Wet, muddy footsteps sounded out in the foggy night as the figure in the mist approached the site of battle hours after it concluded. Meius strolled ahead with his hand holding his other wrist behind his back, humming an old tune to himself. Yet the nightly walk's peace would not last as bushes rustled on their rhythm during the absence of wind and a fleet of splashes squelched aloud. Meius stopped in his tracks, holding his head high and his body firm. Shadows crept among the fog from afar... Suddenly appearing before Meius in robes of purple and black and encircling him...

"Flow Priest..." One of the hooded figures calls aloud, echoing throughout the air. They bowed simultaneously, dropping to a single knee and lowering their heads.

"Good timing and good work. From the information I read from those kids, it seems like you all followed orders and didn't interfere." Meius smiled as his eyes scanned the large crowd of servants.

"But because of that, Korkolo Dunis has been killed. Addle as well. No corpse of Avura was found, but we can't confirm her being alive or dead." Another one of the robed members spoke aloud, grabbing Meius's attention at his right.

"The seal on the artifact was not undone either." Another voice among the crowd echoed out.

"Interesting... But they did free the artifact from what I saw... I'll need to examine that for myself." Meius loosened his hands and scratched his chin...

"This operation was a failure... Through and through." Another voice piped up from the crowd.

"Not having us support Korkolo serves as an insult to Ozix. You've led us to ruin, Flow Priest Usime." A dissenting voice joined the crowd, orating their displeasure. "When the age of King Ozix comes again, your soul will be reaped and tortured for an eternity."

"Whoa, whoa. Relax now." Meius put his hands up, lowering them down as he took control of the crowd. "It might appear unsalvageable, but it has worked perfectly in our favor. Come. Let me show you all..."

Meius stepped forward. The crowd of cultists stood and parted away from the path Meius chose. As he took the lead and sauntered past the horde of them, the collective followed in tow...

Meius pondered the entire development of those few days. For him, it was nearly perfect. For the cult, he just had to spin it the right way. With Korkolo dead, Meius needed to regain control over them or else the dissent would continue and shatter his hold on them. And without them, he knew he wouldn't have good distraction pieces or support. He still needed to be able to string them along. For that, he had an idea at the ready.

If there was one thing Meius prided himself on, an attribute he solely had that trumped anything else he could offer... It was his adaptability. However, his ability to adapt came with an impeccable setup. As long as the pieces were in the right spot, he was able to adapt to the outcome. It seemed as if the trajectory of events was off-kilter, but Meius sort of preferred it this way. He knew change or unexpected events were inevitable and would skew his plans... But seeing as how they weren't that detrimental, he was happy to accept the things that had happened thus far.

"Whew. This place is really a mess." Meius crossed over the woodline to the opening of the village, his mob in tow and their patience growing thin. With his hands in his pants pockets, Meius stepped out onto the dirt streets with a splashing of mud covering his footwear. He glanced all around, witnessing the aftermath of a destructive battle.

"We are the last of the Ozix Cult. We can rebuild without you. The Tribunal will sort you out, Usime-" One of the robed men had their statement cut off and undermined by Meius.

"Shut up, will ya!... Go grab me the artifact and make it snappy." Meius threw his left hand up as he happened to catch a glimpse of the toppled prison's wall.

With a robed follower taking off down the road to follow his orders, Meius climbed up on one of the fallen Calcianite bricks and took a look over the scene. He scanned the scene, locking his gaze onto the decrepit and freshly slain body. Meius whistled in surprise, seeing Korkolo's body essentially halved at the side by a brick. Meius wasn't sure what to think. He was elated to see his deceased subordinate in such a sorry state, but he hadn't expected someone of Korkolo's power to suffer such a fate.

"C'mon now. I still need you. Even if I gotta do it the hard way." Meius let out a sigh with a smile. Conflicted entirely on what he wanted to do versus what he should do, Meius sprouted a black tendril that encased Korkolo within it. Knowing the threat of the Tribunal, the will of Ozix brought forth as judgment, Meius had to settle somewhere in the middle of his desire and duty. Walking and moving back in front of the crowd with Korkolo wrapped in his magic above him, Meius got to work.

Meius knelt, planting his hand into the mud underneath him. Shadows trickled out from the palm of his hand, spreading out in all directions and even running up the length of his arm as he concentrated. The grip of darkness traveled until it was about four feet in all directions from Meius and in the shape of a circle. Straightening the edges, Meius got to work.

A circular wall of darkness sprouted a few inches off the ground at the absolute center. Then a straight line emerged from this circle, defining a border between two halves outside of the inner circle. One half remained untouched, while the other grew shadows that defined curved lines originating from the untouched half and being directed towards the center circle. With a glance over his creation, Meius took a quick breath and flexed his magic. The shadows sliced into the muddy ground, fading away the very next instant. What remained was the shape he created now carved into the ground. The lines and etches glowed with his magic, leveling out the ground. A ritual circle.

"Alright. We should be-"

"Usime!"

Meius nearly lost his concentration as he jumped back onto his two feet with a startled expression. He quickly looked around for the source...

"Oh?... Oh! Ha-Ha! No way!" Meius locked eyes with the origin of the voice calling for him and nearly burst out into laughter. Meius turned back towards the crowd with a bewildered expression on his face. "I thought you guys said he was dead! Addle is right here!"

With his chin pressed into the ground and his neck craning to move him forward... Addle, or what remained of him, approached Meius at a snail's pace...

"Usime! You son of a bitch! Heal me already!" Addle's expression was one of pure anger. His head was dirty and covered in mud and his torso was just as filthy as well. However, seeing that Addle was just a torso and head made Meius cackle out in hysterics.

"Oh man!... I thought that's what I saw... But I thought he was just delusional or something and misremembered events! You really did get torn apart by the Felsta kid!" Meius inched over to Addle and squatted down in front of him, pointing and laughing.

"He got lucky! I don't know what happened... But he just wouldn't die! Plus it was raining! I swear to you I will take his beaten corpse and r-"

"Easy now!... He-Heh... No need to take it so personally. Here, let's talk to each other eye to eye." Meius outstretched his hand overtop of Addle's head, putting a tight grip on his cranium as he lifted the remaining piece of him upwards. "You're lucky, honestly. Had I not instilled you with the enhancements to your abilities, you may have just died here. But I can see you hung on by burning your own flesh to keep yourself alive in combination with what I've given you. Very impressive and resilient."

"Yeah, yeah! Very funny... Thanks for the breakdown, jackass! I would know! I was there!"

"Hey. Settle down." Meius took his other hand's index finger and poked Addle in the forehead with it. "You could be way worse off. You could have ended up like Korkolo."

Meius flipped back around and held Addle's head above the ritual circle. Then after, the tendril holding the deceased dwarf lowered itself to the ground, firmly dropping the halved corpse in the center circle. Addle's attitude immediately ceased. His expression turned into a mix of surprise, amusement, and disgust.

"So... That's how it happened... Interesting." Meius continued squeezing Addle's head as he held it. Information flooded Meius's mind... "So I did awaken something in the Felsta... That makes this all the easier."

"No way... All that pride..." Addle's expression remained in that state, almost as a show of pity. "Well... You showed me that. Can you fix me now?..."

"Hm... Sure. But only a little bit. It's what I need from you, after all." Meius's magic took shape and form as his Mana coursed through his arm and down into Addle. Without having weaved any signs or formations, his magic transformed into a technique.

The bottom half of Addle's torso bubbled as if it were a boiling liquid. Skin, flesh, and blood maintained a sense of composure as it all opened up from the cannibal's rough cauterizing job. None of the contents spilled out... Rather, after a few moments, bone, muscle, and veins pierced out through the unstable liquid-like form and wrapped themselves around each other. The makeup of his lower body stretched out and became whole once more, a final layer of skin folding over to finish the job...

"Hey! Usime! What the hell?!" Addle flailed around in Meius's grasp as the healer giggled to himself. Meius had only restored a single leg and single arm to Addle, leaving his other half limbless entirely.

"I told you. Only what I need from you." Meius adjusted Addle's head, turning his subordinate to face him fully as the cackling man forced out a wide smile. Then, within that same moment, Meius threw him forward onto the empty half of the ritual circle.

"W-What?! I-I can't-!..." Addle found his body completely unresponsive to his mind, his muscles refusing to budge altogether.

