"Eh?".
"Velkos? What are you doing here".
A question that he should have been the one asking upon seeing Sarang here but the beastman already beat him to the punch, now the Asura could only heave an internal sigh as he sat himself down on the grassy plains and bared his thoughts through his mana to him.
"Ah, me?".
"Well, I was simply too restless and giddy to wait the whole while so I came here first to relax a little".
An understandable answer and one that agreed quite well with the beastman's personality as he knew him, the remaining minutes passed by relatively quiet as Velkos sat there in meditation whilst Sarang ran a few laps waiting the marked time to arrive and when it did, not a moment later they were already here.
Under the instructions of the contestants, "E" created an entirely new sealed space for their battle constructed from the memories of Emrys to bear a striking resemblance to the same one Gareth had but much sturdier and the Fated ones found themselves one of those many worlds.
"A Free For All?" Emrys questioned asked to the positive affirmation of everybody present, no extra words were needed after as Ishmael immediately turned up the heat and blew everyone a distance away while catching Sarang by the wrist as he approached and placed him as a shield to receive the bolt of lightning that struck a moment later warping away the entirety of his back down to the organs and his spine leaving nothing but an empty husk before vanishing from his spot as Velkos struck the beastman down in four diagonal halves with the claws of his blood gauntlets.
At the same time, Emrys sensing clearly the approach of the red and knowing his intent sent another bolt of lightning through space towards him, but Ishmael ever so powerful in his senses barely dodged a moment later after it appeared for the price of his entire arm and then some. Even through this sequence he opened his mouth wide and shot out a sea of flames towards Emrys who immediately casted an area wide freezing spell to successfully counteract the attack but not a moment later Avistro appeared below nearly grabbing him by his ankles and only escaping by a hairs breath whilst retaliating with a powerful bolt to his face warping away the entirety of his head down to his abdominal area.
But he would be receiving no rest as not even a moment later Sarang appeared before him and striking down with a heavy fist for which Emrys hastily constructed a flimsy shield of absorption to greatly weaken and survive the brunt of the attack yet still getting sent flying at Lightspeed towards the far nothing causing immediate planetary worths of devastation to the surroundings of this realm.
Ishmael really found that lightning of his quite amazing especially, normally higher tiered spatial distortions and even attacks that cut through the fabric of space found it immensely difficult to work against his body but whatever that lightning was fully negated his defenses which already possessed a high immunity against things naturally meant to bypass it.
He raised a quick elbow to meet the fist of Sarang producing such a great force it shattered not just the world they stood on but the entire ocean of Universes contained within and then some, then came a flurry of punches as each exchanged an endless amount of hits within a fraction of second with every clash sending great tremors through the realm destroying more of it for each moment that passed but soon a weird phenomenon began occuring as that effect began growing weaker and weaker like they were restraining themselves even further and that would prove to be correct in a different way.
Under the most skillful application of a basic spell called <
And then they clashed again, moving this time to throw a last punch nearly wiping out all that exists within this realm. Their eyes shone with the clearest madness amplified even further by the fact each were two creatures destined to represent the epitome of strength and majesty, both of a divine heritage just the same.
Delayed Magic -: <
It all happened too fast, a multitude of lightning tentacles bursting out of their chest warping away the entirety of their beings in the process with little room for resistance and in the far distance clasped his hands together absorbing the entirety of his flesh into his core leaving just his golden skeleton which crackled with endless arcs of lightning.
Upon releasing his hands a small magic circle spun at insane speeds between them–
<
He uttered just as an eerie 'stillness' hit the entire realm and now we had a situation where reality was stuck in a deadlock between two extremes, the first standing absolutely still and dissolving away into oblivion. So to settle this both contestants constructed a new shell and crawled out of this reality into an entirely new zone with the old reality beneath their feet like a drawing on a sheet of paper and the mirage of their forms still stuck in there, these two extremes could not be withdrawn easily as the clash had merged too deeply and created a will of it's own that demanded a victory from one of the extremes.
Both were under the constant threat of completely falling prey to each of the other's authority at any moment which was what this battle was in essence, they were still essentially stuck in that reality and this stage was constructed in an abstract sense completely beyond this reality unaffected by space or time while also entirely all too tied with it's fate and existed and infinitesimally small moment of it's own that would soon come to be erased the moment it's conditions were fulfilled.
And they knew well this battle could not be drawn out because in an unironic sense all the same, they were running out of time in a land where eternity reigned as it's one nature and the only nature it could allow and was the only thing that they had in here.
"Sometimes I forget just how powerful we truly are even at our current level".
"Which was unironically the reason for such a great suppression upon ourselves for nearly a decade now".
"Perhaps we should have lobotomized ourselves even further than we already have to tame our Magic".
"But, the inevitable growth can't be stopped".
