KINGDOM OF MAGIC

Forseen war (3)

The orc still stood high above them, and hale and hearty to boot! Zora looked at him confusedly, wondering why there wasn't even a scratch on him.

Just then, the orc spoke:

"Enjoying your rest, Zora? I guess you're wondering why I am not dead yet. We just happened to switch fates, that's all. I was destined to die at that point, so I switched our fates! You, on the other hand, won't die even after being pierced in the chest. But it'll limit your movements! And that's fine by me."

Castro, who just finished off a high orc, heard all that the mysterious orc had said and grinded his teeth. Infuriated, he created a spear out of fire and lightning and lunged it at the orc.

"By the way, Zora... The name is Gallus, nice to..." Gallus was interrupted by the spear, which he dodged but it left a mark on his cheek.

"Gallus, huh? I'll rip you to shreds!!!!!!" Castro says as he leaps into the air, ready to strike again with another spear. He throws it at Gallus, who holds it just before it could split his head in two.

"Release!" Castro said as the contents of the spear expands and bursts before Gallus, burning and shocking him at the same time. Gallus, writhing in pain, finally sees Castro moving down to the ground. He releases chains towards Castro, who was still diving when the chains held his leg.

"Castro!" Alexander, Xero and Jolie screamed as they witnessed Castro dangling over a chain. Castro, on the other hand, was pissed he was reduced to this and held the chains. First tugging at it, he pulled the orc down to the ground with veins popping out of his face. Gallus collided violently with the ground with a large thud, along with Castro, who was already up and ready to fight.

"Let's settle this on the ground, you goddamn bastard!"

"Very well, it's been long since I've had a good fight!"

Blue aura surged from Gallus' hands; making the students, who have long stopped fighting because the orcs have stopped attacking, and Zora, to open their mouths agape.

"The materialization of mana!" Zora exclaimed.

"What about it?" Lisa, one of the healers attending to Zora, said.

"Mana emission at best distorts the space around the body, but when the colour and outline of mana can be seen clearly... The mana being emitted has already reached an insane amount."

"Just how much mana would I expend just for a splint of mana to materialize?!" Lisa said, having a grim countenance.

"I can see mana around his hands! He's really going all out!" Castro thought as he sized up his opponent.

"I want all your friends to watch me disgrace you and beat you to a pulp!"

Gallus said before dashing to Castro, making a dent where he had sped up from, he attempts to land a straight jab to Castro, focusing all his strength so as to make each blow a straight kill. Castro, seeing the death blow, tilted sideways and flipped. He used his legs to send a kick to Gallus' jaw, lifting him above the ground. Gallus stood up staggering and looking at Castro with bloodshot eyes.

"I must kill him!" He thought.

"Fate magic: Chains of fate!" Chains sprang from his hands in an attempt of capture Castro. The chains moved at incredible speeds towards Castro. Castro dodged a chain by flipping backwards, and holding the chain ready to pierce him and threw it back to Gallus. Castro slid past the chains aimed at his head and used his little prowess in rune magic to deflect the rest. He ran at superhuman speeds towards Gallus, evidently planting his feet to make than act as a brake and giving him time to gain energy and aim at Gallus's face.

"Concentrate... Redirect all your Mana to your right hand!!!!" He said as glowing splints surrounded his hand, his right one creating a rune array to keep Gallus in one place. Along with the immense visible Mana emission, he coated his hands with his magic skill "Destruction" to finish Gallus off.

"Oh, my. Looks like something's about to go down." Zora said, looking at Castro's intensely invigorating battle slowly drawing to a close.

"This finishing blow will decide the fate of everyone here today. I will not fail!!!" Castro said he threw the punch.

Seconds seemed like an hour.

And time stood still as Gallus and Castro collided.

Everyone's eyes opened in shock at what they saw.

"Castro!!!!!!"

Gallus had switched fates with Castro, seeing that that blow would've finished him completely. Inevitably, Gallus was punched by Castro. But all the pain went to Castro. He was sent flying through houses by the impact of his own punch.

During Castro's flight, Gallus immediately seized the opportunity to inflict damage on Castro. He sends three chains with spikes at the tip towards Castro. It pierced his chest, right leg and left arm. Castro groaned in pain as he coughed up a mouthful of blood. He crashes into a tower, causing the chains that stabbed his arm and leg to dissociate. Castro, still managing to bear the pain, tries using his right hand to pull out the chain's dagger when another chain wraps around his ankle.

"Castro.... Is it?" Gallus sunk the dagger deeper into Castro's chest, causing him to writhe in pain. Gallus raises him up from the tower he crashed into, the chain on his leg still very much wrapped around. Castro attempts to remove the dagger once again and was succeeding. Gallus, aware of Castro's movements, waves his hand and the chains immediately started swinging Castro left and right, causing him to crash into buildings. The chain later swung him into a building before releasing him. Castro crashed violently into a pillar in the building before stopping. He was bleeding from his head, and also had a concussion. Crimson blood trickled down from his head and mouth. He was still conscious, but he couldn't move.

