Chapter 63:

Fox’s sudden appearance quickly grabbed the pair’s attention.

“Hi the-” The strange woman attempted to greet them but she was cut off by the sudden swipe of Cort’s sword. A crackling sound came from the Aura-infused blade as it grated against Fox’s barrier.

Secretly relieved she managed to activate the talisman in time, Fox tilted her head to the side cutely.

“My, aren’t we a bit too vicious?”

“Rine!”

“{Fireball}! Solar Bomb!”

Upon seeing the swirling mass of twin flames, Fox hurriedly retreated backward. She was confident her barrier could hold against each of their attacks individually but she wasn’t sure whether it could handle both.

With a swish of her hand, she summoned another talisman from her ring and pointed toward Rine’s attack.

A second later, a massive bolt of lightning shot out of the talisman toward the solar bomb.

A shockwave spread out as the two attacks met mid-air.

“Impressive,” Cort remarked as he appeared behind Fox with his sword mid-swing.

“Thanks,” Fox replied as she retrieved another talisman from her ring.

Just as the three were about to re-engage, a sudden force of heat assaulted them.

“They’re here!” Rine screamed as he conjured another ball of flames and tossed it forward.

Fox’s eyes sharpened and, upon activating another talisman, she pointed toward Rine’s attack. The talisman dissolved into a sharp gust of wind that engulfed the fireball, but instead of putting it out, the wind fed it.

The now blazing attack finally arrived at its target along with Cort’s sword-slash.

The target, Borris, scoffed before submerging his hand into the magma he stood upon. With a violent grunt, Borris swung madly.

The magma reduced all the attacks to ash before continuing on toward the trio.

Both Cort and Fox immediately dodged out of the way, but Rine stood firm.

“What are you doing?!” Fox screamed as she brought out another talisman.

Rine paid no attention to any of this as he was too busy thinking about Amelia, Calvin, and Roe.

Recalling the despairing looks on their faces, his heart clenched in pain.

‘I will pay you back!’ He raised his head up high and stared Borris down.

“Oho,” The commander let loose his breath in disbelief before sighing. “A pity to let you go kid…” Borris tossed another handful of magma toward Rine who closed his eyes in acceptance. What else could he do?

He was not like the demon living inside him; no, he wasn’t half as talented. Despite being a magician with his very own core, he was still pitifully lacking. How sad was it that he only knew one spell?

But still.

‘I won’t quit! I’m done running! Besides, I’m still not alone,’ His eyes opened just in time to watch a dark Aura tangle against the magma.

At some point, Cort had appeared before Rine with a sturdy shield covered haphazardly in Aura. Before even receiving the attack, the shield looked close to collapsing.

“Barrier!” Cort yelled as the Lava met his shield.

“Who are you to order me around, bitch!” Fox shouted back as she activated two talismans at once.

Instantly, two barriers appeared between Cort and his shield.

“Eat this!” He uttered as he injected the last bit of his Aura into the once sturdy shield; albeit he was a bit upset, recalling the number of crystals he had spent on this particular piece of equipment.

Finally done, and with the inflamed forces of Borris breathing down his neck, he kicked out wildly.

The barely kept together shield was shot forward before giving out in a particularly spectacular explosion of magma and Aura.

“Aghhh!!”

“Bastard!”

“Run!!!!”

The Forces of Borris who stood at the forefront scream aloud as they were blown back by the explosion.

Their increased resistance to fire made it so that the damage was minimized, but the distance the attack created was enough.

“Nice!” Fox yelled as she pumped her fist in excitement before erecting more barriers.

“Who are you?” Cort asked warily. He was now powerless and under the mercy of this strange woman.

“A friend of a friend, but that’s not important right now,” Her eyes turned serious as she looked toward Cort. In the distance, the sound of her barriers breaking rang out.

‘They’ll be here soon,’ Cort thought grimly.

Noticing his gaze, Fox smiled but it was hidden beneath her mask. “Worried? I can help with that,”

The two fierce gazes met.

‘She wouldn’t have interfered if she wasn’t at least somewhat confident in her chances of escaping…’

“What’s the deal?” Cort bit the bait.

“I can get us out of here in a snap, but in return, I want your piece of the map,”

“Map?”

“The one you showed Lucy,”

Cort’s eyes shone at the sudden bombshells. First, this woman was connected to Lucy the librarian; second, the scrap of paper he received from Nelem was indeed a map.

Cort’s facial expression hardened in thought.

“You don’t have more time, I’m just about out of barrier talismans,” Fox said gravely while activating talisman after talisman.

