Mortal Magic: Broken
Marrk Of Mastery

It was my time to smile as I already knew the two possible outcomes of this battle, and both involved him dying by my hand. He didn’t pay attention to my reaction to his words; such was the height of his arrogance. Everyone knows that you shouldn’t tease a beast lest you want it to bite you back. And I was going to bite him back worse than he thought possible.

With a single nod to Yuto our plan was set in motion. He trapped us all in a huge circle of flames and cut us off from Lars and his magi guards. I then turned to Ashe as I needed her help. “Listen to me; I need you to counter Lars as I push him back. I meant what I said that his copied powers can’t stop me but he needs to see that mine are superior and copy them. This is a vital detail if we want to survive in the end”. She nodded obediently like when I told her that I needed her to go and get water from the village well and just like those times when we were younger I smiled and patted her head.

Just as magi started to come inside the circle I dashed to them with projections of two swords in my hands and stalling them. Ashe was taking on the guards from another direction using the elements to her advantage. She launched wind blades and boulders to the farthest of them and used fire so gracefully to attack the ones close to her that she looked like she was dancing and fighting at the same time.

I focused on my enemies knowing full well that Ashe could handle herself just like Maia could. I dashed at the nearest magus before he had time to react and jabbed my right sword at his chest before I left it there and went behind him and slashed his throat like it was nothing to me. I turned around and dodged a sword that was coated in liquid fire and projected a knife in my right hand with which I stabbed the person in the jaw. I took the knife out and the man fell on the ground lifeless as I dashed to the next one who was using the earth against me. Stone spikes started to erect from the ground where I was standing trying to impale me but I dodged them as I was used to this technique of the earth magi by now. His face was distorted in fear as I dodged everything he threw at me and reached him with another sword that I jammed in his abdomen and then created a knife that I brought down on his head.

Blood stained my hands and clothes by now and I was still killing Lars’ men when I heard Yuto’s voice, he had finally gathered all the mana he needed. “Hellish pyre consuming mankind, o blazing tempest burning eternal; release thy fury and turn this world to ashes”. At his words the flames all around us breathed a tornado of fire to life that could burn everything to ash in moments. The heat was unbearable but we could live so long as the fire itself missed our bodies. “Crimson Inferno”.

The last part he shouted as loud as he could and the fiery tornado around us expanded at his command and wrapped the whole city of Blackspire in its burning embrace. Several of the ruins started to melt at the touch of the fire and every single man that came into contact with it was burned in moments of agonizing pain until his bones were coal and were scattered to the burning winds. So far everything was going like we wanted but I needed time and space to summon Blood Realm so I needed to distract the men that were bold or foolish enough to dare the flames of hell in this suicide attempt to kill us. Just then small cords of the same fire swirling all over the place shrouded me giving me the perfect protection from close combat while the rest of the fire did its job.

I looked at Yuto who was standing in the middle of the inferno with his hands open like he was praying to the sky yet he was glaring at me, focused to the last part of his mind to control his flames. I nodded and then turned back in front of me where I saw Lars standing immobile but not trembling in fear. His smile never wavered even as his men got slaughtered in front of him for his plan, he just stood there and watched amused. But I was going to tear that smile away from his smug face.

I closed my eyes and prepared myself for what I was about to do. No doubt he was watching me intently trying to figure out what I was about to do not believing it would change anything in his perfect little plan, but he didn’t account for the greatest of all magic. I gathered my mana and focused my mind. The words came to me like I knew them all of my life, like a chant that was passed down to me from my very birth that I had forgotten up until a few days ago. The power that those words carried was enough to alter the very nature of Ea, alter it to give me all the power I wanted to be invincible.

As I was about to release the mana I gathered from myself to start the chant I felt the fire around lessen and I opened my eyes to see Lars standing in front of me smiling. The fire cords that guarded me were gone and I could see in his eyes amusement and knowledge. He knew I was about to do something troublesome and he decided to take action. Before I could think to protect myself I was hit by a column of stone that sprouted directly from between his spread legs. The column connected to my stomach and threw me several feet high and away from where I was standing.

