BOOM!
The mansion's two wooden, front doors were blown apart as a large, seemingly solid shadow drove itself through the doorway to take up a large volume of space at the mansion's exterior that included the doorway's immediate front, and at least 20 x 20 x 20 meters cubed beyond that point.
Nick suddenly appeared over eight meters to the right flank of the giant shadow. He sighed aloud before indifferently commenting:
"Sure enough. She is angry, but who would have thought that she would be this angry? If I was still rank 3, that attack might have killed me."
Nick wasn't enjoying this situation, but because of the attack, he gained an important piece of information:
(Carla is a rank 4 late stage Magician.)
That fact made Nick feel a little pressured because he had just recently become rank 4 initial stage himself, and had yet to perform any combat. Within a few seconds, the huge shadow receded back through the mansion's doorway. Following that, Nick heard footsteps until Carla Jenner walked out from the doorway to face him. Her usually beautiful face was twisted in rage at this time.
Carla currently wore a sleeveless, slightly loose, black dress, a pair of slightly elevated female shoes, and two black, beaded bracelets on both her arms in addition to the black space band that she sported on her right wrist. Her long, brown hair was tied in a ponytail.
Despite her anger, she did not fail to notice the rank 4 initial stage magic energy that Nick faintly exuded from his body. She squinted her eyes in suspicion before relaxing them, and saying:
"You have become rank 4 initial stage. Is this the reason that you have been absent for so long, and not answering my calls?"
Nick replied simply:
"Yes it is?"
Carla silently stared at Nick for a few seconds, but her tense expression did not ease one bit. She soon spoke again:
"I don't care. I am going to pummel you until you are as good as a dead dog."
Nick smiled bitterly after he heard that, thinking:
(She clearly intends on fighting me. What am I supposed to do here? I cannot kill her…can I?)
Nick slowly shook his head because his latter thought was impossible unless he wanted to abandon Grand Earth completely. Killing a princess of the Jenner family on their property was clear provocation. Not to mention that Carla was his wife. Nick tried to reason with her:
"Carla, stop this nonsense. I had my reasons…"
Carla interrupted him while waving her right hand towards him:
"I do not care about your reasons."
(Shadow Prism)
Nick's own shadow immediately writhed before quickly rising up to form a solid prism that enveloped him. Many shadow spikes stabbed through the shadow prism's exterior from the inside after Nick had appeared to be caught. Carla, however, raised her raised her right eyebrow when she saw Nick suddenly appear at the shadow prism's immediate right side, unharmed. Nick tried to convey his seriousness by raising his voice at Carla, throwing away his usual indifferent expression, and replacing it with a mildly stern one:
"Carla Capitol! If you continue this foolishness, I will personally put you in your place."
Carla smiled fiendishly as she repeated:
"My place? Hmph! You are still too green, Nick honey."
Nick immediately sensed Carla's magic output rise, and he could not help but internally sigh in response:
(It looks like I cannot avoid a battle with her. If I leave, she might go after me later. In that case…)
Nick scouted the surroundings using Spatial Awareness before activating Sheer Soul's ability, Sheer Hold, while waving his right index finger towards Carla to cast his spell:
(Dragon Cleave.)
Carla suddenly picked up on a surge in blade magic power emanating from Nick, and quickly stooped down low, as if on instinct. Following her action, the entire mansion behind her was horizontally cut in two, but the upper half remained imperfectly rested on the lower half. Carla's rage filled expression turned into a wary one as she used her scouting method to internally analyze the damage that Nick's spell had done:
(My Foreshadow spell allows me predict, and quickly respond to a person's actions based on details that I can remotely obtain from their shadow. The spell also allows me to investigate my surroundings using the shadows within its area of influence. To think that Nick's power is already so great. That mansion's walls were not made of materials that were graded lower than rank 3, yet his spell cut through them effortlessly.
At least he is taking me seriously, now.)
Carla touched the floor beneath her using her right palm while casting another one of her spells:
(Steal Shadows)
Immediately following Carla's move, all objects within the vicinity, including Nick lost their shadow as the shadows rushed towards Carla's feet to be combined with her own shadow. Following the loss of his shadow, Nick sensed a strange presence all around him, as if he was being watched from every direction. Carla mused at this time:
(Now that I have taken away all shadows within the area, I can sense the states of all the objects whose shadows I have taken. Hmph! Nick seems worried.)
