Nobody dropped their guard.

Skullsong and Markus Mayers stared at Johan. He wore sand-colored clothes. But they were covered with numerous cuts and blood stains.

Johan stared at Taliesin. He wore green robes. They covered with the net of light net Markus had chanted into existence but was unharmed.

Taliesin stared at Skullsong and Markus Mayers. They wore the town's trademark black clothes. "You are both covered in idiocy!" he solemnly commented.

What's with this situation? Johan thought.

Taliesin was clearly not stronger than a disciple mage and yet he was locked in a standstill against both the extremely skilled Mayers family member and the master, Skullsong.

"Haha! Both of you numbskulls can just let us go now, since it's impossible for you." Taliesin suggested.

However, his words seemed to be lost on Skullsong, as the latter turned on Johan.

"WHAT. HAPPENED. TO. MY. DISCIPLE?" Skullsong bellowed. His voice was covered more with annoyance than worry. He stabbed his broadsword to the ground, where the martial aura covering it allowed it to sink a little like a knife in butter.

The whole courtroom reverberated with Skullsong's outburst, as he directed his full attention at Johan. His killing intent was not superior but his martial aura was and Johan took a stance to endure the waves of crushing pressure.

The glitter returned into Johan's eyes, as he seized the chance. Very carefully, he prepared to move his aura on his blade for a surprise attack, while the master was still agitated. Despite Johan's depleted energy and battered body, agitated emotions were always a serious opening. Johan liked that his chances of winning rose from zero to zero plus.

"Don-"

Taliesin began shouting, but Johan had already dived in the opening between Skullsong's arm and broadsword, aiming to sever the arm. A master's reflexes were impossible to breach, but Johan hoped that aiming for a non-lethal injury would grant some delay.

Boom-crash!

Everything blackened for a moment. The next thing Johan knew was a searing pain in his sides, as he lay sprawled amongst the wreckage of a wall, opposite from where he had begun his charge. Stacks of leather mattresses he had knocked over lay collapsed around him. His hand was weakly holding onto his katana.

Blood rose to Johan's throat and he rolled over, coughing a couple of mouthfuls on the floor, soaking a stone in red.

"Oho! Reflexively lessened the impact? Your aura control is high-tier. No wonder you could deal with my disciple." Skullsong's current cool voice was in complete contrast with his previous demeanor. A scratch had torn his cloak and underlying vest near the shoulder and a red line contrasted with his darkish skin. But he otherwise appeared unharmed.

Damn, it was a trap. Johan cursed, struggling to regain his bearing. He felt foolish but lucky to survive. Grandmaster Kenji had explicitly warned to double-guess the obvious choices in battle.

Johan's brain felt groggy and his left side broken, in addition to his previous injuries. Luckily, both legs were intact.

When his mind cleared a little, a question popped up. Why is the opponent not following through?

"Mighty nature! Son, did nobody teach you how to think?" Taliesin croaked exasperatedly from under the net of water and light.

"Ignore the idiot master! I have him pinned for the time being. Get the Mayers brat - he's almost out of energy!"

Johan groaned as he stood up. With so many injuries, he had less than a third of his original battle prowess. However, he had confidence in subduing a mage low on magical energy. He started approaching Markus, careful not to enter Skullsong's range.

Indeed, Skullsong, seemed to be rooted on the spot. He furiously frowned at Taliesin, but to no avail. His intuition told the moment he started moving from that zpot, he would be facing great peril.

Meanwhile, Markus felt depressed. He had no hope of maintaining the net if Johan charged him. He voluntarily let Taliesin dissolve it.

"You sly fox, you knew all this would happen. That's why you were so relaxed?" Markus added a couple of profanities against Taliesin. His previous respective way of addressing was by now fully forgotten. Taliesin only smiled in a crooked way.

Johan was close enough by the time the swearing finished. He charged at Markus and the latter was forced to conjure small bursts of energy to halt the momentum. He cleverly aimed them at Johan's most obvious injuries, making even minor force cause serious pain. Still, Johan could see the air shift when the concentrated magical energy passed through and dodged most of them. It was only a matter of time before he cleaved his opponent’s head off.

"Don't think you'll get the better of me! Unknown pest!" Markus's tone had become almost hysterical. He retrieved another parchment from within his clothes. This one had a large silver pentagram inscribed on it.

Markus's heart clenched for the loss. He gathered the remnants of his magical energy on the parchment, which crumbled into nothingness. Only the shape of the pentagram remained, glowing with a foreign silver-colored energy, which expanded to surround Markus. His form started fading.

"Skullsong! I'm fleeing because of your negligence! But know this, you indecisive fool; if you can capture this old man, I guarantee I'll be able to let you pick anything from my family's outer treasury!" he originally did not want to reveal that much, lest the other party become greedy and do something foolish to him. However, he was now escaping in the safest way possible. If someone stopped this technique… well, Markus wouldn't complain in death.

Markus's form vanished at the exact same moment Johan's katana cleaved through the place his neck had been.

Damn, he fled. Johan got a really bad feeling.

However, he had no time to duel on it, since Skullsong charged Taliesin without hesitation.

The outer treasury of the Mayers family! Even grandmasters would sell their descendants to take a peek inside!

Before he could reach Taliesin though, one of the corpses on the floor stood up.

Its limbs swayed in an unnatural manner, but it tried to hug Skullong. The latter instantly jumped back, but a couple more corpses rose and charged him. They displayed speed on par with a disciple - many times the one they had alive. They flung their hands in strange angles, sometimes exceeding the limits of human joints.

Skullsong snorted. His martial aura exploded outwards in such intensity that he pulverizing all corpses charging him. However, a detached finger touched the thin red scar Johan had left on his shoulder.

"YOUUU~~~" This time, the anger was real as Skullsong let go of his broadsword, grabbing his shoulder. He was clearly in agony.

"Johan, son, now!"

Johan was already moving. He grabbed Taliesin, threw him over his still-strong right shoulder and started running at top speed towards the building's exit.

He fled through the building’s interior like a chased animal, smashing down every door that barred his way with aura-infused kicks before finally skidding into the dusty cobblestones outside. He then picked a direction at random and, with Taliesin still over his shoulder, continued running as fast as his body would carry him.

A moment later Skullsong's curses reverberated all over the complex, as he lurched after them, stumbling all the way.