"A mage!

" Someone from the group of onlookers shouted.

A mage was a rarity in the current world, so much so that usually if a person was one, they would be set for life. They could pretty much enter any kingdom as long as their power wasn't next to nothing and earn an easy living there and the empire was no different.

Even they had their team of mages and were welcoming to anyone who showed an ounce of magical talent. That was how sought after the mages were. Which made them start to wonder what was a mage possibly doing in a place like this.

Whatever the reason was, they were just happy that he was here and they thought that they now stood a chance of beating the beats or stalling it long enough for help to arrive.

However, Roy wasn't just any mage, he was a tower mage. One of the four greatest mages at Roland academy, or was one at least. But he couldn't use his full power here. There were two reasons for this. It was clear the facility was up to no good.

Right now he already had eyes gawking at him and in awe of his magic powers. But if he was to display an even greater degree of magic, there was the possibility they would use him for something else in this place.

The beast proceeded to get up and Roy threw out two more fireballs, knocking it back down again. It did minimal damage, but the force was enough to knock it away. During this time, Slyvia had picked up the girl and brought her back to her mother.

The guard she had hit from before was still on the floor, using his hand to cover the mark on his face. If it was any other time, he would have been raging with anger for what the women had done. But right now, Slyvia had her sword, and she was faced ready to fight the beast.

He felt a strange power in her and felt like if they wanted to live in this situation, they needed her alive.

The gorilla had gotten up once more and as usual, Roy threw out fireballs again, not wanting to show his arsenal of fire skills. Only using the most basic of spells. But the beast was learning and it immediately rolled as it got up from the floor avoiding the attacks, the next second it had charged towards Slyvia again.

'She'll be okay.' Roy thought.

Waiting for the right moment, as if a bull was charging towards a red piece of cloth, as soon as it hopped forward to deal a blow, she spun off to the side and attacked the beast through the stomach. But the blow was shallow.

"Damn it, I'm not as strong as the others,

" Slyvia said. She knew she wasn't. While her friends were dealing with the troubles of the outside world, she had been in the council seat. Her skills hadn't deteriorated, but during this entire time, she hadn't gotten any stronger either.

A shallow cut like this was all she could really do with the equipment in her hand.

Due to the shallow wound the gorilla turned and went in for another attack, swinging its fists widely. The attacks were parried away until one of them grabbed onto her forearm. It gripped tightly, hoping to render it useless.

Then, right where the gorilla's arm was, a swing from a sword came down cutting one of the gorilla's arms off.

"Leave it to me, Slyvia!

" Martha said. From one of the other dead guards she had picked up their weapon and was now using it herself. She had more Ki at her disposal than Slyvia due to the beasting process, and she also had her wind magic to help her as well.

The only problem was, swordsmanship wasn't really her forte. If she was to attack the beast, she feared it would simply dodge and she didn't know how to begin to deal with all those attacks. However, she saw an opportunity when one of the arms had grabbed onto Slyvia.

Lacing the edge of her sword with the wind magic and her Ki, she was able to create an incredibly sharp weapon that was capable of cutting the gorilla.

The beast cried and growled in pain once more, and before Martha knew it, she had been hit and whacked to the side, sent flying through the air and across the room.

Slyvia hadn't listened to what she said before. She saw an opportunity, and she was going to take it. The most vulnerable time and the best time to attack was when someone was attacking. That was when they would let their defense down.

Thrusting her sword forward she aimed slightly left of the chest, hoping to pierce the heart. She used her keen senses to make sure there was a heartbeat present there, and aimed to kill the beats in one blow.

It may have had the power of an advanced tier, but its body was still only that of an intermediate tier. She just needed to gather power.

'I need to give it everything I have. Somewhere, anywhere, just give me power.' She thought.

Then, one of her eyes started to slightly fill with black, mixed in with Ki, a dark sinister energy had joined it. She certainly felt more powerful and was disregarding where it was coming from and at that moment. She had stabbed the beast right in its heart.

It let out one last growl before eventually falling to the floor.

Martha was hurt but her body was stronger than most. She had looked up at Slyvia during the fight and could have sworn she sensed something. Right now she could only see her back though. Standing up, she walked over.

"Slyvia, you did it… is everything okay?

" Martha asked.

The sword was dropped to the floor and Slyvia turned around, looking like her usual self. There was no difference in her appearance or the aura around her.

"I'm fine, what about you? You were the one that was hit.

" Sylvia replied.

The room was suddenly filled with guards that looked more appropriate to deal with the beast. They had better armor, better equipment all around over their body. In total, there were five of them. The one who stood at the front was a man named Garn.

Garn could see the group of frightened people, including the guard, stood at the back against the wall, while three others in medical clothing stood in the center of the room with the beast dead.

"Report back, tell them the beast has already been dealt with,

" Garn said to one of the men, and he immediately left the room.

"You, also find out how they managed to make another slip out. They seem to be getting more frequent and frequent. If this happens again, then they need us in the research facility rather than on call.

" Garn ordered.

The people were told to wait inside and the frightened guard was taken out along with the scientists. A clean-up crew had entered cleaning the room and the people had eventually calmed down.

After a short while, Garn had returned with the usual guard by his side instead of his own men.

"You, you, and you.

" Garn said, pointing at them.

"I hear you saved these people's lives. We would like to thank you. Do you mind going for a little walk?

"

It didn't feel like they had much of a choice in a facility such as this one. What would even happen if they said no, but Sylvia was the first to volunteer standing up.

"I would love to.

"

So the other two decided to follow. Garn walked with the two regular guards by his side and the other three were behind him. They had gone on to the second floor of the facility.

"As you can expect, this place doesn't just do testing on humans, but we are doing so on the beast as well. To defeat the shadow, we must learn everything we can about the place.

" Garn started to explain.

"The problem is, the better results come when a subject is infected more than ever with the shadow. We feel like we are close. Incidents will start to happen more frequently as we progress and honestly, we are down on manpower.

"

"I heard from the scientist and the guard form before, you three aren't ordinary people. A fire mage, and two Ki users. Most likely great adventures. I wanted to ask you three if you would be willing to join our team. Help prevent events such as this one. You will be given a good wage, and you will have a couple of days off to explore the city.

"

Hearing this, Roy's eyes had lit up with excitement. This was what he had dreamed off. It was the whole reason he had come to the city. Another job and a way of living. Due to Garn's explanation, his fears from before had vanished as well.

However, the same couldn't be said for the girls. Something still felt off and she knew her brother wouldn't be investigating such a matter if it was a simple as this.

They had then entered, a certain room, it was white like the one they were just in before but with the others.

"Why don't I give you time to think about it,

" Garn said walking back out of the room and the door was shut. Leaving the three of them inside.

"Did we just get locked in here?

" Martha asked.

Outside the research facility, in the strange settlement. There were two new arrivals tonight.

"Alright, let's go find those girls,

" Kyle said with a smile.

*****

For MDs Updates and artwork follow on Instagram and Facebook: jksmanga

Manga is coming out soon that will be available on P.A.T.R.E.O.N : jksmanga