Horizon's Edge

by TurtleMe

  Gathering mana into my blade, I picked up speed, muttering a chant.

  [Burning Lance]

  Spearing the discolored grizzly wolf that had Clive pinned down, I helped him back up when a strong force lurched me off of the ground.

  Clive’s sharp eyes widened and his lips mouthed my name, but strangely, I couldn’t hear a sound.

  It wasn’t just him; I couldn’t hear any sounds.

  And that’s when I saw a stone spike protrude out of my stomach.

  Dropping my sword, I looked down and touched it. There was blood.

  My blood.

  Suddenly, sounds came back in a barrage, shouts and screams filling my ears.

  My eyes glanced back and forth between my bloody hands and the spike coming out of my stomach. I wanted to turn my body around to see what had happened, but I realized my feet were dangling in the air.

  Looking down, I could see the giant spike that had skewered me up off of the ground.

  I saw Curtis push aside the stunned Clive as he made his way towards me.

  “Claire!” I saw Curtis shout, but this time, it just sounded muffled, almost as if I was listening to him from a different room.

  Scenes moved slower as I saw Kathlyn jump off Grawder and dash towards me, both of her hands covering her mouth in shock.

  Kathlyn’s voice was the same inaudible, muffled noise that only differed in pitch from Curtis’ voice.

  I tried to say something, but all that I could manage was a wet gurgle.

  I thought of my father. His firm gaze. His eyes that drooped slightly from age. He had been the one who told me the importance the Bladeheart name represented. Would he be proud if he saw me now?

  Just as I felt everything fading, I heard it, a blood-curdling roar piercing through the heavens.

  It was a deep, rumbling thunder that shook the ground and the spike that was lodged through me, with it. Even in the brink of death that I was in, I still somehow felt fear. It wasn’t the sort of fear that kept me from moving like earlier, but one that made my body want to instinctively bow in reverence.

  In this state of near death, I thought for a moment that I had somehow hallucinated this sound, but then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it.

  The unmistakable figure of a winged beast that every adventurer—every person—had once hoped to catch a glimpse of.

  It was a dragon.

  It was nothing remotely close to anything from the drawings my mother showed me in books to scare me as a child. No, this dragon made those look cute in comparison.

  With two horns protruding from each side of its sharp head and iridescent eyes that could freeze even a veteran adventurer, it was a manifestation of both sovereignty and ferocity. While most of the books I have read as a child described a dragon’s scales to precious shiny jewels, this dragon’s scales were such a rich, opaque black that it seemed to make its shadow look gray in comparison.

  But as impressive and awe-inspiring as the dragon, that looked to be the size of a small house, was, what made my heart truly tremble in fear was the boy below it.

  It was the boy with the unmistakable auburn hair and familiar uniform; each step he took, he walked with the most subtle, faint, yet solid confidence I had ever seen.

  And seeping from his very pores was a rage so blatantly uncontained that I could only fear for whoever it was directed to. The very air seemed to avoid his presence as the earth beneath him crumbled under his might.

  All of a sudden, I couldn’t help but let out a choked laugh at how foolish I was for comparing him to Lucas. As my senses dimmed, my only thought was relief that I wouldn’t have to witness what he would do to those that crossed his path.

  My only regret was not being able to see Lucas’ expression of defeat at the end.

  Chapter 95: The Calm Before

  LUCAS WYKES’ POV:

  Staring down at the professors - the very mages that I strove to become - struggling to stand back up, it was clear to me that their lives were in my hands. With my newfound powers, these so-called “elites” were now nothing more than ants to me.

  Enhanced cognitive processing capabilities for higher levels of spell casting.

  A nearly unlimited pool of mana for me to access and utilize.

  Heightened reflexes along with strengthened physical prowess and dexterity.

  The elixir that Draneeve had given me really fulfilled its purpose. Just like he had promised, it truly brought forth my full potential.

