Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 141: First Strike

As Kothar and Docara dove for cover, the green light that emanated from the device in the Mage's hands grew brighter and brighter, Docara sped down the stairs, while Kothar used his increased speed to throw himself into the adjoining room, finding himself in an opulent bathroom, he slammed the door behind himself, and it was not a moment too late.

Boom! A thunderous explosion shook the entire building, and a flash of green light that was visible even from the fleet of ships anchored off the shore of the island radiated in ever direction. 

The force of the explosion, even behind so many walls, threw Kothar violently against the far wall, and blew the roof of the building right off. 

The entire top half of the floor had been ripped clean off, and the other members of the Ursten arms looked on from the walls, mouths open in shock, as a slight brown robed figure floated down in midair.

"That'll teach you rats!" He spat out, furious, how dare these puny soldiers attack him, a value Mage of the empire.

Docara, leaning against one of the walls of the staircase, grinned as he stood up slowly and crept up the stairs, a sneak attack would work well against this cocky Mage.

Kothar pushed through the rubble that was piled by the remains of the bathroom door, and walked out towards the Mage. 

Now that the walls were mostly gone, the Mage immediately spotted him, and his eyes bulged, and his face went deathly pale.

"You! How are you still alive! That device, it was supposed to be enough to wipe out at least a hundred men! The Empire's devices are without parallel, how could this happen!" The Mage immediately increased the strength of the whirlwind he had been standing on, rising high up in the air, as he did so, he saw the full scale of what had happened.

The walls of the outpost were no longer guarded by Imperial soldiers, rather there were many masked soldiers making obscene gestures toward the Mage, this was no assassination attempt, this was an invasion. 

The Mage looked at the device that he used to contact the Empire, but it had been destroyed in the blast from his desperate attempt to take out the invaders.

"You see, we're not on a battlefield right now, of course, in a packed battlefield, that device would have taken out a hundred men, but inside a building, I think you were being far too optimistic.'' Kothar said coldly, as he slowly stalked toward the floating Mage.

The Mage looked nervously at the crackling and humming blade in Kothar's left hand, and the ball of lightning that was swirling in the other. 

The Mage began to swing his arms through the air, sending Wind Slashes rapidly toward Kothar, and then Kothar tossed the ball of lightning at the Mage's feet, and the Mage grew pale. The Storm Field immediately spread out, and bolts of lightning fell down toward the Mage.

The Mage scoffed as they failed to get past his swirling windshield, but that wasn't the main purpose of the field, at least not this time. 

Kothar sprinted forward, his speed pushed to an inhuman degree by the full strength lightning Aura and Storm Field together, the Mage could only watch in horror as he drew closer and closer.

The crackling blade stabbed out, flying straight to the Mage's chest, as if drawn by some invisible string, as Kothar leapt gracefully through the air, right at the Mage.

"Damn, Rufus, you're something else." Docara whispered as he watched from the destroyed stairs, there were similar exclamations of awe from the men on the walls, as Kothar leapt through the air.

Kothar's vibrating blade stabbed clean through the Mage's rough robes and chest, without even the slightest hint of resistance, and then discharged all through his body, with a loud crack.

The lightning surged through the Mage's body, had he been able to survive the initial blow, there was not even the slightest chance that he survived the explosion of lightning that had just occurred inside his torso.

The whirlwind below dissipated and the Mage fell to the ground, with a loud thud, and chairs resounded from the walls, it was clear to the watching soldiers that the only real threat in the outpost had been defeated.

"Would you look at that, looks like I'm the only one who kept my target alive." Pony strode out from the wreckage of the room he had chosen, dragging a gagged and bound soldier.

The empty sheath at the man's belt and the muscled and scarred frame marked him clearly as a Warrior, and from the various bleeding cuts all over his body it seemed that Pony had fought quite battle with him

"I'd like to see you take out a Mage of his caliber, Pony. And besides, who was the one who ran away at hearing of a Mage." Docara chuckled as he emerged from the stairs, slipping his dual blades back into the sheaths at his back. 

"Alright, how are we signaling the fleet? I'm sure there's plenty of young soldiers that'll be more than happy to clean up this mess that we've made up here." Pony ignored Docara's jibe and asked nonchalantly, as if he hadn't even heard it.

"Ah, I'm sure the Captain will be happy to relay the news on those handy devices that they have." Docara smiled and looked out toward the water.

Slowly, more and more of the soldiers filtered up to the ruined top floor of the building, curious as to the source of the blast, some even made their way from the walls, joining the growing crowd.

Many congratulated Kothar on striking the finishing blow, while others joked with Docara, poking fun at the fact that he hadn't finished the Mage himself. 

After this mission they had truly become a team, and there were surely more missions ahead.

As the first slivers of light appeared in the dark sky, the men grouped together and looked out to the ocean, watching the majestic fleet slowly make its way toward the shore. The weight of what they had done slowly sunk in, they were truly going to war against the Empire.