Ashen Ascension: The Divided Flame-Chapter 64: Experiment And Control

He understood the pattern now. Maintaining a continuous coating during full-speed motion required too much adjustment. The instability came from trying to preserve structure through acceleration.

When the skeleton lunged again, blade thrusting toward his chest, Ivor stepped off the line and altered his method entirely.

Instead of forcing the coating to remain thick throughout the swing, he kept it deliberately thin during movement. Only in the final inch before impact did he push a compact surge of mana forward, compressing it outward at the exact point of contact.

The result was immediate. The compressed surge of mana detonated outward at the instant of contact, and a sharp crack split across the skeleton’s front ribs. Fractures spread from the impact point like thin lightning veins through brittle bone. The creature staggered backward, its red-lit gaze flaring as its torso partially caved inward.

Ivor did not pause long enough to admire the damage. He stepped back just outside the reach of the bone sword and recalculated. The burst method was far more stable than maintaining a full coating through motion, but he could already sense the cost in his core. The mana pool within him felt lighter, the flow less abundant than before.

The skeleton recovered and swung again, though its movement had grown uneven. Ivor dipped low instead of retreating fully. As the blade passed above him, he dropped to one knee and drove his fist upward into the creature’s thigh joint.

He kept the mana thin until the final fraction of distance, then compressed it sharply.

The second burst exploded into the weakened joint. Bone shattered with a louder crack than before, fragments snapping free as the skeleton’s leg buckled. It collapsed awkwardly to one side, forced to brace itself with the bone sword to remain upright.

Ivor rose smoothly, feeling the heavier drain this time. Two bursts had taken a noticeable portion of his available mana. His breathing remained steady, but the internal reserve no longer felt full.

He did not disengage.

Instead, he shifted backward several paces, creating space. The skeleton, damaged and unbalanced, attempted to turn toward him, dragging its compromised leg across the forest floor.

Ivor sprinted. He circled wide, using Soul Sense to track the skeleton’s turning speed. The red glow struggled to lock onto him as he slipped behind its blind angle. When he reached its rear flank, he planted his foot and drove forward with his hips, channeling the final burst into his knuckles as he struck the back of its ribcage.

The third impact resounded through the clearing. The compressed mana burst punched through the already fractured structure, sending cracks racing across the spine and rear ribs. Several vertebrae snapped, and the skeleton’s upper body twisted unnaturally before collapsing forward onto the ground in a broken heap.

Ivor remained standing behind it, fist still raised.

Only then did he fully register the drain.

His core felt significantly diminished. The steady reservoir he had drawn from earlier was now thinned, the flow slower to respond when he called it. Three burst strikes in rapid succession had delivered clean, decisive damage, but the cost was undeniable.

If this had been a prolonged fight against a stronger opponent, he would have been forced to choose carefully when to commit such output.

A minute passed as Ivor focused on his mana control when, right in front of him, the skeleton began to recover. Before his eyes, mana swirled around its body, knitting its injuries back together. The ribs reformed, the spine straightened and filled out, and within a minute, the skeleton was standing once more.

It turned toward him and swung downward in a heavy overhead strike. Ivor stepped to the side, letting the blade carve into the earth, then delivered another burst punch to the side of its skull. Bone splintered slightly, though the red glow in its eyes flared brighter in response.

He repeated the method a third time, this time targeting the knee joint. The burst shattered part of the joint, forcing the skeleton into an uneven stance.

He adjusted again.

As the skeleton regained balance and swung in a wide arc, Ivor activated the Umbra matrix. Instead of drawing pure mana outward, he let the shadowed energy rise along his forearm. It spread across the skin like a layer of black paint, matte and smooth. It did not feel heavy. It felt like an extra layer of fabric wrapped tightly around his arm.

The skeleton’s sword descended toward him.

This time, he did not evade.

He raised his forearm and met the bone blade directly. The impact jarred his arm, but the shadow coating absorbed part of the force. The bone edge scraped across the dark surface without biting into flesh. The pain was present, but reduced, dulled compared to what an unprotected arm would have suffered.

More importantly, the Umbra coating held steady without flickering. It required less precise adjustment than pure mana. It did not flare or thin unpredictably under movement.

He let the skeleton’s blade slide off his arm and stepped inside its guard.

Keeping the Shadow Layer active, he drew in additional mana and once again activated his Umbra Matrix, coating his knuckles in thick black shadow mana.

He drove his right fist forward into the skeleton’s back ribs with full rotation of his hips.

The impact produced a loud crack. The reinforced strike caved in part of the ribcage, fractures spreading outward from the point of contact. The red glow in its eyes flickered violently as the skeleton stumbled forward.

Ivor withdrew, watching carefully.

Pure mana bursts were sharper but expensive and unstable under motion. Umbra was easier to sustain and absorbed force more effectively.

The skeleton turned clumsily, its frame compromised. He circled it calmly, Soul Sense tracking every twitch of its arm. This fight was no longer about defeating it quickly. It was about refining control, measuring cost, and testing limits.

When the skeleton raised its sword again, its movements were slower.

Ivor stepped in close for his final experiment and began striking in rhythm, left then right, each punch carrying a tightly compressed mana burst at the final instant before impact. His left fist hammered into the cracked sternum, the burst driving fractures deeper, and before the skeleton could recoil his right followed, detonating against the weakened ribs. He did not allow space between the blows.

Left, right, left again, each strike landing faster than the last, mana flashing at his knuckles in sharp pulses. The spine gave under the repeated impacts, splintering down the back. As the skeleton collapsed forward, he shifted and crushed its skull beneath a final decisive stomp.