Akasha pushed open the door to Zeke's room. She was right on time. Exactly one hour of Mana reserves remained woven into the strands that made up her body. At least, under normal load. If she were forced to command a battle, she could exhaust that amount of reserves in minutes, or even less.
Right now, just before the next major offensive, was the perfect time to replace her depleted shell and...
Her thoughts froze.
For a being of thought and logic such as her, that was an almost unprecedented experience. However, there was simply no other way to react to the incomprehensible sight before her.
Remaining completely still, she continued to watch her contractor practice through the open door. He did not seem to have noticed her yet. Or perhaps he simply refused to let her presence distract him.
Inside the room, dozens of spells were being unleashed in all directions. Blood Needles, Blood Lances, Blood Claws, Blood Spikes, Blood Bullets. There was no delay, and there was no end.
It was an impressive display, but not something that would have shocked her to this degree. This was something she had known Zeke was capable of. In the first place, the true caliber of a Blood Mage was not determined by the speed of their output, but by their ability to stretch their limited resource as efficiently as possible.
No. The shocking part was what happened next. Without fail, every single one of the dozens of spells began to return to Zeke one by one.
It was clearly the Concept of Return they had been working on.
And that was where the problem lay. One week ago, when they had separated, Zeke had only reached an initial mastery of the Concept. Even that was a rather generous description.
However, what she now saw on display was... complete mastery. There was no delay, there was no hesitation. The Concept seemed fused into his every spell as if it had been part of them from the very beginning.
Finally, the endless barrage of attacks came to an end, and the last spell returned to Zeke. The projectile turned into a claw that landed perfectly on his finger, only to retract a moment later.
Ezekiel took a deep breath, then finally turned to her with a warm smile.
"What do you think?"
***
“What do you think?”
Despite Zeke’s best efforts, he could not keep the pride out of his voice, especially when he saw the usually stoic Spirit looking at him with an expression that made it clear just how utterly shocked she was.
“Your progress is astounding,” Akasha said after a while. “Was it really me...”
Zeke raised a hand to forestall her words. He knew exactly what she was thinking, and he would not allow such thoughts to take root. “It has nothing to do with the fact that we are separated now. I simply made a discovery that has allowed me to grow explosively.”
“...What discovery?” Akasha asked after a moment of silence.
Zeke grinned and pointed at his own head. “Why don’t you come and take a look?”
Akasha did not hesitate. Clearly, the lure of knowledge was more than she could bear. She walked toward him, opening her arms as if for an embrace. Zeke did the same, waiting patiently for her to reach him. However, before the two could complete their embrace, Akasha’s form began to distort.
Her limbs, head, and eventually her entire body turned to liquid and rejoined the rest of Zeke’s blood. He had not used the Concept of Return, but had manually recalled his blood. This was something most Blood Mages could do when they were close enough and their blood had not been tainted by outside sources. And with Akasha being his contracted Spirit, the blood he had used to construct her shell was as pristine as on the day he had cast the spell.
A moment later, he felt Akasha’s presence settle back into his mind. It was a comfortable feeling, as if a dear friend had returned after a long period of absence. Or as if he, himself, had woken from a bad dream and found himself whole again.
Immediately, Zeke entered his mental realm, the world of the white void that Akasha called home.
There, the Spirit already stood, clearly immersed in something. Zeke could vaguely feel it, how she skimmed through everything that had happened during the last week, his experiments, his discoveries, his relentless practice.
After no more than a few seconds, her gaze regained its clarity. “The catalyst was formless casting, then. Just like the Dragon predicted.”
Zeke shook his head. “It just opened the door.”
Akasha’s full attention settled on him. “Please elaborate, Host.”
Zeke smiled. The current situation made him almost nostalgic. “After I discovered that I could integrate my Concept into my formless spells, I began to practice.”
Akasha nodded. She must have seen that in his memories.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“However, as it turned out, there was an even greater benefit to be gained from it.”
“Is that the key to what I just saw?” the Spirit asked.
Zeke nodded, unable to keep the grin from his face. “It turned out to be like riding a pony.”
“...I do not understand that analogy.”
“When someone first learns to ride, they are not placed on the most powerful and temperamental horse available,” Zeke said. “They begin with the smallest and most manageable one instead.”
“A simplified framework for internalizing the fundamentals,” Akasha said.
“Exactly.” Zeke leaned forward slightly. “Riding a pony will not make you instantly capable of mastering a warhorse, but the underlying principles still carry over.”
Akasha fell silent for a moment, evidently tracing the logic to its conclusion. “...Mastery in a week. Would this same method work for other Concepts?”
Zeke shrugged. “If they are related to Blood, yes. If not, then it gets a little more complicated. I do not have the same ease in casting formless spells for my other affinities.” Zeke paused for a second, thinking it over. “I could likely manage it for Space, since I practiced a fair bit in the World Anchor. As for Mind...” His smile turned crooked. “There is no chance.”
Akasha remained silent. He knew exactly what she was thinking, and this time, he had no comforting words. It really was due to her presence that his Mind affinity was so severely underdeveloped. After all, he had been all too happy to let her take care of all Mind-related matters and spells.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” Zeke said before the mood could grow too heavy. “About what Concept I should work on next. But I wanted to hear your input before making a choice.”
