AFTER 2 MONTHS

  The team as usual stayed in the country for some time and then proceeded to their next destination Mexico.

  South American countries had more resources for the Space Element compared to other countries so Nishant bought a Dimensional Magic Tool. He also used a Pentagon Lightning Star for making himself an Elemental Tool with 100% boost and once again he was broke. But his Fire and Space Elements were 5.6 times faster and Lightning Element was 7 times faster as the Cultivation Tool made using Pentagon Lightning Star was biased towards the Lightning Element.

  "A new mission has come. We are supposed to help Scared Hall of Liberty in capturing the leader of Red Ornamental Guild, a well organised group of robbers. The reward will be Shadow Mantle which was used by a Forbidden Mage when he was a young mage." Advitya explained.

  "Shadow Mantle!" Siddharth's eyes glitter at the possible reward. An item used by a Forbidden Mage must be at least Heaven Grade. Even Super Tier mages will try to get such equipment.

  "If I can have it, the prowess of my Shadow Element will be off the chart." Siddharth said while fantasizing himself winning against all opponents.

  "Hold your horses there, we will be competing with the Japanese and Chinese team for the reward. It is not guaranteed that we will be able to get it." Advitya shattered Siddharth's dream.

  "But we can't just let them have the Shadow Mantle, it will be very hard for anyone to deal with a shadow mage with Shadow Mantle." Arjun voiced his concern.

  The team started to plan a strategy while Nishant was busy cultivating.

  AFTER 1 WEEK

  "I will be blunt my team has info on the location of the leader of Red Ornamental Guild. So we will be having the Shadow Mantle and you will get to complete the mission safely." Shou Watani said which startled Siddharth, he didn't even get the chance to compete.

  "I beg to differ. I also have the information." Nishant came to the front. He threw a chit at Shou Watani who read it and had a sour expression.

  "So we will be competing, then the Chinese Team is out of competition." Shou Watani declared.

  "Marvelous Nishant" Siddharth rejoiced. He lunged at Nishant for a hug only to be stopped by Nishant.

  "Woah! Your body is ripped." Siddharth muttered as he felt Nishant's stout forearm muscles.

  Advitya and Shou Watani looked at Ai Jiangtu who sighed in defeat.

  "Fine, we are at a disadvantage." Ai Jiangtu admitted. He just wants to complete the mission without any mishap.

  "Let's go then." Advitya said. Three teams went to the harbour. 30 Advance Tier mages with all kinds of elements. It was a force to be reckoned with.

  "Stop right there! This place is off limits." a guard stopped the group at the gate.

  "Let's go, Blink: Party!" Nishant grabbed Siddharth's shoulder. The duo disappeared surprising the group.

  "Damn it." Advitya felt going mad at his reckless teammates.

  ...

  "Cast Nyx Regime!" Nishant instructed Siddharth who was frozen solid after finding himself surrounded by enemies.

  "How daring of you?" Casso said in anger. As he stepped towards the intruders.

  "All Mighty Push!" Nishant casted and destroyed the Yacht. Everyone fell in water except those with Wind Element. Siddharth came to his senses as the fight started. What if they have numbers? He has a literal monster by his side.

  "Nyx Regime!" Siddharth casted. Everyone got shrouded in Darkness. Grunts panicked in the darkness.

  "You take care of those subordinates I will take care of their leader." Nishant said. He has already defeated quite a few grunts except a few who were able to withstand All Mighty Push.

  "Meteor Fist!" Nishant attacked Casso who used his Wind Wings to defend but much to his dismay it wasn't enough. Wind Wings were burnt and the Metoer Fist struck Casso hard. Casso flew several tens of metres backwards before crashing on water.

  "Was that it?" Nishant looked at Casso in confusion who was floating on the water surface. Nishant quickly but cautiously made his way to Casso and found him severely injured.

  "What a monster?" Casso looked at Nishant in fear. He has faced many strong mages even mages from Sacred Hall of Liberty but even they don't hold a candle before the brat before him.

  "You are pathetic." Nishant said in disappointment, he was hoping for a good fight. Nishant used telekinesis to bring Casso to the harbour.

  "It's over, your boss is arrested." Nishant said in a lazy but loud tone.

  "No!"

  "Impossible!"

  "Run!"

  Bandits panicked after seeing their leader beaten black and blue. They run around like headless chicken.

