” The mage responds. “You can’t. Not yet. But I need to be hidden, to go somewhere no one else can. I can’t trust any other mage, because I can’t bear the news getting out, and I need all of you to hide me.”

  “Where can we do that?” Jade asks. “It’s not like we just have a black empt void to fit him in.”

  “Actually,” Th’ul responds. “We do.”

  “That’s genius,” I exclaim. “No one will ever think to look there, because no one knows about it, and it’s only ours.”

  “Sorry, I don’t understand,” Anni admits.

  “They want to put him in the Arena,” Jade says.

  “You’ve found a personal arena?” High Mage Aegon asks. “Are you sure no one else uses it?”

  “Fairly sure,” I respond. “Doesn’t it only work for those who find it.”

  “For those who initially find it, and those they invite, yes,” He says. “I like the idea. I will need food, but except for that, I think I will be fine. Can you take me there now?”

  “Of course, but I don’t know how we’ll be able to hide you,” I say.

  “I’ll take care of that,” Th’ul says. “I’ve been learning to disappear and reappear. You can meet me at the Arena. Ready, High Mage?” Aegon nods, and Th’ul grabs his hand, focusing hard.

  “Um, any day now,” I smile.

  “I’m going, it just takes a while,” Th’ul groans.

  I look around awkwardly, waiting for something to happen. Finally, they disappear, and I breathe a sigh of relief. “So, shall we go now?”

  “Yup,” Xavier responds, reaching for the door handle, and opening it for us.

  “I really wish we could teleport,” I tell them. “I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being watched.”

  “That’s just the nerves of having a High Mage look at you when he lost all his magic and if he got attacked he would die.” Xavier nods wisely to what he says, but I shush him.

  “This is supposed to be secret.”

  “Sia isn’t supposed to know?” Xavier gasps mockingly. “You heard nothing.”

  “Xavier, I was there when High Mage Aegon told us.”

  “Hmm,” He replies. “That’s exactly what someone who wasn’t there would say.”

  Sighing, Sia turns to me. “And why do we put up with him?”

  “I don’t know,” Xavier responds. “It is hard to deal with him sometimes. Zade, maybe you should sit this one out.”

  “I was talking to you!” The girl shrieks, pointing at him, and he looks behind him.

  “But there’s no one there,” Xavier says. “I think you need to get your eyes checked.”

  “I am this close to punching you.”

  “How close is this close? Because if you mean, like…” Xavier stretches out his two arms, and Sia pushes him slightly, causing him to lose balance and fall to the ground on his ass. “Hey! That was uncalled for.”

  “I warned you.”

  “No, you warned me you would punch me, and I was prepared for that. Zade, will you just let her get away with that?”

  “I wanted her to do it again, honestly,” I shrug. “We’re here. Please be quiet, Xavier.”

  “I always am,” He exclaims, and I can see Sia huffing in annoyance.

  “Maybe you should calm down, too,” I whisper to her.

  “Oh, I’m very calm,” She smiles.

  Nodding, I tap the wall and it opens, revealing the secret cupboard. We go in and through the tunnel, and soon, the arena is in front of us, but no sign of Th’ul or High Mage Aegon.

  “TH’UL!” I scream. “Where are you?”

  “I beat they’re in the stands, let’s go.” Xavier dashes for the arena, and, sighing, Sia goes after him. I trail with Jade, making sure to watch our backs. I still can’t shake the feeling that something is watching me.

  Xavier, Sia, and Annireach the stands before I do, and, simultaneously, they all pause, mouths open.

  “What is it?” I ask, reaching them. “Why are you—”

  “Zade,” Jade hisses. “Look at the bleeding stands.”

  I do so, and my jaw drops just like all of my friends. Th’ul is there in the stands, and High Mage Aegon is nowhere to be seen. At first, it looks like Th’ul is there just waiting for us, but then I see what happened.

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  He’s tied up, his mouth closed with a gag in it, and his eyes, for once, are wide with surprise. He sees us and shakes his head at us.

  “What happened to him?” Anni asks. “Where's High Mage Aegon?”

  “All about the theatrics now,” I growl. “This is the Cult’s work.”

