Davi ran through the halls of the maze as fast as he could. Sieg kept up with him easily, the masked man glowing with a bright orange aura.
"Davi," Sieg began but was instantly cut off.
"No."
"You didn't even listen to what I was going to say?" Sieg huffed, clearly annoyed.
"I don't need to."
"I disagree! I'm your older brother."
"That means nothing." Davi kept his gaze forward as he ran. "Right now, we aren't siblings. We're Knights, and a teammate was just taken. You were always the one spouting off about joining the Knights when we were kids. You should understand why we have to help Ken Yuan."
Sieg sighed. "Right. I won't ask you to leave. I know you can handle yourself. Still, we're in a bit of a pickle, so let's stick together." Sieg and Davi both came to a sliding stop. The dungeon had so far been a single hallway that went straight, but now that they arrived at the end, it suddenly split into two paths. This was a maze after all. "Shit."
"Can you sense which way she went?" Davi asked.
"No." Sieg shook his head. "The mana is all muddled."
"Guess we split up?"
Sieg grumbled but nodded. "I'll go down one way, you go down the other. If you get into trouble, flare your mana, and I'll come bolting over. I'll smash through the walls if I have to."
"I can handle myself."
"I know that, still, I'm your brother. Let me worry."
Davi glanced at Sieg, and then he turned to go down one way. "You stay safe also."
Beneath the mask, Sieg smiled, and then he blasted off down his hallway.
Now separated, Davi ran alone. He really needed to get his Core up to E1 already and learn how to use things like Mana Step or Mana Sense. It would make things way easier.
Different hallways and tunnels branched off, and he quickly got lost, with no idea where he was going. Usually, rushing in recklessly like this wouldn't be a good idea, but he was confident that if he just kept moving forward, something would happen.
This was because he was part of Phoenix Flight, and with a bit of bad luck, he was bound to find something interesting in these endless hallways.
"I don't believe that the Cursed Life trait is real." Davi declared, and he then turned down a hallway and ran through it. As he came out on the other side, he smirked beneath his helmet.
Now standing before him was a figure entirely in black, wearing a skull-like mask. It would be considered unlucky to run into such a figure, as the guys who captured Ken Yuan were no doubt powerful.
'Looks like that worked.' Davi thought to himself. 'By saying I didn't believe in the Curse, a bit of bad luck happened, and I ran into someone I shouldn't have.'
This was an idea he had gotten after speaking with Laerton. On the first day she became his captain, she gave him a basic rundown of the curse and what to expect. One of the things she said was, 'Never, ever, say that the curse isn't real. I am at least thirty percent sure it hears us, it laughs at us, and it bullies us. Respect the curse'. She had mostly joked when she said it. It wasn't known whether it was a bizarre coincidence or actual bad luck, but questioning the curse seemed to almost anger it and flare it up.
Davi had always wondered if he could use the curse. After all, Curse Users, mages who fought with curses, did exist. So if he needed to run into something strong or dangerous, then wouldn't questioning the curse out loud trigger it, causing him to run into the powerful thing he was looking for?
Of course, this went without saying, but no other member of Phoenix Flight was brave enough, or rather dumb enough, to try such a brash tactic as causing the curse to trigger.
Davi smugly looked at the figure before him. The hallway had opened up into several other sections, as was typical of a maze, and in one of the forks of the road, standing in the hallway, was a figure in black. He had his hood up, and his body was entirely concealed, save for his face, which had a bony skull mask over it. A pair of harsh brown eyes was in the sockets, and they glared back at Davi.
The hallway wasn't massive, but it wasn't narrow either, more like a tunnel, though it lacked a roof. At least, none that was visible. Instead, the walls of the maze went up endlessly, casting everything in shadow. At first, he had tried to use his Shadow Vault to easily move through the dungeon, but sadly, the walls broke off the connection of the shadows, making them all count as separate ones. As such, he could only teleport through one hallway at a time and couldn't pop out wherever he pleased inside of the dungeon. The shadows were also further broken apart by a soft blue light.
Pure mana ran through the floor and the walls of the maze, lighting the area up in a faint glow that allowed normal people to see. Davi would have been fine even if all the lights were out, though, since he could see in the dark.
The figure had also noticed him instantly, primarily because of how loud his armor was being since he full-sprinted through the dungeon, and without warning, they drew a sword and moved toward him.
"Row Shadow Vault." Davi drew his claymore and raised it up just in time.
The man in the skull mask vanished and flickered, using Mana Step to suddenly appear in front of Davi. Mana Step was akin to teleportation; however, it had a few notable weaknesses. Despite being instant, it wasn't actually all that fast.