Akasha’s eyes regained their focus. “Denied. I do not wish to further alter Host’s path by giving advice on a subject I am not confident in,” she said earnestly.
Zeke rolled his eyes. “Cut the crap. You are the one who commands all my battles. Who else could have more insight into what is truly effective on the battlefield aside from you? This is not about being creative. This is about analyzing data.”
His words had a visible effect. The moment he mentioned data analysis, her demeanor changed from reluctant to eager in an instant. A comprehensive report followed less than a heartbeat later.
"...Judging from Host's performance during the last battle alone, the Concept of Return would have little influence on the overall outcome. It could be classified as a special-class Concept that increases longevity in niche scenarios when Host is cut off from any alternative source of blood and remains solely reliant on his internal storage. Such was the case when fighting against the commander last time."
Zeke nodded. He had come to the same conclusion.
"In a single word, the Concept of Return is most useful in a duel," Akasha summarized. "Therefore, I would recommend that Host next develop something that could compensate for either his weakness in area destruction or his ability to face many enemies at the same time. Ideally, something that could do both."
Zeke nodded along eagerly as Akasha continued to share her insights. This was exactly the kind of input he had been hoping for. Already, countless ideas were popping into his head, but he would have to sift through them later before knowing which were actually feasible.
But for now, he had other concerns, and he could not keep Akasha with him forever. After all, the ship was currently without a captain.
"That's about all on my end," he said after they had finished exchanging ideas. "What is happening outside?"
Akasha nodded, as if she had been waiting for the question. "There is news from the other factions."
Zeke immediately perked up. This was the first time since the end of the meetings that they had heard anything about how the offensive was going. He found himself surprisingly nervous. It was, after all, a plan that had largely been concocted by him.
“The sieges on the fortresses are still ongoing, with neither side able to eke out a clear advantage,” Akasha began. “Thanks to the presence of abundant Life Mages, the deaths on either side are relatively low, but the fighting is reportedly all the fiercer for it.”
Zeke could imagine it. One’s ferocity in battle could be magnified by the knowledge that a healer was on standby, especially for his fellow Body-affinity mages, who relied mainly on their physical strength in combat.
“The actions of the skirmisher faction are a bit concerning,” Akasha continued. “They initially drew a great deal of the enemy’s attention and suffered losses because of it. Now, several of them seem to be holding back.”
Zeke nodded. This came as no surprise to him. The skirmishers had no fixed positions and needed to rely on their own judgment to decide when to advance and when to retreat. It was the perfect role for slacking off, and nobody could even criticize them for it. But that was fine. Their only real purpose lay in the fact that they existed at all.
The Empire had to keep a certain number of troops in reserve simply to deal with the possibility of their attacks. In the end, it did not really matter whether they did anything or not.
Still, he would remember their cowardice if their paths crossed again in the future.
“As for the infiltrators,” Akasha continued, “there has been a bit of a situation.”
Zeke immediately discarded all other thoughts and focused fully on the Spirit. “What happened?”
“Loyd Cairnwyc is in trouble. One of his people was turned into a spy, which allowed the enemy to locate his secret hideout. He is currently under siege.”
Zeke’s mind began to race. Cairnwyc. His faction specialized in covert infiltration through the use of advanced fleshshaping. He had been the only other leader who had managed to kill an enemy Archmage at the beginning of the war, and Zeke had had high hopes for him. It would be a shame to lose him here.
“...Is there a plan to rescue him?”
Akasha nodded. “There is, but both of the other leaders have set a condition for participating in the rescue...”
Zeke did not even have to ask. “They won’t go if we don’t join.”
Akasha nodded. “Their exact words were that they would only agree to it if all three infiltrator factions acted together, but I also believe it was a ploy to ensure that we would participate.”
Zeke nodded slowly. As the one with the clearest grasp of the state of the war and the best track record in battle, it was only logical that the others would rely on his stance. If he refused to go, it could be taken as him saying that the rescue attempt was hopeless. On the other hand, if this was some kind of elaborate trap, then it would also be a good way to drag him deeper into the maelstrom.
Thankfully, this was not his decision alone to make. “What do you think?”
“I would accept,” the Spirit answered without hesitation. “We infiltrators are the crux of the entire plan. The sieges and the skirmishes are merely a way to clear a path for us so we can cause as much damage as possible. If we fail in doing so, the entire strategy collapses.”
“All the more reason not to risk it all for one faction, no?” Zeke countered.
Akasha shook her head. “It might be only one faction, but if we give up on Cairnwyc now, we will not have the strength to fight them anymore once somebody else ends up in a bad spot. More importantly, the pressure on each of the remaining infiltrators will increase regardless.”
Zeke thought about that for a moment. “What if it is a trap?”
Akasha’s face remained impassive. “Can it really be called a trap if all parties are aware of it? Rather, I would call it an invitation.”
Zeke was stunned. Had he misheard, or did Akasha sound a little cocky just now? “Are you sure you can handle it?”
“I am confident that the odds justify the risk.”
Zeke remained silent for a long while before finally coming to a decision. “How long until the operation starts?”
“Cairnwyc is currently on the run, but he cannot keep it up for long,” Akasha said. “Three days at the latest.”
Zeke nodded. “I will be ready.”