When A Mage Revolts

Nightfell in Rayleigh City.

"Hey... why are they keeping us here? What are they planning?"

Inside the dark basement of priest Johann’s house, Hans bumped his companion’s shoulder and whispered softly.

Hans was a new member of the "Crow" - he always showed initiative and had gotten recognition for doing so. However, last night, when he was causing trouble in the church together with another companion, they got too bold, resulting in them getting caught.

When they first got caught, the two of them were frightened. They thought that they would be tortured, imprisoned, and probably even be killed! What they did not expect was for the priest to lock them in the basement and ignore them completely.

This gave them a glimmer of hope.

... Maybe they could escape?

Since they were left alone, they attempted to escape. As a gangster, they knew some basic lock picking – although they were not as skilled as a burglar or robber. So, they tried for half an hour to untie themselves from the rope and sneak out of the basement.

However, they soon realized that it was far more complicated than they had imagined.

After they broke free from the rope and were about to start picking the lock, they noticed that the cell was never locked in the first place.

There was nothing but a weird cross sealing the door. A powerful force repelled them, causing them to fall whenever they touched the door.

They tried many times, getting bruised and sore in the process, but to no avail.

Before long, they realized that the power sealing the door was not something that they could crack open. Therefore, they dropped to the ground as despair washed over them once again.

Even after almost a day later, the priest who had caught them still did not show himself. Now, not only were they feeling hopeless, they were curious as well.

This led Hans to ask the question.

"I... I do not know." His companion replied angrily, "I don’t care what they want to do, but if I continue to stay here any longer, I’m going to starve to death!"

They had not eaten anything since they were first tossed in here; now, they were hungry and thirsty. The hunger wasn’t deadly now, but if help didn’t arrive in a day or two, they would surely starve to death.

But they could not do anything about it.

"Hey! Let us out! We are going to starve to death!" Han’s companion was triggered, the fear and pressure pushed him to his breaking point, and so he ran to the door and started shouting hysterically.

Hans was shocked by his actions.

Hans watched as his companion started losing his mind, his words getting harsher by the minute. Hans quickly ran over and used the little energy he had left in him to punch his companion.

"Hey! Have you gone crazy?" He grabbed his companion's shoulders and shook him aggressively, "Do you really think he will bring you food if he comes? He will just kill us!"

His companion froze for a moment, then shook his head and collapsed on the ground. He sunk his face into his hands and wailed helplessly.

"I... why did I join this stupid gang? I should have stayed home and done something decent, at least then, I would not starve to death. I did not listen to my sister's advice and came to the city... and now I’m...I’m really going to starve to death."

Hans lay down on the ground and shook his head. He was not in the mood to comfort his companion.

Was he really going to die here?

However, the shouting of his companion had startled the priest outside, and in the middle of the night, a deep voice came from the other side of the door before the door suddenly swung open.

"What’s with the noise? A tranquil night is the gift of God, but both of you sinners are destroying it."

The priest who caught them slowly walked out from the door, he wore a cold expression and looked at them as though they were animals.

They were both shocked.

The priest's gaze made Hans uncomfortable. However, after thinking about the scary magic that he had used to catch them, Hans held back the urge to retaliate and instead put on a pleasant smile.

"Mr. Priest, could we have some water and something to eat? If this goes on, we will starve to death."

"Both of you vandalized the church’s property, so now you will pay the price." Said the priest, "I’m helping the both of you to repent your sins by denying you food and drink. You should be thankful for me. "

If the two of them were not so goddamn tired, they would have probably started a fight.

Hans secretly clenched his fist and continued to ask cautiously, "Mr. Priest… how long are you going to keep us here? Do you have anything to ask us? Go ahead, ask."

The priest heard this and smiled, "I do have questions that I want to ask, but the both of you do not need to put up an act. When the package arrives, I will use my own methods to get the necessary information. Don’t think that you can fool me with your stupid lies."

Hans did not understand what he meant.

What will arrive? His own method? What was he saying?

He did not understand that if the priest really wanted to get information, couldn’t he just torture them? In his opinion, it would be better than being left here to rot slowly.

"So, Mr. Priest, do you mean that before you conduct your method, we are not allowed to eat?"

"You have too many questions." The priest shook his head impatiently and said, "The both of you better quiet down now and stop bothering me. Otherwise, I will force you to keep quiet."

After Hans heard this, he bit his tongue, held back his impulsive urges and went to sit down silently.

The priest nodded his head in satisfaction, turned around and was ready to leave.

However, at that moment, Hans’s companion who had kept quiet the whole time by the side jumped up and rushed towards the door, intending to take this opportunity to escape.

The seal on the door was gone, if he ran fast enough, he could escape.

However…

"Sinners who attempt to escape their punishment are even more sinful."

The priest’s deep voice started casting a curse spell. A holy light suddenly appeared, directly hitting Hans's companion!

Bang!

He was thrown at the wall and rolled on the ground after. His body was burnt to crisp, so Hans did not know if he was dead or alive.

Hans took a cold breath.

He stretched his hand out as he was about to speak, but when his eyes met the cold gaze of the priest, he instantly swallowed his words out of fear.

"You know how to shut your mouth; it seems like you are smarter than your companion." The priest said in neither a hostile nor friendly way.

Hans pressed his dry lips together and adverted his gaze. He dared not look at the priest.

Too… too scary…

However, at that moment, a completely unfamiliar voice rang out in the dark basement.

"You act as if you yourself are very smart."

The mocking words were accompanied by a huge water ball that suddenly appeared out of thin air. In a flash, it had trapped the priest inside of it.

The priest and Hans were both stunned.

This is…

Before anyone could react, the water inside of the water ball started rotating quickly. The crosses that were protecting the priest broke in the blink of an eye. The priest drowned before he could even retaliate.

Then, the water ball that had appeared abruptly just now disappeared just as suddenly. At the same time, a small and thin ice blade appeared out of nowhere and slit the priest’s throat!

The priest’s body trembled and fell to the ground, a blood started spurting out of his neck.

When Hans saw this, he took a few steps back out of fear.

What was happening?

He gulped and raised his head to look at the shadow on the stairs as the figure slowly walked towards the door.

"Mister… you are..." As he was about to say something, he was interrupted the other party.

"Shh… do not speak."

The man made a ‘silence’ gesture and slowly walked to the priest’s body. Then, he picked up the ice blade and carved a strange triangle into the ground.

After seeing this, Hans’s heart was filled with shock, but gradually, the shock was replaced by an indescribable excitement.

The priest… was dead.

The priest who had previously acted as though he were as mighty as God was extinguished in the blink of an eye. Hans cautiously looked at his mysterious savior.

He watched as the man was bending over to finish drawing the triangle. Then, he straightened himself and nodded his head in satisfaction - it seemed like he was proud of the brutal mess that lay in front of him.

"Not bad, it’s already my fifth one."