Rai called forth Ghost and left it suspended in the air.

“Remember Sin, this isn’t a spar to win or lose. We’re trying to understand your new spell. I’ll pressure you to force you to use it in unique ways, and hopefully it’ll evolve. First off, what spells did you layer together to make it work?”

“I mastered mana sense to a really high level. Look, I’m using it right now and you don’t feel it, do you?”

Rai reached out with his own mana, and he’d only just managed to feel a sliver of Sin’s mana slithering across the ground.

“Wow. That’s... scary. What else did you use to make it work?”

“It’s not really a spell per se... but I wrapped all of the objects in the room with my mana so I could apply spells like that to them.”

“Isn’t that like casting a spell on an object from a distance anyway?”

“Not really... you have to aim and make sure you’re casting on the right object like that. With this, I can feel every object and cast spells on them without even seeing them.”

Rai was astounded.

“Huh. That’s... really creative.”

“Yep. Any more questions before we can finally start?”

“Oh yeah sorry. Do you remember how you used it when you first came up with the spell?”

“I think... I used telekinesis on objects and people without a problem, and I used other spells on floating objects. I made some of the wooden balls ignite, and froze some of them as well.”

“Hmm...” Rai spent a moment in thought, “... Did you try to cast a different spell on a person when you had that spell active?”

“No... I don’t think so. Actually that was probably the one thing that I didn’t do.”

“Then we’ll make that your goal for now!”

“What do you mean? Is that supposed to evolve my spell?”

“I don’t know if it’s that simple, but at least for Antithesis the condition to evolve was supposed to be absurd. The Ancient told me that most evolve conditions were things that people wouldn’t realistically attempt in most situations.”

“I see. So I should try to ignite you or something?”

“Uh... I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ignite me. Maybe just try to make me kneel or something like that. Definitely no fire please.”

Sin stifled a giggle.

“Alright, fine. No fire. But... I already moved people with telekinesis, isn’t that the same thing as you’re saying?”

“Well, I think it’s a little different. By making me kneel, you would have had to pressure me into doing so. It would technically be like using an offensive spell. I don’t think any of the people you moved actually had the ability to stop you from moving them, did they?”

“... Maybe Miss Lillia could’ve done it.”

“She definitely could’ve. But she chose not to. So, I’ll resist as much as I can, and try to push you into a corner until you get it!”

“Okay! What happens if the spell does evolve?”

“Whew. It’ll be painful. Like, really painful. You’ll probably lose consciousness. But don’t worry, I’ll be here for you.”

“Okay... I think I’m ready. Let’s start.”

Sin steeled herself. She pulled the two elven daggers from the spatial storage in her ring.

Rai grinned, “Do your best.”

Stormflow.

Thunder struck. It boomed throughout the training chamber.

Ghost was against Sin’s neck.

Rai tilted his head as he looked into her eyes, “Sin. You need to actually fight back.”

Sin whispered quietly, “Look down.”

Rai looked down. Sin’s dagger was pointed under his ribcage, at his heart.

“Huh... I see.”

Rai thought that maybe he should take a different approach to this.

“I’ll fight with Stormflow at a lower level, so you actually get to use that technique. I don’t think we’ll get anywhere if we end up in stalemates like this.”

“That’s a good idea. If I’m worrying about having to actually fight then I don’t think I’ll be able to use my domain. Alright. Let’s restart.”

Rai zipped back to his starting position. Instead of 10%, I’ll use Stormflow at 1% and take it up a notch if I need to.

This time, Sin opened the fight.

A myriad of mirrored Sins dashed towards and around Rai.

Rai was a lot slower with this level of Stormflow, but he was fast enough to shatter through Sin’s clones.

Sin used the time that the clones bought her to set up the technique.

Sinful Domain.

Rai couldn’t even feel it. Sin’s mana sense was just that good.

A pull.

Rai could feel a strong downwards pull. He resisted it with the power that Stormflow afforded him.

Sin was struggling. She pushed herself to make Rai nudge, but it wasn’t working.

Rai watched as the runes lined across the bottom of her eyelids glowed bright. There’s only 1 layer... I wonder what that means. Mine has 2 separate layers.

He found that whenever he tried to move, it felt like he was trudging through shallow mud.

Let’s up the difficulty a bit.

He pushed Stormflow to 3%.

Sin struggled even harder.

She had large mana reserves herself, but her mana channels were not used to outputting this kind of concentrated mana. It wasn’t like any other attribute of mana that she’d ever encountered before. Even her mirrors weren’t anywhere close to the potency she felt coming from this spell.

Rai ran towards her, ready to strike with Ghost.

Sin summoned 2 clones to defend her as she pushed to make Rai kneel.

Rai swung, shattering one clone, but the other clone deflected his attack that became weaker after its momentum fell thanks to the fallen clone.

Sin felt like she was wading through swampy waters. Not that she’d ever actually seen a swamp before, but she’d at least read about them. Muddy waters that restricted your movements. Vines and low hanging leaves that restricted your vision. Wildlife that was altogether quiet, but distracting. Sin tried harder and harder to push through those barriers.

