The next few hours passed without much happening. Drakys left, and so did Sherron. Duty called.
Hakim also left for that period, only telling them that he would take a look at all the scattered caves around them. If any more dungeons were brewing, he wanted to be aware of them.
Lev sat in his bubble with the rest of the Masters. All of them were still resting, and even the upcoming spar could be counted as a break if he wasn’t facing Hakim of all people.
Right now, however, he focused on his pool. Aura mages could empower the soul through skills that worked in mysterious ways, so observing them was not an option.
His pool was the only possible avenue to see what was even happening, and all it showed him was that more mana somehow streamed in. It was slightly thicker at first, losing its density and expanding into a higher amount over a split second.
While interesting, it didn’t let him glean anything useful. All he could deduce was that the soul produced mana of a higher density, which then became normal, resulting in a greater output.
Can I do the same? He wondered idly. Even better, how painful is it going to be to replicate an aura skill through willpower?
The answer was likely not worth considering. It would probably hurt his soul like someone smashing a glass window with a brick.
“So, are you prepared to be slapped around?” Elias asked once his pool neared full. Night had almost passed, with the three moons hovering just above the horizon’s edge.
“More like tossed around, but yes.”
“I would offer some manner of positive reinforcement if you weren’t facing an Exalted, and not just any Exalted.”
“There are only eleven or twelve of them,” Viktor added, muttering.
“Point is,” Elias continued with a grin. “I wish you a happy ass whooping. The only kind where any of us would be ready to be in your place.”
Hakim chose that moment to return, appearing in their small camp. Lev sighed and took the cue for what it was. His pool was almost full, and it wasn’t like waiting any more would matter.
With a wave of the Exalted’s hand, the same battlefield that had been decimated in the aftermath of the Night Hunter fight returned to a serviceable condition. Craters were refilled, and the ground became even. All of the remaining barrier constructs that Lev hadn’t dismissed yet, including the large block, were disintegrated.
He blinked. The feedback hadn’t even provided anything. They just ceased to exist.
“Neat,” he murmured. “How do I do that?”
“Improve your senses,” came the curt reply. Hakim stopped in place once they were far enough, waiting for him to take a stance.
Lev gulped and readied his glaive two dozen meters away. It was a negligible distance, all things considered.
With an exhale, he tightened his grip on Stargazer. Looking over the length of her pole, a few scratches were visible from the last clash. No actual damage was present, and the giant blade, made to contend with the silver greatsword, was ready to go.
Steeling his resolve, he finally straightened and looked at Hakim, and the world immediately took offense.
Pressure descended, formless yet domineering. A single look was enough to make his knees shake, urging him to surrender to the higher existence. He was no match in this confrontation, and no matter how long he lived, Hakim would be the stronger of the two.
Lev gnashed his teeth, cracks forming in a few that were healed immediately. Restoration mana healed his soul as a distant effect, and he forced that negligible amount to be as effective as possible. His willpower repeatedly slammed into the vice of the intimidation skill, one so potent that Lev’s mind started fearing for his life despite trusting Hakim.
And yet, he remained upright. The combination of his shaky physical strength, terrified mind, and the small effect brought about by his considerable willpower was enough to let him keep standing.
“Adequate,” commented the bald monster. “You don’t lack raw power. Train your aura.”
The pressure disappeared. Relief almost made him crash to his knees, but the tip of the greatsword blurring towards his face denied him that reprieve.
Stargazer’s blade just barely deflected it enough for him to backtrack. Absorption enchantments devoured the force, immediately filled to the brim from a single clash.
Kinetic mana responded far better than before. His mind still struggled slightly, but the elusive type bent to his will. It rushed out of the runes through a direct application of willpower, imbued in tandem with lightning to help him retake his stance.
Hakim was content with observing for now. A blink had passed, and Lev was ready again.
The greatsword led the charge. Lev pushed his Perception for all it was worth, tracking the blurry sword and dodging out of the way. It changed directions during the swipe, the motion completely smooth and natural.
Caught unprepared, Lev brought forward one of his many invisible shields. The construction was cleaved into two without any noticeable resistance, so he deployed another three and overloaded their enchantments.
