CHAPTER 106

A/N: Sorry for the late upload. Had a soccer game today that I couldn't miss.

My team lost if anyone is wondering. I need to sleep.

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BOOOM!

Mordo slid back while using the Vaulting Boots of Valtorr, one of his personal relics, to stabilize himself midair.

"You've become terrifying in your mastery of the arts. But you still have a long way to go." He swung his staff while elongated and collided with the staff held by Draul.

Twisting the short staff in one hand, Mordo used his other hand to conjure a transfiguration circle on the ground making gnomes come out of it and surround Draul  who showcased his brilliance in the arts by using the remnant energy of the circle Mordo used for his transfiguration and melded it with his own circle, casting a restraining spell that shot out eldritch ropes that bound them and with a change of motions of his hands, the ropes seemed to drill into the earthen gnomes and destroyed them. 

Mordo, expecting such a move, and taking a page from Draul's use of remnant energy, which he still couldn't tell how he did it, used the fading energy in the earthen gnomes to form a circumference of quicksand around Draul while he continued forward by running a few centimeters above the sand to Draul, seemingly wanting to motion a two pronged attack and clinch the win of this duel to the numerous ones they've had. 

Unfazed by the two-way attack from his opponent, Draul formed a circle which did something that surprised the incoming Mordo. The quicksand swallowed him whole in one swift moment which stunned Mordo for the consequent second which a reappearing Draul used as an opening to slam his staff into the back of the Mystic Master. 

"That was… uncalled for." Morod readied himself for the second chance confrontation which Draul commenced with a higher level spell. 

Draul had set a countdown circle when he went under the sand which Mordo immediately understood as six huge serpents burst out from the now hardened ground and attacked Mordo with jaws ajar. 

Flexing a greater range of mobility with his boots, Mordo kicked into the air opening a portal quickly behind his heels for the incoming serpent to pass through before he closed it, rendering a clean slash of one of the negative effects of spatial magic to cut through the neck of the serpent. 

The others, seeing their comrade dead, rushed at him with frenzy from different angles where Mordo showed a glimpse of his mastery in the arts as he conjured many magical circles which sent out construct weapons that pierced through the hides of the serpents. 

Not taking his focus off Draul as that would spell his doom, pun not intended, he found his troublesome opponent smiling at him while making a gesture with his eyes for Mordo to look around. 

Unfortunately he was too late to realize that the motes of residual energy, instead of dissipating, formed a circle in front of him which conjured a huge fist that punched him hard, sending him careening into the floor only for him to feel the blunt end of a staff against his chest. 

"Your loss. That brings the tally to 17-14. In my favor obviously." Mordo rolled his eyes at the smugness emanating from his opponent and grabbed the outstretched hand held out to him to help him up. 

"For one – your so-called 'energy assimilation' is bullshit. How do you take control of the residual energy of a failed or completed spell and use it to make a layer for a new one. That's genius, and also normally impossible unless it is to a higher degree of mastery."

"And for another, how strong would you be if you used your meta powers?" Mordo questioned, which wasn't the first time he'd done so. 

"Firstly, energy assimilation is a meta ability of mine which enables me to take in, absorb and assimilate and redirect any form of energy my body has sufficiently adapted to. And since magic is a part of the universal energy constant, it falls under the same criteria."

"… And secondly, you would be dead in the first ten seconds if this wasn't a magic-only duel." Both men, one in red robes while the other in green made way to the Ancient One's abode. 

"I see you've finished your duel, congratulations Mr. Cross. Your advancement in the arts are astonishing. Now if only someone else knew the meaning of restraint and wouldn't spend most of his time breaking into and stealing books from the library." The Ancient One congratulated Draul while serving tea for the two Masters. Though not official, and might never be due to Draul's nature, she along with the other masters were already made privy to the fact that Draul could fight any Master in Kamar-Taj on equal grounds and running most of the gauntlet. 

Then there was Strange, though he and Draul, rather than say reconcile since there was no enmity between them, had varying differences and thought processes, had far more magical potential than anyone she'd ever seen, even eclipsing what she could 'see' from Draul. Though the man was a monster, when in or taken out of context, Strange eclipsed him in magic due to his unending thirst for knowledge, not power but raw knowledge. 

While Strange once pursued fame and acknowledgement, the current Strange however only pursued knowledge far above anything else. She was surprised at this turn of events, how things could vastly change due to little differences… Though not everything changed… 

"Is someone talking about me? I knew Wong was a tattletale. His face tells that a lot." A man in black sorcerer robes walked in with flare, a tome in hand. 

"Mr. Strange, so nice of you to join us for tea today." One would be bewildered how little she cared for formalities given her title and esteem but that was how she has always been. She served the newcomer tea and took a second when none of their attention was on her to take in the picture. She daresay they, the three of them in the room, were her best students through her forgotten centuries. 

Mordo with his uprightness and rigidity. A beacon of righteousness for all to see. But she feared it would also be his shortcoming. The best heroes made the most evil of villains after all. 

Strange with his keen eyes to see the bigger picture, not afraid of blurring the lines for the ideal goal but never for personal gain. Along with his knowledge of the arts, he had the making of being one of the most strongest sorcerers in history long past, reaching heights that only the fathers of sorcery ever did. But his pride and arrogance had always being his shortcoming. Though not as it was before, it still was there, fueling his thirst and ego to surpass the raised bar. 