Carla then raised her left palm towards Nick, and cast another spell:
(Shadow Guillotine)
Shadows beneath her feet almost instantly extended to cover Nick's feet, keeping him stuck firmly in place while a portion of the shadows rose from the ground to morph into the form of a pitch-black, ten-meter-high guillotine that was positioned directly above him. The shadow guillotine's blade was then released, and moved at the speed of a bullet.
Nick was annoyed because he sensed that this was a genuine rank 4 shadow spell while he himself was still using his rank 3 spells. He resolved to settle the situation in his favour, anyhow. Nick waved his right index finger up at the shadow guillotine's falling blade while casting:
(Dragon Cleave.)
At the same time, he waved his left index finger at Carla while casting:
(Dragon Sever.)
The shadow guillotine's blade was immediately forced to halt a few feet above Nick's head as it came in contact with partly blade magic power that not only resisted it, but also cut through it vertically by half. Sensing trouble coming, Carla quickly stood up, and used the shadows beneath her feet to instantly envelop her own body, forming a kind of shadow armour.
(Shadow Garb)
Despite her using her shadows for protection, Dragon Sever's rule path, space path, and blade path power still penetrated the shadow garb, and gave Carla a shallow cut all across the portion of her abdomen immediately beneath her breasts. The shallow cut bled profusely beneath her shadow garb, and Carla gritted her teeth in pain as a result.
With Carla trying to cope with the injury from his attack, and the shadow guillotine's blade competing with his magic power, Nick cast Seeker Physique, and walked away from Carla's binding shadows that restricted his movements, within the next moment, as if the shadows were nothing but air.
Seeing this, Carla quickly waved her right hand in Nick's direction, dispelling her shadow guillotine, and using the shadows that sunk back onto the round to instantly form a slanted, eight meter shadow spike that seemed to instantly pierce through Nick's entire abdomen, and chest from his rear.
(Shadow Impalement)
Nick was forced to cough out one mouthful of blood as his chest muscles tightened, and then grit his teeth as a result of the adverse influence of Carla's shadow magic on the manifestation of Seeker Physique. He, however, still walked away from the shadow spike mostly unharmed while musing:
(I coughed up blood because of the momentary failure of Seeker Physique as a result of Carla's shadow magic briefly over powering it. The problem was corrected as quickly as it occurred, though, and I managed to to avoid being impaled by the shadow spike.)
As soon as Nick was entirely free from the influence of the shadow spike, he canceled Seeker Physique, and summoned Hard Marvel into his right grip from one of his space bands. Nick then swung the blade path sword upwards towards Carla using an agility that seemed superhuman as Nick's right arm, and the sword briefly blurred. Nick cast another spell with the aid of Hard Marvel at this time:
(Dragon Light.)
A large flurry of blue-black blade light that had the shape of a serpent with a dragon's head, was emitted from Hard Marvel's blade towards Carla at canon-fire-speed as the blade light seemed to ricochet through the air to get to its target. Carla had sensed the blade light coming as soon it was emitted, but it was approaching too fast for her to physically react to it.
The result was that the blue-black blade light crashed into her shadow garb before enveloping her, and a large portion of the mansion behind her, taking the form of a slanted, thick blast of light. Within moments, the blade light dissipated, and Carla appeared to have held her ground despite the fact that thick streams of vapour rose from all over her shadow garb.
The mansion, however, had been completely cut through by one quarter its width at its farthest left side, which then resulted in that relatively minor portion quickly crumbling to the ground. Seeing that his attack had hit its mark, Nick took a step towards Carla, following which, he instantly teleported to her immediate front, and standing so close to her, Nick cast another spell by touching her shadow garb using his left index finger:
(Malevolent Altar.)
Thousands of eerie streams of formless rule path, and blade path magic power were instantly generated, and flowed against Carla while Nick restrained their rampant nature as best he could. One moment later, Carla's shadow garb was shredded apart into thousands of pieces by Nick's magic power, but Carla herself was not touched by the rule, and blade magic. She was, however, slightly affected by Sheer Hold. The shreds of shadows then dissipated like vapour.
Carla plainly, and squarely stared into Nick's indifferent, spiraling, blue eyes at this point, saying nothing, and even ignoring the rip in her dress as well as the shallow wound beneath it. She then canceled all her other spells at this time, returning Nick's shadow to him as well as to the other objects within the vicinity.
Nick's, and Carla's battle had actually lasted for about three minutes, from start to finish. Nick spoke as beads of sweat rolled down his face:
"I apologize for my negligence. Is hearing that what you wanted?"