"Move, Castro, move!!!!!! You have to fight!" He told himself.

"Castro's really.... Dead?" Alexander asked.

"No, he's still alive, I'm sure of it!" Jolie commented.

"Yeah, there's no way he'd die like that." Xero said half-heartedly.

Everyone looked at Gallus, prepared to fight to the death.

"Before you try to fight me... I linked your fates with mine... So if I die, you all die!!! It seems your teacher knew about it, am I wrong?" He looked at Zora, who was still recovering on the ground.

"Yeah, he's right. I already had a plan for that, but he switched fates before I could finish it." Zora explained.

"You all are powerless now! Just surrender and there'll be less casualties than there already are."

"Does this mean... We lost?" The students, including Xero and Jolie, asked inwardly.

Castro laid motionless, resting on a pillar. He had lost a lot of blood, so much that he's getting dizzy. He remembered when Langnon was under seige from the two neighboring kingdoms at war.

"Some of my friends were used as human shields to avoid arrows and swords. They destroyed our vegetation and houses... All in the name of war. Before we knew what was happening, our house was burning, and the exits were blocked. My dad had already been shot by an arrow when he was chopping wood at the back of the house. My little brother and sister had already been used as meat shields to avoid arrows and swords, so it was just me and my mom. I had no magic, so I was just a burden to her. She was asthmatic, so she couldn't draw out the full potential of her water magic due to the smoke she's inhaling. Seeing she couldn't protect us both, she tried quenching the fire, but her mana wasn't able to carry out the mass quenching. So she stared at me for a while and smiled. She hugged me tightly with tears in her eyes, and said: "Live a long life, and help others in need." And she used the last of her magic to protect me while the fire was burning her alive. I just stood there, watching tears evaporate from her eyes. I just stood there, powerless! Utterly useless!" Castro muttered to himself

"I guess I'm feeling the same way too. If I heard correctly; If we kill him, we die, right?" Castro thought.

***Live a long life..... And help others in need***

"Yes mother, I'll live as long as I can. If I can't make it, I'm sorry."

~~~Who said you're dying here?!~~~

Suddenly, energy surged from Castro's body, giving him strength like he'd never known. He stood up from where he laid with red eyes as red as crimson glaring at Gallus.

At the same time, Gallus felt a disconnection in the chains he used to bind everyone. He looked at Castro, who had no chains binding him in relation to linked fates.

"Could it be that he has found the true nature of his power?! No matter, I will kill him before he gets used to it!"

"Looks like there's more where that came from... Your gonna die, Castro! This next one will kill you." Gallus, who had noticed Castro's presence, said.

Castro, without saying a word, created a sword out of a destruction ball and dashed towards Gallus in the air.

"Looks like you never learn." Gallus said, releasing 50 chains with daggers towards him, but none touched Castro.

"What's happening?!" Gallus and the students could not believe their eyes.

"I knew it!" Zora said.

"Knew what, Sir Zora?" Lisa said.

"Castro's magic affinity isn't aberration, it is just a side effect! That's why I lost that fight on purpo..."

He was interrupted by Lisa, who smacked his head with an abnormally large acorn.

"I deserve that.... Anyway, I did it to push him into a state of despair, which is when a person's true power comes out."

Castro, who had sped past Gallus's attack, sent an arc of Destruction towards Gallus. Gallus tried to switch fates, seeing how fast Castro's attack was moving.

"I... I can't switch!" The arc sliced him and exploded, damaging Gallus badly.

"How dare this puny human?!" Gallus said while using his chains to create a large hand, his eyes showing fear. He attempts to smack Castro off course when Castro slices through the whole arm.

"What power is this?!!!!!!" Gallus wondered, now really afraid.

"Hmmph! He did it!" Zora said while leaving the rest of the students and healers around him in confusion.

On the other hand; Gallus, now desperate for survival, sends chains in all directions to Castro as a last resort. In the twinkle of an eye, the chains were broken.

"This is impossible! What power can usurp fate?!"

"His magic isn't one that is bounded by normality... He makes the abnormal normal and collapses all logic!..."

Castro gets closer and closer to Gallus, who stays put, knowing that his time has come. Castro clenches the sword tighter and holds it in reverse grip.

"His magic is...."

Castro, bleeding from his eyes already due to the strain, looks at Gallus:

"It's over!"

He slices through Gallus's torso and cuts him in two. By doing so, he severed the chains of fate bound to everyone.

"... Zero magic!!!!!!!!" Zora said finally.