The Prince Of Magic

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After escorting their Master to the coffee shop of Astolfo's choice, Rider and Scáthach separated from the group and had gone straight to their destination.

The two of them had already checked on the other buildings in their district, and this was the third they are about to inspect.

Once they saw the front gate entrance, the two sighed as they realized that the building was an old asylum.

Before they entered, they scouted the area first.

Rider used her acute hearing to check if there were any humans in the vicinity, while Scáthach did the same with her Primordial Runes.

When they found nothing but small ordinary animals nearby, the two turned to one another and nodded.

"I'll set up the Bounded Field now then." Scáthach announced.

Stopping near the rusted gate, Scáthach drew a Primordial Rune on the stone wall that holds the gate entrance.

The surroundings changed as a vast blue magical energy covers the entire property, creating a dome-like form as it reached the top of the asylum.

Once it had reached the roof of the building, the bounded field disappeared and the scenery returned to normal.

With the bounded field in place, the two women walked in the direction of the lone asylum standing in the distance.

As they did so, the two beautiful women stared at the tall and massive structure with calm and stoic expressions.

The old asylum has five floors, vast in space and very much abandoned.

Everything in and outside the building seemed to be decaying, except for the trees and grass growing outside.

Earlier, Hadrian even informed them of the rumors about the asylum being haunted, which was only augmented by the recent murder case that occurred inside the building.

While most people would be discouraged to go inside despite the daylight, Rider and Scáthach didn't hesitate as they both entered through the front entrance.

The two women looked around, observing their surroundings with a keen eye.

As one would expect in an abandoned building, there were dust, cobwebs, rusted equipment, and darkness everywhere.

After having gone through dangerous situations in their respective pasts, these little trivia did not deter the two women from inspecting the building.

Then, Rider noticed a sign and turned to Scáthach.

"I found the stairs." Rider nodded towards the sign. "Let's go."

As a person in favor of silence, Scáthach followed the purple-haired woman without a word.

Having been briefed by their Master earlier, the two women knew where they must go and felt no need to break the silence as they ascend the stairs.

As people who were fond of silence and tranquility, Rider and Scáthach can work together without talking much to each other.

Although, it might have been different if their Master was around. But at the moment, the two women were content with silence.

What caused them to break it though, was due to the sensation they felt as they got closer to their destination.

From the moment they entered the building, the two women sensed different movements as they walk about, which confused them since there was no one around.

Trusting their experience and honed senses, Rider and Scáthach let their instincts lead them to the third floor of the asylum.

Moments later, they came across a spacious room with chairs, a helping desk and red carpet covered floors.

At the other end, there are twin doors made of dark wood that was in line to the glass ceiling above.

Interestingly enough, the light from the glass ceiling was providing the twin doors a great spotlight, as if encouraging anyone who sees it to enter.

Back in the day when the asylum was still active, the room would probably be the waiting area for patients and visitors alike.

In present time though, the room looked nothing more than the most ominous part of the building, despite the bright light coming from above.

The two of them stared at the twin doors that seems to hold a dangerous and dark magical energy behind them.

"How vile…" Scáthach muttered, crimson eyes narrowed.

"I've felt dark energies before, but it was never this…" Rider trailed off, frowning as she tried to find a proper word to finish her statement.

Amused, Scáthach looked at her companion with a raised brow, which was a habit that she seemed to have adopted from her Master lately.

"… Dark?" The crimson eyed woman supplied, smiling a little.

"Yes." Rider nodded in agreement. "It was not to this level. In the previous cases, the magical energy that lingered in the air was more subtle compared to this."

"Hmm, it is most likely due to the murder being recent." Scáthach mused aloud. "The earlier ones we searched in had happened long ago. The one in here must be new."

"How long do you think it is?" Rider asked.

"By my guess, probably a few days ago. I'll have to see it closer if you want a more accurate opinion." Scáthach answered.

"Then, off we go." Rider smirked.

She pushed the doors open, and the two of them entered with their guards up, fully expecting something worse to meet them.

Contrary to what they think, besides a couple of wooden chairs and a desk with a large window beside it, nothing but a (somewhat) clean and empty room greeted them instead.

Rider and Scáthach paused, looking around the dimly lit room with confused expressions as they walked towards the center.

"Well… that was a bit disappointing." Scáthach muttered with a small frown. "I thought something interesting would be here."

Rider scoffed lightly.

"I think your idea of 'interesting' is different to what I'm thinking." The purple-haired servant deadpanned.

"Is it? I think the humans of this era would call it 'living a little', no?" Scáthach smiled.

"Is that how people call it nowadays?" Rider muttered, skeptical.

"Regardless, I thought —" Scáthach stilled, then turned to Rider with a serious expression.

Noticing the other woman halted, Rider stepped near her and asked.

"What is it?"

"I think I've found the cause of that vile energy." Scáthach announced lowly.

"That was fast." Rider raised a brow in surprise. "What is the cause then?"

"The pentagram that is in the center of the room." Scáthach answered, calm and stoic in tone and façade.

Rider looked towards the center and found nothing what the other woman had described for her.

She turned back to Scáthach, who also happened to be looking at her.

"I don't see it." Rider said in a deadpan voice.

"I'm not surprised that you don't." Scáthach returned, then went on a brief explanation.

