The Case of the Vanishing Brat part 4

( Loid Stormvale pov)

The sky above us was a mess of fire and smoke. Magic explosions lit the air every few seconds. Screams, metal clashing, and the heavy beating of wings echoed through the forest. The ground was blackened, burned, and soaked in blood, some of it mine.

I could barely keep up with the fight.

Back in the capital, I was known as one of the top knights. But now? I can't even land a clean hit. These kidnappers... they're not human. Their speed, their power, their presence, it's inhuman. Every time I blink, one of them almost slices my head off.

This is my fault.

I was trained by the legend himself. The strongest Arcanist in history. People say he could burn down a nation with a single finger. He taught me his own mana technique, a style no one else knew. And yet, I couldn't master it. No matter how hard I tried, it never clicked. I guess I just wasn't good enough.

Was that why he left me behind?

"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!" Adrien's voice snapped me back.

His hand gripped my collar and yanked me away just in time. A blast of fire scorched the earth where I had stood a second ago.

"Damn bastards won't let up," he growled. His face was scratched, and smoke trailed from his coat.

But his eyes are still sharp. Still unshaken. "And one of them is gone after the young master. We don't have time to waste."

I glanced at him. Blood was gushing from his left shoulder, from a deep, nasty cut. But he didn't even flinch.

"Cut them down, or I'll kill you myself!" he shouted, pushing me forward.

But how? I've got no mana left. I can't even feel it inside me anymore. It's like a dried-up well.

Please… be safe, your highness...

I looked at the enemy charging us. My feet froze.

What should I do? What do I do, Master Xavier?!

________________________________

It was spring when I first met him.

The royal garden in Crownland Kingdom was blooming with wildflowers. A breeze moved through the golden banners. Birds chirped in the distance, and under a lone tree, I sat cross-legged, struggling to keep my mana flow steady. My palms were stacked in my lap, and sweat ran down my face as I focused.

Golden boots stopped in front of me.

"If you keep cultivating like that, your mana core's gonna explode," a soft voice warned.

I looked up.

There he was. Golden hair, golden eyes, shining like sunlight. His face looked like it was carved by gods themselves. He wore the royal combat coat, black with silver and gold trim, layered shoulder guards with a white emblem stitched across his chest, tight gloves, a long back cape fluttering behind him.

Xavier Solstice.

Crowned prince of the Crownland kingdom. The strongest Arcanist. The people called him a living legend.

"But Your Highness," I stammered, "I… I just don't get it. Everyone says I'm a failure. Maybe they're right. You don't have to waste time on me."

He raised an eyebrow, then dropped to the grass beside me. He sat down. Just like that. In the dirt. A royal prince was sitting on muddy grass like it meant nothing.

"If you whine like that, it will make you a real failure, Loid."

I looked away. My eyes burned with frustration.

"Hey," he said firmly. "Look here. You are not weak. You're not a failure. And if I say that, then it's true. Or are you saying my judgment's wrong?"

My eyes widened. "N-No! I'd never say that, Your Highness!"

"Then trust me. Train. Grow. And one day… come beat me." He reached out, ruffled my hair, and smiled. That smile… warm like sunlight.

"Yeah. I'll wait," he said.

__________________________________

When those memories came to me in a split second, I slapped my own cheek. 

I can't believe I was about to cry again.

Adrien stared at me like I'd gone crazy.

I rolled my shoulder, breathing in deep. The fear was still in my heart, but now I think I can beat it.

"Hey!" I called out, ducking under another sword swipe. "I have a plan!"

Adrien blocked a blade with his sword, sparks flying between them. "You better not die before telling me!"

"I need time. Just buy me a few minutes."

His lips curled into a grin. "Two minutes. That's all I can."

I will do this, master Xavier.

Watch me now.

When Adrien said two minutes, I gave him a nod.

That's all I need.

I took a few steps back, my heart pounding like crazy. My fingers were shaking, but not from fear. Not anymore.

I closed my eyes and whispered,

"Zephyrion Howl…"

It wasn't a spell. It's my stigma. My own stigma, which can even kill me. I have only used it once. And that time I nearly died.

Wind brushed against my skin first, soft, almost gentle. Like a warning.

Then came the static. Tiny sparks were dancing between my fingertips.

It's tiny but,

I dropped to one knee, slamming my palm against the ground.

The air shifted. It got harder to breathe. Yeah, this feeling, I clearly remember it from that time.

Adrien shouted something, but I couldn't hear him. What is he saying?

The wind picked up around me, swirling faster with every breath I took.

My coat flared behind me, caught in a storm that hadn't even formed yet.

My body started to lift, just a little.

Like the air itself wanted to carry me.

My eyes opened.

Everything felt clearer.

Sharper.

Not ready yet… just a little longer.

I stood slowly, sparks now crawling up my arms like living threads. My blood felt like thunder. Like I was burning from inside.

