The Exalted Mage - Chapter 22: Remember what you stand for

Veronica sprinted alone into the forest. She had made sure no one was following her.

She was heading in the direction of the ruins. Was Finn going back just to check up on the ruins and wait? Or did something happen to alert him? Regardless, she had to get him out of there. A young child shouldn’t have to fight these kinds of battles.

After a couple of minutes, she heard a mental ping in her mind.

[A demon has been detected 500 meters ahead.]

“What? A demon? Already?”

Veronica ran faster.

There was no way they could have already summoned a demon. This must have been an already existing one. Perhaps a ringleader, or a subordinate of the cultists, there to help with the ritual.

“Can you tell what type of demon it is? Lesser? Soldier? General?”

[A demon has been detected 500 meters ahead.]

She grit her teeth. “Damn. Not useful when it actually matters.”

[I’m sorry.]

Veronica shook her head. “Sorry. Didn’t mean it like that.”

The sun was dipping, dusk ready on making its way into the world. A demon appearing now confirmed that something drastic was going to happen to day.

She almost wished she had spoken to the Viscount sooner. Warned him directly about the happenings going on. But her doubts lingered, gnawing at the back of her mind. For all she knew, Ronswick might have had threads in the Covenant himself, not to mention the Baron, too. To show her hand without certainty would have been reckless.

Strands of hair whipped loose, stringing past her eyes as she ran. “If it’s only a lesser demon,” she muttered, “then I should be able to deal with it.”

Her pulse steadied as the ground sloped downward. She planted both feet solidly on the slope, sliding down while using her free hand for balance. Once she reached the bottom, she kept running. The trees soon thinned, opening into the fringe of a clearing. Sage’s warning rang again in the back of her mind.

[The demon is within seventy meters.]

The demon was close—close enough that she could feel the air infused with the heavy scent of sulfur and damp heat.

Veronica dropped lower, easing her steps until the sound of her boots barely brushed the dirt. The forest thickened here, branches clawing overhead like a ribcage. She moved between them, careful, patient, until the trees finally gave way to a rough clearing.

She froze.

Three figures in robes stood ahead, their torches casting a sickly glow. Their masks caught the firelight in fractured gleams, faces of ash and bone. And among them… a shape that dwarfed them all.

A demon.

Its shoulders were massive, ridged with muscle that shifted beneath a hide too taut to be human. Its posture slouched, yet even hunched it stood nearly eight feet tall. A head like a ram’s but stretched grotesquely, twisted horns spiraling back along its skull, and a jaw too wide, teeth jutting like stone shards. Its arms hung heavy, claws grazing the earth as it lumbered in slow steps beside them. It was goat-like, but with the body of a young troll.

She shifted through the treeline slowly, barely catching glimpses of them, more worried about revealing her location.

They spoke in low tones, words carried off and blocked by the wind before she could hear. She continued edging forward, irritated she couldn’t listen.

Sage. Can you amplify the sound so I can hear them?

[Yes. Amplifying.]

A hum deepened in her ears. The immediate world around her turned mute, but a low rumbling filled its empty space. In a few moments, she could hear the rough, but faint and muffled words of the group.

“…they will… the girl… brought back already. After… members will… of the rest of the town.”

“Be patient. The envoy has set up the… her blood will be the final piece of…”

“…ritual site. Stalling… will be convenient…”

“”Will all die… their way already. Town… be razed to the ground. The Ashen Covenant will be pleased.”

The demon rumbled at that sentence, sound too deep to be coherent speech. The cultists all seemed to hum, as if they understood. One of them tilted their head up at the demon, but said something too illegible for her to hear.

Veronica’s pulse tightened. That was enough information. Even with the terrible quality, enough of their words strung together for her to get a general idea. The viscount’s daughter. That was the only person the “girl” could have been, if they were talking about envoys.

She was their target; she was going to be made into the sacrifice for their summoning. And from the other thing she picked up, the entire town might be in danger; either before or after—the entire place will be razed to the ground.

She clenched her fists.