"And you have grown stronger, Velkos" Emrys smiled, it was one that radiated from his entire being and for a moment he could see the visage of his mask turn a bit transparent, just enough for him to catch the smile on the Asura's lips also.
Synchronized Magic -: <
And in a moment the moment was destroyed, everything returning to it's rightful state with no instance of the two extremes ever clashing, the only reminder of an event having occurred was the temporary disappearance of Velkos from the realm following the result of his win against the Spirit in that moment.
However in the event of his victory Emrys did not come out unscathed, slight effects of 'stillness' still persisted within his being causing a slight lag in his movements, reactions and abilities, an effect that would have been quite a bit stronger had the full form of his flesh been present, luckily it grew weaker by the moment but now sensing the fast approaching return of Ishmael and Sarang he went for a change of tactics.
<
And a moment later they returned fully reformed in the world aiming at Emrys, Sarang shot forward first and this time thoroughly prepared against the lightning were it to strike at him from any side via <
Just as he had expected multiple bolts of lightning struck at him but under the effects of the first spell it curved in an arc around his being and continued onwards towards into the empty, however that small hurdle didn't last long for Emrys to overcome it as he teleported away from the approaching beastman.
<
He uttered just as he sent another bolt of lightning towards Sarang which immediately bypassed the first spell but fell flat when it hit the beastman, it just vanished like it glitched through him but nothing else, the new development caused Emrys to scrunch his brows a little as he teleported another distance to avoid the arrow of flames blazing past his former position but...
'Huh?'.
An absurdly great force hit his bones out of nowhere and from all sides, each hit accompanied by a thundering boom that shook this realm down to it's very core and then came another force just like it forcefully constricting around him as if attempting to shatter his being.
'This feels familiar'.
Projection of physical force that bypassed the need of distance and space, it was more surprising that both of these guys had it too.
'Forgot I had this as well'.
Still he was lucky at least that they hadn't figured out the lag in his actions, perhaps he could keep it that way until he was completely rid of the 'stillness', but at any moment now Velkos would be returning and without a doubt he would be found out on the spot.
Delayed Magic -: <
Interval, an Emrys original spell that targets the blank moments between any event and allows to safely fill in those blanks with any new event you want to create so long as it remains within your power with the option as to go beyond what your limits allow so long as you are ready to suffer the backlash that came with it or withstand it if you can.
And the canvas he had selected to draw upon where the very lags caused by the stillness affecting him, the spell provided him with a moment to choose from and he went back to the very first lag he had experienced upon his victory. This felt like he was a spirit walking through the astral plane except everything was frozen in these moments he was selecting from.
It practically was him changing the past from the present but then not truly because he wasn't traveling through time in the slightest, it's more like he was editing a recording of an event than anything except this recording was real and bypassed some gaps in reality into being manifested into the present like he was right there changing the past but no, he was tricking not just the world but the ability, spell, power or nature of anything including himself into basically rewriting itself into granting him access and the power to perform these changes within those blank moments of the recording.
In much simpler terms, he was presenting some supremely well made falsified evidence snuck between the real thing to court and getting away with it. The target of his change this time was to be Sarang, he wanted to understand the new change with his body before going ahead with any changes he was to make. Walking around the frozen model he tried placing his hands atop the beastman's shoulder and found there were no problems with the action, for more confirmation he ran some jolts of lightning from his palm and it streaked across without issues.
It would be right to say he had found a safe moment before the activation of that spell so here he would create the first insurance and his backup, but this wasn't what he was really after.
– [Second event].
A new moment was selected and almost immediately he could tell that the spell was active as at this time, his hands phasing through was just the extra proof needed. This couldn't be some type of internalized barrier could it? At least this didn't feel like one to him, his intuition just told him it was something else despite the similarities but those only occurred in one aspect, they both protected the inner body and core or heart against external attacks repelled the ability to summon things within the caster but even that aspect wasn't so extreme as it was with Sarang.
No, because it was easy to bypass an internalized barrier as the key was to simply just shatter it. But that magic was failing against Sarang under the same effect, it just couldn't reach him almost like he was sealed....like was sealed off from here, locked away in a different place...a different.....state...the same state?
"Ah".
Amongst the wide array of options he had from here on out he selected three, this was either a spell that keep him sealed into a single state, a spell that guaranteed a 'miss' for every attack or action against him or a spell that expertly shielded him between two hidden planes of existence while allowing for his actions to have the same effect upon this realm unaffected as he was still physically within this realm.
Under the temporary but welcomed restrictions by the Arcane upon him, Emrys only had one edit for each moment of every record he jumped to and three events were his current limits for the spell as after this it automatically ends for the duration of a few hours before he could begin making anew edits like this so he had to make it count.
He also considered the option that this spell was a creation by Sarang himself in the final moments as his decision was made thereby bringing a halt to his steps within those moments and with it an entirely new change in tempo between the contestants as he repelled and nullified the projected force of their strength upon him.
