Chapter 26: Insta-Killing a Fifth-Rank Mage 1

"Delis! Alice!" Kent spotted them from a distance—surrounded by a cluster of men. He rushed over at once, only to see a slick, oily-faced man wearing a third-rank mage badge making improper advances toward Delis, his hands wandering where they had no business.

"Damn it!" Kent glanced around the reception hall, looking for some kind of weapon, but nothing suitable was within reach. He didn’t stop to think. He charged straight in and threw a punch at the bastard. Back in high school, Kent had been in his share of brawls, and he knew the golden rule: hit them in the eye first, then bust the nose. That alone usually finished the fight. His movements were lightning-fast—first a black-eye punch, then a direct strike at the man’s fine, straight nose. Fortunately, Kent knew his own strength and pulled the blow just slightly, but the result was still a face full of blood. The man dropped to a crouch instantly.

"Damn you, you pretty-boy bastard! Trying to seduce my woman? You looking to die?" Kent followed up with several vicious kicks to the man’s ribs. The pain nearly knocked the wind out of him; he couldn’t even manage a scream.

"Sweetheart—" Alice started to call out, but at that moment, the sound of chanting magic filled the air around them. Kent spun and drove his fist into the nearest caster’s face, then followed with a knee to the gut. The man folded over like a shrimp and collapsed to the floor.

Smack! "You son of a bitch! You dare lay hands on my brother’s woman? Are you tired of living?"

Kent was about to unleash his magic on the other men surrounding them when Kweilin stepped in. He delivered a thunderous slap to a man wearing a fourth-rank mage badge, jabbed a finger at his nose, and then kicked him for good measure. The rest of the group recoiled at the sight of Kweilin, their eyes suddenly full of fear and hesitation. It seemed Kweilin had some reputation in these parts.

"Delis, are you alright?" Kent gently pulled the stunned Delis close, his voice soft with concern.

Only then did Delis snap out of her shock. Seeing the mages lying on the floor, she immediately worried for Kent’s safety. But his gentle words warmed her heart, and she leaned contentedly against his shoulder. "I’m fine. This is the Mage Guild—they wouldn’t dare go too far here."

"Who’s causing trouble here?!" A booming voice suddenly echoed through the hall, stern and threatening.

Kent turned around and saw a middle-aged man with a fifth-rank mage badge on his chest. The man’s face darkened as he glanced at the pale-faced pretty boy lying on the floor, his mouth twitching. He turned back, ready to unleash his fury.

"Gude! Here’s what happened—we saw these two commoners loitering here and came over to question them, but then..." One of the bystanders hastily tried to explain. The fifth-rank mage, Gude, shot a look at Kweilin, who returned it with complete indifference. His face burned with anger. Then his gaze fell on Delis and Alice, and he swaggered over to Kent.

"Since when do non-mages get to walk into the Mage Guild? You two! Who let you in here? If you don’t give me a proper explanation, you’re not leaving this place on your own two feet." Gude immediately turned his wrath on Alice and Delis, deliberately ignoring the faint magical fluctuations radiating from Alice.

Kent was in the middle of whispering sweet nothings to Delis when this fool barged in and ruined the mood. He gave Gude a sidelong glance and sneered, "Which sloppy bastard left his robe unbuttoned and let this piece of trash out to spout nonsense?"

For a moment, everyone around them just stood there, trying to process what they’d heard. Then Kweilin burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Kent, my boy, that was a work of art." The others turned red, fighting to hold in their laughter.

"You little bastard! You’re asking for death!" Gude finally realized Kent was mocking him. Since Kent had taken off his badges on Kweilin’s advice, Gude assumed the boy was just some nobody Kweilin had brought along to see the sights—a mere first-rank magical fluctuation, someone he could crush with a flick of his finger. Gude immediately began casting a third-rank earth spell, Earth Spike—which conjured a single conical spike of condensed earth, not to be confused with Earth Lance, a far deadlier eighth-rank area spell.

Kent sensed the surge of earth mana. In truth, mage badges didn’t indicate elemental affinity, because any mage could naturally sense another’s attribute. Kent had thought the man was all talk, but he quickly realized Gude meant to actually use magic. Kent was already furious over being called a "little bastard," and now it was clear this man intended to kill him.

