Mages fought all over the place as spells were everywhere. Lucas thought he would have trouble keeping track of the overall battle, but due to the shining armor of the fake angels, it immediately created a clear line between the forces.
Douglass had a watchful eye as he directed the troops to fight more as a group and less individually. Having duo's work in tandem, they were able to get the jump on plenty of mages that were solely focused on a single target.
Being in duo's, they were able to protect each other's back while dealing out serious damage to the enemy forces. And despite the clear signs of their growing victory, the demonic forces didn't seem to notice at all. They were still dead set on moving forward, evermore.
"Are they drugged? Well, it won't take long before their forces will be wiped out. Our job is done here," Douglass spoke with a strange confidence, and like he said, the forces slowly dwindled as the angels took victory home. Cheers and shouts came from the battlefield as most lived to see another day.
Lucas, on the other hand, was dumbfounded. He didn't do a single thing. Standing around, giving some remarks and discussing history, yet his name was noted down as a participant in the fight. It was good to prove he was present, but he felt strange not having done anything.
"Are you surprised? You look like you're disappointed," Douglass smiled at him.
"Well, I was expecting to fight, so I was prepared to try some things out."
"Hahaha, please don't use my hometown as an experimentation ground. If we send out Rank 4's for each battle, there wouldn't be any homes standing. Those fights happen rarely, since they first need a threat capable of surpassing Rank 3, and that's not exactly the most common thing."
A feeling of betrayal surged in his heart, but Lucas stomped it out. Considering the events, this simply meant he would be able to cruise on the victories of others, paying off his punishment without flexing a single muscle. Yet it also meant he would have an even harder time visiting the places he wanted to reach.
While Douglass laughed at the cheering troops, Lucas felt his eyes narrow as he looked down upon them. 'So be it.'
"Come Lucas, it's time to celebrate! Even if you didn't do anything, everyone is invited", presenting his open hand, he hoped to invite Lucas to the feast, one to celebrate their grand stand against the demonic cult, surely a story to be passed down to their heirs.
Lucas raised his palm to refuse, "No thank you, but I do have a request for you. Would you be interested in a light spar?"
Douglass stared at him for a moment, they didn't know each other all that well, but it was clear neither were fools.
'A spar? Is he trying to put me down? No, he doesn't seem the type to antagonize those under him.'
"I'm afraid the decks aren't exactly fair," Douglass had some confidence in himself, but the gap between Ranks wasn't something that could be covered with just arrogance.
"We won't be using any magic, just our bodies," part of Lucas didn't want to fight with magic, making it a bit easier for both sides.
'No magic? Even so, he's a Rank 4, his body has already been improved. This isn't exactly fair. Then again, I might learn something from him. Screw it.'
"So be it, let's go to the training grounds to spar. If you're willing to put magic aside, I believe this should be a worthy spar."
Douglass blinked only once, but he felt Lucas had changed considerably. He felt that the dignified personality was replaced with a rough one. The change in his posture was minuscule, but enough for him to notice it.
"Hey, forget about the whole no magic thing, I want you to use magic, I won't."
Douglass frowned, even if they were a Rank apart, to only have him use magic would shift the balance too much. "Are you looking down on me?"
"What? Nah buddy, I think you're just underestimating me," Lucas stepped forward, as he clapped his hands together, the shockwave was enough to blow his hair back from afar.
'What in the Goddess's name was that?', Douglass had seen plenty of Rank 4 mages, each one a mass of power in their own right, but none had the physical strength Lucas did. Reassessing his opponent, he was glad magic was an option for him now.
"Alright. Let's go."
Moving to the training grounds, a small group of onlookers started to join. Most were pretty exhausted since they just fought, but their captain going against a high Ranking mage was a show they wouldn't often get.
Douglass took a basic fighting stance, one he polished over the years as Lucas simply stood across the grounds with his hands by his side. The light smile on his face made Douglass think of the fanatics of his own religion, but this wasn't the time to think about it.
Slightly breathing out, he assessed Lucas again while one of the onlookers gave the start signal. "Start!"
Douglass didn't move from his spot. Keeping his focus on Lucas, he wasn't going to let a movement pass him by.
"Not moving? Fine, just make it fun!", Lucas moved with unbelievable speed for someone his Rank. In a blur, he was close enough to Douglass to land a hit. Changing his posture in that split second, he was about to grab his fist. As his hands got close, he felt the power radiating from that fist. Pulling his hand back in a panic, he was barely able to avoid the hit as a wind gust blew around them.
Lucas jumped back to give him some room. "You reacted twice in such a short time. I knew you were good. I've been wracking my brain on that as well, how do I react to attacks when I can't see them all that clearly."
"It comes from training," Douglass was proud of his techniques and speed, and he spoke true. Had he not trained for years, he wouldn't have been able to accurately gauge Lucas's power and react fast enough. Yet the answer he gave only resulted in Lucas frowning.
"The fuck you mean? Training can do a lot, I get it, but it ain't gonna be enough if something is too fast to react to."
Snapping his finger, a small Ice Shard no bigger than a nail flew past Douglass's cheek. It wouldn't have been so embarrassing if he didn't see the shard fly by, but the fact that it came from behind him was enough to frighten him. Lucas could've easily killed him then and there if the shard was aimed at his neck or heart instead.
He felt some sweat trickle down his neck, but smiled instead, "I thought you said you wouldn't use magic?"
"Tch, I never.. ah, whatever, come, let's go again. This time, you attack me, I need to see if this shit works or not," Lucas took a basic fighting as he closed his eyes.
"You are fine with me using magic, right?"
"Yeah," having his approval, Douglass empowered his muscles and used wind to increase the speed of his movements. He didn't have to go over board, but he wanted to get back at Lucas. He could still see his men around the training area stare at them intently. He needed to get his image back.
