Thrill on Death's Edge

I rush back towards the fight. According to Azariah, the exit's straight ahead. There shouldn't be any issue with me not going with them. I unsheathe the sword that Inell lent me and run towards where Inell's fighting against the Frost Drake.

As I run towards the fight though, I realize a huge mistake I had just made. Cesre was the one creating all the light. Now that she's gone, so is the light she made. I'm quickly submerged in sheer darkness. I can hear the fight clearly, but I can't see my own hand in front of my face.

"Inell!" I yell. "How are you seeing?!"

"Aubrey?! Get out of here!"

"How are you seeing?!"

"Ugh! You actually owe me for this! This is going to get me in all sorts of trouble when I get back to my mother! Mamasso! Chant that name in your head and demand light! The same as you did with Frighin!"

Is that it? Mamasso! I demand light! Mamasso! I demand light! Mamasso! I demand light! Let me see!

I keep chanting it over and over again, but I can't seem to get the hold of it like I did with Frighin. Inell told me to imagine a feral dragon the first time, he probably can't explain that much given the situation. What kind of dragon is Mamasso then?

"Inell! What kind of dragon is Mamasso?!"

"A light dragon!" Inell yells, the angriest I've ever heard him. "A white, glowing light dragon! Imagine an elegant and feminine light dragon this time!"

I imagine a dragon. Large and elegant, with all snow white scales. I imagine that dragon with glowing eyes, ready to give me a way to see in this darkness. Mamasso! I demand light!

I feel something within me click. My eyes start to hurt, like I'm staring at something a bit too bright to be stared at directly. The darkness disappears though. Everything suddenly becomes extremely bright. It really hurts my eyes, but at least I can see.

Now that I can see, I see Inell flying extremely quickly through the tight space of the cave and dodging all sorts of ice attacks from the drake. On all fours, the drake comes up to around 10 feet tall. Its scales are a crystal blue color, like it's made of diamond. It has white undertones.

Inell flies in front of me. The drake opens its mouth and its throat starts to glow a really light blue. I feel myself get picked off of my feet and thrown through the hole in the wall the drake had made. I know it's Inell, and I know how he's doing it, but it doesn't get any less disorientating.

As I'm sent flying, the drake unleashes a breath attack of white air. It turns all the stone it touches into ice. I feel the air around me cool down just from being near it. Inell lowers me down to the ground gently and he lands right next to me.

"Hey Aubrey, have you ever thrown a chunk of ice against a hard surface as hard as you can?"

"As a kid, why?"

"That's what's going to happen to you if you get hit by that. So don't get hit by it."

Alright, I think it's starting to sink in just how dangerous this actually is…

"Listen to everything I tell you to do, and you probably won't die. Act on your own in this situation, and you definitely will die, even with me trying to save you. Listen to me or run away with the others."

"Probably won't?"

"Nothing's guaranteed in situations like this. Don't like it? Run away with the others, I'll buy you time."

"Is this seriously something you can handle on your own?"

"I don't know, but I do know I'm leagues better qualified to deal with this than you. You don't have long, are you running or are you staying?"

I grip my sword tighter "Staying."

"Follow my orders then. You might actually be able to help."

The drake comes running towards us, roaring. I have no reason to think that Inell's lying, but am I really going to be able to help here?

I'm suddenly flung up into the air along with Inell. The drake attacks the place we were just standing with its claws. If I had been standing there, I definitely would have wound up in pieces.

"The spells I taught you from Frighin and Mamasso are the only magic you know, right?"

"Yes, I thought I told you this already?"

"Great… you remember why that sword is so powerful, right?"

"Of course I do, you kept telling me over and over."

"Alright, I'll get her attention, and fight her from the front. Use your spell from Frighin to attack her from the side. Either her ribs or the knees of her hind legs, go for one of those."

