Chapter 26: Side effect.

When some of the dust settled and the light diminished, Levi came into view. He was covered in several shallow cut injuries.

"Huff..Huff". His breath was ragged and his breathing, heavy.

'damn.' Levi thought. 'there was no way to dodge that.'

'forget about the past and focus on the present. The surrounding dust is blocking my vision, and my Mana senses are being obstructed by the fluctuations. I can't get a read on their locations.' Grim said and Levi immediately became alarmed.

He tried to survey his surroundings, but the dust didn't permit it. He used aether skin to enhance his vision and peered into the dust clouds, he could now see within it but actually finding his targets was also going to be a problem. His range of sight was limited after all.

"Che."

He looked around for some time more, before he finally caught a glimpse of a moving shadow. He quickly turned his head to where the shadow moved, but by then it had disappeared.

'damn. These wolves are good at this. And how the hell is this dust cloud still up?' Levi inwardly asked. 

'They are probably using wind magic to keep it up. After all, it is the perfect cover.' Grim answered.

'i see. These guys are freaking smart.....to use wind magic like that. Anyways, alert me if they get near. I want to try something.'

'oh? What's that?' Grim curiously asked.

'you can read my mind.' Levi responded and then shut his eyes.

After a few short moments, Grim came back and said, 'hoho. I truly forgot that the aether burst technique could also be used for that.'

The aether burst was a technique which involves one releasing an omnidirectional burst of asther. It could serve as an offensive ability against multiple weak opponents, but it could also be used as a tracking ability. 

When used, the ability can provide feedback concerning the location of things that posses Mana or Aether signatures.

Levi released his aether skin technique as he was not in the level of simultaneously running two techniques, not yet at least. He oncentrated for some time, then released the aether. He used the aether burst technique. He had practiced it several times before so his range now went up to over 30 meters, and that was the size of the training grounds.

The wave of aether burst forth and through the dust cloud, immediately it disappeared Levi started receiving information. He received information concerning the whereabouts of his opponents.

Grim filtered out the irrelevant information, only letting the important ones get through to Levi's brain. Important information such as position, distance, even their height and weight started flooding into his head. It was enough information to allow him distinguish between the two.

'i see them. Ara is eight meters to the right, Tio is still in his original position. Probably planning a big attack. I'll deal with him first.'

Levi turned and dashed towards Tio's position, it didn't take long to find him.

'what the heck is he even doing?' Levi asked as he activated the aether cloak spell. It was relatively easy to activate, but extremely difficult to maintain while thinking about and doing other things. Levi decided to try himself as he walked towards the Tio who had his eyes closed in concentration.

'i don't know. But I can sense a good amount of Mana hovering around him, we need to put the brakes on him right now.' Grim advised.

'yeah.' Levi said as he moved closer and closer towards his target. The aether cloak was very effective in hiding his presence. He moved swiftly and cautiously. 

He wanted to use Aether skin to enhance his fists and charge straight towards the wolf. But he was well aware of his limits. Just keeping the aether cloak active for so long was already extremely difficult for the current Levi. The claim was backed up by the fact that he was already sweating profusely.

'wow! He eally is not sensing me at all!' Levi thought as he slowly crept towards the static wolf from the left. He had never actually tested the technique on someone before, only practiced it, this his surprise.

'maybe I should just activate aether skin right now.'

'i am not close enough though.'

'lets get closer.'

'not yet.'

'just a bit more.'

'i wonder if Aina made it back safely.'

'she should, she has Juan after all.'

'i think this is close enough. Grim, what do you think?' 

'i think you should shut up!' Grim replied in a reprimanding tone.

'what?'

Suddenly, his aether cloak came undone and broadcasted his position to ye very same enemy he had been trying to hide it from. Levi was not aware of it, but he had suddenly distracted himself by those unnecessary thought. The reason for those thoughts though were definitely linked to the aether cloak technique as it happened Everytime Levi activated it.

His mind would suddenly start getting preoccupied by utter rubbish, his concentration would wane and the technique would come undone. Followed by its fatal side effect.

The sudden outburst of killing intent was impossible to ignore and Tio suddenlyand hurriedly opened his eyes. For a split second there, a hint of utter shock was evident in his irises as they fell upon Levi's figure.

This was due to the fact that he did not expect Levi to have such killing intentz the reason for that though was a side effect of failing to properly activate aether cloak. He was also supposed at his being unable to sense Levi until now. The boy had apparently gotten really close and the two were separated by less than eight meters.

'f*ck.' Levi said as he immediately activated aether skin, but before he could move forward, he was already caught in Tio's trap.

"Got you. Tornado binding." Tio muttered as he cast the spell immediately he finished talking.

Aether skin had taken away all of the lag that Levi felt in his current body, so that was not the reason he failed to dodge the spell. It was due to something called static friction. That is the friction a body needed to overcome before it could move forward. It usually only took split seconds to overcome, but that lag was enough for wolf.

