The Call to War

Chapter 36

Author's Notes:
The time is almost here, "The Call to War" is nearly completed. In celebration of this, I shall be releasing a chapter every day until this book is completed. Enjoy.

As the dust settled the Alacryan soldiers cheered, as a man wearing black armor, a purple cloak, and two black horns coming out of his head came into view. He looked up in the direction he crashed in from, most likely trying to see if he was followed, but saw nothing. He then surveyed the area, a look of annoyance in his eyes as he saw the soldiers cheering. Seeing as he had no intention to have been there in the first place, he started to float off the ground to leave, but he wasn't fast enough.

Deciding to take the fight to the retainer before he could make the first move, Pasta rocketed forward with his spear out stretched and aiming for his head. The retainer quickly backed away to avoid the attack, as Pasta took a fighting stance in front of him.

"And where do you think you're going?" Pasta asked as he prepared to continue his attack.

"Leaving, I have no intention of getting involved in this battle."

"Is that so? Well you made quite the entrance, what was that all about?" Pasta asked, not believing him. He had no idea who the retainer was fighting, but it didn't make sense to Pasta that he would just leave even if he didn't plan on being there.

"Pasta Bloom, former Lance of Dicathen. Despite how powerful you are, you don't stand a chance against me. Allow me to leave and you may live a bit longer," the retainer said calmly.

Pasta sneered. "You think I can't win? Well let me show you what old age and guile gets me," he said, then lunged forward while swinging his spear.

The retainer moved up and out of the way as a black cloud formed in his right hand and formed into a black greatsword. Pasta redirected himself as the sword formed and continued his attack, this time with the wind spinning around the tip of his spear like a drill. However the spear was forced off course by an invisible force and collided with the sword. The retainer took this opportunity to try and punch Pasta in the head, but the old man was ready and changed the air pressure, making the punch instead feel like a tap.

As this happened the Alacryan soldiers began to move the battle away from their retainer, as to ensure they didn't get caught up in it. Of course the Elenoir defenders moved along with them, to ensure they didn't get around them. Only Lunaris stayed behind, entranced by seeing his master fighting with everything that he had.

The retainer looked confused at the effect of his punch, so Pasta decided to try and attack again with his own punch. Surrounding his left fist with wind mana he tried to throw a punch, only for it to be pulled towards the sword. Quickly he cancelled the spell and was released from the pull instantly. Continuing in the current motion Pasta used his spear to pivot and move himself out of striking distance.

"As you can see, you don't stand a chance against me," the retainer said with the same emotionless tone as before.

But Pasta wasn't paying his words much attention. During his prime Pasta, like many other battle mages, worked hard to push the limits of their affinities, while also including artifacts and other item's. The sole purpose of this was to have the upper hand against anyone in a fight. Pasta developed many different ways of using wind and sound magic in combat, but the most important thing he developed was his mind. Even if one couldn't use the same affinity as their opponent, understanding how their spell worked was extremely important in creating a defense against it. So as the retainer was speaking, Pasta was already dissecting the last few moves of their battle.

Choosing to try something different, he sent a series of wind blades, all of which redirected towards the massive sword. He then pulled four short blades from his belt and threw them, using wind mana on only two. The two with wind magic changed course for the sword, while the other two kept on course, forcing the retainer to dodge, but still getting his ear nicked.