Suddenly Cort was reminded of the days of old. During his time at Root, he had actually come across many situations like this.

[Above all else, the objective is key] A senior member’s voice appeared in his mind.

‘Exchanging intel in order to assure the objective's survival. This is acceptable,’

“Fine, if you get both him and me out of this, I’ll hand over the map,”

“Good,” Fox nodded in satisfaction as she held out her hand as if to receive the map.

Cort scoffed “You first,”

“You bitch, do you think I’ll actually fall for that?”

“Same goes for you,”

The two were too busy arguing to notice that Borris and his goons had closed in on them.

“Um…” Rine spoke for the first time in a while.

““What!?”" Both Cort and Fox yelled simultaneously.

Unexpectedly, Rine wasn’t looking toward Borris either.

“I won’t come with you guys...OK?”

…………………………………………

Lucy nibbled on her fingernails as she watched the scene of Cort, Rain, and the redhead. It seemed like the redhead had just said something ludicrous as the other two now stood still in shock.

“Just what’s taking you two so long?” She nervously asked, watching the furious expression on Borris’s face. Thankfully the other commander seemed content hiding in his formation and didn’t seem too concerned with interfering.

Besides the main players, there were also a couple of hidden figures awaiting their turn in the shadows too.

Lucy paid attention to a well-dressed man who had been progressively positioning himself closer to Borris.

There was also the matter of the rebel adventurers. The free-flowing magma made it difficult for them to fight so most of them had run away. But there was still a good number of them sticking around, waiting.

“This is a mess…” Lucy suddenly spat out the nail she had been nibbling on as she noticed the signal.

“Fuck!” She cursed despite herself as she took out a large crystal from her bag. Rain had sent out the signal for plan b.

Placing the Origin crystal on top of some talismans, Lucy prayed that her calculations were correct before smashing the crystal with her foot.

…………………………………………

“What are you doing?” Cort asked in bewilderment as he watched Fox’s strange actions. Unlike her previous talismans, this one focused neither on attack or defense but rather on distraction. Dense white smoke billowed out of the piece of paper and into the sky.

“How will that hel-” Cort wanted to ask but was soon shut up. In the distance, he felt the sudden appearance of a truly horrific amount of Origin. But just as soon as it appeared, it vanished, and in its place, dense white smoke crept into the surrounding.

“You like it? 152 talismans connected together through linkers all tracing back to one expensive ass Origin source, I wouldn't have been able to do it without Lucy’s calculations. Oh and the reward I “earned” for returning a certain nobleman’s son back to him,”

The battlefield was already dark from the ash that blocked the sun, but now the white smoke made it so that the world was truly plunged into disarray.

Thankfully the smoke seemed to work on their enemies just as well as it did on them.

“Che, what is this?”

“Cough, cough, Wind magicians, blow this thing away at once,”

Cort felt a chill creep up his back hearing the warriors curse. He purposefully chose not to take his eyes away from the Fox masked woman.

‘She’s dangerous,’ He thought before asking, “But why?”

“To buy time,”

Cort hesitated, “Time to plan an attack?”

“No dumbass, time to run!” She screeched as she began running in the opposite direction of Borris.

Cort and Rine looked dumbfoundedly at each other for a second.

“Rine-”

“No, I won’t run away,” The redheaded magician announced calmly.

“I know brat, but just help me move them,” Cort said as he pointed toward Rine’s incapacitated friends.

Rine looked into Cort’s eyes with suspicion briefly before nodding and going to pick Amelia up.

Despite carrying both Calvin and Roe, Cort was still able to catch up to the now panting Fox.

“What’s the plan?” Cort asked.

“What makes you think this isn't it?”

“You seem reckless but not stupid,” Even as they spoke, Cort could feel Borris chase after them.

“I’m setting the stage,”

“For who?”

“For an annoying idealist and his attractive assistant,”

Cort said nothing and merely stared intently into her eyes.

“Fine, fine. Here’s your part of the plan, take these,” She gave him a pair of talismans and a small Origin crystal. “Think of the crystal as a gift to celebrate our partnership,”

Cort snorted, wasn’t this merely a Red? He could make hundreds of them in a night. However, he still held on to it as he understood that she was looking out for him. ‘This crystal is probably because I am out of Aura,’

This meant that the key to their escape was the talismans. Closely regarding the paper, he studied the markings on it. Meticulous lines, circles, and complicated figures were laboriously etched into it in an almost fractal-like pattern. Just looking at it gave him a headache so he could hardly imagine laboriously drawing it.

“Inscriptions…” Cort muttered in a daze.