The occurrence bore witness to the fact that a creature who had learnt to master even the power that controlled the laws of physics itself, was still susceptible to those very same laws. It was possible for the future him, but the current Levi could not go against the laws that governed the universe.

He felt a powerful gust of wind from beneath him followed by two spirals of wind energy spinning in opposite directions to form a small cyclone. 

The two opposing spinning forces acted on Levi's body and he felt as though he was about to rip in half, but be held on to himself. He was using all of his will and strength to prevent himself from ripping apart, so he was essentially held in place.

"Now!!" Tio shouted out.

Ara then appeared from what seemed like no where and used both of his claws to slash at the air, sending two claw shaped wind attacks at the pinned Levi.

*Slice*

A slicing sound was heard as the attack reached the defenseless Levi and carved an X shaped cut mark on his chest, drawing blood from both his chest and his mouth.

"Puak!" Levi spat out blood and fell to the ground as Tio deactivated the spell.

The dust finally settled to reveal the results of the match; Tio and Ara had won.

"Urgh." Levi groaned as he sat up, still clutching his injured chest.

'i lost....again.' Levi thought.

'stop it. Don't sulk, instead learn from the experience.' Grim said, stopping Levi from entering self deprecating mode.

"Good match." Ara said.

"Yeah..huff..we really.....huff...would have lost....pant...if you somehow countered....huff..pant....that." Tio said between heavy breaths. He seemed to be exhausted.

It was because that last tornado binding spell had taken a lot of Mana and mental strength. It was a third tier wind spell after all and not just anyone could use it.

"C'mon, let's get you healed up in the pond." Ara said and carried Levi over to the elixir pond, where his injuries were to be healed by the water. 

"Yeah."

He was not allowed to stay to long in the room though, so he quickly excused himself after delivering the injured human.

"Aaah. Nothing like a nice soak in the elixir pond after an intense session. Don't you agree, Raja?" Levi said. He was currently sitting inside the elixir pond located in Raja's quarters. All of his earlier tension and anger at losing the match seemingly melted away by the shooting effects of the elixir pond.

The water was the perfect temperature, not to hot, not to cold. And the liquid itself seemed to permeate through one's skin, easing the tension in the muscles and soothing the very soul!

Levi had dipped himself into the pond a good many times and each time, he never failed to think of how comfortable the entire experience was. It was a nigh otherworldly pleasure.

The wolf lay down in a corner of the room, he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts as he didn't reply to Levi's question.

After a few seconds, Raja still hadn't responded to Levi's question.

"Uh....Raja."

"....!" Still no reply.

"Raja!" Levi shouted his name. Finally, his voice got through to the wolf and he answered back.

"Huh? Oh, right. You were saying something Levi?" Raja asked, obviously startled.

"...is everything alright, Raja?" Levi asked, genuinely worried for his friend.

"Yeah. Everything's okay." Raja responded. 

He was obviously lying.

"Hey, you know you can tell me anything.....right?" Levi said.

"Ha! Says the guy who refuses to tell anyone about his abilities. Even your sister didn't seem to know about it. She was quite shocked when I told her, and I think she just dismissed it as nonsense." Raja jokingly said.

It was true, Aina had shrugged off Raja's claim of Levi possessing a special sort of Mana. But would a learned person like her really not suspect anything? 

Only one thing was for certain, that they had bought her silence with elixir water.

Levi just shrugged with a nonchalant expression and the two laughed heartily. After a few more seconds, the laughter died down and the awkward silence returned. It was very apparent that the two individuals had their own secrets.

Levi came out of the pond, his injuries were gone and his body felt rejuvenated. His body felt good as new. 

He put on his very worn out white T- shirt, which had by now obtained a brown hue, and his black trousers which were also worn out with cuts all over them.

"You know....if you want to know about my abilities that bad, then I ca-." Levi spoke, but was cut off by none other than Raja.

"Don't. I'd prefer that you told me about that when you are more comfortable. There's no rush, I'm not going anywhere." Raja waved away Levi's attempt at a confession.

Raja was truly a good friend. A friend unlike any Levi had ever had in both his lives.

Levi didn't even realize that a smile had crawled up to his usually bitter face when he said, "Ok. I guess I'll wait too. When you feel up to it, you can tell me about it alright?"

"....." Raja was silent.

"Huh? Did you not hear me?" Levi asked.

"I did. Yeah." Raja replied.

"Ok then. I'll be off." Levi said as he jogged back to the training grounds, to continue his training.

Levi didn't hear it, but in a voice lower than even the most quiet whisper, Raja said:

"I am sorry for placing such a burden on you, Levi."

What was his reason for these exact words? We are yet to find out.

A/N:

Sorry about this guys, but I think this is my limit. My fingers are already sore from all the writing. I hope I can update tommorow.... No, I will update!

Special thanks to my loyal supporters, halis_eren_balaban and Epic_Buddie123.