Rivers of the Night - Chapter 74

Chapter 74: Mana Wrestling (1)

Theron truly didn’t expect that he would see such a thing here.

Spirit Mancer cultivation methods were rare, so rare that even a talent like Burne was left aside by the Thistles for so long. So just what kind of background did Thessa have to use such methods?

‘Fusing with an Echo before Silver Mancy… I have a feeling that this isn’t natural. It’s more likely that she had a cultivation method that requires it. Maybe when she enters Silver Mancy, she will replace this Fire Spirit with another. Or, maybe the process of entering Silver Mancy itself requires a Silver Grade Fire Spirit?’

If Thessa knew that Theron had figured out her cultivation method with a glance, it was unknown how she would react. But what was certain for now was that she was out for murder.

No… she had already murdered.

Theron looked at the blood that splattered across the ground. The musicians, coated in crimson gore, froze—and many others stopped with them. To the side, the dancers screamed, shuddering and huddling down on their wooden platforms.

Aeryn slowly stood to his feet.

“I do not care who you are. Killing two disciples of my Luminescent Moon Sect is absolutely unacceptable.”

The Core Disciple seemed to be truly enraged.

Soren and Teagan were completely innocent, but just for a little bit of reputation, she had actually killed them so openly and without regard for the face of the Sect.

The righteous indignation of Aeryn was palpable. It was easy for Theron to tell at a glance, especially from the way he protected his little sister, that this was a man who always wore his heart on his sleeve.

Maybe it was only natural he reacted like this despite the risks.

Unfortunately, he didn’t even get the chance to move when a shadow suddenly appeared before him. Their face was obscured by a mask of swirling black, a cloak just as dark adorning their body.

The figure didn’t say a word, but Aeryn could feel a suffocating pressure pressing down on him. A cold sweat formed on his brow, his heart beating erratically.

It wasn’t until Malaya pulled his sleeve hard, pushing him into his chair, that he finally escaped the pressure.

“Are you okay, big brother?” Malaya asked softly.

The cloaked, shadowy figure vanished into thin air as though they had never been there.

Aeryn didn’t get a chance to respond before Thessa spoke again.

“It seems that many of you have forgotten, but let me remind you. This land is ruled by the Nightingale Clan. My hand has been promised to the Crown Prince—I, the Princess Consort of the Nightingale Clan, will not accept any form of disrespect. The punishment… is death!”

BANG!

Thalrix landed heavily on the platform from which the musicians had long been scattered, leaving their blood-soaked instruments behind.

“Enough talk!” he growled. “Little pussy, what are the rules of this Mana control competition?”

To the side, Theron raised an eyebrow.

“Young master Thalrix, I think you’ve been quite the agitator today already, don’t you think?” Sigil’s voice echoed coldly, the platform Thalrix stood on trembling just the slightest bit as though to remind him that Sigil could kill him whenever he so pleased.

Thalrix looked down beneath his feet, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“It’s fine,” Theron said with a light smile, “since he dares be so rude even to the princess consort, then who am I to complain? I can only hope he keeps his head.”

Thessa and Thalrix both looked to Theron together, as though the two of them were both surprised that he would say such a thing. But Theron didn’t seem to notice.

“The rules can be quite simple, a Mana Wrestling match. Each of you form this quantity of Mana…”

Theron raised a finger and a sphere of water slowly rotated into being until it was a perfectly smooth blue ball about a foot across. It didn’t have even the slightest ripple across its surface as it rotated.

“Simply press your balls of Mana against one another, and whoever crushes the other first wins.”

Thalrix and Thessa both snorted, raising their fingers. Their Mana swirled into being.

Thessa’s Mana swirled into a sparkling red-gold flame, and Thalrix’s crumpled into what looked like an enormous bit of tin foil.

It was clear at a glance that neither one was comparable to Theron. Thessa’s flames still licked out from time to time like the arcs of solar flares, while Thalrix’s… well, it was an unsightly piece of work to be sure.

Without saying a single word, who was superior and inferior was clear at a glance, and both could only be lucky that they weren’t facing off against Theron instead. Even Sigil, by Theron’s side, couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.

Was that a ball of Water Mana? Or was it a polished marble? Which was it?

“Ready? You can begin when my water sphere bursts apart,” Theron said calmly.

His finger flexed and the sphere shot into the air above the duo.

“Three… Two…” Theron snapped his fingers and a misty rain fell from above, avoiding the two. It wouldn’t be very fair if he doused Thessa, now would it?

Both spheres shot forward at once.

BANG!

They collided in the air, sparks of fire and molten droplets of metal sprinkling out.

Sigil tapped a foot, and a barrier appeared around the tables to protect the spectators. It was clear that he had been ready for something like this to happen this evening, even though it had occurred in such an unexpected way.

Theron watched calmly as the two balls wrestled against one another.

The type advantage here was clear, but everything was relative. Thalrix’s metal might melt in part, but that didn’t mean it would melt all the way through.

Plus, he was able to make his Mana far more dense due to the nature of Metal Mana to begin with. By comparison, Fire Mana was far more volatile and harder to compress. Doing so was like forming a bomb in real time. It might have the most explosive offensive strength of the four base Elements, but that came at a price.

Unfortunately for Thalrix, this wasn’t normal Fire Mana.