"Um, Ineiru..could you tell me a bit about magic?"

"What did you want to know?"

Zephise put a hand to his chin and thought for a couple of seconds. "Hmm ... how long would it take me to learn magic?"

"Y-you should be able to learn a couple of spells..in maybe a year."

"Oh? Only a year!?" His eyes grew excited. "How long would it take to learn all the ones you have?"

"Umu..." She paused to think for a moment. "If you practice every day, 97 years."

"Ninety Se-!! Impossible."

Oreilia yawned. "That's how much time it takes for a normal person to learn magic. Anything outside of your own affinity takes 4 times as long to learn."

"T-then do you know any magic as well, Oreilia?"

"Only your basic fire spell. I don't care much for flashy arts."

Rel couldn't help but smirk at such a statement. Her entire combat style was flashy art.

Zephise continued idle chit chat with Ineiru while furiously writing down new information in his notebook. It was a wonder he hadn't run out of space yet. Curiously, Rel peeked over his shoulder to see why such a problem hadn't occurred yet.

"...." His writing was virtually Microscopic! In fact, he hadn't even filled up to 3 pages of it. It was just a cluster of miniature texts that the human eye could barely read.

"Hm? Is there a problem, Rel?" He looked over his shoulder.

"Nothing. I'm just...shocked."

Ineiru who was seemingly lost in her own world peeked over to the duo. "I-is something wrong Rel? Are you feeling alright."

"Mhm. I actually feel very refreshed." He took in a deep breath.

"Good. Then I'd like to make sure you stay back..." She said.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

She pointed straight ahead. "Magical signature...s" She added the s reluctantly.

"Hold on..." Aren pulled out his map and began to test observe his surroundings. "In that direction....is Oeli-Sei'O"

She nodded. "That's where it's coming from."

"But that's a whole mile away! You could see that far?!"

She shook her head. "It's just...their magical signature is tremendous."

"Rel, do not participate in this fight. You'll die."

"Oi oi. I got it already. It's not like I waste aura anyways. I don't use divine arts well enough to rely on it yet, and my fists are more than enough without enhancement."

"At the very least, I'll activate Ethiri right now." With that, they all became cloaked under Rel's relic. They were effectively hidden from any view. The only thing that might have given them away would be the distortions in the grass.

They dismounted their horses just 100 meters prior to entering the small town of Oeli-Sei'O. In that small town they found not a single being was around. "What's going on. It's completely empty." They could see everything clear as day. Not a single soul was around.

"No...-" Ineiru spoke. Her eyes glistened purple as she scanned her surroundings.

"One.... two..." she continued making mental notes of her surroundings. The numbers kept getting higher and higher.

"nine...no ten."

"Eh?" Rel gave off a look of confusion.

"There are ten mages. They're also in hiding. It seems they were aware of our presence and were hoping to catch us off guard."

Thanks to Ethiri, they were neither heard nor seen. Though she found their behavior odd. They were hidden effectively utilizing individual blanket spells...but they were all staying in one place.

"Something's not right... They're not reacting."

Each of the magicians remained completely unmoving.

"Heh, then let's give this a shot." Zephise pulled out his relics chakrams and they began to float into the sky and divide.

"What are their precise locatio-"

"Watch out!" She instantly shoved Zephise out of the way and her hands flared up with mana. Several of the magicians blasted powerful attacks of various elements.

Lightning, Fire, Wind and various basic spells. They were all...surprisingly weak. She had blocked each of them with a simple mana shield.

"W-what...how could they see me?"

"It was when you took out your relic. All of them simultaneously reacted."

Zephise retracted his ability and the relics folded back into one and returned to his hand.

Rel finally realized what had occurred. "Ethiri can only people you choose, and things in their possession. The moment said thing is no longer in your hand, it is not effected by it."

Ineiru nodded. "I've only just now confirmed this, but they're definitely cursed...even though they are from Baerim."

"This blanket spell...can prove to be a nuisance. Counterpulse; Yerunversi." A pulse of mana emanated from her body and spread throughout the city. Just like that, the magicians were visible to everyone. The eyes of the mages were very much hollow but there was something very off about them.

Oreilia was the first one to notice. "They're still living." She could observe them all breathing. "Does this mean they could get cured from the inscriptions?"

Ineiru shook her head. "I...I- I don't know."

"They seem to be capable of thinking slightly more intelligent than the others. Perhaps it's because their minds are still very much alive..." Oreilia added.

One of the magicians finally made their move. The magician was one with long brown hair that stemmed to his back. His eyes were that of a very kind lad. It was almost sad to see them so empty. He knelt down and touched the ground with both hands.

"Shit...earth magic."

The earth tore asunder and various spikes erupted from the ground hoping to impale them at random. Aren barely managed to avoid the attacks until Ineiru lifted them all up. It seemed not only could she fly, but she could extend this courtesy to the others as well.

Of course, this wasn't the same as them flying. She was controlling exactly where they were all going and how fast. It must take a great deal of concentration.

The ground continued being invaded by spikes. They'd jut out, then descend before jutting out again at a random location. For the remainder of this fight, it was not going to be safe for them to touch the ground.

The mage was indeed thinking cleverly. Instead of trying to pinpoint their location, he was going to use an AOE attack and devastate a large area.

She surveyed the power of the attack below. This mage was indeed very skilled. This is probably only a fragment of what he was capable of before.

