It was irritating...
Since Dom was old enough to read books and understand stories, he'd always seen the Magic Knights to be a beacon of hope and protection for those in need. An irrefutable symbol of heroism... especially when it came to the Monarchs.
So to hear the words of one of these knights, a Monarch successor to be specific... to hear those wicked, evil, and almost blasphemous words from his mouth...
Dom is disappointed, disgusted, and most of all... pissed off.
"Dog?" Dom grumbled as he tightly clenched his fists, hard enough for blood to trickle through his fingers.
"Don't you know?" Xavier asked as he slowly approached Dom, idly spinning his spear by his side. "Even among the Monarchs, there were two criminals who were supposed to be executed... but instead were used to end the war. My former boss, the Devil Fox, was one of them."
He slowly spins his weapon faster as he goes on.
"Every single knight is just a monster that, instead of locking up or throwing away, is used to do the Council's bidding. Just like how you use a dog."
Dom's gaze darkens. "And you're okay with being a dog?" He asked with an ominous tone to his voice.
Xavier stops a couple of feet away with his spear, now tapping against his shoulder. "As long as I get my pay and spend it on booze and women, I don't mind wagging my tail for the Capital. If I have to destroy a town to get that..." He shrugs. "Then it is what it is."
That was the last straw.
Lucy instantly flinches once she senses a dark change to Dom's usually bright mana.
"Stay back," Dom said to Lucy, who frowned as he walked forward.
Xavier raises a brow, his lips twisted into an amused smirk.
"You think you can handle me on your own?"
Despite staring Xavier dead in the eye, he doesn't answer. Instead, he stops a couple of feet away and takes up his stance, his raised fists oozing with blue mana.
Xavier scoffs at Dom's unwavering gaze. "Alright. Give it your best shot." He said as his body suddenly released a wave of red aura.
Lucy and the wolves instantly shiver as Xavier's immense power washes over them. Even the forest around them trembles a little under Xavier's mana.
Dom's eyes widen, his entire being focused on the clouds of thick red aura emanating from Xavier's body, completely blocking everything else from his senses.
Even before saying his mage class, even before seeing this dense mana, every cell in Dom's body had already known that Xavier was far stronger than him. That fighting him would lead to an inevitable defeat.
But despite his trembling body, his instincts were screaming at him to run away... Dom swallows his fear, his eyes glazing over as he refocuses his mind.
Xavier's eyes widen a little. "You've got some serious balls, kid." He said with an amused smirk.
That's when Dom charges forward, his body closing the gap between them in seconds.
"I read about you," Xavier said as he stabs his spear into the ground before weaving, narrowly avoiding Dom's punch.
Dom grunts as he turns, his sneakers skidding across the ground before he suddenly leaps at Xavier with another punch, which Xavier casually deflects.
"Your magic affinity is physical enhancement, right?" Xavier asked as he easily deflects and evades Dom's next set of rapid attacks. "I feel bad for you."
"Shut up," Dom grumbled as he suddenly swung his leg down, the impact rattling the clearing with an explosion of rock and debris.
Dom clicks his tongue as he stares at his foot lodged in the crumbled floor and turns to a completely unharmed Xavier, smirking at him from a distance.
"Applying a certain amount of mana into our bodies to make them stronger while allowing us to withstand attacks. That's the basics of mage combat."
Dom bursts forward with a sonic boom.
Xavier instantly ducks, evading Dom's sudden kick.
"Which means it's something every mage can do," Xavier said as Dom rolled to a stop several feet away. "If your special ability is something everyone can do, it's not really special, is it?" He added with a condescending grin.
Dom's eyes widen with rage; his next dash creates deep cracks in the hard dirt as his body soars to meet Xavier with another mana-infused punch.
This time, Xavier doesn't dodge. He simply raises a hand and catches Dom's punch in his open palm.
The impact produces a sharp gust of wind and a loud smack that echoes throughout the entire forest.
Dom's eyes widen, his body now rigid, once he realized that his punch did not affect Xavier whatsoever.
With a smirk, Xavier closes his fingers around Dom's fist.
Dom immediately tries to pull away but fails to escape Xavier's unmoving grip.
"The more mana you focus into your body," Xavier said as he raised his free arm, which oozes with mana, "the stronger you become. So as long as I have more mana..."
He suddenly clenches his fist, causing Dom to instinctively guard with his other arm.
"I'll be stronger than you."
In the blink of an eye, Xavier's fist connects with Dom's gut.
The impact digs into his torso, radiates throughout his body like ripples in a lake before blowing a hole in his shirt from behind.
Dom's eyes momentarily roll back into his head, his mind rattled by the shock, while blood escapes his open mouth.
Xavier finally releases Dom's fist, leaving him to fall forward, but before he is even halfway to the ground, Xavier spins, sending his heel into Dom's cheek.
