Night Alleway

By nightfall, the answers he sought had become clear, the path forward illuminated – but he would need to bide his time until the veil of true night had descended before putting his theory to the test. 

Retracing his steps toward the inn, he noticed the Ember Forge mages concluding their discussions with Gale Academy's contingent. 

A barely perceptible smile ghosted across his lips, for soon he would have a welcome surprise in store for them.

As he approached the stairs, Gladius sensed one of the mages – the Ember Forge's beautiful woman – approaching with the poise and grace of a gazelle. Her radiant smile seemed almost blinding, a perfect complement to exquisite features that could have inspired ancient sculptors to new artistic heights. 

Yet Gladius merely arched a brow, utterly unmoved by her ethereal allure.

"Ah, you're back." Her melodious voice flowed like sweet honey, soft and rich. "Do you mind if we have a talk? You must have some thoughts on your mind."

"Not really. Goodnight." His curt response was as cold and brusque as a winter gale, instantly shattering her aura of sensuality.

"Eh–ah?" That alluring smile faltered, her brow furrowing ever so slightly at the blatant rebuff. "Surely we haven't been too...unfriendly. But after your actions in the woods, a nice talk would be in order."

She quickly regained her composure, that radiant smile reasserting itself as she pressed, "After all, a beautiful woman offering to chat after being saved is a pleasant prospect, no?"

Judging by the longing stares of the other mages lingering in the inn's commons, she was clearly accustomed to being the irresistible center of attention, a sun that all lowly celestial bodies dutifully orbited. 

Gladius, however, cared not a whit. His mind was a fortress of tranquil clarity, utterly focused on completing his aims this eventful night.

"As I said, not in the mood to talk. Goodbye." 

A second dismissal, as blunt and final as a headsman's axe.

The mage's jaw worked soundlessly, stunned into slack-jawed silence at being so brazenly turned aside. Before she could marshal a retort, Gladius whipped around and strode off with uncanny swiftness, effortlessly gliding out of sight before she could make another attempt at engaging him.

Her delicate brows knitted together as she clenched her teeth, muttering a barely audible "That man...hmph! No idea how to treat a lady..."

Yet despite her disdain, she could not deny the unsettling frisson of primal unease that cascaded down her spine at witnessing Gladius's sudden burst of unnatural speed. It was a casual, nonchalant display of power that hinted at fathomless depths she could scarcely conceive.

"Hehe, not often you see a mage beauty getting rejected, eh?" one of the Gale mages chuckled, shattering the tense silence.

"Hmph!" The lanky Ember Forge mage snorted derisively. "He must have something wrong with his eyes to reject such radiant beauty. Or maybe the fool's just too scared on the inside."

The shorter Ember Forge companion let out an amused bark of laughter. "Oh, I'd understand being intimidated. Some of these woman mages are truly terrifying creatures."

To the others, it was simply an amusing spectacle to be gawked at and gossiped over briefly before being forgotten. 

But the Ember Forge leader watched Gladius's abrupt departure with narrowed eyes, his caution stoked by that unsettling display of preternatural quickness.

...

Night had fully claimed dominion over the town, cloaking everything in a mystifying ominous shade that only enhanced the stark beauty of the moon's ghostly luminescence and the stars' diamond brilliant twinkle. 

Few souls dared to wander the quiet streets at this late hour, making Gladius's solitary figure all the more conspicuous as he ambled with languid ease, savoring the night's hushed tranquility.

His measured strides belied the razor-sharp focus of his expanded sword sense, keenly awaiting the opportune moment to put his newly devised theory to the test. 

This world was far from the idyllic peace its quaint towns projected – danger lurked in every shadow, even in seemingly tranquil hamlets like this one. 

Gladius did not need to wait long for his instincts to be proven true.

His sword sense trembled with imminent peril, allowing him to detect the faint flutter of mana, weak compared to the Ember Forge mages yet still terribly potent against those without an innate spirit. 

