Jason gasped as the gemstone touched his skin. A rush of energy flowed out of him all at once, and he thought he heard the sparrow start to say something before everything came flowing back into him.
More than everything actually. All the mana that he had had when he was under the effect of the mana mine returned. Mana rushed through him. Mana that he could use!
It wasn't exactly like the mana mine. The mine had felt like it was punching everything out of him all at once, while the gemstone sucked it out more slowly, but the effect was the same. Jason smiled in exaltation. A lucky break had come for him after all.
"What are you…" Larak began, but Jason didn't wait for him to finish.
He didn't know for certain, but he had a feeling that his mana would disappear if the gemstone stopped touching him, and he couldn't take that risk. He Imagined the gemstone falling into his forehead, wincing as it dug into his skin.
Larak felt the tiny change, but hesitated a moment too long. A giant swinging ax trap like Jason had seen in video games appeared above them and swung down slicing Larak's hand clean off.
He screamed, staggering back in pain as Jason imagined his hands becoming untied. He went to pull his hands free, but…? The ropes were still there? Why were the ropes still there?
Larak was already recovering so Jason couldn't sit there pondering it. He pulled the same trick that he had done to Vanya, taking away Larak's vision and hearing. He barreled towards Jason anyways, so Jason pulled him to the ceiling where he crumpled, losing his bearing.
Larak screamed in rage, but Jason ignored him working on his hands, finding it a bit more difficult than he had thought it would be. He imagined a knife cutting through the rope, but it just appeared above the rope, sliding down the rope harmlessly before clattering to the floor.
He needed to give it momentum, but if he pulled it to the floor, he wouldn't be able to stop it quickly enough to keep it from cutting his hands off. If only he could test his powers in a non life threatening situation.
He had the knife appear in his hand, working it around and cutting through the rope himself. It was awkward, and slower than he would have liked, but within a few seconds his hands were free.
Ignoring the stream of blood coming from where he had accidentally cut himself in his haste, he did the same with his feet before pulling the howling Larak back down to the floor. The man fell to the floor with a curse, swinging his sword wildly.
Jason wanted to deal with him quickly but the door behind him had opened and he turned just in time to imagine a shield appearing to stop the crossbow bolts flying at him. The tips of the bolts punched clean through the metal shield, and their momentum sent it flying into Jason, but he caught it as the men who had fired began charging at him.
He couldn't meet them head on even if he wanted to. He didn't have the strength or training to put up a fight if they got to him. Thankfully though, he had plenty of other tools at his disposal.
He sent a fireball flying into the incoming soldiers who were bottle necked at the door. The leading soldiers flung themselves to the side, but the ones behind didn't have the space to move. One of the soldiers screamed as the fireball slammed into him before…passing straight through him?
Jason and the soldiers all froze in confusion. So that was just an illusion? He had intended that to be actual fire. Had he done something wrong?
Better to stick with the tried and true, he concluded, pulling all of the soldiers to the ceiling. Most of them were disoriented, but a few managed to pull out their crossbows again, so Jason pulled the men to the side and took away their vision and hearing as well.
They struggled against each other, all huddled in the far corner of the ceiling. It was more difficult to maintain everything all at once than he had expected. Jason hadn't realized it when he was only dealing with one person at a time, but each additional illusion became exponentially more difficult to control.
It wasn't a problem with mana either. He had still barely scratched the surface of what he could wield. It was something else. Almost like each different thing that he affected took up a portion of his mind, and as he tried to do more and more things simultaneously, his mind began to stretch.
It sounded strange, but that was the only way to explain it. He felt strained within his own mind, like it had become a rubber band and each additional illusion that he maintained was pulling it just a little tighter. He didn't want to imagine what might happen if it snapped.
Time to deal with these people. A little voice in his head pushed back against that thought. For all he knew, those soldiers were all good men just following orders, but if he was going to have a chance of rescuing Vanya and Nora then he couldn't afford to leave them.
Even if he just knocked them out or something, who knew when they would wake up and call for more help. He didn't know how much of a timer he was on so he couldn't waste the time to tie them all up. But could he just kill them?
They had already tried to do the same to him. They'd come incredibly close to succeeding, he thought looking down at the crossbow bolts that had dropped to the floor when his shield dissolved into air. None of them seemed to have any reservations about killing him so why couldn't he just do it?
It all came down to a choice, he realized. All of the soldiers were making noise that would eventually call more and more people until he was overwhelmed. If he was stronger then perhaps he would have the luxury of keeping them alive, but he wasn't. Even with more mana than he knew what to do with, he was too weak to make the right choice.
Before he could change his mind, he pulled the soldiers back down to the floor and created a giant square boulder above them. Jason felt a noticeable chunk of mana flow out of him as the rock formed, and there was a gust of wind that left him breathless for a second, but it was too late to stop.
