Chapter 647: Tedious but deadly

[Realm: Álfheimr]

[Location: Dominion of Oz]

[Winkie Country]

The moment Mikoto settled on the decision, Electra moved again.

There was no further attempt to negotiate, nor did either of them seem particularly interested in wasting another moment standing across from one another. The Progenitor stepped away from the damaged opening in the tin wall, her attention fixed entirely on him. Mikoto, in turn, shifted his weight slightly, allowing his damaged gauntlet to hang at his side while keeping his other arm raised.

Then they moved.

The distance between them disappeared almost immediately.

Both figures shot away from their respective positions, their movements carrying them out of the courtyard and onto the open plains surrounding the decrepit structure. Their feet struck the ground with such force that the grass flattened beneath them, and the earth broke apart wherever they pushed off. They were moving at speeds far beyond what an ordinary observer could properly follow. One moment they were near the castle, and the next their figures had become little more than rapidly shifting shapes against the vast landscape.

They passed one another.

The rush of displaced air followed a fraction of a second later, sweeping across the grass. Neither stopped. Both adjusted their trajectories almost immediately, turning back towards one another and accelerating again.

Mikoto kept his eyes on Electra.

She was fast. Considerably faster than her relatively composed demeanor had suggested, and the strength behind her movements was just as troublesome. Her earlier strike had already demonstrated that much. Even with his gauntlet raised to defend himself, the impact had been enough to send him through a wall. He could not afford to underestimate her simply because she had not yet displayed the full extent of her abilities.

Still, there was something else occupying his attention.

As they continued moving across the plains, Mikoto’s gaze briefly shifted upwards.

The clouds above them had begun to darken.

At first, it was only a small change. The sky had been relatively clear when he had first emerged from the castle, but the distant clouds were now gathering together, their edges becoming increasingly dense. He noticed the change between one exchange of movement and the next, his eyes following the gradual formation of the cloud cover while his body continued to move.

The clouds were thickening.

And their color was changing.

Amber-gold streaks had begun to spread through the darkening formations. The color was not particularly bright, nor did it resemble the ordinary golden light of sunlight passing through clouds.

Mikoto narrowed his eyes slightly.

He could not sense any mana coming from it.

That was the first thing he noticed, and it was also what made the phenomenon interesting. If Electra were preparing some sort of conventional spell, he would have expected to detect at least some indication of the mana being gathered or manipulated. Yet there was nothing noticeable in the atmosphere.

His attention returned briefly to Electra before shifting back towards the sky.

(“Is that her doing?”)

He considered it for a moment.

(“Doesn’t feel like mana. Must be whatever her Manus Dei is capable of.”)

The possibility was not especially reassuring. He knew that a Manus Dei could potentially produce effects that did not necessarily conform to the principles he was accustomed to observing. Depending on its nature, it could allow its wielder to interact with the world in ways that ordinary magic simply could not replicate. If Electra’s ability was responsible for the changing sky, then trying to understand it through the usual framework of mana might prove pointless.

He had barely finished considering the thought when Electra scoffed.

“Do you really have the luxury of letting your thoughts wander while we’re fighting?” she asked, her voice carrying clearly despite the distance and the speed at which they were moving. “You look away for even a moment, and you might find yourself regretting it. Or is that something your divine nature has made you forget?”

Mikoto’s gaze returned to her.

He did not have time to respond.

Electra abruptly changed direction.

Her body twisted, and her foot struck the ground at an angle that should have sent her continuing along her previous trajectory. Instead, she redirected herself with a sudden burst of force, the earth beneath her breaking apart as she propelled herself towards Mikoto. A section of the plain collapsed beneath the pressure of her acceleration, sending dirt and fragments of grass scattering behind her.

The movement was so sudden that the distance between them practically vanished.

Her left leg came around.

It was a kick, delivered with enough force to make the air around her limb seem to compress as it travelled towards him. Her body followed through with the motion, her hips turning and her torso shifting to give the strike as much force as possible. There was no hesitation in it. Electra was clearly attempting to catch him while his attention was divided, and she had chosen her timing well.

Mikoto raised his arm.

His gauntlet met her leg with a heavy metallic impact.

The force travelled through his arm almost immediately. His shoulder shifted backwards, and his sabatons scraped across the ground as the pressure threatened to push him out of position. The earth beneath his feet fractured, thin cracks spreading through the soil as he absorbed the blow.

For a brief moment, the two remained locked against one another.

Electra’s leg pressed against his raised arm, while Mikoto held his position beneath the tremendous force. His armor creaked, and the damaged portions of his gauntlet remained an unwelcome concern, but he did not allow the impact to displace him as easily as before.

He scoffed.

“You’re awfully confident for something so paltry.”

Before she could withdraw her leg, Mikoto shifted his stance.

