"He broke the spell! You all watched!"
"How did he do that? Wasn't he a Nullborn?"
The crowd scattered around the square approached the center. No one could believe what they had just witnessed. Nothing like this had ever happened in the history of Drosven Hollow, let alone the Veyrad region.
The mastery of Mana was the balance of society. Mages had always ruled; they could create and bend laws. No one could rebel against their will. No one, until now.
Kaen's eyes were fixed on the Archmage. Kaen did not know the extent of the power in his hands, but he could neutralize a magical projectile with ease, and that was enough for him. Just as he was staring at him, however, his attention was drawn to something else.
A few centimeters away from his arm, exactly where the deflection had occurred, a small celestial orb was floating in the air. Driven by a strange will, as if he knew deep inside that he had to do it, Kaen reached out his hand toward the orb.
Upon contact with his hand, the orb disappeared like a soap bubble that had just burst.
-------------------------------------
[Obtained: +2 Fragments of Mana]
[Fragments of Mana: 2]
[Collect more Fragments to unlock new abilities]
-------------------------------------
Kaen read the interface and understood exactly what to do. The way to increase power. Suppress magic, in all its forms. He had a feeling that this would be to his advantage: as he absorbed the Mana Orb, he felt a slight sense of relief.
"What the hell are you? ! Abomination!" the second mage in front of him shouted as the other recovered from the shock. He brought his elbows back and then threw his arms forward, throwing thin blue bolts of lightning at Kaen.
Kaen sprinted towards him, arms crossed, and within inches of impact, opened them violently, driven by primal instinct.
Once again the magic was broken, the two lightning bolts disintegrated, releasing a blue powder into the air as if they were made of fragile glass.
-------------------------------------
[Obtained: +2 Fragments of Mana]
[Fragments of Mana: 4]
-------------------------------------
"Aaargh!" Kaen shouted, unleashing his wrath on the Mage. He jumped and twirled in midair, striking his foe in the neck with a kick of superhuman strength. His trained physique had been made even more powerful by the Void. With a resounding "crack" the enemy's bones shattered, leaving him lifeless on the ground.
-------------------------------------
[Obtained: +1 Fragments of Null]
[Fragments of Mana: 4]
[Fragments of Null: 1]
-------------------------------------
"Hell, yes!" Kaen shouted again, spreading his arms wide. He was still unfamiliar with how the Void System worked, but he had just realized that killing this Mage would earn him a currency called 'Fragments of Null'.
A sinister feeling of satisfaction began to increase in his body, in his veins. Killing that mage had pleased him; he had felt a strange adrenaline rush.
"I will exterminate them all" the sentence he had said to the Void echoed in his mind. The world as he knew it had to end. There was no more room for Mages and magic. If his brother had died, it was because of the will of the Archmage, who, had he been born without mana, would probably have been a miner or a farmer or who knows what else at the lowest levels of society.
Kaen looked at him. His black eyes were fixed on the mask.
"If you don't kill me now, I will kill you" he roared, pointing his finger at the Archmage.
Suddenly, taking advantage of Kaen's distraction, the only remaining Guardian of the Seal alive began to flee. He did not know how to deal with someone who could dissolve magic with a simple movement of his hands and without any relic, magical item, or counterspell.
The Archmage moved his hand in the direction of the fugitive, never taking his eyes off Kaen.
"Aaargh! Help!" the seal keeper cried. His body began to levitate, rolling backwards.
-------------------------------------
[WARNING]
[Mana Density Nearby: VERY HIGH]
[Recommended Action: Run/hide]
[Actual level of Resonance: too low]
-------------------------------------
The Void System's HUD began to clog with flashing text and icons. It had reacted to the Archmage's telekinesis spell.
"Run, hide? Are you kidding me?" Kaen thought. His only desire was to kill his brother's murderer with his own hands. "I can't run! I have to kill that bastard! I have to kill him now!"
-------------------------------------
[WARNING]
[Current level of Resonance with the Void: too low]
[Collect more Fragments of Null to increase Resonance]
-------------------------------------
The interface was actively answering Kaen's thoughts. Everything was clearer now: Fragments of Mana, obtained by breaking spells, were used to acquire new abilities. Fragments of Null, on the other hand, were used to increase the power of the Void.
"Less than a man, more than a God."
For a moment, he could hear the echo of the Void's voice, as if this demonic presence were there. To increase the level of resonance with the Void, he would have to kill more Mages!
"Archmage, I beg you! Let me go!" the floating Guardian of the Seal supplicated. "My magic level is not sufficient to deal with this being! I have never seen anyone like him! I... I..." his voice stopped abruptly.
The fingers of the Archmage's outstretched hand began to move as if on a piano.
The Mage's screams became guttural verses, and amidst the sounds of broken bones and spurting blood, his body began to crumple and collapse. The crowd went wild, and nearly everyone in the crowd began to flee the square.
The Gray Mantles, including the mustached guard, staggered away trembling. The Archmage gave a demonstration of his arcane power.
When the Archmage's hand stopped, the Guardian of the Seal's body fell to the ground a few feet from the scaffold. The scene that followed was disgusting, the result of an advanced transmutation spell derived from ancient black magic.
The Mage's arms were now longer than his legs, and dragged razor-thin claws across the stone floor with the sound of teeth grinding against glass. Each finger ended in a sharp claw, curved backward like hooks used to rip flesh from bone.
His face was a mask of strained decadence, his unhinged jaw hanging free and his skull twisting to one side, trying to lock his prey in the center of his field of vision.
"Oh, fuck! Let's get out of here!" the mustached Gray Mantle yelled, as he and his men beat a retreat.
The Archmage was motionless again; he had never looked away from Kaen. The aberrant beast stood motionless, waiting for a signal. The Archmage's hand pointed at Kaen and rotated, turning the palm upward.
The scream of pain and rage the mutant Mage let out was excruciating. He bent his knees and leaped at Kaen with superhuman strength, ready to tear him apart with his claws.
Kaen dodged sideways, but the monster changed direction as soon as his feet hit the ground. With extreme speed, the two challengers clashed with violent and chaotic blows. Finally, Kaen managed to strike the beast's stomach with his fist, but his hand went through the enemy's intestines, causing him to let out another cold scream.
"Fuck!" Kaen thought. It was like fighting a creature that felt no pain!
Although he did not directly use magic, the body of the monster created by the Archmage was soaked in mana. His blows were too fast and powerful, faster than Kaen's Void-enhanced hits.
A claw struck Kaen's side, splattering more blood on the wood of the gallows.
But the rage was stronger than the pain. The desire for revenge was more intense than anything else.
Kaen grabbed the abomination's arm, then the other one. With all the strength he had, he pulled violently.
The arms came off, spraying blood as black as oil.
The mutant Mage continued to flail forward, trying to bite or strike his opponent with his head. His only desire was to kill Kaen; he had lost all willpower.
Kaen threw the monster's arms to the ground and kicked him in the chest, pushing him away. Then he grabbed his head and looked at the Archmage.
Kaen's arm muscles contracted and the monster's skull began to crack until it shattered into a thousand pieces, causing an explosion of blood.
-------------------------------------
[Obtained: +3 Fragments of Null]
[Fragments of Null: 4]
-------------------------------------
How many fragments would it take to increase the level of resonance with the Void? Kaen would soon find out. For now, his gaze remained fixed on his real opponent.