I saw stars.

  A man sat at a table, moving pieces on a sparkling black board of polished marble.

  “Not yet.” He whispered. “Patience.”

  My stomach lurched as my vision cleared. I was awake, in a daze, disoriented and shaking. My eyes were watering and my nose was burning.

  Jujud let out a sigh, pinning me against a boulder with one of her hands wrapped around my throat. “You just had to break another band didn’t you? I suppose you’re not in the mood to think of consequences.”

  Smell.

  My sense of smell had suddenly extended for miles.

  Blood.

  I smelled blood everywhere. Blood and rot, searing into the back of my mind, far stronger than anything I could’ve experienced under normal circumstances.

  But I’d been expecting something like this. I just had to hang in for a few more seconds while I adjusted.

  “Grind!” Soise shouted, running toward me.

  “Stay back!” Jujud snapped. “He’s dangerous.” She huffed. “Well, I believe this marks the end of your little tantrum. Good luck fighting with—”

  Rex punched her in the leg.

  Jujud grunted, raising a fist. “I don’t know what you see in these things, Grind.”

  Her fist stopped midair, caught in my grip.

  I grabbed the hand around my neck, prying it off.

  “There we go.”

  {You have equipped [Grind’s Variable Compression Band]}

  [Mental energy has been suppressed.]

  Sweat trickled off my forehead, running down the side of my face, over a tattoo that hadn’t been there before.

  Xoiae’s suppression bands were complicated. There must be an exponential effect to controlling any other person with mental energy, limiting each band's range. Though my lower half was still completely suppressed, my top half had at least a portion of my usual ability. As long as I enchanted something to keep the edge off my senses, I could fight.

  Plus, enchanting my own skin was easier than anything material, and it wouldn’t come off unless I made it.

  A vortex of dust and heat kicked into the air as Jujud struggled against my grip.

  {Jujud}

  [10m Hp 6m Str]

  Soise took a step back.

  {Grind}

  [3.33m Hp 1.33m Str]

  [Your aura has been weaponized]

  “I’m not giving up,” I said with a dead look in my eyes. “Go away. I’ll come back to the academy when I’ve done all I can for the monsters here, understand?”

  Jujud just stared at me. “What gives you the idea you're in any position to make demands?”

  Stabbing pain pierced my shoulder, locking up the muscles in my hands and sides.

  [Your aura has been disassembled]

  There was a brief moment after seeing the screen. I reached out to the screen, nearly brushing against it. But then my strength was gone.

  Jujud reared back and punched me in the face with a roar of mental energy, blowing down the trees with a shockwave that split a rift into the ground.

  {(-3m) 330k Hp}

  I spun, planting both heels on the flat of Crapshoveler to slow my momentum, nevertheless skimming over most of the forest. My chest was pounding and my thoughts skittered around my head like an angry vole, but the enchanted tattoo held, preventing a sensory overload from wasting what little time I had left.

  My face pulled broken bones and torn muscle together, healing before I felt the pain.

  Or maybe I was just too distracted.

  Rex.

  Where was Rex?

  [Your aura has been weaponized]

  I slammed both feet on the earth, jumping off with the force of a bomb, kicking up a hailstorm of dirt, trees, and rock, obscuring my landing.

  “Rex!” I screamed, gouging my nails into the packed earth to slow my momentum. “REX!”

  Jujud waved a hand, knocking the clouds of dust into the sky. “Grind. Whatever you think you’re doing, stop.”

  “REX!”

  She sighed. “Soise grabbed him. I have no doubt she’ll try to smuggle him out of my sight.”

  He was okay.

  “If I killed every monster in this forest, would you stop trying to fight back?” Jujud asked.

  He was okay.

  She got serious. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  Jujud raised one palm toward the air. Mana condensed into a solid blue sheen of crackling energy, sharpening on one end. She gave it a squeeze, wrapping the semi-transparent material into a handle, aiming for one of the mountains.

  I lunged.

  [Your aura has been disassembled]

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  A sensation like needles shot through my body, locking my arms and legs in place.

  She flicked her wrist in an arc and the mountain crumbled, glowing yellow-hot where the mana had connected. She completed another series of movements, faster than I could register, targeting individual monsters from no less than a mile away.

  “I’m sorry, it had to come to this, Grind.” Jujud stated.

  “Me too,” I hissed, ramming a fist into the dirt and dragging myself forward. Explosive pain tore into my arm, followed by additional pins of energy, too thin to be visible, but strong enough where I couldn’t break them. Another volley hit my back, and I stopped breathing.

  I could only hear my chest pounding in my ears.

  Jujud took a step forward, preparing to jump. She was heading toward Soise. And she was going to kill Rex.

  My hands twitched.

  Nothing.

  I couldn’t do anything.

  Again.

  Jujud vanished into the sky, barely marking the dirt as she jumped.

  I slammed my head on the packed earth, struggling to keep composure. Almost my entire body refused to respond.

  WHAT NOW?! What did I have?!

  Think.

  Think.

  I took a deep breath.

  Think.

  What exactly was pinning me in place?

  My vision drifted to my arm.

  This wasn’t any sort of an affliction, or I’d have gotten a notification. Now, these were likely physical needles of some sort, piercing through my muscles and preventing movement. Jujud was a Mana specialist, so it was certainly something along those lines. But why couldn’t I break it?

  I toned down the effects of my tattoo, catching a glimpse of a flickering strand of mana, running into my skin, then out the other side of my arm, before looping back into another muscle. These were ribbons of mana, like stitches. And they were strong.

  Unlike normal physical material, mana can always get denser. And the denser it is, the harder the mana becomes to break.

