Mashal and his nine clones didn't wait for the enemy to attack. They set off in the direction of Popo. However, the numerical advantage didn't seem to be enough. The military woman managed to counterattack. With little effort, she knocked down one clone with a flick of her wing. The second was kicked in the stomach. Two others tried to grab her arms.

The immobilization tactic didn't work. She concentrated her Axé on her arms. Her veins popped, her muscles stiffened like steel. With one swift movement, she slammed the Mashal against each other. They both crumbled into small rocks in the air. The Axé scattered and went to meet the others.

Popo began another violent attack on his opponent. As a good propagator, Mashal was able to generate small shields around him. Because Concentration is his Tertiary Function, these shields tended to break down quickly. They served more to delay and distract the enemy than to protect himself. Her enemy didn't fail to notice her defensive weakness.

"Your Ofó is a waste of time, old man. You burn Axé for nothing to boost your numbers. Your clones are weak, they have a lower vibration than yours. They're not even good for a hobby."

"Look, miss, don't try to teach your elders. Look at my beard!"

"So what? It's dirty."

Popo severed the head of another Mashal clone. Another tried to elbow her in the back, but she used the momentum of a single wing and jumped. She looped around and landed on her attacker's head. She locked her legs around its neck and twisted its head off. The body fell epileptically to the ground until it crumpled.

She didn't give Mashal a break to catch his breath. She rolled across the floor, placed her hands on the ground, and with her legs in the air, spun them like a propeller. His legs were imbued with Repulsion fields. The clones retreated, unable to defend themselves. This forced the real medium to act. He slammed his palms on the ground and shouted:

"Moving Fate."

"There you are!"

The phalangite flexed his arms to propel himself forward. It brought its legs together. It rotated its arms. It flew towards Mashal like a bolt. It kept the repulsive field concentrated on its legs. The rest of the clones threw themselves in front of the original to protect him. Despite this, the master of suspicion was hit in the shoulder.

The old medium fell a distance away. The blow with a concentrated repulsive field melted his skin and tore his muscles apart. The bones of his shoulder were shattered. The wound throbbed and squirted blood. He tried to stop the bleeding with his other hand. His fingers turned red.

Popo walked up to him. The soles of her boots were dripping with blood. She stepped on Mashal's stomach. The medium spat blood and grunted in pain. The phalangite repeated the treatment twice more. The old medium felt his head bang like a gong. An ordinary person would have fainted by now. Despite the excruciating color, he still had the strength to speak.

"You're not a medium, I can tell. I knew a lot about the properties and functions of Axé. I don't even feel its vibration, cof-cof."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"I can make use of all that. My vibration doesn't come from my Inner Portal, but from the Axé-Core deposited in my body. With it, I can break the law of functions..."

Mashal's eyes widened. The Axé-Core was something he couldn't fully understand. He only knew that it served as a kind of Axé generator. When he lived in Ilu Nla, he hadn't cared about all that technological advancement, he'd just repudiated it.

"... I can use and combine two properties such as Attraction and Repulsion at the same time, without suffering any side effects. I'm even able to reverse my Mediumistic Profile during the fight."

"You're a freak, girl."

"You mediums are obsolete. You should have been sent to the dustbin of history a long time ago."

"That's the problem with young people today. They consider themselves superior with all their technology, and forget that some of this knowledge only exists thanks to the knowledge their ancestors accumulated."

He grabbed Popo's ankle, so hard that it scared her. The military officer felt as if an industrial press was crushing him. She tried to pull her leg away, but couldn't. All the wounds on Mashal's body had healed. Axé particles began to spread around his body, like a silver aura.

"Superstructure Projection."

"How did you..."

In one leap, Mashal stood up. He lifted Popo's leg even higher, knocking her off balance. With all his invigorated strength, using only one hand, the medium held her in the air. Then he slammed her against the floor as if she were a sack of cement. He lifted her into the air and slammed her down a second time. He repeated this until he felt her bones crack. Finally, he threw her into a nearby boulder.

The soldier broke the boulder in half. She collapsed on the ground. She stuck two fingers in her mouth, and four teeth from the bottom of her mouth fell out as they touched the ground. Popo let out a high-pitched scream. As he tried to get up, his ribs cracked like glass. He fell to the ground and crawled on all fours.

Dear Mashal, finish this soon so I can take a nap... wooooh.

How can an Ori Guardian be so lazy?

Sleep preserves the unity of the spirit.

A lazy person even invents metaphysical excuses for doing nothing.

The soldier didn't get very far. She was kicked in the stomach. She was thrown to the other side of the river. She lay on her stomach, out of breath. The air kept choking in her throat. Mashal came up, grabbed her by the throat and punched her several times in the stomach. She threw up everything she had eaten that week. To finish, he gave her a kick that threw her a long way.

"Damned old man! I don't know how you managed to regenerate so quickly. It was almost dead, and now it seems to be stronger than before."

"You said I created clones for nothing, I know you're smart enough to know better."

That's right, he may have attracted Axé from the environment around him... no, wait! He shared his Axé with the clones who received part of the Axé present in nature. If each destroyed clone gives its energy back to the others, plus the Axé of nature, then...

"Each of my clones works separately, but no part of my strength is wasted. They work like semi-autonomous Axé amplifiers. They can use my strength, and give it back to me in double with the Axé of the environment I attract..."

Popo grinned wildly and sprouted a new wing where the previous one had been torn off. It took off, leaving the medium talking to himself. Mashal sighed.

Really rude girl!

She's already lost the fight, she just doesn't want to admit it, Ewansiha.

He let the military fly up above the clouds. Then he raised his hands to the sky as if summoning a Genkidama. He spread his Axé into the atmosphere, which caused a slight tremor. By altering the gas molecules in the air, he generated a hundred clones.

The clones appeared in a circle and fell on Popo like a swarm. The phalangite looked like a volleyball. A clone would come and punch or kick it. It would roll through the air, and another clone would hit it from the other side. The woman felt every bone break with the impact of the blows. This was repeated until she was close to the ground.

Mashal undid all the clones at once. He prepared a punch. However, he realized that Popo had died during the fall. Instead of hitting her, he gently supported her in his arms. The soldier turned her head to the side. The medium took her to a rock. He put her down and smoothed a lock of the young woman's hair. He turned his back and left.

The ex-sage didn't taste victory, but regret at having to fight against promising youngsters manipulated by Ojwang. Something had to be done. Ilu Nla needed a revolution, he wanted to be that flame. In his day, there was no way to start the fire he wanted. Now the fire of revolt warmed his heart. He wouldn't wait any longer.