"A simple curse to keep you still. Be a little grateful to me. I could have done nothing for you at all." Meius shrugged, turning away as a tap on the shoulder presented him with the cultist he sent away a few moments ago. Taking the artifact in hand, Meius examined it to the best of his ability... "A single seal remains? I can easily undo that on my own... Especially with the newfound trick shown to me by that boy. Here I was thinking that I'd have to give up these idiots at this point..."

"Be grateful?! I'm the one who did your dirty work, prick!" Globs of spit shot out of Addle's mouth as his intense attitude dialed up further. "And I-"

"Yeah, and you were defeated by him. Honestly, it was a little disappointing to learn about." Meius pointed the artifact downwards at Addle as he shook his head. The cultist was about to merge back in with the crowd when Meius snapped his fingers and whistled for the robed man to retake his place at Meius's side. "I mean, that was your best chance to show you could be Ozix's vessel. All that time I spent on trying to make you stronger with your Pact... Wasted."

"No!-... I can still-!"

"Ah! But there is a silver lining to it all." Meius grinned, a midnight black aura encasing his arm as he shoved it forward and tore through the chest of the cultist who had followed his orders. The flicker of life within the obscured fellow faded out in a single moment. Meius ripped his arm back out of the man and kicked him forward into the circle, just beside Addle. "You showed me the glimmer of power I knew rested inside of that boy. Now I know he can become a much greater force for me than you ever could be."

"Flow Priest. You've done more than enough harm to the cult. It's time for the Tribunal." Three hooded figures marched forward out of the crowd, each one of them with their handles bundled together at chest level. The air around them began to grow thick with a pink-purplish haze...

"Dammit! I said to hold on! Allow me to finish what I'm doing here and then decide if you want to call Ozix's judgment on me! Impatient freaks!... I can't imagine how you brainless worms were so satisfied with the previous leadership but continue to hold me at knife-point so constantly!" Meius held up his palm to the lot of them, a scowl beginning to form on his face. The expression he mustered was so rotten and contrary to his usual attitude that all movements in the immediate area halted at once. "Anyways... You were useful for a time, Addle. Farewell."

Meius crossed his arms under his chest and above his naval. His hands were laid flat onto the opposing arms. Inch by inch, he slid his hands towards the center as he pulled his arms apart. They met in a brisk reunion, rotating back to be mirrored as they were flat and positioned together. Interlocking his fingers, the wrists of his hand pulled apart... A flicker of black and white shot out from his right and left arm before the lights all coursed down to his right arm. A swirling coil of blackness wrapped itself up to Meius's arm, and bolts of shadowy lightning coursed down all around his right arm. His fingers and hands finally peeled apart, his left arm and hand swinging low and outwards before rising back up and lowering onto his right hand's wrist. The moment his lifted hand gripped his right wrist, the fingers of his free hand began to twitch wildly without rhyme or reason...

"Usime! You bastard!..."

The runic circle carved into the ground lit up with a burst of white, the lines all glowing with pure life. At the same time, midnight black flames rose and swallowed the light within the ritual circle, also drowning out the final screams of Addle as only the resounding cackling of flames remained. Meius maintained his position, the ritual circle flowing with deeper magic and Flow than before as he held his concentration.

The shimmering white lines of the ritual began to glow brighter, sprouting a translucent wall that curved into a dome. Meeting some feet off the ground, the smoke and fire within the circle began to give out... Only a slew of floating, minuscule ashes remained. Then lightning appeared. The bolts of black lightning surrounding Meius's right arm sprang out and pierced the white bubble, jolting through each piece of ash and blinding anyone who glanced too closely...

Finally, each chain of shadow lightning pulled against each other, drawing the ashes inward towards the center. The efforts of Meius swirled about at the center as the dome began to darken. With no light coming from inside the ritual dome, both Meius and the crowd were left unable to see what was occurring now... However, Meius lowered his arm... The energy he summoned up using it had been spent in the ritual. His part was finished.

"I prefer not to use it. But this was a real golden opportunity." Meius rested his left hand below his chin, watching his shadowy magic work on its own accord as the formula of the ritual magic took control of it all.

And then... With one last bright shine glossing around the dome... The translucent walls shattered and the darkness within burst outwards, spreading out into nothingness... The lines of the circle were gone, and in the center stood a single figure... A single, stumpy figure...

"Welcome back... Korkolo. Did you have a good slumber?" Meius strode forward as he put his hands behind his back. As the rest of the obscurant faded away, Korkolo was seen in the middle holding his hands up to his face. He appeared the same as he always had... Minus a few key details...

"W-... What's going on?..." His voice was but a low rumble as the dwarf was frozen in shock. Korkolo raised his right hand to his face, running his fingers along the right side of his face. None of it felt real. The sensation of his fingers touching his face had an artificial feel to it... Almost as if there was nothing beneath his skin. Apparent to Meius, but not the risen man, was the new appearance of his eyes. It was as if the colors were inverted...

"You're alive. As good as new... Well, in the best state I could resurrect you in..." Meius waltzed up to Korkolo's side, turning the two of them to face the crowd of their followers together.

"How?... Such a thing isn't possible... And even so, if it is-"

"Let me stop you right there." Meius planted his hand on Korkolo's shoulder. "It is possible. And I have done it. But it's not like the revival rituals for Ozix. If I didn't have any part of you, it wouldn't have been possible. Plus, I needed to compensate for your missing half. After all, you can't heal corpses. So... I used the Addle and another cultist to complete your resurrection."

"Is... Is that why I feel so strange?" Korkolo ran his fingers over to the center of his face... The spot where he felt the main visual anomaly of all of this. His fingers grazed over what felt like thick, binding stitches that connected the two halves of himself. He was able to feel them run down and up his body.

"It's two-fold. Because I used Addle in the ritual... You should have gained a portion of his strength and potency. But also, you're gonna have those stitches for as long as you're in this state. A full resurrection would fix that, but I'm pretty sure that's impossible... But also..." Meius glanced over at Korkolo's face. The confusion he wore coupled with the quiet anger surely resting within him made Meius giddy with excitement. Everything was turning out great. "The way your body is now... You're not alive, technically. Your insides are all gone. Instead, you're living off of your own Mana alongside a Mana Core from me. If you were to cut your body somehow, you'd only see pure Mana essence... This is what I could do for you with the help of Runic Magic."

"No... No. Usime, this isn't right." Korkolo curled his hands into fists as his eyes widened. Holding out his fists in front of him, he was able to feel the lack of true pain from gripping so tightly. "This goes against what Ozix would want. Put me back. I failed."

"Hm?" Meius's mind raced for a moment. While he thought that this was something that may come up, he hoped that Korkolo would have blindly accepted this gift.

"To come back after failing him... No less after dying to some brat... There is no hope for me."

"It's a second chance, Korkolo."

"Ozix doesn't give second chances, Usime. He is a deity of suffering and tribulations. I am miserable. He will not offer me redemption..." Korkolo's head bowed, his soul's flame lowering down.

"But I will, Korkolo." Meius removed his hand from the dwarf's shoulder as he shot his head up and around to meet eye-to-eye.

"What are you trying to say?" Korkolo was perplexed by the statement, torn between anger and curiosity.

"Ozix doesn't offer redemption... But I do. That's why I brought you back, Korkolo." Meius leaned in, lowering himself to speak directly into the man's ear. "You disobeyed my orders and disgraced yourself to our lord. He will not forgive you... But I see your dedication to Ozix runs deeper than his promise to you. You're loyal to the cause. You're Ozix's mightiest champion... That's why I, and everyone here, place you in such high regard."

"..."

"We're so close to the finish line. And I want you to be there with us. Not just as fulfillment of your duty, but as atonement for your failure as well. So you can be there and finish the job out of principle, not expecting a reward. And I will heap my praise for your actions onto Ozix to let him know that you were not a failure." As Meius's final words departed from his lips, he pulled away from Korkolo's ears.

The dead man's expression turned from confusion to certainty. As he gazed ahead past Meius mindlessly, Korkolo came to realize that what Meius gave him was a gift and show of respect... Not some pitying move. There was still work to be done... And if it was something that Korkolo could do, he wanted to do it. He understood that it was much more than just him... It was the future of the world.

"What needs to be done, Flow Priest?" Korkolo took a deep breath and faced the crowd once more.

"First. I need you to convince these idiots that calling the Tribunal now would be a great mistake." Meius sighed, covering his face as he allowed Korkolo to take hold of the situation.

