Survive I

Clang!

"Do you know who awakened the aura?" asked Wayne and attacked me with flaming lances.

I shook my hand as I defended the attacks with the flame shield before moving to attack him.

It seemed like an actual attack, like his attack earlier, but it's not.

Though I am still careful of the bastard.

The surrender could be a plot. Though it seemed less likely, given the information he had provided had been true so far. That doesn't mean we could trust him explicitly.

We could never trust me. Though we could be relieved after, we have him in our custody.

The bastard had declined to surrender unless we won this battle. Till then, I will have mock-fight him, which is a kind of frustrating.

I wanted to take part in a real battle, but here, I am babysitting this bastard, whom I can not defeat.

I have made a good advancement in the half year and even got new spells. Courtesy of Remus, but it is still not enough to deal with this bastard.

He is not only higher leveled but also more experienced and has a greater collection of spells.

Since both of us are the blade mages of the same element. It became much more difficult for me to stand against him. I would be hard pressed if he moved to kill him.

Val had fought with him before and praised him to a tough enemy, that she cannot fight alone.

She needed to work with Paladin Carr to effectively deal against him.

"I wonder who it is? It must be a bastard with the tough will," he commented, defending against my attacks.

The aura is said to be a manifestation of will. Only those of the strong will awaken it.

I could see longing in his eyes; the same one was present in mine. Aura is an amazing thing; I have seen the aura masters do terrifying things.

The warriors who usually see us mages become capable of fighting against us.

Us mages benefit no less, especially the blade mages like us. Which I think are the best users of aura, who could augment our spells as well as our blades with it.

He isn't the only one having that question. I too thinking about the person who had awakened the aura.

"I hope, it's not Rynra or all of us are dead," he said, shuddering.

I had read the information about her. She was a powerful dark spell blade. She will become even more dangerous if she awakens the aura.

I am not her match; I don't know if I will be able to fight against her, even if I work with Val.

I sighed internally as her beautiful place came into my mind.

Ever since that incident, we have been living apart. It is hard; I love her, but can't live with the love of my life.

We still go on date and most of the dates are in legacy.

It helps to have a master of it as a friend. Thanks to Val, I have an open reservation in the legacy.

I could get a table in restaurants any time I wanted and the same with the spa, to which I had become a kind of addicted.

However, for the most exclusive top floor, I have to inform Madam Caena, a few days before.

Val didn't even need to do that. If there isn't a table available for her, they will add it.

It had happened two weeks ago when we decided on an impromptu date after attending a meeting called by Remus.

The top floor was full. Madam Onaz brought our table chairs out of thin air and covered us with a beautiful dome of mist, that no one could see through.

That date was good, but it couldn't be compared to the one we had a roof of legacy.

It was magical. We had made the love under the open sky, at the top point of Greltheaven.

"You shouldn't daydream during the battle. You might end up losing your life," he said, attacking me fast.

Clang!

I defended barely and glared at him, but he was right. I shouldn't daydream, especially not during the battle.

"How is the battle?" I asked him and he smiled.

I don't have the skill, but he has.

"The skill isn't working with full power since I am not commander, but it is safe to say, the battle is tilting in your side."

"If I am generous, I would even say. It had tilted to your side already," he said, and a smile appeared on my face.

"Though nothing could be said. If Rynra killed the elder blood, then the battle would be good as lost," he added, wiping the smile away from my face.

….

Stone

Her dark, lightning-covered sword attacked me, sending thick bolts toward me.

I covered myself with energy, but those bolts tore through it and struck me.

Giving me such pain, that I needed to grit my teeth to bear it.

I could have brought more energy to defend against it, but I brought enough to whittle a third of the bolt's power; the rest I bore with my body.

I have no option. I couldn't squander all the energy on defense.

I needed to last in the battle where the enemy could recharge herself by taking the mana from the undead, who had finally started to fight.

My men are fighting well, not only here, but also everywhere.

The biggest surprise had been Lord Silver. That man is really something.

I had seen many people awaken aura in battles, I had fought on the island. He is not only the youngest but also of the lowest leveled.

All who had awakened aura had been above that of Lv. 30 and also above the age of thirty.

There are two more people who are amazing and have the potential to awaken the aura.

The first one is Orok. He isn't as talented as Lord Silver, but that young man has a drive like no other. He will accomplish what he set out to do.

The second one is Azalea. She is someone that everyone would underestimate. She is an above-average fighter, and her skills aren't that powerful.

Her strengths lie working together; it is where she shines. No one could compare to her with that.

We are doing good. It could be said, the battle had tilted in our favor, but we are far from winning it.

The undead could resist us for hours. It would be bad if we let them do that.

We have to kill them fast. If we let the battle continue till the reinforcement arrives; it is us that is going to be wiped out.

Hun!

Suddenly, all the hair on my body stood up, and I activated the method without a thought.

The next second, the defensive method covered me.

Bang Bang Bang!

The thick tendrils with sharp ends struck against the defensive method hard, before he came across her blade, covered in thick fire.

Bang!

It hit hard enough to make cracks appear on the shield.

I sighed internally, seeing that. The woman is too powerful, and it was a wise decision, to fight against her defensively.

I might have gone offensive if she didn't have a tap of mana in the form of the undeads. If we were fighting far away from them, I would have attacked her as she is attacking me.

I cut the energy for the defensive method right after her attack to save it as much as I could and attacked her.

Clang

"So, you do know how to attack," she said with a smile.

Though it's without a mirth; all there is an anger. So, much of it, I am impressed that she is able to control it well; I wouldn't have been able to if I had been at her place.

I didn't say anything to that and just watched her.

It would be hard for me to kill her. I am looking for the chance every second, but I know very well, it is unlikely that I will get it.

It is why I am keeping her here. It's my only job in the battle; the rest would be handled by my people.

I have to trust them to do the job without me and till now; they haven't disappointed me at all.

Still, the battle is far from over. There are many powerful people in the enemy's army that could change the fate of the battle.

Including Wayne; It's why I sent Glass to handle him. She will not be able to defeat him, but she will be able to keep him contained.

Thankfully, we have defeated the third most powerful enemy. Osward and Jon did a good job finishing him despite the appearance of the traitor.

Currently, only one traitor appeared from the ranks of Lv. 30, but I had asked others to be careful.

Seconds passed, and nobody moved when suddenly she turned into a puff of smoke and all the hair on my body stood up and I turned.

There was nothing, but I swung my sword with everything, I had.

Clang!

My sword clashed: at the same time, I felt file tens of nails buried in my heart.

It's her first mental attack on me and it's powerful enough to shake my soul and bring the tears out of my eyes.

That is, after my elder-blood defenses whittled away quite a lot of its power.

It's a powerful attack. The most powerful mental attack I had expected from Lv. 30, but I had survived worse.

The most terrifying had been an attack by Great Mage Lich's area wide attack.

It had made me fall to my knees and had blood run out of all my orifices. I really thought I would die. Many levels above me died, but I somehow survived

It was at that battle; I reached Lv. 20.