Mash wanted to see his reflection. To know what exactly he looked like. He wasn’t sure how much he cared about his physical appearance, but it certainly provoked his curiosity. He felt weirdly good. The human-ish form he had made with Priscilla was far stronger and faster than this, but this felt more normal. His magic flowed more freely, and his body felt more changeable for all that the black lines prevented him. Was this his body’s natural state? He somehow felt like that was wrong. Based on the vague description given by Jill, he had been expecting something very different. He felt more in tune with his aspects too and almost wanted to utilize them.

A silvery hand appeared in the air above him and swung downward like a fist. The elf was the first to make a move after the sudden transformation. Mash stood in the sky; his magic had solidified the air beneath his feet. It had been an unconscious gesture, that had come all too easily in this form.

His gaze drifted to the silvery hand, and he imagined catching it. Not with his own hand, but with his aura and magic. He met the silver magic with its opposite. His aura infused with anti-magic met the hand and dispersed it. The silver light flashed and vanished, the only one truly aware of what had happened was him. Invisible arrows of heat flew across his domain and turned into gentle gusts of warm air as they struck his skin.

He looked over the group of four and realized something. His forms were limited in a way. They had improved some of his magical and physical abilities, but they weakened his connection with his skills. He had changed his very nature without ever noticing it. He had countered the change to chase after the strength he had perceived. He smiled faintly, as he blocked more of the elf’s magic. The forms had their place, but he didn’t have to rely on them.

Toroken fell from the sky like a boulder. Mash jumped, kicking off the solidified air in a thunderous leap. He used wind magic to move even faster. Even with his domain and speed, he barely avoided the enormous dragon.

“Weak magic will not work within its domain!”

Toroken’s shout seemed to resonate with the island. The trees and waters shook with each word. The black-furred beastmen leapt into the air like an arrow. A dagger of red metal flashed in his hands as he closed the distance. They fought the Chimera of the End and the Beginning, and he has yet to show them the other half of his nature. Mash felt a connection to his magic. All of his magic. He felt each of the hundreds of strands of wood that littered the ground from his lightning. The sparking lake of fire that remained for his earlier combination. He felt connected to them.

He reached out to the flames and pulled on them. They rose from the ground, shooting upward like a storm of insects and intercepting the beastmen. The two collided, and the beastmen pushed through the flame; his fur burned and his skin charred, but he ignored it. Then the flames changed, and a three-fingered hand of sparking, the flowing fire caught the beastman’s leg and flung him to the ground. The flames coalesced forming three artificial lifeforms.

Mash could not control the life he made, but he didn’t have to impart genuine life to create a puppet. He made a hollow creation, with an empty soul that would do nothing but respond to his magic. In a way, it was like an advanced golem. The only difference was that he could construct them with any of his magic.

Toroken swung an enormous hand through two of the still-forming lifeforms, dispersing their bodies. It did no real damage to them as they reformed into vaguely humanoid things. They were odd headless creatures, with pointed tips for legs and three edged fingers. Their bodies constantly moved and ungulated like both fire and water. Mash looked over the four of them, resting his eyes on the beastman who was getting back to his feet. The beastman’s wounds hadn’t healed, but they didn’t seem to bother the man.

“Thanks. I figured something out.”

Mash spoke slowly, his hand rose to point toward the man. His palm was open. All these people were within his domain. His space, his body. Mash had been thinking about his power all wrong. Wood and lightning magic mixed again, but this time it happened directly beside the beastman. The beastmen tried to dodge, tried to disappear into the shadows as he had before, but this time Mash was watching him. Mash blocked the man as he attempted to disappear into his shadow. An instant later lightning pierced through the man tearing through his legs in a violent burst of light. Wood appeared in its place replacing the lightning with a misshapen creation of wood.

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Mash had tried to activate the magic within the man’s legs but hadn’t been able to. Toroken roared and opened his mouth. Mash turned, raising his arm to block the magic. Red light ran from the dragon’s chest up into his mouth. A bar of blackness escaped cutting through the sky in an instant. Mash’s outstretched arm met the black sand, as he failed to stop the magic. His hand disappeared. His arm up to his elbow had just vanished, completely destroyed by the moving sand. Pain ran up his arm a moment later as if his body couldn’t quite comprehend what had just happened.

