Making his way back to the old capital, Lucas held no regards for his energy reserves as he blasted his way through the sky. Checkpoints and border controls didn't bother checking him, rather, they tried to ignore him since any interaction with an impatient mage was a deadly one.
Not even taking a single moment to resupply his mana through, he refilled his core using his own techniques, ring and aided by potions drunk on the fly. Reaching the mountain, the red lightning clouds were still as static as before. Diving right through them, his skin was heavily burned, but just as easily healed back up.
Entering the dimensional pocket, he rushed to the monolith at the center of the old capital. He couldn't activate the trials or open the monolith himself, since he was far from Astaroph's bloodline, but that mattered little.
'If that man was right, the pathway of the mana should be detectable.'
Holding the device around, he tried to scan for any sign, and it quickly picked up something. Flashing slightly yellow when he held it in a certain spot, he noticed the light kept flashing as he followed the correct path.
Taking flight, he tried to keep on the right path, a few corrections were needed to not stray too far and losing the flash from the device. Lucas didn't know how it worked, nor did he care at the moment. Eventually, the light started to flash brighter, meaning the concentration was higher.
Arriving at what could only be described a battlefield, Lucas knew things weren't going to be so simple.
Everything was coated in a black soot, carvings from a heavy sword were visible everywhere. The amount of mana in the air was of a much higher density of the outside world, even the red clouds were pitiful compared to this place.
'This wasn't a simple battle.'
'Purely based on the mana, whoever did this shit had to be at the peak of Rank 3.'
'Asta?'
'Nah, we're the same as him and we're not that far yet. This is someone else fighting with Asta though, the shapes of those cuts match the thickness of his sword.'
'How can you tell?'
Suddenly switching, Lucas lifted his hand as a large shortsword appeared. "Should be something like this."
Switching back, Lucas took careful control of the blade to trace the movements, and like part of him suspected, the blade easily went through the cuts. Moving the sword around, it was clear Asta was using dozens of swords as each cut was overlapped with a few more.
Touching the ground, Lucas wanted to figure out what happened.
'Not an explosion. The ground is broken and rubble is everywhere, but there's no fire.'
'That's scorch marks though, right?'
'Yes, but that's also it. The explosions must've happened in the air. Question is, was Asta able to figure out he was being kidnapped and instantly fight back?'
'Hmm, he's an arrogant one, but he has the grit for it.'
Using the device some more revealed nothing, but that mattered little. They wouldn't teleport from one place to another, it didn't make all that much sense.
'Unless they couldn't use it in here. We're in a pocket space, so traversing from pocket space to pocket space might not be possible.'
'So they'll have warped outside?'
'Let's check.'
Exiting the pocket space, he scanned for the same traces of mana, until he found another match.
'Got it.'
'We're on to you sons a bitches!'
Flying through the sky, Lucas followed the signal rigorously, not deviating in the slightest. After some time, he arrived at a small village, nothing special from the surface, but Lucas quickly knew this wasn't the case.
Breaking every social rule, Lucas let his willpower rush over the village, spotting multiple mages of Rank 2 and even one of his own Rank. This wasn't a village, Lucas instantly felt like he walked into a trap, but that would only be the case if he didn't get the first attack in.
But before he could even get a spell ready, one of the doors on a hut opened up. From it, a tall yellowish man in color stepped out. His face was stretched to the side, his mouth was wider than normal, his eyes were bigger and higher on his face.
'A yellow frog?'
'That shit ain't a frog dumbass!'
Lucas wasn't certain of who it was or was meant to represent, but one thing stood out almost instantly. The hands were almost the exact same as the ones that grabbed Asta. The moment he realized it, his aura grew immensely. The huts and small buildings in the village instantly collapsed as the mages inside tried to keep their body intact.
The Rank 3 frog like mage instantly released his own aura to protect his fellow tribesmen.
Spreading his arms to reinforce his protective powers, he directed himself to Lucas. "Good sir, I don't know what you think we did or will do, but I can assure you we have done no wrong. We are an isolated tribe focused on nothing but our own survival, we seek no contact or conflict with you demons... or humans."
"You kidnapped Asta!"