“When the time comes, stick this onto your friends' clothes and crush the crystal,”

“Got it,” Cort replied absentmindedly, “What will you do?”

“I’ll be busy,”

“Doing wha-” His question caught in his throat as his eyes came upon the sight of her running while writing on a similar piece of paper. ‘Insane!’ He thought to himself, watching this. Such delicate work and she can do it on the run?

“I have two extra talismans but I’ll need one more if we want to take all three with us,”

Realizing what she meant, Cort grew shocked, ‘She’s actually planning on saving them,’ He thought as he tightened his hold over the luggage he was carrying.

This was the ideal scenario. Saving Rine’s three friends would allow the red-headed brat to somewhat forgive himself for running away from the battlefield.

Suddenly his attention focused to the back where a commotion amid Borris’s ranks occurred.

…………………………………………

Within Borris's carriage.

“Just what are you doing?” Borris asked as he gripped Cale’s arm tightly; in the latter’s hand, a knife was held.

The commander snorted before dipping Cale’s hand in magma. A Fire magician’s inherent resistance to fire made it so that Cale wasn’t immediately disintegrated but it would surely hurt. Oddly, the victim made no sound and kept his head down.

“I always knew you harbored such thoughts, but I honestly thought you’d be smarter,” Borris’s voice lowered to a growl as he noticed that Cale wasn’t paying attention. “Oh well, like mother like son,”

This provocation seemed to work as Cale lifted his head to meet Borris’s eye.

The sneer on the commander’s face froze as he noticed the truth of the situation. Cale was chanting the words to a spell. “Bastard!” Borris growled as he grabbed Cale’s face with one hand. Just as he was about to dip the annoying thing into magma, he felt a sharp pain in his side.

“Y-you!” Borris looked to his pierced side where the completely bandaged figure of Bladeless appeared from within the fog. She was no longer wearing her mask and the bandages failed to cover her mouth.

Borris was horrified to find razor-sharp rows of teeth madly twisted into the shape of an insane grin.

But this was the least of his worries as an equally crazy voice sounded out in between his fingers.

“{Molten Throne}!”

…………………………………………

Cort watched as the newly emerged pillars of flame bent sharply close to the ground above the lava. Realizing the purpose of the spell he couldn't’ help but mutter “Bridges,”

Indeed, as the bridges stabilized, multiple rebel adventurers began running across them toward the palaces’ troops. All at once, the war was rekindled.

“Cort!” Rine yelled between pants as his eyes blazed with a fighting will.

‘We can win!’ Cort didn’t need to hear the rest to know what he was about to say. But Cort knew better, he looked toward Rhodes who had been silent this entire time. He had also begun to move.

…………………………………………

“That idiot,” Clint muttered after finishing his preparations; he stared in disdain toward Borris. It wasn't just him, this entire war was an idiotic mess. How many times had they lost face with this one fight? Ordinarily, Borris would have never fallen to such a childish play but the combination of the sudden appearance of the fog coupled with the idiot’s rage at being toyed around with made it possible.

“I'm ending this!” Clint declared as raging winds swept through his hair.

“{Sirocco's Domain}!”

…………………………………………

The sudden appearance of the sun was comforting, if not for the implications behind it.

“Hurricanes…” Cort muttered with eyes wider than saucers.

It didn’t take long for the windy behemoths to start pulling everything toward them. The magma, the fires, the blood, the people.

Seeing that things have taken an urgent turn, Cort decided that it was time.

“Fox!” He yelled.

“I need more time!” Rain frantically yelled back.

Cort shook his head.

[Above all else, the objective is key]

He dropped the weights that were Calvin and Roe.

“What are you doing!?” Fox yelled.

Cort ignored her and made his way toward Rine who trailed behind them.

Rine was on one knee and panting. His body was finally failing him.

“No! Stay away!” He screamed toward the approaching Cort. “I will stay, I can still fight!”

He pleaded and pleaded but his words fell on deaf ears.

“{Fireball}!” Rine screamed as he desperately attacked.

Cort lazily dodged the attack. He didn’t need his visual prowess nor did he need his Aura to dodge an attack he saw a mile away.

Finally, he appeared before Rine.

The young boy was crying now, both in hate and resignation.

Cort didn’t care. After heartlessly sticking the talisman onto Rine’s clothes, he suddenly moved with haste.

In rine’s other hand was a considerably smaller bundle of flames, only this time, the attack wasn’t aimed toward Cort but rather the talisman stuck onto him.

Alas, he was too slow as Cort’s fist made already made contact with his face.

The sound of breaking glass rang out as the Crystal in Cort's hand broke with the punch.