[Chapter 7: First Battle (2)] 

Hundreds of small rocks circled me. I clenched my fist, causing them to melt together into dozens of sharp and small blades. Fiona also added some of her own mana, lightening the load for me.

The miniature blades shot towards them while they were still standing. The majority of them were aimed at the mage because she was the most troublesome. The guys can't do much without her.

The river formed into a massive wall of water in front of them all. Some of the blades stopped moving through the water after a few seconds of travel, but the majority of them made it. Unfortunately, their speed has decreased significantly.

The guys had some difficulty dodging and were cut as a result, but not in any vital areas or too deeply. It was preferable to the insignificant amount of damage I was causing previously.

To protect herself, the mage built another smaller water wall.

The woman clenched both of her fists, expelling a large amount of mana from her core. More water from the river gathered, causing the wall she had previously formed to grow larger.

As her body trembled, beads of sweat formed on her face. She swung her arms out, making the wave come crashing down on my companion and me.

My pupils constricted. The mud beneath my feet formed a pillar, lifting me above the crashing wave. Dirt shot towards me from the other side of the river.

I jumped onto the floating dirt just as the mud pillar collapsed. I hadn't done this before because it required more mana than simply moving the ground or mud beneath me.

Keeping it afloat was a constant strain on my reserves.

'Ugh. I'm sick and tired of that woman.' Fiona sighed and rolled her bright pink eyes. My response was unnecessary because she knew exactly how I felt. 'In any case, here you go!'

More rocks floated alongside me, gathering and almost blending together.

'Thanks.' I replied. 'Let's try to stall for the time being; I doubt she has much mana left anyway. Let's use as little of our own reserves as possible. It's now a battle of magic. If those guys get too close, I'll have a better weapon than them.'

Fiona nodded and took command of the floating platform I was standing on. Thank goodness we shared the same mana signature and could control each other's magic. This made things a little easier.

Just then, an idea occurred to me that made me smile.

'Fiona, try gathering mana,' I suggested.

'What?' She expressed her displeasure. 'This is not the time for cultivation!'

'No, don't try to form any layers while gathering mana into your core. Perhaps we can replenish your core a little bit—of course, you'll be using more mana than you replenish—but it's something.'

Fiona was taken aback by the thought. I didn't need a link to tell she was skeptical, and I was as well, but maybe it could work.

'Perhaps, but I wouldn't be able to help much. Only be able to keep the platform afloat in one location.' She responded.

'All right. If anything happens, I'll override your control and you take it as a sign for you to return.' Fiona crawled into my shirt, peeking her small head out a little, and I received a metal nod.

I had no idea why, but I wasn't going to question it—I didn't have time to. 

A wall of water formed directly in front of the woman, much larger than the previous one. I raised my brow, slightly perplexed.

Another water wave couldn't hurt me because I was in the air, but I doubt she would waste mana like this. When it came to fighting, she clearly had more experience than us.

However, Fiona discovered that, despite having only recently formed, my core contained significantly more mana. We suspected it was due to my unauthorized awakening.

I may have more mana than she does, but her control and experience compensate for the gap. 

In anticipation, I stared at the mage through the clear wall of water. Fiona hadn't recovered much of her mana yet, and my annoyance was rising.

'I don't even want to know how long we've been at this-' Multiple tentacles of water shot out, yanking me out of my thoughts.

I could tell they weren't supposed to drag onto anything. Right now, the best thing I could do was shield myself and quietly collect more rocks.

The floating stone by my side shifted and transformed into a wall. All of the streams combined to attack the wall. I clenched my teeth.

I would put every broken piece of stone back into the wall while slowly collecting as many rocks as I could.

All of this metal strain was starting to take its toll on me.

Even though my Mana Sense wasn't as sharp as Fiona's, I could still use it to figure out where everyone was.

Those brutes may not have a mana core, but everyone's body, mage or not, has been naturally tempered by mana.