E –: <
I –: <
S –: <
From above came an endless sea of Lightning and from below came an endless sea of flames, right in the center of this was a small slivery white orb that collapsed in on itself a moment right after it was formed creating a most powerful singularity contained between the hands of Sarang with nothing but his sheer overwhelming strength and that concentrated force twisted, pulled at and ripped the very fabric of this realm alongside the two other mammoth powers all forming into a single bad mix.
Then came a moment of pristine silence, emptiness and void. But of nowhere came a hand bearing a feather quill resting gently atop the nothing, it's designated canvas to be as the pen drew on it two simple words.
▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █World Reset█ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▂ ▁
A moment of pause, from the void came a cocoon half the size of an adult human male and pulsing like a heartbeat, then it cracked open bit by bit until a creature fell out looking pale as death, sickly and diminished, crawling on it's stomach and gasping for a relief that it could not find. But as the moments passed by a pristine dark fur began growing on it's body as did it's size and it did not take long before the full mane of the beastman was returned to it's former glory.
Then he looked up, finding the figure of a golden skeleton levitating just a meter away and to the side was an arm that seemed larger than life itself yet only looking so small and constrained beside him, in it's hold was a quill resting gently upon the empty, drawing on the last letters of a word it had almost completely written.
"When....when did you do it". Asking a question of how was pointless, this was the only thing that truly escaped him because he had been watching every minute change in his mana like a hawk and nothing was ever out of the ordinary enough to warrant something like this. Of course he did not forget that stealth was the closest ally for a practitioner of delay but he was prepared against even that too, perhaps this tunneled vision was what stopped him from watching for a change in himself as well even if he had abysmal chances at finding anything suspect.
"Just before you both were reformed".
"The setup was firmly established, all I needed was a thought".
A layered illusion and control at such a fine tuned level it could never be detected nor broken largely irrespective of power, one that practically turned the spell against itself without even knowing what was going on because in it's perspective everything was still working fine, a replicated effect that rang true to the nature by which the spell of Emrys works. No harm could come to Sarang nor could anything change an aspect of him from the moment it had activated, these were the basics he had speculated in the end for how the spell worked.
Except those weren't the new instructions, his little edit commanded all harm in his immediate vicinity would freely affect Sarang including his own magic for which a person was normally immune to most of it effects. Emrys had made him a living magnet and had he wished to be a bit more cruel in his work, he had the option to make Sarang himself share the same view, not just him consciously but his existence as well and if that condition had been placed it would have rendered him practically dead because it involved tricking his very own immortality into thinking everything was alright, inverting reality.
Of course if he had done this, then that adaptation would kick into overdrive for such an extreme situation and he could not command that aspect of his peers, at least not yet or maybe not ever. But this did not mean that there weren't options around it all the same else he would not be able to promise the gift of death unto Bahu, a great part of his pride lied in the absolute ability to back up his own words and losing that aspect even once wasn't something he ever planned to experience.
But he had to applaud the beastman nonetheless, his fast thinking in those dying moments led to him creating this cocoon of rebirth that practically remade his existence anew leaving all things of old behind, mostly in the negative sense which meant that as of right now Emrys had no hold over him anymore, 'Interval' was over, unknowingly finding a counter to something he didn't even know yet.
It was quite amusing that his brainstormed effort in creating that little edit could be solved by such a simple thing like 'shedding', overly simplified of course in the matter of what it truly took but the core concept remained the same, he hadn't even considered that loophole which is what made this even more amusing to him.
Emrys thought back to the announcer's words on that day of the tournament, "The inability to physically and mentally familiarize yourselves with simplicity the further you grow". A thing that plagued geniuses the further along they went and something they were warned of, in this aspect he could admit the beastman was his far better and perhaps would never be under any risk of losing that part of himself, maybe even this was to be a part of his role amongst the Fated ones in the end, the heavens representatives couldn't be so utterly rigid in their approach right?
The beastman said nothing more and just smiled as he stood up, brandishing his claws and unleashing his wings before vanishing in the blink of an eye. But right at this moment the spell was completed and the world glitched as it began breaking off into multiple compact cubes and rearranged into something different, the fabric of reality was redrawn over the void, space was re-created and the celestial bodies were reborn alongside everything else in the realm including the black holes were masterfully painted over like brush strokes atop the canvas. And for the final touch was the beastman re-established to perfection just as he was with not a single hair out of place, striking at the golden skeleton from behind as was his original intent.
And when he was done Emrys looked over his work and saw that it was perfect, nothing was out of place nor missing, he had dutifully captured the ferocity of the beastman's eyes with the same purity it possessed, only now could he allow himself rest as all that remained was simply to resume the events of the world just as they were.
