Chapter 128

Times Of Treachery

“WAIT!” The normally calm and stoic Alexa shouted, trying to get everyone’s attention, but it was already too late.

Warder, who couldn’t help but open the easily slidable box lid up, already had his lid up and over the lip of the box. Then at the speed of thought, multiple things happened all at once.

First, there was an initial explosion, as the brilliant box within Warder’s hands came to life with a surge of violent and competing energies. The reaction was instantaneous as the Ignition rune instantly flared to life sparking a chain reaction of interactions and the merging of different magical energies.

In her mind she could see the various forms of Fire, Lightning, Wind, and Void energies all merging. How she knew that there were so many different forms of magic present in the box were beyond her. In the moment she chalked it up as likely something stemming from her class’s innate ability to absorb and break down magical energies. With that knowledge, she herself could see how a thin line of energy separated the different forms of energy that had been formed into a physical ball of mana within her own box, how a paper thin layer of a neutral element kept the different forms of energy apart and now she understood how that paper thin layer of protection was all burnt away by the empowering of the Ignition rune.

Her mind, gifted with truly understanding the nature of magic and its inner workings, far so than any other human living or dead, was able to comprehend all of this. Furthermore, she saw the truly destructive nature of Void magic, how it simultaneously attracted all non-magical energies, while violently repelling other forms of magic.

Honestly the reaction was beautiful, at least the way Alexa saw it, then again to her emotional mind all magic was beautiful, and her mind had been able to absorb enough energy for her emotional mind to become alight with stolen energy. For an instant her mind held to the idea that three new schools of magic existed, magic that she had never seen. Also for the first time in her existence, she saw a form of magic that was in many ways the antithesis of true magic, while still being magic.

Void magic, such an amazing thing, it called to her on some deep primal level that she couldn’t quite comprehend. Just as the other schools of magic called to her emotional mind, Void magic seemed to call out to her emotionless mind. As if that was the school of magic her apathetic mind set could relate to the most. In a way she understood it, her emotional mind could understand the presence and existence of the Void. It was dark, hollow, and completely independent of the other schools of magic, violently so.

Just feeling it, for the brief flash of existence that the Void magic was active for was amazing. Void magic seemingly by just being was able to call out the best and more expressive responses from the other magical schools present. In a way, it seemed that Void magic forced the other magics to expand, to be better than they ever were, than they ever could be. A force multiplier of the base energy being exerted by the different schools of magic, while itself never expanding beyond its own limits.

What happened next for Alexa was the same thing that happens to all others who happen to be out in life and are able to witness a catastrophe, she watched. With slack jawed amazement she watched as three new schools of magic erupted to life around her, and for a second she understood that there was still so much more to see and experience in this life. That the wonders of the cosmos were just now revealing themselves to her. This was the calm before the storm, the moment when your mind slows down the flow of life and lets you fully take in the grandeur of how small and insignificant you are in the grand scheme of things.

Then the next second, the true horror of what she was witnessing came to life. Her mind unable to hang onto that moment of clarity sprang to life. She then saw the explosion of force erupt out from the tiny box, as supercharged mana particles erupted out, covering Warder in flames, bolts of lightning, and violent bursts of wind.

The first explosion caused a cascading effect as the Electricity mana particles reached out and were seemingly attracted to the other Electricity particles in the other nearby boxes.

BOOM!

A second explosion erupted, then a third. Alexa realizing it was too late to throw her own box, as it would just be caught up in the maelstrom of violence around her, did something she thought she would never do. She turned away from the explosion, curling her body around her own box, hoping that her own resistances and dampening would prevent her own box from adding to the cacophony of explosions and violence around her.

Another, more rational part of her mind also said that she needed to preserve the box, as it was a clear sign of the elves treachery.

Alexa huddled into a dense ball, her tall six foot four inch frame more than capable of shielding her own box from exploding. Knowing that if it did, the explosion would be too much for her to sustain, especially at such a close range.

Instead, she could only sit there and take the violent bursts of Flame, piercing Wind, and the sharp Electrical bite of the magic exploding to life around her.

Cuts, burns, and abrasions charred her back. At one point her long black hair caught fire, fortunately the burning stopped once it reached the lip of her mask, as no oxygen was able to penetrate the thick protective layer.

Thump, thud, bang.

Everything, from pieces of shrapnel, to kicked up rocks, to super-heated jets of air struck at her, pelting her with the magical equivalent of buckshot.

Four explosions.

One for every member of the American contingency group who came, save for Alexa who still held her box tightly against her skin as she desperately focused on grabbing and absorbing as much energy as she could.

