Return of the Fallen Volume 7 Chapter 97
This breath was not something just any could endure. It felt like every inch of Kazuki was being squeezed and crushed. Kazuki did his best to endure, while also trying to sense Zetrazz’s combination of both magic and aura but it was incredibly difficult. After a brief few seconds, the pressure grew and multiplied until Kazuki could take no more and collapsed face first.
“What is that it already? I thought you’d last longer under my power but an ant is an ant.”
“I can do it. Again.”
And so this went on for hours upon hours. Each time Zetrazz released his Aura Breath the time between Kazuki collapsing grew shorter and shorter. Zetrazz had no discipline to be a teacher and snapped.
“Are you even fucking trying!? I think an actual ant would have made more progress than you by now. Pathetic!”
Kazuki didn’t understand what he was trying to do either. Every time he felt the pressure from Zetrazz, that was all he felt. A simple crushing force that was actively trying to squish him in every way.
“I’m trying but sensing your Aura Breath, all I feel is pain and pressure. How am I supposed to learn anything from this at all?”
Zetrazz went quiet for a moment before he asked.
“You…What is magic to you?”
“Magic? Its a source of energy found in nearly everything that can
“Stop right there. I’m not talking about the source of it. Everyone already understands this fact. What about the flow of it all, what do you know about the flow of magic, what does it feel like to you?”
Kazuki stopped to think for a moment.
(What does it feel like? Flow? What is he talking about?)
“I don’t get what you mean. Magic feels like magic as for a flow…I don’t get what you mean by that.”
The dark energy pulsed a few times as though Zetrazz was frustrated.
“What in the 7 realms of hell do humans teach to their offspring. If you don’t even know what magic feels like how are you, creatures, using magic in the first place?”
Kazuki pointed at the ring on his hand and Zetrazz understood.
“That’s right, you lowly creatures have to use a fucking medium like a ring or some other tool. Have you not wondered why Magical beast and other creatures that don’t require a magic tool to use magic are so much stronger than you humans. They use magic directly. there is no in-between for them. Magical energy is absorbed from their surroundings and environment. It resides within their Beast cores and when they use magic it materializes directly from their cores and into the world. You, humans, draw energy in and keep it in your Mage cores but when it’s time to use magic you all have a delay. After you will it, your magic has to be activated by a ring or something else. This not only makes it very inefficient but the power you draw out is a fraction of what it could be.”
In the real world Zetrazz’s dark energy wrapped around Kazuki’s finger and took his ring off before making it vanish. The ring in Kazuki’s soul world was only something he made with his mind as a representation but the moment Zetrazz took his ring from the outside world, his ring in his soul world disappeared from his hand.
“What did you do? I can no longer sense my Orichalcum ring. Where did you put it!?”
“Relax. Do you think I stole it or something? No one wants your stupid little ring or rather I have no interest in it.”
“Then why did you take it from me?”
“Have you not been paying attention to what I’ve been saying. This ring of yours is only a hindrance, a weight that will drag you down and not allow you to reach your potential. I thought you wished to grow stronger. Tell me, was all that anger and rage, all that talk about vengeance, was it all falsehoods or do you really wish to become so strong that you bend to no one’s will, including my own?”
Kazuki didn’t hesitate to agree.
“No, none of that has changed. I will do what it takes to grow stronger. If that means giving up a fortune to achieve it, I’d do it a million times over.”
“Hmph, you are overly dramatic. I never said I was going to keep this shitty ring nor the things you value in it. As I said, because of mediums such as this ring of yours, there is a delay when you relay your will into it and use magic. This delay is from your Mage core to the ring itself but the reverse is true. You, humans, tend to rely on these rings so much that you subconsciously sense through them and it becomes a crutch for you. You use it like another sense.”
Kazuki shook his head.
“I’m not saying I doubt your words but from what I’ve felt and known I’m always using my own aura or my ki or my body to sense things. I don’t use my ring.”
“This is why you humans are so stupid. You can’t even tell what you’re using when you’re using it. You rely on these rings so heavily that you subconsciously feel or sense a small amount with them. Whether you admit to it or not, believe in my words or not, it is still a fact. You do indeed sense a tiny bit with them and because of that, there is a delay to your sensories. Tell me, if someone stands directly in front of you and tosses you a ball if you move to catch it 2 seconds later, will you catch it or will it slip right past your fingers and fly over your dumb ant head?”
There was no need for Kazuki to answer as it was obvious.
“Because you sense with multiple things they all affect one another to a certain degree. So my Aura Breath, even though it’s clearly a mixture of both magic and aura, your senses are being thrown off to feel the subtlety of my power. It’s like you have a map two inches from your face and can only see the village but once I remove this ring, you will pull away from the map and see the continent.”
Kazuki was now putting it together but a question came up.
“If I master this technique, does that mean the only time I’ll be able to properly feel and use Aura Breath is when I don’t have my ring on. If I really am using it to sense things subconsciously, would it not interfere every time I try and use the technique?”
“You really are dumb. I’m saying, once you master Aura Breath and you can then sense magic as well as a magical beast, for what need will a magic ring do? I’m teaching you not only how to sense these energies but also manipulate them with absolute mastery. If you can manipulate magical energy as though turning over a palm, as I said, for what reason would you need a ring?”
“Are you telling me, that once I master your Aura breathing technique, I’ll be able to use magic without needing a medium, without a magic tool?”
The dark energy pulsed for a moment before Zetrazz’s loud booming voice rippled over Kazuki’s entire soul world.
“YES YOU IGNORANT FOOL! THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING THIS WHOLE TIME!”
Kazuki was blown backward from this force and he slammed heavily into his own soul tree. His mind racked with pain but he didn’t care. Right now, more than the pain, he was simply excited.
(To use magic without a ring, does this not overturn all knowledge we humans had accumulated up to now with how magic is used. I’ll be able to use magic just like one of the Ancient Beast! If I can use energy with such efficiency, just how untapped will my power be exactly?)
Kazuki began to think about how terrifying his magic would be at that point. Humans were capped at a certain point to how much magic they could draw out and how potent and pure it would be. Kazuki’s ring that he had received from King Oren allowed him to pull out nearly 100 times more efficiency as well as amplify his magic but compared to an Ancient beast, it fell quite short and the reason for this was simple. Ancient beast, inside their core the magic was as close to pure as possible.
The power they brought out was the best of the best which was just one more factor that made them stand near the very top of the food chain.
Before Zetrazz mentioned anything else, Kazuki popped a squat and sat down with a smile.
Zetrazz didn’t know whether to laugh or crush Kazuki. In the end, though he decided to oblige Kazuki. Taking a deep breath, Zetrazz inhaled. His aura and magic combining, in one weighted breath, he exhaled and forced his aura and magic to combine becoming his Aura breath. This Aura breath came crashing down atop Kazuki like a mountain.
This time, however, it wasn’t all pain that Kazuki felt. Yes, the pressure was just as heavy a before but without his ring, something sparked within his senses. Like a tiny ripple echoing from outward to in, Kazuki sensed the flow of energy.
Kazuki’s eyes went wide. As Zetrazz’s breath continued to bear down upon him, Kazuki was starting to sense the flow and entanglement of both Zetrazz’s aura and magic combined. After a moment this Aura breath retreated backward and was pulled away from Kazuki’s senses.
Kazuki sat there in silence with a stunned expression. In that small moment, it was like an entirely new world had opened before him.
Kazuki snapped out of it before looking to Zetrazz and saying.
“Again.”
———————————————End of Volume Seven————————————————
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