I simply nod at Inell, and I'm flung back to the ground. I start to run around the drake, but it appears to notice me. I hear another roar and several red claws appear all over its body. Inell flies back to the ground and starts throwing blades of wind at the drake, which causes it to charge at him.

I try to chase after the drake, but its to fast. I start to chant to Frighin before Inell flies away from the drake to my right, revealing its side to me. Frighin! I deman strength! I hear the low growl and I put all the power into my legs. I charge forward at a speed comparable to an olympic level sprinter and slice at on of the drake's hind legs once.

My upper body winds up smaking right into the drake and I'm sent tumbling for a while underneath its body and for a short distance after that. I wind up scraping a lot of skin and bleeding as I hear the drake scream.

I stand back up and see the area all around the drake freeze. I then notice that I wound up cutting way better than I had thought I would, leaving the drake unable to walk. It then summons a huge icicle and chops the rest of its leg off. Then the area, that its leg used to be starts glowing, and ice and snow starts swirling into it.

Then I see its leg reform. "Excuse me?!"

Inell lands next to me. "It turns out that this is going to be harder than I originally thought, I didn't think it was that strong."

"You knew that was a possibility?! And you didn't tell me?!"

"There was a lot to say and not much time to say it. Crap."

I want to ask what Inell meant by "Crap" but before I can I'm thrusted into the air again as the drake attacks the area we were just in. Inell flings three massive blades made of air down at the drake, shattering the ground below and hurting it greatly.

That doesn't last for long though as it does another breath attack at us and Inell sends us both flying out of the way. We start flying really fast into a deeper part of the cave, filled with massive pillars that extend from the floor to ceiling. There's a lot of space to move around here, though given how far this goes on for, it's easy to get lost.

"Alright, we're going to have to keep hitting it until it runs out of mana to heal itself. If you keep hurting yourself like that every time you hit it, we won't be able to beat it though. I can't use healing magic, you know!"

"Isn't there any way you can tell how much mana it has left?!"

"I know of a spell that can do that, but I can't use it. I can never get my head around it costs way too much mana to be useful."

"Just teach me how to use it then!"

"Absolutely not! We have to save your mana for Frighin! Don't worry, I have a backup plan in mind. You see all these pillars?"

"Yes, how could I not?!"

"I'll attack the tops of them with wind blades, and I'll lure the frost drake over to them. You'll cut them down when she gets close and it will fall on top of her. Doing that a dozen times or so should be enough to wear her down."

"What?! How am I even supposed to chop them down?! Wouldn't that also cause a cave in?!"

"Between that spell from Frighin and the sword you're using, you should be able to do it. You've figured out putting all the extra strength into your legs, right? Just do the same with your arms, it shouldn't be that hard. As for a cave in, I'll be able to get you out of the way. Other than that, that should work in our favor, don't you think?"

"Alright fine, I'll give you that.

It was surprisingly easy to chop down all those pillars.

I see the drake, noticeably more tired chasing after Inell. He sends a huge blade of wind at the top part of the pillar I'm hiding behind, creating the sound of an explosion.

I start chanting Frighin's name in my head and hear his roar. I focus all my new strength into my arms and unleash a diagonal slash at the pillar. The lower part of the slash is aimed in the direction of the drake.

I hear the crumbling of rock as it slides off its foundation. When it gets to the edge it starts tumbling down towards the drake. It tries to run away, but Inell just fires some more wind blades where its running to stop it. The pillar lands right on the drake, causing significant damage.

When Inell proposed this plan to me, I had thought it would be a whole lot harder, but it turned out to just be tedious. That was the sixth pillar I dropped on it, and it doesn't seem to be getting much more tired. It's definitely taking damage, but it doesn't seem to want to stop any time soon. Whatever, I have more than enough stamina for this.

An echoing boom fills the cave. The sound of several lightning strikes chained back to back from a distance… that's what I think that was. Cesre? Azariah? Are they not out yet? Why would they need to use lightning?

Inell lands right next to me. "Aubrey, did you hear that?"

