A Journey Unwanted

[Realm: Álfheimr]

[Location: Heart Kingdom]

[Pulchritudo]

[Banquet]

The fight had barely settled before Trismegistus moved again.

There was no warning spoken aloud; the Royal Guard had already prepared his spell.

Mikoto noticed the change in the air before the spell became visible. The atmosphere around them seemed to shift, the warmth draining from the courtyard with unnatural speed. His breath became visible, and the stone beneath his sabatons began to develop a thin layer of frost.

The temperature continued dropping.

Mikoto’s red eyes shifted toward Trismegistus.

The Royal Guard stood several paces away, one hand extended, his posture firm. Mana gathered around him; he had already decided exactly what he intended to do.

Then the cold became oppressive, and frost raced across the surrounding stone.

The decorative plants along the edges of the courtyard stiffened beneath a coating of white. Moisture in the air crystallized almost instantly, tiny fragments of ice appearing and disappearing around Trismegistus as the spell reached its final stage.

Mikoto watched without moving.

("Hydrosophy.") The thought came without excitement. ("He’s just solidifying the water around him.")

The ground suddenly groaned.

A violent crack tore through the stone, then the ice came. An enormous mass of frozen water erupted forward from Trismegistus’s position, expanding as it traveled. It was like a moving wall, a gigantic wave of sharp ice that surged across the courtyard with enough force to swallow everything in its path.

Its leading edge was covered in spikes.

Some were short and dense, while others stretched several meters upward, their sharpened points angled in different directions. More ice formed behind them as the wave advanced, constantly reshaping itself as the spell continued feeding it.

The mass of it was staggering, and the pressure arrived before the wave. Loose debris was lifted from the ground and hurled forward. Broken pieces of masonry that had been scattered around the courtyard were caught in the advancing current and embedded within the ice. The stone beneath Mikoto’s feet cracked as the pressure reached him.

The wave struck the nearest structures; stone walls disappeared beneath the advancing ice. One section of the estate’s exterior was struck so hard that the entire face of the structure fractured. Columns snapped under the weight, decorative balconies collapsed, and windows shattered outward as the freezing wave pushed through the building rather than around it.

The ice continued; it tore through another section of the courtyard, dragging broken stone and pieces of architecture along with it.

Mikoto remained where he was; his snow-white hair shifted in the pressure, but his beautiful face showed little more than mild boredom.

"Just when you were getting interesting."

The enormous wave continued toward him; Mikoto raised his free hand.

His armored fingers opened.

"You’re merely solidifying your Hydrosophy." His voice was flat. "Nothing impressive."

The fire appeared in his palm with no elaborate incantation or complicated glyph.

Heat simply gathered.

For one brief instant, the air around his gauntlet distorted. Then an immense wave of fire erupted from Mikoto’s hand. The flame expanded outward with such intensity that the temperature of the courtyard changed almost instantly. Frost evaporated from the surrounding stone before the fire even reached the advancing ice.

The wave of fire struck the ice, and the collision lasted less than a second. The front of the enormous frozen mass began melting immediately. Steam exploded from its surface as the ice buckled inward as the heat overwhelmed it, the sharp spikes collapsing into torrents of water that were themselves instantly converted into vapor.

Mikoto’s fire consumed the entire wave; the advancing wall of ice disappeared from the front backward, layer after layer collapsing beneath the heat. Massive chunks fell apart before they could reach Mikoto, their surfaces glowing with reflected orange light before becoming nothing more than clouds of steam.

The heat continued forward as it struck the ground. Stone blackened as the cracks widened. Moisture trapped within the masonry flashed into steam, causing sections of the pathway to fracture and burst apart.

The fire eventually began thinning; Mikoto’s arm remained extended, then he snapped his fingers.

The remaining steam detonated, and a violent combustion of vapor erupted through the courtyard. The sudden expansion sent a pressure wave outward, throwing loose debris in every direction. Steam rolled across the area in a dense cloud, obscuring both combatants from one another.