Even if they can't use it, they still have a trace of it in them, even just a little. Just enough to tell me where they are, hopefully. Guess I'm doing a lot of hoping a lot today, huh? 

The mage was still hidden behind the water wall, while two brutes stood a few meters away near the river, but there was one more.

Right on cue. I heard a battle cry from a nearby tree. The fastest of the brutes jumped towards me, his spear—almost completely broken—over his head.

His eyes pierced my skull like daggers. I could almost feel his rage seeping out. He was gripping the spear so tightly that it was about to snap.

Nonetheless, despite all of them. With all of his motivation, rage, and pure will to go to such lengths to kill me, I stared up at him with a black expression, mostly trying to figure out if he really thought this would walk.

It didn't. 

The only reason the brutes were still fighting was because of her. She can no longer save him from my wrath! A smile bloomed onto my face, and my eyes glowed with intent.

When I raised my hand, the mud beneath shot up and wrapped around his feet. He clenched his jaw, attempting to escape with his strength, but failing. The mud continued to wrap around him until he couldn't move anyone.

"This didn't go as you were expecting, huh? Did you really think it would work?" I said it with malice. My hand lowered, and the mud slammed him into the ground. I heard shouts and screams from the other party, but couldn't make them out because they were muffled.

The mud rose to reveal the man, who was either unconscious or dead, it didn't matter. If he's still alive, I'm sure his injuries will kill him soon.

Unless I or that woman use mana to restore some of his vitality until he receives proper treatment, which is highly unlikely for obvious reasons.

I returned my attention to the main fight, but that woman took advantage of the opportunity to destroy the wall that was protecting me. I hadn't even realized I'd stopped collecting rocks for it. 

'Motherf–' My body moved on its own and jumped off the platform, which was quickly destroyed, and began to fall to the ground.

'I've returned!' Fiona yelled inside my head. Her eyes widened as she realized what we were in. 'Oh shit! How did this even happen?!'

'Stop asking questions and just look at my memories.' I said.

My annoyance was growing by the minute. Mud accumulated beneath me. My core was nearly completely empty now. After the fight moved from close to long range, I stopped sending mana into my body.

Fiona scanned my memories in a split second before returning to my shoulder.

'At least one of those guys is out for the count,' The relief on her face and in her voice was palpable. 'I was able to obtain some mana—not much, but better than nothing. We may have to bring this fight back to close quarters.'

The news didn't come as a surprise to me, but it was certainly unwelcome. Their mage–and just mages in general–is far more skilled at long-range magic than we are.

Despite having only recently learned how to do so, Fiona was able to recover mana while keeping a dirt platform afloat. For all we know, she knows how to use it and can use it far better than Fiona can. There were too many variables to consider.

'OK, Austin, I think I have a plan. I'm not sure if it'll work, but it's all I can think of. Your consciousness is rapidly fading. Just stick to the plan, and everything will be fine; I'll deal with them when you wake up.'

'And what if things don't go as planned?' I inquired.

'Either way, if it doesn't work perfectly, it'll buy us time to run–or just kill them–but the plan involves negotiating with them.'

'Nevermind. I'm just go die-'

'Don't be a moron.' She stated. 'We'll need a place to stay, and you'll need healing after this. They were most likely from a nearby village. If we can make them owe us a favor, it will be far preferable than killing them and making more enemies.

'Mages are rare, so she is probably quite valued were she's from. If we can explain your memory loss to her, she might understand and not kill us. The best way to make friends is by manipulating your enemies.'

'But what if they don't listen to you?' I inquired, skeptical that this plan would work.

'In that case, we torture and kill them for information.' 

I don't like how joyfully she said that. Maybe their village will have a therapist for this girl. I don't feel very safe with a metal unstable newborn. 

'Hey! That's offensive!' She pouted hitting my head.

'But it's true.' 

'Yeah, the true hurts, you know. So stop telling it.'