Absolute Mana Dominion: All My Talents Are SSS

Chapter 50: 50 - Reinforcements

Adrien was in the garden behind the mansion when he heard someone shouting from the courtyard. He had spent the last half hour working through [Ice Wall], trying to spread it wider without thinning the middle, when a Clairmont soldier came around the side of the building at a mana-enhanced sprint.

"Lord Adrien!" The man nearly stumbled as he reached them, and Adrien’s stomach tightened the moment he recognised him. He had been one of the two soldiers who left with Ariane that morning.

"What happened? Where’s Ariane?" Adrien let the half-formed spell collapse before the soldier had even caught his breath.

"We were attacked on the road back. Armed men blocked the carriage in a narrow street." The soldier bent forward, hands on his knees. "Lady Ariane sent me for help. The other guard stayed with her."

"How many, and who are they?" Adrien was already moving toward him.

"At least ten. Their faces were covered, my lord. Lady Ariane started fighting so I could get out." The answer was enough.

Vikir had been standing near the garden wall with his mana rifle across one arm. He joined them immediately as Adrien asked, "How long ago?"

"Ten minutes. Maybe fifteen." The soldier straightened as much as he could.

"Tell Garrick and my mother exactly what happened, then have Garrick send whoever he can spare after us." Adrien got the location from him in a rush and started toward the gate. The street was close enough that every minute mattered.

Vikir followed without being asked. Adrien glanced sideways and started, "You don’t have to—"

"I know, my lord." Vikir shifted the mana rifle against his shoulder. That ended the discussion, and they ran.

By the time Adrien reached the street, the first thing he noticed was the water. Ice still covered the walls and edges of the road, but most of Ariane’s Winter’s Reach had begun melting, leaving shallow streams and wide puddles around the carriage.

The second thing he noticed was his sister. Ariane stood with one hand braced against the carriage while the remaining Clairmont guard protected her left side, blood running down one sleeve, and Léon Arquenay was standing in front of them.

Relief crossed Ariane’s face the instant she saw Adrien. Her shoulders dropped before she caught herself and said, "You’re late."

Adrien looked her over once. "You look fine."

"I’m going to hit you later." Ariane was breathing hard, but hearing that was enough for Adrien.

"Good to hear, that means you’re just fine." He turned his attention back to Léon.

Léon stared between Adrien and Vikir before a slow smile appeared. "Actually, this makes things easier. Give me the documents you took from the camp, Adrien, and this can end here."

Adrien reached into his Inventory. Umbral Root formed from drifting specks of mana, dark polished wood locking into the silver setting around its pale crystal as the familiar drain began.

"I have no idea what documents you’re talking about." Adrien settled the staff into his hand.

"Don’t waste my time. My father went to Greymoor because of them, and you’ve been sitting on them ever since." Léon rested one hand on his sword.

Adrien almost thanked him for confirming exactly what Gaspard had wanted from that visit, but kept it to himself. "Let’s say I did know what you meant. You honestly thought you could enter Clairmont territory, surround my sister with armed men and somehow turn that into a negotiation?"

"You took something from my family, so I’m taking something from yours until we get it back." Léon sounded as though the logic should have been obvious.

Ariane stared at him. "You do realise kidnapping is usually the part where people stop calling it an exchange, right?"

"If you’d come quietly, none of this would’ve been necessary." Léon’s jaw tightened as he looked between the siblings.

His plan had changed the moment Adrien arrived. Ariane had been enough, but both of Evelyne Clairmont’s children were better; with two lives in his hands, there was no chance she would gamble them over a stack of papers.

"Both of you can still walk away from this," Léon said. "Give me what I came for. Otherwise, you and your sister come with me, and your mother can decide what those documents are worth."

Adrien stared at him for a moment. "Do you genuinely think that’s possible?"

"I’ve already done the difficult part. You’re surrounded." Léon drew his sword, still looking far more confident than he had any right to.

"The last time you saw me fight, I was One Star." Adrien let Absolute Mana Sense spread through the street. The men still standing were mostly Two Stars, but so was he now.

Léon’s expression shifted slightly. He had spent so long remembering the boy from Oathday that he had apparently never considered that Adrien might have changed since then.

Adrien glanced toward Vikir, whose mana rifle was already pressed into his shoulder. "Can you cover me?"

"I’ll try, my lord. Just don’t step where I’m aiming." Vikir’s barrel followed the nearest attacker.

"Reasonable." Adrien faced forward again as Léon finally lost patience.

"Take them. And try not to kill either one unless they force you." Three men moved at once.

Adrien saw the water around their boots and changed his plan. ’Let’s see if this works.’

Mana rushed through Umbral Root. Swift Channel shortened the casting time and Steady Hand helped him hold the shape together, but Lightning Bolt still felt completely wrong in his hands; Six Stars of power was far ahead of his control.

[Lightning Bolt]

Blue-white electricity gathered around the crystal. Ariane’s head snapped toward him, and even Léon hesitated when the amount of mana inside the forming spell became obvious.

Adrien aimed for the largest puddle, and the spell immediately tried to pull somewhere else.

The bolt ripped away from Umbral Root with a crack that punched through the street. Adrien lost the line almost instantly, and the lightning curved hard to his left before slamming into the water.

Electricity spread through the puddles left by Winter’s Reach. Three attackers seized at once, their weapons dropping as branching arcs raced across the wet stones and climbed through their bodies, which worked considerably better than Adrien had expected.

Vikir’s mana rifle fired before the first man could fall. The round punched through his forehead, Vikir shifted smoothly to the second and fired again, then put a third shot through the last man’s temple while he was still fighting his locked muscles.

Three bodies hit the wet street within seconds. Nobody around them seemed quite ready to move after that.

Ariane stared at the water and then at Adrien, relief giving way to disbelief. "Since when do you have that?"

"Yesterday." Adrien glanced at where the lightning had actually landed.

"You learned something like that yesterday?" Ariane looked from him to the ruined street.

"Learned is doing a lot of work there. I was aiming farther right." Adrien felt a familiar window appear near the edge of his vision.

[Lightning Bolt | 6 Stars | Novice 1%]

’One percent. Apparently missing still counts.’ The spell had taken a painful chunk of mana even with Bottomless Core, but Adrien still had enough left to continue.

Across the street, Léon looked at the three dead men and then back at Adrien. The confidence he’d been carrying since the moment Adrien arrived had finally cracked.

Adrien raised Umbral Root and settled the pale crystal toward him. "Your turn."

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