Carla continued to silently stare at Nick while shadows appeared all across the blade wound on her upper abdomen, stitching it closed within moments, and healing the resulting scar. Carla's plain expression remained as she soon replied:
"That is a start, but I have not completely forgiven you. Are you crazy? You abandoned your wife for an entire year without a word. If you do that again, I will kill you."
Nick breathed out a sigh of relief in response to her words because Carla seemed not to want to fight to the death. He mused:
(I took a risk to firmly get her attention for that apology because I assumed that since she had visited my company multiple times to handle its affairs, she still saw it as our joint property. That would mean that she did not really plan to kill me.)
Nick quickly stored Hard Marvel back into one of his space bands, and deactivated Sheer Hold. Following that, he tilted his head towards Carla's right flank to look at the mansion behind her. He asked:
"Are your family members going to be alright with the destruction of this mansion?"
Carla replied plainly:
"I already told Uncle Vaughn that I was going to use it to discipline you. He should of known what I meant. We will rebuild it anew after some time."
Nick corrected his posture before flippantly saying:
"Honey, I'm home. I need a home-cooked meal, and some rest."
Carla's right eyelid twitched after she heard Nick say such things, but she prevented her temper from flaring because of Nick's raised cultivation, and power. She mused at this time:
(He has really surprised me. He has actually become rank 4 after presumably spending a year within Giant's Ruin. Hmmm…that should have been about five years in real time for him. His promotion is still a major accomplishment at his age.)
Carla ignored Nick's words, for now, and said:
"I promoted to rank 4 late stage within the past year because of my use of the no-light diamond, and some inspiration that I gained from looking over the Twilight Magician's methods, so I have you to partly thank for my achievement. That being the case, you have not been a completely shitty husband."
Nick indifferently replied:
"I am glad to hear that. This place really is depressing. Let's go somewhere else to talk."
Following his words, Nick firmly held Carla's left wrist using his right hand before enveloping her, and himself with his magic energy. Carla only felt Nick's stifling magic energy momentarily wash over her before her perspective changed to the luxurious lobby of a hotel in London.
Nick walked away from her to book a suite at the front desk. The people within the lobby had not even seemed to notice that Nick, and Carla appeared out of nowhere. Carla looked at Nick's back while she mused:
(He teleported me without my permission even though my cultivation is higher than his. That is incredible, but I am sure I could have resisted if I wanted to. The fact that during or battle, his spells did so much damage to me despite being rank 3 is also incredible. Rank 4 Magicians do not strictly use rank 4 spells alone in battle because of how expensive they are to buy, and use in the first place, and how much difficulty is involved with casting them.
I happen to have the shadow arsenal inheritance that I bought years ago, so I am familiar enough with its rank 4 spells to use them efficiently, but in a life, and death battle, I would have likely relied on my rank 3 spells as well. I used only my rank 4 spells against Nick to attempt to suppress him completely, but that did not work as I expected. What a troublesome man…)
Carla sighed aloud before quietly waiting for Nick to return to her from the front desk. After five minutes, Nick returned with a key for a room on the highest floor in his left hand, saying:
"We'll order food to the room, and talk."
Nick used his right hand to hold Carla's left wrist again, and before she could blink, they were both standing in the dining room of a luxurious hotel room. The floor had fine, yellow tiles, and was spacious. At the center of the dining room was a large, see-through glass table that had four black mesh, and steel chairs positioned at each of its four sides.
Nick leisurely sat at one end of the table, and used his smartphone to call the hotel's kitchen. Carla sat at the opposite end of the dining table while Nick conversed with the kitchen staff. She was very curious as to why Nick brought her here. Nick spent four minutes ordering food, and drinks before ending his call.
Nick placed his smartphone back into his right pants pocket before focusing on Carla, asking:
"Have you bought us a home already?"
Carla opened her eyes wide after Nick asked that question, not believing what she was hearing. She replied:
"A home? Was I supposed to do that without my husband, I wonder? Tell me, where have you been this entire time."
"I was cultivating within Giant's Ruin for five years. I got wind of an opportunity when you guys left, and took advantage of it. That's all."
"Why didn't you accept my calls?"
"I didn't want to be given orders, or listen to your demands at the time. That's it."
Carla frowned in response to Nick's words. She then replied:
"Fine, then. No, I did not buy us a home. I will do so after I leave this hotel."
