Kingdom's mage

Ethan let out a shaky breath as the cloaked figure descended back into the distance. The oppressive weight that had gripped the battlefield seemed to ease, though the memory of their piercing gaze lingered like a ghostly imprint on his mind. His knees felt weak, and for a moment, he considered sitting down—but the eerie silence of the battlefield kept him on edge.

"Master… I think the reinforcements arrived. That should be a mage from the kingdom. How powerful…"

Ethan nodded absently at Lia's words, though his thoughts were elsewhere. The cloaked figure—mage or otherwise—was unlike anything he'd ever encountered. 

If that was what kingdom reinforcements looked like, then the power scale he'd been imagining was woefully inaccurate. The way the air had bent under their presence, the oppressive mana suffusing the battlefield—it wasn't just power. It was dominance.