City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Sworn Enemy

The grand mages thought at first that the vibrations came from Sharon’s residence, but they quickly realised that the entirety of the Deepblue was starting to shake. The rubble in the air was now starting to fly about randomly, a clear sign that space had become unstable!

Blackgold and Fayr didn’t seem to be fazed at all, instead quickening their pace. However, the very moment their silhouettes disappeared through the gates a loud scream rang out from the depths of Sharon’s residence. A raging gale suddenly rushed out from within, an azure streak crashing into the two mages before veering off in another direction.

Voidbones groaned before leaping to his feet, starting to levitate in the air. His eyes spat fire at the entrance to Sharon’s residence, but in the depths of that fury lay unconcealable fear. Blackgold and Fayr had been sent flying into a wall, struggling to even move their limbs.

Sharon herself remained deep asleep within her room, completely ignorant of the calamity that had struck her home. The tuft of hair was standing tall, evidently enraged as it constantly waved around to bubbles of neon blue all around. These bubbles looked beautiful, almost like blue versions of an illusionist’s dancing lights.

Young children believed dancing lights had the power to bring dreams to reality, but these only revived nightmares. The fantastical blue lights slowly rose into the sky, but the moment they made contact with an obstacle they cracked apart to let loose a torrent of blue lightning from within!

The mysterious materials that made up the foundation of Sharon’s residence were practically indestructible. Voidbones had been able to shake them, but he couldn’t leave any actual traces of damage. However, these balls of lightning created deep crevices in the sapphire walls with every hit. One by one they exploded, creating a lightning storm within the residence that turned the legendary mage’s most beloved decorations to ashes.

The storm quickly started to make its way outside the residence. The grand mages started trying to cast barriers one after the other, while Theodore brought down a shield of milky white light down on Blackgold and Fayr.

It took several minutes for Sharon’s hair to stop venting, now just standing in place to show its might. However, the moment it realised just how much of a mess it had made in Sharon’s residence it immediately started to tremble.

The trembling approached a point where the sleeping Sharon stirred, about to wake up. However, the lock of hair immediately froze in place. Waiting for her brows to relax once more, it turned to look over the church once again before turning dispirited and hiding itself within the rest of the legendary mage’s hair.

A few sparks were still flying about, but the residence eventually returned to peace. It was now bathed in neon light, making it seem all the more mysterious…

Voidbones stood still for a long time, coldly matching the death stares of the grand mages around. A look of disdain flashed across his face, but it was marred by fear every time he looked towards the residence.

Blackgold and Fayr were still curled up on the ground. The grey dwarf’s treasured gun had been bent completely, showing just how fierce the collision had been. Fayr was trying his best to reach out for the scroll, but his entire arm shuddered and refused to move. The scroll was only half a metre away, but he could not grab it.

Theodore let out a sigh, strengthening his defences before healing magic started to flow from his hands.

With the spatial enchantments within decimated by Sharon’s hair, one could see Richard halfway along his way to Sharon’s room. He had suffered huge gashes on his back and head as debris from the lightning storm impacted him, but he had continued crawling through it all while leaving a bloodstained trail.

Voidbones scoffed at the sight, about to deride Richard, but undiluted terror suddenly flashed upon his face. He flew straight to a window and glanced outside, causing all the grand mages to follow. They had assumed the spatial instability had come from Sharon’s attacks, but it was now growing stronger despite the silence. It almost felt as though space would collapse the very next moment!

Huge gusts had blown up around Floe Bay, half the clouds in the sky getting sucked into an enormous tornado. The sea started to swirl as well, forming a similarly large whirlpool that broke apart the floating icebergs. It was almost like something had pierced into the earth from above, making a large hole that the seawater was rushing to fill. Even the sky looked like it was about to crumble!

It was in the middle of this apocalypse that a hand popped out at the boundary of the sky and the sea. The hand was thin and slender, completely at odds with the rest of its environment. However, Voidbones froze in place at the sight. Despite the great distance, he noticed a tiny wound on the middle finger of that hand which left him quivering in fright. Even if he had met this person up close, he would only have paid attention to that scar.

That shape was firmly engraved within the depths of his memories, losing out only to the trauma Sharon had left within him. It was because he was the one that had left that scar, suffering a retribution that was hundreds of times worse. That scar was the beginning of the darkest memory of his entire life.

Voidbones instantly knew that this cataclysm within Floe Bay was caused by that hand. His heartbeat continued to speed up as the hand reached out for something, grabbing thin air like it was a handle and pulling it to the side.

*Bzzt! BOOM!* The winds raged wildly and the seas roared as lightning flickered amongst the dense clouds. Fish could be seen jumping out of the water as the surface started to boil, the world itself seemingly in fear of this place. The hand tore space apart, forming a slit that was large enough for a grown man to pass through.

A young, bald man walked through the tear in space, grasping at the air to form a robe to cover his naked, hairless body. The robe he wore was the most common type amongst Norland’s mages, but on him it instantly granted an aura of poise and control that even most nobles lacked. The most haughty master artist would have to acknowledge that his face was almost perfect, even when it was marred by extremely light pupils and a lack of brows.

As the rift in place slowly closed behind this new entrant, the sky and sea calmed down. A tinge of dejection flashed across his face as he sighed, mumbling to himself, “All I did was tear a hole in space and this happened… My distance from Master is still as great as before…”

However, he quickly shook his head and glanced towards the Deepblue, cold gaze focusing on Voidbones, “And here I was thinking it was someone else, turns out it’s just this bastard. Why doesn’t he just give up? Trying to take advantage of Master being asleep, so stupid of you!”

Unlike the response to Voidbones, all the grand mages grew lively when the young man faded away from sight only to appear atop the Deepblue. Just as they knew the problem child amongst Sharon’s students, they knew her best apprentice as well. Unlike Voidbones, this was someone who could be counted on.

Nobody knew why Ensio was here outside of Blackgold, but the grey dwarf was still trying to keep his churning innards at bay. While the holy arts could heal injuries easily, he still had to deal with the wild mana streaking around in his body by himself.

Ensio’s figure vanished from the top of the tower as well, landing right outside Sharon’s residence. He swept his eyes across the group of grand mages before proceeding towards the destroyed gates, a barely noticeable purple glow flashing across his eyes, “This is why I was summoned?”