[MA] 330. Heavenly Decree (Patreon)

Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter

‎[A/N:Chapters this week: 2/3

Next chapter: Saturday]

Shen kept checking on the battlefield while ensuring no accidents happened and everyone respected the rules.

Blue Sky and Rayna had both gotten to a corner to fight, and explosions were frequent. Shen evaluated them as barely at tier 7, but Rayna anticipated every single one of Blue Sky's moves. Indeed, the drow had perfected the art of dealing with lansiers.

Rayna's long whip controlled the fight with mastery that would place her in mid-tier 7 if she could do the same to other enemies. Blue Sky struggled to advance with her staff despite the extra versatility her six-Law Path gave her. They meant nothing in this battle.

Blue Sky had tried pushing in the aura front instead. She had at least six times the average willpower of other C-ranks. Rayna knew her enemy had an edge there and refused to engage after the initial release of her aura, which she had only done to meet her foe's challenge. After the first clash, she quickly retracted her aura into her body.

When people learned to control their auras, they could pull it back at will. However, that retraction couldn't stop a surface-level touch against an enemy aura if the latter covered you. So, both auras were constantly touching, and Blue Sky suppressed Rayna's mind.

Sadly for Blue Sky, such minimal contact only allowed her aura-will to clash so much against Rayna. The pressure was only even perceptible because Blue Sky's willpower was considerably stronger than Rayna's. Rayna's fighting ability was only lowered by about 5%.

Despite the suppression, Rayna had a massive advantage over her foe. She had been trained that well to deal with lansiers. Blue Sky filled the area with her mana to try to force Rayna into a direct willpower battle, but Rayna wisely kept her mana inside her body and weapon.

Neither party was willing to spend focus or willpower materializing their Laws inside their aura. Even their raw Law usage was limited outside their bodies, acting like fellers and light jabs to try to create openings. That fight tactic was standard, sensible, and worked, but Shen was disappointed.

He estimated Rayna would win in two minutes at most.

His other Lieutenant's fight was going in the opposite direction. Luthdel was at peak tier 6, while the two Lieutenants he fought were on the lower end of tier 6. Low tier 6 wasn't a bad evaluation; it aligned with Shen's expectations from people hand-picked for the Exemplary Brigade. They had to be strong and upright-ish, but the true elites in the military would be deployed in more important places. In fact, the Brigade seemed a little too powerful, all but confirming that the General had an agenda.

Anyway, despite Luthdel's more substantial power, he was at a slight disadvantage because he was facing two people. Even so, he would've kept the two enemies at bay indefinitely if nothing had gone wrong. Sadly, Vinamour's two Lieutenants came to watch, staying close by—too close. Often, if Luthdel moved one way or another, he would get within their attack range, and they were holding their weapons with open hostility. That forced the high elf to be extra aware of his surroundings and move suboptimally. Shen estimated that the two newcomers would launch a sneak attack within the minute.

Luthdel wasn't the only one who had to deal with people he would rather not. At least, not yet. Vinamour suddenly noticed and countered Shen's willpower ability—using his aura, no less. He had solved the issue faster than expected. Shen guessed it had to do with his special mental constitution.

More importantly, the aggressive soundtrack was excellent. If Shen wasn't mixing genres—he had little musical knowledge—it was a mix of heavy metal and synth-wave with an alien tint to it. Shen gave the man a mental thumbs up. He synced his heart to the beats and let the fury run through his veins.

It was interesting, if a little too chaotic. The song sometimes changed chords and tunes with little sense. At least True Boundlessness immensely enjoyed it. He only used Gentle Breeze to calm things a little so as not to damage himself and Stream to prevent his blood from running too wild.

The music affected the battlefield, too. Everyone attacked more aggressively. Shen had read about it in Vinamour's file and agreed with the assessment that it could be a helpful tool.

Vinamour's aura covered the middle of the room, then rushed at Shen.

