Chapter 21

*Eliza POV*

After releasing those creatures, the fight against the mages heavily swung in the beasts favour. While they may have been strong enough to capture the mana beasts whether individually or in small packs, a cooperative front against the already drained mages would be far more effective. With that in mind, I decided to climb at tree once again, relatively close to the ensuing battle. Even if I couldn't fight them head to head, providing support in the form of blocks of ice smashing into them will bide enough of a distraction for the mana beasts to get in a strike.

"Where are those damn worthless magicless bastards?! Did they piss themselves and run off!" The angered scream of a surrounded mage stirred me from my thoughts. He was surrounded by four oddly wolf like mana beasts that had iridescent blue fur and blood red eyes. Despite this fact he only had minor injuries, like some cuts and bruises. So I did what any reasonable person would do.... And from a baseball shaped block of ice that I proceeded to throw at him while his back was turned. While my body may be undeveloped, amount of non-attribute mana being forced into my arm, shoulder and back that almost exceeded my control allowed me to throw that block at a speed of 30 miles an hour.

The result being his balance was thrown off for long enough for him to be mauled.

Why didn't I use magic to launch my attack? While I may be a castor, my natural ability in that category is less then what was normal, meaning at this current point in my life I could not fire that spell at large distances. The result, I used my enhancement affinity. The longer this fight went on the more painfully aware I became of my weaknesses.

I always thought the phrase "jack of all trades - master of none" could be flipped on it's head and said "jack of all trades - master of all", but it became blaringly obvious how much effort that would take, how much time it would take.

"THERE'S SOMEONE IN THE TREES!!" another mage announced before being promptly decapitated by a creature with a whip like tail.

'It would appear I neglected hiding while in my thoughts' I mentally noted with uncanny calmness. There was one non-noble left and the man from the Raijin house. They were isolated. They were drained. They were surrounded by the horde of enraged creatures. In other words, they could do nothing to me as long as they cared about their own life.

And so I replied appropriately... by sticking my tongue out at them. I'm still a child at heart, and with this body I can flex those feelings a little more. Sue me.

This childish provocation seemed to work as the golden eyed mage started preparing a spell to fire at me.

"Idiot! Stop!" Mr Raijin yelled in a derisive tone. Even still the result was all the same and they were mauled to death. This caused the lightning mage, who by his abundance of long range spells seemed to be a caster, to click his tongue. His limitless frustration poured into that action, I could tell because despite the ensuing clamour of battle, I could still perceive it.

Despite being my current obstacle, this man had earned my respect as he had lasted another five minutes without his crewmates. I had yet to interfere as I had repeatedly assured myself he would be taken down. A mistake I would come to regret.

He gathered thick amounts of lightning in his palm, soon releasing it with himself as the epicentre. He became akin to a plasma ball, and the creatures the metallic poles drawing in the lightning. While it wasn't enough to kill them, they were stunned and in a state of temporary paralysis. This gave him enough time to retreat while cursing me.

"Listen here you half breed filth..." He didn't get to finish his sentence as I threw another block of conjured ice. My aim seemed to be pretty good as he only managed to dodge it by a hairs breadth, resulting in him almost falling over. I then gave him a courteous send off by sticking my middle finger up at him.

'He won't live, he has to travel through this forest, alone, injured and drained of mana. He won't live, right?' at this point, I was seeping back into my ordinary self. It would take a while before I was fully back, but I felt the impending doubt about my decisions and the inevitable disgust with myself creeping in.

"You did better than I thought you would" that childish voice that seemed to feign wisdom suddenly sounded in my head.

"Thanks" I replied dryly as more and more disgust was setting in. I hated it when this happened. When I shut down like this, I often did something I hated, this time more than usual. But this time what I did was necessary, so at least in some sense I could forgive myself.

"Would you like to know the way back now?" he asked.

"How about I stay here and you bring the others to me. I don't trust that you won't try make me run into hostile creatures, and these ones seem to like me" I replied in a monotone cadence, while hopping off my tree and suddenly getting smothered by the beasts.

"...Very well, they shall be here shortly" the spirit replied in an annoyingly amused tone of voice.

An hour and a half later, I was in the smothering arms of my mother, my shirt being stained by her tears, almost as much as the blood that had soaked into it. Onto my hands.