By Zephyria “Found you, Leonardo.”
Terzio’s pupils dilated at Hugo’s low voice. At the same time, before the surrounding people could even react, Terzio’s figure vanished in an instant from the middle of the plaza. Immediately following him, Commander Hugo Agrizendro’s figure also disappeared from the eyes of the people.
Those who had been watching the two in the plaza began to stir. The only way a person could suddenly disappear from sight was by using teleportation or passing through a portal.
That meant that Commander Agrizendro and the low-ranking merchant Terzio, who had been standing in the center of the plaza until just now, had used teleportation.
Flynn’s thoughts had completely stopped, and he couldn’t even move. He stared blankly at the spot where the two men had disappeared, his eyes wide with surprise and his mouth agape.
“Vice-Commander Levernil, what is going on right now?”
One of the Council members hurriedly ran up to Flynn and asked. Only then did Flynn barely manage to regain his composure and shouted urgently, stammering.
“Y-you must immediately seal off all exits to the outside! Even if they have a pass! Seal them all off!”
Kwaaaang―!
Flynn’s urgent cry was cut short, and a deafening roar, as if buildings were being destroyed by a massive shockwave, was heard from a very distant place.
The powerful wave of magic power emanating from there was so strong and threatening that even those without magic power could feel it, and it gave the Council members, who had felt various magic powers, a chilling sense of oppression that they had never felt before.
When the Council member who had run up to him froze and couldn’t move, Flynn grabbed his arm and said.
“Hurry, quickly!”
“Y-yes!”
At Flynn’s cry, the Northern Branch members hurriedly ran to the gate to deliver this news. And soon, another loud roar was heard from near the gate.
* * *
As soon as Leonardo was discovered by Hugo, he immediately teleported to the most complicated abandoned village in the Frost territory.
There, he passed through the tangled alleys and hid inside a dilapidated, empty house that had been vacant for a long time. As he lost his composure, his true appearance, which he had been concealing with magic while playing Terzio, gradually began to emerge.
Sunlight streaming through the broken windows shattered upon his radiant blonde hair as he leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.
His clear golden eyes swirled with brown and gradually revealed their distinct appearance. Freckles disappeared without a trace, and his white, jade-like skin shone dazzlingly.
His expression was contorted with bewilderment, but his long eyelashes that framed his golden eyes, his smoothly raised nose, and his sharp jawline were reminiscent of a well-crafted, enchanting creation, making him seem out of place in the dilapidated building where he stood.
Amidst the monochrome background, he alone shone golden in that place.
The magic to change one’s appearance with magic power was quite difficult to maintain. One had to keep one’s mind straight, because even the slightest lapse in concentration would distort the face.
But now he was in no condition to keep his mind straight. He could feel the chill remaining on his fingertips chasing after him fiercely.
Leonardo leaned his head against the wall of the abandoned house, took a deep breath, and composed himself. If he didn’t hide his magical energy right now, he would be discovered soon. Even if he hid his face, he had to hide his energy first so that the terrifying man wouldn’t recognize his magic power.
Everything was quiet, and no sound could be heard except for the sound of the wind. Leonardo focused all his attention on sensing Agrizendro’s energy. Like himself, he was also very good at concealing his magic power.
If that idiot who was impersonating him hadn’t set fire near the houses, if Agrizendro hadn’t revealed his magic power and put out the fire that day, and if he hadn’t known him, he would have been fooled into thinking that he was an ordinary person with no magic power.
As Leonardo was thinking that, he suddenly felt a strong chill pressing down on his entire body. It was the moment he threw himself out of the way.
Kwaaaang―!
An ice spear so powerful that it shattered all the abandoned houses in the area with a tremendous roar was plunged into the spot where he had been standing.
Leonardo, keeping a little distance, stared at the half-destroyed abandoned house in the rising smoke. Looking at the scattered fragments of ice here and there, he felt a chill run down his spine as he thought about it being plunged over his head.
He immediately raised his head and saw the one with that tremendous destructive power looking down at him from the sky. When his icy eyes, which were relentlessly searching, met his, Leonardo felt a chill that seemed to freeze his body.
“Crazy bastard….”
