Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 218, Season of the Rising Sun, Day 3 –

“I’ll be sending Matteo over soon enough!”

Vicious’s words were still echoing from the walls and Terry’s blood was boiling from the threat to one of his whaka. His consciousness was racing through his storage. He did not have a good plan, but he did have a whole Hall of Power full of weapons.

Deep down, Terry understood that it would be smarter to keep up the defense and wait for a chance to strike at Vicious, but the desire to rip the slimy bastard into pieces was growing stronger by the second.

“Do you have an Apple of Rising Blood?” Apex’s question jolted him from his own bloodlust.

Terry retrieved a crimson-golden apple and threw it towards Apex, who was still recuperating on the platform.

Apex seems to have used up all of the items, both the ones she had prepared and the ones I gave her. Her mana is still weak. Whatever Vicious did or caused to happen, must have injured her heavily.

Crap.

Terry forced his own wrath down. He had promised to protect Apex during her cultivation breakthrough. This was not the time for him to lose it.

I should really reserve more time for breathing exercises. This whole martialist asylum is not good for my judgement.

He clenched his fists and prepared himself to block Vicious for as long as he could.

“Ahhhhhhhhr!” A violent outburst of mana was unleashed behind him.

Terry reflexively turned to see Apex standing up with bloodshot eyes. Waves of crimson fire were roaring around her.

Mixed aspects. Blood, life, fire, lightning… Mostly blood.

Uh-oh…

Terry finally realized what was going on. He had been lulled into composure by Apex’s calm question and had not wondered why she had asked for the magic fruit.

Forbidden technique.

Apex was already at the verge of death.

This is insane!

Terry had thought his own temper was getting too irritable and flaring up to a worrying degree, but evidently, he still paled in comparison to the real short fuse in the room. He could see madness in Apex’s bloodshot eyes. He even felt the instinctual reflex to retreat from the woman that was burning her life.

“I’ll kill you!” Apex screamed and charged towards the entrance.

“Damn it…” Terry was forced to drop his divine mana barrier and to stop his spell that was keeping the unfolded tertium cube in place. Not even a minute after he had resolved to focus on defense and buying time, Apex was smashing through the tertium cube and melting it in the process.

“Heehee… hmph.” Eric’s facial expression switched from gleeful schadenfreude to irritation when he was assaulted by a burst of dark crimson flames accompanied by the cry of a phoenix. He hurriedly liquified his body and evaded the flames.

“Die!” Apex reared her arms back with fingers stretched and then pushed them abruptly forward while the image of an orange-golden flood dragon appeared behind her.

Lightning cracked and darted all over the passage to strike at the dark fluid that constituted Vicious’s body.

“Crazy bitch.” Vicious used a channeled technique to guide a viscous fluid to trap Apex’s feet, only to have the substance evaporated by Apex’s flames in seconds.

Apex was wheezing at this point but still kept up her relentless assault.

Right when Vicious was trying to retreat in a dash of liquid, he found his path blocked by translucent golden layers of mana. He managed to break through one layer but found more waiting for him. He hastily spread his fluid body out towards the edge of the passage when Apex’s attack reached him and the barrier of divine mana.

Oh mana, I hope she maintains a sliver of sanity.

Terry saw Apex smash through several layers of his barriers while attacking Eric.

She isn’t exactly calm on normal days and this technique seems to be similar to a burst with blood- and fire-aspected mana. That can’t possibly improve her temper.

Then again, she didn’t flare up at me for interfering in the fight, so perhaps she has enough sense left to understand the situation we’re in?

Wishful thinking?

Terry followed behind the battle between the two ranked rookies while looking for an opportunity to tilt the battle in Apex’s favor.

Vicious must be the most annoying opponent imaginable. The debilitating effects of darkwater aside, this fluid body is a nightmare in itself.

Once again, Terry sorely felt the limitations of his only spell. There was no suitable spell target on Vicious, and the channeler of the Shapeless Pond would shrug off whatever item would transfix in his path.

