"The most fearsome of blood mages can fight on regardless of injury. The only way to truly stop them is to eradicate every last bit of them, with not even a trace left, otherwise they would just keep coming at you like the madmen they are." - Written by Mauldin Holcroft, general from the Posuin Kingdom, participant in the first incursion into the orcish lands.
"I normally wouldn't teach this to any of the others, not until they have more experience under them at least," explained Cal as she freely manipulated her severed hand through invisible tendrils of mana, which in turn manipulated the blood within the hand and made it move in Ying Xiao's hands. "Not to mention that they likely don't have the capacity for it yet. You, on the other hand, would be a very different case."
Ying Xiao listened to Cal's words as she focused and tried to feel the way Cal used her mana to move her severed hand freely. Her mind thought of ways she could have imitated that feat with her own understanding and instincts.
"Though I guess, for us a practical lesson would be best, wouldn't it?" said Cal as she took her hand back and pressed it against the open wound on her wrist. Aideen sealed the wound moments later with no sign that gave away that the injury ever existed. "Extend your right arm."
Without a word of protest, Ying Xiao did as she was told. The girl had not even screamed or shown any other sign of pain when Cal's halberd severed her right arm at the shoulder moments later, as she consciously manipulated her blood with magic and prevented it from leaving her body.
Blood flowed out of the severed arm, however, as Ying Xiao was not skilled enough yet to manipulate severed parts of her body like Cal did just earlier. That was a skill she still had to learn properly.
"Try to connect your mana to the blood in the arm without touching it. Imagine as if it was still attached to you, a part of you that had never left," guided Cal as she crouched down to observe the arm closely. Ying Xiao furrowed her brows in concentration as she tried to do as Cal told, yet no change could be observed for the time being. "You could try to manipulate your blood to connect with the blood that flowed in the arm as well, that's a good way to start."
Shortly after Cal said her words, tendrils of blood flowed out from the wound on Ying Xiao's right shoulder, while the girl kept her eyes closed and her brows furrowed deeply. They reached halfway down her torso before they showed signs of instability and struggled to reach further.
Both Cal and Aideen remained silent as they watched the girl focus and struggle. Aideen looked on with mostly curiosity in her eyes, as it was rare that she got to see blood mages in training firsthand like this. Shi-Huang had leaned a different way to Cal after all.
Over the next hour, the tendrils of blood slowly elongated, and reached lower and lower, until they finally touched the blood that flowed out of the severed arm. Yet even as they did, Ying Xiao lost control over the whole thing and the blood splattered to the ground even as the young girl paled visibly.
"Heal her, please," said Cal as she rubbed Ying Xiao's back while she threw up what she had for breakfast. Aideen quickly went to work and had the girl's arm reattached to her body, though she looked positively curious on what caused the sudden reaction on the girl. "It's normal to fail the first time. Your mind couldn't take the sudden extra strain yet, but you're close to it. Take a rest and have some lunch first. We will try again later."
They did as Cal suggested, as they brought the girl over for a meal at Magnus's place. Ying Xiao ate voraciously, not just because the food was amazing, which it was, but because the way Cal made her use her magic made her realize new possibilities, and that seemed to have stimulated her soul, which led to her mana receptacle growing.
That naturally made her hunger for sustenance, and Magnus was all too happy to ply them with some delicious, mana-rich foods from local products. As Paradise was located on a mana vein, and in close proximity to three other mana veins, the lands were beyond rich and fertile, and anything grown - or ranched - there generally contained more mana by a good bit than any other.
After the sumptuous meal, they went back to the stadium. Cal noted that someone had cleaned up the mess Ying Xiao made earlier while they were gone, and they repeated the process. Once again, the girl's arm was severed, and she reached for it with tendrils of blood, infused with her mana.
It took Ying Xiao eight tries before she finally succeeded, well into the afternoon. At long last, the girl had not lost her control over her magic once she touched the severed arm, and slowly yet surely, the blood flowed back into the arm, then it was pulled upwards, until it touched her shoulder once more. The limb was not reconnected, the cut still visible, yet the severed arm hovered there as if attached.
Thin tendrils of blood were visible from the seam, each as if the flow of blood through the arteries and veins, as well as smaller capillaries continued unimpeded. Ying Xiao gingerly moved her arm a little, then slowly made wider movements. She made a fist and did a few punches with the arm, and smiled. Her smile grew wider when Cal returned an encouraging smile at her.
However, when Ying Xiao tried to lift her weapon with the arm, she proved unequal to the endeavor, as she lost control for a moment and the arm fell off once more. While the girl managed to quickly pull it back up, she was unable to do so with the added weight of her weapon.
"That's normal. You'll be able to do it with some practice," encouraged Cal when the girl looked at her with disappointment visible on her features. "What you need to do is get used to the feeling, and train until you can exert your full power this way. Eventually, your control should be able to extend to your entire body, regardless of your condition."
"That said, don't get reliant on this method," Cal warned the girl as they cleaned up and prepared to depart, their training done for the day. "This is a means to fight in an emergency, not something to be abused. You can only last as long as your mana does in this state, so don't overuse it, unless you have no choice at all."
Patreon
Blood mages are just a nightmare to fight against.
Thx for the chapter!