  It was obvious since early on that I was a gifted mage, however, being outshined by my older brother, Bairon, my accomplishments were never able to satisfy my family’s expectations. I had lived my childhood chasing after his insurmountable shadow, but no longer; I felt like I had finally surpassed him.

  Easily wiping out the distinguished professors of this academy, it felt like I had actually transcended the realm of mortals, incomparable to even the highest of human, elven, and dwarven mages.

  … so why am I feeling this way?

  This feeling of an icy claw gripping my innards, slowly twisting, slow freezing my insides.

  The palpable pressure in the air seemed to make the force of gravity in the vicinity stronger as he approached.

  Beads of cold sweat began forming, drenching my clothes, as I had unknowingly taken a step back.

  Was I afraid?

  That’s impossible.

  With my newfound powers, I was invincible. I was all-powerful. I was perfect.

  “Welcome to the party, Arthur. You’re just in time,” I jeered, satisfied with the calm timbre of my voice.

  He said nothing as he continued his way towards me at a suspensefully slow pace.

  My gaze shifted from Arthur to the obsidian dragon behind him. I had read in a book that the dragon race had already gone extinct from being hunted down. I would normally be more taken aback, but at this point, compared to the terrifying intensity emanating from Arthur, his dragon looked no more threatening than a common lizard.

  His steps never faltered, never swayed, as he approached the bell tower. I couldn’t make out what sort of expression he had, his eyes were covered by his bangs.

  The atmosphere was deathly silent, as even the senseless mana beasts that Draneeve controlled instinctively knew to prostrate in submission.

  “Impressive pet. Did you think it could help you now? Look around you! All of this, it was done by me! The professors that were so highly regarded? I stepped on them like disease-ridden pests,” I chuckled, taking a few steps toward the boy I once regarded my equal.

  The dragon behind him let out a deafening roar that made the surrounding audience wince in fear, but I didn’t.

  No. As much as I hated to admit, it wasn’t the dragon that gave me this feeling of unease; it was Arthur.

  Unaffected by my taunts, he wordlessly made his way towards me.

  Some of the students had already defeated Draneeve’s minions, only a few mana beasts remained on my side. However, they were petrified in fear; whether that was due to Arthur or the Dragon, I will never know.

  As he got closer, it dawned on me...

  He wasn’t even looking at me. His gaze was never directed at me!

  My feet stayed glued to the ground, stunned, as he simply strode past, ignoring me and everyone else here.

  How dare he!

  I could easily crush him right now; he should be pleading, begging for me to spare him and his friends.

  But instead, he had the audacity to treat me like air?

  My fists began trembling from how hard they were clenched.

  Passing by everyone else he knew, disregarding his dying or dead peers and friends, Arthur kneeled down in front of the elf princess; his dragon craned its neck down towards her as well, and for that long breath of a moment, there was only silence.

  Knowing exactly what to do, my lips curled up into a smirk. Let’s see him ignore me now.

  “She was crying for you, you know,” I taunted.

  No reaction.r />
  “Oh sure, she stayed strong at first. It made it all the more satisfying seeing her break down,” I chuckled.

  His shoulders twitched a bit.

  His dragon looked back at me, its eyes piercing me with the ferocity that might’ve frightened me before.

  “You see, I wanted to play with your little elf princess more, but Draneeve told me not to lay a hand on her. I was going to disagree at first but an idea struck me; what better way to break you than for you to lay helplessly on the ground as you watch me defile the girl you love so much?” My laugh echoed throughout the academy as everyone else watched, unable to even muster up the courage to utter a word.

  The dragon let out a grunt and looked like it was about to charge at me when it abruptly stopped.

  My face twitched in rage as Arthur continued to wordlessly cling onto his little elf lover. He still chose to ignore me?

  “ARTHUR LEYWIN! YOU DARE IGNORE ME?” I roared. “You think you’re so much better than me? Let me see you go easy on me now! I’ll break every bone in your body so you could only cry helplessly as I desecrate Tessia right—”

  My words got caught in my throat as the ground abruptly splintered and crumpled underneath Arthur like a sheet of paper, making me stumble.

