A man in a white coat examined Reynolds, who was poisoned, and motioned for the nurses to administer treatment.
He turned to the group and said, "The young master is very lucky indeed. The poison reversed his arcana circulation, causing him to go into a coma. Thankfully, he was detoxified in time, so he should be able to wake up after sufficient rest."
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Doctor Morretti," Klara said.
"Just doing my duty, Your Highness," Dr. Moretti said and then left the room with the nurses.
The room was silent for a while before Sasha spoke up. All this time, Adriana had been silent, sitting close to her brother and holding his hand.
"Reynolds, you idiot. What exactly were you trying to accomplish here?" she said tearfully. Lin put an arm on her shoulder.
"We need to find out who did this. It's obvious Rey discovered something and was attacked as a means to shut him up," Sharone said.
"We need to be cautious because whoever did this has no qualms about going against nobles, meaning they have the backing of nobles," Koniko said. "We need more information before we can fully piece together what's going on."
"We should start searching for the one who attacked Reynolds," Sasha said angrily.
"Calm down, Sasha," Lin said with a soothing voice. "The arrow Koniko fired would have scared them off by now, and they'll be more cautious since they've realized that there are mages trying to uncover whatever plot is going on behind the scenes."
"Honestly. We had to run into trouble now of all times. If Kojo was here....." Koniko paused. "Yeah, nah. He'd probably find a stupid but effective way to deal with this."
Adriana got to her feet.
"Adriana?" Klara said, looking at her cousin.
"I agree with Sasha. Even if we don't find anything, we may still uncover clues as to what's going on."
The others nodded.
Adriana was about to get up, but Koniko put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
Adriana looked at her. Koniko's ears twitched and glanced at the door. Adriana got the message.
"You stay here with Klara and look after your brother," Sharone said. "You're not in the right state of mind to go with us."
"Alright. Thank you guys."
A shadow was hiding behind the door with a dagger drawn. "Tch," he said before blending into the shadows.
Adrianna silently stared at Reynolds with worry, and then her gaze changed to anger and determination.
"Alright, we're off," Sasha said as they headed in the direction where the arrow came from.
20 minutes later
"This is the place," Koniko said as they came up to a scorched piece of land within a massive crater.
"At this rate, I won't be surprised if Koniko's counterattack did the job," Lin said.
"I was holding back," Koniko responded, folding her arms.
"Let's search the area," Lin said as she looked around.
The rest of the group then began searching around for clues and gathered after another 10 minutes.
There was a loud explosion some distance away. They all rushed to the spot and found a destroyed building with bodies lying around.
"What happened, Sharone?" Sharone asked.
"They were willing to give information for a certain price," Sasha said.
"When I tried to negotiate, they jumped me, and someone touched my shoulder. I need to take a bath after this to purify my body as an offering to Kojo," she said, blushing.
"But she's a succubus, though," Koniko said. Lin pinched her while Sharone simply shook her head.
"There were some underground structures, but I didn't find anything there. It seems they've cleared all their tracks."
The weather began to change; a large thundercloud formed, spiraling over the Capitol.
"Let's head back," Sharone said. Here's the continued fight with their diverse use of magic and Eiden's Sharingan-like abilities:
Saleem, her magic replenished, roared, creating a shockwave that pushed Eiden back. She then unleashed a wave of fire that Eiden blocked with a pillar. The force of Saleem's attack, however, was too much, and it shattered, but Eiden was able to study the flow of Arcana in the room, which allowed him to predict Saleem's next attack. He dodged her lightning bolt and retaliated with a crystal spear that Saleem barely deflected.
Eiden's eyes glowed brighter as his speed increased. He unleashed a flurry of crystal shards that Saleem countered with her dragon's breath, a stream of fire that melted the shards and knocked him back. Saleem's magic shifted, summoning a maelstrom that Eiden barely avoided.
