Fallen Mage Regressor

Hypode's eyes sharpened as he put his mask on.

"Who are you?!" he shouted. "Stop right there!"

Mal's eyebrows shot up, brushing against his head. Internally, he thanked the designer of the school cloak for adding such a convenient way of protecting his identity.

In a direct fight, Mal had no fears about getting the jump on Hypode. But—

The wood cracked and Norin jumped out of the door and in front of Hypode, his hand held out and mana flooding into his body.

Mal started the shield spell, only to pause when he realized that his opponent wasn't casting anything.

Hypode looked between Norin and Mal. "Why didn't you set any wards?! And hurry up and knock him out already!"

"A ward would've gotten this location on the watchlist of the city guard." A small growl came from Norin."I'm getting a bad feeling about him and his covered wrist."

Mal glanced at the outline of his bracelet under his cloak, then back at his opponents. Norin was smart—he'd already picked up on the most powerful item in Mal's arsenal.

The both of them were at a stalemate. Norin didn't know what Mal's capabilities were, while Mal didn't know his opponent's capabilities either. Nobody wanted to be the one to make the first move.

However, Mal held the advantage. He didn't need to win the fight. All he had to do was get away. As soon as he made it onto the streets, the other students would be forced to give up their pursuit. Not only that, but even if Norin had the firepower to simply blitz past Mal's shields, it would cause a ruckus and draw the attention of the authorities.

Judging from the tight frown and the shaking hands of Norin, he probably knew that just as well as Mal.

Mal took a step back.

Hypode's teeth ground together. "He's going to get away, get him!"

Mal couldn't help a small smirk. "Your junior cult member doesn't really seem to understand the situation, does he?"

"He's young and inexperienced. He'll learn with time."

Hypode's breath turned heavy. "Don't insult me."

Norin's hand twitched. "Mind telling me how much you heard?"

"What, and you'll let me go if I say the right things? That seems a little bit unlikely."

"I don't want to have to do this."

The strangest part was that his voice was quivering.

Mal was getting more and more confused. Bird Eaters members didn't act like this. Granted, they were both younger than other cult members that he'd met. Maybe that's all it was?

For a moment, Mal considered putting the both of them down then and there. It would be a little bit riskier than he'd like, but he felt the odds were in his favor. He knew the max capabilities of the average graduate from Exodi Academy. There was nothing to indicate that this person was anything special—Mal would've remembered him if that were the case.

But on the other hand, this was the first lead to the Bird Eaters that Mal had seen in this timeline. It might be better to let them live so that he could investigate them further.

He made his choice.

The Bramblevine bracelet grew spikes around its edges. The window to the right of Hypode and Norin cracked, and it shattered into pieces. Ivy from the outside raced forward, extending out and wrapping around the two students' limbs.

Mal didn't waste any time to check if it had worked. He turned and ran for the door.

"Not so fast!" Norin shouted.

There was a sound like roaring flames and a feeling like someone had pressed a candle to his back. Mal looked back—where there was ivy, there was nothing but ashes and dust.

Already, Mal saw the mana rushing into Norin's body for another spell. Mal stopped in place and turned like he was about to cast a shield spell.

But he wasn't. Instead, his Bramblevine bracelet heaved underneath his sleeve.

Norin grinned and ran forward. “You shouldn’t have shielded!”

The glow of his body and the way he managed to close the distance in a second indicated that he'd used some kind of lightning charm on himself.

His arm reared back for a punch. If Mal had been using a shield spell, it would've been far too late.

Ivy burst from every direction. The walls, floor, even the roof. They wrapped around the student and constricted his body like a snake.

"Dammit, you read me—!" Vines wrapped around Norin's throat.

Mal put his index and his middle finger to the side of his head for a mock salute. "Get some combat experience for ten years, and you might just become a challenge.”

Norin flexed his muscles and mana rushed into his body. Mal backpedaled and ran for the door. There was another wave of heat and Mal knew that the student had fried all of the plants to a crisp.

He reached the door, shoved it open, then slammed it shut behind him. He quickly turned and speed walked into an alley. In the distance, the door swung open.

