[MA] 348. The Obvious (Patreon)

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[Chapters this week: 2/3

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When it came to Laws, Reality was an entangled mess of different Axioms that defined everything. They looked like infinite tentacles perfectly locked together in a perpetual tug of war with no space in between, but only because Shen's senses were limited. Someone who mastered a Law and looked deep enough could find the seams between Laws and hide from all Axioms.

Whenever Shen willed his elements into existence, the Laws of Reality were the ones who bent to his will to produce water and lightning out of nowhere, so Sinaht's move countered it.

Liya had never taught Shen about it, but elite combat training insisted the technique was a last resort for three reasons.

First, it could easily be lethal for oneself. It required prohibitive levels of willpower and energy. If any lacked, you died. Even if you survived, you would be, at the very least, very tired.

Peak C-ranks theoretically had enough will to use the ability for a while, but if they messed up while invisible, they died. Being beyond the grasp of the Laws of Reality meant your very self was defined by your Path and nothing else, which required energy and your Will to keep existing.

Mana was virtually infinite in the Alliance, so Sanaht had that covered—until he didn't. Being beyond the grasp of the Axioms also meant being beyond the system's reach. He couldn't recover mana, only use whichever reserves he had. If he mismanaged it and his mana pool emptied, he would lack the fuel to keep himself existing beyond all Law.

Shen had plenty of ways to overwhelm an inferior but tricky foe, but Sanaht clearly didn't. Shen could see how the elf could reason this "special" ability could define annoying fights quickly. Even if Sinaht became a little tired afterward, as long as his foe was defeated, he would have extra time to rest before someone else arrived. He didn't want to be ganged up on.

Shen had no particular skill to deal with that. That was an insurmountable gap between someone with a mastered Law and anyone below. Yet, the second weakness that ability had was that Sinaht couldn't feel or see anything while in the emptiness between Laws. He had excluded himself from the realm of Laws, so to speak. He could move because he was still bound to the Aspects of Space and Time and the Expression of Change, but that was it.

So, Shen didn't need any unique method. He just stepped ahead and waited a dozen yards ahead. He turned, spear at ready, and waited.

Almost anyone ignorant about the Intra-Seam Step technique would either freeze in caution and erect useless defenses that Sinaht could bypass or try to flee. The elf had expected Shen to be no different.

Shen had just prepared himself when Sinaht reappeared between where Shen had been and was now.

Sinaht was mid-attack, standing sideways with his legs bent, his rapier extended before him. He had used a skill that only activated when he returned to Reality, and it felt his prodding. A twelve-yard-wide beam of pure Laws shot from his sword, ignoring spacetime as it instantly covered everything from Shen's previous position to the room's exit and the beyond.

The power of the mastered Laws was concentrated in a way Shen had only seen in elite combat training before. Sinaht had woven all pieces of his Path together and demanded they altered Reality. It was like Shen's long-distance Law blades and his materialization of the elements—only much stronger.

Shen had invested a lot of willpower to keep his Lawful hold over the entire room, but Sinaht overwhelmed Shen with the sheer weight of his Path. Five mastered Laws and another big chunk of his willpower were enough to deny Shen's hold.

The rebound caused Shen a mild headache, but that was nothing compared to what Reality itself suffered. The Mastered Path Beam broke even Reality's harmless Laws in its way. Spacetime became weird inside, cause and effect behaving erratically. It also cleared all air, light, and, interestingly, mana and qi.

Sinaht removed Shen's hold and energy from the environment, then formed a thick mana beam inside the Path Beam.

The Pioneer Tutorial had taught B-ranks could ignore soul defense, but it wasn't strictly correct. What was actually needed was a kind of enlightenment that could only be obtained after mastering at least one of your Path's Laws. Only geniuses could accomplish it at C-rank, but it became trivial after reaching B-rank and obtaining a vaster mind, hence the teaching.

Sinaht was such a genius. His mana beam could pierce Shen's defenses and body, ignoring his soul's innate defense. It was also like a self-contained projectile, disconnected from his mind, and would not force a willpower battle. Despite that, he had only dared to use it after ensuring Shen's qi wasn't on the way.

What a careful bastard! And a brutal one, to boot. There was no surviving that. If Shen were there, he would die.

Still, as fast as Sinaht acted, his moves since he returned to Lawful Reality were mechanical. For instance, he was doing what he had planned and couldn't adapt to not feeling Shen before him. The Intra-Seam Step's third weakness was the tiny gap between returning and making sense of one's surroundings.

That was enough for Shen to close the few yards of distance between them and thrust his spear before the high elf noticed.

His spear pierced the invisible B- defenses of the armor on the elf's nape, his skull, and half an inch into his brain. Only then did Sinaht react—and was slightly delayed by the Water, Lightning, and Wind reappearing around him, trying to lock him in place. The delay was enough for the spearhead to find another couple of inches of brain matter before Sinaht stepped away at maximum speed, moving ahead from his perspective, beyond Shen's reach.

