Murai didn't consider Lisa's unwillingness to be important. Even her idea to be useful was questionable according to her desires. Ignoring a swirling mana that took a shape of her Soul Render Form, Lisa was out of his Soul Space in a couple of swirling motions. It was like waves overlapping over one another, and her figure spread her arms and then wings. She glanced around in a good mood and figured out her current form. It was the same, but slightly bigger at around 40 centimeters, but it can vary in height or mass because of her own Shaping.
Murai didn't care about her though.
Stepping toward the path that those messiahs took before, Murai adjusted his mind to work at a high degree of proficiency. That was, to have the mind focus on one thing at a time and not be distracted by unnecessary thoughts.
The group of messiahs wasn't as close as he thought. All this inner talking with Lisa took longer than he desired and the group walked a bit outside of his regular vision. Out of clarity, he didn't use any speck of Mana Detection, fearing they would notice his aura or something. For Lisa, he dints' worry, as she was soul form which was plentiful in this forest. Her reappearance shouldn't give messiah any ideas. It was enough for the messiahs to feel the disturbance, but because they walked further away, they had no idea that their desired foe was right within the range of Lisa's undulation.
They were already 25 or so meters away, making it possible for Lisa to appear without disturbing the surroundings too much. It was also the perfect time to ambush them from behind or the sides, and that was what Murai planned to do.
Taking a deep breath, he was halting the mana within his body from seeping out. It was akin to holding your breath when diving, but it was much more intricate. His Beast Core constantly shifted some mana of the world to itself and tried to affect the rest of the body. It was an aftereffect that one can stop willingly, but unless one stopped this flow, the mana of the world constantly shifted to the Core. Then, the terms of these shifts can affect and seep out of the body, but only a small amount of it will do so. That was exactly the aura Murai was halting when he was in that strange situation outside of that well when he was facing humans for the first time.
The terms - upgrading, cultivating, and cycling the Mana Core was used in this manner of shifting. It was energy action when one's Mana Core was constantly resonating with the surrounding world, improving one's mana and quality of spell or one's talent. It was also up to the individual how much it can affect oneself. Talent in this way was also important. It was a key element in upgrading the Mana Core stages along with willing cycling and mana improvements.
Mana Core was a powerful tool for any mage and having a good amount of mana, insight, and control over the mana, worked wonders in any kind of sense. All kinds of paths and magic revolved around this basic premise - albeit, not everyone had the option to have the Mana Core. One can't reach the highest realms of the conventional Path of Magic unless one had the Core, while Handlers of mana of the world may also reach similar stag,e but it wasn't the same. When one can reach the potency of having a small River of Manaflow within oneself, it can hardly compete with Handlers.
Murai calmly took a breath in and out, lowering his heartbeat along with his mind which was in a turmoil of thoughts after all of his arguments with Lisa. He also did his best to suppress any desire to kill, or even a speck of his Will to seep out, but feelings - if his efforts did anything - were a hard thing to notice.
He just thought of not doing anything, which may work for his Will, but his killing intent? It was an unfamiliar concept in this life so far, albeit the one before worked around the Intent, and desire to kill a lot. It was the sort of thing that should make his present easier, but it was depending on his handling of the situation, rather than viewing the past as something important. After all, it wasn't the same. Nothing was. Everything was unique, and this life as a duck was nothing but something unique.
Murai got a hang of it in a couple of minutes and started his stealth mission.
When it came to mana, it was easy. His Beast Core became as gentle as an unmoving boat in the middle of the lake, calm and steady - even voiceless, and soundless.
This was one of the aftereffects of the last week, which he spent familiarizing his unkept mana with his body. It was harder than he thought, considering the strangeness of his own mana as he feared.
Tries to remain steady and hidden worked surprisingly well. It led to a complete standstill of his Beast Core, which could remain in a forceful state of dullness for up to 5 minutes. Anything more, and his core would start to show signs of uncontrollability since forcing this natural force of mana was putting strain on its structure.
Murai could still move within this state, albeit not very fast. Any ability or spell won't be usable unless he will be ready to kill or strike. His use of Beak's Peak, or Fury would charge some mana out of his core, making them more powerful, since anything his body did, some of his mana affected their functions. As for how, or why, Murai had his guesses. Anatidaes weren't weak magical creatures and their mana aptitude worked in conjunction with their body.
Hence, they were phenomenal in many environments, since mana was everywhere, and body and mana could affect each other. As for how much? Murai wasn't one to experiment with his own body, yet, but he had many kinds of ideas.
Lisa saw him disappear from the bushes, leaving her alone to do her own thing.
