Battle

After Zay heard Ray say he has low energy, he laughed inwardly. Of course, he didn't say anything about it; it's good for him if they mistakenly think he's vulnerable. 'That Ray person is a bit off though' Zay thought. 'I can't put my finger on it, but I can feel something wrong about him'. 'Well, it doesn't matter, they will all die to me anyways'.

There were only 30 knights left, 25% of them had already died; the pressure was starting to stack onto the remaining knights.

Even though many of the knights agreed with Ray's words, nobody could bring themselves to be the first to try to attack a mage! However, they were teetering on the edge of whether to attack the mage or not, all that was needed was a spark to set off the flame.

Seeing the knight's reactions, Ray took out his sword and pointed it at Zay. "Attack!" He yelled, then ran towards Zay.

A few knights saw this and got the confidence boost they needed to also attack Zay. They responded in unison, "Attack!"

It was like a domino effect, and Ray started it all. Soon all of the knights were rushing towards the mage, ready to rip him to pieces.

Of course, Zay and the mayor wouldn't simply let this happen before their eyes. Surprisingly, Zay didn't seem all that worried. Ray noticed the lack of expression on Zay's face. 'He either has a spell ready, or he is confident in his shield defending us' Ray thought. 'He has to have a shield on, and I should know from personal experience that the knights will find it very hard to get through it. I suppose it's time to reveal my identity'.

Just as Ray was thinking about Zay, Zay was also thinking about Ray. "Oh! I get it now. I never saw that kid when we first gave these citizens their body training techniques'. The truth dawned upon Zay, as his suspicion towards Ray increased.

Ray also made up his mind and let out his aura; stalling beyond this would be detrimental. As soon as he let out his aura he also started casting a light ray while inspecting Zay with his mage's vision.

Luckily Zay didn't have any spells channeled, he was probably very confident in his defenses. Which made sense, if Ray wasn't there, it would be very hard for the knights to get through whatever defense a mage had,

He might be overconfident, but that quickly changed. The second he felt Ray's aura, he also started channeling a spell.

Meanwhile the knights also felt an aura passing over them, but they ignored it. They had bigger problems on their hands, like the expert swordsman barreling towards them.

The mayor wasn't going to stand still and let the knights do what they wanted. He leaped towards the nearest group of knights and engaged into combat with them. It was one sided of course, but it stalled for Ray.

From Ray's perspective, a dark fluid-like substance spread from the inside of Zay's body to the ground. He wasn't focusing too hard on Zay since he had to spend a lot of his mental power simply casting his spell, but he tried to remember the basic structure of the spell for future reference.

Ray's light ray finished casting a tiny bit faster than Zay's spell, and shot towards Zay's head. Before it could reach his vital area, a dark mist appeared towards his spell and sucked it up until nothing remained.

Right after Ray confirmed his spell to take effect, he jumped onto his sword, using it as a shield from the bottom. As he expected, a millisecond later a dark spike erupted from the ground gunning straight towards Ray.

The spell Zay used the most so far was the spike, not to mention he could use his mage's vision to tell he was channeling straight towards the ground. So his immediate reaction was to use his sword as a shield, since his sword is made of some material that is very tough. Ray doesn't know how tough, but it should be able to block at least a shot!

The spike smashed into the sword, but didn't quite reach Ray. A couple small cracks could be seen on the sword, but otherwise there wasn't too much damage. It could definitely tank another few shots, although this situation probably wouldn't happen again. Zay is a level 4 apprentice, he can learn from his mistakes.

Seeing the sword block his spell, Zay cursed internally. 'I knew I shouldn't have used that spell, but I got startled and used the most familiar spell I knew'.

While Ray and Zay were busy with each other, everyone else in the room had a shocked expression on their faces. 'Since when were mages so common?' The knights wanted to scream.

Although they were shocked, the knights were very happy to see Ray's status as a mage. The part where he kept his identity secret and watched Zay kill the knights without doing anything could be forgotten, after all he is a mage! He's their only hope in this scenario.

Ray focused on his aura on Zay and tried to see what his situation was like after that small interaction. The previous energy that surrounded him had dimmed a lot, but wasn't completely broken. It was most likely his shield, although Ray wasn't 100% sure until now.

Ray used the time to call out to his 'teammates', "I've weakened Zay! Everyone, quickly come over and attack him!"

He spoke in a frantic voice, as if this was a chance that couldn't be missed. He quickly added on, "If you don't go after him now, you will all die!"

Whether that was true or not, Ray didn't know. But that last statement would definitely get them up and moving towards Zay.

Sure enough, the knights who were previously disorganized, all went straight towards the mage. With a clear leader like Ray now in existence, his orders would be clearly followed. In that situation where their life is in danger, what they need most is a leader! Someone who can tell them what to do. And Ray, being the powerful mage who can contend with Zay, is exactly that.

They all saw with their own eyes as Ray blocked Zay's attack and shot a light ray at Zay. That was all the evidence they needed to follow Ray.

After seeing the horde of knights coming his way, Zay could only order the mayor to stand by him and protect him. He knew that his shield was close to breaking. Once the shield goes, the only thing stopping the knights from attacking him is his own body, which isn't nearly as powerful as his own spells.

If that situation were actually to arise, it would be too easy for Ray to finish Zay of.

Ray already knew Zay would do this, so he turned his back on Zay and started casting a light ray at the mayor.

Zay had Mage's vision, he could tell what Ray was planning. But at that moment he couldn't do anything about it. He either had to cast a new shield, or he had to get rid of the knights coming after him.

It took him less than a second to make up his mind and get his next spell ready. He put his hands in front of him, not touching but next to each other, and started pooling energy into it. The knights were unaware of what exactly Zay was doing now, but Ray could tell that it was a large-scale attack.

He didn't want to take any chances and get caught up in the aftermath, so he ran the opposite direction of the knights while continually casting light ray.

A second later, the familiar white light escaped from Ray's palm and headed straight towards the mayor's head.

The time it took for Ray to command the knights then cast the spell was only a few seconds; the mayor knew he was in trouble, but couldn't do anything about it.

As the ray came closer to the mayor's face, he wanted to scream out loud, 'WHY!'.

He had been tricked and manipulated by Zay to run his experiments, and he kept his entire family hostage. Hell, he kept his entire town hostage.

But now he was destined to die because of the mage too. Isn't this too unfair?

Unfortunately for him, life isn't fair. The shining light dug into his skull until an opening was made, revealing his brain. The brain instantly evaporated, but the light fizzled out before piercing the other side of his skull.

This was the first time something like this happened, but it is to be expected. After all, he is a higher level knight.

The knights however didn't have the time to celebrate the mayor's death. They started to notice something was wrong, as Zay was continually channeling energy for a few seconds now. But they finally reached him, they were eager to beat him up!