Landing on the ground, Lucas didn't bother retracting his pressure, letting it run free. His aura was starting to taint the ground, plants shriveled up while any animal or insect rushed out of harm's way.
"I don't know what you're talking about! I have no qualms with you or this Asta sir. We have done you no harm! Please reconsider your actions!", the yellow frogman displayed genuine emotion, his attention was more focused on the survival of his brethren than Lucas.
Lucas couldn't detect any lie from his voice or actions, he looked like a normal mage trying to his best to calm him down, but Lucas wouldn't forget those hands, they were a perfect match, it didn't make sense.
Part of him didn't want to resort to violence when it wasn't called for. Inside the huts, women and children were barely holding on from the pressures surrounding them. The Rank 2 mages tried their best to keep everyone alive. "Yoktur! The baby!"
An older frogwoman was yelling towards the leader as his wife was pale as bone as her swollen belly couldn't withstand the pressure. An unborn baby without any powers was destined to die if the slightest bit of pressure was forced unto them.
Yoktur looked left to right, trying to find a solution in a sea of nothing. Even part of Lucas felt like he was going overboard now.
Slightly decreasing his aura, he centered it on the leader, since he could handle it without any issue.
"Listen here, you amphibian! I know someone of your kind helped kidnap someone dear to me, if I have to, I'll kill all of you, but if you confess, I'll only interrogate the bastard that tried to take my friend!", Lucas' anger had been reignited when he talked about what happened, unable to stop the flames of hatred from spreading. The ground was starting to crack as plants twisted in place.
The leader started to retract his aura to focus on defense, holding his arms up, the webbed fingers were spread wide and completely empty. "Let us talk! Perhaps we can figure out who did so without shedding blood!? I beg of you, great mage! Think of the children!"
Lucas was almost perplexed that the emotions he had long locked away were still present. He had used the life of others with callous disregard, yet the unneeded slaughter still annoyed him. A certain loathing towards himself as a person arose, a feeling of disgust at his own actions.
Right as he felt like backing down, he sensed a threat approaching him from behind. Turning around, he raised his hand to stop the attack. Using his willpower, he was aware the attacker was a mere Rank 2, so he stood no chance against his reinforced body. All he could sense was a small pebble approaching him at a formidable speed.
Yet the pebble burst right through his palm, scratching his cheek as it passed by. Staring at the hole in his hands, the pain was immense, yet what Lucas didn't understand was why so much damage was done.
He was a formidable Rank 2 mage in the past as well, but without tricks, he couldn't kill a Rank 3, yet this attack was more than capable of doing so. In his moment of realization, the other Frogmen had pulled back, leaving the leader behind, who had conjured up a slingshot.
It looked old and worn, useless on the battlefield, but Lucas wasn't even sure anymore. The frogman pulled the slingshot back and fired a tiny pebble, insignificant. Conjuring up a stone, he threw it towards the pebble with enough velocity to shatter it completely, yet the pebble bore right through it despite being slower and weaker in composition.
Dodging it, Lucas wasn't going to take the same risk. The moment he dodged, he sensed the frogmen had surrounded him, each firing of their own pebbles.
Trying to destroy them, divert them or even absorb them in Darkness, they shot right through his ideas.
Finding no simple solution, Lucas let his aura loose, letting it cover as much of the forest as he could. The flora started to die out as any frogman still caught up in it, wouldn't be standing much longer.
Even the leader was having trouble for a moment, needing to use his own aura to push his back. Yet the moment, he took a step forward, attacks were raining down on him again.
"How is this possible?!"
"Don't you dare underestimate our powers!", the leader pressed his hands together as two arms sprouted from his side. Holding a light flame a few apparitions of slingshots appeared near him. Each firing off an inhuman amount of pebbles. Almost like a torrent of attacks, Lucas took to the skies to avoid them.
If a single one was capable of blasting a hole in his hand, he would be turned to shreds if he tried to endure that.
As he floated in the sky, he tried to get the positions of the other assailants, but they didn't stand out, as if they blended with the world around them. Seeing the leader in the open, he pressed his four hands against each other in pairs. Causing a massive purple sphere to appear. Lucas couldn't tell what it did, but his flight was suddenly interrupted.
