"How does he move so fast?" Joe asked after picking himself up off the ground for the third time. He'd tried shaking Levi out of whatever trance he was in, and had gotten ragdolled as quickly as Paige.
Still, Levi moved through the Tai Chi forms without a care in the world. He only lashed out when someone tried to stop him.
They were slowly attracting a group of goblin onlookers as they tried to figure out what was going on with Levi.
"He moves as fast as when he was fighting Eric at his hardest. You guys didn't really see the fight like I did. At his fastest, I couldn't follow either of their moves with my eyes. But I don't know how he's doing it in a way that isn't causing himself damage," Paige answered.
"Want me to try to shoot him in the leg with an arrow?" David asked with a shrug. "Might break him out of whatever he's stuck in. We have healing potions."
Joe nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. Pop him in the thigh."
David pulled the bow off his back and nocked an arrow with a speed that would almost suggest he was looking forward to shooting Levi.
"Wait!" Maddy yelled out. "At least let me try my crowd control."
"Fine." David's shoulders slumped as he lowered his bow.
Maddy raised her staff and turned the ground beneath Levi's feet into mud. Levi continued through his slow sets as if nothing had happened, easily moving over the mud.
"Wait, what? How?" Maddy lowered her staff, mouth agape.
Joe stiffened. "Now that's interesting. How is he..."
"You've seen this before, it is just harder to see now. Look very closely at the bottom of his feet." David pointed to where Levi's foot slowly met the surface of the mud.
As Levi's foot touched the surface, a thin membrane of blue energy coalesced just beneath it.
"Is that his mana barrier he uses to not sink in my mud? It is usually a lot larger." Maddy said.
"Perfectly efficient. Fuck. That's probably how he's able to move as fast as he has without damaging himself. He's literally just activating all of his abilities only as much, and as long, as he needs to. But how? How does he always respond perfectly." Joe scratched at his beard. "Actually, how does he respond at all in that trance?"
David loosed an arrow. He hadn't even told anyone he was going to fire it.
Levi simply lifted his thigh out of the way and continued with his slow sets.
"Huh," David said, lowering his bow. "Think I should fire more arrows, back to back, really fast? See how he responds?"
Joe shrugged.
David quickly loosed four arrows. Levi easily evaded three, and then somehow caught and threw the fourth back at David.
David let out a cry as the arrow hit him in the thigh.
Paige laughed but quickly got herself under control. "Sorry... sorry. It is just funny because I could tell you were really looking forward to shooting him, and now you have your own arrow stuck in your leg. Kind of funny."
"Fuck... you..." David said as he pulled the arrow from his thigh. It wasn't that deep, but it still bled a lot when the arrowhead came loose. He quickly dripped some healing potion on the wound, then took a small sip and recorked it.
"So ranged attacks aren't a better option." Joe sat down.
"You're just giving up?" Paige asked.
"No, but if we keep trying to get him out of the trance like this, someone's going to get seriously hurt," Joe answered. "This is definitely some more of his cultivation bullshit. Maybe the Shaman will know. David, go find the Shaman."
David glared up at Joe over his blood covered thigh.
"Oh, don't be dramatic. It wasn't that deep, and you used a healing potion," Joe told David. "Go find the Shaman. The rest of us will wait here."
----
Levi noticed occasional flashes through the meditative landscape above him. The brief disturbances nagged at the edges of his consciousness, but even with him knowing he should probably be more concerned, he wasn't able to take his attention away from the knot of essence he slowly worked to untangle.
No matter how hard he tried, it would just retangle itself as he pulled it apart. He'd feel like he was making headway, and then a long strand he'd pulled free would suddenly weave itself, slithering like a snake, right back into the tangle he'd just freed it from.
It was frustrating. He wanted to quit. He at least needed a break, and yet he couldn't pull his focus away. And that nagged at him, too.
The confusion about why he couldn't break his focus away played in the back of his mind. Fear that he was stuck in this place, unable to free himself, crept in. And even as he began to be aware something was wrong, he just couldn't pull himself free from the knot of essence in front of him.
-----
"So, do you know what it is?" Joe asked the Shaman.
She leaned on her cane and stared at Levi with narrowed eyes. "Yes and no." Her squint stayed locked on Levi. "Interesting."
"What's interesting?" Paige asked, words rushed.
"Well. He's in there. Deep. One of you try to shake him out of it again. I want to see what happens."
"We told you what happens," Joe said.
"Yes... but I need to see it for myself. I see more than you do." The Shaman gave Joe a pointed look.
"I'll do it." Paige took a step toward Levi and then stopped. She bounced a few times on her toes. "Hey, Maddy, have a heal ready. He hits like a truck."
