The mages were spread out in the dimensional space, wearing white-colored robes along with the gold symbol on top of their head. A couple of them stood side by side, as one of them was using their wind magic to push the debris of the building.
Meanwhile, another had lifted himself into the air, looking to see if he could find anything from above, in the area that had just been cleared.
"There's nothing here!" The mage shouted from above and landed back down by his colleague's side.
One of the two looked at his wrist, at a bracelet-type device, and gave it a singular tap. A holographic map of sorts had opened up, and tracing his fingers in the air, he saw that the section of the map remained red.
"This search is taking longer than it usually does. It looks like whatever happened here had quite the effect on it," the mage commented.
"It's okay; at least we know that there is nothing to worry about," the other replied.
"Worry?" the man laughed. "What would we have to worry about in a place like this? There won't be any strong beasts in a dimension like this; they already checked it out. We're just the cleanup group, you know how it is."
"Any beast we run into, with our strength, if we had trouble with it, then we shouldn't be on these types of missions in the first place. Everything has gone smoothly so far, so why would it be a problem now?"
"You just never know, right? There could be a high-stage beast around the corner, or maybe we might run into other groups that are trying to get to this place as well."
"And if that happens, we will deal with them. There are plenty of us, and we're all at the 3-star level. Do you think that we would run into someone capable of taking us out?"
After saying those words, they could soon hear a commotion going on nearby. Not just that, but they could also feel the flow of mana condensing in a particular place.
It was clear to them that a fight was going on, and the mage in question had to be struggling. Seeing this, the two of them had decided to rush over, and they weren't the only ones that had gone towards the commotion.
"It's another mage!" one of them said, surprised.
They could see a man standing there in black robes, and by his feet, a bloody mess on the floor and a shriveled-up body.
"Hey, you're making a mistake!" the mage shouted. "Do you know who we are? No one would dare go against us!"
Raze looked at his hand; he had just used the extraction technique on a living mage; it was the first time he had done so. He could feel that rather than the energy from the mage going to his Qi, it had gone to his mana Core.
His mana core had grown in strength and size. However, his attributes didn't increase in strength, other than his darkness attribute, but that was due to him having killed a person rather than from the extraction technique itself.
'I could feel the different affinities trying to go into my body, but my magic core just rejected them. If I manage to find some mages that have magic affinity the same as mine, it'll allow my attributes to grow even stronger.'
Raze smiled as he held the sword in his hand. "Who are you? That's exactly what I want to find out," Raze asked. "Please tell me!"
Immediately, the five mages that had arrived started to lift their hands up; some were gathering light magic, others gathering ice and wind, and all of them were pointed at Raze.
"You'll find out on your deathbed! How could you kill one of us!" the mage shouted.
Out from the palm of his hand and all the others, a flurry of attacks all went toward Raze, who was standing in the center. All of the spells being used were at the three-star level.
Using his dark magic wouldn't help him here, especially since some of them were light magic users.
Right when the attacks were ready to reach him, Raze jumped up in the air, performing a flip, one of the other descending steps. All of the attacks collided in the center, missing him.
"Do I look like a mage to you?" Raze said with a smile on his face, as he swung his sword in the air across the side.
"The third devil's formation strike!" With the third strike, he had added the power of his wind magic, creating a large line of aura in the air.
It had come out fast, and had hit two of the mages on the ground. Their enchanted mage armor had activated, allowing them to block the attack, but they were pushed by the sheer force, being lifted in the air and falling to the ground.
"Watch out, everyone; he seems to be some type of magic swordsman!"
Raze smiled at himself as he heard these words because he thought he was much more than just a magic swordsman. When landing on the ground, a flurry of spells continued, but he was able to avoid nearly all of them with his footwork. As a fourth-stage Pagna warrior, he was just too fast for them.
Finally, he had reached one of the mages that were ready to attack him; he swung his sword rapidly twice, attacking with two wind slashers, activating the barrier.
The attacks were stopped dead, even with the power of Qi; the enchantment on the robes had to be pretty strong. Stepping forward with the second descending step, Raze gathered dark magic around his fist and threw it right at the orb.
"Dark Strike!"
With the footwork, the Qi, and the magic power all condensed, his fist hit the barrier and smashed it completely. The power of the pulsating strike continued and hit the mage, creating a large wound in his chest.
One could see right through and witness the sky on the other side; the body fell to the ground as the mage was dealt with.
'This is beyond what I thought?' Raze looked at the dead mage on the ground. 'I knew I had grown stronger, but I never knew how much compared to other mages.'
In the past, if Raze had to go against a number of 3-star mages while he was still a 3-star himself, he imagined, with his knowledge and experience, he could go up against two at most.
However, with his Pagna warrior skills, he was proving to be too agile for them. The added Qi and magic in his strikes were too devastating for them as well. It was no contest; he could deal with this group with ease.
"Well, this is perfect; I only need to keep one of you alive, and there's something I wanted to test out," Raze said as he swung his sword by his side, and it started to glow with a faint purple light.
"Dark Edge Magic Sword Arts: The Second Formation." The sword was then lifted right above his head and held with two hands. "Magic Eclipse Strike!"
