A Sorcerer’s Journey

“Is that mask guy also a Desperater?” The HalfRobot shook his head and sighed, pondering why a student like Glenn had such inconceivable powers.

The HalfRobot’s skin had been shredded, and his machine tail and arm had been sabotaged and did not function momentarily. He was exasperated and shouted from the distance:

“Glenn, I’m expecting to see you where the third mirrors are dropped!” As the HalfRobot’s voice halted, the disk lying on the ground was sucked up through the forest and came to him.

At the battle ground, the pillars supporting the altar had disappeared, and people excluding Glenn’s team had taken flight and ran off into the night.

Lafite put the Hurricane arrow back into her sheath. She had used this second arrow to call the bluff. That was one of the reasons why the HalfRobot took to his heels.

“We are completely safe now! We do not have to be afraid of the Desperaters from other schools now.” Lafite thrilled as she took the bead from Robin.

The rest of Glenn’s team converged around Lafite, with their wide open eyes, staring at the bead.

“My Goodness! I bet it contains more than 100 points energy!” Chris cried out.

“Yeah, there is that much power in the bead, and the Desperaters are not gonna mess with us unless they have to,” Glenn replied.

Now the group had been relieved. They searched for a more secluded place and set up a tent for rest.

The next morning’s sun rose. The team went outside the tent to enjoy the fresh air that belonged exclusively to forests.

Lafite rested her head on Glenn’s shoulder and said lightly:

“I was thinking about your suggestion last night. I still think it’s too dangerous.”

“What’s dangerous?” Chris turned about and looked serious. “We have the bead now. What would be a danger to us?”

“It’s…it’s about the third mirror release. I wanna get it.” Glenn stuttered, yet his voice was resolved.

“But why? We’ve got the bead and that alone will keep us off from any sh*t.” Chris doubted Glenn’s presence of mind.

The other team members aimed surprised looks at Glenn. The ambience became depressing. Seeing this, Lafite cut in before Chris could respond.

“Glenn. You will put us in great peril! I know you helped a lot in getting this bead. But you’re not supposed to do that, to risk the team’s life. The third mirrors were meant for the Desperaters.”

These blunt remarks caused a sharp twinge in Glenn’s heart.

“Okay.” Glenn returned a short reply and went back into the tent.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the 20th day of the test. Right in the middle of the test ground, seven, huge, weird pillars broke the ground and rose high into the air gradually.

Almost at the same time, a blast of energy waves traversed through the forest. Tall trees curved and grass plunged as the waves passed along.

It was the seven Desperaters who were heading for the pillars. The third “batch” of mirror had been delivered by those sorcerers who had been overseeing the test outside of the forest.

Unlike the prior two batches, there was only one mirror as an award. The first arrival—the stick as the award—had 100, and the second arrival—the bead as the prize—had ten. So the only mirror trophy attracted the seven Desperaters to it.

The three Desperaters from the Black Isotta—the Golden Eye (Bionna), the Transformer(Kyrie) and the Immortal (Sam)—were stationed together in front of the pillars. There was also the Daughter of Sun, who was once being chased by Kyrie, Bionna and Sam together, the HalfRobot and the Ghost Burglar, the one who had stolen the Moon Chirper by hiding in the tree. The last one was the Charmer.

The Daughter of Sun turned out to be a girl, and as her name implied, she carried with her fiery energy. Maybe because of that, she was wearing an outfit that covered as little of her body as possible. The Daughter of Sun was said to be the best among the seven Desperaters. And she indeed looked overbearing. When she moved, her energy waves given out from her forehead chain could be felt from beyond 300 meters.

The seven of them exchanged glances. Each was on high alert for attacks from the others while taking care to not to be the initiator of a great war.

Bionna looked terrible. She diverted her attention from that arrogant Daughter of Sun and inquired Kyrie.

“Kyrie, about the masked guy you mentioned, do you really think he was as good as us?”

By “us”, Bionna meant the Desperaters. Being fawned upon as one of the Desperaters for long, she had been used to and even developed a taste for that title.

Bionna’s doubt was met with a firm nod, although it was Kyrie’s mouse that did it. The next moment, Kyrie said.

“If you were saying defense power, he’s as good as us. That Daughter of Sun couldn’t do anything about him.”

Bionna was relieved for a second because she was thinking of teaming up with Glenn. But moments later, she hesitated.

“So we would have another adversary in the Seven Rings tryout?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. He’s good because he has that Magical Tool—that mask of his. He won’t get a Tool better than that.”

Sam was also negative about Glenn taking part in the tryout.

“His mentor shouldn’t have given him such a fancier tool allowing for his student status. He’s only a third year student! And he used it all the time! Even if he could make it out of this test, he would be punished, and that punishment, I’m sure, would disqualify him for the tryout.”

Hearing two of her partners saying this, Bionna’s worries lessened. Yet her heart was still disturbed by that masked man. It was just a feeling, though.

“So, we might team up with him—that masked man? That Daughter of Sun was a difficult person!” Bionna asked the two men.

“She just has the biggest offense points. There are other things to consider when in a fight. That Ghost Burglar could contend with her for sure!” Kyrie was defiant of the allegedly best fighter in this forest.

The Daughter of Sun was watching as the Black Isotta Desperaters were discussing. She sneered to herself.

“Humph, you’ve got the mask man, huh?” The Daughter of Sun made a fire in her hand and started playing with it.