*Whispering Woods - Western Approach*
From his aerial observation point, Damian shifted his Surveillance World's focus to the western section of the stronghold, where Rygon was making his approach with characteristic flair. Even in the middle of a covert operation, the blonde mage had somehow managed to make his military uniform look like formal wear, his cape flowing dramatically behind him as he navigated the forest paths with theatrical precision.
"Rygon, you're approaching the target building," Damian reported through the communication array. "Intelligence suggests your opponent specializes in summoning magic—multiple entities, unknown classification."
"Summoning magic?" Rygon's voice carried obvious delight through the crystal. "Oh, this is perfect! Finally, someone who might actually appreciate the artistry of what I'm about to demonstrate."
Through his enhanced vision, Damian could see the western tower of the stronghold—a structure that seemed to be built from interwoven branches and crystallized shadow, its surface crawling with runic patterns that pulsed with otherworldly energy. Even from a distance, he could sense the presence of multiple magical entities contained within.
"Remember, Rygon," Damian cautioned, "these aren't ordinary summons. The magical signatures suggest—"
"Your Highness," Rygon interrupted with the confidence of someone who had never met a problem he couldn't solve with sufficient style, "trust me. I've got this."
The blonde captain approached the tower's entrance with the swagger of someone arriving at a grand ball rather than a dangerous combat situation. When the heavy doors swung open to reveal a chamber filled with swirling portals and half-materialized creatures, Rygon actually paused to adjust his cape.
"Magnificent!" he declared, his voice echoing through the chamber with genuine appreciation. "Truly magnificent workmanship! The dimensional stability alone must have taken years to perfect!"
His opponent materialized from the largest of the portals—a thin, pale man in elaborate robes covered with summoning circles. His eyes held the fevered intensity of someone who had spent too long trafficking with entities from other planes of existence.
"Who dares disturb the sanctum of Voidcaller Malachar?" the summoner demanded, his voice carrying harmonics that suggested some of his own essence had been traded away for power.
"Rygon of the Magic Knights," came the cheerful reply, accompanied by an elaborate bow that somehow managed to be both respectful and mocking. "And might I say, your aesthetic sense is absolutely impeccable. The way you've integrated the dimensional anchor points with the structural supports? Pure artistry."
Malachar blinked in confusion, clearly not expecting compliments from someone who had just broken into his stronghold. "You... appreciate my work?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Rygon said with enthusiasm, drawing Order and Chaos from their holsters with flourishes that made the weapons gleam in the portal-light. "I'm something of an artist myself, you see. Precision magical engineering, crafted to perfection through years of dedicated study and refinement."
He held up the twin hand cannons, their surfaces reflecting the otherworldly light from Malachar's summoning portals.
"These beauties took me three years to perfect," Rygon continued proudly. "Order can fuse any two things together that its bullets strike, while Chaos can separate anything into its component parts. The magical matrices alone required seventeen different theoretical frameworks to achieve proper stability."
"Fascinating," Malachar said, despite himself. "But surely you understand that I cannot allow—"
"Oh, I completely understand!" Rygon interrupted cheerfully. "You have your duty as a dark mage, I have mine as a Magic Knight. But before we begin, might I suggest a small demonstration? Artist to artist?"
Without waiting for permission, Rygon raised Order and fired a single shot at two of the smaller summoning portals. The bullet struck the edge of each portal simultaneously, and suddenly the separate dimensional rifts fused together into a single, larger opening.
"See how elegantly the dimensional matrices merged?" Rygon said with obvious pride. "No disruption to the overall stability, just a seamless integration of existing magical structures. That's the beauty of fusion magic—it works with what's already there rather than trying to impose something entirely new."
Malachar stared at his modified portals with a mixture of amazement and outrage. "You... you just casually manipulated master-level summoning magic like it was a child's toy!"
"Well, yes," Rygon replied with a modest shrug that somehow managed to be incredibly arrogant. "When you understand the underlying principles as thoroughly as I do, most magical constructs become quite easy to modify. Though I must say, your work really is quite good. Better than most amateurs, certainly."
"Amateur?" Malachar's voice rose to a near shriek. "I am a master summoner! I have contracts with entities from seventeen different planes of existence!"
"Seventeen? That's... actually rather impressive," Rygon admitted with the tone of someone offering genuine praise to a particularly promising student. "I assume you have proper containment protocols for cross-dimensional contamination? The last thing anyone wants is accidentally summoning something from the Abyssal Depths because of sloppy ritual work."
"Of course I have proper protocols!" Malachar snapped. "Do you think I'm some amateur hedge wizard?"
"Not at all," Rygon assured him. "Though I couldn't help but notice that your binding circles are using the old Zeref-era inscription patterns. They work, certainly, but they're terribly inefficient compared to modern techniques."
As he spoke, Rygon casually raised Chaos and fired at one of Malachar's summoning circles. The bullet struck the runic inscriptions and suddenly the complex magical binding separated into its component parts—individual runes floating free from their careful arrangement.
"See how much cleaner that looks?" Rygon asked with satisfaction. "The old method tried to force all the binding elements into a single unified pattern, but if you separate them properly, you can achieve much more precise control over—"
His explanation was cut off as the creature that had been bound by that particular circle erupted from its portal in a fury of claws and shadow. The beast was something out of nightmare—eight feet of muscle and malevolence with too many teeth and eyes that burned with infernal fire.
