Dark Magus Returns

Looking around the town hall, Raze noticed that the place was quite empty, with not a single one of those who had traveled with him in sight.

As he looked more, he noticed something else-it wasn't just them. Where was the mayor? Where were the staff? It seemed like they had all disappeared.

'This isn't right. I know I told them to leave me alone, but isn't this a bit of an overreaction?' Raze thought. 'Was I too harsh on the younglings?'

Recently, Raze had been doing more reflection on his actions. It almost felt like he had been in a trance up until this point. Regardless, he needed to push on.

'If they aren't here, I should look for them. This is stranger than I'd like,' Raze thought. Eventually, Raze decided to exit the town hall. He opened the wide doors, half-expecting to see them outside, but he could only see the general public walking around, along with two others right in front of him.

"Brother Raze, you're up. Are you ready to head to the Neverfall Clan?" Fing asked.

Raze turned his head left and right.

"I was looking for Rayna and the others. Have you seen them?"

"They headed to the wall, but we weren't really sure why," Han answered.

Hearing that, Raze guessed he knew where to go next and started to walk ahead. As he walked, he noticed a few footsteps trailing behind him.

"I don't need bodyguards," Raze said, turning around.

"Yes, of course," Han replied. "But our father has asked us to escort you... not that we think you would flee or need help, but we just need to keep an eye on where you are. Please, ignore us and go ahead."

Raze hadn't fully made up his opinion on the two brothers, and that was mainly because he didn't know his full opinion on Belil and the whole Neverfall Clan yet.

What was their whole role in all of this? One thing was clear: he didn't like how they had acted against Dame, but right now, while they weren't his enemies, there was no reason for him to make an enemy of them.

'I do wonder, am I strong enough to take them on? My magic went up a star, and my Cultivation increased by a stage. I did best them with my breakthrough, but it's hard to know if I could beat them now.'

Although Raze had achieved these two growths in power, he had yet to test it, and the town of Flendon wasn't exactly the best place to do so.

"Hey, that's him, right?"

"Yeah, he's the Dark Magus. I heard he came and helped us again, to stop the Behemoth Clan!"

"I can't believe it's really him."

As Raze continued to walk through the streets, he was drawing a lot of attention from the locals. At first, he heard them just saying words of praise and pointing at him.

Eventually, members of the town came up to him and thanked him directly.

Although they didn't see what Raze had done, due to hiding in their homes, they knew it was because of him that they were safe.

Then, members of the public started to come bearing gifts-either bread from their bakeries or free clothing from their stalls.

Children even offered pieces of candy to him as he walked by, before running off.

'This is a strange experience... it might be a first for me,' Raze thought.

In Alterian, Raze had done plenty as the Dark Magus. He had even stopped high-level crime, corrupt guilds, and more.

It was never his intention to do these things, but it was a byproduct of his goal against the Grand Magus.

However, these "good deeds" he had completed as the Dark Magus were covered up and shown in the news outlets as moments of terror by the Dark Magus.

It was simply the Dark Magus going on a rampage, destroying guilds. As for the problems that had originally been caused, they were all blamed on him.

He had quickly become the public enemy of all of Alterian.

Now, he was hearing the Dark Magus spoken about positively, and people were directly thanking him for what he had done.

'A byproduct of my own selfish desires again,' Raze thought. 'I only saved this town and fought against Sha Mo because I believed that if I absorbed him, I could grow even stronger.' 'If it had been just a regular clan attacking the town of Flendon, I'm not sure I would have acted,' Raze thought to himself.

Continuing to walk, there was a slight smile on his face. Due to all of the interruptions, he had yet to reach the wall, and that's when he heard an outcry from the public.

"There's something happening at the lake!"

"What do you mean?"

"There's some type of army! A fleet of ships has entered the lake. There are at least a hundred ships with a large number of people!"

"Is it the Behemoth Clan again? Did they come back?"

"No, I don't think it's the Behemoth Clan. I saw another flag!"

Immediately hearing this, Raze strayed from his path and decided to head to the lake instead of the wall. He quickly moved, running, and the two brothers followed him.

With Raze's speed, it didn't take long for him to reach the lake area, where there were few houses. A barrier and walkway had yet to be built, so there was still an issue with flooding.

Yet a group had naturally formed as they pointed, and a large fleet of ships could be seen in the water.

On one of the slightly larger ships, General Re from the Doclet Kingdom stood at the forefront. Using a special large tube-like device on the edge, he sent out his message.

"We, the Kingdom of Doclet, rightful owners of the land where the town of Flendon is located, have a message for you all!" Re shouted. "We are here to capture the rebellion, the Dark Magus!"