Episode 185: Family Trip (3)
Despite his best efforts to conceal his dark magic, Damian couldn’t escape the keen senses of those around him.
The two figures wandering the streets were unmistakably dark sorcerers.
“More pests crawling out of the woodwork,” Damian thought, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over him. He had finally managed to take a trip with his family, and of all times, why did these nuisances have to appear now?
He wanted to ignore them, to pretend they didn’t exist. After all, he was enjoying a rare moment of happiness with his family.
But he couldn’t. These weren’t just any dark sorcerers.
“Two high-ranking dark sorcerers?” he mused. They might not be on par with a grand sorcerer, but they were still formidable enough to wreak havoc on an entire city.
He couldn’t let such dangerous individuals roam freely. The risk to his family was too great.
“Victor,” he called.
“Yes, sir?” Victor, who had accompanied the family to assist during the trip, responded promptly.
“I need to step away for a bit. If my parents ask where I am, tell them I’m exploring the city. Understood?”
“Where are you off to this time… Understood, sir.”
With that, Damian relayed his message to Victor and leapt from the rooftop, landing softly on the ground below. He began to follow the two figures.
Gax and Nax, the brothers, slipped into an alleyway.
The alley was deserted, save for some trash and stray cats.
“This spot will do,” Gax said, pulling a fist-sized piece of black chalk from his pocket. Nax mirrored his actions.
The two began drawing a complex magic circle on the building’s wall with the chalk. It was a task they completed with practiced ease.
“Be careful, brother. This magic circle is unstable. One mistake and it won’t work,” Gax warned.
“Don’t worry, I practiced until I dropped last night,” Nax replied confidently.
In just a few minutes, they had drawn over ten magic circles on the wall.
“Perfect. Not a flaw in sight,” Gax said, admiring their handiwork.
“Master Sukle is a genius. How did he come up with such dark magic?” Nax wondered aloud.
“When this circle activates, everyone nearby will burn, right?” Gax asked.
“Not just burn. They’ll burn slowly over an hour, staying alive the whole time,” Nax explained.
Setting a person on fire was easy. But slowing the process to such an extent was a feat of dark magic.
“Why create such a spell? Wouldn’t it be more impressive to just blow everything up at once?” Gax questioned.
“He wants to enjoy a meal while watching. If people die too quickly, it spoils the fun. They need to last at least an hour,” Nax replied.
Gax gazed dreamily at the magic circle. “To create such incredible dark magic overnight, and to be so beautiful… Master Sukle is truly captivating.”
“Can you stop with that talk? What if Wingstone hears and beats you up again?” Nax sighed.
“Let him. He beats me, but he doesn’t kill me,” Gax shrugged.
Nax could only frown at his brother’s foolish hopes.
“And what’s our first rule in Hedoniac? Do as you please. I’ll never give up on Master Sukle,” Gax declared.
Nax sighed deeply at his brother’s unrealistic dreams.
“Besides, who are we? We may be Sukle’s assistants now, but we were once the infamous Flame Brothers,” Gax reminded.
The two had been feared as the Flame Brothers, notorious dark sorcerers for hire, known for blowing up buildings and burning people alive.
Then one day, Sukle appeared, kidnapped them, and decided to use them as his assistants, claiming their skills were useful.
Though forced into servitude, they didn’t mind. They had access to Sukle’s dark magic teachings and ample resources.
“I’ve never been denied anything I wanted. I won’t give up on Master Sukle,” Gax insisted.
“Fine, let’s move on to the next spot,” Nax said, starting to walk.
“Why rush off like that?” Gax complained, following his brother.
“If I stayed, you’d just keep babbling nonsense,” Nax retorted.
As they walked through the alley, they pulled their hoods up to conceal their faces.
“This festival is famous, but there are some skilled folks around,” Gax noted.
“Tourists from abroad, even some high-class ones,” Nax added.
“High-class sorcerers coming to watch a festival? Pathetic,” Gax scoffed.
“You know what’s more pathetic? None of them can sense us,” Nax chuckled.
The two laughed, their reputation as the Flame Brothers well-earned.
Concealing their dark magic was child’s play, allowing them to evade the knights’ notice.
“Ah, Hedoniac, was it?” a voice suddenly interrupted from behind.
The brothers spun around, ready to unleash their dark magic.
A young man stood in the middle of the alley.
With dark brown hair and a slightly above-average height, his well-toned physique was evident even through his clothes.
The brothers were puzzled. The spot where the young man stood was where they had just passed moments ago. It had been empty.
“Who are you?” Gax demanded.
“Did you follow us?” Nax added, suspicion in his voice.
“I’ve heard of Hedoniac, though I’ve never seen it. A notorious criminal organization active around this time,” the young man said, ignoring their questions.
“Even someone like me, who has nothing to do with it, has heard of you. The Holy Order was determined to hunt you down,” he continued.
The brothers exchanged glances, a hint of pride in their expressions.
“You’re well-informed. Yes, we are Hedoniac,” Gax confirmed.
“You don’t seem to have followed us knowing who we are. So, who are you?” Nax pressed.
The young man still didn’t answer.
“I suspected you were dangerous, but planning a city-wide terror attack? That’s a surprise,” he said, his expression disdainful.
“I hate your kind. You show up out of nowhere and disrupt my peace and happiness. No, you don’t just disrupt it—you shatter it,” he said, a deadly aura emanating from him.
The brothers shivered. Despite their infamy, they had never encountered such a menacing presence.
“At least you showed up quickly,” the young man said, closing the distance between them.
The brothers summoned their dark magic. “Don’t come any closer,” they warned.
Ignoring their threat, the young man continued his approach. The brothers unleashed their dark magic.
They were practitioners of the Destruction School, known for its devastating spells.
In an instant, they cast a spell designed to incinerate their target.
A spell that sets the target ablaze, reducing them to ashes in moments.
It was one of the fastest and hardest-to-evade spells they knew.
But nothing happened.
The young man remained unscathed. Not even a spark appeared.
“Too slow,” he said, resting a longsword on his shoulder.
The brothers were taken aback. When had he drawn his sword?
“Wait, what?” they realized, looking down.
Their wrists had been severed.
Their hands, which should have cast the spell, lay on the ground.
“A-ah…” Gax stammered.
“N-no…” Nax echoed.
Pain hit them belatedly, and their mouths opened in silent screams.
Before they could cry out, the young man clamped their mouths shut with his hands.
It felt like iron clamps crushing their faces, bones cracking under the pressure.
“Mmmph!” Gax tried to scream.
“Mmmph!” Nax echoed, their cries trapped inside.
Their eyes filled with bloodshot desperation as they struggled against the pain.
The young man’s hands glowed with power, sending a sharp, needle-like sensation through their bodies.
Tears streamed down their faces as the agony overwhelmed them.
When he finally released them, they collapsed to the ground.
Though free, they couldn’t move. Their bodies felt paralyzed, and they couldn’t even muster their dark magic.
“From now on, I’m going to ask you two some questions.”
The young man rolled up his sleeves.
For some reason, even though his hands were empty, a terrible sense of foreboding hung in the air.
“If you don’t want to answer, you can keep your mouth shut. That is, if you think you can.”
In the deserted alley where no one ever ventured, muffled cries echoed endlessly.