Villain's Second Heart: Trapped in A Fantasy Novel (BL)-Chapter 99: The Magician’s Assault

Deek twirls around, her magicked boomerang alight with flame as she begins her deadly dance - one inspired by the Great Sage of the Clouds Rav himself (as she proudly proclaims as she announces the name of her secret move:

"Super Sage Cyclone!" she shrieks.

And away the boomerang went. It tore through the vines as quick as Leona could summon them with her thorny magic, roaring wind and fire coursing through the magical weapon.

The Magician of Thorns raised her arms to summon up the thickest bramble she could muster just in the nick of time. She halted the advance of Deek’s boomerang and sucked the weapon into her vines, locking it in place.

As the boomerang was eaten away, Deek put her arms on her hips and pouted.

"Well, damn. You’re on your own, buddy."

"What!?" Ezra cried. "You were supposed to be the one coming to save ME!"

Deek blew on her nails and began filing them. "Nope. I surrender. Without my boomerang, I can’t fight at all, sorry!"

"Deek, she’s trying to kill us!"

"She’s trying to kill you. I can always take my shot later. Cya!"

Ezra turned from Leona back to Deek, but by the time his head turned back to Deek the little Ferin girl was gone.

"Damn it!" Ezra barked.

He turned his attention back fully to Leona.

"Stupid girl," the magician said, a cool smirk. "Running won’t do her any good, I’ve gotten a clear look at her face."

Ezra gripped his spear tightly. "That doesn’t matter," he replied, his voice sharp and intimidating. "Because I’m going to kill you."

"Aha! You, kill me? After that pitiful showing you put up just a moment ago? Don’t make me laugh. I will - "

Ezra didn’t let her finish talking - not this time. He charged her with his spear but this time he threw it high - slightly higher than he needed to.

He knew it would distract her - take her off her game, even if only for a second. And it did - fearing there was some reason for the spear going so high, she focused all her resources on stopping it. Her vines thrust in the air, guided by her telepathically. She caught it in the air and buried it with her magic.

But while she was distracted with the spear, Ezra was rushing her himself, unarmed. He had no idea if such an attack could work, but it was the only card he felt confident in.

Spears and physical strength weren’t going to take down a Magician - but magic of his own might.

He grabbed her by the arm - all he could reach, and as he did he channeled all of his focus into his heart.

He envisioned when he first used the technique - when he absorbed the latent mana of the Spriggans. No, even before that. When he held his hand up and absorbed the fearsome might of a magical Torrent.

He knew how to drain magic from the air. Now, he would try to drain it from a human.

She gasped the second his hand touched her. Her strength - her mana - began to sap out of her in an instant.

She wailed like a ghost - Ezra’s touch alone was like a vacuum to her mana. She felt it gush out of her veins like her wrist were slit and pouring blood.

He touched her for three seconds - that’s all it took to nearly drain her dry. She finally managed to pull away from his touch and stumbled backward, gripping her arm where he touched her and screaming into his face.

"What did you do to me!?" she roared, rolling her hand through her hair. Her eyes darted around wildly like a caged animal.

"WHAT SORT OF POWER IS THIS, YOU DAMNED HARBINGER!?"

She swung her whip around and cracked it toward Ezra. He held up his arms to guard against the blow - all he could do, unarmed as he was.

Suddenly, time froze.

[Just going to let yourself be struck down like that? Done in by a whip?]

Ezra’s eyes widened. The whip was still crashing through the air, just inches away from him. He couldn’t move but he could see everything in still-frame.

He’d seen this before - it happened when he used his Desire power on Oberyn.

This was a moment. An opportunity.

But he was saving his Fulfillment Points (FP) for Oberyn. With 100/100 points, he could even undo Oberyn’s curse.

A menu appeared in front of him.

[Current FP - 40/100

5 Points - Obfuscation

10 Points - Override

20 Points - Rewind

30 Points - Manifest

50 Points - Evolution

75 Points - Steal

100 Points - Alter Fate]

He stared at his options. Rewind and Manifest caught his attention specifically.

With Rewind, he could go back in time - but could he do anything to stop this situation?

Manifest would let him generate anything he could think of - but at such a high cost. 30 points - he’d only get 25 from his Quest to help Deek. He’d be negative points...

[Those points won’t matter if you’re dead.]

Ezra froze. Alcor made a good point.

Manifest...but what could he make? There were so many options.

[Do you trust me, Ezra?]

’Not really. But more than I trust Leona.’

[That sounds like enough to me. Want to know what to generate? Try this - The Third Hand of Shadow.]

’Third Hand of - hey, this isn’t going to turn me into a three-armed mutant, is it?’

[Do it.]

Ezra tapped ’Manifest’, spending 30FP. And then the prompt:

[Speak aloud what you will Manifest.]

"Eghh...The Third Hand of Shadow!"

He spoke the words, and suddenly something burst from his back - a dark tendril with a large clawed hand growing out the end of it. The fingers outstretched and revealed long, menacing claws. Ezra looked up at the hand that sprouted from him and hovered just overhead.

’And how the hell do I control this thing?’

[You don’t. I control it.]

Ezra’s eyes widened. Alcor now had a physical presence.

There was no time to worry about that. Time began again, and it was time to finish Leona once and for all.