The Hunters Volume Two: War

Chapter Twelve: Awakening

  The order came like a death sentence, which it essentially was. The startled captain actually stepped back subconsciously at the absoluteness of that statement, as did a good majority of his soldiers. Hugo watched with a growing sense of apprehension as a dark grin spread across the face of the dark haired girl, presumably the one called Jade, as she moved to stand in front of the sandy haired young man. 

  "You guys might want to back up a bit," she warned playfully. It took Hugo a few seconds to realize that she was not talking to them but to her own colleagues and less than one second to understand why. The moment the girl took a step forward, it felt like the air itself had become heavier. An indescribable pressure descended on the entire squad of guards, rooting them to the very spot they stood. It was when Hugo felt the ground beneath him begin to rumble and shake that he knew that this would not be an easy opponent. The unknown girl must have been an highly skilled mage with an Earth affinity to be able to manipulate the ground to such an extent without the use of a complex magic circle.

  Deciding that he could no longer stand and watch, Hugo reached into the inner recesses of his person and drew forth his magic and at the same time unsheathing his sword. It manifested as a burst of bluish white light that lightened the ominous pressure on his shoulders and spread all over his body like an layer of translucent energy. The magic traveled up and through his sword and altered its appearance mildly, giving the weapon an immense boost in power and durability.

  "Get a hold of yourselves!" He yelled at his men, snapping most of them out of their petrified state. "Remember your training! You have been chosen as members of the Defense Corps. You must not fail your brethren!"

 

  Michael had to give the guy credit for his charisma if nothing else. As he watched from the translucent barrier of all consuming energy he had raised around himself, Dean and Olivia, one of the soldiers, a female dressed in a different outfit from both the captain and the other soldiers came forward and released her own magic in a show of solidarity. Following their example, the other soldiers began to push their magics through their bodies to dispel the effects of Jade's Subjugatio Existentialis. He hummed in acknowledgement. Even though Jade obviously was not going all out, the fact that they were able to not just withstand this but actually shake it off was quite commendable. 

  But still, that would not be enough to save them.

  The earth fractured and cracked as Jade's steps drew to a stop and she scanned the squad of combat mages facing her. A small sigh left her lips as her keen ears detected the sound of arcane energy springing into existence all around her. She looked up and sure enough, there were over two dozen magic circles rotating around her. A second later, a cataclysm of magical attacks rained down on her from all directions. Fireballs, ice shards, lightning bolts, earth spikes, even blasts of pure energy poured down at their target, causing an explosion that excavated a good portion of the land in a shower of dust, smoke and debris. 

  "Is that it?" The woman beside Hugo scoffed arrogantly.

  As much Hugo would love to say the same thing, he was not as presumptuous as his young lieutenant. "No it's not Lydia. Stay sharp and don't—"

  The rest of his words were lost in the explosion of energy from the center of the dust cloud. The shockwave from the blast instantly dispersed the cloud of smoke and dust and even tossed a bunch of soldiers into nearby buildings. Having shielded himself with his magically enhanced sword, Hugo stared in shock at the absolutely unharmed girl standing in the middle of a four foot circle of untouched earth completely unfazed despite the massive crater around her. 

  As the force died down, Jade eyed the disheveled squad condescendingly.

  "Are you guys done?" She asked and expectedly received no answer. She shrugged and cracked her knuckles. "Oh well, doesn't matter anyway. My turn now." And then she vanished. 

  Immediately Hugo turned to yell at his men. "Defensive formation! Now!"

  They recovered with admirable speed and moved to obey instantly. A large dome of white energy rose from the ground to enclose the area the ACDC soldiers stood but it was only halfway done when the dark haired girl reappeared behind two of the soldiers, her arms disappearing up to the elbow through their backs. She ripped her hands of their bodies and they collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. Another soldier, distraught over the deaths of his comrades, cried out and drew his sword to slash at her, only for the sword to shatter against an invisible force around the girl. She flicked her finger at him and he was blasted away, missing his entire right arm. 

  A pair of mages summoned up a massive magic circle and conjured up a large serpent of flames that immediately dashed straight to Jade. It opened its jaws to release a torrent of flames upon the girl but a wave of her hand parted the flames around her. Flexing her fingers, she took control of the space around the large flaming snake and compressed it into a football sized sphere of superheated fire which she sent rocketing towards where a group of soldiers were gathered around a ancient looking building. The ball tore through the multiple shielding spells the mages casted, leaving them no other option than to flee. The sphere detonated upon contact in a massive explosion of fiery hot flames that completely destroyed the building. 

  Jade smiled a small smile as she surveyed the beautiful carnage her actions had wrought. This was, in her opinion, the true joy of battle. Not in the power nor the skills and techniques, but rather in the absolutely marvelous destruction that marked a glorious battle. 

