8 Trigrams! Flood Dragon Constriction!

Bastian turned his sombre gaze at the approaching creatures and activated a large spell matrix on his arm which was connected to the ground.

"8 Trigrams: Flood Dragon Constriction!"

Suddenly, a symbol of yin and yang, quickly followed by the 8 trigrams appeared beneath the duo. The symbol detached itself from the ground and created a bubble. The bubbles' surface had the image of a flood dragon scouring everything in its sight. The flood dragon looked like a painting that had been given life on a watery canvas as it rippled in its domain.

The bubble rapidly shot towards the Doom Wraiths and engulfed them. Then it changed shape from a bubble to a cylinder that connected to the portal within the skies that brought forth the Wraiths.

Kenshin could not help but marvel at the sight. That spell was obviously quite complex. The World Energy fluctuations it gave off were screaming of high-class spell casting.

'It has the 8 trigrams as a base. That means this is complex to the point that it needs Bagua mapping. In Feng Shui, the Bagua map is used to stabilize, protect, adjust or restore balance in one's life by analysing or structuring any given space.'

Trigrams are symbols of the cycle of yin and yang energy present in all things. Each of the Eight Trigrams consists of three horizontal lines that represent either yin or yang energy. Yang energy is depicted as a continuous line and yin energy as a broken line. Each trigram is read from bottom to top. The lowest line represents the earth; the centre, humanity; and the top, heaven. The circular chart illustrates the relationship of the Eight Trigrams, each of which has its own name, corresponding with the cardinal directions, seasons, times of day, elements and various aspects of life, physical and emotional. Each trigram also corresponds to phenomena not listed on the diagram, such as members of the family, numbers, colours, parts of the body, and illnesses.

According to Feng Shui belief, the qi energy in one's life, environment and the living area should be balanced. Off-balanced areas or aspects of life can be readjusted with corresponding items and symbols in corresponding colours, leading to a harmonious and balanced qi energy flow. The qi energy is supposed to improve life, while one is living in harmony with nature.

'At least a thousand spell matrices were broken down and joined together to form this with the full 8 Trigrams Diagram as the base. The Medici Matrix and Bastian Smith's mind. Not a good combination.' Silently mused the blind swordsman.

'But this Flood Dragon Constriction is temporary, it won't hold them for long.' As Kenshin mulled over what Bastian would do next, the latter stood up and showed Kenshin his right fist. His half-silvery blue half orange-gold Medici matrix lit up. Kenshin understood his intention and lit up his similarly coloured matrix. Except the positioning of the colours was switched.

The two made a fist bump. Following that, a large Medici Matrix appeared in the skies above the duo.

"90 per cent of the processing I've done till now was just to create this place and design this mega spell matrix. Now all that's left is to create the matrix in here. Let's begin."

Like a maestro leading a classical music concert, Bastian waved his hands about. The humungous Medici Matrix in the sky started to spin with only the triangle vibrating in place, while the circle and square rotated in opposite directions.

A massive vortex of spell matrix fragments formed as the pieces swirled toward Bastian. A second vortex formed, but this one was sucking energy from the wraiths trapped in the Flood Dragon Constriction.

The Constriction was specially made to resist yin-type ghost creatures and was reinforced by Bastian's bloodline and soul magic. It was a natural prison, but it was temporary in nature. Bastian simply could not simulate well enough with only a basic Medici Matrix.

But now he not only had a Medici Vault, but he had also fused two into one, fused the result with his soul site and upgraded the entire space thanks to the Medici Network.

'To be honest this can't be called a soul site or a Medici Vault. Let's call it the Medici Area.'

Bastian was proud of his work. He felt that all that effort was worth it in the end. The Medici Area upgraded the abilities of his Matrix many times. And this upgrade was even more pronounced if he used the Matrix within the Area.

The energy vortex that extended from the wraiths quickly caught Kenshin's attention.

'The vortex that brought the matrix pieces, its purpose is helping the construction of the new spell he wants to make, but what is the point of the vortex connected to those Doom Wraiths? Has he found a way to connect us to those things?'

Kenshin and Bastian had concluded just calling them wraiths even though they weren't like the wraiths he knew of. Nevertheless, they were the most similar creatures to them in appearance and disposition.

'Ordinary wraiths are not capable of what these things can do.'

Hence the name Doom Wraith seemed appropriate.

Another issue in Kenshin's mind was the fact that those creatures were dangerous, and creating a symbiotic relationship with them would put them at risk. How many times had Kenshin suffered just from being in close proximity to them? Now there was someone who was trying to connect him to the very same creatures that had been torturing him for a long time.

Kenshin's past was filled with memories of anguish and pain caused by those creatures. Hence the thought of being joined to them caused him no small amount of stress. Nevertheless, he still believed in Bastian. He had to.

Bastian seemed entirely engrossed in what he was doing, but he was always observing his friend. Kenshin faced Bastian and the latter instantly understood the blind swordsman's qualm.

"The second vortex allows me to analyse their metaphysical make-up and use them as a fuel."

"What do you mean a fuel?"

Bastian grinned as if he was talking about the world's greatest work of art, "I added a unique energy/metaphysical-matter converter inside. Had to use a lot of knowledge from Earth-like relativity for that one. No matter how much we run out of World Energy those things never end. All energy can be used if directed, so why should we not use it?"