  Mages from Sacred Hall of Liberty who just arrived at the harbour came to the front and arrested Casso.

  "We thank you for helping us in arresting Casso. We will put good word for you." a female from Sacred Hall of Liberty said.

  "Fufufu... I will be getting that Shadow Mantle now." Siddharth was beyond happy now before he was troubled by thinking how to make contributions but now one of his teammates has arrested the bandit leader single handedly.

  AFTER 2 MONTHS

  Shadow Mantle was delivered to the Indian Team when the team was training in Columbia.

  After that the team went to Mexico for their next stamp. The Mexican team turned out to be the first Defender team with all of its members as Advance Tier mages.

  "Captain, weren't we supposed to go to USA why are we taking flight to Spain." Shalini asked. She really wanted to go on a US tour.

  "Something happened there, so they will not be receiving challengers for a while." Advitya gave a vague answer but it was not his fault. The matter is very confidential if not for WCT they wouldn't have bothered to give any explanation.

  AFTER SEVERAL HOURS

  The Indian Team reached Spain without any issues.

  "This will be our last stamp. After that we can go to Venice." Advitya said. Everyone felt relieved, the training was finally coming to an end.

  "Let's win this and go to Venice." Siddharth said in excitement. His mood has improved a lot after getting Shadow Mantle.

  The team reached the Spanish Training Hall.

  "Umm... where is the arena?" Jitendra asked in confusion.

  "Spain excels in naval warfare, this insanely big swimming pool should be the arena." Arjun said in amusement.

  "Isn't this cheating?" Kriti complaint. Everyone was thinking the same. But they wonder why this was allowed, WCT will be over in a few months. Out of several national teams at least one should have complaint about it which should have been enough.

  "You must be the Indian Team, how punctual of you? As you have seen the arena is actually a swimming pool which may seem disadvantageous but we are also offering a reward for the winning team, a Galaxy Vein. If you want we can arrange another arena but there will be no reward." Instructor explained.

  "Oh! You are providing a reward to the winning team how generous of you." Arjun commented with a smile and winked at Advitya.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Fine we will fight in this swimming pool." Advitya agreed when Arjun hinted at him.

  Both teams entered the arena. Arjun was walking on water, Niharika was using Wind Wings, Sidharth was using Wind Element to float in air. Kriti and Nishant were standing on the Void Wall.

  "Begin!" Instructor signalled.

  All defenders dived into the water. Soon a giant whirlpool formed in the swimming pool. A suction force started acting on Niharika and Siddharth.

  "Flower Sky: Sky Collapsing Waterfalls!" Arjun casted. The waterfalls destroyed the whirlpool and forced defenders to come on the surface.

  "Nyx Regime!" Siddharth casted, the entire arena got covered in darkness. Siddharth made short work of defenders.

  "Sinister Spider's Trap!" Siddharth casted. The Nyx Regime strengthened his attack. He easily eliminated his opponent.

  "This fool Siddharth always does this, without thinking for a second." Kriti complained, she couldn't see a single thing. She can only wait until the darkness disappears.

  "Ahhh!"

  "Ahhh!"

  "Ahhh!"

  "Ahh!"

  Siddharth alone defeats the opponents to everyone's surprise.

  "Great, now we will have to hear of this for who knows how long." Jitendra said in displeasure.

  "Knowing him, he will make a fool out of himself pretty soon." Shalini commented.

  "Haha... With Shadow Mantle, Nyx Regime and Curse Element, I'm unbeatable." Siddharth was very happy with his decision of cultivating his secondary and tertiary Elements instead of wasting time on his primary element.

  "Any Advance Tier Light Mage can beat the shit out of you. You were lucky there wasn't any Light Mage among them." Jitendra said confidently. He himself was a Light mage. Siddharth's expression turned sour but he didn't refute.

  The team decided to give the Galaxy Vein to Siddharth for his hardwork.

  "Let's go to Venice before those bastards give us some other mission." Siddharth hurried towards the port. Others followed after him.

  The group arrived at the port and went to look around. After an hour everyone regrouped at the port.

  "We can leave for Venice tomorrow in the morning." Arjun informed.

  "I found a good hotel nearby. We should stay there." Jitendra suggested.

  "Hey, Nishant bro. I found a good place nearby. Want to go on some adventure." Siddharth whispered in Nishant's ear.

  "What exactly?" Nishant asked him in a bored tone. Considering Siddharth's mischievous personality, it wouldn't be something worthwhile.

