Chapter 9 – Aegis

“You must know of The Calamity of Mana, Right?”

The Calamity of Mana

—Where the amount of mana in throughout Trebüshka spiked.

Once upon a time, the sages of past civilizations commanded the beasts roaming in the land. They ruled upon all beasts and created beings mightier than them to conquer the land, the sea, and the sky.

The sages were called Socia-Adestas or Sociades, which means the Society of Adepts in our tongue.

It was titled to them because of their pinnacle knowledge and skill regarding life-form.

They stood at the peak of all life-forms. They created a race capable of withstanding the heat of the earth. A race was able to fight even the demigod-creature guarding the land—grading the mass of mountains in a few nights.

Some of the mythical creatures give birth to what we know as dragons and their variant, which many of us still terror to this day.

They cultivated a race to explore the deep sea and a race which roam the skies.

And they also created sentient beings capable of abstraction called humans.

For the longest time, humankind was the servants of the Sociades—as they were the representatives of the Sociades for their ability being similar to them—and was tasked with managing the other races.

The humans possessed a high intelligence and emotion which even made the other creation jealous.

With their ability of abstractions, the humans started questioning their existence to the Sociades.

The Sociades told them that they were a mere smarter pet and will be treated no more than a smarter pet. What they heard didn’t surprise them for they worship their creator as high insurmountable being.

Was their reason of existence is to only to exist as a smarter pet?

Was their intelligence created by the Sociades? Or did they develop it on their own? If so, can they develop it further?

The humans abided the words of their creator as a law, and they continued so. The servitude of the humans left the Sociades satisfied.

But the humans were convinced that they can prove the Sociades wrong. They believed that they can serve their creator better by developing their intelligence further and beyond.

And so Fate no longer sided with the Sociades. The little butterfly flapped its wing, and the wind carried its intent—creating tornados of fate.

Burst of mana one day amplified the mana in the land of Trebüshka—enveloping the land slowly throughout the year—starting from a single Aegis discovered by the humans.

The humans grasped the power to control magic exponentially fast. Too fast, that most of the humans died as a result. The mana burned their bodies from inside and outside. Their burning passion literally burned them to death.

Few that survived become sage-like. Their will manifested by mana, their minds guiding it, and their body as the catalyst—creating many spells to conquer nature herself.

The Aegis then became their guardian. Putting harms away from their body by controlling it.

They created a spell controlling the heat of the earth, and a spell for them to move mountains—A spell to roam the sky and a spell to dry even the deepest ocean. They fought the beasts with their magic at an equal ground.

They were very close of proving the Sociades wrong.

The Sociades grow weary knowing that the humans possessed Aegis. They deemed the humans dangerous and unfaithful to their decree. They have no need of their creation developing further as they can create a more powerful one at any time. And they will do what they do, to any unfaithful creation of theirs;

Annihilation by Extinction

“Ridiculous! That was but a mere fairytale wasn’t it?” She said.

The Construct shook slightly.

“Fairytale or nay, a Calamity will happen. The Aegis is the evidence, Ovelia.”

“That’s your evidence? That’s like saying a sun exist in myth so the myth must be real, because the sun exist.”

I shook my head. Elle took out the Aegis.

It was vibrating. A tinge of red glow is visible on the turquoise crystal.

“Aegis is not a highly condensed mana. It is but a beacon, older than that of Deus’. It is a sort of door to another dimension.” Elle said.

Ovelia widened her eyes. A foreign red energy is becoming more noticeable. I clicked my tongue.

“The individual beacon itself is a door to mana many times denser than ambient mana. When enough beacons were activated, mana will be able to pass naturally into a world. That is where ambient mana came from”

“Yet this foreign energy…”

“Yeah, it belongs to the creature behind the door. A creature feared even by the Sociades.”

Dimensional Eater

—A creature roaming in the higher dimension where mana originated.

They are beings living in a raging chaos, a dimension where chaos rules. Dimensional Eater travels the infinite void in search for a universe they can parasite upon.

Their bodies are formed by dark energy which constantly twist and turn. No physical attack can kill them.

“Convincing the chief of TROI is going to be hard. It’ll threaten our guild and we didn’t have much time either.”

I took the Aegis from Elle. The mana in the Aegis throbs. Ovelia glanced at it.

“You can sense it too can’t you?”

“Mhmm. What happen when they arrive?” she asked, with a weary voice.

“Many things can happen, depending on what kind of Dimensional Eater arrived”

Steams and saturated mana burst out with a high-pitched sound.

We arrived at the 2 out of 4 checkpoints. The Construct slows down as it waited for the gigantic gate to open. After that in continue to build its momentum and continue forward.

*Rumble*

The air vibrates. The mana became restless.

The hair on the back of my neck stood immediately.

I ran to the window and slide it aside. Popping out my head—I squint my eyes. I can see a person out in the distance.

He was wearing a robe pale in color. Holding a staff in his right hand—he walks on the dead center of the track. The shaded from his hood prevents you to see his upper face from the distance.

Two of his hand moved agilely, drawing symbols of spell in the open air around him.

A yellow ward was forming around him. Multiple Aspects fused under his command. He was channeling more and more mana into it until it forms multiple arrays of wards that I know only one person was capable of.

“It’s him!” I exclaimed.

