Chương 107: Fracas

Ryland was trying to determine the right order of operations the moment he arrived at the scene. Of course, it didn't take him long. As soon as he had finally spotted where those two Manifestations had taken Acrypha, he knew his main priority was nothing but ensuring her safe return. It was just going to be a little more complicated than he had imagined it would be.

"You!" Devas cried.

"Who are you to dare take the form of my master? How dare you steal one of his bodies?" Ryland sighed. Devas was the same as ever. Just as sceptical and just as obtuse. He couldn't tell how long the Turnalian had been here. For a while, clearly. Even just a minute of observation had suggested that he had been scouting out the Living Mana in the area for some time now, likely due to his interest in the local ruins. That was the only explanation that Ryland could arrive at without further information.

Devas himself would reveal it all soon enough.

"You know full well I'm not a fake, Devas," Ryland said.

"I appeared through a rift."

"Which proves nothing! I can appear through a rift. Do you see me masquerading as Marionys Ryland?" Sometimes, Ryland wondered how he ended up having the oddest of people associated with him. He glanced quickly at Acrypha. Her face was trying to display so many emotions at once, she looked a little bit traumatized. But that was to be expected. If the nature of her spell was as he suspected, then of course, she wouldn't be in the right state of mind at all.

It was just terrible luck that the Living Mana possessed the exact property needed to take advantage of it.

"For your insolence," Devas continued yelling.

"I will—" Ryland just cast a Glyph of Banishment. With a warp in space-time, Devas simply disappeared. Hopefully, that would instil some semblance of calm in the man. It had been a decade or two since they had last met, but that was no excuse for his terribly oblivious and downright stupid behaviour. Then he popped out through a glimmering blue portal that zapped into being. Ryland sighed. Really, this was on him.

He should have figured Devas would just use his Soul Glyph of Portal to get back from wherever the Glyph of Banishment had sent him.

"Ha!" he said, pointing a recriminating finger at Ryland.

"The Great Marionys Ryland doesn't possess magic of that nature! More proof that you're a mere imposter."

"Devas, it's been almost twenty years since we last met," Ryland said.

"Surely, you'd expect the Great Marionys Ryland to have learned a new spell or two in that timeframe?"

"Nonsense! His spell work is already fantastic. How dare you insinuate otherwise?" Ryland ignored him and looked at Acrypha. Clearly, Devas wasn't satisfied. Then there were those two Living Mana Manifestations running amok. Essentially, things could devolve into chaos at any moment now. Dangerous chaos. As such, Ryland would do best to keep Acrypha safe from the get-go. Which he did.

A simple extension of his hand, the spell circle of [Eternal Bastion] coming up and— And the things he was anticipating happened in the blink of an eye. The Manifestations acted first. Acrypha didn't even get the chance to react before the smaller, womanlike Manifestation grabbed her and dashed off. At the exact same time, the bigger, manlike Manifestation placed itself between Ryland and the other two, his fist raised high and grasping magic that pulsed like a heart. Right. Ryland needed to be a smidge faster.

So, he was. While [Eternal Bastion] didn't get to land on Acrypha, he rerouted his magic. The Manifestation's blow connected with the force of a detonating bomb. But Ryland's barrier was already in place. He suffered nothing at all. Not even a crack on the transparent magical barricade in the shape of his body. Instead, several dozen handspans of the forest around him erupted with the surge of magic unleashed by his opponent. Ryland glanced briefly at the Manifestation.

Its entire body was pearly white, with a few rose- and leaf-hued glimmers of mana running throughout its form. This thing truly was a Manifestation. Then he rifted away with a cast of [Translocate]. Just as the rent swallowed him up, he felt the space around him rupture as it caught the Manifestation. Devas hadn't slowed the buildup of his spell just because the two overpowering figures of magic had appeared in the fracas. But Ryland placed his attention elsewhere pretty quickly.

Dealing with Devas wasn't his true goal. Neither were the Manifestations. Instead, he popped out right before the other Manifestation. The one stealing away Acrypha yet again. She was already struggling against her captor, yelling as though it would understand. Her efforts didn't show any signs of success, but that was fine. Ryland was here.

"Not this time," he said." [Dimensional Lock]." Modifying one of the Subglyphs of the spell circle caused a slight change in the spell's purpose. Now, it would keep the target—the Manifestation in the form of a woman—trapped in one location forever.

