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Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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It was a dark and moonless night, with only the faint light from the stars illuminating the budding forest. The density of trees here was sparse, with signs of uprooting and replanting evident all around. The ground was patchy with greenery, and there was an uneven distribution of flowers and other flora. The place was mostly silent, which was interrupted intermittently by the drones of crickets projecting their presence to others of their kind.

One could say that it was peaceful... a little too peaceful. It felt like the calm before a storm. Though it was strangely ominous for a metaphorical storm to come so soon after rampaging and devastating these lands. These were the plagued lands of the Solar Empire; this was the region that once lay ravaged and abandoned by the Plague of Dark Cleansing.

The sound of a fallen branch cracking echoed. A man walked on with a limp on his right side, but his speed did not match that of an injured individual. His eyes were dark and sunken, his face pale and sickly, and his expression alternated haphazardly between malevolence and disdain.

He walked until he reached the centre of the reformed region, and scanned the surrounding area with a confused gaze. His brows furrowed into a frown and a snarl escaped his lips. He crouched, dipped his hands into the soil and lifted a handful of rich dirt. He held it at eye level and waited, as through the centre of the mound slithered out a thick, pink earthworm. The man let the dirt sift through his fingers and captured the worm between his thumb and index. The worm struggled fearfully as it was brought closer to its captor\'s eyes.

The man ground his teeth harder the more the worm struggled until a malicious sneer cracked his pale face in two. His lips puckered and parted, and a gust of dark wind escaped them. The gust enveloped the worm completely, before dissipating into the air.

The man waited.

But the worm\'s struggle did not cede. His brows rose in shock before unfettered rage drowned all the emotion on his face. A purple spell circle formed around the worm before the creature disintegrated into nothingness.

His enraged eyes darted around, growing more agitated with each living creature that got caught in his view. A spell circle formed on his right palm, which he raised and - with a loud bellow - plunged into the ground. The ground rippled and cracked as an ethereal purple light spread outwards. The grass where his fist entered the soil grew diseased and started to spread outwards. But after moving six metres from the source, the spread ceased.

The maddened smile on the man\'s face cracked and turned into a deeper shade of confusion.

"What is this?" He rasped in shock. At that moment, his eyes widened, and he raised both his arms instinctively. An explosion broke in front of him, dispersing upon the hastily cast |Ward| spell.

"Attacking an unprepared individual, how dishonourable-" the man said with a derisive snort. "-Teacher Jeeves."

"You\'ve lost the privilege of calling me that, Ziva," an elderly voice responded as another man came into view from behind a nearby tree. With a smirk, he said, "Surprised to see your \'masterpiece\' ruined?"

"This?" Ziva scoffed while trying to mask his true emotions from revealing themselves. "I don\'t believe in looking back. My Plague has already achieved its purpose."

"Don\'t lie to me, Ziva. You can\'t even lie convincingly to fool yourself," Al responded with an uproarious laugh. "You forget that I\'ve taught you for over thirty years. I practically raised you, BOY! This must be really grinding you from within. You were never one to take a loss of face lightly, even if it was inconsequential."

"ENOUGH!" Ziva snapped back. "Who did it? It can\'t be you. And don\'t try to fool me, I\'ve studied under you for over thirty years, after all."

With a self-deprecating smile, Al responded, "Right. Thirty years we spent together. None of it mattered, in the end, did it? I was just a means to an end for you."

"Stop deflecting, old man!" Ziva interjected. "Tell me who did this, or I will draw the answer out of you."

"Oh," Al drawled, noticing the new emotion flashing past his ex-Student\'s face. "You are afraid. Oh, this is just precious!"

"I\'M. NOT. AFRAID!" Ziva declared loudly and with force, though the words themselves rang hollow - like that of a child throwing a tantrum.

"You thought your little spell would shake the world for generations, didn\'t you?" Al taunted. "It barely made it into its teen years. How does that make you feel?"

Ziva\'s fists clenched in anger, and his gaze sharpened with the intensity of a thousand swords. "WHO. DID. THIS?"

"I won\'t give you that satisfaction, boy," Al said with a mocking laugh. Then, suddenly, his expression turned serious. "Besides, it won\'t matter anyway. You won\'t be leaving this place alive."

With a fraction of a second, three spells - |Flamestrike|, |Air Cutter| and |Water Jet| - left Al\'s open palms and pushed against Ziva. Unfortunately, his opponent was prepared, and with a wave of his hand, a massive spell circle formed that consumed the three spells to form a whirling, multicoloured ball.

"Thirty years, Teacher," Ziva said with a strained smile. "I know all of your tricks!"

Ziva spun around and ejected the ball back towards Al, who evaded between the trees. Instead of colliding against the obstacles before him, the ball, however, started to deviate irregularly and followed Al as he went. At that moment, Al noticed that Ziva still had the spell activated. Quickly cycling through his most frequently used and familiar movement arts, Al started to glide around the battlefield while simultaneously wrangling for control in his and his ex-Student\'s overlapping mana domains.I think you should take a look at

\'He\'s broken through once again!\' Al noticed. The boy had basically closed the gap between them, realm-wise. Fortunately, though, the breakthrough was fairly recent since his control over his domain matched that of someone of a lower stage. Within seconds, the connection between the seeking ball and Ziva was untethered, which Al used to transition into the offensive. He activated a spell circle similar to Ziva\'s and converted the whirling, multicoloured ball into a snaking shape. He then directed it to attack Ziva, who once again deflected the attack with a |Ward|.

