Olivia had never seen a real Spell Sword before. She had read about them and watched them on the news whenever they'd wander into the nation of Esteria. Usually, this was because of a mistake with a dungeon that connected them, and they weren't fully aware of where they were.
Most encounters ended in two ways.
Either it would be to the death, or they would end up leaving through the dungeon the way they came from, once they realized their mistake.
This particular one wore black robes and had on a red face mask that had a long nose poking out of it. His name was, fittingly enough, Long Nose, and as he swung his sandals down, he sent out a wave of water and air using two separate spells at once, thanks to his Core Mask. A black, fiery aura seemed to cover his form and his mask, which had been red-shifted to black.
"Dodged!" Merlin yelled.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Olivia narrowly stepped out of the way and felt a flash of panic when the blade of water that had been sent her way tore through dozens of trees as if they weren't there. Even with her blood shield and mana focused entirely on defense, she wouldn't be able to block a strike. In other words, this guy could kill her in one go.
Merlin also dodged the strike, leaping above it with superhuman strength. The blade wind carved through the trees and spread out like a net, turning them into blocks. Merlin landed back on his feet.
"We're in Esteria!" Olivia suddenly yelled out, and it caused both Merlin and Long Nose to pause. Both men turned to look at her. "W-We're in Esteria." She said again.
"I know." Long Nose's voice came out as a dark chuckle.
"Y-You know." Olivia felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. "So…"
"I'm here to kill you." Long Nose finished. He wasn't mistaken or confused about where he was; he was here on purpose. A Spell Sword, and one who had reached the stage of Core Mask. That put him on the same level as a Title Knight.
Merlin was strong, but just on the level of an actual Knight. As far as she knew, he wasn't a Title Knight. Even if he was, he didn't possess Knight Gear and also didn't even have any enchanted gear, from what she knew, which meant that he lacked what made a Title Knight special and thus would be at a considerable disadvantage.
Despite that, though, Merlin looked confident. "Row Memory Bolt." Without warning, he launched a white and pink beam out of his middle finger. It flew out like an arrow toward the Spell Sword, who easily side-stepped it. "Row Memory Redirect!" Merlin poked his thumb out, and the arrow twisted around and flew at the back of the Spell Sword, who spun around equally as fast and struck out with his sword while also creating a shield of water in the direction of Merlin in case the mage tried another attack. As his blade hit the arrow, it shattered the spell, but Merlin still wasn't done, and this time, he placed his middle and pointer fingers into the section of his forehead. "Vil Memory Gain!"
Long Nose's eyes widened as the shattered fragments of the spell clung to his sword and began to swirl around it before they finally reached his hand and went into his skin. He grunted and strengthened the Mana Skin around himself, as well as the water barrier he put up, but nothing happened.
Long Nose's eyes narrowed, and he focused his mana inwards using Instinct and Mana Sense to see if there was a curse or an effect on his body. Indeed, something swirled in his brain, but after examining it, he saw that it was simply a scrying spell, one made to view memories. The flow of it went into Merlin.
"All that, just so you could view a couple of memories?" Long Nose huffed out. "Normal spells don't typically work like that. Bending a spell that was fired out requires a lot of mana and focus, and yet you did it three different times, even after it shattered. That means you used an Enchantment and made a Vow."
Merlin smirked and shrugged. While he did that, memories of the man who stood before him flowed into his mind. "Ah, so that's the story. A couple of Spell Swords are looking to take one of my junior Squires."
"Indeed." Long Nose dropped his barrier and raised his sword up. "Not that it will do you any good. Die. Vil Water-Wind Lung!" He sliced his blade down, and the mana erupted in a wild wave.
A two-headed Lung appeared, the beast roaring. Half of it was a twisting tornado, while the other half was forged out of water and flowed like a typhoon. The dual element destroyed the ground, and then the Lung split into two halves, one blasting toward Merlin and the other flying toward Olivia.
Merlin cursed and ran toward Olivia, using Mana Step, but as soon as he reached her, the two Lungs flowed around each other and were about to strike out at the two of them. He didn't have any defensive spells, and even if he did, there was no way he could block an attack like this.
Luckily, he didn't have to.
"Vil Blood Cerberus!"
The Spell Sword's eyes suddenly went wide as a wave of fire ignited, and the forest was set ablaze. A wave of intense blood filled the air, and Long Nose grunted as a crushing force of constricting mana began to engulf him.