"Good. I will be going to the Order of the United Realm's headquarters in a few days to begin my term of service. You will probably see me occasionally for a while, but I do not plan for my term to last very long."
"This, again. I will make the arrangements for a flight to Switzerland. You are to answer every time I call you, or call me back when you are busy. I have plans for us, so I want us communicating regularly."
"Oh. What plans?"
"First of all. There is a gathering of legacy families within a few months that I want to attend. I want you there with me. Second, I want to reorganize our assets, so that I am aware of our family's financial health, and that includes you explaining to me where The Realm Exploration Company is heading…"
Carla spoke about a few more things that she wanted to do, but Nick was not very concerned about such things. Since Carla wanted to play homemaker, he would let her do so. Within a few minutes, the food arrived to the front door, and Nick used his magic energy to open the room's front door to let in two white, male servers, who wore black, and white uniforms.
They wordlessly placed all the dishes, and drinks on the table before leaving. At that point, Nick began eating the various dishes of chicken, pork, rice, bread, and pasta, and also drinking the various fruit juices that were available. Carla patiently joined him in eating the food. After they were finished eating, Nick plainly asked:
"Can we have sex?"
Carla flatly refused him:
"No. You do not get to abandon me, and then ask for that. Learn to be considerate, and then you might receive an affirmative response."
Nick's indifferent expression broke into an amused one as he sounded a brief chuckle, thinking:
(Her demands were annoying when I was rank 3, but now that I was able to resist her in battle, her words are less grating. Demonstrable strength, and growth evidently relieves most hard feelings. That's good to know.)
Nick waved his right hand before he said:
"Fine. Inform me of the address when you buy our home. Make sure it has an office, and a workspace for me. I will be returning to my company office, for now."
"Go ahead. I will call you later when your flight has been booked. Do not go to the Order of the United Realm to die."
Nick chuckled again after he heard those words. He then teleported to Carla's left side before lowering himself to kiss her lips. Despite her hard feelings, she did not deny Nick her affection, and let him kiss her for an entire minute while both their eyes were closed. Nick withdrew after that, and teleported away from the hotel.
Following that, Carla summoned her smartphone from her space band, and began to call her people to make plans.
********************************************************
Nick quickly appeared within his fourth floor office. He looked around the office, and realized that everything seemed just as how he left it. It was now night time, and so everyone except the security guards should have gone home by now.
Nick sat at his office desk, and replayed his memories from earliest childhood up until now within his mind, doing so until morning arrived. By that time, he internally assured himself:
(I have a future that isn't bound by my past.)
Following that self-assurance, Nick took out his smartphone to make a call, but someone called him instead, before he could do so. Nick did not recognize the number, but he accepted the call, anyway:
"Hello? This is Nick Capitol."
The person on the other end responded plainly:
"This is Vaughn Jenner. Do you mind informing me of what happened to the mansion where you met up with Carla, yesterday?"
After that question was asked, an awkward silence developed between the two men. It lasted for half a minute before Nick spoke using an awkward tone:
"Uncle Vaughn, you know how women are. Carla tested me a little bit, and I had to make a few moves to save my skin. Don't worry, though. I handled it, and me and Carla are peaches and cream, again."
Vaughn sighed aloud before replying to Nick:
"I understand the need to cultivate, but Carla is not the kind of person who can stand being ignored. For your own sake, be a proper husband to her. She is a good girl, all in all."
"I won't argue with you there, Uncle Vaughn."
"Okay. I am hanging up, now."
Vaughn ended the call. Nick felt a little weird that he called a rank 6 Magician 'uncle', but he moved on from those feelings as he made a call to Riley. She promptly accepted the call, asking:
"Nick? Are you finally back after so long?"
"Yes, I am. Listen, I still have some business to deal with that will distract me from company operations, so just keep doing what you usually do. You're doing a good job. Besides that, tell you brother to come to my office. I need to check on his progress."
"Understood…"
Nick wanted to end the call, but Riley asked more questions:
"Is that Carla woman really your wife? I thought that you only liked cultivating?"
Nick indifferently replied:
"That is still mostly true, but Carla is a difficult woman to refuse. You will probably feel her influence around here more."
"Okay…"
It seemed that Riley still had some things to say, but Nick ended the call, assuming that they weren't important. Five minutes later, three knocks were made on his door, and so Nick responded:
"Get in here, Zane."
