Mage Dissolution Read online

Karl remained silent for a long while and slowly moved to sit on the bed. Movement seemed painful for him. His arms shook as he moved them, his feet didn’t quite walk as much as shuffle from place to place and the effort seemed enormous.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “No,” Karl replied softly, “I stopped feeling pain pretty quickly… at least it seemed pretty quickly,” he finished wryly.

  That made sense I guess. If he could still feel pain then it would feel that his body was screaming at him. It was obvious that while the Mana was keeping him alive, it wasn’t providing enough nourishment to keep him healthy and the body was suffering and had been for a very long time. Unable to die and unable to nourish itself, Karl’s body had fallen into a kind of state of continual shock.

  I sighed. I wasn’t sure if there was anything I could do about that. Could I end this poor wretch’s existence with the Mana sustaining him like this? I had no idea where to begin. With some experimentation I might be able to figure out how this all worked, but that wasn’t sure thing.

  He was never going to be able to live a normal life after this. He was mentally, physically and emotionally scarred by this experience. Even if it were possible to nurse him back to health I doubted that this body would be able to digest nourishment any longer. It seemed cruel to deny him an ending and force him to endure this longer.

  Karl was reluctant to step out of the cell, despite my frequent assurances that Randall had been secured. I didn’t blame him as this small cell had been his whole world for so long. I had no idea what the sight of daylight might do to him. His eyes certainly hadn’t registered natural light in over half a century.

  I toyed with the idea of ending his existence by incineration, but to be honest I wasn’t one hundred per cent sure that this would work and I really didn’t want to make his plight any worse. I couldn’t imagine how the Mana would react to that. Would it simply fade away as the body was consumed? Or would it slowly continue its work and bring the poor man back from the dead? If he was damaged now – I couldn’t even imagine what that would do to him.

  No, external damage wouldn’t help here. The only solution that had any chance of working would be to attempt to disrupt the Mana powering the regeneration and end the process at the source. This would be difficult as Karl himself was powering the process unconsciously.

  I wasn’t sure how long it would take. I wasn’t even sure if once I had finished and Karl had died, if the process might begin anew. I was swinging wildly back and forth between theories when a distant explosion of sound echoed throughout the complex.

  At first I had worried that Randall had broken free, but I quickly rejected that Idea. I’d knew that sound. It was caused by teleportation. Someone had teleported into the complex, probably onto the parade ground above. The enclosed area had made the sound seem louder than it should have. I steeled myself. There weren’t too many people that knew of this complex and none of them were people I wanted to run into now.

  “Karl, if I don’t come back. Stay in the dark and don’t do anything.” I said as fear began to rise in my throat. Karl didn’t respond. He appeared to have dropped off into a stupor again. He had done that several times throughout his story.

  “I promise I’ll come back for you,” I called as I headed back down the cell corridor. I took the opportunity to relock his cell, should I be unable to return. That at least would provide him so protection should Randall get free again.

  It was getting harder and harder to force myself to walk down the corridor. There was one of two people at the other end of the corridor and I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to see least. I made it past the smashed doorway and began to climb the steps.

  My glow spells from earlier were still lighting the parade ground illuminating a solitary figure standing at the far end. I saw him as soon as I emerged. I breathed a desolate sigh; it didn’t look likely that I would be coming back for Karl. He didn’t appear to be on the defence – he hadn’t even raised a shield. I moved across to talk to my old master.

  “I’m surprised to see you,” Victor commented as I got close enough, “I had expected only Marcus would have been bold enough to intrude here.”

  “He sent me,” I replied dryly. There didn’t seem to be much point lying about it.

  “So, you’re his errand boy now?”

  “No,” I snapped, “and I’m not going to discuss this with a Nazi!”

  “That’s a part of my life I’m not proud of,” Victor immediately cut me off, “and I will not discuss it with you.”

  “I don’t give a damn if you’re proud or not!” I snarled, “how many people did you murder here?”

  Victor didn’t answer immediately. He had a strange expression on his face. On anyone else I would have attributed it to regret – but I doubted that Victor had the capacity for guilt or regret. The look passed quickly across his face and was replaced by his usual look of benign indifference.

  “Too many,” he said quietly, “but their legacy has not been for naught.”

  “Yeah,” I scoffed, “they died so you could make yourself immortal!”

  Victor just nodded.

  “You found my experiments did you?”

  “I don’t know how you live with yourself.”

  “I said, I’m not going to discuss it with you,” Victor snapped, his eyes growing dark with rage.

  I’d never seen Victor this angry before and I couldn’t help but be cowed by the sight. This wasn’t an explosive rage kind of anger, no this was worse – this was a cold calculated anger. What little warmth and humanity he had vanished from his features and was replaced with a cold glare of the monster within. Victor’s irises expanded, making the effect even more intimidating as he drew upon the Mana. His face took on a dark smile as the euphoria of spell-use came upon him.