This sends him spiraling rapidly through the air before tumbling harshly several meters away.
Amused by Dom's struggle in an attempt to get back up, Xavier laughs.
"I'll bet this is the first time someone's ever hit you that hard."
Meanwhile, Dom didn't hear a word he said.
All he could hear was the loud ringing in his ears. His vision blurs, his mouth fills with the taste of blood, his body trembles with pain.
The training he'd received over the years, the Reflezard he fought, his battle with Lucy... they all paled in comparison to this monster.
With just two blows, Dom's mind is completely rattled.
At this point, it is taking all of Dom's willpower just to stay conscious.
Xavier's smile fades at Dom's pitiful stare.
"And here I thought you'd actually put up a fight." He sighed before turning his attention to Lucy, who growls at him. "Maybe she'll do better."
Before he could even take a step, he sensed a static spark at his side and turned, his eyes coming into contact with a jet-black blade inches away from his face.
With a smirk, he vanishes, leaving the blade swinging harmlessly through the air.
As he reappears some distance away, he fixes an amused grin at the new opponent. "Was wondering where your partner in crime was." Xavier chuckled.
Still barely aware of his surroundings, Dom looks up to find Dae now standing against Xavier.
Maintaining his sword stance, Dae looks around, his intelligent mind quickly assessing the situation until his eyes fall on the spear sticking out of the ground in the distance.
"You're the 7th Division's Head Vice-Captain," Dae said as he turned his calm gaze back to Xavier.
"At least one of you knows his stuff." Xavier chuckled as he clapped... only to stop once his smile dons a more sinister tone. "And I know who you are, Dae Hyeon."
Dae stiffens, his eyes now wide with shock...
Xavier shakes his head. "I tell you. I was shocked when I found out that Old Man Jin had a grandson. I wonder if he's still al-"
"How did you know?" Dae asked with a now dark glow in his eyes.
Noting the dark change in Dae's aura, Xavier smirks. "Is that what this is about?" He asked before suddenly vanishing and instantly reappearing beside his spear.
With a sharp thunder-clap, Dae blitzes forward, instantly closing the gap between them with his blades already inches away from Xavier again.
But in one swift move, Xavier's spear blocks Dae's slash. The sharp lightning-infused swords were grinding against the spear's surprisingly hard material.
"While there's no physical evidence to prove it, as someone who's still alive after seeing that sword technique with my own eyes, I think it's obvious," Xavier said.
Annoyed, Dae clicks his tongue, and he backs away, where he takes a new stance with the swords now over his head.
"Form 32. Spark Chain." Dae whispered as he instantly unleashed a series of blade swings.
His slashes move so fast that the residual electricity left by his katana-paths resembles a large bundle of purple strings, which promptly surge towards Xavier.
Xavier suddenly takes a low stance, his eyes glowing brightly as he quickly swings his spear in a rapid, complex pattern, his weapon leaving a trail of blue light to emphasize his speed.
Instantly, the series of sword and spear clashes starts and simultaneously ends with Dae suddenly blown away as an aftereffect.
Dae's eyes widen as he looks past the electrical sparks momentarily suspended in the air to find Xavier grinning at him.
"He countered each one?" Dae grumbled, his teeth gritted in frustration as he backslid several feet away.
Xavier causally spins his spear in his hand as he speaks, "I'm disappointed. What makes the Thunder Sword Style so deadly is not its forms, it's the speed."
Dae stands, his eyes narrowed as he closely monitors Xavier's movements.
"Among the Monarchs, the only person who could compete with your grandfather's speed was the Emperor himself." Xavier stops spinning his spear, a clearly displeased look on his face. "Right now, you're just around sound speed. Compared to your grandfather's lightning-fast attacks... you're weak."
With a triggered glare in his eyes, Dae's aura surges out of his body with bright violet electricity crackling loudly around his body. The ground crumbles under his feet as he suddenly bursts forward with a deafening thunderclap.
"Form 56; Static Spear." He whispered as he aimed his blades forward, concentrating his lightning into his weapons, causing the electricity to spread forward from their tips like a long spear, now already mere centimeters away from Xavier.
But right before making direct contact, Xavier rapidly turns to the side in a seemingly casual move, leaving Dae to rocket past him.
"And in case you're wondering..." Xavier said as Dae skids to a stop several meters away and turns... only to sense a presence now standing behind him.
"I'm faster than sound," Xavier whispered into his ear.
Dae quickly turns and barely blocks Xavier's spear, suddenly thrusting it down on him.
Dae's eyes widen as Xavier casually pushes down with his spear with one hand, which is enough to force Dae to a knee, the floor beneath them crumbling into rubble.
Despite using both hands to hold up his blades, Dae's unable to push Xavier back.