Leonardo muttered with a truly sincere voice, frowning his beautiful brow. Then, he immediately used teleportation again and disappeared from that place.
His destination was the front of the gate. He knew that all the gates were closed, but that was the only way out.
He suddenly thought of the coast, but going to a place with a lot of water now was like committing suicide. Especially with Hugo Agrizendro chasing him with all his might.
As Leonardo, who had appeared in the sky above the border area, rushed towards the gate, the Council was setting up camp and waiting right in front of him, as he had expected.
But he didn’t care and flew straight ahead, concentrating magic power in his hand to create black and red flames. He was planning to smash the gate entrance with one blow and escape to the outside.
At that moment, Agrizendro’s figure reappeared right in front of him. Seeing him chasing after him in an instant, following his trail, Leonardo bit his lip and hurriedly changed direction, teleporting back into the sky.
Then, after putting enough distance between him and himself, he threw the explosive and huge flame he had created in his hand at him with all his might.
As the black and red boiling flame, like the surface of the sun, flew towards the gate, the members guarding the gate instinctively felt fear at the overwhelming magical energy. They barely managed to deploy a barrier and were in a state of chaos, but Hugo, who was standing in front of them, did not avoid the huge mass of flames flying towards him, but faced it head-on.
One of the members shouted at Hugo in an urgent voice.
“Commander, the barrier―!”
“No need. Get out of the way.”
Hugo strode out of the barrier deployed by the members and wrapped the sharp, blue ice spear in his hand with magic power. Then, he swung it towards the raging black and red flames and knocked them straight into the sky.
Kwaaaaaang―!
The flame that he had easily knocked away hit the barrier in the sky above the gate and disappeared with a deafening roar that stimulated the eardrums. With that huge sound, everyone covered their ears and cowered at the strong gust of wind that came with it.
But the problem was that Leonardo Blaine, who was clearly behind the blazing flames, had disappeared again in that short amount of time. Hugo narrowed his brow at his energy, which had been cut off again.
“He’s good at running away.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Moria Haliphega, the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the Northern Branch, appeared in front of him by teleportation. She finished her greeting with a short salute, as the situation called for it, and said to Hugo.
“Supreme Commander, I will provide support.”
“No, that’s alright. I’ll catch him.”
“Pardon? But―”
“Battalion Commander Haliphega. Do you have any bullets for capturing S-class mages… no, for capturing Dragons?”
“Pardon? Ah, I do. I brought them just in case.”
Moria immediately opened her small artifact and took out a pistol and a capture bullet and handed them to Hugo. Hugo took them, loaded the gun, put it in his waistband, and said to her.
“Thank you. I’ll ask the Battalion Commander to defend the gates in all areas of the territory.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Having said that, Hugo teleported away again before Moria could even finish speaking.
Moria was quite puzzled by the Supreme Commander’s appearance. He, who had always been relaxed and calm, seemed a little different today.
“He seems to be enjoying himself….”
“Battalion Commander! P-please look over there. Is that alright?”
At that time, one of the Council members who had rushed over pointed somewhere and said to her. The place where the member’s fingertip was pointing was where the huge mass of flames that the Supreme Commander had knocked away had collided with the barrier in the sky above the gate.
There was a black scorched mark on the transparent barrier made of magic stones that nullified all magic power. Moreover, smoke was still rising from it.
Moria, upon seeing it, gaped.
‘The barrier above the gate has been damaged?’
It was a sight she was seeing for the first time in her life.
* * *
Leonardo Blaine, who had been running, finding, and being chased by Agrizendro, arrived above an uninhabited island that belonged to the Frost territory but was a little far from the mainland and not listed on any maps.
And far away, on the opposite sky, Hugo Agrizendro was staring at him without the slightest wavering.
There was nowhere to run anymore. No matter how many times he hid, ran, and concealed his energy, he persistently chased after him. As if he would never let go of prey he had once bitten, he would approach and pursue him unnoticed as soon as he thought he had gotten away.
Leonardo thought that there was no other way but to face him head-on. That was what Hugo wanted as well.
At the same time as black sparks crackled around him, red and gold flames swirled in Leonardo’s hand, creating a flame sword.
