During the "Second Great War," the empire selects and enlists gifted mages from all around the nation to establish a Mage Corps capable of front-line combat. They upskilled these mages to fight in close quarters; they were known as 'Warmages,' and this Mage Corps was one of the Empire's main advantages during the conflict, turning the tide of battle.
And after years of struggle, peace was restored. However, one of the core forces of the empire, the 'Warmages,' was nowhere to be found until weeks had passed, and the nation was stunned by the breaking news. The Mages Corps was found annihilated not far from the battleground where the war took place.
The Empire investigated the annihilated Mage Corps; days had passed, turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, but the investigation found nothing until it was shut down. Subsequently, the Mage Corpse was forgotten, became a part of the past, and no one knows what happened to them or how a powerful corps ended like that.
***
Five hundred soldiers, ten Mages, two Escort Knights, the Knight Captain, and the prince of the empire greeted them with an overwhelming number of forces as the two of them walked out from the gate of TARTARUS.
It was a bit of a massive force, just for two people.
The intruder is standing steadily between the Empire's forces in front of him and the underground prison on his back; he and Einar are now trapped, with no means of escaping.
His plan was simple: infiltrate TARTARUS, set up a barrier, locate Einar, then use teleportation magic to escape, while the barrier holds the Empire's forces and serves as a safe zone for him to use his teleportation magic. However, things have gone awry for him; the plan of escaping TARTARUS becomes a difficult task now that his barrier is no longer available.
'So, they manage to break the barrier and cast a disturbed magic to cancel teleportation magic in the area. But I do not see a mage that is capable of destroying my barrier among them,' having his thoughts as he looks at the group of mages, who were casting a disturbed magic.
His eyes slowly scanned the area looking for a possible way for them to escape, just a little gap in defenses would be enough to force their way out, but his eyes stopped at the Escort Knight in black armor. His eyes grew wide beneath his mask, not caused by the knight in the black armor but by the weapon in its hand.
'…?! That sword is Excalibur, the sacred sword. That sword is incredibly powerful and can greatly increase the wielder's strength. With that sword, destroying the barrier is possible. But how? How did they manage to get that? Only Anna can wield that, and after her death, that sword should return to emptiness.'
"Tsk!" He clicked his tongue.
'So that's how they managed to break the barrier.' His frowning behind the mask, knowing that it was impossible to force their way out with that knight wielding Excalibur.
Then he gazed back at the group of Mages who were continuously casting the disturbed magic and took a quick analysis of the current situation.
'Just knocking one of those Mages will disrupt the flow of mana needed to sustain that disrupted spell; thus, I need to get them. However, I doubt that the prince's Escort Knights would permit me to do so; they will most likely keep me at bay.'
Step! Step!
Prince Corbin advances from the crowd, placing himself just a few meters from the intruder and a few steps from his escort knight to rush in to protect him. He slowly opened his lips, speaking with an authoritative tone.
"I commend your act of boldness, but there's no way for the two of you to escape this place. I have this place swarming with soldiers, but just me and my Escort Knights are enough to take you down. Just give up, and I will give you both a painless death," he said with a menacing smile.
"Is that what you also said when you ordered genocide to my village, a painless death?" The man in the mask spoke in a sharp tone.
Prince Corbin snickered, "Anyone who is against the will of the Empire shall face death and I have burned countless villages, villages of peasants to be exact. And what I did is to make the empire less filthy. And I don't know which of those you were talking about," he replied with no hint of remorse but with eyes full of malice that were locked on the intruder.
Captain Edward frowned, hearing their conversation. He was puzzled by the intruder's identity. Einar, who was out of earshot, was also intrigued by his identity. Both of them had the same question in mind.
It was true that the prince had burned countless villages, but not because they were against the Empire but because of his sadistic nature. Old, child, woman, he doesn't care, if he wants to kill, he will do it without blinking, just to give satisfaction to his twisted mind. This gives him the title of the 'Mad Prince.'
Hearing these words, the intruder can no longer suppress his rage towards the Prince. He was trembling, clenching his fist hard as if it was about to break. And out of nowhere, a raging, invincible force storms the place as the intruder emanates an overwhelming magic energy. Soldiers recoiled, and those who had low magical energy to protect themselves from the intruder's magic energy gradually knelt, having difficulty breathing due to the heavy atmosphere.
"I guess it's a no then," the moment Prince Corbin finishes his words, the two escort knights rush from his back towards the intruder with a stamping sound of metals as their armored boots hit the stone pavements with a heavy thud.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The cold breeze of the night is ousted by a rising heat every second as the intruder extends his right hand. And in an instant, a giant ball of fire that mirrors the sun emerges from his palm and shoots towards the two rushing escort knights. If you were the unlucky target, the heat was more than enough to roast a man alive to a crisp.
