Nick held the wound on his left side trying to keep pressure on it as he ran through the surrounding woods. As soon as Nick had killed the last student, he used Blink to get to the base of the plateau and then used Blink a few more times to get as far away from the plateau as possible, almost emptying his magic reserves.
Nick had left the plateau almost ten minutes ago and he did not want to stop moving since he had no idea whether the remaining students would try to track him down.
(That flying woman with the sniper rifle would be especially difficult to deal with which is why I came to these woods to use the trees as cover.)
Nick stopped at the base of a nearby oak like tree when the pain in his side became almost unbearable. He quickly summoned a glass bottle filled with a red viscous liquid from his space band and drank it in one gulp. The pain in his side lessened but still stung. Seeing that the basic grade healing potion had been effective, Nick summoned another one and also drank it in one gulp, however, this time the effect on his pain was barely noticeable.
A few seconds later, his wound visibly clotted and Nick breathed a sigh of relief as he was no longer in danger of bleeding out. Slade then sternly recommended:
[You need to find a safe hiding place to recuperate. Those trash potions only heal superficially and so you still have severe internal injuries.]
Nick grunted in agreement and kept moving through the dark to find a safe hiding place. Nick thought about summoning his safe-house but that was a bad idea if the two students from before were trying to track him down.
(In times like this, a good healing spell would come in handy.)
Nick had always wanted to learn a good healing spell but the sad truth was that only his soul path inheritance had one that he was qualified to use and the others did not have one. The apprentice grade healing spell within Slade's inheritance was inconvenient, however, as it required Nick to use human souls to heal himself. He had tried to buy healing spells on the market before the exam started but the only healing spells that suited his affinities that were available were no better than basic healing potions and were not worth the cost of buying them.
(Apparently, established Magicians and various organizations prevent good healing spells from circulating because they would affect the profits gained in the magic medical industry.)
As Nick ran, the hair on the back of his head started to rise, signifying that he was in danger and not long after, he could sense a feint magic energy coming from something approaching him from behind.
(This feeling is familiar.)
HHHHHOOOOWWWWLLLLLLLL
Nick opened his eyes wide in shock as he recognized that howl.
(Another savage hound? Did it follow me from near the plateau or are these woods its area of activity.)
As Nick thought about it, he felt that his latter conclusion was the most probable since the Soul Prison Formation could have attracted the savage hound that he killed from an area this far from the plateau.
(I can't fight another one of those magic beasts in the shape that I'm currently in. I need to find somewhere to hide, quick.)
The howl seemed far away for now but Nick knew from personal experience how quickly savage hounds moved. Soon, Nick heard a rush of water as he came upon a hole in the ground where a visible torrent of water was quickly moving along below the opening.
(Is this an exposed underground tributary?)
Nick didn't want to think too much about the origin of the flowing water since he was trying to outrun his own death. The howls coming from behind Nick were seeming to get closer by the minute which led him to have desperate thoughts.
(I can't really die from drowning if I jump in, right?)
As soon as Nick had this thought, several pairs of emerald, glowing eyes appeared at the top of the trees that surrounded him, staring fixedly at him. Nick was frightened by the suddenness of their appearance.
HOOT HOOT HOOT
HOOT HOOT HOOT
HOOT HOOT HOOT
HOOT HOOT HOOT
HOOT HOOT HOOT
HOOT HOOT HOOT
...
Hearing so many loud, feral sounds unnerved Nick completely and summoning a flashlight from his space band, Nick pointed it at one of the pairs of eyes. What he saw made him swallow his saliva; a creature with an owl's head and a leopard's spotted body appeared resting on one of the trees branches while it watched Nick. The magic beast had no beak or a mouth that Nick could see.
(So all those pairs of eyes belong to this kind of magic beast!)
Nick did a quick count and came up with seven pairs of eyes. He frowned and stepped back from the tributary as if to make a run for it but all seven pairs of emerald eyes simultaneously followed his movements and so he stopped in place.