"How could I not? Was that Cesre or Azariah?"

"I don't know, my winds don't reach that far. Remember what Azariah said when she found that way out?"

"That it was faster, and the terrain was easier?"

"No, that there was a man there wandering aimlessly, remember that?"

My heart nearly drops at the realization. "Inell… Inell do you think?"

"I don't know for sure, but there's a possibility they wound up getting held up by one of Vincent's followers. The man Azariah detected is the one holding them up right now."

"Crap, we need to get going then!"

"No, I want to finish up here first."

It takes every ounce of willpower in my body to not punch Inell in the face right now.

"Don't look at me like that, I have a way to finish this quickly."

"Then why didn't you do that earlier?! Come on, they're more important than some stupid drake!"

Inell's entire aura changes. "Aubrey, I was raised by dragons, you know. The only human I ever met throughout my entire early childhood was my mother. My dad was around too, but he left before my first memories. Aubrey, if this was a person suffering here, would you still rush to help the others?"

"Yes. It would be hard, but yes."

"I appreciate your honesty. I have a plan though, it won't take long."

"Again, why didn't you do that before?!"

"Because it involves using my most mana draining spell, it isn't something I can use lightly. In my current condition, after I use it, I should only be able to fight all out for another minute or two. I should have more than enough mana to get everyone on my winds, though."

"What? You're the strongest out of all of us, we need you in peak condition."

"I'll be able to use enough magic to save everyone, but I won't be able to fight back. Now, I have a plan, will you follow it, or are you going to rush off on your own?"

I pause. Inell's going to abandon me if I don't listen? "Fine, what's your plan?"

><><><><

The drake rushes at me. Inell can't save me if I mess up here, I'm on my own. I chant Frighin's name in my head and jump to the right. The drake claws the area I was just standing, shredding the stone into pieces.

The drake quickly adapts and launches a breath attack at me. I start to run around the drake as fast as I can without Frighin's spell active. One hit from that and I'm basically dead.

15! 16! I try my best to repeat in my head to the best of my ability. The audacity of that man. To tell me the plan won't take that long and then send me out to buy time…

It claws at the ground behind me, sending several rocks at me. I turn around to try and deflect them like Kiaran would do, but it doesn't go very well, and I wind up getting hit and cut in several places.

It swings its tail at me, and I chant Frighin's name to jump over it. When I land I get back to counting. 25! 26! Damn it, another 20 seconds, I'm barely over halfway through and I'm already exhausted.

The drake lunges at me again, and I force my legs to move me out of the way. I chant Frighin's name again and start running. 31! 32! Another breath attack comes from behind me. I force all the strength into my legs and jump to the side.

I'm sent tumbling a long way, but I dodged, at least. 35… 10 more seconds of this…

The drake runs at me again, and I force myself to get up and start running. I start to feel a cramp in my side, but I force myself through it. I chant Frighin's name again, and force myself to run faster with magic.

I start to run about as fast as the drake is running at me, but it's close behind me. I run right towards a pillar and start to run up it. The drake runs right into it as I jump off. I'm flung quite a long distance and am sent tumbling again as I land.

Everything hurts but I force myself to get up. The drake recovers and gets ready to charge at me again. I take another stance and grab my sword again. I get ready to chant Frighin's name again.

The drake runs at me, and I get ready to dodge again. As the drake runs towards me, the ground beneath it suddenly turns a pitch black, like Azariah's hair. The drake starts to sink into the ground, as if the ground had suddenly become tar.

The drake tries its best to claw its way out, but huge structures that look like spines with blades on the end come out of the darkness and wrap themselves around the drake, digging themselves into its flesh, breaking its scales and causing it to bleed. It starts unleashing the loudest and most pained scream I've ever heard.

"Inell, is that-"

I look over at Inell, who had been hiding behind a pillar the entire time. His condition shuts me up immediately. He's holding both his arms out and shaking violently. He starts to cry blood and cuts and gashes have appeared all over his arms.

