Last one took place on an island.

It also started differently than before.

Every single one so far was just her walking up to him from somewhere with a stern face and carefully initiating the fight.

That one though…

The island was small. Almost hard to call it an island, a small outcrop. The only thing visible there was a large boulder and… a tablet.

Wait a second. That tablet looked familiar.

And so was the rock.

Mike approached the stone in question and placed his hand on it, instantly opening a very familiar way downstairs, along with a set of stairs.

He looked inside, curious, but looked away and instead focused on a tablet.

Tablet, which contents were very well known to me: the spell I’ve seen already. Both times on some kind of island…

The “warping” spell. The one that teleported you from one side to another.

I think he recognized that too, because I felt his excitement, even through this weird vision I had.

And not only me.

Right when he placed his hand on the stone, she appeared.

Not like before, this time she teleported.

And looked a lot more on edge.

Barely equipped this time, it looked like she was just asleep and barely was able to get here, disheveled, and without even a second of delay she blasted a spell right at his face.

For the first time, she surprised him.

The lightning bolt she conjured struck him right in the middle of the chest and tossed him a few steps backwards.

She was just as surprised as he was: clearly neither of them were expecting for that to work. Nor did I, really.

She didn’t get her success to get to her head, though.

The next spell was not the same, exchanged into an ice spike that pierced his shoulder… or at least was about to before he countered.

For the first time, he actually countered with a spell.

He conjured a stream of flame that melted the ice just as it was to reach him, but that was not enough: another one, this time an earthen spike was aimed right at his other shoulder.

A hit.

Not a devastating one, but a good one. She managed to draw some blood from him.

So he was still able to bleed, huh?

I mean, he still had flesh, so…

Apparently it was not so expected from him, because I felt something I also didn’t expect: fear.

Wasn’t really overwhelming or really much at all, but it was most likely only because of the version of this vision I’ve been having.

It did make him react, that’s for sure.

Next attack she aimed at him was essentially a repeat of both earlier ones, although smaller. Was she running out of mana? Didn’t look like that…

But he was not going to let that hit him.

This time he seriously countered. Hard.

A large growth sprouted from both of his hands, every finger turning into a living wood: a root of earthen color that shot right at her, and swiping his hand he attempted to swat away the elements flying right at him.

Well, he did defend himself.

But he also reached her.

Like a swipe of large claws, he tore right through her clothes and opened a large gash right at her belly.

Then, a scream.

I didn’t expect to hear that so vividly.

So far the memories were so distant that the sounds were almost non-existent, dampened and hard to understand. Like you were listening through a thick wall.

This one was as clear as it gets.

I honestly thought that it was For screaming next to me, but that was obviously not the case here.

I wasn’t the only one who got shocked by this turn of events.

The moment he landed the attack, he immediately dropped the spell and removed his hand, just as she was falling onto the hard rock in front of him, gushing with blood.

I am pretty sure she was losing consciousness.

He… hesitated?

I mean, it was clear that he didn’t want to hurt her, but to hesitate now, after dealing most likely a fatal blow?

If he was going to do anything, either finish her off or help her, now was the time.

Speaking off, why was she still there?

Before, if there was even a sign of trouble for her, she was immediately teleporting out, yet now she was still there. Was the wound so severe that she wasn’t able to cast spells?

Well, apparently not, because Mike finally made up his mind and started approaching her, to which she reacted by sending a fireball at his face.

Valiant effort, but pointless, he was already on guard and not going to back off so easily…

But, that was not what she had in mind, apparently.

She actually managed to conjure two of them: one, which she sent flying towards his face, and another, still in her hand…

She attempted to cauterize the wound.

This time, there was no scream.

Was just Mike numb to that after the first one, or just because her adrenaline was high enough that she didn’t feel the pain: she only opened and closed her mouth with a determined expression.

Wow. She really was something.

It even halted him, because as she did that, he stopped in his tracks and just stared at her.

Whatever he wanted to do, he apparently decided against it. Just looking at her, he started backing up.

Sure, she was already preparing another spell, but all of us knew that it was not going to do anything to him. Being in that sorry state, I doubted that her spell was stable enough to be powerful enough, and he was still on guard, holding a globe of mana in his palm.

I saw him open his mouth a few times, like he wanted to say something, but didn’t.

Instead, he opened a portal.

I wasn’t able to see what was on the other side, but before he stepped through, he looked at her once more, before leaving her, to her probable death.

