Chapter 17
Battle Out of Time
*An hour before the library closed
After realizing that Tokiya and Berserker had disappeared, Ubi didn't even seem to care. He simply shrugged and spoke in a calm voice.
"You're smart, but as someone who isn't me it is natural that your intelligence occasionally lacks. You see, you failed to realize that with my animal control magic every creature in this forest is mine to command. Without your help, those two won't be making it out of this forest alive."
Karasu frowned and sucked her teeth as if she knew there was truth in Ubi's words. She had seen Berserker's strength and knew that he was a capable protector, but with his current injuries, he wouldn't be able to survive another onslaught of wolves. And Tokiya was, well, Tokiya...
As far as Karasu was concerned, she needed to end this fight as soon as possible while also extracting as much information from the cultist as she could.
"Ugh, it's so hard being the strongest!"
Ubi began fixing his hair, his fingers running through the heavenly blonde strands.
"We can stand here all you want, Temporal Mage. I'm in no rush. In fact, after Tokiya is dead, I wouldn't mind letting you walk away."
"Sorry, but unless you're willing to share information about the person who put the hit on Tokiya, I don't think words are needed."
She blitzed towards Ubi, who simply stood there with no reaction. Karasu threw a punch as the Temporis teleported in front of Ubi in a defensive stance. However, Karasu's punch never connected. It was a feint. She sped past the Temporis and prepared to strike Ubi with a dark magic powered fist. Suddenly, she felt something grab her by the collar of her coat. It wasn't until she was swung around and sent flying that she realized it was the Temporis. She landed flawlessly despite the force with which she had been thrown.
"Damn, that thing's more than just fast. It's instantaneous. Attacking Ubi head on isn't an option until I've taken out the Temporis."
Karasu's eyes darted around the clearing in the trees that had now become the battlefield for her and her perfect counter.
"Alternatively, I could just skip the fight and go after Tokiya. After all, my objective isn't to kill Ubi. It's to protect Tokiya."
With her mind made up, Karasu dashed towards the direction. After a harsh impact she ended up on the stomach first on the ground with the Temporis' foot on top of her. She froze the temporal state of her body right before the claws of the Temporis collided with her body. If she hadn't done that, they would've surely ripped through her flesh.
However, despite her state in time being frozen, her position in space was not, allowing the Temporis to throw her back to the center of the clearing and away from the direction Berserker had taken Tokiya. Karasu's automatic timer went off, releasing her from her frozen state, but at that moment, the Temporis punched Karasu causing her feet to roughly slide across the ground. The creature instantaneously returned to Ubi's side.
Ubi rubbed the back of his head, completely disinterested in the current battle. Karasu stared at her two enemies. She made the infuriating observation that she hadn't landed a single hit on Ubi and only one on the Temporis. Meanwhile, the accumulating punches from the time skipping creature were starting to sting.
"This isn't working. I can't escape if that thing can just push me back to where I started. There's one thing that's bugging me though. If the Temporis can instantly do something after thinking of it, theoretically, it could think of punching me 100 times, and they would all come at once. It hasn't done anything like that, so it must have limitations."
Ubi stood patiently, letting time pass. The more time that passed, the more likely Berserker and Tokiya would be dead. Karasu knew this, but the best thing she could do for Tokiya right now was think about how she was going to take care of the Temporis.
"At first, I thought the Temporis' ability was passive, but now it appears to be something that needs to be consciously activated. After all, if it wasn't, every stray thought would result in it doing something instantly. Combine this fact with the apparent limitations, and it becomes clear that this isn't a natural ability. This is temporal magic."
Karasu stood straighter. She pointed a finger in the direction of her enemies.
"I figured it out. What the Temporis is doing isn't a natural, passive ability. It's a magic technique, meaning that not only does it require conscious activation, but like all magic it requires mana. But now, I also know what makes the Temporis immune to my temporal magic."
Ubi stopped fixing his hair, not because he was scared or put on edge, but because the confidence and knowledge with which Karasu spoke genuinely impressed him.
"Do tell, Karasu."