"Don't just stand there! Do it!" Inell yells at me, the angriest I've ever heard him. Although it sounded to me like he was trying to force it through extreme pain.

It snaps me back to reality as I remember what I'm supposed to do. I start to run towards the tar like substance, forcing myself through the exhaustion and the pain.

Another spine-like structure rises up through the darkened ground. It doesn't attack the drake at all, and instead serves as a pathway for me to walk on. I run up the spine towards the drake. I go to jump on top of it, but it lunges its jaws at me, trying to bite me. A sharp bone juts out of the darkness and impales the drake in the jaw, immobilizing it.

Mamasso! I imagine an elegant, female, white dragon in my head. Mamasso, please let me see it! I need to see it! So I can help this drake! I try to imagine seeing a curse over the drake's head, and just like that I'm suddenly able to see something that definitely wasn't there before.

I see a glowing magic circle above the drake's head. It reminds me of the circle I first saw when I was summoned, except this one is much smaller and much less complex. Probably about the size of a small table.

I grip my sword tighter, intending to slice the circle in half. As soon as I make it my intention to do this, the red aura around it starts to stick to the sword, dying the gold a blood red.

I slice once, and the magic circle is sliced cleanly in half. The drake yells out once when I do that, but then it goes limp completely. I'm about to land in the darkness, but an assortment of bones rises out of it which I land on. It hurts, but I assume it's better than landing in whatever the black is.

The darkness starts to fade away and the bones start burning up into ashes. The drake falls limp onto the ground, still bleeding. It isn't too long before a couple piles of ashes are all that remain of that spell.

"Aubrey! Aubrey get up, we need to go!" I see Inell standing above me. His eyes are still a bit red and the cuts on his arms haven't healed at all.

"What's up with you? Why are you so hurt?"

"That spell is made with a connection to a dragon lord whose power is comparable to that of Lord Ireon. It only makes sense that his power would come at a cost. More importantly, we need to hurry to the others!"

Oh crap. Damn it, damn it, damn it! How could I forget about that! I hurt all over and I'm exhausted, I want nothing more than to just sleep right now but I force myself up anyway.

Inell picks me up with his winds and we go flying. My eyes are really starting to burn, so much I have to close them. I ignore that. Kiaran… Azariah… please be safe!

Inell flies us there as fast as we can. Then we hear the sound of another lightning strike. Neither of us say a word. We keep flying.

He stops and we land. "Just a bit farther!" he yells at me.

I do my best to run as fast as I can given everything that has just happened. As I run I realize that the air around us has gotten colder. We run into a cavern that looks entirely made of ice. What I see next frightens me.

Cesre lying down unconscious, with her arm bent backwards. Freware sitting against an ice pillar, not moving an inch with blood pouring from her head. Kiaran standing up, but covered in cuts. Some large, hairy man's dead body, with his decapitated head in a completely different area. Most importantly though, Azariah.

She was standing up, breathing heavily. She was covered in injuries. Her right arm was missing from the elbow down, her biceps were bursting out of her left arm too. She kept breathing as if she was absolutely exhausted. I noticed she was holding a shard of ice with her left hand, which was covered in blood.

She looks over at Kiaran, and then at us. She looks relieved. Then that expression switches to one of extreme pain. She faints on the spot and falls over onto the ice. Kiaran's the only one here that's left standing.

><><><><

Olen stood there in front of me. Kiaran was injured, Cesre was injured too badly to fight, and we didn't even know if Freware was alive or not. I didn't know when or if Inell and Aubrey would show up to help us. It was just me and this yeti.

Kiaran had cut a huge hole over my torso so I was slowly bleeding out. Olen also had a spell on him that practically made him unkillable while he still had mana. My mana capacity is at 68.97%. Olen's is 52.25%. Since his mana capacity is greater than mine though, he still has more mana than me.

I'm at a disadvantage. So let's see just what I can do!