  "You are a Hunter right? I'm also a hunter. If we can solve this case. We will soar through ranks." Siddharth said.

  "You do realise we are leaving tomorrow." Nishant reminded Siddharth.

  "I know I know. It is just an almost solved case. A Hunter Master is already investigating it for a year. And he is almost done. It's just that he lacks strength to complete the mission. But with our help it will be a cakewalk. Your strength and mine cunning. We will make an unbeatable team." Siddharth explained.

  "What's the mission?" Nishant asked in suspicion.

  "There are some human traffickers. We need to bring them to justice." Siddharth said in a hateful tone.

  At night near the port, Nishant and Siddharth met with the Spanish hunter.

  "Where are your other friends?" Spanish hunter asked in english.

  "Don't worry, this friend of mine is very strong. You know Red Ornamental Guild of Carribbean Sea. He took care of them effortlessly." Siddharth said in a assuring tone. He first thought of requesting his team mates to help him in the mission but convincing them would have been a huge challenge compared to one Nishant.

  "Oh! I heard something about that. These human traffickers are similar to Red Ornamental Guild." Spanish hunter said and led the duo to a run down storage facility.

  The trio sneakily entered the facility, turned out Spanish hunter is also a Shadow Mage.

  "There" Spanish Hunter whispered when he found a shady man in rob is pushing a trolley large enough to carry a human adult.

  "So what's the plan?" Nishant asked.

  "We will be taking pictures of everything here and give them to central authorities as the local authorities are corrupted." Siddharth whispered.

  "I see." Nishant muttered. The group started collecting evidences.

  "Done, now we need to go behind that iron gate. The enemy will start attacking us. So, I need you to distract them while I collect evidence." Spanish hunter explained.

  "Understood." Siddharth said. Spanish hunter turned into a shadow and left.

  "It is your turn." Siddharth said and turned into shadow and followed after Spanish Hunter.

  "Blazing Fist!" Nishant destroyed the large iron gate which was followed by a series of alarms. In less than 10 seconds. Nishant was surrounded by 30 Mid Tier mages and 4 Advance Tier mages with their spells almost ready to shower upon him.

  "Almighty Push!" Nishant casted. The spell caused unexpected devastation. All the guards were dealt with in no time. When he reached Tier-3 of Space Element his mental strength also reached Mid Level-6 which increased the strength of spells several times. Now even his Novice Tier spells can affect the commanders.

  "Hmph!" Nishant grunted and entered the storage facility.

  *Applause* a series of applause heard in the quiet night.

  "I'm amazed, I almost thought a Super Tier mage had attacked our base." a tall man came out of the shadows, he had Siddharth in his one hand and Spanish hunter in another. Nishant pressed his lips as he felt the opponents power who was a Super Tier mage. Super tier mage dropped Siddharth and Hunter on ground and walked towards Nishant. Thorn vines came out of the ground which swirl around Super Tier mage.

  "Entertain me a little and I might let you leave in one piece." Super tier mage threatened.

  "Hell Furnace!" Nishant shouted. The ground below Super Tier mage started heating. Super tier mage only smiled and jumped away

  "Impressive but not good enough." Super tier mage said.

  "Blink!" Nishant disappeared and appeared next to Siddharth but several vines shot out of the ground and prevented him from rescuing Siddharth. Nishant teleported away.

  "Huh?" Super tier mage tried to find Nishant but couldn't.

  "I can't sense him at all. His teleportation range is quite big." Super tier mage smiled viciously. A vine shot towards unconscious Siddharth, it came to a sudden halt just a few millimetres away from Siddharth's head.

  "Hahahaha...." Super tier mage burst into laughter.

  "I like you boy. I have an offer for you, forget everything, take your friend and leave. As for this hunter he has given us quite trouble he is as good as dead." super tier mage said and waited for Nishant's response.

  "Understood. Blink: Party" Nishant took Siddharth and teleported away.

  ...

  "I almost thought you would kill those brats. They are from a national team. Even Ferran might have not been able to stop Indian Govt. from hunting you down." a man in long coat said.

  "You don't know, I dare to kill brats from any national team but Kamakhya Clan is a completely different story. You saved my a** with your information. I owe you." human trafficker said.

  ...

  "Oye Siddharth wake up!" Nishant slapped Siddharth mercilessly until he woke up.