Mikoto moved immediately; he bent his knees, then launched himself upward. His sabatons left the shattered stone with tremendous force.

He shot through the steam and into the open air, passing above the damaged estate structures. The heavy armor should have made the movement cumbersome, yet Mikoto moved easily. The steam thinned, and his eyes immediately found Trismegistus below.

The Royal Guard had already repositioned himself, but Mikoto did not hesitate. Two large circular glyphs appeared behind him; they were white and each consisted of several rotating rings, geometric markings, and lines that began turning around a central point.

Mikoto’s red eyes narrowed as the glyphs aligned. Then both discharged, two enormous beams of concentrated light erupted behind Mikoto. The force of their release created twin shockwaves that tore through the air.

The beams raced downward, but Trismegistus noticed, his head tilted upward. The two attacks were already approaching as he raised one hand.

Mikoto watched as the Royal Guard did not attempt to block the beams. Instead, the light of his beams changed; it dimmed. It did not seem like it was because they were losing power.

Something else was happening.

The intense radiance began to lose its coherence as it approached Trismegistus. The magical particles comprising the attack seemed to deteriorate, their structure breaking down before they could reach him.

The beams flickered, then disappeared.

Mikoto hummed as he landed several meters away.

His sabatons touched the stone gently despite the height from which he had descended. His knees bent slightly to absorb the remaining momentum before he straightened.

The steam continued drifting around them as Mikoto looked toward Trismegistus.

"Decaycraft."

Trismegistus’s attention settled on him.

Mikoto’s expression became thoughtful.

"Thanurgos branch." He glanced briefly toward the space where his beams had vanished. "You decayed the magic particles, breaking down its structure until there was nothing left to maintain it." His eyes narrowed slightly. "That’s why it disappeared."

Trismegistus was silent for a moment, then his voice carried through the thinning steam.

"I’m impressed."

Mikoto looked at him.

"You figured that out rather quickly," Trismegistus continued. "Most practitioners would simply recognize that their spell had been nullified. Identifying the exact method from such a brief exchange requires considerable understanding of magical principles."

Mikoto’s expression did not change.

"It’s because I have real good eyes."

Trismegistus tilted his head slightly.

Mikoto’s gaze remained fixed on him.

"That’s all."

There was no false modesty in the answer; he seemed to consider the explanation sufficient.

Trismegistus lowered his hand.

"Your eyes, then."

"Call it my eyes, my senses, or experience." Mikoto shifted Sabre in his grip. "But mostly my eyes."

The Royal Guard studied him, and Mikoto studied him in return.

Trismegistus moved immediately.

There was no pause for either of them to reconsider the distance between them. The Royal Guard’s raised hand shifted slightly, his fingers spreading as he studied Mikoto through the golden mask.

"It appears," Trismegistus said, his voice still remarkably composed despite the state of the courtyard around them, "that a little more finesse is needed."

Two circular white glyphs flared into existence besides him.

They were smaller than the formation he had used before but considerably denser. Their outer rings rotated in opposite directions while the geometric markings within them aligned themselves with rapid precision.

Mikoto watched as the glyphs flashed.

Two beams of light erupted from them; they crossed the distance almost instantly.

Mikoto’s red eyes tracked their movement.

Then the beams split.

Each concentrated beam divided into several thinner strands, the individual rays separating before changing direction independently. What had initially been two attacks suddenly became a spreading web of light, the thinner beams racing towards Mikoto from different angles.

One came directly toward his chest and another curved toward his shoulder. Two more crossed behind him, cutting off the obvious avenues of retreat.

Mikoto’s expression remained unchanged as he lifted one gauntleted hand.

His palm faced the approaching light; the first beam was almost upon him, then it stopped.

Its structure changed; a thin layer of crystalline material suddenly formed around the beam, spreading from one end to the other with extraordinary speed. The brilliant light became trapped inside a translucent crystalline shell.

