Dark Magus Returns

While performing his little trick, there was always a worry in the back of Raze's mind. He knew that it might be seen through by Barlan. From the information he knew, Barlan was a 4-star mage.

Knowing this, Raze had drawn the memory loss formation using a circle that only a 6-star mage would know. On top of that, he hid the real magic circle formation of the light show that was activated by his lightning magic.

Doing so, he wanted to make it seem like it was magic, and using a formation that Barlan might not understand. It was possible that Barlan would have asked questions while he was doing his work, raising the suspicions of Marcus and the rest of the group, yet he did not.

Which was why he thought he had gotten away with it, until this point right now.

In response, Barlan smiled. "You can relax a bit; I'm not expecting to fight you, and if the two of us were to clash, I imagine I would lose. Your Pagna skills are great, and you can use magic. You might not be able to use both at the same time, but it means that you can attack close and far away. On top of that, you have very special clothing."

A level-headed mage came as somewhat of a surprise after the number of hot-headed people that Raze had come across.

"You should keep up thoughts like this; you will live longer," Raze replied.

It was a quick remark that caused a smirk to appear on Barlan's face.

"You know, I knew straight away, as soon as you started to talk about the memory loss spell, that there would be an issue. That is something that can only be done by a 6-star mage, and on top of that, one would have to have the affinity in Light Magic to top it off."

"It's not an easy skill to do. You probably thought I wouldn't know about it or notice because I'm a 4-star mage, just thinking; this is a spell that I haven't done research in, especially since my specialty is in water." Raising his hand, Barlan made a swirl of water appear in the air.

He moved his index finger in a swirling motion, and the water swirled around with it. "But did you forget already, I'm part of the Glory Guild. There have been times when I have seen that spell used myself."

An instant reaction had acted in Raze; as his hand twitched and tightened, he quickly relaxed it and decided to look away from Barlan and instead just concentrate on the dark orange scenery in front of him.

"My point is that I knew that you were going to fail from the beginning, yet I decided not to say anything and was wondering what you were going to pull off. These guys behind us, they understand the basics of magic but not much more than that. Let me show you something."

Barlan then pulled out a device that looked like a stick from underneath his sleeve. It only took a moment, but Raze noticed the marking of 'I' on it, and it was clear it had magical powers.

"This is an item that some of us at Alter have, and have you noticed something?"

Raze was unsure what he meant; he knew it was a magical device but didn't see anything strange at all.

"This whole time we have been talking to each other in Alterian, not in Pagna."

For a moment, Raze's mind was almost blown. He hadn't realized it himself, since everything flowed so easily. He only noticed it when looking at different markings or writing and such.

"You see, this device allows it, so those from other worlds can understand each other. It's quite amazing, as someone doesn't need it for long, it's something like one's brain naturally gets used to it after a while and we can all speak Pagna fine."

"But those who are new here, they have to use this device. Everything they say is in their own language but comes out in Pagna to the rest of us. In terms of spells though, for some reason, these things aren't translated."

"When a magic is cast, I don't know if it disrupts the device just for a moment or what, or maybe it was even designed that way, but those guys would have had no clue what you were doing."

The device was quite amazing, and Raze assumed that it worked both ways. The mages that had appeared in the dimension, they understood what was being said most likely because they had the same device.

"This is good information," Raze mumbled.

"Right, I mean, there are some people that try to learn the language themselves rather than rely on magical devices, fearful that these things can control your brain. I mean, letting a speaking magical item's magic into the inside of you, and allowing it to change your chemistry up there, is not something that everyone is happy about."

"But everything you said still doesn't explain why you aren't helping your squad out. Why didn't you tell them the truth?" Raze asked again, trying to put more pressure.

Was this man really a spy, working for Bonum, or was Raze just thinking too much into it and he was a mage that wanted to help out a fellow mage.

"Because I'm from the Glory Guild," Barlan answered. "At that point in time, when I saw what you did for those people, and the arguments you made, I was feeling something inside me."

"The deaths of those around me for the greater cause are something that one will have to learn to accept. And the tasks we do, we have to understand that we are small pieces in the grand scheme of things."÷=

"But at the end of the day, I was part of the Glory Guild that worked for the Grand Magus. We are one of the good guys, and back then, I didn't feel like one of the good guys, you did, so I decided to help you."

"The Glory Guild, part of the good guys," Raze repeated to himself as he slightly shook his head. It was an unbelievable concept for him to have, especially with the Grand Magus being at the top.

This was the view though, the view of the general public of Alterian and what those in the guild had thought, and anyone who was against them would become an enemy regardless.

"Well, thank you," Raze answered.

Right up ahead, they could see a city; it looked like an outpost that was based on the base of a valley of mountains. If one looked to their left or right, they could just see what looked like a field of mountains, and the only thing that stood out was the city itself.

"It looks like we're here; I hope all goes well in the city," Barlan answered. "Otherwise, we might have to climb those mountaintops to head to the Dark Faction, but I'm sure all is well."

Just then, Raze had his hand open in front of Barlan. When he went to look down, he could see three different colored Qi pills in his hand.

"A gift for keeping it a secret," Raze stated.

Barlan took them and looked at the Qi pills. "But these are what warriors take."

"Their effects work on mages as well," Raze answered. "Just keep them for when you need them."

As Barlan continued to inspect the pills, he soon saw the small marking of 'DM'.

"DM?"