"You see, temporal mages are innately immune to the temporal magic of others."
Ubi slowly clapped his hands.
"Although I wasn't particularly trying to hide, your thought process was absolutely fascinating for a common person. And I didn't even know the bit about the temporal magic immunity. I just accepted it when the boss told me the Temporis would counter you."
Karasu smirked.
"Please hold your applause until the end of the show. However, there is one thing I want to ask you."
Ubi shrugged.
"Go ahead. You've earned the right to ask me a question."
"From my understanding of animal summoning magic, it only allows the user to summon real life animals. Only animal creation would allow you to create something like the Temporis, but I doubt you have a technique that advanced. So, how did you manage to get that creature here?"
Ubi's eyebrow twitched slightly.
"It's extremely foolish of you to doubt me, but I'll let it slide this time. As for the answer to your question, you're correct. I can't use animal creation magic."
"Then why did you tell me not to doubt you?"
"I was able to summon the Temporis due to my regalia."
"You have a regalia?"
"Yes, I'm sure you've heard of this person. I possess the Library of Ajax as in the regalia of Ajax Palamedes."
Ubi pulled a purple book from underneath his cloak. On the front in black text were the words, "The Story of the Temporis."
"You see, among the many abilities of this regalia, one of them is to be able to extract things from the books within the library. However, it only works on books that the owner has full access to. So, I used this book to summon the Temporis and my animal control magic to increase its intelligence."
Karasu nodded.
"And what would happen if I were to destroy that book."
Ubi ran his fingers through his hair.
"If you think the Temporis would disappear by you destroying the book, I'll tell you that you're wrong."
Karasu smirked.
"Let's test that."
She snapped her fingers, and a bullet like purple feather rocketed through the book, leaving a huge hole. This caused the book to fade into magic particles, but the Temporis remained. Ubi stared at the fading book, and his eyes began to twitch.
"No, no, no, no! I was going to use that book to summon another Temporis if the current one died. I can't just walk back to the library and go get it! What she doesn't know is that out of all the books in the library, only one can have a summon at a time, so maybe I can bluff and pretend I have another book in my cloak. No. Calm down Ubi Que Centrum. You're beginning to act like that idiot, Mors. You'll be fine."
Ubi, who seemed panicked for a brief moment, quickly fixed his posture and shrugged.
"I commend you for being so intelligent. However, despite you finding all of this out, you still have no way to actually defeat the Temporis."
Karasu responded in a calm and calculated voice. For someone who was getting rag dolled and put against the ropes, it could've been misinterpreted as a bluff or false confidence. However, Karasu's intense aura would not allow Ubi to think that.
"You said that you're using animal control magic to increase the Temporis' combat decision making, right?"
Ubi combed his hair.
"That is correct."
Karasu smirked.
"So, if I kill you, the Temporis will be a cinch?"
Ubi shrugged, but this time a little less sure of himself.
"Well, that's easier said than-"
At that moment, a purple feather formed inches away from Ubi's neck and launched itself at him. The Temporis teleported and instantly knocked the feather into the ground. Ubi's eyes were wide and rightfully so. Although there wasn't even a scratch on him, death was inches away from him. The Temporis teleported in front of Ubi, creating a barrier between him and Karasu. Ubi's previous panic began to resurface.
"I have to get out of here. It would be hard, but there's a small chance she might be able to kill me even with the Temporis' protection. I need to get away from her. Wait? Me, Ubi Que Centrum, running away? No, this isn't an act of cowardice or weakness. It's just a strategic repositioning. Right? Yes."
A giant smoke cloud appeared around Ubi and the Temporis. Once the smoke cleared, Ubi had disappeared, and in his place, there were multiple black wolves.
Karasu snapped her fingers, and a storm of feathers rained down on the creatures, killing all of them. However, the Temporis dodged all of them with a teleport. Karasu felt something pierce her chest. The Temporis loomed over her, raising its massive hand. There was an object in its hand that was slowly pumping. It was her heart. The Temporis crushed the delicate organ.
