Dior’s eyes glinted. He did not expect to meet a High Master Abjurer in this forest.
Even as a member of the Royal Army, and having absolute authority in the empire, there were still people whom they avoid offending.
First, the Conclave. The second was the Three Noble Families of the empire, and last, the mages whose magic attainments had reached Master and above level.
In the empire, a person first needs to be registered as a mage in order to be accepted in magic school. After graduation, they will automatically be promoted to Apprentice. Then his attainments will then be assessed after a year, and once he is accepted by a Master-level mage, then he can be promoted to Disciple.
After which, comes Paige, then Adept, to High Adept. In order to become a Master Mage, one had to have a meritorious achievement that the empire recognizes.
That was why the Royal Army cannot offend them.
Then we have those above Master Mages. These mages were those who already developed their magic and aimed either to be an Abjurer, Elementor, Enchanter, Summoner, or Transmuter.
An Abjurer specializes in defensive magic. Elementor on the other hand focuses on offensive elemental magic. An Enchanter mage uses control-type magic, they mainly focus on casting charms and illusion. Summoners are mages who make contracts with spirits. Then lastly, Transmuter mages specialize in creation magic.
Dior was only a Paige-level mage, and his innate magic was a fire element. If he managed to become a High Master, he could become an Elementor, or a Summoner if he were able to make a contract with a fire spirit.
There are big differences once a mage starts to have their specialization. One is that they no longer need to use arrays. Two, summoning magic can be done without the use of the natural energy of this plane. For example, Dior needs to convert the natural energy of this plane using his arrays to form his fire magic, but once he developed his magic and chose his own specialization, he can control man-made or natural fire or if he has a fire spirit, his fire spirit will be his fire source.
Black Steel Nolan was like this.
From the start of their confrontation, Dior did not see Nolan use magic arrays.
Also, Dior knew Nolan as a High Master Abjurer. But from what he witnessed; Nolan could already be developing his magic as a Transmuter.
It was not rare for a mage to have more than one specialization, but what was exemplary was that Nolan was only about thirty years old and yet he already developed his innate magic to this level and start to learn his second specialization.
As soon as Dior felt Nolan’s murderous intent, he felt cold. He had to save this situation. He could not afford to fail again.
“Please do not be hasty, Sir Nolan. As I said, you are not our target. I apologize for not sufficiently preparing in order to avoid involving unrelated parties. I will immediately inform my colleague to let you pass and be on your way.”
Nolan’s eyes narrowed, “Why do I feel like you want to get rid of me as soon as possible.”
Dior forced a smile, “Of course not. It’s just that I do not wish to waste your time.”
“Trust me, you’re not. As a matter of fact, I’m actually curious.”
“Curious?”
“Yeah, you seemed to be desperate to catch this target. What’s his name again… that K-K… something Regis? But from what I saw, this array can kill. So, I am really curious. Why you want to hurt your target. You are not trying to start anything with the Regis clan now, are you? They might be a recluse, but they are still one of the oldest noble families in the empire. If you touch one of their own, their people will not sit still.”
Dior suppressed a smile, “Nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact, this has nothing to do with them. You might have heard me incorrectly. We were looking for a fugitive named Kyran Rekkis.”
“Really?” Nolan gave a doubtful look. “I’m pretty sure I heard Regis.”
“No, no, no. Definitely, it’s Rekkis.”
Nolan smiled, “Is that so? And? What did this ‘Rekkis’ person do then?”
“I’m sorry. This information is confidential.”
“Eh? Tell me. You see, I feel a little bad for nearly killing you.”
Dior’s eyes twitched, but he remained silent.
“So, I decided, maybe I can help. You know, ‘find’ your target. And maybe catch him for you?”
Dior really did not know how to deal with this guy. If he were not severely injured, he would have escaped the moment he found who he was. Aside from that, although they were talking casually, Nolan did not withdraw his murderous intent.
“I could not possibly trouble you, Sir Nolan.”
“Oh, don’t worry. You are not. I’m also here to find someone and adding another one will not make a difference.” Nolan said, watching Dior’s expression closely.
‘Find someone?’ Dior’s expression slightly changed.