Speeding forward, he went for a straightforward punch. With Lucas having his eyes closed and not spreading his willpower out, he was technically blind. As the fist neared Lucas's face, he suddenly dodged the attack at the very last second. Taking advantage of the shock Douglass felt, Lucas raised his fist to hit him square in the stomach, but his body was already behind Lucas before he landed his punch.
"Oh? You sure moved a lot faster this time," Lucas had no idea where Douglass had moved to, but a smile appeared on his face.
Douglass approached Lucas again from multiple angles, almost hitting him each time, but never fast enough as Lucas kept dodging or blocking his fists. Any combat technique he used mattered not as Lucas was somehow aware of his movements.
He couldn't understand why his hits kept missing, even when he used a spell to distract him, Lucas simply punched the spell to pieces with his incredible strength. 'Without sight, it's impossible to react to an attack without knowing what the attack was. Unless he can see the future, he's using his willpower in a way I don't fully understand yet. I can use my trump card, but that would be a waste for a simple spar. Damn, he's much better than I thought.'
Shaking his head, he gave in, "I give up, I used the fastest speed I'm capable off yet you keep reacting perfectly without seeing me. How did you do it?"
"Hahaha, would you be angry if I said training?", Lucas had a nasty grin on his face as his posture suddenly changed slightly, "No, frankly, this was an enjoyable experience. I thank you Douglass, and I wish you the best in your future efforts."
"Unbelievable," Douglass laughed it away, but he was quite certain of what Lucas had done. Willpower was normally used for a simple thing, scouting, extracting information from things around them or far away, but Lucas was using an applied version of his willpower. Instead of spreading it far and wide, a tiny layer of willpower was applied around his body.
Anything entering the layer would inform his mind instantly since the speed of a thought was unbelievably fast. But since the layer was so small, if one didn't pay attention to it, a mage wouldn't notice the inspection. The only issue was the control, to truly execute what Lucas had done, one needed almost perfect control over their mind and willpower. To Douglass, that said enough about what kind of a person Lucas truly was.
"I have to go to the next city. Would you help me with guiding me to Lorsak?"
Douglass almost pouted, but knew not to waste time of a high Ranking mage. After getting his directions, Lucas moved out without hesitation. Speeding up, he hoped to arrive well before time.
Using more of his power than usual, Lucas tested the limits of his flight. He was capable of extremely fast speeds, but his senses couldn't keep up. It was one of the reasons he started to toy around with his willpower more. It took some time despite his speed to reach the next place. It was already night by the time he arrived, looking at the city, it was a lot smaller than Sanctuary and looked quite cozy.
He almost spread his willpower over the city to find the strongest mages since that would be the place to gather, but stopped himself just in time. Landing outside the city, he followed procedures until he arrived at the barracks.
It was just a town hall remodeled to house a couple dozen of mages. Compared to Sanctuary, the forces here were minuscule.
"Blond hair and yellow irises, you must be our aid!", a big burly man smiled wide as he saw Lucas enter. Men in the armor of angels were playing cards on a nearby table with the remainder either talking to the side or surrounding the big man. His arms were thick, easily a canon's width with some coarse hair covering them.
The table he sat at had a few basic candles and a map on it. The map had a few lines and circles drawn on them, but none seemed all that interested in the map as the soldiers stared at Lucas.
"I see information travels fast here," Lucas took his time to inspect each and every single one of the mages present, and things looked dire. There were only 5 Rank 2 mages and a bunch of Rank 1's. The big man was a Rank 3, and clearly the commander, but Lucas regretted having gotten this location.
There were only two reasons for this few troops to be present. Either they didn't want to bother defending this place due to a lack of walls and infrastructure or there was nothing to defend from. Both reasons meant he most likely wouldn't get the time to explore on his own.
He didn't mind if all the people here died, he had no relation to them, but if one of the cities he was supposed to protect fell, it wouldn't look good to the higher ups in the army either.
"Hahaha! We have our methods, and I'll apologize right away, but I forgot to retract my request for reinforcements. I thought we would be ambushed by some forces, but they are going to a different city. This place is barely on any map so the Demonic Cult probably doesn't know we're even here," the man didn't hold any pretenses.
The only reason this place was available to visit was because the main commander made a mistake. His strength and power wouldn't be used here. A waste of resources for The Holy Kingdom, but it didn't look like anyone present cared in the slightest.
"If you assumed there were forces nearby I'll do some scouting instead. It would be a waste to just sit around," Lucas tried to approach them on friendly terms. His reasoning held basic logic that anyone would be able to comprehend, but his attempt was shot down.
The man knocked on the table, "See this right here? I got a letter when I got the acknowledgement that you would be joining us. It says that you are not allowed to leave the village. General's orders I'm afraid. Seeing as you're of quite an important status, they probably didn't understand why you choose this place."
"So they'll put a leash on me?"
The man raised his arms, "I don't have anything against you, buddy. You can leave the village a bit, I'm not going to report it, just don't make me regret it," the man laughed out loud as he clapped his hands, clearly enjoying his own voice more than anything.
Lucas smirked, he wasn't expecting such a situation. Thanking the man, he left the place to see the villagers all enjoying their evening. Seeing the smiles on the children and the romantic moments others were having, Lucas took to the sky with a neutral face.
'I suppose they won't have to die for us to gain some time.'
'Yeah, I was prepared to use our aura to boost the enemy's power.'
'Well, all the better I suppose.'
'Whatever, let's just go.'
'No, we should prepare a decent offering.'
'Ah, right, pick that one right there.'
'Are you certain?'
'When am I ever wrong, dummy?'
'...'