Jiran's Armament bucked and writhed, proving far more unwieldy once fully released than anticipated. His few tests throughout the night had been simple enough, and now he regretted not pushing it to its maximum when he had the chance. Unfortunately, desperate times didn't allow him the convenience of holding back.

  His Armament was stretched thin, each mote of mana comprising its mass refusing to directly touch their neighbors. He was still connected with every trace of its energy through the strange layer of space his Armament resided in when not in use. Due to its bloated state, his intent to control it and the sensations received from it were delayed. The backlash of attempting to control so much energy with a slowed response left him disoriented. His missing foot and the blood attempting to gush from the wound weren’t helping.

  His aura stemmed the flow even as he wrestled for control of his Armament, quickly realizing his attempts were futile. The obvious solution dawned on him, and he stored ten percent of his Armament, which filled the mysterious storage space with enough to form a more solid connection between his thoughts and the field of mana. The vastness of his Armament solidified, each mote no longer separated from their brethren. The air and ground ceased their heaving.

  Jiran received a flood of information about his surroundings, most of which was ignored as he discovered the seeker’s ship had spun around and was fleeing once more. He growled, lips peeling back in a snarl. His vision was still blocked by the lingering ruptures in reality from the detonated mines and the beam’s passage. The ship was well beyond the range of his aura, and he almost discarded any thought of catching the speedy vessel. One of his minds came up with an idea, and he immediately seized the opportunity.

  Like a coiled rope, the far reaches of Armament's mana wrapped around the tail of the ship, pulling him along behind it. He surged directly into the minefield, but this time, he was ready. Mana Omnis had already revealed everything he needed to know about the black elemental lightning that could so easily shred the framework. With Armament now under control, he was confident his plan would work.

  Armament saturated everything in a vast radius, including the minefield. His mana easily wormed inside the deadly formations, giving Elemental Castigation an avenue to flood them with his own black lightning—a combination of elemental fire, metal, lightning, and light. Jiran had never mixed elements of mana before; he had never even considered the possibility of such a thing creating entirely new phenomena. But with clear instructions on how it functioned written in the blasts still expanding away from him, it turned out far simpler than expected.

  Metal formed the core of each bolt of lightning; fire came next, spun through in thin cords that were held together by coating them with light. The process triggered a memory of the Remalon that had killed him outside of Mortan. Its mana had been tied in intricate braids that Jiran lacked the knowledge and control to copy.

  Each of the mines he infiltrated detonated, individually releasing a payload more than capable of killing him outright. They never got the chance. Jiran’s elements mixed with theirs, and the unaspected mana of his ever-present Armament acted like glue to bind his power to theirs. The results were explosions of dark, synapse-destroying lightning that were entirely under his control. And since they were, Elemental Castigation and Enthralling Touch had no issue converting them back into pure mana that he greedily absorbed into his Armament, swelling it to new heights.

  Elemental Castigation: + 4

  Armament: + 6

  Enthralling Touch: + 1

  Jiran ignored the notifications, utilizing Mana Confluence to restore his foot as he was pulled free from the dust and shattered framework of the minefield. He then fixed his damaged suit, thanking the Fathers that he made several upgrades to its durability the previous night, which likely saved his life. Noticing his attempt at hitchhiking, the ship was climbing straight up, gaining altitude at a speed that would quickly leave Jiran cooked alive despite his increased protection from the heat.

  Done being outmaneuvered by his clever opponent, Jiran Teleported to the ship, or at least that's what he meant to do. He grimaced, releasing a pained groan when nothing happened other than his guts feeling like they were being twisted into a knot and fed to a black hole. Jiran immediately stopped trying to move through the framework. Whatever field of energy was responsible for shrinking him was clearly still depleted. Until it restored itself or he figured out how to do it manually, he would have to move around the old-fashioned way.

  Armament surrounded the vessel, clinging to its hull and slowing its movement, allowing Jiran to close the distance. A massive bloom of mana shot from its rear, nearly blinding Mana Omnis. He estimated the energy was three tiers above him, and his grimace turned into a wicked grin.

  “You shouldn't have done that!” He laughed as the eleven masterium embedded in his new suit released distorting waves in unison. They crashed into the engine's exhaust, overwhelming the mana and leaving Enthralling Touch with a feast exceeding even what he gained from the mines.

  The ship lilted and stuttered to a stop, then fell toward the ground, rapidly picking up speed. Meanwhile, Jiran’s most recent bounty automatically converted to his Concentration before he fed it to Armament. The field ballooned in size to blanket everything within ten kilometers.

  A small hatch opened in the center of the ship. A tier eight Meersvant holding a short crystal-tipped staff in each hand popped out. He aimed the weapons in Jiran’s direction, releasing two lances of dark lightning. The mana that formed them moved significantly faster and was more potent than the mines, leaving Jiran no avenue to counter. Elemental Castigation combusted a nearby chunk of his Armament. He threw his aura around the explosion, collecting the released force and concentrating it to send him careening to the side.

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  The dual beams shot through where he had been a moment before, tearing the framework to shreds and casting a pall of darkness that blinded Jiran. Being sightless didn't stop his mana and aura from perceiving everything around him. He targeted the man, Elemental Castigation, borrowing a hundred bits of mana from random spots in his Armament. They answered his call, and a hundred chakrams of coiled, rotating elements buzzed to life. They fired in unison, a barrage of ice and lightning that blotted out the sky.

  A glacier sprouted from the atmosphere, and a horrendous cracking resounded as the ship collided and tore right through it. The lightning raced across the elemental ice to skitter over its hull, releasing raging whips of energy in random directions. Neither element left so much as a scratch on its pristine golden exterior.

