The high-pitched whistle of projectiles slicing through the air echoed ominously as multiple blood-red arrows continuously rained down toward Izaak.
"This is getting rather annoying."
Muttered Izaak as he deftly evaded the arrows. He turned swiftly towards the incoming barrage, his gaze fixed and a flash of irritation crossing his features. With a swift gesture, he gathered a small amount of mana between his index and middle fingers, aiming directly at the approaching threat. His muscles tensed, coiling like springs as he focused intently on the arrows, simultaneously locating the positions of the red-cloaked figures hidden behind the rain of projectiles.
"...98...99...100...101. It seems I will need more mana."
Izaak said, his voice tinged with determination. He gathered more mana to his fingertips, a fierce intensity in his eyes. With a powerful thrust of his hand, he unleashed the gathered energy. The concentrated mana erupted forward in the shape of a brilliant orange sphere, illuminating the dark sky with its pulsing, raw power. The sphere shot forward at lightning speed, compressing the air in front of it to create a cone-shaped barrier. Its mere passage through the rain of arrows scattered them in all directions.
"...What’s that!?"
Jakal exclaimed, flying a few meters behind the Red-cloaks and observing the battlefield below. His eyes widened in shock as he noticed a flash of orange light emanating from below. In the instant he reacted, the mana sphere struck one of the Red-cloaks in front of him with devastating precision, burning a hole through their chest and piercing into their heart.
“AARRRGHHH!!!”
The red-cloaked figure screamed as the mana sphere burned through their chest, their agonized cry piercing the air and echoing across the battlefield. The sound caught the attention of the other red-cloaks and Jakal, who turned their gaze toward the source of the scream.
“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!? IT BURNS!! ARRGHHH!!”
The red-cloak yelled, their voice raw with excruciating pain. The heat radiating from the mana sphere in their heart was unbearable. Desperately, they tried to pull it out, but the moment their hands made contact, the sphere seared through their flesh, burning them down to the bone. Their screams grew louder.
"What is that light?" one of the Red-cloaks asked.
"I don't know. Could it be the human's tricks?"
Another Red-cloak speculated, eyeing the strange illumination warily.
“Out of the way!”
A red-cloak shouted as they rushed towards the red-cloak with the glowing chest.
“Cassia, are you okay?!”
The hooded figure asked with concern in his voice as he reached them, pulling off his hood to reveal a young man with striking red hair and a deeply worried expression.
"Help me, Eamon! I can't get it out, it burns!"
Cassia cried out desperately, her voice strained with pain.
"Okay, don't worry, I'll help you get it out,"
Eamon assured Cassia, determination in his voice. He reached towards her chest, grasping the orange sphere. However, as soon as his hand made contact, the condensed mana sphere expanded rapidly, engulfing Cassia, Eamon, and every red cloak in close proximity in a devastating explosion. Flames spread across the sky, consuming everything in their path.
“AARRGHHH!!”
The screams of the Red-cloaks trapped in the explosion pierced the skies, their voices drowned out by the roar of intense heat and the vacuum created at the explosion's epicenter. They burned and healed simultaneously, caught in a torturous cycle of agony and attempted regeneration amidst the swirling chaos of destruction.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
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MEANWHILE, EIGHTY METERS ABOVE THE SEA SURFACE
Izaak could be seen plummeting towards the sea at incredible speeds, his hand stretched forward, eyes fixed and focused on reaching the gleaming object falling ahead of him.
"Tch, if I continue at this speed, it’s only a matter of time before it falls into the sea. Then all the mana I poured into it will be dispersed. I can’t let that happen..."
Izaak deliberated in his mind, urgency sharpening his focus as he hurtled toward the gleaming object.
"... It seems I have no choice but to use that magic tool. But once I use it, I might not have enough mana left to trigger the Aura Baptism. If this opportunity is lost, I might not get another chance to become an Aura Master."
Izaak's thoughts raced deeply in just three seconds, his sword seconds away from crashing into the sea.
"..."
Izaak's expression hardened with determination as a decorated dagger, adorned with a blue diamond-shaped gem embedded in the hilt, flew out of the ring on his right hand and into his palm. Instantly, it absorbed the majority of the mana Izaak had left. A bright white glow emanated from the dagger, accompanied by a large magic formation that expanded over fifty meters in the blink of an eye. Within the area of effect, everything froze in time.
??? - MANA CIRCLE SPELL - LOPPESIA EMBRACE
“I see... so this is what it does,”
Izaak thought to himself as he observed the frozen sea waves below and realized his own movement had halted along with everything else. He attempted to reach for his sword but encountered a strong resistance, a binding force that slowed his movements to a crawl. Even as the caster of the spell, Izaak couldn't completely disregard the rules set by the magic formation. His entire being and soul were ensnared by unseen chains that governed time within the boundaries of the spell.
