Order of Fate

Within the realm of magic, there were only but two phrases which mattered most. Those were whether the user was a practitioner of Old-Casting or New-Casting. Better known as the practice of either Sorcery or Magery. While the mortal race's ability to wield magic has been widely practiced throughout the annals of history, doing so since the very early dawn of The First Age, such a rich history was mostly filled with the usage of Sorcery, not Magery. 

It would not be until the early dawn of The Third Age, The Chaos Age, that the conception of Magery would first be introduced, solely pioneered by The Great Sage of Humanity; Gaya Vogel.

While its practice did not spread across the many continents with ease due to its difficulty and danger, through sheer stubborn persistence by its few masters the practice of Magery now stood as credible within the minds of those of the current age. Truly it even went beyond mere acceptance, for upon The Fifth Age, to gain the title of Mage was not just an indicator of one's practice but also of proof of outstanding talent within the realm of magic. 

Yet why was that so exactly? 

Sorcery is a practice centered on the concept of using previously chronicled incantations to truly bring change upon the tangible world. Each incantation already has a predetermined effect upon the world, yet merely speaking it will not be enough to command forth the miracle of magic.

An incantation must be spoken with the usage of what is known as: The Languages of Gods. Those were the original languages which existed since the birth of the mortal races, forged personally by that of a divine. 

However, with how distant The First Age was to the present, The Dragon Age, currently the mortal races only knew that of two Languages of Gods. Those languages were Dragonese and The Ancient Human-Tongue. By speaking forth an incantation through these languages then the caster can truly tap into its power. However, that is merely the first out of three necessary factors for casting a spell successfully. 

The second factor is one's Inner-Mana, both in regards to the amount which the caster possesses and their control over it. To a spell, Inner-Mana serves as its fuel while its stirring as the trigger. The process of manipulating it however is a practice drenched in danger. While everyone has Inner-Mana within them, one has to take time to actually sense it, then form an easy connection between its silent simmering and one's own consciousness. 

However, moving its flow is both strenuous and extremely difficult to control. It is equivalent to possessing a fifth appendage which lacks physical form and barely obeys one's mental command. Yet if one is able to control their Inner-Mana successfully then they must move it towards the third necessary factor of spell casting: The Conductor. 

The Conductor is typically attached upon a tool such as a wand or staff and is always a mana absorbing material. The most commonly used being The Mana Gems or Crystals. The reason it is a necessity is due to the simple fact that Inner-Mana is a ruthless energy which cares not for its host. 

Every spell has a level, moreover, they each have specific amounts of Inner-Mana which they demand in order to properly fuel them. Due to this if a foolish sorcerer suddenly attempted a spell far beyond the level which their Inner-Mana Pool could realistically fuel, or even if their chant and concentration was interrupted in the middle of its casting, then the spell would fail to manifest and the stirred Inner-Mana would experience a violent relapse. 

So fearsome is its flow that without fail the caster would erupt from the inside out, their physical body unable to withstand the Inner-Mana's raging retreat. However, if a caster instead channels their Inner-Mana into a conductor then even if the spell fails they would not experience the relapse as it would have already been absorbed by the conductor. Depending on how grave the mistake of the caster was, then upon the worst scenarios the conductor would be what combusts and not the practitioner. 

All this is what makes Sorcery the safest known way to command the power of magic. 

However, that does not mean that the practice of Magery does not have its advantages. Unlike sorcery, which solely focuses upon mastering the art of casting spells with predetermined effects on reality, Magery has its users merely create the spell which they desire without the usage of incantations. 

It centers around learning to master the flow of one's own Inner-Mana and using visualization alone to meticulously manipulate said Inner-Mana into that visualized form and just like so conjuring it into existence. Of course to achieve this requires an extreme connection with one's own Inner-Mana along with unbroken concentration. 

That makes the practice of Magery far more susceptible to deaths involving self-combustions, yet the speed, control, and freedom which the practice allows can not be underestimated. After all, every little factor of the spell is within the sole control of the mage. 

That was what made mages so utterly terrifying, so much so that they could even fight head on with Swordsman, The Masters of Aura.

That alone was what made the successful practicing of The Magery Techniques an unquestionable sign of generational talent within the realm of magic. And somehow, Sieg had managed to earn such a title. It was what made his present self a force to be reckoned with upon any battlefield. 