Shen tsked. Sinaht hadn't been using any mana in his head, so Shen couldn't force a willpower battle.

The cultivator tried to follow, but the brain injury wasn't enough to affect the elf's reasoning ability to the point he stumbled. He ran fast. Shen followed, but Sinaht literally ran in circles around the room, and the cultivator could only follow without ever approaching his foe. Meanwhile, Sinaht got a pill from his spatial ring and popped it into his mouth. His brain started healing absurdly quickly.

Still, that had been one costly mistake. Sinaht had spent quite a bit of willpower. It would limit his options henceforth. Then again, it was just one mistake. Shen needed the elf to mess up more.

After Sinaht's brain was whole again, while his skull quickly regenerated, he stopped running and turned to Shen. He was furious. There was also a lot of caution in his eye—and a bit of fear.

Sinaht concluded his once highly regarded tricks wouldn't work against Shen. There was no convenient shortcut to take. Thus, he changed his approach to a more straightforward one. He used so much mana inside his body and rapier that he lit up like a sun to Shen's senses. His Path's Laws also rotated quickly within himself, getting tighter to each other and stronger for it.

Shen spread his qi and Laws all over the room again and remade the water jet between him and the high elf. Even then, Sinaht's speed had just doubled, and he was fifteen times as fast as Shen.

As if that wasn't enough, Sinaht added long-range mana attacks to the fight, the kind that didn't cause a will-battle. Those were a genuine danger if they struck, but Shen still had his aura and total control over the battlefield with his Laws and qi. It took some effort to redirect and deflect incoming attacks, but he managed. Still, for all his willpower, doing everything he was doing at once meant he was working at 75% capability. Considering how massive his will was, it went to show how fighting a peak C-rank with mastered Laws was a big challenge.

The elf wasn't stupid, so after countless frustrated attempts to finish Shen, he realized he was fated to lose. Even breathing in the Aural Realm took extra effort; he had invested too much willpower, and it kept decreasing. He had to act before his waning mind caused him to make a mistake.

That's when he genuinely went all-out. He invested massive amounts of mana into mind-disconnected long-range attacks that made curves and homed on Shen—something he saw for the first time. Dozens were formed every nanosecond, filling the air with mana projectiles. Not every shot was aimed at Shen, allowing Sinaht to save some focus. Shen's mind, on the other hand, had to work on overdrive to analyze everything and remain safe.

That alone pushed him to 82% of his capacity. The attacks were too dangerous; if he messed up just once, it might snowball into his death.

Sinaht still wasn't done. He also started using mystical abilities that defied reason. He moved faster than fast sometimes, appearing beyond where he should. Shen knew the technique and could read when his foe would use it, so he could prepare adequately to counter it.

Next, the high elf started roaring. The roar was a special attack that disrupted all non-physical energy in the surroundings and even affected Shen's control over the surrounding Laws. It was also the first time Shen saw it, and he couldn't even begin to imagine how it worked. It should be meant for B-ranks, as it took a toll on Sinhat's body. His lungs and throat became a gore mess every three times he used it—and he healed with more pills, then kept going.

The roars forced Shen to exert his will and focus on controlling his qi and Laws. He also had to have a plan B in case his Laws failed to deflect his foe at the wrong time. His mind usage jumped to 93% capacity. At that point, he was forced to make some micro assumptions and tiny logical leaps because analyzing everything happening around him was impossible. It required raw processing power, and his True Self, qi, and willpower weren't enough to compensate for his limited agility and mind.

And yet, he persevered. No attack got to him. Sinaht was kept at bay.

Sinaht's soul became frantic at that point. Shen's water jets, lightning, and random pushes kept annoying him. The elements kept trying to grind his defenses to dust. Shen's spear kept getting in the way; thrusts and swings were always at the right place at the right time. There was no way to approach unharmed.

So, eventually, the high elf did the obvious: he took a minor hit to deliver a lethal strike against Shen.

He hid his intentions well, partly because of his already uncontrolled feelings, which might've been deliberate. His soul trembled just like it had been doing when, suddenly, instead of dodging a thrust, he only slightly changed his body's vector at the last moment but kept approaching Shen.

Shen always attacked with all his strength. So, his spearhead pierced Sinaht's B- armor on the side of his belly.

An instant later, the still-coming elf's rapier touched his cultivator robe over the heart.

Sinaht was smart enough to remove all mana from his body as soon as his rapier connected to his target. Once more, Shen couldn't force a willpower battle. He could, however, guess what was coming. Another Path Beam or worse.

The move wasn't a great show of skill, but it was a perfect display of judgment, even with Sinaht's mental exhaustion. Shen shouldn't be able to dodge that.

