The Lone Wanderer

Percy was about to attack the water mage when the latter retracted the azure serpents of his own volition. The constructs fused into the ring coiling around his body, soon expanding to form a large bubble a dozen metres wide, the man floating inside.

Next, seven serpentine heads sprouted from the sphere. They looked similar to before, but they were much shorter, and they were attached to their caster. Percy didn't doubt that they were just as deadly, but he struggled to understand how the old man hoped to reach him or Micky from that distance.

'Is he giving up?' Micky asked through their cord for the first time since the start of the battle. His voice sounded strained.

Percy raised an eyebrow, also surprised by the water mage's actions. But he didn't get a chance to respond to his familiar, his opponent beating him to it.

"We approached you two prepared for a tough fight, but it appears we still underestimated you. To think you managed to kill old Besian…" the veteran mage said, his words crisp and clear as they reverberated through the hydra-shaped construct.

Next, he sighed, losing himself in melancholy for a few seconds before continuing.

"It really is a pity… that such a talented young man has to die. But that's just how things go, I suppose…"

Percy frowned, struggling to make sense of this. How was his opponent planning to take them down while hiding in that shell of his? Micky wasn't in the best state right now, but his life wasn't in any danger. And even like this, both Percy and Micky were much faster than him. If they wanted to escape, he wouldn't be able to stop them.

Yet, his eyes widened a moment later, as the realization hit him.

'He's not giving up. Just changing tactics.'

It was true that the water mage wasn't in any position to kill them immediately, but he didn't have to do that. Micky would have a harder time flying like this, and he might have to take a break sooner or later. Even Percy would have to deactivate his boosting art at some point, his body already strained from overuse.

Their opponent travelled much more slowly than either of them, but he was also in a much better condition. Worse still, he had the means to track them down. He could take his sweet time chasing them, attacking when they least expected it. Even if they managed to evade him for a while, he could just put pressure on them while waiting for reinforcements. Eventually, more nobles from the Root or other Houses would arrive, looking for Percy and Micky. This guy could just join forces with them when that happened, borrowing their strength while lending them his tracking ability.

'How troublesome… These old Blues are so annoying to deal with,' Percy clicked his tongue, before explaining his reasoning to Micky.

He and his familiar had spent the whole battle dancing like mice in their opponents' palms. There was simply no comparing the old foxes to the likes of Acton or Femel. It wasn't just about raw power either. Granted, the two Blues had that in spades too, but their ability to pull one trick after another from a seemingly bottomless sack was far more irritating. Even though Percy had taken down one of them, it didn't feel like he had won.

'We can't have that. This guy needs to die here.' Micky replied, echoing the sentiment.

Percy nodded grimly, knowing his familiar was right. But it was easier said than done.

'Can you break through the constructs? Because I sure can't.'

Over the course of their conversation, he had tried to penetrate the water mage's defences but, just like before, his scythes had failed to pierce into the domain-infused liquid. His only hope was Micky's Rending Tornado. Taking advantage of the crow's greatest weapon – his body – and fuelled by every drop of mana in his cores, it certainly packed much more of a punch than Percy's scythes.

This was why he had asked the bird to try his luck against the water mage in the first place. Judging from the man's unblemished clothes and Micky's sorry state, however, it didn't seem the crow had been particularly successful.

'I can, and I have.' Micky said, lighting up a spark of hope in Percy's eyes. 'But I've only managed to break through a couple of serpents at once, and he never let me get anywhere close to his body.'

Percy scratched his chin, contemplating his friend's words. Smashing through two or three of the constructs was a promising start, but they wouldn't win unless Micky pierced through all of them.

That said, things weren't that bad. Micky had previously been cautious not to consume too much mana in a single attack. With Percy having his back, the crow would finally be free to go all out. But even if he managed to peel the man's defences off, Percy might fail to land the finishing blow on their target. And both he and his familiar would be vulnerable after their attempt.

'As I see it, we have two options,' he said after a while. 'If you're confident that you can open the way for me, I'll do my best to kill him. But if we fail, we'll just make our situation worse. Alternatively, we can just fly away now and deal with the consequences later.'

Both choices were risky, so Percy figured he should let his familiar and his clone discuss this first. The two understood Micky's capabilities better than he did, having tested them against the water mage extensively already.

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'I'll do it. Just make sure you time your attack properly.' Micky said after a while, already gathering his strength.

The glowing lines on his plumage shone even more brightly, as he pushed his boosting art to its limits. His feathers lit up too – the mutated ones, at least – as ice mana gathered around them. Transparent blood that looked like water gushed out of the holes in his body, but much of it froze on the spot, rapidly encasing his wounds in crystalline patches. His joints made popping sounds, as he increased the frequency of his flaps, ignoring his broken bones as they shredded his flesh. Finally, mana poured out of both cores, enveloping Micky in a thick pale mist, his muscles swelling with strength.

Throughout this whole thing, the water mage didn't do much. He probably understood that his best bet was to endure this one attack with everything he had. The serpentine necks coiled around the azure bubble a couple more times, the heads retracting even closer to his body. They opened their mouths, hissing quietly as they bared their long fangs at Percy and Micky.