  “I thought they just outright killed everyone. Why would they tie Th’ul up?”

  “Because they want me,” I say. “They want all of us. If they killed Th’ul now, they’d want access to us.”

  “And they want the High Mage,” Jade affirms. “Speaking of, where is he?”

  Around the stands, figures begin to rise, all masked with a face of terror. All are wearing the color red. Some masks feature faces that seem like they could die from fear, others fanged like monsters. Seven figures, ten, fifteen. We’re hopelessly outnumbered by them. And then I see it. One of them is holding High Mage Aegon, who squirms in his grasp but can’t move.

  “We’d hope you’d take longer coming here,” The man says. “We didn’t have time to completely remove the High Mage’s magic, but it’s safe to say he’s incapacitated for now.” With a grunt, he throws the mage to the ring, where, with a sickening crunch, he lies still. “You have no chance of escape here. You may surrender now, and we will not kill you.”

  “And why should we believe you in that?” I ask.

  “It was worth a shot,” He shrugs.

  I look around at my friends. Xavier is gone, and I start, but he probably has his own plan. I smile at the three girls.

  “First battle with the Cult?” I ask Jade. “Let’s do this.”

  — — —

  The first mage I go to simply disappears, and I stumble forwards, crashing onto one of the stands. He appears behind me, but I’m there to block his punch with my sword. Because of his enhancements, my sword doesn’t pass through his hand. Instead, it flows downward, hitting the ground, and another punch sails at me. Dodging it, I tap my skill…

  And groan as a punch knocks me from the back, and I fly towards the ring, landing next to high Mage Aegon, the wind breath knocked out of my lungs, and pain sailing through me. Groaning, I stare upwards. It was a cowardly move, sending another mage to strike me from behind, but it worked well enough. Somehow, I kept the grip on my sword, and I palm it, my head throbbing, and blood already leaking from places it shouldn’t be.

  I still can’t see Xavier, and for a moment, I wonder if he just decided to leave, but he isn’t like that. He loves fighting. With the number of Cultists fighting us, I can see that the three girls are already on the verge of failing, the dozen full mages beating them up. Sometimes, a well-placed blow from one of them hits a mage, but he just shrugs it off.

  A Cultist heads directly for Th’ul, and I stagger forwards. No, I can’t let you…

  But Xavier is already there, punching the Cultist in the face, and then sending a Fireball straight into the man’s face. He screams and spasms, his eyes melting, but Xavier isn’t done. Unsheathing the dagger, he’s taken to keeping, he stabs him over and over, until the mage lies still. Then, he unties Th’ul. The other mages haven’t noticed it yet, focused on killing the girls, and so I, finally recovered enough to walk, join Xavier in getting rid of all Th’ul’s bonds.

  “At some point, they will go for the High Mage again,” Th’ul spits. “He’s still alive, and they’ll want that trophy.”

  “Let’s worry about that later,” I say. “Anni and Sia are already limping heavily.”

  “Bleeding bastards,” Th’ul says. Screaming in defiance, he jumps for the closest High Mage, knocking him to the ground. I’m about to do the same when a voice rings in my head.

  Zade, you’re forgetting something.

  My eyes widen, and I smile. Grabbing Xavier’s hand, I focus on myself, and lightning begins to arc through my body, fire following a second later. Next to me, Xavier feels himself getting imbued as well, and he squeals.

  “I love this part,” He smiles.

  When it’s done, then I charge with confidence. Three mages are ready for me, turning from the girls to face the greater danger. I tap my skill, and the burning pillar erupts over one of them, but he shrugs it off, although not in time to dodge the lightning arcing at him. One of the other two begins to grow, twice as tall as me, three times as tall, bigger than even a giant. He swings a fist at me and I swing at him, my sword filled with lightning, and, although it cuts him, his hand doesn’t stop, instead crashing into me. It sends me to the ground once more, and the mage comes after me. Clearly, my attack did nothing except bug him slightly.