(Shit, that's the behavior of the cat that has the mouse in its sight.)
Nick did not need to consider anymore, he was clearly trapped between a rock and a hard place, either having to deal with a savage hound or these seven unknown magic beasts or even both. Nick knew that he was too tired, injured and unfamiliar with his poorly lit surroundings to fight effectively so he steeled his resolve and decided to take a risk.
Nick took a deep breath and jumped into the rushing water, allowing himself to be carried away underground. Nick found himself being pushed along with the water and being unable to escape the quick moving current. He was unable to see his surroundings and unable to move which made casting Blink impossible so Nick was carried away by the current for close to two minutes before he started suffocating from lack of oxygen. Nick tried his best to feel around for something that he could use to pull himself out of the current but his efforts were in vain and eventually he lost consciousness as he was carried away by the water.
*******************************
When Nick woke up, he found himself half lying in a stream of water that ran alongside the raised floor of a small room. Nick slowly picked himself up and breathed in but coughed as result of the air being stale. Nick walked out of the stream that flowed from an opening in a rock wall and that flowed out through a similar sized opening in an oppositely facing rock wall. Nick looked at the opening from where the water flowed and thought:
(That must be from where I came to get to this place.)
The floor of the room that he was in was inclined as it met with the stream so Nick had to walk up a small slope before he got to the level ground that the slope led to. The room was small, about the size of a high school restroom and was enclosed by solid rock walls in every direction except where the stream of water flowed in and out.
The room was well lit despite the seeming lack of openings, though, as clumps of brightly glowing moss grew along the rock ceiling and on some parts of the floor.
Nick gritted his teeth as the pain from his internal injuries was still bothering him. Slade quickly suggested:
[You have to take it easy, kid. Although you're injuries are not life threatening, they will become life threatening if you keep moving around like you are right now. I can tell that you have some organ damage but luckily, its not your heart or lungs that are damaged. You'll be in pain for a while but you should be fine with some rest.]
Nick quickly lied down on the hard ground, trying to ease his discomfort and then asked Slade:
(Do you know where I am?)
Slade replied:
[You were dragged along by a current that branched off into several other currents, leading to various narrow underground passage ways. This room is located adjacent to a large current of water but is slightly raised out of the way and by luck, you got thrown through the opening over there along with that stream.]
Nick nodded his head in understanding.
(So I'm still underground. The air in here stinks but its nice to be in a safe place, at least for now.)
Nick closed his eyes and recalled the events that led to him getting here.
(All of this happened because I'm too weak. First, those ass wipes got the jump on me when I was at the plateau, then I was forced to jump in that torrent of water to escape those strange magic beasts in the trees. Man, to think that I used to climb trees at night to hide from magic beasts. That was dumb.)
At this moment, Slade reprimanded Nick:
[I don't want to hear your tale of woe and pity! You're safe for now so what are you going to do?]
Nick became quite in his mind for a moment and then sighed.
(The only thing that I can do to make things right, become stronger.)
Slade remarked:
[Well said.]
As Nick lied in place, he thought back on the battles that he had before he escaped to this place, first with the savage hound and then with the students.
(My methods are now lacking in terms of power. The savage hound is apparently a darkness path magic beast and I know that path does not specialize in defense but Sever was barely able to cut off the magic beast's fur. Then there's the fact that I don't have a good healing spell and that my only movement spell is Blink which is great if I want to suddenly move from one place to the next but does not assist me in terms of my quickness in a fight.)
Through battles, Nick was able to see the holes within his battle strategies.
(I have to improve my arsenal of spells, making them better than they are now. The savage dog was described as only being a fairly decent fighter within rank 2 and I somewhat struggled against it. If I were to face something stronger, I would probably die, even if I tried to use the Malevolent Shrine. Not to mention those students, it's rare that I get to fight against other humans and although the battle was thrilling, I always felt like I was at death's door. To be honest, I don't even remember how I came out alive from that.)
