Hostages

Diamond Nation.

About ten minutes after the fight with Elaina.

There was an eerie silence outside the city of Obelisk as around twenty Diamond Mages could be found unconscious on the ground.

The city had gone under a lockdown so common people didn't have to see their mages in that condition.

Finral froze for a second seeing the scene as he teleported near Julian after getting his signal.

Secre didn't any reaction and just informed Finral that none of them were dead as some of Finral's fears were known to everyone in Black Bull including her.

She looked beside her to see a body of a woman with several confinements.

'Must be the one Julian fought against' Secre concluded.

"What are we going to do with them? " Finral asked gaining his composer.

"Diamond Kingdom has set up a trap for us. We can't use the earlier method anymore." Julian answered.

"So what do we do now?"

"Hostage exchange.

In exchange for one of their generals and twenty mages, at least the real location. " Julian answered.

"Start gathering mana Finral, we have to transfer a lot of people "

Finral didn't question more and started doing what Julian asked.

Spatial magic can't just transfer anyone anywhere. To teleport to a longer distance and a large number of people, a lot of mana and concentration were needed.

Julian went towards each mage who had a communicator and read their memories to find if they had the contact of any note-worthy figure.

Although he didn't get any contact with the generals, he got of someone noteworthy.

Head researcher Morris.

"What is your rank in Morris's department ?" Julian asked taking the mage.

".....Failed subject disposer…."

"Will Morris pick up your communication signal ?"

"....Yes…."

Julian put the mage back to sleep after knowing the information.

After the questioning was done, Julian checked each and every mage and made sure to destroy everything that can be used as a tracker.

One by one all the mages were transferred to one of the places they took rest and could not be found so easily.

Sending all of them to Clover Kingdom came to his mind once but they didn't come here to capture Diamond Mages.

"Alright then, let's get out of this area first and then think about our next steps"

*************

Somewhere on the opposite end of the Diamond Kingdom.

A light blond-haired researcher could be seen going through his notes in a lab filled with large tubes full of green liquid. Bodies of humans and animals with various parts of their bodies missing could be seen floating in those liquid tubes.

The researcher wore a white coat with multiple gemstones embedded in them and black glasses that completely his eyes.

This researcher was Morris.

The leader of the research division of the Diamond Kingdom Army.

As he was engrossed in his notes, his communicator turned on and started to relay a recorded message.

Morris looked at it with interest as rarely had someone contacted him with a video message.

The scene of a young man with red eyes appeared on the video.

"Yo!

This is Julian from Clover Kingdom.

Seems like this communicator goes one way…doesn't matter!

I know that Diamond Kingdom knows Clover Mages are here so might as well reveal my identity."

'A stupid move from…

I expected a better approach from you Julian but whatever. Since you strike my interest, let's see what you do' Morris thought.

Some of your Diamond mages disturbed my vacation here. " Julian said holding Alaina by her head who was still unconscious.

'Now would you look at that….he was able to defeat Alaina.

This makes things interesting.' Morris chuckled.

"I have your general and around twenty-five Diamond Mages as hostages.

So let's not get into each other's throats and do a fair deal.

I give you back my hostages in exchange for the people of Clover kingdom that were captured.

Sounds like a fair deal right?

I know about all the fake locations so don't try that bullshit.

I want an answer by the end of the day but if I don't I will take more mages under my hostage and will change my terms " the video ended with that.

'Hmmm what should I do….

I don't really care if the other mages die but Alaina is a different matter….she is too important to let go.

The generals I modified would not really care would not care and the old generals are idiots so they will be useless too.

Right, I will do that!'

Morris connected his communicator to two of the Generals at the same time.

The faces of a black-haired middle ages man and a spiky silver-haired young man appeared on the screen.

The face of Lotus was that of annoyance as he knew Morris would only call him for something troublesome while Mars had an emotionless face.

"I am sending both of you a video message, give me your opinions "

Mars froze after seeing the person in the video.

The memories from the dungeon were still vivid in his mind.

The way Julian carried himself, the way he destroyed all his clones in a second and came out of the dungeon without a single scratch on his body.

While Lotus had a grim face seeing Julian again. Unlike Mars, Lotus keeps a lot of information and knew more about Julian's exploits.

To be honest, none of them wanted to face Julian.

After a few minutes, Mars was the first one to speak.

"He had received orders from Marshal not to leave our posts"

Morris expected this answer and didn't give any reaction and turned to Lotus.

But from the corner of his eyes, he could see the change a slight change in Mars'eyes.

Morris knew that Mars was out of control from the magic stones he put into his forehead. So instead of reinstalling the control, he made sure Mars reported to him alongside Marshal.

