The Crimson Warlock

by Paulo Meireles Junior

  The Emperor, Yamashita Hikaru entered the room wearing sokutai jade colored clothes, intricate details were visible at glance from the contrast that the silver made with the jade, he had long dark hair and appeared to be in his fifties, he was sporting a smile on his face as he greeted the king and his family.

  The First Prince was said to be a good strategist so he also attended the meeting along with his father. Yamashita Daichi also wore sokutai styled black and gold clothes and had a short dark hair that made apparent a small scar on his right cheek, he also complimented the royal family of Heryan.

  The Emperor and his son were accompanied by the general of their army, a man named Watanabe Kana, he on the other hand was wearing a full military uniform, he was strong and by far the tallest person in the room, he was so tall that for a moment I couldn’t recognize Casper behind him, the guy I met before when I took down the Hydra; so he somehow worked closely with the emperor. He was wearing the same armor than before and positioned himself behind the Emperor, between him and the First Prince.

  I went by to greet him and he smiled when he saw me. His Majesty, the king saw our interaction and introduced me as a friend of the family, Casper commented that I was the one that killed the Hydra. The emperor then thanked me for my quick work and the prince extended his hand in a formal greeting before also thanking me for killing the beast.

  After a few minutes of more talking they finally decided to start the conference, at the right side of the room sat the Emperor, the First Prince and their General, a few soldiers stood behind them, Casper being one of them. To the left we had the King, Princess Alexis, Lorelai and Sir Freed sitting. Alec was behind the King and Emilia was behind Lorelai, I was resting upright against the wall and looking outside. I basically zoned out to their first part of the conversation.

  First they discussed about trade taxes and routes through Heryan and Largos, that went on for a while because apparently they were having problems with safe routes for merchants. Princess Alexis suggested a few corrections to the paths and informed that they could make the roads safer if they employed the guild to help analyze the most dangerous stretches of road. She looked very comfortable discussing matters of the kingdom and she showed that she knew what she was talking about. Lorelai some times interjected to either make corrections or to ask something related to the conversation.

  The conversation moved on to more urgent matters, the King recited everything that happened at the wedding and how they thought that these events could also happen in Largos. His Majesty, King Lucius, then called Emilia to explain about the charms that the Emperor’s soldiers would need and how to be aware of the malign aura, that way they could have a chance to better protect themselves if something bad happened.

  “I’ve been working with Sir Hunter and we almost have a spell that will let us track the aura, whoever is behind these incidents at our kingdom likely wanted something from our land and they could have similar intentions regarding Largos” Emilia unrolled the parchment that she brought detailing the spell we were in the process of creating.

  “You say this priest that attacked the wedding was using a type of magic that you never seen before?” The Emperor asked.

  “Yes, it seemed like a spell from the dark attribute but it was charged with an unnatural amount of negative energy” she was getting too close to mention the artifact “our point is, the enemy is very dangerous, so we recommend that you take care, especially in the case of soldiers wearing charms. The priest was able to control some of His Majesty’s knights because they were vulnerable and turned them into his puppets”.

  “I don’t know if this is connected, but five days ago the forest outside of our capital vanished out of thin air in the middle of the night and when our soldiers went to investigate in the morning, they only found a crater where the forest was. Our court magician also informed me that a strange aura could be faintly detected in the place, as if it lingered there indicating that whatever happened was not ordinary”.

  As soon as the Emperor mentioned that I summoned my map to look at Yokana and he was right, the forest that I had seen before wasn’t there anymore, I made a mental note to look at it later because a forest vanishing and strange auras were exactly the kind of thing that I needed to investigate.

  They traded words for a little bit mentioning more of what happened and the potential disaster that could happen if both kingdoms weren’t protected. The emperor and his son were very intelligent people, they knew how to question Emilia. But I just watched the whole meeting while trying not to sleep.

