Divine Magus: Awakening
Chapter 38: Shattered Mana Core

Chapter 38: Shattered Mana Core

Aaron was in the air surrounded by fifty dragons made of black flames.

With a flick of his wrist, they converged onto Soul King’s avatar and when they got close enough, exploded into pyres that burned everything and anything in their path.

The flames burned the avatar until it was nothing more than sparse wisps of energy.

Rather than be unhappy, Soul King laughed heartily through its crumbling ’body’.

"We don’t need to keep you busy anymore. He’s already dead." It laughed as the last wisps burned away.

Flames flared out of Aaron’s body before he shot off toward the duel with super sonic speed.

******

The world was trembling.

White lightning danced in the air and struck a grey figure to the ground.

The lightning mixed with the other elements and created something that wasn’t supposed to exist.

A sphere made of white energy appeared and detonated.

Logan’s eyes flew open and gained clarity.

Immense weakness filled his body as soon as he tried to move.

’Where am I?’ He scanned the white room and soon deduced his location.

’In the hospital? Aaron must have saved me but I guess I was already badly injured.’ He tried to move again but his body was still far too weak.

Turning his head to the door, he saw some people standing outside the room who appeared to be in a conversation.

"Who are those?" He managed to whisper causing them to freeze.

Turning to the room, they turned the knob and slowly entered.

Head healer Obel, the life magus, Aaron, and Orion walked in with awkward expressions on their faces.

"Hey, bro. How are you feeling?" Orion’s eyes repeatedly looked at something to Logan’s side before quickly focusing on him.

"You had quite a rough duel back there." He continued but managed to keep his eyes on Logan this time.

"You did real good kid. No one blames you." Aaron tapped his shoulders approvingly.

"Yeah and mana cores are overly overrated." Orion laughed awkwardly drawing the glares of the three other visitors.

"Mana core? What happened to mine?" Logan’s hand instinctively went to touch his sacral vertebrae but he still couldn’t move properly.

The three men glared at Orion one more time before looking at Logan.

"Sigh. Let me explain." The head healer sighed as he took a step forward.

"In that fight to the death, you used the enchantments of your tachi. Amongst them was a spell that’ll fill you with mana of the D-rank. Is that correct?" He asked and Logan nodded.

"Good. Now take note, your mana core was still in the E-rank. Filling it with mana if a higher rank only puts strain on the organ and that’s why such an enchantment is used as a last resort." Obel explained.

"Now remember that this was also after you had emptied your mana core. An event that weakens the structural integrity of the organ." His tone became more grave.

"And then finally, according to our investigations, you cast a spell of the C-rank while still being in the E-rank! These three events led to what happened." His tone saddened.

Logan wasn’t foolish yet he refused to believe what Obel was implying. He wanted the Head Healer to say it.

"What happened?" Logan stared the mature healer dead in the eyes.

"Your mana core shattered." His words struck Logan harder than any punch the noble had given him.

A broken mana core was game over for any aspiring mage.

No mana core meant no mana and no mana meant no magic or spells.

His life was over. No, it wasn’t! He refused, there was a way. He just had to be intelligent about it.

"How am I still alive? I thought that once your mana core was destroyed, you’d die?" His focus went on the resident healer.

Tapping his chin, Obel spoke, "I told you the first time we met that if the kingdom wills it you wouldn’t be able to die." He smiled slightly in an attempt to cheer Logan up.

In fact, the fact that he was taking this too calmly was more worrying than any overreaction that he could have given.

"When Aaron brought you, only a few pieces of your mana core were there but even those were quickly dissipating. We had to call in a special favor from someone." Obel explained.

Closing his eyes, Logan focused on where his mana core once was but this time he saw something else.

Instead of the ethereal golden organ he was familiar with, he saw a dark silver sphere with a few golden patches and glowing runes inscribed on it.

"What we put in you is what we call a pseudo core. A false core if you will. It ensures that you don’t die but you can’t cast any spells." Obel warned.

"The Rune Magus has spent a couple of decades attempting to perfect it and this is his best prototype yet but even at that he says that it’s still far too fragile for you to cast spells." Aaron completed on his behalf.

"On behalf of the academy and the kingdom, I’m here to formally apologize for our incompetence." The life Magus bowed to Logan.

"We never expected Soul King to be able to possess someone from such a distance. It’s our fault for underestimating it." He spoke with his head still lowered.

"Soul King? Possess? Those grey wisps were the same on the tiger that similarly almost killed me. Who is that? And what do they want from me?" Logan’s weakly clenched fists shook.

"Not only he but I as well is a victim of the one you called Soul King. Whoever they are murdered my entire family and consumed their souls." Orion spoke out of turn but no one in the room was going to criticize him.

In one way or another, they had all lost something to The Soul King, Logan being among the worst.

Letting out a sigh, Aaron spoke.

"I think it’s best that I tell them his story. After all, he was my best friend." Aaron’s shoulders slouched.

"This is the story of Soul King."