An insurmountable challenge had been conquered. A half-born rank vampire had killed a low tier knight rank vampire with a simple touch. The smile on Milas' visage never left.
Was it caused by the grand achievement of slaying a more powerful opponent? NO!
Was it caused by the satisfaction of paying back someone who was out to kill him? NO!
It was the hope of returning to his life. The return of a fragment of his shattered memories. A vision of his past.
Moments before.....
Milas looked beside him just in time to see Asher get kicked away. His breathing suddenly became laboured and his body was lifted up involuntarily. The adrenaline rush had numbed his body completely. Staring down, Milas didn't know how to react.
' There's a sword in my chest. When did that happen? ' Milas' thoughts were sluggish and he blinked a few times to try clearing it up. Alas, the colors bled together even more turning his vision into a headache inducing kaleidoscope.
After what felt like hours, the colors started to make sense. Milas was now staring at the cloudless blue sky through the gaps in the canopy of a blue-leafed tree. His breathing was heavy and sweat soaked his shirt despite the cool breeze. A stern faced man with medium length black hair that ended with light blue tips invaded his view.
Milas could only watch as his body pushed off the ground with its hands and land softly on its feet. This was a dead give away that he was once again experiencing a memory.
'Why am I seeing this now? I'm in danger. I don't have time for this.' Milas said to himself as he started to look for ways to leave the memory. He tried to take control of the body but the only senses that worked were his sight and hearing.Giving up, Milas decided to listen to the man who was invested in teaching him.
"... by forcefully injecting a massive amount of mana straight into the mana core you have a very high chance of shattering it. This causes death almost instantly.
The cause of death isn't the excess mana as many people assume, it is actually the fact that mana from the core bears traces of one's consciousness. The core breaks when it's forced to absorb excess mana from another person due to the presence of another consciousness in the absorbed mana.
The reason I'm telling you this is because it's the main concept to what I'm about to teach you. This technique is called The Shattering Touch and is only taught to direct descendants. Before you ask, I was taught this technique by your father as gratitude for saving his life in a war. I am the only outsider who bears this knowledge and I am tasked to teach it to you by your father despite my protest."
"Why don't you want me to learn it? Are you perhaps afraid that I might use it against you?" Milas' body asked with no hesitation. The man was towering above Milas' body that was most likely eleven at the time but there wasn't a shred of fear in his voice. Milas was questioning the sanity of his younger self as he could see the same dangerous glint in the man's eyes that existed in Deogratius' eyes.
"I don't care what you do with the knowledge. I just want to avoid your father's wrath after you kill yourself while attempting it." The man answered and started to walk away causing Milas to follow. The walk didn't take long before reaching an area with dozens of the blue-leafed trees.
They were a bit taller than a grown man and grew close together forming a circle. In the center, a thin and delicate woman sat with her legs crossed and closed eyes. She was taking slow, deep breaths and the blue leaves seemed to glow in sync with her breathing. This tranquil scene would make anyone want to join and meditate. Alas, the man didn't care.
"Lina, two humanoids, motionless." The man's voice shattered the serene atmosphere causing the woman to frown slightly. Her visage reverted back to its previous state and she gently touched the ground with a single finger.
Two of the closest trees to Milas shuddered and the blue leaves shone bright enough that they appeared white. The untainted smell of nature that made every breath feel refreshing gained an underlying scent of flowers in full bloom.
The leaves fell from the trees all at once leaving naked branches behind. The light disappeared into the ground leaving a pile of dried leaves without a drop of life in them. The light from the leaves coursed into the lifeless trees from the roots. The process was easily observable as light tore through any gaps in the bark.
The trees seemed to gain a second chance at life as new leaves started to pop up on the twigs. A drastic, almost instantaneous change caught Milas off guard as the bark thickened and the trees changed shape. Within seconds the transformation was completed and two humanoid trees with armour made of bark and leaves for hair stood before him.
The man turned around and walked away with Milas in tow. Two tentacle-like streams of water shot from the man's broad shoulders and wrapped around the tree warriors lifting them easily. They soon returned to the tree where Milas woke up and the lesson began.
"These wooden puppets are sustained by the mana they actively absorb from the air, which prevents them from drying and rotting but doesn't provide enough energy for movement. You will practice on them since the lack of a mana core reduces the backlash when you fail. Now watch carefully as I will only do this once."
The man stretched his hand towards one of the tree warriors and tapped it once with his index finger. The result was a pile of splinters being held by the water tentacle instead of the tree warrior. Milas had also felt a jolt in his heart followed by the uncomfortable itching of his insides.
" The itchiness will pass in a minute once your core stabilizes. Now that you've seen and somewhat experienced The Shattering Touch, I'll let you practice." The man had left the other tree warrior standing upright as the water tentacles retracted into his body.
" Are you really going to leave without at least supervising me? I could slack off and you would be blamed for being crappy teacher. "
" First of all, I am a crappy teacher. Second, your father will destroy you if you tried. And third, you're considered the little prodigy with almost limitless potential, which means that you have a reputation to maintain. So show me what a prodigy can do." With that, the man left.
Milas was expecting his body to start training but all he did was shrug and take a nap in the shade. The darkness Milas saw when his body slept lasted for a second before Milas realized that he was in the room where he had met the little girl. The fresh bloodstains on the floor were completely black with a few red drops that refused to mix.
A monkey like beast with light green fur and a single horn sprouting from it's forehead was softly whimpering at Milas' feet. It's limbs and tail were strewn across the room and a sword was stuck in it's spine, paralysing it. Milas placed his palm on its head and a yellow spark flashed in his pupils.
"It's not here?" Milas said to himself as he moved his open palm to the monkey's back right above the heart. The same spark appeared and the monkey squealed as blood trickled from its orifices. Milas however, didn't get to see this as he had blacked out. His belly started to glow red and the few scratches he had sustained rapidly healed.
Teenage Milas, who had been silently observing couldn't close his mouth due to shock. He could feel his body absorbing mana at a rate much faster than his current self. His body woke up some time later and stared at the monkey that was on its last legs. He opened a random drawer and brought out a mana crystal then... he swallowed it.
Before teenage Milas could process what had happened, his body repeated the shattering touch. The expected black out returned but the light from his stomach reappeared and he was soon back to optimal performance. Then he used the claws from the monkey's paw to inflict multiple wounds on himself. Then a brief darkness disabled all of teenage Milas' senses.
He recovered again and was back in the same shade with the tree warrior standing beside him. Milas placed his palm on the rough bark armour but nothing happened. He stayed in this position for a few minutes before sighing and resting in the shade. The same darkness enveloped teenage Milas and he was back in the room with a different beast in a similar state to the monkey.
This cycle repeated itself so many times that Milas didn't even know when it ended. The sight of Sol's grinning face at the end drove him mad beyond reason and he shadowed the moves of his younger self. A technique mastered in a dark bloody room finally exposed. Death at his fingertips to be unleashed by a simple graze. A Shattering Touch.