A feeling of doom looms. Dread falls over him and he has a feeling he’s going to find out soon. General Rexton must be the source of the giant hole in the Third Eye. He’s definitely behind the toxic power spreading through the base. It’s like breathing in pure alcohol. Dousing the place in his scent not only let Cassius find him so quickly, but it also warned him about his visitation. He didn’t know much since most of the information is gone, wiped clean from the system. But he can infer from what he’s already witnessed.

Rexton is confident and probably an alpha personality.

He fits right in.

He laughs under his breath.

Iza and Rexton would chew each other’s faces off. It would be a miracle if either made it out alive when they meet.

Cassius traced the training area. He felt for the magic and followed the trail left behind. It wasn’t as strong, but it was the strongest at the moment. Everything else was mere spots of energy while it was a riving drowning the entire base. Cassius could barely breathe through the thick layers of magic being pushed out. It seemed through the walls and polluted the air. It was invisible, but it was a top feeling that mowed down whatever it liked.

It was fading in and out now. Cassius could barely feel it now and he wasn’t sure why it had changed. One moment it was suffocating and the next it was a ghosting breath. He was fine with that. He wasn’t going to complain, but it did make him curious. This was the first new person to step inside the base since Katson and that had been months ago. It was a rare occasion for someone to visit and for that person to be from the Capital, it was an unlikely chance.

However, General Rexton seemed more than mysterious.

He felt dangerous.

And it wasn’t a thing that he could just feel from the magic the man was putting off. This was a feeling that was beyond what he could feel and sense. It factored in what he saw from the Third Eye. The fact that pieces were missing from Rexton’s log in the Third Eye made it very obvious there was trouble in meddling with him. Cassius could it there. He never met the man and even if he met him today, it wouldn’t give him the reason to investigate further.

It was his damned curiosity that made him think twice.

As he was getting ready to stretch his own magic out, he felt the air ripple.

He knew who it was. It wasn’t hard to guess.

The moment General Rexton entered the training area, Cassius could feel it. Electric fire shot through his body and his connection to the Third Eye blitzed out. Nothing except the Dissipater could interrupt the current. But he could.

Cassius froze where he was. He was facing the wall, drawing up his magic to see if he could do some fire tricks when they all walked in. Felix’s current was tap water compared to Iza. He wasn’t weak, but he was nothing to the general. Though, what Felix lacked in magic, he made up in execution. That was the downfall of many Remu. They had magic, deep inside of them that just needed tapping into. They wasted it because they didn’t have the discipline to harvest it. That was Iza’s power. It was great but unused to the point it wasn’t worth a cent.

On the other hand…

There was a magnetic field surrounding the source of power. He knew who it was, but it still shocked him every time the current touched him. It waded out in the sea of air, touching and tasting every strand of life it could get its hands on. The icky feeling of the invasion pulled Cassius out of his deep thoughts. It was a young Third Eye. It gobbled what it could and felt what it couldn’t. And each investigation left the thing in a film of deposits. Like marking its territory, it left its scent and stripped of all others.

He couldn’t ignore the filthy magi curling up around him like flames. If he wanted to keep his magic safe, he had to fight back the currents descending on him. It wasn’t easy. Each time he thought he’d escaped the magic’s wandering touches, it was back again, stronger and prepared.

It was made worse when he stepped in.

The magic ran back to its source, sucked up in a vacuum that Cassius could feel. He had to hold his own to keep it from being sucked up too.

He walked in. His head held high, like nothing could touch him. His sandy blond hair was swept back from his face and was golden against his tan skin. There was no denying that he was the one harboring the strong magic. It was just obvious to see. Cassius looked at him and saw it all. It was radiating off him, blinding but addicting. If there was one thing he could compare him to, it would be the sun itself.

But he couldn’t stand it.

He pulled his magic back. He couldn’t even think about what it would be like to touch him. That would be like being shocked, shot up with loads of radiation. It was sickening with the amount being blasted off his body and the amount he’d pushed out to warn those inside the base. There was power and uncertainty when it came to that much magic, something Cassius didn’t want to bother with.

Iza looked at him. Cassius stood where he was. He could see what was being told, but he didn’t react. He wanted to ignore the look, pretend he was blind to the world and the stranger standing with his general. It would be his fault when he was punished and he could live with that.

He wasn’t going to do it. He’d promised to be good, to play the part that had been beat into him. That had been the plan.

He turned his back to the three men. Their voices, soft low words that didn’t last after a few sentences. The training area fell to silence and Cassius heard the white noise melt into his thoughts. With his focus on his magic, he ran through exercises that weren’t amazing. He drew up small balls of fire and cast them into the air. He blew them out with a gust of wind. After his small warm up, he practiced his energy field, balancing out negative energy and rebuilding his own. It was simple, trivial things that kept his magic from rusting. As time went on and his magic was left unused, it broke down and lost its strength.