WHERE NO MAGIC FLOWS

The dried desert and the mountain range collided beneath the rising sun, two sides covered in eerie silence. Lynne stood at the bottom of the mountain, his eyes casually glancing across the hilltops through the desert, atop which thousands upon thousands of men and women stood. All wore white robes with golden crests, their postures upright, air of hostility surrounding them. Eeh, scary…

Next to him stood Thalia, seemingly relaxed, leaning against a thick tree. Preparations inside the Paradise were nearing an end, and all defensive, offensive and flanking formations are set. The only thing remaining is the coordination; as this is the first time this group of people would fight together, Lynne was worried slightly, but couldn’t let it bring him down.

Among the group of thousands before them, five suddenly disappeared and reappeared twenty or so meters away from Lynne, causing winds to rouse around them. Among them was a familiar figure, Yunchi, standing in the center, surrounded by two elderly men on each of her sides. Far above in the air, Lynne knew, was where the Patriarch and Y’se were having their own little showoff. Tiny sparks were already floating left and right, and air between two sides thickened.

“You arrived earlier than I expected,” Lynne sneered. “That eager to be buried?”

“For some reason, and somehow, you seemed to have angered our Patriarch,” Yunchi sneered back. “You may have stood a chance of survival beforehand, but even that little hope is gone now.”

“Oh? Ah, I do seem to recall having a bout with an old, wrinkled something,” Lynne said. “For better or worse, at least his heart was firmer.”

“I’m here to relay Patriarch’s words: surrender and come with him, and he may spare you!” Yunchi said angrily, wondering why Patriarch even proposed that. What is that old man thinking?! He – both of them – need to die!

“Ha ha, what a funny old thing,” Lynne laughed instead. “Shoo, shoo,” he suddenly waved them away, mocking expression on his face. “I have no need to talk with dead dogs anymore.”

“… very well. I’ll see you again. Sooner than you might expect.” Yunchi and four others quickly disappeared, leaving behind Thalia and Lynne.

“Damn, their numbers are quite scary,” Lynne said, smiling bitterly. “They’re really going all out.”

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Thalia asked, curious.

“Eeh? Kind of. I expected at most ten, maybe twenty thousand soldiers. This, though… they look to be at least half a hundred strong.”

“Yeah, it surprised even me. What the hell did you do to that Patriarch of theirs?” Thalia asked, surprised.

“I may have pushed a little bit too far…” Lynne mumbled. “Ah, no matter. Y’se will command the defensive line behind us, Parsia and Ayya are in command of the flankers, the Commander and Chief Trios are in command of reinforcing vanguard units, my dad will command the artillery units, while you’ll be supporting me. You’ve got the easiest job of all; perks of being the Queen.”

“Easiest? Tsk.”

“Oi, oi, don’t click your tongue at me! I’m doing this out of love, out of love!”

“It’s fine,” Thalia said, smiling. “I want to see how strong you’ve gotten since you last fought. I’ll be right behind you, supporting to the best of my abilities.”

“Ah, how pleasing to the ear is that,” Lynne suddenly extended his right arm, closing his eyes briefly and inhaling; after opening them and exhaling, a familiar feeling spread through his fingers, both warm and cold shaft of a scythe. His aura roused, causing winds around him to blister outward, spreading away sand and dirt beneath his feet, causing trees behind him to sway. “INCOMING!!!” he bellowed atop his lungs.

A moment later, eerie silence was broken as a massive barrage of spells spread throughout the sky, aimed directly at the mountains and the Paradise that lied behind them. However, just as they were about to collide with them, all spells bounced back into the sky, exploding far above, creating celestial entropy in the deep heights. Open it. Lynne sent a telepathic transmission to Y’se, who could only sigh and obey.

On the other side, Yunchi stared at the bouncing spells and frowned; she immediately recognized the Divine Wall Formation. Operated by a Divine Magus… it could last for months. They’ve really prepared… eh, what?

Her eyes glittered for a moment as her sight moved downward, toward a distant point. Why is there a random opening in the formation? Wait… her eyes quickly found the two figures standing hundred or so meters in front of the formation’s breach. One held a massive, blazing scythe, while the other held a pair of two-meter long spears in each of her hands.

“… focus-fire, huh?” Yunchi mumbled, biting her lips. “Patriarch, should we bite?”

“Do it.” the voice replied from the distance. “Just watch out for flanks and barrage from their side. Overwhelm them.”

