What Clyde had done but moments ago, had been but the smallest of his whims. It was beneath his notice to do such a spell, as that first fireball. He did not even need to concentrate upon it, to work that magic. He could have easily even done another two or three of equal strength, while carrying on a full conversation.
Of course, the spirit had no way of knowing this. Of knowing that he tangled with a master mage, that could rip half of the city in twain should the need or desire for it arise. In general, Clyde tried to keep his magic usage out of the city. But in this case, he had not only been attacked and threatened, but also his abilities called into question.
And as a future member of the Stryfe, a current Apprentice, and a Master Mage, that was not something he could abide by quietly. Not when a ghost was threatening his city, and its inhabitants, and him. No, he had duties and honor to uphold, and backing down was not even a option he considered.
Clyde just shook his head, as the spirit continued to be rude to him. Really? Did he have no concept at all of propriety? Did he not see that he was asking to be treated as such. Just because one was dead, did not mean you did not have to have manners.
“ I believe you are right. I do need to show souls similar to you some respect by reaching my palms into you're chest and imprisoning the beating heart inside in freezing blackening cold!’’
What was Clyde to do? He was in the right here. And really, he had no choice but to fight, and destroy as much of this ghost as he could, and send it home clinging to its soul as best it could, till it learned it could not act as such in Ravok. Not in Clyde's town. He did not suffer for the living, he certainly would not suffer for the dead.
At that moment, Clyde acted.
From another point of view, it would appear as if he had raised his hands, and a silvery vaporous cloud had exploded out of Clyde in every direction.
In reality, he had simply extruded his res at a phenomenal rate, that would have likely killed a lesser Reimancer, even one decently skilled. But for Clyde, it was all in stride.
Every pore of his skin was gushing forth volumes of res, out of his face, his chest, his legs. it was especially thick coming out of the palms of his hands, which he held up in the air, and also coming out of his mouth and nostrils as he exhaled.
Then dropping his hands back to chest level, and slowly rotating both in a circular manner, the res swirled and engulfed the earlier fireball, rising to float higher away from Clyde. Once it was a good five or six feet from him, he lit the entire circumference of the new bigger sphere of gaseous res, which was a globe a good 6 feet across.
This time the light cast by it seemed to push away every shadow within sight, as it lit up the night like a tiny sun. Or at least, tiny in comparison to the real sun, as it was quite large. The shadows that Noaur had been attempting to hide in were now gone, and replaced by light from the burning flames. Noaru would be held in relief, and was left as visible as a ghost normally was in the midst of a sunny day.
But he did not stop there. He continued to build up momentum, as his hands spun, and he broke off a globe of flames with a res core, and it began to orbit the larger sun of flames.
As it neared Noaru, Clyde would twist his left hand at the wrist, and the ball of flames would rocket off, heading right at Noaru. Should he attempt to dodge or duck, Clyde would simply make another movement, and adjust his aim.
For unlike a weaker Reimancer, who was limited to a few feet away from themselves, Clyde's range was EVERYTHING. As long as he could see it, even should it be miles away, he could guide his res and attacks directly to it. So what trouble was it for him, to hit a ghost who was not even twenty feet away.
Perhaps Noaru had faced Mages before. Perhaps he had even faced a Reimancer before. But he would soon see that Clyde was not exaggerating his skills, and was far beyond the calibre of any other mage Noaru had likely met before in his long long life.
All the while, with a smaller portion of his attention, he was moving a length of res straight up into the air above them. He had stopped exuding on the scale he had at first, but he was still keeping a small trickle of res going, which was slowly forming into a cloud of res, several feet wide, and far above their heads. |
