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Return of the Fallen Volume 4 Chapter 8

Author: Blue_Rat

ch8

After he sealed the element of fire into the 2nd tier Magic beast core, he then moved onto the element of earth and the element of darkness. The element of earth wasn’t too difficult, seeing as how he was sealing the element of earth into a tier 1 Magical Beast core. The soul fragment that remained within was much weaker compared to the 2nd tier and didn’t put up too much of a fight. As for the dark element in the 3rd beast core, well there was no resistance from the soul fragment at all within.

Kazuki theorized it was because it was from a Mangshi. Those birds already used a mix of both air and darkness. So when he went to put the element of darkness inside the Beast core, he wasn’t too surprised to see that the soul fragment from the Mangshi beast put up no resistance. The element of darkness came naturally to Mangshi and the fragment of beast soul within must have seen the element of darkness as a natural neighbor.

After covering all three of these small orbs with a few layers of ki, the possibility of the elements being forced out was minimal. If the element sealed inside these beast cores actually were forced out in totality, it could easily damage the beast cores. Kazuki would have much rather have eliminated the fragment of souls in each of the Beast cores but that as well was a no go.

Destroying the soul fragment within could cause the power inside to drain away or the worst-case scenario, without the soul fragment, the entire Magical Beast core becomes unstable and explodes. Even with an enhanced body, a tier-one Beast core exploding would no doubt seriously injure Kazuki if not kill him. A tier 2 exploding and there’s no question Kazuki would not survive. So although it was rather annoying and time-consuming to constantly add layer after layer of ki to push the element back into the Beast core, it was absolutely necessary, to avoid disaster.

With all three Magic beast cores filled with the natural elements of Kazuki’s previous Mage core, Kazuki was ready for the next step. Though before he began he only now wondered if it was possible to add more elements to other Magic Beast cores. In the end, though he wasn’t willing to try. Everything up to this point was an untested theory. If he were to start adding even more variables into the mix, who knows what could happen.

His body had already had the element of fire, earth, and darkness long before, so he for sure knew his body was compatible with those elements. Who knew if adding just one more element would ruin the balance his body had already proven to be in harmony with. It wasn’t worth the risk at the moment.

Kazuki Set the three orbs in front of him and tested his ki. With them all wrapped in a few layers of his energy, he slowly lifted them off the ground with his ki. The orbs hovered a few inches off the ground for a moment before he slowly set them back down.

(Good, I haven’t lost my touch.)

It had been a while since Kazuki had last used his ki to move a physical object. The last time he could remember doing so was when he was chained to a wall in the sky prison. He had used this skill and it had proven to be a lifesaver when he faced Itsu, Garn’s information officer.

Kazuki sat the three orbs in front of him before encircling them with several Nexar crystals. These crystals glowed and dimmed at a constant rate as though they were breathing. Their purpose was to make the tangible, intangible, and vice versa. Kazuki outstretched his ki and covered both the Nexar crystals and the three Beast cores with a bubble of ki. Slowly his hands and fingers began to move and turn into different hand signs. Gradually he quickened his pace and his fingers looked as though they were made of rubber and his hands appeared boneless.

Quicker and quicker, his hands blurred with speed and began to look like an optical illusion. The movements were more than unnatural but Kazuki didn’t care. He didn’t pick up this skill to look cool. After another moment Kazuki hands came together as though he were about to pray. A golden symbol of energy materialized in front of his hands.

His thumbs stuck out and both of his index fingers pointed at the Nexar crystals one by one and he commanded.

(GO!)

The symbol shot forth. Just before it hit his bubble of ki he had formed around all of the objects, Kazuki opened a small hole in it and the ancient golden symbol flew inside and Kazuki resealed the hole. As soon as the golden symbol was inside, Kazuki made another gesture with his hands and the symbol divided itself a few times before each one launched itself to all the Nexar crystals. As soon as the golden symbols landed, the Nexar crystals glow became even brighter and in reverse, it also dimmed even darker.

After it dimmed, it glowed again but this time, it’s light was obviously several times brighter. When it dimmed, the light faded completely and took on a pitch black. This repeated several times. Brighter and brighter, darker and darker. Kazuki watched on fervently. After a moment, a Nexar crystal released seemingly neutral energy. An energy that was neither hot or cold, heavy or light. It then began to fall within Kazuki’s bubble but not even a second later as though gravity were reversed it floated back up.