(Oh right, there was also that woman with the sniper rifle. If she had shot at my head, then I would have had no chance...)
Nick sighed three times, this was probably the first time that he received a taste of how truly horrifying being a Magician can be. Nick took a deep breath and sat up, saying:
"I'm not leaving this place until I'm stronger!"
Nick tapped his space band and took out written copies of his most important spells, including: Cleave, Sever and Big.
"It's time to get to work."
********************************
Eighteen months later...
Nick sat on the ground shirtless with his hands clasped and as a whirlpool of magic energy hovered over his head, occasionally sending streams of magic energy into his body. Within his mindscape, Nick's consciousness looked at the state of things and was satisfied, commenting:
"After half a decade, the magic ice within my mindscape has changed in color from crystal blue to navy blue. That has to be significant since I can also feel that the quality of my magic has become subtly better and more concentrated per magical unit."
Nick willed and released his magic energy and unlike in the past where small ice crystals would break away from the ground and float to the skies, now, every time that he released his magic energy, pillars of solid navy blue ice would extend out of the ground towards the sky and break apart, forming thousands of tiny ice crystals that shone like miniature stars. It was really a breath taking sight.
Nick ejected is consciousness from his mindscape and stopped his meditation, dispersing the whirlpool of magic above his head. Nick picked himself up and moved around, stretching his body effortlessly with no hint of pain.
"My injuries have finally completely healed."
Nick's injuries had indeed taken close to eighteen months to heal which surprised him at first but Slade explained it clearly:
[Non-superficial injuries created by magical means are no joke. Those attacks basically carve the laws of your opponents magic into your flesh which impede the healing process. At your level, the results of this are slight because your opponent's laws are not so complex and concentrated but at the world class ranks, an internal injury from an equally strong opponent could mean a slow, painful death without good healing methods because injuries will not go away on their own. You lack healing methods besides potions so it is natural that your body took this long to recover. Just be glad that you did not break a limb or lose a large amount of flesh.]
Nick summoned one of his swords, Blind Crest, from his space band and waved it around as he practised the sword techniques that he learned from Thompson Varrow. Nick had never given up on bettering his sword techniques despite not having used them in combat in a long time; he thought that they still might be useful someday. Nick soon stopped practising his sword techniques and quickly cast a spell with Blind Crest as the target:
(Big.)
Blind crest grew four times its size, having broadened to eight inches and lengthened to 2.8 meters. Nick held the large sword firmly with both hands and a few moments later, the full weight brought about by its change could be felt by Nick's arms as moving the sword suddenly felt laborious and no longer manageable. Nick cast another spell:
(Light.)
Blind Crest suddenly felt no lighter than a pen as Nick was now able to wave it around effortlessly. After he did that for a few minutes, Nick decided to end his sword practise completely.
(Small.)
Blind Crest quickly reduced to its original size after Nick bathed it in his magic power. He stored Blind Crest within his space band and nodded his head in approval.
"My rule path capabilities have progressed nicely. I've already altered Big, making its cast time shorter and its effects more uniform so it definitely now qualifies as an intermediate grade rank 2 spell. In addition, I've also developed two new rule path spells: Light and Small. Light minimizes the weight of anything that I touch by about 80%, cancelling after ten seconds of me letting something go and Small produces the opposite effect of Big but does not work on living things."
Nick knew that because he already tested Small on clumps of the glowing moss in the room and failed to affect them with the spell but the spell worked with stones, his sword and a few other objects within his space band.
Nick summoned a polo shirt, a jeans jacket and a pair of black gloves from his space band and put them on, saying:
"It's time to leave this place"
Nick's eerie, pitch black irises glistened as the excitement on his face became obvious but the red rings that appeared on his irises made even this expression look scary and menacing. Nick wasn't excited because he was about to leave this place but instead was excited because he was going to do it using what he considered his greatest achievement as a spell maker since ending up in this underground room.
