Chapter 4

Tartarus (1)

    As soon as the announcement ended, a sudden onset of attacks of all kinds erupted. Everyone in the group launched attacks towards other factions while quickly moving to seek cover. No one had left the battle, even though it had only been a couple of minutes since the start. It was hard to distinguish between the myriad colors of magic and bullets.

    "Up, up, down, down, hey!" The speaker twisted his neck to dodge the myriad dangers flying towards him. "Left, right, left, right...oops!"

    Esther shouted in panic as he dodged a spell, only for a fireball to nearly graze his face, leaving a large burn mark. He quickly turned to the direction from which the fireball had been launched, his face clearly showing his annoyance.

    "Come what may, Oceanus," he muttered desperately, summoning the only thing he thought could counterattack.

    Instantly, a cloud of steam burst from his body, quickly forming into a large black book in his hand. He looked at it uncertainly but still flipped it open beside him like someone who had just grabbed a sword for the first time.

    "What the hell are you doing? Why aren't you using me?" the black chain shouted, momentarily forgetting to keep quiet. Fortunately, the chaos of battle and the clamor of spells being cast drowned her out.

    "What for... I can only use you three times, and if I use you now, I'll be dead next time," he retorted unabashedly.

    "Suit yourself. Do as you please... then," the chain responded, with a faint scoff at the end.

    At that moment, a fireball targeted directly at him appeared at close range. Esther grasped the book so tightly it almost tore and deflected the fireball back instantly. The fireball that was blazing intensely ended up landing in the middle of the battlefield, while he grimaced and shrugged off the astonished stares around him.

    "Don't underestimate me!" Esther yelled, flipping the middle finger.

    As he couldn't do much from the sidelines and with people starting to engage in close combat, he immediately rushed towards an enemy that was advancing close to him.

    Bam!

    With a thud, a sound resonated after he smacked a wizard who had charged in for close combat with the book.

    Zoom...

    Magical flames instantly engulfed the unfortunate wizard's head. The figure in the cloak screamed in pain for a moment before being riddled with bullets from all directions, turning into a corpse on the spot. Then, a white light burst from the body and shot towards the castle.

    'Cool, the magic effect still lingers.'

    Esther thought to himself, dodging a great sword aimed at his head. Given his limited magical and mental strength, he was fairly confident in his physical prowess.

    As the swordsman pressed the attack, noticing that the university's infamous prisoner was dodging without counterattacking, his eyes still showed a hint of fear towards the book in Esther's hand.

    As the great sword swung towards his head, instinctively, Esther lifted the book to block.

    "Shit... hey!" He exclaimed in surprise because, besides the book not being cut, the dark flames from the page burned the sword's blade. The flames spread over the attacker's body, forcing the hostile figure to frantically try to put out the fire without success.

    'Now, jumping to dodge isn't an option because of the chain weighing down my leg, and running away quickly isn't either. It looks like I'll have to fight to the death.'

    Esther thought, dodging another wave of long-range attacks. The entire courtyard was filled with the sounds of magic casting, gunfire, and various weapons. The loudest were the groans of the wounded. The once beautiful courtyard was now a pit marred by the effects of magic and explosions, decorated with blood splatters and smoke.

    "What to do now?" He looked around at his scattered group. Grace was firing her handgun at a group dressed like knights, Joshua had disappeared, and Brian was casting a curse that seemed to leave its victims convulsing for a good while. Other members had stopped defending and started to counterattack, but they were still being pressured from all sides.

    Crack, rumble, boom!!!     

    The podium at the front was violently uprooted as if a giant hand had grabbed and thrown it at people near him. Amid the chaos, resembling a small-scale riot, many still seemed to enjoy the fight.

    "Damn it, with all these control mages around, it looks like there are quite a lot of them," the young man began to dread as he saw the blood of the unfortunate spreading across the field. The weather conditions in that area were changing rapidly due to the crash of more than six domains – making the campus’ territory possess almost every type of climate.

    "Shall we retreat for now?" a man in a blood-soaked white gown shouted towards Esther, as the noise around them was overwhelming.

    From what Esther could observe, most healers here tended to use long-range weapons or attack from a considerable distance, probably for convenience since it allowed them to deal with enemies instantly. However, the person conversing with him was slashing throats of people left and right with a surgical knife.

    "I have some psychic power as well," he said, disappearing to slit the throat of a woman aiming a gun at their group who was engaged in close combat, before throwing the knife to pierce the eye of another man charging recklessly. The fresh red blood of the enemy once again dyed his gown and the wide field.

    ‘This is the real hell,’ Esther grimaced.

    "Now we can't really let our guard down, can we?" he thought, looking at his group, now reduced to about a dozen people. It seemed like those who remained were quite skilled to be able to stand in such a bullet storm.

    ‘So many have died... Looks like the seniors are just waiting for us to kill each other off.’

    An explosion sounded from the buildings outside, along with the nerve-wracking rattle of rapid gunfire. However, none of those bullets came his way.

    ‘They must be fighting among themselves. Probably don't want to waste time messing with the kids.’

    Now, Esther began to feel unsafe as the people and various defenses that once surrounded him rapidly disappeared. Even though they were from different groups, he couldn't help but worry, because dying here, although resurrection was possible... the pain was no different from real death.

    The prisoner of the cursed building gritted his teeth before shouting,

    "Retreat to the forest!!! Don't engage a long-lasting battle. We don't have many people left in our group now."

    Esther's voice echoed over the area of his group. Although some looked regretful, they launched their final attacks and quickly retreated to the dense forest nearby. They knew well that if they continued to fight until they were exhausted, the newcomers like themselves would be the first to die.

    Thwack!!!

    A large sword slashed diagonally across his back, splattering blood. Esther's eyes changed instantly as if a switch had been flipped.

    "This damn thing..."

    He wildly swung the book at his attacker. The unfortunate soul who came at him was engulfed in flames, almost entirely, because he didn't anticipate the counterattack. Esther kicked while the enemy was ablaze, causing the unfortunate swordsman to fall. Then, with his size forty-two leather shoes, he relentlessly beat the enemy's body. In the end, the young man stomped with full force, almost embedding the unfortunate soul into the blood-soaked ground.

    "If I could kick higher, you'd be flying," he yelled, frustrated, which quite shocked the others. Even Tartarus, now covered in the blood of the person under his feet, was momentarily speechless. His master's shirt was turning bright red with blood oozing from the center of his back.

    "You--" Tartarus began to say something.

    Snap!!! Thwack!!