After the first one did this, it was soon followed by another and another, before all of the Nexar crystals were releasing this neutral energy and floating about within Kazuki’s bubble of ki. At first, Kazuki was nervous when one of the Nexar crystals got close to the edge of his bubble. He knew that once Nexar crystals were activated and released their energy they began to phase in and out of physicality. Tangible to intangible objects. Kazuki knew his ki acted oddly on magic and could secure barriers around it. He had done this to Nunully at one point in time when he had first met her.

When it came to something barely comprehendible that could become physical and nonphysical, he wasn’t sure if his ki would prevent the Nexar crystals from simply falling through his barrier and sinking to the bottom of the lake or flying off and away. Thankfully it had actually worked.

As the neutral energy spread out around the Beast cores, Kazuki could tell that his plan was working right away. The Beast cores reacted similarly to the Nexar crystals. When they became intangible, it seemed that gravity no longer affected them and they moved around due to the reaction of the Nexar crystals around them. Kazuki didn’t know how long this energy would last and swiftly moved his ki. With a thought, he focused on a small point in the center of the bubble and moved his ki accordingly.

The bubble of ki then began to shrink at a visible rate. In doing so everything within began to float closer and closer together. Concentrating, he shrunk his bubble more and more until the Beast cores were touching. Kazuki was waiting for the perfect moment and he didn’t have to wait long. As soon as the Beast cores became intangible again, Kazuki ushered his ki with a quickness.

He threw the Nexar crystal out of the bubble of ki and placed them into a new bubble of ki off to the side. At the same time, he shrunk his first bubble of ki until every orb overlapped the other. His Barrier of ki now was only the size of a single orb. He wasn’t finished though. As soon as all three orbs became tangible, he had to multi-task. He made a third bubble next to the first and connected a small tube of ki between the two. He made something like a door connecting the two bubbles.

The purpose was to allow the leftover neutral Nexar crystal energy to flow out of the beast cores slowly so they could fuse together. He would need to siphon the excess neutral energy until the three orbs fused perfectly together. At the same time, he used his ki and made something akin to a filter within the tube as well. Any elemental energy being forced out would be stopped by this filter and be pushed back inside the Beast cores while the neutral energy passed through without problems.

Kazuki had to do all this while at the same time create several more layers of ki around the Beast core itself. He had to do this because the three soul fragments that were seeming tamed now fought back again with a renewed vigor. It seems they didn’t like to share their space with another beast soul fragment. The three Beast fragments like true beast were territorial. Whether this was caused by natural animal instincts or they simply didn’t like one another Kazuki didn’t know but one thing for sure was that this raised the difficulty by several-fold.

The remaining souls were literally fighting with one another and if they were anything like Kazuki’s older brother, then the pain they would unleash upon each other would at the very least feel real. If they were to simply hit one another and not feel anything then they may give up and find fighting pointless but the way the cores were reacting currently, Kazuki was afraid the later was the truth.

The cores trembled and shook. Every now and again, they would try and forcibly push away from each other, causing Kazuki another headache. Sweat poured from his face as he pushed his ki to the limit creating more and more layers as well as keeping his bubble of ki the size of a single Beast core.

The cold wind against his sweat made his teeth chatter and his back numb as a thin layer of frost began to build upon the surface of any skin that was exposed to the elements. Kazuki felt as though his skin was being pricked with hundreds of needles as the cold continuously stabbed at him. He hadn’t been able to warm up or put on dry clothes when he pulled himself from the frozen lake and now he was suffering from it. He cursed himself for not taking a few minutes to heat himself up with the ancient hand sign and Beast core in front of him kicked out a strong force tearing a hole in his bubble of ki.

Kazuki almost panicked as he quickly repaired his ki bubble. He shivered even more but he bit down on his tongue to regain focus.

(I can’t think about stupid shit right now. All those years, all that suffering, all my running has led me here. Let’s do this.)

Kazuki refocused his efforts and didn’t lose his concentration for even a moment after. He slowly drained away the excess neutral energy, while also keeping the elements inside as the beast soul fragments fought. Slowly but surely, the cores fused together and when the last bit of Nexar crystal energy was siphoned away.

*Tzzzt tzzt*

A current of energy similar to electricity ran along the surface of the orb. With all the neutral energy gone, the core seemed to harden and Kazuki could feel an actual weight to it.

Kazuki slowly and cautiously reached out and grabbed the orb. gripping it tightly he then retracted hi ki barrier from around it and held it firmly in his hand.

The outside of the orb was smooth like glass but a mixed energy rolled along its surface. It seemed the orb could barely contain the new power within.

(As to be expected of a Beast core newly fused from three.)

Kazuki repeatedly examined the orb in his hand. A wide grin formed on Kazuki’s face and the more he observed, the more he smiled like a greedy fool.

(One step closer, I’m one step closer now.)