Chapter 25

It was a challenge contemplating everything that was happening in front of Naro. There were a fair amount of things he wanted to bring up, but when Sika spoke again he lost the words he wanted to say.

“Radiance.”

A chunk of the mana surrounding Sika broke off before expanding in the area behind her, waving her hand the broken off luminance formed into a short sword made of yellow light.

She made forward motion with two of her fingers and the sword flew at Naro.

Waking up he leapt back the sword stabbing into the ground where he had been.

“I’m on a time constraint so I’d appreciate if you didn’t move,” Sika said making an upward motion, the sword rising in the air once more.

“That thing seems sharp and I’d rather not die so I respectfully decline your request.”

“Then you will die slow, for the record I tried to pierce your heart in one motion as mercy.”

“My first encounter with a god in this world and they want to kill me. I’m getting deja vu all of a sudden.”

Naro didn’t have time to curse his situation as the blade came at him once again, he ducked at a strike aimed for his neck. Stumbled backwards when a swing came at his torso, moved to the side at an attempted severance of his arm.

His body weaved between the sword strikes, the strikes always narrowly missing him, to a point he could feel the heat off the blade when it passed him.

His eyes flicked from the blade to Sika each time the blade moved.

“...annoying,” the woman muttered as she moved her fingers to the side, the blade following her command right after.

Naro learned a few things thanks to the people around him, magic generally had a sign when it was used. Sika’s magic was no different, he couldn’t rely on the vocalization, but there was minor delay, her forefinger and middle finger together seemed to resembled the blade’s movement, and that split second was enough for him to move out of the way.

Ducking under another attack he sprinted towards Sika, if he drained her Mana this fight would end.

“Radiance times two.”

Raising her other hand a second blade manifested as she put her other two fingers together and motioning forward with her fingers, the blade flew at Naro. Gritting his teeth he leapt backward doding the second sword, Sika made beckoning motion with her other hand, and seeing this Naro ducked down.

The first blade flew past his head, narrowly missing his neck before returning to Sika’s side.

“Just as I thought. I saw your magic in that Shack, it only activated when you touched that plant. Contact is how your magic work it seems,” Sika said.

“Well since you know my magic mind telling me about yours then?”

“I’ll be more than happy to show you.’

The blades flew at Naro again forcing more distance between them, he slid against the dirt as the blades closed their distance. He continued his previous tactic watching Sika’s hands, but he noticed her movements were growing more refined.

With each slash of her blade, in that tiny opening she moved the second one.

He ducked one blade, only for one to fly at chest immediately after. With each movement he felt the blades growing closer and closer to cutting him. He tried to move forward jumping over a slash at his legs, only for the second blade to fly at his skull.

He leaned his head to the side, the blade nicking his cheek, he grit his teeth at the pain but landed and kept moving.

“Yep there as sharp as a real blade, great,” Naro mumbled.

He noticed Sika’s finger beckon and glancing back, he noticed both swords flying at him once again.

He dodged to the side, and Sika stepped to the side when he did, he lost sight of her in the process. His eyes widened unable to see her hands, he searched for her only to see one of the blades coming at his skull again.

He ducked only for a blade to fly down from the sky, hidden by the trees he barely had time to move out of the way. The blade cut across his chest, he stumbled back into a tree touching the wound. Thankfully it didn’t cut deep but he knew he wasn’t going to win this war of attrition if this kept up.

“Radiance times three.”

“What?!”

Another blade manifested behind Sika and raising both her arms, she moved her hands like a conductor the blades swirling into the air, returning to her before she held her hands towards Naro.

He immediately turned but tripped over an aerial root falling into nearby bushes.

Turning he went to get up afraid the blades were going to stab into him, but froze when he noticed the blades hovering in the air above him, moving around randomly.

“Just like a Shadow Mage to slink into the dark when they’re losing. Get out here and fight you coward!”

“...can she not sense me,” Naro thought keeping his body low. “She’s clearly a skilled mage…”

“Stop suppressing your Mana and come out here!”

“I’m not suppressed….oh."

