Chereads / The Searcher's Odyssey / Chapter 3 - Forever Dark

Chapter 3 - Forever Dark

*Boom

Nier just blinked when he found himself pulled away from the now flattened carriage

"As expected" Renzy muttered calmly under his mask.

He then turned to look towards the front road as a woman appeared in fron of them.

She had black hair and green eyes with a mask covering her mouth. Tight black clothes with knives hanging on her belt.

Behind them, two more people appeared. A giant man with a brown eyes and a stoic look. A large beard on his face with a large hammer in his hands.

Right besides him was a cloaked figure completely covered in the black robe.

'Len' looked at the three people that surrounded them and calmly put his hands over the long maplewood suitcase that reached his stomach.

"All of them are probably at insight level" Len said as he caressed the case.

"I really envy your sensory abilities" Renzy said as he pulled Nier behind him.

'Sensory?' Nier was confused hearing the term as he himself could not sense any thing. He figured it had something to do with mana.

"Insight?" Nier muttered the other thing he found peculiar.

Renzy smiled hearing that as he replied

"Sorcerers over the years have created a scale or a grading system that can help people understand who stands where in strength and skill, To be quick it goes something like zero order, first order and then continues till sixth order. The third order is also called the Evolution Insight."

"Then what is your Order?"

"My Order? I am..."

Boom*

The ground beneath them cracked right as Renzy grabbed Nier by his shirt and jumped away.

"To teach someone during a battle? Do you really believe they won't be a liability?"

The giant man said in deep voice as he seemed to be the one who attacked.

"Heh. Don't worry, after all- you are weak"

Len said as he hung the case on his back with the rope joint on both ends of the suitcase.

The giant stood for a moment in shock before he screamed in rage

Nier, now on the roof of a building looked towards Len and asked. "What is his element?"

Renzy answered with a smile.

"He has no element. I left that part out but there people that have cores which do not convert pure mana into elemental manas. He is one such person. But he is...special"

Renzy turned to look at Kyber in his left.

"What do you think just happened?"

Kyber replied quickly

"The giant man swung the hammer ten meters away from us and yet there was force applied on us. It is likely that the ability of the hammer is to teleport its force farther away but ten meters should be...no. Its possible that the maximum distance it can attack to is farther away but he wanted to make us believe that it isn't."

'That was quite a lot but for him to be able to not only see the swing but also decipher the possibilities. He truly has a knack for battle. It truly gets better everytime I ask'

Renzy smiled as he jumped down

"Its time for our attack"

The two people that remained silence readied themselves as-

BOOM*

Renzy who had been falling brought his hands up and swept the down producing massive winds that covered both sides of the road.

The cloaked man vanished from his spot blending into the shadows. The Giant man covered his front with the hammer that was equal to him in height by pinnings its handle tail on the ground, with its head in front of his head. The tan woman had leaned back as light emerged from her back shaping into butterfly wings propelling her up above from the range of the attack.

• Fantastic Beasts

-Butterfly Winds

As the giant man withstood the winds. Len appeared behind him, pouring mana in his fists and punched.

The hammer was standing up with the back of it's grip being screwed in the ground. The Giant simply let go of his grip causing the hammer to fall in front and then simply pressed it down with a kick causing its head to smash towards the ground. Len stopped his move mid way and side stepped as the ground he moved from was smashed by the displaced force of the hammer.

It was a cunning move, but without the shielding of the hammer, the winds caused cuts to appear on the giant man even though he completely covered his body with mana.

• Fire Fire

- Pillar of Blaze

Right then, the ground beneth Len split apart as a pillar of blue flame emerged from the ground from a magic circle. Len had however, moved away from the place as if he foresaw the trap.

"You set trap circles beneath the road? That would have incinerated me had it hit. Not bad...this giant and you should be teammates" Len said looking at the shadows. The giant man simply picked back his hammer tightening his grip. Meanwhile, Renzy looked at the flying woman and calmly smiled.

"Nier, listen...normally speaking, ignoring the special properties and bloodline abilities. If you have an average element, all you can do is manipulate the element and use spells for variety but its usually not too diverse. This is where techniques or abilities come. They usually awaken at the age of ten and can allow one to extend beyond the limits of their element. To give an example...

Renzy brought his hands up pointing his finger towards the woman.

• The Cutting Board Canvas

"My technique allows me to take my vision as a canvas, and cut it by the wind with my paint"

Renzy swiped his finger as winds moved slicing one hand of the woman flying in a clean slash.

"I was going for something more lethal but you luckily have the wind element, one better with mobility than most."

Renzy said with a smile. Nier looked at the scene with amazement.

The woman was shocked for a moment before she grit her teeth. It was amazing for Kyber how she didn't outright scream

losing an arm but he blamed it on her technique or training.

