The Crimson Magister

Aqua was impressed, the woman she just probed was already up and scheming against her and Azure, if she wasn't the enemy of her people she would even applaud her, and yet.

'You are filth like all of the others that would harm my people!' she shouted inside her mind while keeping her composure as calm as possible.

She left Azure to guard the woman as she seemed to be more valuable than the rest of the trash, as she got closer to them she invoked [Temporal Barrier].

A bronze shimmer surrounded her for mere moments but the barrier was indeed there, and it would act as most perfect armor, not letting anything past it.

'[Temporal Barrier] stops time just above the user's skin, making any attack strike at something that can never move and could never pierce, I'm quite proud of this spell if I say so myself' Aqua smiled as she approached the mob of humans in front of her.

But instead of their fear growing they seemed to steel themselves, intently following her movement.

It caused a moment of confusion before she glanced back at the woman whose name was known to her as Golden Petal Laura.

'She tried to hide some kind of Aether Circuit under her body? She must have used it to inform her comrades of some kind of a plan' Aqua chuckled as she thought about it.

'What could she possibly think of to get out of my grasp' Aqua crossed her arms as she calmly approached the enemy mob.

In a moment, an enchanted arrow struck right into her head, trying to pierce her family ruby.

'What? Was this their plan?' Aqua was confused, about what could these people possibly accomplish by targeting a gemstone instead of vital organs.

Arrow after arrow slid past her Barrier, as the barrage stopped 4 people charged at her with blades held high ready to slash and hammers to crush her.

As enemies kept attacking Aqua noticed Azure readying herself for battle before charging in front of her, cutting off the heads of many of them.

"I am fine, Azure you should keep watch over the trickster over there" Aqua pointed back at the lying woman as she nonchalantly punched one of the melee attackers sending him into a nearby tent.

"But, you just stood there taking attacks, I thought you needed support" Azure responded with a worried tone as she slashed another enemy.

"These guys are small fries, you need to make sure our backs are covered, that one is more dangerous than them" Aqua pointed towards Laura.

Azure groaned before answering "Fine! I will do it but don't blame me if you get hurt!"

Azure stopped for a moment while looking over the terrified enemy and then over her companion before softly asking her "If possible could you please not kill them unless necessary, they need to stand trial before our King and they seem to have lost most of their will already!"

Aqua really enjoyed seeing her companion worry about her, even if it was only because she needed her help to rescue her princess friend, and what intrigued her more than that was that despite her rank she seemed so naive, like her in her youth before Supreme Deity destroyed everything.

"I promise this will be over quickly and we can rush to your friend" She smiled as she slowly uncrossed her arms, her presence almost setting the surrounding air on fire.

How much she enjoyed their fear, it was delightful, she could feel their fear and Laura's fear, and none of them could hide it.

"How does it feel, to feel what your victims felt, every single one of you is a monster that deserves to burn!" She spoke with wrath adorning her youthful face.

With each of her steps, the heat rose, and the enemy lost the grips on their weapons, their Armor singing their flesh and their cloth burning.

"Maybe, some of you think you are free of sin, but you are surrounded by sinners, in my eyes all of humanity is guilty!" She was mere step away from the mob before stopping.

"Look at you, not able to fight for your own pathetic life" She chuckled before temperature suddenly dropped to normal.

"Alas, my friend over there pleaded to not unnecessarily harm you, so your punishment will wait" She pointed towards Azure before turning her attention back.

"And so, you WILL lead us to your leader, or else your entire merry band will be burned" She shouted as for everyone to hear her voice.

"I have Gathered from your dear strategist's mind that Elves aren't exactly welcomed, and since your merry band is so well known you will provide us escort to the so called City of Razul,'' She spread her arms as she announced the plan.

"As far as the border guard is concerned we were always part of your little Golden Rose" She slowly turned her back towards now stunned mob before walking to Laura.

"You don't really have a choice, I have gotten everything I need to know from you anyway" She grasped Laura's arm before pulling her up.

'She still has her wits, even while exposed to my aura, her mental fortitude is on another level compared to others' Aqua was impressed, not many could withstand her aura even at this output level.

She turned to her companion to see her as shocked as others 'Ah, I never showed her my power did I'

Aqua wanted to slap herself for not explaining what she planned to do but alas it was too late, she turned her head to Azure.

"See, I didn't kill them" she said with a warm smile, contrasting her previous wrath.

"I guess you didn't, but what exactly is your plan, I heard entering Red Dawn as non human is almost impossible without permission of inquisitors and even then its too risky?" She asked with visible worry and unease adorning her face.

"We might not know each other for long, but please trust me, we will enter this damn kingdom and rescue your friend" she let go of Laura as she grabbed both of Azure's hands.

Laura took opportunity to clean up dirt from her clothes before asking the duo "Sorry for interrupting the moment but you have what remains Golden Rose in your clutches, what do you plan to do to us"

Before Aqua could respond, Azure took initiative and stood in front of Laura "You and your band will stand trial before our king, but if you help us reach the princess you kidnapped you might be allowed to keep your lives!"

Laura chuckled before answering "I guess we don't really have a choice, but I have to warn you even if you have seen my mind, Red Dawn is much more dangerous than you two could comprehend, especially to non humans."

"We are aware, but you forced us to take the risk" She said with anger in her voice.

Laura shook her head before pointing towards one of still standing tents.

"You can pick up some spare uniforms as disguises" Laura pointed two elven girls towards one of the tents letting them disguise themselves.

"I'm so going to lose my head over this, Fang please forgive me for this" Laura spoke to herself, after all trying to illegally sneak non humans into Red Dawn would make death best possible outcome, not only to her but entire Golden Rose.

Most of her men recovered from the intense heat, with most of them having statements and questions ranging from "Not even a blessed child should be that scary!" to more brave "What the fuck was that!?" Same question she asked herself many times, she deflected the question to best of her abilities while sending everyone to pack up and get ready to move to Razul.

'We couldn't destroy the catalyst, which means it is too high grade for our weapons' she shook her head, it was no use thinking about it now, she was about to put Golden Rose on the line.

'Perhaps she would get opportunity to get vengeance for death of her Golden Rose' she sighted as she gazed into the ruined tents.

'But for now I need to play along if I want to have even slight chance of salvaging your Life's work, Fang' She sighted heavily as she slumped down on nearby stump.

It was mere minutes before two women exited the tent, their elven features humanized, and wearing Golden Rose Uniforms.

'Even I would need a double take if I saw them' She looked over both women, their appearance pretty similar but their ears shortened, and hair colours changed to pitch black.

'They look like sisters' Laura was impressed, she couldn't even sense the illusion but she knew they had to be two elven girls.

"We should get going, faster we get to your princess the better chances for her to still be herself" Laura warned two women.

"I saw your memories, Slaves brainwashed to only become tools" Anger building up in Aqua's face as she spoke of this.

Aqua knew they needed to be careful, but she wasn't worried about herself, she was worried about the capability of the kingdom.

'I should always assume unknown is more powerful than me, isn't that right dear master' she thought to herself as she remembered her deceased teacher and friend.

"Lets get going before we give the disciples of mind time to brainwash your princess, the process usually takes whole week, but I guess you do not wish to take chances" Laura spoke with what appeared real concern

Azure gripped her sword tightly as she heard this, but she knew only thing she can do is to trust Aqua on this.