~Chapter 23~
~before you were gone~
"May we," a voice said. It was Ogunt Ki."We will watch over her."
I placed Eliza into my shadow, and it was as if she was absorbed into my shadow realm. "Thank you," I said to him.
"Understood," he replied.
Kang stopped laughing, his confidence gone as he stared me down.
"You killed my disciples," he said, anger in his voice.
In the aftermath, I saw blackened souls lingering over the remains of the bodies scattered across the field.
Would it even be possible for me to absorb them? I asked myself.
There was only one way to find out. I summoned the murky shadow hands, instructing them to grab the souls. They whipped out at lightning speed, seizing the lingering essences and pulling them toward the portal forming in my shadow.
There were about a thousand giants on the field, and one by one, their souls plunged into the portal.
I was surprised that it even worked. It was clear I needed to explore this ability more once I got back home.
"What are you doing, little monkey?" Kang hissed under his breath.
He leapt into the air, landing directly in front of me. Despite his size, Kang was fast.
He slammed his fist into the ground, and to my shock, a massive stone fist erupted from the earth, speeding toward me.
I forced myself to remain calm. I focused, imagining a rock barrier rising at my feet. To my surprise, a wall of stone shot up just in time to block Kang's stone fist.
However, it was still weak. The wall cracked and shattered into pieces on impact.
"My stone is harder than yours, boy," he laughed. Then he screamed loudly, the sound shaking the ground and trees around us.
A faint, glowing aura began to form around his body—a fog-like highlight that reminded me of Ogunt Ki when I named him.
"This is my Etherveil," Kang declared, clearly pleased with himself. "It shows the difference between you and me."
Etherveil~
All mages who surpass a certain rank or level in spellcasting gain what is called an Etherveil—a foggy outline that surrounds their body. The size of this veil corresponds directly to the amount of power they wield.
"Look at you, monkey," Kang sneered, laughing. "You have nothing around you. I don't sense the Etherveil anywhere near you. It's too late to run now—you will die by my hands."
Kang began pounding the ground, one punch after another, relentless and precise. I was caught off guard as thousands of rock-hard fists erupted from the soil at my feet. They moved fast , morphing from the earth with every strike.
As I tried to dodge, Kang let out a menacing laugh. "No, stay right there, boy."
He raised his left hand, and suddenly I felt an overwhelming force pinning me in place. It was as if gravity itself had turned against me.
What is this? I thought to myself.I couldn't move a single muscle.
Kang's laughter spread across the battlefield as the stone fists at my feet came at me. One struck my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. Another slammed into my face, and then my chest. Over and over, the fists rained down on me, each blow sending shockwaves of pain through my body.
What was happening? He could use both stone and gravity magic. I didn't even know that was possible. Kang possessed both an elemental attribute and a deviant attribute—and he could wield them at will.
Deviant Attribute~
A deviant attribute is a form of magical casting that falls outside the main four elements: water, fire, wind, and earth. Unlike second-stage abilities, which evolve from the base elements—like ice branching from water—deviant abilities stand apart. These are unique powers, such as Madoxx's shadow manipulation, Eliza's Tears of Blood, and now Kang's gravity manipulation.
I coughed up blood as the final strike hit my chest, sending a shockwave of pain through my body. Finally, the overwhelming force faded, and I was able to move again. My legs gave out, and I collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.
It was foolish of me to assume the rules of the Dome would apply out here. He could use palm casting and didn't need a wand like the mages I'd encountered so far.
I struggled to my feet, wobbling as I tried to assume a fighting stance.
Kang kept his distance for now, but I knew I needed to close the gap.
He struck the ground again, punching it five times in total. The earth beneath my feet quaked as stone fists erupted. I tried to dodge, but Kang laughed, pinning me in place once more.
"Don't you ever learn, monkey?" he mocked, as the five stone fists landed with crushing force.
I analyzed his pattern. He uses his abilities one at a time. That might mean he can't use both rock and gravity simultaneously. His gravity seems more like a support, locking his enemies in place while his stone fists do the damage. It lets him keep a distance and strike his enemies with precision.
I underestimated you, didn't I, Kang? I thought to myself.
I sprinted toward him, not giving him a moment to act. He reacted swiftly, locking me in place with a wave of his hand. In an instant, massive boulders formed above me, and for a brief second, I was freed—but as soon as the boulders appeared, he pinned me again.
With a motion of his hand, the rocks accelerated downward, crashing into me one after another.
"I call that one Storm of Stone," he said, laughing.
Dizziness overtook me. My vision blurred as the crushing weight of the stones piled over my body. I let out a groan of pain.
"Do you need assistance, Master?" Ogunt Ki's voice rang in my mind.
