Time seemed to be frozen. Liam and his friends stared at the scene in the sky, where Therim's sword pierced through Canter's body. Blood dripped from the blade, falling on the city below, creating flowers on a random roof.
Everyone else also stopped fighting. Eva and Verinam were frozen. They didn't have some undying loyalty, but if Canter was defeated, they would also face trouble. They bet on the confident, old mage and were about to face a terrible loss.
"Canter!!!"
A shrill scream came from Lady Essenour. She urged her eagle, hastily trying to approach her lover. It didn't matter that she was far from strong enough. She just wanted to be there for him.
"Dutchess..."
"Let me through!"
Unfortunately, Lady Essenour didn't come far as one of Therim's students blocked her.
Canter naturally noticed what was going on. He lowered his head, his face pale. Yet his eyes still shone brightly.
"Do you think... I have lost already?!"
The mage grinned. Suddenly one of his tiny earrings shattered. Instantly an extremely dreadful sensation hit everyone. With Canter at the centre, mana was gathering crazily. It was compressed to an unbelievable degree and started to create a rotating, black swirl. A small black hole was born. An impossible suction force attracted all the mana in the world.
And yet Therim wasn't impressed.
"Naive..."
The sword in Therim's hand was pulled into the black hole, shattering apart. However, the light wasn't absorbed. Instead, it took the form of magical runes which moved together with the swirling black hole, like little stars in the darkest night. Looking closely, one could see that the small runes were placed in a circular formation. They formed a magic circle within Canter's spell!
"Amazing..."
The friends couldn't help but marvel. Surprisingly the one most able to appreciate the extreme difficulty of Therim's magic weren't the two mages Cyclone and Fortune. Player magic was just too different from NPC magic. Instead, it was Silver Blade, who liked to study the game's lore.
As the players were only spectators, they weren't affected by the magic and could thus observe as much as they wanted. However, the NPCs felt as if the black hole was literally sapping the strength out of their bodies. They turned around and escaped. Lady Essenour had a relieved smile on her face as her beloved still had his trump cards. Therim, standing so close to the black hole, would suddenly be defeated.
Unfortunately, reality wasn't always as one would have wished. Therim faced the black hole with composure, his mind guiding the golden runes to form a magic circle. Finally, everything was in position. The runes built an invisible connection, and the magic circle began to revolve in the opposite direction of the swirling black hole.
For a few moments there was no change. But then the observant players noticed that the black hole began to slow down. Its suction force weakened. The mana in the world turned orderly.
This continued for a bit until the black hole stopped moving completely and even started revolving in the opposite direction.
Finally, everyone noticed that something was wrong. The black hole suddenly started spewing a large amount of pure mana. More and more, faster and faster. The air became filled with immensely dense mana, even breathing became more difficult. Lady Essenour, Eva and Verinam's expressions worsened by the second.
"It's dissolving!" Balm was excited, pointing out what everyone could see. It was like a cheap shirt falling apart. Threads of black separated from the black hole one by one, dissipating into the world. The black hole shrunk until there was nothing left. The figure of Canter was revealed again.
The older mage looked terrible. His flight was wobbly, his eyes as if he hadn't slept for weeks. He weakly raised his head, staring at Therim.
"How...?"
How did you so easily dismantle my most priced spell? This was what Canter wanted to ask, but he was too weak to do so. Therim understood him anyway, answering coldly:
"Do you think you are the only one preparing for this clash?"
Canter shivered. Suddenly his mask broke. Dry laughter escaped his throat while tears ran down his cheeks. The players almost felt pity for the old man. But then they remembered that he had been working together with 'Dust', who kidnapped people and used their blood to summon a devil. No, Canter didn't deserve any pity.
"Defeated... thoroughly..."
Finally, Canter let out a sigh. Therim's reversion of the black hole had siphoned all the mana from Canter's body. Finally, he was even too weak to maintain his flight. His body slumped and he would have fallen to the ground if Therim hadn't grabbed him in time.
"NOOO! My beloved!"
Lady Essenour let out a soul-shaking cry. Tears streamed down her face. Canter weakly turned his head towards her, gifting her a smile. The players watched, still not quite sure how genuine their relationship was.
"Canter! Don't worry! I... I will definitely visit you every day! No, I will even rescue you! Just wait for me!"
Suddenly the atmosphere turned icy. Everyone's eyes fell on Lady Essenour. It was already quite generous to allow Canter to live. If he hadn't achieved so much merit during his earlier years Therim might have executed him on the spot. Now, the consensus among the order faction was that people like Canter would spend at least ten to twenty years in a secure dungeon, isolated from the world.
And Lady Essenour dared to openly make such a statement? Did this woman go crazy?
"Duchess, watch your tongue...", warned Therim coldly. Lady Essenour snorted, her eyes never leaving Canter, causing Therim to frown. He couldn't apprehend a duchess just like that. However, he would definitely arrange for Lady Essenour to be placed under strict observation in the future.
A second later Therim landed on his warship, placing Canter on the ground. The old mage was too weak to stand. Therim's eyes swept over Eva and Verinam:
"Are you coming by yourself or do I have to make you?"
The two NPCs looked at each other. With heavy sighs they landed on the warship. Therim's students arrived as well, and the ship finally left. Only Lady Essenour remained behind, riding a magnificent eagle, her longing eyes never turning for a long time even until the thick clouds above closed slowly, tinging the world in grey.
Suddenly an invisible force grabbed Liam and his friends, pulling them downwards. White clouds had replaced the ground at some point. The friends passed through the clouds and the next moment they found themselves back inside Therim's magic tower.
"This was awesome!"
Cyclone exclaimed with shining eyes, her loud shout startling the learning and working mages.
"It really was. C could do something like that more often!"
"What an experience to share with you, my friends!"
"It was really impressive to see Therim like that."
"Now I wish we could see how Therim lost his arm... How could someone beat him like that?"
The friends chattered incessantly as the experience left them with so many feelings to vent. The fight between Therim and Canter was just too exciting, seemingly involving time and space. Cyclone and Fortune were both giddy, guessing if their magic would ever involve such concepts.
It took the party a while to calm down. Finally, they remembered what they were here for. They rushed up the stairs, curious to see if Therim was present in the magic tower. Cyclone ran at the front, knocking on the door to Therim's study.
"Come in."
The same tone as always. Therim was home and he didn't sound as if he had just gone through a difficult battle. Cyclone opened the door, staring at the mage sitting behind his desk.
"Therim! You were so awesome! That fight against Canter was like nothing I have ever seen before."
The NPC raised his head. There was some confusion in his eyes. How did the adventurers know of his fight? Right, they must have learned about it from his student!
Coming to a conclusion Therim felt it made sense. He kindly smiled at Cyclone. Even the powerful guardian wasn't immune to compliments.
"Thank you, adventurer. But I am only doing my duty."
"That doesn't minder your achievement, right? Canter can finally receive his just punishment. By the way, where is he? Did you imprison him in the tower?"
"I am afraid I can't tell you that."
"Oh, right. Right."
Therim shook his head and changed the topic:
"While I did my duty, so did you. Brave adventurers, thanks to you the summoning of a devil could be stopped. You have achieved great merit. Of course you deserve a generous reward."
Those words were naturally enough to catch everyone's attention. All eyes focused on Therim. The guardian retrieved a pouch from somewhere below his desk and threw it towards the party. While flying through the air the single pouch suddenly turned into ten, each player receiving one.