The Power of Magic

As the brilliant flash of Caelus's sphere-like mechanism slowly died out, time slowed to a halt. Quite literally, in Hu Long's case.

'This… this thing really is amazing!'

Although it was his second time using it, Hu Long marveled at the power of the spell Caelus had entrusted him with, a spell dubbed 'Hyper-Awareness'.

Under the spell's influence, his surroundings froze in place, the assassins around him falling in slow motion, and his vision expanded to allow him sight in every direction.

It was actually a bit disorienting, but it wasn't as bad as when he first tried it out. From the explanation he'd been given the day before, the spell wasn't actually slowing down time, but rather his perception of time by accelerating his thoughts.

'Hyper-Awareness hastens your thinking by delegating unconscious brain functions to the focus' processors, as well as utilizing those processors to amplify your own thought processing speed many times over.'

Caelus's exact words lingered in his mind, as Hu Long recalled every function he had access to with this mechanical sphere called a 'focus'.

'The spell also evocates several optic receptor proxies around you, giving you 360° vision, and disables your hearing due to how slowly sound is perceived for the spell's duration, so don't be alarmed.'

There had been a lot of words he was unfamiliar with, but he understood the gist of the spell's function after having used it once. As the assassins' three-pronged attack fell, Hu Long moved, ever so slowly, to get out of the way.

Streaks of red in his vision highlighted the trajectory of his opponents' weapons, and those streaks split off into purple ones going in different directions as they approached him. The purple streaks were explained as the new trajectory of an attack after being redirected by another spell on the focus: Force Barrier.

'Force Barrier will automatically exert re-directional force on approaching objects exceeding a certain speed. It's more mana intensive compared to Hyper-Awareness, so try and dodge attacks completely to conserve mana-load.'

Hu Long twisted his body until he was clear of all the incoming streaks of red, the purple streaks disappearing in the process. Just in time, as Hyper-Awareness started to fade and his surroundings slowly returned to normal speed.

Three flashes of steel descended, and Hu Long could almost feel the chill of metal as they missed him by a hair's breadth, his skin breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Hah!"

He couldn't help but shout triumphantly, and as soon as he was in the clear, he broke into a run, breaking past his stunned attackers.

One of the assassins recovered quickly, however, slashing at Hu Long's neck without holding back as he passed. This, in turn, activated Hyper-Awareness once more, and time for him once again slowed to a crawl.

'Hyper-Awareness essentially makes my reaction speed instant. As long as I can physically dodge an attack, I will. Adding on to that, Force Barrier gives me even more buffer room to dodge.'

Hu Long went over his game plan again as he moved to avoid the incoming streak of red. Its angle and speed prevented him from avoiding it completely, however, so he could only position himself to dodge with the help of Force Barrier.

'The trick, then, is how I can escape this situation without exceeding my mana-load…'

Back to regular speed. The gleaming short blade now sliced towards his ducked head, but before it could connect, a series of mysterious blue sparks knocked the blade high, and Hu Long kicked the assassin away as he slipped underneath.

"What are you fools doing?!"

Tian Xiaofan's trembling voice cut through the cacophony, and Hu Long turned to see her caught up in a heated scuffle with Ryker, who relentlessly pushed her back with heavy strikes from his staff.

However, even with her arm broken, it seemed she was able to hold her own.

Hu Long snorted in disbelief and kept running, though his breath was now labored, sweat dripping down his forehead.

'Just deflecting that one attack already pushed my mana-load this high… Can I really get out on my own?'

'Mana-load' referred to one's capacity to handle mana. Although mana was everywhere and wasn't lost or exhausted on use, the body had a limit to how much mana could be manipulated in any given period of time.

Exceeding this limit could cause irreparable damage… or so he heard.

Gritting his teeth, Hu Long pushed himself to move even faster. As long as he could get out of this clearing and into the narrow passageway leading to it, Ryker could perhaps cover his escape.

