Roars of raging flames and ominous howls of the dark, ethereal clouds filled the world, as the scarred man’s attacks rained down on the Lady of Thorns. Left, right, up, and down, the attacks came from all directions. And she could do nothing, but stand in place, as her Roots kept refusing to respond. This was the price she had to pay for her arrogance. The price—

  Nyssa waved her hands, pushing away all the flames and clouds with just a simple burst of her Spirit Power. Even the puppets, who had her surrounded, and trapped in their Ritual, could not resist the force of her Spirit. Though they somehow still maintained their circle. But they were pushed away, nonetheless. Yet, the scarred man stood still, facing her outburst as if it was just another gust of wind.

  “Your struggles are futile, Lady of Thorns,” the scarred man said. “Without your Roots, you are nothing.”

  “A Ritual targeting my Roots,” Nyssa said, glancing at the puppets, who seemed to be glowing in a greyish black light. “No wonder you were so confident. Without their Roots, even experienced Grand Wanderers would have trouble facing so many attacks at once. But it is still not enough to take me down, not to mention that your puppets do not seem to be in a good condition. Just how long can your Ritual last, Ghost Fire?”

  “Long enough for me to complete what I came here for,” the scarred man said, restraining his hysteria to look solemnly at the Lady of Thorns. “And longer than your Spirit Power.”

  “…You are comparing your Spirit Power with me?”

  “Spirit Power? No,” the scarred man said, shaking his head, as he redirected the attacks that the Lady of Thorns had pushed away back to her. “If anything, I am comparing my months of preparation with your Spirit Power.”

  “Unfortunately for you, your preparations are still inadequate,” Nyssa said, using the same trick to push the attacks away. “If that is all that you amount to, then I am going to be disappointed, Ghost Fire.”

  “But the show has just begun, Lady of Thorns,” the scarred man said, urging the Glyph Arrays engraved in the desert to release their attacks once again, timing his attacks just right, so that they would fall upon the woman the moment she pushed away the first wave of attacks. “It is still unclear as to who might be the one being disappointed.”

  “…You still do not understand the gap between our Ranks,” Nyssa said, shaking her head, as she stretched her right hand in the air, and clenched her fist. Following her action, a hand manifested around her, mimicking her gesture to grab all the attacks coming towards her, and crushing them out of existence.

  “But this is just right. I was wondering how to test my new powers, and you just gave me the perfect excuse.”

  “…Your bluffs will not fool—

  The scarred man stopped mid sentence, staring at the Lady of Thorns with wide eyes, as he saw an illusory figure stepping out of her body.

  “…How dare you release your Grand Spirit in the midst of a battle?”

  “Did you not listen to what I said just now?” Nyssa said, as her body and Spirit glanced at each other. “I am testing my new powers.”

  The scarred man responded by sending another wave of attacks towards the woman, focussing most of them on her Spirit. He did not care why the woman had suddenly become suicidal, exposing her Spirit to the world. It was the perfect opportunity to defeat, or even capture her. And he was not going to miss it just because of some hesitation. Unfortunately, things did not go exactly as he had expected them to.

  Instead of standing still to face the barrage of his attacks head on, the woman’s Spirit moved, vanishing in front of his eyes, while her body stood still, allowing his attacks to fall on her unimpeded. Yet, for some reasons, those attacks could not even break her skin. It was as if she had a shield around her body. But that was impossible. Her Roots…

  “Is your new power dodging my attacks?” the scarred man said with a sneer. “Or vanishing like a coward?”

  “Do not be so impatient, Ghost Fire,” Nyssa said, with her voice echoing from two places at once. One from her body, and the other, from just behind the scarred man’s back, scaring him into running away almost instantaneously, while urging his flames to drown the place where the voice had come from. In vain.

  “Like you said, the show has just begun.”

  The scarred man retreated once again, with an ugly expression on his face, while hastily glancing around himself. But no matter how he looked, he could not find the woman’s Spirit. So, he could only set his eyes on her body, staring at him with a mocking smile.

  “Are you scared already, Ghost Fire?”

  “Shut up!” the scarred man said, urging another wave of attacks. Yet, just like the waves before, they only looked impressive, falling apart the moment they reached the Lady of Thorns.

  “…Maybe I expected a little too much from you.”

  “Shut up!”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Then again, what else could I have expected from a Mystic Wanderer?”

  “Shut up!”

  “It is useless, Ghost Fire,” Nyssa said, shaking her head at the man descending into hysteria once again. This time, for an entirely different reason. “Give up.”

  “…Give up?” the scarred man said, staring fiercely at the woman. “Who do you think I am?”

  “It does not matter who you are—

  “I am Rhaeghar of Ghost Fire! The man destined to spread his fire to every corner of the world. I will never give up! Never!”

  “…Then I can only use some force to subdue you first.”

  “Do you think you can scar—

  An overwhelming force hit the scarred man, sending him crashing down through his Glyph Arrays, and into the desert, creating plumes of sand that rose twenty to thirty metres in the air. And before the plumes could fall back down, the blue robed man was already in the air, rushing towards the Lady of Thorns. Yet, the moment he neared her, he was met with the same overwhelming force, creating another pit on the ground. But he refused to stay down.

  Calling on the powers of his Glyph Arrays, he wrapped himself in flames and clouds of death, creating a giant that stood nearly a hundred metres tall, similar in shape and figure to his own body, just with a sword in one hand, and a chain in the other. The latter, made from flames, while the former, glowing in an eerie black light.

  “You forced me to do this, Lady of Thorns,” the scarred man said. “Do not blame me for—

  The same overwhelming force hit the giant. But this time, instead of pushing it to the ground, it began crushing it inch by inch, disintegrating its form metre by metre, until all that was left of the giant was a blue robed man, wrapped in a faint cloak of flames and an eerie black light, staring incredulously at the Lady of Thorns. Nyssa herself, however, did not seem to be very satisfied with the results.

  “It seems that the effects are just up to par…”

  “…You…”

  “Forget it. No matter how weak the effect is, it is enough to deal with a rat like you.”

  “…This does not make any sense,” the scarred man mumbled with a dazed look on his face. “How can you use such force without your Roots?”

  “Now, do you understand the difference between Ranks?”

  “…Ranks… Spirit… It is your Spirit… It must be your Spirit… Your Spirit… Where is it?”

  “Where it should be,” Nyssa said, staring indifferently at the scarred man, turning him even more hysterical. And paranoid. Since he could not see her Spirit, he decided to burn everything around him, be it the sands, or the air, all in attempt to draw her Spirit out, and defend from the invisible attacks. Yet, just like before, all his efforts were futile.

  “…Stop wasting your strength, rat,” Nyssa said, extinguishing all the flames, be it Ghost or otherwise, with just a wave of her hands. “I cannot have you dying just yet.”

  “…How can you still have so much strength?”

  “What gave you the impression that I was lacking in strength?”

  “You… Did you deliberately let me go last time?” the scarred man said, his face turning paler with each passing moment. “You wanted me to escape… To think that I have a chance against you… Even the way you controlled my flames was no accident… From the very beginning, you have been tempting me… You manipulated me into not calling for reinforcements… You… wanted to buy time…”

  “Give up, rat,” Nyssa said, neither denying nor accepting what the man said. “As long as you answer a few of my questions, I can give you a quick and painless death.”

  “…I should have known,” the man mumbled. “I should have seen through your lies… I should have asked for help…”

  “Do you think it would have helped?” Nyssa said, showing no emotion in her voice. “The moment you chose to target my disciple, your fate was already doomed. The only thing your call for reinforcement would have changed would have been the number of people who died at my hands.”

  “…I…”

  “I do not have much patience,” Nyssa said. “Now, choose. Do you want to die peacefully, or suffer the same fate as the little blood rat who attacked Anneve?”

  “…I choose to kill you with my own hands!”

  “…You made the wrong choice,” Nyssa said, but showed no regret in her voice. Instead, as she had promised, she directed an overwhelming force to the scarred man once again. And this time, the blue robed man did not have any giants to share the pressure. Neither did Nyssa have any intention of letting the man escape again. Once was enough. And if not for her son’s special circumstances, she would not have let the man run even once. But it would all change soon. Just a few more months…

  “What a useless rat.”

  “Cannot even take care of a Wanderer who has lost connection with her Roots.”

  “What else could we have expected from these rats?”

  “I told you, these sewer rats can never be trusted with any important work.”

  “We should have taken them down as soon as they left the city.”

  “Still, he cannot be said to be a complete failure…”

  Nyssa paused, and glanced towards the voices, only to see a flash of white light. And though it was not blindingly bright, it did stop everyone from exploring the things it kept hiding, until it dissipated naturally, revealing a group of six Wanderers. The same six, who had been targeting her disciple within the Lost City. And at the moment, had come chasing after him. And her.

  “At least we learned quite a few things about our new Wanderer.”

  “…Lady of Thorns. I always wondered why I found that name familiar. Now I know.”

  “A Union’s Wanderer sneaking into the Forbidden Areas of the Tes Domain…”

  “Do not forget about her disciple. Since she is from the Union, he can also be regarded as part of the Union.”

  “And here I thought our Lightning Region was going to get another Supreme Wanderer in a few thousand years.”

  “…What a pity.”

  “You have put us in a great dilemma, Lady of Thorns…”

  “Now, come back with us obediently, and let us investigate your reason for coming to the Union.”

  “Maybe you will be able to save your disciple’s life.”

  “But if you resist…”

  “Then we cannot be blamed for taking some measures to ensure the interests of our Domain.”

  “…It is alright,” Nyssa said, releasing some of the pressure from the scarred man, just enough to keep him alive, but not enough to give him his freedom. “Just as you need to ensure your interests, I also need to ensure mine… Thank you, for saving me a round trip back to the Lost City.”