  His face looked devilish in the half-light of my glow spell. This must have been the face that my father had seen when Victor had killed him. I used that thought to draw upon my powers and make me strong. I vibrated as my rage, and power that flowed with it, worked its way through me. This man had killed my father, he had taken my cousin and he had tried to have me killed. The power caused through me and I was lost in the euphoria that the Mana brought. I was going to avenge my father and finally bring an end to this monster.

  This needed to end now! I screamed in fury as I launched myself into the air. I immediately surrounded myself with as strong a shield as I could form. I doubted that it would be strong enough to fully protect me, but it was better than nothing.

  I didn’t wait until I’d landed to attack. I struck out in mid-flight sending three threads arching towards my former teacher. They struck across a shield that had instantly sprung to life around him. He didn’t even flinch at the impact. I sent several more threads his way before I landed, they had about the same effect as the first ones. This wasn’t looking good.

  Victor’s shield was incredibly strong, far stronger than it should have been. There was something unusual about it, but I couldn’t place what it was. It had been built using a technique that I wasn’t familiar with, but I didn’t have time to study it properly. I launched myself back into the air again using my momentum and speed to make my threads hit harder.

  “You’ve learnt too much from Master Chen!” Victor called, referencing a former student of his, “I could never convince him that there is only strength from solid ground. Keeping yourself in the air is a weakness. One that can be easily exploited.”

  A thread arched out from his hand and impacted into the side of my shield and sent me reeling. I landed badly, but regained my footing almost immediately. The shield had absorbed the attack for the most part, but even so I was winded by the impact. I shook my head and looked around, Victor was still standing waiting for me to recover my strength.

  “You have grown in power,” Victor commented as I made my way cautiously back to him. I wanted to keep a distance, but it was obvious that he, being the quicker would have the advantage at a further di
stance. I had to get in close.

  “…And you’re not as powerful as I remember.” I quipped back. Victor didn’t respond, instead he launched an attack against me that I was easily able to intercept and block with a thread of my own.

  “There, you see. On the ground you are stronger.” Victor said. The fact that he was still attempting to give me lessons enraged me further. How dare he presume to lecture me now!

  My counter struck with all my fury, but again I wasn’t surprised to see Victor easily parry my attack and return it. I was slowly being forced back, but this was okay. I tend to fight a little better on the defensive.

  We covered the parade ground and Victor was slowly forcing me back towards the animal pens. Human pens I quickly corrected myself. These pens had once contained humans.

  “You cannot win!” Victor intoned as his threads thundered against my shield. “I have studied the techniques you’re using for half a century! You’re going to fall, and when you do I’m going to destroy you.”

  Victor thought he was in control of the melee, forcing me to respond to his strikes. What he hadn’t noticed was that I had allowed him to fall into a pattern of attacks. Perhaps it had been too long since the last time he had actually sparred with someone. His power level was impressive and his speed inscrutable but his melee technique had become predictable. I waited until he was just about to close in for the kill when I did something he didn’t expect.

  I ducked rather than block, and allowed his thread to sail harmlessly over my head. I heard Victor curse and try to bring the thread back around, but it was too late. My thread impacted solidly in an overarm strike down on him. The impact of my thread on his shield resounded throughout the cavern.

  He cursed and was forced down onto one knee by the weight of the strike, but he rose quickly with fury in his eyes. My attack hadn’t made much impact on his shield, but it had allowed me to glimpse an important fact that I hadn’t seen earlier. I wasn’t sure how I could use this to my advantage yet, but it might give me an opening I could exploit and possibly save my life. It was a long shot though.

  “Impressive!” Victor snarled angrily and I saw the power run down his arms towards his outstretched thread, “but not enough I’m afraid!”

  Victor’s thread immediately burst into flame. It didn’t look like normal flame. I sucked my breath in when I realised it was a flame of super charged Mana. Blue pulses ran up and down the thread as the Mana was constantly renewed. It was beautiful to gaze upon, as the Mana was super-heated until it exploded and then was consumed only to be replaced anew. I couldn’t tell how much energy Victor was expending doing this, but this was far outside my abilities. This was truly how masters of Mana fight.

  Victor was right, I was outclassed and I was going to lose. Victor had taken this fight to a level that I couldn’t possibly compete in, let alone survive. I’d read about this technique in my studies. There had been mention of it in several of the books that I’d stolen from Victor when I left his apartments in Singapore, but I’d never seen it performed or managed to figure out how it was done. The effect was called Mana Nova and it was as deadly as it was beautiful.

  Victor swiped at me with his usual level of speed and I knew that I had to get out of there. I didn’t even attempt to block. I knew the Mana Nova thread would consume any Mana I brought to my defence in an instant and then burn through my shield in seconds. I had no choice but to launch myself into the air and hope that I was fast enough. I was – just barely.

  I used my momentum to throw myself backwards and land on the other side of the pens. This didn’t seem to faze Victor though as he brought his thread around again and swiped at me straight through the pens. There was a screech of burning metal as the poles from the pens were sheered through and tumbled to the ground. The noise echoed throughout out the chamber and the distraction almost led to my death.