Karasu coughed up blood. Despite her near death state, she smiled and began giggling.
"It's going to take a lot more than that to kill me."
The pieces of her heart began to float back into her body as they reformed her blood pumping organ. The blood on the floor that she coughed up reentered her body through her mouth. Before the Temporis could react, Karasu punched it in its stomach with a dark magic enhanced fist, leaving a red bruise. The Temporis teleported away from Karasu, gaining some distance.
"That was close. I'm a strong mage, but I'm also a very fragile gal. And reverting the temporal state of my body took a lot of mana out of me. I have to finish this before I run out of mana."
Karasu focused on the Temporis but was slightly shocked by a small observation. The bruise from her punch had disappeared. She set this small detail aside in order to finish the battle.
"Ubi's somewhere in those trees commanding the Temporis. Taking my attention off of this creature to look for him will surely cost me my life, so I guess I'll be doing this the hard way."
A storm of feathers spawned around the Temporis, but the creature teleported to the side. However, the Temporis, or the person controlling it, miscalculated, causing some of the feathers to cut off its right arm. Karasu laughed.
"Oh Ubi, what was that? I guess you can't see too well from that thick forest. Why don't you come out to get a better view?"
The Temporis growled, showing its own "emotion" for the first time. The blood spraying out of the place where its arm was slowly stopped. Suddenly, the Temporis' right arm was back, and sparks of mystical magic faded away from it. Karasu's eyes widened.
"What the hell? Healing magic? It can do that? Maybe it's a Defier of Fate. No, I shouldn't make assumptions. For now, I'll accept the fact that it can heal, but that's not the scary part. With its temporal magic, it can completely skip the time required to heal."
"Looks like I'll have to take you down in one shot, Temporis."
The Temporis teleported to Karasu and tried to perform another heart removal, but Karasu took no damage. The Temporis continued to punch her, but the purple mage took no damage. After a short time, Karasu unfroze and forcefully thrust her palm into Temporis, sending shockwaves of dark energy into its body. On top of this, Karasu sent numerous feathers piercing through the Temporis. However, the Temporis would just continue to restore its whole body. This cycle continued. Karasu sucked her teeth.
"I can't keep up like this. My mana is already getting low. On the other hand, this creature is recklessly using advanced temporal and healing magic, which are infamous for being heavily mana taxing. Mana clearly isn't a problem for this thing, putting me at a disadvantage."
The damage and healing cycle between Karasu and the Temporis continued.
"Wait, if the Temporis is capable of teleporting away, why can't it just do that instead of taking my attacks. It's almost like it's stunned locked. It's risky, but I'll amp up my output. It's all or nothing!"
Karasu's dark shockwaves became stronger, and the Temporis was visibly taking more damage and having to heal more. Karasu could feel victory approaching her grasp.
Suddenly, hundreds of animals emerged from the bushes behind Karasu. She used Time Stop along with Piercing Feathers to easily get rid of the creatures. However, this caused some of her attention to be diverted from the Temporis, allowing it to teleport out of her range.
Karasu's breath became heavy.
"Ubi's decided to aid the Temporis. Not good for me. At least I know he hasn't gone off to find Tokiya."
The Temporis teleported to Karasu, punching her and sending her flying. The monster continued punching Karasu. She froze her temporal state and threw a punch at the Temporis. However, the punch lacked the strength of Karasu's previous attack. It was clear that Karasu's time was running out. Normally, she would have reverted her temporal state to heal from all the damage she had taken, but she couldn't waste any more mana than she already had. She had to kill the Temporis with her biggest attack yet!
It seemed like the Temporis was preparing for another attack, but before it could act, or rather skip acting, a feather darted through its head. The creature healed, but more feathers came tearing through it. This intense cycle continued.
Karasu smirked, knowing that the battle was about to end either in her favor or not.
"I understand everything now. At first, I wasn't sure why you appeared to be stunned when I hit you with those shockwaves, but now I realize I should have understood it better than anyone else. Temporal magic takes an extreme amount of concentration to perform and maintain, so if I was being constantly berated by fatal attacks and having to heal from at the same time, there's no way I'd be able to use it. Now, I see the same applies to you."