"Are you all mad?!" Much to the surprise of everyone present, Korkolo had belted out his sheer disappointment in the form of a yell. "You'd call the Tribunal on your Flow Priest?..."

Silence stood for several moments, the ones who had threatened the act of calling a Tribunal on Meius having already sunk back into the crowd. Even being resurrected, something that, while not being against Ozix's tenets, was frowned upon, Korkolo appeared to still command great respect among the only remaining chapter of the cult.

"His word is gospel as far as any of you are concerned! Usime knows what it will take to bring Ozix back, and he is willing to do it! We are as close as we have ever been in recent years! The Flow Priest's commands are to be followed until the very end!"

As the final remarks of Korkolo bellowed out, one by one... Each cultist member fell in line, taking a knee as the horde of them all submitted themselves to the dwarf's words, and, subsequently, submitted themselves to Meius... Taking his cue...

"Our final victory lies in wait for us. With this artifact, there is but one more piece for us to collect before the time of revival... However, this all requires considerable effort from everyone. All of you will have a part to play. But for now, we will regroup elsewhere to begin preparations. Mark my words, Ozix will return!..."

----------------------------------------

“Crisis… Averted… Jeez.” Meius let himself fall backward onto the sprawling prairie, the soft grass and patches of flowers below him breaking his fall with a soft cushion. His arms were planted behind him, holding his torso and head up as he peeked at the clouds and the glowing moon in the night sky. He caught some relief, relishing the brisk winds that comforted his worn being. It wasn’t a physical exhaustion, but an emotional and mental one. After leaving that small village and allowing the cult time to recoup, Meius needed time for reprieve as well. “I’ve bought myself some more time to get everything together. A renewed leash on Korkolo and the Ozix Cult, Dyzin appeased for now, and the Woe Cult remaining pinned down…”

Meius ripped strands of grass out from the earth and threw them into the wind with a smile on his face. The temporary alleviation of stress was a godsend to Meius. However long the time of peace he earned was, it was still a few moments to sit down and reevaluate the situation.

“Korkolo will probably achieve his mission in about two weeks… That’s my time limit on him. Then, as for Dyzin, it seems as if he won't call Auriel's Ultimatum unless he's provoked somehow. I’ve sustained a period of patience once again, if only for a short time. The only loose end here is Avura... I'm not sure what it is she's doing... But I suppose it doesn’t matter now…” Meius leaned forward, bringing his arms onto his legs while continuing to stare at the moon. “Everything is lining up for the beginning of the festival… Just as I-”

The only sounds accompanying the night sky and prairie were the hums of insects and occasional chirps of nighttime avians. If one had tuned out all ambient noise, they would have missed the singular clanking of chains…

Meius had caught the sound in his ears, but as he turned his head to the origin of it… He was no more. An impact of metal meeting flesh and bones rippled and cracked through the air as flesh was torn asunder and blasted into the wind. Fragments of bone were strewn out several feet from where Meius once sat as remnants of organs littered the field. A small drizzle of blood followed soon after in a short spurt… All that remained was a set of legs still in the same spot.

A drawn-out silence held a firm grasp over the area. No longer did the insects seem to buzz or the nighttime creatures released their cries. The only audible thing now was a set of heavy footsteps that approached the remains…

“Good riddance. I knew you were guilty from the start.” Grula held a steel chain in her right hand, yanking it back and pulling the large spiked ball back to her side. She trained her eyes upon the mounds of unrecognizable flesh that remained with the legs… A cold, crude disgust fell over her face. She spat down onto the heap. “Killing Lancers… Resurrecting that fiend… And undermining everything we stand for… Not only that but putting my students in actual danger... Xilvas may not be happy that I took it upon myself to deal with you, but he’ll understand once I explain everything… Rot in hell, bastard.”

With a snap of her fingers, the ball and chain spun up. The chain furled up into the air as the ball carved out a hole into the earth and sunk in, pulling the chain with it. Grula stepped over the gore-ridden mess she created, strutting past the remains.

“It’s over. I don’t know what exactly he was planning on doing… But no one will have to worry about it anymore…” Grula gave one last look back at the remains… There was nothing to feel. Meius had put every one of her students at risk. A quick, painless death was too good for someone like him… She turned forward once again and began strolling ahead…

“So, you were watching me the whole time, huh Grula?”

“Huh?” Grula’s fight or flight raised the tension and stress within her very being as she heard Meius’s voice behind her. She spun around, wasting no time in preparing herself for a fight. She stopped in place as the vision of Meius greeted her. The bits of blood and internal organs remained in the area. However, the legs were now standing up with a strange blue aura making up the rest of the original shape of his body.

“I could have sworn I was being tailed from the very beginning… But it seems that either through good planning or a stroke of luck, my senses were misdirected. Of course, leave it to a Lakentos to flawlessly spy on someone.” The blue-bodied figure brought its left hand into the air and slowly cast it down over the entire length of its misty form. As the Mana-like hand crossed over the wielder’s head, slowly but surely, Grula made out a set of eyes. Meius’s eyes. As the hand passed over different parts of his translucent body, an amalgamation of Magic curdled into flesh and reshaped itself into Meius’s body with his clothes, skin, and innards intact. Grula recoiled, taking a step back as Meius’s cold gaze pierced through her own. “Truly, I can’t disagree with your logic. However, the only reason Xilvas is going to be mad is because this will all be over with him getting no information along with the loss of a teacher.”

“You-... You were dead... I destroyed your body. No brain... No arms... Just legs… So how?” Grula threw her arm out to the side as a bead of sweat trickled down her face. Though she tried to maintain a cool and calm demeanor, the sight of Meius being perfectly fine was unnerving. The chain from before emerged from the ground and wrapped itself around her outstretched arm as the ball with spikes emerged.

“Come now. As the de facto master of Healing Magic… You didn’t think I wouldn’t be able to heal myself from that… Did you?” Meius placed his hands on his hips as he playfully leaned forward with a wide grin on his face. He scoffed… And broke out into a small fit of laughter at the sight of Grula’s expression before calming himself down a few seconds later. “You’d be right. No one can heal themselves from that… Except me, of course. Had it not been for my Shade, Mana Body, I would have been dead. From there, I restored myself.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Is it regeneration?”

“Nope. Mana Body is a separate body fully composed of my Mana and given shape and function by Flow. I can control both simultaneously… Meaning that I’ve overcome the main weakness of Healing Magic… By using a separate body within me, I can heal my physical body as if I were healing someone else.” Meius’s body finished restoration, appearing in perfect condition as if Grula had never even attacked him.

“But… You already had another Shade… I guess that gets added to the list of crimes, doesn’t it?!” Grula swung her arm out in front of her, the chain unraveling its length from her arm and hurling the ball at top speeds to Meius.

“Oh indeed. After all, I consumed a vast amount of souls to make these Shades.” Meius held his head up high and his arms out wide as the ball and chain ripped its way through his body once more. Tearing apart his chest cavity, his heart was reduced to scraps of red as ribs were broken apart and scattered behind him. It was a sickly appearance as the hole in his chest was still surrounded by his arms and shoulders which were still held up despite the lack of his physical body’s torso below. Instead, that Mana Body held up that part of his body. Grula grimaced as she felt a force pull on her chain. Meius’s right arm tightened its hold and gave a powerful yank backward.

Grula couldn’t resist the force of Meius, his Enchantment Magic overpowering hers for a brief moment. She planted her heels into the ground and tore up grass and flowers alike, leaving behind a mud trail as she was forcibly skidding towards her superior. She gritted her teeth as, within a few moments, they were now face to face. Meius had a simple smile on his face as he moved his left hand to the chain that ran through his center. With a quick burst of Mana, the links shattered apart and clanked to the ground except for the portion in his hand. A quick swipe the moment after, and it was as if Grula had never harmed him once again.

“I guess I could have bothered to explain away all of my actions prior and continue this status quo… But I find that killing you might actually be the safer option for the upcoming month.” Meius planted his hand onto Grula’s shoulder as he kept his grip on the chain. Grula was frozen. Sweat continued to trickle down her face as she looked for any sort of give from his grip on her chain to his attitude. “The question now is… Would you like to die peacefully? Or would you like to experience hell?”

“Tch! The moment I get away from you, it’s over. If you can even beat me in a straight-up fight.” Grula released her grip on her chain as her lips curled into a smile of her own.