In particular, she focused on absorbing the marble sized portion of Void energy that was within her own box. That was one set of energy she did not want to get out or activating.

Gentle breeze.

A soft breeze blew through, a direct reaction from the sudden intense heat and pressure that seemingly occurred out of nowhere, and violently erupted.

Seconds had passed, but to Alexa’s mind it felt like an hour. There was the time when she had first seen the box, understood its purpose, that of being some form of bomb. Then she was so distracted about finding out how it was a bomb, that she failed to tell anyone else about her discovery.

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Mentally she felt her surrounding area and realized that the different essences of mana that were around her were gone. They had all been spent and used up in a violent fashion. Only faint traces of the still vastly independent Void magic existed.

Alexa felt how the Void magic around her began to come to life, draining anything organic nearby. As it absorbed life, it slowly, ever so slowly diminished in size, but there was more than enough Void energy to make it blatantly obvious as to what was happening.

Then to her shock, she realized how that was the final nail in the coffin, the perfect way to delete any evidence that a crime had been committed. The bomb would explode, using Void magic as the magical catalyst. Then as the other magics were dissipated, the Void magic did what it always did, and began absorbing all nearby organic materials. Suddenly the purpose of the thin wax like paper was apparent, as that was a nonorganic substance that the Void didn’t react to, a magically neutral form of creation that Alexa noted she would need to delve in deeper. If she could deconstruct her own personalized bomb that somehow managed to survive the entire ordeal, she would hopefully be able to recreate this neutral substance with her Creation magic.

With a shock, Alexa shook herself, she was being far too callous with her thoughts. Only after a moment did she realize that this was likely an effect of her focusing solely on her absorbing the Void magic around her and in particularly in her box. Slowly the endorphins of emotion that had been slowly coming to life, were being muted as her body focused on absorbing the seemingly caustic materials. That was why she found her rational mind being in control.

It was after all her rational mind that told her to hold onto the box of explosives. The same rationale was what told her to shield the box with her body. An emotional response would have been to throw the box as far away as possible, but that would have likely ended poorly. The lid was so loose that performing such an act would likely cause the lid to fly off, causing another explosion that was not accounted for. Thinking about it, her hanging onto the box had been the correct action. Not only did it help her understanding of how elves can weaponize different schools of magic, but it also was proof about the treachery of the elves.

Before even turning around, she already felt her natural Regeneration kicking in, healing burns, scars, and bruises with relative ease. Then as she turned she saw complete carnage.

Florence the relatively attractive reporter who had been handing out the boxes and had two more in her hands at the time of the detonation was the worst. The front part of her body was burned and charred, and what was worse, she had two black voids sucking in all organic life around her.

A quick scan showed that both her parents were in similar states, both being eaten away by the same lingering Void energy that was now finishing the job that the blasts could not handle.

Florence, and even her cameraman were dead, likely killed during the initial blast. Now Florence had not one but two Void spheres eating away her skin at a rapid pace, soon there would be no sign left showing that Florence even existed.

Still there was hope, off in the distance, Alexa could see TSI Captain Johnston and Bullford stirring, although they were moving at a much more sedate pace. At this Alexa realized that despite having turned away from the blast, she was the first to recover.

Assessing the situation, she did what she felt natural. Seeing her two parents, she realized that they were still alive, their Superior constitution and levels allowing them to survive this far, though it was clear that if nothing happened, they would die.

Then doing what she thought was correct, she focused on her parents and began using Healing magic on the two. Focusing on the magic, she spiraled out the spells, letting them flow into and around the patients. There was of course, just one problem, the Void magic, it seemed to be repelling all attempts at Alexa using her Healing magic.

Had Alexa’s emotional mind been in control at this moment she would have likely panicked, wasting valuable seconds of time. With her rational mind in place, she was able to immediately understand the crux of the situation, the black Voids that rested on her parents bodies.

Seeing the balls of Void, Alexa did many things all at once. First she quickly placed her still intact elven magical Void bomb on the ground. Next she moved forward and grabbed the two spheres of Void from her parents. At least she attempted to.

Pain.

Sharp debilitating pain coursed through her, as she grabbed the little Void ball from her mother. Instantly she felt multiple things all at once. First, she felt her health being ripped from her body. Secondly, she felt her natural Regeneration being pushed away from the point of contact with the sphere. Then finally, she felt her own natural absorption grabbing hold of the foreign energy and trying to convert it into something she could use.

All of this happened in an instant.

