Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 114. Simple Reason.
“C’mon, is that all you have?!” Laien shouted provokingly and with a wry smile on his face, then jumped forward, following after Raphael who was trying to using this little opportunity to put some distance between them. Did Raphael recognize that he had no chance to win in a direct combat and opted to retreat and use magic? It was probably the best choice Raphael could make, but he wasn’t planning to just stand there and wait for him to complete another powerful magic like the one from a moment ago!
Without any particular effort on his part, Laien created a few dozen mid-sized ice spikes mid-jump and sent them flying at Raphael. A spell, a technique… he had long ago reached high enough proficiency in using water and ice magic that he no longer bothered to name particular moves of his. To him, it was all one and the same; magic and abilities to be controlled as manipulated as he wished.
Faced with an unexpected and alarmingly strong attack, Raphael defended by any means he could. He moved out of the way of those spikes he could dodge, he struck out with his spear to crush the most dangerous ones, those that were aiming for his vitals, and used Negative-Energy-Enhanced light magic to block the remaining few spikes. Alas, his defensive magic simply wasn’t strong enough; he did manage to weaken those remaining four spikes, but they still broke through the layer of light and gouged out four holes in his body; one around his left calf, two at his left thing and one around the left side of his stomach. Luckily, he was a martial practitioner of the ninth rank; his body was fairly tough, else it would have ended with much more than just a little bit of shaved-off flesh.
“He’s crazy strong,” Raphael groaned inwardly as he attempted to fend off Laien’s spear and focused the rest of his energy on protecting himself from that icy mist. “There’s no way I’m beating him like that… I really should just surrender,” he thought resignedly, though the mere content of those thoughts caused his concertation to fall and resulted in another wound being added to his body by Laien’s spear, this time around his right shoulder. His tempo almost crumbled because of it, but he somehow managed to hold on and recover, then keep defending desperately.
“So stupid…” Raphael thought and sighed inwardly. “How can he be so strong? Just what did he go through to grow to this extent? What motivated him to go through all of that?” he asked himself, slowly beginning to realize that just his pure desire to grow strong and be the best wasn’t all that great of a motivation. A reason to risk his life… he had thought he had it, but now that he was facing Laien, he could only defend and hold onto his life. Life-or-death battle? What a joke! He couldn’t even muster enough courage to attempt a counterattack! He wasn’t prepared to risk his own life at all! Pride as the strongest, desire to grow strong… those things meant too little to him.
“I know that. I understand that I’m being a coward, but why can’t I bring myself to speak up and concede?” he asked himself as Laien’s spear shaved off another part of his body, adding a bloody scar across his left thigh. “I don’t have any great reason to risk my life. The desire to overcome others… the desire to protect my friends and family. They certainly are there, but it appears that I’m unwilling to risk my life to overcome Laien and it’s not like my friends and family and in any foreseeable danger… and yet, I keep struggling. Why, for what? Am I just being stubborn?” he wondered, though his thoughts appeared more in a form of indistinct feelings instead of any specific words; he simply didn’t have enough room to spare to think while defending against Laien’s attacks.
“He certainly is strong,” Laien praised in his heart as he pressed on with his offensive, both with the spear and with ice magic. “He’s able to hold on for that long, but he isn’t fighting back either. His aura… it’s dimmed. Is he going to give up soon?” he asked himself, for once wishing that he could see the look on Raphael’s face and in his eyes. If he could, then he would be able to tell more about what Raphael was feeling instead of relying on the vague impression he got from reading Raphael’s aura.
“Two or three more, at most?” Raphael judged and grit his teeth as he barely fended off another swipe of Laien’s ice-and-water-engulfed spear. They had exchanged about forty blows so far, so he could tell that he was steading being pushed under the wall. The more they fought, the more advantage Laien claimed and the harder it was to defend from another attack… this kind of slow and thorough suppression that gave no opportunity to fight back, it was extremely frustrating to be on its receiving end. “That’s enough, I need to give up before I sustain any permanent injuries. I need to give up… but why do the words not want to come out of my throat?”