With a spark in his eyes, Xavier's eyes widen once he sees Dae's blades suddenly glow with purple light.
"Giga mine!" Dae chanted as lightning suddenly erupted from his blades like an explosion, encasing both of them in a powerful electrical surge that ended with a big explosion of smoke and dust.
Unscathed, Xavier jumps out of the smoke cloud just as the cloud disperses, revealing Dae in a low stance with his blades stretched towards his back.
"Bolt barrage!"
With another chant, Dae suddenly swings his blades in rapid slashes, creating arcs of lightning bolts that zip towards Xavier in the air.
But with a laugh, Xavier rapidly spins his spear in front of him, creating a shield that easily blocks the attack. He barely lands on the ground some distance away when Dae appears behind him with an attack already aimed at his back.
"Twe-"
"Too slow," Xavier said as he suddenly thrust the blunt end of his spear into Dae's exposed chest without even looking at him.
The impact knocks the wind out of Dae's lungs, forcing him to stumble while Xavier spins around with a punch thrown towards the vulnerable swordsman. But he suddenly stops and instead uses his hand to support his spear, which successfully blocks a sudden kick from the side.
Xavier backslides a couple of feet, the ground crumbling under his feet, before stopping by anchoring himself with his spear.
Already aware of his attacker, Xavier smirks. "Hmph. You're tougher than you look." Xavier said as he stared at Dom, now standing in front of Dae with a pained and exhausted look on his face.
"Looks like... I got us... in some real deep shit... Sorry." Dom said as he managed to take a stance despite his body still tingling with intense pain.
Dae groans as he forces himself to his feet. "Too late for apologies."
Xavier looks between the two with an amused smile.
"Boss!"
The three turn to find some magic knights running towards them.
"Damn, you guys are so slow," Xavier said with a mocking smirk.
"You're too fast." One of the knights said, and Dae clicks his tongue as they find themselves quickly surrounded by the knights.
"So these are the traitors?" Another knight said as he pointed his gun at Dom, and the others did the same.
Dom clenches his fists and looks around, his still trembling mind already thinking of how to handle this new trouble...
"Don't bother," Xavier said, getting their attention. "They may be rookies, but you can't take them," Xavier said.
The knights look at Xavier with a clearly annoyed expression. "Are you underestimating us, Boss?" The first knight asked.
Xavier waves dismissively at them. "I'll take care of them. You guys handle the others." He tilts his head suggestively to Lucy, still watching with the wolves some distance away.
And despite their still unsatisfied expressions, the men nod, and they follow his commands.
"Stop!" Dom shouted as he suddenly dashed to protect Lucy... only to stop as Xavier suddenly appeared in front of him.
Dom grits his teeth while Xavier smirks as he leans his spear on his shoulder. "If you want to save your girl, you have to beat me first."
"Dammit," Dom grumbled as Dae stepped up to his side.
"But that's impossible. Wanna know why?" Xavier asked.
Dom frowns. "No. But you're going to tell us anyway, right?" He said.
Xavier smirks. "The magic class basically tells how powerful a mage is." He holds up a hand to demonstrate.
"From the lowest class, E, the difference in power to the next class is increased by a factor of at least 2. Which means, a D-class mage is at least two times stronger than an E-class mage, and a C-class mage is even two times stronger than that."
As Xavier rants, Dae notices a subtle sign from Dom's fingers, which he recognizes as a battle tactic they formed during their academy training.
"... That increase goes up with each class but stops once it reaches the S class. Do you know why?"
The two refuse to answer, so Xavier shrugs and goes on;
"That's because the S represents the Special mage class. Only the super mages reach this class." Xavier takes his spear off his shoulder and begins to slowly spin it in his hand.
"The difference in class suddenly jumps from a factor of two to a factor of ten. In other words, a single S-class mage is at least 10 times stronger than an A-class mage."
As Xavier's weapon spin increases in speed, Dae raises his katanas while Dom cracks his knuckles.
"Once you reach the SS class, the factor difference jumps to 100."
Xavier suddenly stops his spear, creating a sharp gust of wind before pointing his spear at them, the sharp tip reflecting the bright moonlight.
"Judging by your mana and power, I'd say that you're both A class. Which means..." Xavier gives a dramatic pause as he places his spear on the ground with a loud thunk sound. "... I'm at least a thousand times stronger than both of you."
Dae's foot shifts as he adjusts his stance. "A thousand." He whispered.
Dom narrows his eyes. "No wonder we're losing this badly." He commented as he tried to stabilize his still trembling hand.
Xavier grins. "So? Are you going to give up, nice and quiet or..." His body slowly begins to release his red aura, causing the boys to flinch from its sheer intensity. "... do you want me to humiliate you even more?" He added with a sadistic gleam in his eyes.