Mages tended to have two speeds: Mana Step speed and physical speed. Physical speed was still needed in order to make up for the downsides of Mana Step. Mana Step involved a mage sending a straight line of their mana through the ground, compressing and expanding the space around that line and folding it rapidly, generating enough energy to distort space temporarily. Thus, this effect allowed them to seemingly teleport.
Mana Step's flaw lay in the fact that while the step itself was instant, that was it. This meant that a user couldn't instantly attack a person, as they'd have to wind up their attack like usual. It simply allowed them to appear before the opponent. It could also only be used with a step, meaning it would be impossible to instantly teleport mid-swing and behead someone or impale them on the blade.
The higher grade a person had with Mana Step also determined how far they could go with their Mana Step and how much mana it used up. Captains were considered monsters, as they could cross nearly one mile in a single step. Knights could go ten to twenty feet if they were lucky, with skilled users being able to cross thirty meters instantly. The other downside to this step was that it had to be in a straight line, performed in one go, and couldn't go through walls.
This meant that even if a person lacked Mana Step, as long as they were physically fast and had a good reaction time, they could still defend against and block attacks that were deployed nearly instantly.
In an instant, the Spell Sword used Mana Step, and he appeared ten feet ahead of where he had been, instantly arriving in front of Davi. He then swung his sword out. Despite seemingly having the speed advantage because he could teleport, Davi's speed was able to keep up physically, and he blocked with the claymore that had flown out of his vault.
Davi easily blocked the attack, but that turned out to be a mistake. There was the sound of metal on metal, and then suddenly his claymore was split in two. He grunted and ducked down, but the katana the Spell Sword swung clipped the top of his helmet and also sliced through that as if it were butter. The Spell Sword then flickered and vanished, reappearing to the side of Davi, and he brought his blade down.
Danger Sense was the only thing that kept him alive, and he dove back because of it, the sword slicing through the floor where he had been. He pulled another blade and swung it, but his blade split as the Spell Sword blocked his strike.
The Spell Sword then swung his blade upwards, and Davi back-stepped, but the front of his armor was sliced into, and he felt blood run down his chest.
Perhaps testing the Cursed Life trait wasn't a good idea… Unluckily for him, this figure had the ability to cut through his weapons and armor as if they were butter.
Esteria had enchanted weapons and armor. Thanks to Circuit Cores, they could use powerful gear that surpassed even the elven weapons of the olden days. That didn't mean the rest of the world had no means to make weapons on par with the kingdom.
Mordheim had one good thing about it. Within its land was a source of metal. A powerful mineral that could be refined and transformed into weapons. These weapons lacked enchantments, or if they had one, it wasn't very powerful due to the lack of Circuit Cores, but the metal they were forged from was inherently special.
When a mage wore armor or used a sword, they would imbue their mana into the blade. This allowed it to be far more sturdy than a standard sword and could let it cut through things it normally wouldn't be able to. If they put enough mana into the weapon and were skilled enough, they'd create an effect known as a Mana Strike, which was a powerful ability similar to Mana Step.
The blades Spell Swords used were able to skip the hardship usually required with pulling off a Mana Strike. The metal was able to absorb and compress mana hundreds of times better than any other type of weapon, and as such, even putting a drop of mana into their sword would be the equivalent of ten different mages running their mana through the edge of the blade.
This created an effect where the katanas from Mordheim were said to be able to cut through any material that wasn't forged out of the same brand of metal or wasn't an enchanted item. This caused the Spell Swords to be extremely feared when it came to battles of the blade, since they would literally tear their enemies' weapons apart with simple slashes. The best way to engage them was from a distance using powerful Destruction magic to blast them to bits.
This wasn't a method that Davi could do…
The Spell Sword twisted his arm and thrust his blade out. He used Mana Step to flash forward and struck as fast as he could, aiming for Davi's heart.
Davi knew that even if he blocked, the sword would pierce through his defense, and he had no time to step to the side. Instead, he took a different approach. "Row Shadow Vault." Davi swung the sword that appeared in his hands up and met the Spell Sword's blade. Their weapons clashed, and this time his sword didn't break as he deflected the blow.
The Spell Sword used Mana Step again and this time appeared out of Davi's reach, backing up. Davi breathed heavily and gripped his sword tightly.
The Spell Sword stared at him, and then the man's eyes went down to the sword Davi was holding. "You possess an enchanted item?" The voice that came out of the cloaked figure was a woman's, though Davi didn't particularly care.
Davi remained silent and caught his breath. He had brought out the elven longsword. He still wasn't able to bond with the weapon and use the powers for his own, but thankfully, even without fully bonding with it, the sword had several basic enchantments. The ones that would affect him, such as the power increases, wouldn't work, but the enchantments that affected how sturdy the blade was were active.
This sword was as close to being unbreakable as it could get, and not even the exceptionally sharp Spell Sword blades could break through it.