“Oh believe me. There are only three people in this world I fear. You’re far from any of them in terms of ability. And I am well aware of the ability you possess…" Meius released his hand from both Grula's shoulder and her chain. The clinking of interlocked steel clumping onto the ground signaled a retreat for both of them. Meius and Grula hopped backward several feet in a single moment. "The Lakentos hereditary ability to essentially disappear from reality. Even if one were to directly touch you while in this state, you would not feel it unless it was to do harm. That's how she revealed herself... That makes what comes next an interesting gamble."

"He might be above me in the Academy... But aside from Eks, I'm the hardest hitter... He doesn't want to back down it seems... He's either underestimating me or has some plan to fight me in a full-on confrontation... So that leaves me with two options..." Grula watched as her ball and chain dug back into the ground behind Meius... She had to make a split-second decision... One that was going to change the future landscape of the Academy either way...

"Fight or run?"

"Fight or run?"

A long-standing silence stood between the two of them. Meius's cold, dead-pan eyes paired with a slight grin were set upon Grula. Grula's confident smile gave way to a more serious expression. With no other sounds in the night and no one around for miles to come... It was just the two of them...

Grula took the first action, stomping her foot on the ground which resulted in a solid cube of earth rising in front of her. With a quick motion, Grula kicked at the cube, dislodging a shard of the stone from the cube and launching it at high speeds toward Meius. Meius went to shuffle out to the side... But found that the ground underneath him had been reduced to a sort of quick-sand-like material that trapped his footing. Regardless, Meius conjured forth a pool of shadows in all directions. Amid his Perfect Dark expanding, the rock shard made contact with him. The sharp piece of stone tore through Meius's center mass, impaling him with the giant projectile and rupturing most of his insides. However, the shadows around Meius coagulated, springing up two tendrils. One tendril pulled the spire stone straight through Meius to dislodge it. The other thinned out into a blade-like shape and sliced his legs off below the knee.

With that, Meius's blue aura form was able to easily wade over the quicksand Grula had created and began to circle towards her. The wounds of his body, his physical form still shuffling atop his Mana Body, began to seal up and regenerate as chunks of his flesh were restored as well despite him not even weaving the magic physically. Grula circled in the other direction. The remnants of the stone cube collapsed in on themselves and reshaped to make her spiked ball and chain.

Slowly closing in on each other from the rounded angles, Grula flicked her wrist repeatedly, winding up the ball and chain for an attack. Meius's shadows tainted the ground all around both of them now, shrouding each blade of grass in total darkness under the moonlight. Despite it being his territory, Grula freely roamed it. Meius knew better though. Like him, Grula also had substantial prowess with Enchantment Magic. It was subtle, but Meius was able to make out a sheen of white surrounding Grula...

Purity: A pure Enchantment type technique that requires great control over one's physical body and Mana flow. It acts as a thin protective veil on the body for the sole purpose of preventing other Enchantment, Manipulation, and Time magics from affecting the user as long as it is actively maintained.

He knew it'd be wasteful to try and use that style of magic against her, not that it was his preference anyway. But the Dark Element and its techniques have the ability and reputation for underhanded tactics like that. However, the main point of it wasn't necessarily to stump Meius, but to make him fight to Grula's strengths. As Purity held on within Grula, the distance between them shortened further.

Once again, Grula initiated. She heaved her weapon over top of her head and swung wide at Meius from his direction of running. The ball tore directly through him, ripping apart any semblance of Meius's body and reducing it to mush on the impact side of the ball. At the same time, it appeared as if something dipped below the surface of his Perfect Dark... Grula figured it to be a sudden Shadow Pool. She knew that he knew that an upfront confrontation was bad for him.

Refusing to play along with his diversionary tactic, Grula lowered her center of gravity, bending at her knees while twisting herself towards the center of the Perfect Dark. With a quick extension, she jumped backward off the ground with the assistance of her magic. Reaching several meters into the air, Grula whipped her ball and chain toward the pool while releasing it at the same time. the spiked ball plunged into the center of the shadow magic, cracking the ground below it and forming a small crater. In that same moment, Grula clasped both her hands together... The area of the ground that Perfect Dark encompassed began to crack and shift. And nearly instantly after the ground shifted, that area of ground curled inwards on itself with the ball acting as a core. With Perfect Dark now trapped between the ball and the ground it was attached to, Grula finished the job by pulling her hands apart. The makeshift orb of earth rattled violently before exploding into a million different pieces all at once, launching tiny pebbles in all directions and leaving no trace of Meius's magic.

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Grula's ball and chain is specially made for someone like her who can easily manipulate the materials she has to work with. With precise control and knowledge, the spiked ball can be altered with the Artifice Magic she uses to create it and the Manipulation Magic to reshape it on a whim. This, in turn, allows her to reshape her ball and chain to be made of explosive and reactive materials to cause fiery explosions without her needing to be a caster of the Fire Element.

Grula bent at her knees again, a pillar rushed up from the ground below her and met at her feet. Looking down upon the rubble, Grula kept her eyes peeled for any sort of remnant of Meius. If her surprise attack hadn't killed him, then that most likely didn't either. And, sure enough, a set of black tendrils made themselves known as they slithered up the length of Grula's pillar, crossing over and under each other as they sought to reach her. However, Grula had believed them to be after her, but that prediction was destroyed the moment the tendrils tightened around the pillar and placed pressure on one side of the earthly spire. Crumbling and cracking, Grula's footing began to give out from under her.

But it was no effort for her to have another thicker, wider pillar reach out from the ground several feet away. Hopping over onto her new platform, Grula watched the tendrils rip apart the stone and pull the remnants down to the ground. However, she saw no sign of Meius being there…

But she felt Meius's presence sliding up alongside the length of her current platform. The Earth Element's advantage of tremor sense allowed Grula to feel the physical form of his magic actively climbing up. As she whipped her head around, Meius hopped off the side of the pillar and landed on the platform with her. Grula had already prepared for his landing though. While he had been mid-air, she stomped her foot onto the pillar, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt from the earthen spike itself between them. The moment Meius landed, Grula unleashed a punch towards the dust. Her fist acted as a weaving source, causing the particles to rapidly meld together into several tiny, pointed projectiles.

The dirt pins pierced into Meius's body, stopping his momentum and halting his movement as he was assaulted by a barrage of minuscule needles. Thin and short trails of blood trickled down from the hundreds of puncture wounds. Before Meius was able to continue onward, Grula snapped her fingers... Meius felt a sensation of heat and coagulation from the tiny projectiles like they were all beginning to boil. Suddenly, bounds of miniature blasts erupted from each wound, further diminishing Meius's ability to keep a hold of himself. Each detonation appeared to take off small chunks of flesh with it, scattering a mist of red into the wind with every passing moment. The ignitions continued until nothing was left of Meius's body... Only leaving that ghastly blue aura from his Mana Body Shade.

Grula was ready to put her theory to the test. The explosions had ceased and given her the window she needed. Grula figured that both Meius's physical body and his Mana Body needed to be destroyed to kill him. If so, which it had appeared to be so far, that meant that Meius was resilient in a nightmarish way and a threat to nearly anyone if left unchecked. Ready to rid this world of the man she deemed vile, Grula planted her left foot forward and launched her clenched right fist toward Meius. Meius was free from his physical restraints and the stream of explosions from Grula. As he saw her attack incoming, Meius stepped forward to greet it, much to Grula's confusion... Still, she hadn't relented.

In a moment that seemed to draw out against the endless tirade of time, Grula's fist inched closer and closer to Meius... Her knuckles had reached his chest... But the lack of feedback was a cruel realization that was further onset by her face meeting Meius's own. As her appendage appeared to pass through Meius's form without any resistance, her momentum carried her forward into a stumble that saw her nose meet Meius's nose... Grula's eyes widened as Meius's pupils came closer to hers, eventually overlapping them as their bodies intersected and phased through each other. Meius's overwhelming intent of wickedness ran up and down her body with his blue form simply passing through her. Grula had heard Meius's words before... But this had been her first time truly understanding his real feelings...

As the two finally peeled apart, Grula planted her foot to stop her momentum, struggling to maintain her balance. But as she managed to stabilize... She felt a torturous rupture course through her, the mounting pain and pressure suddenly striking her and forcing her to adhere to its demands to maintain stillness as her only coping mechanism. Her gaze peeled away from the empty air in front of her and went downwards, spotting a solid, human hand piercing through her lower left torso while covered in a sharp veil of shadows...