  I took a sharper breath, concentrating.

  [Your aura has been weaponized]

  Though Jujud could suppress the effects of my aura, that appeared to be connected to range.

  “Here goes nothing.”

  I flexed.

  Strands of mana popped, followed by a searing, explosive pain in my arms and legs. As I moved, additional pieces of the string snapped apart, but not before cutting through internal tissue. I had a million little dots of black, like mosquito bites. But I could move.

  And if I could move, I could still make it.

  Even as the string was breaking, I was planting my feet down, adjusting my grip, pushing off my big toes and watching the ground ripple as the shockwave overturned brush into mulch and rock to gravel.

  The entire forest flickered, before I was above Jujud and Soise, catching hints of their conversation.

  “Drop it,” Jujud snapped, standing still on the edge of a branch. “Don’t encourage him.”

  “Y-you’re hurting each other!” Soise shouted, cradling Rex in her arms, who was feebly thrashing about, biting at her hands. “Master Jujud, it’s just one goblin! If Grind doesn’t stop this soon he’s going to—”

  “He’s already lost his mind,” Jujud growled, glancing upward. “This needs to stop before it gets any more out of hand.”

  I was falling.

  Soise looked up, freezing in shock.

  In that moment, Jujud took several steps forward, effortlessly plucking Rex from her arms. “I’m sorry Soise, but our only option is to force Grind to give up.”

  She squeezed.

  The sound of breaking bones echoed through the forest.

  I held Rex unharmed, vision distorting under the horrific surge of mental energy.

  Jujud’s fingers had been twisted backward.

  She grit her teeth, snapping them back into place with a click.

  “That was stupid,” Jujud said. “How much did that cost?”

  “A lot,” I sighed. Parts of my arms were going numb.

  She nodded.

  I didn’t get a moment to rest before she had lunged for Rex again, summoning a bowstaff in her hand.

  [Your aura has been disassembled]

  She was moving too fast for just six million strength. During the movement, she’d also decreased her health. But even then, she was still faster than she should be.

  Maybe…

  I forced all of my concentration into my aura, and Jujud stumbled.

  [Your aura has been weaponized]

  [Your aura has been disassembled]

  Ah.

  She was weaponizing her aura too. Somehow, that was canceling mine out. Perhaps auras couldn’t overlap?

  Jujud recovered almost instantly, flicking the bowstaff into the side of my face. The staff shattered.

  I was breathing heavily now, and the sounds and smells around us were starting to get louder.

  But I could break her weapons. That one had very sparing levels of mental energy, which was easily beaten with a bit of mine, if I timed it right.

  Jujud and I watched each other.

  I thought for a moment, before giving Rex to Soise, never leaving my eyes off Jujud. “Rex, I need you to trust this woman with your life.”

  Rex stared at her.

  Soise hugged him. “Grind’s going to be okay.”

  Rex sniffed. “I already knew that.”

  Jujud cringed, massaging the space between her eyebrows. “You…I’m not…don’t either of you understand what is happening? Do you understand the full implications of what you’re trying to do? I know you two really mean well, but you don’t understand anything you’re trying to do!”

  “It’s wrong to kill people,” I stated.

  “Okay, yes, good you know that much,” Jujud snapped. “So how can you put thousands of lives at risk for the sake of a monster? Even if it were human, how can one human life be more valuable than thousands!”

  “If I were dangerous, would you kill me?”

  Jujud glowered in response. “You’re not that kind of dangerous. Plus, you’re valuable. But even if that goblin lives their entire life as best as they can, it’s virtually guaranteed to expose the virus to another monster. Grind, I want you to seriously ask yourself how you’re going to feed and shelter your monster friend. Monsters need exp.”

  “I’ll give him mine,” I stated, forming a tiny exp orb in the palm of my hand. “See?”

  At first, she didn’t process what I said. “You’ve lost your mind, Grind,” Jujud whispered. “I don’t know what sort of logic you think you’re using, but what you’re describing is the exact opposite of how the game is to be played. Players don’t feed monsters!”

  I tensed.

  She flinched her hand and laces of mana cut through my entire body, locking it in place. “I-I don’t even know what to say to you, anymore, Grind.” The strings tightened, hardening like steel. “You’re just acting so—STUPID!”

  She threw her hands in the air. “Where’d Soise run off to now?”

  My legs burned.

  Where’d the attack even come from? I hadn’t seen any sort of projectile.

  But I could sense mental energy.

  Not very much, but some, like when Xoiae summoned the teapot.

  This was an extremely efficient use of energy, undoubtedly practiced an uncountable number of times. But even that wouldn’t be enough to just ignore my mental defenses, which meant something else was going on. And I had a pretty good idea what.

  Jujud took a step forward.

  Her leg locked into place, cut by a needle of pure bone, thin as a hair but dense enough to stop a train.

  My control was sloppy, resulting in a flare of mental energy, not to mention my flimsy grasp on the material, which dissolved almost instantly.

  But I understood the basic points.

  Just as you could control your own body with mental energy, you could teleport mana, almost as easily. Teleporting the attack into someone’s skin would be virtually impossible, due to their mental defenses, but teleporting the attack outside the skin would still be reasonably efficient and virtually unblockable, as the attack would already land the moment the teleportation ended.

  Since my mana channels were totally destroyed, I just had to substitute the mana with some sort of physical object, with some sort of connection to myself, in order to make it easier to move.

  Bone, in this case.

  A dot of blood ran down Jujud’s leg.

  She tore it from her leg, snapping the needle in her fingers.

  “How’d you learn that?”

  // {Notice} //

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