"Damnit!" Justiciar Straus shouted when he reached the hole that Phil's cage disappeared to.

He punched the earth, thinking that somehow Mage Wells must have meticulously tunneled under the clearing to reach the cage. The Ice Clone must have been used to make sure he was in the right spot. Unfortunately, no matter how many times Justiciar Straus punched the ground or how many small craters he made with those punches, there was no sign of a tunnel, Phil or Mage Wells.

"Is the Ice Clone still active?" Justiciar Straus shouted to his men.

"Yes sir, it is very strong. We haven't been able to beat it yet." Victor shouted back.

If Mage Wells' Ice Clone was still active, it meant the young mage was still in the area. The bird did not matter. As long as he captured Mage Wells, Justiciar Straus would be able to get what he wanted.

Justiciar Straus rushed over to his men and with a single thrust of his sword, shattered Damion's Ice Clone.

From high in the trees above them, Damion looked down on the men who harmed Phil. They were all Justiciars. He briefly considered being lenient, but he pushed that thought out of his mind quickly. These fools had attacked his closest companion. There would be no mercy.

Stretching out his palm towards the knights on the forest floor who were discussing where he might be hiding, Damion cast a spell he had been wanting to try for a while now, Frost Fire. The magic ice flame leapt from his palm and hit the first knight on the top of his head.

Damion would have preferred the knight suffer, like Thomas Sorin had, but he was fine with finishing off one of the knights instantly, since it meant the other three, even the A Rank knight, were filled with terror at the sight of their comrade dying.

With a flick of his wrist the first Frost Fire vanished, but not before the victim's head had been turned into the something unrecognizable. A second cast sent the next flame towards the A Rank knight. Unfortunately, Justiciar Straus was able to raise his shield in time to block it.

While the Frost Fire might have been blocked, that did not mean the attack was unsuccessful. Justiciar Straus was forced to toss his shield aside because the Frost Fire was consuming it, just as easily as it had the head of one of his men a moment before.

"He's somewhere in the trees, get back to the clearing!" Justiciar Straus shouted.

He had seen where the Frost Fire had originated, but try as he might, he could not see Mage Wells in the tree. His only guess was that the Ice mage had cast the spell and quickly moved to another hiding spot. If that trend continued, Justiciar Straus knew he would not be able to fight Wells. So, he ordered his men out of the trees, to deprive Damion of the terrain needed for his hit and run tactic.

As the knights ran out of the forest, Damion considered sending another Frost Fire attack at them, but he felt it likely that Justiciar Straus would find a way to block it. The A Rank knight was keeping a cautious eye on the trees, desperately trying to find where the Ice mage was hiding and if Damion did attack, it would reveal his position. And Justiciar Straus only needed a split second to launch a devastating counterattack.

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'Two C Rank and one A Rank knight. The C Ranks are fodder against me,' Damion thought as he extinguished his Frost Fire from the ruined artifact and tried to think of a new plan of attack. 'But Straus will be able to seriously hurt me if I am not careful.'

Summoning his Ice Sword, Damion decided to try and maintain his advantage over his grounded opponents. They had left the forest to fight where he could not hide in the trees. However, since he could fly, he could still fight outside of their reach.

Gathering his mana, Damion prepared to cast another tier 4 spell. While not as devastating or as unblockable as Frost Fire, Ice Beam was still a powerful spell and it had the benefit of traveling faster.

When he cast Ice Beam, the white beam of magic flashed out from his palm towards one of the C Rank knights. Damion was sure Justiciar Straus would be able to dodge the attack, but the C Ranks would not be able to.

Justiciar Straus saw the powerful spell targeting Victor to his left and the A Rank knight stepped in front of it to block the spell. The C Rank knight was shocked to see his commander knock him out of the way. If Straus had wanted, he could have moved to attack Damion when the mage revealed his position, instead, he sacrificed that opportunity to protect his men.

Seeing the Justiciar commander block Ice Beam, Damion was a bit stunned. However, he did not let the move go to waste. Even if he did fully block the attack, the power of Ice Beam was more than just raw destruction. The Ice mana of the attack had the capability to freeze things solid and Justiciar Straus taking the attack significantly weakened him. But Damion knew that would only be temporarily.

Casting Blink while all the knights were focused on Ice Beam, Damion shot high into the sky and out of their line of sight. Without being able to see where he went, none of them knew where the next attack was going to be coming from.

Now high above them, Damion cast Summon Ice and split his block of ice into dozens of small razor-sharp pieces and sent them down at his targets. The moment he released the spell, he used Blink again, moving to another part of the sky. A few seconds later the knights were crying out and raising their shields as Damion's makeshift ice storm rained down on them.

One of the C Rank knights took a shard in the leg and the other caught one in the shoulder. The ice would only rain down for a few seconds, but that was all that was needed. While the three Justiciars were focused on defending from attacks from above, Damion had teleported himself behind them and was only a few meters away when he cast another Frost Fire. This time, the spell caught one of the C Rank knights in the back, leaving just the knight that Justiciar Straus had blocked the Ice Beam for and Straus himself.

"David!" Victor cried out when he saw his friend being consumed by the Frost Fire.

"Don't touch him," Justiciar Straus warned. "The slightest touch of Frost Fire can kill you."

"Perhaps we should try and negotiate with him," Victor said. He was defeated. His Justiciar brothers that he had served with for years where all dead. All because of his commander's greed.

"The time for negotiation has passed. Even if he was in the right to strike back at us. There is no way he and his beast can let it be known they killed three Justiciars."

"We can promise not to say anything. I'm sure he would be willing to spare us if we pretend this never happened. Or maybe offer him compensation."

"He doesn't have that sort of character," Justiciar Straus told his subordinate. "Damion Wells has mercilessly slaughtered anyone who has ever tried to kill him."

"Can you really blame me?" Damion asked loudly, letting the pair know he was listening in from his flying sword a few meters away.

"You have killed my men. All I wanted from you were those potions. Now I will have your life." Justiciar Straus spat.

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