Sweat dribbled down Axel's forehead, stopping just above his brow, which were scrunched together in concentration.
His hands stretched out, a stone in the distance flickering, black threads around it, slowly pulling it into somewhere, but it wasn't budging, but shaking as if resisting the pull.
Then it fell onto the floor, clackering against the floor of the cave.
Axel sat on the ground, panting, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, trying to catch his breath.
He looked at the rock, he was close this time, removing something from existence, tearing space and pushing it in.
The entire thing was troublesome, he could tear space, although it was just a small tear, but that tear would instantly be repaired, so that means he had to tear it and push the object in simultaneously.
He leaned back on his hands, the rhythm of his breath slowly coming back to normal.
Even if he could do the first one, there was another issue.
At first when the hole is created, there is this awful, powerful, sharp pull, but.all of a sudden it disappears and changes to another force repelling the push, like it the stone wasn't meant to be part of the void or whatever was beyond the tear.
It felt like a force was resisting it, Axel had succeeded once, pushing a stone in, but it felt like he had broken a taboo, he instantly puked blood, and worst it felt like a presence suddenly appeared.
"I can't be sure of that," He sighed.
But it seems I can't exactly rely on pushing things into the void, unless I determine what that was.
But the biggest issue of all was the act of tearing the space itself.
He sighed and rubbed his head, "Feels like someone is intentionally making things hard for me," He muttered.
It seemed to deplete his mental strength or mana as he had decided to call it, faster than the teleportation, just a single tear, about three centimeters or so wide and he was already feeling dizzy, not to mention it took a lot longer to tear it.
"There's no way that dragon will stay and wait for me to open a hole," he sighed, "and I can't smooth out everything within a week."
It's impossible, he looked up, the dragons roar sounding again.
"It's been up to four hours already," Axel smiled wryly, "the bastard hasn't left."
"Well," he shrugged, "It just makes things easier."
I can manage to sleep, a little noise can't stop that, plus I won't have to worry about you not appearing for a week.
So basically, he had hit a dead end, the thread of continuity couldn't really help him, unless the dragon would be a dear and wait for him to open a hole and push it.
"Impossible, if only I could use the Gishiki," He looked towards the katana, with its abilities, I wouldn't have to worry about a few things.
But well, I got to deal with what I have huh, then his eyes widened, the Gishiki, a tear.
What if rather than make a hole and push it in, what if he made a sharp tear, like a sword strike across a surface, wouldn't that be enough to at least do something.
Alright, he stood up with renewed vigor, he looked towards one of the lodged crystals, let's test it then.
He closed his eye, rather than visualizing a hole, he compressed it into a line, a long line, tearing across, the needle tearing space.
Wait, if the needle could tear space, couldn't he use it to… no it only affected space.
"Focus," he muttered as he imagined the line, a needle tearing across, but as he opened his eye, there was nothing, it wasn't working.
Then he staggered back, mana depletion, it worked, he went close to the crystal, there was a little scratch on the surface but that was it.
Axel frowned, I could do better than that with the Gishiki, this sucks.
He paced around the cave, what could be wrong, it should have done more damage, perhaps even sliced through.
He scratched his head and sighed, "let's not assume."
He picked up the Gishiki and headed towards a crystal, then he slashed across the crystal, Gishiki digging deep, but it eventually stopped halfway in.
I was right, I can do more with the Gishiki, something is off.
"Let's try again," He lifted his hands, this time eyes open, he resisted the urge to close his eyes.
Nothing happened at first, then a tear started appearing, slow annoying, healing as it appeared, not fast enough.
Axel stopped, ruffling his hair in frustration.
"Goddamn it!!!" he screamed, stumping the floor.
"I want something like this," He muttered, swinging his hand like a blade across.
A black streak flashing across the crystal at the same time.
His eyes widened with both suspicion and awe as the crystal slid off, clattering on the floor, the sound echoing through the cave, reverberating.
Axel hurriedly lifted it off the ground, the crystal still vibrating in his hand, he looked towards the cut edge, a smooth cut, then at the flat edge of his hand.
Then dizziness hit him, but he laughed nonetheless, it was always there.
Visualization, the easiest way to visualize was to use objects was it not.
"I was fussing for nothing," He muttered between laughs, his vision getting more blurry, manner exhaustion.
But he couldn't care less, rather he was eager to recover and try another move.
"I can't wait," Axel said, holding his head, grinning and staggered towards the Gishiki.
"Imagine what I can do if I use the Gishiki rather than my hand," was all he could think about as he lifted the katana.
Then he clumsily slashed across, the crystals rattling as a black line streaked across, then they slid down, clattering against the rock.
Axel fell on his back, unable to move, too tired, yet he was smiling, he had found it, his ultimate attack, he could rest for now, although he'd probably have to wait, as the crystal were clattering, reverberating sounds.
That gives me an idea, Axel smirked.