“Apex, you lost before!” jeered Vicious. “Do you really think you have a chance now that you are on borrowed time? Heeheehee…”

“Huahh!” Apex charged forth once more.

“Wait!” Terry shouted from behind her. “Trap!” He had sensed another trace of the weird mana gathering between the two.

He’s intentionally baiting her.

Crap, she isn’t listening.

I can— Apex is going to hate this…

Terry transfixed a small metal buckle on Apex’s shoe and she immediately tripped.

I hope her ankle is okay.

Terry dashed past Apex and hurled an intense disruption discharge towards the weird mana. Without pause, he retrieved one of his remaining battle talismans and channeled mana into it.

A purple translucent skull was summoned and charged forth to pursue Vicious’s mana signature.

“What the fuck…” Vicious liquified once more to evade the skull.

Terry could sense a slight movement of the weird mana again when the channeler dodged. The skull kept charging back and forth.

It’s chasing something. Another trace of the weird mana. It’s flickering all over the place inside the viscous liquid.

Is that the channeling anchor? Or another weakness?

Terry realized that Vicious was trying to charge into him.

Is he hoping that the skull will change targets? That’s not how this talisman works.

Terry pushed his mana into the divine hammer inscription. He might not be able to use his Immovable Object spell to limit the channeler’s movements, but he still had the barriers summoned from the intersection between the light and metal aspects.

“Ahh!” Apex’s shout reminded him of her presence. She was charging towards Vicious and Terry was stuck in the middle.

“Crap.” Terry darted up and relied on his septimum pearls to get into a flat position pressed against the ceiling.

Vicious had managed to wait out the effect of Terry’s talisman but was now confronted by a furious Apex once more.

In the following fight, Terry used several more martialist talismans. Some to attack Vicious, others to protect Apex.

To his intense dismay, Apex was either not appreciating the effects of the protective talismans or didn’t regain enough sense to gauge his intent. The shields that were not destroyed by Vicious were blown apart by Apex herself.

Terry had to defend himself from Vicious’s darkwater attacks. Fortunately, his divine barriers had become a lot sturdier since arriving in this pocket realm.

Vicious is barely engaging. It’s clear that he is trying to wait for Apex’s steam to run out. I would try the same if I was him…

With a loud battle-cry, Apex unleashed another resonance technique.

I don’t think she cares at this point…

Terry was furrowing his brow with a slight frown. He knew that Vicious was biding his time…

…but so was Terry.

Now!

He burst his mana and at the same time, the mana he had dumped to set up the scene suddenly contracted into a rotating mass of spell slicers passing through all the traces of viscous liquid in the passage. He simultaneously punched out a layered dual discharge aimed directly at Eric’s channeling anchor.

“Damn you.” Vicious’s channeled abilities were temporarily disturbed and his fluid body wiggled into shape. He did not have much time to curse Terry because his physical body was now directly in the path of Apex’s thunderfire attack.

Terry on his side did not have much reason to rejoice either. They had landed a good blow on Vicious, but Terry was acutely aware of Apex’s state. A glance at her mana was all he needed to understand that the battle-lunatic was burning her own lifeline. As soon as her forbidden technique was exhausted, she would be in an even worse state than directly after her failed cultivation breakthrough.

Even if Apex was theoretically able to get the upper hand, there was not enough time for her to get there. Terry inwardly sighed at what he had to do. Not only was he going to lose even more valuable items, Apex would most likely want to punch him later too.

Screw it.

Terry hurled a bolas and adjusted his rotating spell slicers before summoning layers of divine mana. Without hesitation, he ripped two more talismans and began retrieving other items.

Vicious found himself assaulted by a roaring beast of fire and obstructed by a shimmering wall of hexagon crystals.

Apex stumbled over the transfixed pair of bolas. Her fire quickly incinerated the connecting rope, but in her frenzied state the temporary obstruction was still enough to trip her.

Once on the floor, she was momentarily blocked by mana from Terry’s divine hammer inscription. Just long enough, for an army of spell slicers to run through her body and disturb her forbidden technique.

