At the East Cove Magic Academy.
Because of Tarviss' sudden appearance, the Magicians of the academy had been rooted to the spot with fear and terror. Even the prisoners who had just broken free from the Azura Tower weren't pleased with the sight of the demon's release.
"Lord of Light, what have I gotten myself into?" remarked an escaped Level-6 Magician prisoner. "I'm not staying here!" The Magician then cast a flying spell and took off into the sky, fleeing the scene as far and as quickly as he possibly could.
"I'm no match for this demon," said another escaped prisoner who was a Level-7 Necromancer. "Gentlemen, let's hope we never meet again!" Suddenly, a pair of wings flapped open on his back, and he flapped the wings a few times before taking off into the air just like the previous prisoner, leaving the academy within seconds.
The rest of the escaped Magicians responded similarly. They'd finally regained their freedom after being locked away in that damned tower for centuries; there was no way they would act like fools and stay here in the academy and face certain death.
In just a few seconds after the release of the demon Tarviss, only three of the escaped Magicians were left. Of the three, one was Bale who was controlled by Manrod, another was the Level-7 Lich, and the third was a Level-6 Magician.
Oh, and of course there was the roaring magical tiger who charged straight towards the East Cove Magic Academy the moment he gained freedom, hell-bent on getting his revenge. He didn't retreat for a single step after the appearance of the demon Tarviss. Instead, he was excited to see such a powerful potential ally.
"Excellent," he said enthusiastically. "I was just in need of a strong ally! You must be the demon Tarviss. Good! I will stand by you tonight, and we'll devour all of these puny Magicians!"
The magical tiger's voice was loud enough that all three Magicians at the Azura Tower heard him clearly. They fell into momentary silence after hearing the tiger's words.
"I bet," said the Level-7 Lich finally, "the little kitten will get trampled to death by Tarviss soon.
"Haha, no," said the Level-6 occult Magician. "Lord Tarviss will utilize the tiger's power while it is still useful. Only when he is no longer of any value to him will he then eat it up." The occult Magician was only wearing a pair of pants while his upper body was completely naked, exposing a body ripped with muscles and dark brown skin. Countless occultic runes covered his whole body, and his eyes were pure onyx black without any signs of the white of the eyes. These features of his cut a strikingly peculiar figure even among all the other prisoners of the Azura Tower.
Manrod, on the other hand, had little interest in the Wind Tiger's fate. He stared at the other two Magicians there and laughed.
"I know you," he said, "aren't you the Bloodmage Talon?"
"Indeed, I am," replied the occult Magician with a laugh. "I didn't expect anyone to still remember me even after two hundred years."
"Of course you're still remembered," said Manrod. "You are, after all, the Magician who sacrificed thousands of souls to the demon god in the Leo Kingdom in the South. You are infamous all over the big continent. Although, I don't understand why they didn't completely purge your body and soul…"
"Purge me?" replied Talon with a sneer before continuing with boastful pride. "They wanted to do that, for sure, but they didn't have enough power to do so. You may think that I'm just a Level-6 Magician, so I couldn't have been all that powerful. But the Master had bestowed me with an undying soul. That meant that if they destroyed my body, all they would achieve was to unshackle my soul from its bodily prison so I would be invincible and free! Hahaha!"
"Undying soul?" said Manrod, who then nodded. "Not a bad deal at all. Are you staying here for revenge?"
"Why else?" replied Talon. "I've been locked up in here for 200 years. Now that I've got my freedom back and even got to meet Lord Tarviss—what better time to take sweet revenge?" Then, Talon rushed straight towards the site where Tarviss was emerging.
Manrod then turned towards the Level-7 Lich.
"What about you?" he asked. "Why are you still here?"
The Lich turned around to face Manrod. His bluish ghostly flames in his hollow eye sockets flickered as he let out a cold, mirthless chuckle in answer to Manrod's question.
"I'm only a casual observer," said the Lich.
Manrod recognized the Lich the moment he heard his voice.
"You're Vance!" he said. "The man in the prison who didn't want to escape!"
"You're right," replied the Lich. Suddenly his body was blanketed in a layer of pale white mist, and from the thick mist emerged a hazy voice that said, "I have a feeling that Tarviss will die tonight. I can't wait to see how he'll die…"
As he spoke, the Lich's body gradually faded from view and blended into the mist. Shortly after, the mist itself slowly dissipated. When it vanished completely, the Lich was gone as well.