Nick pointed his right index finger towards the stone ceiling and uttered in excitement:
"Space"
A feint magical force was quickly exuded from Nick's body into the surroundings and passing through the rock walls and ground to extend by a 500 meter radius in all directions. Hundreds of ice pillars erupted from the ground within Nick's mindscape, quickly breaking apart as his magic energy reserves were rapidly expended. Nick closed his eyes and focused on the area affected by his spell, being able to sense everything that was in it as well as being able to visualize a large sphere of space that had become like an extension of himself.
Nick was soon able to visualize a portion of a grassy field three hundred and sixty meters above him. He smiled and snapped his right thumb and middle finger together, instantly disappearing from the underground room.
When Nick opened his eyes two seconds later, he saw the almost blinding light from the sun above him and his eyes quaked with emotion.
(I was down there for so long.)
Nick cancelled his spell, Space, as his magic reserves approached less than 9,000 magical units. Nick's smile became bitter at seeing the expenditure.
(Space is an advanced rank 2 spell that I developed after having spending months working on my other rule path spell in addition to studying Blink to see how it could be possibly improved or even replaced. Blink was an excellent spell that came from the inheritance given to Nick by a World Class Magician but it had its limitations such as being complex even though it is only an intermediate grade spell and having to form its laws every time I want to cast it is mentally exhausting. Space, however, is a rule and space path spell that is maintained continuously, as long as I do not run out of magic energy, and creates a space that I could perform endless 'Blinks' in. The downside, however, being that depending on how large the space created is, the magic energy expenditure can be enormous. I just cast the spell to cover a five hundred meter radius and within thirteen seconds, most of my magic energy was depleted.)
Nick knew that this wasn't even the biggest flaw.
(Theoretically, since the space created is like an extension of my being, anyone within it could use magic to harm me from a distance so long as they had a spell that could do damage via coming in contact with a person's magic power.)
Nick threw those thoughts to the back of his mind since those disadvantages couldn't be remedied right now. He had already done the best he could at his current skill level, considering that his space path and rule path attainment were only ordinary but like he always said:
"Spell making is more of an art form than a science."
Slade asked, seeing that they were finally above ground:
[What now?]
Nick looked towards the eastern direction, seeing nothing but grassy terrain and a woodland in the distance and said:
"Just like I had planned eighteen months ago, I will go to the undergrounds to execute my plans."
Nick was honestly sick of underground places but would do anything to achieve his goals.
"Hey, you there! What academy are you from?"
Nick suddenly heard someone shout at him from behind and so he turned around to see ten persons dressed casually like himself walking towards him. Nick remained quiet.
The leading man of the group was a little over six feet tall, white and sported a mostly shaved head with a Mohawk extending four inches into the air. Upon seeing that Nick did not respond to him, the man frowned and spoke again, this time not holding back his expression filled with malice:
"I said, which academy are you from? My group is running low on supplies and I can see that you have a space band. I need you to give us some food and water so that we can head back to Shelter Town comfortably enough. If you are from Raylam Priest Academy, don't worry, just give me your name and I will pay you back later but if you are from Richter Order Academy..."
As the man said those word's, Nick could feeling him and the members of his group exuding magic energy, getting ready for a fight. Nick yawned indifferently in response.
(Space.)
Nick's magic energy instantly created a formless enclosure that covered the entirety of the group whose farthest member stood only nine meters away from Nick.
The tall man at the front frowned, sensing that something was off. He quickly yelled while motioning his group to attack with a hand signal behind his back:
"Hey, you better not try any..."
Before the man finished speaking, Nick straightened his right index and middle fingers and swung them horizontally, casting a spell:
(Big Sever.)