"The pentagram is hidden in a powerful illusion, enough to even play tricks on people who are highly experienced in Magecraft. If not for my own vast experience in the mystical arts, even I would have trouble discovering it. Also, the vile energy that is coming from it has helped me to locate it accurately. Still…"

Scáthach turned her gaze to the center on the ground, almost glaring in her stare due to how intense it was.

"I can't see its actual appearance, but the vile energy permeating from that spot is quite telling."

"Can you make it appear?" Rider asked.

Scáthach hummed, looking thoughtful.

"I've not had cases like this one before enough in the past…" She paused.

"Well, that's reassuring…" Rider said flatly.

"But, I can try." Scáthach finished, slowly making her way to the center.

Rider followed behind her, only stopping when Scáthach did, who looked at the ground intensely.

With a flick of her right wrist and a flash of red light particles, Scáthach summoned a crimson spear with vein-like details upon its form.

It was Gáe Bolg, the legendary cursed spear that she passed on to the 'Child of Light', Cú Chulainn, who was lauded as a great Hero on par with Heracles and King Arthur.

The spear in her hand though, was one of the spears that she crafted for her own personal use.

Gently, Scáthach used the tip of the spear to swipe the ground two feet as she cast a spell on the one spot that her eyes were set on.

A moment later, numerous runes glowing in a white light suddenly appeared and formed into a two meter circle.

It flashed brightly, causing the two women to squint their eyes and endure glare.

Fortunately, it didn't last long and the runes disappeared as quickly as it came.

In place of the runes was a magic circle that was drawn using a dark substance that seemed familiar.

Upon closer inspection, they realized that the substance was actually dried blood.

Scáthach's crimson eyes narrowed as she tried to discern the ritual circle's purpose by identifying its structure.

As someone who is well-versed in most kinds of magic, Scáthach has a wealth of experience in identifying different branches of Magecraft, including the ritualistic kind.

However, even that can be a flaw since she had seen many ritual circles before in her long life, she was having a bit of trouble in recognizing the pentagram near her feet.

'If only the materials to use this ritual were still here, then maybe I could have figure it out.' Scáthach mused, then she sighed. 'No choice. I suppose I can let Master handle this one.'

As she turned to face Rider, Scáthach paused as she saw something peculiar after she looked up.

"Those weren't there before…" Scáthach muttered in surprise.

The cause of her surprise was the strange change that happened to the room.

The room had gone through a complete overhaul, changing from an almost pleasant area to an unpleasant one in less than a second.

Before, the spacious room was empty and somewhat clean, except for the wooden chairs strewn around and the desk by the window.

Now, after the pentagram was revealed, it was filled with black vein-like organic tissues that spread all over the room like roots as black liquid oozes out of them, along with the magic circles of the same kind as the one in the center in every direction.

What surprised her the most was the similar dark energy emanating from all of them, and she had no clue that they were even there until after she forced the pentagram to appear.

'It's like the Land of Shadows all over again, except a magnitude disgusting and rotten.' Scáthach mused with a small frown.

Being reminded of her prison-like realm, Scáthach wrinkled her nose lightly and made a decision to destroy the building with many of her magically charged spears.

That is, after her Master has inspected the room first.

Straightening her posture, Scáthach turned to face Rider, who she noticed had gone quiet for a few minutes.

When she turned to her though, she stopped as she noticed the look of concentration on Rider's beautiful face.

"What's wrong?" Scáthach asked.

Slowly, Rider turned to look at her.

"There's something coming." The purple-haired servant said quietly, almost wary as she faced the twin doors.

"Is it a human?" Scáthach asked, following the other woman's motion as she readied the spear beside her.

"… I'm not sure." Rider's brows furrowed slightly. "But can you hear it? There's a sound that's echoing across the walls."

Silence reign upon the room as Scáthach focused her enhanced hearing and discovered the sound of…

"Is that breathing?" The crimson eyed woman was confused.

Indeed, they heard a distinctive wheezing sound, which seemed as if someone was having an asthma attack.

The wheezing sound was constant in every few beats, and it was accompanied by an eerie tone that does not resemble a human's.

In addition, the vile energy coming from every ritual circles placed in each direction of the room, along with the eerie sound, made the scene appear ominous and tense.

"Seems like it, and the presence it gives off is confusing." Rider stated.

"I felt the same, but since you are the one who has better senses, why don't you enlighten me?" Scáthach offered.

"If I were to describe it, then it feels like a human but no longer." Rider explained.

"You mean an undead?" Scáthach asked with a raised brow. "If so, then things will be simple."

"Not quite." Rider disagreed. "It does not have a heartbeat, but something is making 'it' move."

"Regardless of what that is, I'm sure we'll find out soon anyway." Scáthach said calmly. "It's coming towards us, after all."

Rider did not reply as she simply open her right hand and summoned her weapon.

In a flash of gold, a black and purple scythe of a wicked and elegant design appeared with a large deadly blade and about 5'3 in length.

Attached at the end of the scythe was a long dark purple chain with a spear-like point, which curled around her right arm as if it was alive.

The weapon's name was 'Harpe', a divine 'sword' with a special shape similar to a scythe, and one of the objects that belonged to her most hated enemy.

With the weapon at her side, she focused her gaze on the twin doors that was soon being forced to open.

The loud banging noises upon the doors was obvious enough for the two to discern that whatever was on the side does not know how to open it.

It was only thanks to its locking mechanism and the doorknobs that it still held up, but even that did not last long.

After hearing a loud inhumane growl from the other side, the twin doors burst open a moment later and the two finally saw their uninvited guest.

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