*Unknown Forest Location - Wendy's Rescue Point*
"**World Magic: Safe Harbor!**" Damian called out, creating a transportation portal that shimmered with protective golden light. The dimensional gateway would carry Wendy directly back to Master Bob's mansion, away from whatever danger was building in the forest.
"Tell the others what happened," Damian instructed gently as Wendy approached the portal. "And Wendy? What you did—healing that man—wasn't your fault. You were protecting your friends."
"But what if I helped the bad people accomplish something terrible?" Wendy asked, her voice small and filled with the kind of moral concern that was heartbreaking in someone so young.
"Then we'll find a way to fix it," Damian promised, his emerald eyes reflecting both determination and compassion. "Sometimes good people have to make difficult choices when others are in danger. What matters is that you tried to protect the people you care about."
Wendy nodded slowly, stepping through the portal with obvious reluctance to leave him behind. "Be careful, Prince Damian. The bad people were very excited about something called Nirvana."
As the portal closed behind her, Damian's expression hardened with resolve. The brilliant column of light that had erupted from deeper in the forest was calling to him like a beacon of impending catastrophe. Every instinct he possessed—both magical and tactical—told him that whatever was happening at the source of that light would determine the fate of everyone in the region.
"**World Magic: Transit Acceleration!**" he called out, his dimensional magic carrying him through the forest at speeds that defied normal travel limitations.
*Meanwhile - Forest Paths Leading to Nirvana*
Captain Tycun of the Magic Knights moved through the woodland with the purposeful stride of a warrior who had spent years learning to read battlefields. The brilliant pillar of light that pierced the sky ahead was impossible to miss, and his tactical instincts told him that wherever his prince was going, that light would be the destination.
*His Highness will head straight for the source,* Tycun thought as he navigated between ancient trees whose branches seemed to recoil from the magical energies building in the air. *Which means he'll need backup, whether he thinks he does or not.*
The Wardens at his side hummed with anticipation, their elemental essences responding to the surge of ancient magic that was making the very atmosphere thrum with power. Phoenix's flames flickered more brightly, while Ramuh's electrical energy created small arcs between his fingers. Even the normally stable Titan seemed restless, its earth-bound essence disturbed by whatever was awakening ahead.
As Tycun crested a small ridge, he found his path blocked by a sight that would have been intimidating to most mages. Nearly two dozen dark guild members stood in organized formation, their varied magical auras creating a tapestry of malevolent energy. These weren't the elite members of Oración Seis—they were the underlings, the foot soldiers who followed Brain's organization in hopes of sharing in whatever power and wealth their leaders promised.
"Well, well," called out their apparent leader, a scarred man with ritual tattoos covering his arms. "Look what we have here. One of the famous Four Horsemen, all alone in the woods."
"Surrender now," added another, his hands already crackling with dark magic, "and we might let you live long enough to see our masters remake the world."
Tycun paused in his advance, his granite features showing no concern at being outnumbered more than twenty to one. Instead, he reached for Phoenix, the flame-wreathed Warden singing as it came free of its sheath.
"I appreciate the offer," he said with the calm certainty of someone who had faced impossible odds before, "but I'm afraid I have somewhere else to be."
"Kill him!" the leader screamed, and suddenly the forest erupted with magical attacks from every direction.
What followed was less a battle than a demonstration of why the Four Horsemen had earned their fearsome reputation. Tycun moved through the chaotic assault like violence incarnate, each Warden flowing from his hands to meet specific threats with perfect precision.
"**Fire Magic: Phoenix Rebirth!**" he called out, Phoenix's eternal flames not just burning through his opponents' attacks but actively healing the forest damage their magic caused. Where dark magic had withered trees and poisoned the ground, Phoenix's fire restored life and vitality.
"Impossible!" one of the dark mages screamed as his shadow magic was consumed by flames that seemed to burn away corruption itself.
Tycun was already switching weapons, Ramuh appearing in his left hand as electrical energy began to build around him. "**Lightning Magic: Ramuh's Judgment!**" The lightning that erupted from the Warden wasn't the wild, destructive force of a natural storm—it was precise as a surgeon's blade, each bolt targeted to disable rather than kill, striking nerve centers and magical focal points with surgical accuracy.