An eight foot high, eight meter wide wave of formless magic power instantly crashed into the group, cutting through everyone as if the students were butter and Nick's magic power was a butcher's knife. Most of the students were cut into a dozen horizontal slices but the tall man who had an exceptional defensive spell called Steel Clothes that made his clothes as strong as steel opened his eyes wide as his upper-body fell to the ground after he was cut through at the waist and watched as his lower body sprayed out blood like a fountain.
"This..."
The man and his entourage transformed into specks of white light and disappeared before he could say anything else.
Nick looked on indifferently, thinking:
(Just another motley crew.)
Nick cancelled Space and began walking towards the eastern direction while casting another spell:
(One Meter At A Time)
Every step that Nick took from then on appeared to move him forward by one meter of space and soon he entered the distant woodland, heading to his goal.
**********************************
Max Porter opened his eyes wide as he felt at his waist with both hands, breathing a sigh of relief to see that it was still intact. He quickly looked around and saw that he was now in the revival room of the Main Tower and that his companions were also with him, slowly getting up from the cobbled floor.
One young man ran to Max and asked in fright:
"Max, who was that? He killed us all in less that ten seconds after we made ourselves known."
Max frowned and replied in a harsh tone:
"No Randy, we fought tooth and nail with him for over three hours before he played a trick on us, killing us while we were caught off-guard using an army of three hundred magic beasts that he suddenly summoned."
Randy's expression froze at hearing Max spit out that story but he knew how prideful their leader was so he just went along with it and said:
"What now, boss? That guy actually helped us by sending us back to Shelter Town so quickly. Now we can restock and join the other students at the undergrounds to fight for benefits."
The other eight students shifted in place uncomfortably when they heard Randy say that Nick 'helped' them but remained quiet since it was technically true. Max, feeling that the mood was a bit weird jolted to his feet and declared:
"Of course we are going to restock and head to the undergrounds! The Ministry of Magic announced that there have been frequent earthquakes over there that have unearthed many precious resources. They are even giving us students an opportunity to compete for them. Why wouldn't we still go?"
Randy and the rest of the students cheered, saying:
"Max is the man!"
"Max is the man!"
"Max is the man!"
...
When the other students left to buy their supplies, however, Max's face turned gloomy with worry and he ran to the old man that was wearing a set of gold trimmed robes that was meditating at one of the corners of the room, asking with blood shot eyes and a quivering lip:
"Sir, is there any way to find out the identity of a student from my memories? There's someone that I need to avoid out in the wilderness."
***********************************
Four days later...
Nick walked out of the woods while juggling a small pebble in his hand, thinking:
(I've been heading to the undergrounds for four days now and with the help of my new movement spell, One Meter At A Time, I've been able to make quick progress. I should only be a day or two away from the undergrounds. I would probably get there sooner if the spell didn't cost so much magic energy.)
Nick internally chuckled at his complaint since a normal rank 2 Magician would only be able to use One Meter At A Time for about a stretch of twelve meters before having to stop because the spell required 1,000 rank 2 magical units per step while Nick was able to take almost forty five steps each time he used the spell, almost four times normal. in addition, his magic recovery took almost half the time as normal rank 2 Magicians.
(The advantage of my special grade mindscape is starting to show. One Meter At A Time should also be top quality goods; I created this intermediate grade space path spell mostly out of luck, I think, after gaining some inspiration from creating Space.)
Slade chimed in at this time:
[It wasn't luck, kid. I've been observing your progress closely since you became rank 2 and I've got to say that you have a very strong talent for creating spells, the fact that you have an affinity for the types of magic that they use is just icing on the cake. Let this old man assure you, if you keep honing that talent with knowledge and practise, you may well do some very interesting things.]
Nick half smiled at receiving Slade's encouragement. Nick liked when people acknowledged his hard work even though he didn't need any of that to motivate him. Nick summoned his map of the Never Ending Battlefield from his space band and took a look at it to stimulate his memory and then stored the map again.
"The undergrounds are just on the other side of that hill."