I grab Kiaran's scythe and use a mix of wind magic and my own muscles to propel myself forward. 27 miles an hour. He doesn't have enough time to react and I cut his wrist with Kiaran's scythe.

His skin is much tougher than I was expecting, so I wind up giving him a cut instead of chopping the whole hand off like I was intending. I didn't put my arm muscles into it like I was my legs. I'll push those to their limits in the next attack.

I'm sent flying away from the yeti as fast as I was running, because I hadn't made any attempt to slow down when I was attacking him. I blow wind in the opposite direction and try to switch the direction I'm running. I wind up tumbling down and having to take a position similar to a cat to stop sliding.

As soon as I come to a stop I use the usual technique to rush back towards Olen. This time I push my arm muscles to their absolute limits and slice at him multiple times. He doesn't have the time to react as I tear open several huge gashes over his body.

I'm sent flying again and try to stop myself so I can launch at him again. I repeat this over and over again. I do it so much it honestly starts to get addicting! Again! And again! And again! Ahahahahahahaha! This is just the best!

Mana Location picks up the yeti trying to run away. Switching to Mana Detection and employing enough focus I pick up his soul itself shaking. Lucidna said something similar happened to me when I first met her. Is he scared!? Hahahaha!

"What's wrong?! You're the one who attacked us first! I'm just returning in kind!"

"Get away from me, crazy woman!" he yells, genuinely terrified. I think that's the first I've heard him speak since the beginning.

"Crazy?! Crazy?! Maybe! But you know, I've had to deal with a lot of shit lately!" I get a good cut in over his spine, paralyzing him from the chest down. It shouldn't last for long, but it'll help get his mana down a lot faster.

"I get attacked over and over again! And then I fight back, and you go acting like I'm doing something wrong! At least be like that wyvern and take your death well! Killers don't get to act like a little girl when someone kills them!

You know! I think I finally figured out just what that wyvern was up to! It hadn't quite broken out of the mind control curse, but it broke through it enough to genuinely enjoy a good fight! It was having fun!

It must have finally broken through completely when I nailed it with lightning! Bowing its head to me was its way of accepting its death and loss! Its way of showing its respect to a good opponent! You should really start showing me some respect too, you know! Actually, fear is good too! Respect and fear! I can get used to that! So go on! Keep running! Die scared and alone!"

I rush after Olen. Mana Detection picks up him manipulating the ice to form a defensive wall. Adad! Come on! I want to see just how terrified he looks when I blow it away! Since my perception of time is sped up, I'm able to generate a lot of power in a small amount of time from his perspective. As soon as the wall goes up, it's completely obliterated.

"Idiot! I already told you I used lightning! Come on, use your head a little! You aren't a very satisfying opponent at all!" he looks absolutely terrified, and I'm loving it!

It's a shame he's a guy with a larger frame. If he was a girl, or if he at least had a cuter appearance, I would definitely be aroused right now. He just isn't my type though, which is unfortunate.

I attack him again, but this time I manage to stop myself before I go flying. This is my opportunity! The power of "Thrill on Death's Edge" is amazing, but it doesn't make me invincible. If I lose enough blood so that my brain can't function I'm going to black out, no matter how much I want to keep fighting. Given the huge hole in my body, it probably won't be long before that happens. As much as I want to prolong this, I'll unfortunately have to end it soon.

I plant both my feet into the ice and prepare to slice the yeti's head right off. That should kill him instantly, right? Mana Location picks up him moving both his arms to block, but I should be able to cut right through those.

I swing so hard that a few muscles in both of my arms tear. I use wind magic to put even more force on the scythe. It cuts through both of his arms like there's nothing there, and when the blade reaches his neck, the blade shatters into a bunch of pieces, and sends reverberations through my arms.

That wasn't even Kiaran's scythe, that belonged to Pitiful's camp, didn't it? He had to go to that Ruse guy to pick it up before we left, right? Whatever, I doubt he can complain given the situation. I'll pay him back with my salary later.

