Twenty-third day of Sat’xahr, 4043 AOT
Arbhur City, Zone-0, Wave 5
After prudently searching the house and the area around again, Fred decided that he should follow Azalea. There is only one place she would probably go to with how she just suspiciously left without a word.
“What’s the fastest way to travel the canyon?” Fred asks while picking up his backpack. “Do you have motorcycles here?”
“Yeah, but you gotta steal it from the local gangsters.” Jad answers.
“That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”
“You can rent a giant dessert horse but they won’t come with a cheap price.” Mark suggests.
“Where do I find them?”
“I’ll take you there, but I’m coming with you too!” Jad says with confidence.
“This isn’t the time to be messing around. It’s dangerous out there.” Mary warns him.
“It’s better to have more hands in case something happens.” Jad reasons out. “And it’s better for Mark to stay here as the man of the house.”
They cannot rebut because he does have a point.
Fred sighs while scratching his head. “I don’t have time for arguments. I’ll take responsibility for this. Let’s go.” He picks up the boy like a sack of crops and then heads out. “Can you ride those giant horses?”
“H-huh? Yeah, I learned how to ride them a few months ago.” He answered without complains but his face clearly says otherwise.
They hurriedly left the house. Fred walks fast pace while carrying Jad who is giving the directions. A few blocks away, they reached a ranch where Jad used to do some part-time job as a cleaner. Fred chose two giant dessert horses and went to pay up. Jad knew that the owner will rip them off so he was about to haggle it down, but Fred did not think twice and just paid for the overpriced horses. Jad now believes that this middle aged man is a little rich. Meanwhile, Fred is simply doing things as fast as possible because they do not have the time to waste haggling and arguing with the owner.
They took the horses and headed straight to the canyon. The sun is at the early phase of rising, so they will not be exposed to the harshness of the heat. As of this moment, traveling is not as exhausting. They need to move fast before something disastrous happens.
“I’m worried about the others back at home.” Jad says under his breath.
“It will be fine.” Fred responds while keeping his eyes in front. “Have you noticed them?”
He nods. “There a suspicious people surrounding our house.”
“They won’t be making a move yet. They are meant to observe and intimidate you. At most, I think we have half a day before they send someone to state their intentions. After that they will most likely wait another twenty-four hours for the response.”
“You seem to know them quite a bit.”
“Those people? I don’t know them… But I’ve known their kind. It’s not uncommon to encounter these kind of people in our line of profession.”
“You sure you weren’t part of those kinds of groups.”
He chuckles. “We do have guilds. Some prefers to stay in Monster Hunter guild or Demon Hunter guild, but plenty joins a Mercenary guild. Mercenaries does not require to have a license to be one but they do accept those with license as well. Plenty of hunters do odd jobs as mercenary. Sometimes they get lured by higher pays and safer jobs.”
“Won’t they just end up being killed by their enemies?”
“Hm. You see, being killed by a human is less painful then being killed by a demon. Most of them have witnessed the death of a comrade. It’s both traumatizing and desensitizing. Furthermore, they generally earn much more, on yearly basis, by working for those wealthy criminals.”
Their conversation is interrupted when they felt a light shaking of the ground. As if there was a small earthquake that occurred close by. A rumbling echoed as they continued forward.
“Hey! Old man, did you feel the ground shake?”
“Are earthquakes common here?”
“H-huh? No?..”
On the way they saw little animals crawl and scamper away from one direction. That must be the source of the shaking they felt. They have to watch out in case these gigantic rocks breaks and falls on their path, or worse on them. Aside from that, Fred is also wary of monsters that may see them as delicious preys. His senses are on high alert, with adrenalin pumping wildly focused solely on his goal.
“Well, that quake’s definitely one not made by Mother Nature.”
Then they saw dark gray smoke rise in the distance. That is the estimated demon territory. Fred felt cold creep up in his back despite the hotness of the environment.
“Let’s hurry!” He raised his voice as he gestured for Jad to follow him.
“O-okay!”
“Goddamn it! How long has it been since the battle started?”
∞×∞
Azalea’s armor has been customized to fit her own unique mana traits and the spell that was given to her by her father, Hol. While undergoing training, her master noted some strange things in the flow and growth of her mana.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Mana continuously flows in and around everything, so it is normal for all reveils to naturally emit mana in the environment without noticing. The mana emitted has no effect on anything, it is simply a small amount of mana that flows out of the reveil’s body as another small amount also enters. However, Azalea’s mana is different in way that there is a large quantity of mana flowing out and she does not even notice it. This amount would normally mean that there is a leak or damage in their mana circuit which could easily deplete their mana without being able to fully restore it. Over time, if not fixed, would result in the reveils death. It could have been a grave situation but her mana seems to only flow out endlessly. Initially, this could mean that she could have a large reserve of mana.
However, as more time pass, Master Lone observed some changes in the flow as well and its effect to the surroundings. The amount of mana seems to be slightly increasing. It was just a very small amount that normally no one would notice, yet it made her concerned. It is normal for mana reserves to grow as reveils train, but the mana emitted should not be affected as much. Then she noticed that some plants and animals that usually surrounds their house had slight changes in them. The plants and trees, even the grasses and molds, have grown more robust in the paths that Azalea usually takes daily. Furthermore, the birds and some other small animals like squirrels and rodents gained some interesting new skills. Some birds are now able to suddenly increase the speed of their flight when catching preys. The squirrels had stronger sense to detect predators. When Master Lone used pulse to observe them she was surprised to learn that these animal are now able to somehow manipulate mana. From this point on, they would normally be classified as a weak kind of monsters.
