In the forest north of Proktor the night before the attack, three mages were sitting around a campfire eating some kind of roasted meat. They had no reason to eat, doing so would even reveal their position, but they cared little for those details.
For they were the mages who had been ransacking the nearby outpost they came across, making sure to leave some standing to make their attacks somewhat unpredictable. The three of them sat in complete silence as each thought things over, each struggling with their own problems.
"What are you planning on doing when this is all over?", the older one of the trio asked to fill the dead air. Lucas and Asta felt no need to fill a lull in conversation, they simply enjoyed being in each other's company, making Malek stand out.
Since neither answered, Malek took it upon himself to give an example. "My goal is to get rid of all injustices in the world. I was angry at the army, but when I thought it through, I'm angry at the powerful using their power to suppress the weak. I will fight for the weak."
Hearing such a superficial goal, Lucas and Asta felt a weight being lifted from their shoulders. No way a man with such an unsophisticated goal would be able to figure out their plans. They both also didn't take him seriously, for good reason.
'After his second awakening he's become extremely emotional. He can be as bright as a sun one day and extremely self-destructive the day after. His goals or whatever will fluctuate the same.'
Feeling confident enough in himself, Asta spoke up. "All I want is acknowledgment.", it was a simple statement with a seemingly easy goal, not directed to Malek, but his other companion, who was surprised to hear that. To Lucas, Asta was already someone who was far above any normal mage, yet he didn't feel acknowledged?
"What kind of accomplishment would you need to achieve that?", Malek asked since he didn't find the man weak or stupid, but Asta stayed silent as he directed himself to Lucas.
"What about you?"
Lucas had been ignoring most of the conversation as he stared directly in the fire. The beauty of its destruction was mesmerizing. "I..."
Never having had the time to really think about it. There was a general feeling guiding him forward, making him unable to stop moving. "I want to be free."
Malek nodded, "Being a commoner is difficult, I understand. Is that why we need to use these masks? To avoid getting targeted?"
"You can do as you wish. I'm just suggesting it."
Leaving them in the following silence, Malek started to get a little restless. "I'm going to go hunt for something else to eat," he said as there was still plenty to feast on.
Once he was gone, Asta and Lucas felt capable of truly relaxing for a moment.
"Always so emotional, he can't even sit still for a few minutes. He's become way worse."
"I know, and I don't have proof, but I believe it has to do with his second awakening. The aura is essentially a part of our being, and if that aura is unstable and fueled purely by emotion, he might be affected."
"As long as his anger remains the same, it's fine, but he's making an ass out of himself. He's not only doing your elemental mages a displeasure, he's a disgrace to all mages."
"Just bear with it for a bit longer. We both know what's coming."
"Correct, it seems like I just can't wait for us to leave him behind," staring in the distance, a small outline of a castle was seen in the distance. "Next up is yours, right?"
"That's right. This is the one where I'm planning on using the nearby nests of monsters to launch a preliminary attack."
"Hmm, you think things will go easy? We've been having little to no trouble lately."
"I do not believe it will go smoothly. Our good friend is going to make sure that we have one Rank 3 less to deal with, but there will still be 2 others."
"So we have to handle one ourselves? Guess we can try out the tools we prepared. If all else fails, you know what to do."
Lucas simply nodded. He was still thinking about what he answered to Malek's question. While the senior might've interpreted it as being free from the system of nobles and commoners, Lucas was talking about the bigger picture.
He was free when he grew up in his home. The moment magic was involved in his life, he had been running from place to place trying to grow in power so he wouldn't be killed. Even now, while he probably had the biggest freedom since the noble family that was after him won't easily find him, he was still being hunted.
Just the thought that one day they might discover his whereabouts scared him deeply. If there was one way to remove that fear, it was through making sure he either wouldn't be found or strong enough to handle the consequences. His resolve was steeled from the very beginning.
"What I'm the most worried about is whether our good friend will uphold his deal of the bargain," Lucas said as the flames of the campfire continued to crackle.
"Considering the last message and the way he has proven himself over the different camps, I would take the risk."
"That's exactly what makes me worried. We're in too deep. Relying on him also means we're his pawn. If he gives our intel away, we would be done for."
"Isn't that why we planned a random course, this being the first where our paths actually match?"
Lucas and Asta had been meticulous when it came to their approach to attack the different outposts. After conquering a few, Asta suddenly received a message to cooperate in taking down the different places, but they didn't accept right away. Instead, they asked him to do seemingly random stuff in places they had no intention of visiting.
Slowly, they would occasionally check if he did what they asked, and he provided without fail. This was the first place where they would potentially encounter him.
"If he is able to do so much, he's in a high position."
"Is that why you're worried? I personally don't believe someone of such a rank would be so willing when we only destroyed two small camps."
"Exactly why I'm worried. Why approach us if we've only taken down two camps?"
Hearing that Asta felt the need to think it over again, but shook his head. "If it's a trap, I'll activate our back-up plan, and we'll make it."
"I sure hope so."
"Don't you dare underestimate my abilities. I'll have you know I spent a lot of time working on that."
Lucas chuckled, "How could I forget," shaking his head.
'There, I said what you wanted. I agree with Asta for the most part, we should take the risk.'
'Fine, fine, do what you want, not like we had another choice here.'
'We can always abandon the castle and move to another one.'
'And lose out on all the points here? Forget it, we'll take the risk!'
Lucas knew he was worrying too much. For as they may just be a small fish in a big lake, they may as well have been red lionfish. Their plans and theories, while untested in the field, put them capable of handling two Rank 3 mages or escaping from more.
