~Shorter one today, sorry. Made it too long originally and had to break it up into this chapter and the next one, but couldn't figure out how to make this one longer.~
-
*SHING*
*SHING*
*SHING*
*SHIN-thunk*
*...*
Silence wrapped around the arena as we all watched the troll, one second ripping ice off of itself, to the next second, where both its legs and one of its arms were instantly severed and fell to the ground.
'Holy shit!' I thought in amazement, being the only person here who could see what actually happened.
Using mana, he created a field of around 20 meters around him, letting him sense everything within that area, including the exact location and structure of any weak points on the troll's body.
Then, he channelled mana along the sword blades to extend the length of his blades!
I have seen several people use that technique to extend a blade's reach before; I even use that method with both mana and spiritual energy, which is why I can use multiple pole-arm techniques despite the spearhead not being the right shape. But I have never seen it beyond a few inches off the blade.
Yet he just did it to over 5 meters!
Not just that, despite the massive length, he maneuvered them to such a precise extent that he didn't cut anything else and sliced the limbs right off.'
^Did you get that?^ I asked the book.
^Affirmative: Appraisal of [Minor Domain: Severance Field] complete. Ready for analysis.^
But I didn't hear the last part. I saw Mathew, who was still standing in front of the troll, start to lean over.
'shit. It was barely 2 seconds, yet he's already out.'
"Araki!" I shouted.
"I got him!" he shouted back, already next to him and catching him and dragging him away.
The troll took a moment to process as it stumbled. With its legs and one arm missing, it fell slightly without the support from its legs, though the ice and vines kept it from falling to the ground.
I then looked at its remaining arm and noticed the deep gash going all the way to the bone.
'he must have passed out mid-cut,' I thought, but smiled. At the very least, its healing factor [1] will be too spread out trying to regrow its limbs for it to be effective anymore[2].'
I turned back to the crystal and noticed it was almost full.
I looked at Terra and Zek and noticed the two were a little pale. Well, Zek was still the same colour since he was covered in scales, but his expression said it all.
"That is enough. I can't have you two down from mana exhaustion," I said as I pulled out two mana potions from my ring and handed them over.
"Drink these. As soon as you can, cast spells to create walls for everyone to hide behind. This spell has never been cast before, so I have no idea what will happen."
Zek raised a thumb and drank the potion, clearly exhausted.
Terra nodded and took the other, but before she drank it, she asked, "Are you sure this will work?"
I paused and said, "It should be strong enough, but if it doesn't kill it, then I will summon a spirit that can."
"But if you can't kill it, then any spirit you summon will have to be a lot stronger than you and might ask for a heavy cost."
I looked at Terra, shook my head and said, "I have two in mind. One I already have a contract with, so I don't have to worry about a price, and the other I have wanted to talk to for a while now, even more so after meeting Ark."
"Who?" Zek asked, listening in and curious.
I smiled, "Knowledge and the Moon."
They both looked confused, and I couldn't blame them.
They both already know I know many things, so Knowledge is obvious, but this is the first time I said anything about the Moon.
Not letting them ask any more questions, I stepped back and shouted, "Clear a path and prepare to evacuate! I am beginning the spell!"
Everyone turned to me and saw the crystal, glowing in multiple colours.
Realizing I was ready, they all moved to the side, giving me a clear view of the troll and giving it a clear view of me.
I used some spiritual energy to levitate it in front of me, then pulled out 6 rings, each with an empty spot where a gemstone should be.
I then pulled out 6 small beast cores, each glowing a different colour—or rather, a different element—the same 6 elements in the crystal: fire, plant, ice, water, air, and light.
I put each core into the empty sockets on each ring and finally pulled out my wand and started adding lightning mana to the crystal.
After a few seconds, I finished and let out a slow breath to calm my nerves.
'All preparation was complete. Now, to begin the spell, I thought calmly.
*Hooh*
I took another deep breath, allowing emotions to be pushed aside and making way for my technical and scientific side.
Then I blocked all my senses from everything around me, sound, smell, sight, touch, ambient mana and every other thing, so there was only the magic circles.
Then, I opened my eyes, glowing a dark golden colour and began.
Using the rings and my wand, I made 7 magic circles appear in a line in front of me, each a different colour, corresponding to the 7 elements I was using for this spell.
The circles began to change as I modified their structures just like a programmer modifying code.
-Fire and Ice mana oscillated in inverse temperatures to create a Bipolar Thermal Collapse-
-Lightning mana to create electro pulses tuned to nerve frequency to disrupt neuromuscular signals-
-Plant mana to control biogenic forces to accelerate the proliferation of fungi already inside the body-
-Water mana to collect and induce a hyper-compression state, generating a hydrodynamic pressure core calibrated to industrial-grade density thresholds. Upon release, the resulting fluid column achieves a cutting velocity capable of shearing through steel-
-Air mana to generate a directional vacuum corridor by extracting atmospheric matter. This forms a low-pressure, aerodynamic tunnel that directs and compresses the spell while simultaneously preventing lateral dissipation. A secondary aeromantic shell stabilizes the vacuum, acting both as a containment barrel—focusing all force forward—and as a defensive pressure buffer that nullifies collateral shockwaves around the caster-
Once the base of each circle was done, I created pathways from each circle to the next, fusing them together and creating a multi-layered magic circle.
The mana from the crystal began to flow into the circles, and the surrounding pressure increased as the spells began to activate.
But that wasn't all a good thing.
I continued to focus on the circles so much that, until the last moment, I didn't notice the troll, using its remaining arm, grab ahold of a chunk of ice, break it off, and throw it at me.
When I finally noticed, I paled. 'shit! I can't dodge, and any distraction will cause the spell to backfire!'
Having all my extra minds focused on the main circles, I tried to fire off another spell to divert the ice chunk, but realized it wouldn't be fast enough.
It got closer and closer before it was barely an inch from my face.
'shit'
*Crack*
*BBOOOOMMMM*
-
[1]: (long info thing, sorry.) The healing factor is just a regenerative ability or faster healing rate. Think Wolverine or Deadpool, they can heal from injuries in seconds. Lots of races have healing factors, but the strength varies a lot but only a few powerful ones can actually regrow limbs.
Healing potions boost a person's healing factor, but they do nothing to creatures who already have high regeneration. Basically, they boost it to a certain level but not higher than that and do not stack with other healing effects. Many healing factors are better than potions.
Most creatures cannot regrow limbs. However, as an example, demons, vampires, dragons, and werewolves can, but no healing factor is free, and all have limits. Each has at least 1 secondary condition that they must meet before it can work. (Vampires need blood, for example)
A healing factor weakens when it has to repair a bunch of wounds at once, as it has to spread out. Continuous damage, like from fire or acid, can counteract a healing factor by re-damaging any healed tissue.
To stop a creature from regrowing a limb, the original tissue has to be destroyed—cauterized, dissolved, or damaged enough that the body can't recognize what used to be there.
[2] Sorry, I keep switching between the imperial and metric measurement systems. I live in Canada, where we use a combination of both, despite the headache it gives every other country when trying to translate measurements.
The metric system is used more for official and industrial things, but imperial is used for more commonplace and personal things. In other words, when giving small measurements, we tend to use the imperial system, but for government-issued stuff (example: road signs), it's metric.