Dark Magus Returns

Raze's eyes immediately locked onto the sight of blood in the room—a sight he had never expected to come home to. After all the troubles they had gone through, things were finally looking up for the two of them. He had decided to leave the past behind, to focus on what he had now, and enjoy his time with her. But now, she was lying on the floor, in a pool of blood. Raze couldn't even discern where the wound was coming from; all he saw was her lying motionless.

"Sabrina!" Raze screamed again, his gaze shifting to the man standing by her side. He was just a dot in the corner of his eye, but his mind started to wonder looking at him.

How had he gotten into their house? How had another person managed to sneak up on her, despite her being a high star mage? Was it Idore, had he found out she had gained her meteorites back?

Observing the man, Raze noticed his strange black clothes, tight-fitting, paired with special boots, and a black scarf wrapped around the top half of his face, concealing his lower features.

The only things visible were his short black hair and his sharp, narrow eyes. Although only a small part of him could be seen, the image was strikingly familiar to Raze because he was a figure that appeared on TV a lot.

'That's Trubin, one of the most feared mages in the world!' Raze thought. 'Different mages focus on different things through their life, some focusing on research like Raze. Others focus on Enchanting like Idor, but Trubin was a battle mage.

'A mage who perfected his skills in fighting. He learned the deadliest types and forms of magic. He was one of the most feared mages in the world, working for the strongest nation in Alterian, part of their Military Force, and had racked up many achievements.

'So why, why is such a person in this room? Why does this person have blood on their hands, the blood of my wife?'

Raze's anger could no longer be contained. He lifted his hand and swung it sharply, casting wind magic through the air so sharp, so razor-thin that it wasn't visible to the human eye.

As it approached, Trubin swung his arm, hitting the wind magic and stopping it. Yet he soon saw several more slashes coming through the air. Trubin had to act quickly as he continued to deflect them, and then twirled both of his hands, casting a small vortex of wind magic of his own.

Defending this, Raze started to twist his body around, and chased it in the wind. When the two vortexes of wind from Trubin hit Raze, both of the attacks blocked each other out.

Slashes of wind were going off in different directions, yet none of it was damaging the room around them, nor was sound escaping. Raze recognized this as well, another spell.

A spell that was to keep attacks restricted to one area, and to make sure there was no sound so others would hear. All of this had to be set up by Trubin himself.

Trubin stopped his attack and had to think quickly about the situation, because he was startled.

'This mage is not weak by any means!' Trubin thought. 'He's another 8-star mage, and just like me, his specialty is wind magic. If the two of us were to fight, it would be tough…no, it's most likely I would lose.

'I already used up a lot of magic setting up the spell on the apartment, and fighting against her. I don't have the strength to take on another 8-star mage, this is something that was out of my predictions. I wonder why, someone so great, with so much strength I have never heard of before, but that is not something for me to worry about now, I have to get out of here.'

For a moment, Trubin looked at Sabrina on the ground.

'My job here is done.'

Trubin formed two condensed blades out of wind and boosted himself from the ground, diving right towards Raze. Seeing this, Raze instinctively moved out of the way and when he turned to look out of the door, just like that, Trubin was gone.

Raze probably could go after him and would be able to find him, but he wasn't a mage that had fought many battles; he had just studied theories on how to fight. More importantly, he needed to know if Sabrina was okay.

"Sabrina!" Raze rushed over, not caring that he stepped in her blood, and lifted her off the ground. He could see her hand was placed over her chest, her hands slightly glowing, and her eyes weak but slightly alive.

"Raze…" Sabrina said weakly, her voice faint. "I saw the whole thing. You finally did it, you finally showed some backbone and attacked him. You did good…you did good fighting against someone as strong as him…"

"Don't talk, don't waste your energy, I'll get you to the hospital fast they can heal you, they can make you better!" Raze shouted.

Sabrina weakly shook her head.

"No, Raze, you know, I'm the strongest Light Mage we know…

Those at the hospital can't heal me. The only reason why I'm still alive is because of my magic. My heart…it's already beyond healing. Once my Mana runs out, then, that will be the end of me."

The tears down Raze's face couldn't stop falling. They were dropping down onto Sabrina, but she didn't flinch or care; she wanted to look at Raze for as long as possible from this downward view.

"Why…why did he do this, why was he here?" Raze asked.

Perhaps Sabrina could have answered him, but what would that change, and she didn't want him to go after him. She could tell her time was short, so instead, she wanted to use her last few words to say something else.

"I'm sorry I'm leaving you...I'm sorry what worries me more than anything, is that right now I'm worried how you'll be able to go on without me. I've been very selfish in my actions."

Raze couldn't believe Sabrina could say such a thing, but his tears, his throat had welled up too much to the point he couldn't even speak.

"There's something I've been making for you, I had it ready a while ago. I hid it in the laundry room." She laughed. "I knew you would never find it in there, when was the last time you ever did any of your own laundry?

"Head inside, look in the cupboard, and that is my gift to you. I worked hard on it, so you better look after it, alright! With this, I can be happy that I can still help you in some way."

The glow from her hand started to fade away, the magic from her was disappearing. She was holding onto these last moments, Raze was here for them, but there was nothing he could do.

Being an 8-star mage in this situation, her magic core was already destroyed, her heart pierced, there was no healing it.

"Raze," Sabrina said as the glow completely disappeared from her hands. "Enjoy the gift, Happy anniversary."