Draul with his eccentricity. But unlike the other two, he perceived morality as something he decided. Was it due to his connection with whatever that being was? She didn't know. He didn't have the rigidity of Mordo or the thirst for knowledge like Strange. Not the righteousness or the care for the bigger picture. He was the most free of the three of them and with that she was glad. Glad that such bright lights were nurtured by her and she lived long enough to see them grow and she was fine with it. She'd seen her time. Even now, she could feel the draw from the other side. 

"I heard that their spar had concluded so I just made my way here. Oh, and there were some questions that I would love to ask you." Strange took his tea and sat down by Mordo's side. 

"I believe that was the main reason you came here. Am I wrong?" She asked the most eccentric sorcerer in the room.

"Well you certainly aren't right to expose it that way." Strange chuckled before he turned to the last man in the room. 

"Cross."

"Strange."

The simple getting was the only thing they shared as there was a bit of bad blood between the two of them, well only from Strange as Draul just straight out ignored the man for most of the time. 

The Ancient One smiled a bit seeing the two of them trying to move past their enmity which was a glad decision on Strange's part since from his point of view, Draul was the reason why he lost everything. From his fame, wealth and renown to the woman he loved. She was glad at the small steps the man was taking but looking at Draul, she almost burst out into full laughter and risk ruining her sagely image as she knew for a sure fact that the coolly looking man just didn't care. It was impressive how someone that caring could also be indifferent to such a degree. He had sympathized once and that was it. 

Mordo was the only one who looked like the awkwardness of the room was getting to. The Ancient One had her calm smile on her face while Strange was focused on the time he was reading, sometimes needing the elder's clearance. While Draul… Draul had his full focus on the tea. Seriously considering whether to remove whiskey and add tea to liquid holy grail. 

"Is it a plant?" The bizarre question brought everyone to Draul's focus. 

"What is?" Mordo was confused. 

"The tea. Is it a plant or some kind of rare ingredient mixture or natural resource?" The man clarified while at the same time was able to make it sound like a serious question worthy of debate between Masters. 

"I'm afraid that's a secret." The Ancient One said. 

"I'm willing to bargain. Name your price."

"Are you now?"

"Try me. I need it. Recipes and all, down to the last minute details."

The two other occupants in the room watched as the Ancient One and Draul haggled for the secret of her tea until Draul bought it for 5% of Facebook. Needless to say, the two men were shocked not at the price of the tea, which was outright ridiculous, but the look of triumph on Draul's face. 

'Did he just take that as a victory? Almost ten million dollars in worth just for the recipe and ingredients for tea?'

Regardless of how they felt, Draul basked in the knowledge that he had been able to acquire such treasure for cheap. Haha, in their faces. He enjoyed the look of shock and envy on Strange and Mordo's face until the voice of the Ancient One brought him back to the table. 

"I believe you started learning runes after your transfiguration studies, where are you with it?"

"While the standard languages for spells in Kamar-Taj are based on Sanskrit, somehow, Greek, Norse and even some obscure ones like Yoruba have more stronger rune systems so I focused on those more. Unfortunately, our library seems to lack a lot of books concerning most foreign pantheons, so it isn't coming as fast as I would like it." Draul sighed, knowing why books on those runic systems were hard to find. 

Most of the runic text here, he presumed, were from time long past, ancient Norse, dating as far back as before Odin ascended as king of Asgard. Odin with his paranoia won't leave a sizeable amount of his traditions and teachings of his people in Midgard. First step of safeguarding one's history is safeguarding the culture. Spread too wide and people won't take it seriously anymore. 

"Unfortunately I can't help you with those as their circulation is… dutifully guarded."

'Thought so.'

"Why are you so focused on runes anyway?" Mordo was curious. 

"For my weapon."

"Your staff? It's already imbued with runes, why want to add more? It wouldn't hold if you did." Mordo didn't bother about saying the negative effects as Draul with his expertise would surely know that. 

"Not the staff. It's a more personal weapon. A few actually." Draul explained. 

"What kind of rune are you thinking of?" The Ancient One asked intrigued. 

"Something to do with space-time manipulation." His words chilled everyone, even the ever eccentric Strange, more so Mordo. 

"You know that tampering with the space-time continuum is one of the few things forbidden in Kamar-Taj. Why would you need such forbidden practices for a weapon?!" Mordo stood up in reprimand. 

"Chill dude. I was only thinking of a return or rather 'call' complex runic array. Not something as banal and dangerous as messing with the time stream. And after all this time I'd thought you'd be chill. It's like a second Bucky all over again." Draul waved the man's worry off. 

"Why 'call' though? If it's a weapon you'd be using, a simple return rune would be enough….Unless you are thinking of 'calling' it to you disregarding space, time and matter from anywhere within the constellations. But that'd be impossible. Time spells are seriously forbidden for practice, not to mention the workings of such runes. I think I understand why you'd be going for the Norse rune system. The stories and text told stories of Odin and Borr traveling through the stars to the heart of their enemies. We don't know if the fabled Bifrost even exists nor do we if the gods do. Unless you are thinking of crafting your own runic system, what you are currently looking for is impossible, definitely so in the short term." Strange analyzed while the Ancient One's and Mordo's face formed a frown. 

"Always the Magical Wikipedia, ain't ya? That reminds me, I would be gone from Kamar-Taj for a while. Is that okay?"

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