He knew all the generals very well so he had people like Alaina, Mars, and Lotus who were somewhat smart and intelligent, unlike others on his side.

"What about you Lotus? I don't want a mechanical answer like Mars"

"Sigh! That Julian guy is trouble.

Since she has Alaina, we have to go ahead with his plan.

Although she rarely goes to fight her powers and strategies are undoubtedly too useful for us to lose." Lotus said.

"This is what I wanted to hear…

Since he can defeat Alaina, the rumors about his powers should be true. If that's the case, he is already at the level of a captain of the Magic Knights of Clover Kingdom.

The Diamond Kingdom is not in a position to lose a general right now so I instruct you two to make contact with Julian and proceed with the hostage exchange.

Remember you will only lead him to the real prison and open the doors which require two generals to open.

Don't try to fight him. " Morris said.

"What about Marshal?" Lotus asked.

"I will handle him don't worry about it" Morris replied and gave them both the signature of the communication device that Julian used to contact him.

As soon as he ended the call, a wide grin surfaced on his face.

"Julian….since you are in Diamond kingdom, I can't let you leave so easily without getting some test samples. "

Morris adjusted his glasses and contacted a different person.

"When I give the signal, inform Marshal that the mages from Clover Kindom are heading towards the main prison"

"Yes sir!"

**********

A few hours later:

Srrr!

Krr!

Spikes of diamond came out of the ground clashing against each other.

'What the hell is this guy doing !!! 'Lotus someone dodged the spikes appearing near him.

He looked at the spatial mage beside them whose face felt like he wet his pants.

"What are you even doing Mars?! Don't scare me like that!" Lotus with loudly.

"There were mosquitoes flying around you uncle Lotus…."

"....So I thought of killing them" Mars replied making Lotus facepalm.

"Thanks for the effort but please don't do that again,".

'This guy doesn't realize that not everyone has such high defense as him.

Can't blame his thought, he was brainwashed to become a soldier who only follows orders.

Since he calls me his uncle, seems like I need to teach him some common sense first.'

"Will they come?" Mars asked.

"They were the ones to decide the place, they should come" Lotus replied hoping that they are not made to wait for long.

'I hate darkness, it never fails to make me uncomfortable.

And today I am made to do a mission when the nation is covered in darkness.

If not for the money I receive, I would have long retired and spent my days with my wife and my daughters.

Tonight's mission is hazardous as I am confronting a monster.

It's ironic as I don't want to confront an enemy in my own kingdom.

Usually, it is the mages of Clover kingdom acting as a spy who tries to rescue other mages but this time Clover Kingdom has sent strong people to rescue the captured spies so the spies are probably in a very important position.

Well, that's none of my concern, as long as I don't try to find out the inner workings of Diamond Kingdom, I will be out of trouble.

Currently, I need to prioritize my mission first'

"Anyways prepare for combat Mars, things might go downhill " Lotus warned Mars.

"You two, be ready to leave to teleport us as soon as I give the signal"

Suddenly they felt mana fluctuations and looked above to see a big black bird flying above them.

That is when a terrifying pressure enveloped the three of them immediately making the spatial mage faint on spot.

Mars whose body was modified multiple times didn't really get affected by mana pressure and created a shield around them followed by ten soldiers of crystals to fight the attacker.

Boom!

All the crystal soldiers broke into pieces as Julian's punch connected with them.

Julian concentrated mana into his legs and kicked the ground creating a shockwave destroying the crystal spikes that emerged from the ground.

A large amount of smoke started to emerge from the ground surrounding Julian and lowered the visibility and the next second different weapons made of crystal started to aim at Julian at various speeds but a surge of lightning emerged from Julian destroying all of them.

Wings formed Julian's back removing the smoke as he kicked the ground again.

Boom!

The ground cracked as 50 meters around him started to break apart with a blast of red flames.

Two people came out of their explosion standing on top of a crystal platform with one of them having parts of his clothes burned

"Didn't we have a deal ?!" Lotus shouted throwing away his clothes as he could not put away the fire.

"I only promised hostage exchange, nothing more than that " Julian made eye contact with both Mars and Lotus making them freeze for a few seconds.

Mars summoned two large swords made of Crystals and attacked Julian while armor of crystals started to surround three of them turning them into a giant.

Julian summoned his daggers and condensed the mana zone around them.

As soon as they made contact with the large swords, they sliced off cleanly from the middle.

Boom!

Julian dodged a punch from the Crystal giant and sliced apart one of its arms with one slash.

More crystal soldiers emerged from the ground and attacked Julian but hundreds of arrows stabbed through them destroying them.

Mana zone condensed around Julian's fists and exploded as soon as he punched the Giant completely shattering them.

Sharingan in Julian's eyes rotated as a small magic circle appeared around his eyes.

