[Era, Ishgar 1 day later]
In a dark room, 10 iridescent holographic figures sat around a marble table.
"Allow this meeting to commence." One of the holographic figures declared.
"What happened in Hargeon is not only embarrassing but peculiar. An unaffiliated mage not only sped past the city guards but also managed to take down a large trafficking ring in one night." A shorter holographic figure read off a paper, their voice resembling a woman's.
She continued, "This mage's identity has not been revealed as no one saw anything regarding their identity. Eyewitnesses near the scene say the windows of their homes were smashed and there are deep pock marks in the road, presumably from this mage moving at high speeds. The manner in which they killed each slave trader was the same until they reached Bora. The autopsy report states he died from shock but when they cut him open, his ethernano pathways were burnt to a crisp."
"This mage has magic that can remove one's ability to use magic. I believe we should dedicate the majority of our resources to finding this mage and bringing them in." She finished. The room was silent for a brief moment until a holographic figure with spiky hair spoke.
"We don't even know what this mage looks like. How are we going to search for someone we've never seen?" He asked.
"We send a squadron of mages to track their residual ethernano signature. It will eventually lead back to wherever they came from." She replied and the spiky-haired man sighed.
"Yeah, because sending a squadron of mages to search for, what most people would call a hero, is going to look good on us. This mage liberated a few hundred slaves in a single night, if we're gonna search for the guy, it should be out of appreciation, not fear."
The council room then exploded in arguments. Half of the council felt the mage should be brought in for questioning and the other half felt the mage should be left alone or awarded for his contribution to society. They argued for a few minutes until the chairman finally spoke.
"Silence!" He yelled. Once the room was silent he cleared his throat and spoke again, "As the chairman and tiebreaker, I will make the final decision. Although this mage has done a heroic act seemingly out of nowhere, they must learn that there are rules and regulations for a reason. And the magic they wield is incredibly dangerous, it would be safer for everyone if we at least identified this person." The older man spoke. There were some mumbles of discontent but no one dared to make them more than mumbles.
"With that, I will allow the 1st Custody Unit to investigate the scene and determine the identity of this mage. Once they identify the mage, they will bring them here for questioning. This meeting is over." The old man declared. Nobody contested his word and each holographic figure began to vanish one by one.
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[East Forest, Fiore]
König was meditating beneath a waterfall. His body had a faint blue outline and his face was dripping with sweat. He was currently absorbing ambient ethernano in the air and converting it into reishi.
While that may sound simple, it is incredibly complex. By transforming the molecules within ethernano into the molecules that make up reishi, König was essentially performing a transmutation spell thousands of times continuously. The water from the waterfall helped to cool his body down as this process also created a generous amount of heat.
'Almost there…' König's face was scrunched out of concentration. He learned he could slowly increase his strength if he absorbed a little bit more ethernano than his body could handle. Blood dripped out of his nose and he could feel his consciousness slipping but he still pressed on.
'Done!' König opened his eyes and his spiritual pressure reared its head for a moment, blowing all the water above and below him away.
"Every day I grow a little bit stronger. But I need to increase my rate of growth. I'll figure something out." He said as he stood up and leaped to the edge of the lake. Just as he was about to pick up his sword, a green blast of wind came flying at him.
König smirked and easily dodged the blast. He then looked up and saw Connie in the air charging another spell.
"Wind Magic: Divine Rain!" She yelled as tens of wind spears came crashing down on König. He pointed his finger at her spell and casted a spell of his own, "Zerstreuen." A clear ball of reishi was fired from his fingertip. Once it made contact with her spell, it completely dispersed it.
"What?!" Connie was shocked at her spell being rendered useless. König laughed, "Didn't expect that did you?!"
Connie frowned and summoned a set of armor and a blade with her wind.
*BOOM*
She crash-landed on the ground creating a huge crater. König kicked his blade into his hands and got ready. He made sure to dull the edge with reishi beforehand.
"Here she comes." König braced for impact. Connie flew out of the dust cloud at breakneck speeds.
*BANG*
The duo clashed blades which in turn created a powerful shockwave. König broke the clash with a kick to Connie's side. She blocked most of the force with her arms but she was still sent rolling across the ground. She quickly recovered and König went on the offensive again.
He used Hirenyaku to close the distance between them in an instant, shocking Connie. König held his sword overhead and swung down. Connie rolled out of the way and dodged a swing powerful enough to create a large gash in the earth.
She wanted to look at the destruction in awe but her opponent wasn't going easy today. König closed the distance between them again and used his momentum to deliver a powerful kick.
*BOOM*
Connie blocked the kick just in time but the force still sent her flying through the forest.
"Mr. Wundermann isn't holding back!" Connie said as she stood up. Her arms were still shaking from the force of König's kick. She tightened her grip around her sword and charged at König once again.
"HAAAAHHH!!!" Connie yelled as she swung her sword. König easily dodged so she swung again and the same outcome happened. Every time she swung her blade, König either dodged or deflected the strike with the tip of his finger.
"GRAH STAY STILL!!" Connie yelled in rage and fired a concentrated blast of wind. König snorted in amusement and dodged the blast. He then launched a concussive blast of reishi at her.
"GAH!" She tried blocking the blast but it broke her guard. König in that brief moment fired another concussive blast, making Connie roll across the ground. She stopped herself by digging her sword into the ground.
She wiped the blood that was leaking out of her mouth and gripped her sword tightly in frustration, 'He's too fast and too strong! I can't even outsmart him because he dodges everything! It's like he can see into the future! Not to mention this armor and sword draining my ethernano!'
"We're further away from the city and you're more aware of my strength now. So you can go all out, you're going to need all the strength you can get if you want to land a blow on me." König grinned and pointed his sword at Connie. The whole purpose of this fight was so that Connie could be taught by König. He agreed if she kept her mouth shut about his strength from her father and also landed one attack on him.
Connie nodded and released her armored state, "I've never been able to test this on anyone since I'm always working in the hospital." She exhaled and placed both of her hands on her sternum.
A green aura outlined her body and the wind began to blow harder. Connie began to slowly float and the wind wrapped around her body. The wind created a long green dress and an intricate green crown. Her brown hair gracefully blew in the wind as she landed on the ground.
"Wind Magic: Fairy Completion."
König narrowed his eyes, 'Her magic power has skyrocketed. There's no way this form doesn't have any serious drawbacks.'
"Are you ready, Mr. Wundermann?" Connie asked, her voice sounding more ethereal than usual. König nodded and Connie smiled. She took a single step forward and closed the distance between them.
A sword of wind was instantly created in her right hand and she swung downwards. König, despite already seeing her future, was still surprised at her speed.
*BOOM*
A powerful shockwave creating a deep crater was born between their clash. They were both sent flying in separate directions. König recovered by sticking his blade intk the ground and Connie used the wind to stop herself.
'Just then, she used Hirenyaku. A very rudimentary version of it, but she used it nonetheless. This girl is something else!' A smile was on König's face. Connie used her version of Hirenyaku again to try and take König by surprise.
He shifted his body to the left, dodging her swing, and activated his Blut Vene offensively.
*BANG*
"BELUGH!" Connie vomited blood from König gut checking her. She fell to her knees and her transformation was disabled.
"You fought well. Congratulations and welcome to König's martial academy." König laughed as Connie groaned in pain.
"I thought I would have the upper hand at least a little bit..." Connie said as she wobbled to her feet. König let her use his body as support as he spoke, "Don't beat yourself up. You managed to replicate a technique you've seen me use once, so keep your head up."
König gave her a thumbs up.