  Damn, that thing’s tougher than one of Lostrifar’s formations!

  The tier eight that attacked him was gone, and the hatch closed once more. Frowning, Jiran recalled the unspent elements to mana, which put the ship back into free-fall.

  Unfortunately for the man, Gaze of Pediamus had seen him. Not only did Jiran get a glimpse into the skills of a tier eight Meersvant, but there was no longer any chance for escape. He split his vision, seeing through the man’s eyes, getting his first look at the ship's interior. The hallway the man raced through was made of a smooth, white-and-gold material that looked as sturdy as it was aesthetically pleasing. The walls perfectly matched the color palette of the few Meersvants tumbling past the tier eight.

  They certainly know what they like. Not even bothering to use his aura to keep his crew from falling? This guy’s an ass. With that Identify skill, he should be the seeker. Regardless, I need to get inside before he comes up with something new to throw at me.

  The seeker finished his dive down the long corridor in the crashing ship. He grabbed and physically assisted a hatch that wasn't sliding out of his way fast enough and entered what could only be the bridge. He pointed at a random crew, assumingly shouting orders in a wild frenzy.

  Since Jiran couldn't hear the seeker, he scanned the ship's exterior, locating several areas that looked weaker than the tough, golden formation-hull. But even those sections were too powerful for him to see through or pierce with his mana, just like the pyramid temple. Jiran focused Mana Confluence and Elemental Castigation on one hand and smashed a black-lightning laden fist into a joint near the base of the ship's forward-mounted cannon. His bones shattered, and the elements scattered.

  With gritted teeth, Jiran healed himself and circled the vessel, hoping he wouldn't have to starve them out. Just before it crashed, the engine once more roared to life. Jiran was quick to accept their fresh offering. Unsurprisingly, they attempted to flood the released mana with poison, but he was ready for it.

  A dozen balls of Mana Venom appeared inside the exhaust, rapidly spreading to fight the poison head-on. After a short delay, venom came out on top due to being explicitly tailored to combat their skill, while the poison lacked such adaptability. Once it was safe, Jiran absorbed the mana, releasing a satisfied burp as the ship crashed, releasing a massive wave of sand. Predictably, it showed not the slightest hint of damage.

  The seeker now sat on a chair affixed to the floor, his view tilted precariously from the ship's slanted position in the sand. The Meersvant tapped his chin in a slow rhythm as the few crew in the room scrambled about. Some didn't even have access to their auras. Their attempts to simply crew their stations were amusing enough that Jiran grunted. After nearly killing him twice, seeing them suffering a little was a balm to his nerves that brought a slight tilt to his lips.

  What next, Mr. Seeker? Don't tell me you’re out of moves? Not that I'm doing much better locked out here.

  The seeker pointed at one of the crew, and the woman rounded on him with wide eyes. Jiran couldn’t be sure, but the expression seemed full of betrayal as she stared without moving. In the next instant, her body folded in on itself before igniting in a puff of green flames that reduced her to less than ashes. Jiran was stunned by the absurdity of the seeker using such overwhelming force on an ally far weaker than himself.

  The seeker pointed to the next crew member. This one was eager to respond. Jiran had a bad feeling as the younger man stuck his face against a glowing crystal embedded in the wall. The two internal hatches connecting the bridge to the rest of the ship’s systems slid open. The Meersvant spun back to the seeker just in time to meet a wave of green flames racing away from the man. The masterium embedded in the man’s body exploded on contact with the fire, ripping him apart, even as the rest of him was reduced to nothing. The fires near-instantly engulfed the entire room, flooding into the now accessible hallways. The ship shuddered as the flames plowed through it.

  Whatever the crew member had done before his untimely incineration had also opened several hatches on the exterior of the ship, and the green flames shot out of them like a dozen tiny flamethrowers.

  He killed everyone? Jedd and !Dorik weren’t lying about the seekers after all.

  Mana Omnis got a good look at the strange flames, finding them to be a combination of several elements and three skills, but now wasn’t the time to attempt recreating them. Jiran’s Manabody and Armament flooded into the ship. As feared, he found no survivors save the seeker. Their auras clashed, Jiran’s slowly and steadily pushing the Meersvant’s back. He entered and flew down a tilted hallway washed in flames that failed to pierce his mana.

  The seeker offered no other resistance beyond uselessly smashing his aura into Jiran’s. When he pushed back the energy field enough to enter the bridge, the seeker didn’t speak, merely watching the Remalon's arrival with a calculating gaze.

  Jiran eyed the two wands that lay destroyed at the seeker's feet, their gems crushed to dust, “Why did you kill them?”

  The seeker scoffed, clicking his tongue, “Isn’t that obvious?” He slowly shook his head, their auras still crashing together, releasing waves of pressure that caused the framework to groan and quiver. “For the first time in our life, I doubted what our eyes revealed, yet you truly are a child, and already so powerful. How terrifying.” He chuckled as if his words were a joke.

  Jiran scoffed, “I’m only scary if you’re trying to kill me. Your people have been set on attacking me since I got here. I’m just defending myself.”

  “No, you’re using us to grow your powers. In the short time we've watched you, your abilities have advanced tremendously. Attacking you was the right choice. We are only sorry we failed. You’ll get nothing more from us, farewell, Catastrophe.”

  The reason for their constant struggle became clear when the seeker’s aura depressed a cleverly hidden latch under the armrest of his chair. Jiran heard it click, and Armament's mana sensed a pulse of energy speeding through a conduit that ran the length of the ship. It fed directly into the highest concentration of latent mana, which rested inside the formation that fed her engines.

  Ahh, shrelkshit.