Chapter ９: Arkos and Stex

3 January 5555
Zen Varum
Barbarian base in the South
[Luke Carlson]

The two masked mages stepped out of the tent, and saw Luke the Skythen slaughtering the barbarians with his beams of light.

"Brutal one isn't he Stex? Appearances can be unfortunately deceiving," Arkos smirked.

"Indeed Arkos, he looks our age. Pretty amazing for someone who isn't a mage," Stex replied.

The two mages advanced slowly towards Luke, scraps and pieces of weapons and metal started levitating around the two mages. This of course, caught Luke's attention. His fists was still flaring with light magic.

"Die Skythen!" screamed Arkos as the metal scraps orbiting around the two mages darted towards Luke.

The attack succeeded in taking Luke by surprise. He sustained several cuts to his body, despite being able to evade most of the projectiles - the most critical one being a piece of iron which pierced directly above his right eye.

"ARGGHH!!!" Luke yelled in pain as he realized should shard had hit his right eye, it would permanently render him blind. He yanked the iron shard off his face, blood oozed out his scar.

"Too easy," smirked Arkos as both the mages continued to advance towards the Skythen.
"Too late for regrets now Skythen, why not use that beam of yours and finish us off?" Stex smirked.

Upon hearing this, Luke fumed with anger, taking a huge leap back. Both his hands glowed immensely, arming himself with a gigantic proportion of Light Beam to be fired at the mages. It'll be such a joy to watch his foes be obliterated in the feeble attempt to challenge the speed of light.

"I told you he's a brutal one. He plans to disintegrate us," voiced Arkos, still grinning in amusement.

As two shots of light beam bolted towards the the two mages, just moments away from meeting their target, they got deflected away, sending stray beams of light flying in all directions.

"What!?" Luke gasped, squinting his eyes to comprehend his error. Mirrors! A huge square mirror formed by four smaller mirrors stood in his way between him and the mages, acting as a shield.

The two mages procceded closer towards the Skythen. More metallic shards accompanied them at every step they took.

"Damn, I can't beat them!" snarled Luke to himself. He fired a blast of light onto the ground, sending filthy chunks of mud and gravel flying everywhere. Dust clouded the mages' vision. At the wave of both hands, his levitational powers pushed him off the ground. In a flash, he took off to the skies before they could fully regroup.

"Get him!!" scowled Stex as the pieces of metal were flung up towards Luke, hoping to impale him before he escapes. But it was too late, Luke had was now a mere speck in the sky.

"Damn," Arkos muttered to himself as the metal pieces rained back onto the ground. Stex silenced in utter disappointment.