"Caleb!"

The Eldest's shouts reached his ear, but Cale ignored them completely. The Eldest was now standing right next to him, touching him on the shoulder as he frantically watched the young mage open his inner barriers.

"Aletta, I'm counting to three. When I say 'three', stop the mana transfer!", he decreed clearly. Cale's eyes were fixed on the young healer as vast amounts of mana were released in the next moment and the tremendous dominance was felt throughout the Magistrat. Even the Eldest took a step back in surprise and let go of Cale.

"I feel Holy Mana, yes. But rather faintly", Yusuf volunteered between breaths, causing Cale to grin ear to ear. They hadn't lost yet. Grischa had fainted due to the mana chaos, but his heart was still beating and his Igrikum was reining in. It was almost as if it was waiting to receive help.

"Okay", Aletta replied weakly, you could see on her face how exhausted she was. She opened her eyes and looked intently at Cale.

"I'm counting..." the mage began, swinging his loose hair back, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.

"1"

The voices of the other mages could still be heard in the background. They seemed to realize with horror that Holy Mana had not killed the creature. Cale perceived the bad news, but he had other things to focus on now.

"2"

Cale began to tame his mana, building a bridge between him and Grischa. Since his friend had no way to receive his mana, Cale had to force him to. It was a good thing Grischa wasn't conscious. Cale was about to pour a lot of mana into him and it was going to be painful. Especially since Cale hadn't done anything like that in a very long time.

"3"

Abruptly, Aletta disconnected and in the same second Cale flooded Grischa's mana pool. He didn't hold back a bit and in a few seconds he had 10RM flowing to Grischa. With horror, Aletta stared at him before holding onto the bed frame to keep from falling over. Instantly, the Eldest was beside him, supporting her before silently watching the spectacle.

20RM.

Cale shot back with all his might and the mark began diligently collecting his mana. But for the first time in two months, the three could see something that gave them relief. The creature was not coming after them.

30RM

Grischa's mana pool was filling up, but at the same time the mark continued to steal mana from them. Cale had passed on more mana in a minute than a normal human or mage possessed.

40RM

"By the Eldest's beard...", Yusuf's voice was heard, this time a lot clearer.

50RM

"Where did this mass of mana come from?", Luc spoke up in irritation.

"Do you see the creature?", Sefra exclaimed and a moment later, the sound of wind was heard.

60RM

"Could it be that they are underground them?", Yoshua hypocritically interjected, but all at once the other mages seemed to understand why they couldn't find the creatures.

"Underground!", Ziyad exclaimed. A few moments later, muffled screams followed by a loud bang could be heard. The mage must have just made the earth shake.

70RM

"Caleb, that is your mana!", Yusuf exclaimed. He had noticed it immediately, of course, but Cale remained calm. The creature continued to eat his mana, Cale had no choice, he had to open the second barrier right away.

80RM

"Luc, mark that thing!", Sefra shouted suddenly and nothing could be understood afterwards. The mages screemed wildly, they seemed to be in the middle of a fight, while the communication crystal of her dangled in the wind. Loud noises were heard in between, accompanied by crunching wood and suddenly Luc's voice rang out.

"I got it, it teleported, but I know where... damn, it's teleporting again!"

90RM

Cale released one hand and focused on the mana transfer as he placed his hand on his stomach again. The second barrier dropped and instantly Cale's veins began to burn. Immediately, he began channeling the mana to Grischa, whose mana pool fortunately did not continue to drop much. He now had another 300RM available, which he passed on to his friend, ignoring the pain in the meantime. He could handle about 200RM, but anything over that was too much effort even for Cale. At one point in his life, he had even started to constantly waste his mana, because he couldn't stand the pressure that was on his body.

100RM

Mages and High-Magicians began to gather outside Cale's apartment, Rangar was among them.

"What are you doing!", the 2nd seat shouted angrily, banging on the door. Cale feared for a moment that he was about to enter trough the wall, but the Eldest acted first. He leaned the exhausted healer against the bed, jumped up and opened the front door using his magic.

"High-Magicians only, the rest stay outside", he directed as he arrived at the office and the mass of human had come to a halt in front of him.

110RM

The mages seemed surprised that the Eldest was present, but they did not object. The group reluctantly separated and along with the 2nd seat Rangar Castero, the 5th seat Odin Ander came up as well.

"What's going on here?", the 5th seat gave voice before catching sight of Cale and Grischa and falling silent.

120RM

"The search party found the Kormandent, which had marked Grischa and they are currently hunting him."

"Shouldn't they back off?", Rangar scolded loudly, approaching Cale.

130RM

"Stay away, if you interrupt Leuen now, it can mean Vonstetten's death", the Eldest interrupted the angry High-Magician, grabbing his arm and pushing him to the ground. Surprisingly, Rangar didn't mind much, merely cried out briefly and then stared at Cale.

140RM

"Where did all of Caleb's mana come from?", Odin calmly spoke up and stopped next to his superior, who let go of Rangar and called for the crystal.

"Risztus, what's going on with you?", the Eldest raised forcedly calm at the crystal, ignoring the irritated looks of his younglings.