It slowed the greatsword ever so slightly, just enough for him to lean out of its path, reposition a bit, and thrust at Hakim’s exposed chest. The man wasn’t wearing any armor, and while Lev didn’t have any delusions about actually hurting him, the strike was at least going to cut.
Or so he thought, until the Superior blade just harmlessly clinked against the man’s skin. It felt like stabbing a mythril wall, one enchanted to the brim and powered by a regenerative core.
Deceptively slowly, a punch took advantage of that gross miscalculation. Lev shot backwards as if released from a bowstring, still clutching his glaive tightly.
How the hell did he do that? He wondered as he brought his flight under control. Not only had Hakim’s punch barely strained his armor, but it had also launched him in a straight line with minimum air resistance. Was the force actively aiding his momentum?
The Exalted was done playing around. He reached Lev in a near-instant movement, leveling a straight kick at his chest. Lev also decided to use the rest of his class.
He didn’t try to block, deflect, or parry the kick. It landed on his armor, and he gasped at the effort needed to counteract the force and stay in place.
A tiny opening was all he had to bring Stargazer in from the side and launch a Fracturing Wave. It passed inches above the silver greatsword, aimed at Hakim’s jaw.
Unfortunately for Lev, the man’s hand, coated with silver mana, just casually slapped away the mana slash. It hadn’t shown any signs of exploding—or even destabilizing. Instead, Hakim had empowered it on the fly just enough to redirect it away.
Lev blinked. He had planned too far ahead already, so stopping was not an option. Instead, he streamed lightning into his armor, creating a bit of distance as one of his cannons fired.
The condensed beam of fire hit him straight on. This time, Hakim was pushed back into one of his shieldwalls, closing off one side of escape.
Not that Hakim needed it, but it also left fewer directions for Lev to track.
Wreathed in lightning, a barrier net descended on the Exalted. Two mana slashes reduced it to chunks, something Lev had accounted for. The now-eight nets changed direction, rushing Hakim from multiple angles.
The shieldwall behind the Exalted also disintegrated with a small mental nudge. Lances filled with blue fire flew at Hakim from behind, reducing his options.
Lev knew that his assault was meaningless. It wouldn’t hurt even him, let alone Hakim, but it left a choice in the guildmaster’s hand.
Either the man would power through the attacks and continue the slowly ramping dance, or he would fly straight up and challenge Lev’s full arsenal head-on.
Lev wasn’t surprised to see Hakim kick the ground lightly, jumping over both attacks and almost halting mid-air.
Fine.
That instant, the small moment in which he could feel each construct as clear as day, marked the moment he truly understood what Harmony with mana entailed.
Lightning entered arrows in a controlled amount, empowering their flight. The infusion wasn’t perfectly in tune with his desires, nor was the result flawless, but it was a significant improvement over what he could do before.
Even better, the arrows were spaced apart as opposed to his usual barrages, letting him adjust his tactics according to each individual result. One passed by Hakim’s neck, dodged by a simple movement. Lev took note of that, and some of his orbs and shieldwalls shifted slightly.
Another two were dodged with similar ease before four flew at the man at once. A swipe of his greatsword, and the projectiles were nullified.
Many other things were prepared for that exact moment. Twin bright orange beams flew at him from either side. One of the cannons had been deposited on top of a secondary, temporary bubble.
Hakim’s gaze never left Lev throughout. Such was the man’s control over his body that he didn’t even move a full step. Leaning back slightly, one of his legs rose while he was still falling. The first beam passed below it faster than Lev himself could track, and the other missed Hakim’s face by a hair’s breadth.
Everything in his kit came alive at that moment. Ten lightning orbs suddenly came out of invisibility underneath Hakim, only to falter when a wave of pure silver ruined their enchantments and nullified the explosions by dispersing the lightning.
A narrow rain of lances fell from above. The Exalted covered himself with a silver coating before the beam in front of his face even fully vanished, already prepared for Stargazer.
Silver and barrier blades collided with enough force to push Lev back. His feet touched a shieldwall present under him already. Faster than ever before, he corrected his stance again and thrusted at Hakim’s neck.