“Make me an opening. Figure how along with a flow of your own use.” Murai told her soul from their connection. “I don't know what you can do, so figure that part out yourself. Chew what you can swallow. We can communicate well in this way, so give me a proper choice, and the rest is my problem to solve.”
Their connection worked quite well in this way, allowing them to work in tandem without any words, undulation, or problems. Crouching as he tracked the surroundings with his eyes, rather than anything else, Murai figured out what he will do. Well, the else in this case was Soul Read. He couldn't figure out how to stop its effects, but it allowed him to perceive the others without any handicaps, so he figured it wasn't a bad thing.
A clear path that messiah walked in, was right there. Close along their shimmering inner voice, and soul indulging in desire of greed and fear. Murai felt them well enough to notice where they were in their surroundings rather than reading them like a book.
“Y-you don't even have to kill them... Do you know that?” Lisa argued back. “You need to get out of this forest and that is all to this Encounter. Killing them can be a waste of time since it isn't about any killings. Let me tell you that... You are making this more complicated than it is. Trust me. I saw and worked through such Encounters before. Their reasoning is a Rule, and the Parts are like sections of a dungeon to solve. They can be intricate, something dumb like a brick, and sometimes all it needs is some cleverness for an easy solution. ” she sent her words to him, but Murai ignored her, focusing on his desires, rather than common sense.
There was no need to try common sense - which may be the best solution - but there was one key difference between that and his desire. Murai was furious. Furious at his fate, furious at the world, and the one who made him like this. Not an Anatidae, of course. Those reasons were fundamentally different from such a simple case of a specified life that moved without deeper context.
His fury was upon the smaller picture, particularly Razmund and the Centralis Kingdom. He will quench his anger on them, aiming toward the causes of their mess and their madness. He will butcher him - the one who obliterated his body - and who made him go through hell and Iris's healing process.
Well, it wasn't exactly that, nor was one of those things as bad as the other, but Murai was feeling as if his fury was well justified.
However, did he have the strength for that? To see the chance, and clutch his beak to this desire to kill Razmund and destroy the kingdom? No. It was simply not the right time to do that by his own hands.
Will he be able to prevail against the messiahs or stronger forces that may be way above his current abilities?
It will be tough, but his desired journey - unhindered by others such as Ceila - was a future he looked forward to. It was always his favorite part of his Cursed living. Going with proper choices of self-indulged adventure, skipping power, breaching the system, and so on. He had all intentions to do them all over again, and this system in this world seemed like a perfect choice for them all.
At least hopefully, as he was yet to understand how utterly messy this Encounter can be, while the case of Will of the Battleworld was yet to turn his choices into an utter pile of Chaos. It was only a pile of messed up reason with gods hiding beyond them, but there were some rules to this thing. For once, Murai seemed to see no Razmund before his face, nor someone powerful as him. Thus, why stop when enemies are in the range of his own power level?
Gods were directly responsible for a lot of things in this world, making it more than desirable in his mind to seek his Path to the bitter end. Which? He didn't know that for now, but he sure hoped the duck path may end at the range of possibilities that would allow him to seek his desires.
So far his Path wasn't his own, since all sorts of things hindered him. Murai wished he could blow them to pieces, creating and releasing his mind to former glory. That's what he should do, as a former grand mage and all sorts of other professions, names, titles, and whatnot. He was called a lot of names, but...
Now? He was a duck, albeit not the normal kind. What kind? He was yet aware of that, but he was inclined to ask Lisa about it since she said some interesting things about them in their past talks.
Maybe he wanted to hear about it later, or he ignored it intentionally, as the talk of a duck reminded him of his present situation that hindered him like this Encounter. If he was a human...
Getting such information out of her seemed like a lazy attitude since Lisa - as he realized it - was kind of a terrible Life Companion, but what did he do, to deserve this sort of attitude? Nothing or too much? Perhaps, he wasn't deserving shit, and what Lisa was, was nothing but a reminder that he was supposed to be alone and figure his living on his own merits.
Only he knew all about himself. Nothing more. No one else. Just him, and his Path. His Cursed hoping, or clearing things up.
Moving his legs left and right, Murai carefully moved behind the trees and bushes alike. His steps were firm and calm, stealthy and soundless. He was like a ninja. Duck ninja. Anatidae ninja?
5 meters from the group of 3 messiahs, hiding behind the bush, it took some effort and time to find the right path to move at a faster pace than their walking. Thankfully, the messiahs weren't sprinting and were rather nervous about the surroundings. But they were careful, observing the nook and crannies of every direction. Now, he was waiting for Lisa to do her move. She made up her mind to do the right thing, albeit it wasn't her intention, but Murai's.
