The city guards of Frageor, already on high alert from the previous attack, responded immediately. Vlad could hear shouts and the clatter of boots as the guards rushed to contain the chaos. He knew they were hot on his trail.
"You've got to be kidding me!" As he ducked into an alley, Vlad's heart sank. There, standing in his path, was Yamor, the high-born who had almost captured him before.
"We really should stop meeting like this," Vlad said as the wind beneath his feet sprang him upward, throwing him above the high-born's head.
"We really should!" Angry at the destruction caused by Vlad and the rest of his group, Yamor consecutively swiped his thumb across the runic symbols in his grimoire.
"What the–!" Feeling the air around him become heavy, Vlad fell from the sky, his wind slide doing nothing to resist the force.
"Who the hell are you?!" No longer in the mood for jokes, he stared vigilantly at Yamor, cautious of any more spells cast by him.
This is the second time he's cast a spell above his rank, and this particular spell is two ranks above his, way out of the league of a Baron-level sorcerer.
"The one who will send you to the underworld." Having no desire to slow down, the pages of Yamor's grimoire kept turning, bringing him to the powerful spells to be used on Vlad.
"Shit!" Feeling the air closing in on him, Vlad chanted incantations, invoking a mass of wind that blew him away from the range of Yamor's spell.
Swiping his thumb across a different spell, Yamor slammed Vlad down to the ground, then followed up with the enclosing spell in seconds.
"Dleshax!" Frightened by the possibilities to come, Vlad chanted quickly as a shield of magical light enclosed around him.
Crack!!
"Grw!!" Groaning in pain as the bones in his left leg were crushed by an enclosed mass of gravity, Vlad's eyes turned bloodshot as he growled out a spell, summoning gusts of wind that whipped toward Yamor's head and legs.
Having a very deep connection with his grimoire, Yamor easily compelled the pages to move at will, using an instant to arrive at the spell required to face any situation. Deflecting the winds launched at him with a wind spell of his own, he swiped his thumb across a new runic pattern, enclosing Vlad's right arm in a crushing grip of gravity.
"Grw!!" Throwing his head back, Vlad groaned in pain while struggling to stay conscious.
Using his last five percent wish bar to keep his mind kicking, he chanted an incantation that had been whispering into his ears since the beginning of his torture.
"Dwiov Ecreas!"
!!
Stopping his thumb from completing its movement, Yamor felt his senses severed from the environment and sealed within his body.
This can't hold me! Not caring about what spell Vlad had cast, he released a surge of pure magic from his grimoire, seeking to overpower Vlad's spell with his larger quantity and quality of magic.
As his magic left his grimoire, his arms and legs grew stiff and cold as goosebumps covered them.
"C-corruption!" Losing touch with the magic that left his grimoire, his heart pounded erratically within his chest, frightened by the possibilities of what was to come.
Sensing his spell strengthening as a result of absorbing Yamor's magic, Vlad gained an inkling of the type of spell he had cast.
Black magic.
A bit scared after learning what he was capable of, the thought of being corrupted drove away every joy of surviving the battle with Yamor from him.
Maybe with the help of the system, I might have a chance of resisting the madness. He used a healing spell on his leg, mending the crushed bones just enough to stand again.
Looking at Yamor and seeing an eerie shadow wrapped tightly around him, Vlad rode forward on a wind slide as he approached him.
"Search every nook and cranny of the city until you find them!" a male voice sounded, stopping Vlad from continuing toward Yamor.
Hesitating between finishing off Yamor or escaping, the sound of the guards' footsteps prompted Vlad to make a quick decision.
"Count yourself lucky." He turned away from Yamor as the wind beneath his feet sent him sliding away in the opposite direction of the guards.
Unable to sneak away on a wind slide without being seen by the guards, he decided to properly heal his left leg before making use of the concealed spell the wish system had granted him.
Acting like one of the victims of the destruction, he caught the sympathy of a young lady about his age and her younger siblings.
"Here." She handed a cup of water to Vlad, her face concerned as she stared at his right hand.
"Thank you." Downing the contents of the cup, Vlad handed it back to her, looking much better than he had moments before.
"Does it hurt?" Receiving the cup from Vlad, she asked, eyeing his broken hand.
"It does. Badly too." Looking down at his broken arm, he answered the lady's question.
"Sometimes I wish to hate the rebels for what they do, but at other times… I think they have no choice. But I can't ever forget what they've done." Her words trailing behind her, Cahelyr began walking away, heading to take care of her business.
"Are you saying all this so I won't spend my entire life hating people I have no hope of getting revenge on?" Looking at Cahelyr's back, Vlad asked her.
"Shackled by hate and having no hope of getting revenge… is one of the worst feelings to ever live with. Trust me, not many feelings come close to it." Turning to look at Vlad, Cahelyr spoke softly, confident in every word that emerged from her mouth.
"I understand." Vlad nodded as he watched Cahelyr walk back to her kitchen.
Not spending much time in Cahelyr's home, he took his leave after healing his leg and recovering to a better state.
..
Encountering no more obstacles, Vlad eventually reached the designated spot where the others would regroup with Aidynr. His chest heaved with relief as he felt a sense of accomplishment. He had done his part; now it was up to the rest of the team to extract Aidynr.
Moments later, Elysia appeared from the shadows, his face a mask of determination. "The city's in chaos. They'll be too distracted to stop us now."
Vlad nodded, relieved. "Let's hope the others can get Aidynr out safely."
Minutes felt like hours as Vlad and Elysia waited, every sound and shadow putting them on edge. Finally, they saw their comrades approaching, Aidynr among them, albeit looking worse for wear.
"We did it," Aidynr said, his voice weak but triumphant. "Let's get out of here."
The group moved swiftly, navigating through the burning streets and using the chaos to their advantage.
Floating a distance away from the city gate, Yamor stood beside a man who bore a striking resemblance to him but carried an aura of authority that made the elements of nature bend to his will.
>>>