Sure, last time I made some letters in the air. It was clear and easy to do.

While now that was not a viable option, I could use more… mechanical ways.

I stepped towards the nearest wall and scratched it with the part of me that was already crystal.

It worked. I could easily scratch it and it was clearly visible.

So, time to write.

It was a bit awkward at first: I had to write with my knuckle: that was the most “agile” part of me that I could find that had a bit of crystal already.

I was not going to use my fingernails. They were still normal.

Now, how do I exactly word this message…?

I had to take over and sped myself up to the point where I don’t understand you. Either join me or break that effect.

It was the most concise message I could think of that would make him understand, hopefully, and wasn’t exactly divulging everything about us to anyone else that would read it.

It didn’t matter really; it’s not like anyone would read it besides us; I was going to destroy it later. Even without that, the fire would most likely wipe the traces of it.

I made the message. Now, to send it.

I stared at the wall to get him to understand. I mean, it wasn’t really hard to notice, but even then it would take a bit of time.

I had to keep myself from trying to peek on the janitor or the fire: if I was to start looking around, it would only confuse him and make it harder to communicate.

Communicate…

Hm.

That’s a question.

I was trying to communicate, sure. But even if I was to reach him and he would understand, how the hell would he reply?

Any word that he would say would be distorted to no end.

Writing wouldn’t work, there still would be the issue of time.

Did I have to count on him freeing me?

I don’t know if I liked that.

If he had a body, I’d say he would be able to do the same and speed himself up to my standard and we’d be good.

Could he do that without it?

I mean, if a heart was able to be sped up, why not the brain.

Wait, wasn’t I doing that already? If ALL my body was not on par with the speed, I’d not be able to even register what was going on.

So what, he needed to speed up… his soul?

Fuck, that was confusing.

How would you even do that? Was that possible?

Why did I even try that spell… I swear, I probably would be out already if I was moving in regular fashion. Sure, I’d probably be more of a crystal, but so what? It’s not the first time and not the last time, most likely.

And not like Mike had any way to complain either. He wasn’t the most helpful here…

As I thought that, I think I finally reached Mike.

Or at least I made him realize what was going on.

Before, I just felt a small sting of his emotions, but after staring at a wall for a minute I felt something different and stronger again.

Disappointment.

Come on, it’s the first time I’ve done something like that. You can’t blame me for fucking up. Like his spells ever worked on the first try.

But hey, that also meant that we were making progress.

What now?

The disappointment was flowing for a good moment towards me, but then, it got cut out.

I would say instantly, but, let’s be clear, nothing was instant in this distorted reality of mine.

But, if we were looking at it from a regular perspective, it was pretty immediate.

It was replaced with more determination…?

I assume that meant Mike was trying something?

I think I was right, because the feeling was not disappearing. Only getting stronger.

Good.

And stronger.

And even more…

To the point it started getting distracting.

What, he was trying to overload me with emotions or something? How would that even help?

Slowly, to the determination, I felt a bit of anger joining in.

Ha, that meant not everything was going his way.

Well no shit. The whole situation was not very ideal. For anyone. Especially for him. Not in control of his body and weakened.

Supposedly.

The feeling of this being “distracting” was not the end of it. It soon turned into annoying, and then into something that was hard to even contain myself.

It felt like something was buzzing inside my head, making me want to yell with frustration.

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Was he trying to make ME angry? What the fuck.

If so, he was definitely succeeding.

Honestly, I wanted to write him another message to knock it the fuck off. But… I was too late.

Apparently I was right.

He indeed was trying to anger me. Or rather to distract me and focus on something else, making me lose concentration on the mana I was constantly spending to fuel this effect.

I didn’t know that, of course, so all I could do was groan in annoyance and try to contain the sudden headache and loss of balance.

He not only disturbed my concentration on this.

My control over his body was also wavering.

I realized that a bit too late: I was already half-way on the ground and unable to stand straight.

The headache that I was experiencing was me getting back to the regular speed of thought, or rather thoughts suddenly being unable to understand my speed, because I was still fast for a moment there.

The imbalance and overall difference in signals that every single sense was sending me knocked me completely off and soon I realized that I was no longer able to move, lying on the ground.

Even my vision went black.

And then, silence.

A moment later I got enough grip on myself to again focus and start looking at the world using mana sensing, somewhat understanding what was going on.

We were no longer lying on the ground.

