Spell Activation: Derivation vs Derivations [Thread of Karma]

In the school office grounds, the members of the Brightforce team and the Dean were all present. It was 2 hours after all students were dismissed from the university and received that the school had granted an immediate break.

In less than 8 hours, almost all members were present, except those with an active mission, reaching a count of 8 members in the room. Number 6, 7, 11, and 12 were not present.

At the same time, they were also reviewing the video of Xander and the other professors/adjuncts/teachers who were fighting against the spell that the former released.

Number 1, the Dean, sat silently.

Number 2, 3, 5, 8, as well as the remaining members were shocked by the power the spell cast by Xander had.

Number 4 looked at the Xander's spell with interest.

"…Interesting, the creatures within the spell model area rapidly converts and strengthens itself from the elemental, biological, and physical materials absorbed from the outside world."

"It's not a simply wood growth spell, no… if I am not mistaken, my sensitivity is showing that everything in the spell's domain share the same life force. Huh…HAHA, WHAT AN INGENIOUS IDEA!"

"Stop laughing and leaving us in suspense, Number 4, tell us about the spell. Life and Wood elements are your forte, remember?" Number 3 yawned.

"Ugh, fine, I was still calculating the possibility of the spell being applied in…"

"Four! Focus!" This time, it was Number 2 who spoke, his voice deep and calm like well water.

Number 4, hearing this, rolled her eyes.

"…Fine. The spell itself is at its weakest when it is first cast. You simply have to destroy the sprout, and the surrounding areas, incinerating it completely or pulverizing it, whatever methods one has. They just simply have to destroy it utterly leaving no trace of biological material, and the spell would collapse."

"Past that period, one should probably kill the caster, if he or she is not within that space. If it's not possible, I would say run. This spell model is creating a biosphere with outside resources, for growing its internal members. Anything that enters is rapidly devoured and transformed, evolving a lot of creatures within."

"The spell truly is invincible below Mythic once it reaches around 64 meters in radius because it has perfected its own spell rule, and past a certain point, Mythic spells would soon be ineffective, as what we have seen with the demonstration of the professors."

"However, what they did was use 1 mythic spell, a spell that didn't completely match their understanding of the enemy's spell." When they heard Number 4 say this, a few of them showed faces of confusion.

Seeing this, she further explained,

"It was like using punching techniques that produce sonic punches against a fighter who was far away. It was still effective, but was it fatal? No. The fighter can easily detect the area of the punch through his own attacks and body, and even partially weaken it before it completely reaches its location.

Now imagine the fighter is a body cultivator like in the novels you see on the internet. Every sonic punch did not actually do fatal damage because it helped the fighter with its cultivation, becoming more resistant to beating and increasing benefits from absorbing energy."

"To completely eliminate it past its nascent stage, it needs to be overwhelmed with concentrated power," Number 2 said, his voice steady.

"The spell that Xander boy used in the end to resolve it forcefully compacted a large amount of energy to collapse the spell. Given that he had removed control of the spell, he cannot easily dispel it, so he used a much more powerful spell to do so," Number 3 chimed in as well, giving his own view.

Number 4 merely nodded, and stayed quiet.

No one was stupid in the Brightforce team. They could see the situation clearly.

The dean remained silent, letting everyone digest the situation, before speaking out a few seconds later.

"Now we know the possible strength of what we are facing, I am now going to need your help while I trace down the karmic line attached to this photo."

Hearing this, everyone turned serious.

"I have already confirmed, this photograph that was isolated, along with this small vial of blood from this woman, was the last remaining evidence in which a vice-principal existed, the actual Number 2 of the Brightforce team, making it a total of 13 members, not 12."

"What I plan to do is utilize my power to trace the remaining karmic lines if any are present to attempt to reconstruct her, giving her a chance to return to life. At the same time, it would lead us to track the person who did this to her, whether it be Xander Cloverfield, Homer Simpson, or other assassins from other powers."

"I called you all here today because besides her husband, it is us members of the Brightforce team that had the greatest interaction with her. I will be needing your magic energies to attempt to search her karmic threads, and the boost in magic would ensure sufficient supply."

"…Jax, are you sure you still want to attempt this? We don't know if the enemy has any fail-safe procedures deployed for this type of situation," Number 3 warned, his voice laced with caution and skepticism.

Although he doesn't question the reliability of their leader, to waste magic and prepare haphazardly doesn't seem to be Brightforce's style.

Number 1, hearing all this, sighed, and spoke, his voice weary and filled with urgency.

"…We don't have time for further preparations. From what I am sensing in the soul dimension, the spell was continuously erasing all of her existence, completely attempting to wipe out her possibility of existing in other forms of life. This was similar to the case of Seward's descendants."

The soul dimension is the same dimension as the one Xander had labeled as LEO dimension, containing the life-essence of creatures that have not broken from their limitations.

