Jax’s eyes widened as soon as he felt Cade’s magic pressure increasing.
Since the Royal Army kept records on all promising Master Mages, Cade’s information was not a secret within the Royal Army with ranks Major and above.
Before Cade got married, he got into an accident that almost crippled his magic progress. Their record noted that he would never be able to reach the Magus level because of the accident. But base on the pressure he was exerting right now, Jax felt that it was already close to a Magus.
Few Abjurers could attain the level of a Magus, and those who did made names for themselves. One of the best examples of a Magus Abjurer was the infamous Azaloth.
‘Such talent, a pity he will never be a Magus,’ Jax thought with a slight shake of his head.
No. If Cade did become a Magus, it would’ve been harder for the army to take down the Regis’s Inner Wall. This was actually a good thing for them.
‘We actually just want to keep his magic under control,’
Cade’s words flashed through Jax’s mind. Ever since Cade said those words, he tried to ignore the feeling that what they were doing was wrong from the start.
Jax had a family of his own. His oldest son just turned five, and by next year, he might even manifest his innate magic. If his son’s innate magic was also a forbidden type, would he be able to report it to the army?
‘Stop! Don’t think about things that has not happen. It will only dull your thoughts,’ Jax scolded himself and pushed all unnecessary thoughts at the back of his mind.
He was an officer of the Royal Army; all Forbidden Magic Users should be apprehended. No exceptions.
BOOM!
Jax snapped out of his reverie and turned his attention back on Cade and the minotaur. His scalp almost went numb at what greeted him.
The minotaur was thrown back a few meters away, with Cade already in pursuit.
“What just happened?” Jax exclaimed.
After Cade released the seal on his blood, it awakened the dormant magic within him. This immediately boosted not just his magic pressure but also his physical abilities. That was why the minotaur failed to react in time when he moved and landed a punch on his abdomen.
Before the minotaur could regain his balance, Cade had already reached him.
Cade linked his hands and jumped. Silver arrays circled on his gauntlets as they doubled in size, and he instantaneously struck the minotaur’s head.
The minotaur spat out a mouthful of dark red blood as he stumbled forward.
Cade’s attack continued. While still in midair, silver arrays formed around his huge gauntlets. Its shape changed and turned into a huge obsidian hammer. He raised it high up his head before ramming it on the minotaur’s body.
“Rawrgh!” The minotaur growled in pain as he slammed on the ground.
The ground exploded, and earth dust spread around them.
Cade released the shape of his magic as and it returned to normal gauntlets.
But.
“Rawrgh!”
The minotaur’s flaming hand appeared from the dust below and grabbed Cade’s waist.
“Ngh!” Cade gritted his teeth as the minotaur was able to grab him and slammed him on the ground.
Another explosion occurred, and the earth dust that filled the air thickened.
“Rawrgh!” The minotaur roared in glee. His armor burst out and was about to blast the area where he slammed Cade with scorching hot flames when a silver array appeared within the dust.
“Won’t you shut up?”
A huge obsidian spear shot out from the array and went straight at the minotaur’s chest.
The minotaur did not evade and instead let his flaming armor burst out to defend against the spear.
WHOOSH!
The spear ignored the flaming armor’s heat and pierced the minotaur’s chest.
“Rawrgh!” He growled in pain.
But it did not deter the minotaur, and instead, its flames became fierce as he bombarded with flaming punches the area where Cade should be.
Dust and flames engulfed them as the minotaur attacked in rage.
Suddenly, several small silver arrays appeared and surrounded the minotaur at different angles. Black obsidian spears shot out on each of these arrays and pierced the minotaur’s body.
The spears that attacked from above extended further, and its spearhead pierced the ground, pinning the minotaur in place.
The minotaur roared in pain.
Jax, who was watching from afar, was gaping in horror.
Although the dust and flames that covered the area where the two were fighting had thickened, Jax still managed to see what’s happening using his magic sense. And what he just witnessed was nothing like he had ever seen before.
Minotaurs far exceed the level of a human’s physical prowess. And since they were born with magic, their magic attainments could not be measured by a human mage standard.
However, Cade managed to fight the minotaur on equal terms.
Even if Cade’s magic increased and his magic pressure was comparable to a Magus, he was still a Master mage. Unless he had saint-tier magic item focusing on defense, he would not be able to withstand a minotaur’s assault.
Jax did not find Cade’s armor to be extraordinary. So he was sure it was not a saint-tier magic item. Then how come even when the minotaur’s attack just bombarded him, was he able to counter immediately as if he was not hurt?
In theory, any human who got bombarded like that by a minotaur, even with an Abjurer, would end up in a mess and might even be on the verge of losing consciousness. But Cade was not.
‘Could it be, the rumored Regis blessing?’ Jax suddenly thought, and his eyes widened in shock.
He recalled what the army had recorded about the Regis blessing. If he remembered correctly, contrary to most thought, the Regis blessing was not draconic magic in its pure sense but dragon techniques.
A Regis must first meet the qualification to be granted a drop of real dragon’s blood. Then in a sacred ceremony, they had to integrate this drop of blood into their system fully. Once they completed the blood integration, then it was time for them to learn the dragon techniques. Because, if the integration of the dragon blood failed, it would have been meaningless to teach the dragon techniques to them. After all, these techniques could only be used by dragons.
‘But they said there hand’t been new mages from the Regis who was successful in integrating the dragon’s blood. Is Cade the last one from his generation?’ Jax wondered.
Still, Jax was convinced it might be the case because, although Kyran, a new generation of the Regis family, had abnormal physical strength, Vera reported that it was within the acceptable ‘abnormality’.
“Rawrgh!”
The minotaur’s flaming armor burst out; however, it failed to damage the spears.
Jax squinted his eyes, trying to check on Cade.
Slowly, the dust and flames subsided and revealed the scene inside.
The minotaur glared at the spot in front of him while still pinned in position.
When the dust and flames in front of the minotaur cleared, it revealed Cade, now clad in a full black obsidian armor. However, on a closer look, the armor had a faint texture of dragon scales.
Cade’s headgear moved from the top and slowly rolled down and revealed his face.
“Is that it?”
Cade said while looking at the minotaur; however, Jax faintly sensed he was asking him.
“Rawrgh!” The minotaur roared and snapped his head as if trying to reach Cade and bite his head off. He continued to struggle out of the spears.
Jax stood rooted in his spot. He could summon his magic and help the minotaur break free. However, the exchange that happened between Cade and the minotaur was etched deeply in his mind. He already knew that he would not be enough to deal with Cade even if he managed to release the minotaur. Even if he and the minotaur joined hands, they would not be able to break Cade’s defenses.
‘His offense is quite strong as well,’ Jax thought and could not help but scowl.
In theory, Abjurers who focused on defense magic had weak offensive magic. However, Cade’s innate magic was good both as defense as well as offense.
‘And with the use of the Regis blessing, it seemed his magic has gotten stronger.’
Jax remembered that before Cade’s magic increased, the minotaur was able to destroy his magic easily.
“No answer?” Cade asked again.
Jax closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. He took a deep breath and looked at the Summoning Token in his hand.
“Return,” he said.
The token glowed red, and a sealing rune appeared on the minotaur’s head.
The flaming armor burst and engulfed the minotaur before turning into a small whirlwind.
Cade watched indifferently as the whirlwind shrunk and disappeared. His eyes returned to normal, and the spears in front of him reformed into obsidian rocks before disappearing.
Finally, he turned around and looked at Jax, who was also looking at him in silence.