Leo cast a Soul Fire Burst at Greendove. It impacted him and resulted in a huge explosion, but it didn’t damage him at all. The shield that he had completely negated all the damage.
“So, you have to figure out something else,” Nefrati said.
Leo shook his head in response. “This is my only option. This one spell is my strongest spell. I didn’t learn the other spells that could actually damage him,” he said.
“So that means you don’t have any way of defeating him and escaping?” She asked him.
Greendove started to approach him while bombarding him with spells. Thanks to his perception and footwork, he was able to dodge most of them while deflecting the others. Even if he didn’t completely deflect them, his shield took care of the rest of the work.
“I have a plan,” he said. As they were fighting, Leo was leaning to the right, slowly tilting the direction he was facing his opponent.
As they rotated in a circle while they got closer to each other, Greendove realized something was wrong. He looked behind him and saw that Elise was no longer directly behind him. She was at an equal distance between the two.
“Don’t!” He roared as Leo Shadow Stepped to her. He chopped her neck, knocking her out. After that, he picked her up and then looked at Greendove.
“You gain nothing by killing her! I will still hunt you down whether you have a hostage or not,” he threatened Leo.
Leo shrugged the warning off. “I don’t think you understand something here. Why would I try to do something I know doesn’t work? I’m not trying to take her as a hostage. I just wanted to get away from you,” he said.
As he said that, he flew up to the sky with Elise in his arms. Both she and Greendove were confused. How would he hope to fly faster than a 4th Circle Mage?
“I thought you were smart, boy! Based on the power you showed, you are a 3rd Circle mage at best. How would you fly faster than me?” He said as he rose to the sky.
What confused him was that Leo wasn’t stopping at the normal height that mages normally flew at. He kept going higher all the way to the clouds before shooting forward.
Greendove smirked. The weaker the mage, the more they would struggle at higher altitudes. It was very apparent to him that the boy was very inexperienced. As he flew to that height, he saw a projectile shooting away from him at a rapid speed.
He chased after the projectile. Based on what he could see, it seemed to be the boy and the girl. The chase only lasted a few seconds though. Even though he caught up to the object flying away, he realized that he was chasing the wrong thing.
He thought he was after Leo and Elise, but in reality, he was just chasing a piece of wood that he thought was two people for some reason. He quickly went back to the area he had fought Leo in, but couldn’t find any trace of the two.
“How… how can this be? That is impossible. I had a clear sight of them,” he muttered to himself.
After looking around, he couldn’t find them. His confusion turned to frustration.
“ARGHH! How could I let them slip away!!!” He roared into the sky, scaring the nearby Magical Beasts.
Meanwhile, Leo was holding the unconscious noble while staring at the scene playing out in front of him. Unknown to Greendove, Leo didn’t move a single inch from his position. He was still in the sky, observing.
What he did was use a magic spell that was very helpful – Valkyr’s Deception. He had disguised himself and Elise as clouds and hid in the sky. After that, he took out a piece of wood from his dimensional ring and made it seem like he and Elise.
The problem with shooting it away from him was that it would quickly get too far away from him and would lose the magic effects. However, in that small time, he had expertly hidden from Greendove so he couldn’t find Leo even if he looked as hard as he could.
After all, who would think that someone was hiding in the clouds? After staying there for another 10 minutes, Greendove left. He was currently in the middle of a forest with a lot of Magical Beasts. It would be far too dangerous for him to stay any longer.
He rushed back to his city which was currently in lockdown. Now that he had lost the girl and the boy, he would need to deal with the aftermath. Putting aside lifting the lockdown in his city, he would also have to figure out an excuse to tell to the Marquis.
If the Marquis understood the problem that he was facing and was made aware of who Leo was, then he could get by. After all, he had information that was unheard of in the entire empire – a person who could use both magic and aura.
Getting back was easier than going to the temple. Even though there were many Magical Beasts on the way that were stronger than him, they didn’t do anything unprovoked. They had the intelligence to ignore minor beings like him.
He got back and entered the city with a tensed look. When he entered alone, the city guard who saw him enter asked him about it.
“Sir, what happened to Lady Fairmou-“
Before he could finish the question, a metal spike pierced the guard’s head. Blood splattered into the street as he walked into the city. As he was walking, he turned his head to the other guard there.
This guard was very afraid of what the Viscount would do to him. He just witnessed him kill his companion.
“Are you distancing yourself from me like I am a filthy beggar?!” Greendove shouted in anger. He was projecting his tension as anger onto his subordinates.
“No, Viscount Greendove. Is there anything I can do for you?” The guard asked.
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“Yes, Viscount. Is there anything else?” He asked.
“And send a letter to the Marquis- actually, don’t. I will go myself. Put the commander in charge of the city. I will be going to Fairmount to meet with the Marquis. When I come back, the city should be running without a hitch,” he said.
“Yes,” the guard said. He was cursing in his mind about how the Viscount was managing his city. In some aspects, he was a very good lord, but his trashy attitude toward commoners made him destroy the city.
He scurried away into the depths of the city to where the guards were stationed. The commander was normally resting in his own quarters until there was a time that he was needed. While he was informing the commander, the Viscount flew out of the city to go to Fairmount and meet the Marquis in person.