Chapter 47: His Core Burns Brighter
His skin—severed from horrible torsion wounds and lacerations—moved, reacting to something inside Logan. At first, it twitched, then wriggled, then grew.
Like tentacles, the ends of his cuts would reach out to connect, pulling back any blood still running down. Then came his arms, which had been twisted beyond repair.
Or, it should’ve been. Compulsively, they churned—only, in the direction opposite to how they’d been injured. In mere moments, his arms were straight, turning warm from whatever regeneration was occurring inside.
’This power... there’s nothing like it. I feel it flowing in my veins, moving out to empower my cells. It feels even greater than that night...!’
Pixel looked up to Zack, then the stands, then back to Zack: "You feel good, Logan? I can sense the mana coursing through you right now. I’d say that you might actually give him a run for his money."
Logan didn’t say anything—he didn’t need to. He knew all too well what needed to be done.
With one raised fist, he addressed Zack:
"So, Zack. You wanted me to use my mana, right? Well, here I am. Don’t you have anything to say?"
Zack—who’d been so carefree earlier—allowed emotion to shape his face. With a dangerous attitude, he stepped forward with a snarl. "I don’t know what your Gift is, but if you think it’ll save you from me, you’re wrong."
***
In the stands, Selene discarded her robe entirely—likely because of the way it obstructed her view. "Sabrina, are you seeing this?"
Sabrina nodded. "Yes, it’s amazing. I’ve never seen someone project so much mana at once. I think in that alone, he might rival some of the stronger B-ranks."
"But that’s not enough," another said. It was Jasmine, placid and firm.
"Don’t be such a downer," Amelia responded, patting Jasmine on the back—a tense sneer advancing in Jasmine’s face.
"What Jasmine said is true," Selene added, crossing her arms. "While my brother seems to have gotten a huge boost of power somehow, I don’t think that alone is enough. Especially since he has only just awakened his Gift, he will likely lack the proper wherewithal to wield it to its fullest potential."
Selene looked at her own hand, watching as mana shot out omnidirectionally, then contracted to just inches above her skin. "You’re talking about mana control—specifically, the art of mana condensation?"
"Yes, you understand well, Sabrina. Even I struggled with it back when I had my Gift. It’s a great hassle, but it determines fights most decisively."
The two went silent, then watched the fight ahead.
***
[No way, he’s come back super strong, hasn’t he?]
[This is just too much. Wasn’t he about to die?]
[To think that I was about to leave. Maybe this fight will be worth something.]
Logan and Zack each snorted at the storm of banter going on in the background, then faced each other. While they’d both been smiling, Zack’s had been more strained—reactive to the environment.
"Well, Zack, I must say, now that I’ve found my strength, you don’t look half as impressive as you did before," Logan said.
Zack shook his head. "You’re wrong, Logan. I’ve been holding back this entire time so that I could enjoy throwing you around. Now that you’ve shown yourself, I have no choice but to beat you down even harer. Treat it as your final lesson for shooting too high."
Then, a single grin on Logan’s face. "That’s the first time you called me by my name without placing it right next to an insult."
Neither said anything, then, a flicker.
Their bodies disappeared into the air, leaving the audience confused.
And yet, loud, thunderous roars bellowed from the battle station.
While the average onlooker might’ve believed them to have teleported, there was one in particular—an individual who could witness it all.
Strong and filled with presence, Elias pushed halfway to his feet—trying his hardest to fight against the excitement filling his bones. "No way, this is amazing! The F-rank leveled up this much in a single moment!?"
In the air, it was clear what he was referring to.
Crackling with the flamboyance of lightning, Logan extended his right foot out, bouncing off the wall for his velocity.
With an insane thud, his shin impacted against Zack’s two arms, sending superfluous gusts of wind throughout.
Then, he spun in the air clockwise, twisting his other leg for an additional kick. "I’m going to kill you, then take Selene for myself," he bit, concentrating as much power as possible into just his leg.
Even though he hadn’t meant it, his mind fell back—pondering on what he’d just said. The words came out of his mouth, but they weren’t his.
It was scary, but he didn’t have time to wallow in the fear.
"A bad choice, dog," Zack responded, pushing Logan’s leg off of him—Logan along with it. Logan, knocked back mid-air with no guard, Zack used the full force of his energy to slam into Logan’s stomach.
Then, complete and utter decimation. Dust kicked up to the sky, taking its time to reveal Logan—hanging off the barrier.
Blood trickled from his lips while he kept his balance against the barrier’s hard thrums.
He’d been injured, though not nearly as much as he would’ve minutes ago. That fact alone was enough to motivate him.
"Logan, you know what you did wrong, right?" Pixel asked by his side.
He didn’t say anything, but his answer was yes. She was referring to how he’d focused all of his mana into his leg in the earlier assault. It made the rest of his body far more susceptible to attack, something that Zack exploited.
This time, he wouldn’t repeat the same mistake.
He kicked off from the ground, using his burning core as fuel. Then, without meaning to, he let out another burst of mana—this time, more volatile.
Scratches etched into the anti-magic material of the station below—though they got filled just milliseconds after damage—as he kept his willful burst ahead of him.
Zack raised his fist in anticipation, then shuddered at a sudden shift. No longer did Logan’s strength hover in the air, although he was approaching him all the same.
Still, the two clashed—Logan sending his left fist while Zack sent his right. The barrier pleaded, even beginning to expand as the two let out another burst of force.
Then, the true explanation for Logan’s earlier pulse.
In an act so detestable that Zack almost found himself laughing at the irony, energy trickled from the ground, then poured.
Thwam!
A force had delivered a blow from beneath him, sending a clean one right into his jaw.
He flew back, landing at the opposite wall of the barrier. "Damn," he bit, spitting out a dollop of blood. "I must be seeing things, because it seems you just used mana conduction."
Elias sat back in his seat, amused. "This kid might just have what it takes to reach the next level. Show me what you’ve got, right here. Right now."