This one won’t work because its damage is the same as Jorm’s and Jorm can’t destroy it. It’s a different element so it might have… Wait a minute if I use this card it will send a current through the entire lake of water Jorm created.
Jalen’s mind raced as he stared at the card in his hand. If Jorm’s attacks couldn’t destroy the puppet, then it had to be something else—something different. A different element. A different rule.
And he had the perfect answer.
Electricity.
“That’s it, Jorm come back into the sphere. Wait is the sphere safe from electricity or will we be in danger as well. “
Jalen contemplated whether the sphere was its own separate space before realizing Jorm’s underwater. He could not hear him shouting he’s fighting underwater.
How could I signal Jorm? He’s underwater—he won’t hear me. But he’s an aquatic spirit, meaning he might sense vibrations instead. If that’s the case... then maybe I don’t need to call him at all. I just need to make him feel it.
Jalen touching the barrier injected a bit of mana into it.
[System Prompt]
[ 20 seconds to error is removed.]
Jalen’s mind burned with urgency. Twenty seconds. If he failed to act now, the system would remove the error, and whatever reward was hidden behind this challenge would be lost. Worse—he might be throwing away the only real chance to uncover what was truly happening.
Five seconds until the refresh window resets.
He couldn’t waste a single moment.
His fingers tightened around the card as he activated [Draconic Insight].
A rush of information flooded his mind. Faster thought processing. Sharper instincts. His vision expanded, breaking apart the battlefield in a thousand shifting possibilities.
* Jorm’s water wasn’t normal. It was abyssal-infused mana, dense enough to act as a conductor.
* The Nyx Puppet resisted direct physical damage but wasn’t immune to environmental effects.
* The sphere’s structure. Was it insulated? Could they survive the shock?
Jalen’s mind raced, his instincts sharpening like a blade. He had to know—now.
A single spark of mana flicked from his fingertip, striking the barrier. The energy vanished instantly.
No reaction. No discharge.
Jalen exhaled. The sphere was insulated. They were safe.
That was all he needed.
Jalen pressed his palm against the barrier again but this time it appeared on the other side. The inside of the barrier is like a portal to the outside. So an attack can pass through the inside to the out but trying to pull his hand back it remained stuck. He flicked his hand and could feel the movement of the entire mass of water surrounding the dome from the shockwaves of the attacks.
injected a concentrated pulse of mana—this time, not as a call, but as a warning.
Jorm, get out.
The water trembled.
Fifteen seconds.
Jorm reacted instantly. The serpent disengaged from the Nyx Puppet and twisted through the water, heading straight for the sphere.
The Puppet lunged after him—faster than before, as if sensing its window of opportunity was closing.
[ Draw 1 card]
[Gain extra energy]
[Do nothing.]
Jalen didn’t hesitate.
Gain energy as Jorm slammed through the side of the barrier his hand glowed a yellow light. Jalen barely had time to process the pain before the world erupted into chaos.
The moment Jorm breached the barrier, the charge detonated.
Electricity ripped through the water. Bright, blinding arcs surged through the abyssal currents, racing along Jorm’s coiled form before launching outward, converging on the Nyx Puppet.
For the first time since the battle began—the Puppet reacted violently.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
It convulsed. Its body spasmed in jagged, unnatural twitches, its ever-present smile distorting into something wrong. Its limbs jerked, thrashing against the water as if the energy was disrupting something more than just its movements.
It’s working.
Jalen’s entire body screamed in protest, but the pain barely registered. His right hand—the one that had been severed and reattached—was completely numb. He could see the charred flesh, the lingering burn from the electricity, but he felt nothing.
A problem for later.
His eyes flicked to the system prompt, heart pounding.
[ 10 seconds to error removal. ]
Jalen’s breath hitched as the battlefield shifted.
The once-flooded chamber was suddenly dry.
The abyssal water—Jorm’s entire domain—had vanished in an instant.
For a brief, agonizing heartbeat, everything was still.
Then—a dull crack echoed through the silence.
Jalen’s gaze snapped toward the Nyx Puppet.
The once-fluid, inhuman motions were gone. Its limbs hung limp, its once-distorted smile frozen. The jagged, unnatural convulsions from the electricity had ceased entirely.
And then—it fell.
Like a broken marionette with its strings severed, the Puppet collapsed to the ground.
