Chapter 340: It's MY mana |
With my eyes activated and strengthening and pummeling my body, I jump from building to building, prepared for Tacita to attack me.
Even then, Savant doesn't use the arcane glove and stands there, his mana surrounding his body as he fights the aftereffects of Sophie's skill.
Two tri-colored orbs shoot at him, one of them disappearing the moment it enters his reach, the other one redirected at Adam. The man in the suit repositions before the orb explodes, sending a shockwave and heat into the area. Purple mana flickers around Adam´s body as he does so.
Keeping an eye on Savant, I try to find out what happened to the second orb, but it's gone.
Where did it go? I can't sense anything.
Like a flash, Tacita appears near Savant, a dagger in her hand slashing down only for her to freeze on the spot as he squeezes his hand into a fist, using the arcane weapon.
Unbothered, Tacita's presence becomes even fainter, and she disappears from the spot where she stood. A big chunk of the building implodes into a small spot as Savant fully closes his gloved hand into a fist.
Purple mana erupts from Adam, moving like water and crashing against Savant in huge waves. The air flickers under its influence, and the pressure of his weird skill grinds the building around Savant to dust.
Without even using his weapon, Savant does something, and even though the attack continues, it doesn't touch him at all. Then he moves his hand, and all the anchors I've placed disappear.
With my mana around me like a brilliant flame, I endure it all, floating in the same spot in the space. My eyes are bleeding as I read his movements and tactics. My domain expands even further, and Savant´s domain pushes against mine, a gentle orange light radiating from him.
Within my domain, my mana becomes easier to manipulate, and within his, mana radiation slowly ramps up, attempting to crush me.
I know that skill. It's hard to forget. The skill that Champion Tristan, controlled by mind mage Emperor, used to wipe out his world.
[Dawn]
In my domain, dozens of mana projectiles form a constant barrage to harry the man. Weaker ones disappear within his domain, and the stronger ones disappear an arm's reach in front of him because of his other skill.
Tacita moves to attack him again, but Savant, while defending against me, sends a pulse of telekinesis from the glove. The brown-haired woman tilts her body, taking damage and spinning around before lowering her posture to avoid another attack. Her body moves even quicker than before.
Before he can attack her, I push against him with my domain, [Redistribution] and [Resonance] at full power crash against his body, trying to stop his movement and disrupt his mana as I read its flow.
But all of it is pointless in attempting to match the arcane item. His hand moves and a big chunk of his mana disappears with it.
The air reverberates, and I layer barriers in front of me when a huge area surrounding him explodes, all the buildings blown away as if by a powerful wind. Another pulse sends all dust away, revealing Savant standing on an untouched building and the tons of debris floating around him.
Tacita is there already, her knife embedded in his side and pointed at his heart, yet she is unable to push deeper, her movement arrested in the same way as the debris, at a high cost to Savant´s mana.
He looks at her, the arcane weapon glowing. “How?” he asks almost curiously.
I bet if Tacita could move, she would just shrug.
Then he squeezes his fist and she disappears, turning into particles, unable to escape this time. Her dagger glows once more before that, damaging her target further, making him stagger and spit out some blood.
Immediately after, even wounded, Savant moves, lifting his hand with the glove in front of him. A javelin made of black mana stops an arm reach in front of him.
He tries to absorb it like he did with the attacks from before, but it doesn't work. It did cost me a lot of focus and damage to my body to make that javelin in my current restricted state, so what will he do now?
With curiosity, I watch as he looks at the javelin and then at me.
Then a gray mana I know so well emerges from somewhere within him to war against the javelin.
When black mana and [Disintegration] meet, they clash for a short moment, and then [Disintegration] destroys part of the black mana javelin before the skill weakens enough for the remaining black mana to absorb it.
Seeing that, Savant tries to absorb what remains but is unsuccessful.
Having a good idea at this point what his skills are, I put my body and mana into overdrive. My attacks strike him once more, a barrage of thermal, kinetic energy, or pure mana constantly assaulting him and destroying the building he stands on. Adding to the mix, orbs filled with disrupting mana pop near him, pressuring him to keep up his domain and waste his mana.