As the battle raged on, Eiden managed to anticipate Saleem's magic thanks to his eyes, but her unpredictability and raw power kept him on the defensive. Saleem's magic raged as she summoned several magic circles around the room and fired weapon constructs at Eiden, who used the pillars and his own sword to deflect most of the weapons, but a few managed to cut him. Saleem breathed fire into her hands, pulling them apart into two balls of energy, one turning red and the other blue, combining them and firing the reactive power at Eiden, who struggled to block with a shield. He reinforced his shield with a giant magic circle, but Saleem's raw power broke the reinforcement and shattered the shield, sending him flying into the wall.
Saleem landed but was surprised to see Eiden getting to his feet. His wounds were closing up, although a lot slower than at the start of the fight. The two charged at each other. The fight intensified, with both warriors exchanging blows and magic. Eiden's eyes blazed with intensity, granting him the edge he needed to gain the upper hand. But Saleem's diverse magic and quick thinking kept her in the fight, refusing to yield.
Just as Eiden seemed to gain the advantage, Saleem's magic surged, unleashing a devastating dragon's roar that shattered Eiden's crystal sword and sent him stumbling back. The outcome hung in the balance as both warriors stood panting, their magic and strength depleted. Saleem was almost at her limit. She coughed blood, and her right eye was bloodshot. Eiden, on the other hand, had potentially life-threatening wounds all over his body. The wounds gave off some steam as they slowly closed up. He began to walk forward, forming another sword, and suddenly lunged at Saleem. Saleem knocked the sword out of his hand and with a kick sent him flying. She appeared above his limp body and was about to strike down with an energy-infused fist.
"Manifestiertes Reich:" Eden said.
"Allsehende Augen des Verehrten."
(Manifest Realm: All-Seeing Eyes Of The Revered One) Sysia translated.
A realm began to manifest, reality warping to fit the image of Eiden's Manifested World, a wave of arcana knocking Saleem away.
Crystals erupted from all directions, suspending in the air like stars as eyes with sigils in them appeared all around in varying shapes, sizes, and colors.
Saleem, who had run out of magic power, was at the epicenter of this and was falling. She was completely drained of magic and was about to pass out. Eiden floated above her, and a massive eye opened behind him, firing a beam of energy. It hit, but when the dust cleared, a partially conscious Saleem was in a barrier. Eiden looked around, realizing that his World was unable to fully take shape as it was being contained inside some kind of dimensional barrier.
"Don't you have any honor? Attack a downed foe, most especially if it's a woman, is not gentlemanly at all," Kojo said.
(You're in no position to say that. You could have helped her fight, but you instead watched them fight.)
"What? I was taking notes of key points in the battle, seeing how strong Saleem is and how much of a threat that Opp is."
(And your conclusion?)
"Saleem's transformation is sexy as hell. Ahem. I mean..."
(Pervert)
"Aww, c'mon. Well, anyway, I guess I'm gonna have to beat some manners into you," he said, punching his palm. Eiden was confused as it appeared as if Kojo was talking to himself.
"Kojo," Saleem began, but Kojo simply waved, and a magic circle appeared under her, healing her wounds.
"Leave this to me," he said, pulling out Caliburn. The moment Eiden saw it, his energy raged, and he appeared in front of Kojo, grabbing the sword. He then noticed Estelle's ring on his finger. Confused, he peered into the astral plane and saw that Kojo possessed three souls, one of which had the same frequency as that of his master. Kojo punched him in the split second he was distracted, dislocating his jaw.
Eden fell back, taking Kojo's sword.
"Hey, give that back, you thief!" Kojo yelled, waving his fist. Eiden carefully held the sword and put it into a sigil that appeared.
"I do not know how you came into possession of my master's sword and soul. But you are clearly a threat," Eden said in a smooth, silky voice.
(He can see her soul all the way to the Mindscape? This guy's bad news, Kojo.)
"Eh?" Kojo replied, annoyed by Eiden's attitude and the fact that he had acknowledged how good-looking he was.
"Well, no matter, I'll end you here and now."
Eden pulled out a silver sword and began to walk toward him. All eyes in the manifested World fixed on him. A chill ran down Kojo's spine.
"Creepy," he said, extending his claws and charging at Eden.