He turned his upper body, pushed against her limb, and shoved it away from him. The movement broke their contact, forcing Electra’s leg out of alignment and interrupting the momentum of her kick. Her body shifted with it, but she recovered quickly, her foot moving back towards the ground as she prepared to attack again.

She did not retreat.

Instead, her right hand came forward.

The dark scales covering her fingers shifted as her claws extended, and she swung at him with a forceful swipe. It was not an attempt to strike his armor. Her fingers were spread, and the angle of the attack carried them across the space where his head and upper body had been only a moment earlier.

Mikoto leaned away.

His upper body tilted backwards, and Electra’s claws passed close to his face, close enough that he could see the individual points of her fingers as they swept through the air. The attack missed him by a narrow margin, and the force behind it continued past his shoulder.

His white hair shifted from the displaced air.

Mikoto maintained his balance, his sabatons firmly planted despite the uneven ground beneath him. He did not waste time admiring the fact that he had avoided the strike. His eyes remained on Electra’s arm.

She seemed to rely heavily on her physical capabilities, for now. To him it was an irritating way to fight.

Especially under his current circumstances.

(“God, this is annoying.”)

Mikoto straightened slightly, his gaze following Electra as she adjusted her position.

(“Fighting like this without relying on magic is such a pain. I can’t use anything substantial without worrying about the leylines, and I still have no idea what her Manus Dei can actually do. And the soldiers are all busy.”)

He could continue dealing with her physically, but that would mean relying on his own strength and combat ability while gradually learning the limits of an opponent whose capabilities were still largely unknown to him. It was hardly impossible, but it was an unnecessary complication. He had wanted to find Goiim, not spend his time exchanging blows with a Progenitor who seemed determined to make every interaction needlessly hostile.

His eyes shifted briefly towards the sky again.

The amber-gold clouds had grown considerably thicker.

They were no longer confined to a distant section of the horizon. Their formations had spread across a much larger portion of the sky, overlapping one another until the light above the plains had begun to change. The atmosphere seemed heavier beneath them, though Mikoto still could not detect any conventional mana being gathered.

Then he noticed something.

A small spark.

It appeared above him, small at first, almost lost against the darkening clouds. Mikoto’s eyes caught it, and his attention immediately shifted towards the point where it had appeared.

A second later, the spark intensified.

His expression changed.

He glanced upwards just as a tremendous noise rang across the plains.

The sound was sudden and deafening, cutting through the open landscape with a sharp, violent crack. Before he could fully process it, a massive white bolt of lightning descended from the clouds.

It came straight towards him.

Mikoto clicked his tongue.

He moved immediately, pushing off the ground and throwing himself to the side. His sabatons tore through the grass as he leapt away, his body clearing the spot where he had been standing just as the lightning struck.

The bolt hit the earth.

For an instant, the entire area was swallowed by a flash of white.

Then the impact erupted.

A tremendous shockwave spread outwards from the point of contact, tearing through the grass and ripping apart the surface of the plains. Soil was thrown into the air, and the ground beneath the strike was violently displaced. The surrounding vegetation was flattened, while the earth fractured into rough sections beneath the immense force. The sound of the impact rolled across the open landscape, followed by the continuing rumble of the storm above.

The shockwave reached Mikoto almost immediately.

His hair whipped violently around his face, the loose strands being thrown backwards by the rushing air. His coat shifted beneath his armor, and the plates covering his torso rattled as the force passed over him. The grass around his feet bent almost flat, and the dirt beneath them shifted.

Yet he remained standing.

He lowered his center of gravity slightly, keeping his footing as the worst of the force swept past him. His eyes remained fixed on the place where the lightning had struck, watching the disturbed earth and the lingering traces of energy around the impact site.

He had avoided the direct hit.

That was fortunate.

Had he been caught in the center of that strike, the result might have been considerably less pleasant. The force behind it was not something he could dismiss when he was restricting his use of magic.

His gaze moved from the damaged ground towards the clouds.

He began examining what had happened, considering the sequence of events from the moment he had noticed the first spark. The clouds had gathered without any detectable accumulation of mana. The lightning had appeared almost instantaneously, and its descent had been directed towards his position with a degree of precision that seemed far too focused to be a natural occurrence.

Mikoto’s eyes narrowed as he examined the remaining traces of the phenomenon. He could not identify a familiar magical structure behind it, nor could he detect the kind of mana manipulation that would normally accompany an attack of this scale.

Her Manus Dei was allowing her to influence the world.

Not necessarily by producing an effect through mana, but by altering something about the conditions and composition of the environment itself. The storm clouds, the sudden formation of the electrical discharge, and the way the lightning had descended directly towards him all suggested that Electra could impose a particular response upon the surrounding world.

It was as though she could interfere with the way certain aspects of reality behaved, altering their make-up just enough to produce the outcome she desired.

Mikoto watched the clouds for another moment.

(“So that’s what we’re dealing with.”)