The same thing happened to the other beams.

One after another, each strand of light crystallized in midair.

Trismegistus stopped as his head tilted slightly.

The individual crystalline formations fractured, then they shattered simultaneously. Thousands of tiny fragments scattered through the air before dissolving into harmless motes of mana.

Trismegistus stared.

"Interesting."

Mikoto lowered his hand. "You’ve got a habit of making simple spells unnecessarily complicated."

The Royal Guard’s attention remained fixed upon the remnants of his spell.

"You crystallized the individual mana particles."

"Yep." Mikoto gave a small hum; there was no pride in the answer, he still seemed almost bored.

Trismegistus studied the space between them.

"That level of precision is rather extraordinary. You altered the state of its constituent mana while it was still in motion."

Mikoto’s expression did not change.

"You talk too much." Mikoto stated as he looked around the damaged courtyard. "This area is too restrictive."

Trismegistus’s posture changed slightly as Mikoto extended his arm. His palm pointed directly at the Royal Guard.

Trismegistus’s instincts reacted before his mind could completely process what was happening.

The air between them compressed as an invisible force struck him.

The impact was so sudden that there was no opportunity to brace.

Trismegistus was hurled backwards.

The ground beneath him shattered from the initial transfer of force, stone erupting upward as his body accelerated away. The pressure continued expanding through the estate behind him, tearing apart pathways, crushing decorative walls and ripping through structures that happened to occupy his trajectory.

A nearby tower buckled, its upper section collapsing inward as the invisible force swept through it. Another building was struck moments later; windows exploded outward and the stonework cracked. Roof tiles were torn free and scattered across the night sky.

Trismegistus’s body continued flying, yet despite the sheer violence of the impact, his body showed no visible damage.

His clothing remained largely intact; he had been moved but not injured.

("Another spell.")

He stabilized himself in the air, twisting his body and extending one hand to manipulate the surrounding mana.

("Kinetomancy.") His mind worked rapidly. ("A force-amplification spell. Rather than directly damaging the target, he generated an overwhelming kinetic impulse and transferred it into my body.")

The realization came with another.

("And he didn’t need a projectile.")

Trismegistus looked downward; the estate was already becoming distant, very distant.

His golden mask remained pointed towards the shrinking lights of Pulchritudo.

For a moment, he simply watched.

Then his eyes shifted; the realization finally settled. He had been thrown completely out of the city. The lights of the city were now visible far behind him, scattered across the landscape.

Trismegistus looked beneath himself.

A vast forest stretched below.

Dark treetops rolled across the landscape in every direction, interrupted only occasionally by winding paths and patches of moonlit terrain.

He had been thrown an extraordinary distance.

Far enough that the estate was no longer clearly visible, Trismegistus remained suspended high above the forest; his attention had become considerably sharper.

("So that was merely him deciding that the battlefield was inconvenient.")

He looked back towards the distant city; the implications were unpleasant. Mikoto had not appeared to exert himself; it seemed he had simply decided that there was insufficient room to fight properly.

Trismegistus slowly turned his head.

Something had changed above him.

A shadow covered the stars, his eyes lifted, and he went still.

An enormous circular glyph had appeared in the sky. It was violet and enormous, its circumference stretched far beyond anything Trismegistus could comfortably judge from his position. Thin zigzagging patterns ran throughout its surface, intersecting and separating into complex arrangements that seemed to extend endlessly across the formation.

The glyph continued expanding; it covered the forest below. The trees that had seemed endless only moments ago were now almost insignificant beneath its shadow.

At the centre of the formation was something resembling a skull, its hollow features staring downward. The scale of it was difficult to comprehend; the entire forest seemed to exist beneath the spell’s boundary.

Trismegistus stared upward; for once, there was no immediate analysis.

He simply looked.

The golden mask tilted back as he took in the enormous violet formation.

The glyph continued to rotate, its thin lines shifted.

Trismegistus finally spoke.

"Oh dear."

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