Zane proceeded to open the office door, and walk through the doorway, before closing the door behind him. Zane did not even need to tell Nick about his progress because it was already apparent. Zane was leaking the magic energy of a rank 3 initial stage Magician. Nick spoke proudly:
"Well done. It is good that you have advanced to rank 3. Have any of the other Magicians done the same?"
Zane replied sternly, forgetting pleasantries:
"No, I am the only one who has become rank 3. The rest have been attending the lectures, but they are uninspired."
Nick replied:
"Uninspired? Sure…I guess you could use that word."
Nick knew that his other eight Magicians came from far better backgrounds than Zane, and likely had the means to get to rank 3 if they applied themselves, but refuse to do the latter out of complacency.
(I do not plan to rush them, though. Let the cruelty of reality teach them to correct their thinking. If not, they will die eventually, anyway.)
Nick spoke to Zane knowingly:
"Improve your time path skills, and I will bring you on to my plans. Your specialization is extremely useful, and we could accomplish a lot together. For now, I will quadruple your salary. Make sure to assist your sister wherever you can."
Zane replied simply:
"Understood, Nick."
Nick dismissed Zane before making calls to his various managers. They all stayed on board throughout his absence, benefiting from the skills training that he had ordered. Despite the dormancy of the operations, they all seemed satisfied. Nick informed them that he would still be busy for a few months, but that they should expect their workloads to increase after that.
After talking to his managers, Nick spent the next two days meditating. Carla eventually called him, saying:
"I have arranged your flight to Switzerland, and I have sent the information to your phone…"
After speaking about some mundane things, Carla ended the call.
Nick meditated for a few more hours before he ended his meditation. He then vanished from his office. Almost instantly, Nick reappeared on a large property that mostly contained a grassy field, and a long concrete runway that was about six meters wide. There was an airplane hangar built at the center of the field where a relatively small, all-white jet was waiting with its engines running.
Nick instantly teleported near to the jet's entrance where a set of steps were lowered and led into the aircraft. Following Nick's arrival so close to the jet, a white man wearing a white pilot's uniform came to the jet's entrance, and quickly descended the steps. The man seemed to be middle-aged, had a head full of short, well-groomed, grey hair, and dark eyes.
The grey-haired man reached out for a handshake using his right hand while saying:
"I am Drex Larkin. I'll be your pilot. If we leave now, we can be in Zurich by tomorrow morning."
Nick waved his own right hand to signal Drex to forget the handshake. Drex was a normal person, but knew who Nick was, and so he immediately lowered his right hand without hard feelings. Nick replied to Drex:
"That's good to know. Let's leave immediately."
The time was near sundown, so Nick wanted to get in the air as soon as possible to keep from exceeding the deadline that Arnold Shooster gave him. Drex nodded his head once in agreement before re-entering the jet, and going into the cockpit. Nick entered the plane, and sat in the front row of seats. The jet had two columns of seats on both sides of the interior with a walkway between the columns. There were only four rows of seats with four cream-coloured leather seats in each row.
The steps at the entrance automatically raised, and the jet began to move off. Nick quietly meditated during the twelve hours that the flight lasted, and stopped meditating as soon as the jet landed in Zurich. At that point, Drex spoke to Nick via the PA system:
"We have arrived in Zurich, Switzerland. I hope that you will tell Carla that your flight was pleasant."
Nick slightly chuckled after he heard Drex's words. When the steps lowered, Nick left the jet, and instantly vanished when his feet touched the floor of the hangar.
*********************************************************
Within the administrative section of the Order of the United Realm, a white man wearing a dark-red magician's robe walked up to the circular reception desk while sporting a stern expression. This man seemed to be in his mid-thirties, had well-styled, blonde hair, and green eyes. The administrative section had corridors that led to dozens of offices all around the reception desk while the exit was positioned not far away, between two corridors.
The red-robed man plainly spoke to a violet-robed woman that seemed to be in her late twenties, who was handling some paperwork. The woman had pale-white skin, short, dirty-blonde hair, and dark eyes.
"Harper, I have to meet with a person named Nick Capitol to guide him to the Combat Department, and get all the necessary procedures done. This person was supposed to report to the order over a year ago, but failed to do so until now. Make sure that all our files on him are in order."
The woman that was apparently named Harper replied to the man:
"Mr. Fletcher Clark, is it fulfilling that a rank 3 late stage Magician like yourself has to go fetch truant personnel for a living? I am just asking so that I can make future plans."