The pain was debilitating, as she felt her muscles tensing up with the complete wrongness of the alien magic. Still it was magic, which meant that Alexa should be in control of it. Or at least that was what Alexa told herself.

“Uhhh…” Her mother let out a weak gasp of pain, as the Void sphere was removed from her. Just a tiny marbles worth was more than enough to cause severe and debilitating pain.

Alexa should have been stopped, as she could feel the very fabric of her own body being torn apart and ripped to shreds by the pure Void essence in her hand, something that should not exist in this world at all. Yet, here it was, devouring everything in its grip.

Crawl.

On one hand and two knees Alexa crawled, fighting for every inch of ground she could, all so she could get closer to her father. Logically she knew taking what she had was likely her limit, that this was more than enough for her, but this was her father. No, beyond that, this was a person, someone who she could save.

Florence, the cameraman, those were dead. But this person, this was someone she could save. Someone who had supernatural health and resilience to sustain him. All Alexa needed to do was to make sure he had a chance to survive. Alexa couldn’t heal, for the first time since she got the ability to use magic it was denied to her, though this was not really the case. She still had it, still could feel her control over magic rolling in her veins, but it was chaotic, dispersed and refracted away from its intended courses. There might be ways that she could in time learn to cast around such a hinderance, but at the moment, when time was of the essence, all she could do was claw her way over to the second void essence, and then grab it with her free left hand.

Pain!

If there was one thing that was universal, it was pain. Rather than expecting the pain to double, it seemed to quintuple at the addition of a second Void sphere. Rather than just having one focal point of pain, one that she kept in her hand and held out from her body, now she had two balls that she gripped tightly, even as they began eating away at her hands. She could feel the way the balls burned away layer after layer of creation, first her uniform, then her outer layer of skin, then the blood that came welling up. Slowly and painfully, she felt her body dying, as she felt the very life of her being ripped away.

Now she truly understood the meaning behind the message from the elves. The message that alerted her to the danger of the package.

May you die a thousand deaths.

And she was.

Slowly her body was breaking down, being absorbed and ripped away into these tiny spheres of pain she now held. Worse, she could feel her own body trying to fight back, trying to resist.

In her mind she realized she already had something to deal with the Void. Her recently stolen power Void Resistance. Then her rational mind realized that if this was what it felt like with Void Resistance, then she would hate to realize what she would be experiencing what it would be like without her resistance.

Judging by the pain, she also realized that it was just a Resistance to, not Immunity to the Void, something she now wished to work on, as the Void seemed to be a power that both excited and petrified her in equal measure. Rationally, she knew the Void was neither good nor bad, just a form of magic. Similarly, she knew that the Void was anathema to normal magic, not quite anti-magic, at least she didn’t believe it was so. If it was anti-magic, she felt the two would absorb one another, rather than repel. Instead she knew this was just a different form of energy, one that worked best alone, away from others.

Still, all of this was so distant. Her mind was fighting to survive, as she felt her body breaking down.

“Jim! Dang it Jim! Wake up!” Judy, Alexa’s mom, called out releasing all decorum of being a Super, all respects to privacy. Instead she just cried out in pain and anguish.

“Alexa! Can you save him?” Judy said, turning to her daughter who was herself fighting a fierce battle to just stay conscious from the surges of pain that were coursing through her.

“ALEXA! No…NOO!” Judy began screaming, pain filling her voice as she drew near.

Feeling her presence, she could feel how the Void balls senses the new organic materials near her and began trying to pull out the strands of energy from her.

“Go…” Alexa rasped out, her throat parched as she felt her entire body working its hardest just to survive.

“You need to stay back.” Bullford said, as he saw the state of Judy and then the way Alexa was now convulsing with pain, her hands desperately gripping two small black orbs that themselves seemed to absorb all light and energy around them.

“Mam, you need to step back.” Captain Johnston said, coming over to kneel near Alexa’s head.

Alexa could feel how Bullford was pulling her mother away, even as she tried to fight her way free. But she was only doing more and more damage to herself.

“You need to stop. We are trying to remove you from the area.” Bullford said.

Even now Alexa could feel the other two balls of Void energy still eating away at the remains of Florence.

“Girl!” Johnston said, her face right above Alexa, “you need to focus and do whatever it is you are doing, but do not close your eyes. Don’t you quit on me. You hear me!”

Alexa tried to respond, but a dry croak was all she managed to release from her lungs. “Yes.”

“Good, now listen to me, and do exactly as I say and you will make it through this.” Captain Johnston said, in a forcefully calm and controlled manner, as years of training on how to handle crises just like this all came up in her mind.

Alexa, using the last of her consciousness held on and listened.