"Do you just have nothing to say, or are you perhaps stupid in the head?" The woman questioned.
"There's no reason for us to talk," Davi grunted, and his mana flared out. "Row Shadow Armor." He sucked in more shadows, and his armor mended and fixed, all the damage fading away. Shame he couldn't do anything about his body. 'Quick Regeneration would be useful…' He thought bitterly.
"I disagree." The woman chuckled. "After all, you must be someone important if you have an enchanted item. That armor you're wearing is so ominous, also. Are you cosplaying the Ebony Knight?"
Davi's eye twitched. "Give back the girl you took."
"Sorry, we can't do that." The woman shrugged. "She's dead—"
"Row Shadow Vault." Blades jutted out of the ground all around the woman, but like him, she must have had some sort of Danger Sense, because she easily dodged them all and then raised her sword up just in time to block his strike as he flung himself at her. She grunted from the force of his blow, and he didn't hold anything back. He put everything he had into the strike, using all his mana and force.
The woman gritted her teeth but lost the power of brute force and was flung back as Davi's swing destroyed her guard. She rammed back first into a wall, hitting it hard enough to crack, and the look in her eyes turned to one of fury.
"Dumbass, using all your power-ups for a reckless attack!" She suddenly let out a laugh and used Mana Step to flash toward him. "Die!" Without mana, the man before her would be far slower to react and wouldn't be able to withstand a clash of swords. That's what she thought, but to her shock, Davi stepped to the side just as fast as he always was. She was caught so off guard that she stumbled past him.
"Row Shadow Vault." Davi launched another attack, using the shadow beneath the woman. She got her blade ready, confident she could slice through any claymores that came out, but the vault kept opening and opening, getting bigger and bigger, and then a giant anchor blasted out! The very same that he got from the merfolk.
Even with a sword refined and enhanced with mana, the Spell Sword couldn't slice through the entire anchor; her sword only got a foot into the metal object before it got stuck. The anchor kept blasting up, and it rammed into her stomach, shattering several of her ribs, and this time, she was flung into the air.
By using Old Bird's Flapping Wings, Davi, of course, regained his full strength. The technique was potent and valuable, but it also required him to finish fights quickly. Each time he used it, it would put a bit of a strain on his body. He wasn't required to use all his power up, but as the strain got worse and worse, this would eventually lead to his body reaching a breaking point and collapsing.
He opened his vault again, sucked the anchor back in, and then pulled his arm back. The Spell Sword dropped from the sky, and as soon as she came within his reach, he struck out as hard as he could at her. Upside down, she tried to block the blow, but after the beating she took, her mana wasn't as durable as it was from the start, and his attack came out with all his power behind it. When it clashed with her blade, there was a loud cracking sound, and this time, her sword snapped in two.
The katana broke, and his blade kept going forward. He twisted it and used the flat end of it, ramming it into her mask. He hit her with everything he had, shattered the skull mask, and nearly snapped her neck. She hit the ground and rolled across it, then slammed back-first into another wall.
She slumped down, red spilling from her face, and her hood fell back. She might have been pretty at one time, but her nose was busted, and a few teeth dropped out of her open mouth. Long black hair spilled down her back, and her eyes were filled with utter hate now.
Davi took a deep breath and used Old Bird's Flapping Wings to regain the lost energy he expended. A weight settled on his shoulders, and his bones started to throb. He could use it one more time. If he went past three, the effect would cause his body to break, and something would rupture.
Old Bird's Flapping Wings was a very advanced breathing technique. He had no idea how Rosco had come by such a powerful ability, but it was perilous for both enemies and the user. It effectively allowed him to have four times the amount of energy he normally would.
When faced with a tremendous force of power, the enemy would have no choice but to use a ton of mana to block the strike. This would significantly reduce their total defense and allow his second full-power strike to hit even harder, since his power would be regained while theirs would drop.
Davi shifted his grip on his sword, and he lifted it above his head, holding it with both hands now. The stance that was needed to use the Sky Cutting technique. "I'll ask again." Davi stepped forward and got ready to split the woman in two if it came to it. "Where's Ken Yuan?"
The woman spat up several of her teeth and then giggled. "And what will you do if I don't say?"
"I'm going to kill you."
"Do you really expect me to believe that you can take a life—" Davi stepped forward and got ready to swing. "Wait!" The woman suddenly cried out.
Davi stopped and frowned. "Tell me. Now."
"Alright, alright." The woman nodded her head and winced. "I'll tell you." She began to slowly stand back up, her broken body making her wince. "Better yet, I'll show you." She nodded. "Let me lead you there, and then—you can burn in hell!" From beneath her cloak, she drew a blade, this one a black dagger, and she flickered using Mana Step. She appeared behind him and sliced out with her knife. Davi turned around and blocked the strike with his arm, the cut only being a bit shallow. He brought his sword down, attempting to slice her in half, but she used Mana Step again to get away. "I'm going to fucking kill you!" She roared.
