Chapter 204 - 204) Mana Is A Bridge?

"ARGhhhh" even though Basile tried to suppress the pain he felt, it was far too much in just an instant. While he did face injuries far worse, as of now, his hand was completely dislocated. It was honestly surprising that his hand hadn't broken or fractured yet.

Elena looked at the scene with her eyes wide open, in her head she knew for a fact that she would've never been in such a position. Basile was more brute force and animal-like. However, there was one common point between Luke and Basile. It was the fact that both of them relied on their instincts. It was just that Basile had a more wild animal-like instinct, while Luke had a more seasoned hunter kind of an instinct. It was slightly unexplainable, but his instincts so far always proved to be the better option.

'…..Wow….' Luke looked at Basile struggling to get up. In his mind, Luke pictured the series of events to be different. He imagined Basile would be writhing in pain, unable to even move. Sure the pain he went through while training must've been worse, but usual training lacked the element of surprise. 

"Fck….." Basile groaned as he finally got up to his feet, using his other hand, he forcefully put his shoulder back in place. It was dangerous and using it was going to be painful, but he had no real choice at the moment. After all, this was the first time he had faced an opponent like Luke. "Now you've done it, you bastard…." Basile grit his teeth and moved his arm around to get used to the pain.

Simply put, Basile was a bad match-up for Luke. To begin with, there weren't many fighting styles that could go against Luke, Elena for example could keep up with him, but there would be no clear winner. Basile's style was more brutish, and all Luke had to do was use that against him.

"You shouldn't be moving that too much," Luke commented. As mentioned before, the match had already been decided. A dislocated shoulder was serious, especially if the user was someone who relied on his fists. Now all that was left was for Luke to exploit this injury until Basile gave up. He analyzed Basile's body and noticed a good amount of energy moving towards the injured shoulder. "This is going to hurt," he announced, before dashing towards Basile.

He launched his leg towards Basile's face, it was a cruel move, especially considering the only way to block the kick was with his injured arm. However, that was something that Basile couldn't risk, he was forced to put his body in an awkward position and use his other hand to block it. Elena took this opportunity to move forward, she aimed for Luke's rib and pulled her hand back to strike him.

As soon as Luke's leg touched Basile's hand, he pulled it back immediately, once again displaying his monstrous flexibility. However, that wasn't it, as he pulled his leg back, Elena noticed that if she were to pursue attacking him, then she would be struck with his heel, which had a good chance of knocking her out. 

'Monster,' she cursed as she took a step back and assumed a defensive stance. It was going according to Luke's plan, as soon as his leg returned to position, he took advantage of the awkward position that Basile was in, and struck him at his shoulder joint. 

The worst part of being struck there wasn't the fact that it was already injured, it was because all the energy that moved towards the arm, suddenly disappeared into the environment. The sense of numbness grew as Basile was pushed back, his mouth now filled with blood as he fell to one knee.

"We're a bad match-up," Luke stated the obvious with a straight face. There was absolutely no part of him that felt bad to do such a thing to Nate's brother. In fact, one might wonder why he wasn't as surprised, especially considering the fact that Luke was kept in the dark regarding Nate's past.

Even after the strike, Basile wasn't out of the fight. It was getting rather tedious for Luke, Basile's tenacity exceed his expectations. However, it would hardly matter, the main reason both of them couldn't beat him, was because of their horrible coordination. Perhaps the match may not have gone the way it did if the lighting was different.

"It's ove-" before he could finish his sentence. He felt blood. It wasn't from Basile's punch, but it was from his eyes. The very next second, his entire body was filled with pain, it was worse than everything he had ever felt. It was too much, even for a person like him. Luke fell to the ground and his body naturally took to a fetal position. Both his hands covered his eyes as he screamed.

"...." Elena who was perhaps the only one in nearly perfect condition, couldn't help but worry. There was absolutely no reason for Luke to scream, there was nobody behind him, nor did the two of them manage to damage him so much.

