Zadial stood back up, spitting a little saliva as if it was an arrant cough.
Isaac stared across the arena.
Zadial was looking around him, trying to find any last tricks Isaac had while readying his companions once more. Just this time, with a deadpan expression on his face. A total lack of combatant empathy, one who wished for this to pass.
The invigilator who had remained silent up till this point signalled the half-time mark.
2.5 minutes left.
Zadial finally spoke, a voice devoid of joy.
"It's a good attempt, Isaac. But… I'm ending this." With one step forward. "Self-Synthesis: L.C.A.M; A.L.C.E.F."
The terrain became wobbly, like standing on an aqueous slurry. From that floor, three pillars made of the arena rushed like surfacing worms to smash into Isaac.
Standing up is not an option.
Quick!
"A.M.C.P!"
Remaining MP: 160/300 |
In the moment of crisis, the mathematical equations needed to cast ceased to bother. Isaac narrowly avoided the incoming pillars that tracked him through the air. With one arm, he managed to grab onto one of them, all the while dodging the rapid fire of water, earth, and fire from below.
Stamina: 48% |
Zadial had both his hands outstretched, raising them high, ever so slightly increasing the ferocity of the pursuit. The great contrast he is to Isaac, who hands off a shifting pillar with one fractured arm.
Yet all that seemed to fade, for the question still remained.
Why was Zadial still moving?
Did my Clause-Construct not work?! Can't be; I felt the air in my Zone rushing towards me.
Shit, then what the fuck? I even saw his body lurch forward to me?!
Think, Isaac, THINK!!!
What am I missing?!
'A semicircular plate-sized vacuum opened a few centimeters in front of Zadial's face… the loose end of Zadial's body snapped forward… Zadial's stomach dropped, his chest tried to brace… He hurled over with both hands on his chest and his mouth…"
There!
Ask yourself, Isaac: Why did his hips, shoulders, and chest move first and not his head/throat?! The pull applies 58 N at the face, so the head should accelerate first!
Is it possible that he tripped forward due to the push of the wind and not his lungs?
On top of that, why was the vacuum induced a hemisphere when my mental imagining and calculations perfectly calculated a sphere?! If so… My 3.2 kPa pocket never reached his face in the first place!
I innately felt it, but the coupling of Thaumitons in my Zone halted 2- 3 cm away from his body. Based on that, it seems to match up the cutoff point where the pocket was sliced into a hemisphere.
So think further:
The Clause Construct affected the area around him, with a complete negation of about 2-3 cm in front of him… Or maybe… around him? A coating of something that encloses his volume to Out-Threads, acting as a coupling exclusion and a closed surface ∂Ω offset?
It finally clicks.
"... Thus causing a caustic spray at scalding temperature that burned at fabric, skin, and I'm sure Darius' Shielding…" Professor Aldrick once: "... Through my Thaumitonic Shielding and Topological Matrix…" Twice.
"... What if I act foolishly and my Shielding goes down? …" Magister Silas Ren.
"... Isaac, are you not gonna put anything up? ..." Even Zadial.
They all contain the concept of protection by way of:
Thaumitonic Shielding.
Oh my god… I understand it now…
Having Isaac finally in a suitable spot, Zadial braces one of his arms, not wanting to waste this pristine opening. At the gesture, the Water-Module Concordee forms jaws of liquid at Isaac's arms, the Nature-Module Concordee sends aggregated vines sky high, and the Fire-Module Concordee whips its head and blasts straight plasma.
All towards a boy whose legs are once more crushed by the calcium.
Unable to move, Isaac raises hi—
He moves either way.
"Partial-Synthesis: A.M.C.P + A.L.F.S Field."
Remaining MP: 80/300 |
Like a replication of Enumerated Lady Carmine Di Bianchetta descending from the troposphere.
Isaac detonates towards the Water-Concordee faster than any of the opponents could react, sacrificing the bones in one leg to reach those speeds. The Water Concordee surges again after cancelling its previous attack; anticipating a Clause-Construct, it coils like a ribbon of vortices.
Perfect.
The Fire-Module Concordee's eyes ignite.
Its mouth opens, and fire builds in a series of concentric shells, the emission spectrum bordering on violet-shifted gamma. A weaker redirected beam was coming.
All according to his prediction.
In transit, Isaac rotated, where his linear momentum converted cleanly to angular momentum—body as fulcrum and arm as centrifuge. Centripetal force curved his trajectory. The target in question was the wolf of water.
He looped his arms and legs around the refractive body, vectors of momentum locking where his flesh could not. It was a strategy with no finesse nor fancy tricks. The Concordee writhed, fluid form twisting against him, soaking him in water.
But the deal was done; momentum carries them both.
Too late.
Isaac hurls its body forward.
Stamina: 72% |
Zadial, realizing what Isaac was doing, attempts to order his own Concordee to stop attacking. Yet, it was too late; its jaws were already wide open.
The world in front of Isaac red-shifted.
The Water Concordee flew directly in line with the blast from the Fire Concordee.
BOOM.
A fraction of a second later — cherry-red flames collide with dense fluid masses.
What followed was an explosion described only as a nightmare of thermodynamics. The flash-conversion from liquid to gas under intense temperatures. Atmospheric pressure snaps, then rebounds. Superheated vapor expands outward in a shockwave of violently energized steam.
Sound vanishes, and light diffuses.
