Might of a Master

Chapter 6: Might of a Master

"Just because you like that spear, doesn't mean you can bring it with you in bed!!"

- Axel (LS 1215).

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Year 1212, 26th Day of the 3rd Month – Road to Bullmar~

Lucian's POV~

It's been three days since we left the capital. Thankfully, nothing too troublesome happened. We sped through the road to avoid all the unnecessary attention. At the gate Axel just told them I was going on a hunting trip.

'Sigh… I am leaving my home… maybe for good.' I looked back at the castle standing high and mighty on the center of the capital. You could see it from the city walls that's how big the castle was.

'Well, now back to where we were headed.' While crossing the forest trail outside the capital, Mavis told me that we were being followed.

I trusted Mavis's judgement on this. He was a Dark and Wind mage after all. Wind mages could detect presence by the use of their wind and they can also create supersonic waves like bats. But that's easier said than done as creating sound through just wind is considered Expert Level. And that's what Mavis was, an Expert Mage on Wind magic and an Advanced Mage on Dark magic. He truly is talented, not many people are dual wielders after all.

<Wind: Sonar> He casted the magic again to locate them.

"Your majesty, they are 400 meters behind us. No one is on the flanks." He reported with his gentlemanly smile.

"It's best not to figh-" Before he could finish his sentence, Celine interjected. "Let's FIGHT!"

We all just looked at this little girl exhaustedly.

"We are not going to fight." Sir Julian said.

"Eh! Why gramps?" Celine asked while shaking him.

"It's because they aren't assassins or here to fight us. They are just spies to gather information. Also if they die it will alert the rest of them." I replied instead. "Not to mention it will be better for me if we don't kill them." I couldn't help but chuckle.

Celine looked at me questioningly. I just smiled.

"Mavis create a barrier around the carriage. Hmm… Cast <Deflect> and <Resist>." Looking at Celine "Cast on her twice just to be safe."

"As you wish your majesty. But are you really going to cast something that powerful?" he asked while casting the spells I ordered him to cast.

"Yes, I need to cast something that powerful to actually make them believe it." I replied with a smile and started to gather mana around me. I was going to cast a huge spell. Even though I will try to direct it directly behind us but just the sheer strength of the magic can cause problems around the caster, from loose mana undulations.

"Ready?" to which everyone replied nodding. And I stood up inside our rundown carriage. Magic circles started appearing around me with complicated patters and... they looked sinister too.

Everyone felt a bit disturbed looking at the magic circles. Celine was frowning hard.

*Shake…. Rustle (Strong wind disturbance)… Birds chirping loudly*

|| I Invoke the Light to bend at my will, For the air to stop and make it squeal.

Show thy nature before thou lord, Use my vessel as the base.

The offerings I give for you to obey, seal a deal with what I pay.

Towards the direction I point and what it may be, Show the ones what I want them to see. ||

<Illusion: Glimpse of the Broken Reality>

*SHATTER*

After I finished the incantation and finally cast the spell. A loud shattering sound could be heard. That sound indicated that the spell worked and I hurriedly looked towards my party members. I sighed in relief and sat back down. "Seems like none of you were affected by the stray undulations. Sigh! I was really scared for a second." I chuckled but they were just starting at me.

Sir Julian and Mavis were looking at me as if I was some monster with wide opened eyes, while Celine was just being Celine. "Did you do something Lucian? The sky got really dark and there was shaking. And I heard something breaking! Sounded like some precious glass item broke."

Listening to Celine someone almost lost it.

"DID HE DO SOMETHING? DEAR PHOENIX GOD…" Mavis was very agitated, so Julian just nudged him with his elbow. "*Cough* Forgive me. I was too excited earlier. And little lady… What his Majesty just cast was a Master Level Magic from the Illusion School. And that wasn't even the scary part... He cast a Master level spell with only 4 verses… HAHAHA, my mind hurts just thinking about it." Mavis was losing his cool again.

[A/N: Past tense of Cast is still Cast. just saying]

Celine was tilting her head looking at me. She was clearly confused. 'This girl…'

"I am not very knowledgeable about magic and incantations but usually any Master Rank Wizards need at least twenty to fifty verses to cast Master Rank Spells. Of course there are exceptions but they are just exceptions after all not examples. Only other person I know of who could shorten their Incantation to under ten verses was the Great Elven Sage that summoned the Hero from another world and the Hero known as the Ice Empress Merethyl." Sir Julian tried his best to explain to the red headed girl who knew nothing about magic.

"Yes, and that's why you don't usually get to see Master Rank Spells at play. The incantations are long and dangerous. Because if you mess up an incantation of that level you will get a irreversible backlash. But so to say the power of such magic is horrifying. A Master Rank Destruction Spell can kill tens of thousands of soldiers if cast with intention to kill!" Mavis added and the last remark made Celine's mouth to open wide.

"And that's why Master Rank Wizards are like national treasures. No one wants to go on a war which will utilize them. And they themselves are reluctant to use their Art to kill so much people. They are usually used as a deterrent against the oppositions Master Rank Wizards." I said with a smile. " Simply to say the side which has more Master Rank Wizards have more foundation in negotiation at the National level. That's why all Master Rank Wizards need to be associated with a Magic Institution unless they surpass the level of a Master Rank. If not then they will be treated as Evil Wizards and will be hunted."

Celine seemed to be in deep thought. She seemed to have an epiphany, she looked at everyone with a serious face and...... asked, "What's a Wizard?"

*Thud*

The carriage stopped as it seemed Axel fell down from his seat. We were all speechless by the question. Axel got back up and glared at Celine then started driving again. He clearly gave up arguing with this girl.

