ImmovableMage
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139 Forced Against a Wall
🕑 Added 2023-06-03 00:02:01 +0000 UTC– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 217, Season of the Setting Sun, Day 68 –
[Shit, I have bad news.] Rafael’s voice arrived in Terry’s head. [Perhaps alternating wins was not the best idea this time. If my sources are correct, we’re probably going to lose our current streaks.]
[What’s going on?] Terry replied with a look of confusion. He had barely left his cell when Rafael’s thought transmission arrived.
Terry was not sure what Rafael could be worried about. The alliance from Rafael and Terry had performed incredibly well. As far as Terry could see, they were only getting stronger and better prepared with time. The audience loved them too.
[Remember when I mentioned a recent mishap that caused me to lose all my items?] Rafael replied with a thought transmission. [That mishap was a wall in the arena, a contestant called Xuan. I’ve heard whispers that someone is very intent on placing that wall in our path again.]
[What’s a wall?] Terry subconsciously slowed his steps. [And what does it have to do with items?]
[A wall is what people call contestants that are defensive nightmares,] grumbled Rafael. [They’re streak killers. Even if they cannot beat you, they can force a draw, which might as well be called a double-loss. They’re like little pests that eat everyone’s progress.]
[What’s the point?] interjected Terry. [They’re not getting ahead like this either, are they?]
[Not everyone gives a shit about recognition,] reminded Rafael. [Many walls are hired or in the business of snatching items. Some take bets. Others offer deals. Sacrifice an item if you want to win. You get the drift. Xuan is the worst of the worst. It’s sacrifice items or you’ll be dragged into a never ending battle until you starve.]
Terry raised an eyebrow and thought back to the time he had been running from an undead horde for days on end. [How much mana does Xuan have?] Terry found it somewhat difficult to believe that he would lose out in a fasting competition.
[Xuan is a lizan.] Rafael replied in a lamenting tone. [Slower metabolism. From what I know, he’s also a refugee from the Soaring Mountain Sect.]
Terry waited for Rafael to elaborate.
[There is a legend about the Soaring Mountain Sect that some of their members have waited in ambush buried underneath the earth for years before they struck,] continued Rafael. [They’re experts at surviving without nourishment. That’s not even the worst of it all.]
Rafael cursed. [The worst of it all is that the Soaring Mountain Sect is notoriously prejudiced when it comes to accepting newfolk. And they accepted Xuan despite that. Rumor has it that Xuan has an innate physique that makes him perfect for their martialist cultivation.]
Rafael grumbled a deep sigh. [Let’s hope that my sources are wrong. Otherwise, this will be a really shit day.]
***
[Fuuucck…] Rafael’s thought transmission did not bode well.
Bam Bam Bam Heavy footsteps caused the ground to shake.
Terry looked at the massive black-scaled lizan standing opposed to them in the arena. [That’s Xuan, I take it.] Terry had seen a few lizans by now, but he had never seen any as large, nor with such thick scales and such sharp horns.
Terry noted how deep the footprints of the lizan were. He must be incredibly heavy.
[Fuck damn it! I’ll never make it out of this mad empire in time.] Rafael looked outwardly composed, but his thought transmission betrayed his distress.
‘In time’ for what? Terry raised an eyebrow. Before he could ask, Rafael stepped forward to speak to Xuan.
“You again? Are you stalking me?” Rafael’s tone was excessively irritated.
Xuan’s cold, red eyes focused on Rafael. “No.”
“Bullshit!” Rafael growled. “You already scammed me out of my items. What more do you want?”
“‘Scammed’?” Xuan rolled his eyes. “From what I remember, you offered them yourself. I always thought that mana martialists are the mind over body type, but I stand corrected. Perhaps if you had joined a proper sect, you would have learned some proper discipline.”
“Horseshit discipline!” spat Rafael. “I don’t have time for this. What do you want? Is it the Thunderous Palm Sect that sent you?”
“You talk too much,” said Xuan coldly. “This isn’t about you.” Xuan set his gaze on Terry.
Great… Terry stepped forward cautiously. He circled around to his usual position with Rafael.
Xuan did not show any inclination to move himself.
[Don’t bother.] Rafael told Terry through thought transmission. [Our usual combination won’t work. I’m sorry, but the Heavenly Wolf is not enough to get through this wall. I’ve tried before.]
“What do you have against me?” Terry asked Xuan curiously.
“Nothing,” replied Xuan indifferently. “I just want something from you.”
“What?” Terry asked with narrowed eyes.