  The third mage is focused on something, and I feel magic tugging on me, but I strengthen my shield, and eventually it evaporates. It’s easier to make an excellent shield than something that can break that shield. As long as I can focus on that, I should be fine. He then spreads his arm and spikes of metal jut from it, like nails in a crucifixion. All through his body, arms and legs, the spikes tear through, creating no blood, but making him into a certifiable war machine. It’s a reminder of how many vast possibilities there are for magic. I would’ve never in a million years thought to do that, but this mage does it like he’s practiced it for years, which he probably has. It seems the more every mage levels up, the more he turns into his own unique mage. It would fascinate me, except I have no time to think. Another giant fist is travelling towards me, and I stumble forwards, jumping so the fist travels below me, and I jump onto the arm.

  I begin to run up the arm aiming for his head. It’s an epic moment, something everyone would look at with awe. Lightning arcing through me, I spread my arms in a fighting stance and prepare to strike his eyes. There’s nothing he can do to stop me, and…

  His arm shakes, and he growls. I’m thrown from it, and squeal as the ground gets closer and closer. I can fly with these powers, I just need to focus. The ground comes down slower until my body touches the ground lightly, next to Jade.

  “Be careful,” She says. “You could’ve died there.”

  “I know that,” I groan. “Hey, do you want to be able to do magic?”

  She cocks her head.<, ducking a fireball from a mage, and swinging at him “Why is that important?”

  “You do?” I smile, and grabbing her, I push her back as a magically-imbued fist arcs at her, and doing so, I imbue her. She squeals, then smiles.

  “Thanks for the save.” She frowns. “What did you do to me?”

  “Try it out,” I smile, and turn towards the two mages, who are already coming for me again. Behind me, an explosion of fire dots the black void and Jade laughs to herself.

  “I think I’m going to like this,” She says. “Why didn’t you do this before?”

  “I didn’t have the time to before,” I reply, dashing for the spiked mage. To my left, Th’ul and Sia are fighting their own group of four mages, and, while Th’ul is holding his own, it is clear they are losing. The same for Anni, who stumbles to the ground before a cultist. Xavier is once again nowhere to be seen, but this time, I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s just behind me somewhere fighting another group of mages. I’m proud of my friends for being able to take on all fifteen, but we are all losing. Only one Cultist is dead, and Xavier was lucky to kill even that one.

  We need to turn the tide, or this will end ugly, and not for them.

  The spiked mage reaches me, and he stretches his arms like a bird. Next thing I know is a blinding pain as two spikes take me through the arms, and I scream. The pain is worse than what it is in the arena. I didn’t expect them to fly off the mage, but I guess I should’ve been ready for anything. The mage doesn’t even spare one second, sending his spiked fist towards my face.

  This time I’m able to duck, and even to dodge as one of the spikes exits his gist and passes straight through where I had been a moment ago. I send my lightning arcing after him followed by a stream of fire and my skill. Without waiting to see if it hit, I’m already swinging my sword in his direction.

  It hits the air and stops. The mage is inside the pillar of fire, and it is now cascading around him instead of scalding him, and I can see his smirk as his satisfaction washes over me.

  A shadow looms over me, the lighting from the arena showing something above me, and I twist just in time to see the massive foot crashing over me. I roll to the side, but still feel the air and tremble from the foot striking the ground, and I’m still flung to the side, although I’m alive.

  My chest heaves and I stand up, creating a ring of fire and lightning around me to catch my breath. I can feel my mana depleting, although I still have plenty left. With my level upgrade, I can already feel it has a longer life, not to mention how much I’ve been practicing with it. I should be good at this speed for three or four hours.

  But those mages are all stronger than me, more skilled than me, and I can’t help but think this is the hardest battle I’ve had to fight. The beasts may have been numerous, but they were easy to kill. The fight with Raakshas was easy with my skill, and the battle with the High Mage and Captain Wolf was probably the most equal to this one, but somehow, this one is still harder.

  Who are these mages? They seem too powerful to even be a normal full mage. They’re clearly not mages-in-training, but also not recently pledged full mages. But I also don’t think they’re high mages. Whoever they are, I need to fight better if I intend to win, or even beat one of them.

  It’s time to step up. I can’t let my friends die. If need be, I will give them the chance to escape.

  The mages outside are probably ready to strike at me.

  It’s time for me to rejoin the battle. With a scream of rage, the lightning and fire explode out of me, filling the arena with destruction.