Her breath steadied, drawing in a slow breath, while channeling her mana until her mana veins were circulating. The demon seemed to be demonic soldier, not the lesser one like she’d been hoping.

This would make things extremely difficult. Demonic soldiers were not something regular Tier-2 mages could handle.

The demon ranks went from Lesser, Soldier, Centurion, Commander, Warlord, Archfiend, and then Demon Lord. Even lesser demons, ones without much flare or uniqueness about them, could slaughter Tier-1 mages. It would take a full ten-member squad to take one down. Even for Tier-2 mages, it took a small party.

But a soldier? That was approaching territory that needed Tier-3 mages.

Even if I’m only Tier-2 right now, I should be able to cast a Tier-3 spell, she thought.

Her fingers trembled as she began assembling the magic needed for a Tier-3 Path of Ruin spell. A unique spell she created herself during her studies. She just needed several seconds to cast it.

Two wings appeared behind her right palm. A third began to vibrantly shudder, fighting its way into existence. She also had to wait for the right moment, when they all lined up for her to strike.

She gathered more and more mana, her mana rings increasing in rotational speed, ready to unleash the spell—until Sage interrupted her.

[Additional presence detected ahead. Rustling of leaves. Arc of tension detected. Consistent with a pulled bowstring.]

A bowstring? Out here? Veronica froze mid-spell cast. Her eyes immediately narrowed, and her gaze flicked around.

Her ears pricked at the sound as Sage amplified something snapping.

An arrow, thin and quick, sliced through the leaves, heading directly for the cultists.

The demon was the first to react to the sound. Upon its body turning, a loud grunt escaped its maw. This caused the cultists to all turn and put their guards up and leapt back a half-step.

The arrow hit one of the masked men.

It was too shallow.

Instead of piercing the front cultist’s head, the shaft of the arrow tore into the man’s arm, barely sinking its metal tip into his shoulder before he plucked it out and broke snapped it in half.

“Who’s there?!” he shouted in fury.

The demon stirred, molten flames inside its body kindling upward through various cracks of its blackened armor.

Veronica’s gaze quickly shot to the side, facing the direction of where the arrow came from. Sage told her the rest.

[Air vibration and brush movement detected. Size and stride suggest a child. Probability… 94% to be Finn. He is currently sprinting east.]

“That damn kid!” she cursed beneath her breath. “Always getting in the way!”

Her hands rose, palms glowing. Light spiraled before her in a tightening helix as she forced mana into the forming matrix. Without a staff, every second cost her more strain. “Just a few more seconds…” Her jaw clenched, grunting, eyes fixed forward.

Eliminate the demons, Veronica! Promise me that! Please!

The words of a dead friend burned in her mind.

That was when, the demon took action.

[Concentrated demonic power detected. Finn casualty rate: 44%]

The demon turned, chest rumbling with a roar. Flames welled between the cracks of its flesh and armor. Eyes ignited, molten red. It leaned toward the treeline, maw glowing as fire pooled within. It was going to try and incinerate the hidden ambusher.

It was going to kill Finn.

Panic jolted through her veins. Her eyes flicked right—then back to the demon.

Time fractured. Thoughts collided, overlapping.

Do it! Shoot now!

Not enough time. Fire early, stop it!

This won’t kill it!

The spell won’t finish in time—idiot, why use a Tier-3?!

Too slow!

It’s aiming for him—move! Stop it!

He’ll die!

Disrupt it with something else!

No time. Too late. You should’ve cast three seconds ago!

Her hands trembled. Just four more seconds.

[Finn casualty rate: 74%]

Three more seconds.

[Finn casualty rate: 82%]

A memory resurfaced.

A pair of children.

A little girl’s broken voice, crying a name. The boy Veronica failed to save, the first mistake of the Fall. A mistake that had carved her open and never healed. She had let an innocent young boy die. She couldn’t save that little girl’s brother.

Milo…

The thought of the girl sobbing her brother’s name—that broke her.

“DAMN IT!”” Veronica roared.

The forming spell shattered in her hands. She funneled every scrap of mana into Burst, a Tier-2 Path of Ruin spell, one suited for her current tier. The spell formed in an instant with utmost efficiency.

A powerful blow of condensed mana. She had used a more raw, more primitive version of this spell to break the slave shackles off her hand back in the forest.

Now, she used it on the ground below her feet.

Sage’s mana barrier formed around her as a shockwave detonated beneath her boots. Earth split. Grass, dirt, and splintered twigs exploded upward as her body rocketed forward. Over fifty meters of clearing vanished in an instant. Her landing carved a gouge through the soil, boots skidding, body whiplashing with violent force. She could feel her body straining hard with the sudden stop.

Though it helped, her mana barrier didn’t fully protect her body from the force. Mana could only help reduce so much physical strain. She ignored the pain.

The cultists flinched, surprised by Veronica’s sudden appearance. However, the demon remained unfazed, continuing to channel its demonic energy, about to fire. One target or two—it didn’t care.

Veronica immediately pulled up her own mana barrier. A large one, spreading her mana out wide to cover several meters from herself, forming a large wall.

[I shall help.]

Sage assisted, changing its own barrier to match Veronica’s, layering them on top of one another.

Spells that simply used pure mana without much complexity were much quicker for her to cast. And there was nothing quicker than using mana for a barrier. Even though it was a tier-3 technique, Veronica had relied on it frequently, as did many other mages.

She had no problem being efficient with it.

[Finn casualty rate has dropped to 6%.]
[You are 64% likely to suffer substantial injuries blocking this attack.]

“So be it,” Veronica muttered.

Her fingers shook, pressed flat against the wall of light she’d raised. Sweat rolled down her brow.

She had never fought battles like this, not this early. Not in her first life. By the time she began actual life-and-death fights, she was already around the 6th-Tier. Where power and strength were second nature to her, able to hold her ground against powerful opponents. But even then, she had mostly taken them out in one or two spells. She rarely fought something so directly.

Not until the invasion, that is.

If she still had her power, this fight would have ended before it began.

If she still had her power, Finn wouldn’t be in danger at all.

If she still had her power, this entire forest would already be ash—and she would be walking away.

But those were only ifs.

Now she was only a Tier-2 mage. Straining against a threat her current body should never have faced. And worse—she had squandered her chance to end them all in a single strike.

A small part of her cursed Finn for being such a nosy child.

Another part of her, however, couldn’t blame him. Bravery came in all shapes and sizes. She would never condemn someone for standing up.

Veronica didn’t consider herself righteous. Not in the slightest. Her magic was quite the opposite. She wasn’t a hero, and she’d never really wanted to be one. All she wanted was to live. To have a normal life.

The main reason she fought the demons—why she tried so hard to protect others—was Maeve.

Maeve was her mentor. Her most trusted friend. The one who taught her that even if her life unapologetically sucked, that didn’t mean she couldn’t make others happy.

Maeve hated demons. They had taken her family from her.

So Veronica fought. Just to make her happy.

But now she understood that same pain.

The demons had taken everything Veronica loved too—more than Medusa’s curse ever had.

The demon bellowed. Its jaws opened wide.

The world turned white with fire.

Flames roared against her shield, a furnace-hot blast that set the trees ablaze in an instant. Her barrier shuddered under the weight of it, trembling with cracks of light. Veronica’s teeth clenched; sweat poured down her face. Her legs sank into the earth as the force pressed her backward.

“Hold,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “Just… hold!”

[Barrier integrity at 73%...]

[52%...]

[31%...]

Her arms shook violently as she funneled more and more mana into the shield, every vein in her body screaming in protest. Her lungs burned, the air around her choking with smoke. Around her mana core, her mana rings spun rapidly, trying to increase how much mana she was exerting.

The fire pressed closer. The wall bent inward, light groaning like glass under strain.

“Not… yet…”

Another crack ripped across her shield, splitting it down the middle.

Then, with a deafening shatter, the barrier broke.

And the fire swallowed her whole.

“S…sage..!”

At the same time—a familiar pain from within, engulfed her.