What was it that was keeping him from conceding? Was it his pride? No. He could tell it wasn’t that. Was it some unfounded hope that he would make a random breakthrough towards the end? No. He was aware well enough that in his current mental state, the possibility of him making a breakthrough was close to non-existent. Then what was it? It was frustrating and annoying to no end! There was something that kept him going, but he couldn’t even put it into proper thoughts? God damn it!
“This feeling… why am I still trying? What’s that great thing that’s causing me to keep going despite feeling so helpless?” he asked himself as his guard was finally blown away. Yeah, the next attack would finish it… he would attempt to block it, but he would fail and be heavily wounded. With that, this serious duel he had requested for would be over. He almost felt like closing his eyes and allowing the final attack to come, but he knew that he would die if he did that.
Now that he knew he had no chance, that it was all but done, he realized that he didn’t even feel that bad about losing… but on the other hand, he would also absolutely hate to see the look in Mikaela’s eyes after he would have lost so miserably. He would also hate to see the disappointment of Elder Samuel’s… and of course, he would feel bad to see the pitying looks on the faces of all those who had regarded him as a top genius. However, it were those two first things that he would hate the most; he just wouldn’t know how to face Mikaela and Elder Samuel. Even if those two told him that it was fine, that they didn’t care if he lost to Laien… no, they would certainly say exactly that, but it would only make him feel incomparably worse about himself.
“Shit,” he cursed in his heart, for the first time in his life feeling like he was about to cry. Wasn’t there something he could still do? It was such a stupid and silly reason, it was so unimportant that someone who truly had a great reason to risk his life would probably laugh at him… but to him, this simple reason was incredibly important. He didn’t want to disappoint Mikaela and Elder Samuel… no, that was wrong. He didn’t want to disappoint himself and betray the admiration and expectations those two had for him! And for the sake of that, he would at least attempt to fight!
“?!” Laien hesitated momentarily when he noticed that Raphael suddenly gave up on defense while his blow was already halfway finished. He even sensed that the barrier of light, with which Raphael had been fending off the ice mist, had become unstable and thin! What the hell was Raphael trying to do now of all times? Was he being reckless now that he had lost, was this pure desperation? If so, then should he forcefully stop his attack before it hit Raphael? Or should he keep going? It was supposed to be a life-or-death battle, but was it really alright for him to go for the killing blow in this situation? After all, Raphael’s aura was… was…!
This one sensation was enough; Laien made an instantaneous decision and didn’t shrink back. He followed through with his spear swipe and didn’t ease on using the ice magic! He could tell how Raphael’s aura had suddenly started almost shining with resolve and strength, much unlike how dimmed and federated it appeared to be just a few seconds ago. Since Raphael was able to give his everything to fight back, however he planned to do it, he wouldn’t shame his great resolve and would respond appropriately!
“Converge, converge, converge!” Raphael shouted within his heart, using all his available strength to gather and compress a ball-sized mass of his light-element spiritual energy in-between Laien and himself. He had no time, so there was no way he could take it slow, so he simply pushed it all together forcefully, using all three aspects of the Principle of Energy at once while supporting himself with all the insights he had! He wasn’t even using his Qi in order to make the compressions more effective, though due to this last-ditch effort of his, he had inevitably neglected his defense. It were only parts of a split-second, but he could feel the pain all of his body as the ice mist was breaking through his weakened layer of defense and forcefully invading his body, freezing it deeper and deeper with each passing instant.
He could feel the pain all but too clearly… he could see Laien’s spear approaching, threatening to split his torso in half and freeze his whole body to death in consequence. The pressure was so immense that he wouldn’t be surprised if he fainted from fear… but he was able to not only hold on but also overcome this dreadful sensation! It was at this time, as he was about to get killed, when something clicked within his mind; a locked door finally opened and shone with the bright light of comprehension!