And this change did not escape Nolan’s eye.
‘Did he know about the bounty request?’ Dior wondered.
After all, Nolan was known for being unpredictable. His last known movement that the Royal Army had recorded was him becoming a low-key mercenary.
‘I’m not sure how the mercenaries reacted to the request, but I’m sure hidden masters will be interested in it. Could he have taken the request and because of this incident, linked our mission here? If he did, he probably did not want us to find the target so he can get the reward.’ Dior sneered in his heart. ‘In the end, even a High Master’s dignity is nothing when it comes to money.’ He fell silent for a moment. He contemplated whether to make use of Nolan in capturing the boy.
Nolan on the other hand was waiting patiently.
What Dior did not know, was Nolan had no interest in getting the reward. What he wanted right now was to know the real deal between the Royal Army and Regis clan. Of course, he was no idiot. He did not believe Dior one bit about mistaking the name of their target.
It was true Nolan was interested in the bounty that was why he took it, but not because of the reward, but because the target was last seen near the Regis clan.
“Well, sir Nolan. Our target is a little… dangerous. That’s why we have to resort to using this array.”
“How dangerous can your target be?”
“Very,” Dior smiled. “I am not sure if you noticed the attack we did earlier.”
Nolan nodded, “I did. That’s why I came here.”
“Then perhaps you noticed that the attack was unsuccessful.”
“Yeah, your attack s*cks.”
Dior ignored the sarcasm. “The boy’s magic is very dangerous, thus we resorted to this.”
Nolan frowned and scratched his head. He did not like how this guy was talking in riddles.
“Look Mr. Royal Army guy. I already know which division you are from your uniform. It is related to forbidden magic. So cut the crap and tell me, what that boy’s magic is.”
Dior fell silent once again. He knew in his heart he must not offend this man. But he also knew the importance of keeping the boy’s information a secret.
After a few seconds, Dior took a deep breath and finally answered.
“I’m sorry. That information is confidential.”
Nolan sighed. Seriously, this guy… What a very loyal dog.
The whole area suddenly burst with black mist.
“Now this here is a complete waste of time,” Nolan said. His eyes bursting with cold light.
Dior’s eyes grew wide and before he could rouse his magic array, the black mist enveloped him.
=========================
Kyran froze as he noticed the array above flickered.
Slowly, starting from the edge of the array, cracks formed and it started to crumble.
‘What just happened?’ He wondered.
=========================
A few kilometers away from Kyran, Vera stopped as well.
Her face showed a look of disbelief as she watched the array start to crumble.
‘Damn it!’ She cursed.
Immediately, yellow magic arrays appeared and circled her body.
‘What the hell happened Dior?’ She wondered.
She raised her hands above and aimed at the magic array. The yellow magic array from the four-colored ruin started to repair itself.
=========================
At the same time, Dior’s men below the center of the array also started to rouse their magic and repair the array.
But all of them had grim looks on their faces.
=========================
Kyran frowned when he saw the magic array above started to repair itself.
‘Ignore it for now,’ he decided and continued on his way.
A quarter of an hour later.
The array was still being repaired and Kyran was almost near the edge of the array.
‘Now how to deal with the isolation array?’ He wondered.
Then he looked up at the array once again.
‘The guy earlier said the isolation array was included around… Did he mean to say around that big array or around this area?’ Kyran sighed. He really hated the feeling of not having answers to his questions.
After another quarter of an hour, Kyran was only a few meters away from the edge of the array.
Up until this point, he had not met anyone, which was alarming in itself. He did not want to encounter an ambush.
‘Let’s see what happens first if I do this,’ Kyran decided as he picked up a stone and threw it to the edge.
“Don’t rouse them, you idiotic kid!” a deep voice hissed near him as the stone he threw crumbled and turned to dust before it went over the edge.
Kyran’s eyes widened as he turned to his left.
‘When did he – !”
Suddenly, Kyran was enveloped by a black mist. It formed as shackles around his body and even his mouth had been covered.
Kyran struggled, trying to find the cloaked man.
Yes. He knew it was the cloaked man. He recognized his voice.
“Stay still or I’ll kill you.”