“First of all, your inscribed glove.” Xuan pointed at Terry’s left arm.
“Piss off,” exclaimed Terry in a low voice.
Xuan shrugged. “Your call. You can hand it over now or later. I can’t guarantee that I won’t ask for more if you wait for longer.”
“If it’s just a single item, I can satisfy you,” said Rafael. From a gourd at his hip, he summoned the sword that had belonged to the Third Scion. “You can have this if we can stop this match right now. We surrender.”
[We do?] Terry asked nervously. He was still unable to get a good idea of the situation.
Terry did not know Xuan, but he also did not know Rafael all that well. The memory of his previous alliance and the day that Nash had also proposed an immediate surrender was still painful in Terry’s mind. He believed Rafael differed from Nash, but he reminded himself to be careful. For all Terry truly knew, Rafael might be working together with Xuan.
Terry hated being forced to second-guess his companion.
[Trust me on this,] implored Rafael. [Unless you can whip up an attack with a lot more bite than my Heavenly Wolf Slash, we are trapped here until he lets us go.]
“Thanks for confirming that you still have some valuables,” said Xuan. “But no, I need his items specifically.” He nodded towards Terry. “For every item I take from him, I’ll get another item of equal value. Your sword can’t compete with that offer.”
Terry’s curiosity turned to wariness. “Whose offer is that?”
“One of the crimson devils,” said Xuan with a shrug. “They’re all the same to me.”
[‘Crimson devils’?] Terry hoped that Rafael could elaborate.
[Xuan holds a grudge against Thanatos for catching him,] explained Rafael. [From what I could find out, there was a confrontation near the Lich Kingdoms between a scouting Thanatos platoon and the Soaring Mountain Sect. Xuan and some people from Thanatos all walked away with grudges. Xuan made the mistake of entering Thanatos territory for his revenge. For the resulting carnage and collateral damage, Xuan was eventually caught and sentenced to the Proving Grounds.]
“If you hate Thanatos, then why would you help any of them?” Terry asked pointedly.
[Because he’s a wall, d’uh.] Rafael almost rolled his eyes at Terry.
“For the same reason, anyone does anything,” said Xuan matter-of-factly. “It benefits me. I’m stuck in hell, so the only deals to be had are offered by devils. So it goes.”
Terry thought over both answers he had received. “You can force anyone to a draw, but you don’t have the confidence to win your way out of the arena, is that it?” Terry tilted his head. “Instead of trying to fight seriously, you are aiming for comfortable stagnation?”
[Shh, what are you trying to do?] Rafael’s panicked voice transmission arrived. [Don’t anger him or—]
“What the hell do you think you know?!” growled Xuan. “I had my reservations about doing the devil’s dirty work, but if you insist: I’ll take that keen dagger in addition to that glove now.”
[Fuck, see that’s what I meant!] Rafael’s thought transmission carried a reprimanding tone. [The more we piss him off, the worse it will get.]
Fuck that. Terry viscerally reacted to the idea of handing over the inscribed glove and the inscribed dagger.
One was a gift that his aunt Brynn had personally crafted for Terry.
The other was a gift that his siblings had offered him as an apology for the dungeon disaster.
Terry often took comfort in the presence of these items when he entered the arena. It made him feel as if his family was still with him.
The idea of losing even one of these items made every cell in Terry’s body rebel. Without a fight?!
[How about this, you hand over the items and I reimburse you with my share of the items we earned previously?] offered Rafael. [It sucks that he has it out for you personally, but if you sell the scion’s sword, you can—]
[No.] Terry stared at Xuan and clenched his fists. “Not without a fight.”
“Looks like you have a spine,” sneered Xuan haughtily. “I wonder how long you will be able to keep that attitude up.”
[Yeah, me too…] Rafael’s voice transmission arrived with a sigh. [Alright, buddy. I’m with you, but make sure to not get defeated. If we get split up, who knows how long it will take to meet in the arena again?]
Terry felt the urge to apologize for his stubbornness, but the words of his aunt Sigille still echoed in his head. I’m not sorry. I still intend to be stubborn.
Terry dashed forward to test his hypothesis about Xuan’s powers. First, Terry unleashed his disruption field around Xuan.
[Careful, he— There we go…] Rafael cut his warning short because Xuan was already unleashing his first ability.
Terry sensed waves of mana being emitted from Xuan. Evidently, this ability was not disturbed much by Terry’s disruption field. The spell slicers crossed the waves, but with no significant effect.
As soon as the first wave hit Terry, he was violently smashed into the ground and the air was pressed out of his lungs. Terry felt as if a giant beast had started sitting on his chest.
