The ten clones circled Caelith and started moving at a high speed. It was impossible to figure out who was the real one. She then attacked with daggers, but Caelith used sensory magic and detected the attack's real position and stopped the attack with a wind spell.
The clones disappeared. The real Sylra took six steps back but didn't give up. Caelith tried to cheer her up, "Hey, it's too early to give up. Use all the techniques we made specially for you, except the ace."
Sylra nodded and used another technique: "Shadow Hands." Caelith made this technique for Sylra since Sylra was not at a level where she could kill a person of a higher level than herself. Shadow Hands binds the person and won't let him move.
Shadow Hands bound Caelith at a high speed and didn't let him fly. Everyone became perplexed.
But binding a mage is as useless as throwing a carrot to a lion. He used a fireball and attacked. Sylra used Shadow Travel and escaped.
She appeared behind Caelith and used Shadow Kick. A special attack made by Sylra and Caelith which was specifically made for fighting a mage. Fighting a mage at a distance is dangerous, but engaging with a mage in close combat is just the key to success.
Still, Caelith used telekinesis and threw Sylra toward the ground. Sylra got up and didn't give up yet. She then used Shadow Domain. This technique was the Noxveil family art. It helps the user to blind the six senses of another person in the domain.
Caelith's six senses got blocked, but his brain didn't stop working. He used earth magic to shake the whole arena so that Sylra would not be able to focus on the domain and the domain might be canceled.
Sylra's domain got weaker but didn't cancel. Since the domain got weaker, Caelith released his mana and destroyed the domain. Sylra wanted to land at least one attack, so she tried another trick, but before she could attack, Caelith used telekinesis and bound her to the ground.
Sylra tried but couldn't escape, so the emperor announced, "Caelith won!"
Sylra accepted the result, and the audience got up from their seats and started applauding for her. Her father praised, "Very well, Sylra, your growth exceeds my imagination."
Sylra became shy and returned to her seat.
Then Caelith fought both Astrein and Raizen and told them that they are equal in power.
He slowly fought everyone, and only the emperors were left.
Theron looked at the other emperors and asked, "Shall we have a warm-up too?"
Other emperors laughed and were in agreement. It's been a while since they had a spar. But before they could get up from their seats...
Rumble... The ground started shaking.
Caelith came to high alert and announced, "The spar ends here."
He then used the Sensory Arts and found the reason for the earthquake.
The dark mages attacked the castle again. When Caelith saw the dark mages, he remembered his mother and got in a high rage, and told the emperors, "Protect your families, I have to go somewhere."
With that, he disappeared. The emperors became confused with Caelith's reaction. He was a very calm boy, but now he was angered. The emperor of Parthion used his family skill, Golden Eagle Vision. The emperor got shocked and understood the reason why Caelith was so angered.
"Dark mages!" The emperor of Parthion said with a heavy voice.
Other emperors understood the situation and told their families, "Okay, you guys can take any room in the castle. This is the safest place since we're here."
The emperor of Parthion said to the others, "Hey, I'm going. Cael might need a long-range sniper."
The emperor of Valthera said, "Wait, then I'm coming too. Caelith isn't specialized in close combat. The rest will stay here."
Everyone nodded, and with that, the two emperors started running toward Caelith's direction, and the others were protecting the area.
---
Caelith teleported to the location. He saw a large group of dark mages. Some of them were 5th Circle, and others were around 4th Circle, and they were commanded by a 6th Circle mage. A few demonic beasts were there too, around 4th Level.
Caelith was in a rage and sensed that there were no civilians nearby, so he used a spell. A few huge meteoroids started flying toward them.
The dark mages got on high alert and launched fireballs in reply.
The meteoroids didn't stop. Only two of them got destroyed by the 6th Circle mage.
"Ahhhh!" Screams of a few hundred dark mages could be heard as the meteoroids smashed them.
A few hundred were still left, and they were mostly 5th Circle mages and the leader, which was 6th Circle.
The beasts started running toward Caelith like mad dogs.
But suddenly a wave came, and all the beasts got cut into two halves. Caelith looked behind; he saw two emperors.
Theron then said, "Cael, don't kill the 6th Circle mage, just seal his powers. We have to interrogate him. We'll deal with the rest."
Caelith nodded and teleported toward the 6th Circle mage, and used telekinesis to bind him, and started the sealing spell.
While Theron and Lorus killed the rest of them. Caelith finally sealed his powers. Theron told Caelith, "Now we'll take him to prison and interrogate him."
Caelith teleported everyone to the prison and invited the other emperors too.
They started questioning him, but he didn't open his mouth.
The emperor of Celesthra said, "Wait, I have a holy artifact. He will have to tell us the truth."
He then took out a holy bell and activated it. The dark mage got into a deep sleep, and the emperor then asked him, "What's your name?"
The dark mage, with no consciousness, said, "Futan... Futanok."
The emperor asked another question, "Who are you and what was your goal?"
The mage said, "I'm a dark mage of darkness... we came... to...." But before he could say anything else, a bright light evolved around him, and his eyes turned black. Caelith got alerted and activated a mana shield for everyone. The dark mage blasted. The whole room got covered in his debris and blood.
The emperors' expressions darkened, and Theron said, "We have to be ready. The future holds a huge battle. It's time for Caelith to know of the Sealed Gate."
The emperors and Caelith got into the meeting room. And Theron gave Caelith a chant and told Caelith, "Recite this chant with us while placing one hand on the table."
Caelith followed the step, and everyone started chanting, "The future of hopes and light never ceases to exist. Whenever darkness arises, may the world be blessed by light."
They all teleported near a gate. It was Caelith's first time here. The gate was huge and just had locks.
The emperor didn't need to explain, since Caelith had read about it during his closed-door training and knew the story. This was the Door of Sacrifice. The door made from the blood of the Council.
The emperor said, "The seal is weakening by time. A great destruction awaits us. We have to reach the apex, or the world won't have a savior."
Caelith unconsciously blurted, "The world never had a savior and never will... everyone has to rely on themselves..."
Everyone got perplexed with the sudden change in Caelith's behavior. Caelith regained his consciousness and looked pretty confused.
It felt like something was off about this place, but he couldn't figure it out. But for now, they got back to the hall and started discussing.
One emperor said, "Cael, you don't need to go to the academy, but we would like you to be a teacher of the academy and teach the best students. Your skills in creating spells and skills are on a whole other level than ours. If you deem our child worthy, please teach them too."
Caelith nodded, since he understood the emperor was being sincere and a huge battle lies in the future.
Other emperors agreed to it since Caelith's power is growing at a fast rate. Theron said, "While you'll be teaching students, you have to focus on your growth too. You're almost at the 7th Circle; just try a bit more and you'll be a 7th Circle mage. Your father must be proud of you. It took Artenious 20 years of his life to become a peak 6th Circle mage, but now only his words remain with us. We'll support you with everything we can."
Caelith thanked the emperors and said, "Thank you, uncles, and don't worry, I'll be 7th Circle soon and will advance to 8th Circle in no time. We have to be prepared. We don't know how or what is going to happen, but it won't be good for sure."
"Yes, therefore we want you to teach the best students of the academy so they can be pillars to humanity in the near future," Varkon Dravane said with sincerity.
---
Meanwhile, in a dark room, a man reported, "We failed. Caelith has become stronger than expected."
Another man said, "What? Even a 6th Circle lost? We can't let him live, or he'll become a threat to us in the future. Just a few more years till the summoning..."