I felt the ground beneath me as I hit the earth with my back and it reminded me of the time that man in Redgard had hit me in the open wound of my back with his elbow. The pain was so much that I couldn’t even let the scream out. I felt like every bone in my body had broken yet I had heard no such thing and I could move just fine, only the physical pain from the fall was keeping me down. I was laying there with my eyes and mouth wide open with the pain as company when I felt warmth all over my body. I knew that warmth very well; I was healed by it many times to not recognize it, what it meant and who it came from.

Maia had come to my aid and she was already healing me by showering my body with the light coming from her palms. She never used this much power so it must have been a high tier arte and I was sure it was taking a toll on her as she was visibly struggling to keep up. I knew she had endurance when using magic; she could keep healing for hours even without sleep all day so this must require so much mana that it tires her in just a few moments. I felt the pain diminishing slowly and her light was becoming brighter as it worked on me.

It was like being sore from pushing your body too much at first but then the soreness started to fade away. Then my skin started to crawl all over and it tickled but I couldn’t move because it was making it worse. When the crawling started to subside I let out a deep breath that I never realized I was holding and looked at Maia next to me. She was sweating and panting as she has held her body up with her hands trying not to fall over. Slowly I sat up and held her hand worried for her safety. She seemed like she used so much for me that she was about to pass out and we couldn’t risk that now, if she did she wasn’t safe.

I decided to try the same thing I did with the man I tortured in Starkhaven when I became a master. I pulled on my mana reserves and concentrated a big enough portion on the palm of my right hand. It was enough to fuel Mana Burst for ten seconds which wasn’t by any means little. When I was sure that the mana was concentrated in a small invisible ball over my hand that I could only feel there I moved my hand to her heart and the invisible ball inside her core. When the mana entered her she gasped in surprise and stayed there with her mouth open as I felt the mana rushing all over her body pumping it with energy.

She looked up at me shocked and I smiled at her. She had saved me yet another time and the only thing I did to repay her was to keep her awake. She nodded to me and I got up like nothing had happened. I searched for Yuto and Ashe to replace him protecting himself with the fire he conjured and her fending off the few guards that remained. I ran towards my sister to help her so she can help me with Lars. We had little more than two minutes so he had to be quick. I started firing projections to the guards that none of them saw coming from their back and each and every one of them hit the target that was the head of the man. Ashe froze when every man in front of her fell to his knees and then crumbled to the dirt staining it with his blood. Slowing down just a bit I tore my already torn from the battle shirt and threw it aside while Ashe was staring at my scars. She didn’t know about this and I didn’t mind at all by now.

I ran the rest of the distance and grabbed her by the hand as we ran together to the place where I was knocked over by Lars who was still standing there by the way. I looked at her and she nodded remembering what I needed her to do. We reached him and I started firing projections of knives at him that he seemed to be avoiding with not much difficulty, but that was because I was simply holding back on the speed of both the projection making and firing speed. He started firing earth at the knives that broke on contact and scattering the earth projectiles all around and I just fired more at him.

That was when Ashe started countering his countermeasures and leaving him open for my weapons to replace their way to him. As if that wasn’t enough she was attacking by herself too and that was pushing him back. He knew by now that I could just overpower his stolen power and he was starting to grunt in annoyance when I picked up my pace. We were jumping from place to place as we were trying to hit one another when suddenly he stopped firing the elements at me and he spread his hand towards me.

I felt a cold chill inside my body and I knew that he was doing what I expected him to do, I felt him drawing on my magic and making it his. Every weapon I have created so far, every arte I have ever used, every move I ever executed, every combination I have made in my mind and every technique I’ve come up with was becoming his knowledge of the magic he was stealing from me to use as his own. I smiled to myself as this was the last condition I needed to move on and I had one more minute before the eclipse. I needed to be fast. I needed to stall him enough to use my master arte or everything was lost.

