For every sorcerer, overdrive could truly be considered the purest form of expression when it came to their native magical attributes. It was the pinnacle of magic that displayed the true potential of what they were capable of. Each one was unique from the others, even among sorcerers with similar magical attributes. And every last one was just as eye-catching as the other.
Relatively speaking, few of their kind had ever achieved such a power. The time commitment alone was enough to deter most, along with the danger associated with the amount of grueling training needed for one to achieve such a level. But for those who were able to grasp the next stage of power available to their kind, the results were more than worth it by any stretch of the imagination.
To possess an overdrive skill would put one in rather exclusive company as far as sorcerers were concerned. And the fact that it was only the first step into a new realm of power was known by all.
These were the thoughts running through both Skylar's and Hannah's heads as they bore witness to the shocking display of skill that was quickly unfolding before them.
To say that the sight was something to behold would be putting it mildly. And if they both weren't so acutely aware of the danger they were now in, they might've even taken a moment to appreciate its beauty.
Before either of the two had a chance to fully grasp what was happening, the wheels had already been set in motion. In one swift move, Cyrus had pulled out a single seed from his pouch. One that was radiating mana in a manner unlike any of the previous ones. And in the time it took them to blink, the young 'tree magic' user had dropped the seedling onto the ground and allowed it to begin forming his newest creation.
What happened next was equal parts frightening and amazing.
A storm of branches and thick roots practically erupted from the ground underneath where the seed had been dropped. And a veritable forest had sprung up right where they had been standing. However, that was only the beginning...
The branches proceeded to grow and grow, twisting and mingling together in an intricate formation of spiraling roots and wood until the creation had forced itself out into the open air through the garage's ceiling. The chaos of such an action was enough to completely destabilize both the foundation and walls of the building in barely a few seconds. And both Skylar and Hannah had to raise their respective mana barriers in order to avoid getting crushed by the resulting debris.
'What the hell is this?' Hannah wondered while doing her best to dodge even more of the falling pieces of metal and concrete that were quickly surrounding her. She had no clue what to make of this nonsense. Not only was the whole building starting to come down around her, but for some reason, it suddenly became hard to breathe.
'Well…this just turned into one huge mess.' Skylar thought to himself as he moved through the chaos of branches and steel beams. He was doing his best to use his magic to keep the ground stable, but there was only so much that he could do with the mana in the area suddenly becoming unstable. 'A little warning would've been nice!'
This madness went on for a good fifteen seconds before the rumbling finally stopped. And once it did, the two sorcerers took a chance to get their bearings and assess what the damage was. However, neither of them was prepared for what they saw.
There, in the middle of what was left of the garage, was an absolutely massive redwood tree. One that possessed a trunk that was at least fifteen feet thick in diameter with green streaks flowing up the middle. The thing was easily eight stories tall with vibrant green leaves rustling at the top of it. And each branch seemed to shimmer beneath the lighting provided by both the moon and nearby streetlights.
And perched atop one of the nearby branches was Cyrus himself. However, he looked much different than he did a second ago.
"Overdrive: Amytis (Pathway of a Hidden World)!" The young man said with cold confidence despite the stoic expression that he still carried on his face.
From where Skylar was standing, he was able to get a full view of his partner in all of his glory.
Unlike before, Cyrus had now undergone a physical change that further emphasized his newfound power. The young man now had a pair of dark green, deer-like antlers coming out of both sides of his head beneath his hair. Ones that protruded high above his head toward the sky with several spikes adorning their length.
On top of that, his mana signature had changed, too. It was now far clearer than it was a minute ago. And there seemed to be an aura around him that he didn't possess before.
"Damn…." The senior agent whispered, still in shock at what he was seeing.
Hannah, too, was in awe of what Cyrus had suddenly become. But she made sure not to show it on her face as best she could. "Well, isn't that something? So…this is the new technique that you wanted to show me? It doesn't seem all that special?"
"Don't worry." The young man replied. "The fun's just getting started."
Before the 'ice magic' user could respond, Cyrus quickly snapped his fingers. And the moment he did so, the atmosphere around where the garage once stood shifted.
Out of nowhere, the mana particles in the atmosphere began to behave erratically. One second, they were operating just as they normally would; the next, they were all being drawn in toward the tree. In the blink of an eye, all of the nearby mana was being sucked in by the creation. And the tree began to glow an even more vibrant shade of green with each passing second.
'It's absorbing all of the mana in the area?' Skylar quickly surmised. At least he now had an explanation as to why it had become so hard for him to breathe normally all of a sudden.
'What kind of monstrosity…?' Hannah thought to herself. The strawberry-blonde sorcerer then looked around her to see the remnants of her previous ice creations rapidly dissolving in their place. Even her mana barrier was steadily withering away as streaks of blue mana made their way toward the tree.
"Skylar!" Cyrus suddenly called out to his partner to get his attention. "If you don't want to get hurt, don't move from where you are right now."
"R-right!" The senior agent answered, unsure of whether or not he should heed the 'tree magic' user's warning.
As the creation began to absorb more and more mana, it steadily grew in size with each passing second. Hannah quickly noticed this and decided that she wasn't just going to sit there and wait for her opponent to make his move. The woman attempted to create another ice javelin and throw it at Cyrus to try and catch him off guard. However, this proved to be a total waste of time, seeing as the creation completely dissolved before it could be fully formed.
"What the-"
"It's no use." Cyrus then declared while staring at the woman with an intensity that his now orange eyes hadn't possessed before. "As of right now, I have complete control over the mana in this area. Whatever attacks you thought would be able to use against me are irrelevant. In fact, you won't even be able to use your magic unless I allow you to do so."
