They all attacked at once. Grayson disappeared and reappeared behind me, with a tendril made from his shadow shooting at me. Zari teleported from the left, with a spatial blade shooting at me. Vin and Vera shot a few lightning and fire spells from behind the protection of Cedric and Jason. Raven jumped up high, riding on a Wind Elemental, and sending down wind blasts with it.
I channeled lightning aether through my Ichor, along with Reverend Flames, and moved. For a second I had actually become lightning, quickly getting behind Vera, and tried to get a hit on her. Cedric came in with a wall made of solidified wind, knocking me back. I lashed out with a leg, not hitting anything, but his shoulder got hit with a massive burst of static electricity, stunning him for a moment.
When I landed I switched to Vibra Stance, phasing out of the imminent boulder that was coming from the left. Back to Lightning as I land next to Jason. I then switch to Explosion Stance and punched the ground, blowing up a few square meters of space, which he occupied. I then switched to Shadow Stance, inky black smoke surrounding me, engaging Raven in the air, copying her movements perfectly. Like a shadow.
Imminent danger to my left, and it's Zari with a Tag in hand. She could create these runes on the fly that allowed her to mark targets and change their spatial coordinates remotely. She tried to use it on me with it and I let her nick me in the arm. I used Lightning Stance again, magnetically sticking the metal in her bracelet to my arm, then discharged as much lightning aether as I could into her through it. She teleported back-probably to get healed by Vera-and Grayson took her place.
I took the Limbo Stance, bending backwards to dodge a jab like there weren't any bones in my body.
"Where's all that confidence now, huh?!" Cedric screamed.
"Just be happy I'm not using any actual magic, just a fighting style." I shot back. Then got shot back as Jason used his shoulder to punt me into a soundwave from Raven sending me upwards.
"You think this is our magic? Come on bud, stop holding back and we will too." Jason reasoned, even as I was floating up in the air.
"You first, and remember, you asked for it." I grinned.
I could tell when they started trying when the Tag on my arm burned, I was sent into a space solidified by Cedric, and burned alive in a pillar of fire by Raven. I just stood there and let it tickle me.
"Wow. He was a right prick wasn't he, and he had the balls to say we were weak. Pathetic." Cedric spat.
"And how could he blatantly lie like that. I'm not using any real magic ." Grayson mocked.
Vin was more reserved. "Umm.. Guys, he isn't screaming... or moving."
Raven said "He wasn't lying, he only used Kyoki No Kakera, a self made style, and not only did it evolve pre-fight, he used barely 5% of what he could post-evolution. He didn't use a single path ability, nor his Flames.
This was just a warm-up, so get ready."
I took that as my cue. Ever the showman, I used Insanity Flames to remove the fire directly in front of my blue eye, and looked around at them, making it seem as if I was watching them from the pits of hell.
They jumped in visible fear as the fire turned into Insanity Flames, and got sucked back into my body. I used Insanity Flames way less since any manifestation of it would cause catastrophic destruction.
"Let the games begin." I smiled.
***
"Oh... my... god. Do you... ever... die?" Vin asked me, panting with vigor. The rest of us were in the same condition, except for me. They were all covered in grievous wounds, and dangerously low on stamina and aether.
I was pristine, due to absorbing energy with Insanity. The problem was I couldn't use either of the flames indefinitely, despite what I led enemies to believe. At some point, they would slowly lose effectiveness until they did nothing other than look cool. Then I had to wait for a cooldown to run out before they were usable again.
I had gotten multiple kill shots in- for each of them, and they returned the favor, though only twice collectively- and let them live to mock them. It was clear I was the winner, but their pride wouldn't let them give in until totally defeated.
I wanted a flashy W and decided to try something that had been stewing in the back of my head.
I used the Asura Path and connected Reality to my Reality(I have no clue how I did it), creating a link which I took advantage of to manifest the entire thing, with all its divisions into a localized area. I then split the manifestation into each and every one of my Minds.
Our influence over everything around us became a trillion times stronger, not only that, all of us had phantom bodies floating behind Lost's real one, it created a field of pure fear so strong that the children in front of us instantly lost their will to fight.
"A-a-alright, you w-w-in." Vin stammered.
I stopped doing whatever I did, knowing that anymore would probably fry my brain.
"I think that's my win." I said cockily. "What do you think, O squad mates, are you satisfied?"
"Yes we are, O almighty Kyran. Now help me up." Raven said. I obliged. As the rest peeled themselves off the floor, they had a little huddle and whispered stuff about me that the dampening field around them didn't allow me to hear.
[Asura Path: 27%]
[Preta Path: 24%]
[Rune Path: 26%]
[War Path: 27%]
[Grimoire Path: 12%]
The gains from this battle were alright, but I felt my progress slowing down, meaning that I would reach a bottleneck soon.
[Reality: Phase 1]
Forget what I just said.
I just realized how little knowledge I had about the actual workings of the world. It was aggravating not knowing how I should proceed or what I could have done better, which meant I needed that information.
Thankfully, my new position as an Asura Squad member gave me much greater access to said information.
So my list was looking like: Get more information on magic mechanics.
Get stronger quickly.
Increase my fame and prestige, along with that of the Asura Squad as well.
Gain actual, real combat experience.
The others interrupted my internal monologue. Raven came out of the huddle, smiled at me and said,
"Kyran Lost Hunter. The current 467th Leader of the Asura Squad. I congratulate you on your promotion. Welcome to the party Kyran."