'Is this truly the abyss mode? No, there are too many factors at play,' Noctis quickly shook off his thoughts and surveyed his surroundings.
He struggled to devise a way to escape this predicament or survive.
'What can I change? The skill activated despite the shield, meaning the assassin will shoot through Brad's magic and cut my life along with the shield at the very next moment.' He glared at the silver light, attempting to identify who it was, as the assassin charged straight towards him.
''What can I trade for my life? No, wait I don't need to change my own fate!' He focused on Brad, or more precisely, his magic circle.
'Instead of changing my fate, which would demand a greater price, I can change the fate of others while facing lesser price myself.'
As time ticked down, Noctis contemplated for a moment, with his skill dwindling to 15 seconds remaining.
He let out a sigh internally as he established the changes and Drawback with his unique ability.
'Alter the shield's magic circle to become unstable, resulting in an explosion that propels me backwards; Drawback- will be losing my right arm along with sustaining several broken bones.' Noctis's voice trembled at the end, steeling himself for the pain he was about to endure.
A familiar blue window materialized.
[Drawback accepted]
Noctis felt a moment of relief that it was approved, but it was short-lived as the monochrome world began regaining color in mere seconds as the skill's time limit approached.
Once the world resumed its motion, a massive surge of jagged black mana enveloped Noctis, and a blinding white light flashed, obscuring the dark mana.
As if still in the aftermath of a burst of thought, his mind became pinpoint focused as his perception of time slowed.
He observed the black mana, hidden beneath the dazzling light, penetrating the shield which caused it to disintegrate, while the overwhelming brightness distracted Brad from the threat of another assassin targeting his young master from behind.
Noctis instantly leaped backward.
Boom! A thunderous explosion erupted as a small figure shot through the blast, the tiny blur skidding and rolling swiftly along the road before colliding with the side of an approaching car, leaving a massive dent as the small body crumpled to the ground.
Another deafening explosion resonated as the silver light that had been descending upon them landed in the spot Noctis had occupied, creating a considerable crater beneath him.
For a moment, Brad's mind went blank, but he quickly summoned his mana as he dashed to Noctis's side, dispersing his prior spell that had already sustained significant damage, and positioned himself protectively in front of him, glaring at the man who had just attempted to kill his young master.
'I can detect Noctis's mana and breathing; Lira will arrive in a few seconds,' his thoughts raced as he conjured another two magic circles. The assassin's figure blurred and darted above Brad, targeting him.
Brad leaped off the ground, spinning his body as he delivered a reinforced kick using his earth spell, sending the assassin soaring into the air.
'An Enoix resonator, I can't leave Noctis until Lira gets here,' snorting, he activated his magic circle and gestured upward with his other hand.
Just as the assassin regained his balance in mid-air, a surge of gray mana enveloped him, dramatically increasing the gravity around him and sending him crashing down as he spotted several metal swords infused with gray mana racing toward him.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Noctis struggled to open his eyes as a red haze blurred his vision.
He could hear the sounds of combat alongside the panicked shouts of people fleeing from the clash.
'Huh, what—'
He was puzzled why he hadn't experienced pain yet when suddenly, a wave of excruciating agony shot through the right side of his body, accompanied by the sickening crack of broken ribs.
His head throbbed from the mental strain induced by the Skill.
Noctis attempted to scream, hoping to release his anguish,
"ah!-pucukk," but all that escaped his mouth was a stream of blood as he coughed it up.
He attempted to move both of his arms, but could only feel his left hand. Glancing at his right side, a memory struck him.
He gritted his teeth, tears streaming down his face. 'Ughh' .
As the last remnants of adrenaline drained from his body, Noctis used his left hand to clutch his right shoulder, trying to stop the bleeding. He heard hurried footsteps, and within seconds someone entered his blood-soaked view.
'Brown hair, it must be Lira,' he tried to speak, but more blood escaped his mouth as he shut his eyes.
Noctis felt a soothing flow of mana coursing through him, alleviating his pain.
"Yo### m###er, ### str### i ### will s## ##u!"
He couldn't hear clearly, likely due to a damaged eardrum from the explosion, but he understood the intent of her words.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Lira had hurried to the scene, just a while ago as she approached the car, she sensed a massive surge of mana from the direction she had just come from.
Upon arriving, her face turned pale at the sight of the small, limp body slumped by the side of the car, bloodied and missing his right arm.