The Temporis continued to survive the onslaught of feathers but was unable to escape the trap. Karasu wasn't going to stop. She added more feathers and gave them more speed.
However, Ubi wasn't just going to let his only chance at victory die. In order to distract Karasu, he summoned wolves and snakes, creatures both big and small, fast and slow, furry and scaly, anything to throw Karasu off. But Karasu wasn't going to let the Temporis escape again. Instead of using Time Stop to deal with the creatures, she treated the Temporis and the creatures as the same target and simply increased the radius of her feathers to cover the entire clearing. She wasn't sure if that used more mana than Time Stop would've, but it allowed her to deal with the creatures while continuing to pressure the Temporis.
Ubi's distraction did seem to have a bit of an effect, for although the Temporis couldn't teleport away with magic, it slowly began to take a step forward. Karasu quickly applied more pressure. Unfortunately, more and more animals continued to emerge from the trees, forcing Karasu to continue to cover the whole clearing with her feathers.
"More, more, I need more."
The feathers increased in speed and power. One of them was even able to cut a whole tree. Despite mana not being a problem for the Temporis, the speed at which it could use its time skip to heal couldn't keep up with the speed and power of Karasu's feathers. The ground beneath the creature at this point had been torn up by all the feathers.
The purple storm that surrounded the Temporis almost completely obscured Karasu's view of the creature. The feathers sounded less like knives piercing a target and more like high impact bullets.
Karasu's muscles were tense, and her eyes remained locked on the storm. She hardly moved and it seemed like she didn't even blink. Even in the face of the intense wind caused by the feathers, Karasu remained focused. The animals emerging from the forest continued to be slaughtered. The Temporis was completely out of sight as everything continued, due to the high concentration of feathers. The storm continued to rage. Then it stopped.
As the last few feathers hit the ground and disappeared, Karasu looked at the spot where the Temporis stood and saw that nothing was there. She had overpowered its healing magic and completely wiped it from existence.
Her breath was labored, and the significant use of mana had caught up to her. Her body still ached from the intense punches of the time skipping creature. Despite her condition, she couldn't stop. Tokiya was out there and so was the cultist. She would've restored the state of her body, but she still had to fight the cultist although she doubted it would be too hard.
With heavy steps, she made her way into the forest. She wanted to use detection magic to find Ubi, but she wouldn't use magic unless completely necessary. In fact, avoiding the cultist and getting straight to Tokiya would be ideal for her.
Out of nowhere, a snake lunged from the bushes and bit her arm. She quickly tore it off of her and threw it into a tree, killing it. She could feel something coursing through her.
"Tsk, poison."
Ubi calmly emerged from the bushes. Despite the Temporis no longer being there for protection, there seemed to be no fear in his demeanor.
"Hello, Karasu."
"You..."
Ubi combed his fingers through his hair.
"You shouldn't have such an attitude. I barely address others by their name, so you should feel honored."
Karasu tried to send a feather to end the cultist's life, but she couldn't. A stinging pain struck every part of her body. She coughed up blood.
"Is your magic not working? That's the venom of the witch viper at work. It infects magic nodes and causes extreme pain when magic is used. With that poison in your system, there's no way you'll be able to use any magic, let alone temporal magic. But don't worry. It's not fatal."
Karasu sucked her teeth.
"Was that snake preparation for me too?"
Ubi shook his head.
"No, no, no, it's just an animal I learned how to summon a while ago, and it's proved to be very useful ever since."
"I see."
Ubi shrugged.
"Anyways, you've shown yourself to be quite the strong opponent, so I won't give you a chance to pull anything crazy like you did with the Temporis."
Karasu took a defensive stance. In taking this stance, she realized how slow her movements were. She waited for something to happen. Ubi stood there, but something was different. Magic energy began to swell around him. The cultist tilted his head back, looking down on Karasu, and smiled his widest grin yet.
"Ultimatum, Noah's Ark."