The fire was already put out, or at least a part of it was. I think my spell finally took hold because the part of the corridor next to the broken door was wet.

Speaking of the door…

It was absolutely wrecked.

And it was not just because of me.

Sure, there was a visible footprint in one of the broken pieces, lying a bit away from it. But there was also a major hole in the spot where I started the spell that was supposed to seal the exit.

Did my spell misfire…?

Definitely not.

One look at Mike was enough.

His hand extended, with mana flowing out, I could tell that he was just done putting a hole back in the door.

The hell was he trying to do? Help the janitor or some shit?

Nah, couldn’t be.

-The fuck are you doing?

I instantly asked him. He already knew that I was conscious and still not absorbed, so pretending to be knocked out was pointless.

He flinched, but did not reply.

A silent treatment?

-Exit is upstairs. This guy is useless.

-Maybe for you.

Pretty short silent treatment, then.

But what did he mean “for me”? Like what, he’s going to make him talk? About what?

The answer was soon obvious, because the two of them were already face-to-face.

The janitor, definitely confused and still very on edge, was gathering himself from the lack of impact from his shots and realized that his hidden arsenal was revealed.

He was still sped up as well.

Seeing as we were back, he dashed towards us and was about to cast some kind of spell, I could see his magic fluctuate…

…but it was too late.

Mike grabbed him and instantly punched in the gut.

Damn. He was really a lot better at this. Without even a hint of activation or focus, he just enhanced himself and punched him so fast that I was barely able to register it. Either of us, really.

But… the janitor took it better than expected.

Sure, he got his wind knocked out of him, but that was it. I thought he was going to retaliate somehow, because he grabbed the hand that punched him, but again, he was too slow.

The same hand sent him flying towards the opposite wall.

Even before he reached it, he was already behind him.

-What the hell are you trying to do?!

He caught the guy… Well, caught is a strong word.

He punched him in the back of the head the moment he flew into his range.

-If you really want to learn something from him, I don’t think he’s…

I didn’t finish the sentence.

His next strike finished it all.

His elbow, already crystal thanks to my earlier changes, left a bloody mark on the side of his head.

The janitor flopped, like a ragdoll, slamming into the ground in a position that suggested he was no longer conscious.

Or alive, for that matter.

-Aha. Nice interrogation.

He wasn’t finished. He went towards the limp body and punched it once more.

-What the fuck are you…

-Shut the fuck up.

His response was so sudden I instinctively stopped talking and just was observing.

Again, a hit. This time he used an elbow once more.

But, it was not him relieving stress.

Well, maybe not only that.

Along with the punch, I felt something leave the body… and join him… us?

That was strange.

Seeing as he finished his business, he turned away and went towards the corridor and the staircase.

It was still on fire, of course. My earlier attempt at quenching the flames worked, but only briefly. I mean, I kind of got interrupted…

He gave it a glance over and waved his hand.

I thought he was going to try and end the fire… but he was not targeting the flames.

He straight up destroyed a wall.

I did think about doing the same before, but assuming that we were underground, I never really tried. It would be annoying to try and carve a passageway through the ground…

But, I forgot that we were no longer in the wilderness. We were in the middle of the city.

Besides, if not for the whole time bullshit, I would’ve managed to clear my way out and leave without a problem.

The broken wall revealed a passageway… No. A sewer.

Of course.

He stepped through the hole and turned back towards the flames.

Another wave of the hand.

He started guiding the fire?

Yeah. He was leading it towards where he was just fighting, at the same time walking back further into the darkness.

What was that for…?

Before I finished my thought, I understood.

The whole area was shaken by a massive explosion.

He wasn’t just leading the fire to spread it, he wanted to get rid of everything.

And what’s a better way than to blow it up?

Especially if you have a conveniently placed body that was absolutely stacked with mana and mana crystals.

Sure, even if he was somewhat protected from the fire before, that didn’t matter now.

Especially when faced with that large wave of flames.

The following blast had most likely destroyed the foundation of the building and maybe even a bunch of others as well.

I could feel the aftershocks and the noise of rubble falling down somewhere above us.

It was like an earthquake.

Even though we were already pretty far away, he still was pushed backwards and tossed away from the source.

But, he was ready.

Mid air, he activated a spell, making a wall that blocked the way we just came from, and landing on all fours, he suddenly started sprinting with inhuman speed.

When did he even reactivate that?

Did he even drop the spell?

And so, we were gone.