The wave of blood that flowed out was superheated, forged out of bubbling fire. It wasn't flame magic itself; instead, the liquid was so hot that it was igniting. It began to shape and mold, growing to the size of a large bear, and four legs jutted out as a body formed, with three snarling wolf heads that met his two-headed Lung head on.
Olivia yelled and poured all her power into the attack, using as much mana as she could to generate her construct. Luckily, on the walk here, she had recovered enough to regain the blood she used up in her scythe earlier. This was possible because her Quick Regeneration had activated. Because of that, she instantly used another spell, doing everything she could to try and block the incoming attack.
"Row Blood Bolt!"
The three heads of the Cerberus opened up, and a beam of red blood launched forward. The temperature rose, getting even hotter, and the air current of the Lung began to break apart, while the water half started to boil and turn into steam. The attack fully broke through the Lung, and the three beams kept flying forward.
"Impressive. Your construct is quite the show. It's worthy of even being considered an Embodiment of the Behemoth." Long Nose lazily stepped forward and swung his sword, deflecting the beam. As he did that, the Cerberus roared even louder and jumped at him. "That said, only a fool puts their true power into their construct. The construct is just a weapon." In a flash, his sword sliced, and the Cerberus shattered apart, entirely breaking as his blade reduced it to mincemeat. The blood returned to a puddle-like state, and he kept slicing his sword out, hitting every drop of superheated blood as it rained down on him, keeping himself safe. "Now, to deal with you two—"
Long Nose paused when he saw that the two Knights were gone. He sighed.
"Making me hunt you down." He chuckled. "Fine." His laughter began to grow. "Let's play then!"
In the woods, Merlin set Olivia down and pulled out a potion from his pocket. She was in bad condition, and the potion he had wasn't the best, but it'd have to be enough. Olivia's eyes were shut, and she looked like she wasn't breathing. "Come on, come on, come on." He pressed it to her lips and forced her to drink.
Olivia let out a gasp and startled forward, her eyes opening back up.
"Oh, thank Haru." Merlin let out a sigh of relief. "Captain wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I let one of you bastards die on my watch."
Olivia winced, but she already felt good. That potion had nearly restored all her blood. "H-He's going to follow us."
"I know." Merlin stood back up and turned to look back at the forest. He had rapidly used Mana Step to bolt toward the center and escape, but the Spell Sword would soon catch up. "Listen up, I'm about to ask something foolish of you."
"What is it?" She felt a bit nervous as he gave her a serious look.
Several thoughts went through Merlin's head as he debated whether she should ask this of her, but eventually he nodded. "I want you to run deeper into the forest and go around. I'm going to flare my mana and get the attention of the Spell Sword. While I do that, you need to enter the dungeon and help the others. They're going to be in fights of their own. There are three other Spell Swords, and they're going to try to get each recruit alone. The first is just below Long Nose in terms of power. He likely has Ken Yuan. He's a mage with psychic magic and can also use Core Mask to use wood magic as well. Avoid fighting him. Just get Ken and escape. The second Spell Sword you need to watch out for is Goat. He doesn't have the ability to use Core Mask, but from the memories I stole, he is considered to be the physically strongest and a master of the blade. The last one, and the weakest member, is named Blank. Like Goat, she lacks a Core Mask. In fact, she lacks even basic spells. She possesses a cursed item, however, which is extremely dangerous. Avoid getting stabbed by her dagger at all costs."
Olivia gave a weak nod. "Alright. So don't fight any of them; just try to get the others out?"
"Yes." Merlin nodded. "I want you to run into the maze and try to find Ken and the others. If it comes to it, all of you together might be able to beat Goat or Blank, but avoid fighting the one known as White. He can't be beaten."
"Got it. And you?"
"I'm going to fight Mr. Long Nose," Merlin smirked.
"Can you fight him?"
"Nope!"
"Then I'm not leaving!"
"You have to." Merlin shook his head. "I can handle myself. The others are going in blind, and they already have Ken. I'd go myself, but Long Nose is after us. This is the best bet. We can't waste time taking him down and then rushing in. Honestly, even with both of us, I think we'd win, but it would take a while. I'd rather just stall him out and wait while you go save the recruits." Olivia looked conflicted. "That's an order."
Olivia gave a weak nod. "Don't die."
