A singular calm word was enough for all of us to brace ourselves. And good for that, because the next thing coming for us was not so harmless.

No incantation, no spell, nothing. He quickly pulled something out of his pouch and tossed right at me.

Reflexively, I wanted to slap it away, but as soon as it made contact with my crystal skin, I felt it stick onto my arm.

It was a dagger. Small, metal and thin, with a wooden handle. But as soon as its metal tip touched me, the wood on the other side exploded in flames, and with the help of the blast, managed to dig itself into my arm, getting stuck.

-The fuck…

I quickly grabbed the flaming end, and as soon as I made contact with it, the flames disappeared, along with the wooden handle that just turned to ash.

Whatever the effect that was, it was magical in nature, and thanks to my touch, it got absorbed by my crystal and fizzled the spell, leaving just a mundane knife that I pulled out with one swift movement.

The wound didn’t look too deep, and I didn’t feel any pain, so I just shrugged it off.

-Are we doing this again?! - yelled For next to me, already with a fireball in hand, threatening to toss it right at his face.

I could tell that Kon was also preparing something, mana surging right next to me.

He didn’t answer, instead just tossed a spell.

This time, it was not aimed at me, but at For.

It was not as powerful as before, nor did it look very threatening at all, to be honest, at least to me.

It was just a large stream of water.

It collided with For’s orb, quickly making it disappear, so I guess he succeeded in that, but apparently that was not his aim.

Just as the water vaporized, or at least some of it, because he did manage to get through and soak her completely, another spell followed.

This time it was ice. I am not sure what he was intending to do, but what happened was that the water he just drenched her with was frozen solid. Same with the vapor in the air. It was almost like thick snow that was not able to fall, stopped mid-air, just levitating there.

It didn’t even immobilize her. Sure, it stunned her for a split second, after all the sudden change in air temperature was something else, but that was about it. It didn’t even stop her from preparing another fireball to throw at him, same with me, I already was past the bargaining stage and wanted him just to go down.

On the other hand, Kon did get interrupted, so I guess he succeeded in doing that. He was about to launch a spell as well, but the mana just fizzled out, spilling out, just to be collected by me.

-Usc fi geksu!

-Gymnu gmyo!

-Mynu lycu! Fotoho mocisohu!

The three of us launched the spells at once.

A fireball from For, a stream of lightning right at his chest from me, and from him…

A cube?

Yeah, that was a bit of a weird spell. What he conjured was just a cube of light that appeared right in front of him. But after his command, it instantly split into small shards, shooting in every direction.

That was new.

Since it was light-based, I was aware that it would probably be able to harm me: I was no longer being protected by the Origin Crystal.

In a split second, I wanted to raise another wall and hide myself behind it, but even if I had time, it would’ve been for naught.

Few things happened at once.

First, Kon, realizing that his spell failed and noticing that magic was barreling towards us, he ducked down on the ground, trying to somehow dodge the attack. For didn’t have that luxury though, since she still was controlling the spell and noticing the enemy attack fly at us, she directed the fireball right at the cube into pieces..

She managed to destroy it, but for naught, the remaining pieces were already scattered all over.

Thanks to the ice particles hanging in the air, the light was now bouncing all over the place, blinding everyone and, sadly, hitting everyone.

I felt that.

I expected that I would be hit and anticipated pain, but what I felt was… well, definitely not something I would expect after a spell like that.

Last time when I was hit with light magic, it always ended with me getting burned to some degree. This time, what came was a piercing cold.

It felt like I was being pelted by thousands of small needles, digging into my body and staying there.

The spots were spreading, just like with heat, the mana infused with ice spread all over my body, making me sluggish: it was like my muscles were tensing up, making it harder and harder to move.

I wanted to duck down, to fall on the ground and hide myself from the light, but I couldn’t move. Not like it would help me, since the light was bouncing everywhere like it was the weirdest rave party you’ve ever been at.

Strangely though, both Kon and For looked mostly unharmed.

Sure, they were hit, but I could tell that they were not freezing solid just like me, since both of them quickly jolted away from the spot they were and instead jumped towards the attacker.

Speaking of.

My spell also worked.

While it definitely got interrupted as soon as I got hit, the lightning did reach him.

At the time I was trying to limit myself to not kill, but the fact that I absorbed a bit too much mana from Kon’s failed spell and overall the environment, made it that the spell was stronger than I intended.