A little more. I felt the metallic tang of blood coming from my mouth.

The storm inside me was spinning now. Faster. Wilder.

Adrien was still fighting, trying to keep those bastards away from me, blades clashing, but his eyes darted to me.

He felt it too.

The pressure.

Like the sky was about to drop.

And then,

BOOM.

A burst of wind shot outward from me, the dirt around my boots cracking.

______________________________

(Adrien Leofrick pov)

The moon was thin, just a silver scratch in the sky. The air was soaked with mist, and our boots were already wet with river fog.

The enemy outnumbered us. I knew that. And so did he.

Loid had said he needed time.

But I didn't understand what for… until the wind changed.

First, it was just a breeze, brushing past my shoulder like a whisper. Then it turned sharp, circling. Fast. Cutting.

I turned to him, and what I saw made my stomach twist. He wasn't just standing still. He was charging something. No, not something. Everything.

Lightning slithered up his arms in glowing veins, cracking with quiet fury beneath his skin. The wind around him spiraled faster and faster, lifting leaves, sticks, even pebbles off the ground. The grass around his boots had flattened into a ring, like the earth itself was bowing.

 His dark hair was floating now with a blue static glow. 

The sky, cloudless just minutes ago, began to pulse with a sick blue glow. No thunder yet. Like something old and angry was stirring above us.

And Loid… he didn't flinch.

He stood, I mean floated there, eyes closed, hands spread, pulling in every ounce of storm this cursed world would give him.

The trees bent away from him. The river behind us began to rise in tiny ripples. The night hummed, high-pitched, trembling.

I backed up without realizing. Every instinct I had screamed run. Not from the enemy.

From him.

The heck was that?!

He opened his eyes.

Pure, radiant white. Like he'd summoned a piece of the first storm to ever touch this world.

Then came the sound.

Not thunder.

A crack, like the sky had been torn in two. Then another. And another. The pressure dropped so fast my ears popped.

The moment he raised his hand to the sky, I knew.

This was no spell. This was a stigma. At least in S Rank.

"Oi!" I shouted, but my voice vanished in the roar.

The wind around him exploded, forming a double-ringed cyclone, one made of raw lightning, the other of screaming air. Trees behind him cracked in half. The enemies paused mid-attack, their faces pale.

Too late.

He let out a roar, and the world went white.

I don't know if it had a name. I don't know if he named it at all. But what I saw was the Storm of God's Wrath.

Lightning tore through the ground like roots seeking blood. A pillar of thunder and wind erupted from his body, tearing the battlefield in two. The enemy disintegrated: flesh, armor, screams, gone in an instant. The river split open, waves crashing against rocks like fists. The forest behind us? Flattened. Uprooted like paper trees in a child's drawing.

I had to throw myself behind a boulder, or I'd be caught too. Even there, the pressure pushed me flat against the stone. My sword vibrated. My ears bled.

The very mana in the air screamed.

what the heck is that stigma?!!!

And finally,

When the light faded, when the wind finally died, there was only silence.

Just... silence.

The enemy was gone.

The battlefield was a crater of smoke and cracked soil, glowing faint with ember veins.

And Loid?

He stood in the center, hunched, steam rolling off his back, hands shaking at his sides. His clothes were torn. Blood dripped from his nose. One eye was shut.

But he was still standing.

In that moment, with the stars flickering behind storm clouds and the broken earth spread around him, he didn't look like a man.

He looked like a demon himself.

"…What did you just become?" I whispered, not expecting an answer.

But he turned his head slightly, enough for me to see the faint grin on his face, even as blood ran down his cheek.

Then he fell to the ground.

"Loid!"

I ran.

The battlefield still smoked. Ash floated down like black snow. The ground cracked beneath every step as I stumbled through the heat and broken earth to reach him. I barely caught him before he hit the ground, his weight collapsing into my chest like a dying fire.

His breath was ragged, shallow. Like he'd outrun death but barely.

His skin burned hot from mana outrage; his veins still lit with fading sparks.

Up close, I could see how bad it was, his eyes were bloodshot, one of them completely clouded over. His fingers were scorched, trembling.

He'd pushed too far.

"Hey," I muttered, cradling him against me. "You did it. You mad bastard, you actually,"

"I told you…" He coughed, a little smirk pulling at his lips, "...two minutes."

"You took five."

I lied, yeah.

He chuckled, just once, and then he blacked out.

I held him tighter, pressing my ear to his chest. His heartbeat was faint but there.

All around us, the world looked like it had been carved by gods. The river had rerouted. The forest edge was flattened. The sky still hadn't decided whether to rain or shine.

The only place unharmed was the rock and a few feet around it, where I was hiding. Did he control that damn thing, so I won't get caught up?

And I am sure he was almost out of mana. How did he do that?

Is he...even human?