me - so how is my younger brother. I hope that he is fine. it has been so long since I have seen him.
wind bane - well, I need to beat you, so let's stop the chit chat.
me - your personality matches that of him at the very least. as silent as the stillest mountain, after all? anyway, what is your armour made of? as far as I can tell, it is some kind of a tempered metal, not iron but some kind of an alloy right.
the thing with my type of ability is that it tends to make me quite careless, well what happens to me right now is I got engrossed in meeting ted's disciple (and studying that armour of his. ) and he took that opportunity to cut off my throat. well, the armour did stop him, but there is a decent size cut on my throat. I really did want to know what kind of metal was it that cut my throat. it is nothing like mithril, my head would have been cut like paper. it is some kind of a refined iron, strong enough to cut through my armour (which is hard enough to be comparable to iron. )
I really should stop being so careless, that little brat actually ambushed me when we were talking. the damage is not too heavy but the brat is just a bit faster than me, I did not expect that. there is a wound on my throat due to him striking my throat. using a bit of my immortal mana, I heal the wound, just enough to make sure that I won't die due to bleeding. it is so annoying that I have to be so miserly with my mana. well, it beats dying and my regeneration should return soon enough.
well, this is going to be the case for the next decade or so. even before, it took me five to six years to reach the level of basic regeneration. and even longer to reach a point where I can survive with my head cut off.
wind bane suddenly attacks again, it is only instinct that I block him, or I would be the one lying dead on the ground right now. he is a bit faster than me, but I can tell what moves that he shall be making. he is still a greenhorn after all.
his ability with illusions is similar to my younger brother. my younger brother was more skilled at using illusion magic than me. he had a physical enhancement ability that allowed him to move at impossible speeds.
he created the thousand-body illusion, a mixture of magic and his ability that allowed him to create very realistic clones. if this brat can use that ability he is going to be an annoying enemy to deal with, that kid shows his sword as he suddenly splits into three figures. it is nearly impossible to distinguish them apart. his disciple is pretty unskilled, ted could create thousands of clones, each indistinguishable from the others. even my master could only distinguish them after a few seconds and he is the mind lord, the strongest mental ability user of this generation.
well, I have defeated ted himself a couple of times, let alone that bratty disciple of his. wind bane might be fast but he is flimsy. I just need to find the original body and blast him with puppet mana. it is an experimental magic I am working with or more accurately modifying the shockwave spell for a more close combat situation. right now rather than exploding, the mana. of the spell will come out more slowly, which will be useful in the case of puppet mana. it is based on the structure-changing ability of my mana. if the organ of a person were to completely change into something else, it would be quite damaging to their body. the only problem with all of this is the range of the puppet mana. it can't exist in the air normally for which I need to physically touch him, to use my mana. even a bit of mana is enough for the kind of damage that I want, though not too little or I won't be able to pass through that arm of his. he has his own personalised mana to protect his body. personalised mana normally tend to cancel each other out.
well, wind bane charges towards me, from three different directions, each attacking me from a different position. I twist my body to dodge two of the attacks, as the third passes through me. I was lucky this time.
the three-figure retreat in an instant. he doesn't want me to get close to him, an understandable desire. after all, he might not know about puppet mana, but he knows enough about me to be wary of me. that is why I say that fear is such a useful emotion. if he had pressed his attack a bit more, I would have been hit already, though the opposite would also have been true. I have more enemies to fight, so I can't get too damaged over here.
well, he keeps circling me, trying to find a weakness in my guard. this goes on for a few seconds. he is pretty rigid in what he does, so he has not been in too many battles in his life.
then, I charge at the kid, who is already entering a guarding position, having his three illusions surround me, one to my right, one in front, and one to my back.
suddenly, I turn back and attack the one behind me. my fist passes through him, as I feel a stinging pain on my shoulder.
almost on instinct, I turn around holding that guy's sword with one arm and punching on his chest with the other. my mana enters into his armour, completely getting twisted out of shape( another thing about my mana, if I were to put it into non-humanoid items, even I don't know what exactly the changes that happen in the armour. I can barely understand what is happening with flesh right now. )
the armour structure has greatly changed, completely tearing to pieces. it is a pretty scary type of mana, if you think about it.