This…
Like that fish-scaled channeler in Tiv…
Terry burst his mana, and with much effort, he stood back up. He slowly stepped forward as sweat gathered on his brow.
Tentatively, Terry hurled a pebble but before the little rock could fly very far, it was smashed into the ground by the increased gravity around the lizan.
Terry could sense that the waves weren’t spread evenly and that the distance between peaks became more spread out with further distance. Like the inverse of the wyvern’s elemental ability…
Terry’s mind raced to sort through the unfamiliar sensations of his opponent’s abilities. He could already confirm that the field-ability was getting worse the closer he got.
Terry lunged back his arms and punched out an intense dual-discharge. The mana reached his opponent, but the result inspired little optimism in Terry.
Terry had learned a bit more about mana martialists from Rafael. He had learned that the squishy mana structures were referred to by many names – cultivation points, acupoints, meridians – and that one of the most important ones was often called dantian.
Similar to how channelers were very protective of their channeling anchors, mana martialists were very protective of their dantians. Damaging the dantian would cause their powers to be crippled – often permanently. That was why the scion of the Blazing Sect had completely flipped out after Terry had targeted the squishy structure.
Terry was near certain that he had located Xuan’s dantian, but there were several layers of protection around the location.
By Terry’s estimation, Xuan must have unusually high mana control for a mana martialist, because the mana concentration in his thick scales was very uneven and most of his free mana that wasn’t bound in the squishy structures was gathered to shield the dantian.
Terry had still wanted to try, but after his probing, he did not have much confidence in breaking through to the dantian with a disruption discharge.
Perhaps if I can get closer? Terry considered his options. Breaking through the gravity field ability would not be an easy feat. Wait… crap, the shield is flexible. Terry noticed how the protective mana around the dantian showed slight movements. What little hope Terry had held before was diminishing further quickly.
Still…
There was one thing that allowed Terry to hold on to the slimmest glimmer of hope. The memory of the final battle against the giant wyvern was still vivid in Terry’s mind.
Only five meters.
Perhaps four. Terry burst his mana beyond his limits.
[Hold your mana, Terry, he’ll be coming to us.] Rafael’s voice transmission. [I’ve been at the receiving end of his abilities before.]
Right…
I’m not fighting alone. Terry reprimanded himself for not confirming things first with Rafael. Even though they had teamed up for a while, Terry was still not completely used to the idea of fighting in an alliance again. A sliver of suspicion remained, and so did the desire to confirm things for himself.
Still.
If Rafael is right, then… No matter.
I need to know. Terry’s mind was made up.
The mana waves around Xuan changed and his massive body levitated slightly above the ground. The field changed again and the colossal lizan rushed forward like a cannonball.
Terry was first confronted with the fact that the gravitational field moved together with Xuan. Terry might have admitted to a pang of envy if he wasn’t so busy with being crushed and forced down to his knees.
“Uff…” Terry cycled his mana and forced himself to lift his head to get a better view of the incoming Xuan.
[Do you need a hand?] Rafael asked with concern. [If you’re uncertain about being able to dodge, I can interrupt my attack preparation. That lizan hits like a mountain. Trust me. Don’t take any chances.]
[It’s fine.] Terry made no attempt to dodge. “I hope.” Wishful thinking again.
When Xuan was only three meters from Terry, Terry’s surrounding mana suddenly reshaped into a dozen spell structures, and in an instant, the compressed spells targeted dozens of scales and horns on Xuan’s body.
Xuan forcefully collided with his own body parts. His red eyes showed surprise and then settled on battle-lust while he held Terry’s gaze.
Terry, on his part, was forced to burst his mana beyond his limits to stand against the oppression from the gravitational field. He held the lizan’s gaze with defiance, while his blood vessels became slightly visible from the strain.
“You have no right to look at me like that,” growled Xuan with a flicker of hatred. He could feel his own thick scales obstructing his movement. The indignity of having his own body turned against him inspired his battle lust, but it was the look in Terry’s eyes that truly incensed him.
“Spoiled and sheltered in Arcana. Who do you think you are to look at me like that?!” Xuan’s eyes became slightly bloodshot. “The first thing I remember was having to fight for my life in this rotten realm. I was a child thrown into a foreign realm with no one else to count on. It took half a dozen years before I even met another lizan.”
The hatred in Xuan’s eyes intensified. “You want to fight against me? You?! A brat that had everything handed to him on a silver platter? You probably never had to fight for anything in your whole damned life.” Xuan snarled. “Coming here to prove something as if it meant anything. I’ll show you to look at me like that!”
