A few weeks had gone by since Meliss' reveal as being half-dwarf. While much hadn't changed in our daily lives, she did end up spending a lot of time with Thorn and Ren, learning about dwarven culture as much as she could. I would've joined in, but between Pyle's, Bernar's, and Taegin's individual lessons, my time and energy were stretched thin.
My assimilation into the second stage of mana was nearing its end, and I could summon it at will, even if it did draw a lot out of me. Still, that was mostly attributed to my physical fitness, rather than my ability to manipulate mana. "Don't worry about feeling like you're about to puke," Pyle said, chuckling at my pale face.
"I would if I'd had time to eat anything this morning. The sun won't be up for another few hours, and yet, here we are," I shot back. "Night training is important, and training on an empty stomach allows for a much clearer head. Not to mention it prevents you from feeling lazy while you digest your food," he replied. I sighed and nodded my head. "I know, I know…" I said, lifting my hand to stop him from going any further. "Come on, then, you'll never keep up with Anwill at this rate," he said, patting my back.
I stood up, and looked around for a brief second as I caught my breath. Knowing I could recover more quickly with the second stage, I infused mana into my muscles and bones once more, the mana seeping out from my eyes like steam from a kettle. "Ready?" he asked. I nodded my reply, as words would have only distracted me from what I was going to try to do next in hopes of catching him off guard.
Will it even work? I thought, observing his footwork and weight distribution in his stance. His, now lowered, center of gravity made it hard to catch him off balance. But if I could just…
Pwang.
I gritted my teeth, just barely able to react to his attack. I consciously breathed in deeply, allowing both ambient mana and air to flood my body, reinforcing my arms. "Not bad, little monster," Pyle smiled, pushing away from me and preparing another attack. This time, however, I pushed in. Sensing how the earth and air were moving around my body, I had a much better handle on my movements than I'd ever had before.
Pyle must have noticed what I was working up, because he immediately side-stepped, changing his body position to prepare for a slash. I pushed off the dirt, kicking up a cloud as my mana infused muscles propelled me forward at a ridiculous rate. Just as his slash began its arc, I took one extra step, pushing into the attack before the apex of his blade could reach its maximum velocity.
Gotcha, I thought, wrapping my arm around his hands and using his elbows as a fulcrum to try and disarm him. Unfortunately for me, a toothy grin had been on his face the whole time, as I noticed an intense build up of mana emanating from him. "Shit," I hissed, realizing I had fallen for his trap.
I pushed away from him as fast as I could, but he expelled his mana like it was overflowing from him. I drew mana from the timeless realm, and infused it into my sword, hoping to counteract the explosion somehow. I swung down as hard as I could, expelling as much of my own mana as I could to cut through the blast.
The resulting power struggle between mine and Pyle's mana was intense. So intense, in fact, that the pressure it gave off knocked a few of the younger synners off their feet and caused more than a few less-affected heads to turn our way to observe the power struggle.
A visible coating of mana on my sword against the half-sphere arcing out from Pyle. It was a sight to behold, for sure, as the combination of the mana began to shoot mana-sparks all across the training field. I struggled to maintain my grip on my sword, using every ounce of strength and concentration I had as I was suspended in the air.
Gods above and below, he's too fucking strong, I thought, feeling my strength begin to falter.
I pushed more and more mana into my body and sword, causing small fissures to begin appearing on it as I grit my teeth. More, I thought. I need more mana. No, wait, I need sharper mana, not more. I need it to be more precise. I struggled to maintain focus, feeling my body begin to fail. Irun always used to call you Lanky, so why not turn your mana into something that suits that as well, I thought, closing my eyes for a brief second.
I could sense Pyle's curiosity, as he maintained his steady output of mana. The aura around my blade began to condense further, supporting both the spine and the edge simultaneously. I opened my eyes, giving Pyle a smirk.
"Sunder," I commanded, my voice altered by the mana reverberated through the air. As if following my exact intent, the mana along the edge spiked, cleaving Pyle's spell in twine, exploding the mana between us. I, for one, was sent flying in the opposite direction from the explosive mana, but Pyle remained standing, covering his face and neck with his arms.
Still in my second stage, I forced a kick out in front of me to help me rotate enough to not slam the ground flat on my ass. I landed deftly, skidding backwards a little ways before finally coming to a halt. I held my blade out away from me to avoid accidentally cutting myself if I needed to roll further, and noticed it suddenly becoming very light.
The steel had turned into a glass-like structure from the intense heat provided by the mana, and the rapid cooling from its decompression. It wasn't as quick as a bladesmith's quenching of a blade, but it was enough for martensite to form along the cracks that had riddled the blade like lightning. They had apparently formed so deeply that as soon as enough heat had dissipated from the blade, it dismantled under its own weight.
"Damn it, that was my favorite training sword, too," I thought solemnly. Pyle, on the other hand, had already rushed over to me. "Thoma, are you alright? What the fuck was that?" he asked, extending a hand out for me to use as support.
"I realized I couldn't win in a contest of strength with you, so I had to improvise," I replied, a slight grin showing on my face. "And what was that thing you said? Sunder, I thought I heard you say? Was that a new spell you've come up with?" he asked excitedly.
I shook my head. "I wouldn't call it a spell, so much as it was more of a command, I suppose," I said, not exactly knowing how to explain the feeling. Meliss ran over to us, having paused her training with Thorn momentarily. "Thoma, are you alright?" she asked from a short distance away. Pyle, on the other hand, regarded me curiously, like he couldn't quite put his finger on me.
"I'm alright, Meliss," I said, ignoring the exhaustion I was beginning to feel. "By the gods, what a fight that was! You were like pwaaah, and Pyle was like bwoooom," she said excitedly, miming our battle as she made her sound effects. "It was incredible," she said, finally settling down after a few more vocalized onomatopoeias of our battle.
"Thanks, but I don't exactly know what I did," I replied, unsure of how else to process what had just happened. "You do, actually," Thorn said, injecting himself in the conversation. "I do?" I asked, more confused than I think Pyle was. "You actually hit the nail on the head, but your insight into what you said isn't exactly present," he continued.
"What do you mean my insight isn't exactly present?" I asked, wondering what that could possibly mean. "Where Ren and I are from, we call our understanding of mana manipulation insight. You said you commanded the mana, and you weren't entirely wrong, but you're still not sure what you did to get there," he explained.
"So, what you're saying is I subconsciously used some sort of mental image that allowed me to do that?" I asked, thinking back on what I did during the clash. "That's a part of the whole, but not quite it. Having a mental image drastically improves your command, or intent, but the strength of your will alongside your control play a much larger role than you might think," Thorn said, trying to figure out how to explain it better. "You'll find out more when you train with Anwill, as I'll leave that part to his expertise," he continued.
Like what I do with my Whip of Doom, I thought, remembering the first time I'd ever cast it.