The Head mage turned towards Aiden, and that was when she realized her clothes had been destroyed by the heat with Aiden staring at her, but not at her body, but at her face, as he had already averted his eyes from her body.
He was a priest in the eyes of everyone, so he couldn’t do things like that publicly, but the Head mage didn’t care at all; she didn’t even try to cover up.
"Are you injured?" Aiden asked as he saw the sides of her arm.
She slowly moved her arm and checked herself; she had a few burns, nothing serious, but still Aiden couldn’t overlook it.
Aiden stepped closer, taking both of her arms. "Let me see"
"I’m fine, you don’t need to do anything; I’ll heal in a few minutes," She replied.
Still, Aiden didn’t listen to anything she said as he placed his hands on her shoulders.
[Greater Heal]
A green light spread from his hands and covered both of her arms; the small burns disappeared almost immediately, and the pain he felt faded before he backed away.
The Head Mage stared at Aiden for a moment before looking away. "Thank you."
Aiden nodded before both of them turned their attention to the other side of the hall. Across from them, the man was still alive.
He was lying on the ground, his body badly burned from the explosion. Even though he conjured a barrier of his own, the alchemy was far greater than his barrier magic; after all, a genius was behind them.
Most of his clothes were gone, and his skin was charred and covered in burns. He still had one arm, but now both of his legs had been destroyed by the explosion, yet he was still breathing.
From where he stood, he was a lot closer to the explosion than the knights were because of the Head Mage, as she used her wind to get them slightly out of the blast radius; still, they were affected but not as much as the man was.
Aiden and the Head Mage stepped closer; they could still feel the heat, but they continued forward. The man couldn’t move, but he was still upright with his back resting against the wall, and as they approached, he began to speak.
"GLORY!!" His voice was weak, but still there was madness in it, like he was also being controlled, "GLORY TO THE EMPEROR!!"
Aiden and the Head Mage closed the distance before they realized something was wrong; the man wasn’t done yet, and soon his mouth opened, and his crazed laughter echoed through the hall as his entire body began glowing once again.
Even with no legs or an arm, he continued laughing as he had already accepted death, and he was doing everything to take Aiden with him.
Aiden’s eyes widened as his body glowed, covering the entire hall in red. This time, they didn’t think to cast the barrier on themselves; inside, they dashed towards the man as they were close.
Aiden stretched his hands forward, and golden light instantly surrounded the man, but this time he enlarged it and created a cube just like the Head Mage’s barrier earlier, trapping his body inside his barrier.
[Divine Barrier]
At the same time, the Head Mage cast her own barrier this time, casting all three in quick succession.
"Advance Barrier, Dark Barrier, Mana Barrier*
Three layers of barriers appeared around Aiden’s divine barrier as the man’s body glowed even brighter; still the man was smiling as he knew his time was up.
*BOOM!!*
The explosion erupted, and this time it was on a smaller scale due to the interference of the barriers, fo
Both Aiden and the Head Mage were pushed backwards due to the shockwave that from the blast, their feet sliding across the cracked floor before finally stopping.
Aiden’s hands were still raised, his magic circle still in front of his hands as he held the barrier in place. The Head Mage also held hers in place, though the explosion had destroyed two of her barriers.
Smoke slowly filled the hall as the initial explosion died down. Aiden waited for a few seconds before lowering his hands, allowing his barrier to dissipate.
"Is it over?" The Head Mage asked as she also lowered her hands and let out a sigh of relief.
After some moments, the smoke slowly cleared, and the man was gone.
Nothing was left of him except a deep crater where he was; the explosion had completely destroyed his entire body. Aiden stared at the spot for some seconds before letting out a sigh of relief.
"He is definitely dead"
"There’s no way he’s surviving that." The Head Mage nodded.
Aiden turned around as he heard footsteps rushing towards them. The next moment, a cloak was wrapped around his body by one of the knights, and the other also wrapped a cloak around the Head Mage’s body.
From where he stood, he could see the knights that were affected by the first explosion. Even though they were a little out of harm’s way, some of them still had burns on their bodies.
Aiden pulled the cloak from his shoulders and wrapped it around his waist as he walked towards the knights, stopping in front of the first one.
"Stay where you are!" Aiden commanded as he bent down and placed his hands on the first knight’s body.
The knights looked at each other in confusion, but none of them argued as Aiden began casting his spells.
[Greater Heal]
"Your Holiness, the priestesses would take care of such small injuries; you don’t need to stress yourself." One of the knights standing spoke, and the injured ones nodded in unison.
"Nonsense, I’m here now," Aiden spoke.
One after the other, green light spread from his hands across their bodies; tiny cuts, bruises, and burns healed almost instantly. Within a few seconds, none of the knights were injured.
"Thank you, Your Holiness." The knight bowed their heads.
Aiden finally turned around as he sighed in relief; at least he had done a job befitting of his title.