The Royal Capital, Tantal. Walls hundreds of merds thick, and stretching up past the clouds. Millions of citizens, poor and rich, young and old, living within it's confines. A scale to the degree that someone who had lived there their whole life could simply travel to the other end of it to become a tourist. Generally, it was agreed that any sort of assault on it was impossible.
Jane pressed his hand against the weathered rock wall, seeing his skin flat against it's surface.
'Negated concealment starts at the border of the walls, and should be of even greater strength within.'
He reduced the surface area to the tip of his finger, and began stacking on 'Concealment' runes. After spending about a third of his mana, he managed to make his finger invisible.
'If I consumed all of my mana, I would most likely be able to stay concealed within. However, I would also be completely defenseless.'
It was thus necessary for him to have a method of concealment that didn't use mana. He needed to gather soul cores. That wouldn't be possible in the vicinity of the capital. Jane began walking awat, ignoring the looks that were coming his way.
'Shit!'
Jane gripped the hilt of his sword, and began running. Now that his position was exposed, there was no point in hiding himself. He removed the concealment on his body, then infused mana into his sword.
The rest of his mana went equally into reinforcement and strengthening. Instinctually, Jane looked upwards. There was another hole in the sky, this time flickering with snow about it's edges. Jane knew what was coming for him. His brain fired on all cylinders, trying to find a route of escape.
[Since their spell is based off of 'Cold', there is a good chance of them trying to capture us again.]
'It would be safe inside the walls. How do people get in?'
[There is a strong magical tool which teleports people in. It should be fairly close now.]
'And that's definitely a trap. It seems like they're sick and tired of letting me escape.'
[Unlike 'Divine Retribution', this attack can be defended against. In that case, they might believe it's impossible to kill us.]
'Both options suck...'
If Jane chose to take the teleporter inside, he would most certainly be mobbed by hundreds of the world's strongest mages. If he tried to escape, he would be frozen solid by the spell above him, then be captured and subjected to a fate worse than death.
'At least I can control how I get caught if I teleport in. So be it.'
He decided to take the teleporter in. Just a few merds away, a wave of magical energy emanated from a platform. As soon as he stepped on it, he would be teleported.
Just to confirm his curiosity, Jane attempted to initiate 'Cross Distance' However, the restrictions were far too much, seeing as even his 'Distance' runes werre being suppressed. In other words, the fact that the teleporter was still active meant that he was far out of his league.
He invested all of his remaining mana into reinforcement and strength, making sure to pour a significant portion into the sword, as well. Jane dashed to the teleporter in less than a second, leaving afterimages as he ran.
[Get ready!... Prepare.]
Then, the scenery around him changed.
---
Jane did not blink as he teleported. The moment the scenery changed, he realized that his surroundings were pitch-black. In response, he dashed in a random direction while jousting with his sword.
After a short while, he jumped and began slashing at the ground. As he did so, he felt nothing but air against his blade.
'They can see me.'
Jane focused on his Manaheart, and took a look around him. In the place of a homogeneous field of mana, there was...
[Decoys!]
He would have spread out his mana to find the assailants, but his remaining amount was insufficient to give him an advantage. Even worse, battle-ending spells could come from any direction without his knowledge. His only leverage was the continuous evasion and sword forms which he used to keep his attackers at bay. But he knew it, and they knew it as well. In a battle of attrition, Jane would surely lose.
'One strike is all either of us needs.'
Jane crouched down, and prepared to strike in a certain direction. Then, he pushed off of the ground like a spring, causing a significant crater to be formed. His sword rang out, slicing through the eyes of a person behind him.
'Not enough!'
Not giving them any time to recover, Jane immediately swung towards the bottom rib of an opponent. Predicting their crouch, he cut their eyeballs in two.
'More!'
Before his sword left the body of his enemy, Jane had already lowered his center of gravity. He once again pushed off of the ground, and sliced diagonally in the air. Feeling no resistance, Jane generated 'Force' runes with his remaining mana and used them as a foothold to slice in every direction around him. With that, he accomplished two beheadings and one disembowelment. An unfamiliar part of his mind stirred at his success.
"Mages! How do you like the swordplay of a Knight!?"
Aside from the embarrassing lines he was compelled to spout, Jane continued to chop up the enemy mages. Each time he killed one, the number of decoy 'Concealment' runes decreased significantly, making the subsequent attacks easier.
After long enough, there were only a few shivering mages left to oppose him. Jane deflected their attacks and took a short break, breathing heavily. His body had been charred, fried, frozen, and battered, but he made it out alive in the end.
'Being a Knight is fun...'
Indeed, there was charm in both eliminating enemies with strategical magic and using swordplay to do so. The frustration of being unable to strike the target, followed by the relief of a blade through flesh, the push and pull of a Knight's combat was fun.
While processing his thoughts, Jane cut up the remaining mages' heads. The dark expanse became oddly quiet, save for the occasional drips of blood on the floor. While lamenting over his bloodstained sword, Jane reflected on his current situation.
'"Light" and "Concealment" are still restrained, so the attack is not over. This ambush was not meant to kill me, either. Again, the purpose is capture. Wait.'
Jane thought about it for a second. He was not unused to seeing weak forces be used and sacrificed in droves. However, they would always die for a reason. While he may have been underestimated at times, his enemies no longer had the leeway to sparingly use their forces. There had to have been a purpose behind the attack he went through.
'How do I get out, anyways?'
He ran in one direction, continuing on for what felt like hours. Despite that, he couldn't detect any visible changes. He would need to use a significant amount of mana for 'Light' to work, but doing so would leave him vulnerable to enemy attacks. In other words, he was...
'I'm trapped. Shit...'
The earlier assault was mostly for the purpose of forcing Jane to spend all of his mana on physical reinforcement. If he ended up being subdued, then that was fine as well, but his opponents' masterminds had certainly expected him to repel the attack. Seeing no point in holding himself back, Jane lamented into the empty air.
"I'm done for."