Kaden was in a bad spot. While he had been able to defend quickly and then find a way to reduce the effect of the surprise attack, it had still hit him. He pulled in surrounding mana to refill himself and get his body repaired, but it was difficult. The attacking True Magus was actively making it difficult.

"I heard there were two new True Magi in Saint Empire", the True Magus said casually. "You are probably one of them. I should try to see, if I can make that number go from two to one."

Kaden wasn't usually for banter, but he wanted to make some time to recover.

"Did I offend you by killing some of these weaklings?" Kaden asked pointing at the surroundings.

The True Magus looked around.

"Haha, no," he said. "I just sensed curious burst of mana, one fit for a True Magus and then decided to come see who was playing around. Then I find a newbie testing some new ideas. Let me show you another good idea."

Space started to twist and be pulled apart around Kaden. Like a fabric being twisted and pulled into different directions. While it might have seemed like True Magi slipped in and out of space at will, it was more about doing so with stable space. When it wasn't stable, it was clearly a different matter entirely. Whatever the True Magus was doing made it really difficult to sense beyond the local space. While it might have been considered an attack and surely anyone below the level of True Magus would have been torn apart, Kaden quickly found out it was indeed likely to stop him from moving between dimensions or teleporting.

"Is this what True Magi do during fights?" Kaden realized. "They will prevent their opponent from escaping attacks by simply going in between dimensions or out of it."

Kaden grabbed control of the space once more reducing the effect of the attack. He also shot forward intending to attack. He couldn't just sit and wait to be attacked over and over. To escape he would also need and opening.

Right after resolving the spatial disruption further confirmation for his thoughts came in a form of a secondary attack what might have looked like a bolt of lightning, but was instead concentrated mana.

That mana started to essentially fight against Kaden's own mana, burning it, tearing into it. Since Kaden was a being of mana, it was essentially destroying his body. Not only that, since it was going everywhere, it disrupted Kaden's of flows of mana.

True Magi were known for their raw power. A single punch might cause shockwaves that shred everything in their surroundings to pieces. It didn't mean they couldn't control their force and making it into a powerful attack that latched onto their enemy and cause damage over a long period of time.

Kaden was forced to concentrate getting rid of the invading mana. Some of it he could push away and keep that way by forming a layer of mana just over himself. The problem was whas left inside.

"I'm being suppressed", Kaden understood. "I must fight back and just not take hits. I don't know yet what truly works, but if I survive, I will have learned things about how True Magi fight. So... we are mana. Lets destroy that mana, just as he is."

While Kaden tried to contain the invading mana, he charged forward. It might have been nearly instantaenous, if anyone watched by the side, but in terms of True Magi speed, it was nothing new. Kaden formed himself talons of mana, made out of buffed up Devouring Flame. He tried adding into it his fresh understanding.

Kaden struck the True Magus and the Devouring Flame was released explosively on the impact. Blastwave made out of Devouring Flame consumed the surrounding area. Only the parts that had been consumed by Kaden's Life Singularity before, did not really burn, but still disintegrated under the force.

"Haha, thats pretty good", the still nameless True Magus laughed. "Mana consuming flames? You can do some nasty things with this. I better put you down before you hurt someone."

Even so, just like Kaden was fighting with the invading mana, now the True Magus was trying to separate the Devouring Flames off from himself. As far as Kaden could tell, it should not take long. Now he had his chance to fix his own situation. He would be slowed, if he didn't deal with the mana distruption, but once that was gone he would be able to run.

That was easier said than done.

"I must control all this mana!" Kaden told himself. "Its his mana, but its out of his reach now, in me. I must remove him from it. Overpower it!"

Kaden still had an advantage. He still had a core and it functioned just like before. Gaining a mana body did not alter its concepts. Humans and Cari were still different even with mana bodies. Core consumed mana and flooded it back for Kaden to use. It was its normal function.

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Kaden altered his mana currents and directed mana to pass by his core. It would be taken in and purified mana would come out.

The mana disrupting spell struggled against Kaden's core. The spell had been made to disrupt mana, but a core was far too dense clump of it to do anything. Bit by bit, the spell broke apart under the core's pull.

"Its done", Kaden quickly noted and planned to escape.

"You aren't going anywhere", the True Magus struck again. This time more direct attack rather than some trickery. The surroundings were still on fire and even seemed to grow larger and spreading, but the True Magus had been able to put out any fires on himself.

Shockwaves blasted the area while Kaden and the True Magus clashed over and over. The True Magus was still stronger than Kaden, but not too much. Kaden was completely capable of fighting with him, but killing him would be difficult.

Kaden did not plan to stay around for that. He needed to learn some more before he could go around killing any other True Magi. In retrospect, Kaden should have expected to be noticed as soon as he did anything.

