Despite Michael's expectations, the fight had turned into an absolute stalemate, and that had been the case for the last 20 seconds.
Whenever he tried anything fancy, such as exploding the mana surrounding her, it never worked; the skill was not that effective after all.
However, he had a feeling that the more imaginative stuff could work. At the sa ti, though, it was incredibly dangerous.
Michael had an idea: changing her mana affinity entirely. But even as he rely ford that thought, a massive headache assaulted him.
Too complex for your current self. Try sothing less... suicidal.
'Yeah, and what might that be?' he shot back and propelled himself to the side, evading Aurora's attack.
They had been previously invisible; however, due to Sanctuary and his imagination, he made her mana an entirely different color, making it much easier to spot and dodge.
But nonetheless, there was no definite way to win—at least none that he had any idea of.
'Thirty seconds... and yet I don't even know what kind of magic she is even using.' Michael sighed to himself as the fight was definitely heading toward his loss.
From his observations, she gathered mana in the air and then used it to affect the surroundings, much like telekinesis. 'Telekinesis... could that really be it?'
Michael was not exactly sure how to deal with telekinetics, especially those who were much stronger than him. Interrupting mana flow clearly had not worked as intended; it only slowed her down.
But... how can I disrupt her mind instead...?
Just as he thought that, an idea popped into his mind. With roughly 25 seconds remaining, it seed extrely feasible.
He surrounded himself with a lot of mana before disappearing; the first step of his plan was to go invisible. If she did not have anyone to direct her focus on, then it would be much easier to deal with her.
Then ca the next idea, which was much easier than he had anticipated: to overload her mind with all sorts of sounds. Those he only needed to imagine, and Sanctuary would do the rest. The sa applied to her vision as well—he made a bunch of flashing lights appear.
The only reason he assud it would be effective was because of the amount of mana they used, which, quite frankly, was not a lot. However, their effect was noticeable right away.
Aurora's casting ti and the general strength of her mana decreased drastically. At the sa ti, she was wobbling side to side.
But the one thing that caught his eye was her appearance. Her white hair began flaring and changing colors—it shifted to mostly gold but quickly changed back as her expressions alternated between normal and crazed.
Until finally, they went completely blank, and she stopped moving entirely. Instead, her unfocused eyes were looking straight at him, giving off an ominous feel.
Yet at the sa ti, he no longer felt any malice; for that matter, he could not feel anything at all.
Michael stepped out of invisibility and cautiously approached her. 'Did I break her?' It was not his intention to shatter her mind completely, but now that it had happened, he could do nothing about it.
Her mind is fine—well, kind of. Check for yourself.
He tilted his head and infused more mana into his eyes. Even though
Eyes of the Healer
was supposed to be a passive skill, its effects only showed once he manually activated them. Strange skill, but nonetheless very effective.
As he gazed at Aurora with his skill fully active, he noticed a mist—completely blood-red—covering her entire body. The mist was most visible inside her head, specifically her brain.
The mist kept disappearing and reappearing, the cycle continuing for God knows how long.
But one thing was certain: whoever this Aurora girl was, she was under the effects of mind control or sothing even worse.
The only upside to this situation was that Michael had a lot of healing skills. Even if his main focus was not healing anymore, one of those skills, which would be perfect for this situation, was
Purify.
'II have to hurry, though... the fog is starting to take over her mind once again.'
He walked up to her while she was busy blankly staring into his eyes and placed a hand on her forehead before casting
Purify.
Much to his surprise, he felt a wave of resistance, and it was enough to dispel his skill. However, that was only the case because he had not used the effects of Sanctuary. He could enhance his
Purify
skill by many tis.
And that was what he did, focusing all the surrounding mana into his palm and enhancing the effects of
Purify.
A sharp headache assaulted him, much different from what he had felt last ti, yet he continued.
There might be a bit of a proble—
[ERROR]
[SKILL CALIBRATION UNAVAILABLE—SKILL GENERATION ACTIVE]
Purify [Superior] [Active]
# Purify every single ailnt as well as soothe the soul, healing it in the process.
*Cost: 20% MP
*Radius: 1000 ters
Michael glanced at the ssage before him with widened eyes. He had expected the skill to finally receive its long-awaited rank-up, but he did not expect it to skip the Advanced rank entirely and jump straight to Superior.
Added to that, the skill now claid it healed the soul. It seed quite interesting. Too bad he did not know much about the soul, but nonetheless, it would most likely prove to be convenient in the future.
Good job—you broke the system again. Don't use any ground-breaking skills until I fix it.
'Alright,' Michael nodded and turned back to Aurora, who was now staring at him with widened eyes. The mist enveloping her had completely disappeared, and now he could see clear silver threads coursing around her brain.
'The Mind Core, huh? Not surprising, I suppose. She does use telekinesis or sothing similar to that anyway... but what's up with her?'
"Aurora? Can you hear ?" Her eyes twitched every single ti he spoke a word.
But instead of replying, she pushed him back. The force was enough to crush him; however, just before he hit the wall, she stopped him and placed him down, watching him from a distance.
"S-Sorry about that, Michael. Could you tell where I am exactly?" she asked in a low tone, her voice completely different from before.
It reminded him of a single person, one he had not seen in a long ti. But he could not make assumptions yet—there was no proof. The two looked completely different as well, from their appearances to their personalities and abilities. It could not be her.
'...Right?' He sought confirmation from the system but received no reply; it was, after all, fixing the error he had accidentally caused.
"Say... Aurora, is that your actual na?"
He was expecting a refusal, but all he got in response was silence and a shake of the head, signifying that her na was not actually Aurora.
The unease was present in the air, making both of them tense. However, it was not the malicious kind of tension but more like nervousness.
As Michael was looking at her, she suddenly opened her mouth and spoke, her voice clear and soothing.
"You were always a sharp kid..." she said with a shaky voice, trying to hide it with a small chuckle.
However, Michael's mind was in turmoil, and his heart beat like never before. She was the last person he expected to encounter, and yet, here she was, standing in front of him with a different appearance.
"Rebecca...?"
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