Source Origin(31)

Simply because all one can see are clouds covering the heavenly tent far above, it does not mean that neither the stars, the moon, nor on the brightest of days, the sun ma not shine, it simply means that one has to wait and see through the thick darkness to see that which shines upon you.

He didn't know why those words came to him, he knew them from his own mother actually, she had once read it to him from a poetry book, and he hadn't really cared, just commented that it was interesting, after all, why should he have cared about some random, snobbish, string of words told by his mom when she had been obsessed with that stuff at the moment and been telling him hundreds of them, though there were some interesting bits amongst the many sentences, his favourite one having been that one who hates in the open is better than one who hates in the light but shows kindness in the dark.

Both of these sentences didn't matter, but still, he thought about them as the woman, still covered in the greyish red clothes, still strung together by the mysterious golden strings, and he did so as he took a step back right as the powerful woman hit the barrier with her hand, encased in what seemed to be pure magical energy, something that he knew too well but had almost given up on, the technique called mana with which he had killed the demon of the forsaken, the sentient artifact that had been creating golems for many years, a weirdly weak demon actually, one that could've easily been beaten even by those he had fought in the city where Manug had been hiding, well, if they acquired a few more allies.

The silverish violet barrier, once again a new colour, appeared almost instantly, about a foot thick and stronger than iron by a wide margin, though Cades himself didn't know that, simply realizing that it was a bit stronger than usual, still, he didn't feel safe, still he felt his surroundings with the great amount of magic around himself, still he knew what would happen, still he wished to not know, still he wished to not realize that this barrier was about to be broken.

Finally, she hit it completely, his mind snapping back to reality and witnessing as waves of the golden magic spread all around, like living tentacles controlled by the berserk woman, intent on finding a way through, a way that they didn't even need to find as he felt her mana colliding with his own, as if a wall of glass was colliding with a powerful hammer, as if a thousand pounds of thin glass collided with a two pound hammer, a great difference in amount and force, but not in strength and concentration of that mass.

And it fractured, turning into shards, a imaginary picture of how he felt it was going, allowing her to pass through and quickly vanishing, his spell and even mana dissolved, missing from his surroundings and not returning to serve as his power, nor to serve as his sight, as if to show fear at the berserk woman.

But still, he was further away than he had thought, that was the only saving grace as the woman barged onwards, the thick tendrils of light now concentrated into one and shooting towards him at a speed he could not evade, not by his own body and mana at least, aside form expulsion in a special way, but that would not work for a long time.

All he could do was use his warp, and such he did, warping behind the woman, intent on trying to fight back, intent on slicing into the skin that might as well have seemed to be indestructible, to fight and decapitate this monster and not be stabbed once more, to not experience the pain that he knew he hated, the pain he knew to be painful.

But he couldn't do anything despite warping right behind the woman and quickly turning around, no, already having turned around using the warp, utilizing his very own mana sense, an ability he grew to love quite a lot by now, due to the simple fact that the tendril had turned around int he air, purging right towards Cades and intent on touching him for a reason he did not wish to know, and definitely didn't wish to experience.

As he watched the tendril moving elegantly yet rigidly through the air he was quick to realize that he had to move further away, to escape by going upwards, but no, he had to see something else, he had to understand the battlefield, the simple but big circle, the circle he still felt lost within, just as he felt lost within his mind right now.

He didn't know why he did it, but he felt himself being shot into the sky as his very own mana exploded right under him, quickly shooting up a hundred foot, still being followed by the tendril he truly didn't wish to touch and realizing that the woman was now standing still, the few unbound parts of her clothing fluttering in a wind that was not there, a wind that Cades felt, a wind that was him, a wind that was his mana, a wind that was his magic, and soon after, he decided where to land on the circle that now seemed to be almost impossible, the weird sigils still following him as if to pinpoint the two fighters, Cades sigil having bleached out, perhaps due to the height he was now at.

Still, he warped himself down, a few dozen feet away from the woman, seeing the trail of golden light finally stopping, having dissolved into light as his heart felt a little bit lighter at the aspect of finally being rid of this horrible apparition, now intent on killing her once and for all before she could do such a thing again, ready to use as much of his mana, as much of his life as was needed to win this battle and all the ones left in this accursed trial of that accursed pillar of motion or whatnot. 

However, he was not greeted by something favourable to that goal.