The air boiled with tension.
The atmosphere grew electric with peril.
Neither side was willing to back down.
The gang, which Cæ recognized as the Bloodmounts, was too aggressive by nature and profoundly cognizant of their street credibility and their reputation. They couldn't afford to allow disrespect to pass, lest it give others the impression that they had gone soft. Their reputation was one of their greatest assets.
Nobody tried to disrespect them because everybody who did faced the wrath of the gang.
And, unfortunately, the task force just waltzing into town was somewhat irreverent of the local politics and simply drove in and set up a perimeter and a makeshift base to continue on with their operations.
Of course, they had predicted this response since they had experienced this violent backlash to their very operations multiple times before in a variety of districts that had a native gang.
They had no intention of backing down.
And neither did the Bloodmounts.
The first shot came from the latter.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
The leader began firing away, shooting at the convoy, which rapidly surged, firing back and retaliating with full-fledged vigor. The non-mage security team on the ground began firing away their magigun rifles, armed with a special bullet that only incapacitated instead of killing.
The apprentice magetants, on the other hand, cast a wide range of magic that threatened to wipe out the gangs.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Much to their surprise, a series of defensive spells emerged before the gang members from afar, drawing the attention of the magetants who grew grave with realization.
"The mafia has sent its mages to coordinate with its gangs."
It appeared that this time they had decided to conduct the attack on the operations more immediately and from the very get-go, with the ground being held by the gang members of the slums.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
A series of magic circles flashed in the air and deployed a variety of long-range attacks that threatened to wipe them all out in one fell swoop. The security magetants immediately shifted tracks, launching a myriad of attacks upon the mages afar as both groups of mages, Institute and Mafia, took on each other from afar and in the skies as they usually did.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
The two ground non-magical artillery groups fired at each other continuously, causing countless gang members to be struck with the incapacitating bullets of the rifles, causing them to fall flat. They were intended to be tested by the testing teams that would soon follow as the security perimeters expanded.
Cæ surged to the air as he joined the apprentice mages in their battle against the enemy apprentices.
He had hoped that there would be a little bit of peace so that he could take in his old environment and try to understand exactly why he felt the need to come here again.
"I guess not." He growled, pulling out his wand, unleashing a wave of magic against his opponents.
With a single wave of his wand and several magic circles emerging before his very eyes, a myriad of magical attacks emerged from him.
A beam of light.
A blaze of fire.
A blast of sound.
A wave of spewing boulders.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The spells emerged almost instantaneously after the magic circles caught the various apprentice mages off guard, barely allowing them to defend in time. And even then, many failed to react in time to his supremely swift attacks with stunningly little lag for a mere apprentice.
He charged forward along with the other apprentices of the security team backing him up, mounting attacks upon their enemies. The mafia apprentice mages gritted their teeth as they faced a considerable amount of pressure from their opponents.
It wasn't just because of a skill or magigear gap, either.
Cæ was equipped with the Fyreveil, an actual magical artifact granted by the Elendir Institute of Magic and the Headmistress to ensure that he remained protected. Its powerful enchants allowed him to withstand more attacks and get away with making more mistakes than perhaps any of his opponents would be able to.
The apprentice mages of his enemy were pushed back with rapid dominance as Cæ, along with the elite apprentice mages of the security team, rapidly dominated their opponents with great vigor and power.
Naturally, the Colohen Mafia had no intention of giving up that easily, as proven by the senior magetants that rapidly surged from their rear, charging forth as the powerful magetants deployed powerful magic.
Cæ's eyes widened as he felt a profoundly intense sensation inspiring the primal fear of death within him.
The senior magetant at the very forefront was clad in a hood of darkness.
He waved an eerie scepter that was gray.
He chanted an incantation under his breath as he deployed the magical energy of the death element.
And yet, he didn't just deploy it primitively to kill his opponents.
No.
He spread the gray death energy into the environment, causing it to seep into the ground far beneath them.
What shook Cæ the most was the fact that he deployed the life element as well.
RUMBLE
The lands beneath them shook.
It shook as fissures in the paths in the slums emerged in a menacing manner, as menacing darkness spewed from within them.
"What…" Cæ's voice was reduced to a whisper. "What is this?"
RUMBLE
His eyes widened with shock as corpses emerged from within the depths of the land, along with skeletons, and other remains of carcasses that emerged from within the depths of the land. One by one, they emerged from within the depths of the ground in great numbers.
They formed a small army.
Their eyes flared with a blood-red glow as they shifted their gaze to the apprentice mages.
"This…" Cæ's eyes widened with realization. "This is necromancy!"
Necromancy was a powerful but restrictive field of magic that came with many innate moral dilemmas that other fields didn't have. The art of using the death and life element to create undead puppets from the remnant astral energy in the corpse was, of course, a controversial magic that violated the dead in many ways. Previously demonized as dark magic, it had been rehashed and turned into a more ethical field, albeit with many restrictions and conditions.
And even these 'ethical' necromancers recognized with the state were still regarded with much suspicion and some ostracization, to varying extents.
Regardless, the sheer power of the magic field couldn't be denied, powered by not just the mana of the creator but also the remnant energy of the soul, it had a greater magic potential than ordinary magic, making it quite the menace to deal with it.
CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK!
Half of the army went to reinforce the ground forces while the other half of the army surged to the skies to face the apprentice magetants, launching themselves at their enemies with great power, threatening to overwhelm the apprentice magetants with numbers.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
"Rgh…!" Cæ gritted his teeth as he unleashed a flurry of magic continuously, struggling to wipe out the incoming army of skeletons and undead cadavers. Despite being corpses, their power was great, fueled by two sources of energy that increased the output.
And yet, the enemy senior magetants were just barely getting started.
His eyes widened as they unleashed a hurtling barrage of attacks of great caliber far beyond his ability.
There was almost no way that an apprentice mage could possibly defeat a senior mage.
He didn't have to, however.
They hadn't come alone.
BOOOM!
A flood of water came to Cæ's protection at the very last moment, washing away a lot of the undead and protecting him from the incoming attacks.
Cæ heaved a knowing sigh of relief.
"It seems like I'm once again dependent on your protection to survive, Senior Surven."
The leader of the senior magetant team, the Flowing Shield, smiled wryly as his aged eyes remained fixed on his enemies in the distance.
"It is my job, after all."
RUMBLE
The air tremored as the arrival of the senior magetants increased the intensity of the battle to great heights.
Despite that, however, it didn't alter the fundamental dynamics of the battle to be any different from the past.
"Your paltry power cannot compare to the elite magetants of the Elendir Institute of Magic," Senior Surven growled as he unleashed a tremendous flood of water that swept the skies, threatening to wipe out all the other apprentices in one fell swoop.
BOOOM!
The hooded necromancer of the enemy magetants narrowed his eyes, waving his gray scepter as a surge of gray magic circles featuring the Fundamental Form of Manipulation drove the powerful undead forward in the sky as the small army surged to meet the powerful wave of water.
The two sides collided with violent power, unleashing a powerful shockwave that swept across the skies.
RUMBLE…
Cæ felt chills crawl across his skin at how much power senior mages possessed. It was a reminder that he needed to give more respect to Seliphaz, even if she channeled her power differently and used it for productive means rather than causing big booms in combat.
BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!
Each attack rocked the air, sending ripples across the atmosphere as the senior mages took over the primacy of the battle.
And yet, like the battle with the apprentices, as it had always been in each battle from the very start of the program, the Institute magetants got the upper hand for a myriad of reasons, but especially because they were trusted with greater temporary magicapita endowments because the law and norm-abiding structure of the society they were in.
The enemy senior magetants, led by the necromancer, gritted their teeth as they struggled to pressure their oppponents with their lesser mana reserves simply due to the fact that they were operating in a part of society that was simply devoid of trust, reducing the amount of magicapita they were bestowed by their superiors.
And, just as it always had, the battle slowly tilted in the favor of the Elendir Institute of Magic as their senior magetants pushed and pushed, allowing them to pressure the magetants to struggle just to maintain parity.
Because they had less mana, they had to be more conservative while the senior magetants of the Elendir Institute of Magic blasted them with powerful and mana-hungry spells that forced them to burn an equivalent amount of mana just to ensure that they didn't die at the hands of the security teams.
And yet, it merely delayed the inevitable.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The Flowing Shield narrowed his eyes as he rapidly crushed swathes of undead faster than his enemy could draw them from within the depths of the land. "Unsanctioned necromancy with unconsented reanimation of the dead is not just a crime; you vermin commit crime all the time, but it's much worse. It's a desecration of the dead. I will not allow it to go unpunished!"
RUMBLE!
The air shook as the man summoned an enormous wave of water larger than any other Cæ had ever seen him summon, going as far as to chant an incantation instead of a magic circle to boost the power of the spell.
BOOOM!
The powerful wave of water blasted forth high in the skies, overwhelming their enemies wholesale.
"Rgh!"
"Gah!"
"Help!"
The enemy magetants were swept with water, on the very verge of being crushed by it in a dominant, overwhelming victory.
If not for the intervention.
BOOOOOM!
Senior Surven widened his eyes with alarm as a destructively powerful shockwave stripped the enemy magetants of the water that surrounded them.
In the blink of an eye, the powerful, charged senior-level spell of water was overwhelmed.
The unconscious enemy mages floated midair, held up by the magic of a single man.
His face was scarred with gnarly scar tissue.
His eyes were an unnerving red.
On his forehead was a symbol.
The symbol of a skull on fire.
Chills crawled across Senior Surven's skin as his expression grew alarmed.
His eyes glinted with horrified recognition.
A single whisper escaped him.
"That's a master mage."
His words sent shivers down the spines of all those who heard it.
Senior Surven gritted his teeth.
"Run! Get away!" he roared as he activated as many magic circles as he possibly. "GET OUT OF HERE AS FAST AS YOU CAN."
The other mages shook at his alarmed words.
The mood darkened with dread.
The air grew electric with peril.
"What are you waiting for?! Go!" he screamed at them as he conjured even more water as he gritted his teeth. "That's the master of the Colohen Mafia…!"
His elder eyes darkened.
"…Master Mordir!"