All forms of magic in the world of Tyr basically boil down to mana control. Spells, martial arts, arrays, artifacts, they’re all just utilizing mana in different ways.
Magic is no different, but of course, it has its own unique systems in the way it operates and utilizes mana to produce spells. The way you control your mana is the way you produce magic.
Incantations, gestures, formulas, wands, and staves, they’re all just ways to ease the usage of magic and spells. However, if one is skilled enough, they can slowly remove all those needless crutches and boil it down to nothing but their mind and soul’s will.
Noel, with all his years of experience, had mastered magic and the foundations of spell casting to its near limits and he could cast nearly all of his spells without any of those aforementioned crutches.
But, if he was going to show off his monstrous spellcasting abilities in front of a crowd, he’d inevitably incur suspicion. So, what he does to typically lessen his actual level of performance is by using gestures and short incantations, like a flick of his wrist, or phrases like “burn”.
This time though, it was different.
Winston could sense the weight of his previous chant and was able to identify it as a strainfully cast spell.
“This…,” Winston gawked at his broken blade and retreated once more with an explosive step. He glanced at the clean disconnect between his sword’s blade and its hilt and chuckled. “What a strange spell.”
“I knew you’ve been capable of using various types of magic, but this is the first time I’ve seen you use this one, although I don’t really know what it is,” Winston hummed and tossed his sword hilt aside.
Instead, he pulled out another one from his storage ring, but this new one appeared a lot duller compared to the previous one. It didn’t matter though, because, with his augmentation and swordsmanship, he could easily overcome the disparity in quality, so he didn’t mind it too much.
“I have to be honest, you’re amazing,” Noel said sincerely as he rolled up his sleeves slightly to reveal a strange white bracelet placed around both of his wrists, with strange runic symbols tracing along its center that harmonized his control over his mana to a whole different level. “There’s not a lot of people who could have made me do this; going all out and getting serious in a random school spar.”
“Oh, really?” Winston clicked his tongue and twirled his sword playfully. “I’m honored then, Mister Crowley.”
“Shall we start?” Noel laughed as he raised his right hand and pointed it towards Winston. The runic symbols on his wristband glowed brightly once more in reaction to his flowing mana.
“Sure!” Winston stretched his limbs and crouched down, preparing for another burst of speed.
“Well then…” Noel murmured and hastily uttered a series of words with a warped, high-pitched voice, as if his mouth and throat were hastened and sped up like an edited video.
“You will most likely trip and land approximately one meter in front of me!”
As soon as Winston rushed forward and heard Noel’s warped voice, his eyes widened as he felt his foot hook right at an indent on the ground, and he completely lost balance. At the speed he was going, a crash on the ground would prove to be detrimental and would give Noel a prime opportunity to attack.
That was what Noel was exactly aiming for.
Within a split-second, one glacial spear launched out of the ground while the other launched down from the air, and both were aimed at Winston’s body.
“Let’s end this!” Noel declared loudly. “The glacial spears I cast will hit through Winston Champ’s stomach and right leg!”
Like a declaration from a higher being whose words were absolute, the glacial spears rapidly approached and did just as he told. They pierced through his stomach and right leg, hitting through him like he was formless gas.
Hmm? Noel’s eyes turned into slits as he something unexpected happened.
As if he were a nonexistent phantom image, Winston’s body rapidly fazed through the ground and disappeared completely on stage.
Noel’s mind hurriedly churned out ideas as he glanced down at the ground and saw the bright mana signature of Winston’s rapidly ascending body.
He hurriedly jumped to the side as Winston burst out of the ground with his sword pointing straight up, and upon seeing Noel, he threw all five of his daggers straight at him without much of a single thought; just pure instinct and experience.
Noel clicked his tongue and reinforced his barriers, but as soon as they were a few inches away from him, the daggers were abruptly replaced by five different cubes.
Three exploded into diffusing plumes of smoke, while the other two released a loud explosion along with bright light that temporarily blinded Noel for a split second. Goosebumps formed all over his skin as his sense of danger warned him.
Stolen story; please report.
“Winston Champ will fail in his attack!” he declared loudly at just the right time, as within the cloud of smoke and temporary blindness, Winston’s sword phased through all of Noel’s barriers and lodged deep into his left shoulder.
While it did successfully hit Noel, it still technically failed because, for Noel, this was a minor injury. Noel grunted as he teleported out of harm’s way while breathing heavily. The same could be said for Winston, whose face was dripping with sweat.
Even though the entire stage was basically covered in smoke, it wasn’t a problem for the two who had sufficiently skilled sensory magic in place.
“Fucking hell, what fucking magic is that?!” Winston cursed as he tightened his grip on his sword. “Although I bet you’re already low on mana! There’s no way you aren’t!”
Noel smiled calmly within the smoke as he inspected his mana reserves. Winston was right, his mana reserves were indeed getting low.
This is the first time I have used miracle magic in this new body of mine. The mental and spiritual strain alone is killing me, but this is an acceptable result for my first use without him. Sigh, it really does take a miracle to create a miracle.
Only by having the bond with him would I be able to use miracle magic the same way I used to back then. Now I’m forced to rely on incantations, gestures, and external assistance to create such pitiful results.
