When Evan began to play the flute, the members of the Emerald Hand who were in the watchtowers could hear the pleasant sound. This melody was sweeter than the sirens’ singing a dozen times over, but this flute brought destruction and death besides great music.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The members of the Emerald Hand were about to attack Evan, but they could not do so because the ground began to shake violently. It wasn’t an earthquake. It could be called a sound call to nature.

Suddenly a huge number of rectangular, wooden bars appeared from under the ground. They were thick and sturdy. The Emerald Hand’s temporary base was covered with a wooden barrier in just a couple of seconds.

These wooden bars quickly destroyed several barriers above Emerald Hand’s camp, and Evan could now attack without fear.

But, the wooden dome that prevented anyone from escaping was only a prelude before the main act. Evan continued to play the flute, and visible notes began to fly out of it. These notes flew in different directions and entered the minds of the members of the Emerald Hand.

This melody clouded their minds, and suddenly, instead of attacking Evan, they attacked their allies. Evan ignored them, he knew exactly what was about to happen.

Evan continued to play the flute while the hypnotized light mages cast spells and fought at Evan’s side.

Melodies kept coming out of the flute and into the minds of the Emerald Hand members. In less than a minute, Evan had already brainwashed more than ten Emerald Hand members.

“Stop! Why are you attacking your own? What’s going on?!” Shouted one of the light mages.

Nothing foretold trouble as suddenly his friend, whom he had known for over the years, attacked him using his most powerful spells.

Several notes headed towards one of the commanders and tried to penetrate his mind, but suddenly the notes were destroyed by the man’s aura.

<I see, I won’t be able to brainwash the mages in the -Two-Pointed Star stage, that’s disappointing, but it’s not a big problem, though. There are a lot more mages at the One-Pointed Star stage.> Evan thought as he continued to play his flute.

One of the mages at the Two-Pointed Star stage began to understand what was going on. Notes flew up to him as well, but there was nothing they could do to him.

“We are under attack. Don’t you dare kill your own! They’ve been brainwashed! We must find the puppeteer and kill him quickly.” 

The next moment he turned into a blur and, with a swift blow to the neck, stunned one light mage who was mesmerized by the melody of a flute.

Finding Evan in such chaos was quite difficult. By this point, twenty light mages were already attacking their comrades. The members of the Emerald Hand had to defend themselves and look for Evan at the same time.

Moreover, Evan was at the wall around the temporary camp. Since the mages on the watchtowers were hypnotized first, no one reported Evan’s exact whereabouts.

<Hmm, given their strength ratio, the mages at the -One-Pointed Star stage won’t be able to handle thirty mages at the -Two-Pointed Star stage. Their powers are at a completely different level. I need to help them a little bit.> Thought Evan and started playing a slightly different tune.

The wooden bars came into motion, and part of the dome was opened. Some members of Emerald Hand thought they could escape this way, but that was a grave mistake.

Evan opened part of the dome so that Reykar could attack. Raven instantly rained several beams down on the Emerald Hand members, then activated his special skill.

He spread his wings wide apart, and a few seconds later, a violet vortex descended upon the light mages. It was for the vortex that Evan created some space.

The furious vortex destroyed the mages who tried to escape from the dome, and their bodies were torn apart.

But the vortex didn’t last long. A man with a large, turreted shield in his hand approached the vortex and cast a spell. He attacked as hard as he could. His fist covered a thick layer of stone, and his blow created a small earthquake.

Several more spells flew into the vortex, and it was destroyed, but Reykar did a fine job. Evan immediately closed the passage from the dome and continued playing the flute.

In a couple of minutes, already all the mages on the stage – One-Pointed Star were mesmerized by the flute’s melody. They seriously injured many mages on stage – Two-Pointed Star, some of them even died.

Crackle.

Suddenly the wooden wall next to Evan was destroyed.

“Here I found you.” Said a tall man in a green robe. He was one of the commanders in this temporary camp.

He attacked Evan instantly, causing him to stop playing, but the hypnosis effect would persist for a few more minutes even if Evan didn’t play.

The man instantly attacked Evan with his two-handed sword. Evan didn’t dodge. He just parried by his flute.

“What the?” The bright mage was puzzled. He hadn’t expected Evan to fight with a musical instrument.

Whooooooosh.

Evan swung the sharp part of the flute and inflicted a deep wound on the light mage’s chest. He wanted to continue his attack, but he saw more than ten mages on the stage – Two-Pointed Star, heading his way.

Evan was ready for this, so he started playing the flute again and opened part of the wooden barrier. The wooden bars came into motion, and a passage opened up behind Evan. Into which he quickly ran.

All the man who attacked Evan had time to see was a bright, red sign on the back of Evan’s palm.

“Destroy that barrier! We have to kill it!” He shouted, unwilling to let Evan go.

But Evan wasn’t going to run away. Moving a few meters away from the barrier, he muttered quietly, “Sigil 69 Demon – Marquis Decarabia, second level, activation.”

A demon appeared in Evan’s Nirvana that looked like a five-pointed star with several eyes in the center.

Evan quickly said his wish and learned the price for the demon’s power, “Ten Years.”

Evan nodded, and the life force drained from him. Ten years was a small price to pay for the power Evan asked for.

When the price was paid, Evan’s consciousness returned to the real world. His palms glowed brightly.

He put them together, and the next moment a giant magical circle appeared over the camp.. Evan was about to wound and finish off the surviving mages in the Two-Pointed Star stage.