Nick said that as he looked at the one kilometer high hill in the distance that was covered in brownish vegetation. The plants were so visibly discolored that it seemed that the hill hadn't received rain in months but was still vibrant with plant life.
Nick quickly begun the next leg of his journey by running towards the hill.
(It's best if I use my movement spell sparingly since the map indicates that this area is lively with magic beasts.)
Not long after Nick had this thought, he heard a series of loud growls approach him from the side.
WOOOOR WOOOOOOR WOOOOR WOOOOR
Nick turned his head toward the approaching magic beast as it raised dust into the air wherever it ran.
"Huh?"
The magic beast looked like a bear sized chicken with bright yellow feathers and a gold spotted cockscomb. Its eyes had gold ring like patterns in them and looked unfocused but based on what Nick could remember from his readings, this was a noisy rooster which was described as a rare luck path magic beast with excellent eyesight. It was running towards Nick quickly and sounding loud growls as it intermittently chomped its sharp teeth in its beakless mouth.
Nick didn't intend to be passive and so he cast:
(Blink.)
He disappeared and reappeared far closer to the noisy rooster with his right arm bent and pebble in hand.
(Big.)
Nick threw the pebble at the magic beast and it flew along with relative ease. As soon as it reached within an inch of the noisy rooster, however, the pebble instantly expanded to he size of a jeep; the noisy rooster's eyes suddenly became focused within a split second as it tried to think of a way out of its predicament but in the end, it just made one last growl and released a pile of feces onto the ground.
BOOM CRACK SPLAT
Nick could hear the sound of bones fracturing, then the sound of meat being crushed. Nick ran over to the site of impact to see the now large boulder lying on top of the noisy rooster's carcass as blood oozed out from under it. Nick pondered:
(This thing was a luck path magic beast? Then how come it ended up running into me, isn't that unlucky?)
Nick chuckled.
(I don't know much about luck path but I certainly know an unlucky bastard when I see one. Hmmm...what's that smell?)
Nick suddenly lifted his right leg to take a look at the bottom of his right shoe and to his surprise, there was magic beast feces smothered onto it.
(What? I stepped in shit!)
Just as Nick was recovering from the shock, a torrent of water rushed out from the distant woods towards his direction. Nick squinted his eyes, readying himself for a fight since he knew that this was someone's spell. The torrent of water quickly splashed down a few meters away from Nick's position, revealing a woman with long, blonde hair and big, sparkling eyes.
Nick frowned slightly because he remembered who this woman was.
"Jessica Jones."
Jessica also frowned as she looked at the bloody scene in front of her.
(That noisy rooster could have been made into some useful and rare magic materials. Sigh, I was too late, I never expected this magic beast to run so fast.)
After lamenting the loss of the noisy rooster, Jessica turned her attention to the murderer. She squinted her eyes, asking:
"Don't I know you?"
Nick sighed internally.
(I've got no patience for dealing with this woman.)
He quickly spoke while turning around and trying to leave:
"I don't think so, anyway, have a good day."
Jessica opened her eyes wide a moment later as memories of an auction held at Richter Order Academy flooded her mind, emphasis being put on the man that embarrassed her in front of her sister. She spoke plainly:
"Nick Capitol?"
Nick rolled his eyes with his back turned to Jessica and kept walking. Jessica frowned in response to Nick's indifference and resorted to her old tactics. She waved her hand and a torrent of water instantly formed from the moisture within the atmosphere, heading violently towards Nick. Nick stopped moving, looked up at the sky and sighed.
(Space.)
A formless enclosure made of Nick's magic energy suddenly appeared around him and Jessica. Nick then suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Jessica with Pressure Piece in hand.
(I absolutely won't hesitate with this woman.)
Nick's body erupted with magic energy as he swung Pressure Piece horizontally at Jessica.
(Big Cleave.)