  “Okay, we will be increasing patrols on our kingdom too. It is a miracle that you all escaped unscathed from such an attack and I praise the gods for it. I hope you know that I value our friendship very much king Lucius” the emperor commented.

  “I also value our friendship, it is the reason why we are telling you everything. I don’t want your kingdom or your family in peril, until this situation is resolved we all need to be very care-”.

  “Use your spell, focus the skies” Mega’s voice cut the king’s words.

  “『Scan』, 『Improve』” I whispered and closed my eyes. I tried locating what he mentioned. A few moments later I could feel it, in the skies to the north, directly past the glass doors. Something was enveloped in the dark aura and it was coming right at us, the creature was still somewhat far away but it would only be a few moments until the malign aura arrived.

  “I think we ne-” King Lucius was saying.

  “Your Majesty, I think you will need to continue this meeting later. We are about to have company” I said still looking at the skies beyond the glass doors.

  “Does it have to do with the dark aura?” Emilia asked.

  “Yes, you should feel it in a moment” I turned to her “do you have that spell you used to protect the royals at the wedding?”

  “Yes” she said and I could feel the dark aura approaching, she gasped, probably being able to feel the aura, the members of the meeting were now standing.

  “Good time to use it” I mentioned.

  “Okay, 『Sanctuary』!” a barrier was formed around the room covering us all. That was a nice idea and all but this place would be completely destroyed with a barrier of that size. I thought for a moment, how can I help her?

  “Your barrier is too small” I said looking at it “give me your hand”.

  “What?” she said when I approached her and extended my hand. Luckily I pay attention when Mega talks.

  “Just give me your hand, I’ll boost your spell” she was unsure for a bit but then held my hand “『Spell Boost』” the spell boosted her magic “now shape the barrier, target the entire embassy, fast, the enemy is almost here”.

  She focused for a moment and the barrier started expanding until it enveloped the entirety of the embassy, by now Baro had already informed other guards that the embassy would be under attack in a few minutes.

  “How can I maintain a barrier this size?” she looked frightened.

  “You will be using my mana to maintain the spell active” I then turned to face King Lucius “Your Majesty, it seems that you were right. I’ll be taking my leave now to resolve this situation. I suggest you keep the guards inside the barrier and let me take care of the beast” I nodded to him and in the direction of the Emperor too.

  “Certainly, be careful out there James” King Lucius said.

  “Oy, don’t die out there!” Lorelai remarked.

  “Not planning on it” I smiled before opening the glass doors, going into the balcony and jumping from the third floor only to land safely on the ground thanks to 『Improve』.

  I started running in the direction of the forest to the north to intercept the beast before it got here. I still had not seen the beast but the closer I got to it, the more I felt the aura, unlike before, this aura was way more powerful, to the point of causing me discomfort. The forest didn’t offer me a place to fight so I probably would have to smash a few trees to have the room for battling.
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  After running for almost a minute I saw the creature high in the skies, flying with determination towards the Embassy. The beast suddenly stopped and let out an ear-splitting sound accompanied of a mass of wind in the form of a tornado that clashed against the 『Sanctuary』 wall, I could feel the spell hitting the wall and the pressure that it left but I knew that the people inside of the Embassy would be safe as long as I maintained the barrier with my mana.

  “Is that a Griffon?” I asked using 『Improve』 to look the creature that was miles away in the sky.

  “No, it is not. That creature is way worse than a Griffon” Mega sighed “it’s a Ziz”.

  “What is a Ziz?” I’ve never heard of that creature before.

  “In worlds that have magic, there are three creatures that are so powerful that generally only people like you can defeat them alone. Behemoths are generally the least dangerous of the three, they can form from a cluster of any type of terrestrial monster. In the sea we have a Leviathan that wrecks ships with just one attack, that creature can even destroy coast villages or cities if it appears near those places. And last but not least, the Ziz, the airborne of the three, the Ziz is the most powerful of them all because its terrain is the sky. It might look like a Griffon, but that creature has the power obliterate entire civilizations, the older they are, the more powerful they become. This one looks like an adolescent, although that doesn’t change the fact that it is enveloped in the malign aura, I think that creature is carrying one of the artifacts, you need to get its attention” Oh boy, here we go.