I have never expected to drive such a good bargain.
there is a stinging pain in my hand, but it can be handled. he decisively abandons his swords and my fist hits the air again. now he definitely won't be coming close to me.
I did not expect that my mana could not move through that armour of his, I had enough mana to pass through that guy's armour and hitting his flesh. looks like I will need to see why my calculations have gone wrong.
anyway, this went on for a few minutes, each side attacking and retreating. wind bane had a backup sword with him, so taking his sword was useless(the sword will be destroyed if I were to pass puppet mana into it. ). wind bane doesn't dare come too close and I can't figure out which of them is the real one. this is to my advantage, a battle of attrition is something that I have an advantage in, even with my new limitations.
the brat is steadily growing slower, and slower, getting tired. that is another flaw for this brat, he doesn't have too much stamina to fight. it is a battle of attrition and that is where I shine,
why do I have to be in such a messy position?
I am going to kill that phantom.
while thinking of all of this, I lose focus for just a mere moment and suddenly I am surrounded on all three sides.
that illusion magic of his is so annoying to deal with. well, I will have to take some risks to deal with him, which means most of my immortal mana reserves are going to be over again, at the very least meaningfully this time.
I don't try to dodge as I feel the sword stab into my back.
almost instantly, I turn back sending a large dose of puppet mana into the brat. The kid retreats almost immediately, but my mana has already begun to affect him. he falls to the ground, looking quite uncomfortable. there must be some form of internal damage.
I am also quite injured. I begin to move the immortal mana in my body directing it to my back. I can feel a wave of coolness spread in my back, numbing the pain I am feeling. that sword of his is quite painful. I am surprised that I could not handle that level of pain. for me getting hit by a sword is not too painful, it is a daily occurrence for me. even if my regeneration is lost, my pain tolerance is still not lost.
shit, there was some kind of poison in that brat's blade. just how did I become that careless.
I can feel the poison affecting me, as the world around me has begun to fade, turning to black. the pain is already disappearing which is a really bad sign.
(after a couple of days)
I have woken up in this cell. it is covered by mana blockers on all the walls. it looks like the academies are even more advanced than the throne or the nobles have expected. these guys literally have the most powerful and talented students and teachers working for them to create, before most of them go to serve the military or any of the other things. normally mana blocking is done by body runes, a risky process for the person applying the runes. you need to knock out the enemy and then apply the rune while he is unconscious. you can never truly be sure if the enemy is unconscious or pretending to be so. many mana sealers have been killed in that manner.
that is why this could be quite revolutionary.
the academies were always a place of creation and we seem to have underestimated just how much. the throne makes it a principle not to mess with the academies, so do the nobles.
I have presently been caught by the enemy again. it is really becoming an uncomfortable trend. I really have spent too long peacefully. well, all I can hope is that they are not going to cut off my head, this time. I don't have that kind of regeneration mana yet. I will need at least a year before I can handle that kind of damage.
well, Stephen is not really that brutal. I think that is the reason he has been never sent to a war. he is too soft for all of this. well, I am not complaining, he is a good teacher.
me - how long am I going to be stuck in this place, Stephen, you know that I have my own allies and they would not like my present position.
well, I want to provoke Stephen to this position. Stephen should be coming any second. right now I should make sure that I don't mention my role as the monster. there is no point in having proof in Stephen's hands.
Stephen's words hold little significance among those I am actually scared of.
Stephen - you dare to challenge me, immortal. I will have you killed for what you have done. you dare to kidnap my students right under my eyes.
me - I have no idea what you are speaking of, why would I have any interest in your student?
Stephen - you dare to lie to me on my face. you were the one that came here to ask me to allow you to kidnap my student. just how crazy of a person are you.
me - we are old friends, Stephen, but even I don't like how you are insulting me. why would I have anything to do with the kidnapping of your students? I have my own worries to deal with.