Manrod knew, though, that the Lich didn't go anywhere. He was still around here, masking his presence and aura.
"What a strange fellow," said Manrod with a shrug. He took no notice of the Lich's words. If Tarviss was alone in facing the attacks from the whole academy tonight, there might've been a slim chance of him dying. But Tarviss wasn't alone. The academy would have to face Manrod as well.
Manrod controlled Bale's body and rushed straight into the heart of the East Cove Academy, ready to help Tarviss.
Black fog billowed out of the giant gaping pit in the middle of Bryant's Inspiration Courtyard. Everything that came into contact with this black fog was destroyed—the trees and plants wilted and withered, and even the dirt turned into black ashes. In a short period, the square had completely turned into a blackened wasteland.
Although it was a horrifying sight, this was the best opportunity to attack Tarviss. The Magicians of the East Cove Magic Academy were no cowards. They sensed that it was the best moment to defeat the demon and reacted accordingly.
"Attack!!!"
Then, an eye-catching column of light emerged out of Heaven's Thorn that focused on the hole in the square—it was a signal for the target of the Magicians' attack.
Shortly after, a large beam of light with a diameter of more than 10 feet rose from the tops of the six Mage Towers. Each light beam from each Mage Tower was of a different color—there was green, blue, yellow, white, red and gold—each representing a type of element.
These light beams pierced through the clouds and converged 500 feet into the sky into a dark purple beam of light that was about 70 feet in diameter. The power of this combined elemental light energy was so great that the Magicians could feel the warmth emanating from it from the ground. The light beam was so intense that it brightened up the whole sky until the night seemed to have turned to day!
But that wasn't all.
The position of the light beam was right above the Heaven's Thorn, where another intense white beam of light emerged and converged with the dark purple beam. Immediately afterwards, a tsunami of Mana fluctuation spread out from this light beam. The whole sky seemed to have become agitated by it, so much so that flocks of birds took up to the sky and fled away from the nearby Girvent Forest while wild animals there were driven to panic in droves as well. Even the inhabitants of the River Cove Town could feel the unsettling vibrations in the air at the time.
This was Anthony's prepared attack to fight against the demon Tarviss. He had borrowed the power of the six Mage Towers of the academy and his own Heaven's Thorn's strength to synchronize and combine into a formidable Level-8 attack spell!
The dark purple light beam in the sky began to oscillate. Then, after two seconds the multi-element light beam of more than 10 feet in diameter struck precisely at the hole in the center of the Inspiration Courtyard.
It was the joint attack that accumulated all the power of the entire East Cove Academy, and it hit directly at the demon Tarviss just as he was still inside the hole before he was completely unfettered—there was no way for him to escape this attack!
But then, an unexpected accident occurred.
When the light beam was half-formed, a strange silvery mirror suddenly appeared in the sky. This mirror was very thin and was almost unnoticeable, but it was far from weak and fragile. Not only did it stop the light beam completely from piercing through it, but the light beam was also reflected on the mirror's surface, and the direction of the light beam was deflected away from the hole where the demon was chained.
It was now directed towards the Heaven's Thorn!
Crash!!!
Although the dean, Anthony had cast a defensive spell around the Mage Tower earlier, it was only a Level-7 spell which was as protective as a thin film of soap in the face of the Level-8 combined attack of the entire Magic Academy. The light beam pierced straight through the shield and the Mage Tower and was directed precisely at the Celestial Pool inside.
The Celestial Pool contained a huge reserve of elements which were aggressively agitated by the Level-8 light beam. A series of explosions followed, causing crucial damage to the structure of the Heaven's Thorn.
Then, under the heavy stares of the Magicians across the academy, the towering Heaven's Thorn which had stood proudly for hundreds of years was snapped in two from the middle!
A few seconds after that, there was a burst of the dean's aura. Just before the explosion started, though, the aura then disappeared completely.
"No!!!!" shouted Herrera.
The Elemental Pool was the core of every Mage Tower. The dean must have been in the Celestial Pool in order for him to unleash such an immense burst of aura that Herrera had detected just now. And now that the Elemental Pool of Heaven's Thorn had been attacked and multiple eruptions had spread throughout the tower from it, something terrible must've befallen the dean!