  As the Ziz prepared for another attack, I concentrated my mana and invoked 『Whirlwind』, the winds formed into a tornado that I increased in size so it would reach the creature. The problem with the spell was that it started lifting trees off of the ground so I used 『Sanctuary』 in a small area around me, that way I would be protected. Since the bird was concentrating on its attack, my 『Whirlwind』 hit it with full force, knocking it out of the sky. I ran as the Ziz fell so I could meet it as soon as the creature was near the ground, that way I could hopefully keep its attention on me.

  The monster regained its composure near the ground and I could see it clearly now, the creature did look like a Griffon but was way bigger than one, its golden fur and golden feathers would make the creature a beautiful one if not for the fact that it had a murderous look on its face, the dark aura was also visible, it had an electric-like visual, shifting black lightning around the Ziz.

  “『Water Storm』” I invoked my water spell to get the creature’s attention.

  Well, that worked. In the next moment the creature let other ear-splitting scream and another tornado formed in the area I was, so again I used 『Sanctuary』 and stayed still while the creature destroyed the trees around me. I took the opportunity to cast 『Whirlwind』 when his tornado cleared, so I could knock it out of the sky again. This time the creature fell and the ground shook as its body hit the ground with force. I immediately used 『Earthquake』 to maintain the creature on the ground but even so the creature looked at me and launched a gust of wind with dark energy infused into it, forcing me to cancel 『Earthquake』 and invoking 『Light Barrier』, its attack clashed against my barrier shattering it instantly. By now I had the advantage while the Ziz was on the ground because of my 『Improve』. I used 『Earthquake』 again, followed by 『Aerial Slash』 as soon as the creature tried to move its wings. My spell collided with its left wing and cut part of it clean off.

  Now the creature wouldn’t be able to fly, that would certainly be more of an advantage for me. I could hear its cry as part of its wing hit the ground but I wasn’t finished, I invoked 『Water Spiral』 to try and kill it but my spell was repelled by another dark gust of wind forcing me to use 『Light Barrier』 again. I tried running in the direction of the creature to find a spot so I could use 『Aerial Slash』 but an impossible attack hit me, knocking me back a few feet. The creature had used a pure dark spell, one that it wasn’t suppose to have.

  I got up and invoked 『Sanctuary』 combined with a 『Light Barrier』 to gather my thoughts for a moment. I needed to finish the creature fast, otherwise we would destroy the rest of the forest while fighting. Another dark ball of energy was coming my way when I decided to look around us, the tornadoes that we used had created a large leveled battlefield for us, so I decided to use a better spell and finish this. As the dark ball hit my 『Light Barrier』 shattering it in the process, I concentrated and used 『Firestorm』.

  In the next moment the torrent of fire that was created was so powerful that even inside of the 『Sanctuary』 I could feel the hot fire decimating the ground while going in the direction of the creature that tried to use another dark spell but the fire consumed it like it was nothing. The 『Firestorm』 hit the creature with such force that I saw part of its body melting, the process of agonizing pain took only a few moments as I saw the Ziz screaming until it finally died. I canceled my spell and looked near the creature, indeed, there was a small artifact among what was left of the body, so not wasting any time I used 『Purify』 to destroy it.

  I ended up casting 『Heavenly Rain』 to take care of the smell of burned meat. As I was examining what was left of the creature’s body I felt a very powerful presence behind me. Turning around I could see a cloaked figure in black holding a scythe, the creature was also enveloped in the malign aura but it looked different from the Ziz or the Priest.

