The First Descent into The Labyrinth (12)

"This is an Inquisitor? Wasn't Cato an honorary member of sorts of this order…but I do not recall him being able to do THAT" thought Cyrus as he unmasked himself, not wanting to take away more time from his counterpart that was rightfully his…among other reasons.

The demon having been annihilated, the guide, now revealed to be an Inquisitor, walked forth towards the students. As he walked the fervor and ardent belief that had possessed him mere moments ago died down, as he once again assumed the air of a military veteran rather than a member of a secretive and powerful order.

Cyrus motioned his allies to disarm, as what little he knew of the order informed him that the Inquisition was not one to be trifled with.

"You students have seen something you should not have. Luckily for you, the Tower has decided to take full responsibility for this incident so fear not for your lives. Just know that I am nothing but an ordinary veteran of the military, here to protect you during your time in the Labyrinth by the humble name of Caesar" said the 'guide'.

The group nodded, not about to question someone who appeared to just defeat such a horror with the might of his words alone.

"What about the other…guide?" asked Imran, picking up on a key detail.

Caesar looked back at the mess he had created, especially the area where his former colleague had been defeated.

"Well, let us just say he sacrificed his life in service of protecting the Empire's future mages. Now, being the only students left on this floor and having seen all that you have…might as well look behind you and enjoy the show" said Caesar in a plain tone as he sat down and gazed upon the massive black pillar in the sky.

"Show?" wondered the students aloud, as they too turned around and looked at the sky.

Soon, however, they understood why the Inquisitor decided to sit down…as they saw two figures in the distance that stood in stark contrast to the black nothingness that lay beyond. One was wearing a green robe and vaguely resembled Professor Asinus, while the other was a weak and feeble looking old man with a long and baggy pale blue robe that looked similar to Minerva's own.

This was a clear-cut case of looks being deceiving, however, as the decrepit old man raised his hands and summoned a force that easily shook the knees of each and every student who was present. Not even needing to stress their magical sense, they could clearly tell the vast quantities of water and fire essence being manipulated by the old man. First a wave of fiery heat hit the faces of the students, as if all heat was being expelled from the area…which left only a bone chilling freezing cold. Minerva tried to use her fire domain to warm up herself and her companions…but any attempt at gathering some just resulted in it being swept away just like the other fire essence that had been moved not too long ago.

"The arrogance of an Archmage I suppose, not caring about the ants below" mumbled Caesar as he made an odd gesture with his finger, which created a small barrier made from some kind of power around them.

"Girl, try it now" ordered Caesar as he resumed his almost blank stare at the spectacle above.

"This barrier, it reminds me of the power that the Judicar in the street wielded when I first came to the Academy. I wonder where this power comes from and what is its nature…" thought Cyrus as Minerva's spell succeeded, basking all of them in warmth.

Their lives no longer in mortal danger, the students were able to focus on what was happening in front of them…barely able to process the term 'Archmage' that Caesar had dropped before another massive wave of power hit them once more…well the barrier specifically. Yet the shock of seeing the sheer amount of essence gathered in such a powerful manner, resembling a gigantic magical hammer that could crush anything and everything, brought all the students to the ground in awe as their legs no longer supported them properly.

In the sky above, the darkness gathered a part of it and shot it forth towards the Archmage in the sky while he was still in the midst of his massive spell. While the dark mass was as large as the lodge that Cyrus had stayed in briefly, it did little to interrupt the penultimate of magic that was the Archmage as he simply gestured with his other hand and instantly cast a spell. The darkness froze in place, as a spiderweb pattern of pure ice appeared on it slowly covering the entire mass. Frozen solid, the mass fell from the sky and landed in the sand below. The result was a sound similar to dozens of Cyrus' small explosive bottles going off at once, and icy shrapnel being sprayed all around some even almost making it to where the group was standing.

"Uh..sir…will we be fine when the big one gets taken down?" asked Imran nervously, clearly seeing that even the shrapnel from just the small portion had almost reached them.

"It should be fine" said Caesar without a hint of confidence in his tone, or anything really.

This did little to assuage the fears of Imran and worries of the other students, but there was little they could do seeing as leaving the barrier they were within would result in them freezing to death.

Any further thoughts were stopped as the next part of the show in the sky began, with the mass of darkness opting for quantity over quality in terms of its fight against the Archmage. An uncountable amount of speeding projectiles left the mass at an astonishing speed, perhaps reaching a number in the hundreds. In response the Archmage created a barrier of a seemingly thin and vaporous substance, yet every hurtling projectile that went through it was turned into ice and dropped like a rock down from the sky which crashed into the ground.

The scene was similar to a heavy rain, if rain was as large as horses and contained enough force to turn a man into paste if such rain were to fall upon him.

Even when the hulking mass tried to get clever, making the students realize that such an entity had intelligence if they had not been convinced before, by having the attacks line up so that they bumped into each other when frozen causing them to have more forward motion than before…perhaps in an attempt to flatten the Archmage with his own counter…it was still for naught as a spike of ice appeared above the ones that got too close pushing it down to the ground with gravity. That, or Professor Asinus displayed his mastery of the open sky and by flicking his finger downwards all that got past the Archmage's defense was hurtled towards the ground by his own spell.

