The Chair is Magic!?

I did a pretty good job dispelling the disintegration beam this time. And that little flourish at the end? It deserved a pat on the back.

Now, where was I? Right, I needed to give her a scolding.

“You do realize how strong you are, right? Don’t try to weasel your way out of this.” Honestly, even I was surprised. She managed to disintegrate my right leg, requiring a good bit of healing magic. If I had been any slower, the party could’ve actually died. Kumari definitely would’ve torn me a new one.

“ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!” she screeched; the sections of her shell ground against each other, creating a low rumbling sound. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on me, releasing her mana once again. Of course, with my barrier, the mana fluidly parted to the sides.

“Sheez. Why’d you go and do that? I already told you not to kill them,” I rolled my eyes, annoyed.

She responded with a deep growl, basically saying “I don’t care.” She was more interested in challenging me to another battle. This wasn’t the time, but whatever. The exam was over at this point, and I didn’t have anything else planned.

Standing up, I grabbed the top rail of the chair, slinging it over my back. Every battle needed a bit of pizzazz, so I made sure to add a little flourish.

“I’ll be back in a moment, gotta play with her for a bit,” I said with a small wave.

I readied myself for our little game and stepped outside the barrier.

I didn’t have a moment to think before she fired another disintegration beam. It was much more powerful and faster than her previous attack. Of course, I wasn’t going to stand by. That would be foolish. All it took was a small step to the right to dodge. The beam would take another few moments to reach me, so I used the time to stretch my back against the chair.

“Whoa! Could you at least let me warm up for a minute? My body’s not as limber as it used to be!” I yelled, my body swinging further to the right as the next beam barreled past a hair's breadth away. And… she was already firing another beam. She even predicted where I planned to dodge. Huh, I guess I needed to be a bit more creative.

I pushed the chair off the ground, using the force to launch me above the incoming beam. She followed up with another beam to my exact position.

“Not giving me any time to rest? Fine by me!” A small wind magic spell allowed me to slide between the gaps of the beams. The chair glided along the surface of the ground as I landed, dodging the next barrage.

Honestly, this was starting to get boring; she was only using disintegration magic. Annoyed, I swiped the chair to the side, dispelling the incoming beam with a bit of mana. Sure, I could’ve done that before, but like I said, every battle needed a bit of pizzazz.

“Why are you only using disintegration magic?! I’m pretty sure I taught you how to use elemental magic too!” She averted her eyes almost immediately. It seemed like I would need to scold her a bit more. “Well then, let me show you why, once again, disintegration magic isn’t all powerful.”

I began casting a spell. It didn’t matter which one since I was using it only to manifest mana outside my body. The ball of mana popped into my hand with a bright blue hue, probably a water magic spell. I thinned the mana into an imperceptibly thin sheet, increasing the density and angling it, as she fired her strongest disintegration beam yet.

“Lesson 1.” My voice echoed throughout the chamber. The beam came into contact with my sheet, forcing the beam to veer off into the wall on my right. She flinched seeing me deflect her attack so easily. “Density determines how mana interacts. The denser the mana, the more influence it has on the opposing force. As mana has no physical mass, there is no recoil.”

She wasn’t listening to me at all. Instead, she shot out even more beams in rapid succession: some directly at me, and others at the crystals behind me. I sighed internally before creating two more balls of mana: one red and one transparent. The transparent one was how wind magic was supposed to be. I curved the mana into tubes, widening the entrance while narrowing the exit.

“Lesson 2.” The beams entered the tubes, shrinking in size and speeding up back towards her. She fired another beam instinctually to intercept one of the beams. The redirected beam did slow in speed and power, but it ultimately punched through hers. Still, it wasn’t able to damage her shell. “Mana can be used to interfere with other spells, such as modifying its properties or simply taking control. It's much easier if the mana isn’t connected to the opposing caster.

“You can use another spell of the same skill to cancel out the incoming spell, assuming they’re the same strength. In your case, you just need to reduce it to something your shell can handle. However, it isn’t that hard to counter that strategy.” I created more tubes of mana, bouncing the remaining redirected beam in different directions, increasing its speed and strength. Once I was satisfied, I shot the beam back at her. The beam burrowed into her shell, creating a giant hole deep enough to see the skin underneath.

“RAAAAAWWWWWWW!” She cried out in pain.

I sat back down in my chair as any other beams she shot were redirected, creating holes of varying sizes on her shell. As the barrage came to an end, she staggered back and forth, struggling to stay on her legs. Her eyes narrowed, grunting softly. Unfortunately, it didn’t temper her fierce determination to keep fighting. Another sigh escaped my mouth, but I definitely felt a smile form. I picked my chair and pointed the legs at her.

“Are you ready for the next lesson?”