Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!

He was not hurt nor beaten, no.

His physical reaction was purely out of one reason - the certain expectation of death if he were lucky, but more likely an endless torture that would make him long for death as a release!

He didn"t even try to take his own life as the last of his mana was depleted and both Weres and Yusof were released from their shadow bonds. He most of all knew how proficient the Trenel family was at capturing the soul and subjecting it to unceasing agonies and inhuman horrors!

And he could not help but throw up again and again as he trembled in anxiety and fear of his sealed fate!

Weres did not hesitate to move the moment he was free of the Curse-chains - he leapt forward in a single bound and smashed a brutal kick into Gaius Trenel"s jaw, shattering countless teeth and sending him flying. But Weres made sure not to kill him, merely to use enough strength to knock out the weak magic-user.

Then he glanced over to look at the still stunned middle-aged man (boy in disguise) who had saved them and bowed deeply and solemnly.

Yusof also bowed down low even as he stabilised his physical state after being drained by the curses laid on him.

They owed their lives and the lives of the city to this one lone domineering swordsman, this near-Mythical mage whose powers likely eclipsed even their Duke"s if seen in isolation from runes or artefacts!

Lars snapped out of his state of shock and shook his head twice, then slapped his cheeks to regain his composure - a string of movements not matching for his image as an elderly and seasoned warrior. However, neither Weres nor Yusof were of the mind to notice - after all, this eccentric wandered had proven himself to be more than twice as strong as the two of them combined!

Respect was to be given to the strong, and the strong alone!

Little did they know that their counterpart did not think that way at all. Instead, the boy believed in a different philosophy.

Respect was to be given to the rich, and the rich alone! For in his hands, Money Is Power!

He was exhilarated from discovering the incomparable might of his new soul-imprint"s unique ability, one that defied all that he had ever heard or read about soul abilities! For how could one ability be so overwhelmingly powerful to easily ignore the gap in powers in a two on one fight...?

And merely because of the difference in wealth!

He also let out a breath of relief - he was glad that the ditzy demon penguin hadn"t been wrong when he said that demons and devils had no wealth! Well, he could have made that observation without being told, just based on the way the bird always squandered his Abyss Points...

Lars made a mental note of how his soul ability functioned: The difference in wealth would become a fixed multiplier, weakening the poorer party by a factor dependent on how many times poorer the party was.

It just took one sentence to describe, but it was a statement that would send chills up the hearer"s spine and s.h.i.+vers through their bodies - cheating, this was truly cheating!

Imagine, if a Grandmaster level combatant were 100 times weaker than one at the Legendary stage... But 1,000 times richer...

All he needed to do would be to use 20% of his feeble powers and he could easily overpower the far greater opponent who had spent all his life in grueling cultivation - all merely by the fact that he was blood f***ing richer than his pauper opponents!

Lars eyes turned bloodshot. He would never, ever, ever, ever... Never never never ever ever ever ever let anyone know about this ability!

It was too ridiculous!

And most of all...

He would never use this ability against rich young masters! He would be the world"s greatest fool if he committed such an act of suicide such as that!

Sighing, Lars determined to become richer, so rich he could fill a city with gold coins and swim in the golden ocean of decadence!

Then he regained his spirit and approached the two humbled n.o.bles, a never before seen att.i.tude from the two men standing at the peak of society!

"Let"s go. We have to protect the city and drive back the devils."

"Yes, benefactor...! We shall follow your lead and instructions!" The two bowed even deeper in deference to their saviour"s words, but then Yusof hesitated, then decided to speak.

"But benefactor... May we first know your ill.u.s.trious name...?"

Lars froze.

"Errrrrrr...." His mind raced to think of a name. He was really truly glad that he had the soul-imprint of Insight - this was a valuable time where it came in really useful!

"Mikael Tumijo. I am the lone magic swordsman Mikael Tumijo."

"Yes, Lord Mikael...! Thank you for saving our lives and rescuing so many in this city! Just say the word, what should we do next?" The two men bowed while Weres spoke, taking the lead.

Lars (Mikael to the men) thought about it for a short 2 seconds (20 seconds to him) and cast his senses out far and wide to check the situation of the city.

Here was the summary:
-To the north, west and east, he sensed great hordes of common monsters led by at most a Grandmaster level creature or two.
-To the south, there were 4 devilish auras and 4 human auras, though of those, one was only half human in the impression it gave Mikael (Lars) - albeit not in the same way as the beastmen. Despite the auras of the 4 people being roughly a small realm weaker, they were still in the Legendary stage. Moreover, he sensed that they were more than holding their own against their more powerful opponents by virtue of the instruments of power they wielded - clearly mighty Legendary artefacts which exuded auras almost as great as their wielders"!
-The strongest auras of all in the city were coming from the centre of the bloodfield, slightly further to the north of the Gorun Stadium - halfway between the arena and the palace grounds! If he were not mistaken, based on the ripples of power cras.h.i.+ng forth from the scene of battle afar off, that should be the city"s Duke facing off against the leader of their enemies!

As Lars" lightning quick mind ran over the information he had gathered, he had one grave question in mind as he turned to face his new allies.

What were the devils doing...?

Based on the team they had a.s.sembled, they could at most do some heavy structural damage while reaping many lives - but that could hardly justify the cost of such a great a.s.sault on the city! Not unless they managed to conquer the land and sacrifice every life here to complete a perfect bloodfield and summon an unfettered Devil Prince over!

However, from what he saw right now, that had not been the intention at all! The devils had immediately triggered the summoning circle effect of the bloodfield prematurely and brought over a Devil Prince"s incarnation merely at the semi-Mythical stage - a clear sign that they were not trying to occupy the city but merely buy time...!

The question was - buy time for what...?

He shook his head once more and quickly spoke to his companions.

"Let us split up - we"ll cover more ground that way. From the emanations of power I sense, the patriarchs of the Four Houses should be able to hold off the Legendary realm enemies in the south."

Weres and Yusof nodded in agreement - they bore the same view, and too would have ignored that battlefront if the decision were merely up to them.

Lars continued smoothly, saying, "Then on the north, I don"t think we are qualified to get involved in the battle of the two great powerhouses... That just leaves the East and the West. I"ll take the East, while since the two of you both have great synergy together and are both injured, you move together and support the West. I believe your companions also left in the Westerly direction."

"Yes, Lord Mikael." "Affirmative, my Lord!" The two men who were countless years Lars" senior smiled pa.s.sionately and bowed once more, before thanking him profusely again and again, then making him promise to drop by and visit them once they cleaned up the devil invasion and mess in the city.

Then they shot off into the distance, each in their respective directions. Of course, Mikael first evoked the Level 9 Spell: Astral Imprisonment and locked the unconscious and defenceless Gaius Trenel in a luminous magical seal and pa.s.sed it to Weres and Yusof before they left.

And off they went to exterminate some devils!

Lars" main reason for heading off to the East was he sensed Charley was in that direction - and he still needed the boy to claim his promised prize from Natalie!

So he could only pray that the gathered forces of the n.o.bles could keep the fiery-spirited girl safe and sound... He especially hoped that there were no more moles or traitors among their midst, lest his "a.s.sets" be compromised or threatened!

His eyes gleamed with great vengeance - he would make sure to rip out the intestines of whoever ended up harming his golden goose Natalie, then feed those same intestines back to the traitor!

Little did he know that his own words of worry about betrayal would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.