Okay, next life, you get to grow up in the Greenhouse and I never have to meet Instructor Pelliana. Terry did not bother to reply and saved his breath to resist the gravitational pressure.
You get to discover your aspect impairment and you get to wake up in random dungeons and you get to find your aunt murdered on the floor and—
Thinking of his aunt caused Terry to recall all of his family and friends. No!
No deal.
I wouldn’t trade with anyone.
I am lucky, despite all the shit that keeps happening.
What’s it got to do with you? I owe them. I don’t owe you.
I don’t owe you my surrender. Terry reinforced his spells on Xuan’s body and then jumped back to where the pressure was less intense.
Looking at the enraged lizan, Terry thought back to his time in Tiv’s Chara Settlement and also in Syn City. Terry’s own riled up emotions settled down as soon as he recalled Devon and the tortures Devon had to suffer under the ancient deathcult.
Comparing fates like that… Terry exclaimed quietly: “Pointless!” He clenched his fists and the pictures of his family sprang up in his mind. I owe them!
I have to return!
I owe it to them.
I owe them a win! Terry glared at Xuan with the same look of defiance that had incensed the lizan before.
[Ready!] Rafael’s voice transmission arrived in Terry’s mind. [I don’t have anything stronger than this.]
Terry repositioned himself. [Go!]
“HEAVENLY WOLF SLASH!” Rafael shouted loudly and swung his glowing claws. The mana resonance created the image of a giant white wolf. “AWOOO!” The wolf howled and charged with bared fangs at the trapped lizan.
Terry was impressed by Rafael’s attack. It was by far the most intense Heavenly Wolf Slash Terry had seen so far. It was evidence that Rafael really meant it. Terry’s slight suspicion that his companion might be working with Xuan evaporated with the sight, and he anxiously observed the attack clashing with Xuan’s defenses.
Terry watched with bated breath as the mana blades pushed through the lizan’s gravitational field and collided with Xuan’s thick scales…
“Mana crap…” Terry involuntarily exclaimed in a completely dispirited voice. All of his previous defiance had crumbled. The most intense Heavenly Wolf Slash that Terry had ever seen had barely caused a slight scratch on the lizan’s scales. “What the Wastes is that body of his?”
[I told you…] Rafael’s voice betrayed his own disappointment even though his outer appearance was composed. [That is a wall I cannot break. Unless you can come up with something more powerful, we’re at his mercy. Damn it…] Rafael’s voice was resigned and unreconciled. [All the sacrifices. All the risks. A whole sect at my tail and now I won’t even make it there. FUCK!]
[We can keep trying,] said Terry with shaken resolve. [Until we get a different idea.]
Rafael looked to the heavens with closed eyes. [I don’t see what that’s going to help. I can already tell how this fight is going to end. The only question is how many items he will demand. I can’t give up the belt. I just can’t.] Rafael found some determination in his desperation. [Okay, fine…] He looked back at Xuan and charged his next attack.
Something more powerful… Terry grimly stared at Xuan. I got nothing. I can’t even come close to matching the Heavenly Wolf Slash. He shook his head. Focus. I need to block Xuan from disturbing Rafael.
Xuan, who had been incensed by Terry, was using his own mana to break free of Terry’s spells. Terry’s spell structures were incredibly stable and Xuan’s own mana control hinged on his rigid martialist cultivation, that made it difficult to move the mana in novel ways. It was difficult for Xuan to get rid of the Immovable Object spells on his scales. Despite the situation, Xuan was too furious to submit to his fate and wait for the spells to deactivate on their own.
The same pattern repeated several times. Rafael unleashed a powerful attack that didn’t even injure Xuan. Xuan rose into the air with the goal of crushing his opponents, and Terry blocked the mountain-like lizan short in his tracks. The stalemate continued for hours.
Eventually, Terry got another idea. The next time that Xuan was soaring into the air and charging towards them, Terry gritted his teeth and pushed further into Xuan’s gravitational field – closer to Xuan.
Xuan sped up in order to smash Terry into a pulp before he could activate his Immovable Object spell. Unfortunately for the lizan, he had severely underestimated Terry’s spell control and the resulting casting speed. Xuan had been prepared to collide with his own scales again, but this time, Terry had targeted the scales at Xuan’s back instead of at his chest and limbs.
“ARGH!” The first scale that Terry had transfixed was ripped from Xuan’s body. The immense force of the Soaring Mountain Sect’s signature move worked against the lizan. His own mountain-like body broke his own defense.