“Converge!” Raphael cried out one last time and pushed his spiritual energy even more, causing the ball-sized mass of light to collapse upon itself and for a fleeting instant, take the form of a petite, fingernail-sized ball of condensed, strangely stable energy. “Go!” he controlled the petite ball while rousing whatever strength he could pull in such a short period of time to defend. The small ball of light shook and flew towards Laien’s chest… though just after moving a few centimeters, it suddenly grew ridiculously unstable and in but an inkling, it exploded with great strength, one that was even greater than the fully-chanted Cage of Light!
It all happened far too quickly for any of the spectators to comprehend what was going on, much less react to it in any way. The time from Laien breaking through Raphael’s guard and sending the seemingly final blow flying to the sudden explosion was less than one-tenth of a second. Be it Jugal, Richt, Arslan, Mikaela, or even Yin, they were all shocked and startled as the burst of power shook the whole area, sending debris and rocks flying everywhere along with a shockwave that spread all the way to where their group was standing.
“What the fuck was that?!” Jugal exclaimed without minding his tongue, all the while maintaining translucent water barrier in order to protect their group from all the stones that were flying over. “What the fuck?!” he repeated in shock. He could still understand that magic of Raphael’s from earlier, but this time there was no warning, no sign that something was going to happen! Nothing! That explosion came out of nowhere and swallowed those two kids! Fuck!
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This time, he didn’t hesitate and moved forward, intending to check if those two were still alive, but the moment he took the first step, yet another explosion spread from within the monstrous cloud of dust the first burst had stirred up. “What the, they are still fighting?” he blurted out in disbelief, his mouth hanging open. That first burst of power was strong enough to send most martial masters of the fourth rank to the other world, but those two kids were still able to fight after taking it directly?!
“He sure is excited,” Yin murmured, sensing Laien’s emotions through their spiritual bond. His heart had skipped a beat when that first explosion occurred, but he quickly calmed down when he realized that Laien was fine. Well, maybe he was more than fine; it was the most excited Laien was since he started the fight against Raphael, so he probably discovered something new, or so Yin assumed.
And indeed, after dodging out of the way of the second, weaker explosion, Laien felt like laughing within that huge cloud of grey dust.
“I take back what I said,” Laien mused with a wide smile on his face, the skin on his arms and torso regenerating rapidly. “Now THAT was scary! If the blast of that first explosion was concentrated properly, I wouldn’t have gotten away with just scarred skin,” he thought in amusement. He had had no time to set up an additional layer of ice or anything, but his Ice Body was quite mighty in its own right, so he got off relatively scot-free despite the devastating power of that explosion. But more importantly, he had already assumed that this fight had ended once, but Raphael showed him something so incredible! He was happy for Raphael, that was for sure, but he was also happy for himself! In fact, even though he didn’t even enter a meditative trance, the second golden rune had already formed completely within his soul and right now, the third one was rapidly taking shape!
“To think that the Principle of Energy can also be used in this way! Instead of pursuing stability and balance, the option of inducing an extreme imbalance is also a proper path to follow!” he mused with a wide smile, all the while tracing Raphael’s movements with his aura. Up until now, he and Yin had been under the assumption that the Principle of Energy was just like any other insight; that only using it ‘properly’ could lead to improvement. However, as it was proved by Raphael just now, they had been ignoring a completely viable, parallel path of training with regards to it! This discovery was most certainly a huge thing!
“Still, to think that Raphael pulled off such an attack out of the blue, just what other insights did he suddenly master? It clearly wasn’t just the Principle of Energy that enabled him to pull that explosion off… that second one was much weaker though. Is he too tired, or is he still far from mastering this new technique? The latter one, probably,” Laien deduced, feeling quite clearly that a few dozen meters away from him, Raphael was accumulating a great deal of energy and preparing for what would most likely be his last, all-out attack. "Come, come, show me what you’ve got!” he mused eagerly, looking forward to seeing that unique technique of Raphael’s once more from close-up.
“Hrm? He’s coming without his spear?” Laien noticed the very moment Raphael put his weapon away. “Is it getting in the way? He does need to carry over that concentrated mass of energy that’s always on the verge of growing unstable after all. Ha, fine!” Laien also withdrew his spear and awaited the attacks, focusing his senses on probing the technique developed by Raphael. He would use this opportunity to learn as much as possible! As for defending, he wasn’t worried about it.