I pull what's left of the scythe back. The blade's broken, but I can still use it as a staff. I thrust at the yeti's eye, trying to damage the brain. When I do though, he dodges, resulting in me only scraping his cheek. Then he grabs my right arm so tightly that the bone nearly snaps. Even if I somehow got it out of his hold, that arm's useless without healing magic now.

So I do what any logical person would, and chop my right arm off with a wind blade. Not even the slightest bit of hesitation. It's surprising I can even do that. I must have been subconsciously reducing the power of my wind blades so that I didn't seriously injure anyone until now. Whatever, now that "Thrill on Death's Edge" is active, that subconscious wall is gone, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I fly backwards as the yeti throws my severed arm away in a mix of fear and disgust. I lost all feeling in that arm as soon as it came off. I try to cast a bunch of wind blades up at the yeti with it, but it doesn't work. I'll have to see if that's a spell I can make later.

I cast that out of my mind and focus on finishing this fight. Now that I'm down an arm, my blood loss is only going to speed up. I tear a stretch of fabric from my sleeve, and use my left hand and teeth to tie it around the stump as tight as I can get it. This doesn't take long. The yeti hasn't even finished healing by the time I'm done.

I create a barrage of wind blades in all directions. I put full force into all of them and curve them so that they lock onto Olen's head and neck. Mana Detection picks up trying to use the ice as a shield. A couple of rapid fire lightning strikes render this completely pointless. It blocks with its arms, but even then it doesn't turn Olen's head into mincemeat like I was expecting.

I was certain I put full force into all of those… It must be his durability then. Yeah, he was difficult to cut through with the metal scythe, it would only make sense that literal air wouldn't do much… That just leaves the mana draining lightning spells then… I seriously need to get a wider range of attacks.

I begin to charge lightning strikes. I attack his knees, his elbows, and I strike at the head. He seems to know that if he dies instantly his spell won't heal him, so he's trying his best to keep his head from getting hit.

This strategy is whittling down both of our mana, but at this rate I'll run out first. I also can't seem to get an instant death hit in. Do I keep going like this and let Kiaran finish him off? No, I broke his scythe, he won't have a weapon. That's a no go.

I need to restrict his movements somehow. I can't do that with lightning, I refuse to use fire, and I don't have any spells under Ctothis that fit that criteria. That just leaves wind. Wind it will be then.

Adad, I demand an absurd amount of power. Now give it to me, you stupid bitch. I use magic to fly towards Olen. He clearly understands that isn't a good sign as he tries to form the ice into a shield again. I use a smaller version of a Gale Blade to get rid of all of that.

I land right in front of him. He tries to grab my remaining arm. I summon a huge gust of wind that shatters the ice below him and knocks him off his feet, tumbling towards me. I'm about to do it. I'm about to kill a person.

There are two ways to increase the energy of something. The first is to simply add more energy into the system. In this context, that means piling more mana into the spell and praying to Adad for longer. The other way to increase energy is to make the system smaller, intensifying the energy. Bullets are deadly despite being so small because they're so fast, right? Well this is the same concept, just with a lightning bolt.

I gather the mana required for a lightning strike and put it into an orb as small as I possibly can. I normally just let the attack out as soon as I gather the mana, but this time I'm going to compress it all into an orb first. I think that Cesre does something similar, even if she hasn't told me.

The lightning bolt I summon is less of a lightning bolt and more of a laser. I aimed for Olen's left eye because I thought that going for an eye would make it easier to hit the brain, but I realize now I should have aimed for the center of his face.

My laser blasts right through the left side of his skull, completely vaporizing everything it touches. Imagine a plate, holding the corner of it over your left eye, and just getting rid of everything behind the plate. That's about what happened. You can see what's left of his brain…

His right eye still moves though, looking at me, terrified. My Mana Detection spell picks up his spell activating instead of his soul leaving his body. You're still alive?! How?!