His Path had five Laws and Axioms: Saber, Light, Lightning, Wind, and Annihilation. Shen shared two with him, Lightning and Wind, and had experience sparring against the last one, Annihilation. Saber was a Weapon Axiom and couldn't bring too many surprises to the table. Light was the most troublesome Axiom among the five.

Vinamour's five Laws focused on speed, even Annihilation, which annihilated all resistance before him as he approached his foe. Light was the one that made him the fastest. When mastered Laws were in play, there was no sense in using fundamental physics to evaluate speed, but Shen still risked estimating that Vinamour could move at least five thousand times faster than sound.

Shen was limited to a little over two hundred times even after his training, and only in short bursts because his perception didn't keep up with such speed.

Luckily, estimations were one thing, but actual battle ability was another. Although Shen had no mastered Laws, he could level the battlefield.

Right now, Blue Sky was keeping her aura restricted to her corner of the room because there was no need for more. Vinamour covered more space.

Shen also deployed his aura—and it filled the whole room.

He was pleased to see no D-rank fainted when under the influence of his aura, though a few dozen almost did. All E-ranks instantly fell unconscious. They didn't even have the chance to use any mana to protect themselves from his aura's influence, even though Shen wasn't attacking them. Absolute terror struck their souls from his aura's passive effect, and their minds shut down to preserve their sanity.

Shen had learned a lot in elite combat training, including three aura techniques. The first, control, was useless to him as he could already deploy his aura at will. The second and third techniques permanently made his aura stronger and its maximum reach longer. Shen's aura was already of a stronger variant—he hadn't found specific information about it, though, as it required a clearance he lacked. So, it wasn't the E-ranks' fault that they couldn't resist him.

More importantly, Shen hadn't attacked the E-ranks. He had merely unleashed his aura. The willpower he invested to fight other auras didn't affect any non-aura-user. Therefore, he was respecting the exercises' rules of only fighting people of his rank.

Speaking of them, Shen's aura met four others. The fourth belonged to the last Battalion Commander, Hukzun, who also released his aura when he noticed Shen deploying his.

So much for Aura Control being a ridiculously rare skill!

Each Battalion Commander used a different amount of willpower to strike against Shen's aura. Vinamour met Shen's challenge with his characteristic arrogance, using almost everything he had. Hukzun pushed firmly, but more like a test than an attack. Blue Sky grew momentarily surprised, then enraged, and threw all her strength at Shen, even more than Vinamour.

Unfortunately for them, Shen had also learned how ridiculously high his willpower was and how to properly wield it. It was just like how one might have C+ stats but lack the ability to bring forth their full potential. Before training, Shen had been like a dumb brute, clumsy flailing his arms to fight. Now, he could use everything he had, all his mental advantages accumulated over time, against his foes. There was even a remarkable ability that could only be used against the Alliance's enemies.

In fact, if only willpower could directly hurt any foe, Shen's fighting ability would be evaluated at mid-tier 10. Also, he would be stronger as a mana-wielder than a cultivator, as a mage's power depended on both creativity and willpower. Unfortunately, what a cultivator could do with willpower was too limited.

For instance, now. When his aura met others, his willpower struck and overcame all opposition like a truck mowing through a few dried stick barriers. His will was overwhelmingly more potent than most people at C-rank. Yet, no one even fainted. Unlike his fights in D-rank, aura-will clashes at C-rank could only make the foe faint if the other party kept trying to go after him despite noticing his strength, and no one there was that stupid.

Sure, direct clashes of willpower, which happened when energy met energy, would let him even kill his foe. But everyone here knew how to quickly disengage from a will-battle, even if he caught their energy by surprise. So, even that approach was limited.

The only silver lining was that the multiverse was filled with idiots.

Blue Sky, who invested everything she had against Shen, suffered the most. It was similar to a medieval warrior leaving the safety of the city walls to meet the enemy outside, making them vulnerable. She immediately fainted, and Shen had to pull back at the last moment, or he would've killed her. Even so, if not for being a hive-mind, she would've been severely damaged.