The man apparently named Fletcher was not angry in response to the woman's question, even if she was a rank 2 Magician. He patiently replied:
"It doesn't matter whether my role is fulfilling, or not. It allows me to gain the resources that I need to cultivate. That's how this daddy here got to rank 3 late stage before fifty years old. You should speak to me more nicely one of these days. I might recommend you for a promotion in that case."
Harper scoffed at him, saying:
"I'll talk to you nicely when you do more than give this mommy here more work. I will make sure that Nick Capitol's files are well put together."
Fletcher nodded his head once before walking away from the reception desk, and leaving the administrative section. He walked through many of the headquarters' brick-lined corridors to arrive at the main building's entrance, after which, he left the building.
(I was told that Nick Capitol was on his way here from somewhere nearby. I have already looked at a picture of him, and he is evidently not here. I will have to wait, then. If this man was not supposedly rank 3 late stage as well, I would have gotten one of my lackeys to do this tour guide work.)
The Order of the United Realm had a strong information network, and so once Nick had competed publicly with the Nefaris, the organization was bound to find out about his exact rank, and stage.
The area around the main building was paved with smooth, black asphalt. Even though the Order of the United Realm employed mostly Magicians, there were many cars parked on the property. The headquarters was actually a complex, but the buildings were arranged in scattered patterns over kilometers of land, of which the main building was the most prominently seen from the main border of the property.
The property also had many trees that had green leaves, and thick trunks. Magicians of various ranks, and stages could be seen walking to, and fro at all times, most of them being rank 2, and rank 3. It was rare to see a rank 4 Magician casually walking on the street, not that most Magicians below rank 4 could identify that Magician's rank unless that Magician made his status obvious.
Fletcher waited for thirty minutes on the two-meter-wide, grey concrete area that led from the main building's walls to where the asphalt was paved. He stood on his feet while looking at the large expanse of land in front of him. The headquarters had no obvious gate because security was hardly an issue for an organization filled with Magicians. Beyond the order's property were grassy fields on all sides, on which a few non-spectacular buildings were erected.
There was hardly any traffic that moved along the main road that partly bordered the property. Fletcher soon became bored, and just when he thought about leaving, a man that seemed to be in his mid to late twenties suddenly appeared about ten meters away from the main building's entrance.
Fletcher observed the man, and contemplated:
(Snow-white hair, brown skin, and strange, blue eyes. That should be Nick Capitol. Our intel states that he cultivates space magic, so it is no surprise that he appeared here without much forewarning. Only…why can't I tell his rank based on his magic energy? Weird…)
Nick wore a silver silk polo shirt, a pair of dark-blue jeans pants, a pair of black leather gloves, and a pair of laceless, black dress shoes. He began to slowly walk towards the main building's entrance, and Fletcher moved from his position near its glass double doors to meet with him. As soon as Fletcher was within three meters of Nick, he greeted:
"Greetings. You are Nick Capitol, correct? I am Fletcher Clark, and I will be guiding you to the post that you will be taking up as of today."
Nick eyed the blonde-haired man before replying:
"Oh. That's fine. Lead the way, then."
Before Fletcher did that, his intuition indicated to him that something was off, and so he asked Nick:
"Could you inform me of your rank, and stage?"
Nick indifferently replied:
"Rank 4 initial stage."
Fletcher slightly raised his eyebrows while thinking:
(No wonder I could not identify his rank. Our information is outdated…)
Fletcher's tone became more polite as he said:
"Follow me, Nick. We are heading to the Combat Department, where you will meet your rank 5 supervisor, Arnold Shooster."
Nick recognized the name, and did not hesitate to follow Fletcher as the latter walked towards, and then through the glass double doors of the main building. Fletcher, and Nick walked down many corridors for over ten minutes before finally arriving at a spacious reception area, that had more corridors adjacent to it, all around.
Above the opened, doorless, brick-lined entrance was a simple, bronze sign that read, 'Combat Department'. Fletcher led Nick up to the circular reception desk that was similar to the one within the administrative section. There were a few scattered tables, and chairs in the reception area, and the floor, walls, and ceiling were made from smoothly cobbled, grey stone.
Nick quickly noticed a rank 3 middle stage, male Magician that sat at the reception desk. The Magician wore an orange magician's robe that had numerous flame patterns. This Magician had pale-white skin, shoulder-length, brown hair, and dark eyes. Once immediately in front of the reception desk, Fletcher spoke to the orange-robed Magician:
"Dominic, I have brought you a new recruit. He is to speak with Shooster before his post is officially assigned."
