Battle (1)

"The tensions will continue; however, for the near future, there won't be any cataclysmic results, so no need to bother. Just practice becoming a stronger magician." Xander murmured, nonchalant about the issue.

He had briefly seen the information the moment Faykes asked about it, and there wasn't really anything explosive about this. It was not going to evolve into a full-blown war, but there would be economic trade sanctions both parties would enact.

Faykes eyed Xander questioningly, wondering how he could make such an absolute statement concerning the situation. Could it be? He has insider information? As Faykes let his thoughts run wild, he looked like he was in a daze.

It was then Xander finished his meal. Upon standing up, the befuddled Faykes snapped out of stupor and finished the remaining bits of food on his plate and stood as well.

Xander snapped loudly, and immediately, Esta and Rosa appeared in the dining room, and began clearing the table.

Xander headed out of the dining room, with Faykes following behind.

After a bit of walking, both of them were already on the other side of the villa, where there was a small open field.

Of course, this field has been reinforced, making it nearly impossible to dent or even scratch the ground more than 5 centimeters.

Upon reaching the center, Xander turned to look at Faykes.

"Faykes, head to the edge of the field, near the villa." After that, he turned the space beside the two of them and spoke.

"Joseph, call Bryan and Ryan here." Immediately, a man appeared out of thin air, surprising Faykes who was retreating to the entrance of the villa. He had not noticed anything wrong around him while he was walking with Xander, nor were there any magical fluctuations!

Joseph immediately bowed and called the 2 people mentioned by Xander. In less than a minute, two more figures appeared beside Joseph, further adding to the confusion Faykes had in his mind. Although he recognized them as the bodyguards protecting Xander, he did not feel any magical fluctuations at all, unlike Rosa and Esta.

Xander eyed the three of them and said coolly, "Let's begin."

Immediately, the four figures blurred, and in less than 30 seconds, several clanging sounds echoed in the field. At this, Faykes was surprised; he hadn't thought that they were fighting using weapons.

Although as magicians, it wasn't uncommon to use elements to reinforce their physical capabilities, as everyone in the Mundane stage did that. What surprised him is seeing the reinforcements occur in a fight above Mundane class. After all, it is common knowledge for magicians to use magic reinforcement as an auxiliary thing, allowing them to increase their chances of escaping or whatnot.

Faykes began channeling water and air elements, reinforcing his eyesight. Although, if he had the light element, it would be the best reinforcement to increasing the capability of his eyes.

Upon seeing the situation, Faykes was quite shocked, with his mouth wide open for a few seconds, before closing it.

The world is unfair! This was what Faykes wanted to scream out loud.

Of course, this was all because he saw how Xander was fighting the trio that caused him to be a bit jealous, then helpless.

Xander was fighting using a single finger!

Every time a palm appeared to target his head, his chest, and his arms and legs, he deflected the palms with a simple poke.

It was this poke that was creating the clanging sounds!

One of the palms contained a metallic sheen, indicating the metal element that reinforced it, and every movement of the palm caused the winds to howl, indicating the overbearingness and weight of that palm. Xander, however, just continued poking at it with his finger, causing it to be deflected and upon closer inspection, dents were appearing on the surface of the palm!

This was what Xander had been doing in the past 3 days: Real, fatal physical combat!

He had wanted to test his physical and magical limits, and what better sparring partners than his magician bodyguards?

After they had signed the binding contract that he had modified, he had already insured a level of loyalty amongst these subordinates of his.

Joseph, Bryan and Ryan were already feeling helpless. Although two of them, Joseph and Bryan, were dual primary element magicians, Ryan was different, as he had three primary elements. All three of them were at the precipice of reaching Legendary Rank, just half a step more.

For the three of them, it wasn't just a simple sparring session - in fact, they were forced to fight like they were in a life or death battle.

How were they forced? Xander threatened them, of course, with their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Although as soldiers, they had begin regarding their lives as dispensable, they had their loved ones who were one of the reasons why they became one in the first place.

Joseph was married and had 2 daughters, both were grade school students, with one being 2 grades higher than the other. His wife was a budding chef, working as a sous chef in a well-known hotel chain in Eta.

Bryan had two ailing parents that were undergoing treatment for their disease, which is why he joined the military in the first place. He had heard that the military had access to newer, state of the art health technology that the government had control to, but he had to have a certain rank and contribution to access them at a discount and to be considered a priority.

Ryan had no one, except the orphanage that took care and raised him well, led by a kind female magician, who was around Legendary-6 stage. He had a crush on here ever since he reached 16 years old, even if she was already 60 years old at that time.