"Hu Long, watch out!"

Ryker's shout came just before Hyper-Awareness activated once again, and three streaks of red besieged him from all sides. This time, however, each strike was carefully set up to block any path of escape.

'Shit! They really aren't leaving me any openings!'

With his increased brain processing power, he could tell he wouldn't be able to completely dodge all three blades at his current speed even with the use of Force Barrier, and he'd have to block at least one attack to break through.

But he also knew that if he tried to block, the blade would simply slice through him like tofu.

As he was scrambling for a solution, however, the streak of red coming down on him from above suddenly disappeared, and he noticed a metallic red object speeding (relatively) towards the attacker above him.

Not wanting to miss this chance, he quickly moved to launch himself into the air as time resumed normal function. There was a deafening boom from behind, and he pulled his legs up as high as he could as two blades crossed below him, the ring of metal grinding on metal sounding as they passed each other.

"Thanks, Ryker!" he shouted, landing lightly on his feet without breaking stride.

An assassin darted in front of him to block his path, but another curved metal stick crashed into their side before they could even swing their sword, sending them flying with another deafening impact that was much too heavy for how small the projectile was.

"Don't sweat it, just leave things here to me!"

Immediately after, a gust of wind rushed past him as Ryker shot forward in pursuit, catching the assassin as they bounced off the canyon walls and slamming them into the ground. He gave a thumbs up as Hu Long passed, stepping on the grounded assassin and turning to defend the passageway, behind.

Hu Long returned the thumbs up and, with a nod, sprinted down the canyon corridor without looking back.

With this, he'd finally be out of Ryker's way.

Ryker rested his staff on his shoulder as he listened to Hu Long's retreating footsteps, waiting to see if the assassins would give chase. None of them moved, however, leaving only Tian Xiaofan panting heavily in the middle of the clearing.

"Well, looks like it's just us, now," he said, shrugging his shoulders with his usual cheeky grin.

Tian Xiaofan gritted her teeth, clutching her injured arm. With a loud pop, she pushed the dislocated joint back into place, having expelled enough of the strange energy impeding her natural healing to partially heal the broken bones.

"Who the hell *are* you?" she snarled. Her previously gentle voice was now cracked and irritable, and part of her mask had broken off to reveal a nasty scowl.

Ryker simply shrugged his shoulders again, laughing cheerfully.

"What do you want me to say? I'm just the guy you shouldn't have messed with!"

Tian Xiaofan let out a low growl, before suddenly pursing her lips and composing herself.

'... We'll have to retreat.'

It had already been abundantly clear that this was the best course of action, but if there was any doubt before, it was completely dispelled, now. She had nothing to blame but her own hubris for their current situation.

However, their speed in retreating couldn't be compared to when they utilized the Three Petals Formation to attack. They would need to sacrifice a few members for the rest to get away…

Just as she was about to give the signal to retreat, though, a chill ran up her spine, and she immediately bit down on her hand.

With a puff of black smoke, she disappeared, her place taken by another masked assassin just as a dark shadow descended from above, seemingly passing straight through the assassin before vanishing.

The masked assassin simply staggered and stood there for a moment in confusion, before falling to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

'Damn it, he has reinforcements?!'

From her perch on the canyon walls, Tian Xiaofan bit down on her lip in frustration. There was absolutely no presence that she could sense from that attack, and the only thing that saved her was her keen instinct.

Just one thing after another… would they even be able to escape?

Ryker, on the other hand, broke out in a beaming smile, eyes shining with excitement. Now these guys were in for it!

"Hey, took you long enough, sis!" he shouted, to which he heard a soft click of the tongue from somewhere within the clearing.

"Oh, shut up and flush 'em out for me, dumbass. I can't find them."

Lilliana's girlish, disembodied voice sounded in response, as Ryker stowed away his staff and took out his dual boomerangs with a laugh.

"Alright, alright, we'll catch up later. Let's wrap things up!"