  Her hand snapped backwards to grab at the air, or rather around the outline of an invisible sword that had been on its way to behead her. She turned her head slightly and her smile turned malicious. Faster than Lydia could have seen coming, Jade snapped the sword in half and roundhouse kicked the girl nearly six meters away to crash into a stone statute in a nearby courtyard. Her invisibility had been shattered the moment Jade had caught her. Dazed by the force of the crash, she could barely see out of her drooping eyelids as the dark haired stranger began stalking towards her. Her fingers twitched weakly as she sought to summon up any dregs of magic left in her for protection. 

  Jade waved her hand in the lieutenant's direction, causing the ground to shatter under the weight of the forcefully collapsed space that ripped its way towards the downed woman. A flash of movement caught her eye right before her attack was deflected by something with a loud bang. Her dark eyes glinted with interest and curiosity as she saw the burly captain standing protectively over his subordinate. The man's sword had been unsheathed and was held tightly in his right hand. The weapon's blade had a soft blue glow, but that did not disguise the wisps of energy wafting up from the blade, nor did it hide the noticeably powerful aura the sword exuded. 

  'So he's capable of using an Awakening huh?' 

  The world of magic was far more complex than the contemporary media portrayed it to be. With so many diverse ways of using the mystical arts, it was all but impossible to confidently categorize all the aspects of magic. But there were a few concepts that would remain the same no matter what branch of magic in question, one of which was the concept of Awakening. Every supernatural that possessed the aptitude and requirements to perform magic had the capacity and capability to do so, whether Arcane, Variant or Blood Magic. But only a small percentage was able to undergo an Awakening. Like the title would suggest, an Awakening was a process that a magic user would undergo in order to awaken their true potential to gain immense power, far more than they were initially capable of wielding. Through intensive training and meditation, a mage would be able to gain total control over his magical energy and by cycling it through their bodies at an incredibly rapid rate, they could boost both their physical and magical abilities to their limits.

  

  The captain leveled a mean glare at the dark haired woman who had effortlessly decimated his squad. She was a complete mystery. He had never seen her before, nor had he ever heard of anyone fitting her description. Even her magic was so unknown to him that he had taken her to be a Variant. Whatever her ability was, there was no doubt yay it was exceedingly powerful. 

  But that simply meant he could afford to stop holding back. This woman had invaded the center of his faction and attacked his men. That was an offense for which there could be no forgiveness.

  His eyes glowed with a piercing blue light and he drew back his sword.

  "Awakening: Wrath of the Frost Knight."

  Jade's eyes widened by a fraction and she disappeared in a purple flash right before Hugo's magically empowered sword slammed into the spot she had been standing on a second ago. The earth cratered under the force of the strike but the real threat were the multitude of ice spikes that sprung up from the ground haphazardly. Reappearing a few meters away, Jade stared at the effects of the attack and hummed.

  "I gotta admit, that's actually kind of decent," she commended with a light smirk. 

  "Thank you for your praise," Hugo replied, his breaths coming out in visible puffs of cold air. He raised his sword again. "But it will not save you from my blade." Then he vanished again in a burst of speed.

  

  "Heh, isn't that just adorable?"

  The blue frost-encased sword crashed down with all the strength of an Awakened Captain-Class combat mage in his prime... and was stopped dead in its tracks by a single slender hand. Time seemed to stop but only for a second, just long enough for Hugo's eyes to narrow and Jade to wink slyly at the Captain. The next second was consumed in an explosion of ice, dust and earth that shook the nearby buildings. The scattered ACDC guards struggled to seek shelter from the shockwaves from the impact while Michael and his pack mates merely watched from within his barrier. 

  Even before the cloud of dust could settle, the sounds of a high paced battle could already be heard from within it. As a captain, it was already a given that he would possess great strength, speed and skill. But his Awakening took it all to the next level. His blade struck with blinding speed at presumable weak points but each strike was either parried or dodged almost without much effort by the strange woman. What shocked Hugo even more than her already unbelievable combat prowess, was the fact that the strange invisible energy that she had been using to repel all magical attacks previously was now absent. By accounts the dangerous energy emitted by his blade would have torn an unprotected mage apart yet here she was still perfectly fine despite not augmenting her body with her magic. 

  Was it possible for a human's skin to be so tough? Or was she even human at all?

  An overhead slash was batted away by a quick backhand, causing the energy stored within the blade to destroy the land on their left in a blast of frost and ice. Hugo pivoted on his right heel to deliver three rapid strikes aimed at his opponent's neck, torso and waist. The girl leapt back to avoid all three attacks and having sensed an opportunity, Hugo immediately cast a silent restraining spell on her in midair. Ice blue chains snaked through the air to wrap around Jade tightly. But before Hugo could make his next move, she shattered the chains by flexing her arms forcefully. He caught sight of her mischievous grin right before her hand closed around the broken ends of the chain and she yanked with so much force that Hugo was lifted clean off the ground and had him sailing through the air and directly into the punch thrown by the girl. He drew up his sword to block the hit and felt his blade bend slightly inwards.

  'She's still not using her magic again,' Hugo mused internally even as he sought to right himself in the air as the punch sent him rocketing backwards. 'So this is her raw physical strength?!'