Chương 127: Casting Against A Mountain

The guard captain had to be convinced by both Ryland and the Rhellian students to comply with their wishes. It was weirdly the only place where they were basically aligned in their goals. Eventually, the captain sighed and relented. He brought out ten whole Star Shackles, wrapping them around Ryland's various limbs like he was about to get married on Realm 57. They really enjoyed necklaces and bangles over there. But soon enough, Ryland was ready.

"Alright then," he said.

"Come at me with all you have." Admittedly, with ten whole Star Shackles on him, Ryland did feel a slight trickle of his magic disappearing into the faintly glimmering chains. His manasoul was leaking a stream of mana about a hairbreadth thick. Certainly nothing substantial, but with Ryland's heightened senses, it wasn't something he could ignore. Not that it was going to have any effect on what was about to transpire.

"Okay, then." The student from Rhel looked at his companions on either side of him. Their manasouls were coming alive, flaring brighter and brighter, magic growing with intense potency.

"We're ready too. Right—""One moment, please," Ryland said.

"I'd rather you not damage the classroom that the institute has so kindly granted me for my classes. Perhaps we could go elsewhere?" They looked disappointed at the delay in flinging their magic in Ryland's face, but they couldn't exactly admit that they didn't care about their own school.

"Fine," said a girl in brighter armour than most of the others.

"We can go to the Third Training Field. It's the closest to our current location."

"Ah, yes. I recognize that field. I'll take us all there."

"Right," said the first student, turning to walk away.

"Let's go, then."

"Alright. [Dimensional Lock]. [Translocate]." Before the students were even aware of what was going on, Ryland's first spell clad them in the temporary protection against spatial sickness he could grant them on short notice. The next spell of course took them to the field through his rift. Several cried out in shock, their manasouls going into disarray as they tried to make sense of what had just happened. Even the guard captain appeared stupefied. The field itself was basically deserted.

In the distance, a few onlookers were staring curiously, but that was about it. No alarms had popped off. No wards had been tripped.

"You!" The first student whirled to face Ryland, eyes wide with fear mixed in with his anger.

"You did that! How? What did you just do?" Ryland tutted.

"Oh, come now. I thought we were here for you to test your mettle against me. Or are you now hesitating?"

"Of course not!" They ranged out. A light shone from one of the student's hands as their magic came alive. Manasouls all around glowed with rising power. They were serious. The students of Rhel really had no intention of holding back. Good for them.

"Don't come crying to us if you regret what happens next," the first one shouted.

"Please," Ryland said.

"I suggest you don't hold back." When the first student stepped forward to shoot his spell, Ryland stopped him with a raised hand.

"I said don't hold back." The Rhellian student blinked in confusion for a moment. Then he followed his gaze to the rest of the students who had remained behind.

"Impossible. Are you saying you want us all to attack you at the same time? Have you lost your mind?"

"We just want to pull you down a peg," one of the other students said.

"It doesn't mean we want to send you all the way back to Arcoryx barely alive."

"And we certainly don't want to cause a big incident," someone else muttered, Ryland only picking it up because of his heightened senses.

"Believe me," Ryland said.

"You will need all the firepower you can muster. I do not say this out of arrogance, even if it appears as such. Even then, it won't be enough." They all scoffed or looked at him as though he really was mad. And they also continued protesting too. Honestly, it was Ryland's fault. He had already gotten proof that these children responded to taunts more than anything else, so it was his best recourse.

"Unless you're worried about what might happen if you fail even when all of you try at once," Ryland said. He couldn't quite manage a sneer. His acting skills had never been the best.

"Is that right?"

"Argh!" The first student turned to his companions.

"What are you all waiting for? You heard him. Let's attack!" Ryland sighed.

"Finally."

"You—" The student bit down on his curse and focused on his magic.

"Fine. [Frosted Fall]!" Magic crystallized out of him, turning prismatic and cold. An iceberg quickly grew to being over them. The temperature fell rapidly, an aura of freezing cold blanketing everything in moments and frosting everyone's breaths. Ah. This student had to be at least Gold-ranked, if not stronger. The others emulated their compatriots. Pure magic frothed out of them all, quickly forming a wide array of shapes and effects based on their various incantations." [Fissure of the End]!"" [Thunder Fists]!""

