Baddan expelled another clump of dark blue clouds, and the trio was not surprised to once again find a number of Baddans surrounding them. They numbered exactly thirty-six, and the group immediately stood back to back, even though the plan didn't involve them sticking together.
"We might as well have delivered ourselves to death, like he said," Tallo scoffed.
"Yeah, well..." Maxim said, her reluctance on full display.
"As long as you do your part, we'll be fine. Like I said. 100%. Remember?" Skullius said, more to himself than the others.
Tallo sighed, and suddenly turned into a mash of colour that streaked in one direction, and Maxim did the same, in another direction. The clones of Baddan split themselves, and followed after them, catching up in no time, of course.
Skullius was left in the same spot, a hard look on his face. The level of focus required for his part of the plan now was not be trifled with, but at the same time, it was a luxury he couldn't afford. After all, splitting his senses and thought when he had his share of Baddans closing in on him was courting death.
Skullius was the one who had laid out the whole scheme – though in reality, it wasn't a concrete plan – with the others following his lead. Maxim had started warming up to him, displaying signs of trust, and in the last three or so minutes, which felt like an eternity, he began to think she wasn't the crazy person he thought she was before. Granted, when someone said they were glad you were blind, you would be inclined to think of them in a darker light. But now, he had a growing respect for her.
Tallo seemed to only be following through because it was the only play available, and because it had educational value, or so he claimed. To the Hybrid Luman, this plainly confessed that despite how skilled the young Mage was, he was only a Prime Mage indeed, a beginner, as far as true Mages were concerned.
In any case, it went without saying that Skullius started taking the beating of his life, and unlike the previous times, Baddan wasn't too keen on letting them leave the second circle.
Maxim stopped trying to create distance when she found ten Baddans zooming towards her at speeds she couldn't perceive with her eyes, despite the enhancement given by the full manifestation of the Incarnation floating above her.
'Here we go!' she thought, hyping herself up.
With a thought, a net-like spherical barrier of cerulean blue covered her protectively, but after she set it up, she also put her arms up to guard, the beautiful stroke of light around her, which enhanced her physicality growing brighter.
Not even a mini-moment later, the net-like barrier shattered as three heavy wallops crashed into it with deep thrums, but one with enough perception could see that the raw force which had been applied to break it had been reduced, some of it being deflected up to the sky!
This barrier was an advanced application, an Auxiliary Technique that focused on redirecting physical impacts. Maxim was very proud to have mustered it.
While its effect was made to look shallow by the calibre of opponents, it worked as much as Maxim expected. Several blows she couldn't see violated her, causing her puke blood, and get blown away, but she didn't feel them as intensely as before. She had also saved herself from some of the force with the barrier.
It was no surprise that the Baddans were not holding back, and before Maxim landed, she found another Baddan waiting for her at the exact spot she was about to fall onto, his hands making several seals with incredible speed!
'Here it comes!' she thought before a blow smote her head from above forcing her to fall to where the technique was being activate. A technique at the Super level.
As Maxim descended, she barely gave herself room for hesitation before turning herself into a large, thin frame which halted in mid-air, its momentum killed off.
Several Baddans scaled the sky as if there was a set of stairs, their forms unseen to the naked eye.
Maxim waited until her instincts screamed that they enemies were too close before returning to normal, pumping a frightful amount of mana into the generation of her Aura, and feeding it all to the paper-like centipede above!
"Eat this!" Maxim roared.
A flash of bright radiance dyed the air white, illuminating the Baddans that were coming her way, including the one three meters below her!
When it died down, seven Baddan clones trapped in paper thin clear panes appeared!
She had turned them all flat!
Contrary to the emotion most would feel from this, Maxim did not show any signs of triumph. This had only worked because she had utilised the exhausting Incarnation of hers to the fullest, exploiting her boosted Family Technique, Planate High.
Planate High was a Technique that allowed the user to turn everything within their effective range flat. While in this state, it was as if time was frozen for the targets, and even living things would find themselves unable to move, or think. Forces acting on trapped items, or beings would also be halted, depending on their calibre. That said, Maxim could release the effect, restoring whatever she had trapped.