[Forbidden Magic: Ability Boost seal - Mana pressure]

An overwhelming pressure erupted from Julian enveloping Mars and Louts making the latter immediately lose consciousness.

Mars whose body was modified barely held his consciousness but was made unconscious by the effect of Sharingan.

Julian made eye contact with Sercre in the air and both of their hands started to draw symbols in the air.

[Forbidden magic: Physical Strength Suppression Seal ]

[Forbidden magic: Magic Suppression Seal].

Four Magic circles covered the bodies of the three Diamond mage making them unable to do anything anymore.

*******

Final had a chill run down his spine as the bird carrying him and Secre landed near Julian and the mages.

The combination of Secre's and Julian's sealing magic was too terrifying to confront.

Moreover, that ability boost spell that recently unlocked…Although it could empower a spell or ability for a few seconds for a time being, that spell paired with Julian's already strong mana pressure was a total game changer.

Finral looked down at two of the generals with pity.

'If I were a general and got taken down under two minutes, I don't think I would be able to show my face in the public for some time.

Fortunately, no one saw them getting thrashed.'

To be honest, Mars and Lotus were a bad match for Julian.

Mars was a formidable opponent with very high defense and attack but with Julian having terrifying firepower and sharp attacks to cut through this defense, it was useless.

Lotus's fighting style was best suited for long battles but if he didn't get enough time to set up his smoke spells, it was useless.

In a way, they were perfect for their mission.

Finral along with the other two members of the mission never trusted the Diamond Kingdom to truly follow their deal so Julian had to take matters into his own hand.

If he had to ultimately check memories to complete his mission, why not just make the people who know something approach him themselves?

With Julian's power, Finral was confident that together they could take on anyone or at least run away with his spatial magic if things go downhill.

One by one Julian checked the memories of all of the three Mages and to his luck, they actually knew the location of the real place, the mages of Clover Kingdom were held captive.

"I know where to go, " Julian said as he reapplied the Ability boost seal to his eyes and controlled the Spatial Mage to lead them to their destination.

Julian asked Finral to give him blank papers from his spatial seal on which Julian began to draw the map and gave it to Finral and Secre.

"If things don't go as planned and we meet another strong opponent on the way, use this map to take away our mages to a safe location while I buy time."

As the spatial mage was not as good as Finral in long-distance teleportation, it took them five to six stops to finally reach the place.

"Where is the prison? this just looks like any dead area we came across on the way" Finral said.

"You are up for a surprise then.." Julian made some cuts to the hands of the two Generals and dropped them on a piece of rock in the ground.

"Put them with Alaina and the other mages"

The entire space around him rippled as slowly a giant castle made of stones started appearing in front of him.

The castle was embedded with purple stones which made the castle look like a haunted area under the dark sky.

Finral was shocked to see a castle similar to the size of the Wizard King's palace appear in front of him.

"The purple stones you see were used to cast a large-scale illusion that even blocked mana from exiting the castle.

The Diamond Kingdom has someone who managed to use the stones in such a way that they can only stop working for a few seconds if the blood of a familiar person is used. " Julian explained.

"The more I see, the more surprised I become, " Secre said.

"So what do we do now?" Final asked.

"Let's go in…

There are no guards outside, just inside which we can deal with "

All of the prison cells were situated underground with various levels depending upon the severity of the crime committed and spies being kept at the bottom level.

The inside of the prison didn't look much different from that of Clover kingdom.

Both had similar cells with restraining systems and torture devices.

There were a lot of guards but all of them fell under Julian's hypnosis.

After walking down the path for a while, they reached the last level which was different from all the levels.

Connected to hallways were multiple big chambers with the person in question kept in a small cage in the middle of each cage surrounded by multiple mages.

Julian stopped Finral and Secre from moving as he shot a bullet of lightning at an eye that was looking at them from the ceiling.

As soon as he did that, he sensed a strong presence in the chamber in front of him.

Julian unleashed his mana pressure to see the level of his opponent. The next second, another strong mana pressure…stronger than Alaina erupted from the first chamber they were supposed to enter from.

The mana pressure was white representing a white Rhino clashed with the dark phoenix making the walls of the level crack.

"Seems like our luck ran out again.

I will make sure that the mana pressure doesn't get to you two.

Take the other route across the cells and rescue our mages while I confront the enemy."

Finral nodded and opened up a portal to a different chamber and entered it with Secre behind him while Julian walked to the chamber in front of him.

In the white empty chamber, Julian came face to face with a tall muscular man with reddish hair and a beard.

He wore a cape and armor with the insignia of the Diamond Kingdom.

The man was surrounded by a white cloak of mana and appeared to be in a foul mood.

He was Diamond Kingdom's Marshal Meruem.