  I regained my balance and looked back up at Arthur, whose back was still facing me as he gently laid the elf princess down. All of a sudden, I was hit with the same sensation as earlier— the frigid, emotionless grip of a demon, twisting at my insides, wringing the air out of my lungs.

  As if the wind had been knocked out of me, air escaped my throat as choppy and shallow gasps.

  Unable to compose myself, I looked down at my hands to see that they were trembling.

  I realized it wasn’t just my hands but my whole body shuddering uncontrollably from the very core.

  What was happening to my body? Why was I reacting this way towards some boy my age? It should be impossible for him to be stronger than me, yet, what was this sense of—

  He turned around.

  I would never have thought that something so simple as eye contact could be so terrifying, when his pale blue eyes, sharp as a knife met mine, I felt all of the remaining air in my lungs get sucked out.

  And suddenly, I realized what I had been feeling the entire time; the word to describe the emotions that I couldn’t grasp...

  No! I refuse to admit this!

  I ignored the inaudible scream of protest deep in my mind that was begging me to flee; to escape in the opposite direction from him.

  “Oh, am I finally worthy of your attention?” I spat out mockingly, struggling to keep my body from trembling.

  “Lucas.” Arthur was a peasant who had such a banal background that his existence would normally amount to less than a retired mule, while I was born into the Wykes family, which birthed the most talented of mages this continent had seen. Yet, his voice rang with such glaring authority that it made me almost kneel on impulse.

  “I thought of you as nothing more than a mere wasp that I regarded unnecessary to kill,” Arthur continued with a chill edge to his voice as he once again began walking towards me.

  “But even the holiest of saints will swat it down, without hesitation, if said wasp so much as dared to sting him.” His cold, emotionless eyes, empty and frozen, never broke contact with mine as a tangible bloodlust gripped at my limbs like shackles.

  He was comparing me to a bug. No, he truly saw me as a bug. Yet, any words of rebuttal or protest refused to leave my mouth.

  Why…?

  It wasn’t supposed to be like this. My powers should now be greater than his. So why was this happening? How could a boy a year younger frighten me more than Draneeve? How many legions of men and beasts did he have to murder in order to possess such suffocating, oppressive killing intent?

  Even the very earth seemed heedful of Arthur as the ground sunk down with each step he took.

  My heart pounded harder and harder against my ribcage as if it wanted to break out and escape. My vision blurred as cold beads of sweat rolled down from my forehead into my eyes.

  Tearing my gaze away from Arthur, I focused on Tessia. The dragon had curled up protectively around the elf princess, leaving me no opening to make use of her.

  Silently, as Arthur advanced closer, I saw it. In his eyes was a raging tempest, so hungry to create mayhem, just barely contained.

  I am Lucas Wykes, second-born of Otis Vayhur Wykes! Elite mages of Xyrus Academy have been brought to their knees by my overwhelming strength. Arthur was nothing but a lowly peasant, his only luck was being born with a decent talent for magic!

  My mind snapped into a state of desperation and frenzy as I fought down the burning desire to run. Him, scare me? Never. I would rather die than plead for my life.

  Chapter 96: The Storm

  ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

  Tessia was okay...

  Bruises and scrapes were visible on her smooth, pale skin. Thankfully they were only surface wounds.

  She was okay.

  It seemed like she was drugged with an anesthetic to keep her unconscious temporarily...

  Yes, this was better. That way, she wouldn’t have to be awake for all of this…

  She wouldn’t have to witness what I was about to do.

  ‘Sylvie, protect Tess. I’ll be enough to handle him,’ I reassured my bond.

  This was my fault. I was a fool for letting Lucas live this long. This world had made me soft.

  My head continued to pound as I walked towards Lucas.

  Nothing else mattered. Not now. Not until I took care of the pest.

