Try.
Try.
Try.
If he tried, he could do anything. That was what he had been told all his life. For a time, that had been the case. At the age of fifteen, under the guise of his Master, he controlled a quarter of the textile industry in Bangladesh. Thinking that his destiny went beyond Bangladesh, he made plans to leave. When he was sixteen, Kazi forged the necessary documents to go to America and attended dozens of trade schools and earned licenses for nearly every vehicle conceivable in a little over a year. From the ages of seventeen to twenty-one, he explored all of the Americas as a mercenary. He found the lost city of El Dorado at the age of twenty, promptly quitting his job as a mercenary and becoming an assistant archeologist, gaining a deep knowledge of archeology and the occult.
There was seemingly nothing he couldn't do—and that included winning a navy battle without killing.
[ Status: Kazi Hossain
Class: Mage
Level: 75
HP: 1435
HP/Minute: 148.47
MP: 3349
MP/Minute: ∞
Attack: 547
Defence: 287
Attributes
Strength: 340
Resilience: 287
Agility: 290
Deftness: 1339
Vitality: 294
Magical Might: 497
Magical Mending: 288
Distributive Points: 221 ]
‘I feel like a kid again. I feel like I can do anything.’
Below him were twenty-five enemy longships and five friendly ships. The ambush had succeeded to an extent. Over thirty or so ships were sunk by the surprise attack by the mages. Even so, it wasn’t enough. Without Kazi and Noor, the ambush’s success had lost its heavy hitters.
He was high in the sky, nearing a hundred metres, kneading the excess energy within him. His potential was infinite. Tied around his waist was Kukulcán’s Champion Belt, braided with quetzal feathers and jade beads and matching the black of the Garbs of Death.
He released the mana underneath his feet and skydived. The wind whipped past him, his descent marked by a rapid plummet toward the battle below. He went from head-first to feet-first, clipping the speed of his landing through bursts of the mana beneath his feet. Kazi descended on a longship belonging to the enemy.
“Who are—”
The mages, too busy with their own magic, didn’t notice him till it was too late. Kazi took out his sword and knocked them out with a smack to the back of their heads. He was too fast, a blur for their distracted eyes. Flow of Mana suddenly felt twice as powerful and he felt twice as fast. It felt like he was holding back an ocean inside him. If he messed up the timing, he could accidentally split the heads of the players and soldiers.
He didn’t want to do that.
With this power, it just felt wrong to.
Emotions were supposed to be battle. Mercy was for the unprepared and unworthy. That was what he believed as a former mercenary. The infinite well of mana inside him stirred at that remark.
He kept going. He skipped on water, going from ship to ship and knocking out enemy after enemy, all the while thinking. Thinking that maybe…
‘Maybe I was wrong.’
Maybe mercy towards one’s enemies was possible. After the total failures in his own life, he thought that wasn’t the case. He thought it was impossible for former enemies to become allies. All of them should die.
Boom!
Several arrows caused a splash beside him. The attention of the Vikings had turned from the mages on the longship to Kazi. It didn’t matter. He summoned mana in his right hand and with two fingers made a swipe.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Sacred Bulwark!”
He created an imitation of the colossal barrier of gold. A rectangle that protected him as he ran and let him burst onto the twentieth, thirtieth, and fortieth longship. Vikings or players, it did not matter whatsoever. The golden barrier would not break. The fear of water prevented the players from using their big moves—if they had any.
Slowly but surely, the battlefield became quiet. Kazi Hossain stood amongst a sea of drifting ships, staring down at his reflection. The kohl had melted and streaked down his cheeks like tears. He wasn’t crying though. He was….smiling. He was happy.
[ Advanced Flow of Mana Lv. 10 upgraded into Mastered Flow of Mana Lv. 1 ]
It was as Noor believed: Kazi Hossain had won the battle without killing a single person.
“I was wrong. I was wrong about a lot of things. I always knew power felt great but this…” His left eye pulsed and the triangles within rearranged themselves, almost like they were trying to tell him something. His brows narrowed. “Jack. He’s not here. I was wrong about that too.”
It was then he sensed a cluster of dark mana somewhere. He turned towards and barely made out the shores of Clontarf East. Thirty kilometres away, he immediately sped towards it. He didn’t know how long it would take but he had to go.
‘Is that Jack or…’ His eyes became fixated on the shore. ‘...William.’
Running on water wasn’t as simple as he made it appear. It required careful applications of mana underneath his feet. Nevertheless, in less than five minutes, he arrived at the shores of Clontarf East. He found…
“William?”
…nothing but death.
His eyes latched onto the first sign of life. ‘No, not everyone.’ He dashed towards a Templar Knight who had lost a leg and half his arm. Kazi grimaced and uttered, ‘Healing Waters.’
