5 weeks later.
Near the Tojo estate is a forest.
It isn't too dangerous, but according to the maids, recently, there have been several wolves sighted.
These are unawakened beasts, meaning they have no beast cores. They aren't that dangerous to a mage, but to a regular human, they could spell one's downfall.
Despite that, I snook out to go to the forest.
Why, you might ask?
Well, After practicing with my telekinesis for the past five weeks, I was able to expand my reach to about 20 meters in every direction. I should be able to sense any incoming threats and react accordingly.
In addition, I can now put up a telekinetic barrier, it should be enough to block an adult male's punch.
I can reinforce my strikes with telekinesis as well to cause even more damage.
Currently, I have a practice sword I took from the house's armory. Typically, this sword is used only for sparring by the guards, and it isn't too sharp.
With my telekinesis, though, I can generate a small vibrating current around the blade, making it deadly sharp. Based on my estimations, it won't be enough to breach a mana shield, something mages use to protect themselves, but against flesh, it should do the job.
I do feel a headache due to the strain the telekinesis has on my body. Reinforcing my legs to be quicker, my arms to hold and swing my sword, and my blade to cut through, all while expanding my senses to the 20-meter limit, has it's toll on me. I'm still nowhere near strong enough.
I continue walking deeper into the forest. My feet crunched along the dried leaves. I purposely attempt to lower my guard to bait a wolf into attacking, but to no avail.
I keep walking for around 30 more minutes before I finally sense something.
A fast-moving object is running towards me from behind. It had quickly entered my 20-meter field, and my eyes widened at the speed it was moving. With telekinesis strengthening my legs, I push against the ground as fast as I can.
I feel the wolf brush right past me, breaking through my barrier as I leap to the side.
I quickly stabilize myself and look at my opponent. Standing in front of me is a large grey wolf with red eyes. It looks at me with saliva dripping out of its mouth. Its sharp teeth eager to tear into me.
Fast. I thought to myself.
I tighten my grip on my sword and run forward. The wolf, seeing my charge, runs towards me as well, and in the next second, we meet.
I quickly step to the wolf's right and channel my telekinesis into my arms as I twist my entire body in a clockwise rotation.
As the wolf's momentum carries it past me, my blade hits its front leg, digging deep into the bone. In a split second, I increase the telekinesis surrounding my blade, sharpening it even further as I try to cut its entire leg off.
My blade severs its bone and cuts through the rest of its leg.
In a flash, the wolf is already past me, but due to its sudden injury it loses balance and slams into a nearby tree, letting out a shallow yelp.
Adjusting my grip on my blade, I dash forward, willing my telekinesis to surround my legs and boost my muscles as I quickly arrive in front of the wounded beast.
Letting out a roar, I raise my blade above my head and will all my telekinesis into both my arms and my blade.
It glints in the sunlight, reflecting a silvery yellow glow as I bring it down onto the beast's neck.
My blade meets fur, then flesh. Soon, it hits the bone, severing that too.
The beast twitches before lying still. Its head drops to the forest floor, and blood starts gushing out of its severed neck—white bone visible between the flesh and skin of the beast.
I let out a sigh as I looked up into the forest canopy.
My chest starts trembling, and I realize I'm laughing.
"Finally, FINALLY," I yell.
This is exactly what I've missed. Fighting with your life on the line. After conquering all of murim, I never got to experience this thrill. It's been so long. Everyone in murim was just so weak.
Suddenly, I freeze. My smile stuck on my face as I tense up. To my left, I hear a low snarl and turning to face the creature, I see another wolf, almost 50% bigger than the dead wolf, at my feet.
Looking back and forth between this new wolf and the dead one, my smile turns into a grin.
"Oh, was this your mate?" I laugh, I reinforce my leg with as much Telekinetic power as I can muster, and kick the head of the dead wolf.
Its skull shatters into pieces as bits of brain, blood, and bone explode from the now-destroyed skull. Bits of gore falling down onto the living wolf.
Seeing the obvious taunt, it grows enraged and lets out a wild roar before tensing up its body, ready to charge at me and avenge its dead lover.
With my sword in my right hand, I will my telekinesis into both my legs and my arms.
"Come here, pussy", I say, grinning.
As if it understood, it immediately charged at me. It's speed almost 20% faster than the original wolf, but luckily, I'm prepared.
I won't be able to match its speed, so I remove the telekinesis from my legs.
Quickly, I form a barrier in front of the wolf, and as it hits the barrier, it shatters.
My head is suddenly assaulted with pain as I grit my teeth, trying to ignore the pain. I know that feeble barrier wouldn't stop the damn thing, but that wasn't my goal.
I just needed to slow it down for even a fraction of a second. And that's exactly what it did.
That microsecond gave me as much time as I needed. By the time the wolf reaches me, my sword is already in an arc. From my head, I've angled it downwards to where I estimated the beast would be as it tries to bite into my torso.
I grin madly as the beast realizes its mistake. Its momentum is too high for it to stop moving and avoid my strike. I will as much power as I can into my arms as I swing downwards, slicing into the skull of the bastard.
My sword manages to pierce into its brain, killing it instantly.
One thing I didn't consider is not having the strength to stop the corpse's momentum.
It collides with me, and I'm launched backward, hitting a boulder 5 meters away.
I gasp as I feel blood surge up my throat and out my mouth.
I collapse onto the ground, staring at the now stilled corpse of the second beast. Despite my injuries, I started laughing again.
"If I could cast a fireball, I could reduce these two bastards to nothing but ash," I mutter as I wipe the blood off my chin.
I slowly stand up, with the help of my telekinesis, and I pick up the sword. Trying to dislodge it from the skull of the second wolf, I splatter blood all over my clothes.
Frowning, I shake my head before I start the trek home.
As I'm about to leave the clearing, I sense two more wolves walk out from the forest, joining me in the clearing.
I look back at them, and seeing the two wolves bare their canines at me, I grin again.
I stare at the two wolves and unleash my killing intent.
One thing I learned is that the killing intent I can unleash is on par with what I had before being reincarnated.
I can use my killing intent to subdue both beasts and people.
Using the killing intent of the heavenly demon, I'm able to instill raw fear towards me. Anyone I target will be hit with a sense of dread and imposing death, as if I'm a wall they cannot overcome no matter what they do.
Under such effects, both wolves instantly lost their fighting spirit, not even daring to move.
I removed my killing intent, and they quickly dashed away, not bothering to avenge their fallen comrades.
"Fucking animals," I snarl in disgust.
Now you might be wondering, Akuma, why didn't you use your killing intent to stop the 2nd wolf's charge instead of risking an injury using your telekinetic barrier?
Well, I need to get accustomed to my current strength with my telekinesis. Constant use of it helps me grow faster, and I can't rely on killing intent in a battle. It's only good to tell people to fuck off or bend to my will. Downside is if they show even a little resistance, I need real strength to subdue them, such as my telekinesis. You get what I'm sayin?
Of course, killing intent wouldn't work too well against stronger opponents. Even the weakest mages could kill the current me, and if I hit them with killing intent, if they chose to attack despite their fears, I'd die. The same thing goes for mana beasts. That's why I need to get stronger.
I still have around four months until I attempt reforming my mana core. I need to continue practicing and honing my telekinesis. As it stands, I still can't control ambient mana, also known as mana, in the atmosphere.
I let out a sigh as I continued my walk home.
"How am I going to explain these injuries to mother…" I mutter.