Another arrow of heat sped toward him. Mash attempted to block it as he had done before. This time the arrow was so hot it seemed to scorch the very air it passed through. Mash failed to stop it too, and the arrow tore directly through his shoulder. It was only the size of his palm, but it burned through him. It melted his flesh and cauterized it at the same time. The impact sent him spiraling slightly. The wind raced in his ears. This time the pain came much more quickly. Mash gasped as he dodged out of the way of the next arrow. It seemed like they weren’t holding back anymore.

The black lines on Mash’s body were evaporating. He could see it dissolving from his flesh and knew that Priscilla would break the effect soon. She was busy with that, so he had to heal his own injuries. Mash’s missing hand wasn’t as serious as the shoulder wound. He didn’t have a great way to heal, but he did by altering his own body. In this form, he found it surprisingly easy to do just that. The wound on his shoulder closed, and the flesh there grew back together.

Mash watched all of them with his domain and dove out of the way of several more attacks. Bars of silvery light and invisible arrows streaked across the sky. He switched his focus to dodging and healing. The longer the fight went the stronger he would become, and they would get weaker too. He could see their mana and stamina bleed from them just for being within his domain. Mash spun in the air, dodging as another black stream of sand cut through the air. It was a narrow dodge, and he heard the air woosh past his ears. The sand tapered off and began to fall like snow. Toroken closed the distance using the breath attack as a cover.

The dragon moved agilely despite his size. When he got close, the dragon drew his wings together and rolled over his head. His tail snapped like a whip. The whole movement was smooth and practiced. Mash was about to dodge, but the beastmen from earlier had appeared from a shadow created by a silvery hand to shove him backward. Mash stumbled a little in the air, which was enough time for Toroken to hit.

Mash raised his arms to block the tail, though he doubted he could. The dragon’s tail met Mash’s guard, and the sound of the impact rang across the sky. It sounded like two boulders colliding. Mash’s arms broke, and the tail pushed through his guard striking him in the chest with enough force to cave it in. The resounding cracking sound was worse than thunder, and Mash was hurled toward the ground like a comet. Mash’s breath left him, and his arms hung limply as he fell. Even if he could move his arms, he would’ve struggled to do anything from how the air pressed against his body. With broken arms and ribs, he had nothing to use but magic.

Mash mixed water and wind, manipulating the air beneath him. He imagined a cloud catching him and formed it on the island’s surface. His magic bubbled from the ground. A white foam that seemed oddly like soap bubbles surged from between the trees. They grew almost as fast as he fell, and they caught him maybe a hundred feet from the ground. The cloud of suds was surprisingly dense, and it felt like he had slammed into a bed of thick honey. It hurt more than he expected, but it was enough to stop most of the damage.

Mash tried to land on his feet, but the bubbles slowed him enough to control his landing. He still rolled forward with the impact, tumbling through the weird clouds a little. When he stood, he began healing. The final strands of black lines vanished from his body.-

[I will heal you and take over the puppets.]

Mash passed over control of the three fire things he had made and forgotten about. He pushed himself to stand as Priscilla managed the worst of his wounds. The effect of the knife was gone now, and she was able to heal most of his wounds easily. His missing hand regrew, first in the form of wood, and then replaced with skin and bone like normal. The clouds hid him from the others, but they were still visible to him. Mash saw as the beastmen attempted to stab him again with that black knife. Mash turned and caught the beastman’s arm on his own. Mash’s stats finally reached the point where he could intercept the assassin.

Mash pulled on the beastman’s arm while kicking him in the chest. The beastman’s arm ripped from his body as the man flew through the bubbles. Black blood sprayed outward as Mash swung the arm around and threw it into the bubbles. Mash let the bubbles expand further, and let them cover the island, it’s not like they could blind him. Plus, they wouldn’t really damage the island, and they did wonders at hiding him. Arrows of heat caused bursts of steam throughout the cloud, but none of them struck Mash.

[You haven’t gained as much power as expected. One of them likely has the skill to lower your stats over the course of a battle.]

Mash could feel what she meant. He should be a lot stronger. Even if the whole fight had only lasted a few minutes, he had starved himself prior to the fight and should be a lot stronger than before.

[Yeah, I noticed. It’s fine I’m weakening them too.]

The net change might still be around what he hoped, though he wouldn’t risk the assumption. Just treat them as if they were just as strong as they were at the start of the fight. The difference was in him alone, he had grown stronger.