Even Link was shocked by this turn of events. He had felt a sense of relief when he sensed the sheer power of the dark purple light beam and had allowed himself to hope that Tarviss would surely be defeated by this attack. It was, after all, an attack that was on par with a Level-8 spell which was certainly a match for the Level-8 demon. Who was to expect that it would be reflected and redirected to the main source of the academy's power—the dean's Mage Tower?
There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in the minds of everyone present—the Heaven's Thorn would surely collapse!
"Farewell, Anthony," said Manrod with a confident smile as he stood in the willow woods watching the Heaven's Thorn tumbling down from its heights and burn to ruins.
As he spoke, the physical body that he embodied began to rot and wither at a rapid speed. In no time, all that was left was a puddle of blood and gore. Manrod had burned Bale's soul and thoroughly exhausted the physical and spiritual capabilities of this body to cast a Level-8 spell—the Ultra Reflector.
Ultra Reflector
Level-8
Effects: Reflects and redirects an attacking spell towards the direction that the spellcaster desired. Especially useful against light elemental spells.
With just one move, Manrod had successfully killed Anthony who was the academy's most powerful Magician and also destroyed the East Cove Magic Academy's most powerful Mage Tower!
There was now no leader among the East Cove Academy Magicians now. Not only that, but they've also lost their strongest attack power. Now, Manrod believed, the Level-8 demon Tarviss would teach them a lesson they would never forget!
Right at the moment, the East Cove Academy Magicians were stunned by the horrific turn of events, a deep, terrifying, earth-shattering voice came out from the big gaping hole in the middle of the square.
"Finally… Freedom!!!!"
Immediately afterwards, a huge hand that was nearly two feet long emerged and clawed at the edge of the hole, sending dust and debris flying. Then, another hand emerged, followed by an unimaginably huge head.
Eventually, a colossal demon whose body was about 22 feet tall stood in the middle of the Inspiration Courtyard. The demon's skin was ember red, with many fleshy tentacles on his chin. There were countless dark gold magic runes, and his body emanated a black flame-like dark aura while his blood-red eyes reflected a three-foot-long light column.
Although Tarviss had been sealed in the hole for 400 years, his strength was still at Level-8—he was definitely still the strongest and most formidable being in Firuman!
For a time, the entire East Cove Magic Academy fell into an eerie silence. Even the Wind Tiger who had been so bold a few moments ago stopped dead in his tracks and began to instinctively step backwards. The demon might not be that much bigger than it, but he was emanating such an intimidating aura that was simply petrifying!
The demon's loud voice resounded across the academy. Tarviss apparently still remembered his arch nemesis Bryant as the first thing that came to his mind the moment he was released was to take revenge!
"Where is Bryant?" shouted the demon. "Where is he hiding?"
No one answered his question. The Bloodmage Talon was already kneeling on the ground in front of Tarviss, worshipping him.
Even Herrera herself was shocked witless by this colossal demon. Her eyes were opened wide as she stared haplessly at the demon while Link was at her side repeatedly trying to shake her back to her senses.
"Tutor!" cried Link urgently. "The Mage Tower isn't safe anymore. We must direct everyone to leave this place!"
Now that the Heaven's Thorn had collapsed, no other Mage Towers in the academy had enough power to stop Tarviss anymore. If they remained in the Mage Tower, there would only be one outcome for them—death!
And sure enough, just as Link finished the sentence, Tarviss who was getting more and more angry as he got no response to his questions suddenly lunged forward. The dark demonic power around his body had condensed into an unimaginably gigantic black shadow that was about a hundred feet tall. This humongous shadow collided head-on with a Mage Tower nearby.
Crash!!!!
The Mage Tower fell as if it was a toy at the impact of the collision with the demon.
Who could stop such unworldly strength?
Herrera was jolted back to her senses and rushed down the rooftop and began to direct all the Magician's apprentices in her Mage Tower to flee immediately. In that chaos, she did not notice that Link had not followed her down the rooftop. He stayed there and watched the total carnage caused by the demon Tarviss across the East Cove Magic Academy. He listened to the dying screams that emerged from the collapsed Mage Towers. Then, his eyes began to focus, and all his attention was intensified on one thing.
He was now in the absolutely calm state of spellcasting.