Adonai:
I better get going.
"I'll be leaving myself in your care. Protect my body."
I doubt trouble will come our way but I know I have comrades I can trust.
The residents of the city look too much like skulls and bones than actual warriors. Other than them the guards are the concern. I doubt Zariel will attack us before the agreed time, after all if anything she seems honorable.
"You can count on us. Take care."
And so I drift off.
In an instant I found myself in the pure white room, where a man covered by a robe was waiting for me.
Nothing could be seen around, same as usual, only a flow of magical energy, gray energy that I could assume it's pure mana.
"The insides of one soul represents something deeper than their mental state, a white soul, someone might think it represents purity, but they couldn't be more wrong... it represents the tendency to get painted by a myriad of colors." The Angel States.
The Angel started walking towards me.
Raising one of his hands I could see once again the tattoos he carries, yet I can't figure out their meaning, but I can't help myself either and be mesmerized by their ever glowing radiance.
His long white hair neatly peeking out of the cloak on his head, and eyes peering into mine, in that vastness of white there's a blue pupil.
The six bones that stretch out of his back, through the robe are moving on their own, if I have to assume it would be muscle memory, cause there's nothing there...
"The gray waves you see are as you guessed, pure-mana, your mana. It is said that the color also changes along with the soul, so not being in sync can represent something akin to a change in your determination. That is reflected only in your ability to use Mana as of right now... which means you're not fully convinced of what you want to do yet... sigh."
I can't deny what he said, after all...
"I won't waste my time trying to give you a lesson on morality, or how one should live their life. As long as you continue to keep on living you'll arrive at the answers in due time. But you're already set on a path that was more or less outside your decision."
...
"Hmm, I see." The Angel stopped in front of me, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"Enhance!"
He said as a powerful force started pinning down my body from the point he touched my arm.
This is crazy magic... gravity? No? Something stronger?
"Sheer power." He said, my eyes struggling to look up to him.
When I finally made eye contact I could see the face of someone... who's ready to kill me.
I instantly amplified my body with pure mana and tried my best to withstand the force... but it is too much.
"As I suspected." He stopped. "You are underdeveloped. From your previous fights you have shown talent for combat, instinct is one of the attributes of a great warrior but you can't fight like a mindless beast forever."
"So" *cough* "What are we gonna do now?" I said while manifesting White Flower.
But the moment he touched my weapon it was dismissed.
"You won't need it, before one learns to run they need to walk. I'll divide your training into multiple processes, and you'll rely to the best of your abilities the best to your companions, as you promised."
With a hand gesture behind him, out of thin air, appeared a checklist.
What is his magic?
"I'm a soul-forger such as yourself. Only that your mind is too limited to understand what is going on... but in due time I'll train you into a decent warrior. My last disciple."
The checklist contained the following:
- Fundamentals
- Tactical Thinking
- Adaptability
- Imagination
Strangely enough I feel like something is missing.
"Physical condition would be another thing but I can't help you while... we're training in your soul."
He's got a point.
"Don't you feel stupid thinking to yourself, when I can hear everything?" He mocked me.
...
"Fundamentals means stance, reflexes, and technique. Stay balanced, guard always up, reflexes akin to that of a beast always cornered, and last don't rely on sheer force, use technique, precision is always better than brute force, small movements win fights, not grand moves."
After he was finished I felt his intent and readied myself.
"Good."
He disappeared.
"Try to not die on me, boy."
And right in front of my stomach he resurfaced, fist ready to strike...
The time stopped for a moment... in a second I thought of what he said... smal movements, good stance, reflexes.
My feet took a position ready to be thrown back, knowing full well I can't block it without moving, but I did it so that when I'm pushed back I can jump right back to a counter, through a small jump.
Moving a decent part of the pure-mana in my body to my hands I reacted faster than normally possible.
The Angel grinned.
But his fist punched the ground, and he used it as a bar from which he kicked me.
*Cough*
I got pushed back more than I thought... my hands numb.
But he didn't stop...
I panicked.
"Keep your mind calm under pressure, panic will slow you down, breath through the chaos of the battlefield, feel its rhythm and adapt to your circumstances, inhale the air through your nose, exhale the pain through your mouth, read your opponent movements, shoulders, hips, eyes, every piece of sweat is an indicator of their next move. NEVER close your eyes."
He said as he lashed onto me again, pushing me even further back, losing focus on what's in front of me, I felt like the 'ground' beneath me was starting to sink...
Only then I realized I'm up in the air.
"Your body is your biggest advantage, right now you can compensate because of pure-magic, but pure-magic takes time to recharge, you have an ungodly amount of savings, but you'll run out of them. Make sure you can withstand the most fatal blow through sheer training alone."
As he hit me I had a vision...
A vision of a Lance piercing the core of a planet, it was big, majestic... a royal blue.
The amount of mana... even through a vision I felt overwhelming.
And in that I heard an incantation...
"O, Light born before Time...
O, Lance whose edge upholds the sky
Born in silence, crowned in flame
Let falsehood fall, let chaos yield
Lance of Light, Pillar of the End-Rhongomyniad!"
The moment when I landed my eyes on the wielder's face I was jolted awake back to the battlefield... or well the insides of my soul where The Angel was waiting for me.
"What did you see?" He asked
I was hesitant but I figured that is not my memory.
"Lance of Light..."
He sighted.
"It will happen, while we fight in this space you're gonna see fragments of my memory... it is inevitable because we're so deeply connected, and when I struck you hard enough, that connected it to one of the most terrifying spells I've ever laid my eyes upon... a whole planet, just gone like that."
I couldn't refute... still in shock.
"Be aware if you ever come across her... Morgan Le Fay, one of the most powerful elementalists from when I was still kicking. She has a special type of magic... she and that bastard... Oberon... really made too good of a team."
I knew it was insensible to ask but I couldn't help myself...
"Why did you witness that? Why were you there?"
The Angel looked hesitant for a bit but he replied.
"Before I tore my alliance with Adam I had to do some not so heavenly jobs... back then the planet barely awakened... Avalon and they chose to ally with the Dragons... but their magic was out of ordinary, the planet was special... and the Dragons used it to their advantage to take revenge on a planet that refused to agree with the alliance with them, despite getting preferential treatment..."
...
"I was sent to kill Oberon who was thought to be the most powerful out of the two... but they were wrong... that Queen's innate talent for Magic and that spell were out of this world... One of the few things that truly marked me... sheer talent to the absolute extreme."
History lesson done I guess.
"Your friends are doubting you by the way... you might not be able to hear them through your own body while here but I can... 'If he hid this from us, who knows what else he might be hiding.' You should mend your relationship with them when you get out."
He advised me, looking somewhat sad... the moment of reflection impacted him if I have to guess.
But I know just the right way to make him feel alive again.
I stood up and took a battle ready position, determination brimming in my eyes, and took the first swing.
"It will take a lot more than that to catch me off guard."
The words remained but the body didn't, from under my feet a fist was on the rise to hit my face straight.
But despite my peculiar situation I tried to recall the advice he gave me. In that brief second my expression changed to a wide grin and I proudly did the honorable move of trying to kick his chin.
But until it was a moment too late I realized what I've seen was just an afterimage created by the speed he was moving at... I wasn't in the danger of getting hit in the face, but the...
"Back"
*Punch*