"I was interested to see if you had actually come up with some way to defeat me, seeing as you continued to lay the pressure on me and destroy my body." Meius stood perpendicular to the backside of Grula, his left hand still firmly resting on the other side of her insides. His physical body was once more restored, showcasing a simple smile with his eyelids resting halfway over his gaze. "But you are still very much the brutish type that I remember seeing enter the Academy all those years ago. And Zen is still very much your counterbalance."

"Don't try to act like you're holding victory over me with a simple wound like this!..." Grula gritted her teeth, swaying her mind away from the aching of her body as her jaw induced a new pain in her head. She was still full of fight... But not sure of how to proceed with her failed idea. It was haunting seeing how Meius could simply phase right through her with his Mana Body... "I can see your Shade starting to weaken! If it does represent your Mana... All this Healing Magic and other gimmicks are starting to take its toll on you!"

"Maybe so..." Meius's grin stretched further, having something in mind but refusing to open up with it. "You're still very confident. Let's see how you feel in a few minutes..."

Meius fully turned himself towards Grula, attempting to thrust his right arm through her torso as well. With the dark, bleak-looking aura encasing his arm, Meius ripped forward... But Grula acted too quickly. She grabbed onto Meius's left arm still in her and swiped down with her free hand straightened. Severing the appendage out of her body, she knelt forward and planted her hand on the ground. Before Meius's new attack was able to reach her, the platform they stood on shifted. Splitting in half, the side Grula knelt on rose a few feet higher while the one Meius resided on swiftly lowered into the ground below.

Falling to his hands and knees from the sudden movement of his footing, Meius cast his gaze high toward the pillar in the sky. His grin remained as he stood back up and backpedaled away from the foot of the structure. His intuition struck true with a series of spikes emerging from the standing earth and cascading out towards him. However, the distance he gained saved him from being skewered. Shuffling off to the side, Meius realized that the spire was not his only concern. A great, massive area of land rose several inches from the ground in the shape of a square, part of which he was currently standing on.

"It makes sense if I can't physically touch the Mana Body... It's possibly one of the Shade's conditions or benefits. However, it's impossible to have a Shade that can be fashioned to make someone truly invincible. This means it has a dire weakness of some sort... And I think I know what it is! If I'm right, it's certain death for him! But if not... Screw that! I know I'm right!" Grula maintained her kneeling position, having both of her hands planted firmly on the ground. If there had been any doubt holding her back before, it fell apart in the face of her renewed resolve. There was too much at stake to cast doubt on her idea.

Grula's wellspring of Mana pumped and flowed throughout her like a fountain, bending the shape and foundation of the ground in the area to her absolute will. Meius sensed the sheer amount of magical output Grula was managing, almost astonished that her reserves were so tremendous. But he realized that just because she wasn't the type to rely on magical prowess didn't mean Grula wasn't proficient in it. Still, it was a shock. The Lakentos name, in Meius's mind, was full of specialists who had abilities geared towards stealth, espionage, and assassinations... Not a knack for outputting this much magic. He made an effort to know most of his staff's and student's abilities... But this was out of the ordinary.

Not wanting to allow whatever Grula was planning to come to fruition, Meius went on the move. Without much preparation, he conjured up a Shadow Pool, diving into the darkness and emerging close to the edge of the risen ground. Breaking into a full sprint and reaching immaculate speeds, Meius thought himself to be able to get out of the area before long. However, at the same time, it reoccurred to him that Grula needed to only leave the area and his years of planning would fall apart... A singular moment was all he needed to weigh out the situation... But even less than that was all Grula needed to finalize her plot.

Several hundred yards out, the quaking of the earth was able to be felt like major tectonic movements. But beyond that, no one was any the wiser as to the major alteration of the ground happening nearby. Only Meius was privy to the output of raw energy occurring in front of him. But to him, it was only unexpected, not world-shattering. To anyone who would have been an onlooker, one not initiated in the ways of the Academy and Lancers... Their understanding of the powers present among their fellow men would have fallen apart. But to those versed in the true essence of power, the understanding of what defines an individual and separates the weak from the strong... They would have seen it for what it truly was...

This was Grula Lakentos, a teacher of the famed Lancer Academy, and someone who holds the power expected of such a high and important title...

The earthen ground roared with life and fervor. Dark-colored walls of stone and mineral rose from the earth mere inches away from Meius's nose. He cast his gaze around, seeing three other walls spring up in the same manner on all sides several meters away. Refusing to try and climb up the walls themselves, Meius attempted to bust through with a thick, bound tendril sprouting from the ground and crashing into the manifested barrier... But his magic was stopped on contact, the tendril hardly even scratching the stone as it then fizzled out. Soon after, Meius had lost his opportunity to escape... A final enormous, robust square piece of earth emerged on the top of the walls, cutting out all sources of light and air from the outside.

Trapped in a solid cube of rock, stone, and dirt... Meius glanced around in the darkness, the lack of light doing nothing to obscure his vision as with any Dark Element user. His eyes caught Grula... At the center of the cube, a large recreation of her ball and chain hung from the ceiling with her standing atop it. All other earthen pillars were gone. In her right hand, she held the chain to another one of her spiked balls, allowing the weaponized sphere to hang down in front of her and sway in the air in sync with the one she stood upon...

"Weapon Art: Minefield Mausoleum!"

Meius watched on with suspense and confusion written upon his face. His mind only just beginning to process how dire the situation was for him. Each wall, the ceiling, and the floor began to splinter and crack. Droves of interlocked chains sprouted out from each of the surfaces like plant stalks, defying gravity from all sides. Random to every degree, the growth of the metal links stopped with a spiked metal ball at the end of the chains. Suspended in the air, dangling around as if they had their own gravity, ones that rose from the ground or walls behaved as if their gravitational pull was altered, allowing them to remain in the air despite their distance to the ground itself. With a seemingly endless array of her weapons being duplicated at differing sizes, Meius watched as Grula became obscured by the series of metallic balls. As the final one reached its final evolution, the ground violently shook one final time. A cacophony of clinking chains echoed out throughout the box as a storm of dust and dirt swirled up and clouded the air. The particles obscured all, taking a dark form with golden glints as a veil of magic swooped over the air itself... Meius was left unable to see any further than a foot in front of him... But was able to hear an endless tirade of jingling metals...

"A Weapon Art?..." Meius darted his eyes around, looking for any sort of path to take that gave him confidence. "I had no idea she was capable of one..."

Weapon Arts are the martially proficient fighters' answer to the magically proficient fighters' Zero-Sum. Made similarly, Weapon Arts and Zero-Sums are created by pulling on the extremities of existence to create a new balance overtop of the already existing one. This is to manipulate an infinite degree of abnormalities to sustain complex and overwhelming magical effects not capable of normal casting.

While Zero-Sums can be created at will as long as the user has fully prepared and created theirs, like a very complex recipe that the user has perfected... They suffer from often needing some sort of setup or creation time to properly output it. This tends to leave the user vulnerable depending on how the magic is channeled.

Weapon Arts require a specially enchanted weapon to create and said weapon is the crux of the technique. Without that weapon, there is no Weapon Art. The weapon acts as a retainer for the technique, allowing the user to create the technique by etching magic into the very fabric of it with delicate care. This, by extension, means that a Weapon Art can often require no setup at all. Even the magic and Mana required for utilizing a Weapon Art can be stored within the weapon itself. However, a Weapon Art does not meet the sheer power and versatility of a Zero-Sum...

The slinking of metal chains caught Meius's attention as he hopped out to the side with his instinct taking over. The sound of metal meeting stones rang out and drowned out all other sounds in the cube as Meius saw Grula's spiked ball smashed into the wall behind where he once stood. For a moment, the man was relieved... Then he saw blood on the ball... Meius slowly turned his gaze downwards at his body, seeing the left side of his torso along with his left arm missing. With only a hollow showing of his top left torso and bottom left torso remaining, Meius let out a sigh of relief in a near sarcastic manner. But what caught his eye next momentarily made him freeze up…

Where his body was struck and destroyed... There was no piece of Mana Body... In fact, Meius felt that his reserves of magic had dwindled from moments prior... The reality of the situation at hand truly began to set in...

Weapon Arts cannot change in shape or function once created. However, like any weapon, the properties and effects can be changed at will with enough prowess in the desired Magic Type, but typically only before casting.

In this instance, Grula had utilized her impressive mastery over Manipulation Magic to apply a property to her ball and chain and Weapon Art with the intent to kill Meius.