150RM

"It's teleporting. At first, it was only 200 meters, but with each jump it goes quite a bit further away."

"It abuses Caleb's mana without thinking. We can forget about capturing it like that, let alone killing it", Malte threw in offhandedly before exchanging words with Yoshua. What they were talking about, Cale didn't understand.

160RM

"It uses my mana, which I give to Grischa, against us. However, if I stop it now, I will kill Grischa", Cale spoke up, breathing heavily. His whole body was on fire and he was concentrating hard not to let go. "Holy Mana didn't kill it, so tell me, what should I do?"

170RM

At the last part, he shouted in despair. He was no longer in control of his emotions, the memories of his past plagued him. The many wars, the many dead bodies, the dominant smell of fire and blood. It hadn't been as clear as it was right now for a long time. Cale had been a prisoner since his unfortunate visit to the sacred island of Velence. He fervently wished for a peaceful end, to know the people he loved were safe. But why was the world so against him? Why did he have to live constantly with the knowledge that everything he did was pointless? And why... why Grischa? Couldn't these creatures take someone else? Why did they have to attack one of the very people who was so incredibly important to Cale? Why were they declaring war on humanity in the first place?

"Don't you have any idea how to remove this connection?", Odin gave voice, the statement was probably addressed to Aletta, because she just shook her head while trying to stay conscious.

180RM

"Raphael, call Aaron. That guy always has an idea", Rangar interjected after a few moments. Cale and the rest of the High-Magicians were confused for a moment as to who exactly the 2nd Seat was directing his statement to, but in the next moment, the Eldest allowed mana to flow into his crystal. Silence spread among the people while Aletta leaned against the wall and Cale tried to keep the 1st seat alive.

190RM

"Greetings, h..."

"Aaron, listen to me", the blond-haired mage interrupted instantly. Aaron could be heard to stop abruptly, and only in the next moment could the hunting calls of the search party be heard. "They've found the Kormandent. The creature really teleports and not squeamishly at that. Leuen is currently forwarding much of his mana to Vonstetten, but the marker is forwarding large chunks to the Kormandent, which in turn is using to escape Risztus' group. Do you have any ideas on how to stop this cycle without killing Vonstetten in the process?"

200RM

Silence was heard after the Eldest's brief summary, followed shortly by Philippa's horrified voice. In all likelihood, the entire group was standing right next to Aaron, who had not gotten around to distancing himself at all.

"What the..."

"The Kormandent uses it? Do you know how much it can store? Can't you overfeed the creature with mana somehow?", Aaron abruptly interrupted them. Within seconds, he understood the seriousness of the situation and started looking for a solution.

"I've given the creature almost 200 pure mana, so if that doesn't tear him alive, I don't know what will. Except for the fact that with his mark, he can probably control how much mana he takes in, or at least how much of it he can pass on to the others."

Cale answered Aaron's suggestion matter-of-factly.

"Can Luc immobilize him?", Aaron replied abruptly, which is why the same question could be heard from Sefra. She mediated the conversation between the two parties, since Luc couldn't focus on it.

"Luc says no", the High-Mage replied frantically, you could tell from her voice that she was actively pursuing right now. "Every time he tries to pin them creature down somewhere, it keeps teleporting. It completely ignores the shadow."

"Can you predict where it will teleport to?", Aaron interjected next, causing Sefra to start laughing.

"No chance, I've tried. No way to see a pattern there."

210RM

Cale sighed audibly as he suppressed his anger. He had passed on so much mana and the creature was abusing it against him. Cale feared that eventually it would take all the mana at once and teleport far enough away that the others would not be able to track him.

"Cale", William's voice suddenly spoke up. As happy as he was to hear his voice, he was just too angry to want to talk to him right now. "Can you use your Igrikum on High-Magician Vonstettens?"

220RM

"Use my Igrikum to Grischa?", Cale repeated confused, but not daring to move. Irritation was noticeable among the other mages as well.

"Yes, just as you do with your inner barriers. Can you create a barrier between Sir Vonstetten's mana heart and the mark?"

230RM

"Who is this boy and what is he talking about?", Sefra interjected, but the Eldest and Cale instantly understood what the prince was getting at.

"Leuen! Can you? Can you do something like that to someone else's body?", the Eldest exclaimed, approaching the bed again.

"I... I don't know. I've never tried it on another person and the first time I tried it on myself, I almost killed myself. If I'm doing something wrong... then..."

240RM

"What's the worst that could happen?", William interrupted him at the same moment. "If you don't do anything now, High-Magician Vonstetten will die anyway and you should be aware of that. Besides, you said yourself that you're very good with mana, so why don't you try it first?"

"Will, I... I can't just..." raised Cale quietly, desperately.

"You can. You've proven to me more than once that you're capable of the most incredible things. Have some faith in your abilities, will you?"

250RM

Cale opened his eyes at the statement, only to realize a tear was running down his face. It had been a long time since he had felt so helpless and at that moment he could remember his first life. The reason he liked William so much.

He always led him on the right path.