"Well, I only have one properly thought attack", Kaden thought as he decided what to do. "It takes a bit effort to cast, but its strongest what I have."

A pulse of mana was released. Kaden did so at the moment he struck the enemy to obscure the matter for just a moment longer. Then Kaden unleashed another Life Singularity.

The enemy True Magus frowned as the world seemed to darken for a moment. He was unable to escape the radius.

The effect seemed smaller, but that was just because the area was already completely dry. The enemy True Magus glowed with mana, trying to defend. There was indeed trickle of mana that reached Kaden so he confirmed it had an effect. This mana also refreshed Kaden a bit after the exhaustion he had suffered under the attacks he had to deal with before.

He also saw flickers of soul in the True Magus, but it did not get damaged like with the earlier weaklings that were shredded apart. Still, Kaden assumed it was quite painful.

While the enemy shuddered under the effects of Kaden's attack, he turned around and escaped. Kaden accelerated as fast as he could and hoped to reach the Saint Empire. There the tables would likely turn around. He would not be followed there.

Indeed, the chase lasted only for a few moments, before the enemy determined Kaden was going to get away.

Once Kaden noticed this, he stopped and looked back.

"Hmmm, I have learned much this time", he muttered to himself. Things had not gone the way he had thought, but he was able to get something out of it anyway. "I learned how True Magi fight. Each of his attacks disrupted me one way or another preventing escape."

Indeed, while True Magi could unleash mighty attacks that annihilate everything in their surroundings, another True Magus could near instantly cross that distance, avoiding that attack. You had to attack the way they would not be able to avoid your strikes.

This required spells to be construced to include some of these effects. Power was easy to add in, but you had to put it enough to disrupt space. Like the beam Kaden had been hit first in the ambush.

Another trick was to inflict your oppenent with your mana that they would carry with them. The mana disruption.

Kaden figured his Life Singularity just happened to have that space attribute to it. Otherwise he would not have had proper attacks at all. That could have been really bad. He would have had to fight all the way back and Kaden was certain his enemy would not let that just happen.

"I need to find a better place or experiment other ways", Kaden decided as he now flew away in much slower pace.

Could this be the reason why True Magi and True Cari clashed continuously at the border of the empires and Cari territory? Opponents that no one cared, if you fought them? Test your might freely while the status quo between humans and Cari lasted.

"Such an expensive matter, but I guess it has been seen worth it since it trains your strongest warriors", Kaden concluded.

As for why they fought out where blasts from their attacks would destroy defenses on both sides, the reason was likely that this put also that weight on both sides. Each side had to support it or let their defenses break apart. Kaden still disliked the arragement, but it wasn't his business. Those borders wouldn't matter, if his plans reached fruition.

Archmagi and High Cari did not come out to fight normally. Their number were too small anyway, so the strongest around were usually indeed True Magi and True Cari.

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"Ah, Aarken, you return", a True Magus on Sacronan's side said casually as he was sipping top tier mana wine. "Who was it that was messing around?"

Aarken, the True Magus that Kaden had been fighting sat down and relaxed for a moment.

"Its one of the newbies that appeared on Saint Empire's side", Aarken replied. He was somewhat annoyed still. "That guy has potential, but considering what spies reported about him, it makes sense."

"Oh?" The other True Magus said.

"The guy is tough", Aarken replied. "My first ambush should have torn him apart, but not only did he survive, he was able to take hold of space immediately. I for sure at so early after becoming True Magus could not do that."

"You seem annoyed?" The True Magus said.

"Hmmm, perhaps a bit", Aarken agreed. "That guy is going to be a problem. He is tough and his spells seemed to consume mana. Perhaps it was that, but he got rid of my attack rather quickly. It was just gone suddenly. I know a few people who can do that and Cari. Guess he just eats mana. Not only that, he knows far more about space than he should. That freaky little spell of his hurt even me and the surroundings were just dead from his testing."

"All of us have our specialties", the other True Magus continued. "What makes this so special."

"He uses vengeance mana", Aarken stated and took a sip of wine.

The other True Magus stopped drinking and looked at Aarken quietly.

"Not only that spell absorbed mana and life, it was trying to tear my soul apart", Aarken said in annoyed tone. "Vengeance mana laced all over it. If I was his proper target, I might have been in trouble. Churches don't really like when people mess with souls, but I guess they'll stop him, if they want to, because we both know that kind of guy wont stop until he is dead. There will always be more targets to kill. Thats the annoying part. I wanted to put him down and get rid of a future problem, but he escaped. Mark my words. That guy is going to be a problem."

"Well, it seems you have interesting report to hand in for the church", the other True Magus said calmly and continued drinking. "Its been a while since someone using vengeance mana reached our level."