“NOW!” Terry set up more Immovable Object spells to obstruct Xuan’s arms and darted back.
[Now or never!] Rafael used a movement technique to position himself so that he could target the exposed part of Xuan’s sheer impenetrable body. “HEAVENLY WOLF SLASH!”
Xuan glared at them coldly. The pain and shame from losing a scale had dampened his anger and returned his mind to a proper battle state. He realized how foolish his attack pattern had been against Terry’s spellwork. He used all his strength to twist his body and move the exposed area out of the way of the attack. Terry had only been able to transfix a few scales, and there was still some wiggle room for Xuan to move.
The flying mana blades hit Xuan’s back and fresh blood splattered from the part where the attack had intersected with the scaleless skin.
Perhaps we have a chance? Terry was not sure what to make of the result of their combination. It was certainly something, but it was not enough to gain a lot of confidence.
Rafael sent Terry a thought transmission. [As good as it feels to finally see some blood, this is—]
[I know.] Terry interrupted Rafael’s thought transmission with his own. He dashed forward to make sure that Xuan wouldn’t be able to block the wound further, but he soon realized that Xuan was putting his all into reinforcing the gravitational field. Every step closer to the lizan was pure agony. Terry burst his mana beyond his limits and continued, but the changing gravity forced him to readjust his balance and he could not move swiftly.
Damn it.
Out of desperation, Terry punched out a succession of layered disruption discharges. He knew that the spell slicers didn’t seem to affect the gravitational field much, but he was running out of ideas.
Before Terry could reach Xuan, he had already seen the lizan move his freed arm in front of the wound. The loose scale was falling to the ground. It pressed deep into the ground because of the heavily amplified gravity. When Terry moved his eyes up, he caught the gaze of Xuan, who was staring at him with a new expression.
Crap. Terry did not try to decipher the changed look in Xuan’s eyes and instead retreated.
One chance lost…
Terry took a deep breath at the edge of Xuan’s gravitational field.
For another hour, Terry and Rafael continued pestering Xuan with the Heavenly Wolf Slash.
Xuan, on his side, had stopped charging at them. If he moved, then he only did so slowly and without the signature move of the Soaring Mountain Sect. He never moved his arm away from his missing scale. He never again exposed the wound to the attack of his opponents.
[I have one last idea,] declared Terry to Rafael. [If we can damage his… dantian, was it? Then we have a chance.]
[You know where his dantian is located?] Rafael sounded uncertain. [But even so, he would never leave that exposed. My Heavenly Wolf Slash—]
[Isn’t a pure mana attack, I know,] interjected Terry. [Your slash interacts with the physical realm and therefore gets blocked by his scales. Let me try something…] He reestablished a disruption field of rotating spell slicers. He took a long time to prepare the field and then he attempted to compress the rotating net of spell slicers – with Xuan’s dantian as the focus.
Xuan could sense that something was going on, but he was still too wary to move quickly.
Terry hoped that his compressed disruption field would demonstrate a similar behavior to his compressed mana before a spherical disruption pulse, that it would behave like the mana vortex during a demon ascension that Terry had originally taken inspiration from. He hoped that the spell slicers would speed up and perhaps be enough to overcome the mana protection of Xuan’s dantian.
“DAMN IT!” Terry could not help but shout in dismay when his plan did not work out.
It was difficult to control the spell slicers, and compressing the established field was beyond his current abilities. The amount of involved mana was far beyond what Terry had to deal with for a disruption pulse.
To make it worse, Xuan was still moving, albeit slowly. The few spell slicers that hit the region of Xuan’s dantian could not break through the defense, much less to damage the dantian.
Helplessly, Terry and Rafael were forced back into a stalemate, with no hint of one party being able to overcome it.
At first, Terry thought the overseer might stop the match and announce a draw, but he discovered that the Proving Grounds did not care about how long a match might take. As long as the contestants demonstrate the willingness to fight, the battle would continue.
Xuan made sure that the overseer understood his intention to continue at all times. He never dropped his gravitational field for long. As soon as Terry and Rafael would stop pestering him, Xuan retaliated.
Soon, more than a day had passed in the arena.
***
Comments
Aurora1325
yes
Logan
Really? I have to wait a week to find out how this ends?
Aurora1325
thanks for the chapter
Sesharan
Well now, that’s an interesting matchup. The Immovable Mage versus the All-Stopping Force. Mana will let them keep going for a while, but not forever. Honestly, I wonder if this might not end in another alliance?