Growing frantic, perhaps by the neigh completion of the spell of epic proportions that was being prepared by the Archmage, the hundred-fold mammoth of darkness completely coalesced into one area like a taut string bouncing back. With this move it turned into something similar that the possessed guide from earlier had happen to him, when his entire person became nothing but a tool to suck in and devour all that existed on the planet.

The main difference here being that now the scale was of legendary proportions, making the massive suction force that almost dragged in all the students before seem like a paltry spring breeze by comparison. The massive amounts of destruction on the landscape would be devastating to say the least, with the two in air doomed to be easily sent to the depths of the gaping hole of nothingness…to be eaten, consumed, or some other horrible fate.

Yet the moment this transformation occurred the spell of the Archmage was released, as if he was waiting for this moment for a long while.

The air around the mage crystallized as he, and Professor Asinus by extension, was surrounded in an ocean of the same mist that had been used as a defensive measure before. As opposed to the thin mist that had appeared before, however, it was now of a similar amount and depth as the massive amounts of sand below. As the monstrous entity in the sky was in the midst of sucking in everything and anything, all of this frosty mist was sent right into the deepest recesses of whatever it was.

Almost immediately the consequences of this action became apparent, as first the rims of the all consuming hole froze first stopping it from closing or changing its shape to something else. Then from the inside out, the entire mass in the sky slowly froze with pieces of it falling as it turned solid. Crashing into the ground piece by piece, with both the amount of pieces and the size of each one growing as time passed, a chorus of ear splitting and organ vibrating crashes rang out shaking each student to their very core.

Eventually the entirety of the mass was turned to an ice sculpture, severing whatever was keeping it afloat and causing it to crash towards the ground. The biggest piece to fall yet, one could only assume that the students were perhaps in mortal peril.

Caesar from behind pulled out a small book from an inner pocket, reading its pages as his eyes glowed with power and the air around them rippled. Most of the students still had their eyes glued to the spectacle above, so none other than the one with a paranoid other half noticed.

As Caesar continued to read, his speech changed from a language Cyrus understood to something far more archaic,

"Imperatoris protegit" started Caesar, the rest of his speech lost even to Cyrus who was keenly trying to understand what was said out of sheer interest.

As Caesar continued to read his book, perhaps tome would be a more apt descriptor, the rest of the students took note of the power that he was channeling. Emanating from him, or rather through him, was an aura that made them feel as if they were unworthy…as if they had to prostrate themselves in deference. This feeling eventually became a physical manifestation in the world around them, as once more a golden portal was created…this time from the ground below the massive falling block of ice that was formerly some kind of dark demonic entity and was now a deadly projectile the size of the main building of the Academy. A projectile which if fell would perhaps burst the eardrums of everyone present and send unstoppable shards the size of sandcrawlers towards the group currently huddled together, undoubtedly spelling their end.

Their saving grace was, of course, the not Inquisitor behind them that had just opened some kind of golden portal. This time, instead of a smiting light befalling a demonic entity a much more powerful and focused power came forth from this portal. First they saw the tip of what looked like a massive golden sword, which was soon proved to be a correct assumption as the rest of the blade was revealed all the way up to the pommel itself. It was raised by a hand that was equally as massive, stabbing towards the building sized block of ice that was now falling towards it.

When the two met, no sound was heard and no cracking of the ice occurred…instead it was as if the block itself was halted on its path by invisible strings suspending it. Then, they saw it: golden light began to emanate from within the humungous ice block, seeping through the now quickly cracking structure. Moments later the entire block burst into small fragments of glittering shards, each perhaps the size of a grain of sand. Such sand was then scattered by a sudden wind that came out of nowhere, but to those with magical sight it was clearly created from the green robed Master Magus from above in the sky.

Having completed his task of not dying, Caesar put the tome back into his inner clothing and laid back down on the sand with his hands behind his back. Seeing the curious eyes looking towards him he simply glanced away and said,

"Just a normal veteran"

Of course after two such masterful displays of a power beyond the scope of understanding of all present, Cyrus included, not a single one of them would have thought they could have ever heard a grander lie.

Before anyone could point this out, assuming that any of them had the desire to go against a being of unimaginable power, all of them felt a cold chill at their backs that made them feel as if they were being stared at by an ancient being of great power. Which, of course, was the correct assumption as the Archmage in the sky had glanced past all of them in order to look at the 'simple veteran' behind them.

A scoff was heard, one infused with both sense and essence, that resounded in the ears of all present perhaps not causing damage only thanks to the barrier that was still in place.

Caesars only response was to pick at his ears, looking as if he heard a fly buzz.

"This man is anything but a simple veteran. Even calling him just a member of the Inquisition is most likely not doing him justice…if every single member of their order could call forth such power, so much so that it afforded him the ability to ignore an Archmage, then the Empire would have long defeated any enemy and expanded far beyond its current borders. I do not know enough about the inner workings to name a title, but I seem to have met yet another extremely powerful being… Mundus above, they seem to be so common all of a sudden..." grumbled Cyrus inwardly as he was caught in between a silent conflict between two individuals that could squash him like a bug.

"I seem to be understanding some of my other half's intense desire for an increase in strength" thought Cyrus in closure as the two mages in the sky took towards the horizon, eventually disappearing entirely.

With the shocking, awe inspiring, and even downright terrifying battle in the heavens done and over with the students all simply sat there in recollection as they parsed all the mind blowing events that had occurred during this extremely eventful night.