"Then I'll go calm the hotel guests so we don't cause a panic."
Hyberion turned and made a light hop. His black cloak billowed out behind him, letting him drift down toward the hotel with effortless elegance.
Wolfheim, far less patient, clasped his hands behind his back and simply stepped off into a freefall. He landed in a crouch, completely unhard.
Rhodes wasn't surprised. His own Guild Master hopped off the second- and third-floor railings at the guild all the ti without acting his age. This drop was higher, sure, but still nothing crazy.
Jura, however, didn't rush off. He looked… concerned.
If Rhodes had said he was going to wipe out everyone on the mountain, Jura would have believed it. Summon a dragon for a stroll, problem solved.
But take them alive? He found himself thinking in brute-force terms: trigger a landslide? Collapse the ridge?
Makarov went straight to the point. "So, what's your plan?"
If it were him, he'd probably choose Fairy Law and throttle it back so it didn't turn lethal. But Rhodes hadn't learned Fairy Law yet, and Fairy Glitter wasn't suited to enemies spread all across a mountainside.
"How I hit them isn't the important part, the key is doing it with style," Rhodes said after a beat. "Master Warrod, let's head down first. Can you shrink this tree?"
If not, he'd handle it himself; the trunk was blocking the view.
"My Magic only makes plants grow, not smaller."
Warrod laughed at Rhodes's skeptical look. "Of course I'm joking!"
The giant tree's branches whisked back, the main trunk thinning and sinking until all that remained was a fresh sprout nudging through the soil.
With solid ground underfoot again, Rhodes signaled his familiars to haul the captured pilots and their gear into the hotel.
The enemy lines had begun to descend the mountain. A pair of erald dragon wings unfurled from Rhodes's back.
He gave one beat of his wings and rose into the air.
Magic Power surged through him. Even without casting, the air howled into a gale. The earth gave a low shudder, and the hotel quivered in its foundations.
Inside, startled diners watched ripples jitter across the wine in their glasses. In rooms with open windows, curtains, tablecloths, and towels snapped and stread.
Faces turned toward the stormlight pouring through the panes: Rhodes hovered there in a white coat, the emblem of the Ten Wizard Saints gleaming at his chest.
Even that badge was outshone by the monstrous green wings spread wide at his back.
Sharp-eyed guests spotted movent on the opposite slope and realized a Wizard Saint was about to act.
Rhodes angled his body a touch, ostensibly to line up a shot, in truth to show his better profile. He'd once heard a star actor swear that heroes look cooler at a forty-five-degree angle.
Satisfied with the framing, his hands beca green dragon claws. He lifted them slowly from his sides.
As he moved, the wind thrashed harder. The bright sky dimd. Wisps of white cloud raced together and blackened, swelling into a ceiling of storm.
In a handful of heartbeats, midday fell toward night, and the rain ca down in sheets.
"Wh-what's happening?!"
"How can it start pouring like this?!"
"Idiot, because he's here!"
"They say the Ten Wizard Saints can change the weather and reshape the land, looks like it's true!"
"Hey, aren't we in big trouble then?!"
At Hyberion's instruction, the hotel manager and staff moved quickly through every floor and dining hall, reassuring the guests with proud voices:
"Please don't panic. Although Dark Guilds are lurking nearby, six of the Ten Wizard Saints are here with us. The one you see taking action is Saint Rhodes, ranked seventh among them!
"And Lord Hyberion, ranked second, has personally declared he will protect us. Truly, there is no safer place on the continent than right here, so there's no need to fear!"
The title of "Ten Wizard Saints" worked wonders. Most of the guests cald down imdiately.
A few bold ones leaned against the windows, eager to watch the show. A handful wanted to slip away, but the thought of Dark Guild ambushes lurking outside made them hesitate.
"Huh? Why did his wings turn blue?"
"Are those… Magic items?"
"I've never seen that kind of flying device before!"
They gawked at the wings spreading behind Rhodes. The erald green had shifted into a striking gradient of blue and violet. Golden trims frad the wing-bones, gleaming with a tallic sheen, while clusters of blue gems pulsed like embedded lacrima.
To the untrained eye, they looked less like living wings and more like so elaborate, enchanted construct.
"The rain on the mountain… is it changing color?"
"Look, those aren't raindrops, they're bolts of lightning!"
Across the valley, the opposite mountainside writhed under a storm cloud all its own. From its belly, sheets of azure lightning crashed down in crackling torrents.
Blue streaks tore across the darkened slopes, searing bright against the gloom. It looked like a storm where rain had been replaced by thunder itself.
Half of the three hundred enemies collapsed at the very first wave of lightning rain.
The luckier survivors didn't have long to celebrate. Each man struck by lightning discharged three more arcs, spraying wildly in every direction. Even bolts that rely split trees or scorched the ground spat out their own branches of electricity, chaining out like a spiderweb of thunder.
A once-green hillside beca a blazing sea of lightning in the blink of an eye.
So enemies stumbled straight into the electrified storm, twitching and collapsing. Others scrambled to throw up barriers of Magic, shimring dos straining under the onslaught. Still others tried activating enchanted boots, sprinting or leaping desperately to escape.
The cleverest of them tried vaulting high into the air, only to be blasted mid-leap by fresh lightning lancing down from above.
Most of the surviving half collapsed again almost instantly.
And for those who still clung on, an even greater terror awaited them, because that first strike had only been the opening wave.
The storm above continued to vomit bolts of blue lightning without pause. Arcs crackled endlessly across the scorched hillside, until the flat net of electricity swelled into a three-dinsional cage of thunder.
Those who tried to rely on speed fell first. The air and ground alike were filled with raging currents, leaving no room to dodge.
Those who trusted their enchanted shields didn't last much longer. The storm shredded through their barriers, draining the last of their magic power, until one after another shattered into sparks.
"Is this… the true power of a Wizard Saint?!" soone gasped. "It's like a natural disaster."
Bathed in despair, they stared up at the lone figure hovering in the storm.
"Those glowing wings, those claws… that sinister smile… to bend the weather itself and call down lightning..."
"He isn't even human, is he?!"
"Monster! That guy's a monster!!"
As the final stragglers were swallowed by the roaring blue cage, Rhodes blinked in confusion, absently touching his face.
"Handso as I am, how exactly do I look like a monster?"
...
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