He noticed her presence and notion of her desire too. She wanted to try herself against them too, but it wasn't something she was willing to admit herself. It seemed she gave up trying to purpose Murai to not attack, so instead of that, she decided to commit to the act of slaying this group. Flying fast, and steady forward, her Soul Render form was much different from the small succubus she was before.
Her physicality changed to one of firmness and vividness. Flying forward, the air sizzled, and bushes swayed in the wind or tangible aura of dangerous movements. She did have a proper ability to cease her mana away, but her demonic appearance? Why stop that? She was a Soul Form. A form of something that Seventh Death Forest never lacked so she was a good way to be a distraction. It worked to her advantage since this place was full of Death. A thing that was familiar and easy to see in the Seventh Death Forest.
3 Messiah went alert the moment they sensed a coldness seep behind their back, and then, the front, surrounding them, clutching their cores. Lisa emerged from behind the tree, facing their back. Her face was twisted like the most gruesome demonic ghost she knew of, appearing like a monster, and no succubus.
Her eyes glowed red, and she pulled her proper senses and abilities to use, which was something she desired. Power was always in her life, and this life was no different. It wasn't any memory extract, but two abilities put together to make her appearance indistinguishable from her normal kind.
A powerful soul-shaking aura spread from her form, which could put one's Will to turmoil. The first ability was her ability to change her form, physicality, and aura. She was still a Soul Form, so she can't become a living thing, but her Soul Render had many advantages.
“Demon!” one of the messiahs shouted, letting out a fierce shout as he grabbed his sword.
“No, a Soul Demon! Careful!” the middle one shouted, putting his palms forward, creating a Ward before him, and the other 2 as well.
“Ward won't be enough, this one is big!” the 3rd one shouted, and he was right. This being before them was unlike their non-Gifted status. They were the most regular members of the Centralis Kingdom who had no privileges then pull their weight. Their reasonable ability was their experience and level, making them fine to use as messiahs and simple tools.
Lisa's gaze turned wide as her mouth. The messiahs swayed in fear, sweat, and silent stance. They stopped their movement for 1 second as they formed no momentary runes, spells, or their formation to use. That was their fatal mistake, albeit it wasn't one, in their eyes. They waited for a proper choice for their action - something that any military should know, and consider when undergoing combat training, let alone proper battle. Lisa wanted to use this distraction to good use.
Will it be their mistake or advantage?
There was only one way to find out.
She floated closer, swiping her hands around like a mad ghost. Her ashen face was long and deadly, and she shrieked like the most insane Banshee she could imagine. It was her own ability, unlike the core species ability of the Banshees she was currently impersonating.
This was a Soul Shock Scream, which should injure, or daze the target depending on their Will, body, or other factors. Earth and trees shook as a shockwave traveled through the Ward, striking the bodies of all 3 messiahs since it wasn't an attack of Will, focusing on souls. The left one shook the most, and fell to his knees, while the other two stood on their feet, but with the ashen expression on their faces and a temporary daze. How long was one she caused to these 2? A single second.
Without awaiting something better, Murai jumped from behind the different tree, figuring his time had come. His mana swirled in a moment, and his beak was already forming a steady surge of mana. Hopping quickly and steadily, he was fast and approached the middle messiah, whose shield was only facing Lisa.
He was an easy target, and Beak's Peak reached this man's back, piercing inside at a peculiar angle, breaking the spine and his insides. He shoved his beak deep into the flesh and in a wild twisting manner until blood flowed like small steam. A couple of twists of his beak penetrated the heart, while the body from the inside out, was nothing strong. It was unsurprising.
The dazed man noticed his own demise and coughed blood. He was dead long before he understood who, or what killed him.
Alas, the two messiahs beside the middle one, jolted from their daze back to the harsh reality. The right one noticed straight away that something struck their leader, so he turned himself to his right, noticing a gushing wound on his leader's neck. Then, he noticed the duck so he turned his palm to Murai and flared his mana up.
Both of the messiahs understood that this was an ambush. Lisa was just a distraction and wasn't something menacing to them. Daze was weak if it lasted only a second, while Lisa's appearance seemed to be menacing alone. The real threat was behind them, in the shape of a duck.
“D-duck! T-target?” the right messiah mumbled and was almost unable to start the spell he wanted.
It was a version of a formation spell created around the rune crafting, enabling storing any kind of spell in specifically made rings or bracelets. The degree of power depended on the ring, crafter, material but most often than not, the spell. The spell was Punishing Strike of Grade C. It was a lighting-based attack, similar to the Flame Shot but at least 20 times mightier with a wide area of effects. Lighting was known to be an unhinged element, and hard to contain, but it was right there, in the notion of the complicated rune equipment that was a simple ring.