Black electricity wrapped around the magic sword, which was a concentration of magical power. The flow of magical power swirled so violently around him that it created a vortex, and he burst out with such a powerful energy that no one could approach him.
Hugo, seeing him, likewise gathered magical power in his hand and created a huge greatsword. A frost-like chill gathered at his fingertips, and an extreme low temperature that seemed to freeze even the air around him overflowed in all directions.
The two different kinds of air created by Leonardo and Hugo clashed fiercely in the sky, creating a wind that shook the atmosphere.
Leonardo put a lot of strength into the hand holding the magic sword. Hugo was the same. Soon after, the two people who had been facing each other from afar made eye contact and rushed towards each other as if no one had done it first.
In the blink of an eye, the two swords met, and with a very strong burst of sound, the wavelengths and strong gusts of wind spread out like an explosion due to the friction of the opposing atmospheres.
The two men pushed each other with all their might between the scorching and freezing swords, glaring fiercely at each other. Burning golden eyes and chillingly cold blue eyes met, reflecting each other within them.
The sharp sound of ice melting into steam and then freezing again filled the space between them, and the two men were thrown away as if by destructive energy, then crossed their swords again and again.
They struck and swung their swords to overcome each other, who were incompatible, so quickly that no one could follow them.
The impact sound generated in between could not keep up with the speed of the two and echoed in the empty air where they had already passed.
The ground was scorched and cracked, the frozen sea split, and the surrounding mountains were blown away. The two men’s cruel magical power, which made everything a wasteland, never seemed to bottom out.
Hugo felt his heart pounding for the first time in a while.
‘Strong.’
Unlike refined magical powers, his magical power was so lively that it sparked. It was as if he was clamoring to unleash his abilities. However, the end of that explosive magical power was very sharply refined, aiming precisely at only the vital points.
If he fended off the approaching guy, he would simultaneously use teleportation, using the recoil of being pushed back to dig under his chin.
In addition, he easily created distance by using the explosion of magical power that occurred during the battle, and as soon as he created distance, he immediately launched a threatening long-range attack.
To block the huge flames flying at supersonic speed, Hugo erected a huge, thick ice wall in front of him.
Kwaaaang―!
However, as if it was a joke, the huge flame that flew quickly pierced through the solid ice wall and exploded spectacularly. The two concentrations of magical power shattered in the air.
In the smoke and debris, Leonardo once again approached with a speed so fierce that he could not even recognize it, and struck down the ice wall with the scorching sword in his hand, smashing it to pieces in one blow.
The moment his ice wall, which was so solid that it was like an impregnable fortress, was destroyed in an instant, the sight of the seething golden fire demon revealed through the scattering ice fragments was so awe-inspiring that Hugo was breathless.
‘Was Shorendo this strong?’
The insane power to smash an ice wall as tall as a mountain with a single attack. Hugo’s heart pounded at the sight. How long has it been since he felt this kind of strength? He had thought that he was a pretty good guy when he fended off the flames flying towards the gate and chased after him.
‘No, this guy is more than that.’
Now that he had directly confronted his magical power, he was not just good.
He was more than that, no, he was the best.
Leonardo quickly penetrated and broke the ice wall, but when Hugo had already lightly avoided it, Leonardo frowned and once again emitted destructive energy and muttered.
“Tough bastard.”
Hugo smiled as if he was amused by that.
“Are you already tired?”
“Don’t talk nonsense―.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a red ray grazed past Hugo’s eyes. The power of the counterattack that flew in response to a small provocation was very fierce. If he had been hit by that head-on, even he would have been quite seriously injured.
Leonardo Blaine, who was looking at him with arrogant eyes in front of him, was known to be only in his early to mid-20s.
It was true that he was a young guy, so his movements were explosively fast, but the strategy of quickly grasping the opponent and predicting his movements, which was not appropriate for his age, was clearly derived from the experience that only those who had experienced actual combat could know.
It was not a waste of his past fame as a member of the military’s elite special forces Dark Silver and a war hero of the Empire.
Hugo was very happy with this feeling he was feeling for the first time in a long time.
The strong wave given by the guy who thrilled his body.
It made Hugo’s heart, which had been frozen for a long time, beat again.