"Zephise, you sit this one out. You too Rel." Oreilia added. She felt no need to mention Aren as he has thus-far showed very little interest in combat.

With them largely remaining hidden, this was going to be an easy one-sided slaughter. If the mages had any semblance of their old cognitive ability, they might have been able to turn the tides.

Oreilia dashed forward with her sword drawn. "Divine Art; Sudden Slash" It appeared as if her body was flickering. One could see her for just one frame, then see her next image next to the mages. Each time she manifested near one of the mages, they were cut in two.

Ineiru had just finished her chanting "Irmerustuv! Light Coil" One solid beam of lightning released from her fingertips and grasped around each of the five mages. It was as if she was holding a whip. The beams combined each of the nine together in one bundle and discharged, firing them up with lethal amounts of electricity.

She was testing the limits of their curse. Their hearts stopped from the overload of electricity, yet the mages were still moving. However, in comparison to before, they were incapable of utilizing magic. They had become just like the normal corpses that were their moments before.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that one of the mages were missing. She had only managed to entangle 4 of the mages. Where the hell did the other one go? Her eyes scanned through the area, attempting to spot the mana signature. There was none.

This was a unique situatio- that's it. She looked down at the ground. He must be in hiding under ground. With the amount of mana he had poured into the ground to make it distort, it would be impossible to pinpoint his location.

"s-shit...I can't detect him."

Oreilia laughed. "Divine Art: Godsense"

"He'll be out. It's just a waiting game. His inscriptions are to attack, not to hide. Rel, take your relic's effects off of me."

Rel nodded and excluded Oreilia from the ability. Just like that, the bait was taken. The moment she was visible to the naked eye, the magician blared from the ground directly at her.

He was fast...much too fast. If she hadn't had god sense activated, she'd not have noticed. A single stalagmite had sprouted from the ground at incomprehensible speeds.

Halfway submerged within the stalagmite was the mage. Only his torso remained out of it. His arm had formed a lance made of rock and was only inches away from impaling her.

With her godsense, she was able to react just in time to parry the blow with her blade. The power behind it sent her flying and Rel immediately placed her back within the shroud's influence.

There was hesitation in the mage's movements once he realized she was invisible again. It gave Ineiru enough time to stabilize her. Oreilia now stopped a good 25 feet away.

She was shocked. This was her first brush in with death. Had she moved just a moment too late, she would have died.

Her armor and sword continued to reverberate. She had almost mistook it for her trembling, but they were two distinct sensations. Just as she had managed to recollect herself and calm her nerves, the magician had launched at her yet again.

Both Rel and Ineiru dashed outwards in an attempt to stop the mage. When his hit collided with Oreilia's sword, it had left a piece of mud attached to it. He was using that to track her.

In comparison to the other mages, this one was on a whole different league. Just as he was about to reach her, the mage snapped his fingers. A blinding light had erupted and burned everyone's retinas.

They were completely blinded, surrounded by pure white. They could hear the sound of clashing before finally dead silence. None of the group had dared move a muscle.

They weren't aware of the outcome, nor the current location of the enemy. 30 seconds passed by in silence, as they waited in anticipation. Finally, their vision regained and their eyes had focused.

The last one standing was indeed Oreilia. She stood smirking with a look of accomplishment on her face. Had she purposefully remained silent just to keep them in suspense!?

The mage had tumbled down to the floor and collided hard with the ground. His body was found riddled with holes. It was as if he had been poked a dozen times through the torso.

Nonetheless his breathing persisted. The mage weakly tried to use healing techniques to replenish his vigor. But it was clearly not going to be effective. There were simply too much holes in his body.

After a couple attempts he had finally given up and dropped his hands to his side. His breathing was growing heavier and heavier by the second.

Ineiru and the rest of them dropped beside him. Ineiru's hands aimed towards the mage with a fire spell ready to incinerate his entire body. Rel inducted him into the shroud so that he could see all of them.

The mage coughed. He was on the doorsteps of death. His eyes scanned through each of them. They were no longer the hollow eyes subdued by inscriptions.

They were conscious. He observed each of their faces his lips twisted into a smile. "T-..thank..you." He muttered out. He coughed again. "Please...s-stop him."

"Stop who?" Ineiru's hands remained ready to release the fire spell at any point. If the mage did even one wrong move she'd expedite his death.

"I... I'll m-most likely c...ome ba....ck"

"Ple-...ase.. I don't want to r..eturn." He must've been talking about the curse's postmortem control.

The flames burned brighter in response to his request. She was letting him know that his body would not be back after they were finished with him. He smiled and rested his head back, awaiting death to take him.

"Stop who???" Ineiru asked again.

The mage's eyes opened up once more before closing for the last time. "Ch..rom."

"Chrom... chrom..." Ineiru was certain she had heard the name somewhere before. But she couldn't quite place a finger on it.

She sighed and set the man ablaze before he could "re-spawn."

"Oi...what do you say we get rid of the other ones." Rel asked. Ineiru gave a dismissive hand. Oreilia and the others immediately got to work, incapacitating the now powerless and mindless magicians.

"So the mage who is behind this is Chrom..." that was all the information they managed to acquire from this bout.

The inscription method also seemed to have differed from the normal people. When it came to magicians, Chrom had used a different method of inscriptions. This one controlled them entirely while they were alive.

He had probably kept them alive so they could think and function smarter, but still be under the seal's influence.

If that was the case, there was now a question that loomed overhead. How many of the men that Chrom had cursed were magicians?