"Damn!... Serves me right for putting her down like that... Ha!" Meius used his right hand to grab at the exposed flesh and organs on his right... With a quick pulse of magic, his Mana Body had been restored, though not as bright as it had been before, and his physical body followed thereafter. "To think she could apply Anti-Magic properties through Magic itself!... I'd love to steal that knowledge for myself!... But killing that bitch comes first!"

The ball and chain were thrust back into the magical darkness from where it had once originated. With Grula intent on hanging back in the shadows and keeping Meius on his feet, it seemed to be that Grula was at the advantage...

Weapon Arts can also be made specifically with conditions in mind, like a Pact or Shade. And, likewise, can be made with more power or functions with more rigid conditions...

"These walls are Calcianite... Not surprising given her other feats. And this box must serve as a part of her Weapon Art's conditions... Probably one of needing an enclosed space... If I had known any of that I could have avoided this... But because of that, these walls cannot be broken... Which means I have to deal with what's in front of me." Meius supercharged his body, picking up his speed to the maximum as Grula's ball and chain soared out through the dark mist and cratered into the wall behind him.

A Weapon Art cannot be dispelled by Anti-Magic, or by disabling the user (depending on if the Weapon Art can exist independently of the user). This means only one of three methods can disable a Weapon Art.

One: The Weapon Art runs out of Mana via the stored Mana within it and/or the user is depleted of Mana. This means a Weapon Art can be manually stopped by the caster as well.

Two: The Weapon from which it has been activated is destroyed.

Three: Any conditions for the Weapon Art to exist are nullified.

Dust and dirt spraying and trickling off the impact spot, Meius kept his speed up to avoid Grula's hunt. The magical darkness continued to obscure Meius's vision, a precaution enacted by Grula by slightly modifying her Minefield Mausoleum. Meius was running and fighting blind. Not only that, but his options to defeat Grula and make it out of this were extremely limited…

Calcianite walls were extremely resistant to Mana, so much more based upon their size as well. With the blocks essentially being the entire walls themselves, Meius knew that breaking them from the inside was impossible. This was because, even though he favored Destruction and the force offered by Enchantment Magic, the Dark Element was always on the weaker side of destructive output. Whereas Earth could move and utilize the ground itself, Fire could reduce anything in its path to dust and create explosions, and Wind, Ice, and Water had ways to create great force... The Dark Element utilized more refined methods of damage, like slicing or tearing. That kind of power cannot be used to penetrate Calcianite. But along with that, with the notion of Grula's Weapon Art seemingly needing an enclosed space, Meius figured that the effort would amount to nothing anyway. After all, if his theory on the condition was true, then it seemed all but confirmed that Grula would do whatever she could to make sure that her Weapon Art couldn't be dispelled by removing the condition. To him, that meant she mostly likely utilized Rule Creation when making the walls... A way to make the interior unbreakable for the one she trapped inside.

"If I had to guess... The outside is probably easy to break, but in turn, the inside is impenetrable. That was probably the Rule Creation she used for the walls and such... And when they became part of the condition, it must have activated the magic darkness... So what do I need to do to win?..." Meius kept track of the timing Grula previously used when swinging at him... When the moment felt right, he swapped footing as he hopped and planted his feet on the wall of the box. His sprint continued, Meius satisfied with his prediction as Grula's spiked ball crashed into his previous location moments later. "Can't break out... Destroying her weapon seems unlikely. I'd have to get close again somehow... And even then, with the way she can recreate instances of her weapon so easily... That effort would amount to nothing. So it seems like I have to either strike her down or outlast her Mana Pool!"

Meius grunted, trying to remember where exactly the center of the box was before he had started to run. But the sheer cloud of darkness blocked out any sort of photographic memory he tried to summon up. His mind was unable to simply place that image in front of him knowing the distance he had traveled would contradict it. The magical darkness had long overstayed its welcome... But with no way to deal with it aside from getting rid of the Weapon Art, Meius was in a difficult position.

"All this shit and she can still see me?" Meius had slowed down for nearly a moment as he tried to brainstorm a way to get rid of the darkness... But in that moment, her ball came hurtling towards him once again. Meius twisted his body around and hopped backward, narrowly avoiding the weapon as it crashed into the wall ahead of him once more. "Wait. I get it! She-"

Meius hadn't been sure what exactly the sound behind him was, only that it grew louder and closer to him with every passing moment. As if all things were slowly grinding to a halt, Meius turned his attention to the source behind him... Pushing away the spectral shadow dust, one of the many gigantic spiked balls manufactured from Grula's Weapon Art entered his sight. The enormous ball of mass drifted towards him as he did to it. With each inch he grew closer, the metallic ball appeared to vibrate with an ever-increasing intensity. At the same time, the surface of the upsized weapon turned from a dark steel color to a deep red... Turning to an orange shade... Meius stiffened up his body as he braced for impact, his magic wrapping around him as quickly as it could. The exact moment the huge ball and chain made contact with him…

An explosion of stupendous proportions shook the foundation and core of the cube. The outward force of the detonation summoned up a mighty wind that made all other chains clink and sway in the box according to their gravity. No other sound permeated the trap box, the jingling of interlocked metal soon ceased and left behind silence.

However, despite the winds and force expelled from the explosion, the shroud had not lifted or shifted. Remaining on the ground and unmoving, the remnants of Meius's body were strewn about. Fragments of bone burnt to black by a fiery fulmination littered the immediate ground. Being that his backside had been facing the explosive, Meius was lying face down on the ground. His back had been torn apart with his flesh blasted away as well, exposing his broken skeletal structure underneath along with charred internals. His arms and legs appeared to have been blown away as well, leaving only a thin slice of his front torso... But despite all of that...

"Damn! Good thing I reinforced my body in time... Had I played loose with my physical body like I always do... I'd be dead." Meius's eyes were wide open, remaining still as he continued to stay as a bloody heap. "Even her explosions have Anti-Magic properties... So troublesome... But she hasn't tried to finish me off yet..."

Meius purposefully kept his being in such a pathetic state as he hoped to bait her out. But as seconds passed by, and a minute eclipsed... Meius grew confused. His blue Mana Body was exposed, the parts that remained, but Grula appeared to hesitate.

"I figured out she's using Tremor-Sense to locate my position. Even if I'm completely still, she can tell where I am... But can she feel the circulation of my Mana?" Meius's blue ghost body began to fill out once more, taking the shape of his normal body again.

However, in a sickly display, Meius's Mana Body vacated the remains of his physical body. His flesh crumpled down and lost the composure of active thought, slinking into a truly lifeless heap onto the ground. Immediately following that, Meius jumped backward as the small ball and chain crashed down into his corpse. Crimson red splattered all around the body as the faint snapping of his skeleton rang out with a final squish from his organs. Unfazed, Meius watched on with his Mana Body with fascination.

"Apparently, she cannot. And if I had to bet, the natural darkness along with the unnatural darkness is leaving her to rely on Tremor-Sense..."

Tremor-Sense: An Earth Element Utility Type Technique. A Technique that, while not difficult, requires great concentration to maintain. It allows Earth users to detect and visually map out anything connected to the ground in a designated area through vibrations alone as long as it has a physical form.

"So it seems I'm safe unless she sneaks up on me... Or maybe she really thinks I'm dead?... No. Unlikely. And I'm not gonna wait for her to check!" Meius's ghastly form grinned ear to ear as his left hand flexed open.

Starting at his fingertips, another strange black aura seemed to shift and flow overtop and through his Mana Body. This took the shape of his left hand, a wild and random interlocking of energies that had no rhyme or reason as to how they moved about. To anyone else, it would have made zero sense as to what it was or how it functioned. But then Meius swiftly curled his hand into a fist. The flesh of his body instantly regenerated overtop of the Mana Body and the deep, dark black aura that lived in tandem with the ghastly blue body. However, only his left hand returned.

When Meius flexed his hand back open the very next moment, a gray aura was locked onto the palm of that hand. No motion came from the aura, and on it appeared to be several intricate carvings…

Without spending any more time dwelling on it, a black pool emanated out from Meius in all directions…

Grula still resided on one of the balls and chains dangling from the ceiling of her box when she felt tremors encompass the entirety of the trap. She felt the magic pour out from Meius, Perfect Dark encapsulating every Calcianite surface she had carefully constructed. However, she had him locked down now. She figured that he wasn't dead. Wasting no time, Grula heaved her ball and chain once more towards the origin point of the newest tremors.