Half the dark mages collapsed within seconds, their nervous systems overwhelmed by precisely calibrated electrical shocks that left them alive but completely unable to continue fighting.
"He's not even trying!" another attacker yelled in panic, launching a desperate earth magic assault.
"**Earth Magic: Titan's Authority!**" Tycun replied, drawing the earth-wreathed Warden as the ground itself responded to his will. The incoming stone spears simply stopped in midair, then turned to bind their casters instead of their intended target. Titan's magic didn't overpower the enemy earth magic—it convinced the stone itself that serving the Magic Knight was the natural order of things.
The remaining dark mages tried to scatter, but Tycun drew Garuda, the wind-wreathed blade granting him dominion over the skies. "**Wind Magic: Garuda's Net!**" Crystallized wind formed barriers that prevented escape while creating corridors that herded the fleeing enemies back into manageable groups.
"**Ice Magic: Shiva's Prison!**" followed as he drew another Warden, absolute zero manifesting as ice constructs that trapped the remaining opponents without seriously injuring them. The cold was so intense that it flash-froze their magical attacks in midair, leaving them encased in ice sculptures of their own failed spells.
In less than three minutes, two dozen dark mages lay defeated across the forest clearing. Some were unconscious from electrical shock, others were bound by earth magic or trapped in ice, but all were alive and would recover once proper authorities could take them into custody.
Tycun surveyed his handiwork with professional satisfaction, then sheathed the Wardens with practiced efficiency. "**Communication Magic: Status Report,**" he said into his tactical crystal. "Tycun to base. Two dozen enemy combatants neutralized and secured. Continuing to primary objective."
*The Light's Source - Deep Forest*
As Tycun resumed his advance toward the pillar of light, the magical pressure in the air continued to intensify. Ancient energies that had slumbered for centuries were stirring to wakefulness, and the very fabric of reality seemed to be preparing for transformation.
The forest itself was changing as he approached the source. Trees that had stood for decades were aging years in minutes, while others seemed to be growing younger, their leaves shifting from autumn colors back to spring green. The grass beneath his feet alternated between vibrant life and withered death in patterns that suggested some fundamental force was playing with the very concept of growth and decay.
*Nirvana,* Tycun realized with growing unease. *It's not just affecting people—it's affecting everything. The magic is so powerful it's inverting natural processes.*
As he crested the final ridge before the light's source, the sight that greeted him was both magnificent and terrifying. The ground ahead had split open like a flower blooming, revealing a massive chasm that seemed to descend into the earth's very core. And rising from that chasm, pulled upward by invisible forces, was something that defied easy description.
Nirvana was not a simple magical artifact or ancient weapon. It was a city—or perhaps a structure so large and complex that it might as well have been a city. Towering spires of crystallized magic pierced the sky, while platforms and walkways formed an intricate network of paths and chambers that seemed to exist in multiple dimensions simultaneously.
The entire structure pulsed with an inner light that made reality itself seem negotiable. Where the light touched the surrounding forest, moral inversions became visible—predatory animals were protecting smaller creatures, while typically gentle creatures were displaying unprecedented aggression. The very concepts of good and evil were being rewritten in real time.
"**Communication Magic: Priority Alert,**" Tycun said into his crystal, his usual calm shaken by the magnitude of what he was witnessing. "Tycun to His Highness. Nirvana is not a weapon—it's an entire magical city. The structure is massive, at least a mile in diameter, and it's still rising. Whatever Brain was planning, it's happening now."
As if summoned by his words, figures began appearing on Nirvana's various platforms and walkways. Even at this distance, Tycun could recognize the distinctive magical signatures of Oración Seis's remaining members. They had reached their goal, and now they stood poised to use the ancient city's power to reshape the moral landscape of the entire continent.
The real battle was about to begin, and the stakes had just become higher than anything the Magic Knights had ever faced before.
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*To be continued…*