Hunted By A Lone Shadow

(Jason's POV)

The members of the Magic Council that attempted to apprehend Jason were suddenly caught by the land shaping spell Jason had cast. 

Suddenly, they were at the base of a massive rocky hill. The majority of the mages had stumbled down to the ground and ended up scattered as they hit the hard and cold dirt. 

Lahar was coughing as some dust had gotten into his mouth, "What the hell just happened?" He said as he looked around, "The whole terrain changed.....and this magic power..."

The other mages were merely getting up, completely confused at what just happened. Lahar crouched down and touched the ground. 

"The whole ground is oozing in magic power...." Lahar mentioned, "This is some high-class magic...." 

"I can't use my teleportation for some reason..." Doranbolt said, "It's odd..." 

Doranbolt looked around, he noticed that the entirety of the land was completely shaped. He looked up to the top of the massive rocky hill and noticed there were few trees scattered around. He noticed that the terrain was steep and would be very hard to traverse. 

"We can't leave, it seems," Lahar said

He turned around to see what he meant, the massive hill was surrounded by rapids of water, a whole rive was bordering them, and across it were massive rocky hills that weren't as tall or large as the one they were at the base of, but were enough to keep anything in. 

"Our only way is up, then...." Doranbolt said, "I sense an immense amount of magic power up there..." 

Lahar looked up, "What kind of spell is this?" He said, "This hill is massive, almost like a mountain, and the terrain looks rather rough...." 

"Tell me about it." Doranbolt said, "I suggest you set up a few rune barriers just in case we're attacked..." 

"Can you spot him?" Lahar asked

"No." Doranbolt said, "I couldn't use my Memory Manipulation magic on him for some reason. I did try to use it right away, but something was blocking it." 

"I see." Lahar said before he turned around and faced the other mages, "Listen, set up a barrier, we're going to climb the hill and find Jason." 

As the mages nodded and began to move, one of them was suddenly hit by a projectile, spewing blood everywhere as he hit the ground. 

Lahar and Doranbolt widened their eyes in shock as the mage collapsed in the ground, a massive pool of blood forming around him. 

"T-Take cover!!" Doranbolt yelled as he threw himself behind a rock 

As the mages scattered, two more were hit by projectiles, splattering blood everywhere as they collapsed to the ground. 

Lahar took cover behind a small tree trunk that was jutted from the ground, several meters from Doranbolt. The rest of the mages were scattered, trying to find cover from the incoming projectiles. As they scurried, several more were hit by the projectiles, crumpling into the ground as blood pooled from the holes. 

Lahar panted heavily, feeling an odd sense of anxiety at the situation they were in. As more projectiles flew past them and hitting some mages and some missing, Lahar was able to recognize what was being fired at them. 

"Magic Rifle?!" Lahar exclaimed

Doranbolt nodded, "It seems so....." He said, "But from where?!?!"

Lahar slowly peeked up at the top of the hill, he noticed there was nothing but a misty aura at the very top. It was hard to pinpoint the origin of the rifle shots. 

"Where..." Lahar muttered, "Where are you?" 

Suddenly he heard a shot and a projectile struck the tree trunk right next to his face. The impact shattered a portion of the trunk and the splinters hit him the face. 

He ducked back into cover, "Damn!" 

Doranbolt looked at him, "Careful!" He called out, "We don't know where he is!" 

Lahar scowled, "I know that." He said, "He already took down several of our men. And the other squads weren't going to arrive till much later." 

Doranbolt nodded, "We have to contact them." He said pulling out a small lacrima communication device, "Let me try..." 

He attempted to turn the thing on but it wasn't working. 

"Shit." He said, "Some sort of jammer...." 

Lahar looked at him, "Doranbolt...." He said, "We have to reach the top somehow, that way we can probably deactivate the spell." 

Doranbolt nodded, "Yea." He said, "This is merely a land shaping spell, it isn't permanent. But to do that..." 

He peeked to the top and suddenly a projectile hit the top of the rock he was hiding behind. 

"Yea..." He said, "That'll be tricky.." 

Lahar looked at him seriously, "We're the Magic Council." He said, "We must not allow a single man to embarrass us." 

"We will reach the top." 

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

After nearly an hour of traversing the hill, Doranbolt and Lahar hid behind a single tree that was nearly at the top of the hill, merely a hundred meters from it. 

Lahar panted, "Shit..." He said as he clutched his shoulder, "that bastard."

Doranbolt was clutching his left knee, blood pouring from an open wound. 

"Tell me about it..." He said as he sweated, "He got us good...." 

Both of them were struck by the rifle shots when they attempted to climb the hill. They believe since Jason was firing at their mages who were just below them, they had a chance to advance. 

They were wrong. 

Both of them were consecutively shot, the projectile piercing both of them and spewing blood. 

"There's something about these bullets used..." Lahar said, "I can't explain it..." 

"Yea..." Doranbolt said, "I know what you mean..." 

There were moments during the climb when Jason wasn't firing, giving everyone a sense of anxiety. Doranbolt and Lahar waited till Jason fired at someone to quickly move to different cover, hoping he didn't hit anyone. 

Lahar looked down the hill, noticing several mages were still cowering behind cover. 

"He's only left us with this many...." Lahar said, "We were nearly 70..." 

Doranbolt nodded, "Yea.." He said, "He's no joke...No wonder the chairman wanted to have the Wizard Saints to deal with him." 

Lahar winced as he applied pressure to his shoulder, "Yea." He said, "They would do better than us for sure.." 

Suddenly, a shot was fired, causing both of them to flinch. They then watched as one of the mages was struck, sending him flying down the hill. He hit several rocks hard as blood spewed out. 