A sense of vindicated satisfaction curled his lips into the barest hint of a smile as his strides carried him toward that permeating menace.

In this world, the prevailing belief proclaimed the magicless as worthless – mere chattel doomed to spend their lives toiling in servitude for their betters. 

But why should such narrow dogma hold any sway over Gladius? 

He commanded power just as profound as any mage's magic, for the mystical sword force resonated through his very being like the ceaseless beat of a mighty heart.

To truly commune with the world itself, to sense the ebb and flow of life's pulsating rhythms as they breathed through every stirring leaf and rock, to feel that intimate connection in every fiber of one's being – that alone was a transcendent gift that defied the constraints of magic. 

Feeling that true symbiosis with the world was a blessing that surpassed such mundane limitations.

Thus, Gladius harbored not a shred of apprehension about facing mages or even the vaunted Ember Forge coterie. To gauge where he truly stood against such opponents, a prime opportunity for vindication had arisen. 

His steps led inexorably to the source of that sinister presence – a shadowed alley where cruelty's malignant influence held sway.

"Tch." A mage's disdainful sneer sliced through the stillness, his eyes roving over the terrified couple sprawled below with all the contempt one would grant a slug leaving a foul trail on one's finest boots. 

The young woman knelt in abject terror, utterly helpless to do anything but mutely witness her boyfriend being viciously trod upon by the mage's booted foot.

A thick globule of spittle launched from the mage's twisted sneer to splatter against the man's head with a wet smack as he sneered, "I gave you a week to pay up and this is all I get? You must really not care about your little whore at all, huh?"

"I–I..." The man could only feebly choke out the words through a haze of agony, waves of torturous pain wracking his body from the mage's crushing spiritual weight. Clenching his teeth, he managed to rasp, "It's...been difficult. Please...another chance..."

"Nope." The mage's laughter was ice sheathed in shards of broken glass, slicing into their souls like serpent's fangs dripping with venom. "Did you forget what I said would happen if you were late paying tribute? Hmph. Be grateful I'm feeling merciful and only roughing up your bitch a little before taking my real fun. Many would've had their way with her before leaving your corpses rotting in the street."

That damnable, mocking leer curled across his lips once more as he turned toward the woman, inhaling deeply as if savoring the bouquet of her terror. 

"Now then, whore, time for you to get comfortable while I–"

"You–!" An inarticulate cry of pure fury nearly burst from the man's ravaged lips before the woman reined it in with heartbreaking desperation tingeing her fragile smile.

"Alright, just please...don't hurt him anymore." Her voice was little more than a reedy whisper winding through the alley's cloying shadows. "I'll...do whatever you say."

"Damn you!" The man could only shake with seething, impotent rage at his inability to protect her from this vile bastard's depravities.

The mage just sneered and opened his mouth to dole out further sneering abuse – but the scathing words withered on his tongue, choked into silence as a voice as cold and cutting as naked steel filled the alley like a arctic gale.

"Ah, it really doesn't matter the world, the most degenerate filth still slithers about like the worthless vermin they are."

"You?!" The mage whipped around, his slender frame tensing like a cornered serpent, his senses blaring warnings at the sudden presence of an interloper defiling his seedy dominion.

The couple also snapped their gazes over, a flicker of desperate hope flaring within – only to be drowned beneath crushing waves of disappointment at the sight of a shabbily dressed commoner joining their private hell.

That momentary spike of fear swiftly bled away as the mage's lips curled back in an arrogant sneer, cruel mirth bubbling up from his throat in mocking peals of laughter that ricocheted off the alley walls. 

"Well, well...what have we here? Another foolish dumbass who has no clue when to keep his trap shut and mind his own godsdamned business!"

Gladius regarded the lowly wretch with the same impassive mask one would grant an annoying insect buzzing about their face, infusing his faint smile with enough glacial disdain to strip away the mage's bravado. For trading hollow taunts with such insignificant scum was as pointless as arguing with the primordial sludge from whence it had oozed.