"Lira, I will hold him off; quickly heal our young master!" she heard Brad command and nodded in response before focusing on the boy.
Lira whispered a few words to her young master as she infused her mana into him, trying to stabilize him.
Her resonance element was aether, which encompassed the elements of life, light, and soul.
She swiftly cast a five-layered light spell along with a four-layered life spell on her young master while keeping vigilant and glancing at the ongoing battle in the air.
The assassin, having narrowly evaded a dual assault from gravity and a metal spell, quickly conjured another magic circle and summoned a greatsword from his ring.
Brad, positioned on the opposite side, allowed two magic circles to pass through his hands, which were encased in metallic gauntlets.
Both of them rushed toward each other, colliding mid-air as the red-haired assassin swung his great sword down in a vertical strike. With a groan, Brad extended both hands to block the incoming slash.
The red-haired attacker quickly vanished and reappeared behind Brad, preparing for a horizontal slash. Instantly reacting, Brad spun around, using a quick surge of mana to intercept the attack and delivered a powerful punch to the assassin's face, sending him flying like a cannonball through the air as a portal opened behind him.
Another portal materialized above Brad, and using the momentum from his punch, the red-haired assassin swung his sword down, aiming for Brad's head.
Sensing the mana fluctuation from above, Brad unleashed a burst of mana before him, narrowly evading the sword that grazed his chest. Gritting his teeth, Brad retaliated with another punch aimed at the assassin's back, but the silver light flashed as the assassin blinked behind him to launch another attack.
Groaning again, Brad steadied himself, closing the wounds on his chest and back with mana.
Conjuring yet another magic circle, Brad defended against his opponent's assaults; as the magic circle fully formed, he infused it with his mana, causing the surrounding space to grow dense.
Noticing something amiss, the red-haired assassin scoffed and cursed at the older man. "Damn old man, why don't you just die!"
Brad ignored the taunt, focusing instead on using all his mana to quickly close the distance between him and the assassin, landing a punch directly to his gut.
The assassin attempted a space jump despite the pressure from the earlier spell, but the space cracked momentarily before sealing itself.
Brad unleashed a flurry of punches, determined not to give the red-haired assassin any chance to cast another spell. As the assassin reached his limit, he let out a loud shout and released a significant burst of mana from his head, pushing Brad back a little.
Capitalizing on this moment, the assassin utilized the last of his mana to open a portal and escape before the city's high-ranking fighters could arrive.
———————————————————————————————————————-
Meanwhile, Noctis was now fully awake, watching the aerial battle come to a close while struggling to hold back his screams as he gritted his teeth.
Lira was busy mending his broken bones, the sounds of them cracking as they healed under her life magic spell.
While Brad continued to pummel the assassin, Noctis witnessed the man release a burst of mana to push Brad away. In the next instant, he saw the assassin trying to create an unstable portal for his escape.
Quickly, Noctis assessed his mana reserves,
[Mana: 500/800].
He already had recovered some mana with help of lira's life magic spell.
'I'm not sure if this will be sufficient, but it's worth a shot.'
'Destabilize the spatial portal and make it unstable, drawback-the high-tier gravity spell will collapse and drain all my mana.'
[Drawback accepted with a few Changes]
Noctis was not pleased with that but agreed, noticing Brad was already attempting to capture the enemy, though he was a moment too slow.
A bright white light enveloped Noctis's body, and beneath it, a surge of black mana flowed. They both disappeared instantaneously the second they appeared.
All Lira observed was a flash of white from her young master before the light vanished in an instant.
The assassin entered the portal just as the surrounding gravity spell faded, and the next moment, a massive explosion engulfed the portal.
Due to the shock of his spell collapsing, Brad had not immediately utilized his mana to protect himself and was sent hurtling backward to the ground with few more injuries.
'That must have at least injured him, though it won't kill him. And the few changes, was that brad would more injured.'
Noctis groaned again as the mental strain doubled, he felt like there were needles pricking his brain, he closed his eyes to bear the strain.
By that time, the city guards had arrived on the scene, implementing emergency protocols and transporting the injured from the clash to medics.
Some of the guards hurried toward them, trying to grasp the situation.
Brad nodded to Lira and approached them.
Understanding the cue, Lira enveloped her young master in a mana shield and carried him toward their vehicle.