But Mal didn't know what they did after that.

He'd already long since slipped away into the city.

Mal made his way back to class—arriving completely late. Vigil had raised an eyebrow, but it looked like Mal's previous record was strong enough that the professor wouldn't give him too much trouble about it.

Mal more or less phased out and ignored the basic combat exercises that the professor was having them go through. Throwing a punch, kicking, it was all ingrained into his mind, even if his body had yet to catch up.

No, his thoughts were far too busy with really understanding the implications of what he just seen.

What was he supposed to make of all that? On the one hand, they had been wearing the outfit and clothing associated with the Bird Eaters. But at the same time, there were so many strange inconsistencies. Dark magic cultists were competent, dangerous. Every time Mal had come across one of them, it'd been in at least a difficult battle. The fight before had been more of a joke than anything else. That, along with the poorly crafted masks, made Mal think that they were just children playing pretend.

But then they had mentioned something—a summoning.

And that had Mal on edge, because they were absolutely right about a summoning happening this year. The demon that would take Vigil by surprise and kill him. However, even this was off, because that wasn't supposed to happen until the end of the year, and Mal had only been here for, what, one and a half months? It was only the second month of the year.

The only solution that made sense was that it was a funny coincidence. They were kids playing pretend, and they just so happened to accidentally speak the truth. A broken clock is right twice a day, after all.

But on the other hand, there were problems with that theory too. Why would a commoner and a nobleman be meeting up in an abandoned building in the slums of Exodi city? Not only that, but Norin had been genuinely talented. Why would somebody like that waste time playing pretend with a noble brat?

His spine chilled. In the worst case scenario, things had gotten moved up. Those were really dark magic cultists, just junior members. And somehow, someway, because of Mal's actions, they decided to do the demon attack significantly earlier than they were supposed to.

Mal really hoped this wasn't the case. It probably wasn't—but still, his instinct was nagging at him incessantly.

"Mal?"

Mal jolted. Nima had stepped in front of him, a confused look on his face.

"The professor assigned me to you," he said. "He told me that you looked a little bit out of it, so he wanted to pair you with an easier opponent. He also said it would be a good opportunity for me."

Mal's lips quirked up. Professor Vigil was incredibly observant, it seemed.

"Spar?" Mal asked.

Nima nodded. "He wants us to start using physical attacks and practice them in combat."

Mal linked his fingers together and stretched his arms upward.

"Right," he said. "Let's get started."

The two faced each other on the open field. In the background, Mal heard that other students had already gotten started. Arcane spheres went whizzing into the air with a loud screech.

Nima himself hadn't made a move. His eyes were locked onto Mal like a bunny staring at the incoming claws of a hawk.

Mal breathed out.

Detach.

At this moment, he was no longer Mal, and Nima was no longer Nima. They were simply two entities about to meet in a fight.

Observe.

Nima was too tense. Every part of him was coiled up like a spring. His eyes were locked onto Mal's, but they were shaking.

Plan.

At most, Nima might be able to pull off a few push and pull spells. If Mal wasn't paying attention, he would end up in trouble due to the physical attack from a floating object bypassing his shield—if there was enough momentum left on the object to actually do damage. Mal was fairly certain that Nima wouldn't be capable of that.

Other than that, Nima would be able to shield and maybe throw a half-decent punch.

Mal was about to fall back on his usual strategy of waiting for the opponent to make a move when he thought about it a bit longer and decided to go for a more aggressive approach. It wouldn't do to become predictable. Even though he was facing an amateur, he would still be building and reinforcing habits. Best to treat it with as much seriousness as he was allowed to.

Mal would go for the first attack. When rushed, Nima would try to get some range. Mal doubted he was the type of person who would choose to get physical—

White specks of mana were moving away from Mal and toward Nima.

Mal had waited too long. Nima had decided to make the first move.

Mal clicked his tongue and held out his hand. The shield spell gathered into his hand.

Mal would have to time it just right.

An arcane sphere launched from Nima's hand. Mal's shield spell rose to greet it and the two met in a brilliant flash of light.

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