Return of the Fallen Volume 7 Chapter 6
Kazuki wrapped his magic around the dark crystal and commanded.
(Come!)
His energy like a net around a wild fish began to reel all of the dark energy from the elemental crystal and bring it directly into his Mage core.
An enormous crushing wave of power sunk into his Mage core and for a moment a great pressure filled his soul which stole the air from his lungs. Kazuki didn’t panic from this little side effect and controlled his aura to force air back into his lungs.
*GASP*
Fresh air came into him and restored his breath and he continued to pull in the energy from the crystal. As he took in this power the crystal itself began to shake violently. At the same time, Kazuki’s core was vibrating as power flooded in.
(Good It’s working.)
Ten seconds went by and then twenty. Barely thirty seconds had passed from when Kazuki started to absorb the energy within the dark crystal when the expected happened.
The crystal that was shaking in front of him, had now been fully drained, with it, the entire crystal fell apart, collapsing in on itself. By the time it hit the ground, it became nothing more than a pile of dust.
Kazuki inspected his mage core and saw that only a fraction of it had been filled.
(At this rate it might take several days.)
A greedy grin filled Kazuki’s face.
(I can handle one with ease why not more at the same time.)
Kazuki’s ring lit up and this time he took out enough boulder-sized dark crystals to fill up the cave he carved out of the mountain. There was no room to move about because of this but Kazuki need not move around for now.
Once again he stretched out his own magical energy and wrapped it around all of the crystals inside the cave-like a wide net before all at once, pulling that power inside of him.
*Rumble*
The interior of the cave shook as a massive amount of energy swirled inside the cave before drilling its way into Kazuki’s Mage core. The first time it had taken his breath away, this second time was much much different. As soon as the power entered his Mage core, Kazuki felt a shock unlike any he’s ever felt.
The closest thing he could think of was the very first time he was struck by lightning from Itsu, Garn’s right-hand man at the time.
As if thousands of needles ran across his soul, the pain was excruciating. He immediately regretted trying to push the envelope. His greed had fucked him.
Kazuki’s mind ran dizzy and he tried to control his ki to shut his barrier and stop the inflow of energy but he couldn’t concentrate properly. The power continued to rush in and waves of pain followed as his soul was raked over the coals so to speak.
Kazuki has suffered many injuries, some even fatal but this pain was different. It wasn’t one that harmed the body but one that directly affected the soul. Since one’s Mage core resided inside the soul and the Mage core was connected to the soul, the two shared many things. One of these things was a strange yet natural exchange of sensation. This feeling to his soul also affected his Mage core and vice versa, because of that, the pain was causing Kazuki to lose focus.
Kazuki felt his mind starting to go blank when suddenly just as he thought he was losing consciousness, the pain completely vanished. No, the power did not stop rushing in, rather the pain itself was elevated somehow. With the pain momentarily stopped, Kazuki regained control of his ki and cut off the connection to the dark elemental crystals.
Catching his breath he couldn’t help but curse at himself.
(What the fuck was that? How stupid can I be? The history of magic in this world is beyond ancient and yet after all of that time, the number of beings that have entered the 5th stage is something that could barely cover two or three pages in a history book. To make it to that level, one can not simply rush but I actually tried to run through it like a god damn bull. Foolish.)
After calling himself out, Kazuki was curious about what had happened to his Mage core. All of the sudden the pain had just cut off and he was able to regain focus.
Kazuki shut his eyes and entered his soul world. As soon as he did, he found the reason or rather the person responsible.
Danny had a hand on Kazuki’s Mage core, he was keeled over on the ground next to it. Kai on the other hand was floating next to him with a concerned look on his face.
“Dammit Danny! I told you to be careful.”
Danny shook his head.
“Kazuki was suffering. He was about to pass out as well. If he kept absorbing that power without control you know what would have happened.”
Kai couldn’t say anything to that but that’s exactly when he saw Kazuki off to the side.
Kai’s eyes were wide with rage and he teleported over, his body fading in and out as he used that much power. He began punching Kazuki without reserve.
“You fucking idiot little dummy! When it comes to entering the 5th stage you have Glacious’s memories for reference yet you tried to speed shit up recklessly. You moron fool. If Danny didn’t step in just now you could have died. Danny as well almost disappeared because he was trying to help you. You’ve done some really stupid shit in your life but this one is particularly stupid.”
Danny came over and held Kai back.
“It’s ok, we’re both fine. Thanks for your concern, Kai.”
“Hmph, hmph, hmph, who’s concerned for you bunch of idiots. Damnit!”
Kai turned his back to the two and kept cursing under his breath. This allowed Kazuki to finally speak.
“Danny, it was you who saved me, how?”
Danny was about to explain but Kai turned back around in a huff.
“You lucky little bastard. If Danny’s soul wasn’t fused to your soul tree, you would most likely be dead at this very moment. Since he’s fused here, by simply touching your Mage core, he was able to take the pain that you so foolishly pushed upon yourself. In doing so he took on the burden and felt it all just so you could regain your focus and cut the absorption off. The amount of times, Danny has pulled through for you, damn. I know it’s your body and all little brother but you need to think some things through before you just jump. The amount of luck you spent this time, you just best watch yourself and make sure you don’t break any mirrors, it may just cost you your life.”
Kazuki was stunned. He knew just how horrible that pain felt and yet Danny willingly took it on to protect him.
“Danny, you endured that for me.”
Danny shrugged.
“Of course. I can’t just sit around and watch you suffer. Well, that’s not true, I’ve watched you get your ass handed to you plenty of times it’s just that I couldn’t do anything about those times since I’m in here. When you were suffering from your Mage core though, that’s different. I can actually affect that, so naturally, I stepped in. That’s just what friends do”
Kazuki didn’t know how to respond. The time he spent in the trench he thought he was had suffered alone but he wasn’t really alone. His brother and friend were there the entire time. Even if he didn’t talk with them all the time, they still observed his life from his soul world. They were still a part of him. Kazuki felt moved. Just as he didn’t know how to properly respond to all of this, Danny added.
“Plus if you die, I don’t get to exist anymore.”
Kazuki for some reason felt deflated. Kai saw this on his face and his mood perked up.
“Hahahaha, little dummy, what were you expecting just now. That expression, you look like you just confessed to a grand beauty and she’s stepped on your heart. Are you two gonna kiss now. Go ahead, I’ll wait, bwahahaha.”
Danny tilted his head in confusion and Kazuki’s expression just went blank.
(This dumbass.)
Turning around, he was just about to return when Danny stopped him.
“Kazuki, your power is already growing at a phenomenal level. I know you are worried about your sister killing you but we all saw Glacious use Kai’s sword forms as well as ki. He should be 100% recovered. With him in this world, your sister may, no she will definitely still try and kill you but at the same time, Glacious is a pretty big deterrence. As long as he exists, you have time. So use it wisely and not rashly. Neither too fast nor too slow, you will reach your goal.”
Kazuki took those words to heart.
“Thanks, Danny.”
Danny gave a slight nod and Kai just kept laughing and making weird jokes.
Kazuki once more opened his eyes and he was in the real world.
(It took me thirty seconds to absorb the energy of one crystal which will take me a few days if I wish to absorb every single one. At the same time trying to absorb all of these at once is too extreme. Neither too fast nor too slow.)
Kazuki stored most of the boulder-sized crystals but kept three of them out.
One by one he wrapped them up with his magic and began to tug on their energy, pulling it into his Mage core. The crystals shook and his Mage core began to vibrate. The pain this time was tolerable. It was still intense but this amount was something Kazuki could handle.
(Neither too fast nor too slow, I can do this.)
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