  “So it is you the one who keeps spoiling my plans” the creature’s voice was sinister and it left a chill on me “I was sure you would appear if I sent a minion to attack the royals at this meeting, I didn’t want to kill both the leaders of Heryan and Largos so that works out for me. I already got everything I need to proceed with my plan”…

  “Did the wicked god summoned you here? A Reaper shouldn’t be in a world protected by gods” Mega asked.

  “Indeed, a god summoned me here. Now I can’t get out of this world without feeding first. I will soon feed on a large amount of souls before leaving this planet to die” he then looked at me again “we will meet again hero, in Heryan. I suspect you will want to destroy the last artifact. My use for it is almost over, keep protecting Sunnara and we will see each other again very soon, mortal” as soon as the Reaper said that, he vanished, taking with him the malign aura.

  “This is very bad” Mega said.

  “Okay, on a scale of one to ten, how bad is this?”.

  “Eleven” wait, what?

  “That was a Reaper, they can’t enter worlds protected by gods, unless a god summons them. They try to feed on souls, humans, other races, animals, monsters, they are all food for them. And there is a major problem with Reapers”.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “They can’t be killed by simply using magic. You might be a powerful warlock here. But you can’t kill that creature” what? How am I supposed to win then?

  “Then, that means...”

  “We need to contact god. Reapers are creatures as old as death. They can conceal their presence from mortals, gods and spirits alike. We do have one advantage though”.

  “And what is that?”

  “The Reaper will want to kill you. It even said that the next time you will see each other will be in Heryan, probably near the capital. He is planning something big and he will want to kill you. We need to talk to god and figure out if we can do anything about this situation. I thought the wicked god was working with an ancient spirit from this world, but this is way worse. To think that he summoned a creature from outside of the universe boundary... That must have taken its toll on his power.” I wasn’t understanding much but apparently Reapers lived outside of the universe?

  “We need to go back for now and find a way to reach god” I sighed.

  I went back to the Embassy and informed the royals of the problem. Part of the problem. I left out the encounter with the Reaper and the possibility of Sunnara being in danger, I would inform that to the King in particular after we arrived at Sunnara.


  Lorelai could tell that I was hiding something from her but thankfully she didn’t pressed. Emilia was almost out of mana by the time I looked at her so Mega told me to use 『Mana Transfer』 to refill her mana using mine, she did have a big pool of mana but I instantly recovered what I gave her. Just thinking that even with this power I wouldn’t be able to beat a Reaper left me worried, not about me but these people around me. The Royal family believed in me and I wanted to protect Lorelai this time. She deserved to live her life happily here.

  The meeting ran late because of the interruption but both leaders seemed confident in their friendship, the Emperor would be looking to fortify his kingdom and even offered me an invite to see his kingdom if I was visiting. I didn’t know how to reply so I just politely thanked him and told him that perhaps in the future I would.

  By seven in the evening I had teleported with His Majesty, Sir Freed, Emilia, Lorelai and the Princess to the duke’s estate, the King even arranged a carriage to get them back to the castle. I was then formally thanked and I told His Majesty that I would need to speak with him in the next few days after I looked into something. And by something I meant that I would try and speak with god.

  I didn’t know what the future had in store for me but for the first time since I arrived in this world, I was actually afraid of not being powerful enough to protect the people that I cared about.

  CHAPTER VI

  A GIFT FROM GOD

  Three days passed since my encounter with the Reaper. I told King Lucius about it and he seemed to understand the gravity of the situation, Sunnara was now likely a target for our enemy. He offered to send soldiers to help me when the time came but I wasn’t sure of what to do at this point.

  I visited the crater that the Reaper left outside of the capital of the Empire and even after a week, the dark aura could be felt, whatever he did there wasn’t good. The ground of the crater was black as if something burned it to crisps, there were no signs of the trees, animals and monsters avoided the location like the plague and a few soldiers that were in charge of investigating the place had fallen ill. That prompted me to visit the royal castle of the Emperor.