Meius was well aware that she would hone in on his location nearly instantly. However, it was too late as she had only discovered it on his own time. Meius slammed his left hand's palm onto the ground overtop of his Perfect Dark. The gray aura leaped out from his palm and attached itself to the ground. A grand runic circle outstretched over the floor. The latent magic within the runes glimmered to life, the gray aura enveloping every surface of the cube. The runic carvings dispersed outward, creating a constant light throughout the square. The spectral dust was blown away, revealing the entirety of the structure that Grula had created.

As her ball and chain cascaded towards Meius, the man held out his arms and fell backward. Meius appeared to fall beneath the surface of his Perfect Dark, sending waves of shadows outward as if he were breaking through a veil of water and narrowly avoiding the ball and chain as it crashed into the ground. Curiously enough, Grula found herself bewildered at her weapon bouncing off of the surface of Meius's Perfect Dark... No, she recognized it as a sort of strange covering that was above the ground. Despite him being able to easily phase through it, her attack was stopped short.

Grula realized that Meius must have copied her strategy, creating a barrier that was impenetrable from the inside and layering it over the top of her cube. And, just like hers, it allowed him to freely cast his Element and throw it around with Perfect Dark shielded underneath while likely allowing it to enter the barrier. As it would appear to anyone else though, Grula still had the advantage with her Anti-Magic alterations to her Weapon Art. But something stuck with her mere moments after narrowly missing Meius...

"If that is a magic barrier... My spiked ball should have torn through it, not bounced off... What the hell?" Grula reeled her weapon back in as she contemplated the nature of Meius's move. However, as if clued in on the inner turmoil she faced...

"Runic Magic holds a foundation of Mana and Flow. It is not a fusion, but a perfect synergy. If Mana is considered to be stable fluidity... Then Flow, contrary to its name, is rigid chaos. Bind and interweave the two together with perfect synchronicity, and you can effectively take your abilities to the next level." Several duplicate voices rang out in unison, drowning out Grula's monologue as their shadowy bodies rose from the pool below. Taking shape as they rose, Meius's features became painted over top of each of these forms. "Anti-Magic holds no power over Flow. And if trying to siphon the Flow out, the Mana can shield the Flow... Honestly, Tobias and Avuran were too smart to be left alone."

"This isn't good!... I can't manipulate the shape, size, or composition of the box for my Weapon Art if that damn barrier is over top of it. No... If anything, he turned my arena against me..." Grula darted her eyes left to right, examining how Meius's Perfect Dark had covered every inch of her box. Her dangling weapons were left intact, the Anti-Magic property holding Meius's magic at bay... That observation made her remember that Meius himself is still on the defensive. However, that would not last... "Too smart to be left alone?... What exactly are you trying to say, Meius? Don't tell me..."

Grula wasn't able to look over Meius's choice of words. Even as she plotted out her next move, the hardy woman found herself taken aback by the implication of what Meius had said. And yet, all of his duplicates wore devious sneers upon their faces as they gazed up at her. Soft, low-volume giggles emerged discordantly from each instance of Meius as if all copies of him found different forms and amounts of amusement from Grula's shock.

"Oh, come on... Use your imagination and notion of how terrible I am. Just how far back do you think it all goes?" Only one Meius spoke aloud as the others shielded and muffled their tiny bits of laughter. "A theory of Flow erasure comes out, originating from experiments with Runic Magic. The accumulation of knowledge on Runic Magic is kept track of by yours truly at the behest of Xilvas due to Tobias being revealed as the one wanting to get rid of Flow. Somewhere along the line, Tobias gifts the knowledge to an old friend who happens to be the retainer to Avuran Variental... Avuran furthers Tobias's work and study to a more refined degree and is invited to share his knowledge as a professor at the Academy. Coincidentally, he and his Kovar family were then murdered by cultists soon afterward when it's revealed that his daughter was born with the ability to scry the past with perfect accuracy... It's ironic if I were any better of a healer that day... Meius Valkir would have died that day. But restoring lost Inherent Abilities caused by bodily or soul damage is a feat even masters struggle with. Ah, but the ways we change and improve using hindsight, am I right?"

"Then... You were behind that all those years ago..." Grula's disgust and surprise settled into a tone of quiet rage. Her racing mind remembered how Avura was supposed to be one of her classmates... That even one of her students was spared in that massacre somehow... Meius had blatantly admitted to murdering at least three people and killing the rest of the inhabitants in Belva... And yet, she saw him remain composed and unchanged in his attitude. Meius admitted his guilt... He had said that he was going to kill her at the start of their battle... But that was more than mere words now, it was full, unwavering belief.

"And that was but one part. Though I failed to secure that girl's power... I found a way around needing it. And good thing I had been patient too. I gained a better understanding of every threat around me and planned accordingly. To allow you to go free, based on what you may or may not have seen, would be a serious misstep at this point... Not that I planned to the moment you revealed yourself..." Every single instance of Meius tensed up, each one turning in a different direction...

"Don't be so full of yourself. You're still in my Weapon Art. Even if you've prevented me from controlling the shape of the arena and obscuring myself, you can't afford to be blasted away by one of these again." Grula still knew she had her Inherent Ability if she needed to hide away from Meius. She hadn't been sure what he was planning, but she immediately knew that each Meius standing before her was a clone of some sort... A set of Simulacrum. If Meius was able to create a barrier she couldn't breach, he would use that barrier to hide. That was especially because of the properties she endowed her attacks with.

But it was the end of Grula's words that prompted the multitude of Meius Simulacrum to spread out and dash in seemingly random directions. Whereas Grula had prepped herself to take them on from all angles, her close-quarter skills being superior to mere copies of Meius. Even if they were Simulacrum...

Simulacrum: A technique that directly comes from the Clone technique given shape and form by Life Magic, an Advanced Type born of Protection and Manipulation. It has every benefit and property of the original technique but allows for more control over the shape and abilities of the duplicates. These Simulacrums are also more resilient, boasting an actual human body born of magic with Mana Cores inside of them. The result ends up being a more costly technique with more powerful and competent clones.

However, had Meius intended to fight to Grula's advantage like that, his duplicates would have instantly closed in. Grula held her firm position on the ball and chain, ready to duck and move out of the way once they decided to make their move... But a direct attack was the opposite of what came next. Grula attempted to dart her vision all around and keep track of every single one, but it was an impossible endeavor as a few had managed to slip out of her sight. And it was the ones she had lost track of that surprised her.

The whirring sounds of heat building and rising pierced Grula's ears. She managed to spin around just in time to witness one of Meius's Simulacrum hanging off of one of the massive spikes on the explosive ball. The aim of Meius's creation immediately ran through Grula's mind as the ball turned into a bright red mass of energy. After turning orange, the ball exploded outwards and ripped apart the Simulacrum with no shred of it left. That, which coincided with a follow-up burst of heat from another corner of the cube as another detonation was triggered…

One by one, in all directions around her, Grula was faced with her explosive weapons being set off by a different Simulacrum. The thought was that Meius was going to go for a drawn-out confrontation using hit-and-run tactics... But seeing as how Meius willingly spent all that Mana to make the Simulacrum just to sacrifice them to get rid of her Anti-Magic explosives... It was either that he thought her Weapon Art would disappear after getting rid of all of those mines. Or that he wanted to completely rid Grula of any advantage before continuing.

Regardless, Grula whipped her personal ball and chain in the air around her, unfurling the mass of steel towards one of the closer Simulacrum she saw attempting to reach the explosive she stood on. Splitting down the middle of its body, starting from the head down to the pelvis, Grula's weapon eviscerated the clone of Meius. The remaining left and right sides of the Simulacrum fell to the ground, fizzling out as it passed through Meius's Runic Magic barrier and falling into the Perfect Dark. The minor victory of striking one down was soon left irrelevant however as another immediately rose out of the ground to replace it. Watching it climb out of the muck of Meius's magic, its arm reaching out towards her as the rest arose, Grula realized that she had to change her approach.