Percy didn't remain idle either. He created as many scythes as he could, spreading them all over the battlefield. He didn't know which ones he would end up using as weapons, and which he would turn into platforms to step on. In fact, most would probably go to waste, but he wanted to give himself as many options as possible. He'd only kept a certain area clear of his weapons – a straight-line connecting Micky to their opponent – careful not to obstruct his friend's path.

Before long, the crow was done with his preparations.

With no warning, he dove right toward the water mage, rotating both his body and the mana around him as he picked up speed. Violent gusts of pale wind formed, though the attack looked quite different from the last time Micky went all out. He was a lot larger, and his mutations now covered an even greater proportion of his body. His cores had both advanced, he had upgraded his affinity, and he'd even spent a lot of time mastering Circulation. Finally, he had a clone to help him.

The frigid tornado spiralling toward their opponent admittedly made for a pretty sight, but Percy knew he didn't have time to marvel at it.

Leaping from platform to platform, he accelerated too, preparing his one attack. It already sucked that Micky had to put his body through the meat grinder to give him this chance, so he refused to waste it.

Soon, the crow reached the first of the azure constructs. It was impossible to make the bird's features out amidst the raging storm of mana. Yet, his offensive power wasn't a joke. He dug through the water serpent with ease, the construct shattering into powder after freezing and turning brittle by the spell.

The water mage didn't wait for Micky to break through his defences. The second and third serpents bit back at the crow. He still managed to break through both in the end, but Percy hadn't missed the wave of agony pouring through the cords, the curved fangs having inflicted new wounds on the crow's mangled body.

Gritting his teeth, he continued to bounce from scythe to scythe, his surroundings turning into a blur again as he prepared for his short window of opportunity.

Micky dismantled the constructs one after another, smashing through reptilian heads and serpentine necks alike. He ignored his worsening injuries and the inevitable pain they caused, inching closer and closer to his target with each violent revolution of his body.

At the same time, the screen of mana around him kept thinning. He appeared to slow down too, rapidly burning through the spell's power. At least, that was what Percy figured was happening, based on the fleeting glimpses that he caught.

But it was too late for them to back down now – they both knew that.

Eventually, Micky made it all the way through. The man had shifted within his bubble at the last second, narrowly avoiding getting torn to pieces, but the entire construct was in tatters, blobs of water and shards of broken ice crumbling around him. Percy couldn't make out his expression, but he could tell based on the erratic flares of his soul that receiving such a massive blow to his willpower at once hadn't been easy.

Not wasting any time, Percy took one of the quickest routes to his opponent, closing the gap separating them in an instant.

Just when he was about to connect, he noticed the water mage preparing what he assumed was another of those domain blasts. He didn't panic, however, having expected it.

Diverting his path to the nearest platform, he dodged the invisible projectile. Unwilling to get tricked again, he took a moment to ensure his opponent had actually released one this time, while also keeping his eyes open for the follow-up.

Sure enough, the man tried to stop Percy's movements four times in total, mixing real shots with feints. Fully leveraging both the true power of his sneak attacks and the threat that they posed, he bought as much time as he could for the water around him to restore the hydra to its previous shape.

In the end, he just about managed to keep Percy at bay long enough to recover his construct. Unfortunately, every time Percy paused, he needed a couple of additional jumps to build up the lost speed again, and his opponent had taken advantage of that to delay him.

But it didn't matter.

"Nice try," Percy said, not falling for the man's ruse.

The water mage winced, his eyes widening as he noticed two curved blades sticking out of his chest. Ever since he first formed the hydra, the man had fully retracted his domain from the battlefield and infused it to his constructs. As a result, Percy had had a tough time telling when the willpower in the water was exhausted. If it hadn't been for his experience fighting the air mage, he might have fallen for his opponent's bluff.

Luckily, he understood by now how costly those invisible blasts were. The old fox might have rebuilt his hydra, but his domain would take a bit longer to recover. And regular water couldn't possibly block Percy's incorporeal weapons.

Slicing through his opponent's soul for good measure, Percy looted the spatial amulet from the man's neck, before allowing him to plummet to the forest below.

'Such a pity to waste two Blue cores…'

It was a rare treat for Micky – though Percy expected it to grow more common in the coming days. Unfortunately, he didn't know how long it would take for the patriarch's mark to fade from his familiar's body, and he'd rather not risk adding another two.

Oblivious to his thoughts, Micky flew right under Percy, allowing him to land on his back.

Checking the bird's Status, Percy sent his familiar a mental message, announcing his latest spell upgrade. Of course, neither of them had the energy to celebrate, but that was probably all the more reason to do it.

'Congratulations! Your spell has evolved: Wild Art: Rending Tornado – Refined -> Wild Art: Freezing Tornado – Refined!'

The crow didn't say anything, though Percy noticed a wave of contentment seeping through the cord.

Gathering as much strength as he could muster, Micky flapped his tattered wings, carrying them both away. At the same time, the countless scythes still flying around the battlefield exploded in unison, a cloud of grey dust scattering in the wind as Percy and Micky disappeared into the distance.