Despite the fact that that memory was overwhelming and definitely important, that was not the end of it.

The next one I was able to see was…

Actually, it was the same island.

Definitely a while later, because there was no sign of blood, nor her. The stone was still cracked and the tablet intact.

I could see him read it multiple times, study it, until finally, he started gathering mana.

And a lot of it.

Even through the memory, I could tell his strain.

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Slowly, something was forming in the distance, on the horizon in front of him.

Wait. I recognized that scene.

As soon as I thought that, the image shifted again and this time I found myself back in the Arbo, but still not outside of his memories.

He was standing in some large chamber… his room maybe?

He looked out of the window, gazed at the whole city. It was still there, so it had to be before whatever happened here.

He turned away from the window and started walking out, quickly passing through multiple corridors. He had some curious looks follow him, but mostly accompanied by polite bows. He was the king alright.

He started going down and deeper towards the roots of the palace. For a moment I thought he was going to the dungeon where I was once “visiting”, but no. He passed that part and found yet another staircase that led deeper into the underground, and soon my vision was shrouded by the darkness and the lack of light sources of the pathway…

Hold on a second.

I couldn’t see? That was unusual, up till now I was able to just recognize my surroundings in every environment thanks to mana.

Was that because it was a vision and not something I was experiencing first hand? It’s not like it was a problem before, so that couldn’t be it…

Apparently he was also blind, because he did cast a light spell to get a bearing on his surroundings.

From the expression on his face I could tell that it was not something that he expected, now him being on edge.

No wonder. The person who appeared in front of us, or rather in front of him, was the reason for all that.

It was Il again.

If nothing, she was persistent.

I am unsure how long it could’ve been after their last meeting, but she looked not a day older. Her wounds on the other hand were already gone, or at least none of them were visible right away, nor were they preventing her mobility.

And mobile she was.

For the first time she didn’t attack him with magic. Instead, he brought with her a staff, with a blade on both sides. A twinblade, if you will.

A bit of a strange choice, approaching him in some kind of dark corridor with a polearm for a weapon: she’s going to have a hard time swinging that thing even.

But, apparently she knew that.

The moment he created the light, she broke her weapon in half.

An impressive feat, considering the fact that her weapon looked like it was made from some kind of metal.

The sparks the process produced didn’t disappear either. It covered her hands in a flaming rings, lighting up the scene even more.

And she pounced at him.

He wasn’t expecting either to find anyone here, especially not her, so he barely was able to dodge away from her swings, jumping backwards.

It was impressive that he didn’t trip, having to backpedal up the stairs.

She wasn’t going to let him get some distance.

Before he was able to somehow retaliate though, she tossed one part of her weapon at him, aiming right at his head.

It looked like a bit of a waste to me, getting rid of your weapon in the first moment of the fight, but what do I know, I am not a melee fighter. Nor any fighter, to be honest.

Even though some want for me to be…

In any case, Mike wasn’t going to take it head on this time: he already managed to transform his hand into a familiar “claw” made out of living wood, and just swiped at the flying blade, bouncing it away from his head.

He didn’t escape unscathed, though.

The flaming ring that I noticed before, followed behind the toss and as soon as it made contact with his wood, spread to his own hand.

But, instead of forming a harmless ring, it set his whole arm on fire.

He didn’t look like he was in pain, but definitely was surprised.

He slammed his hand into a wall and extinguished the flames in the process, but she was not going to stand there and let him do whatever he wanted.

The moment he bounced off the projectile, her other weapon suddenly started growing, and by the time Mike extinguished the flames, she already was equipped not with a short blade, but with a spear almost as long as the staff was before.

And was lunging at him with murderous intent.

Mike managed to grab the weapon a few centimeters before the spear reached his chest, but that also didn’t come without damage.

Like before, the flames from her hands spread through her weapons towards him, setting him on fire.

It didn’t look like it did much damage, yet he shuddered.

She was… draining mana from him?!

What was up with those flames?

They definitely looked normal… at least from the outside.

When I took a better look at it I could see that it was not draining… It was more like she was literally burning through his mana.

It was especially visible around the wound. Or, well, rather where the wound would be if he wasn’t an abomination of a creature.

The moment they got in contact with each other, the flames intensified on both of them. It was like he started supplying her with his mana as well?

Was he doing that on purpose?

Wait…

The blade.

I recognized that weapon.