There was practically no limit to what Planate High could turn flat, but naturally, stronger beings, artefacts, and all, could resist. This Technique could evolve as well, becoming stronger, but Maxim was only capable of using it at the very summit of the Special level, and she understood that limit very well.
That was why, as soon as she saw that she had succeeded, she focused mana to her feet, shot herself to the nearest frozen Baddan in mid-air, and shattered the thin plate he was trapped in with a heavy punch.
Indeed.
When her target was trapped with Planate High, Maxim could destroy them, but depending on how strong they were, the glass-like pane keeping them frozen could become harder to break.
Maxim shattered two more in the blink of an eye before she saw the rest of the stationary panes quiver, the Baddans they held forcefully restoring themselves!
'I expected this... but damn!' she cursed before diving to the ground, and using the fraction of moment of reprieve as the Baddans returned to their senses, to use another Auxiliary Technique.
Her presence, and figure vanished, along with the Incarnation that followed her around.
The effect didn't last very long, but that brief moment of not being targeted by the Baddans gave Maxim enough time to take a breath, and then she launched an offensive of her own, in the name of stalling.
It started with her grabbing one of the maroon pillars, and turning it flat.
'You better be right about this,' she thought.
*
Tallo was having a better time than Maxim.
It went without saying that he had activated his Genuine Incarnation to avoid being caught off guard by mana-based techniques that he could defend against easily. However, this didn't mean that Tallo had managed to remain unharmed in the past forty seconds.
The young Prime Mage, was a combat Mage, which was to say he Class Branched into Form Using, developing semi-advanced combat techniques he could apply along with his Magecraft.
His robes fluttered as his eyes gave a glaring glow in a luminous blue which had saved him from eating several fatal blows.
As a heavy punch that appeared as a shadow in his sight came for him, Tallo swung his right arm, and deflected it down with his elbow before pushing with his shoulder heavily to shove away the Baddan clone that came his way!
He then turned into a mash of colour, narrowly dodging a fierce wind bear that fell devastatingly where he had been standing prior, the chaotic winds which made it swelling to spread and eat away at the ground, crushing it all to dust.
Only a large, dark crater was left in the wake of this technique, and Tallo had survived it for the third time.
'That was... incredibly close...' Tallo thought before ducking down, narrowly avoiding a shattering blow to the face; with another one of his precise movements, he evaded a heavy tackle; with another, a cruel kick to the neck, and more in less than a second!
His body turned unbearably hot, his flesh throbbing in pain. His glowing eyes began to bleed, and he groaned.
The reason he was able to narrowly avoid such terrifying blows that even Maxim, a proper Form User wasn't capable of doing, was because of the Consolidation Patch.
Magecraft had three basic forms that one was supposed to master before graduating from an Apprentice, into a Prime Mage; Elemental, Transmutation, and Consolidation Patches. Consolidation allowed a Mage to enhance their physical aspects by sacrificing a large amount of mana, a feat only possible because of the Reflexive Sigil Matrix Mages placed on their mana cores.
Consolidation is a Patch that those who desired to be combat Mages would continue to focus on as they grew, and their mastery of it improved its effects.
At the moment, Tallo's glowing eyes were telling of his use of Consolidation, empowering his ability to see what he normally couldn't see, and react to what he normally had no chance of reacting to physically.
When opponents were too strong, it took a heavy toll in a short period, and that was why he was bleeding.
Using this had saved him a lot of trouble, but now, as he was reaching his limit, Tallo switched back to pure Mage forms of combat, but not before he was hammered in the back by a Baddan clone!
The frame over his head shattered, and reformed, and the number of Units he had decreased by 10.
Tallo soared, but empowered his Genuine Incarnation, which allowed him to land safely on the ground.
His Genuine Incarnation was a tiny little humming bird that perked on his shoulder with a white, and velvet colour mix – white for the whole, velvet for its tail feathers and beak. A surge of energy had wrapped around Tallo, and he sucked in a breath with a calm face, and called.
"Rapid Fire, Incendiary Quirk Flame."
All around, searing balls of flame appeared in the dozens, and immediately shot towards the Baddans, or wherever Tallo thought he perceived them. Madness scorched the lands, with funny shapes rising where the fireballs ravaged, and in a short time, a multi-coloured smoke screen was made.