Lahar gritted his teeth, "That bastard..!" He growled

Doranbolt then widened his eyes, "L-Lahar!" He said, "I can use my magic!" 

Lahar looked at him, "Really?" He asked

Doranbolt was wrapping his knees in a makeshift tourniquet, "Yea." He said, "I need to pinpoint where the shots are coming from and maybe I can teleport to him and put an end to this." 

Lahar nodded, "I can make that happen." He said as he lifted his hand up while it glowed, "I needed to do this earlier but I can deploy a quick barrier to block a bullet." 

Doranbolt nodded, "We got to do this in one try though." He said, "Who knows how long he's been toying with us..." 

Lahar turned around as he inhaled, "Okay..." He said letting out an exhale, "Get ready..." 

Then, Lahar jumped out of the cover, running to an open spot as he stood his ground and looked up at the top of the hill. 

"He'll know this is some type of trick..." Lahar muttered, "But it doesn't matter..." 

Suddenly, he heard a shot fired. Without thinking, the deployed the barrier as the projectile hit it, causing a massive spark. 

"Now!" Lahar said

Doranbolt had peeked from the other side of the tree and within that split-second, he managed to pinpoint where the shot came from. 

He focused his magic power, locking in to Jason's faint magic power that was cloaked by the magic. 

"I got him!" Doranbolt exclaimed as he teleported

In an instant, He appeared above Jason who was prone, holding a long black sniper rifle aiming down the hill. They were at a small clearing at the top of the hill, covered in bushes and trees. 

Doranbolt glared down at Jason as he drew his dagger, "You...." He said as he descended at him, "Bastard!!" 

He swung down his dagger as he fell down at Jason. 

He hit nothing, Jason had already disappeared from the spot, leaving only the sniper rifle. 

"Oho!" Jason laughed

Doranbolt turned around to see Jason next to him holding two submachine guns in his hands, aiming it at him. 

"War Magic: Dual Mp5 Pain." 

"Eat lead, fucker." Jason smirked

Doranbolt widened his eyes, "Wh-" He started

Jason opened fired, spraying both mp5 submachine guns. The bullets hit through Doranbolt's body, spewing blood everywhere as he was littered with holes. 

"Agghhh!!!" He screamed out in pain as the impact of the bullets threw him back to the ground

As he hit the ground, Doranbolt clutched his chest, feeling nothing but blood and pain coming from it. 

"Heh.." Jason said as the mp5 smgs disappeared from his hands, "How do you like that, eh?" 

Doranbolt tried to get back up, coughing up blood, "B-Bastard..." 

Jason frowned as he stuck his finger in his ear, cleaning it, "What?" He said, "You think you're gonna die? Nah.." 

Doranbolt looked at him, "You..." 

"You ain't gonna die..." Jason said, "I mean, yea, I filled you with holes, but you'll be fine. All your men will be fine too." 

He snapped his fingers and the sniper rifle appeared in his arms. 

"You see...these bad boys have special magic bullets." He said, "They act as actual bullets, piercing you, drawing blood, hurts like a motherfucker...but...they're non-lethal, so no matter where I shoot ya, you won't die, even if you lose a shitload of blood. I mean, you'll probably pass out from the pain, but that's all." 

Doranbolt's eyes were closing shut, "You...." 

He was overwhelmed by the pain, slowly losing consciousness. 

Jason smirked, "Just like you are now." He said, "But man, was this fun. You see, I was stalling a lot, in case you haven't noticed." 

"W-What do you mean?" Doranbolt managed

"As cool as this spell is, it takes a lot of patience to just take you all out one by one." Jason said, "I mean, there's cover and all. So I used that time to check in on something I've been working on...." 

As he said that, Doranbolt heard the calls of his comrades. 

Suddenly, Lahar and a couple of other mages had managed to make their way up to them. 

"Doranbolt!" Lahar shouted as he saw his condition, "Wait, we're here!" 

Jason smirked, "Game's over." He said snapping his fingers

Suddenly, the entirety of the hill shook violently and they were all engulfed in a bright white light. The spell was deactivated. 

They were back to their original positions, in the middle of the road next to a massive treeline and an open field. 

Doranbolt and Lahar looked around, seeing the unconscious bodies of their men littered and overed the road. 

Jason who was in front of them was patting his shoulders, "Man." He said, "You guys really gave me an entertaining time. Oh well...all things must come to an end..." 

Lahar looked at him with a scowl, "You bastard, do you think you can do as you please?!?" He said, "We are the Magic Council!" 

Jason gave him a glare, "Shut up." He said with an annoyed tone, "You idiots think that just because you have a grip on the Magic Guilds of this country, you can boss me around? Don't think so stupidly, I am not bound by your rules and laws, it's about time you learn that. Even if I do as I please, I am not endangering anyone. Tartaros, The Eclipsed Darkness....I stopped them simply because I could and I did it out of my own free will. Not because some pricks told me to. I won't bow to anyone, not Alvarez and not you..." 

Jason then waved his hands, emitting a massive aura from behind him. Both Doranbolt and Lahar widened their eyes, feeling the immense magic power coming from Jason. 

"Shit...." Doranbolt managed, "We need....more...men.." 

Jason looked at him, "I know more men are on their way to aid you." He said, "So by the time they get here, they'll have a surprise." 

"Black Warship: " 

They all noticed a massive shadow emerge from behind Jason as he was summoning some sort of weapon. They couldn't help but tremble at the feeling of dread. 

Jason then gave them all a smirk, "Get ready..." He said, "Time for the real fun to begin." 

"The Archangel's Might."