I use wind magic to blast him back as I grab a sharp piece of ice. I fly up at him and jab it into his neck, trying to decapitate him. He doesn't make any attempt to stop me, I assume he's lost all brain function to be able to. I use wind to try and force the ice through his neck but that isn't enough. I need something more.

More lightning? Not enough time. I refuse to use fire and even then, that defeats the purpose. What can I use on this ice then? Beira? The Archon of Frost? How do I get a connection with her?

Hey Beira. Lend me your power. Look at how weak this yeti is. Getting his brain blown to bits by someone on death's edge. Can you please let me finish him?

I don't feel any connection forming.

Beira! Let someone as weak as me use your god like power! I swear to serve you if you do!

Still nothing.

Beira, I'm a truly weak individual. No one else can help me in this situation. I want to be stronger, strong enough to speak with Kari. I can't do that if I die here. Can I please use your power?

I feel it form. That's what cracked it.

I pour mana into the shard of ice I'm holding. Beira… I need your help. You're perfect for this job! Strengthen and sharpen this shard of ice! I need you to! You're the Archon of Frost, aren't you?

Mana Detection spell picks up the shard of ice doing just that. I shove it deeper through his neck but it isn't enough. I put so much strength into the ice that some of my muscles are pulled out of the socket.

The ice is about halfway through his throat when his brain regenerates enough to register the fact that he should really be fighting back. Sure enough, Mana Detection reveals to me him pumping all the rest of his mana into one big spell. It's something with Beira's connection, although I don't recognize it.

A huge blast of frozen mana blasts at me from Olen's body. It doesn't effect my physical at all, instead making my mana much harder to use and causing me to have to pour much more mana into the same spell. Almost as if my mana itself is being frozen.

The ice is almost all the way through, as this blast of Olen's remaining mana, my awareness is slowly pushed out of my physical body. This spell, whatever it is, is slowly prying my astral body out of my physical one. I hadn't even known magic could do that.

It's feel my soul start to when I remember Ctothis' words. This can't be good. I try and pour more mana into my attack, but with my soul getting closer and closer to being thrust out of my body, it's costing more and more mana to keep the same effect up.

What's more, this appears to be literally freezing the mana I had in place to keep Mana Location and Mana Detection working. It's sending them both into haywire. Even my astral body looks like it's starting to freeze.

I push all of my mental strength into grabbing ahold of my physical body, and forcing my remaining arm to cut further into his neck. I respond in kind to Olen's desperation and pour every last ounce of mana I have left into my current spells. No matter what, one of us is about to die.

My soul is inches away from being pushed out of my back.

I pour all my mana into the winds propelling my arm, enough that the pressure causes my arm to bleed.

My astral body freezes to the point it gets hard to move, I can no longer keep my strength up at this rate.

I demand Beira to let me push her connection to its absolute limits, just to see which of us is really stronger.

I feel my astral body about to shatter. I don't know what sort of damage that would cause.

I pour all of my mana into that shard of ice, every last drop directly from my soul, and-

Right before I shatter, right before my soul is expelled… Olen's head finally pops right off.

His body and head go flying in different directions. My astral body is flung back into my physical body with so much force I get vertigo. Mana Detection goes back to normal right away and picks up his spell trying to form a new head, but his soul leaves his body before it can do so. I doubt he would have had the mana left for that to work anyway.

I slowly fly down to the ground. I start to feel whizzy due to all the blood that I had lost during that fight. I feel my mana running out, "Thrill on Death's Edge" is about to stop, and all the pain will return to me.

I look over at Kiaran, who looks terrified. Then I notice Inell flying in, as well as Aubrey. I should have noticed them earlier, but I was too focused on the fight. So just because I can sense everything around me, doesn't mean I can't get distracted. That's a weakness I'll have to keep in mind.

I feel my mana capacity reach 0%, and the pain overwhelms me to the point I faint on the spot.