A shocked expression suddenly appeared on Hannah's face. "What?!"
-(o)-
[DPA Mobile Headquarters]
"There's no fucking way!" The Chief's assistant shouted after hearing what Cyrus just said over the radio. "That's... that's not possible!"
"It is." Chief Chandler simply nodded her head in response. "I had Moore use it on me when he first showed me his overdrive skill. His overdrive skill completely bypasses the need for physical contact when it comes to absorbing mana. As of right now, he has complete control over all of the mana in the surrounding area thanks to that tree of his."
"I suspected that he might've had a domain-type overdrive based on his attribute. But something like that just seemed unreal."
"If I remember correctly, his range is limited to a little over fifty yards. But anything inside of that is completely under his control."
"Fascinating…." The assistant whispered before focusing his attention back to the screen. 'I'm definitely going to need to tell my dad about this.'
-(o)-
Before Hannah could figure out what to do next, three massive branches suddenly formed on the outer layer of Cyrus's tree and shot across the area directly toward her. The woman quickly found herself doing her best to dodge the attack by leaping and ducking underneath each branch. But the branches themselves whipped around like snakes trying to latch onto their prey. And the speed at which they were coming at her would be blinding for any normal human.
"Shit!" The 'ice magic' user cursed after narrowly avoiding getting hit in the head by one of the branches.
This was different than all of the young man's previous attacks. It was much faster and definitely more ferocious. Hannah already knew that Cyrus was aiming to take her out with this, but the current circumstances made that fact seem all the more real to her.
From his spot atop the thick branch that he had previously created, Cyrus watched on in cold silence as he directed his attacks closer and closer to where his opponent was located.
Under normal circumstances, this level of control over his magic wouldn't have been possible. Not by a long shot. But thanks to the fact that his body was now operating at peak efficiency, along with all of the ambient mana that he was taking in through his creation, something like this almost felt like childsplay to him.
'She's pretty agile, huh?' The young 'tree magic' user thought to himself as he quickly formed a fourth branch from the same area as the first three. He needed to finish this up quickly. After all, he couldn't maintain his transformation for very long. Only five minutes at the most. On top of that, his overdrive skill came with a fair bit of risk when using it.
There was a notable reboundeffect that occurred whenever he used his overdrive skill. In short, while in physical contact with his tree, the amount of mana in his body would wildly fluctuate based on how much he was absorbing through the atmosphere. Fortunately, he had a solution for this little problem of his. But even so, it wasn't something that completely alleviated the stress on his body.
From where he was standing, Skylar caught a glimpse of quite a peculiar sight. On one of the branches close to where he was positioned, he saw a dim glow appear near the edge.
'What is that?' The 'earth magic' user wondered as he leaned in to get a better look at it. And it only took him a second to put the pieces together. 'Is that an apple?'
Right there, directly in front of him, a large golden fruit in the shape of an apple was steadily forming at the edge of the branch. This was confusing for a multitude of reasons, but mainly because Cyrus had told him that he couldn't make fruits with his magic, unlike other 'plant magic' users. The senior agent quickly surmised that this must've been another aspect of Cyrus's overdrive skill at play. But what purpose it might've served was a complete mystery to him.
Back on the other side of the tree, Hannah had dodged yet another branch that was attempting to take her legs out from underneath her. And the woman was now acutely aware of the danger that she was in. Not only was her 'ice magic' now effectively useless. But she was burning through her own mana stores at a rapid pace just trying to avoid getting hit.
She needed to do something fast to avoid the worst. However, that thought proved to be in vain as yet another branch suddenly appeared in her peripheral vision.
Hannah used every bit of athleticism that she could muster to throw her body horizontally through the air to avoid getting struck. But unfortunately for her, the branch was still able to barely graze her arm as it passed by her body. The moment the branch touched her skin, the woman instantly felt nearly all of the mana that she had left exit her body. Doing so in such a way that it caused her muscles to seize up.
"Got her…." Cyrus said calmly as he watched his tormentor unceremoniously fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. However, he wasn't dumb enough to let up on the gas just because of this.
With a wave of his hand, Cyrus commanded all four of his branches to surround the woman and encase her in a wooden dome of his own creation. One that he used to make sure that she wouldn't be able to escape.
"Fuck!" Hannah shouted upon seeing that she had been trapped.
The woman proceeded to raise her right hand and fire off a beam of mana into the wooden wall to see if she could break through it. However, the branches quickly regenerated their lost parts just as quickly as they had been destroyed.
'Not good!' She thought before trying to fire off another beam. But to her dismay, she was unable to create one due to her now low supply of mana.
It was in that moment that Hannah began to panic as she tried to find a solution to her current predicament. But every second that passed only seemed to reaffirm that the worst-case scenario had indeed happened. Before the 'ice magic' user could formulate a strategy on how to escape, the top layer of the dome opened up right above her head.
There, floating in the sky like some sort of butchered angel, was Cyrus. Slowly descending toward her like some sort of generic comic book character.
The two briefly locked eyes with one another before several smaller branches suddenly appeared from within the dome and wrapped themselves around all of the woman's arms and legs. Despite her attempts to rip herself free from her newly created constraints, Hannah was unable to do so due to the strength of the newly formed branches. And as the reality of the situation set in, the woman's heart began to race.
"I finally got you." Cyrus said calmly as he descended to the ground directly in front of the woman before closing up the dome to obscure them from the outside world.
As of this moment, it was just the two of them. And Cyrus was about to make sure that it was the last time the two would ever see each other.