Hukzun noticed Shen's strength in time to retreat his aura. He became dazed and would lose around twenty percent of his fighting ability due to the constant mental pressure of his aura touching Shen's, but that was that.

For Shen, that wasn't bad, but it also wasn't huge. It showed how he was limited in what he could accomplish with willpower alone.

Rayna was caught in the crossfire. Interposing allied auras was possible but complex and required at least some experience fighting together. Shen had no camaraderie with any aura-user in that place, so their auras couldn't coexist in the same place. Still, her aura was already in her body, and despite Shen's willpower being much stronger than Blue Sky's, his aura only increased the pressure on the drow so much. Rayna's fighting ability would only become around fifteen percent weaker than her peak.

Rayna's mind was more robust than Hakzun's, hence the lower pressure.

Lastly, Vinamour, who had been running toward Shen, fell from the "sky" like a bird shot by a hunter. He didn't faint, but it was close. He had invested too much willpower in the attack, only second to Blue Sky.

Shen frowned; he had overestimated these people. That was a rookie mistake.

He swiftly found the source of the problem and stopped his heart from beating in sync with Vinamour's music. The song wasn't an attack, so he had no defenses against getting "in the mood" if he willingly let his body "dance to its tune." That was good to know for future reference.

But Vinamour hadn't fainted, which was what Shen wanted. His goal wasn't to humiliate the man again. He planned to give Vinamour a chance to fight head-on, so, for now, he merely gave the man something to think about before deciding his next move.

More importantly, Shen ensured his aura would rule over the entire region. That was his ultimate goal.

Shen had learned a lot in elite combat training. His knowledge of advanced anti-void tactics and domain secrets clearances also expanded his horizons. That, plus his experience in Voided Subnodes, especially how he pushed his Laws into the gaps of the Stillborn Phasespace, and how he used an almost-domain to stabilize his True Self...

Shen had developed a special skill that, as far as his instructors could tell, required a high-grade aura and a True Self to use. That's what allowed him to barely reach tier 8 despite his shortcomings. It was the closest he could get to a domain without using one.

Auras naturally made the Path's Concepts stronger in a place. Domains did that to Laws instead and also weakened all other Laws. Shen now mixed both ideas and tied everything covered by his aura to his True Self.

He unleashed his Aural Realm.

Domains used mana. Shen, instead, filled his aura with his willpower. His raw will heightened his Path and descended upon that area like a Heavenly Edict.

Henceforth, True Boundlessness, Extremity, Shaft, Killing Weapon, Gentle Breeze, Conductivity, and Stream would be the only freely allowed Laws inside his Realm. Even if they came from an enemy. The technique wasn't perfect, sadly.

Besides those, any other Law would be restrained. It would be even worse for different Laws from the Axioms of Spear, Wind, Lightning, and Water—plus whichever Axiom True Boundless came from. Laws from the Axioms of the Spear would suffer the most suppression because Shen had the most Laws from it, so he could affect it a little more.

The restriction meant that any Law-wielder would have to go against Shen's aura to use their Laws. It effectively tripled how much willpower and energy they had to spend to accomplish anything with their Laws. It was almost ten times for Laws from the Spear.

Using Laws required willpower, though it was such a core part of being a C-rank that most disregarded it. It was like saying breathing consumed energy. Mastered Laws required more willpower. And using more than one simultaneously could be challenging. Now, it had gotten worse.

The drawback was that the extra willpower they used would be directly clashing against Shen's True Self. Not his mind, the very core of his Self. Sure, his mind was also part of that, but as much as it was stronger than his will alone, he would likely die if it got damaged.

It was also a one-sided beating. Shen couldn't counterattack. Instead, he had to take the enemy's mental assaults every time they used their Laws. When domains affected a region, only another domain could counter it. Shen's Aural Realm, however, was much more vulnerable. He would be under a psychic barrage all the time.