[ 5 seconds to error removal. ]
Jalen’s chest rose and fell in sharp, uneven breaths. His mind screamed at him to move, to do something before the system wiped whatever remained of the ‘error’ from existence.
His legs nearly buckled as he took a step forward, his nerves still fried from the sheer mana overload. But he forced himself to move, pushing through the lingering burn of exhaustion and pain. The puppet was at death’s door just a little more.
Ignoring the pain a long sphere materialized in his hand from his still lingering Dragonic Insight. He tossed it with all the force he could manage and the spear struck true. At least it would have if the puppet wasn’t now inches away from the barrier now smiling.
It’s over it’s own its last legs we were so close. 3 seconds. 2 seconds, One second.
Something flew, cutting through the air like judgment itself. The puppet was suddenly split in half. A deep voice vibrated in Jalen’s head as he saw a spear now floating behind the puppet. Jalen’s breath caught in his throat as he took in the sight of the spear—a weapon far beyond anything he had ever wielded.
Towering at twice the height of a grown man, its head bore a resemblance to a claw or tooth of a large reptile. The shaft connected to the hilt was a smooth black metal striped with red. The most drawing aspect was the dragon head surrounding the point between the head and the shaft.
The dragon head wasn’t just decoration.
It moved.
A faint tremor ran through the air as the metallic maw shifted, its fangs flexing as if tasting the remnants of the abyssal energy in the air. Jalen could feel it, an unseen weight pressing against his soul, like the spear was measuring him—judging him.
The deep voice resonated once more, vibrating through the very marrow of his bones.
"Tsk. You failed. How disappointing."
The voice reverberated through Jalen’s being, cold and weightless.
"I had to intervene. What a waste. I expected better from someone so eager to defy me..."The voice slowly faded as if the speaker was moving away. The spear slowly shrunk back to it’s original size and the the constructs on the spear vanished.
Jalen felt the now familiar tiredness set in now the excess mana and adrenaline wore off. He couldn’t even manage to yawn as he lost consciousness.
----------------------------------------
Ember POV
Jalen’s body hit the ground with a dull thud.
Silence followed.
Then, the sphere of water—its purpose lost—collapsed into a crashing wave. Abyssal currents surged outward before retreating, drawn toward a familiar figure.
Jorm.
But he was no longer alone.
Two smaller water spirits rushed to his side, their glowing blue forms pulsing as they siphoned excess mana.
Ember hovered above them, watching. Watching too closely.
Jorm wasn’t recovering.
His form flickered, particles of abyssal mana peeling away, dissipating into the air. He was leaving.
Ember clenched her fists. “You’re going now?”
Jorm didn’t respond immediately. His glowing eyes lingered on Jalen’s unconscious form. The smaller spirits swirled around him, flickering, almost urging him to move.
Finally, he exhaled a deep, rumbling growl. Not an answer. Just… understanding.
“ Should we tell him that his memories were stolen?” He didn’t get a response as Jorm focused on another matter.
“Once he awakens he’ll be punished again by the system. Tell him not to summon me anymore. Unless he’s in serious danger.”
“ what about the puppet. Ember asked Jorm referring to the ruined remains of the Nyx Puppet, its once-fluid limbs now frozen in twisted disarray. The abyssal electricity had wrecked it, but something about the way it fell—like a puppet with its strings severed—felt wrong. Unnatural.
Jorm's gaze lingered on the shattered construct. It wasn’t truly dead. Not in the way Jalen would think.
The system had allowed it to break. But the system didn’t completely destroy it’s body or remove it.
“ The system left it here for some reason. It’s probably another test by the system. Likely he won’t question it because the system will make up an explanation for the puppet. It’s pretty damaged for the system and Jalen’s attack. But’s it’s more similar to a golem than a actual puppet so if he can find a suitable core replenish its mana pathways, it might function again—though not as it once did."
Ember frowned, narrowing his eyes at the remains. "So you're saying he could rebuild it?"
Jorm rumbled lowly, his form flickering once more. "Not in the way you think. He can incase it in one of his cards.
Ember's flames flickered with intrigue. "You mean he can capture it? Like a summon?"
Jorm’s presence wavered further, his glowing eyes dimming. "Not exactly. It’s not alive—not in the way summons are. But if he binds it to a card, he might be able to rewrite it. Change its function. Make it his."
Ember turned back to the ruined Nyx Puppet, the jagged remnants of its limbs casting eerie shadows across the ground. "So, it won’t be the same, but it won’t be gone either…