Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (77/?) WiP 1 (Patreon)

Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 76 I hope you guys enjoy! :D

THUNK!!

I slammed both of my fists hard against the barrier.

THUNK!!

Its surface remained unyielding, unshaking, completely still and deaf to my plight.

THUNK!!

My mind struggled against the panic that ate and nibbled away at the corners of my consciousness.

THUNK!!

My eyes darted back and forth across the entirety of the surface of the pool, all in a desperate attempt at finding any signs of weakness, any signs of vulnerability within this gods-forsaken spell.

Any signs of a potential way out.

THUNK!!

My muscles began to ache.

THUNK!!

My lungs began to burn.

THUNK!!

My hands scrambled across the smooth and tantalizing fragile underside of the barrier. Those fists continued their relentless assault against the offending obstacle.

THUNK!!

Until finally, it clicked.

As in a moment of unexpected clarity, I saw it — waves.

My struggles had managed to cause the formerly calm and still waters to slosh around just enough for waves to form on the surface.

That was when it dawned on me.

The barrier wasn’t flush against the surface of the pool.

It couldn’t be, if that much water was allowed to slosh beneath its unyielding blockade.

Which meant there was an air pocket, or at least, small instances of them between the sloshing of large enough waves.

And so I forced myself up, kicking my legs calmly, just enough to keep me afloat, before poking my nose through what was effectively barely an inch of headroom between the barrier and the water.

I inhaled a massive lungful of air, through a waterlogged nose, and in a space just barely enough for me to do so.

Which was a struggle, both physically, and mentally. 

As it took every ounce of my mental fortitude, my training, my forced calmness not to gasp for air with my mouth.

That would’ve spelled assured death. 

Those lungfuls of air, and a newly clarified mind, was enough for me to notice one of two things.

One, being the finer details within the manastreams, and several inlets and outflows of those streams I could use to my advantage.

The assailant in question was good, but still a novice at keeping his spell integrity clean.

Two, being the nature of the assailant themselves.

Or rather, himself.

As I could just about make out the outlines, and then the full form in vivid detail, of the perpetrator in question.

A steely gaze and a barely restrained snarl were my instinctive reactions to the cocksure bull, which he met with exactly the expression I’d expected of him, but without the manafield inflexions I would’ve expected of him. 

Another stone in the current of mana seemed to pull the bull from his gloating however, as I felt the distinct presence of someone else arriving on scene.

The arrival of this interloper seemed to stir a look of annoyance on the bull’s features, as he gave me one final snarl, and an uncharacteristic glare of worry, before leaving to deal with the newcomer to the scene; removing himself from my line of sight and towards the new arrival. 

But I could care less about that right now, as my mind switched to focusing on that first point, prompting me to take another, final, lungful of air, before submerging and darting across to the other side of the pool.

This was where the spell’s weakest point was.

And this was where I’d make my final gambit.

I dove back down, against my instincts, to the deepest section of the pool. 

Then, I closed my eyes, focusing on siphoning the rich and latent streams around me.

Before finally— 

Whiiiiirrrrrrr… KA-CRACK!!!

—Unleashing it all in a concentrated beam of mana. A feat that would’ve been utterly blinding to the manasenses, that all but shattered the invisible barrier that kept me prisoner, and that resulted in the water itself to shoot out in a massive jet of highly-compressed streams that chipped and cracked the fresco lining the dome above me.

This massive glut of water quickly came crashing down almost immediately after, utterly crushing the seats closest to that side of the pool, flattening it under its weight and eviscerating it as a result of the haphazard magical after effects that came naturally as a result of this barely-regulated channel-then-release form of brute-force magic.

A magic that would’ve probably barely made a dent on the same barrier back at home.

But that here? In the Nexus?

Was practically supercharged.

I found myself standing at the bottom of the pool now.

Not because of any intent to remain underwater.

But simply because there was no water to be had at the bottom at this point.

As almost every last drop was now scattered across the gymnasium and perhaps even down the hallway given the sheer volume that’d been displaced.

Everything in my body told me to lay down and rest, as my chest heaved, hungrily taking in the fresh air around me. 

My instincts screamed at me to stop, especially after an entire workout, a near-drowning, and what amounted to the casting of a level 7 spell.

But I didn’t.

What fueled me now was a newfound rage that caused me to not only stand there in defiance, but that also compelled me to take the next appropriate step.

Counterattacking, and dealing with the assailant.

Without warning, and without any hint of intent, I crouched… then leaped out of the 20 foot swimming pool, moving my right arm to my side and calling upon my dagger in one fell swoop, before landing well past the lip of the pool with my blade fully drawn into that of a greatsword.

It was there, with the blood of battle coursing through my veins, and the breath of rage wailing against my lungs, that I was met with the bull; who was standing cowardly down the hall, poised to leave.

We locked eyes once more.

This time, on completely different playing fields.

No longer did he maintain that look of unbridled cockiness, or a sense of superiority.

Instead, there was fear within those eyes.

And a manafield that felt clouded and hidden.

As if he was hiding and masking those feelings beneath that layered shell.

A second passed.

Then, I ran.