Nullification

Hade felt the energy flow from his core, through his body, and out to his outstretched hand.

Just like before, the sensation was both euphoric and intoxicating, however, he did not allow that to break his concentration. He waited for a few more seconds for his magic to take effect.

Fortunately, he did not have to wait too long... Five seconds later, an uncharacteristic huge grin was gracing his face.

'I did it!' Hade rejoiced inwardly.

'What exactly happened to make the boy act so out of character?' A certain hidden figure wondered to himself.

'Wait, i-it can't be...'

If one paid attention, one would realize that everything within the room had remained the same, well, almost everything...

Only one thing had changed from a minute ago. It wasn't something drastic, like Hade had somehow increased the temperature of the room, or that he had suddenly turned back time.

No, the feat was something so much smaller in comparison yet Hade found himself still proud nonetheless.

As he stood close to the small gap between the curtains, he reveled in the peace and stillness that had been brought about by his achievement.

If someone were to stand in the exact place he was standing they would discover that the slight breeze of wind that had been coming in through the windows had suddenly disappeared!

In fact, all air currents within a one-meter radius of him were stagnant, almost... almost as if they were frozen in time!

"Not bad!" A deep voice suddenly interrupted Hade's reverie.

Hade whirled in surprise to see Leofred, standing just barely two meters away from him.

"Damn it! You have to stop doing that!" He yelled at the spiky-haired man.

For some reason, he could never get used to Leofred's sudden appearances, which was baffling because he had since grown accustomed to Bartholomew's.

'Is it perhaps the difference in familiarity or the difference in power levels?' Hade wondered.

"Stop being a crybaby and stand still!" Leofred ordered as he approached even closer.

"Just stand still damnit!" Leofred shouted.

Hade found himself readily complying with the man's request. The subservience was no doubt a side effect of the seed of fear that had been implanted deep within him after the madman had tried to kill him yesterday.

Leofred, meanwhile, began to walk around him in circles with a thoughtful expression on his face.

He would mumble something to himself from time to time, or hum a weird tune as he scratched his scruffy beard.

It was at this moment that Hade suddenly realized in horror that he had not worn his lenses!

How the hell had it taken him this long to realize that Leofred, oddly enough, did not have the blindfold tied around his face today?

"Don't worry," Leofred said almost as if he had read his mind.

"Your ocular ability will not work on me..."

'Ocular ability?'

That was the first time Hade had heard someone refer to his condition as an ability. In fact, if anything, he had always considered it as more of a curse.

And what did Leofred mean when he said that it would not work on him? Did the ability have people it worked on and those it didn't? Was it maybe related to magic ranks?

Hade had so many questions, however, Leofred quickly shut him down before he could give voice to any of them.

"Now is not the time for that," the Light Supreme spat coldly.

"But-"

"No buts, we have something more important on our hands now," he said. He kept putting and removing his hand from within one-meter proximity of Hade, treating him like he was some kind of lab rat under observation.

Hade's eyebrows twitched. He had to learn to stand up to the old man, lest he end up a spineless pushover who bent to his every whim.

"Not bad at all!" Leofred reiterated after about two whole minutes of analysis and inspection.

He had twinkles shining in his eyes, which Hade found very unsettling.

"I had my suspicions, but to see it in person…"

"What the hell are you talking about, old man?"

"Of course, I'm talking about your law, brat. What else would I be talking about? Do you even know what you just did?"

"Do you mean stopping the air currents? That was cool I guess."

"C...cool?" Now it was Leofred's turn to be irritated. "You just managed to stop the power of reality and all you can say is... cool?"

Stopping reality? Hade was confused, "It's just cancellation magic, old man. Sure it's amazing but I don't think it's worth you getting all hyped up."

Cancellation magic was indeed rare but it was something that had always existed. It was like how water magic could cancel fire magic and how earth magic could cancel Thunder-based lightning magic.

"You think what you just did was cancellation magic? Hahaha!" Leofred suddenly burst out laughing.

Hade immediately took a few steps back. Was the man short-circuiting again? God forbid if he had to defend against another peak-tier light spell.

"Brat, that wasn't cancellation! That was magic nullification!" Leofred shouted while flaying his arms all about like a crazy man.

Hade was even more confused. Cancellation and nullification, didn't they both mean the same thing?

Leofred massaged his brows impatiently.

"Only polar laws can cancel each other out," he explained.

"What you just did was not cancel the wind. You nullified it!"

Hade was still pretty confused which was quite the bummer for him. He had always considered himself to be a very smart person.

"Damnit!" Leofred could not help but cuss. What he was saying could not be easier to understand.

"The wind you nullified was not cast by a practitioner. Cancellation magic is canceling another practitioner's magic with your own. What you did to the wind wasn't manipulating it or even transforming it. You practically erased it from existence! Like it was never there in the first place!

"Do you get it now? What this means is that once you master this ability, you may be able to nullify other law effects as well!"

When he said this, Hade's heart began to pound strongly in his chest. Although he had not understood much of Leofred's explanation, the spiky-haired man's exhilaration was so infectious even he could not help but start to get excited.

After all, he had never heard of a law that could nullify every other law. If he could cancel everybody else's magic, didn't that mean he was practically unstoppable?

"Slow your roll, young sprout," Leofred quickly came to drag him down from the high horse he himself had helped to saddle him on.

"Total immunity might be a bit of a stretch. I meant that other laws will be weaker to a certain extent when used against you."

"Wait," Hade interjected, frowning.

"So that's it? Weakening others' magic to an extent. That is all I'll be able to do? No heaven-defying, reality-twisting, earth-shaking spells?"

Leofred was rendered speechless. The boy had a law unlike any he had ever seen or even heard of yet all he could be concerned about were big, flashy spells? No doubt with the intention to impress girls.

The Light Supreme sighed heavily. The gods truly did give to the undeserving.

"Brat, of course the law will be so much more than just nullification. This only the first spell of many."

In fact, Leofred was seeing a door with limitless possibilities, however, he could not tell the brat that... else he would grow too big for his britches.

Hade, meanwhile, chose to ignore the derisive mocking. All he could think about were the abilities his law would give him.

If it couldn't grant him incredible and inconceivable powers like cutting down a mountain with a single thought then he would literally take anything...

Anything that would enable him to tear a certain hooded man limb from limb, reattach everything, and repeat again and again till he begged for mercy...

Hade quickly lost himself to his thoughts, a manic grin plastered across his face. Maybe, just maybe, it was a good thing that he had delayed attending the Five Schools.

Yes, the idea was still firmly established in his mind but this time, he would make sure that when he finally went, he would be a whole other force to be reckoned with.

On the other hand, Leofred immediately decided to extend his stay by another week. This was no longer a matter of just repaying a debt...

By the time he would be done with the boy, hell, even someone like Nobu would think twice before trying to kill him.