Ovelia was confused but Elle knew what I meant.

“Dammit! We went in the wrong way. We ran straight into him!”

The distance between the Construct and him became less and less just as my confidence becoming less and less. He walks towards us at ease.

“Hold on! Brace for impact!”

I grabbed one of the steel poles. Elle set up a protective ward covering the three of us.

*BANGGG!!!*

At that moment, it felt like the whole Construct hit an unmoving wall. My whole body was dragged forward. I can see the platform I’m standing slowly deforming from it.

Luckily the ward I erected kept the debris from harming us.

“Everyone allright?”

Both of them nodded.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

My step stuttered when we exited the Construct. Fortunately we exited through the back car of the Construct and none of us got hurt thanks to Elle’s protective barrier. But the front part to the middle part of the Construct got wrecked into pieces.

Looking around the hard stone floor—I can see the guardsmen lying on the ground. Upon closer inspection, I can still see signs of life on them. I put my glance towards the guy in the front.

That guy is dangerous! He defeated the guardsmen by himself and avoids killing them at a same time.

I hold my hand on the left side of my head and grunts.

My headache is acting up again. I don’t know whether it’s because thinking a lot or the crash earlier, or maybe both. Louis went towards the guy to confront him.

“Hello Heller! What a coincidence meeting you here. Have you eaten lunch?”

“Not yet thank you, but being polite won’t stop me from beating your asses dry” The guy said.

I saw Louis start sweating beads on his forehead after he heard the latter part. Elle’s face reacted by flinching too.

“Geez…why don’t we solve this with calm head? And talk about it while grabbing a lunch.”

“Great idea, I’ll beat your ass to calm myself, and then we’ll talk.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

From the way Louis called him earlier, he might be a mentor figure to Louis according to the norms of the Ma’least. They seem to know each other so why would they fight?

“Fine!” Louis said. He plunged straight into the guy.

I couldn’t believe it. Even with my mana enhanced eyes I could barely follow Louis’ blurry figure.

His feet nimbly navigate the field. Never have I seen a mage with a foot-work on par with an acrobat. His speed was comparable to a flying arrow. Although a bit lacking when compared to seasoned warrior in the Coliseum, but mind you he is only around 13 years old!

He is a complete prodigy!

The guy chanted out a Tetraspel lightning, but Louis dodged them with how agile he is. He circles around that guy even more as if to taunt him to attack again.

“Out-speeding me eh?”

“How can you still be arrogant even after you lost most of your strength? Are you sure you can beat me with just weak spells?”

“Let’s see about that.”

A 13 years old boy who not only is a talented in magic, but also a trained warrior? What was I doing at his age? Still learning elementary magic and believing it is the mystical force in that of bedtime stories!

For him to be this prodigious, his childhood must be hellish. He probably was put in an intense schedule of training and studying.

They both clashes again, the guy stood un-movingly. This time Louis doesn’t pay any heed to the lightning rapidly attacking him.

Louis’ barrier deflected all of the lightning, putting him at an arm’s reach.

His blurry fist punched at a speed that my eyes can’t follow.

The moment it touched the translucent barrier, a powerful shockwave reverberated. The air surrounding it collapsed into a visible crack but not the barrier. It turns into a different color.

Is he only a Tetramagi? Why didn’t he use a stronger spell? Judging from Louis said, it seems that he was injured from a previous battle. That barrier…

The barrier turns into an elastic form thus absorbing all of the impact.

Fused Aspects? Earlier before, he did stop the Construct somehow.

Louis threw all kinds of attack, punches and kicks. No matter what they are, mana amplified his attack. But no matter what the barrier shows no signs of breaking apart. A Pentamagi’s barrier would for sure be broken by now.

Both of their fighting styles are so bizarre.

It’s unimaginable for a boy to hold this amount of power. The genius child in our kingdom pale in comparison for what seems capable, only child whose names carved in the legends was comparable to him.

They both continued. Noticing he can’t penetrate the barrier with force, Louis put some distance between them.

“Tsk. That ward is lame. You hiding in the behind that ward is lame you know.”

“Talking while moving fast in a battle is even lamer. It’s cliché. Just come at me.”

The guy charges a spell, his barrier disappeared. I see lights manifesting at the tip his wand.

“Shit!” Louis cursed.

He moves even faster than before. But he was too late, the white speck of light flew even faster than him and attach into his barrier before he got close to that guy.

What came after is unprecedented to my knowledge. The mana surrounding the light continue gather into it even after him casting the spell and exploded. The explosion caused a sort of chain reaction and affected the ambience. The mana became stagnant for a while.

The explosion created crater in the hard stone floor. Louis surprisingly stands with no problem after the dust settled. But Louis’ clothing became dirty from the dusts.

It’s astounding how that amount of mana can cause this much destruction. Judging from the amount of mana in the charged spell earlier, I can tell that it’s just a Tetraspel. Yet the damage it caused is comparable to those of Hexaspels.

Why? With that much mastery over the Magic Aspects, he should be a Hexamagi. Combined with his level of control, he should be able to end the battle right there.

“Ugh..”

“Still standing? Not bad.”

“Let see who still stand after I use this!”

Louis took an item from his pouch. It reflects the ambient light into a dazzling beauty the moment it was brought out.

It was the Aegis!