Dominic took his eyes away from the computer on his desk to look at Fletcher, then at Nick before speaking:
"Okay, I will…"
Before Dominic could finish speaking, however, all three of them sensed lightning magic power surge. Nick furrowed his brows before commenting:
"A rank 3 spell? The Magician casting it is rank 4, though."
Following Nick's words, a red lightning bolt struck out from one of the corridors at his left flank, racing directly for the three's position. Nick summoned Hard Marvel into his right grip from one of his space bands, like it was instinct, and began to prepare to counter the red lightning bolt. He did not intend to dodge it because he thought it would be unfortunate if it hit the rank 3 Magicians beside him:
(I do not want anything to interrupt me getting the necessaries out of the way.)
Nick swung Hard Marvel upward towards the red lightning bolt while casting Dragon Light. As soon as the red lightning bolt came in contact with Hard Marvel's blade, it was drowned in a thick, linear blast of blue-black blade light that then traveled down the corridor from where the red lightning had originated, after completely destroying the latter magic power.
Within a few seconds, the blue-black blade light dissipated with Nick not knowing if it had done any damage to his target, but within milliseconds, Nick cast another of his spells once he identified his target using Spatial Awareness:
(Seeker Sever.)
Two seconds after he had cast his spell, a man suddenly appeared four meters above him, and the others while completely bathed in furious sparks of red lightning. The three other Magicians observed the man for a brief moment. The offending Magician wore a white magician's robe that had neon patterns of seemingly random symbols on it. He had slightly tanned, white skin, short, blonde hair, and dark eyes. He sported two rings on his right hand, a red ring on his middle finger, and a white ring on his index finger.
The white-robed Magician currently sported an amused expression, and had a gaping wound on his chest where his white robe had been cut through. The chest wound seemed relatively shallow, but it bled profusely. Fletcher spoke out in slight hurry:
"Charles, don't…"
Before Fletcher could finish his sentence, the man that was apparently named Charles, struck out with a right punch towards Nick's position, casting his next rank 3 spell:
(Thunder Brilliance)
The entire room was instantly lit up by intense red light that radiated from Charles right fist, carrying hundred of thousands of volts of red electricity with it as well as a harsh booming sound. Nick acted quickly before the lightning path spell fully resolved by rapidly exuding enough of his magic energy to saturate the reception area, and casting his own spell by waving his left index finger at Charles:
(Dragon Sever.)
Charles chest area, and abdomen almost instantly gained a long, diagonal wound after Nick's magic power cut into him so deep that it caused Charles' blood to briefly spurt out like a fountain, but Charles' amused expression remained as his spell resolved.
Sensing the intense electricity that was about to hit him, Nick let go of conscious control of a large portion of his magic energy, following which, it instantly condensed while enveloping himself, Fletcher, and Dominic to generate the form of a large, invisible dragon. The dragon beared the brunt of the red lightning strike while Nick, and the rest were mostly insulated from the rampant, red electric sparks by the power of the dense, space path characteristics that were imbued within Nick's magic energy.
Charles' amused expression weakened after witnessing such a poor result, but before he could reorganize himself, Nick sensed that the invisible dragon used its long tail to quickly, and viciously slap Charles into the stone floor.
BOOM!
Charles was harshly propelled towards, and crashed into the stone floor, lying sprawled on his back as many spider-web cracks quickly formed, and extended outwards on the stone floor with Charles, who was embedded by at least one foot, as the center, from where all the cracks originated.
The red lightning sparks bathing Charles' body completely dissipated at this time as the latter tried to cope with his unfortunate position, and the pain from his injuries. Fletcher, and Dominic each softly breathed out a sigh of relief when they saw that Charles was knocked down, and did not immediately get up.
However, both of their expressions then indicated extreme discomfort because they could hardly move their bodies while being enveloped by, in their opinion, Nick's strange magic energy. After sensing Charles' magic output drop like a stone, Nick scattered his magic energy, unable to draw it back into his mindscape while his magic energy reserves were more than half full.
Nick silently, and calmly observed Charles for ten seconds before the latter raised his head from the floor, and looked squarely into Nick's eyes from over three meters away while at that point, weakly saying:
"Welcome to the Combat Department. I am the Lightning Magician, Charles Buchanan. Do not forget that name, rookie."