There are some uncertainties regarding Azalea’s erratic flow of mana, so Master Lone decided that it must be suppressed. That was when her armor was commissioned to be customized to fit her needs. The blacksmith used special gems to put three levels of seals into the armor and spear. The spear regulates the flow of her mana so that she can control the power output of her spells but it also limits the power of her spells that she can only cast low-tier to mid-tier spells. Anything high-tier and above gets cancelled out for the caster’s safety. Meanwhile, the armor absorbs her excessive mana emission to automatically strengthen the armor, increase elemental resistance, and passive magical defense. This is also where the three seals are imbued. Level 3 seal absorbs excess mana every time she casts spells. Level 2 seal reads her mana circuit to restrict the flow of mana to a certain amount which prevents her “burnout.” Level 1 seal enhances Hol’s healing to lessen the strain on her body and mana circuit.
With her armor and weapon, Azalea is able to function normally without pretty much destroying herself and everything around her. Now with her spear gone and armor damaged beyond repair, the restrictions on her power has been lifted.
∞×∞
Twenty-third day of Sat’xahr, 4043 AOT
Elteb Canyon, Quia’el’s Territory
The explosive noise is followed by a quake that sent vibrations around and outside the territory. The smoke that filled the area slowly dissipates revealing the devastation that the battle has done. Smalls rocks crack and fall from the canyon. What used to be a plain hard ground is now riddled with holes of varying shapes and sizes.
“Fuck-!...” She coughs up some blood. “Is this what cockroaches feel when they get swatted across the wall?...”
It’s like Azalea lost consciousness for a second. There is a high pitch ringing in her ear that is not going away. She coughs and spits out blood. She slowly pulls herself out of the crater.
“Did I let my guard down?” She wonders while blood pours down from her head obstructing her vision. “I was in a vulnerable position and did not anticipate that Quia’el would recover from pain and attack that fast.”
She struggles to get herself out of being stuck on the wall.
“Fuck!... Everything hurts…”
The ringing in her ears are fading. She wipes the blood away from her eyes to get a quick glimpse of the demon. The bleeding is not stopping. That is when for a moment she saw it cough out blood. It staggers falling on its knees. That Explosive Spear that hit her was just an outburst of instinct after being gravely injured. Her attacks were effective but she is also barely standing. She cannot say that she gained some advantage.
“Just a little bit more…”
She cannot take a hit again and she cannot fall. If she falls now, she is afraid that she might not be able to muster the strength to stand again. She intensifies Pulse to get information around her while her eyes are barely functional.
Pain creeps all over. She has lacerations on her head, she does not know if her skull is fractured. She broke a few ribs again. Breathing is painful. She can taste blood in her mouth. Her armor is in the worst shape since she had it. The level 3 and level 2 seals are no longer functional. Her spells are going to be stronger but more scattered. It also makes her healing more dispersed. She is continuously wasting mana and it is exhausting.
I'm so tired...
The demon’s strength has also significantly decreased. Maybe she could use some traps to immobilize it. She just have to find an opening.
She needs a little more time to recover and be able to move without suffering too much pain. She is being passively healed but if she makes sudden movements now, it will aggravate her injuries. The unrestrained power in her spells also is not something a human body could normally handle. This is only possible for her because she has Hol, however it also has its limits. Nevertheless, if she is not careful enough there might come a situation where she can no longer out heal her injuries.
“This body cannot bear long battles with my mana unsealed as it is now. If I don’t end this soon, then this might as well be the end of me.”
Now, it became a competition about who would recover first to be able to deliver the next blow that may finally end the battle.
“Just a little more…”
Quia’el stands up and immediately lunges at Azalea. The demon raised its spear with incredible speed. It’s going to make another swing in full force. It is definitely not just another slash. Azalea can feel the imbued mana in its blade. Another strong explosion is going to hit her while she is still unable to make sudden movement at the risk of aggravating her injuries. She has to make a decision. She can leap away to evade, which could probably blow her away with no way to dodge a follow up attack. She can cast defense magic creating multiple barriers which can mitigate the impact at most but she will still take a lot of damage. Both evasive and defensive options are bad so she is left with the last option.
“Now… I really wanna get rid of that spear.”
Azalea clenches her right fist as multiple overlapping magic circles appear in front and around her. She knows well that her spells are unstable and overpowered but still she casted in a hurry without holding back. She forcefully punched the magic circle in front of her.
“EXPLOSIA!!!”
Flames erupted from the magic circles engulfing anything in their path. The power of her spell crashed with the explosive spear consuming it whole. Gust of fiery wind ravaged the whole territory like a fire storm.
Azalea got pushed a few meters back. She was able to cast defensive magic that mitigated the force of explosion towards her. As she gasps for air in this area filled with smoke and dust almost devoid of oxygen, she felt a sudden searing pain from her right hand and forearm. The backlash of Explosia and the reason why she avoids using it despite how destructive it is. Her right hand and arm got burned; it is almost devoid of skin, just dark red to brown.
“Hah-! I can’t use this arm anymore…”
The air around has turned way too hot. It’s almost as if she can feel her lungs burn in every breath she takes. She coughs up blood as she gasps for more air. As her vision dims, she gets a glimpse of the demon. Its spear is gone and all of its right arm is charred black crumbling apart.
She scoffs. “It can’t use that arm anymore either.”
The smoke is slowly blown away. Both of them are once again stunned in their place racing for another opportunity.