He couldn't control his own mana anymore. Falling down, Lucas tried everything he could to get his strength back, but nothing worked. His own mana was refusing to cooperate, completely out of control.
'Hey.'
It was then, that part of Lucas realized what had been going on.
'Give me control.'
Landing roughly on the ground, Lucas got up without hurry. Stepping forward, there was a certainty in his steps, he didn't bother using any magic. The frogmen around him weren't done shooting their pebbles, as they rained down on him. Turning around once more, he tried to catch a pebble in the air in his, now healed, hand.
Smoke came from the pebble as it burst right through it, but the pain that was meant to overwhelm him was significantly reduced. Closing his eyes for a moment, he felt that his hand was completely whole, opening his eyes revealed exactly that.
'Huh? How did you?'
"This shit isn't real."
The pebbles quickly approached him, and while one part of Lucas was panicking, the other was unnaturally calm and collected. The pebbles hit him, creating plenty of wounds Lucas didn't bother healing, since there was nothing to heal in the first place.
"You!", pointing to the leader of the group, "You're proficient in illusions, aren't you?"
The Frogman flinched slightly, as he let the slingshots fire of dozens of pebbles at once. Lucas waved his hand, he had some experience with illusions now, and knew how to ignore them. "All of these are just tricks," he still felt pain, yet knew it was all fake, he just had to focus on his target.
The leader quickly pressed his hands together to create a small red pebble. Shooting it right after, Lucas tried to catch it in his hands, but it quickly exploded right in his face. His flesh was badly damaged.
After the smoke cleared, the leader had a satisfying smile on his face as Lucas' skin was removed, revealing the muscles behind his skin. His entire chest and part of his face was badly damaged, revealing his teeth and left eye without the usual cover. The pain stung, completely taking over his senses, but Lucas knew better.
"It's all fake. I know this pain, I know what it feels like to loose all your skin. What it's like, having your eyelids burned off. This isn't it. You're fucking up, your illusions are weakening."
Stepping forward, Lucas felt his flesh burning, the pain was mind numbing, but he didn't stop his forward momentum.
The leader pressed his hands together once more to conjure up a strange dark red aura that quickly rushed to him. The aura seemed to transform into skeletons that rose up from the earth that grabbed at his clothing and flesh. Their fingers bore into his skin, the sharpness aside, they clawed his skin apart. Bit by bit, they tore pieces of meat from his limbs, but Lucas kept walking forward.
If Lucas focused for but a moment on the intense pain he felt from the hands that grabbed all around his body, he would go unconscious or insane. The strange feeling of lightness when they tore a piece away followed by a spike of pain was distracting, but Lucas' eyes only had room for a single thing.
Yoktur didn't understand what was happening. Throughout his life, not many people were capable of understanding his powers, and those who did, almost all still perished because of it. Yet the almost skeleton form of Lucas that kept stepping closer and closer was starting to make him swallow his own saliva.
'Fine, if you think you can see through my illusions, then I'll just attack you with something real,' having a smirk on his face, Yoktur had a single trick up his sleeve that killed all the others that saw through his illusion.
The way to be freed from them, is to completely ignore them, realize they're fake. But if a real attack suddenly pierced their heart, they would assume it to be an illusion as well, since one had to ignore the feelings brought with illusions, giving him the chance to actually kill his target.
Right when Lucas entered his attack range, he swung a hidden blade towards his neck. Catching it between his almost skeletal fingers, Lucas was filled with confidence. "You should work on your muscle, you fishfucker."
'What the? Why did he block?'
"Only your main arms perform real attacks, the rest are just illusions. That's why your first shot of that slingshot came from your own hands, but the others only conjured up more slingshots. You first needed to give the impression that they're dangerous, then let the illusions take hold. I've already seen through your tricks, you badly evolved amphibian."
Letting to of the blade, Yoktur jumped backwards. "Hah! You think those were my best illusions? You've seen nothing!"
Clasping his hands and closing his eyes, the world around Lucas shifted. He was brought back to a place all too familiar, the red glare from above, the incendiary smells around him, the screams he couldn't forget no matter how much time passed.
"No, forget it, I'm not letting you do this, you fuck!", Letting his emotion partially take over, he rushed to the last place the frogmen was seen. Now, wrapped in illusion, he had disappeared completely.