Ice spikes poked out of the ground and the mage laughed. "That is the last word and its also time's up." He spoke as he lifted the staff off the ground without actually interacting with it. "I should say, you all are just too dumb to be able to provoke me like that. What do I seem like to you?"
"You are still not a mage if that's what you are wondering honestly." Aefia spoke as she skidded to a stop on the wet concrete ground. She wasn't actually expecting situation to worsen like this, but she had already expected it would happen. It was her plan all along to provoke him until he could use up all his anger on something.
"I believe your mouth needs some rest, you have spoken enough about me. And that too was all negative things about a semi mage." He replied, he was ready to blast the ground with his staff, but specifically wanted to have Aefia taken out first. Since she had already showcased enough power and knowledge to frighten him, she knew he might opt for a much more harsher atmosphere.
"You know?" Aefia started speaking despite the chaos, "why not try and summon a few of your mini beasts? They can help you intensify the battles if you are still unaware." She was afraid of course, but she wasn't going to stop unless she found his true weakness, not the one he was showing on the surface. Killing a magician with power worth at least half of what real mages would wield, is truely going to be hard.
I can use my usual attack style, where I drain my enemy's energy all by making them attack first, while preserving my own strength. In the first part of the battle, I will have to dodge and in the second part, I will have to attack. But I am still not sure about the type of power he wields, that ice stone is just an artifact he uses. His actual strength is what he is hiding until now, but what could it be? It can't be some sort of newly invented power that no one has discovered yet. But even if that is the case...
"I did want to summon them but I felt a little petty for how you and your team was still weak, so I thought it won't be an advantage but rather, a disadvantage and a curse for you and all." He said while tapping his face with his long claw-like nails, while also forming scratches. "How would you like to play a game? A very fun one? With all of your teammates in it?"
Aefia slowly reached for her knife, but the only disadvantage was it won't allow for a long range attack due to the damage it had taken. When she summed up all that had happened until now, she noticed how unprepared the things and timings were.
Should I quickly get some help from Puppet? ...no, that will be a waste of energy. Then how do I kill this type of monsters? I have never come across a semi mage and I have never fought one, so I don't know what sort of harm or attack they can deal to their opponents. But come to think of it, I am a mage myself too.
"Then the rules of the game must be fair for both sides, nothing like the 'trust' can happen and no one can use methods to cheat. And whatever game that is you want to play, it should leave only one opponent dead at the end." Aefia responded, which she knew the others would get mad at her for, but she was at least slightly knowledgable at these kinds of game.
"Let's play something like...Destruction and Repair. How does that sound?" The mage replied with a wicked grin.
"I don't object but I also don't want to participate. Sorry but the idea seems a little too boring and I am definitely not going to listen to the rules, so I was just saying. If you don't have a better idea, than I can suggest a few for you." Aefia spoke while nodding her head. "And I don't think you would enjoy it because you really just don't want to take it the easy way, you would ask for more difficulty and that won't be fair enough for us."
The mage seemed annoyed and dissappointed at what was just said. He felt it humiliating but an escape for what he was about to do next. "Fine, then what about I tell you all the rule of the game only, but I won't tell you anything else." He finally said while spinning the staff around his wrist and playing with it.
Aefia cautiously looked at the stone which was shining blinding light, stuck inside the twisted and tied together branches of the staff. What a odd looking weapon to use, I would have discarded it the second I get in touch with it.
The staff was a tall and jagged tool made from dark, twisted wood that looked like old roots. It reached high above themage'shead and ended in a sharp, pointed tip that resembled a large shard of ice. Around this top piece, a bright blue energy swirled in a constant circle, casting a cold glow on the nearby wood.
The wood itself had many small branches that wrapped around the glowing center like frozen claws. It looked very heavy and solid, as if it had been pulled from the deepest part of a frozen forest.The long handle of the stick was rough and covered in many tiny lines and grooves.
These patterns made it look like the wood grew in a spiral shape as it went from the ground to the top. The bottom part of the staff touched the slipperyfloor and seemed just as dark as the shadows around it. No smooth surfaces existed on the object, as every inch had a bumpy and sharp. It stood very straight and steady despite its crooked appearance. The blue light from the top was the only thing that made the dark wood visible in the dim light.
"I believe you are trulely admiring my source of power and protection. Would you like to get a closer look at it so it saves you time later?" The mage offered. "So as to allow for a easier breaking point once you get a single graze against the thin fragile wood. But the material is actually just a frozen piece of ice that is disguised to make it look like branches."
"I don't really think that staff is breakable, is it?" Aefia asked to confirm. "I know for short that you had the stone forged in a way that it won't let anyone else touch it unless it was the proper owner. I also know that you are most likely to break my hand when I get my fingertip to the top of the stone, so I might as well stay away from it for the time being. Thank you for the offer anyway." She held out her own weapon as to sign for proceeding with the rules.
The mage noticed it, and continued with the movement. "To start, we would all need to position at their respective places, including them, but if you fail to do the first step, I will execute the person at the spot." After saying so, he tapped the ground with his staff and everyone's respective circles appeared. "Now if you move to your left, your place will be activated." He let out the final instruction for the first step.