Lighting shot out of the man's right hand, electrifying himself and his surroundings, while shooting a much stronger attack at wide-open Murai who just finished off his Peak. He had trouble retrieving his beak, once again.
Though, he watched calmly as the incoming strike arrived in the blink of an eye. In his eyes, it should be quite tough for him to deal with such a wild and dense amount of lighting. It was part of his intuition, but also his Mana Detection, which allowed him to seek the overall quality of the mana. This spell was much better than what those messiahs should be able to use.
They skip rules... a bunch of cheaters... Hmph! These are pretty damn high-quality runes for such a weakling! Murai thought, while his beak was still within the back of the middle messiah. Flexing his neck and gritting his beak, he snatched the man's spine, lurching the torse along with the man's limp hands to his left. The former Ward was still in his hand, so Murai used it to face the Punishing Strike.
It was a known fact that mana can survive for some time even with the death of the caster. The will, intent, and power after the mage's death were always intricate, but they can disappear in a couple of moments. It worked the same way in the land of the River of Manaflow and even in other places.
Murai grinned, feeling the dancing lighting push against the Ward that was a good choice against this sort of spell and its power. At first exchange, not one lighting penetrated this rapidly weakening Ward.
Alas, the Ward wasn't under anyone's rule, or control, so it cracked apart in the following couple of seconds. Then, the continuous power of the Punishing Strike still continued, charging at the body of the deceased messiah, while Murai hid behind his back. He felt the lighting storm punish his body, and along the charred corpse, the lighting pushed him 10 meters into the forest.
The man who forced the Punishing Strike appeared haggard and even staggered on his feet. Powering this Stored Spell was extremely heavy on his mind, while it also negatively impacted his body. That was a side-effect of this crafted tool, which was way over his level and ability.
Without thinking of the burned right hand, nor his overall shocked appearance, he grabbed and shook the head of the remaining comrade. “Wake the fuck up! I need proper Formation! We are bloody Messiahs! Who uses a singular one? Huh?” He shouted until the kneeling man's mind rejoiced to reality.
It wasn't a happy face, so who knew who he dreamed about? Perhaps about a time with the succubus? Who knew?
“W-what was that? Huh?” he mumbled after his face underwent a slap to each of his cheeks.
“Wake the fuck up, Porik. You dumbfuck, why aren't you having a freaking minor ward shielding your mind. It was mandatory in this freaking forest.” the messiah cursed Porik to oblivion, and he wasn't one bit caring, but instead, furious.
At this point, Murai finally reached the destination of his flying, which wasn't great, or terrible. He had trouble getting his beak out the first time since his teeth got stuck in the man's spine, but this attack helped him get it out a little. The simple use of another Beak's Peak solved the issue by shattering the spine to oblivion, ending the remains of this man for the sake of this forest.
“Well, that was surprising, and... easy?” Murai forced himself to stand, noticing scattering lighting around his feathers, while his insides hurt, but not much.
Hm? Whatever. Lisa was quite effective which was unexpected. The bigger obstacle is gone. That is good. How nice is it to ambush a strong mage, even when one is weak? It is the same everywhere. I swear. A dumb mage who can't protect the body is like a soldier without armor. Murai thought in a good mood, reminiscing of many times when he killed a grand mage, who wasn't under the protection of his spells or some formation or friends.
It was always fairly easy to do so since the majority of mages shouldn't have powerful bodies. Mana can strengthen them only so little, while most focused on the paths of convenience and conventional magic. In this case, the body wasn't directly important, but it was one's life. Protection was incredibly important in almost all aspects of fighting. Shield, or Ward to protect them from the attacks was about the most common spell, while there were countless more powerful variants or weaker ones, even.
Some would have Bloodlines, carrying powerful spells, or empowering abilities that would protect their bodies outside of their magic. Others could have permanent spells on their clothes, and armor, or Warding entire body, and so on.
None of these examples was the case for these messiahs, even though they weren't weak at all in the context of Murai's own level. Their level was, in fact, much higher than Murai would anticipate, at level 30s. The one who Murai killed in his ambush was even level 37 while the one with lighting was level 32, and Porik was the weakest at level 30.
The dead one was the strongest, but he died regardless of his mana, path, or stored spells. It couldn't protect him, since his mind wasn't up to the task and his skill didn't overlap with his power. His back was wide open, and his physicality couldn't cover for it at all. Only a moment led to his death and there was nothing he could have done about it.
It was the truth - rule - that Murai understood. Death mattered in a duel, and a dead man had no desires, nor anything - truly.