Rai shouted, “Don’t fight the flow! Go with it!”

Sin heard him. She didn’t know exactly what he meant, but she gathered the general message. Try to use the swamp instead of fighting against it.

Rai was about to dash towards Sin again, but she’d summoned more clones for him to deal with.

Rai upped Stormflow to 5%.

Quickly, he dealt with the clones and looked to pressure Sin again.

Sin’s spell became heavier for Rai.

She’d made another step forward.

Rai groaned. This level of Stormflow wasn’t enough to stay standing.

10%.

Rai felt refreshed and renewed. Power coursed through his body as he’d effectively doubled Stormflow’s potency.

His voice crackled as he spoke, “You’re going to need more than that, Sin.” Rai imbued Ghost with lightning.

The cracks in Ghost’s blade showcased a wild, electric, energy. It sparked as Rai raised the blade. His voice boomed throughout the room.

“You should block this.”

Rai swung his blade in Sin’s direction.

An arc of lightning screamed through the air as it flew towards her. It left cracks in the ground in its wake.

She knew it was coming when Rai imbued Ghost, so Sin had prepared a mask of her mana to envelop the arc as it passed through. Once it did, Sin forcefully redirected the energy to her side just before it hit her. My... mask of mana... didn’t break? The momentary surprise at her mana’s durability didn’t last long.

With her initial surprise now gone, Sin returned her focus to making Rai kneel.

She pushed down against him.

Rai could feel it bearing heavily down on his shoulders again. The floor began to crack under the pressure. She’s... made another step!

20%!

Rai managed to just about withhold against the pressure.

Just about.

Sin’s mana reserves were taking a hit now. She didn’t have as much mana as Rai. It wasn’t like she was pouring more and more mana into maintaining her pressure, but for some reason every time she took another step a large chunk of her mana reserves would drain themselves.

Rai took one heavy step after another towards her.

He wouldn’t kneel.

Sin screamed, “KNEEL RAI, KNEEL!”

Rai refused.

The room was crumbling under the pressure.

Sin’s mana channels were burning. At this point, her whole body ached.

Rai pushed forward.

Sin stored her daggers and aimed her left hand at Rai. It was shaped like a strained claw and shaking violently. Sweat dripped off of her body.

Sin’s expression was ferocious.

Rai felt like he’d been hit with a building, if he could even imagine such a feeling. The room was practically destroyed now.

Rai’s legs were about to give way. FUCK!

Sin’s wrists began glowing. Her voice was layered with a thick, heavy, and powerful radiance.

Kneel.

The training room was falling apart at the seams.

Rai fell to his knees. He couldn’t lift his head.

It stopped.

The pressure stopped.

Everything stopped.

Rai looked up.

Sin’s body shook violently.

“Rai... it really hurts!” Tears flowed as the runes lining her face were slowly becoming pitch black. Sin’s lips quivered, “RAII!!!” She wailed.

Rai zipped over to her. He took her to an edge of the room and sat her against the wall.

Sin’s arms were tremoring. Her entire body looked like it was cramping up. A tattoo like the runes lining her face began forming on both of her wrists. They circled around her wrists and glowed black every now and then. Soon after, they took the shape of vines forming a helix that flowed around her wrists. Rai’s eyes widened. It’s the same shape as it was in the premonition...

“RAI! PLEASE! DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING!” Sin screamed in pain.

Rai snapped out of it.

He didn’t know much healing magic, but he’d been theorising a way of relieving pain using his lightning magic.

“This might hurt for a few seconds, b-but it should relieve the pain completely. You also might lose feeling in your arms while I do it.”

Sin screamed at him, “NOTHING’S GONNA HURT MORE THAN THIS! JUST HURRY!” Her body wouldn’t stop shaking. Sin shrieked in agony.

Rai placed his right thumb on Sin’s forehead, and his left index just above her chest. Stormflow. Rai sent the weakest trail of lightning that he could muster from his right thumb into Sin’s nervous system.

He touched on all of the nerves in Sin’s body.

From experimenting with lightning on his own nerves with Flow State, he had an idea of where the important nerves were, at least. The lightning trail circled through her nervous system, then he brought the lightning back into his own body with his left index. From what he could tell, the nerves that were the most active were the ones near Sin’s wrists. That’s where the pain must be.

Rai redirected the energy from those nerves into his own lightning stream. For a moment, he felt extreme pain. But in the same instant, Rai ejected the lightning out of his back, which ripped through his hakama. He maintained the siphoning of the energy from Sin’s nervous system.

Sin panted heavily. She wasn’t shaking as much now. Her tears and sweat drenched her body and clothes, and matted her hair.

“Th... Thank y-you.”

“Always. I’m here for you. Buuuuuut... you’re about to go for a little chat without me now. They’ll probably download their language to your brain. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you out here.”

Sin began losing consciousness. Wait... language? Wha-...

She lost consciousness.