Jessica had sensed the danger the moment that Nick teleported behind her so she had quickly moved the torrent of water to her back to create a barrier between her and Nick. However, the wave of magic energy created by Cleave was massive and due to the effects of Space, it appeared right in front of the water barrier instantly and consumed it. Jessica's eyes opened wide as she could feel strands of the hair on her head being cut away before the attack even reached her.
She quickly clasped both hands and her body erupted with a massive cloud of bright azure colored magic energy. This shocked Nick.
(Her magic energy is so condensed that it has a color to it.)
Jessica then cast her spell:
(Miniature Sea: Torrential Shock)
The magic energy in the surrounding atmosphere began to change into water droplets due to the effect of Jessica's spell and after gathering together, instantly flooded the surrounding area within a fifty meter radius with three meter high torrential water.
RRRRROOOOOOOOOOREE RROOOOOOORRE
WEEEEEELP WWWWEEEELP
GREEEEEK WEEEEP GREEEEK WEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP
...
The growls and roars of all sorts of dying magic beasts came from the surroundings as the water washed everything away and drowned whatever it could. Jessica's spell lasted all of twenty seconds after which the water evaporated within moments. Jessica panted as she looked around trying to find Nick. She eventually tilted her head and remarked:
"He must have died."
Suddenly, Jessica heard the sound of hands clasp from above her and looked up at which point she saw Nick falling towards her. Nick looked at Jessica from his bird's eye view and sighed.
(My luck is really something, I had to run into this crazy woman. Whatever, its time for some of my work for the past two years to pay off.)
Nick parted his gloved hands, revealing two glowing silver magic formations drawn into them, one on each glove, as a cloud of magic energy radiated from him into the surroundings.
(Two Big Souls: Pressure As Heavy As A Mountain.)
Magic energy pulsed from the magic formations drawn onto the gloves as two enormous clouds of translucent miasma emerged from them, one from each glove, fusing into one massive soul cloud that covered a twenty meter radius area. The soul cloud then suddenly expanded within an instant, radiating a bright white light and bringing along with the light, a terrifying pressure that immediately sent Jessica face first into the ground, her entire body pressed into the earth and spasming. The spell also affected all of the magic beasts that had somehow avoided Jessica's powerful water path spell; the magic beasts each foamed at the mouth and their eyes rolled over revealing only white schleras at which point they all fell unconscious as their bodies were pressed against the ground, creating imprints in the soil.
Nick laughed almost maniacally as he felt an immense pride.
(My advanced rank 2 formation path and soul path spell worked!)
Two Big Souls was actually a misnomer as the spell worked by combining many souls into one large ethereal presence. Of course this ruined the value of the souls and their individual characteristics but the combined magic power generated by the laws within the souls that were housed and stimulated by Nick's magic formations created an enormous pressure on the other souls that were in close proximity to the cloud that formed. This spell used and integrated a modified form of Formation Soul and Soul Pressure as the core.
(No matter what my talents are, without my scholar attainment in soul path, creating a spell like this would have been impossible and creating its effect would also be impossible without creating two formations before hand to contain and store the fused souls. Aren't I glad that I used the last of my soul path materials and the over four hundred magic beast souls that I captured eighteen months ago to cast this spell?)
When Nick thought about it like that, his laughter almost turned to crying as he fell. Suddenly, a bright light emerged from Jessica's position and she was somehow able to stand up, albeit with difficulty, against the pressure of Nick's spell. Nick opened his eyes wide in shock and focused his attention on her raised right hand that apparently sported a glowing gold ring on her middle finger.
(A magic tool?)
Whatever it was, Nick had to admit that this woman was tough.
(Space.)
The effects of Two Big Souls dissipated and Nick suddenly appeared and stood over five meters away from Jessica who was covered in dirt from head to toe and whose face was marred with blood.
Jessica looked at Nick and Nick looked at her without either of them saying a word. Nick suddenly frowned as he caught whiff of a putrid smell and lifted his left leg to look at his left shoe which now had feces stuck onto its bottom. Nick screamed without thinking:
"Fuck that rooster!"