“Yes.” Yunchi bowed respectfully before turning toward the mass of soldiers behind her. “CHARGE!!!”

Lynne watched the exchanged and smirked. They really are confident, huh? Well, let’s do this then… He glanced back at Thalia and winked, upon which she rolled her eyes and rose up into the air. Parsia, Ayya, interrupt massive, distance-based spells aimed at me, and pick off their medium-ranged fighters. Chief, Commander, standby. Dad, order them to fire at my position on my signal. Y’se, stop fidgeting. I’ll be fine.

Dark sea suddenly enveloped the sky, as the white-robed figures slowly enclosed toward his position in a half-circle. Lynne smiled gently and suddenly moved forward, disappearing from where he was, abandoning his post. Yet, a moment later, he appeared in the distance, roughly hundred meters away from the nearest enemy.

“Requiem,” Lynne muttered under his breath, shifting to the third stance of Empyrean Scything that he had practiced in the past two months. “Spirit,” the scythe in his hand disappeared and appeared above him, suddenly splitting into 48 identical, twenty meters large scythes. “Divine Equilibrium.”

Scythes spread out thinly in a mile wide radius, cutting down from the sky like rain at speeds far surpassing the eye, cutting through the space itself as they found their way to the white-clad figures. Within a blink of an eye, scythes mowed down 48 people, which suddenly burst out in white, wreathing flames that erupted into massive pillars. Without withholding anything, Lynne clasped his hands together, summoning two Chakrams above his head, setting them ablaze in gold before releasing both his hands sideways.

Two small Chakrams suddenly turned gigantic and began spinning like wheels aflame, gushing downward like thunder as they caused rain of blood, corpses and death to appear. Dad, now! He thought as he clasped both his hands again, causing both the scythe and Chakrams to disappear, before he himself suddenly retreated back to his position. Where he stood a moment ago, nearly a thousand figures descended with their own weapons and spells; however, before they had a chance to retreat, from the far sky fell a golden pillar of light, showering them all in eternal plight. Screams slithered out the sounds as pillar of golden light turned crimson, creating a massive pit in the desert.

Within just two seconds, a heap of nearly three thousand corpses was disintegrated into still burning Skyfire, causing the other side to suddenly hesitate. Even Yunchi swallowed a gulp, staring at the seemingly calm figure in the distance. Is… is he really an Empyrean Child?!

Parsia, Ayya, Lynne thought. My left, use formation flames. Commander, Chief, twelve incoming; use the killing array. As he gave out commands left and right, he quickly began restoring his Mana. Although what he did appeared simple and easy, it cost him nearly a quarter of his total Mana, already making him short of breath. I expected to catch at least five thousand, he thought, smiling bitterly. Aah, now the real thing begins.

“Pathetic,” a voice resonated through Yunchi’s mind, alongside all those standing next to her. “You’re allowing a mere child to make a fool of you. I said attack! Don’t hold anything back! Swarm them like parasites, and kill each and every last one of them!!!”

“… you’ve heard the Patriarch,” Yunchi said, a pair of crimson daggers suddenly appearing in her hands. “Kill. Them. All.”

“ROAR!!!”

Desert shook and sky quaked as every last one of them moved at once, their target that small breach in the formation. Seeing this, Lynne chuckled bitterly, looking up. Thalia smiled, looking at him as if to ask ‘what now?’, to which he could only shake his head. What now? Fight, of course.

“Reaping,” a massive scythe suddenly appeared above him, exuding aura of utter despair and suffering. “Silence,” he added, causing scythe’s wails to suddenly quiet and disappear, and its usual fidgety appearance to halt, as if immobile. “Skyfire’s Calling.”

In turn of silence, white flames spread throughout the scythe, and Lynne himself, then down to his feet and around him. He appeared like an angelic mirage of nothingness, his aura that of complete peace and tranquility… yet, within his eyes, only death sung. “Spread.” he added solemnly.

White flames suddenly erupted like ocean around him into massive waves, burning away the sand itself, as Lynne himself burst forward, tearing through the space as he appeared in front of the incoming thousands. White as snow, he latched onto one figure’s head and tore through it with his bare fingers as he swung roundly, trashing the headless body down, mowing with it dozens more. Dad, Parsia, Ayya, now! Y’se, give me temporary shield! Thalia, take care of my back!