Unfortunately, Shen didn't need to. Sinaht, either for lack of experience, foresight, or tiredness, had made himself vulnerable to the little trick Shen had used to delay Vinamour. Shen hadn't been ready to use it when his spear first pierced the elf's s unprotected brain, but he was ready this time. He hadn't tried to dodge the incoming attack because he had been sure he could force a willpower battle if he found mana or use this trick if he didn't.

Shen's qi trembled at the right frequency, imbued with the proper knowledge of how qi and Reality interacted, indirectly affecting the environmental qi—and Sinaht's mind.

Sinaht's mind froze for a split instant, and so did his body.

Shen would like to capture the guy alive for the skill he had shown, which could help against the Void. Alas, Shen had no means to imprison Sinaht. The Bounty target had declared he would rather kill Shen than get captured by a weaker C-rank. There was no telling whether he would accept this victory as proof of Shen's superiority, and the latter might not get another opportunity like this.

His spear kept going, piercing the elf's heart and brain, electrocuting everything on the way.

The peak C-rank was instantly turned into a gory mess. Even as its flesh bits flew away, Shen cut them into cubes with his Laws...

...and was stopped by a golden shield when he struck a life-saving treasure.

Shen kept cutting the unprotected bits of flesh as he rushed at the golden sphere surrounding the high elf's left arm. It was regenerating quickly, already having formed a shoulder and half a chest, when Shen struck the shield with everything he had.

Extremity, Conductivity, and True Boundlessness flared on the tip of his spear, which was filled with qi and pushed with the full might of his True Self and his best thrusting technique.

Cracks appeared like a spiderweb, but the shield held—for a moment. Shen pulled his arm and struck twice more. The sphere shattered and released a huge explosion, but while powerful, it was meant to distract, not kill. The arm and chest were flying away amid the fire and chaos, only to be stopped by water jets from all sides.

What remained of Sinaht was locked in place, and Shen would've allowed him to live if he just surrendered. But he didn't. Instead, the healing speed doubled, and as soon as a heart formed, the body was filled with mana and broke through the elemental cage.

Perhaps it was an instinct because the high elf couldn't reason properly without a brain. Maybe he really thought he could escape for whatever reason.

Shen thought it was a bit of both. If Shen hesitated just a little, the regenerating body, which was getting faster every instant, might've escaped. But a fully reasoning Sinaht wouldn't have bet on Shen hesitating. He was smarter than that.

Unfortunately for him, life was a string of choices, and some people made the wrong ones. Some gained second chances. Others didn't.

Shen couldn't let Sinaht fully heal after having tried to kill him. He wasn't so arrogant or stupid. Who knew which tricks even a weakened Sinaht could pull off?

His spear skewered the newly formed heart and cut everything else. Shen then went further, creating half-inch cubes instead of his usual three-inch ones.

Sinaht would die here.

That proved the right decision once again. When the tip of the high elf's little finger was cut down, there was a small implosion, and then Shen got a system notification.

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| Bounty complete: Capture Sinaht Bryqen (C)

| Rewards (withheld): +15,000 AP; +1,000,000 SC

| Your rewards will be withheld until the Kill Investigation concludes

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Shen had expected the investigation to be disregarded in the front lines, but he had been wrong on that. So, the Alliance didn't want Guardians to die needlessly. It was further evidence that they were clearing the house for legitimate reasons instead of just encouraging mass slaughter.

Whatever the case, Shen had won.

He smiled. That had been fun. A little dangerous, but such was life on the front lines.

He checked the battlefield. The fortress was enchanted not to get flooded, and all the water on the ground magically disappeared whenever it reached over a foot of depth. Even the unconscious C-ranks wouldn't drown, and they were wet but well. Sinaht's remains were soaked.

Shen ignored Sinaht's remains and collected the equipment. That B- armor, which blessedly was automatically repairing itself, the rapier, and everything else would be his. This was a Bounty, not military business. As long as he was cleared as having justification to kill the elf, anything the target had on them belonged to whoever captured them.

The Alliance understood it would be stupid to have someone go against another Guardian and then return the criminals' items to their family or friends. It would only finance the revenge against the one who risked their lives for the Alliance. It would also greatly decrease the interest in completing such Bounties.

With that done, he grabbed the C-ranks with his Laws. Sinaht had left Law fragments within those people, so they didn't heal, and even the conscious guy hadn't dared to remove the Law while the high elf was alive and around.

He was still not working on that. His eyes were wide open, and he was in a daze, incapable of believing Sinaht was dead. Shen half-suspected he had been in on it with the elf, screaming about how powerful Sinaht was to scare bounty hunters beyond the unconscious Guardians. Still, there was no reason to pursue it without a military order or Bounty.

He didn't react when Shen grabbed him and rushed to the Healing Ward.

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