Shing!
By swinging the sword downward, the red-armored knight splits the rushing giant fireball in their direction like it was nothing, making room for the black-armored knight to pass through. In contrast, the split ball of fire burns the soldiers behind them. And in a split second, the black-armored knight closed the distance between him and the intruder. With a sudden burst of speed, it swung the blade upward from below, making a wheel slash before continuing into a spinning horizontal slash.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
However, the strike barely makes it through; the man in the mask twists his body to the side to avoid the wheel slash and ducks down to avoid the upcoming horizontal slash. He used augmentation magic the moment he shot that ball of fire to enhance his body to match the escort knight's superhuman speed. After dodging the blade strikes, he feels a lurking death approaching not from the knight in front of him, but from above. He turned up his gaze as the other knight withdrew the strikes and moved away from him. The escort knight in red armor was airborne and rushing down like a meteor, holding his sword above his head. A downward strike of the knight's sword would mean an instant and nasty kind of death, splitting his body from his head to his groin.
The sharp blade was hurtling toward his skull like a beam of light; there was no way he could avoid the fatal blow, but then!
Clang!
The rushing blade is stopped hardly in time by a bright golden ball that is floating in midair. It was the 'AEGIS,' an artifact with defensive attributes that could stop both magical and physical attacks against the user.
The prince, who was in the side lane watching was taken by surprise by what just happened; it was supposed to be a sure hit, his knights had executed a perfect combination of diversion and ambush; however, the blade had stopped an inch from the target's face. The man in the mask smirked; he was waiting for this moment. It is time for a counterattack, and out of nowhere, chains start to appear swiftly from the ground, restraining the two escort knights. The moment the skirmish started, he concealed magic circles in the ground using the first attack he made to draw their attention away from the magic traps he made.
The knights tried to break free from the chains, but it was pointless; the more they struggled, the more rigid the chains became, making them kneel against the ground.
"Fire!"
Prince Corbin barked a command as soon as his escort knights were immobilized. Mana arrows and elemental magical attacks hail in the intruder's direction. AEGIS senses the attack and instantly creates a magical shield sphere, passively to protect his wielder from a barrage of attacks.
"Pathetic, never cared about your own knights," the intruder speaks in disdain.
The man in the mask casts a summoning spell; the sky begins to roar, and lights start to flash.
Captain Edward sensed a great peril coming; the magical attack that the man in the mask was using was just no ordinary high-tier magic; with all his might, he cried out loud. "Run and get away from here!" But it was already late, and then suddenly several brilliant blue lights jagged from the sky, struck down the place, like it was raining, instead of raindrops, it was lightning.
Captain Edward turned his head, looking at the civilian who was supposed to vacate the place. TARTARUS was surrounded by civilian houses just a few blocks away from it; they never had thought that someone would attack the underground prison since it was in the heart of the empire.
An innocent child who was holding a doll in her hands met his gaze. She was smiling, not knowing the danger, as she was swallowed by a bolt of lightning and was turned into nothing but ashes. The captain grits his jaw tightly from the unfolding scene before his eyes.
"Feel despair," The man in a mask spoke in a chilling tone.
[LIGHTNINGSTORM]
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
An explosion reverberated, sending a shockwave throughout the vicinity. Then the place was filled with thick smoke, burnt debris, and the stench of burning flesh. The aftermath of the attack was quite devastating; agonizing cries and a smell of death were all over the place. The scale of the attack was so large that even the houses that were half a kilometer away from the prison were wiped out.
Right after that, the man in the mask leapt out from the smoke, unscathed; thanks to his artifact, 'AEGIS,' he was able to unleash the terrifying attack without concerning his safety. Then he sped towards Einar, knowing that the disturbed magic was no longer active; what he aimed for from the start was already done, knocking those mages. But without warning, a dark beam struck him and stopped him from reaching Einar's location.
Bzzzt!
The 'AEGIS' deflected the incoming projectile without difficulty, as expected from an epic rank artifact.
He turned and surveyed for the dark beam's source. It was the prince who unleashed that attack just now. Prince Corbin was looking at him bleeding with murderous eyes and standing right beside Captain Edward, who is more heavily injured. Captain Edward had deployed a shield to protect him and the prince from the masked man's attack. Though he expected that they would survive the attack, he never thought they could react swiftly and stop him from escaping with Einar.
"Damn it!" He exclaimed in disappointment while staring sharply at the prince.
"You! I'm going to fucking kill you slowly and painfully. You're going to pay for what you did!" The Prince spoke menacingly.
"Come forth!" Prince Corbin spoke in a shrieked voice
The two escort knights emerge steaming from the thick smoke.