Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 126: Harmless

Uriel shook his head and focused on the formation in front of him.

"So, this here is a formation I’ve personally come up with that blends the arcane principles of my past augmentation and diminution spells, but also my inspection and analysis spells."

"It’s quite a novel concept. I think I could even categorise it as a new form of magic as a whole, though I’m not sure it’d count as one since I haven’t formed a runic language for it yet."

If thinking led him to spirals he couldn’t escape, then he’d speak out loud.

The void would be his audience.

"I still don’t know how to craft languages properly in general, which sucks. But I made do with what I had. And because I don’t have any rings, I had to rely entirely on the spell sentry to make this work."

"It’s actually interesting how complex things can get when I find myself unable to use my core and natal aether. You know, while I was making this formation, I realised just how strange it is to be able to use mind resonance." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"It’s a form of Resonant Dominance I came up with that essentially maps my... essence? My soul? My will? — I don’t really know what it does exactly, but it imposes a part of myself onto aether and reshapes it to my image, it turns it to natal aether."

"And then, through my mind, boom, I can use it. It’s so intuitive and simple that it almost feels redundant to have a core, but I’m actually excited to get my core back so I can test Mind Resonance on it."

"I’m sure my power will soar when I do so and—" Uriel coughed and cleared his throat, refocusing. "I mean, whatever, who cares?"

"The formation essentially allows me to test my strength, its limits, and my weaknesses. I took a bit of inspiration from the simulation pods back at the training craters."

He grinned, turning to his nonexistent audience.

"Shall we begin?"

"..."

Nobody answered, because there was no one, and yet Uriel laughed, uproariously, dismissively waving a hand as if to calm down a roaring crowd.

"Oh please, please, calm down, I’ll get to it, a man’s got to set the ambiance and stage, does he not? Things always tend to be more fun when foreplay is carried out in earnest."

He sighed. "But I digress."

"Let’s get to work."

He snapped a finger, and the complex formation in front of him suddenly shrank in size, becoming as small as a coin, speeding across the air to sear onto his forehead.

The moment it did so, the formation activated.

...

He blinked once, then twice, then a dozen times, and the world was exactly the same.

With the only difference being a figure standing in the distance, featureless and entirely white, like a mannequin given life.

The moment Uriel’s gaze landed on it, it shook, golden runes erupting across its sculpted body of white jade, the curves of its muscles sharp and angular.

The mannequin’s face rippled and suddenly two beady golden pupils opened on its face and met his gaze.

Uriel felt a tingle on the nape of his neck, his palms becoming sweaty and mouth dry as his senses roared of endless danger.

And yet he laughed, his pupils narrowing in maniacal focus and obsession, as if the world didn’t exist anymore and all that mattered was the mannequin.

BANG!

The mannequin didn’t stand on ceremony, its calves flexing then exploding with power, bridging the gap between them in mere seconds.

He blinked and the mannequin was in front of him, its fist streaking through the air, rising to aim for his gut.

"Oh please!"

Uriel didn’t shy away. He stepped forward and to the side, dodging the fist and closing in on the mannequin. He drew his elbow back then struck down viciously.

KAH!

His elbow hit nothing but air, the mannequin having stepped back at the last minute, but Uriel didn’t care. Using the momentum of his swinging arm, his body torqued and he twisted and spun in the air and forward, his leg rising to whip down as he landed.

WHAP!

His leg impacted against the mannequin’s raised arms like a whip, so powerful it blew the creature back a few meters, its feet digging trenches in the hard ground.

Uriel landed, then spun and immediately pounded towards the mannequin, his mouth open and tongue left to flow freely through the air.

The mannequin’s eyes narrowed and its stance switched, its right leg sliding back as its center of gravity lowered and its arms assumed a carapace-like formation, aiming to be defensive in nature.

Uriel laughed.

"I’m a mage!"

[Circleless Spell: Forceful Gust]

Runes assembled in front of the mannequin, turning into a large formation, and its eyes widened but it was too late.

The spell activated and a massive gust of powerful wind slammed into the creature, tearing its defenses open, lifting it off its feet and knocking the wind out of it.

BANG!

Uriel zoomed like a speeding bullet, his knee, powered by an augmentation spell, tearing into the airborne mannequin’s chest.

Uriel’s mind spun and he had an idea.

"Why not?! Haha!"

His uniqueness activated and time stopped.

From his knee, deep into the creature’s chest, flesh torn and bone caved in, pulses of aether surged, echoing across the creature’s body.

Just like what the Emperor had done, Uriel sent echoing waves of aether into its body, tearing everything in its path.

The only difference was that the Emperor had done it with Storm Aether, born from his natal aether, while on the other hand Uriel did it using atmospheric aether.

In theory, doing such a thing should’ve been mostly harmless. After all, all living beings constantly lived in a sea of atmospheric aether, what could its echoes possibly do?

It was harmless by nature.

But using Resonant Dominance, Uriel forcefully twisted the nature of atmospheric aether, turning it to a mass of twisted chaos that tore every stable and orderly structure in its path.

It was lethal.