This wasn't including the aid of Malek. Lucas often forgot how powerful their combined powers really were since he never let his guard down. Smiling, Lucas felt his heart rate increase as both sides of him paused for a single moment.
'Is this...?'
'Adrenaline baby. I'm so fucking excited. You'll give me control, right?'
'Depends on who we're facing.'
'Hahaha! I can't wait!'
Lucas smiled deeply as Asta joined in. "Looks like you're excited. I have to say that I also find it tantalizing to test all our experiments. I truly wonder how accurate it is. Either way, I hope I can count on your subterfuge and battle insight?"
"Always Asta, I assume I can count on your arrays and deductions?"
"You didn't even have to ask."
Both smirked at each other, knowing that as long they worked together, almost anything was possible.
------------------
Jason stood on the tower together with his commander. Staring into the sky, the flock of birds approached. The tension was almost visible as everyone stood prepared. Graham lifted his arm.
In unison, a group of mages in the court started to chant together as they created a massive ball of flaming rocks. Attempting to recreate a catapult with magic, they launched it sky-high in hopes of dealing enough damage.
One of them wasn't enough of course. The only blessing in this situation was the fact that they didn't have to aim in the slightest. Simply shooting it towards their general direction was more than enough.
As the attacks continued with a constant pace, Razir and Graham started to use their aura to pressure the flock, slowing them down immensely. The remaining mages started to shoot their spells the moment they were in range.
Jason didn't participate, simply nodding. 'Things are going too well, the next part will come right away.'
"Commander, be ready," Jason warned. Graham nodded, "Men! Use your elemental power to cool your surroundings. If you can't control it, freezing it is also fine. Just make sure you keep your heads cool."
The soldiers were a bit perplexed, but followed orders like they were meant to. Some had fine control over their spells and were able to simply cause a chill to appear, others had no affinity with ice and simply created an Ice Spear to hold or something similar.
Only mages that had absolutely no feeling with the attribute were just making sure to stand next to someone who was, Razir being one of them.
Jason watched a specific spot in the distance, and as if on cue, a small flash was visible. "Here it comes!", making everyone on edge for whatever came next, Jason was certain this time would be the correct path.
The arrow crashed into the wall, creating a dark red dome that enveloped almost all mages. Some were positioned outside the expected range to help the others. Jason wasn't going to allow a single mistake, not anymore.
As if on cue, Jason quickly brought his hands filled with elemental energy to his head. Cooling himself down by more than what was necessary, the images and visions had little to no room for entering his brain.
He felt his pulse rapidly increase, but due to the cold, he was able to dissipate some of his bodily heat. There were a few flashes in front of his eyes. Unable to tell if they were alternative realities he lived through or visions of despair, he ignored it and focussed on the other mages.
Trying not to lose his hope, he felt like screaming. To his dismay, many of the mages were still caught up in the dome, fighting each other without caring for their own personal safety. There were more sane than last time, but half were still affected.
'Idiots!'
"At least the damage is limited, next up is the explosion, right? The flock is getting closer though. Do we abandon the wall?"
Jason hadn't encountered this question yet, or did he? Something told him he experienced this before, and letting go of the wall would be detrimental to their goal. "No, they'll come towards us now."
Saying that with more confidence than what he actually had, his mind was playing tricks on him. Had he already made this choice?
"I see them, just like you said, two Rank 2 mages. Is it okay to send Razir?"
Being given this question, Jason didn't know what to say. Keeping his mouth shut, he tried to think if he had already had the answer to this question, yet nothing came up. Not knowing if that was the correct way forward, he could only nod.
"Captain Razir! Take care of them!"
Graham still had to focus on the massive flock of monsters, if left alone, they would ambush them and annihilate them. Being a Rank 3, he surely had a lot of power, but if he had to use his aura to pressure monsters from far away and in such quantity, the best he could do was slow them down, giving other the room to fight.
Jason didn't join the defense. He only watched—watched Razir, trying to burn the scene into his soul.
Razir stood on the wall, trying to ignore the storm and chaos of the monsters in the air above him. From the forest, two men appeared with white masks covering their faces. He was able to tell them apart by their clothing and hair color, but that was it.
'Rank 2's? Why did the commander ask for me?', Razir tried to listen in on the two before confronting them.
"I thought you said you had this under control? Why did we have to step up?"
"I am surprised. It's like they knew what I had planned. Even that experimental attack didn't do much."
"Well, we did gather some useful data on it, perhaps next time it'll be successful."
Their almost unbothered banter frustrated Razir who had been on edge for the entire time.
"Let's see you pups handle my pressure!"
The moment he activated his aura, the temperature shifted. The wind stilled. Birds stopped mid-flight. He funneled his power forward, compressing it, targeting only them.This much pressure would crack bone. Any Rank 2 should be coughing blood.
But they stood. No flinch. No reaction. One of them dusted off his coat. The other adjusted his sleeve. Razir's breath hitched.
"What?", an almost silent voice came out. The scene in front of his eyes broke the normal conventions, this shouldn't even be possible.
Razir blinked. For a second, he thought he'd miscast, misaligned his aura, maybe. He pushed harder. The ground around him cracked under the strain. The treetops behind the intruders shook from the pressure.
Still nothing.
A cold laugh echoed faintly from behind the mask of the blond mage, making something snap within Razir.
"Fine, you fuckers, you wanna fight? Let's fight!"