With that moment of eternity gone he surmised that the other two should be arriving right about...there, in a blink the flow returned again as Emrys teleported himself out of the way right as Velkos clashed forward with his blood gauntlets catching the clawed grip of his outstretched arm surprising the beastman who recovered quickly as they began a contest of strength, one so great it warped and cast a crushing weight upon the fabric of this realm wiping out most of everything Emrys had restored and dragging it into the powerful singularity forming around their hands.
But as the moments passed by one could see clearly that Velkos had begun losing this contest so using a most potent string of mana he severed his arm at the wrist leaving Sarang momentarily destabilized in a falling motion for a split second with the bloody stump which was immediately in his grip whilst the asura recovered the arm not a moment after taking advantage of the small window of opportunity and delivered a powerful uppercut right to the beast's jaws shattering the molars of his tooth and sending the beastman flying but before he could leave his range the asura grabbed onto his mane and pulled him down to deliver another to his skull caving it in deep enough to sink half his arm into that bloody mess and ripping his tongue out from his throat then ending it with a powerful push kick that sent him flying far into the realm tearing a deep gash along the way before following in pursuit to continue his hunt.
Meanwhile Emrys found himself playing a game of dodge with an Ishmael trying way too little on the surface for his liking, but every instinct within him told it clear as day that this was the safest option for now depending on what he was preparing underneath and he just as well was making his own, still he couldn't help but ask- "What are you doing?".
The red dragon smiled and replied "Just trying something new". It seemed that was all Emrys was going to get from him so he asked no further than this instead opting to put a greater distance between them but just as he was about to move he saw the smirk on Ishmael's face widen "done".
╰•◈Rune Magic◈•╮– {Discordance}
In a split second the spell hit every last thing, first was the complete and total disconnect like a soul forcefully pushed outside the body, except this was the identity of everything including the realm itself displaced rendering it obsolete and on a countdown to a fate of absolute obscurity, because the longer it persisted the less of an identity it will have and shall lead to reality itself making an overhaul to correct a mighty impossible gap for something it didn't even know it ever had, not even history or a memory would remain from all but the caster.
In essence, it was to be a completely new slate and one that could only corrected by the divine as they are ones who would be completely unaffected and privy to the truth of it all.
"Second time it calls me, hasn't even been a week".
He scoffed in amusement, contemplating a bit if he should at least grant a temporary visit to his birthplace though he knew not where it was, but he knew he could find it in a heartbeat so long as he spoke the words, another thing he knew not what they were but felt clearly that he could because it was in there, written in his bones.
"Well, let's fix this before something drastic occurs".
"I'm gonna have to borrow a page from you Zirsto, apologies in advance".
Emrys reached up to place his index onto something no one could see, birthing a little musical note and with it a tune, he repeated the same process with his other hand placed a little lower this time, the blazing violet of his eye sockets burning to a more pinpoint focus as he continued tapping over the empty in different places, the tunes sounding disjointed at first but as the moments passed by a pattern was being drawn, a melody from unknown depths that brought a certain calm to it all as the notes began multiplying across the realm.
Then he paused– ♪♪╚»•Song of Harmony•«╝♪♪
It was complete and with that the entirety of this reality suddenly found itself within an endless body of crystal clear water like it had always been there, the self performing musical notes banding together to take the shape of multiple sea creatures varying in sizes, some looking larger than life itself as they swam around in the sea causing gentle ripples of power that ripped the void to begin healing the damage that had been done.
Now he could allow himself rest a little but this situation didn't help improve his slight bias against rune Magic, they were already annoying enough when used by lesser beings and the first use of it by an entity like Ishmael nearly caused a chain reaction on a catastrophic scale. Of course he knew the magic as well but wouldn't find himself using it so often, still that wasn't actually the worst threat from that little stunt just earlier, it was the fact he was sure that at any moment both of his peers were about to become full fledged demigods because that is how much of an extreme situation it was.
And to make his point, just that spell alone had him running on fumes right now for which in tandem was quite a bit worse for even Ishmael as well, runes might be extremely wild in how far their effects could reach but even then there was a cost for going this incredibly far beyond your limits.
"Ah, I've overdone it now huh" the red dragon scoffed as he watched himself begin breaking away into minute particles.
"It would probably take you a year to reform" Emrys speculated to the agreement of the red dragon but–
"Yeah, I'm not waiting that long".
"I'll force it down to a day or two, a week at most but that would mean I'd miss some of his classes".
Emrys raised a brow "Morrison?".
"Yes" earnest and simple was his reply, Emrys chuckled but soon began feeling a weariness coming over him reaching the depths of his soul.
"Oh dear, it would seem that I have overdone it as well".
"Good fight".
And with that his consciousness faded away from him as did Ishmael into the nothing, their peers laying unconscious and soon the realm shattered to bits around them as they were returned back to their original space resting easy on the grassy plains.
EnD.