Heh, complaining is just an excuse. Just having to rely on another living being to skillfully perform magic alone is already an unforgivable flaw, alas, I never managed to solve this issue even back then with all the years of research I had done.
As he dismissed his laments and wishful ideas, he took a deep breath and the two tacitly agreed for the smoke to disperse before finally finishing with one final clash.
Winston once again grabbed a handful of pebbles and tossed them high into the air. As they were falling freely to the ground, he squatted down and sheathed his blade in rapid succession, with a terrifyingly tight grip on the hilt of his blade.
Noel, on the other hand, floated a few inches above the ground, with a circular array forming beneath his feet. Red for fire, blue for water, green for wind, brown for wood, and yellow for earth.
With all five elements combined into one, and a dizzyingly long chant, he raised both of his arms up to the sky and shouted loudly, “Five Elements Array - Unified Explosion!”
As the bright white light beneath him gathered and expanded into a rapidly expanding dome, the pebbles falling in the air released a bright purple light as Winston gnashed his teeth and growled, “Spatial Fracture - Void Prison!”
With a swing of his blade, a burst of purple light collided against a single pebble, and the light then rapidly transferred across all falling pebbles as the ambient mana in the air rapidly fluctuated.
Cracks hurriedly formed in the air as a terrifying void-like sphere of influence expanded out to cover Noel, but the dome of white light’s terrifying might clashed against the prison of destructive space and fought back with fearsome power.
Veins popped out of Winston’s forehead as his blade shook under the humongous strain. His mana rapidly depleted in a bid to power this destructive ultimate spell of his.
His legs quaked as he was slowly pushed back by the wind pressure billowing out from the opposite end of the ring, leaving behind deep indents on the ground as he left a deep trail.
Noel was no different. His beautiful rainbow-colored eyes were bloodshot as the two white wristbands covered in runic symbols on his wrists were visibly cracking under the titanic strain they were in.
But, even with such bad conditions, a bright smile was blooming on Noel’s face.
Interesting, how interesting! To think someone could have pushed me to my absolute limits, forcing me to fight back tooth and nail and even causing me to use chants!
Winston Champ, even though you haven’t defeated me, stand proud for you have pushed me to the brink of defeat! Noel gritted his teeth as his raised arms trembled and shook.
He felt as if his pitiful bones were creaking under the stress, while his muscles popped and burst with blood. But, his efforts weren’t in vain, as the prison of purple void that covered him was soon pushed back, and his own attack rapidly approached Winston’s small body.
Like facing a nuke, the bright dome of white light arrived before him, inch by inch, meter by meter, as the purple void cloud around the white light was pushed closer and closer to his body.
“SHIIIIIIITTTTT!” he shouted loudly as his sword formed cracks from the blade down to its hilt. Blood dripped down from his nose, mouth, and even ears, as his body broke down under his unyielding spirit to not lose.
Neither side relented till the end and they kept giving it their all until they were unable to do more. And even if they were at their utmost limits, the two kept going, pushing forward a centimeter further until their body broke down.
In the end, Winston’s sword broke and disintegrated into sandy fragments. The void prison keeping the white dome at boy disappeared, and it was soon right in front of him, a few inches away from his face, like a giant mountain ready to engulf him.
But… it didn’t move any further.
Instead, the white dome slowly dimmed down and disappeared, revealing Noel’s bloody figure in the center of the arena, with tattered robes and torn muscles.
The two’s gazes met in a split-second as they broke into wide, fulfilled smiles.
“You fucking bastard and your bloody cheating magic,” Winston groaned softly as his bright shining eyes lost their luster.
“You and your stupidly fine mana control. What a goddamn movement technique,” Noel murmured as his rainbow-colored eyes dimmed down.
The two then lost control over their bodies as they slowly fell forward, head face down to the broken floor of the round arena.
Eliott hurriedly waved his hand and a blue barrier wrapped around the two unconscious boys, which stopped them from falling and causing further damage.
As he slowly controlled their bodies to float towards the medics at bay, he couldn’t help but exhale over the pin-drop silence and feel the cold sweat on his forehead and back.
Bloody hell! What the fuck is happening to this generation?! Eliott thought with twitching lips. There’s Noel, there’s Rhett, and there’s Kain. Then there’s Rob from Class 1-B along with Leo and Melvin!
When I was the same age as them, I was barely a quasi-Grand Mage and was already considered a genius!
If I was a genius, then what are they?! The fucking blessed children of the world?!
The other students in the class had the same general thought, but the pressure on them was many times heavier compared to what their teacher felt.
After all, this was their fucking classmate! It was a person of the same age as them, born from the sage generation, and potentially even lower social status - commoners with fewer resources to use, which further emphasized their brilliant luster as prodigies and geniuses.
What are we even doing with our life? A student thought with dazed eyes and stared at his powerless fists with utter defeat. Perhaps, in the life they lived, they were meant to remain as side characters while the spotlight shone on those named beings ready to take the world by storm.
With the cruelty of fate presented before them, the only feelings left deep within their hearts were… sadness and acceptance.