Adam and his wave-like purple mana shoot into the area, crashing over it and pressuring Savant even more. And the entire time, I keep collecting mana inside my body.
This isn't all, I know.
Savant uses another chunk of his mana, and the glove on his hand glows, destroying more buildings and throwing the debris at Adam. The circle behind his back changes, and the purple mana surrounds him, defending against that all. Adam seems to be confident and he still has big reserves, so he will last longer than Savant, I’m sure of that.
That's when one of my small black orbs crashes into his purple barrier, touching it and immediately starting to absorb it. Unable to stop it his defenses are sucked away, the barrier crumples, and the debris compresses on him.
Another orb explodes inside of his barrier.
Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Adam (Hell, 5th)
2 / 2357
The rooftop explodes under my feet as I use my strengthened body and a push of kinetic energy to fly in a circle, rows of buildings crashing behind me caused by the arcane weapon Savant wields.
When he stops his attack, I examine my body.
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That's not good at all. But it could be worse, I guess. Looking at it, the system will consider me dead in ten to thirty seconds, maybe?
“Not enough mana for the glove?” I call to Savant.
“It's more fitting for obstinate people like you. It uses quite a bit.” He sweeps some hair from his face, and his domain skill shrinks even more.
He is not capable of resisting my [Mana Domain] infused with [Resonance] and powered by a steady stream of mana from my Mana Reservoir.
Another of my compressed javelins crashes against him, only to disappear to god knows where. A skill similar to the one the last king had on the 3rd Floor.
Increasing pressure with my domain, I place anchors closer to him to distract him and charge ahead, squeezing the ax and sword in my hands.
When I teleport, he moves his hand and activates the glove once more, all three of my anchors are damaged by telekinesis. But I don't use any of them and just reappear on the same spot.
When he lifts his arm towards me, I'm already in front of him, and telekinesis crashes against my crossed weapons, as I launch a few projectiles at him.
As the epic weapons crumple and crack, I let go and teleport to one of the projectiles I had tied an anchor to.
Losing control over the black mana, I force it out of my body into the shape of a black dagger, and my vision blurs out as my eyes finally deactivate, unable to keep them up.
Sounds come rushing in as my mind loses hold over [Focus], and with a last stumble, I stab the dagger into the forearm wearing the glove.
His absorption skill activates, trying to get rid of the black mana or send his mana to the glove, but the black dagger absorbs it all and starts sucking in more.
Decisively, mana takes shape in the palm of his other hand, and he cuts off his arm at the elbow. An orange light shines around him, and he is blown away instead of getting killed by the kinetic energy I was able to collect.
Once he’s further away, he stops, blood dripping from his arm. Looking at him, I reach down and take the glove off his severed arm and put it on my hand.
The moment I do so, I feel something eating at my hand, and I quickly identify the skill.
I intentionally destabilize kinetic energy inside of my body, blowing off my hand with the glove on.
I watch as [Disintegration] eats up my hand inside of the glove, and I laugh shortly. “Well, that was kind of stupid of me. But I really wanted to try that glove.”
When I turn to him, he stands there wordlessly, his [Dawn] defending him against my attacks. His eyes calm and sharp, calculating, observing my every movement, and that annoying skill of his flickers in the air, ready to drive me back.
I glance at the black dagger that’s already turned into a black orb, floating there, trying to absorb any mana that comes close, eating at both of our domains. I don't think I can play it safely and try to pressure him from a distance until he is out of mana. He will probably be able to last that long.
Ten seconds at most remain, and my body will crumble. I would die, but the system won't let me; instead, it will send me away. So, let's be stupid and check how far the 4th-floor me could be pushed before dying.
All the mana I was releasing up until now gets pulled towards me like into a vortex, and [Focus] activates once more, forcing my trait to activate as well.
