Inside Chairman Reynold's private office, the luxurious mahogany furniture and delicate glass cases were pulverized into splinters as a deadly arcane skirmish erupted.
The Four Seasons Corps, the elite, frontline magical battle team of the Light faction stood locked in a desperate, blood-soaked struggle against the vicious vanguard of the Thousand Meddling Hands.
Spells clashed in bursts of blinding elemental light, tearing the plaster from the walls.
At the center of the fray, the combat captain of the Four Seasons Corps found himself targeted by a sinister, shadowy figure masquerading as a young boy.
*Crash! Crash! Crash!*
Intense, localized explosions detonated in front of the leader one after another. The immense kinetic shockwaves fractured his defensive wards, driving the breath from his lungs and forcing him into a ragged retreat.
Before he could regain his footing, a foul green mist gathered in the air, condensing instantly into a sticky, necrotic fluid that adhered to the leader's body like superglue, freezing his joints and burning through his robes.
"Damn it, be careful! Their target has always been the sealing spell formation!" the trapped leader roared, his voice strained as the burning fluid locked his limbs.
"Hehe, it's too late!"
The little boy within the mist cackled. His body transformed into a spectral, intangible apparition, sliding effortlessly through the outer perimeter where the red, thorny defense spell formation flared to life.
The defensive barbs passed completely through his ghostly form without effect. He dashed directly into the high-security interior of the thorny spell formation, large amounts of toxic green mist billowing from his pores.
*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*
The four elite members of the Four Seasons Corps tasked with guarding the inner anchor fell to the ground in rapid succession.
They clutched their throats as the toxic fog invaded their lungs, their flesh instantly sprouting sickening green mushrooms and necrotic spots across their faces as their life force was rapidly hijacked.
"What a bunch of idiots!" the boy snapped, his voice twisting into an adult's cruel timbre.
His movements were terrifyingly fast. He reached into his robes and pulled out a jagged red crystal, slamming it downward with brutal force toward the pulsating heart of the spell formation.
This crystal was a specialized, volatile self-destruct mechanism engineered to perfectly sync with the core arrays. The moment it was fully activated, the entire spell formation would forcefully turn inward and destroy itself, along with body of consciousness.
The moment that core body of consciousness self-destructed, the massive platinum gate serving as the main entrance to the secret plane would collapse into a spatial void.
The boy's eyes glinted with a manic, sadistic excitement; he could already envision the absolute destruction of the pocket world's gateway, picturing the flustered, exasperated expressions of the Light Magi.
"Not so fast!"
At that exact microsecond, a hand as pale and flawless as white jade emerged directly out of thin air. It clamped around the little boy's wrist with the force of an iron vice.
Before the crystal could touch the array, crackling blue thunder manifested around the white-jade fingers, shaping into a miniature roaring dragon that crushed the red crystal into worthless, fine powder.
Lancey dispelled her stealth spell, her cloaked figure dropping into reality as she gripped the boy tightly.
The moment her hand made solid contact with his skin, her palm burst into a torrent of freezing, blue-white icy flames.
The paradoxical heat burned the surrounding fog until it completely vanished into ash, exposing the raw, uncovered form of the Magus who looked like a young child.
"You…" The boy pointed a trembling finger at Lancey, who glared back through the grim visage of her Virago mask. He opened his jaws, preparing to spit an incantation or an angry curse.
But why would she ever give him the chance to do that?
With a subtle flick of her wrist, several blood-red snakes slithered rapidly from her enchanted ring.
They hissed, wriggling through the air and slipping straight into the boy's nostrils, ears, and mouth. The dark energy of the serpents flooded his system, instantly locking down his sea of consciousness and completely sealing his ability to move or speak.
Lancey maintained her deep disguise as the notorious Virago. To the dazed onlookers of the Four Seasons Garden, all they saw was a shadowy figure in an Astral Requiem robe, radiating a deeply evil, suffocating aura, appearing out of nowhere to ruthlessly neutralize the infiltrator in seconds.
"I finally got you. And this time, I'll make you pay!" Lancey hissed, grabbing the back of the little boy's collar. She hoisted his frail, paralyzed body off the floor with one hand, treating him as casually as a piece of discarded luggage.
Because she had thoroughly sealed the little boy's mouth with her dark serpents, he was entirely unable to speak. He could only glare at her with bloodshot eyes full of homicidal fury, silently wishing he could hack her into a thousand pieces.
This child was the very same operative of the Thousand Meddling Hands who had arrogantly threatened Lancey while she was en route to the Four Seasons Garden.
At that time, his spiritual force hadn't even crossed the threshold of a semi-converted Magus. But now, judging by the volatile energy waves pulsing from his sealed body, he had not only shattered his previous bottlenecks but was a mere step away from becoming a Peak Rank 1 Magus.
