Valder followed Alverez’s tracking ritual, it was a ritual devised to trace back mana to its original source and was one Valder had seen many times. Following the blood red orb took Valder across the city, with his speed and physical strength he had no issues jumping over the crowded streets and weaving himself between cramped buildings running on walls,cars and a few cloud constructs. His cloud constructs could have been used to fly above everything but they were too slow for the speed of the tracking spell and losing it with sight or magical perception would mean it was lost for good, Valders head throbbed with pain as he tracked the orb focusing on its mana signature. Magical perception wasn't something tangible like the other five senses back before the cataclysm; it was often called the sixth sense, the almost imperceptible feeling of danger, the tingle on the back of your neck. Once magic began to develop and more people approached the peak of mortality a startling number of people became more dedicated to researching magical perception. Magical perception had become essential to life for those who have reached their second or third affinity as it gave them a better understanding of the natural mana around them and how their own mana interacted with each other. The aura aspect became easier as people realized the intricate interplays on their own mana to that of the world around them. Auras was considered just another form of mana control and that was true up to a point. Aura was the expression of someone's soul imprinting their will onto the world around themself through the manipulation of mana. Which is what made tracking this orb though a city of what amounted to soul interface a difficult task. Valder could block out the noise of billions of souls, however he had yet to refine his control and was left deaf. This was the primary factor for why he decided to live in the city he wished to train and refine his control yet he begrudgingly admitted he had become complacent after the birth of his child, that complacency left him weak. Valder longed for his youth where entering a city did not mean death by a thousand cuts purely for the fact that his soul was too weak to feel and sense others the way it did now. Reprimanding himself Valder refocused his attention on the rapidly descended or , exploding in a flourish of red light as it hit vehicles reforming back into its original orb shape as if nothing happened. Valder jumped from one roof to another getting not too pleasant screams at him.
The orb stopped and hovered just outside a wall a few stories from the bottom of Xulun city. It had stopped only for the shortest moment before it pushed into the wall once again exploding. However the mana disappeared completely. There were only a few explanations for its disappearance. Either Valder had made it to the source of the mana or there was a powerful ritual designed to interfere with tracking magic. Valder pushed his aura out pushing into the concrete wall, he could feel the enhancement magic used to reinforce the building the thin cables of silver used to traffic mana from one location to another, these cables where the nervous system of the city, they were often disguised as power lines they were often illegally tapped into to provide power for rituals, following the trail of magic Valder felt a slight disturbance in the line.
“ Concealment and anti-tracking magic laced throughout this whole block.” Valder nodded to himself as he rolled his shoulders, his bone cracked and popped.
Sophia watched Rin, Liliandra held in his arms, he was crying and his face was twisted in anguish. Tears of blood dripped down onto Liliandra face but Rin did not notice. The two talked their voices sounded muffled and Sophia could not make out what they were saying. She thought she had no tears to she's today but she felt them softly crawling down her cheek. Liliandra closed her eyes as the two of them shared a kiss, the bloody stump that was her hand falling limp. Her throat hurt. Who was that screaming? She wondered to herself why it was so loud like someone was shouting in her own ear. She turned to look at Douge his jaw hung limp yet he clinched his mouth shut. There was a clear anger in his eyes. More screaming. Her throat was hurting again. Her eyes darted back and forth her head turning to see who was screaming but she realized it was her. Her mind felt disconnected from her body like a dream. No a nightmare where she was helpless. A shockwave of force rattled her body, the concrete around her spitting out dust.she turned her attention back to Rin. He was glowing smoke rising from his body. Like a monster slowly dissolving. He attacked the man relentlessly, each hit sending a shockwave of force that rattled her. More screaming she looked to Douge but he was silent. Right me I'm screaming. She realized. She looked back and Rin was on the floor his arm missing. The man was standing over him attacking Rin with some club the ground around him was breaking. Sophia watched as Rin tried to fight back but she could tell he was losing consciousness.
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Douge was furious. He was mad at his own helplessness again. His inability to do anything about it. He watches as the man ripped his friend's arm off his body and used it to beat him into the ground. A wall in the far corner of the room exploded, a blur of black and white rushed through the smoke and dust. The next moment the robed man was plastered against the wall, his face deformed for just a moment before it snapped back like an elastic band. Valder stood over Rin's now consciousness form. He was rolling up his sleeves to the elbow buttoning the cuffs so they stayed. His gaze locked onto the man's even as he pulled a pen from a pocket inside his coat.
“ Paraklētos.” The man said, spitting the word “stay out of this.”
Valder stared at the man. His body was relaxed yet there was an underlying threat to it. Every muscle fiber in his body was ready to strike. Like a snake coiled up, the two men stared at one another before vanishing. The room rumbled, gusts of wind and waves of force washed over Douge, he caught glimpses of the battle however the speed in which they were both conducting themselves thus far beyond his own perception.
Valder chanted a spell, the words of command tangling together as he spoke faster and faster, his pen transformed into a bo staff extending to block the oncoming attack. The magic flowed from one end of the staff to the point of impact creating a shield, Valder countered bringing the bottom of the staff up connecting it to the man's jaw, like water in a pipe the mana flowed down the staff and into the point of impact leaving an after image of mana that followed connecting for a second hit. The man's jaw shattered however it quickly healed knitting itself back together. Within a matter of moments both men realized neither could win. Paul stepped back making distance between himself and Valder his attacks were fast and numerous yet they lacked in power, the few attacks Paul had managed to land on Valder's body was like a toddler smacking their father. Paul did have one thing over Valder a blessing from his god his body was no longer human even if that was the appearance he had taken, Paul could kill and devour any creature and assume their form it did not matter if those bones were broken in half or shattered into fragments Paul could ingest and rebuild them it was that power alone that keep him alive although he supposed he shouldn't be that ignorant he could feel Valder hold back his hits, he had yet to cast an attack spell. Paul made a decision.
When faced with insurmountable odds Human's, Beastkin, Elf, Dwarfs, and those of humanity will react in a short number of ways, They may turn tail and run leaving behind a small part of themselves as they obsess on what they could not do. On the other side there are those that would look at the challenge in front of them and they will look beyond not giving the impossible task a second thought. For if you don't try the impossible it stays impossible. Those men and women will fight and fight until they have given everything of themselves and in that moment where they break their body's broken there will shattered there are those that rise up further beyond that of humanity's expectations.
Rin crawled moving inch by inch towards Paul. The man distracted his attention and focused on Valder. The two men had been standing and staring at one another for sometime. Rin tried to speak his jaw working up and down yet no sound came out. There was a fire burning inside him and it hurt his interface had numerous notifications that he would sweep to the side dismissing them. Seemingly lost in thought Paul did not notice Rin only once his hand was around Paul's ankle did he notice a look of shock and startlement played across his face. And it was that single moment that Valder needed. Valder chanted a spell. He understood the consequence of using too much power but if he didn't nothing in this fight would change.
“ Those who stand before my might with intent I'll of heart head my warning. Solar impact.”
Valders staff glowed a bright red changing hues to yellow then white. Valder crouched into flame stance spinning the staff in a flourish of katas ending with a thrust the staff extending out punching into Paul sending ripples of energy ripping through him his skin and muscles and bones exploding in patches leaving large holes of missing flesh. The wall behind him exploded, showering the room in dust and debris. Paul's body remained standing motionless, his torso missing except for a small section of vertebrae.
