Genius Seventh Prince

With that last sentence, the seemingly endless army of Terrors surrounding them converged to attack. The group of representatives were prepared and started their counterattack. Thankfully, what they lacked in quantity, they made up for in quality. Most of the Terrors surrounding them were base-level soldiers for the Midnight Order. There are more powerful ones, but they are much more rare and dispatched less often. The worst part about Terrors was that they were artificial lives without any real thoughts but vicious tenacity. Even if half their body is blown up, they will continue to attack with the other half. They can continue to move without their head, as well. The only way to really eliminate them is to completely obliterate them. While that was an easy feat for most higher level magicians, they will eventually run out of mana and feel mentally exhausted from the non-stop onslaught. Plus, Terrors have a special ability to pull mana out of their target if they manage to make physical contact with them. 

Knowing this information, all of them tried to dodge and kill at the same time. The biggest issue was that they were all on Kazer's back and constrained to a specific area. They could not fly themselves and falling at this height would result in death unless they were a wind element magician. Greyson could last for a while in the air, but maintaining his spell while casting others was still hard and would drain too much unnecessary mana. 

Kazer also could not dodge with his larger body. Although he was fast, there were too many Terrors surrounding them. Each small touch slowly drew out a small portion of his mana. Keen of the worsening situation, he roared and released a frozen breath while spinning. Hitting a large number of them with his spell, Kazer started slamming the frozen Terrors with his claws and tail to crush them. The extra weight also made the frozen Terrors drop from the sky into the ground. 

"Elder Kazer, you need to descend onto the ground. We cannot keep fighting in the air at a disadvantage like this!" The Duke quickly ordered.

"I know! Everyone hold on!" Kazer growled in response. Obediently following orders, the rest quickly crouched down and gripped onto the scales of his back. Kazer folded his wings and started a nosedive towards the ground. His speed picked up and he easily escaped from the surrounding enemies. Once he got close enough to the ground, he quickly spread his wings once more to catch himself and slow his momentum. Although his movements were smooth, he still could not prevent crashing into the ground. Everyone else quickly jumped off his back in relief to be in contact with the ground. Groaning, Kazer got himself off the ground. Ignoring the cuts and wounds, he was generally fine despite the rough landing. 

Aphina quickly starting casting a healing spell on Kazer to help with his wounds. She also cast an agility boost on the rest of the team. Although they were a bit surprised by her quick response, they did not hesitate to also start preparing themselves. Their enemies in the skies were quickly chasing them down.

"Leave the robed old man to me. You guys are not his opponent." Duke Winterbridge quickly stepped up and ordered them.

"Understood!" Actually, his orders were not necessary. The rest of them could clearly feel an ominous aura radiating from that man that made them feel threatened. 

"Tsk... I was hoping this would be easy. You guys just have to struggle." The old man appeared again in front of them. The Terror were not far behind him. Although a bunch of them were eliminated, it seemed their numbers had not dwindled at all. The old man rolled up his sleeve to reveal an intricate tattoo. When he placed his hand onto it, the lines of the tattoo began to glow.

"A believer of the Church of Ethen?" The Duke muttered to himself in shock.

"Oh, color me surprised. You are more knowledgeable than I previously ȧssumed. It seems you recognize the Mark of Summoning." The old man seemed further excited by the fact that he had been recognized. 

"What in the hell could you be spacing out about during a battle?! If we did not need to fight right now, I would beat you up myself!" Completely different from her usual lackadaisical attitude, Eris was seriously enraged. However, she could not continue to pay attention to Greyson and started fighting off the Terrors coming at them. 

"Sorry! Thanks for the save, I will focus now." Greyson felt ashamed and looked towards his enemies seriously. Now was not the time to be thinking about his old lessons!

In the midst of their talking, the old man's tattoo flashed and a new being appeared in front of him. It was a large four-legged creature with purple fur and black horns. Its head turned back towards the old man seemingly displeased and made a couple sounds that were unrecognizable to everyone else. However, the old man ordered it using the same sounds. The beast grunted in response before turning the Duke Zaire. It let out a loud roar before black lightning arced around its horns forming a ball that then shot out towards the Duke. Although he was not able to recognize the features of the black lightning, Zaire knew he had to dodge. After diving out of the way, he felt the shockwave from the explosion. Looking towards the aftermath, he realized the earth impacted by the black lightning started turning the same black color with all the vegetation slowly dissipating into ash. 

Goosebumps appeared on the Duke's skin. But he could only grit his teeth and fight. With a flip of his palm, a shining silver rapier appeared in his hand. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down and took on a comfortable stance. Wind gathered at his feet while the sword took on an icy glow and sharpness. In a moment, the Duke had disappeared from his original position and reappeared right next to the beast. In that short moment, he made multiple thrusts.

The beast bȧrėly managed to react in time and quickly dodged away. It was still stabbed once and let out a pained growl. However, the Duke was not fooled. He felt the stiff resistance against the tip of the blade. This beast must have very thick skin. It would take a much more powerful strike to truly inflict major internal damage. 

The beast's golden eyes took on a darker shade as it clearly was enraged. It's muscles tensed before charging towards the Duke. Its dark black teeth and claws were flashing with that same lightning as before. Zaire's expression grew grim as he quickly disappeared to dodge away from the charge, however, the beast was also agile as it followed along. When it got close enough, it would swipe a claw or bite. Zaire managed to fight off most attacks, but he could see that the black lightning was even causing the metal of his blade to slowly erode. More contact would definitely end with his blade breaking. 