  It was only luck that had saved me as I hurriedly threw myself to one side. I felt my shield crackle and buckle as the Mana Nova passed over it. That had been too close! The nerves on my shoulder burned like fire and I could see that my clothes were burned from where the Mana Nova had grazed my shield. It hadn’t even touched my shield for longer than a second! I definitely didn’t want to get hit with one of those directly.

  I glanced down at the poles on the ground. The ends that had been cleanly cut through were still glowing red and smoking slightly. Victor’s attack had opened up an opportunity. If I was smart I could exploit it and turn it into an advantage.

  I threw everything I had into an attack, which Victor promptly blocked with his Mana Nova thread. As I had predicted it hadn’t had much effect. I felt a shudder as my thread collapsed as it collided with the Mana Nova, its whole structure was consumed in mere seconds. It had stopped Victor’s thread though, at least for a little time, enough to be used defensively. I could block with it – that was at least nice to know. The effort of re-summoning my thread each time would really begin to draw upon my reserves, but it could be done.

  I quickly went on the offensive again, forcing Victor to keep his thread close to protect himself. I had to cast the thread again and again and again as previous threads collapsed through the strain of colliding with the Mana Nova thread, but it was working. I was chewing through what remained of my strength at a staggering rate, but Victor didn’t have time to go onto the offensive.

  I summoned two threads and sent them against my former Master. I hadn’t expected them to strike, but that was okay. They weren’t supposed to. They were supposed to keep him busy and prevent him from attacking back. Victor didn’t have much choice. If he allowed these threads to hit him it would surely cause him to stumble and fall again and he didn’t want that. Besides, he had a better option. He could wait me out. He knew I couldn’t keep this level of aggression up for long.

  He was right, but the thing was, I didn’t need to. This was only a distraction. My attacks had kept Victor so busy that he didn’t notice the third thread I had sent arching out behind me and looping around one of the fallen poles from the prison pen. It was perhaps ironic that I was going to use one of these to bring him down. Perhaps the fates do indeed have a sense of poetic justice.

  I used everything I had to sweep his thread away and give my strike a chance to impact. I had one shot at this so I had to make it count. I swept to the side and arched two threads away leaving him open for the third. Victor’s eyes widened as he saw the severed pole heading like a spear towards him. His head dropped in shock as the pole passed straight through his shield and into his stomach.

  The pole had cut through his shield as if it had been butter! It had taken me a little while after I had first noticed the peculiarities with Victor’s shield to realise what he had done. His shield had been optimised to stop Mana attacks and not physical. He hadn’t bothered to concern himself with the physical as it was unlikely that any Mage would ever think to do that. This is why his shield had been so strong. The technique was worth remembering, but so too were the consequences.

  I fell to my knees in exhaustion as I watched Victor’s shield and threads fail and frizzle into nothing. The pole had passed straight through his stomach and he took several staggered steps back before he reached down and pulled the pole from his flesh with a strangled gasp. He grunted and gurgled and his eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed onto the ground. I didn’t move closer to inspect him but from this distance his stomach looked like a mess. There was blood everywhere.

  I could see him staring at me from his fallen position. He looked so small now, almost helpless. This was a far cry from the figure of power that he had presented only moments early. Somehow he was still conscious and I could see his lips grimacing as he fought to overcome the pain.

  He looked over at me with a look of intense hatred and then his head lolled forward and he closed his eyes. He appeared to have at last lost consciousness. I could tell that he wasn’t dead yet, there was still too much Mana activity in his body for that, but it was fading fast.
He probably only had a few minutes before death would take him. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had done it – Allie was free now and my father was now avenged.

  I waited and watched as the monster in front of me died. I felt no sympathy as the Mana slowly left his body. He had tortured and murdered thousands of people. It was perhaps fitting that he died here amongst the ruins of his experiments, brought down by someone that he had tried to manipulate and control.

  I moved in to inspect the corpse. Something was wrong. He should have been long dead by now, but the Mana in his body was still flowing. It was weak but it was still there. It should have faded into nothing by now.

  I edged closer to him. He wasn’t dying! To my amazement, I could see the Mana pooling into the wound, wrapping around the edge of it. I could see new flesh being created as the skin around the wound regenerated itself. It was happening at an incredible rate. He was healing himself!

  I tried to summon my powers to finish him off but I was on the edge of complete mental and physical exhaustion. I could already feel the beginnings of the pounding headache that came when I used too much Mana. I knew from experience that once that started I wouldn’t be able to focus enough to summon my powers with any strength. Still, I had to do something. I raised my powers and went to strike him down.

  A shield immediately sprang up around him and my thread impacted against it. Victor’s eyes opened and he gritted his teeth as he coughed up blood.

  “You can’t kill me,” he coughed, “No one can.”

  I watched in horror as the wound on his side closed and the Mana began to pulse from the newly created pinkish skin on his side. He coughed several times before slowly attempting to rise to his feet.

  I needed to get out of here! There was absolutely nothing I could do against this. In a few seconds he would be back to his former strength and then I would be finished. I had expended too much energy to have any hope of victory and I doubted that Victor would fall for another trick so easily. Even if I did strike him down – he would eventually regenerate again anyway. I had lost.