Naro remembered that his Mana was naturally non-existent, something Nefi reminded him of often. While that would usually bother him, he was never more thankful to have so little Mana than this moment.

Crawling along the forest floor he took this time to observe Sika without blades flying at him. The immense pressure of her Mana was less than before, and now that he was actually paying attention, he could tell she had less than before.

“It seems her Mana drains while those swords are manifested.”

While that was a good thing he still felt she had far too much Mana to drain at that moment, even if he got a hold of her, there was no guarantee she didn’t have another trick.

“...I just have to risk it. I’ll lower it the best I can.”

Getting a bit closer he held his hand out before whispering.

“Void Cast.”

He felt the familiar sensation and Mana started draining from Sika into him. He knew the distance of his magic by heart at this point, using the coverage of the forest he could make this work.

Sika’s hand suddenly pointed in his direction and he quickly moved staying low between the bushes as the sword slammed into where he had been.

“You let your suppression slip…I’ll find you eventually,” Sika said drawing the sword back to her.

He managed to move and cast his spell a few more times, and each time Sika narrowly missed him with her blade, her reaction timing was terrifying and only getting faster with each drain.

Waving her hand she spoke once again.

“Radiance times four.”

Another blade manifested behind her, rotating around her as her eyes moved around the forest.

Naro realized this game of cat and mouse wasn’t going to last forever, he needed to keep draining her Mana to a respectable point.

“I’m done with this, I’m going to start clearing this area of the forest. It can regenerate anyway.”

“Well there goes that plan…”

Naro started to move as the blades around Sika started slowly spin faster and faster, until they blurred, the moment they touched a tree they cut it clean in half, ripping through the wood with little effort, Naro knew they’d cut trough him like paper if they touched him, thus he hated what he was about to do.

“That’s low enough I guess.”

He watched the height of the roating blades and immediately standing up jumped tucking his legs as narrowly avoiding the blades before he sprinted towards Sika.

The Light Mage spun around hearing his footsteps by then however Naro was already within range. His fingers interlocked with her own and he pushed with all he had as he screamed.

“Void!”

Sika hit the forest floor as she fell backwards, she grit her teeth as Naro loomed over her keeping a firm grip on her hands. The purple energy glared and started pulling the Mana from her body, her eyes widened as she realized she had been trapped, and her Mana was being pulled from her.

“Whatever you’re doing it’s not going to work!” Sika yelled trying to pull her hands free.

“I think it will actually,” Naro responded grinning at her.

“I can just call my swords back! I’ll sever your head from your body.”

“Nice try but I get your magic now. You need to put your fingers together control your swords and you can’t do that like this. You hid when you realized I had figured it out so I don’t think you can control them anyway other way.”

Sika glare bore into him, but her gaze moved to their hands as she continued to break away.

“Don’t kid yourself. I’m a Light Mage, I have other methods.”

“Then use them,” Naro said. “I’m willing to make the gamble that you don’t.”

If looks could kill he would have been three times over by the amount of hatred she was pointing his direction. He felt Sika shift before something slammed into his lower half, he let out a pained squeak but hung on for dear life, he should have expected a knee shot.

“Desperation…just proves my point,” Naro managed to squeeze out.

“You’re…trickery…won’t work on me…I…”

Sika’s eyes were twitching and her words growing haggard, when the still spinning swords suddenly dissipated Naro realized his gamble had paid off.

Sika could feel her mind start to slip, she knew from her training what happened when a Mage ran out of Mana. Falling unconscious in front of Shadow Mage would be the end of her. They reveled in the suffering and torture of others, falling asleep was paramount to death…or worse.

That didn’t stop it from approaching her all the same though, her eyelids growing heavy as she tired with every ounce of her strength to push back, but it was getting harder.

“I…I won’t…”

Sika’s eyes shut and her head hitting the ground lolled to the side, her body going limp.

Naro stopped draining her magic but didn’t let go of her hands immediately, when he noticed the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest he released her and stood up.

“I’d like to celebrate since I just beat a god of all things…but…I don’t really know what to do here.”