“He isn’t running?” Raphael thought in surprise, then laughed to himself. If Laien attacked him with magic, he would certainly lose control over that converged mass of light and energy. There likely wasn’t anything else he could learn during this battle, but he was still grateful to Laien for allowing him this last opportunity instead of shutting him down without mercy.
“Yeah.” He smiled wryly. He was grateful, true, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t aim to use this opportunity to pull the rug from under Laien’s feet! He couldn’t control this magic properly yet, but if he could land a clean, direct hit, then the possibility of winning existed! He had seen how absurdly strong Laien’s defensive prowess was, so he wasn’t worried about the possibility of killing him. Thanks to that, he could forsake his worries and satisfy himself thoroughly by going all-out one last time! Laien was even nice enough to put away his own spear, so he would make sure to land one clean and painful blow in thanks for his generosity!
“He’s coming, finally,” Laien recognized as he waited in a defensive stance, his Qi and spiritual energy swirling in the air around him. “Now let me see. It sure is concentrated to a ridiculous degree… I probably can’t do the same with water. I wonder if Yin could do it with his lightning?” he wondered, but in the end was unable to discover any more hidden truths behind Raphael’s new magic. He wasn’t proficient in the Elemental Law of Light, after all, so it wasn’t surprising that he failed.
“Take that!” Raphael cried out inwardly and jumped at Laien, swinging his right hand and pushing the small orb forward.
“Isn’t that a bit too simple?” The corner of Laien’s lips quirked upwards at the thought. He refused to believe Raphael would come at him without at least one trick in his sleeve. Moreover, he was fairly fond of leading his own opponents astray, so he could recognize it what someone was baiting him. Thus, even though he did move to defend just in case, he wasn’t all that surprised when the wide swing of Raphael’s suddenly stopped before reaching him. He ‘saw’ how Raphael land on the ground in front of him and twisted his body, pulling that mass of concentrated energy around with his left hand and likely aiming to push it directly into his stomach.
“A good plan, but your movements are too slow and too obvious,” Laien praised with a smile. Was he being overconfident when he allowed Raphael to close in without using magic, was he too arrogant when he put his spear away and proceeded to allow Raphael to attack as he pleased? No. Simply enough, he recognized the obvious flaws of Raphael’s technique. That orb possessed a great power, but in the end, in its current state, it was less dangerous than that attack with sixteen rays of light.
“In other words, you still need training,” Laien murmured within his heart and stepped to the side and twisted his body slightly, at the same time moving the palm of his hand to meet Raphael’s hand. Having predicted Raphael’s actions in advance, he was able to easily strike the side of Raphael’s hand and simultaneously create a slightly angled barrier of ice between himself and that explosive magic.
In consequence, when the orb burst the next instant, the brunt of its force simply washed past his ice barrier and exploded sideways, causing more injury to Raphael’s own hand than to the ice barrier he used to deflect the explosion. This lack of focus of energy was one of this technique’s flaws; the other ones were how unwieldy and easy to trigger by one’s opponent it was and how dangerous it was to its own user, given the necessity of firing it off at close range.
“Damn,” Raphael said aloud and staggered, losing balance due to all the rubble that was scattered over the ground. He almost fell to his knees, but to his surprise, Laien quickly dissolved the barrier of ice and smoothly stepped in front of him and grabbed him under his shoulder. “Haha, god damn. He’s still good to go and I’m barely standing on my own feet,” he thought with a self-mocking smile but allowed his tired and ragged body to rest against Laien’s without reluctance.
“Nice fight,” Laien said merrily, truly meaning his words. He could feel that Raphael’s arms, torso and likely his legs too, were all fairly bloody. That first attack of his new magic… Raphael might have managed to direct around sixty or seventy percent of its strength toward him, but he himself still ended up receiving the rest of the blast. He didn’t even heal himself up fully for the sake of fighting for a little longer, sheesh! Since there was no other option left, Laien controlled some Qi and spiritual energy to create some water and started healing Raphael’s wounds all at once.