"You’re the one asking for death!" A cold glint flashed in Kent’s eyes. He thrust his hand toward the man, and a stream of pale-green wind blades shot out at the mage mid-incantation. It sounds like a long story, but in truth, the moment Gude started gathering his mana and chanting, Kent’s magic was already in the air.

"Hold on—!" Kweilin sensed the surge of mana and roared, but he barely got the first word out before he saw the cascade of wind blades fly from Kent’s hand straight at Gude.

Gude had been with the Mage Guild for over twenty years and had only recently advanced to fifth rank. The mages rank six and above busied themselves with research and experiments, leaving the guild’s daily grind—essentially glorified chores—to fifth-rank mages like Gude. The true executives just gave orders. Gude had his own little clique, the same bunch who had been pawing at Delis moments earlier. The guild was a patchwork of factions and cliques; every big-shot had his own following. Although the higher-ups never officially sanctioned it, they never stopped it either. Gude was a latecomer, constantly bullied by others, so when a mere first-rank mage dared to talk back to him, a mid-rank mage, his fury was boundless. Still, he hadn’t intended to kill Kent, only to cripple him. A rule in the guild allowed senior mages to "discipline" lower-ranked mages when provoked—so long as they didn’t cause death.

"Inst...instant...!" Gude’s spell chant had barely finished when he suddenly found himself lying on the ground. He managed to spit out a single word, then went silent. Kent glanced at Gude’s body and the blood splattered across the floor, merely furrowing his brow.

"Urgh...!"

"Urgh, urgh...!" The onlookers were utterly stunned. A fifth-rank mage—someone who, outside these walls, would be courted by the greatest nobles in the land—had died in the blink of an eye. When the shock finally broke, the low-ranked mages around them began vomiting loudly. Even the two men still lying on the floor were frozen in disbelief. Kweilin retched the hardest of all; Kent noticed that no matter how many times he heaved, Kweilin kept producing something. Delis and Alice were deathly pale, so Kent pulled them aside.

"What’s going on here?" A man wearing a silver mage badge and the golden characters for "Duty Officer" on his chest walked in—today’s supervising executor. He frowned at the scene and demanded, though he deliberately released no pressure. Everyone here was still a low-ranked mage, and cowing them with aura could damage their future cultivation. Yet an undeniable authority seeped through his voice.

"Honored sir, this is what happened..." One of the spectators recounted the whole affair. When the story concluded, the silver mage’s expression soured. He studied Kent for a long moment. The young man was hardly a secret to the higher-ups anymore. The elders had nearly come to blows over who had the right to claim him. At first only a dozen or so elders had gathered, but somehow the news leaked, and now every elder who could make it had come. Upstairs was complete chaos.

"Hmph. Let this be a lesson to all of you," the silver mage said after weighing the matter. "A mage must protect himself before casting a spell. A fifth-rank mage dying at the hands of a first-rank mage is a disgrace to the Mage Guild. All right, everyone disperse. It was his own doing—he moved first, and he lost." In the end, Kent was fined only a hundred gold coins in cleaning fees, deducted from his future benefits. The surrounding mages blinked in utter disbelief.

"Yikes. I say we’d better never provoke that kid. Even the silver mage didn’t dare touch him. Gude died for nothing."

"Hmph. The man can cast instantly. Only someone tired of living would mess with him."

"Exactly. Kill someone inside the Mage Guild and just pay a hundred coins to make it go away? His backing has to be formidable."

"Think he’s some elder’s illegitimate son?"

"Can’t say. But with that instant casting alone, he’s beyond anything Gude could ever match."

"I think we should spread word about this guy’s magic abilities to everyone under us. Tell them not to provoke him. Instant casting! Hell, I haven’t even mastered silent casting yet."

"Yeah, agreed."

"Little brother, you can basically walk sideways through the Mage Guild now. Kill a fifth-rank mage and only pay a hundred gold coins? I’m impressed. Your big brother is genuinely impressed," Kweilin said.