It both increased in power and range. Instead of a pointed lightning blast, I released something akin to a thunder shower, I want to say. It singed the whole island, even managed to reach the tablet that he not so long ago had meticulously put together.

Of course, I reached him as well. But, there was a small problem: most of the lightning, for some reason, was contained and absorbed by something on his chest.

Before, we were not able to see it, since he was hiding everything under his clothes, but after my lightning and the remains of For’s fireball struck him, we were finally able to see what was under his clothes, or rather wraps.

The guy was wearing… a shirt.

Yeah, I know, riveting observation, right? But it actually was.

Under the wraps was just a modern-looking, white t-shirt. Now, singed right where the middle of his chest was, and through the hole, poking out was a crystal medallion.

It was just a square piece of some kind of gemstone, encased in metal, looking sturdy and utilitarian. And since it managed to somehow absorb my lightning, it had to be enchanted. While at the time I was a bit staggered I was able to tell that much.

His veil also was dropped, and while his face didn't tell me anything interesting, he was cleanly shaven and looked a bit younger than I would’ve expected after his voice, he was maybe twenty or something.

That was not the end of the fight though.

Even though he was charred, he took no actual damage, protected by the amulet.

Apparently that also gave him a boost of confidence, because he stood tall right in front of us and even started walking forward.

Both Kon and For launched spells at him. Both used fireballs, and this time, he reacted.

He grabbed the necklace and mumbling something, he raised it in front of him.

Spells hit him. But they just fizzled into a cloud of mana as soon as they reached him.

-I told you that we are superior to you, savages! But that doesn’t matter! I am here to…

I didn’t let him finish.

Sure, I was still barely able to move my body, but to cast a spell I did not need to move. I didn’t even have to speak. I just had to have a clear mind.

And thanks to the cold, my head was clearer than usual.

-Moho sivu.

All I wanted to do was to bind him and interrogate him.

Hearing me speak, he didn’t even flinch, knowing that his shield, the medallion, was still holding fast and seemingly easily able to counter every spell that we tossed at him.

He was half-right.

My spell created a large net. I didn’t expect for it to be even seen by him, and that’s why I was surprised seeing it vividly with both of my sights: just as he was.

It was large. A lot larger than I intended to be.

See, the spell didn’t only use my mana, it also absorbed everything that was remaining in the vicinity from earlier spells dispelled by him. Even though my companions didn’t toss many spells at him, they were still potent and the mana that was just hanging in the air was pretty thick.

The combination of circumstances created a spell that covered the whole island. Including the three of us.

On top of being large, it also absorbed the properties of earlier spells that were tossed: meaning it was not good news for any of us.

The rainbow-colored net fell on top of us, knocking everyone on the ground.

I could feel the combination of ice, light, fire and even some different kinds of mana, permeating through the whole of my creation.

It was bizarre at best.

Sure, I was not hurt by most of that magic, but the light infused in it was still burning me pretty bad, at least for a second, until the absorption of my crystal finally managed to get rid of the problem.

On the bright side, it managed to break me out of the frozen state. As soon as I fell on the ground I felt the sluggishness and heaviness leave my body.

Or maybe it was just the adrenaline.

Near me, Kon and For were struggling a bit worse.

Most of the contents inside the net were dangerous for them: their mana crystals were not shielding them just as well as they were me.

I quickly leaped towards them to break the nets on them, just to realize that the guy was also standing up from the attack, mostly unscathed.

The net did fall on him. But just like me, he managed to rip it off him, using the medallion.

It was small, but just like my own flesh, as soon as it touched the net, it was dispelling it. Not absorbing mana, no, instead just turning the spell into a familiar to me already puff of smoky residual mana.

Seeing how ineffective my attack was, I wanted to dispel it completely, but I could not. It was no longer a spell that I was able to control.

I knew I didn’t have much time to think of a counterattack, so I quickly ripped out the net covering my companions, before I leaped towards him.

He did not expect that.

Not like I can blame him. I didn’t expect that myself.

I went straight for the talisman he was still clutching, trying to grab it and using my weight, overpower him.

But, that did not work out.

Sure, he was surprised, but there was enough space between us for him to react to my leap.

-Peqa sypna.

Oof.

What he hit me with was a third level spell. Heavy duty, something like this was only used in complicated incantations, and packed a heavy punch.

To boot, he used light magic.

I am not sure how he figured it out, if he ever did, maybe it was just a lucky break for him, but he managed to use one thing that I knew I was weak to.

Next thing I knew was overwhelming whiteness, and then, nothing.