  "Oww oww..." Siddharth woke up and massaged his cheeks. His eyes were wet.

  "Ah! What happ-" Siddharth stood up with a jolt when he remembered the mission.

  "That hunter is dead. We only made out alive because that mage underestimated me and also thanks to my innate talent." Nishant lied with a straight face.

  "Oh" Siddharth with a saddened look.

  "Sorry for putting you in danger and thanks for saving me. And please don't tell anyone about this otherwise I will be disqualified." Siddharth pleaded.

  "Sure" Nishant said and then both of them went to the hotel.

  AFTER FEW DAYS

  The Indian team reached Venice. There were still a few months left before WCT started. The team enjoyed the place but also trained diligently.

  AFTER FEW WEEKS

  "Captain, I want to go somewhere. I want a leave of 1 week." Nishant said.

  "And I suppose it's very very important." Advitya said in a calm but sarcastic tone.

  "Yes" Nishant said in a firm tone not caring about the sarcasm.

  "You may go but take good care of yourself." Advitya said. Nishant is the Ace of the team. No one denies it, the difference in strength is too much to even compete. He can't deny him outright.

  YEAR-0022

  AFTER FEW DAYS

  "Fucking hell!" Nishant shouted in frustration. He is unable to find the Soul Grade Seed so far. He is supposed to go back to Venice in a few days.

  "Should I do that?" Nishant asked himself.

  STOMP! A giant foot landed on top of him.

  "Fuck that bastard!" Nishant cursed the leaving Titan. Suddenly, there was malicious glint in his eyes. He has been stomped by 4 Titans including the one leaving now. Until now he wasn't treating them as a threat but now he needs something to vent his frustration.

  "Blink! Apocalyptic Fist!" Nishant appeared in front of Titan and hit him with his most destructive attack, Tier-3 Advance Fire Spell. The huge Titan fell on its back, corrosive flames destroyed the layer of protection from its chest.

  "Apocalyptic Fist! Apocalyptic Fist!" Nishant again hit at the same spot with his left fist, then he hit it with his right hand. The majestic Titan died in a few seconds just like that. A soul essence flew into Nishant's Soul Container. It is said that the chances of the appearance of soul essence among servants and warriors is 1 in 100 but that's not the case in commanders. Commanders have very high tenacity and intelligence they retain a degree of intelligence even after death, even their soul essences have tenacity and stronger the commander higher the chances of soul essences. Nishant finally calmed down. Then he continued to search for the Soul Grade Seed.

  After a few hours he came across the cave with Wind Flame Lightning Vultures resting in it.

  "Apocalyptic Fist!" Nishant attacked the group of monsters straightforwardly. The attack claimed the life of one commander and injured a few. But Nishant wasn't focused on that. He saw a figure falling off the cliff.

  "Blink: Single!" Nishant teleported and appeared at the bottom of the cliff. He caught the figure using Telekinesis: Void Claw.

  "Please not her... not her..." Nishant begged. He gently laid down the figure on the ground.

  "And it's her." Nishant said with a dark expression. He checked her pulse and sighed in relief when found her alive.

  Monsters flew up in the sky and circled Nishant. The strongest one was looking down at Nishant in anger. All of them dived at the same time.

  "Void Dome!!" Nishant set up the defences.

  "Saintess!... saintess!... wake up... Look! the soul of Pantheon... Look! Holy Saint Henta-i... I mean Wentai." Nishant tried to wake up Asharuiya. He pulled out a water bottle and sprinkled water on her face.

  "I never thought I would ever regret not awakening the Healing Element." Nishant muttered to himself as he picked up Asharuiya using Void Claw and called an ambulance on the edge of Safe Zone.

  "It's Saintess Asharuiya!" A healer came with the ambulance exclaimed. Nishant grimace, he knew someone would recognise the saintess very soon but almost instantly was unexpected but healers sort of worship Pantheon Temple, so it was understandable.

  "What happened to the saintess?" Healer asked.

  "I'm a hunter. I was hunting monsters in the wild. Then I suddenly heard a loud explosion. I rushed towards the site and found her fending off against monsters bravely even with such injuries. Then I helped her when the monsters were dealt with and she fell unconscious." Nishant made up a story, he can only hope that Asharuiya will play along with him a little.

  "There are traces of high level of dark magic, I can't heal such wounds. We must inform the Pantheon Temple as soon as possible." Healer said in a grim tone. Nishant's expression turned dark.

