With the arrival of the five Council Arcanists, the tension that had weighed on the whole caravan finally eased.
The guards relaxed even though they were sad and bitter.
The merchants and other passengers from other wagons whispered in relief. Even those who had lost friends felt safer knowing who now stood watch.
The reputation of the Scarlet Council Arcanist was not an exaggeration.
Across the kingdom, even across the continent, the Arcanists who had been accepted there were known as the last line against disasters caused by Labyrinth or humans. Where they appeared, chaos was expected to end.
The oldest of the five, the clear leader, was called Veyran.
After conferring briefly with his team, he gave the order for the caravan to resume its journey.
The wagons began to move again.
Dominic slept soundly in his wagon that night. The two other children inside slept just as deeply, curled beneath their blankets.
Without the presence of the three noble brats, the cramped space felt strangely peaceful and quiet. Very comfortable.
Dominic was certain he had done a good deed getting rid of them.
He woke up sometime in the middle of the night. The wagon stopped.
Sharp sounds cut through his sleep. There were also crackling in the distance. Dominic had always been a light sleeper so he would wake up at slightest disturbance.
Slowly, he pushed himself up and cracked open the wagon's small window.
What he saw made him gasp.
Outside, beyond the wagons, the Council Arcanists were engaged in battle with the same birdlike creatures with wolf legs that had ambushed them earlier in the journey.
There were five of the monsters that he could see this time, their terrifying forms darting and leaping through the darkness.
Only one man faced them. Veyran stood alone.
Kel, Mara, and Riven were nowhere near the fight. They stood far back and watching, making no move to intervene. The other four Arcanists were also not present.
Dominic wasn't sure how long the battle had been going on, but he knew it hadn't been long. The ground wasn't torn up yet. The air didn't carry the exhaustion of a prolonged clash.
He wondered briefly if the other four Council Arcanists were fighting their own battles deeper in the forest.
Then his attention snapped back to Veyran.
Dominic's eyes widened. Not from fear or worry. But from amazement.
The senior Arcanist stood completely still as the five creatures attacked from every direction. Their talons slashed and beaks snapped at him. Everything struck with brutal force.
But none of them could touch him.
It was as if an invisible wall surrounded Veyran. The creatures' attacks stopped in the air, repelled by something unseen. Ether shimmered faintly in the air around him, steady and absolute.
Veyran did not move or even dodge.
He simply stood there unchallenged, as five monsters failed again and again to reach him.
Dominic couldn't stay still because curiosity burned too strong in his chest. He slipped out of the wagon, dropped to the ground, and moved through the shadows until he reached Kel, Mara, and Riven.
They noticed him almost immediately.
"What are you doing?" Mara asked quietly with a sharp frown of worry on her face.
"I want to watch," Dominic replied, eyes never leaving the battlefield. "It's safe here, right?"
The three exchanged glances.
None of them argued.
Riven shifted slightly to make space, and Dominic stood beside them, staring at Veyran as the monsters continued their futile assault.
After a moment, Dominic spoke again.
"What is he doing?" he asked. "They can't even touch him."
Kel followed Dominic's gaze. "That's his Bloodmark power. It's a gravity based power which is pretty rare."
Dominic blinked. "Gravity?"
Kel nodded. "Yes. But that's not all. He's manipulating the force of gravity around his body, and the area around him. At his level, it might as well be absolute."
"His level?" Dominic asked.
Kel glanced at him, surprised. "Don't tell me you still don't know about the power ranks."
Dominic shook his head.
Kel let out a quiet sigh. "Hmm… Figures."
He looked back toward Veyran. "The power ranks are determined by how deeply someone understands and cultivates their Bloodmark or Signature power. They must understand the control, output, and refinement of their own power.
"Veyran is a Rank 3 Arcanist. That puts him far above us three."
"How far?" Dominic asked.
Kel didn't answer immediately.
"Enough that comparing him to us wouldn't make sense," he said at last. "His power is stronger, has a wider range, and is more complete. Someone at his ranks will be able to control a whole big battlefield."
Dominic stayed silent, watching the unseen wall hold firm as the monsters screeched in frustration.
"You'll learn the details later when you're in the Academy," Kel continued.
In front of them, Veyran finally decided to move. It was a single calm step forward.
As his foot touched the ground, the air around him changed. Shapes emerged out of nothing, faint symbols forming in midair and along the earth beneath the monsters' feet.
Lines curved and intersected, layered circles and glyphs glowing with condensed ether.
They did not flare or explode. They simply existed in a heavy and absolute way.
"KHIIEEEKHK!"
The creatures shrieked.
In the next moment invisible forces pulled them at the same time.
One of them was dragged straight upward and downward, making its body stretch, bones snapping before it could scream again.
Another one was slammed sideways and crushed flat against the air. Two more were yanked in opposite directions, their torsos tearing apart as if pulled by unseen giants.
The last creature tried to flee after seeing what happened to its friends. Its wings beating wildly, but it was forced down and folded inward, its body collapsing into itself with a dull sickening sound of so many broken bones and flesh.
It was over in seconds.
Blood sprayed into the air, flesh and fragments scattering across the battlefield. Yet none of it touched Veyran. The invisible wall around him repelled everything effortlessly. Not a single drop reached his cloak.
The symbols faded and so the pressure vanished.
Veyran stood alone among the remains as if nothing had happened at all.
Dominic's eyes widened further. He couldn't look away.
He chest tightening and filled with awe. This was power. True power. The kind of power that decided how a battle would end before they even truly began.
For the first time, Dominic could see how far the path ahead of him stretched.
His ambitions soared higher. He wanted to get stronger as fast as possible.
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