Blade Over Magic

A Proper Fight

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest.

The figures of King Hemlock on his horse being escorted by Irene and Finn could be seen, and trailing behind them was Xavier.

The King was also participating in the hunt, but it was clear that his was far more casual as they had barely come across any beasts since they began moving.

In front of them, multiple screens were projected, showing the figures of numerous people participating in the hunt.

Some were like the King who simply moved around casually, other’s were much more competitive and sought out beasts en-masse. But there was one screen that they were all focusing on.

It showed the figure of Xander running through the forest after his consequent elimination of the bone scorpions, and after a few seconds, Hemlock asked.

”Xavier, tell me about that boy.” His tone was calm as he kept his gaze on the screen, and Xavier hummed.

”Is there anything to say, your highness? Most of the information on him is already public, as you know.” His tone was casual, the veneration most held towards a figure like King Hemlock barely there. This made Irene and Finn look at Xavier, but King Hemlock just shook his head.

”I’m not surprised. Well, it’s not just him, even those companions of his. It’s no wonder so many people are interested in them, for better or for worse.” His gaze shifted to a screen showing Aubrey, Curtis, and Falael. The three of them were once again making quick work of a large group of monsters that would put ordinary mages under immense pressure.

Xavier chuckled silently.

”What about you, then? Your highness? Do you see him as a threat to be removed or something to be used?” Xavier didn’t even try to sugarcoat it, and King Hemlock was silent for a moment, his gaze still on the screens.

Then he replied with a question.

”You intend to back him in his endeavors, yes? His existence is going to cause a lot of mayhem if he’s allowed to grow like he’s doing now.” Xavier didn’t disagree, he just shrugged.

”No offense, but as things stand, Solvaren—and most intelligent species of this continent—are one-trick-ponies. Everyone specializes in some variant of the same thing, which isn’t bad in itself, but all it takes is one force that just happens to counter that specially to collapse everything. Xander presents another avenue. Nothing wrong in exploring it.” The King hummed.

”I don’t wholly disagree with your sentiment, but you know as well as I do, perhaps even better than me. Our methodologies of magic aren’t just tools. They are completely integrated in our way of life. For something that can genuinely prove itself capable of standing confidently against it after so long... the following change will be hard to imagine.” As he said that, he raised his hand towards a tree not to far away.

There, a large snake with three eyes was hidden, its camouflage making it hard to see as it blended in with the environment to an unnerving degree. But the King hardly seemed bothered as he pointed a finger at the snake’s exact position.

Then a thin beam of water no thicker than a piece of string left his finger and arrived at the snake so fast that it looked instantaneous, then it went through the snake’s head and through the tree it was on.

Its body froze, then slowly went limp as it fell, only for it to disappear as Irene waved her hand, storing it somewhere.

”Eh, I think it’s better for a change to be hard but done than for people to be comfortable in their current stage, then be helpless when something they didn’t account for appears.” Xavier shrugged again. ”You’d be amazed just how common that is.” King Hemlock exhaled.

”... It remains to be seen. And it appears that boy is about to encounter something even more dangerous than his previous opponents. Let’s see how he handles it, then.” At that, they all looked back at the screen.

***

Xander kept running through the forest, occasionally passing by a beast he spotted to kill it.

However, it didn’t take long before he once more encountered the situation of his surroundings changing.

As he ran, the surrounding trees began showing signs of being covered in crystals.

However, he didn’t need to go deep before he inwardly noted.

’I’ve been noticed already.’ His expression turned slightly serious. In his eyes, the number of paths reached a staggering number, and their range was absurd as well, with their thickness nothing to scoff at.

Despite this, though, he was undeterred as he kept proceeding.

Eventually, the scenery around him had completely transformed. The trees were no longer made of wood but were in fact completely crystalline, the sunlight retracting through them to create a scene that was actually quite beautiful.

This, however, was simply a distraction, and Xander used mana to create a thin film around his body as in the air, microscopic pieces of crystal floated around. An unsuspecting person might have traversed this area unaware that they were inhaling such things while some of it stuck to their bodies.

A few minutes later, he finally arrived at the center of the area, and there, a very thick crystal tree could be seen. Keyword thick as it was actually shorter than many of the surrounding trees.

The top was made to resemble a nest as on it, Xander could see a large scaled figure.

Its scales were also made of crystals which made it glimmer in the sun, and its wings looked like fragile glass, but Xander was sure they were anything but.

Its long tail hung off the tree, swaying casually, and from it, spikes went up along its spine to its head.

For half a beat, Xander thought it was a dragon. But upon closer inspection, he realized that wasn’t the case.

Because unlike true dragons who had four limbs with their wings on their backs, this creature only had two hind legs and a pair of wings where its shoulders were.

’A wyvern.’ He noted, and he had to admit, he was pretty relieved. If it was a dragon he saw, he would have immediately turned tail and ran. As he slowed to a stop, because just as he was inspecting the wyvern, it was also inspecting him as a large slitted pupils looked at him from the crystal tree.

And then they just stared at each other, this lasting for a whole minute. An outsider may wonder what was happening, however, in truth, the fight had already started.

Within the world of Myriad Paths, Xander’s Paths constantly intertwined and clashed with the wyvern’s. Even if it couldn’t see them, it was clearly at a high enough level where predicting an opponent’s moves was a part of its skillset, and this was translated to Xander in the form of paths as no side seemed to want to give the other the opening to attack.

Xander’s foot shifted forward, and the wyvern turned its head to face him fully.

The clash of Paths immediately became more extreme, but no matter how intense it grew, no side gave the other an inch, so it seemed like they were at an impasse.

Hence, none of them stopped trying to gain the advantage.

They just attacked.

Xander jumped as massive crystal spikes burst forth from the ground to impale him, and as soon as he was airborne, an incandescent beam shot out of the wyvern’s mouth, and at the last second, his body seemed to phase as he made use of Vibration Traversal.

Previously, he could only use it to pass through solid objects like the earth. But now? Even the air was his road as he evaded the beam.

When he reappeared, Abscinde was already swinging down as a red line appeared across the wyvern’s body. But shockingly, before space could split, a crystalline light covered the red line before both crumbled into nothing.

Giant chains of crystal, each one thicker than a building, appeared in the air and dropped down on Xander like ancient weights. The impact shaking the ground for miles as dust and crystal shards were thrown into the air.

However, Xander wasn’t hit. Instead, he’d appeared below the figure of the wyvern which had already stood, and he thrust Abscinde at its jaw.

Rupture Thrust

Space began to splinter as the vibrations cascaded upwards, but before they could strike the wyvern, its scales released an incandescent glow, and Xander watched as the space itself... began to get crystallized, the splintering coming to an abrupt stop, and Xander traversed backwards before the light could wash over him.

He reappeared with a single leg on one of the spikes from before, and the wyvern didn’t immediately follow as it simply straightened its body.

Despite the intensity, both of them were only probing each other to get some grasp of their abilities.

’Phew, alright. That’s an interesting bit of magic, that’s for sure.’ Xander thought as he rolled his shoulders. ’But in that case...’ Within his garden, the large dormant flower representing Abscinde began to unfurl bit by bit, and Xander entered a stance as multiple sword projections came to overlap with the black blade.

’Why don’t we kick things up a notch, then?’ Seeing this, the wyvern growled as it flapped its wings. Not to fly, but more like a declaration as both of them locked eyes with one another.

Then, they moved.