As Tallo did this, he swiped his hands before him, as if smearing the air with something. Not a millisecond after he did, several shadows swept past him, as if ignoring his figure. Tallo had cast an illusion, but he immediately cancelled it after he sensed that the shockingly fast figures of the Baddans were successfully fooled – he had given them a false depiction of his position.
He dispelled it immediately after because he didn't want the Baddans to realise that he could use illusions yet. Quick usages were perfect for quick distractions.
These illusions were the sole reason why Tallo was called talented. He had awakened the capability to master a rare Patch of Magecraft. The Deception Patch. Illusions like he was doing, were the very least of the full potential of the Patch, even though he was already proficient at fooling all five senses.
As soon as Tallo was in view again, his enemies pounced, but he didn't given them a chance.
He looked to the pillars around, and smirked.
Suddenly, a maroon pillar a few meters away from him twisted unsettlingly, as he extended his hand towards it. It fell to the ground still twisting, and in the next instance, it leapt towards Tallo, transforming into a large bullfrog that swallowed him whole, and leapt high, away from the Baddans without delay!
'And now...' Tallo thought as he waited with bated breaths in mid-air.
A suffocating pressure swept from above as he sped while within the creature's mouth. The sensation of such a massive amount of mana bellowing down, and the force he felt tearing the large frog in an instant almost made him freeze.
The Kiiyataka had descended once again, causing the furious battles all over to stall for bit, because visibility was skewed, and the vicious effects were not at all pleasant!
Another shattering rumble sounded as the cloudy fish smacked the lands, but thankfully, Tallo was safe. He had teleported from the frog's mouth the instant he felt the mana surging above it, preparing to take it down.
He wasn't unscathed though, a part of his had turned dark, nicked by the force of the Super level technique.
When Tallo landed, he gave a breath to calm his heart.
'Looks like he was right...' he thought.
None of the pillars were being destroyed by Baddan's attacks, as Skullius had said, which should have been obvious, but Maxim and Tallo had hardly cared for it.
The Prime Mage extended his hand, and the pillars he could see through specks of flame, dust, cloud, and moisture, started to wriggle and transform with his use of Transmutation!
A variety of creatures, and inanimate objects appeared in place of the many pillars around!
Large, snorting pigs, scaly lizards, wolves, gourds, large spoons, large pieces of cloth!
Tallo didn't stop, making sure that he was in clear view, since at this time, he had wandered from his share of the Baddans.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for him to feel it.
Unbridled hostility.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
For the first time, Tallo saw Baddan – even though it was a clone – wearing a deep, deep scowl which made his face look like a twisted towel.
He was angry. Very angry.
Many clones had rushed here, most of them seeming to not be the ones he had been facing, but drawn by the heresy.
"This..." said Tallo as he pointed to another pillar which began to twitch and change, "... is the battlefield you chose. Unlike you, I can't stop myself from creating collateral damage. I only care for my life, not this place. Besides, your rules said nothing about not damaging the pillars."
The Baddan who had inquired hostilely looked to turn insane.
"Rules... Rules you say..." he said, his eyes turning as large, and as round as saucers, his lips twitching.
His core flushed a large amount of mana, as did the ones from the other Baddans.
The clouds above rumbled, and the wind blew faster.
A drop of sweat fell down Tallo's temple.
'I didn't overdo it, did I?' he thought readying his teleportation.
Judging by the clones that were looking more eager than ever, the plan was likely to work if they survived another minute, prayed, and actually believed Skullius, whatever he wanted to do exactly.
And right now...
"TALLO!"
A loud voice called unexpectedly.
It was Skullius, in the far distance looking worse for wear.
He was holding in his hand a long, thick green serpent that was resisting his grip, wiggling nonstop and trying to bite him.
The Mage put on a sour face, and extended his hand. He had thought Skullius was ready, but no. It was just his side-quest.
With an 'Ah', Tallo extended his hand towards the Hybrid Luman.
In a blink, the legless creature in Skullius' hand turned into a green sword that fit firmly in the Hybrid Luman's grip and...
....!
Somehow, Tallo was left thinking differently the moment Skullius held this green sword.
He gulped.
He and Maxim were swept by a bit of relief, and a hint of trepidation from what came next.
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