He was not completely helpless, though. When the beast got close enough to attack, so then did he. There was a clear trail of purple blood leaking from the beast. Zaire made sure to reinforce his thrusts so that he could break the hard skin and pelt of the beast. He bȧrėly had the chance to breathe and had to keep his focus so he could avoid taking any damage from the claws and teeth of the beast. He did not want to take any chances experimenting on what effect the black lightning had on the human body. Although he was concerned, he could only hope that the representatives were handling the Terrors.

However, he would be disappointed to see that the Moon Empire group were getting overwhelmed. The numbers never seemed to end. Elder Kazer was also ȧssisting them, but his mana stores were slowly dwindling. He cast powerful spells that would take out large amounts at once but this in turn also drained mana. Plus, his large body was unable to dodge the Terrors so they continued to steal mana from him with each touch. Even his large reserves were not actually endless. Everyone could tell the situation was growing more and more perilous if there was not a dramatic change. All of them were racking their brains to think of a solution to turn everything around.

"Oy, crazy zealot, that's enough! We need to carry out the original mission. This is wasting too much time. The Nocte Corps allowed for the use of our Terrors only for the requested mission, not for your personal agenda. You are just wasting them at this rate." A lazy voice rang out. It was another black cloaked individual with the midnight order insignia stitched into his cloak. He was on the back of a flying magic beast.

"Hmph! Only the ignorant look towards me as if I were a zealot. You just do not understand the great power and plan of Ethen." The old man was clearly disgruntled by the label. However, the Terrors and the beast had all stopped moving the moment the younger man appeared. 

"Orders are orders. We complete the mission." The other member did not pay any heed to the man's complaints and instead reiterated his stance.

"Alright, alright. I hope you will compensate me with a Frost Wyvern core later!"

The young man did not deign to answer and instead flew off. With an odd-sounding whistle, the Terrors quickly followed after him and left the old man. 

The old man just clicked his tongue with annoyance before touching his tattoo once again. The beast he summoned roared out in pain. Its black eyes turned towards the old man with resentment and despair clearly evident before collapsing onto the ground. Muttering something about what a shame it was, the old man soon faded from his spot to follow the rest of the group.

...

The group looked bewildered at such a sudden change of events. The scene was silent for a couple moments before someone finally spoke up.

"Is it over, then?" 

No one answered because they were all wondering the same thing. 

"It seems so. We need to rest. Aphina and Greyson, if you have mana then make sure to treat any injuries. We are clearly all exhausted so we will just stay here and rest up before starting our flight once again." The Duke was the first to regain his wits and start making orders. 

Everyone worked together to set up a small camp and brought out their food stores to have a meal. After a quick meal, they began to rest. The Duke set a schedule for everyone to take turns keeping watch. Greyson was part of the first watch with Trevion. 

Now that he had a moment to himself, he could finally think about what he heard and saw earlier. The Church of Ethen... 

If he remembered correctly, his teacher had only vaguely mentioned them. Not too much is known about them. They are a very secretive group. However, a common mark for higher tier members is called the Mark of Summoning like what that old man had. This mark apparently summoned beasts or even humanoid creatures that served under their god, Ethen. They would fight for the members of the church. Summoning only required the basic amount of mana, so a lot of people who wish for more power but have no talent flock to the church. The members tend to be extremists and no one has managed to infiltrate successfully for accurate information. The spies all end up either converted or dead. Not much is known about the beasts that appear, either. Most people believe it is random. There are a couple whose attributes and appearances are known, but there are still many more that no one knows. Even the elements that the beasts use are weird. For example, that black lightning was something that Greyson had never seen before. He was ȧssuming it was something similar to Keaton's acid water. 

The weirdest thing was how the old man killed the beast using the tattoo instead of summoning it back. Was the process only a one way trip? Could it not be reversed? Greyson was intrigued by this so-called "summoning". He was also curious about the Midnight Order. They seemed powerful enough to defeat them, but they just left them be and continued to carry out their mission. He had heard such horror stories about the bloody storms the Midnight Order leaves in its wake, that he just ȧssumed they would all be killers. But if he thought about it, they had left Iris City right after getting what they wanted instead of terrorizing the citizens. He wondered if he would hear news about the aftermath of their mission once he arrives in a town or city again. Greyson ȧssumed that they definitely had something to do with the ghost towns they flew by earlier. He just could not piece together what the final goal would be. Was that old man actually part of the Midnight Order or was the church working together with the order in a joint mission? That old man did not seem to have the insignia like the other man who showed up...

"Quite an eventful trip thus far, huh?" His thoughts were interrupted as Trevion suddenly spoke up.

"Well...Yes." 

"The Church of Ethen, huh? It was my first time seeing the Mark of Summoning."

"Yes, mine, as well. Have you run into the Midnight Order before?"

"No, that was the first. I had only heard rumors before."

"Is that so..."

"How about you? Have you seen them before."

"Yes, once in the past, they stole a flower from Iris City. I saw Terrors then, as well."

"Oh, I see..."

The ensuing silence became awkward. Both boys were both not great with small talk, not to mention they were not even close to each other. They glanced at each other before turning their heads and sighing.

It was going to be a long night.