Then again, as one continues to practice their magic powers, aging becomes a distant memory to those who are already past the Master class. For Xander, however, this power was nothing noteworthy could a normal legendary fight against the power of a black hole? How about surviving a spatial rift heading their way without their body collapsing into pieces?

In Bryan's case, he was baited with the promise of curing his parents' illnesses, which for Xander was really a simple thing, given that the disease they had was caused by a hybridized form of elemental microorganism. Unlike what Xander had thought about fantasy worlds, it seems microorganisms existed in this universe, but adapted to the fluctuations of magic and elemental energies, making them more pervasive or resistant than ever.

There was a similar organism like a tardigrade that has been documented in this world, but it was classified as a calamity-class pathogen carrier. Because of how resilient it had become, it was capable of hosting various, smaller microorganisms and viruses, while also imparting to them partially its resistance.

Bryan's parents were unlucky as they were infected by a decay-element fungi that had fire and air elements within, making them suffer continuously. What was ironic was that Bryan's affinity played a role to it, as his powers attracted mutant microorganisms that further catalyzed passively with the increased Decay elements in the environment.

With the stakes at hand, how can the three be careless? Although in the first sparring session, Xander was defeated easily, it became more and more difficult to force Xander to defeat. And it has just been 3 days!

On the 2nd session, it felt like the three were fighting a rampaging magic beast that were at the same stage as they were in. Xander eventually lost, but not without a cost; Bryan and Joseph lost both their eyes, which were restored by Xander easily, greatly surprising them.

Bryan, however, became more determined to win as it seemed Xander was not simply fooling around when he mentioned that he could cure his parents.

On the 3rd session, they barely won, when the three had to sacrifice one arm each to cast a spell in the Legendary stage, [The Touch of the Wicked], which coincided with the elements they controlled.

The spell was quite interesting, as numerous incorporeal hands with a metallic sheen appeared all around Xander, and the hands of the three spellcasters also transformed similarly. As he dodged one and it had hit the ground, the place where the hands landed turned red-hot before rapidly cooling to form a metallic layer, but from what Xander could see, fire was continuously consuming the ground as it rapidly rot and weakened.

It's a way to trap the intense amount of fire and decay elements, making the opponent unable to easily remove their traces as the metallic sheen serves as a barrier and a deterrent. Metal elements were naturally sharp, after all. interacting with one generally led to multiple cuts. A barrier formed with it would mean passing through a meat grinder.

Although Xander escaped quite easily thanks to his [Absolute Defense] spell, he recognized the strength of the spell and decided to end the sparring at that. He then reversed the time of the trio, forcing the lost life energy to return, with their arms restored. Of course, the trio thought this was Life Magic, and their respect for Xander rose higher.

Today however, was the 4th session. After a few minutes, Xander was already yawning in boredom as he used one finger to deflect their physical attacks, no matter how big or small these were.

Throwing Magic-infused stones towards him? With a boop, these stones were repelled by his finger, before shattering due to the rebounding force.

Using their bodies to physically attack Xander? After a few minutes since starting the fight, their bodies were already filled with small holes, causing blood to flow. they managed to staunch their bleeding with magic, but they could feel their bodies were beginning to weaken.

The trio eyed one another and at that moment came to a conclusion: Delay! Although both Joseph and Bryan were dual primary-element magicians, Ryan was not; he was a three-element magician, making the potency of his spells more diverse. He also had the highest amount of understanding of his primary elements and magic circles as well.

Immediately, Joseph and Bryan began to attack with increased fervor, this time casting spells while physically attacking. Xander saw this and smiled, dodging their attacks, before releasing a barrage of spells in his disposal.

Given that all of them were already at the 81st class magic circles, the strength of the spells were comparable to peak Master class magicians; and that's just because he is limited by his current cultivation level.

If he was in the Master class, the power of his spells would reach the same level as Legendary Spells; if he was a legendary magician, his spells would be as powerful as a mythic class powerhouse, and so on. With this, he could easily dominate those of the same cultivation class as he was, and fight on par with 1 class above him.

Joseph and Bryan now had to bear the burden of evading the spells while casting their own spells and attacking Xander. Meanwhile, Ryan was a few meters away from the three, his fingers moving and creating runic signs in every step he takes.

After a minute, Joseph and Bryan were quite tired already; they could only hold for another minute. The problem was, Ryan had only managed to complete two-thirds of the spell circle, and needed roughly 2 more minutes.

Upon noticing the progress Ryan was undergoing, the duo looked at each, and nodded. They both bit their lips, letting it bleed, and using their thumbs, they marked their forehead, and both their cheeks with their blood. They then performed hand signs that created runic writings in thin air, quickly moving towards their bodies.

Immediately, they began exhibiting a power beyond their level: Legendary Power!