  “S-Stay back!” Lucas stammered, a crazed look visible in his eyes.

  He prepared a spell as he retreated. I wonder if he’d realized that his spells were in fact eating away at his lifeforce. It didn’t matter; I’d kill him before he did himself.

  [Hell’s Rain]

  He released his spell as dozens of flaming orbs scattered and floated around, growing increasingly larger.

  He continued to grin madly as his body visibly withered at the burden of the spell. The red flaming spheres turned blue as he further refined his magic.

  It seemed as though he was planning on taking not just me, but half the school down with him.

  ‘Papa…’ Sylvie’s worried voice echoed in my mind.

  ‘It’s fine.’

  I could let him kill himself with his own spell right now, but he didn’t deserve that; that would be too merciful a death for him. I needed him alive, at least until I got some answers.

  I wanted to destroy him instantly, but the attack, the whole disaster, couldn’t have been done by Lucas alone. Someone had to have forcibly overexerted his mana core— to the point where even if I didn’t kill him now, he would probably die on his own.

  Whatever it was he had taken made it possible for him to convert his lifeforce into mana, thus draining him of his vitality; by the odd discoloration of his skin and the mana beasts present was too much of a coincidence to not assume that it had something to do with the Vritras.

  “By the look on your face, it seems you don’t know what’s about to happen. Do you think you could come out of this alive?” Lucas hissed, drooling from the side of his mouth.

  “Die!” he spat, releasing his spell.

  The dozens of flaming blue orbs, each capable of burning down a building, shot towards me like cannonballs.

  I let out a crisp breath and muttered, “Second Phase.”

  [Dragon’s Awakening]

  My vision shifted into monochrome, the only colors I could register being the particles of mana.

  [Absolute Zero]

  The very air seemed to freeze as a curtain of white flame erupted around me before I was bombarded with Lucas’ spell.

  I didn’t have much time left in my second phase before the recoil hit. I needed answers before that happened.

  As the cloud of steam and debris began to clear, I could make out Lucas’ figure, the deranged look on his face
wiped clean, replaced by one of utter shock.

  “H-How is that p-possible? N-No, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. How are you suddenly able to use ice-attribute magic?” he babbled, as if he had just seen a ghost.

  Relentless, Lucas began chanting another spell, which surprisingly, by the amount of mana gathered in his right hand, was more powerful than the one prior.

  “CREATION FORM!”

  [Infernal Lance]

  It was a type of spell I’d never seen before. As mana congregated, it manifested into a flaming blue partisan spear. What amazed me was that the mana particles hadn’t simply formed the shape of a spear, but instead seemed to have transmuted into an actual burning spear.

  “I hope you survive this one too. That way, you can watch as I make your precious princess a true woman!” he jeered, launching the flaming spear.

  [Black Thunder]

  I shot out a condensed bolt of electricity with my right hand, while catching the shaft of Lucas’ spear with my left.

  My arm lurched back from the force as an audible hiss resounded from the cloud of steam that rose due to the mesh of fire and ice.

  “Gahhh!” Lucas’ shrill howl pierced through my ears. “My arm! It hurts! My arm!” he screamed.

  I continued walking towards Lucas who was still pawing at the empty space where his left arm used to be.

  “White Fire!” I roared, and my left hand ignited in a pearl-colored flame.

  I was less than a foot away from Lucas as he continued to back away from me. “Defile? Make into a woman?” I recited through gritted teeth.

  “This… this isn’t fair! L-Lightning magic? You’re a q-quadra-elemental…” Lucas’ voice trailed off as he stared in disbelief, his lips trembling as he noticed my lightning-clad arm.

  “Yes, I am.”

  Lucas’ bloodcurdling scream tore through the air as I gripped his remaining arm. The flame surrounding my left hand began to spread, slowly freezing his arm down to the very molecules.

  Tightening my grip, his arm shattered like glass as Lucas stared at the crumbling shards of what used to be his left arm.