She slowly approached, knowing she was about to get her clock cleaned. Taking a deep breath, she reached out to touch Levi's shoulder. "Levi," she said simply as her hand barely touched his shoulder. With movement she could barely recognize before impact, Levi snapped like a whip, and she felt all the breath forced out of her lungs as she was knocked away from him. She felt Maddy's heal on her before she'd even skidded to a stop, but it still took Paige a second to get her breath back.
"Interesting," the Shaman said again.
"Care to tell us more than that," Joe said, irritation creeping into his voice.
"The closest thing I've ever seen to this was a battle trance. But this definitely isn't that. If it was, he'd be killing everything in sight, or at least trying to kill everyone until someone killed him. But, instead, he only attacks to keep people from stopping what he is doing. Of course, it isn't actually him in control at all."
"So, who's in control?" Paige demanded.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"As far as I can tell, a combination of the Spirit inside Levi and the system the Law-shaper has imposed on your world. It seems as if they're following some command that Levi gave them. Most likely to prevent interruption from the looks of it. But to have such a powerful effect that the Spirit and the system are acting together to fulfill the task, Levi must have done it from somewhere that it would cause an extremely powerful effect. Which means that wherever he is, he probably shouldn't be there in the first place."
"Well fuck... I am so sick of his cultivation bullshit," Joe said. "How do we break him out of it."
"I don't think you can. His stamina and mana are hardly regenerating, which probably has something to do with that strange debuff he has. There's a chance that when he runs out of stamina and mana he'll collapse and come out of it. But there's also a chance that he simply continues until he dies, so trying to wear him down would only kill him faster."
Paige, sank to the ground, watching Levi. "Then what do we do?" she asked the Shaman.
"Hope that he pulls himself out of it. After that, if he doesn't, hope that when he finally runs out of energy he comes out of it and doesn't die." The Shaman shrugged, but her mouth was a grim line.
Tears welled up in Paige's eyes.
Joe slammed his shield into the ground a few times. "Fuck. Fuck. Levi, I swear, if this doesn't kill you, I will kill you when you get out of there."
The Shaman limped her way to Paige and patted her shoulder. But when she spoke, it was loud enough for everyone to hear. "Have hope. Most of the time, when people are stupid enough to get themselves into trouble like this, they are smart enough to get themselves out. At least, that's what experience has taught me."
----
Levi was growing increasingly frustrated.
He knew he wouldn't be able to untangle the essence, now. He was sure of it. No matter what he tried, no matter how much progress he made, it just tangled itself back up in the end. Yet he could not turn his focus away from it.
And he was aware that there was some influence keeping in him this place. Though it took time, only being able to piece it together at the edges of his thought with his primary focus locked on the essence, he had come to the conclusion that he'd caused this by imposing his will the way he had in his single-minded determination.
That realization didn't do him a lot of good. He still couldn't break free. He felt like if he could just solve the problem in front of him he'd break the power, his power, that held him. So, instead of dwelling on how to escape his self-imposed prison, he only focused harder on the problem in front of him
'Think. Tangles. Knots. Strings... If you can't untie them, sometimes you have to cut them. But what do I cut it with?'
Then he realized his only tool or weapon in this place was his willpower.
Focusing on the knot, he imposed his will as strong as he could. 'Cut.'
He felt his willpower touch the knot. He saw as a string was cut. And then it simply restored itself.
'Fuck.'
He sat down to brainstorm about how to cut the essence, and perhaps he was only able to because his mind worked to solve the problem that kept him trapped. Levi took a meditative posture and thought.
He closed his eyes and then quickly opened them, afraid of messing himself up even more. How much deeper could he go if he closed his eyes and went into a meditative state? He didn't want to find out.
What could he do? Somehow, he knew his willpower was the answer, yet even that had not worked. He tried to feel his willpower, like he had his essence, mana, and stamina when he'd first began meditation, yet felt nothing.
'Maybe I need to will something into being. But what?'
A thought suddenly occurred to him.
Levi looked down at his hands and willed a sword to be there. It slowly took form. He couldn't see it, but he could feel it. He closed his eyes to focus but quickly opened them, the fear of messing himself up even more weighed on him. Then he abandoned caution.
'Fuck it. In for a penny, in for a pound.'
Levi closed his eyes and felt his willpower. He visualized the sword forming in his hands, pushing, willing it to exist, as hard as he could.
The shape it took in his mind wasn't the much loved katana. It wasn't the practical longsword. It wasn't a taijijian that would have actually made sense to match his Tai Chi. It wasn't the Marine Corps NCO sword. It wasn't even a large or imposing beast of a sword, such as a zweihander.
No, it was simply a sword he'd always loved the appearance of, the falcata. It was a rather short sword, honestly. And he probably should have chose something different, especially for cutting through the knot in front of him and freeing himself. But as the weapon took shape in his mind, his willpower responded eagerly, and it suddenly became easier to press it into the weapon.