*****
The magic path a mage is assigned does not determine their whole magic career. Even with something as simple as fire magic, a creative mage can manage to perform complicated acts with it. When it comes to magic, imagination really is the limit.
Advanced mages can even push past their path with limitations of course. For example, if one were born on the path of water magic, with enough knowledge of magic and their path, they could possibly perform something like ice or steam magic.
Another potential raising action mages can take is increasing their mana reserves. This is done by mages stretching themselves using advanced techniques. It's like training your muscles. One's magic nodes are minusculy damaged and repaired through magic exercise.
However, these methods of growth take time and effort, and they all have their limitations. But there is a way for a mage to break every limitation put on them immediately. These techniques are called ultimatums. Not only do they allow mages to perform techniques that would usually cost godly amounts of mana for a less but still high price, but they also allow them to perform magic outside of their path completely. One whose path is earth magic might be able to access wind magic in their ultimatum.
Unlike normal magic, ultimatums are not something one can craft or train. They are assigned to mages and cannot be changed. Having an ultimatum is very impressive in the world of magic and is a sign of an advanced mage. Because they cost so much mana, ultimatums are almost always the final technique used in a battle. If it succeeds, the user wins. If not, they die.
*****
There were no smoke clouds for the animals that Ubi summoned, unlike what his animal summoning usually did. The creatures formed their circular system and vital organs, then their bones and muscles, and finally their skin and other features in a gross process. The animals weren't just simple wolves and birds, but some of them were things that not even Karasu had seen before. There were all sorts of horns, claws, and feathers. Some of the animals didn't even look like they could really exist.
However, the scariest part of this ultimatum was the sheer number of animals Ubi had just summoned at once. Karasu could barely see the trees through the hoard of animals, and she knew there were probably thousands past what she could see. They were on the ground, in the trees, and even in the sky. Trees were cracking under the pressure.
"I'm going all out, Karasu. In your state, I doubt you can do the same, so it looks like this is the end."
With Ubi's distasteful farewell, all of the animals charged at Karasu from every direction. A giant bear like creature took hold of Karasu's left arm and tore it clean off with ease. She tried to use any sort of magic, but a sharp pain struck her as nothing resulted from the attempt.
The animals piled on top of her. They didn't even have to tear her to pieces. All they had to do was crush her with their combined weight.
"This sucks. I'm going to lose. I haven't had to actually try in a fight since Eien that one time. Not even Piercing Feathers could kill all of these animals at once, and temporal magic is not an option."
Ubi stood in his place staring at the pile of animals, not even being able to see Karasu. Suddenly, a feather shot from within the pile. Following the lone feather, a ray of feathers blasted the animals. Ubi gawked as he saw Karasu manage to barely slip out of the trap of animals.
"How did she do that? There's no way she can use magic in that state. Wait. What's that?"
In Karasu's hand was a dagger with a purple hilt and purple feathered guard. On the back of the dagger was a small yellow talon. Karasu's expression was tired, stressed, and slightly panicked not for herself, but for her promise to protect Tokiya. Then there was a warm feeling in her hand where she held the dagger which reassured her.
"Let's do this, little one."
Ubi didn't know why, but he felt bad about what was about to happen. He wondered why Karasu hadn't died yet despite having no magic and only one arm. Ubi pointed at Karasu.
"Kill her."
Every animal was plunged into deep rage as they once again charged at Karasu. The dagger and the hand which Karasu held it with began to glow with mana. Karasu's yellow eyes pierced Ubi. Her soft lips uttered the most terrifying thing they could have at that moment.
"Ultimatum, Feathered Demon."
Every animal around Karasu was brutally stabbed by thousands of feathers. Ubi was completely flabbergasted.
"How? You shouldn't be able to do-"
Karasu violently coughed up blood as she fell to the ground and lost consciousness due to the poison. Ubi scoffed.
"I don't know how you gathered up the mana to use an ultimatum, but did you really think using it to kill a fraction of my army was worth leaving yourself completely vulnerable to the rest. Maybe you aren't as intelligent as I thought."