"You fool!" Malachar screamed. "That was a Greater Shadow Fiend! Without proper bindings, it will—"
"Oh, will it?" Rygon asked with polite interest, even as the demon lunged at him with claws that could rend steel. He raised Order almost casually and fired a single shot that struck both the demon's claws and the stone floor beneath it.
Instantly, the creature's weapons fused with the ground, leaving it anchored in place and completely unable to attack. The Greater Shadow Fiend roared in frustration as it tried to free itself, but Order's magic had made its claws literally part of the floor.
"The thing about binding magic," Rygon explained conversationally while the demon thrashed helplessly, "is that it's all about controlling the relationship between different entities. Your method tries to contain them through force, but my approach simply changes their relationship with their environment."
"That's impossible!" Malachar protested. "You can't just... you can't treat summoning like mechanical engineering!"
"Can't I?" Rygon asked with a brilliant smile. "Watch this."
He began moving through the chamber with fluid precision, Order and Chaos singing as they worked in perfect coordination. Each shot was calculated not just for immediate effect, but for how it would interact with the overall magical ecosystem of the summoning chamber.
Chaos separated binding circles into their component parts, freeing creatures that immediately became enraged at their summoner. But before they could act on that rage, Order fused them with various parts of the chamber's architecture—claws stuck to walls, tentacles merged with ceiling beams, wings bound to stone pillars.
"You see," Rygon explained as he worked, his voice carrying the patient tone of a master craftsman explaining his techniques, "the real art isn't in binding creatures against their will. It's in creating situations where they can't effectively act on their hostile impulses."
Within minutes, Malachar's chamber of horrors had been transformed into something resembling a very bizarre art installation. Dozens of summoned creatures were held immobilized not by magical chains, but by the simple reality that their various body parts had been fused with immovable objects.
"This is a travesty!" Malachar shrieked, his carefully maintained composure finally cracking entirely. "You've turned my life's work into a... a sculpture garden!"
"A very impressive sculpture garden," Rygon corrected with obvious pride. "And technically temporary—the fusion effects will wear off in a few hours once my magical signature fades. Though I suppose that won't matter much since you'll be in custody by then."
Malachar tried to summon reinforcements from his remaining portals, but Rygon simply used Chaos to separate the dimensional rifts from their anchor points, causing them to drift harmlessly away like soap bubbles.
"The problem with your approach to summoning," Rygon continued, holstering his weapons with theatrical flair, "is that you're thinking like a collector rather than an engineer. You acquire creatures and try to force them to serve you, but you don't really understand the underlying systems that make summoning work."
"And you do?" Malachar demanded weakly, his magical reserves nearly exhausted from maintaining so many disrupted summons.
"Oh, absolutely," Rygon replied with cheerful confidence. "I spent two years studying dimensional mechanics before I even attempted to create Order and Chaos. You can't properly manipulate magical systems without understanding the theoretical framework that governs their operation."
He gestured around the chamber where dozens of otherworldly creatures hung helplessly fused to various architectural features.
"Take your binding circles, for example," he continued. "You're using brute-force containment when what you really need is elegant redirection. Instead of trying to overpower a Greater Shadow Fiend's natural aggression, why not simply ensure that aggression can't be expressed in harmful ways?"
"Because that's not how summoning magic works!" Malachar protested desperately.
"It's not how traditional summoning magic works," Rygon corrected. "But traditional methods are often terribly inefficient. I prefer to think of myself as something of an innovator in applied magical theory."
"You're insane," Malachar whispered, staring around his transformed chamber.
"I prefer 'creatively brilliant,'" Rygon replied with a grin. "Though I suppose the results speak for themselves."
He produced a set of magical restraints from his elegant uniform, their design as ornate as everything else about his equipment.
"Now then," he said cheerfully, "you have two options. You can surrender peacefully and maintain what little dignity you have left, or I can use Order to fuse your feet to the floor and arrest you anyway. Either way works for me, though I think the first option would be less embarrassing for you."
Malachar looked around his ruined stronghold, at the creatures he had spent years learning to summon now hanging like bizarre decorations throughout the chamber, and made the only choice that made sense.
"I surrender," he said quietly.
"Excellent decision!" Rygon said brightly, securing the restraints with practiced efficiency. "And really, you shouldn't feel too bad about this. Your summoning work really was quite good—it's just that you were thinking too small. With proper theoretical grounding, you could probably achieve much more impressive results."
"Rygon, target secured," came the report through the communication network, his voice carrying the same satisfied pride it had throughout the entire encounter.
"Exceptional work," Damian replied from his observation position. "That was... uniquely creative."
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Rygon responded happily as he began escorting his prisoner from the transformed chamber. "I do try to bring a certain artistic sensibility to my work. After all, anyone can just shoot things with magical weapons—the real challenge is doing it with style."
"And humility," came Teal's voice through the communication array, clearly amused.
"Humility is overrated," Rygon replied cheerfully. "Besides, false modesty would be an insult to the genuine craftsmanship that went into creating Order and Chaos."
As Rygon emerged from the western tower with his captured opponent, Damian reflected on what he'd witnessed. His third captain hadn't just defeated a master summoner—he'd done it while simultaneously demonstrating superior magical theory, insulting his opponent's techniques, and turning a dangerous battle into what amounted to a lecture on proper dimensional mechanics.
It was exactly the kind of performance he'd come to expect from Rygon—brilliant, effective, and absolutely insufferable in the most charming way possible.
"Three down," Damian murmured to himself, shifting his surveillance focus toward the northern approach where Shiel was preparing to face the final and potentially most dangerous opponent.
"One to go."
---
*To be continued...*