Levi sat focusing on the sword until any concept of time left him. There was nothing but the sword in front of him. He adjusted the hilt away from the traditional falcata grip, making the angle of the hilt in relation to the blade somewhat more extreme. Then he removed the handle altogether.
Grabbing where the hilt should have been, Levi picked the sword up and just willed it to be his. He poured everything he had into it.
A hilt and guard grew around his hand, like some wild plant in an insane spurt of growth. It looked to be almost rootlike around his grip. And Levi thought that was the end of it, pleased with the result.
But the sword kept changing. Before his eyes, or rather his visualization, it took on a far less elegant design. The blade became angular and aggressive. It looked like the blade itself desired to cause harm.
When the transformation was over, Levi felt it was done. For a moment he just visualized the sword in his hand. Then he opened his eyes to see the real thing, or as real as it could be in his meditation space. It was light in his tight grip, but it did have weight to it, which surprised Levi. It was gorgeous.
Standing, he gave the sword a couple test swings. He loved it in a way he'd never loved any possession. The truth was, he never really was much of a material person and had left everything he had behind many times in his life when he was either forced or chose to move from one home to another.
But this? This sword he had created. He'd never loved a single possession more. It made him sad it was just a representation of his will inside the meditative landscape.
Getting back to the obstacle in front of him, he only gave the knot of essence a single look before cleaving it in two with his sword. The sword seemed to almost grow slightly in the brief moment it met the tangle of essence, as if to meet the challenge. And then a single line formed through the knot, and it fell apart.
The moment it fell apart, the essence rushed out into his 'higher' meditative space, and with his focus now no longer stuck on the knot of essence, Levi was able to watch as it flooded into the other essence and his mana and stamina channels. Somehow he knew both his stamina and mana had been topped off.
Pulling his attention away from how the released essence had behaved, he looked down at his sword. He didn't want to leave it. He loved it. He knew he had no choice. But he was surprised it hadn't already dissipated.
He hated leaving the sword, but he also didn't want to be stuck in that place any longer. So, not knowing what else to do, he drove the sword into the ground at his feet. He stepped back and gave it a look. It stuck out of the false, metaphysical floor like some weapon of legend, standing straight up, like his own personal Excalibur. It was beautiful.
It was weird to Levi how his heart ached to leave the sword. He was sad to leave it behind.
"Thank you for saving me," Levi said, even knowing the sword was just some metaphysical, spiritual representation of his own willpower.
After a moment of just looking at the sword, Levi finally pulled his thoughts from the weapon.
'Now how do I get out of here?' Levi thought.
Apparently, that thought alone was enough, because Levi was suddenly opening his eyes to several notifications.
WARNING: You are entering a dimensional space that is forbidden. Severe consequences may result from actions taken within this dimensional space.
WARNING: You are attempting to tamper with a system mechanic. Permanent damage to skills and abilites may occur. Please desist.
WARNING: You have activated an automated mode. This may lead to harm to your body and pysche.
WARNING: You are attempting to tamper with a system mechanic. Permanent damage to skills and abilites may occur. Please desist.
WARNING: You are attempting to tamper with a system mechanic. Permanent damage to skills and abilites may occur. Please desist.
WARNING: You are attempting to tamper with a system mechanic. Permanent damage to skills and abilites may occur. Please desist.
That particular notification had repeated itself a few dozen times. Levi kept reading until the notifications changed.
WARNING: You have tampered with a skill. This may result in permanent loss and other negative consequences.
COOKING SKILL - Heat Regulation has been remov- ERROR.
COOKING SKILL - Heat Regulation has been remov- ERROR.
COOKING SKILL - Heat Regulation has been remov- ERROR.
SYSTEM RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS
SKILL ERROR CORRECTED.
COOKING SKILL - Heat Regulation REVOKED.
Hidden Mechanic discovered. Parched Soul of the Sage has been res - ERROR.
FORBIDDEN Mechanic discovered. Parched Soul of the Sage reset REVOKED.
ABILITY My Will Made Steel has been created.
ABILITY My Will Made Steel obtained.
Parched Soul of the Sage has been - ERROR.
FORBIDDEN Mechanic discovered. Parched Soul of the Sage reset REVOKED.
Levi was at a loss to understand all of the notifications, his mind still trying to adjust to being back in reality. But he was pretty sure the word 'revoked' was going to eventually start triggering PTSD if things like this kept happening.
Then he suddenly felt arms wrap around his neck and lips press against his, as Paige embraced him. He felt her lips press his, and then her face. Her cheeks felt hot and wet. He pulled back a second and realized she'd been crying.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Levi asked.
"I'm so glad you didn't die."
Levi laughed softly. "I thought we agreed not to make that a thing."
Then Paige slapped him so hard his vision went white.