The Greatest Sinner

After fitting the armor, Zak showed Evan his tent and left, leaving the young man alone. The first thing Evan did was to look around his small dwelling.

Inside he saw a simple sleeping bag and a backpack, that`s all. As Evan realized, only Zak's tent was significantly different from everyone else's.

"Well, I don't really need much more for now." Evan took off his armor and headed straight for the nearest river.

He was dirty, and he didn't smell very nice. After all, he had lived like a slave in a filthy cage before. Moreover, he had slept for three days to the raw. He just needed to wash off all the dirt and dust.

The river was fairly close to the camp, and within ten minutes, Evan had reached the shore. It was the middle of the night, and the moon brightly illuminated all around.

In the reflection of the water, Evan saw a thin young man, with thick black hair and violet eyes like amethyst.

Evan slowly stripped off all of his clothes and gradually plunged into the water. <Brrrrr. It's cold, but it`s nice to have all the dirt washed off you. Just bliss.>

The water was really icy, but that didn't bother Evan at all. He did not see anything wrong with it. So despite the temperature of the water, he continued washing until his body was completely clean.

About twenty minutes later, Evan got out of the water, changed his clothes and headed back to the camp. Everything was calm and peaceful.

A few people were on duty, and everyone else was either sleeping or resting.

Before going to bed, Evan ate what was in his backpack and went to bed.

...

But, unfortunately, for everybody, they failed to sleep well that night. Deep in the night, in the sky above the camp you could see a lot of bright red dots. They were swiftly falling directly on the tents.

They were fire arrows, which caused the camp to be immediately engulfed in raging flames. Then panic and utter chaos came to the camp.

The soldiers did not immediately realize what was happening, and it cost some of them their lives. In addition to the arrows that had already killed several people, the men in silver armor burst into the camp and began killing everyone they saw.

They broke into the tents and killed the soldiers.

The enemies quickly made their way to Evan's tent. But as soon as the man in the silver armor entered Evan's tent, his head fell from his shoulders to the ground.

The young man looked at the man's head and all the chaos going on around him, then smiled brightly, <This world is just some kind of madness. I've been here less than a week, but I've already seen so much fighting and killing. It's just amazing!>

He stepped out of the tent and started fighting with the other soldiers.

A few minutes later, Evan saw a giant column of flame on the other side of the camp, not far from where the squad leader's tent was.

<Hmm, Commander Zak is the magician? Evan still didn't know much about who was in charge of this world or how it was set up. All his knowledge was limited to the fact that there was mana in this world, and that was it for now.

<Okay, that's not really important right now.> Evan continued to chop down his enemies. You could tell that in the eyes of his opponents, he was a true madman and a ruthless killer. Not counting Zak, Evan was the one who had killed the most people, and the number kept growing.

Evan's clothes, armor, and sword were completely covered with blood. His eyes shone under the light of the moon, which was particularly bright that night. He looked like a demon who had come to the earth from the hell itself to spill as much blood as possible.

<Well, I guess I should see a more interesting battle.> Evan had already dealt with quite a few enemies. So there was nothing stopping him from going straight to where the giant pillar of fire erupted.

...

A moment later, Evan saw an incredible scene. His commander's sword was enveloped in red flames, and his crimson armor shimmered with the fire.

Opposite Zak, there was a man in a snow-white mantle, with a long, wooden staff in his hand. Several sharp ice crystals were hovering above his head.

Seeing it all, only one word popped into Evan's mind: <Magic>. That was the real cherished word for him, the word on which almost everything depended.

It was magic that would allow him to perform miracles and climb to the top of the world. But there was still one unresolved problem, and that was power levels.

Evan hadn`t learn about that yet. Right now, however, he didn't care about that at all. He was mesmerized by the battle of the two men using magic.

"Ermis Tassilis, you act like a pathetic coward as always! You`ve never had the courage to fight me in a fair fight, face to face!" This was clearly not the first time Zak had encountered a man in a white mantle.

"Zak, my friend, what are you unhappy about again? Here I am, standing right in front of you, ready to fight. It's not my fault you weren't ready for me. I guess by the end of our battle there won't be anything left of your men, ahahaha."

Ermis raised his staff in the air, and several ice crystals flew toward Zak.

They quickly reached Zak, but he simply swung his flaming sword and the ice crystals shattered.

<Hmm, from the looks of it, Commander Zak is much stronger. This Ermis doesn't stand a chance. He just can't do anything.> Evan watched their fight closely, analyzing everything in his head at the same time.

Every movement and every attack they made could be an important lesson that would help him become stronger in the future.

Ermis kept attacking Zak with his ice crystals. Unfortunately, each of his attempts was unsuccessful. Zak gradually came close to his opponent.

"You're just a weakling and a coward, die and go to hell!" Zak's voice was hard and incredibly serious. He raised his two-handed, black sword up, and brought it straight down on his opponent.

The flaming sword should have easily killed Ermis, but something went wrong.

"I'm no coward. I'm just prudent. I'm not an idiot like you, who only knows how to swing his sword." The voice of the man in the snow-white mantle was quiet and calm. Whoosh.

Suddenly, Zak saw an ice shield around Ermis, and it was this that blocked his crushing attack. But, that wasn't all Ermis had in store.

Before Zak could take a single breath, several sharp, icy spikes burst from the ground. They were rushing towards his feet.

He hadn't expected such a development, but he was able to dodge. However, Zak's left leg was injured, and he would have to limp for the next few days.

"Ugh! And after that, you say you're not a coward? You're much worse than that." Zak's wound was not serious. It made him very angry, however, and let him know that Ermis was actually far from an easy adversary.

Ermis didn't answer anything and just kept attacking Zak with a lot of ice crystals. Zak easily fought off all of his opponent's attacks and suddenly he decided that the right moment had arrived.

"You are nothing but an amateur and a coward who understands absolutely nothing about magic. Watch carefully. Burn that picture out into your soul and remember it in the afterlife!"

Zak's sword began to burn even brighter. The black steel began to rapidly heat up and glow red. Once that happened, the crimson flame artificially lengthened the sword and Zak struck the ground with all his might.

Whoosh.

From where Zak struck, a wave of fire went straight to Ermis, turning him into a pile of coals. The attack was too powerful and lightning fast. There was no way Ermis could dodge or somehow counterattack. That was the end of the battle between the two magicians.

Their approach to magic was very different from each other, but Evan hadn`t understood it yet.

After the fight, Evan smiled cheerfully and walked out to Zak while waving, "Commander Zak, I had no idea you were so strong."

Zak didn't immediately realize who was pacing in his direction, but after a second he smiled weakly: "I've fought this guy a few times now, and today was our last encounter."

Evan wanted to ask him more about the fight. Instead, he had to fend off arrows that suddenly flew right at them.