The Mad Berserker (2/2)

With the commotion Haalfrin is causing, everyone at the front of the formations is far too afraid to look at the demon on the battlefield, though there are a few exceptions.

The two younger recruits Haalfrin had trained are looking at their one-time instructor with awe in their eyes, rather than terror.

The two boys had no idea their teacher was crazy enough to charge an entire army by himself! The way he made that entire part of the army run away was pretty cool!

After seeing his "gallant" figure routing the enemy, most of Haalfrin's Fear spell stops working on them, and they start thinking clearly again.

Rather, instead of being afraid the two boys start to feel drunk on stupid, youthful courage.

However, their worshipful eyes turn into white-hot fury when they see their own soldiers fire on Haalfrin. "Oi!" Nay screams at them, "Cut that out!"

After a few moments, their ranks seem to calm down on their own as they receive an order from the general to quit attacking Haalfrin.

Once the arrows have stopped trickling out from their end, the older of the 2 boys (Nay) screams out a guttural battle cry, lifts up his big round shield over his head, and charges forward.

Seeing one of their own break out of the line to rescue their comrade, Haman joins him.

Haalfrin only manages to crawl a bit further when he hears some shouting from behind him. He looks over his shoulder and the two boys he trained before running up with shields over their heads.

They're both completely unharmed by the time they arrive at Haalfrin's side, since they actually have decent protection from arrows with their large shields. Plus, they didn't have to worry about close-quarters combat, since all the soldiers from both Alasta and Ala'ree both wouldn't dare come near the strange demon.

Haalfrin looks back to the Alsa'ree, and he sees a fireball shooting toward the boys. Haalfrin jumps forward and knocks them both down – just in time for the fireball to whiz over all their heads.

When Haalfrin lands, one of the arrows in his leg is pushed all the way through and breaks the skin on the other side of his leg. "AAAAH!" Haalfrin screams in pain and fury.

Seeing the boys trying to bend over to help him, he takes their hand and lets them help him up. "What are you doing out here!?" Haalfrin grunts in pain at the 2 boys while they sling his arms over their shoulders.

Haman gives a small solute with one hand and raises his shield over his head with the other. "It's fine, boss! We saw you didn't have a shield, and you were about to die!"

If Haalfrin could actually run on his own, he'd charge back into the enemy army and get himself killed. Haman and Nay both know this instinctually, so they keep an extra tight grip on Haalfrin's arms.

Both the boys, despite having toothpick arms, both lift Haalfrin up as if he weighs nothing, and they sprint back to the army as fast as they can.

"Huh," Haalfrin mutters, "I'm surprised you made it this far, boys. I'm proud of you." The two boys beam with joy hearing this.

Everything seemed like was going to end well, until Nay suddenly gets a blank look on his face and falls to the ground unconscious.

Haalfrin and Haman look at him in surprise. "What happened?" the Naman bleats in a quivering voice. "I don't see any arrows in him! Haalfrin! Did he just die!?"

"Look!" Haalfrin points to the softly glowing Soul Gate drawing itself on the ground below the brown haired boy, "He's becoming a mage! Quick! Make sure his shield's on his back properly." The thing had fallen to the side when the boy fell – exposing part of his back to the arrows.

After the unconscious boy is safe, Haalfrin watches as a black soul gate writes itself on the ground under the boy's prone body, and the boy starts to glow a silver-black color.

"Huh," Haalfrin thinks, "A black soul. That means he probably awakened as a mage when he musted the courage to run out in front of the army. Must've been a tough choice."

Haalfrin looks around frantically, then pulls out the remaining scraps from the magic scroll the Crow goddess left him. New mages always need a source of mana available when they awaken, and this piece of enchanted paper might be his only option right now.

…What sucks is he doesn't even know if the torn scroll still has mana in it.

Haalfrin has Haman set him on his knees, and he presses the scraps of paper over the boy's back. Then, he watches as the two halves of the broke scroll seem to rot away while in contact with his skin until it completely turns to ashes.

If Haalfrin had learned a mana-sight spell, he'd have seen a strange, white energy seep through the boy's skin, into his veins, flow through his body, then disappear into his heart.

Then, the 2 soldiers watch as the brown-haired boy slowly shrinks… and shrinks… and shrinks. A moment later, what was once a healthy, (almost) 20-year-old man is now a 5-year-old child.

Haalfrin sees this and can't help but belt out a laugh. When you become a 1st gate mage, your current age is always quartered. The 80-year-old Haalfrin became 20… and a 20-year-old became 5.

After the brown-haired… child… finishes the awakening process, Haalfrin picks him up with his uninjured arm and tucks him against his chest, protecting him from the arrows.

…And on their way back to the army, Haman keeps looking down at Nay with a perplexed look on his face. "What're we gonna do when he wakes up, Haalfrin?" the boy asks, "What're we going to tell him?"