Except what erupted from his hands was not a D-rank skill, but an S-rank skill belonging to a Supreme Sorcerer. He did the impossible, enveloping the body in a bubble of water, and regenerating two limbs in a matter of seconds.
[ New skill learned : Divine Miracle Water ]
He didn’t care for the details of the skill. For now, he had to help people. Enemy or not, their struggles and pain ached his heart and for the first time in a long time he was able to mend that pain. He woke several players up to the sight of him smiling.
“Hey, you’re awake.
Past the shore, he sensed something. A dark, evil power that boggled the mind. He heard the echo of laughter and wondered if that was who he thought it was.
“T-thank you…”
Kazi tore his gaze away from the dark force beyond his vision and flashed the young woman a smile. She was an independent player from the look of it. Her staff was crushed and her eyes begged for mercy. Her wound had been a large gash across her chest, as if somebody with a huge sword slashed it. “Hey, you were going to be okay with or without me.” A tear went down the corner of her eye. She had been lying there for a long time, alone with her thoughts and the stench of blood.
It wasn’t just her. Everyone that was alive was struck by the loneliness of death. The taste of iron in their mouths and the rotting groans and eventual silence. It was like being in quicksand, except each grain was a corpse.
A desperate cry echoed at him from behind. He turned to see a bloodied Templar crawling towards him. “Kazi! Kazi! Hey, hey, hey! Help me!” The female knight clawed at his leg, her helmet half broken and revealing teary blue eyes. He knew this woman—it was Emma. “I-it’s Samuel! He’s not breathing—”
She whimpered and cried as Kazi casted Divine Miracle Water on her. A sound of relief, joy, and fear, grabbing heapfuls of his black garbs and climbing up to him. “Please! Help Samuel! H-he’s…”
In a panic, she looked back, head shaking. She must have lost track of him amongst all the bodies. “H-he’s there! Please! You have to—” She didn’t cling on to him, she practically dragged him over to Samuel’s body.
His eyes softened. While he kneeled down and casted Divine Miracle Healing…
“I’m sorry.” He closed his eyes. The blueness of his healing spell faded. Beside him, Emma buried her face in Samuel's chest and wailed.
The left side of his body had been burned to a crisp, including his limbs and head. Death must have been instantaneous. Emma sniffled, her cries becoming quiet and quiet as reality settled in. Kazi drew in a shaky breath, eyes still closed. ‘I’m sorry, Samuel.’
A coldness fell between his temple. He thought it was his own sweat, then realized it was something else.
Pitter-patter!
Kazi looked up into the sky. ‘It’s…raining?’ Usually, there would be an identifiable smell before it rained. How could he have missed it? There was no way the battlefield could overcome his keen sense of smell…
The movement of clouds was fast and it quickly became dark, the rain arriving like a blessing from the gods. Rain droplets landed on his hand, creating an invisible spark. All of a sudden, an idea popped into his head.
‘I’ve seen old players do this—control natural elements with their mana. Oliver did it once with a bottle of water. Maybe, just maybe…’
He stood up, closed his eyes, and threw an arm up in the air. The raindrops, each one a glistening bead of liquid, pattered against Kazi's outstretched hand. A spark flickered to life as the rain made contact. With each droplet, he got closer and closer to understanding what to do.
‘I can’t save everyone but this way, maybe just maybe…’
He opened his eyes, revealing the shifting movements of the valknut in his left eye. The air crackled with newfound energy as Kazi channeled his mana into the collected rainwater. The droplets shimmered with an otherworldly glow.
It was all theory. It was all guesswork.
But he could do it. He had to do it. To save everyone, to defy death, he had to push himself and try.
He tasted the mana in the air, of the petrichor and its beauty. Every fibre of his being was wet with water and the clouds knew it. They recognized it. As if coming together with one of their own, a deep connection was born.
Pitter-patter!
[ New skill learned : Divine Miracle Rain ]
Thus, a new S-class skill was born.
The raindrops, charged with healing properties, cascaded down upon the battlefield like a gentle blessing. Each droplet carried a touch of rejuvenation. Emma looked up at the sky, her blue eye widening as a gentle coldness healed her.
Her breath bated, mesmerized by the sky and the miraculous water, Emma asked, “How are you…doing this?”
He didn’t respond verbally, getting up and sending her a small smile. At long last, he could face the enemy responsible for all this. He traversed the shores, listening to the grunts and groans of the living, and climbed up the hill. He walked and walked and walked till the oppressive darkness struck him, till it was in view.
The one responsible for all the carnage, for all this death—it was him. Kazi had targeted everyone with Divine Miracle Rain—except him.
Except William.
He was laughing as the rain avoided him like the plague. He stood alone without friends or enemies. He stood with his shoulders shaking and a harrowing laugh.
“Hahaha! Hahaha!” William turned, his face stretched in a grin too big for his face. There was a flash of recognition in his eyes. “Hahaha…ha…ha…”
He dropped to his knees and fainted.