[Ravaging Storm]!"" [Compressed Breath]!" Ryland didn't bother reading all the spell circles. The effects were basic, although quite strong. Ruptured earth flew at him, as did lightning in the vague shape of a rain of pummelling punches, a storm cloud forming a violent horizontal twister, and even what looked like a small draconic head rising off one mage to fire off a beam of blistering energy. They all combined into a devastating maelstrom of magic.

Moments before impacting him, the mixture had turned into such a chaotic cocktail, Ryland couldn't even begin to separate one spell's effect from the other. But it wasn't like he needed to." [Eternal Bastion]," he incanted. Ryland's spell coated him in his trusty barrier. The tremendous magic crashed into him like a small apocalypse.

Despite the barrier, Ryland certainly heard the terrific thunder of the magic's impact, as well as feel the vibration of the air itself splintering apart under the tremendous pressure of the rioting mana. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. It took a while for everything to clear. For that huge dust cloud with residual sparks of lightning running through it to dissipate away. There were other effects, of course.

A pool of water had gathered on the broken ground, also dancing with sparks. Debris kept raining down. None of that affected Ryland in the slightest. The few rocks that hit his body just bounced off his barrier. He was perfectly fine. Which was making all the students of Rhel gawk.

"How did you survive?" the first student asked faintly.

"That's impossible. We all threw our spells at you at the same time."

"You couldn't have survived!" Another one had stepped back with widening eyes.

"What in all the Realms did you do?" Ryland shrugged.

"I simply used my magic."

"That's not right." Another student stepped forward, shaking his head while refusing to believe Ryland's lies.

"You tricked us. You did something. I saw those spells hit, I saw you standing there and take it all. Tell us the truth. What did you do?" Ryland shrugged.

"If you don't believe me, you're free to throw your spells yet again." They seriously looked like they just might do that. This was their only opportunity to make it look as though they hadn't completely failed. It was their only chance to set things right for themselves. Ryland was handing them a lifeline, and none of them had the grace to look even a mite grateful for it. So they went for it again. A storm of magic arose, even more furious this time.

They had made sure to add some enhancements to the process before flinging their sorcery. So now, the avalanche of frothing energy heading Ryland's way was even more severe and deadly. Ryland also didn't hold back this time. He raised one hand." [Absolute Null]." The cocktail of devastating spells dissipated well before they even got close to him. This time, he hadn't held back his voice either. The sheer power in not just his magic, but in his voice alone had stunned and stupefied the students.

Well, that, as well as the fact that their tremendous burst of combined magic had simply been wiped out. Just like that. The first student scratched his helmeted head.

"But how…?" His compatriots were just staring agog. They were nonplussed, stupefied to the point of silence. It seemed they couldn't fathom anyone existing who could shrug off the virulent combination of their incantations in that fashion.

"We can try again!" another student said.

"I've got plenty of mana left."

"That's right," said another.

"He can't keep this up forever. Let's pummel him till he goes down!" Several others took up the call, though the very first student still hadn't taken his eyes off Ryland. He still looked almost aghast. Unlike the rest, he couldn't bring himself to muster another effort. Because to him, it was now clear that all of it was entirely pointless. They weren't going to leave a scratch.

But before they could advance and try their exercise yet again, they were interrupted by several heavy stomps rushing towards their location. An armoured Academ flashed into their midst, his broad, gleaming back to Ryland as he thunderously faced his institute's students.

"What is the meaning of this?" he roared at them.

"How dare you raise your spells against a visiting Academ?" The students all suddenly quailed. Ryland didn't blame them. The man who had appeared all of a sudden was quite imposing, standing taller than anyone else. Raging magic remained tightly controlled against lashing out. What intrigued Ryland the most, though, was how his manasoul appeared to be connected to his shining armour.

Mana ran off his manasoul and connected to different portions of his armour, highlighting them with different Inscriptions ingrained into the armour. Interesting as it was, it just seemed rather ironic after the hullabaloo that the students had raised. Farther behind the institute teacher, a group of students were hurrying in as fast as they could. Ryland blinked. Ah, yes. In the excitement of everything that was going on, he had forgotten to [Translocate] the rest of the students in the classroom.

This included the other Rhellians, the students from other academies, and of course, his own pupils from Arcoryx. Ryland smiled at Viren, who actually looked worried. How cute. It was Tezar who was in the lead, however. Apparently, he had turned on his fellow Rhellians.