"…That he became a mage?" Haalfrin answers with a confused look. "What else would we tell him?"

"…He just got married 6 months ago. Nay always complained about how they only spent one night together…"

"!!!" ~ Haalfrin

With a numb look on his face, the blonde boy helps support Haalfrin's weight, while Haalfrin keeps the unconscious, newly awakened mage safe from the enemy arrows still peppering them.

As they get closer to the Alastan lines, he sees the soldiers slowly backing away from him with their shields raised and their guards up.

Frustrated, Haalfrin plops on the ground and complains aloud to his rescuer, "I don't think they're gonna let us join them again. Just get low to the ground and prop your shield up. We're too far away for fireballs now, and our shields are good enough for the arrows."

"Aye captain."

"I'm not your captain. That's Tallus."

"Er," the blonde boy fumbles. "Sorry."

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Meanwhile, Kaalhyme glances back over to the strange spirit mage on his left side. "Huh. His own people won't let him back in their lines."

He looks up and chuckles, "Ha! That's perfect. If no one's willing to go near the lad, then that means the Alastans won't advance from that side. If that's the case, the boy's better off alive."

Kaalhyme lifts up his hand and gives the signal. "Stop firing on the lone mage."

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All of a sudden, everything seems to go quiet for Haalfrin and his two would-be rescuers. "Well," Haalfrin looks up and says, "now that we got a breather… I think I forgot your name."

"It's Haman..." The boy actually seems disappointed at Haalfrin.

"Ah. Sorry."

Honestly, Haalfrin would like to go and fight the Alsa'ree right now, while still he's injured. There's no way he'd survive, right?

However, he knows that Haman would never agree to carry him all the way over to the Alsa'ree lines . Plus, it wouldn't sit right with Haalfrin to put the child in danger for his own selfish desire to die.

So, realizing no one's intending on shooting at them anymore, and knowing it's impossible to join his army again while his Aura is out of control, he sits upright, gets comfortable, and watches the battlefield with a bored look on his face.

As an afterthought, Haalfrin glances up and sees a thick black cloud forming in the sky and circulating ominously. Suddenly, the cloud seems to implode on itself… and once it's gone, the stunning figure of the Crow Goddess is left in plain view of Haalfrin.

With her spear in hand, he watches her tiny figure circle above the battlefield - waiting for the commotion to be over.

Unexpectedly, as he's staring at her distant figure, he squints just hard enough to see that her head is pointed in his direction, and one of her arms is high above her head, waving her hand in his direction as if she were desperate to get his attention.

Then, he watches as she descends to the ground and lands next to him. She ruffles Haman's blonde hair… and the boy doesn't react at all. He can't see or feel her, after all.

Freyya ignores the boy, then steps up to Haalfrin - saying, "Oh? Look at the situation you've put yourself in." She looks around. "Wow. You've already gotten your Aura Name, huh? That was my first too. Congratulations."

"What do you-" he tried asking before she cut him off.

"Oh, I suppose I'll help you out a little."

Freyya looks up and thinks to herself, "I could just teach him how to control his Names and retract his Death Aura at will… because it's pretty easy. However…" She glances at the wary armies on both sides, then at Haalfrin again. "If his Aura suddenly stops working, won't this human be put in a lot of danger?"

Of course, she doesn't know that, but there's always the chance that the enemy will immediately charge at Haalfrin and try to kill him the moment his Death Aura goes down.

So, Freyya smiles, then kindly pulls out a sealing talisman from her sleeve. "Here Haalfrin," she offers him, "Wear this and, your Death Aura won't leak out of your soul at all."

Haalfrin takes the little scrap of paper with a surprised, but happy look. He glances at the Alsa'ree armies, who are too afraid to advance toward him anymore, and thinks, 'If my Aura suddenly stops working, won't I be put in a lot of danger? I can join the battle again! Eh, heh. Perfect.'

Once he takes the talisman and pockets it the way the goddess instructs, Freyya steps back and barely manages to hide her smile. "Poor little mortal. It'll upset him if he learns I tried plotting against him… so this'll be my little secret. Eh heh."

With that, she flies away.

"Who were you talking to, Haalfrin?" Ulvo asks.

"No one?" Haalfrin mutters, "I was just hallucinating that I saw a very beautiful and generous goddess."

"Oh no, WAKE UP!" Haman urgently shakes Haalfrin's prone body, "Don't die on me! Come on! Let's get back to our side and get you patched up!"

Groaning with exhaustion, Haman picks Haalfrin up again and nearly carries him back to the other side.

…Of course, Ulvo never would've had the strength to carry a man who's heavier than him AND is wearing armor over a hundred feet across the field.

However, under the influence of Haalfrin's Aura, he doesn't seem to be getting tired as easily, and his limbs feel stronger than usual.