Meanwhile, Terry was moving his mana into a similar sphere to the artifact that Rafael had used in the battle for the altar. In contrast to the felan back then, Terry activated the protective artifact remotely and on an unwitting target.

“What is…?” Eric stared suspiciously at the sphere of barriers forming around himself. He had already been injured by Apex and then by the fire from the martialist talisman. He was growing wary of the insane duo confronting him. He relaxed slightly when the sphere didn’t show any sign of hurting him, but then he cursed as soon as he realized that the sphere prevented him from moving.

As I expected.

Terry had seen this type of protective artifact in action on the altar when it had been obvious that Rafael was not able to move with it. It felt like a waste to use such a powerful defensive artifact to trap an opponent, but Terry needed time.

“I’ll send your souls to the pond!” snarled Vicious hatefully.

Jokes on you, I'm soulless. No soul to send here..

Terry tentatively channeled his mana into the Liquify Earth imprint from the wand his sister Lori had made for him. He was not surprised to discover that the spell failed to activate on the mana-infused tunnel walls and quickly switched to his fallback plan.

In a matter of seconds, Terry had retrieved a tertium slab together with several metal ingots and used the Shape Metal imprint hidden in his armor to create a thin wall of metal that blocked the passage between Vicious and them.

Terry made sure to push the metal as deep into the walls as possible. He quickly empowered his Immovable Object spell as much as he could and activated it on the metal wall.

Going by his experience with blocking the path to the dao chamber and hanging around in the sky, the spell would hold for slightly more than three hours unless otherwise disrupted – much longer than any of the protective artifacts or defensive talismans would last.

“Ba…stard.” Apex hissed from underneath the layers of divine mana. She was barely conscious and glared resentfully at Terry before passing out. Her forbidden technique had fizzled away before it could cause further damage.

Apex used her last conscious breath to curse me out. That bodes well for when she will wake up.

Screw it.

Terry used his last talisman with a healing effect on Apex. Despite the talisman’s power, it seemed completely insufficient to take care of Apex’s injuries. Fortunately, it managed to stabilize her condition though. He would have liked to use more of his healing items, but consumables like the magic beans required Apex to be conscious to eat them. Furthermore, this was neither the place nor the time for lengthy treatments.

Terry double- and triple-checked himself and Apex for any traces of the weird mana. He really did not want to see a repetition of this kind of ambush. He rolled Apex’s body onto his shoulders so that her left arm and left leg were now around his neck. Then he darted towards the hidden passage his mana touch scouting had revealed to him earlier.

A part of Terry was feeling pathetic at having to flee. He had been so furious earlier. The slimy creep had insulted his dead aunt and threatened one of his whaka, and in spite of that, Terry was now running away.

Another part of Terry knew that it was the right decision. This was not the time and place to finish this battle. The knowledge didn’t help with how he felt, however. What did help was that he knew his family would approve of his choice.

No matter how much his calmer side was reminding him that this was the best course of action, a slight trace of madness reared its head inside of Terry. He found himself clenching his teeth and swearing an oath to himself.

Before this secret realm reopens, I am going to end the slimy bastard!

***

Terry darted around the secret tunnel system to get as much distance between them and Vicious as possible.

According to his understanding of the channeler, there was a good chance that Eric would not pursue them. His aunt and Matteo had always described the man as a sadistic coward, a person who relied on ambushes and who would flee when truly pushed.

Nevertheless, Terry wanted to err on the side of caution. He was following the path he judged to be most likely to lead to the Spring of Rejuvenation that Apex had mentioned before. Naturally, he was going purely by his mana perception and instinct. Terry had no idea about the complex calculations that the martialist woman used to determine the spring’s location.

The life aspect is more intense that way, but…

Terry was frowning. The weight of Apex on his shoulders was reminding him that he had to be careful. The tunnel he would reach was not empty. A group of martialists appeared to be attacking something or someone.

Mana martialists tended to be crazy to begin with, but they also seemed to have an intense hatred for Apex, more intense than could be explained by her own battle-hungry personality that was not too dissimilar to theirs.

