Lord of Charm

With his extremely powerful connection to the mana, he could use fire to overpower water at the cost of additional mana.

He kept sprinting toward Richmond while radiating powerful flames around him, evaporating all of the water spells before they made contact with him. His flames even overpowered Richmond's fire snakes, who did his best to keep casting spells desperately.

Gale planned to finish it quickly, so he decided to bulldoze through the fight and just be tired later; he was near the dukedom's city and didn't believe they would attack him inside. Even if they did, Tara would need time to tend to her losses if he kills the three mages here and she wouldn't be able to assess his strength properly.

Since they originally surrounded him, Richmond was separated from the water mage and had no defense, therefore making Gale target him.

When Gale got too close, Richmond used a defensive darkness spell; it covered the area around him in a radius of 30 meters in darkness, blocking all senses. It made it impossible for Gale to determine his location inside it.

Gale's affinity was darkness was weaker, allowing him to sense only a radius of 10 meters around him the moment he stepped in.

The good news was that the water mage couldn't find Gale either, and he could only watch the fog of darkness from outside, making them lose their 1v2 leverage.

A race against time started for Richmond as soon as Gale entered the fog. Richmond started running around him in an attempt to go back to the water mage's side and shoot his spells behind his protection. However, he didn't know how much Gale could sense inside the fog.

He estimated it as 15 meters to be on the safe side and had to circle around Gale, which was nearly 50 meters. He started sprinting inside the fog; he couldn't use fire mana to protect himself or Gale would sense his direction and his darkness didn't offer enough defense to survive Gale's spells.

In response, Gale used his newly learned spell – 'Wisp of Fire'. It summoned above a hundred wisps of fire that swarmed over the fog. He could guess Richmond's objective; running out of the other side of the fog would be detrimental to him since he would be alone with Gale.

Gale instructed his wisps to split into two small swarms and each one took one of his sides. Gale stood in place and concentrated in anticipation.

*Woosh*

Fire was ignited 15 meters to his right when Richmond couldn't dodge one of the wisps. He used his speed and flexibility to a great extent, yet there were too many of them. He had to protect himself with a fire spell that burnt the wisp when he was almost out of the fog.

Gale shot his orb of fire spell right away in that direction. The orb exploded and thousands of sparks were shot around it, making it impossible to dodge. Richmond used his fire spell again and took a leap, yet it didn't hold, and his right arm and chest were hit.

He landed on his stomach outside the fog with his body burning and decaying quickly, but luckily for him, the water mage reacted as soon as he saw the situation and put the fire off.

A stream of water wrapped Richmond inside it and carried him behind the mage. His arm was pretty much useless now, all that was left of it was a horrifying sight.

He drank a healing potion, but it would take a while until its effect will show. He was breathing heavily and writhing in pain, but he knew it wasn't the time to feel sorry for himself; he stood up and started preparing his spells.

The fog of darkness slowly faded and Gale was seen standing surrounded by his wisps. As soon as their gazes locked, they shot their spells.

two waves of water washed the wisps, extinguishing them in large numbers. However it was not enough, it only reduced their numbers by 90%. Richmond's flame burned most of the rest and they dodged those that were left. The wisps homed on them, forcing them to cast another spell to get rid of them.

Gale used his favorite combo; he cast an orb of fire and shot it toward them. However, the water mage was ready this time. He created a sphere of water around the orb and all of the sparks were contained inside it.

They were in a stalemate; Gale's fire was stopped by the water spells and the water spells were stopped either by Gale's fire or earth spells. The same thing was true for Richmond's fire spells.

Gale would probably win an exhaustion battle, but he didn't have the time to wait for it; Moira was at death's door and required treatment. He ran to Richmond and quickly stood 5 meters away from the water mage. The water mage prepared his defensive water spell, ready to enter the same stalemate just in close range.

Gale had other plans; he summoned a large wall of earth that hid him from the two mages and ran to it. Now, he was on one side of the wall and the water mage was on the other. They were only a meter or two apart.

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A few days ago:

Gale looked at Sol sleeping next to him exposed and sweaty. Most of the time those days they were either in the middle of a love session or right after it, and now was the after part.

Gale just finished absorbing a great deal of her affinity and he wanted to feel it. He still didn't know what her sub-element was.

He closed his eyes and felt the mana around him. As always, he felt the darkness one that he perceived as black, the red one that represented fire, and brown for earth. However, he suddenly felt a weak, transparent affinity. He manipulated it to swirl around him and felt a weak breeze on his body.

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Back to the present:

Gale constructed his wall of earth rather than stone, to make it durable against water and fire but weaker in front of more tangible attacks.

Richmond and the water mage quickly retreated and bombard the wall with spells, turning it into a death trap in case Gale tries to remove the wall and appear close.