Without his high willpower, the move would be a creative way of committing suicide.

Another weakness was that his Realm couldn't differentiate friend from foe; it affected everyone equally. Likewise, his friends' moves automatically struck against his True Self.

Also, Concepts weren't affected at all. Not that this was a bad thing here. If Shen attacked the D-ranks, he would need to disqualify himself. The D-ranks could keep fighting unhindered—except for the constant fear of being inside his aura.

Shen had been surprised by Vinamour's quick thinking against the sneaky trick and planned to add his Aura-Material Suppression to his Aural Realm. It could be used without the Realm but worked better with it.

However, Shen had already messed with his willpower attack. He wouldn't risk gravely injuring the guy by pushing further. That amount of pressure would suffice for now. Stopping now would also serve to see if the guy could get a hold of his arrogance.

And, of course, if Vinamour found a way to counter Shen's aura, there was a chance that the soundtrack would return. It was almost inaudible now that it came only from Vinamour's body, where his aura was trapped. Shen had found it a marvelous addition to the exercise and was missing it already. He hoped the guy had a hidden card to play to protect himself.

For now, he returned to taking care of the battlefield. It wouldn't be long before the D-ranks finished their business. Then he would let go of his Aural Realm and finally have some fun—

"I give up," Vinamour said amid his dizziness.

"I also give up," Hukzun followed.

Blue Sky was already gone, which meant the three Battalion Commanders were out of the exercise. According to the rules, only they could be promoted to Brigade Commander, and only if they were still part of the battle at the end.

Shen closed his eyes, sighed, and declared, "This battle is over." He materialized Stream and Gentle Breeze in his aura and locked every D-rank in place. He also used Stream to give the C-ranks a more physical sign that the exercise had ended.

Luthdel looked as upset as Shen. He had sparred while suppressed by the Aural Realm many times, so he now got used to it faster than his foes, whom he was already attacking and getting an edge over. He stopped unwillingly.

Shen retracted the Aural Realm and pushed the C-ranks away from each other with water jets. The C-ranks could resist it, but there was no reason to. He also used his Laws to clear the place, then a trick with vibration to awaken everyone who was unconscious. At last, he retracted his aura.

"I won. Form ranks. We have more than half an hour until the Acting General arrives. I'll soon ask some people whom I couldn't analyze well for demonstrations of their power, but before that, any questions?"

That had been so underwhelming! He hadn't had a good fight ever since he left elite combat training! Sure, he could've taken a few risks here, but it would be D-ranks who would die if he messed up, so he had acted responsibly. He wished he could be as carefree as his Battalion Commanders—but paradoxically, imagining any of them as his superior, except maybe Hanzuk, felt like a nightmare.

Shen sighed again. Deeper.

Currently, he was simply either too weak or too powerful. Without his Aural Realm, he couldn't resist Vinamour. With it, Vinamour couldn't resist him. There was no middle ground.

At least that meant he could protect his people. Alicia was mostly safe as long as she stood within his aura's reach. That's why he walked the Path of Omnipotence, right?! So he could crush everyone?!

Shen sighed for the third time.

Honestly, the more he found how lacking most of the regular military was, the more he wondered if SpecOps wouldn't be good for him after all. Every year, it was becoming more evident that his Path of Omnipotence would end in one of three ways: victory, death at an enemy's hands, or death by boredom.

Surviving the toll of his own power was the most brutal challenge he had faced ever since awakening on modern Earth.

'The woes of elites,' he thought self-deprecatingly and prepared to answer questions.

‎ ‎

[A/N: I initially disliked this chapter, but it's such a fitting contrast to the previous one that I changed my mind.

The difference between viewpoints and tone is just right. I also enjoy how Vinamour feels more like early D-rank Shen, and Shen now feels more like Liya.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like this chapter. =P]

Previous Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter