Typemoon: Starting Out as the Lion King's Personal Knight

After seeing the magus's true face, Alaric instinctively tilted his head in confusion, as if a large question mark had appeared above him.

"Is this also an effect of magecraft?"

Alaric knew the magus before him was skilled in high-level life-conversion magecraft. Who knew if this was her real appearance?

"Betrayer who abandoned the Holy Emblem, you will face divine punishment!"

The magus ignored Alaric's question, quickly extinguishing any hope he had of a peaceful inquiry.

Just then, a fierce wind swept over the gray-haired magus—

Splurt!

A spray of blood erupted as her sword-wielding arm was severed, flying high into the air.

"Did you think I was going to waste time talking?"

Alaric's eerie whisper reached the girl's ear, his warm breath brushing her earlobe, causing her to break out in goosebumps.

Overwhelmed by excruciating pain that surged through her brain, crimson blood instantly stained the yellow sand below.

"Gah!"

The girl barely had time to react before attempting to flee, while simultaneously trying to heal her wound with magecraft.

But Alaric's next warning crushed her last bit of resistance.

"Next time, it'll be your other hand or leg. Want to test me?"

The bloodstained edge of his sword pressed against her spine as if the slightest pressure would drive it into her body.

After the brief exchange, Alaric was certain that this girl was no match for him.

She could create chimeras at the Servant level, but her abilities fell far below that standard.

"I'll ask you three questions. If you lie even once, I'll send you to join your fellow Crusaders—"

Alaric applied a little more pressure, his sword cutting through her cloak and into her skin. A thin line of blood trickled down the blade.

The girl, focusing most of her energy on stopping the bleeding from her severed arm, bit her lip, pale and unable to respond.

"Where did you take my companion?"

Although Alaric doubted these people were capable of harming Nitocris, he decided to play it safe and find her as soon as possible.

"She... she was taken into a bounded field," the girl stammered, her voice trembling under the threat of death.

'Not a fanatic, so there's room for negotiation?'

Alaric was surprised by her quick response; he had expected her to die rather than speak.

Just as he was about to ask another question—

"!"

Alaric's head snapped up, his gaze shifting skyward as a massive surge of magical energy descended from above.

Crack!

A sharp, echoing sound split the air. In the next moment, the sky shattered!

The swirling sandstorm above collapsed, cascading down like a waterfall from the heavens, forming a massive, clear-blue dome centered on Alaric and the girl—a bounded field spanning over a thousand meters.

"Nitocris!"

As the sky crumbled, Alaric finally caught sight of Nitocris's striking figure, standing high in the air and surrounded by a surge of magical power. Dozens of terrifying, ghostly apparitions roared around her.

'So that's where she was!'

Alaric quickly realized the bounded field had been moved into the sky, its presence concealed by the sandstorm.

Then, he noticed several figures falling from above. The bodies of chimeras, identical to the one he had fought earlier, tumbled down in pieces. Along with them were three human-shaped figures—three black-robed magus.

'Three accomplices—is that all of them?'

Without hesitation, Alaric unleashed his full power. Scarlet magic surged from him like a dragon, swallowing the entire blue dome above him in an instant.

It was as if a red dragon had truly descended upon the world.

The gray-haired magus girl lying nearby rolled her eyes back and fainted.

Alaric paid her no attention. With a powerful leap—

Boom!

The ground caved in beneath him, a massive crater left behind, with waves of yellow sand pouring into the pit.

Alaric shot through the air like a thunderbolt, closing the distance to the falling enemies in a single breath.

Seeing him join the fight, Nitocris decisively withdrew her magic and descended to the ground.

In the next instant—

A series of mirrored surfaces unfolded in layers across the sky, blocking Alaric's path!

Almost instantly, he understood the purpose of the mirrors.

The gathered sunlight suddenly focused on him.

Nearly a hundred layers of mirrors formed a device, concentrating sunlight to generate immense, deadly heat—not through magic, but purely by focusing the light.

Crash!

All the mirrors shattered at once, and the concentrated sunlight proved useless against him.

"What?!"

Before the magus could react, a shadow engulfed the sky above them. They looked up to meet cold, pale-gold eyes glaring down, radiating overwhelming magical energy—

[Mana Burst]

Alaric's entire body surged with magic, gathering even more power until he was fully charged.

Without a word, he mercilessly swung his blade.

The crimson torrent that swept across the sky was like the breath of a dragon, a force that could obliterate everything and set the world ablaze—

Crunch!

When Alaric landed steadily back on the ground, he found the sand within a radius of several dozen meters had crystallized, glistening in the sunlight.

After confirming the magus were dead, he quickly rejoined Nitocris.

"Miss Nitocris, how did they manage to capture you?"

Wanting to ensure this didn't happen again, Alaric felt it necessary to understand how it had unfolded.

Looking thoroughly annoyed, Nitocris raised her voice a few notches. "Those insolent fools ambushed me when I was off guard and activated a small bounded field, something like a Reality Marble…"

Alaric quickly pieced together the rest. Inside the bounded field, the three magus, along with their chimeras, had fought Nitocris for only a few rounds before she shattered it.

'The bounded field was secondary. The real threat was their ability to hide their presence—'

Alaric snapped his fingers, realizing the key to their plan. The magus's bounded field wasn't particularly strong, but their technique for concealing their magical energy had allowed them to separate him and Nitocris before either could react.

Without lingering too long on the topic, Nitocris asked about the missing Crusaders and the unconscious gray-haired magus girl.

"Oh right, this one's with them."

Alaric briefly recounted what had happened and suggested Nitocris use her magic to wake the girl.

Cough, cough—

The pale-faced magus girl coughed violently, struggling to turn over with her remaining arm.

She looked up to see Alaric and Nitocris gazing down at her.

Ignoring the girl's angry expression, Alaric casually pointed at her. "Miss Nitocris, it seems this person was my former colleague. Can I handle her?"

Although Alaric didn't recognize this girl, and his time with the Crusaders had been brief, they had, technically speaking, been colleagues.