There was simply no telling how much Mana Meius had. Though she thought she had known before, at least to some degree, what she currently saw ripped apart all notions of what she thought him capable of... And she wasn't sure if many others could perform such a Mana-heavy feat either. Then again... Grula knew it was strength like this that separated conquerors and victims... And in terms of Lancers or any other kind of fighter…

Grula vanished without another moment passing. The copies of Meius throwing themselves into death grinned and cheered with glee, their enthusiasm cut short by explosions from their respective targets... Meius sifted and drifted about in his Perfect Dark, his body tucked away in a seemingly infinite space as it merely floated about. His Simulacrum continued whittling her resources away, one by one... However, as he watched through the perspective of the Perfect Dark, like watching the world under the surface of a body of water, Meius found himself unable to fathom what Grula's aim here was.

Her victory conditions were to either flee or kill him... Yet she could not do either in this circumstance and went completely undetectable per her Lakentos ability. The immediate possibility was that she would wait him out... However, Meius knew that was an impossible task for her on account of recent developments that she was unaware of. But also on that same thought, Meius didn't want to give her the time anyway. But, on account of her being impossible to locate now, he had no option other than to sit and wait.

But as the final detonation rang out within the cube, a momentary silence was cast over the arena. No more of Grula's mines remained, and all Simulacrum were gone. For a few moments, absolutely nothing happened with each side at a stealthy standstill. A mere hollow quiet stood in the space, each passing moment stressing the stillness to extremes…

The makeshift arena jolted to life, furious roars of magical forces contesting filled the space as Grula reappeared. She was knelt on one knee with both of her arms and hands planted onto the Runic Magic Barrier. However, it appeared as if one of her arms was now covered entirely with steel. The palms of her hands pressed tension down onto the barrier, magical sparks flying out as Meius's creation fought against Grula's force. Meius would have thought it a fruitless effort... But...

"Oh?... Oh! She altered her weapon to encase her arm... Now she can siphon Flow out while attacking with Anti-Magic!... Damn!" Meius scoffed to himself beneath the surface as he watched Grula struggle. Though it seemed a little creative, Meius hadn't been sure of the exact goal of this at first. Regardless, if Grula wanted it so bad... He was sure to stand in her way.

Grula's fists remained firmly on the ground. Meius's barrier fought back against her, scathing and cursing her with numerous cuts and slashes from her palms up to her elbows. Even her body was suffering damage, as the Flow she began to suck from the barrier was sprouting deep wounds as an adverse effect. After all, Grula had never created a Shade to output Flow from... So with no way to immediately dispose of it, she was bottle-necked with dispersing Flow. Over the entire length of her muscular and toned body, a multitude of jagged lacerations rose to the surface. However, Grula relented. She was able to feel the layers of the Runic Magic peeling away from the combination of applied Anti-Magic and dispersing Flow.

"... Oh! No, you don't!" Meius cackled under his Perfect Dark, weaving more magic together as Grula's desire became clear. He had almost forgotten that she created this arena in the first place. Even if she had manipulated it into being Calcianite, Earth Element users still can change its structure and properties of it as long as they put enough effort and Mana into it. That, and given they can make contact with it somehow.

Grula's focus shifted all around her as several humanoid figures rose and encircled her. Taking the appearance of Meius, each one cheered aloud and giggled as they swarmed her location. It was a difficult situation for her to navigate. If she dropped her focus on the Runic Barrier, it was sure to reform stronger than before. But if she let the Simulacrum of Meius attack her freely... They'd kill her soon enough. All she needed to do was reach the stone.

As the small horde of Meius clones grew ever closer, Grula kept her hands locked down and her arms sturdy. With one drawing in closer, reaching the range where it was able to reach her... Grula shifted her weight and used her hands to hold herself up, suddenly bucking out her legs towards Meius. She struck him with enough force to launch him into the far corner of the arena. As one after the other approached, she continued to maneuver her body with ease. Grula kicked out in the other direction, sending one flying back. She then twisted her hips and legs, swiping a small group of them away as she switched her position to the other side.

However, one approached from the front as it knew she couldn't afford to lift her hands. He thought that she'd be unable to strike him from that area... But Grula straightened her legs back and bent at her elbows. By crunching her abs and maintaining balance, she swung her lower body under her arms, flipping her body to face upwards as she bashed that instance of Meius with a swift kick. Making quick time in knocking more of the Meius Simulacrums away, Grula eventually reset her position when she deemed the time right. She was able to feel it. She was about to break through. Adjusting all of her focus and attention to the barriers, Grula locked into a final push.

But the onslaught of Meius duplicates rushed in, unimpeded and without care. Grula chose to ignore them, so close to pulling off what she needed to do. Grula felt pressure and weight on her back, Meius had jumped and clung onto her as the first one arrived. With its hand doused in a sharp, black aura, Meius swung his hand inwards and stabbed Grula in the side with his magically enhanced hand. She grunted and shook, the onset of the pain nearly jolted her out of position. Giggles and laughter filled her eardrums as the clone reveled in her suffering.

The others joined in soon after, stabbing, slicing, cutting, and wounding Grula with each passing moment. Their sadistic laughter filled with glee drowned out all sound. Despite the overwhelming damage she was taking and the frustration rising in her head, Grula maintained her composure. The barrier had thinned out... A final, weak veil finally split apart and allowed her hands to slam down onto the stone beneath Meius's Perfect Dark.

Immediately the entire structure began to quake, sending all of the Simulacrum off their feet. They wanted to continue their assault and torture of Grula, but the force she controlled in the cube was too much. Within moments, the audible shifting of stone accompanied the ear-piercing sounds of scraping. The Calcianite stone was actively being reshaped. The arena grew smaller with each second that passed by. Grula's body strained, her muscles all tightening as veins bulged and her physicality and Mana worked overtime. Grula pushed herself much further than she had in several years, her deep well of strength pouring out in such a way that she hadn't experienced in so long. She screamed, her lungs summoning up all of her reserve strength as the rate at which the arena changed accelerated, reaching its end-stage.

It was the final act of her Weapon Art...

While Weapon Arts can't change in shape or function once created, they can have properties or effects be changed. Not only that but they can be added on to outside of the original function. As long as the addition isn't too out of scope compared to the original, a Weapon Art can have multiple moving parts. However, this comes with one unique issue. The Mana that can be stored inside of a weapon for a Weapon Art is limited to the original design of the Weapon Art. Trying to adjust/re-carve it has a near-guaranteed chance of breaking the weapon along with the Weapon Art itself.

So, by calling upon her Second Act of her Weapon Art, Grula needed to fund the process with the Mana she currently had…

The space grew cramped between each instance of Meius and Grula. The Runic Barrier was giving in to the unstoppable force that was Grula's Calcianite cage shrinking down, cracking, and falling apart. There was nowhere for any of them to go. Tendrils had shot out from Perfect Dark and attempted to pierce and seize Grula, but as they initially stuck into her they had gotten stopped. The heat in the room rapidly increased beyond what seemed normal for such a tight space. At first, Meius had been confused... But it finally dawned on him what was going on...

Under the surface of his Perfect Dark, Meius hurriedly weaved whatever energies he could muster-.

As her final act of power, Grula's strenuous effort pushed her body to its limit with her voice going hoarse and quiet in comparison to the shifting and vibrations of the arena. The room was overtaken with a sweltering red and orange color that pushed against the inhabitants further on. One final flash of white consumed the trap room, blinding all within and overtaking all their senses.

On the outside of the cube, marks in the ground were able to be spotted from where the earth was shifted around to make Grula's arena. Jagged pillars on all sides had signaled where the exterior once lay. The final movements of the cube were also mimicked by the partially flattened blades of grass, all dragged and facing inward. The actions and events unfolding inside were privy to none, the outside world unfazed by the battle that had taken place.

But in a single, dazzling flash of radiance that sliced outwards from the cube in a line that pierced the heavens... The peace of the outside world was broken once more with an all-powerful explosion of dirt, stone, and fire. The trees were assailed with tiny shards of stone as the wind caused by its origin point blew the branches outward. Some feet inwards, the grass had been completely uprooted and left the ground as a barren, dry clump of earth due to the heat. Loud crashes accompanied the direct moments afterward, massive chunks of stone littering the area and even being plunged into the dirt by gravity. With the supreme winds that were let loose, a cloud of dust had been kicked up at the epicenter... And, as the cloud began to peel away from the calming night breeze...

A figure remained, their hands and knees planted on the ground... Under the veil of the silence of night, bated and weak breaths crept out from hiding. Sweat and blood slid down the sides of their face and limbs, dripping down onto the ground. With a grunt and heave, the survivor pushed themselves off their hands and sat back on their legs. The dust settled. With their head cast to the sky and their arms out to the side, Grula faced the stars in the sky.