Dark Magus Returns

The large golden "I" was the emblem of Grand Magus Idore. It was a symbol that Raze recognized well, and with the cloak floating as it did, it was clear that it was an enchanted one filled with magical energy.

The person in front of him was undoubtedly a mage. They weren't from Pagna, or at least not originally from Pagna, but he wasn't quick to jump to conclusions.

"It's a mage, it's my first time seeing one in a while," Raze thought. "The clothing he is wearing is similar to that of the mages that belong to Idore's guild, and those big-headed Grand Magi didn't even bother to give their guilds another name. They just use their own name and place 'guild' in front of it."

If it was someone from Idore's Guild, then Raze had all sorts of questions about what they were doing here. Were there more mages with him? They might be on a portal expedition, and if that was the case, why did they end up here? Was it a new portal that they had opened up on Alterian? That was quite possible.

Raze thought back to his research. Through all the portal expeditions they had been on, they had never run into another person, including those from Pagna.

If that was the case, was it because after a portal had been closed on Pagna, through the defeat of the Dimension boss or other means, now those from Alterian could access it?

Was this the reason why the two had never met? It was a theory that would need more testing, but there was also another possibility.

"The person in front of me could also be from Alter. Right now I'm wearing my dark robe, which shields my real face. If they are from Alter, they would know I used magic to be here. I don't know how strict they are with their rules at the moment, but I don't want to find out either. I know Alter uses items that come from Ingram, and I have yet to find the connection between the two."

These were the current two possibilities, and in his eyes, either one was bad if they were to find out who he really was.

"Did you sneak into this place without permission?" the white-robed man shouted and asked again.

He wasn't getting any closer with his hand held out. He had been trained well in situations going into the unknown. The real issue was how Raze would answer; if only he knew where they were from, Alter or Alterian, he could decide.

"It's quite clear that you are not a part of us, and if that is the case, then you will be eliminated." A white glow surrounded the mage's hand, forming a condensed beam.

"I see you're not too friendly with wanderers, right? Well, that's okay," Raze replied as he swung his hands in a rapid fashion.

"A gust of wind!"

The wind started to blow all around, kicking up the dirt around him and creating dust tornadoes. Light beams started to fire into the gust and back out, several lines of sharp wind slashes appearing through the air.

Seeing this, the white-robed mage used his hands to fire quick flashes of white light, destroying the energy.

Using this opportunity, Raze broke free from the gust and was on the move. His hand was covered in lightning, and he extended it out.

"Connected Shock!"

The stream of lightning never left Raze's fingertips and went out like a straight line straight for the white-robed warrior. When it looked like the attack was about to hit, the lightning stopped just shy of the mage.

Every time the lightning struck, a giant reflective orb seemed to surround the mage like a protective shield.

"A protective shield?" Raze noticed. "Is that from his enchanted robe? He has quite good enchanted equipment, and he seems to be using mostly Light Magic, although he's bound to have other attributes as well. From the spells and the amount of mana he's used so far, he's a 3-star mage, just like me."

There was a bit of excitement running through Raze; he could feel his heart pounding. It had been a while since he had fought like this, against another mage, where one had to try to be a step ahead of the other.

At the same time, it was a game of finding out. Since no one knew what type of magic the other knew, or what enchantments they had.

The mage opposite then shoved both of his hands forward, and a constant beam of light energy shot out. When it hit the ground, it destroyed a thick layer of the floor beneath it.

"I know mages seem to act a bit brazen, but this is ridiculous. What if I was actually an ally or an important figure?"

The beams were crossing in and were coming toward him on both sides. Right now, Raze was wishing he at least had the earth attribute, as it was a bit tough on him in this situation.

"Wait, I don't need the earth attribute; I can just do something else?" Raze thought to himself.

He then lifted his foot, and as he did, he gathered the Qi underneath it and slammed it into the ground. His Qi was far stronger and more refined now that he had reached the fourth stage, and a large chunk of the ground was lifted out.

Lifting his other foot, he did the same to the other side, then placed both of his hands on the large pieces of rock and started to freeze them over. The rock was reinforced and blocked the two beams of energy.

"That spell is a little hard to control and move," Raze commented. "You should diversify your magic a bit more."

Raze then lifted his own hand, and the particles in the air started to freeze over.

"Ice Shards."

Several small spikes of ice flew from his hand and headed straight toward the mage. Seeing this, the mage almost did the same as Raze, lowering his foot and pressing it into the ground.

When he did, a large piece of earth smoothly came up. It wasn't as rough, nor did it shake the ground like when Raze did such an action, because this was earth magic.

The wall of earth blocked the ice shards from hitting him.

"He didn't want to use his enchanted armor for that? I guess he doesn't just want to rely on the shield, and it means it can be broken," Raze thought to himself.

The light attack from the side had stopped, and the earth wall descended. The man in the white robe looked ahead, not making any movements just yet as he stared at Raze.

"You are quite an impressive mage," the white-robed man said. "You must at least be at the 3-star level. It seems that the two of us are evenly matched."

Raze's eyebrow started to twitch slightly. Evenly matched? Quite impressive. These words were somewhat insulting to him.

If it wasn't for the fact that Raze was still trying to hide himself, he would have used some instances of Dark Magic, his strongest attribute.

"Why don't you just state the reason why you are here and avoid this fight altogether?" the mage commented. "Otherwise, things will get extremely difficult for you. You didn't think I came alone, did you?"

"Oh?" Raze replied with a raised eyebrow. "So there are more of you. I guess that means there is no reason for me to keep you alive since I can just ask the others."

"You talk like taking me down is easy!" the mage stated, both of his hands starting to glow again.

"You were right about one thing," Raze said as he moved forward.

The white-robed Mage threw his hand forward, and a beam of energy shot toward him, but using the two-step shift, Raze moved to the side, avoiding the hit completely. A white beam of energy came out again, but Raze moved from side to side, avoiding the attack as he continued to move forward.

"The two of us are both three-star mages, but I am not just a mage anymore!" Raze had avoided all of the strikes, and when he was close enough, he avoided one more and used the second descending step, kicking him forward, a burst full of powerful Qi.

He raised his hand, and mid-swing, he summoned the ghost blade sword. It started to glow slightly red as it was filled with demonic energy.

"The Second Devil's Formation!" The sword crashed down, and the barrier from the enchanted robe activated.

The moment the powerful Qi struck the orb, it shattered into pieces, and the sword continued swinging down, causing a deep cut right across the side of his body.

The mage could see his blood in the air in front of him.

"I'm not just a mage!" Raze stated as he twisted his hand.

"Wind Vortex."

A large amount of wind appeared from Raze's hand, but instead of pushing away, it seemed to have a sucking effect, pulling the mage from behind toward him. With the sword again, Raze slashed from the side, cutting right through both of his arms, and then with his other hand, grabbed the back of the Mage's head.

The veins on his hand started to pulsate as the Tractum Tranquil was being used, and he could feel new energy moving to his magic core.

"You should have asked questions first and acted later; maybe you would have lived then," Raze commented.

The mage could feel his life being drained from him in that moment, and as his life was fading away, Raze could see that more were starting to come toward him, more of the mages in white robes.