He started firing projections at random at first since he wasn’t familiar with my magic but once he figured out that only his imagination and the physical obstacles limited him he was using my magic like he was me. He deflected the earth projectiles Ashe send his way and fired more projections at me than I did him for now. That was when I started really firing my weapons. I only used projections to counter his and moved further away from him as to put the necessary distance between us and Ashe kept on pushing. Yuto got into the battle too and he guided the inferno towards him making him put effort in avoiding one more element and Maia was launching some of her spears of light at him like when she did with the boar.

They were all fighting to win time for me to end this and I wasn’t going to waste their effort or their precious time. I stopped in my tracks and concentrated like before pulling on my mana and bringing it to the surface before I released it around me and felt the words of the chant coming back to my mind and ready to leave my mouth. I felt the power they held and the power they were willing to give me in exchange for the mana that I was to constantly provide to the spell and it was almost liberating. Not losing another moment I started the chant. “Prison of pain and suffering inside my mind, world of darkness born from the confines of my heart, devour the light, replace it by blood. Stain sky and land crimson red and curse this body of mine with eternal burden”.

I knew that the chant didn’t seem to describe my magic but these were the words of power I was given and as I said them the whole world was bending to my will. They were designed to describe the world I would bring to existence. Waves and waves of mana started leaving my body and plunging the world to darkness until the almost lost moon was once more whole and coated the world with its now unnatural light. This was the blood moon that only existed in my world alone and gave power to me alone. I felt the flames Yuto used fade away along with the heat as my body started to produce mana beyond the normal boundaries of my ability and yet I wasn’t getting sick but powerful with every passing moment. Now all that was left to complete the chant was its name that I gladly shouted for all to hear. “Blood Realm”.

When those words left my mouth another huge wave of mana left my body and this one shook the very earth beneath our feet, or more precisely the very fabric of existence. It was what made this realm stay in place for as long as I wanted, and now that I had its power with me I would only let it crumble after I killed Lars. I looked at the four people that were still alive and they had all stopped their fight as I moved closer. Lars was confused but otherwise not shaken by what happened yet he still posed the question once I was within ear reach. “What did you do”?

I smiled and chuckled at his question. Like I suspected his magic can’t copy another master arte because it is a master arte of its own. He couldn’t have known about this irksome ability of mine. “I thought you knew everything about my magic since you have it now yourself. Behold what my pain and suffering gave rise to. A world that defies reality and favors fantasy, switches the outside world with the one born inside my own mind. The greatest of magecraft, a reality arte”.

His face grew serious as I was talking and moving closer to him at the same time with that smile on my face now gone. What I was wearing was the face of a murderer that had lost all compassion and was just creeping slowly closer to his next victim. “Tell me, what does it look like to you? To me it’s a prison made out of the blood I have spilled and the pain I had to endure to finally be here this day to stop you. To the others my actions may seem evil, but I will be the villain as many times as it takes to protect the people that matter to me”.

He was seemingly angry as he understood the situation. There was no way for the ritual to happen without the eclipse and he knew it. A reality arte changes the very foundation of the world making reality the nature of the caster’s mind. There was not going to be an eclipse in my realm, he had lost from the moment I uttered those last two words. “It will not be allowed”. His voice came out barely more than a whisper carrying his rage for what I had done. “A selfish boy preventing a miracle that will save the world, it will not be allowed. I will not allow it”.

I chuckled again at his words. Yes I was selfish and I was proud of that. I was going to do anything to keep my sister and my family safe even if costs me my sanity or my life. “Funny how our roles have reversed from that night you were trying to take Ashe away from me, and now I’m taking her away from you. It’s ironic that it turned out this way don’t you think”?

“I will break every bone in your body and then pierce you with every weapon you have ever created. I will kill you and then I will kill your friends and your sister with your power before I give you to the dogs to eat. You will not prevent me from doing what is right”. These were his last words before he fired the projection that decided his fate. I was going to kill him and there was nothing and no one that was going to stop me. I was going to make him bleed for every person that he took from me and have my vengeance against him, and then I will kill him slowly and painfully like he deserves. There was no escape from my wrath for him.