Mana Siphon Rain Falls Like Tears

"Is it raining?"

Autumn and winter were supposed to be dry and rainless across most of the continent. This rain had come without warning and was highly unusual.

Rorschach, Unuk, and Tasia suddenly felt intense discomfort. Even the dwarf, who had always been highly resistant and somewhat dull-witted, sensed that something was wrong.

Including the priest, they were all Spellcasters in the broad sense.

"The mana in the environment has stopped flowing. It's become chaotic."

Rorschach tried to cast the most basic spell, Mana Drive, but failed. It was like trying to grab a handful of sand in a sandstorm—he would get nothing, while the high-speed grains would slice open his hands.

"Sir, your nose is bleeding!" Tasia warned when she saw Rorschach's condition. She tried to cast a healing spell on him, but failed, and her face grew even paler.

Rorschach had no time to worry about himself. He hurriedly asked Unuk, "Can you still cast spells?"

Unuk tried as well, raising his hand and making several gestures. He failed to release a spell, and his expression changed drastically. "Their experiment has reached this stage?" He quickly calmed down again. "Don't worry. Don't force yourselves to cast. The ritual must have failed by now."

The winds of magic had gone from surging to chaotic and unusable, and now they were gradually fading away. The external mana in this area had been completely exhausted. Such drastic changes had happened in an instant.

Once the mana in the environment dried up, Rorschach felt his own internal mana spontaneously leaking outward, with nothing to replenish it. For a Spellcaster, this was undoubtedly torture, like pulling a fish from the water and leaving it exposed to the air.

Amid the pain, Rorschach gained a flash of insight: even without casting spells, the mana within a person's body and the mana in the environment existed in a kind of balance. Their absolute quantities were certainly not simply equal, but if the gap on one side grew too great, the other side's mana would flow toward it.

This discovery required the combined experiences of exhausting one's mana and being in a place without mana to grasp. Whether fortunate or unfortunate, Rorschach had tasted every flavor in a short span of time.

As mana vanished, the rain grew heavier. It poured down, drenching everyone. The torches, firebrands, and blazing straw lamb effigies were all extinguished, while the mind-disturbing smoke was washed away clean by the rain.

Then, in the fireless darkness of night, people waking from their great dream began to cry out in shock and pain. As they gradually adjusted to the dark, hostile gazes from all around turned toward the outsiders.

Rorschach sensed that the mana in the environment was returning, as though the earlier void had only been temporary. He prepared a Fireball, ready to display a mage's deterrence if necessary.

"Don't move! The special forces have arrived!"

"No one move! No one resist! Everyone squat down!" Several small airships arrived above the city district. Their crew activated charged scrolls, sending focused beams of light sweeping across the ground.

"Everyone! Leave the circles of light! Warning! Anyone remaining within the circles will bear the consequences!" The beams fixed in place as the airships lowered armored warriors one after another. Once they reached the ground, they unfastened their ropes and began cracking their whips.

Rorschach noticed that every warrior had been enhanced with Light Spell. The raindrops illuminated around them were all repelled. They had likely also been enhanced with shield-type spells. In the darkness, these towering figures in heavy white armor radiated sacred majesty. Their very arrival quickly quieted the unrest among the crowd.

At that moment, Unuk cast a Light Spell and loudly announced to the nearby warriors, "This is Unuk, the mage stationed in this city! Let me speak with your commander!"

Two nearby warriors strode over step by step. The civilians they passed trembled in the rain and hurriedly cleared a path.

"Mage, who are these people?"

"Rorschach, an Imperial-certified Spellcaster from the Imperial Capital." Rorschach handed over his Mage Emblem, then added the Spellcaster identity plaque issued by the Empire. "This gentleman, this lady, and this dwarf gentleman are my companions."

The warrior checked the emblem and returned it to Rorschach. "Mage, please do not move. You and your companions will need to come with us later."

At the same time, a squad of eight heavily armored warriors separated those at the center of the stage from the other civilians. The people in the center remained abnormally fanatical. They ignored the airship's orders and suddenly attacked.

The warriors first tried driving them back with their whips. When that proved ineffective, they cast the whips aside and drew their blades.

After several sharp whistles through the air, some heads were severed from their bodies. Dark red blood and the stench of blood mingled with the rain.

"Take them alive." The commanding warrior wore a crimson cape unlike the others. At his command, two warriors strode forward and each pinned down a rioter, leaving them unable to move beneath huge hands of steel.

Suddenly, a masked man in luxurious clothing shot into the sky from beside the stage, seemingly launching himself in an attempt to escape.

"There's a Spellcaster among them? No, it's more like the effect of a scroll or magical item." Unuk raised his hand and tried to aim. Crossbow bolts also flew toward the man, but he moved too quickly in the darkness and was about to break through the blockade around the square.

"You lapdogs think you can catch me? Hahahahaha!"

The man flew over the warriors' heads, leaving behind a shrill, mocking laugh.

"Mr. Unuk, please light up the sky near him."

"Alright." Unuk formed a spinning, dancing halo of light and fired it upward, successfully illuminating the man in the air.

Then, without warning, the flying man changed direction. He continued struggling, but it was useless as he plummeted straight down.

When he was only a few steps from the ground, his descent slowed. The man, tears and urine streaming down his face, was overjoyed. But he soon realized that an invisible giant hand had gripped him firmly, leaving him unable to move. He could only watch helplessly as the warriors surrounded and arrested him.

The warrior beside the two mages witnessed everything and could not help imagining whether he could even get close if he faced such an enemy. Though Rorschach could not see the face behind the warrior's helmet, the warrior's gaze toward the young man had clearly changed.

"Good! The cultists will ultimately be brought to justice!" Unuk applauded Rorschach. It truly was a matter of law—the law of magic.

"Brother, what kind of spell was that?" Unuk realized that the standards for a first-rank mage did not apply to the youth before him.

"Mage Hand."

"Brother, you dragged that man out of the air by force, didn't you? Does Mage Hand have that kind of range and strength?"

Rorschach suddenly worried that Unuk might misunderstand something strange about him. "Well... my Mage Hand is rather strong?"

"...Then you must share the method for training it, my brother!" Unuk desperately wanted to ask whether Rorschach's dominant hand was neither his left nor right hand, but Mage Hand.

"Caw!" Yazi, perched on Rorschach's shoulder, shook out its feathers.

Tonight's rain fell even harder.