“Ah... he did say it would be impossible for me to move freely within the formation.”
Izaak remembered. He then vanished from where he was and appeared directly in front of his sword. After teleporting, a crack appeared on the dagger before it shattered into tiny golden particles and disappeared with the formation, returning time to its normal state.
“!!!?”
Noticing the return to normal time, Izaak reacted immediately. He grabbed the hilt of his sword with both hands and pulled it upwards, slicing through the air with precision. As he landed on the surface of the sea, he swiftly stabbed downwards, dispersing both his and the sword's momentum.
“Huff... Huff... Finally got you, old friend.”
Izaak said while out of breath with a smile, as he raised his sword in front of his face with one hand.
“Triggering an ‘Aura Baptism’ requires one to be a knight of Grandmaster level who possesses an immense amount of mana. The stronger the grandmaster, the higher the chances he would be able to cause a ripple on the ‘World’s Dome’, triggering the ‘Aura Baptism’ and transcending into an Aura user. But now I am doubtful if I will be able to trigger the ‘Baptism’ with this much mana.”
Izaak said as he stared at his reflection on the blade of his sword, his expression full of hesitation.
"I look pathetic! Showing hesitation and making excuses in the face of possible failure."
Izaak said harshly as he stared at himself in the reflection.
"...With His Majesty and Chamberlain Eadulf absent, only I am able to bear the responsibility of defending the empire. And I cannot do that by being hesitant and afraid of a challenge. I must become an Aura Master; that is all that matters, even if I have to sacrifice my mana, life, and soul."
Izaak thought as he tightened his grip on his sword. Then, he began channeling all the mana he had left into it, leaving only enough to barely keep him alive.
"Go..."
Izaak said as his eyes began to blur and the mana holding him afloat began to dissipate quickly. He began to sink slowly into the ocean.
“Go... let the world feel my determination! Cleaveffer Saber!”
Izaak declared proudly as he released his grip on the hilt, causing a splash as he fell into the sea. He began to sink, holding his breath, while his sword hovered above the sea, emitting a strange ringing sound, almost as if it possessed sentience.
Then, with a sudden burst of speed, the sword shot into the sky, slicing through the air effortlessly. It accelerated rapidly, almost reaching the speed of light in less than a second, appearing as a streak of orange light. It streaked past most of the planet's atmospheric layers before colliding with an invisible dome that encompassed the entire continent.
After hitting the dome, Cleaveffer Saber continued to push at the dome, expelling all the mana it stored into it, causing two ripples. The first ripple spread across the dome for ten thousand miles, while the second reached five thousand miles.
[DING!]
[ATTACK ON THE WORLD DOME DETECTED!]
[CALCULATING DAMAGE... 2%... 3%... 4%]
[INITIALIZE CODE2-DOME REGENERATION]
[DOME DAMAGE... 4%... 3%... 2%... 1%... DOME IS FULLY RESTORED]
[DETECTING SOURCE OF ATTACK... SOURCE OF ATTACK FOUND]
[DETECTING THREAT LEVEL... THREAT LEVEL DETECTED TO BE 4%]
[INITIATING CODE1- BAPTISM-4%]
The mechanical voice of the World Dome intoned as a pillar of white energy shot out of the dome down towards its target.
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MEANWHILE, A FEW HUNDRED METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL.
Jakal and the rest of the Red-cloaks hovered in the air as their wounds began to regenerate after being freed from the vacuum of flames.
"Keuk! Huff... Huff... I can't believe it. If not for the strange glowing object that passed by and disrupted the vacuum, I would still be struggling to escape while burning and healing again and again! Now I have decided, I must make that fucking monkey suffer worse pain than I did before killing it!"
Jakal said with an enraged tone and expression as he glanced down at the sea, searching for signs of Izaak.
“Ah, found you!”
Jakal said with a sinister frown after spotting Izaak in the sea. He charged down towards the sea with incredible speed, even with most of his wounds not healed yet. As he got closer to the water, he conjured a blood spear in his palm, gripping it fiercely. About to dive into the sea, he noticed a bright light through the reflection of the seawater.
“What?! The sun?”
Jakal questioned as he saw the bright white light through the reflection of the sea. Then he watched as the light enveloped the Red-cloaks, turning them all to dust in an instant.
“!!!”
In shock, he knew he could not escape the falling light in time. So he threw the blood spear he held toward a warship before he too was engulfed by the light.