Davi stared at her blankly. This battle was basically already won. He didn't use all his strength in that last attack, and that meant he still had some energy left—about half his full strength. On top of that, he had one more use of Old Bird's Flapping Wings. It would put his body on the brink, but it would ensure he had one more chance at victory. He likely didn't even need it.
Various Mana Steps, and rapidly covering her body in mana to not die from his previous attacks, have taken their toll on the woman before him. She was without a doubt stronger than him, and if he didn't have Old Bird's Flapping Wings, she wouldn't be injured at all, since her mana would have been more than enough to block his strikes, but now that she used so much of her energy up, she had dropped down several grades' worth of stats. They were about equal, and as the fight raged on, she'd only get slower while he remained the same.
This was the true strength of Old Bird's Flapping Wings—a battle of attrition.
Fights were never so simple, however. Many variables could be used to change a fight. A person's mindset, or outside factors like poison. In this case, a curse.
Suddenly, Davi flinched as all the lights went out. His vision began to shimmer, and everything turned a milky white. He wasn't in pure darkness. He was in nothing. He was blind. His eyes no longer worked.
The cut on his arm suddenly burned, and the woman's laughter grew. "It must be affecting you now!" She declared. "My dagger has a powerful curse on it! How does it feel to be hit with the Curse of No Sight! Die!" She launched herself at him again and swung out with her knife, aiming for his chest.
Davi felt the attack coming, Danger Sense warning him of it. His body tensed up, and he lifted his sword again. His plan was simple. As soon as the dagger touched him, before it could even break his skin, he'd use Way of Self Iron to put all the kinetic force in his arms, then he'd use Old Bird's Flapping Wings and pour all his power into his limbs and bring his blade down faster than the knife could pierce him.
In other words, he'd kill her before she could kill him.
Davi made one mistake, however.
As the knife hit him, it stabbed through his arm and began to pierce his chest. The kinetic force was then grabbed and pulled into his arms at insane speeds because of Way of Self Iron. At the same time, Old Bird's Flapping Wings activated, and all the outside energy he had unleashed was pulled back in.
Martial Arts were something used mainly by Rossum and Mordheim. Mordheim focused more on sword techniques, while Rossum was focused more on muscles, bones, and breathing techniques. Despite the fact that there were many martial arts out in the world, most people tended to only learn a handful of techniques.
This was for two reasons. The first was that learning too many could spread a martial artist too thin, and they'd be unable to focus on them all. Because of this, a martial artist would typically learn one or two striking techniques, one or two fighting styles, and then one or two breathing techniques, and call it there. They would then hone those skills and powers, raising them to a new level. The techniques they learned were carefully considered and selected only to benefit them and to address weaknesses the other methods had.
The second reason why a martial artist limited themselves and tried not to get multiple techniques that were similar was for a simple reason. Every technique had a quirk to it. A way that they worked. Sometimes, in the heat of battle, a person wouldn't consider the full effects of the technique they were using, and thus, they wouldn't consider what would happen when two opposing techniques suddenly clashed and were used by the same person at the same time.
Way of Self Iron involved absorbing an outside force, rapidly breaking it down, and then moving it through the body to unleash it in a single powerful attack. It had some similarities to Old Bird's Flapping Wings but was still vastly different.
Old Bird's Flapping Wings involved sucking in all the spent energy and forcefully placing it back into the body, straining the Core and the user greatly.
When the two techniques were activated at the same time, a disaster was the end result.
Old Bird's Flapping Wings pulled all of Davi's energy back in, and the force began to travel to his Core to refill it. However, suddenly Way of Self Iron activated and sensed the outside force; just as it had with the kinetic force, it grabbed it and stopped it from reaching the Core! It then forced all the power, along with the kinetic force, up toward Davi's arms, seeking a way to escape! While that happened, the wild mass of pure energy tried to return to the Core, dragging the kinetic force with it!
This tug of war resulted in neither skill taking the energy to the place it was supposed to. The kinetic force failed to reach the escape route through Davi's arms, and the energy he expelled earlier wasn't able to flow into his Core. Instead, they clashed and remained frozen inside of his body, building up and up and up, and then the backlash from Old Bird's Flapping Wings entered his body and mixed with the kinetic force of the knife that was still inside of him!
This resulted in a massive wave of force exploding inside of his chest. Dozens of bones snapped and shattered, and blood vessels ruptured. Muscles twisted and snapped, and several organs, including the heart, all had a moment where they suddenly paused and stopped working, and it took everything Davi had not to die instantly.
He had made a big mistake.