The boulder slammed into the ground, crushing the soldiers instantly. He couldn't let the boulder go too far and put a hole in the floor though, so he made it disappear as it reached the ground.
There was another rush of air, and Jason's ears popped as the boulder disappeared. That was strange, but he didn't stop to think about it. He'd done the hard part, so now it was time to do the easy part.
He turned on Larak and released the illusions holding him. He had backed himself into a corner with his sword out in front of him, crouching in a low defensive stance. As soon as his vision returned, he swung his head around taking in the new scene.
His eyes lingered on the bloody mess in the corner of the room before snapping back to Jason. His left hand ended in a stump that was being held against his shirt to stop the bleeding, but it didn't seem to be affecting him much.
"What did you do to me?" he asked in a low voice. His fear was slowly disappearing now that he could see again.
Jason pulled the gemstone from his forehead with a grunt. It had gone deep into the skin, but he couldn't risk it coming free.
"This was your mistake," Jason said, working to keep his voice calm. His sadness at having killed the soldiers was thankfully easier to mask now that he was standing in front of this monster. This was a man that truly deserved to die.
"How are you touching that?" Larka asked. "What kind of trick is this?"
"No trick," Jason said. He wanted to kill this man so badly, but maybe he could get some information. "What does this do?"
Larak looked even more confused. "It drains mana away, but…"
"And where are the girl and demon being held?"
"Why should I tell you that? You…how are you doing that?" He couldn't seem to wrap his head around what he was seeing. "Some kind of illusion, it must be, you aren't really touching the thing."
He looked around the room, probably looking for the gemstone. He just couldn't fathom that Jason would be capable of holding it in his hand. Unable to find it, he turned back to Jason, but his fear was gone now.
He dove at Jason, who was nearly too late in reacting. As despicable as he was, his opponent was much stronger than the other soldiers.
He pulled him to the ceiling, but still had to duck as Larak's momentum pulled him dangerously close to Jason's head. Jason created another boulder and sent it hurtling towards Larak, but he leaped out of the way just in time.
Jason cursed, getting rid of the boulder before it could do more damage, but that bit of concentration was all that Larak needed. He sent a bolt of lightning hurtling towards Jason, and it was only a last second pull on the man's arm that prevented him from getting hit.
Larak was already sending another bolt, but Jason was ready this time. He pulled him to the floor and took away his vision again.
"More of your ridiculous games?" Larak taunted him, but he was much more unsure of himself than before. He stood completely still, eyes closed. Did he really think he would be able to do anything without being able to see Jason?
The wall behind Larak tore apart without warning, boulders hurtling towards Jason. He tried to pull them out of the way before they could strike him, but there were too many. He deflected the first few, but took another to the chest, knocking the breath out of him, while another struck him on the side of the head.
He fell wheezing to the floor, vision blurring. For a moment he nearly forgot where he was and what he was doing. He needed to…to do what?
"Tricks will only get you so far," a voice sneered above him.
He looked up as Larak brought his sword down. He couldn't react in time to block the strike, but he could at least get himself out of the way. He pulled himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the incoming blow.
His body slammed into a chunk of rock, but he managed to recover in time to create a shield to block Larak's next strike. Even with a seemingly infinite pool of mana, he couldn't finish this. How could he be this weak?
Larak grabbed his shield, nearly ripping Jason's arm off along with it and tossing it to the side. It dissipated into nothing before it hit the ground.
Jason created another, but Larak ignored it, kicking him to the ground again. Jason tried to pull Larak to the far wall to give himself room to breathe, but Larak was expecting that this time. He grabbed onto one of the larger rocks, letting go of his sword to do so, but sending a bolt of lightning at Jason.
Jason tried to dodge, but he was too slow. The bolt hit his left arm, and his body convulsed. His vision blurred again as he struggled to remain conscious. As long as he was alive, there was still a chance right?
He felt the wind, cold against his bloodied body. He struggled to stand up, but his body wasn't working right. He couldn't move his arms or legs and…
Larak walked up to him. The soldier was in even worse shape than before, with blood running down his face. He was holding the stump of his hand against his torso again, but he was still very much alive. There wasn't the faintest hint of a smile on his face anymore. He was saying something, but Jason couldn't hear anything, but a loud ringing in his ears.
He lifted his sword to deliver the final blow. When had he retrieved that? Jason prepared himself to pull the man back again as another gust of wind sent chills down his spine. He watched the sword coming. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion, and his vision was so blurred that it looked like there were ten different swords flying towards him.
Why was there so much wind? Jason wasn't sure how the thought appeared in his addled mind, but he acted instinctively, pulling Larak not towards the far wall, but to the side of the room where the window had been. Jason saw a look of surprise appear on Larak's face just before he blacked out.