33 Patrol Team & Criminals
The beautiful rays of the morning sun cast down a comfortable warmth for Lightwall City. Mages and Non-Mages were all going about their days, all of them busy with whatever task they needed to do to get through life.
At this time, Ervin was causally walking the streets with a calm expression, making sure to stay blended in with the crowd of other Mages.
He had actually just gotten off a late night patrol that extended into the early morning.
In the past, Ervin wouldn't try doing all-nighters and then go about with his day. His body simply wouldn't be able to handle continuous extraneous activities without some form of rest.
That issue became less and less with the advancement of his magical talents and magical power.
With a week passing, Ervin finished absorbing everything from the Demon Orb, amplifying his magical core closer to reaching the Peak Stage.
The fusion of the Demon Orb into his soul brought about so many fantastic changes. The biggest being the utter ease it is to rapidly absorb the essence out of the Demon Orb now. He felt as if his body was now a vacuum, being able to intake magical essences at speeds far greater than before.
His comprehension had also seen a permanent increase, causing studying magical principles to be even greater than before.
But the most monumental changes came with one new ability and an amplification of his base ability.
The new ability includes being able to use his soul and detect the emotion of a person!
Ervin causally fused his soul force into his magical sense, flowing it out to lock onto some average Mage.
Sensations of joy bloomed through Ervin's mind. Whatever happened to this Mage was evidently good from the positive reinforcement swirling within his mind.
Along with being able to detect emotions, his magical sense has a greater sense, dozens of meters in length compared to before. And he can now just barely detect the sensations of magical power far higher than his realm.
At the very least, they won't be this mysterious fog his mind can't fathom in any capacity.
The amplifying ability to his base form came with the Demon Orb greatly enhancing his physical abilities.
Ervin did some tests. His bare hands without any Mana can now crush an ordinary rock into pieces. With Mana, Ervin can easily shatter a large rock into pieces.
His speed had also seen a large bloom. He's now faster than a Non-Mage car even without using the power of his Mana.
Ervin was confident that with no Mana and just his bare hands, he could easily kill a Novice Mage. Any Non-Mage would be nothing but a puppet if they fall into his hand.
The gains of that last trip were certainly a pleasant surprise. But Ervin did not slack off in his training.
The walk out into the town wasn't random. By training to detect various emotions in people, Ervin could feel the force of his soul growing stronger and the range of his magical sense slightly increasing.
It was similar to physical work, straining the body to build up stronger muscles and get used to the feeling of higher power.
Ervin continued his brief training session for some time.
When an hour passed, Ervin looked into the sky to see that the sun was close to its highest point.
Only a week had passed since the last killing, but Ervin was feeling greatly confident about another hunt.
His Mana reserve greatly expanded from the last session, his physical strength was greater and his control over Mana elevated by several degrees.
Confidence flowed through Ervin. He swiftly did the usual procedure before he went out to hunt. Going into an alleyway, surging Complete Invisibility, and then quickly dashing out of the city.
The sense of speed Ervin experienced left an impression in his mind.
The trees nearly whirled right past him; the wandering demonic beasts quickly left his vision as they came.
This was the feeling of being a Mage grasping the true power of Magic. A sensation that mortals and lower level Mages wouldn't be able to ever understand.
It filled his entire soul with an extreme sense of fulfillment. Living a life like this and potentially an even greater one at a higher realm only fueled Ervin's determination by hundreds of times.
Ervin barely even noticed that in a matter of a few minutes, he was already quite far from Lightwall City.
He slowed down his speed at this point. His magical sense expanded all around him for the usual signs of a battered patrol team.
Deeper into the woods, Ervin didn't think the hunt would be any different from usual.
That is until his magical sense suddenly detected something intriguing.
The life auras of Mage Enforcers would typically be in a group of five or six. When on their own, Ervin wouldn't be able to detect any rippling killing intent coming from their auras.
The same cannot be said about this strange group.
There were actually nine Mage life auras crowding in one single area.
Five were huddled on one side, while the other four stood in direct opposition. There was no serene aura coming out of this area. Even close by, Ervin could detect the howling rages of killing intent bursting out of this area.
His soul could also detect genuine hatred flowing out of both groups, both sides wanting nothing more than to rip each other apart.
The life auras here were also in a half-depleted state, signifying damage had been sustained on both sides and there was a clear loss of Mana.
Ervin was genuinely curious. He could score it big with such a massive group before him!
But at the same time, there was a larger risk since the one he was going to kill wasn't completely battered and there was a larger group of people.
The risks were evident. Still, Ervin wouldn't back down on a way to greatly enhance his magic power.
Ervin took the precautions before doing anything. He briefly disables his ability to change his clothes into a generic all-black attire while equipping a blank white mask one can find anywhere in the city. It was just in case his Mana reserves ran dry, and he needed to make a dash away.
Once prepared, Ervin surged back invisibly and swiftly dashed over to the large gathering. He took a spot behind a large tree to observe the situation before acting.
A five-man patrol team with four Late Stage Novice and one seemingly Middle Stage Adept was right in front of Mages who were strangely wearing the Mage Enforcer robes.
This four-man group consisted of three Late Stage Novice Mages and one seemingly Middle Stage Adept Mage.
Blood was shared across both sides. Quite a number of wounds, both small and terrifyingly large sprayed across their bodies.
Even in this state, neither side was giving an inch.
The five-man patrol team held his magical sword out, the tip of the blinding glinting an unfathomably cold edge as he spat out, "Give up resisting! If you are going to commit crimes, then be prepared to pay the price of being judged. This is your last chance now. Surrender now and we will make sure punishment won't be so harsh."
The criminals were still silent for a few moments. But seconds later, mocking smiles began to curl their bloodstained faces.
The leading Adept Mage coldly chuckled, raising his magical sword to match the other Adept Mage's dominating pressure. He spat right back, "Why in the name of Light Gods would we do that? Go back just to be thrown into a cold cell without any chances to get out? When we do that, what will happen to our families we were trying to take care of? The families that we, as so-called Mage Enforcers are supposed to protect and let them live good lives. So many like to say they care about all, but really, the average person will be inevitably swept behind all unless they get lucky enough to get a chance to stand out. But many times, such a case just never happens. And when we get desperate, we take desperate actions."
His voice got calmer the longer he talked. All of his experiences manifested into a mental state that even in these trying times can give him a sense of ease.
The patrol team furrowed their brows for a brief moment. Being in this line of work for so long, there were some truths to the criminal statement.
But even knowing that the Adept Mage still argued back, "Even in desperate times, there's no need to resort to criminal activities. Especially if you're a Mage Enforcer, we all have standards that we need to adhere to. You leave us with no other choice."