Basile took this opportunity to gather himself, it was risky to just go and end things, especially in the state that Luke was. The safer option was to catch his breath and observe. It was the worst timing for such a thing to happen.

Luke was overwhelmed, there wasn't a part of his body that didn't hurt. To be exact, his entire body felt like it was burning and his eyes felt like there were blades in them. It was unexplainable, no matter how much he thought about it, nothing made sense. Unbeknownst to Luke, there was steam coming off from his body. It was absurd no matter how you looked at it, this was the second mysterious thing Basile had learned about Luke. The two of them took a few steps back and assumed a defensive stance. The steam couldn't be explained at all, and even if it could, this wasn't the time.

As the seconds went by, so did the pain, Luke could finally feel his body parts. He could first move his toes, then his legs, his hands, until finally, he could feel his eyes. However, as soon as he opened them, his entire body went into panic mode.

The other two looked at him sit up straight only to immediately crawl back a few steps and cover his face. His behavior was unusual, while it wasn't the weirdest, paired with the other events, there defiantly something else going on.

'Light Light Light Light Light Light Light Light Light Light'

The word constantly echoed through his head. His entire body began to shiver as blood continued to drip down from his eyes. It was too much for him. Just a minute ago, his body was overwhelmed with pain to the point where he couldn't feel his own parts, and now he entered into this state of fear wherein he could feel every part of his body, it was almost alarming how much in sync and at home his body felt. However, it was just his mind that felt out of place.

"P-pleas…s.eee...t-t-tt…ooo d.a.aarr-kk" Luke's weak voice echoed. While there was a light in the center of the room, it was only a dim spotlight that illuminated a little part of the room, and since Luke fought with the ability to see through the darkness, he didn't care where he stood. Unfortunate for him, he was nowhere near the light. He could feel how far off he was from the light source, and from where Nate was. There were far too many questions that ran through his mind, but he had no choice but to put them aside. At the moment, Luke had to find a "bridge", something that could help him reach to where Nate was.

"Pfftthuaha," Basile laughed as he understood a gist of what had just happened. For some reason, Luke had lost the ability to see in the dark, and he was not in a pathetic state. 

'So you really did have the power to see through the darkness…..' If they were wrong about his weakness, then it made sense that he could fight them, however, now that it was clear that Luke Stone, was indeed weak to the dark, it meant that he somehow had such an ability.

"Trash," Basile spat blood out of his mouth and moved towards Luke, while Elena looked at everything with a concerned look on her face. It was around the same time that the unconscious Nate woke up. Although, he still couldn't process everything properly. For some reason, his mind was preoccupied. 

'Huh?….A dream?' Nate was in a familiar spot. It was something he used to see everyday. He found himself in The Academy, but what made his "dream" so weird, was the fact that he could see himself. 

"Mana shall bend to my will, mana shall act as a bridge, mana is nature, mana has no one element…."

(Refer to chap 49. In case you forgot, this was when Nate manages to learn what mana really is)

There was one line that stuck with Nate as he looked at himself chant, it constantly echoed through his head. 

'Mana is a bridge….?' he thought as he looked at himself. Every time he said the words, he could feel himself go further and further away from his dream self. Outside his mental world, unbeknownst to him. Basile was only a few steps away from Luke. It was then that he felt something hot behind him. His back was burning up, it wasn't something he could simply ignore.

The second he turned behind, he was blinded by some kind of heavenly light. The hair on his body stood up, all his wounds were dried up the second they came in contact with light. In the center of it was Nate. However, it wasn't him that was glowing, it was his hand. A weird symbol appeared on his hand, a symbol on two individuals on earth would recognize. It was Hecate's stropholos.

Once his eyes adapted to the light, Basile could hear something, it was something that was said repeatedly. He looked at his younger brother who was tied up to the chair. Nate's confined body remained still, however, his transparent eyes fell upon Basile as he faced him. However, it was obvious that he wasn't in his senses, as he constantly repeated the same line over and over.

"Mana is a bridge....?"