Levin stared down wide-eyed at the metal blade piercing him. It seemed like he couldn't quite process what was happening. To be honest, neither could I. I knew I had to do something, though.
"What is this? I thought Saige said to just confine us, didn't she?" I asked, drawing my dagger with my left hand. At the same time, I gathered raw mana in my right. I didn't know anything about Frederick personally, but I did know that it would be very unwise to challenge another purple-eye with many, many more years of experience than me to a contest of magic. The mysterious beam attack is likely my only viable weapon here, so I focused on preparing it while drawing his attention to my dagger.
"It seems I must clarify something," Frederick said. "I may serve Lady Ortney in name, but my loyalty has always been to His Imperial Majesty first and foremost. And I cannot allow you to interfere with his noble ambition."
He withdrew his sword from Levin's body. The boy started to fall forwards, and I raised my right hand towards Frederick, but he melted away into his own shadow, which then vanished.
That's Shadow Step! I've been trying to learn that for ages!
I spun around and jumped back, and a shriek of metal sounded out as I parried the butler's sword. As I had predicted, he had reappeared by emerging from my own shadow, aiming for a sneak attack. *Deep Shadow could've prevented that, but all my focus was being used to keep the beam attack primed to fire. If I let my concentration waver at all, the raw mana would rapidly unravel and revert to its usual inert state.
I backpedaled towards the shed's entrance until I was almost where Levin lay, coughing and sputtering, and raised my right hand again.
Frederick didn't pursue me, but instead held up his free hand, where a writhing mass of congealed shadow had formed.
That's Umbral Bolt. It's a deadly attack with a fast startup, too fast for me to dodge at this range... but unfortunately for him, I have something faster.
At the very last fraction of a second, the old man seemed to realize something was off, and jumped sideways. The beam of light that had been aimed at his shoulder instead pierced his right arm at the elbow. His sword clattered to the ground, and his concentration on Umbral Bolt was broken, but he was still very much alive.
Dammit. As expected of a fellow purple-eye, his instincts are sharp.
"What in the world... hm, so you are even more dangerous than I had expected," he said. "But a spell that powerful must take a lot of mana, so—!?"
He jumped again, my second beam hitting nothing but air.
It has the mana cost of a low-tier spell, so I can use this maybe eight or nine more times. Let's see how long he can keep dodging.
He charged me as I readied a third shot, so I flung my dagger towards him. Without a sword to parry with, he was forced to dodge to the side, which gave me just enough time to finish preparations. I fired the third shot— but he vanished into his own shadow again.
With my back to the entrance, my shadow is in front of me now, so where is he planning to come out from?
A sound came from behind me, and before I could turn around, I was tackled to the ground and locked in a submission hold. My dagger flew out of my hand.
Shit, that's right, there was still Levin's shadow behind me!
"You gave me a lot of trouble, esteemed guest. But this is the end of your life," the butler said.
I felt it right away— his mana was invading my body. Spirit-attuned, from the feel of it. Normally, spells like Slumber that directly affect the body or mind can only be cast on yourself, since the effect must be activated inside the target and other people's bodies will repel your mana with their own. But, if you have enough skill and quantity of mana to overpower your target's mana, then it becomes a different story. And I had less than 30% of my mana remaining, making me more vulnerable.
All he needs to do is knock me out with Slumber, then slit my neck. Shit. Can I not do anything at all?
I struggled to break free, but the butler's limbs were like iron rods. The lump of foreign mana in my body slowly grew, approaching the amount needed for the spell.
It's no use, I can't aim my arms to fire the beams....
... wait.
Why do I need to use my arms?
I focused my raw mana in a spot between my shoulder blades, fighting back my rising panic as the foreign mana continued to build. I pictured in my mind the position the old man was in, locking me down from above. I twisted my torso slightly to adjust my aim, and then—
"Ghrk!?"
The invading mana stopped growing, and I easily forced it out. The arms pinning me down slackened.
"H-How... what are you..."
I pushed up, shoving the man off of me and standing up. I looked down at him, and at the hole right where his heart should be. His breathing had already stopped.
But then I heard a cough.
"Shit, Levin! Don't die on me, you dumbass!"
He was laying just inside the doorway, bleeding profusely from the stab wound Frederick's sword had left. His eyes were closed.
I grabbed him and dragged him into the shed, away from any prying eyes in case the butler had any fellow Imperial spies hanging around. I propped him up against the far wall, then retrieved my dagger to cut away his shirt so I could assess the wound.
It was a clean hit, straight through his stomach. His face was already turning pale. I began attuning all of my remaining mana to Spirit for a healing spell, but I could tell it wouldn't be enough. My affinity for Spirit was low, and I only knew the low-tier healing spell Heal. Not to mention, pushing my mana into his body is going to take even more time and waste more mana, so I didn't expect to be able to cast it more than once or twice.
But I still had to try. With the Spirit-attuned mana ready, I sat down in front of him, then forced my mana into his body.
If I had to describe the sensation I felt right then, it was like the mental equivalent of throwing all my weight behind a full-power punch, only to hit empty air and lose my balance. Levin had no mana at all.
How is this even possible!? Wait, crap—
I was so surprised that I almost lost my hold on the mana. I pushed aside my questions for later, and concentrated on manipulating the mana I put in his body, shaping it into the pattern of the Heal spell weave. Without any mana to fight, it went incredibly quickly, and none of my own mana was wasted.
"Heal!"
A soft light enveloped the wound. It shrunk slightly, but didn't close completely. But since I was able to invoke the spell so easily, I still had plenty of mana left.
"Heal! Heal! Heal! Heal!"
With the final invocation, his wound was properly sealed up. This wouldn't replace the blood he lost, but his chest was rising and falling steadily, so he should live.
Which doesn't make sense, because how can he be alive without mana? It's not just that he's empty, the world isn't replenishing his mana either. Well, I won't get answers while looking at his sleeping face.
I gave him a gentle punch on his shoulder. He stirred, then opened his eyes, then looked down at his stomach, first with a panicked expression, then a confused one.
"I'm... alive?"
"You're welcome," I said. "I took care of our friend, too."
He gazed over at the butler's body, then looked at me with eyes full of gratitude.
"T-Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm so glad I didn't die again..."
"Okaaay, stop right there."
"Huh? Stop what?"
"Saying mysterious stuff. You owe me a lot of explanations, and I'd rather you didn't increase that list even more before getting to those first."
"... pft. Haha."
"What's so funny?"
He closed his eyes and shook his head, still smiling.
"I was just thinking about what an idiot I was. I thought I could be clever and recruit one of the strongest characters right at the start, and nearly died for it. On the other hand, a background character I met by random chance saved my life."
He opened his eyes and looked at me.
"You're right, you do deserve answers. So, let's start with the first question you ever asked me."
He waved his hands in the air, and I realized he was using his mysterious power again. Before I could ask what he was doing with it, though, something appeared in the air in front of me.
[Admin "Levin Aiken" wishes to register you as a User. Do you accept?]
[Yes] [No]