"High Academ Zevo!" the first student said.

"We were justified! We—""I do not wish to hear your excuses, Suthor," Zevo growled.

"You will submit to the authority of the institute and you will suffer the consequences of your inept actions."

"But sir!" said another student, bravely forging on despite the High Academ's glare turning to him.

"We were being shown a very sacrilegious lesson!" Magic sparked off Zevo's armour, which glowed to a dangerous hue.

"Every class you undergo is verified and validated by the institute itself. Are you now insinuating that our checks were not thorough? That we have failed you?"

"No, not at all, sir! We're saying that the guest could be lying and fooling us all. It might warrant—""It is not for you to take action even if that were true!" the High Academ's voice was so loud now, the air itself was cracking at the pressure.

"It is not for you to be judge, jury, and executioner of whatever justice you deem is correct. Is that what we teach at the institute? Is that the lessons you wish to show to our esteemed guests?" While several still looked angry, they all went quiet at that and bowed their heads. Maybe there was an undercurrent of shame at their actions, but Ryland doubted it was anything actually lasting. He was open to being surprised, however.

The High Academ slowly turned to face Ryland while the other Arcoryx students gathered around him. They almost seemed to be ready to step between him and Zevo. Ah, so that was it. It explained that worried look from Viren. They hadn't been concerned about Ryland coming to harm or anything of the sort. Rather, they were worried about him facing consequences of taking on a group of students, even in the contrived circumstance that had come about.

"Sub-Academ Ryland," Zevo said with a genuine note of apology, though even that was severe like his earlier words. He appeared middle-aged, though a proper age wasn't always easily surmised when magic was involved.

"On behalf of the Rhellian Institute for Arcane Arts, I apologize for everything that has transpired."

"Apology accepted," Ryland said.

"But please, rest assured that no harm has come from this little altercation."

"Great harm has come to our reputation when our very students dare to throw such wild accusations at you, an honoured guest for all of us." Ryland wasn't quite so sure about that honoured guest part. Hadn't they tried to apprehend him a while back? Regardless, the students all hung their heads lower at their High Academ's indicting words.

"For transparency's sake," Ryland said.

"I believe their argument isn't entirely without merit. I was showing them how to imbue one's manasoul into one's magic, and they revolted, saying that such a topic is blasphemous here on Rhel."

"Ah, yes." Zevo cleared his throat.

"Such a topic would be rather controversial here. I would suggest perhaps avoiding—""Unless the institute officially requires me to amend my curriculum, I am not about to compromise on what I believe needs to be taught to all aspiring mages, High Academ." Zevo considered Ryland for a moment. His grey eyes were inscrutable.

"I see," he eventually said.

"We will ensure that such an incident doesn't come to pass again. If you ever face any trouble, no matter from which corner it may come, please do not hesitate to reach out. I will personally ensure that this sort of issue never arises again." Ryland nodded appreciatively. Though, this sort of attitude would have been a lot more welcome when the Rhellian administration had "taken him into custody". Before Zevo turned away, he glanced at the guard captain.

"You will come speak with me after your duties are done for the day, captain. There are things we must desperately address, especially regarding your… judgment of when to act." If the guard captain was consternated by that, he didn't let any of it show. He just nodded. He was professional at the very least. Zevo gathered up the Rhellian students who had challenged and attacked Ryland before taking them away.

Perhaps Ryland should have been a bit more open that he had allowed the students to do whatever they wished, but it seemed that was besides Zevo's point.

"They're not done," Acrypha said.

"They're going to try to pull something. I just know it." Viren scowled at the departing Rhellians' backs.

"Yeah, I don't trust them at all. They're bullies. And bullies are going to find a way to get back at you, sir." Ryland tutted.

"Don't you worry about any of that. Focus on enjoying your exchange semester." He smiled.

"Like how I enjoyed this little diversion as a change of pace, for instance." They both stared at him, and the other Arcoryx students were giving him very odd looks. Ryland just laughed.

"I don't know," Acrypha said, still unconvinced.

"We have that little competition coming up, don't we? The tournament over the next week or two? I have a feeling they'll want to get back at us." Viren frowned.

"I've got no doubt they'll pull something during the tournament." Ryland's laughter passed, but his smile remained.

"Whatever happens, you'll be fine. You're my students, after all."