  Soon several Silver Moon knights came along with a Golden Sun Knight and few priestesses.

  "You will be coming with us as well." A Silver Moon knight said in a tone as if ordering his servant. Nishant's eyes twitch but the knight in question was a Super Tier mage even if he was a rookie. He reluctantly followed them.

  ...

  Nishant is sitting in a luxurious room with the highest quality material. He felt like sleeping on the soft couch he was sitting on if not for the fact two monsters were sitting right in front of him.

  "So how did you find Saintess?" Haylon asked in a stern tone. Nishant repeated the same story he told the healer from the hospital.

  "He is lying." Muse sitting next to Haylon said with a sharp tone. Nishant's heart almost jumped out of his mouth, he found himself sweating intensely. Haylon's death stare was worsening the situation.

  BAM! Haylon struck the table and broke it into two. Nishant raised up his hands in surrender.

  "Fine... It was me. She was injured by my spell. But it was an accident. I was in the wild, looking for a treasure. I found that treasure but few monsters were guarding its entrance so I attacked them with my strongest spell. Coincidentally, the saintess was also there of which I had no idea. She was hit by my spell. It was purely an accident." Nishant explained.

  "He is telling the truth." Muse said in plain tone.

  Haylon stared at Nishant for a while. He was still doubtful.

  "Who are you?" Haylon asked. He can tell the young man before him was a strong mage at the Peak of Advance Tier. Young man must belong to some powerful organisation or a clan to achieve such cultivation at such age.

  "I'm from the Indian National Team." Nishant replied. That was the best identity and defence at the moment. Although he wanted to avoid revealing his identity, the situation was quite serious.

  "Truth" Muse said in a plain tone.

  "I see." Haylon said.

  "Stay here and don't cause any trouble." Haylon said and left with Muse.

  After sometime, a Gold Sun knight entered the room.

  "Get up, we are going." Gold sun knight said in an impatient tone. Nishant followed after him only to find they were letting go of him.

  AFTER 3 MONTHS

  The opening ceremony is being held with the mayor of Venice being the host. The hall is occupied by 320 candidates from 32 national teams and their advisors. The mayor welcomed the guests from reputable organizations and the national teams.

  The drawing event started to decide the upcoming matches.

  "Advitya, go for the draw." Mr. Tendulkar said.

  Advitya drew the opposing team and showed it to judges and returned to his team.

  "So?" Arjun looked at Advitya nervously.

  "It's the Chinese Team." Advitya said. The Indian Team turned towards the Chinese team who were already looking at them. Both teams had stern gaze except Nishant who was smiling in amusement.

  'What is this? It's like I'm in a Fanfic.' Nishant thought otherwise why would the Indian Team and Chinese team clash so early.

  "So who will be participating in our first match?" Siddharth asked.

  "Hmm... what do we know about the Chinese Team?" Mr. Tendulkar asked.

  "Well there are 2 particularly strong members in the Chinese team. I would say their captain with Space Element is on par with Nishant and the Fire Mage mage is on par with me and Arjun. The rest of the team is roughly equal to us. We just need to watch out for them. They also have a sound mage." Advitya gave a report of what he knows about the Chinese team. Sound mages are quite rare but with a big population it's not hard to find a good one.

  "Hmm... Arjun, Nishant, Kriti, Siddharth and Jitendra will be participating in the match against the Chinese Team." Mr. Tendulkar declared.

  ...

  "Nanyu, Jiang Yu, Jiang ShaoXu, Guan Yu and Mu Ningxue will be participating in the match against the Indian Team." Feng Li said.

  "I don't think it will be wise to preserve strength against the Indian Team." Song He advised.

  "Old Feng, I also think we should win our first match to motivate the team. Let Xiao Ai participate." Pang Lai said who was followed by Han Ji.

  "Very well, Ai Jiangtu will replace Nan Yu." Feng Li decided.

  "Advisor, captain of the Indian Team is as strong as me if not stronger. Not to mention, their Vice-captain and destructive mage are also very capable. If we really want to win this match we will need Mo Fan." Ai Jiangtu said. Advisors raised their eyebrows in surprise. Mo Fan grinned at the statement.

  "The Indian Team is quite strong this time." Song He commented.

  "Then let this Mo Fan go as well." Pang Lai said. Mo Fan rejoiced and smiled provokingly at his injured teammates.