Stargazer almost slipped through the gap, no doubt allowed by the man. His greatsword deflected at the last moment, and Lev adjusted some of his first lances accordingly.
They aimed at the exposed shoulders and head. The tip of the first almost hit the side of Hakim’s head when all of the lances paused. Kinetic mana froze them where they were, forcing Lev to fire one of his beams early.
This one didn’t miss. It landed on the man’s chest, though any shieldwalls in the vicinity were cut in twain by an attack he couldn’t even see.
He could only use his prepared Fracturing Wave as a follow-up. Then the world morphed, and his skill fizzled out.
Hakim’s intimidation skill only lasted for a brief instant, and yet it completely ruined Lev’s momentum. That split second of hesitation almost saw him gutted, but his new skill pulled its weight.
The same block that would’ve forced him to create distance was instead guided. Kinetic energy was channeled in tandem with the absorbed force, and combined with the increased weight, saw Stargazer smashing down on the greatsword’s flat side after the quick block.
Hakim let his weapon jerk downward, not overpowering Lev completely. Instead of any mana-based attacks, though, the bubble rushed forward. Absolutely drowning in shadow mana, the construct only revealed itself at the last moment.
Fire and lightning replaced shadow mana, forcing Hakim to at least get slightly serious for the improvised meteor. He punched, stopping the bubble dead in its tracks with a massive shockwave, also putting an early stop to the advancing cables.
How the hell am I even supposed to win?
He wasn’t. Lev knew that much, but he also didn’t feel like he had grasped what Hakim truly wanted from him. What was he missing?
As the Epic disk made use of the momentarily unbalanced Exalted, he didn’t even focus on the aftermath. It was bound to fail, which it did without fanfare. Kinetic energy slowed it down just enough for Hakim to slap away the flat of the disk, throwing it to the ground.
Two things have been constant throughout the fight, Lev deduced, eyes trained on Hakim, who was waiting for him to continue. Hakim hasn’t bothered with using any more or less mana, and he expects me to overpower that fixed output.
The problem was, how?
He had been playing it safe the entire time. Not letting damage to his body pile up, not overextending to be prepared for surprises, and keeping a tight leash on his mana expenditure.
Was… was Hakim trying to get him to let loose instead of leaning into a more methodical approach?
Lev looked at Hakim’s face closely, finding the barest hints of a smirk on his lips. The conclusion was correct, the taunt effective.
“Are you sure?” Lev asked anyway, just to be certain.
“Patience was never your strong suit, boy. Why are you forcing yourself to be calm and rational now?”
“I’m not going to be alone,” he replied, not seeing the point. “People will rely on me.”
“Those who do need to understand that you are best left on your own. Or am I wrong?”
“Only slightly,” Lev grinned. “A few might match me.”
“That’s the point,” Hakim looked at him with approval. “They need to match you, not the other way around. It is your duty to raise the bar as high as possible. Not doing so will only hurt both sides.”
“Is this really the lesson I need to impart?”
“What do you think?”
“That I’ll be encouraging others to also take the harder path and expose themselves to far more risk,” Lev answered with an exhale. “I can see why I would want to push my teammates, but I don’t see a point in showing the gap between other Masters and me.”
“And how else do you plan to excel? By willingly holding yourself back?”
“By fighting out of sight.”
“You know very well that isn’t viable. Will you abandon the upcoming battlefields?”
“No, I-, okay, fuck it. If any complications arise, I will look to you to solve them. Are you fine with that?”
“Naturally.”
Lev stared, mouth slightly ajar. That was one of the biggest favors he had ever asked for, and Hakim just agreed to it without batting an eye.
The hell?
What was he even supposed to say now? He was granted free rein to let loose whenever he wanted, as long as others weren’t risked in the aftermath. He didn’t think it wise to alienate himself to such a degree as he had seen in a few cases.
People like Melvine kept to themselves, and for good reason.
Power attracted both power and fear. Lev wasn’t comfortable with the latter, no matter how strong he had become.
It was shaping up to be a natural consequence of his progress, anyway.