“I totally lost,” Raphael said with a weak laugh and put some more strength into his legs, beginning to feel a bit awkward as he continued to be held up standing by Laien while leaning against him. He didn’t really pay attention to it when he was in pain, but now that the wounds started regenerating thanks to Laien’s help, he realized that the two of them were virtually naked, with all of their clothes having been blown to little bits during the latter part of their fight.
“You did totally lose,” Laien agreed with Raphael’s statement. “Don’t tell me you were expecting to win?” he inquired playfully without bothering to change positions as he was finishing up the healing of the smaller wounds all over Raphael’s body. Unlike Raphael, who was beginning to blush, for better or worse he wasn’t all that conscious of what was going on. Thankfully, the two of them were still surrounded by the persistent cloud of dust which they had kicked up while exchanging blows, so there was no one to witness this embarrassing scene.
“No,” Raphael replied with a helpless smile, then secretly sighed with relief when Laien took a step back and allowed him to stand on his own after he finished healing him. “I lost, but I’m satisfied. Thank you,” he said with a very natural, genuine smile while looking Laien in the eye. It was pretty hectic, but he did achieve his goal and he even realized something important during their duel. If an opportunity ever appeared, he once again promised himself to definitely help Laien out shall he happen to need it at any time in the future.
“I’m pretty satisfied too,” Laien said with a grin, thinking that Mikaela was right with what he told them about Raphael early on. If Raphael showed such a smile to a girl, then there likely were close to no females in the world who wouldn’t instantly fall for him. His body was very nicely trained too… uh, wait. Just when did the two of them end up naked? Chuckling, he put on a new set of clothes, whereas Raphael blushed when he realized that he was ogling him playfully. It took Raphael a few more seconds to recover enough strength to use his interspatial ring and put something on. It was just in time too as the dust was entirely blown away by a strong gust of wind a few seconds later, revealing their two figures to the anxious group of spectators.
“They look fine,” Mikaela said with a sigh of relief, seeing how Laien and Raphael exchanged a glance and began walking towards them. He had been extremely worried this whole time, but even more so towards the end when they could no longer see anything. Those two, how could they fight in such a crazed, dangerous manner, only to chat with each other while smiling right afterwards? He had trouble understanding that… and he would surely pester them to explain it to him!
“It was all so nerve-wracking,” Arslan commented with a laugh, only now able to relax. He shared the same sentiment for growing stronger as Laien and Raphael, but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to fight as recklessly as them in just a spar between friends. He wanted to become stronger, but for now, he could only admire the resolve of those two.
“Absolute freaks,” Richt murmured to himself, still unable to quite come to terms with what he had just seen. The strength displayed by Raphael was beyond his wildest expectations; had this boy fought so hard in the National Tournament, he would have swept Christ and Luca away without any trouble at all. And yet, despite this shocking performance by Raphael, Laien still emerged victorious. It was hard to tell since they didn’t see much towards the end, but Laien should have also won by quite a large margin. This level of talent was truly causing him shiver all over. As a fellow practitioner, he was nothing short of amazed.
“For once I agree with you,” Jugal said quietly and nodded his head. “Can you imagine what sort of monsters those two are growing to grow into in a few years, or a few decades?” he asked, causing Richt to tremble at the mere thought. The youths who would be shaping the future of their countries… it looked like this high evaluation on his part had still been lacking!
With the two lieutenants exchanging a few brief words, the two regular members of Richt’s unit of thirty-six couldn’t muster enough strength to say a word. Unsure whether they were dreaming or not, they continued staring at the two approaching youths, either of whom was stronger than they were. They had always thought of themselves as fairly talented, but only now did they realize that compared to true extreme geniuses of the continent, they were far too inferior.
“Hurry up!” Yin called out lightheartedly, breaking the moment of relative silence. “You need to tell us how the fight went! We didn’t see much at all towards the end,” he pointed out with a laugh, curious to learn more about the details. What was it that Laien learned and what kind of enlightenment did Raphael have? He really couldn’t wait to hear about those things.