Gone Too Far

Lieren's entire body was on fire. His muscles felt like it was being ripped open and sewed together in the most primitive and excruciating way possible, channels veins were filled to the brim with molten metal, and his skin was sweating profusely. Every ounce of strength and drop of power he had left was slowly being wrung out and poured into his body, empowering him and making the painful cycle even more excruciating to bear.

Breathing became a much more difficult task than he had ever thought it could be, forcing to suck and expel air from and into his burning lungs. Tears fell from his blue eyes… almost.

More than pain, they were alit with something foreign and rising, as though something out of this world was dwelling within them. A foreign substance glimmered within them.

…Destroying the translucent green barrier was not an easy task, by any measure. It was an arduous, overbearing duty he had placed on himself unwittingly, which he could not have regretted as much as he does at this very moment. He had no time to catch his breath whatsoever as he forced the overbearing pain to retreat and replace it with as much mana as he can muster, instead.

Selen's eyes were wide open with apparent shock, her sapphire eyes reflecting the translucent green barrier, making for a rather beautiful sight, if it had not been for the raging fury immediately clouding as he bore witness to its astounding visage.

She, too, had not given up.

Before Lieren's fist reached her — which he so desperately wanted to happen — another barrier, this time bearing six side and six angles, manifested in midair. It was about the same size as his forearm.

…And man was it tough.

A dull shock reverberated throughout his entire body as his fist inevitably connected with the floating hexagon. Despite its comparatively smaller disposition, the floating hexagon was as tough as concrete, maybe even more. Especially considering how it's as thin as a medium-length novel.

Lieren ground his teeth even more as he suffered even more pain. Coupled with his nor entirely healed injuries, he felt much more strain as he neared Death's Edge. A somber emotion overcame him as his consciousness blinked out.

…And was reignited as he opened his eyes wide and activated his signature spell.

'Now!'

"Invisible Abjuration: Libera."

A barrage of invisible short arrows shot out of periphery.

Selen gasped and glared at him with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Cra—" But before she could finish, an invisible arrow had already pierced her right shoulder, and then another: this time aimed at her right forearm. And then, even more. Much more.

The unfinished spells floating midair all convulsed, shuddered, and exploded into a rain of brilliant rainbow sparks. Her eyes clouded with pain and rolled back into her head.

And at the same time, manipulated the floating green hexagon to encircle her and bash Lieren's temple. Preoccupied by his spell and disoriented by the torrent of pain, the boy was a moment to late to react and dodge the attack.

…He was, however, not too late to fortify his skull and head, especially his right temple.

His ears rang with a deafening clangor as the bludgeoning shock ran throughout his skull seemingly infinitely. For a second, he even forgot who he was… and almost let him out.

If not for the strained scream that tore out — he couldn't tell whose it was — then he probably would have just died already.

And no, he wasn't ready to die. Not yet. Not until be finishes what he set out to do.

Redirecting mana to his eyes on instinct, a terrible omen overcame his senses for a moment. And then he noticed — somewhat belatedly — the beady sapphire eye of the stern sage, as well as the inexorable fury within it. All of it directed at the small boy in front of her.

Lieren silently insulted himself.

'Idiot! What in the world have you done?! You've gone too far.'

But then again, he knew that, if he had not defended himself as he had, then he would have been in a much worse situation that she was. And in more than a few ways, he already was. He's been barely hanging on in the first place, after all.

Backing away a step because of fear instinctually so quickly that he forgot to pour mana to his legs for a second, his face blanched ghostly pale as two spinning razor-like barriers flew past in front and behind him at the same time, making him stand on attention.

That was the first time Lieren had ever thanked himself for being small and bony.

Selen took a step to balance herself and hunched over, her head tilted forward, facing the cold asphalt, with both arms dangled by her sides, as if her strings had been cut. Her eyes were invisible behind the veil of her bangs.

And behind them, Lieren knew even without peering past her bangs, were surely two seething sapphire eyes, radiating cold and unforgivable fury.

The air seemed to shift and vibrate as her control over it instantaneously rose. Using Detachment's most commonly used subcategory for long-range mages, Emission, she increased her zone of influence by detaching mana from her body and opening a whole world of possibilities. Possibilities that, if Lieren had anything to do with it, would never come to pass.

And he was too vehement about suffering any more injuries now than ever before to let all those morbid possibilities to come to pass.

Sliding his feet on the cold asphalt, he pulled out a short dagger with a grip that perfectly fitted his small hand, a gift from the blind woman upon beating her trial, apparently. Vesba had given it to him somewhere in the past two days.

The brilliant stiletto was as sharp as it looked, with edges that shone and reflected the bright light of the stern sage's Emission. It's handle was black though cut from a block of fine obsidian and sleek to the touch, as though made from the scales of a dark snake. It was even lighter than it looked to be, and was the perfect weight and length for the boy who wielded it.

...As well as shining with something out of this world. Narrowing his eyes, Lieren silently poured his wild mana into it, igniting whatever possible enchantments it had on it. He didn't what or which one, or even how many of them activated, but the striking blade responded, burning bright with nascent power.

Without any other choice, Lieren swung the striking blade forward and desperately aimed for the stern sage.

Her Emission zone responded evenly.

"Grr!..."

The air suddenly grew thinner around him, making breathing an even more strenuous chore that it already was a minute ago. And at the same time, it grew thicker, too. The air density stacked where his blade slashed, slowing down his swing severely, and reducing his power considerably.

In exchange, he just poured even more mana to it, making his muscles stop screaming — which was a bit relieving — and simply exploded instead. Suddenly, it felt like his arms weren't his own anymore.

Still, his bones barely held, a couple of essential muscles. Did you even need the rest of it, anyway? Especially when they were so weak, in the first place…

Yes. Yes, he did. He needed them very much.

A silent scream tore from his throat.

As the blade reached her… the stern sage face parted in response.

There was an odd smile on Selen Votum's face.