*****

BOOM!

BOOM!

The scattering of the furious flames seemed to boil the air around them. Without hesitation or care, Sieg did not hold back upon his first assault. If possible he wished to end the fight with just that, scorching his opponent so severely that The Record Keeper would be forced to intervene.

However, things were not so simple. 

His attack was forged using a generous amount of Inner-Mana which made their power a furious one. So much so that upon impact, the sand all around Golden 3's location had been scattered to the air. Now before him was a cloud forged of dust, orange sand, and fire embers. 

Sieg stared warily upon that cloud, however the very fact that The Record Keeper had yet to move affirmed to him that somehow Golden 3 had avoided his attack. 

It was then that his eyes twitched as they noticed the dust cloud sway slightly before a hole was forged by a tall halberd which suddenly shot out. Its travel was swift and perfect, aiming to reach Sieg within no less than a second or two, like the harrowing touch of death. 

Damn!

Sieg cursed inwardly as he rapidly directed his Inner-Mana towards his left arm. Simultaneously he did a powerful motion, as if he was unleashing a side punch. A vicious gust of wind manifested from that hand and immediately sent him flying to the side with its force. 

Even then, Sieg still felt the halberd's edge just barely caress his left cheek before it continued soaring past him and impaling itself upon the stone wall behind Sieg. Sieg meanwhile felt his feet leave the comfortable embrace of the sand as he fell into a side roll. 

Due to how quickly he had summoned his Inner-Mana, Sieg failed to properly control it, resulting in his left arm becoming engulfed by throbbing pain. Luckily, the Inner-Mana which he used was miniscule compared to his first attack and most of it managed to successfully manifest as the spell he visualized which meant the amount which relapsed into his body was not life threatening. It was merely painful. 

Sieg had experienced such a thing before, it was only natural as he was a mage. Even now he found it fitting to describe a partial relapse of Inner-Mana as the same sensation of suddenly spraining a muscle due to improper technique.

Although far more painful and dangerous than a simple sprain. 

Regardless of the pain however, Sieg removed it from his mind the moment he finished his roll. At the same time, he had already begun directing some of his Inner-Mana towards his free right hand. He suspected that if given the chance then Golden 3 would continue to remain within the dust cloud and merely attack from afar. 

If so, then Sieg would gladly assist in providing motivation for his exit from it. 

The moment his roll ended he had already raised his right arm, pointing it straight like a spear. Then a little ahead of his fingers, a fire orb shot forth, then another, then another. Each time he fired he made sure to adjust his hand slightly. 

With this he would cover the entire dust cloud, from side to side, upon a shower of flames. 

Before long, five fire orbs reached their destination and immediately unraveled themselves into furious explosives. 

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Just as the sound of their combustion reverberated across the battlefield. Sieg's calm eyes caught sight of his target. 

There!

Rapidly exiting from the right corner of the dust cloud, Golden 3's cold eyes immediately locked onto Sieg's own. Then with swift movements Golden 3 unleashed three throwing knives towards Sieg. Two were aiming for Sieg's head, while one had a direct trajectory to his heart. 

However, with a simple gust of conjured wind, Sieg calmly swatted away the knives. Despite the ease in which he did so Sieg still remained intensely wary of his opponent. After all, Golden 3 was a practitioner of The Artifice Sword-Style, a style centered around trickery. Furthermore, he was a sorcerer as well. 

As if on cue, Sieg noticed that Golden 3 had not only closed the distance between them under the cover of the three knives, but he had also taken hold of a wand. 

Finally going to use your magic then?

Sieg readied himself to once more summon forth a barrage of terrible heat and unleash it upon his opponent, however, what Golden 3 did next left Sieg utterly baffled for a moment. 

Instead of casting a spell, Golden 3 had swiftly shot forth the pointy wand as though it was a sharp needle. Sieg readied to swat away the confusing attack, yet his eyes widened when he at last realized that upon the wand's base, the mana gem was rapidly starting to gain a dazzling red radiance. 

Don't tell me?!

By the time he realized what Golden 3 had done, it was too late. He had already visualized the wind gust and changing it at the last moment would only endanger him, furthermore the soaring wand was already near him and at its base the surface of the red gem was utterly riddled with cracks. 

Then… 

BOOM!

A vicious explosion of simmering fire occurred, doing so just a meter away from Sieg's startled figure.