While they were lost in their realisation and drowning in sorrow, Caleb disappeared from their view. Since they have now been turned into nothing but normal people, they couldn't even perceive when he disappeared. They had wanted to plead their case, as some already had tears in their eyes. When they looked around for Caleb, he was nowhere to be found.
"Wher... where is he?!" One of them exclaimed with snot all over his face. He had made grown men cry. They looked at where their boss was supposed to be and found no one around. Suddenly, the realisation that they were left alone sent shivers down their spine.
Without their magic, returning to the border city would be difficult. With no way to protect themselves, they were left to make the journey on foot. Their horses they had come with were long gone, with some already meeting their end. However, what really broke their psyche was losing their ability to do magic. It had never crossed their minds that something like that was possible.
As mages who have spent countless resources refining their strength, losing everything was worse than dying in a fight. What was even worse was the fact that they couldn't access their storage rings! Without mana to engage with the spatial matrix embedded into the ring, they couldn't use it. That meant all the stuff they had, food included, was lost to them!
.....
Caleb appeared before the boss, momentarily looking at his sorry figure before lifting him and placing him on his shoulders. He then took off into the sky towards the direction of his party's camp.
'I would say the experiment was a success. This could be a trump card in my arsenal.' He reasoned. From what he observed from those men, he deduced that losing their ability to do magic was a worse sentence than death. Who would accept losing all the power they had spent their entire life building? It was like using all your energy and hard-earned money to build yourself a nice house only for it to be taken away without the ability to fight back.
After a few minutes of flying and thinking to himself, Caleb spotted the camp ahead and slowly began his descent. When he landed, he noticed everyone on high alert. 'It seems the fighting commotion reached all the way here.'
"Caleb, your back!" Elina exclaimed and made her way to meet him. "Yeah... Like I told you before, I'll be fine." He responded and guided her back to the group. Elina chose to remain silent about the man she spotted on his shoulders as he expected him to explain once he settled.
"I'm guessing the sound of the explosions we heard was your doing?" Sean asked when Caleb arrived close to the fireplace. He placed Enouch down and placed his index finger on his forehead. A white light momentarily brightened before he stood up to face Sean.
"Yeah. I found a group of mercenaries ahead. Turns out they were there to ambush our caravan. Specifically to capture me." He responded while moving to take a seat on one of the logs they put around the fire.
Elina came to sit by him while Sean sat on the opposite side. He cast a glance at the unconscious man. Since this man was the only person he brought back, Sean figured this was their leader and Caleb intended to extract any useful information out of him.
"Before anything else..." Sean began, remembering the situation where he heard a voice in his head. "...were you the one who spoke directly in my head?" Hearing the question, Caleb grinned and responded.
"What? Did I spook you or something?" He teased. While the ability to project one's thoughts into another was impressive, to Caleb, it was simply a by-product of his enhanced intellect. His ability to perform complex calculations, deductions and reasoning had a boost. This was also what gave him the skill of chantless casting.
"Is it true?" Elina also enquired. The brother she knew before and the one before her could be described as two different individuals. The things she had seen her brother do redefine everything she knew about magic, and she wasn't alone in thinking so.
'Of course. I can project my thoughts to those in my proximity and long distances when I focus.' He replied with a telepathic response to her sister's question. The sensation of hearing her brother's words in her head spooked her a bit. She suddenly stood up and looked at him as if he had grown another head.
"Relax...It's just another magic trick." He said to calm her agitated heart. Sean observed the happenings and shook his head. "The sensation isn't exactly fun, you know?" Sean said to Caleb.
Turning back to him, he nodded in acknowledgement. Elina calmed her beating heart and decided to sit back down. While her actions had drawn the attention of their part members around the other campfires, they reasoned it must probably be something they were discussing about the captured prison the young lord brought.
Caleb looked back at his prisoner who was still pretending to be asleep. He smiled and questioned. "How long are you gonna pretend to be unconscious?" As of now, Enoch was as powerless as any mortal. He had felt something wrong with his body when he woke up.
The pain he was feeling was more intense than he had ever felt. He had subtly attempted to make a run for it, but could not muster any mana to do so. He couldn't even move his body. The pain almost made him moan. But his years on the streets and in the underworld had strengthened his psyche.
Enoch slowly opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He couldn't spot his men anywhere and feared the worst. The environment had also changed. He could only conclude that he was captured. He looked back at Caleb with dread in his eyes. He attempted to sit up but the pain from his broken ribs made him wince.
Eventually, he was able to sit up. He had also wondered why he wasn't tired up. Not like a rope could hold a mage, but he figured with his condition, that would not be a problem. He wiped the dried blood from his face before focusing on the other people around him.
"Don't worry, your men are fine." A voice drew his attention back to Caleb. The look on his face told Caleb he did not believe him. And it was understandable. Who would leave their enemies alive? It was that kind of world.
'It's not like he's completely wrong. Taking away their ability to do magic might as well be a death sentence out here. I also left most of them heavily injured.' Caleb mused to himself.
"Sean, could you get one of the healers here." Caleb requested Sean call a healer here. It was clear he intended to heal his prisoner. Although he found it questionable why he would heal his prisoner, he still stood up and signalled one of the knights to get a healer.
"Now, while we wait for the healer, let's begin your interrogation." Caleb began.
"Let's start with your name."