Or in other words, Isaac's attempt at a smokescreen.
The battlefield becomes white. All the spectators who gathered from the domino of commotion were blocked from viewing the duel. Some raised their hands due to the sheer temperature of the steam.
But one sentiment rang out:
"Is he crazy?! What the hell?!"
To shield myself from the heat, I'll hyper-condense the surrounding air into a stratified mesh of high-density gas layers. Each filament increases local surface area, amplifying energy diffusion and reducing impulse transfer. I just need a transient shell. Enough to absorb the blast for a split second.
Then I disengage and slip through the opening before collapse.
Hoooh… Hoooh… It's burning hot.
The 'A.L.F.S Field' Isaac In-Threaded previously shielded his body from the hyper-heated steam.
But that was without mentioning the Thaumitonic Shielding he derived.
Definition: a Thaumitonic Shield is a closed, static, Out-Threaded condensate boundary around the body, with high semantic locking constant Λₛ. It excludes external Noëtic constructs from the enclosed matter through SU(2)ₜ isospin coupling, and it may also exclude momentum flux below gₜ|Ψₒ|².
100% not entirely accurate; it likely does more than that, because even I don't know how I'm standing here in this superheated steam.
On all bases, it seemed as though Thaumitonic Shielding reduced the drawbacks of physics in general when brought into conversation in regard to realistic magic. Temperatures normal humans could never dream of lasting a second in were comfy warm spaces. G-forces that liquified internal organs were minor tummy aches.
Boundary transmission = Ψₒ|∂Ω = κ∂ ΨΘ|∂Ω → |Ψₒ|² = κ∂² |ΨΘ|²
Construct surface = Construct of ∂Ω = ∂Ω + d, d ≈ 2–3 cm (d ≫ ξ)
Locking wall = VΛₛ₍ₓ₎ = Λₛ H(x − Construct of ∂Ω), Λₛ ≥ μₒ
Penetration depth = ℓΛ = ħc / √(Λₛ² − μₒ²)
Field equation = [−(ħ²c² + χₜ)∇² + mΘ²c⁴ + Λₛ² H(x − Construct of ∂Ω) + gₜʳᵉˡ |ψ|²] ψ = μₒ² ψ
Kinetic exclusion = P of Kinetic = gₜ |Ψₒ|² = gₜ κ∂² |ΨΘ|² ≥ ρₜ vₜ²
Thermal exclusion = P of Thermal ≈ εZₜ sin²θᵥᵥ e |Ψₒ|² I of Incident
Stability = 𝒮 = Nτ9 √(2πρΘ/ħ) e^(−(𝒟−𝒟₀)/Λₛ) − Γₜ ∫|Ψₒ,v|² dA > 0, W ≥ 1, Πφ = (Ωτ9/Γₜ)·W > 1
To form the entire Shielding:
𝒬ₛ = [ gₜ κ∂² |ΨΘ|²|∂Ω / (ρₜ vₜ²) ] · H(Λₛ − μₒ) · H(𝒮) · H(Πφ − 1) ≥ 1
Holy shit… Can't believe I mentalized and calculated that in the span of those attacks
Most importantly, attempts to override bodily autonomy with Noësis are rejected by a secondary Out-Thread on top of a Wave Binder's Zone.
Isaac finally figured out the first lesson of dueling in Agerea.
From now on, ALWAYS put Shielding up before anything.
At present, both Concordees' sightlines were compromised. Even Zadial's precision faltered in the noise. As such, he commanded the remaining two Concordees to triangulate around the steam while continuously firing stray stones.
Isaac drops low into a squat, anchors his Zone once more with a Thaumitonic micro-pulse, and vanishes into the white.
The wolf looked average in build. Estimated within a reasonable 5-kilogram margin, its mass settled around 85 kilograms. I don't know the precise mass-energy signature of bosonic spirit matter, but I do know the physical properties of water.
101,325 pascals of pressure per atmosphere (atm).
The temperature of the incoming fire blast was approximately 600°C, or 873.15 Kelvin.
To begin, I need the number of moles.
Water has a molar mass of 18.01528 grams per mole. So, 85 kilograms translates to 85,000 grams. Divide that by the molar mass, and the result is approximately 4,717 moles. Plugging into the equation P · V = n · R · T, with the ideal gas constant being 8.314 J/mol · K.
I get:
(101325) (V) = (4717) (8.314) (873.15)
Solving for volume, the total steam output is roughly 338 cubic meters—a rapid expansion large enough to fill an entire Earth-sized gymnasium, or more critically, saturate ten meters of battlefield with dense, scalding fog.
The wind speed today was quite average. I'll do 2 calculations: one where the velocity of the wind today is 2.5 m/s and the other 5 m/s, a lowball and a highball. Assuming that the wolf exploded into a sphere of steam. My calculations are:
V = ⁴⁄₃ · π · r³
Radius =3.338 divided by 4ℼ, the result to the power of ⅓.
That leaves me with a radius of 4.3 meters, 8.6 meters in diameter. The time to dissipate will be the diameter divided by the wind speed, distance over time.
And such:
On the highball, 8.6 divided by 3 is 3.4 seconds.
On the lowball, 8.6 divided by 5 is 1.7 seconds.
That gives me an average of 2.6 seconds. 3 seconds to my subjective worldview.
Okay, that's less time than I wanted… But that's enough for me.
No need to hesitate… The end draws near…
Let's begin.