"Acrypha," Ryland said.

"If you stop struggling, I should be able to extricate you without much difficulty."

"Sir!" She sounded like she hadn't even heard him.

"The big oaf is behind you."

"I'm aware."

"And this one can—" The Manifestation Ryland had trapped disappeared entirely into Acrypha's body.

"—do that," Acrypha continued with a huff. Ryland had just cast a Glyph of Banishment to take care of the bigger Manifestation trying to attack him from behind. But with their new ability revealed, it wasn't surprising at all to feel it vanish as well. Then they both burst out from Acrypha, throwing her back by their change in momentum, before grabbing the earth and trying to break it to send a tidal wave of broken land at Ryland. That was odd.

Not only were they cognizant that their efforts would just crash against him futilely, they were opting for an entirely different stratagem that really would prove effective. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. This sort of ingenuity baffled Ryland. It shouldn't be possible, even with the Living Mana infusing the two Manifestations. Where were they drawing this sort of sheer battle experience from?

"Don't think I've forgotten about you," Devas growled from behind.

"You're not getting away after your horrific crime! [Warped Realm]!" He was casting his spatial magic again, condensing reality itself into a beam.

"My crime of impersonating myself?" Ryland asked, unbothered by the rupturing earth in front of him.

"Yes! Wait, no! Argh." As the two kinds of magic crashed into him, Ryland just cast [Translocate] and disappeared again. Just, this time, he had taken Acrypha along with him. She gasped.

"We're flying!"

"In a sense." Now that he had her, he didn't waste any time." [Eternal Bastion]." There. Now she was perfectly safe. Ryland was holding her somewhat undignifiedly while standing on two rifts from which protruded two rocks. He was about to set her down, but the powerful clash of magic underneath them both distracted him. A huge gout of the earth had risen in geyser, shooting meteoric clumps that went flying in every direction. But there was Devas's magic in the mix too.

A spearing beam of rippling, rupturing space that would have hurt his eyes just to look at it without [Omniscience] towered through that enormous gout of destroyed land. And then a glowing hand emerged from Acrypha's back, clasping Ryland's wrist with a powerful grip. There was the Manifestation yet again.

"You're not escaping that easily," Devas cried as Ryland tried figuring out the best response in his current circumstance." [Space Clasp]. [Warped Realm]!"

"What the—?" Acrypha bit down on a curse as she and Ryland were pulled to the same spot.

"This is a very annoying spell," Ryland said. His back was now plastered against Acrypha's and his grip had been torn off her back, which had probably explained why the Manifestation had disappeared inside her again.

"If you're the one suffering it, that is." Devas had taken to the air as well. More mana was gathering around him, magic crackling as space itself ruptured.

"Ha, ha!" he shouted, glee cutting his face in two via his wide smile.

"Now you'll feel true wrath. [Spear of The Eternal]." The broken space around him solidified into a gargantuan javelin hovering just over his arm, a twisted mass of light and crumbled mana. Monochrome power threaded through the entire spell.

"That doesn't look good, sir!" Acrypha said.

"It certainly doesn't," Ryland confirmed.

"For someone like you."

"Now, die!" Devas shouted. He flung that spear, which shrieked as it cut through reality on its way to devastate its targets. At the exact same time, the Manifestations emerged once more. Instead of simply trying to come out of Acrypha, they directly manifested outside of the little bubble of reality that was captured by Devas's other spell, [Space Clasp]. Yet more proof that they were terribly smart. They were capable of assessing and responding to situations with incredible adroitness.

"Wait, no!" Acrypha cried out.

"Hmm," Ryland said." [Translocate]." Both the Manifestations and the gigantic, space-rupturing spear disappeared into his rift. Ryland had honestly been impressed by the Manifestations. Not just at how adeptly they were handling the chaotic battle, but also their sheer drive and determination. Their intent to protect Acrypha no matter what shone as bright as daylight. Infused with Living Mana or not, it was clear that they weren't inherently evil.

So, he had decided against letting them get destroyed by Devas's spell.

The rifts opened. The first one that had swallowed Devas's javelin now reopened behind the Turnalian. He cried out, but even an Empyrean-ranked mage's reactions weren't always fast enough to prevent disaster. His own spear crashed into him, setting off yet another tremendous explosion, thundering through the world as fragments of splintered, monochrome space flew everywhere. Ryland deposited the Manifestations on the ground, with himself and Acrypha joining them a moment later.