Screw it.

The Spring of Rejuvenation should be beneficial both to me and to Apex’s recovery. If these martialists throw another hissy fit about heretical cultivation or whatever, I’ll improvise.

Terry kept his pace while concentrating on his breathing, both for the benefit of his run and to calm his temper.

What’s this… Oh!

Terry subconsciously grinned. He had discovered what the martialists were furiously attacking.

A spatial barrier.

Perfect!

Terry accelerated and quickly reached the area.

“Who the blasts are you?!”

“Get the fuck away if you—”

Terry darted past the outraged martialists.

“Oy! Are you deaf or something?! I told you to scram!”

Terry stopped shortly before the barrier to make sure he didn’t mistake its nature. The instances of perfectly cloaked magic and illusions had caused him to be somewhat wary of the stationary magic phenomena in this secret realm. To be safe, he paused to examine the barrier instead of rushing through with bursting mana like he had occasionally done in the past.

“That’s it, I’m going to—”

“Wait.” A pair of martialists from the Blazing Sun Sect stopped the incensed man. They were the duo that Terry had met before. “Let’s see what he—-”

All conversations were silenced the moment Terry touched the spatial barrier with a finger. His burst of mana caused the barrier to shatter, which left the martialists staring in disbelief.

“M-monster,” whispered one of the martialists he had left behind.

Terry quickly dashed forward with Apex still on his shoulders. He was beyond happy to discover that the spatial barrier had regenerated directly behind him.

Even if Vicious was pursuing us, this should put a stop to him. I don’t believe he can crash such a strong spatial barrier…

“Welcome, challenger.” A soft voice jolted Terry from his thoughts. “You have qualified for the Trial of Havoc.”

Terry stopped his run and gently put Apex on the floor. He had learned enough about the trials in this secret realm to know that mindlessly walking forward could get you killed even if you were not carrying an unconscious person on your shoulders.

“You will have to show us the true power you can unleash. You will be presented with a sequence of targets that you will have to break. You can choose to yield at any point, but you only have a single chance to challenge this trial. The more targets you destroy, the bigger the reward.”

Terry, who had only been half-listening to the voice before, began to frown.

A trial of offensive power?

Crap.

He knew his own limitations. Damage output was not among his strong points.

Then again…

Thinking back to how he had arrived in this trial, Terry regained a bit of hope.

If this trial is using spatial barriers as targets, then…

He waited while biting his lips. As soon as the small sphere appeared out of thin air, Terry involuntarily exclaimed: “Crap.”

Crap crap crap.

He sighed.

Figures that my time of weaseling through trials would come to an end when it really mattered.

He clicked his tongue and focused on the rest of his mana perception.

I’m nearly certain that the Spring of Rejuvenation is in that direction. Why would they place that after this particular trial?

Terry glanced at Apex and recalled the forbidden techniques that the martialists relied on in extreme emergencies.

Do they expect the challengers to resort to such techniques for a mere trial?

They’re all insane.

He rubbed his eyes in thought.

I believe Apex might have figured a way around the trial, some alternative path indicated by the direction a rabbit wiggles its nose or something. Doesn’t really help when she is not awake to share her insights.

Terry checked on Apex’s condition once more.

Stable, but mana damned she is messed up. If she was conscious, I could share some more healing items with her but…

He stood up and turned to face the trial’s target.

I normally don’t bother with trials that are a bad fit for me, but I might need the Spring of Rejuvenation to awaken Apex. She might resent me for interfering in the battle and canceling her forbidden technique, but still…

Terry took a deep breath and stretched his shoulders.

If there is anyone in this secret realm whom I would trust to stop at nothing to kill Vicious, then it’s Apex. Dealing with her craziness will be annoying but I’m still pretty certain she hates Vicious more than me.

He retrieved his inscribed barrier spear, the last remaining of the set that his accepted mother Isille had sent him to Tiv. He fixed the target sphere in his eyes and reared back his spear arm for a thrust.

Let’s see how far I can get with some good old honest strength…

***