Without caring much for his defenses, he erupted with yet another wave of withering, white flames that spread like heatwave. As if awoken, the scythe lingering in the sky shook at last and fell like a massive tower. It had no presence, erupted with no sound and exuded no power, yet it appeared more threatening than death itself.

Lynne’s tiny body in the sea of white robes was suddenly enveloped in a silver sheen that spread into all-encompassing shield around his body, while his back denoted icy feeling, ready to struck whoever appeared. At sides, alongside the falling scythe, ten massive, golden pillars dove from the sky like giants, while two Dragon visages coiled around them and roared, billowing out masses of crimson flames. Soon, the sky turned into a mirage of spell arts as all collided, sending out shockwave after a shockwave, destroying desert beneath and crumbling mountains behind.

Caught off guard, Lynne suddenly felt piercing pain through his right shoulder; glancing sideways, he saw a sword stuck in it. A moment later, he was blown out of the encirclement like a cannonball, blasting a gigantic crater on the ground. Withstanding it, he forced himself afoot and boomed back into the sky, murmuring ‘Calamity, Infernal Rhapsody’. In place of white flames, eight more were born, with black and white being the most prominent. Skyfire and Hellfire bellowed with each of his thrown fists, his white robes already a sea of crimson, some his some others’. However, no matter how many he mowed down from the sky, more would surface. He had already stopped counting how many managed to breach past him and enter through the formation, but at least he made sure none of them were too strong.

Pain and tiredness had already slowly surmounted, and his Mana was being steadily drained. Hah, this is as far as I can go, huh? He thought as he swept circularly with two Chakrams, sending dozen or so heads flying. Oh well, it’s not bad. Too early to go out, though.

“It’s time, I suppose,” he mumbled as he suddenly froze the space around him and disappeared, appearing fifty or so meters ahead of the breach. “Spacial Lock, now! Engage!!!” tens of thousands of swarming soldiers suddenly disappeared from his sight as he smirked.

“You better thank me, rotten brat.” a disheveled monkey appeared on his shoulder. “Took me ages to set it up.”

“Good job, furry bastard.” Lynne said, caressing the monkey’s head. “Well, no time like present, as they say. Let’s go.” just like those tens of thousands, Lynne suddenly disappeared as well.

When he came to, he was in a plain, well-lit dimension of nothing but white as far as the eye could see. In front of him stood a confused figure, on high alert, looking left and right.

“Yo, mom, what seems to be the problem?” Lynne called out, startling the figure.

“Where the hell did you send me to?!!” Yunchi asked angrily. “Where is everyone else?!”

“Ha ha, relax, relax. They’re still alive… I think. Oh well, no matter, they’ll all die just as you will.”

“Eh, you seem confident in killing me? You, a brat still drinking milk to grow?”

“Oh? Well then. Go ahead. Try to kill me.” a mere second later, Yunchi’s expression fell as her eyes spread wide. Her entire body began shivering as she took a step back. “M-mana… wh-where is my Mana?!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!!”

“Ah, don’t worry, I’m in the same boat,” Lynne waved casually as he slowly began walking forward in her direction. “See? I can’t cast anything either. Amazing, isn’t it?”

“W-what is this place?! How is this possible?!!” Yunchi asked, taking another step back.

“No doubt, Magic is possible here as well,” Lynne said, looking around. “After all, I still feel the faint flow of something extraordinary around me. However, this place isn’t our place.”

“…?”

“The Laws by which we use Magic don’t exist here,” Lynne explained casually. “To be honest, even I’m still in the bind as to how to explain this place. You see, it’s massive! Even I don’t know its exact size. And, all throughout, people just like you and me are currently engaging in good old fist fights and sword fights. Amazing, isn’t it? Ordinary Mortals, at which Mages scoffed for so long, will dominate the tide of this battle.”

“…”

“Relax, relax. It’s not like I can keep you guys here forever,” Lynne chuckled. “There’s a high chance someone with high attainment in Space Law had already broken through. After all, this isn’t a formation. I merely forcibly teleported everyone into this dimension. What’s worse, I don’t even control it. Still, came in handy, wouldn’t you say?”

“W-what are you doing? Stay away!! I’m telling you to stay away, coward!!!”

“Coward? Hai, shut your whoring lips, bitch. I already told you, didn’t I? I’d be the one to personally remove your still beating heart, and watch life fade from your eyes.” Lynne sneered viciously. “Alas, time has come. Time to die, that is.”