Or rather the substance that its blade was made out of.

It was Origin Crystal.

Was it from him? Or some other remnant?

Who knows.

It was clear where it was made, though.

Rob.

Wait a second, did that mean… that when Rob said about those “higher-ups” of his… was he talking about her?

Nah, couldn't be.

But for sure it was their work.

The blade was shimmering with light particles that were hard to miss after she launched those flames of her.

Or was it part of the enhancement itself?

Who knows, he did say that every item was different. The sword I’ve seen definitely had some ability to do a ranged attack, so why not a staff to do this?

My ramblings aside, the fight was not over yet.

After confirming the effect of the spell hit, she immediately withdrew and stopped in a defensive stance, it looked like.

Mike wasn’t really concerned with that, he just snapped his fingers, and intending to extinguish the flames with an ice spell, he conjured a cold wind that blew through the corridor, freezing the steps and blowing at the flames…

But he did not manage to extinguish it.

Quite the opposite. The more the wind blew, the larger the flames seemed to be.

A bit frustrated, he repeated the spell, confirming my suspicions.

It was not like he was fanning at the flames, maybe not literally. It was just that the mana he was using to create the wind got mostly eaten by the effect she afflicted him with.

Quite an effective thing, I have to say.

But, he also realized that.

What should he do though? It’s not like those were going to disappear by themself.

The answer was simple: to dismiss all uses of mana he had on him: if there wasn’t any mana in the area, there wouldn’t be a thing that those flames could feed on and die out.

Or at least that’s what he thought.

The fact was, that whatever the case, the flames would still have a source of mana: Il. She was also pouring her own magic into them, not to mention the mana she managed to steal from him.

If it came to a tug of war, she was in the winning position.

Even if he managed to cancel out her spell, she could just strike him again, repeat the process. Most likely.

What I saw was a bit different, though.

Unexpectedly, the flames died down as the mana source being Mike suddenly vanished. from sight

Did he teleport as well?

Honestly, for a second I thought so, because he became invisible to my eyes.

But it was just him condensing and shutting down his own mana so much that he was invisible to my enhanced senses, even in this vision.

While I definitely got caught by surprise by that, she did not at all.

Actually it looked like she was waiting for that exact scenario.

The moment flames dispersed, she raised her hand and mumbled something.

From the end of the corridor, behind Mike, something suddenly flew at him and stuck him right in the back, piercing him through.

It was the other part of the staff she broke off.

Apparently she was still in control of that piece.

She was banking on an assumption that he was enhancing himself with some kind of spell to boost his resistance to regular bladed weapons.

I honestly didn’t think it was a thing, but it definitely was.

When he cut off mana to all spells, he also cut off the supply to that one too, making him vulnerable.

I never even thought of that.

It might be probably because my body was already transformed, but I never was worried about my physical form… I guess I had faith in Origin Crystal?

That, and back when I wasn’t transformed I didn’t really know anything about the supposed “downsides” of my transformations.

Not like that would change my mind.

On the other hand, he, for some reason, seemed a lot more informed. And despite that, or maybe because of that, he was genuinely worried about his body.

I guess I can see where he was coming from, but it’s not like he was going to stop the changes. Especially after that fight.

As to affirm my thoughts, it was clear that Il was not done with the attack.

As the weapon pierced him, it barely missed his heart it seems like. If he still had it, of course and it wasn’t already replaced with a crystal.

She leaped forward, grabbing the flying piece with one hand and fused it back into one singular weapon that now took the form of a plain spear.

A spear that she skewered him right through the chest.

If that was anyone but him, I’d say that the wound was fatal.

He started spitting blood, coughing violently. He wanted to grab the spear and stop her, but she just rammed it further in, and pinned him to the ground, leveraging the full weight of her own body to do that.

There was no place for him to get away.

She still wasn’t done.

As she held him pinned down, she started preparing a spell.

Wait, was it wise for her to use magic? For all she knew he’d just absorb the mana to sustain himself… or at least I would’ve done that.

But no, she wasn’t attacking him.

She was fixing herself…?

She was wounded? I don’t even know when, but she didn’t look like she was hurt…?

No. She was not fixing… she was draining him.

Ah.

Yeah, that would answer the question why everything was dark in this place.

She was the one who absorbed mana from the place. The one who darkened everything, making it hard for me to see.

And now she was going to do the same thing with the person right in front of her.

-Il. Stop.