Chapter 44: Weakness

Jaxir’s map shrank considerably the moment he stepped into the illusion space. However, the range of his map halo remained the same.

’Oh, that’s convenient.’

Jaxir had honestly just been planning on relying on his sense for Twinkle Mana. Even before he got Twinkle Mana, the illusions of the twinkle twinkle foxes hadn’t worked on him. After he got Twinkle Mana, their antics didn’t even really catch his attention.

But it seemed he wouldn’t even have to work that hard. The halo effect he got from the Sparking Third Eye was more than enough to see right through this illusion.

He just walked straight ahead without issue.

Jaxir took a glance back, only to find Nick stiffly following after him. The man looked like he had seen better days. His entire body was as tense as a spring, and he was holding onto the end of Jaxir’s staff so hard you would have thought he was trying to snap it in two.

’He can’t see,’ Jaxir realized.

"If we make it to the center, will you be able to see?" Jaxir asked.

"Who? Where?" Nick’s head spun as though Jaxir’s voice came from behind him. Judging by the way he reacted, Jaxir’s voice must have sounded different too. Were even the words changed?

Jaxir cursed inwardly. If they weren’t on a time crunch, he would have asked more questions. But there wasn’t a chance outside of speeding up right now.

Jaxir started to tug on Nick’s arm, speeding them up slowly. The steady ramp up let Nick understand what Jaxir was going for and he didn’t fight back this time. In fact, he closed his eyes and just trusted the process.

’He’s got some balls, I’ll say that. But I guess this is just a video game, after all.’

Jaxir focused on his map and the road ahead when he felt that Nick wasn’t going to fly off the handle. The illusions were more involved than he expected. He thought this place was just going to obstruct vision, but for them to twist words, fake sounds, and mess with senses to such a degree...

’Fascinating.’

Even Jaxir didn’t seem to realize he was starting to treat this so-called "game" more and more like it was very real.

But to him, maybe the moment his uncle’s lawyer appeared at his doorstep, it was.

He wasn’t going to lose to these people no matter what it took. He had lost enough.

Pa.

A magic bullet suddenly cut through the air, zipping right for Jaxir. If he had only been paying attention to his map, he would have never seen it.

’They’re attacking me? But they haven’t appeared on the map yet? Are they outside the range? No way, how could they possibly attack from that far away?’

Jaxir was going to dodge, but then he remembered that Nick was behind him. He couldn’t dodge.

’Wait, I can—’

Jaxir felt something tugging at him when the mana entered range. He raised a hand toward the oncoming bullet and then swiped to a side.

The magic bullet went spinning away, hitting against a tree.

Pa.

Nick ducked, his face paling. He looked like he was in a lot more fear than he should have been, but Jaxir held tightly onto the staff and checked his map again.

Another magic bullet came out from nowhere and Jaxir swiped a hand at the air again, pushing it away.

His control over Twinkle Mana seemed to supersede whatever was attacking him now, but something felt off about it. The first attack came from straight on, but the second came from the side.

Unless there were two or more mages, there was no way they had moved in such a wide arc so fast. The bullets were coming from too far away.

But his halo zone was still not picking up on anyone. Unless...

Jaxir’s eyes narrowed. ’The attacks are coming from the formation itself. They might want me to think there are more people than there are to make me hesitate. They’re stalling.’

Remembering what Nick said before, Jaxir picked up the pace. This time, he wasn’t just paying attention to the landscape and his map, but also the shifts of mana in the air.

The moment the third magic bullet took shape, he sensed it ahead of time. He was going to make a move to snuff it out before it took shape, but he thought better of it.

It zipped toward him even faster than the first two had, but just when it seemed it would slam into the back of Nick’s head, Jaxir diverted it away.

He picked up the pace again, moving faster and faster toward the center of the formation. He even broke out into a calm run, taking Nick with him and trying to make sure the man didn’t trip over any branches.

...

Rin watched as Jaxir and Nick got closer and closer, her eyes sharp.

’They have a Twinkle Mage with them... is this person from the Spark Faction? Dammit. It’s our turn during this hibernation cycle, they should know that. Are they really so shameless?’

Rin took a deep breath to calm her rage. Her temper had never been the best, but she had been in this game for long enough to know that people died when they lost their cool. This wasn’t an enemy she could underestimate.

That said... while one of them was immune to her illusions, the other one was clearly not. That was a weakness that could be exploited so long as she didn’t let them make it to the center of the formation.

Her gaze flashed with murder and she made a decision.

With a tap of her foot, her body became as light as a feather and she rocketed forward, her speed accelerating until she vanished into the trees.

It wasn’t long before she had caught sight of them in the corner of her map, but she still maintained a small distance, staying outside the range of eyesight.

Then, she slowly raised her staff.