This terrifying rate of advancement made even Lancey, who possessed the computational aid of the mini-chip and the vast resources of both the Garden and the Astral Requiem, shocked.
"Virago! It's the Thousand Meddling Hands' Virago!" the leader of the Four Seasons Corps coughed, desperately rinsing his body with a vial of milky-white holy water to wash away the last traces of the disgusting green fluid.
Confusion and suspicion clouded his eyes as he stood up, resolutely stepping into Lancey's path to block her exit.
"Why did she stop her own comrade? What game is this!?"
"Nuisances... Blades deal with them," Lancey commanded coldly.
From the shadows behind her, two towering armor-clad figures materialized, their crimson bloodline runes blazing red-hot along their plate armor.
The Four Seasons leader didn't waste any more words; he swung his longsword, unleashing a massive, cascading wave of sharp sword apparitions. Like a roaring waterfall of steel, the projectiled blades charged directly toward Lancey.
With their captain's attack acting as a signal, the remaining Magi of the Four Seasons Corps moved in unison.
*Tss tss!* Striking their breastplates, thorny, blood-red plants began to grow rapidly from their crimson armor.
The parasitic vines possessed a grotesque self-awareness, writhing and grouping together in the center of the office until they formed a massive green plant giant standing over five meters tall.
The golem was covered in jagged, venomous thorns, its wooden body shot through with sinister black ley-lines. At the hollow sectors where its eyes should have been, two strange, pulsating purple flowers bloomed.
"Awooooo!"
The green giant snarled, a sound like tearing wood, as it opened its massive, thorny palm and lunged to crush the trio.
Instantly, Kaelen activated his Giant Earth Bear bloodline, while Vane unleashed the power of his Iron-Hide Rhino fusion.
Their bodies underwent a violent, bestial transformation, their muscles expanded beneath their plate, their eyes flashing with primal hunger as intense, wild auras radiated from their frames.
The blood-red runes across their armor blazed with a crimson light, calling upon the raw essence of the mutated beasts merged within their flesh, multiplying their physical strength.
With a coordinated roar, they swung their massive greatswords upward to intercept the incoming waterfall of steel blades.
*Cling clang! Cling clang!*
The phantasmal red swords struck the knights' heavy blades in a flurry of deafening impacts.
Sparks flew like fireworks, producing the immense, grinding screeches of high-grade metal tearing against itself.
The apparitions of the crimson swords kept shattering into fragments under the sheer physical power of the knights, but the dense layer of bloody aura coating Vane and Kaelen's weapons grew increasingly thick, spinning off into multiple red tendrils of kinetic force that tore the office floor to pieces.
*Whoosh!*
Before the green giant's massive, thorny palm could land, the displacement of air from its swing caused the surrounding atmospheric pressure to spike.
A powerful airstream generated in the closed room, blowing so fiercely that the heavy stone desks and metal cabinets in the office were strewn apart like leaves.
Sensing the terrifying power of the two transformed knights, the giant roared in agitation, the green rays of light within its wooden fists flickering wildly as its strike speed increased threefold.
*Bang!*
"Rank 1 Spell—Tempest Glory!"
Lancey didn't falter. She raised her left hand, chanting a rapid sequence of syllables to unleash a high-tier wind spell, throwing a howling, compressed tornado directly toward the descending golem.
The localized vortex collided head-on with the giant's fist, which was the size of a water jar. A wave of immense, ear-splitting vibrations spread outward in all directions, distorting the very air before the pressure stabilized.
*Ka-cha! Ka-cha!*
One after another, the thick thorns along the giant's hand began to snap and fracture under the tearing force of the wind. The rapid disintegration raced up the golem's arm, spreading like wildfire across its entire torso.
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Thick plant roots and corrupted vines slid off the crumbling body of the giant as deep, black cracks extended across its wooden skin, tearing the construct apart from the inside.
With a final, rumbling explosion, the green giant's five-meter frame broke down into thousands of tiny, splintered pieces that flew violently in all directions.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
The massive shockwave created by the spell's detonation extended miraculously through the room, slamming into the bodies of the surrounding Four Seasons Corps members.
The crimson armor on their chests shook violently before spiderweb cracks webbed across the enchanted metal. The Light Magi paled instantly, forced back several steps as they coughed up large amounts of fresh blood.
"Peak... Peak Rank 1!?" the leader gasped, his eyes wide with horror as he looked at Lancey.
*Shua!*
Without offering a word of reply, Lancey gripped the paralyzed little boy. Her body transformed into a howling white hurricane of wind and frost, sweeping Kaelen and Vane into her slipstream as she blasted out of the ruined office.
Because she was moving at such an extreme, impossible velocity, the stunned Magi could only track a flickering black blur before it completely vanished from their perception.