I don't know why, but he might be trying to get us all trapped. So just to not get him suspicious, I will do as instructed. Aefia moved three steps to her right and picked her place of standing. Suddenly, she glanced at where her lady was supposed to be.
In her place, there wasn't a circle like the one Aefia and the others were standing on. It was just a cube of space, and inside, her lady was trapped. Rage caused her blood to boil as she finally understood what was actually happening, it was really a trap like she had deduced when she noticed a suspicious tone coming from the mage.
Inside the cube, her lady was starting to feel coldness wrap around her. Temperature was dropping per second and she could tell that the starting temperature was the room temperature itself. "If you want to free her, you know that the only way possible is to take over this staff, but I believe you are already aware about how being even close to this stone is going to harm you. The only one who can wield it is that woman, because she was the one who created it and she had crafted a rule that no one else could touch it, especially you."
Aefia gritted her teeth and spoke out in an angry voice. "Then I will risk it if you ask me." She tightened her grip against the leather wrapping of her dagger. "I don't want to kill time with useless speculations and conversations. So I rather continue with the rules."
The mage smiled harder and more wicked. "The next rule then...would be for only one person participating at a time. I don't want to have to deal with more than two person's attacks at once, so lets make this part fair. The weakest starts first. Is that a deal?"
"Deal." Aefia spoke while slowly lifting her dagger as her nerves caused her to shiver a little, like when someone was put in open air at a temperature of ten degrees. The mage stomped the staff on the ground, as the ground rumbled from every directions. "And based on the rules, the weakest one will be released first of course. Don't move, otherwise you will break the rule." He laughed while finishing off the explanation.
The demoness stared at Aefia for a split second with an enemy's expression, and the chimera dragon woke up. They were both behind the mage while she was completely opposite to them. Helio and her lady's son stayed still while one had both of his daggers clenched and ready to fight, the other had their eyes on their mother. The chimera dragon roared at the mage, but roots snapped out of the ground and wrapped around its wings.
In a split second, the mage happily announced in the air with a loud and clear voice while simultaneously smacking his staff on the ground to make more vibrations appear. "The most strongest in this room, is that orange flamed dragon." He spoke as more roots tied up the dragon's mouth. It was left struggling as it stayed put against the ground.
When it stopped moving, a few roots snapped and went back into the ground. "Since its a revengeful dragon, I rather say it is best to not go against its will. So I made sure it wasn't going to cause any harms until I had settled the things with the humans of course. And that brings us to the next conclusion..."
More roots and veins appeared around the demoness Aritea's feet. It twisted and turned as it fully paralized the demon on her ground while causing faint red marks around the places the branches had tied up. A larger more thicker root was sent tightly wrapping around her throat, but as a demon, she could still breathe so that wasn't a matter to worry about.
"The second most powerful of the six of you, is that demon you have brought along. I am pretty surprised because the person who had brought you along isn't stronger than you, aren't you dissapointed too?" The mage asked Aritea.
"I am more dissapointed at how good she is at hiding things!" She spoke towards Aefia. Hey! You never really let me explain in the first place!
"The next one, is the woman's son." He pointed his staff to the direction of the person who was fighting off the thick roots with his bright blue hilted sword. Soon enough, roots managed to stop his hand movements and the sword fell to the ground. "This one really doesn't want to listen to rules, do they? I had said it before that if anyone resist, they die on the spot."
Her lady's son opened his mouth to speak but he was too late before a pair of foliage tied his mouth like ropes. He looked at his mother trapped in a icy cage as he gave up hopes and settled down. "Now thats better. Maybe I should question why you had those people come along. Oh right, you were lacking adequate amount of fighters because you needed to meet the requirement of six people to be able to get into this mission. And that was a rule made by your supporters." The mage spoke while closing his eyes.
"Now, for the finale. Who is stronger...and who is weaker?" He asked while gazing once at Helio and once at Aefia. "The person who is the stronger will already know themselves, they can tell how because they won't be able to move. Now if you don't feel like paralizing over by some kind of fluid monster, then you aren't the weakest and you are lucky."
A long moment of silence erupted, but Aefia's mind wasn't quiet. It was filled with thoughts and questions that weren't there seconds ago. If she hadn't been in the position that the chimera dragon, the demoness and the missing queen had been, it was possible that many things had happened when she was unconscious in a far and imaginative land.
Suddenly, she noticed a bright red screen appear in front of her, it was Puppet trying to communicate with her. Texts appeared with each letters coming too slow for Aefia's patience. Then finally, the real message had come, a shocking and terrifying one.
[I am sorry. I couldn't help.]
She quickly looked to her left, noticing how Helio wasn't really moving much, and small flowers bloomed at his feet. It was a seemingly unnoticeable thing, but the only thing that summoned into her mind, was how she was not sure how to deal with the situation now.
"Well, isn't that frightening? You are the weakest of them all." The mage laughed.