An odd tiger like creature was the first to strike now that Karasu was unconscious. However, before it could even get close to her, a giant purple feathered claw grabbed the animal and crushed it with ease. From the disembodied arm, the rest of the creature began to form.
Standing over Karasu's body on four legs was a purple feathered dragon with the head of a crow. Ubi sucked his teeth and kicked the closest animal to him.
"Don't just stand there! Kill it. Kill her. Kill everything!"
The feathered demon snatched Karasu and launched itself into the air. The force of its takeoff sent vicious winds flying in every direction. However, Ubi's animal army did not let this stop them. With their determination to fulfill their creator's orders, they began to climb on top of each other, making a ladder of animals that reached into the sky.
The feathered demon stared down at the growing ladder with an emotionless expression. It opened its beak wide. A massive concentration of dark energy appeared in its mouth. The ladder continued to grow, and so did the concertation of energy in the demon's mouth. The demon released the energy into an intense beam.
Every animal instantly evaporated, and every tree in the path of the beam was destroyed, leaving a cleared path that stretched all the way to the edge of the forest. The shock created by the beam caused intense winds that took down trees even outside of the beam's path. With one attack, Ubi's entire ultimatum had been destroyed.
The demon stared down at its destruction before slowly descending to the ground. It dropped Karasu on the ground before fading away.
*****
About fifteen minutes elapsed before Karasu regained consciousness. She slowly rose and winced in pain. She noticed the dagger from before lying beside her, so she picked it up and put it in her coat.
"Thank you, little one."
Karasu looked down at where her left arm should've been. Her eyes widened.
"Aaaaaaaaah!"
She whined like a baby before pouting.
"This sucks. I can't even heal it right now."
She slowly and weakly walked over to where she needed to be before staring down at the pitiful sight in front of her. Propped against a tree was Ubi Que Centrum whose legs were being crushed by another tree. His whole upper body was covered in blood. He laughed to himself. His arms were too weak to clap.
"You are truly exceptional. To be able to defeat me proves that you are something beyond imagination, beyond gods, beyond everything."
"I know. I am the strongest mage in Oravell after all."
"I have never found someone so worthy of me. I want you. I want you to marry me."
Karasu shrugged, stealing Ubi's signature gesture.
"Sorry, but my loving days are over. Anyways, now that I've defeated you, tell me who put the hit on Tokiya."
Ubi sighed, truly vanquished.
"The fact still remains that I don't know, and I have no reason to lie."
Karasu believed in Ubi's pridefulness and decided to not press the issue of the hit any further.
"There is something else that's been bothering me."
"Ask away, darling."
"You don't strike me as the type to willingly do someone's bidding let alone without knowing all the information about the situation. So, why are you a member of the cult?"
"It's quite simple. There is one god who rules this world, being Fate. There are two individuals who are meant to carry out Fate's will on earth. One of them is the boss, the mouth of Fate, and the other is me, the hand of Fate. See? It perfectly explains my excellence."
Karasu giggled, not taking Ubi seriously.
"So, where does that put me since I beat you?"
Ubi didn't hesitate when he answered.
"You are obviously the only one worthy of my love."
There was a long and uncomfortable silence. Ubi sighed.
"However, just because I have a soft spot for you does not mean I'll allow me, Ubi Que Centrum, to fail at my mission."
Karasu gave him a skeptical look.
"It doesn't look like you can do much in this state."
Ubi slightly shrugged.
"Maybe not, but do you remember the regalia I mentioned earlier?"
Karasu's eyes narrowed.
"Yes, I do."
"Well, I'm almost positive that Tokiya and his bodyguard are in that regalia. Usually, it is a pretty safe environment, but there is a state that it can be put in to make it deadly. As the owner of the regalia, I have the option to close it. In its closed state, death isn't just a threat. It's inevitable."
Karasu's eyes widened. She pulled the dagger from out of her coat and slit Ubi's throat. Because she only had one arm, she fell due to a lack of balance.
She prayed he hadn't actually done anything. Little did she know that Tokiya and Berserker were in for a world of trouble.