Dark Magus Returns

Commander Jefferson was a four-star mage, while the squad leaders were three-star mages. Three-star was already quite the accomplishment in Alterian, putting one above most of the mages in the world.

Past that, the higher numbers were just a rarity, but when your world had a large population, even a low percentage meant a high number of talented mages.

Still, there was something that set the group apart from the rest. The regular mages that were on the expedition were only two-star, but with the help of the enchanted weapons created by Idore, one of the Grand Magus and the greatest enchanter in the whole of Alterian, it boosted the strength of the mages considerably.

That was how they were able to hunt in a dimension such as the one they were in.

Now though, Jefferson could see several of the squads having been killed. Not just the regular mages but the squad leaders as well.

He stared ahead at the person that was responsible for it all.

'We were warned about this, that there might be others in the dimensions, but it was a rarity that it would occur,' Jefferson thought. 'All of my men, they were wearing enchanted robes as well, how were they unable to take him out?'

Seeing how his men were dealt with, Jefferson decided to act from afar. He placed his hand to the side of his head and orders were sent out.

The two mages that were with him placed their hands on the ground and trails of ice started to appear heading right for Murkel's legs.

It froze the bottom of his feet, but looking down, he couldn't help but laugh.

"What is this?" Murkel said, lifting his feet and walking forward with ease. When he looked up, he could feel a great heat on the surface of his skin.

A giant fireball had come out, crashing into his entire body.

Jefferson, seeing this, had a smile on his face until he could see a figure walk right through.

"Your attacks are not on the same level as his. Was he someone special among all of you?" Murkel asked.

Kicking off his feet, a large amount of Qi exploded. A mage still with their hands on the ground had created a giant ice wall.

Right through the center, a red crystal broke through the ice wall, reaching the other side and going right through the mage's head.

The red crystal returned and the ice wall broke into energy after the mage's death.

Two strange purple objects were flying from Jefferson's hands. They were balls of energy that were curving, but before they reached Murkel's body, the red crystal would grow on his side, and hitting him, it appeared as if it did nothing.

Kicking off his feet again, Murkel then grabbed the other mage by the back of his head and with his hand, slowly placed it up to his face.

"You mages all have strange different powers, but nothing compared to what he used. His hurt a lot more than this. Why was he different from you?" Murkel asked as he placed his hand closer to the mage's mouth.

A small red crystal was starting to grow until it snapped forward and went through the mage's head, ending his life.

Breaking through whatever barrier had been made from the robes they wore, it was as if they had no barrier at all.

Murkel then turned his head to look at Jefferson.

"Your power is different from theirs, some type of purple barrier," Murkel said.

As he walked forward, Jefferson was firing off beam after beam of energy toward him.

Purple balls were bouncing off him as they hit his body, seemingly doing nothing.

"I don't think I even had to use my beast form, but you see I'm trying to improve myself, and one of those improvements I need is to get better at fighting against those like him," Murkel said. "So tell me."

Murkel kicked off his feet, and the mage lifted both of his hands creating a large barrier, but with a slash of his hand filled with Qi, the barrier broke, shattering.

Murkel then grabbed onto his hair and pulled his head back.

"The power that hurt me, it was dark in color, but I'm sure of it, he could do the same things as you. He was a mage as well. Why aren't any of you using that Dark power?" Murkel asked.

"Dark power," Jefferson repeated with his head pulled back. He felt like his life was already over; he knew it.

"That must be Dark Magic, but that's impossible. Dark Magic is outlawed in Alterian. No one knows it, at least not at a high level!" Jefferson answered.

"Outlawed? Do you idiots think people would care about that in the pursuit of gaining strength?"

"Why are you people coming to Pagna? Why is he there? Why are you here right now?" Murkel asked.

"To... to..." Jefferson lifted his hand and placed it at the side of his head. "To get what's left of this place before it's gone," the commander answered.

Right then, Murkel could feel the man's life fade from his eyes.

'Did he kill himself?' Murkel thought as he dropped the body to the ground. Then he noticed something high above.

A few mages were floating up to the sky and had opened up a portal. As they went through, the portal closed behind them.

"I didn't get the answers that I was looking for," Murkel said, disappointed, and continued to look through those he had killed.

He was hoping that one of them was left alive. Not everyone would be confident enough to take their own life.

Even the most loyal, it was hard to do such a task.

'Some of them escaped, but if they can open portals freely, it means they might be back.'

Murkel was right with his thoughts.

In Jefferson's last moments, he had lifted his hand to send a message for the mages to head back to Alterian and report what had happened, and to ask for more help.

Murkel was going to have a lot more than just Pagna to worry about.