One of my eyes loses its sight, and the other one is blurry, and I feel more wounds opening across my body. Then I reach out to all my remaining mana, all around me and in my domain, to pull it…
I stop.
“You poisoned my mana.”
“So you have noticed. However, it doesn't matter, you are done anyway. You won't be able to control your mana anymore.”
Me? Done?
Because you decided that?
It's MY mana.
POV Tess Hansen
As always, when pushed to the corner, Nathaniel becomes the most dangerous. At the point where there is only a sliver of his life remaining, he throws all his failsafes away and becomes like a dangerous animal.
He was always like this. Even when he got ganged up on by a group of boys who called him the brother of a murderer, he fought back. And then, when they pushed him to the point of losing, pummeled, and bleeding, he started biting, scratching, and fighting dirty.
Just a few fights like that were enough. Even if he lost, the boys just became too scared, and decided that it wasn’t worth the attempt anymore. That, and the fact that Nat hunted them when they were alone, beating them to the point where they were always moving in groups.
Even now, he has the same expression as we watch him on a giant screen in the common area. The screen that allows people who left the Survival Domain to watch what's happening inside.
Nathaniel says, “You have poisoned my mana,” and Savant answers.
Even knowing that the poisoned mana, his mana, continues to rush back into his body, his other eye losing sight, and wounds savaging his body.
When he charges this time, the leg he uses to leap breaks in a dozen spots, turning into a floppy sack of shattered bone made of skin.
He moves quicker than even Tacita did, destroying his body in the process. Yet, somehow, he’s still capable enough to use that black mana of his to pull this off without immediately killing himself.
We can't die during the tournament, but being able to push yourself to the point where you know you will die requires a special kind of mind.
When he crashes into Savant, the man, surprised, has time only to tilt his body and avoid most of the attack. Both of them roll on the ground, and in Nat's arm, a nail made of black mana forms; he stabs it into the arm the Savant uses to cover his eye.
The nail absorbs Savant's attempt to push Nathaniel away, and Nathaniel smashes his head down, breaking Savant's nose, and blood spills.
Savant dodges another attack, his arm still somehow coated in pale blue mana; he stabs into Nathaniel's side.
In exchange, Nathaniel stabs the exposed jagged bone that's left of his exploded hand and forearm into Savant's neck. He has a cold expression on his face as he does so.
The entire time their domains clash, Nathaniel's easily overpowering Savant's, as his mana radiates from his body, forcing the other man to shrink his domain more and more until it’s barely covering his body. And anything outside of it is destroyed immediately.
Heat, vibrations, and mana itself move around, trying to tear Savant apart, only stopped by the gentle orange light surrounding him. But it's clear he won't last much longer.
Unfortunately, neither will Nathaniel.
Savant observes him calmly, and when Nathaniel attacks him, he blocks the strike and stabs Nathaniel again.
Ignoring that precise mortal wound another black nail forms in Nathaniel's hand, and with a swing, he stabs it down towards Savant's eyes. In the middle of that movement, his body turns into shiny particles, and he disappears.
Silence fills the common area, no one says anything, and everyone is staring at the screen.
While holding his palm on his strongly bleeding neck, Savant stands up and looks at the spot where Nat disappeared. For a short moment, he stares there, the meaning of that look is hard to decipher.
The winner of the first event has been decided.
The air next to our group wavers, and Nat appears, outside of the Survival Domain. He is fully healed, his clothes fixed as well, and his mana restored to the levels before the event started.
Nathaniel blinks a few times, looking around with wild eyes, ready to attack. Mana radiates off him in waves that wash over the common area, causing some people from lower difficulties to throw up and others to faint.
I watch him, curious what expression he intends to put on, but his expression just returns to his usual neutral face and his mana disappears as if it never existed, barely a whisper.
“I will get the fucker during the duels,” he declares simply.
Even with his hard-to-read face, I can tell how dissatisfied he is.
Then he turns around, passing by the groups of people and heading towards our house. Dozens of people flee from his path, some looking at him like some kind of demon.
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