"I don't plan to." Merlin waved her off. "Now go, seriously." Olivia ran off into the forest, going even deeper, where she could then loop back around and go into the dungeon. Even with this plan, she'd be cutting it close. As soon as she was gone, he flared his mana up, and in an instant, he dodged to the side as blades of wind and water began to slice through the forest. The Spell Sword appeared before him and swung his blade out, but Merlin used a spell. "Vil Memory Hunt!" Pink energy compressed, and then suddenly a scythe made of pure mana flowed into his hand, and he swung it out, blocking the Spell Sword's strike.
Long Nose slammed his katana into the handle of Merlin's scythe and attempted to cut through the weapon, but it didn't work. This caused a bit of confusion, but Long Nose just flowed more mana into his blade. "Row Water-Wind Current." The air and liquid poured out of his sword, pressing into the scythe even harder, and yet still it didn't break.
With a roar, Merlin threw his arms into the air and shoved the current back, as well as pushing Long Nose away. He then attacked with his scythe, but he missed, his weapon failing to even harm a tree as it silently passed through the wood, and Long Nose dodged back. Merlin kept his momentum and didn't stop. "Row Memory Redirect!" The entire scythe twisted and bent, growing far larger and looped around trying to hit Long Nose again, but the Spell Sword leapt into the air and focused mana into his feet, allowing him to stand in the air. He flew up, getting higher and higher, and as he did, Merlin pointed his scythe out. "Row Memory Bolt!"
The spell launched out, and just like last time, it twisted and flowed through the air as if it were alive, taking new signals as Merlin commanded. Even as the Spell Sword shattered it, it kept coming. Long Nose created a bubble of water around himself, but the spell phased through it and hit him.
He growled, but like the first time he was hit, no effect was present besides some memories that flowed from him and into Merlin. The bubble of water exploded, and the Spell Sword glared down at the silver-haired man.
"Now, without a doubt, I am certain. These aren't just simple enchantments; you forged a Vow."
"Did I?" Merlin grinned.
"You did. A powerful one at that." The Spell Sword snorted. "Mana cannot be redirected without enchantments. The fact that you can do that was further proof. Your mana scythe also didn't instantly shatter upon being hit by my sword, which can slice through nearly anything. Finally, your spell phased through my barrier as if it didn't exist. Each one of these things is something that could only be accomplished with the highest Enchantment skills, or by taking a shortcut by forming a Vow. I've never heard of you before, which means you're not an Enchanter. That means you forged a Vow. You created a contract." The Spell Sword cocked his head to the side. "So, I wonder, what have you given up?"
Enchanters were sought after everywhere. Not only were they needed to create magic items, but they were also needed to enhance and create new spells. Spells were, in a sense, similar to a code in a computer. It was dozens of lines that could be tweaked and changed. Enchanters could take these lines and rework the spell, changing a few words or lines in the code to cause the spell to gain a new effect.
These codes, or Enchantments, could be used in other ways, besides just spells. Not everyone could enchant as well as an Enchanter, and in fact, very few mages had the Enchantment skill or the ability to evolve it to the E1 stage, which was needed to be an Enchanter. Because of this, they had to look to other ways to solve issues they might have with spells.
This is known as a Vow. A Vow is extremely simple. It allows a mage to make a promise or a contract with either themselves or someone else, and mana will deem the contract worthy or not. Even master enchanters have to use Vows from time to time, and this is because a Vow allows someone to add a new line to a spell instead of simply tweaking it. It can change the formula up drastically.
Stronger enchanters can make stronger Vows, and it'll cost less to do so. An example is Davi Hawker. Davi created the superb spell known as Shadow Armor with the help of Evelyn Lunar. Shadow Armor practically costs nothing, is significantly boosted to the point it is nearly on the level of a Vil spell, and increases all of his stats. At the same time, he is donned in it; it helps absorb kinetic energy, lowering damage. Its most useful trait, however, is that Shadow Armor can utilize other spells through it in a combination-like way. Typically, this is with Shadow Vault, another grand spell, but it can be fused with different types of spells as well, creating the effect known as Union.
This spell alone is a work of enchanting genius and would be enough to give Davi an enchanter's license. It also only has two downsides. The first is that the spell can no longer be tweaked, and thus, it can't be added to. The second downside is that it can only be upcast at the level of Vil or higher when the mana of the Great Dragon of Roads is in the air. Without that mana present, the spell is stuck at the level of Row.
These restrictions might sound harsh, but they are actually nothing. For another mage, they would have been forced to create far more restrictions upon this spell. They would have had to give themselves Vows that are equal to what they gained in terms of weight. It must be balanced; however, Enchanters are able to tip the scale in their favor, and thus, they can gain more for fewer Vows.