"Still as impatient as always," Al chided. "Relying on warding spells to protect yourself instead of using your brain. Haven\'t I taught you better?"

Without allowing Ziva to retort, Al continued, "Today, I will teach you a valuable lesson, boy."

At that instant, five identical spell circles formed around Al. Ziva squinted his eyes as he tried to decipher the mundane yet unique design; he\'d never seen this spell circle before. He\'d never seen his ex-Teacher use whatever this spell was before. But he didn\'t panic. Because he could see that the spell was simple and small - nothing too complex.

But his relaxed smile froze when he noticed his ex-Teacher\'s trademark smirk - the smirk he showed opponents before going for the coup de grâce.

And then it started... and showed no sign of stopping. Five simultaneous, continuous barrages of |Fireball| originating from the five small spell circles. The attacks were relentless and collided against Ziva\'s |Ward| from all sides. Ziva wasn\'t even given the space to think or even breathe.

A standard |Fireball| really shouldn\'t be that big of a problem for a Core Condensation realm mage like Ziva. Unfortunately, his ex-Teacher\'s |Fireball| spell was supercharged, in that it had an explosive component upon impact. Again, this only causes trivial damage but, like with every minor attack, piling up a lot can be devastating.

Just then, Ziva noticed three more spell circles whirling into action around Al. The ethereal purple projections started to vomit out more explosive |Fireball| attacks that filled up the only remaining unattacked spaces in Ziva\'s |Ward|. 

But Ziva knew that there had to be a limit. Technically, his ex-Teacher was expending more mana than he was in defending against the attacks because a |Fireball| was a ranged spell that was being cast within an overlapping domain. There was expenditure in casting the spell, projecting the spell, and maintaining the spell in a turbulent mana region. On the other hand, all Ziva had to do was keep the defence up in proximity.

However, the wait-it-out or "attrition" plan was starting to show cracks, because Al\'s attacks weren\'t slowing down or ceasing. In fact, he noticed another smirk light his ex-Teacher\'s face before two more of those weird looking |Fireball| spell circles formed around him. Ziva was now running on a mana deficit because his defence was expending more than the rate at which his mana was regenerating. It was humiliating. A fight between Core Condensation realm mages shouldn\'t devolve into throwing basic spells.

Where was the fanfare? Where was the ruthless battery of attacks and spells to reshape landscapes?!

\'How is he doing this?!\' Ziva\'s understanding of mana economy was being questioned at this very moment. But one thing was clear, this could go on no longer. Ziva had to disengage. One thing he knew about his ex-Teacher was that the man knew how to design a head-on confrontation to his benefit. It was something he\'d cultivated through age, and it was something Ziva could never hope to match. No matter what Ziva did, right now, he would ultimately end up in suppressive fire unable to do anything just like Al was doing right now.

So, Ziva decided to take a risk. He dissipated the shield to his rear, taking a few attacks. He steeled through them and conjured a massive, convoluted mess of a spell circle. The sheer size of it was enough to distract Al who in turn ceased his attack. Once the circle activated, from its centre, exited an ungodly horde of black, gaseous locusts that decimated everything alive near the source.

Ziva revealed a smirk back to his ex-Teacher, who was now showing a frown. An underwhelming response per Ziva\'s recollection; he was hoping for some despair or better yet, fear.

Al\'s |Fireball| spells dissipated, and in its place five new spell circles took shape. They were all different, and some were larger than others. But they all spun in tandem, joining up to form something that was beautifully elaborate. Then, at the centre of this new, large amalgamation, an even ungodlier dot of pure blackness took shape. But that was not all, a shrill sound that seemingly doused the whole world in agony resonated from the black dot. It was so loud and unwieldy that it caused Ziva\'s spell to flicker and lose control.

His ex-Teacher didn\'t wait another second, as the black shape jetted out to meet the cloud of locusts. The horde encompassed the dot completely, ready to devour it. But the opposite happened. The dot sucked in everything in its path, growing larger and louder as it moved on. Ziva watched in horror as his spell was completely swallowed by the gluttonous banshee in spherical form.

And like a hungry predator, the sphere deviated. It wanted more! It wanted him! Ziva tried to wrest control over the spell as it moved towards him at an unbelievable speed. But he just didn\'t understand it enough to put up a proper fight in the overlapping domain. 

His life flashed before his eyes.

He turned, rose from the ground and tried to fly away.

But the ball was already there.

An intense pain radiated from his burnt right foot, as the ball literally shredded and decimated the thing into smithereens.

For a fraction of a second, Ziva regretted wishing for something grander out of this fight. The stalemate with |Fireball|s was manageable in comparison.

Ziva knew his death was imminent. But it wasn\'t his time yet. He quickly reached into his jacket and retrieved an ornate porcelain canister with multiple mana gems embedded in it. He twisted it, causing it to crack and the gems to illuminate brightly.

And he was gone, sucked into the canister, which then turned to dust along with the gems.

Al growled angrily before directing the black sphere high into the sky, where he released it from his control. A small flash of light akin to lightning lit the sky, which was followed by an earth-shattering boom three seconds later.

Looking at the once again desiccated patch of land, Al clicked his tongue in annoyance before flying out to get more trees and grass to fill its place.