Eston's heart was racing even faster than it was before as soon as he heard the words "Dark Magus." Everyone in Alterian knew of the person.
He was the most famous and infamous person in all of Alterian. The reason why his heart was racing was because he believed it.
If Raze had simply come out and claimed that he was the Dark Magus, then Eston would have thought nothing of it, even if he was a mage that used Dark Magic.
It wasn't like he was the only one; there were plenty of criminals that had turned to using Dark Magic, some even trying to copy the fame of the Dark Magus.
But it was what they had been through. With Eston being who he was, being as strong as he was, the number of people that could beat him, he could probably only count them on both of his hands.
Narrow that down to the number of people that knew Dark Magic that could beat him, then in his mind, it was only one.
It didn't matter that it was really a combination of Pagna skills and magic. To him, he had lost to another mage, one that used Dark Magic, and the only thing that made sense was if this man really was the Dark Magus.
Looking at him from his sitting position, he was now looking at Raze in a completely different light.
"You said that mages should have a specialty; well, I guess you could say in the past, I was quite skilled in magic, and now I'm skilled with the sword as well," Raze claimed.
The more Raze spoke, the deeper Eston felt his heart was going to sink. His most powerful attack was stopped; he had been tied up by strange powers, and his entire mouth was sticking... and now learning that this person was the Dark Magus, he had to get out of there.
'I have to run, I have to live!' Eston placed both of his hands on the floor, and with all the wind magic he had left, he blasted himself out from his position.
The ice broke from underneath him, and he started to run away.
"Retreat, everyone retreat, it's the Dark Magus, it's the Dark Magus!" Eston called out.
The other mages had heard the cries from Eston. Just like him, if anyone else was making these claims, they wouldn't have believed it, but since it was their commander, the strong and powerful Eston, they all started to join him.
They gave up trying to fight with the Crimson Crane, and all of them were using their powers to get away.
"What is happening?" Lilly asked.
"I'm not sure, they're all saying the Dark Magus's name... why are they reacting like this?"
Alba was now by Reno's side; she hadn't given chase to the squad leader as he ran for dear life and was just as confused by the sight of what was occurring as everybody else.
"Did you hear what they are saying?" Reno asked.
"Yeah, I'm not sure if I'm imagining it or not, but all of those people, they're running away now. Ever since they heard his name, the name that we have been spreading, the Dark Magus?" Alba replied.
She was confused; could such a name really strike this amount of fear in these people? The Dark Magus was a name known in Pagna as well, but it was of a talented Alchemist, not someone like this.
Based on his power, sure the Dark Magus was strong but to create this much fear, it made no sense to them.
"I'm afraid, I can't let any of you escape. I can't have Idore finding out about me just yet," Raze said, as he looked down at the ground.
He hadn't broken through to the middle stage, to the 7th stage, but he had evolved from his current 6th stage self, and he had learned to control Qi even finer than he had done before.
What this meant was there was something that Raze had unlocked which he hadn't been able to do for a while now.
Raze stomped his feet onto the ground, performing the first descending step, he moved onto the second, a dash with his back foot.
The third was performing a jump back. The Qi was building up, growing with each step. The fourth step was produced, kicking off both feet.
Then, the fifth and sixth step, jumping from side to side. At this point, the Qi in Raze and in his weapon was so strong the whole area was already shaking.
At the same time, Raze was preparing the movements for the Eclipse Strike.
The seventh step was produced as he jumped in the air; the eighth step, he spun until his body hit the ground.
When he landed, the Qi shook the floor once more behind him and to the ground in front of him. The amount of Qi that finally needed to be controlled was growing.
The ninth step was produced, it was a kick along with a spin, and finally, there was one more step of the Descending Steps, the tenth Descending Step, a complete stop.
All of the built-up Qi in that moment was surging in Raze's body; from his toe, it went through his body like an electrifying jolt into his weapon. The sword was covered in a dark eclipse, and the moment he stopped, Raze combined it by swinging his sword from above.
"Ten Descending Steps, Dark Edge Eclipse Strike!"
A giant wave encased the entire sky. For a moment, one area of the world looked like it was encased in darkness.
As Raze swung his sword down, a vile wave of Dark magic and power followed his sword and struck forward.
It left his sword and took out everything in its path, consuming it all. As the attack hit the mages, they disappeared in a blink, and the attack had finally reached Eston, making his body disappear too.
Like a giant pulse, the dark wave attack was seen, and taking everything with it, even destroying the sand in front of them, it looked like almost a part of the world was destroyed.
"I think… we might have been wrong about him," Reno said, looking at the sight. "I think the Dark Magus… is a very special person."