Merlin is not an enchanter. Unlike Davi, who was able to gain a lot while only giving up a bit, Merlin had to give a lot to gain little.
Merlin's mana was unique, as was Miranda's. Merlin's mana could phase through any matter he desired; this included people or magical barriers, and thus, his spells could not truly be blocked. They could also be fully controlled by him even after he launched them. Lastly, even if the mana itself were destroyed or ceased to be, Merlin's spell would still go off.
Thus, in a sense, his spells were unblockable, undodgeable, and truly unstoppable. Naturally, that meant they had a restriction on them. In order to gain these effects, Merlin forged a Vow. The Vow was very simple.
Thou shalt not harm.
In exchange for spells that would always hit, Merlin was forbidden from hurting his opponent, nor could he cast barrier spells to keep himself safe, with the exception of his scythe, which could block attacks, as long as he physically blocked them himself.
Merlin lazily placed his scythe over his shoulder and looked back up at Long Nose. "So, are you just going to stay up there, or are we going to finish this?"
"I don't know what your Vow is, but it must be a big one." Long Nose floated down and began to focus more mana into his sword. "Thus, all I have to do is figure out what restrictions you placed upon yourself. Either that, or I can simply tear you to shreds. Vil Water-Wind Lung, Vil Water-Wind Lung, Vil Water-Wind Lung!" Three lungs appeared, each with two heads forged of wind and water. Long Nose pointed his sword at Merlin. "Kill him."
The three Lungs roared and charged. Merlin's smile grew, and he also ran forward and swung his scythe out, letting out a yell.
Meanwhile, while this fight was taking place, another one was happening in the dungeon. Sieg let out a sigh as he felt blood drip down his body. Various cuts formed into his flesh, and his robes were a mess.
He had been wandering the halls when he stumbled into a fight with a very powerful opponent. It was a man in white robes with a bearded goat mask. The man also carried a katana far longer than any regular blade, nearly twenty feet, which was far too big for a standard blade. The weapon would bend and twist as the goat man waved his arms, making it appear more like a whip.
Sieg dropped his spear, which had been split in two on the ground, and rubbed his neck, feeling more cuts appear across his body as the blade sliced out at him and the goat-masked man danced around him.
"What now, spearman!" Goat laughed. "Your weapon is no match for Mordheim steel, it seems! Why don't you give up? I'll behead you quickly?"
"I'm good." Sieg ripped his robes off, dropping them to the floor, revealing his body. His mask also fell to the ground, revealing his face, and Goat nearly did a double-take. "I'm going to kill you."
Sieg's body, from the neck down, was littered with various scars. They scattered his flesh and left their marks upon him. Twisting scales ran down his neck and also flowed down his body and past his stomach. They almost looked like a snake tattoo. Now that he only stood in a pair of pants, it became apparent what kind of physique he had been hiding beneath the robes.
He wasn't lean. He was built like a mountain. Broad shoulders that were no longer hunched and muscles that were bulging. He was actually still growing. Slowly, but surely, his height was increasing, his muscles getting bigger, and his shoulders expanding. He was using Polymorph on himself to end the transformation, allowing his height and muscle mass to return to their proper forms.
He stood over at nearly six foot six and looked like he could easily bend iron between his fingers. This was all made bizarre by his face. It was beautiful. Handsome would be going too far. It was delicate and pretty and perfect, with neatly combed blonde hair and gorgeous thunder-yellow eyes. He had the face and head of a young master but the body of a bandit.
Goat caught himself staring and shook his head. "W-Whatever. So you got a bit bigger! That won't stop me from taking that handsome face of yours as a trophy! You still think you can win."
Sieg nodded. "Sure. Why not?"
"How!" Goat swung his blade down again, and this time, Sieg caught it.
Blood began to trickle down his hand, and as the glow around him got brighter, more scales started to grow across his flesh, and a pair of branch-like horns began to jut out of his forehead. "Easy." Sieg's look didn't change and was in fact one of disgust as he stared at Goat. "I'm just going to use my Core Mask."
"What—"
Black flames suddenly spilled out around Sieg, and the red oni mask on the ground began to turn pitch-black. His energy skyrocketed, and he squeezed down on the blade hard to shatter it. His mana began to change and mold, and then he spoke a single spell.
"Row Electric-Shadow Armor."