*Pak!*
Upon finding an isolated, empty clearing far from the burning battlefield, Lancey dropped her wind form and threw the little boy violently onto the frozen earth.
Before the child could even roll over, Kaelen and Vane drew their heavy swords, pinning his limbs and resting the cold, sharp edges of their steel directly against his throat. With a wave of her hand, Lancey released the oral seal, allowing him to speak.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" the little boy screamed with all the strength in his lungs, his voice shrill with rage. "You dare betray the organization!? I still haven't held you accountable for failing to complete your mission today, and yet you dare obstruct our path here!?"
"Tell Giant to come here right now, or I will have my knights cut your head off clean," Lancey exclaimed, her eyes gleaming dangerously behind the mask.
"Fuck off! You think that by joining some pathetic, wanna-be organization, you can actually pull this shit off? Know your place, you worthless whore!" the boy spat, spewing all the venom stored in his heart, his eyes rolling back with unbridled anger and hatred.
Immediately after the insult left his mouth, however, Vane's blade flashed down. Without a hint of hesitation, the heavy sword sheared through the boy's right wrist.
The scene was one of pure, visceral agony. Dark crimson blood erupted from the stump in a heavy spray, coating the ground.
The severed hand thudded into the dirt, its fingers still twitching, while the boy let out a horrific, high-pitched shriek of agony.
He writhed on the ground, his small body curling inward as he dry-heaved, tears and sweat pouring down his face as the raw nerve endings fired in waves of blinding pain.
"I don't have much patience," Lancey threatened, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "So it's better if you don't try to test my limits. Don't go thinking that I know absolutely nothing about the relationship shared between you and him."
"No... How can that be...?" A myriad of panicked, chaotic thoughts flashed past the little boy's mind, his face draining of all remaining color. "I've always been so careful about it..."
Realizing his deepest secret had been exposed, his defiance crumbled entirely.
"I said, I don't have much patience," Lancey repeated, gesturing subtly to Kaelen, who tightened his grip on his greatsword, lifting the blade to align with the boy's remaining hand.
"Cough... cough..." The boy slumped back onto the dirt, his left hand desperately clamping down on his bleeding, mangled stump to stem the flow.
He sat quietly in the corner of the clearing, his eyes staring blankly into space as if plunged into a shock-induced daze.
It did not take long. A few minutes later, the temperature in the clearing plummeted as a thick, sickly green mist began to permeate the air, filling the entire perimeter with a heavy, pressurized weight.
"What do you think you are doing, Lancey? You actually dare to betray us at a critical moment like this!?"
Giant's voice rumbled out from the fog, as grating and hoarse as ever. But this time, Lancey's ears could easily detect a heavy current of raw fury beneath his words... mixed with a distinct tint of genuine worry.
"Kill her! Quick, kill all of them!"
At the sound of the voice, the little boy who had been staring blankly into the mud suddenly burst into an absolute hysterical frenzy.
A localized current of the green mist swirled around him, acting as a protective shroud that numbed his pain and allowed him to slowly drag himself to his feet.
"Our entire plan fell through because of her! She sold her soul to that measly, upstart organization! She actually dared to treat me this way—that dog cut off my hand! I want them dead! I want them all dead!" the boy shrieked, glaring at Lancey and Vane with venomous, unrelenting hatred.
"I know," Giant replied with a brief, slow nod of his massive head, his gaze locking onto Lancey's mask. "I always held my suspicions regarding your true loyalties, Lancey, but I chose never to openly interfere in your business. What do you have to say for yourself regarding the deliberate thwarting of our operations this time?"
As Giant spoke, the concentration of the green mist in the surroundings became increasingly dense.
The ambient temperature rose in a sickening wave as the chemical acid of the fog took effect; the nearby bushes and topsoil began to emit thick white smoke, melting away like ice under a torch.
"You want to hold me accountable?"
Lancey smirked behind her mask, a mocking laugh escaping her lips. Then, she casually snapped her fingers.
*Pak!*
Kaelen vanished from his position in a blur of terrifying bloodline speed, reappearing instantly directly behind the hysterical boy.
Before Giant's mist could intervene, Kaelen's greatsword swung in a horizontal arc, cleanly chopping the little boy's head off.
The head spun through the air, his venomous expression frozen forever as his headless corpse collapsed into the bubbling mud.
"Caesar dared to cross my path on so many occasions, sending me on suicide missions and turning Chairman Reynolds against me. And you call that not interfering!?" Lancey laughed coldly while throwing her mask away, her blue hair whipping around her shoulders as she leveled her gaze at the looming giant.
"Bring me Caesar. I will end the three of you right here today. Or perhaps... I wonder if that is the correct way to address you seperately, 'Giant'. Because in the end, all three of you are just a single, pathetic person."