"Well it's not surprising after all this." Mavis shook his head. "When a mage reaches Expert rank on any school of magic they are referred to as Wizards instead of mages. And if you are affiliated with any of the Magic Research Institutes such as the 'Borvania University of Arcane Arts' or known as the Magic University. If you are head of any department of Magic, you will be known as an Arch-Wizard. They are all Master Ranks. So a mage that Transcended advanced use of magic and entered the Experts on a subject are known as Wizards. Yours truly, am one as well on the Wind Magic"

"I think I understand a bit." She nodded in understanding then she looked at me. "Then isn't Lucian a National treasure? Why are they kicking him out?"

"Kicking him out…. This girl… They kic- I mean they let his Majesty go just because they have no idea of his actual talents. All they know is that His highness is an Advanced Rank mage and that already puts him on the same row as prodigies." Mavis answered again.

"And also his Majesty being royalty and a protégé of a Sage people of the Magic Council didn't pry too much." He added thoughtfully.

"Oh, okay. Hmmmmm. But.. What did your magic exactly do Lucian?" Celine asked the perfect question.

I just smiled and looked behind us through the carriage. "Well let our little pursuers achieve what they wanted for a bit."

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Pahar the imperial spy's POV~

"They are just half a kilometer away. Don't lose them." I told my team while I was keeping an eye on the carriage that contained the previous crown prince. 'Poor fella! I actually liked him a lot. He made the slums a cleaner place to live. Sigh… Forgive me lad, this is what I do for money.'

We kept on pursuing them keeping our distance. Suddenly, the wind started picking up, and it felt like the trees were shaking. And I swear to the 4 deities that even our horses were shaking while running.

*Neigh … Chirp Chirp*

Our horses let out a cry and lots of birds seemed to fly away from the trees. This is the same feeling when a huge storm is about to pass, the sky is getting dark too. But this.... kind of feels more sinister…

I did my best to control my horse and then I heard it. I think everyone in the forest heard it.

*Shatter*

Felt like some precious thing made of glass shattered. Glass is really valuable, one should know. It can only be found after a huge thunder storm on the beach. Commoners even call it 'Gift of God'. Only high nobles could afford to have something so precious.

Soon after the noise the sky and our surroundings became clear and we again saw the carriage that was going south. 'Nothing seems out of place, they are going directly towards the elven kingdom.'

"Let's not lag behind. We will follow them till Azmar City. They should arrive there in fifteen days or so." I told my team of our plan. Nothing seemed out of place.

.

.

Little did Pahar know that he was going to follow his mind's imagination for fifteen days. The way <Illusion of the Broken Reality> worked was really sinister. Because, It used the caster's thinking process and invoked it directly to the affected people's minds. They will start to think what the caster put in their mind almost like giving them false memories of the immediate future. They will start to see the things the caster wanted them to see and it will continue till they are saved by a strong dispel magic, magic resistant artifact of high quality, A holy site where illusion magic can't get near or…. Until they die of sleep deprivation.

Yes, this magic kills its target by showing them what they believe should be in front of them and when they try to rest they see something disturbing or something that hinders their goal. One can not sleep after being affected by this illusion magic. Their whole reality becomes distorted in their mind. And the worst part was the visions changed according to surroundings and events.

That's why Master Rank Spells should never be cast by people who can't handle them. Because if someone failed to cast something so powerful or get interrupted. It will backfire on them and they will be impacted at point blank range. Causing them an illusion that may never be broken.

Lucian cast such a sinister spell but he wasn't cruel. He was too kind in fact. He knew the road to Azmar City goes through the Saint's forest.

Which was a mystical place in the kingdom as magic get's dispelled there for some reason. Not even holy magic works. And there are no beast's living in the forest. People never get the urge to live there either. It's just a mystical place.

But the road goes through the forest in a straight line and travel is extremely safe. As the place makes people passive to any type of aggression by a mystical energy. How the road was built you ask? Well no one knows. It's said to be there since the Lunar Severance and people just stopped minding it.

No bandit can be found in that forest. So when Pahar and his team goes through the forest in 6 days they will recover instantly. What will happen after that is another story.

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General POV – Few kilometers outside of Bullmar~

A Marchant Caravan can be seen going towards Bullmar. They seemed to have arrived from the north, probably from the Fey Harbor Town. There were 7 carriages and a few people seemed like guards on horses.

A woman with bluish grey hair can be seen riding a fine red mare in front of the caravan. She looked calm and determined. Her hazel eyes were staring forwards the whole time.

"Captain, something feels wrong." One of the guards came to her and reported. She seemed to be the leader of the guards. She wore a mask and steel armor. People can't see her face but just her eyes, lips and chin. But that was enough to know she was pretty.

She had a well shaped body that made the merchants peek at her and try to undress her with their filthy eyes. They didn't dare to go near her though. Well not after what happened to the last guy.

~A young merchant was laying down in his carriage. 'Curses! Someone is bad mouthing me for sure..'~

"What seems to be the problem?" The woman asked which made the guard shudder a bit. "The road seems... too quiet for a road that leads to a merchant city." The guard spoke his mind but he still seemed a bit afraid.

"You are right. I noticed the serenity but didn't think too much. But it seems like will have some uninvited guests soon...Tell everyone to stay alert!" No sooner she gave the orders a loud horn was heard.

*rustle rustle* *Laughter*

Somewhere near 25-30 bandits came out of the grooves and the trees. It seemed they were totally surrounded. They only had 10 guards guarding the caravan including herself.

"EVERYONE BATTLE STATION." She shouted and pulled out her spear. Then looked at the bandits ahead with murderous eyes.

"Don't you dare blink, I will end you fast."