"No!" I shouted. "Do not interfere!"
"Understood," he replied.
Damn it, how do I do this?
Summoning all my strength, I punched at the stones, manipulating them out of the way. My skill in stone casting seemed to be improving, though not fast enough for my liking.
I stood and stomped the ground, creating a cube of stone around me. It was weak and brittle, but it would have to do for defense. Drawing inspiration from Melody, I punched the ground, sending shards of stone hurtling toward Kang.
He laughed as he countered, stomping the ground to form a solid wall that effortlessly blocked my attack.
"Pathetic," he said, his tone dripping with disdain.
Then, he replicated my attack—only his was more powerful, fierce enough to shatter my rock cube. Desperate, I quickly raised my hands to create a shield of stone, bracing against the oncoming boulders. It worked—for a moment—before the shield broke apart.
"I'm tired of playing now, monkey," Kang said with a sinister grin spreading across his face.
Why was I trying so hard to rely on stone casting? Who was I proving a point to? Was I really going to lose over pride? Kang fought with every skill at his disposal, while I stubbornly refused to acknowledge my ice and shadow magic. What is wrong with me?
Even now, I resisted winning in that way. But something had to change—if I didn't adapt, I'd lose. Or worse, I'd die.
Fine. I'll fight my way, I told myself.
I summoned a shard of rock with my right hand, shaping it into a large spike, and hurled it toward Kang. It was weak, already starting to shatter mid-flight. I used my left hand to imbue the rock with ice, boosting its speed. The shard shot through the air like lightning, but Kang flinched only for a second before using gravity magic to slam it into the ground.
Not wasting any time, I created a dome of ice and rock around myself as Kang unleashed a barrage of stone to trap me. The stone pounded against the icy armor, but it held firm. His rocks bounced harmlessly off its surface.
"Ah, monkey man's learned a new trick," Kang mocked, laughing.
He punched the air, sending volleys of stone fists flying toward me. I countered with my own frozen rock fists. They collided mid-air, shattering on impact.
Suddenly, Kang locked me in place with his gravity magic, accelerating the stone shards toward me. Thinking fast, I summoned a shadow arm from my back—untouched by his magic—and used it to launch ice and stone projectiles at him.
Caught off guard, Kang dropped his gravity hold to defend himself from the barrage of icy, rock-imbued spikes. I could use my shadow to form limbs capable of casting spells.
Kang leapt into the air, defying his massive size, and roared, "I'm tired of you, monkey!"
Release! he shouted. Heavenly Celestial Storm!
Thousands of colossal boulders materialized in the sky, set ablaze by the sheer speed of their descent as Kang's gravity magic pulled them down.
Reacting instantly, I summoned an avalanche of enormous rock and ice spikes, as large as I could envision. They erupted from the ground, towering like mountains. The earth quaked as our attacks collided, shattering into a chaotic storm of ice and stone. Flaming boulders rained down in the aftermath, cratering the battlefield.
"Stop, monkey! You have no Etherveil!" Kang roared. "You're beneath me—I will not be outdone by you!"
He slammed into the ground with unimaginable force, sending shockwaves of rock barreling toward me.
"Thanks, Kang. I've learned a lot from you today," I said.
Kang laughed, his voice echoing. "This fight is far from over!" he shouted, as the wave of rock raced toward me at lightning speed.
Up until now when i release my ice elemental form, I could summon mountains of ice and effect the surroundings but now that my ice was mixed with rock even I was curious what this attack could do.
Release! I screamed. Prison of Ice and Stone!
A gust of freezing wind swept across the battlefield, frosting over the ground. The earth trembled as jagged spikes of rock and ice erupted, forming a massive, ice rock hybrid wall. It stopped the tsunami of stone Kang sent at me, shattering it into fragments.
Slamming my fist into the ground, I released thousands of ice-rock shards they burst foward, rising into the sky like glittering needles. Kang watched, his expression filled with caution.
The spikes shot into the air, climbing higher and higher until they stopped,
suspended for a moment before plummeting back to earth.each needle fallingwith lightning speed. They rained down on Kang relentlessly.
He tried to form a dome of rock to
shield himself, but the massive ice-imbued spikes shattered it as if it were nothing. One after another, the needles pierced through, unstoppable.
Kang extended his hand in a desperate attempt to block them, but they tore through his flesh and armor alike. Each strike forced his body into submission
until it finally went limp. The spikes pinned him to the ground, encasing him in a prison of jagged ice and rock.
To my surprise, he was still alive. His
body trembled as he tried to move, but
the prison held him. Slowly, he raised a single finger toward the moon.
In his final breath, he whispered, "I wish
I could have seen you one last time. before you were gone."