The LEO dimension was also where Xander completely ripped apart the connecting threads and karmic interactions of Seward's descendants, and what she did to Number 2, or Ms. Carliste. The karmic strength of most creatures here was quite weak, allowing those proficient in karmic arts to easily toy or play with their existences.

However, due to the fact it covers the entire universe, it is heavily protected by the Karmic elements. It wouldn't be easily moved for others as it was for Xander, unless they were god-given talents that allowed complete mastery of the Karma elements and related sub-elements and derivatives.

Karma falls under the fate series, related to the element series of Reincarnation, Fortune, Limbo, Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell. All these series are categorized under "Fate" element, which is a derivative of the origin elements of Life-Death. Each aspect encapsulates the cycle between life and death, how death can sometimes be a new beginning, or the ultimate end, and vice versa.

The Dean was talented with the Causality/Karma element, meaning all sub-elements under it is within his control, if necessary.

The sub-elements of [Source], [Connection], [Propagation], [Collection], [Model], [Disorder], [Cancel], [Rebel], [Array], and [Dissolution] under Karma can be mobilized…if he was actually proficient and knowledgeable about it.

A pity, however, the inheritance he received did not delve into these elements and their relation to Karmic elements.

"…as time passes, the weaker and nonexistent the karmic threads belonging to her remains in existence in the soul realm, before dissipating instead of merging back to the soul sea. That means there would be no future, present, or past records of her, and even the photo that was sealed would soon be affected, even with the seals present. I expect that in less than 6 hours, all traces of her will be removed, the memories one will have of her will be completely altered and permanently be set."

At this, the members knew they had no more time to waste. Immediately, Number 2 stood up, representing the remaining members.

"Then let's do this. What do we need to do specifically?"

The Dean, hearing the question, immediately raised his hand and pointed to several locations of the room.

"I need one member to stand at each point that I have pointed at. The room itself is designed as a major magic array, and I need you to release your magic and elemental energy, as well as continuously think of the woman in the photo."

"To compensate for the energy supply, the school's grand formation will be utilized to supply elemental energy to support the array."

"The power produced will be channeled to me, in the major axis of the Magic array, while holding the photograph case containing the untouched photo." At this point, the Dean's face darkened, and his voice deepened.

"The spell will create a temporary, centimeter-sized hole in the material plane, heading towards the soul dimension. This would cause a large-scale magic disturbance in the material plane, but with the help of the university's magic formation, around 99.143763% of it will be completely covered. The government has also allocated some resources, as well as the Seward clan. They hope to use the same method… if we are successful."

Hearing all this, everyone already went to nodes of the magic array. The Dean was also already positioned, and after a grunt, began to release his magic power.

The other members, in turn, simultaneously released their own powers, channeling them into the magic array, while visualizing the face of the woman in the photo. The problem they had was that the image was slowly morphing or fading away. They had to continuously attempt to visualize the face, the contours of the whole body properly and repeatedly.

The power in the Dean burst out, creating a ray of light that infinitely extended upward, but instead of creating unwanted attention, the light immediately opened a small crack in space, 100 meters above the building.

It opened up into a space that cannot clearly be described, but just felt.

If one looked at it, it was a pale, whitish-gray area.

The tumultuous waves were sometimes calm, sometimes stronger or higher than waves of tsunamis.

However, it never left the area.

There was no land visible, with everything simply a sky, or simply the sea, endless and seemingly infinite.

The moment the light appeared, it was like a beacon, transforming into a faceted, gentle light.

Seeing this, the Dean began to chant the spell, [Karmic Revival].

"…I call upon the threads of past, recall and reform what was once lost…"

Deep in the LEO dimension, the waves of life essence began to form into karmic threads, but were not organized or collected. They were scattered all over the sea.

"…let the memories return and submerge the threads into reminiscence, establishing record."

The threads began to vibrate slowly, before a light glowed from each thread, the light having a purplish hue, a large contrast to the colorless background.

"…I call upon the threads of present, reform that is and has been to our present time…"

At this point, as if receiving a summoning, the karmic threads scattered all over began to move towards the disturbance point created by the magic array. In there, they slowly began to twist and turn against one another, forming a collected mass of threads.

"…Restore the previous bonds, create the stability of one that is living…"

The karmic mass began to have threads that seemed to extend beyond one's view, and everyone in the magic array, with the help of their visualization, could feel something change.

The memories began to appear again, the face of woman as well as their interactions appeared again.

However, this was currently limited to these people. The others, such as the Carliste clan and even her husband and sons, such an effect had not occurred yet. This only occurred to the members because of the amplification of the magic array, the spell, and the magic and elemental energy supplementing the effect, amplifying it to a considerable degree.

Everyone was already elated, but they continued to visualize and recall the memories, ensuring nothing would happen with the spell.

"I call upon the threads of future, to establish form and continuity…"

At this point it was the spell's guidance that led to the stabilization of the mass, and it began to order itself. However, the specific order has not been clarified or dictated.

"I call forth this human magician, Svergaard Carliste, back to the realm of being!"