The two glowing figures tensed, their forms sparking and blazing with irrepressible magic. He was almost tempted to try and determine just what they would be ranked at. But real priorities called to him.

"Hold still, Acrypha," he said. Ryland began tinkering with the very spell he had cast on her.

"I know what to do to stop the Manifestations."

"Stop the… Manifestations?" She looked straight ahead at the two figures already rushing towards her.

"You mean them?"

"Indeed. If any of this appears frightening to you, feel free to close your eyes."

"Frightening?" He didn't answer, instead opting to focus on his task. Behind them, Devas landed. His armour was cracked and he was bleeding from the corner of his mouth.

"Oh, you thought that cheap trick would do me in, did you? Well, let me tell you—the real Ryland's cheap tricks would have turned me into smithereens!" Not laughing at Devas was proving increasingly difficult." [Fractured Flood]!" he cried out, sending a tidal surge of ruptured space blanketing the entire ground. Of course, because both Ryland and Acrypha were covered by [Eternal Bastion], they were perfectly fine.

Acrypha did start at the monochrome magic washing around her shins and waist, but Ryland's calm grip on her shoulder quickly reassured her that things would be fine. Better yet, because of Devas's own idiocy, the Manifestations had immediately turned away from Ryland to attack Devas. Therefore, it was perfect. It was quite amusing to watch Devas fling spell after devastating spell, all of them having no effect on Ryland and Acrypha, while the Manifestations just continued pestering him over and over.

"There," Ryland said, finally finished with modifying the [Eternal Bastion] he had cast on her.

"Now you're secure against the spiritual connection that the Manifestations are constantly using to emerge out of you."

"What?"

"I thought I was clear. But I'll clarify later if you need me to. Right now, we need to stop them all for good." Which was why he cast [Void Seal] first.

"Alright," Devas said, straightening.

"This is starting to look a little more legitimate." Ryland pushed away the impulse to glare. As the rifts covered them all in gloom, blocking out the rest of the world, he began casting his other spell." [All-Seeing Devourer]." The black dome of [Void Seal] cracked with golden fractures as dozens of dark arms emerged. Each was scarred with thousands of marks and slits, each one rushing through the intervening space to grasp the Manifestations directly. They had no chance to dodge. No room to evade.

Especially not when Ryland had sealed them away from entering Acrypha again, his modified [Eternal Bastion] keeping them out.

"What are those?" Acrypha asked with a low gasp.

"Tendrils of a near-Calamity from Realm 40," Ryland said.

"One that preferably likes to eat other Manifestations." Acrypha blanched for some reason." Eat them?"

"I would suggest closing your eyes for this bit, at the very least."

"But—" Her protest died when all the scars and slits on the dark arms started spreading. They opened like infernal eyelids, revealing black sclera and thin, crimson eyeballs peering out into the world. Despite his experience with them, despite having been in their proximity before, the regard of their multitudinous stares hit with the heavy pressure of a drowning ocean. Acrypha had frozen. She was probably in a bit of shock at the direct meeting.

Ryland gripped her shoulders hard and gently shook her, until she was herself once more.

"This is…" Devas was stepping back, eyes wide and mouth slack.

"Impossible…" The arms had already grabbed onto the Manifestations, sinking into their mana-constructed bodies and already ripping them away piece by piece. Every time one of the arms found a piece of glowing mana, they retracted back into the Realm Ryland had pulled them from. But that was fine. There were nearly a hundred arms now, each one hungry to tear apart more and more mana. The Manifestations were being reduced to misshapen hunks of condensed mana.

Perhaps he should have done this with the Living Mana to begin with, but he didn't have them in a convenient location earlier. They were too wispy. Too spread out. Now, with it all condensed into the Manifestations, Ryland had no difficulty in destroying it all at once. Until Acrypha stopped him.

"Sir!" she was shaking him now. Her eyes were still filled with terror, but it was no longer for her sake anymore. Instead, she was constantly looking back at the Manifestations.

"Sir, can you please stop?" Ryland frowned. She had been acting odd about them for a while, but this was getting a little too odd.

"What?"

"You have to stop this! Please!"

"Why is that Acrypha?"

"Because they—" She stopped, looking conflicted at the two Manifestations being torn apart.

"Because they're my parents."