'That was a big mistake. I moved too late believing that the attack was a projectile and that I can dodge it as it reached me. No, that was instantaneous. As soon as he finished that stroke, the air in the space followed the stroke and slashed that path in a single moment as if ripping apart. That attack covered a limited range but it seems to be practically large enough. Further more, from what I felt and if it truly takes his vision as the canvas, than perspective is very important. Even a small stroke could be extremely large for the target if the target looks small in his eyes. The shape of the attack is essentially a minor sector."

The green eyed woman evaluated the situation rapidly as she focused on her severed arm. Mana started to condense on her shoulder as suddenly, a transparent claw came out of her shoulder. It seemed to of the same texture as the wings on her back which had regenerated quickly being made out of mana.

• Fantastic Beasts

- Reptilian Claw

Ofcourse, the process wasn't instantaneous and her enemy wasn't going to stay idle. The masked man with similar green eyes followed his previous attack by...Hmm? He suddenly turned around and swiped at the dark corners of the street. A large amount of rubble was sent flying as a slash was created on the bottom of the wall standing at the side.

The masked man followed by doing the same thing on other shadowy places in rapid succession.

There was no result.

The woman had already formed a new claw that seemed to be reptilian when chunks of rocks covered in blue hue came flying at her from a blindspot. She had however, sensed the mental energy and wasn't caught off guard but realised quickly that engaging in a battle of mental magic was going to end in her defeat and promptly opened her mouth. Mana started to concentrate as it shaped into an elephant trunk that was transparent and glowing.

Woosh!

The trunk absorbed ambient mana and just before the rocks could hit, blew a large amount of wind that scurried the rocks away.

• Fantastic Beasts

-Sneeze Of The Mighty Elephant

The giant man attacked his black eyed adversery by ramming down with his mana reinforced hammer continuously but his white robe-d oppenonent dodged them completely casually.

This made the giant realise that his oppenonents were holding back a lot and were waiting for something.

On the roof top, The two boys watched the battle with amazement when Nier suddenly frowned and picked on his left ear. Kyber who stood on his right noticed his expression was about to ask what happened when Nier turned and showed him his left hand. There was a small shaking, glowing worm in his hands.

"This...seems to be that aunty's technique. Even at this distance...I can't feel it's mana...eh..I can't feel it's touch. How did you notice this in your ear." Kyber said in shock.

"I don't know...I just felt there was...some sort of feel...something... on my neck...a tingling feeling." The little boy failed to express his thoughts but Kyber squinted his eyes. He quickly turned around and looked towards the flying woman. He crushed the worm causing the woman flying to suddenly convulse but she quickly turn towards the boys while supressing her pain. That seemed to have been enough for Renzy to draw another stroke slicing apart her torso from the legs. A famed mercenary was thus killed without being able to show all her capabilities.

Nier's widened seeing woman die like that but before he could think about it, Len jumped up to the roof while being covered in a small blue hue. He looked at the white haired boy for a moment before he turned towards the Giant on the ground, who seemed like he wasn't going to be coming up anytime soon, or ever.

"State your purpose for attacking us...One of your friend has perished and you won't take long to follow if you continue the fight"

"You want to converse after you killed our 'companion'?" The one who replied with a question was not the giant but the shadows. It seemed as if a hoarse voice was echoing from all around them yet not making a move.

"Hmm...Well, without establishing our authority...I doubt you would have listened." Renzy replied still standing on the road.

The shadows kept silence before replying-

"We are mercenaries. If you don't know, there is a bounty on that silver eyed boy's head. It is to capture the boy alive. A bounty that can ensure any one a comfortable life...for generations. Anyways, that woman wasn't our ally. We'll be retreating now since we are clearly not your match."

"And you believe we'll let you go?" Len asked calmly

"You are welcome to persue us but I know why you want to keep your strength for someone more 'dangerous'.."

With that, the giant man turned and jumped onto the shadow of the walls. Vanishing from everyone's sight.

Len kept his gaze on the sight for a moment before he sighed...

"Renzy, don't be guilty...it is something ingrained in us... anyways I am sure that they have left."

Renzy remained silent looking at the blood he left behind.

*Sigh

"You are right...anyways. What were those light specks?"

Renzy suddenly asked.

"It was a translucent worm, The same as the mercenary's wings and trunk. A part of her technique. I could not feel mana from it and I even couldn't feel its touch. It was going up Nier's ears."

Len frowned under the mask hearing that.

"A technique that utilizes animal abilities? That was dangerous. She was probably focused on the worm and was thus caught off guard. Well, it's not time to analyse her technique...What's more curious is that how did you stop the worm from going past your ears?" He asked looking at Nier.

"I don't know...I just felt something there...wiggwing on my ears."

"That...don't tell me. You can sense mana!?" Len muttered flabbergasted.

"Nier...close your eyes. Can you feel that there is some thing around you?"

Nier did just that but he felt nothing

"But that..how- wait. Could it be that the experiment on him gave him the ability to sense mana when in extreme danger? Of something like that?" Renzy asked.

"Seems plausible... we'll have to wait and see.

A/N: • XYZ represents a sorcerer's technique name and anything after is the name of an ability from that technique