The Reborn Magus and His Prince

Chapter 26

Yulian gazed in horror at the transparent barrier engulfing the whole manor. It may be not visible to a human naked eye but for him whose nerves were on alert and his energies leaking, he could see the unmistakable same symbols and pattern as the one used in the basement circle swimming in the barrier.

No, it was not a barrier. What he was seeing was a huge magic circle that enclosed the whole manor.  

'Calm yourself," Ignis noticed the fluctuations of Yulian's emotions. It won't be good if they encounter their enemies right now. 'Look closely, it's still in the stages of forming. The symbols are loosely apart, it would take an hour for them to completely merge. Until then, find the one who initiated this circle and put a stop to everything.'

Yulian knew how a magic circle operates, naturally knew also how it would be stopped. His judgments and reasoning had been clouded. Fear has gripped his whole being at the thought of Alex in the same condition as Minnie, bleeding to death.

He took a deep breath and wiped that image off his mind. He raised a hand and touch the humongous circle. The symbols may be foreign to him but there's a trick and weakness to every complex circle especially with an incomplete one. 

A force ran through his hand and from his palm, several symbols that he created himself blossomed like a flower into the surface of the circle. It expanded until it fits his size. 

Yulian step forward inside and as his body made contact with the circle, his symbols acted as his shield to protect him when it tried to repel the foreign entity that tried to enter its domain.

Once, he successfully got through, he went straight to the door but darkness greeted him once he's inside. It was eerily quiet like those people earlier had not been there. 

He bit his lip from calling out Alex's name. Being too impulsive won't help him or the prince. He made his way through the wide hall trying to remember where he left Alex. As he move forward again his feet stumbled to something soft. It was a body. He kneeled to check who it was and sighed in relief. It was a woman's and still breathing, no wounds found. However, he could feel the woman's life energy seeping from her body.

Yulian took a gamble and lit a small fire but that small fire was enough to see and comprehend the situation in the hall. The people that once chatted and danced animatedly here had all been knocked unconscious and were lying on the floor. The same situation as the woman, they were only unconscious but he knew that the magic circle was draining their life force.

He got to the place where he saw Alex but there's no sign of him nor even the twins. He could feel the anxiety building inside him again but tried hard to suppress it. 

He's okay. He chanted to himself. Alex might have escaped or found somewhere to hide. 

But it's impossible to hide in this situation, no matter where he went, it would still be the same as here or even worse. 

The more his conflicting thoughts clashed with each other, the calmer he became as he searched every body with an article of similar clothing as the prince.

He was about to turn another body but a loud collision coming from above made him stop. Someone's fighting on the second floor of the manor. 

He abandoned his search and took off to where the sound came from. Alex will be saved once he catches the culprit. With this thought, he reached the second floor but only found another dark hallway. The clashing sound became faint as if it found another location to fight. And now he could hear some beast's roar followed by walls crumbling.

While following the sound, a golden thread of lights came into his view. Hope ignited from seeing that familiar glow. Those threads led him to a room with smashed doors and walls. At a corner of the room, he eventually found the cause of his anxiety. 

Alex was kneeling on the ground, hands hovering at a body lying motionless on the ground. The golden threads of lights seep flowing from his hands to the body. 

"Alex." Yulian breathed. He could finally feel the flowing of air through his lungs.

Alex looked up and an evident sense of relief passed in his eyes upon seeing Yulian. 

"Yul... You're alright..."His eyes scanned for any injury on the boy. He wanted to pull him to safety but he had a patient in his hands."Come here."

Yulian obeyed and sat beside him. Now that he knows Alex was safe, he felt his body sagged and leaned his forehead at the prince's back. Only then did he notice that the man lying on the ground was the marquis. "What happened?"

"The marquis got injured protecting while the twins are chasing those two cloaked men." 

Alex's story was only the second half of what had transpired in the hall after the circle came down on the manor. He had thought that Yulian had been inside the whole time. 

So Yulian made the pieces together. Tim and his brother, Theodore snuck into the party after their experiment on Minnie. Then cast the full circle from the inside using the life force of everyone. They made an exception, the prince and the marquis. As they hold a personal grudge against these two and must have wanted to act another more painful revenge on anyone involved in the tragedy that happened to them. As to why the twins were not affected by the circle's power, he did not know.

"Are you injured?" Alex got discomfort when Yulian suddenly went quiet.

"No, I'm alright. I'm just glad to see you safe." He told him honestly. Then asked about the marquis' conditions. "Will he be okay?"

"Yes, as long I don't stop my healing of him for the moment. He got a concussion on the head when he got blown up against the wall. He'll be able to wake up soon."

Alex turned his head and saw that Yulian wasn't listening but staring intently outside the room. The sound of fighting could still be heard from their position.

"Don't worry," He consoled him. "The marquis was a clever man before the barrier could block anything, he had sent a signal for help outside. Soon enough, the royal knights will come and save us."

They thought it was only a barrier to keep them inside, they did not realize the true danger that lies. 

Yulian stood up and force himself to separate from that comforting smell that he had greedily inhaled. He had already wasted time for his selfish desire, now time to catch those vengeful brothers.

"Where are you going?" Alex had a premonition of what he was about to do.

"I'm going to help the twins."

"No." His immediate reply. "It's too dangerous. Stay here. Luke and Leo are stronger than you thought." 

'So am I.' Yulian said to himself. "I might be of help to them. I promise I'll come back in peace." 

He then turned to leave without looking back. Alex won't be able to stop him. He's a healer and his patient comes first. 

"Yul!"

He ignored his call and secretly cast a spell before he exited the room. It will let him know when Alex's in danger.

Yulian followed the sound. The roars of one or two beasts can be heard clearly as he got near and there's something quite peculiar mixing with the beasts'. He climbed a stair that leads to another floor, the states were the same as below, smashed walls and debris scattered on the hallway. Now he was sure that those people were above him. He found another stair again and it led him to an opened observatory.

The moon was only half peeking from the covers of the cloud so only little light shined on the observatory. However, it was enough for Yulian to see the current situation. 

A black scaled snake and a lion with a horn, both were in human size were at the center. The snakes let out a hissing sound as its body got pinned by stone pillars. While the lion together with Leo (that he guessed now was a summoner) attack the cloaked man. The beast used its body to tackle the stone walls that its enemies tried to erect while Leo went for the offense. Both master and beast work perfectly in sync. However, their enemy though outnumbered, the way he created walls after walls showed that he's a formidable opponent.

On the other side, another pair was engaged in a fight. Luke and his foe must be Tim, the way he attacked with a water slicer.

Several human shaped skeletons are cut in half every time Tim attacks. The bones would be scattered to the ground but would assemble again and continue their pursuit of the water elementalist. 

Luke standing on a magic circle of his own where the bones kept rising with his summons. He's a necromancer and those peculiar noises he heard from below came from bones clattering together.

Though the twins looked like they were on the advantage, the cloaked brothers had only been buying time to wear the twins out. He had to figure out between the two who's the initiator of the circle. 

After his preparations were done, with a wave of his hand, a fire in the form of a serpent dragon flew and clamped on the arm of the water elementalist making him halt his attacks. A hissing sound came as a part of his body began to burn. Luke took advantage and a mass of bones swarmed its enemy. 

"You. How did you get here?" Luke asked as he came beside him. 

"I came to help." 

Luke was about to retort but his bones came flying in all different directions followed by an attack coming at them.