The professor felt a visible struggle, from a boy who had seemingly been exhausted of all avon and on the verge of experiencing backlash.
What was even more concerning was that this struggle, was not reinforced by avon. It was not being reinforced by his enigma either; it required avon to function, after all.
Or did it? Research has proven that most Blessed can't use their enigmas without any avon left, but there had been rare cases that were not bound by such rules.
Is this boy one of those? But, if my eyes weren't deceiving me at the time, his ability description contained no information of possessing some kind of protection against outside sources attempting to infiltrate his body.
All Yoel had in his profile was Shadow Sight, the ability to steal sight from other shadows for himself, a simple sensory ability. This was something he had kept hidden, or something he didn't even know he had.
After a few more moments, that seemed to pass as slowly as eons would, the professor's creatures managed to find a weak point in the defenses.
Wasting not even a single second, they immediately burrowed themselves in deeper into the boy's body. Until…
He entered his thoughts– or rather, his mind.
The transition from body to mind had always been a difficult, and weird one. Ever since he had gotten this ability, he himself never really understood it well.
Living Art.
That was what they called it. All the tattoos he had on his body could manifest into reality, and each one would obey him. Furthermore, if the creature was drawn in exquisite detail, it came with additional abilities of its own.
This allowed the professor to become a sort of all-rounder, and currently, he had been using one of his first tattoo's abilities.
All tattoos had the flexibility; or rather the ability to insert themselves into another's body. It was an insidious ability. Of course, those with abilities that protect their body or those that had learned how to coat their bodies with avon, would prove to be difficult targets.
But his first tattoo came with the ability to enter the mental realm of his targets and by extension their own core of avon, as the mind and the core were always connected, no matter what.
The core being the professor's goal. he had been able to transfer avon through his tattoos, but most of it would slide off of the target, so he decided to go the extra mile to make sure he could supply Yoel with avon.
A temporary solution, due to Blessed being unable to absorb too much avon from others before their own core avon mixed with the unfamiliar avon too much, becoming harmful to the user.
This was essentially a sort of first-aid, while they waited for proper Healers and Crystals to be brought.
While there, apart from supplying them with avon, he could also injure them– or heal them, from the very source. But that ability came with many restrictions.
Every Blessed had some sort of defense against infiltrators once they reached the mental realm or their core. It was a last resort that all of them possessed upon awakening.
And this skill was enhanced immensely if the mental realm had been infiltrated unwillingly.
In just a few moments… he would reach Yoel's mental realm; his mind.
For the user of the ability which the tattoo originated from, the change from the physical to the mental realm felt as if he was leaving the earth and entering outer space.
Well… it would probably feel like that if I ever decided to leave the Earth. Probably. I was never good at Platforming or Breathing.
Through his creatures' senses, he felt an opening rather than saw and immediately changed course towards it. His tattoos were fast, but they are even faster when they're shrunk down to such a size.
Any smaller, and they would disintegrate.
Suddenly– the beasts found themselves in a gray world.
And there he was, the unassuming student who he originally believed he wouldn't cause much trouble, his legs brought up close to his face and his arms locking them in place.
Not even waiting for the professor to recollect himself, Yoel spoke with fervor in his voice.
I thank you for trying to help me, Professor. I really do. But I can manage, I will be fine.
At the boy's words, the man staggered. Despite the boy sitting right in front of him, he never moved his mouth. Nor did the voice really come from him.
It was from all around him that it did.
Many mental realms possessed features like these; but those that did had abilities related to their voice. Yoel had no such ability.
Perhaps, its some rare occurrence? And what does he mean, he's fine? He was almost done for back in the real world.
Yoel's voice assaulted him from all sides again, leaving him no time to wonder about the nature of his mental realm.
"Yoel. Listen. Let me get to your core. You're running out of avon. Fast. I can help saturate it, even if it's just a bit. Let me-"
I can't do that, Professor. I'm sorry.
Yoel spoke apologetic words, even though they barely sounded apologetic.
Preparing for a fight, the professor sent commands to his tattoos with near-instantaneous speed. His tattoos would always be linked to him, no matter what.
Each of them lit up with different kinds of abilities, spells, and the like. Over the years, he had collected numerous tattoos with outstanding abilities rivaling even his first one.
He was still not sure as to what Yoel's natural defensive system was here, so all he could do was sit tight and brace himself for the worst.
It was a good plan. It would have been a good, solid plan.
If he had been up against anyone but Yoel.
His tattoos charged forward, their speed in the mental realm even more incredible than outside; his confidence grew by the second.
If Yoel was looking at the creatures; he would barely be able to see black spots moving through his gray dimension.
And surely enough, claws had been on Yoel in less than a second, hurling balls of avon a millisecond behind them, ready to strike true.
And they did.
All spells and attacks hit Yoel, but that only caused his form to dissolve into shadow.
He re-assembled a few meters away from the beasts and once again tried to get the professor to stop his attacks.
Please cease this meaningless attempt, professor.
His voice fell on deaf ears; as the beasts had already been charging at him with another barrage of attacks, and so, he once again dissolved into the shadow and manifested elsewhere.
I think I'm starting to understand it now. That's most likely not his real body. Although, what has gotten into him? Why is he speaking like that?
The professor sent the beasts charging once again as he attempted to formulate some kind of plan– there had to be a way to snuff out his true form.
This time, the beasts ran for a second, and then for another… and then another.
Their speed had been incredible; yet almost a minute had passed and they were still nowhere near close to Yoel.
And yet, he seemed as if he was right next to them.
Professor. I did not want this to happen.
He spoke yet again, his voice grating at the professor's ears and sending shivers down his spine. Was it just him or did his voice get progressively colder as time went on?
Yoel, who had been huddled up and floating in the void as if he had been unaware of what was happening; suddenly stood.
He was not a particularly tall boy, seemingly average at best. His brown hair, the front of it left free, while the back of it tied into a ponytail.
Even if he had been standing, his eyes still remained tightly shut. He never even tried opening them– the professor was observing him closely, and he noticed no muscle movement there.
Yoel simply extended his hand and opened his palm.
The spells the creatures had long since manifested and prepared were snuffed out like candles as if they had been mere tricks made for a nobleman's entertainment.
Please. Leave now. I will be fine, professor.
This… this is futile.
Whatever enigma this boy has, they clearly got it wrong. I know their mental realm is supposed to be one of the strongest forms of defense for a Blessed, but this is way out of proportion.
Yoel moved his hands together slowly, allowing for a slow clap to happen.
Once it did, the tattoo creatures were snuffed out just as fast as their spells had been; albeit with a bit of delay.
As his control over the beasts waned, he could feel them returning to him, now as nothing more than simple tattoos.
It was as if they had been hibernating.
Phew… Does this kid always get himself into trouble like this? I can't let anybody see his core. Not even himself. There's a reason why I set up all those damn defenses around it.