Shards of Old

-How?! How are you here?! You are alive?!

I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t.

Well, I didn’t have to, because…

-How?! How are you here?! You are alive?!

…ILMA did it all for me.

-Answer the question.

-You are looking at her - she puffed, trying to regain her composure and shoving the two living shields in front of her.

She was very wary of him…

-And Ilma?

-I told you. You are looking at her.

He was not convinced about either of that.

Neither was I, to be honest.

That was actually a fair question.

Where was she?

I mean, during all that chaos I have lost my bearings on anything, so she could’ve just been hiding somewhere, but… Nah, I am delusional. Clearly, one of them would notice that, right?

Maybe she just teleported away? That was possible.

-Ah. I understand. So that’s why I was ejected. You had no space.

-What?!

Huh?

What was that supposed to mean?

Whatever that was, he clearly was right, judging by her reaction.

Wait… She had limited capacity?

Even just thinking about that was giving me a headache…

Good thing I wasn’t responsible for that bullshit any more…

-It’s a shame… I should’ve known it wouldn’t have worked…

-Don’t talk like that was just some great plan of yours!

-Of course it wasn’t. But I had some assumptions.

-In any case… it’s time for you to come back where you crawled out from! - she suddenly barked and raised her hands.

Was she trying to do the same shit that she did to me?

It seemed so, because I noticed a surge of mana under his feet and a sinkhole appeared right below us…

But he didn’t fall.

And it was not just because of some great magic either. He just… moved. And fast. To the point that I was still kind of convinced that he used some kind of a spell… yet I didn’t feel any mana be released by him.

Then again, I wasn’t really in my best mind, so I guess I could’ve missed it…

-What?!

Nope, never mind. ILMA was as surprised as I was.

Thinking about it, it was actually very unusual.

Wasn’t she supposed to be that great awakened AI, that was going to take over all of us with her superior knowledge of magic?

So why would a spell from one of her creators surprise her?

And, if we believe what she said before, she has absorbed the one person who was fighting the same man for the past… I don’t know how long. Okay, maybe the one was also not the most informed, but still.

Hm.

She had a lot more weakness than I thought.

-Intriguing.

He calmly stepped towards her and raised his hand in a defensive gesture.

-I’d rather for you to stop.

-I am not listening.

-Stop.

-I know what you are trying to do. It’s not going to work on me!

Just as she said, instead of stopping, she raised her hand and lobbed a rather large globe of mana at him.

For a second I thought he was not going to try and defend himself.

I guess that’s one strategy: he still had a powerful artifact that would easily absorb that mana in a split second.

My head.

And well, probably his own body as well.

But nope, that’s not what he did.

Again, he just… moved.

With speed even greater than before.

This time I was sure: that was no regular spell.

He was just extremely fast for some reason. Some kind of enhancement? Was something like that even possible…?

-Curious. So I don’t have your authority… Your body is a strange thing… - he said while looking directly at me.

Wait… he was talking to me?!

First off, I didn’t have no body so what?

Second, my authority?

What did that mean…?

He thought he could control her? How?

I mean, I was able to, for a brief moment, but it was only because of those old contracts. It’s not like he had my…

Wait.

That’s it?

That’s… no.

I focused on his body and his mana.

Could it be…?

While seeing mana and distinguishing it by the people wasn’t my forte completely… yet, and I was still feeling a bit dazed by everything that happened, that was one thing I was never going to mistake.

My own mana.

I could tell he was full of it.

And not only that. His body was made out of the same crystal I was, to the point that for a second I thought I was looking at myself once more.

Hell, even with my other half that got split for me, he had a lot more of Il inside him, making his image less clear.

This… this was like I was looking in the mirror.

Even worse. I looked less like myself in comparison to him!

How did that even make sense?

I am not certain. But that’s the feeling I got from looking at his figure in front of me.

What the hell are you, man?

That thought was honestly bothering me.

Especially because he was right now holding my life in the palm of his hand.

-I am not sure any more.

He answered?

Hell, I guess I had more control over my mana than I thought.

Or less. Depending how you look at it.

-I am more confused by the fact that you are now awake. What are YOU?

-Weren’t you the one that made up that stupid “remnant” bullshit?

-Revenant. But yes… I never expected for it to go that far, though…

During that, we almost forgot about a certain hostile group that was still very present at the moment.

Not like they would allow us to forget.

ILMA was already tossing magic at us.

This time, using physical projectiles though. I guess to avoid either of us absorbing it mid-air.

Too bad that it didn’t matter: Mike just straight up dodged it, using that supernatural speed of his.

-How are you doing that?

-What?

-Don’t play dumb.

-Don’t tell me having your head removed also did a number on your memories.

-I don’t think it did. But that doesn’t explain a thing.

Another flying rock at his face, and yet another dodge.

-Just employing some basics, that’s it.

-Still don’t get it.

He shrugged.

Seriously, what was wrong with him?

Besides the strange newfound power, his attitude… was completely different.

Last time he was a lot more hostile towards me.

Maybe that’s just because of Il’s memories? Did he manage to listen to some of those? Did those influence him in some way?

Also, where did he come from?

I didn't think he’s going to tell me that right now, though.

-Stop this nonsense! I have you right where I want you!

It was ILMA.

She was still adamant on getting rid of both of us, but was having a visibly hard time with that.

Was she even trying, though?

With all the resources she had, surely she had some kind of way of getting rid of us, right?

It did seem that she was planning something, because suddenly I felt a surge of mana from Kon.

Strange choice… was she trying to somehow use his ability to do… I don’t know, something?

Mike also noticed the change and immediately dashed towards him, only to be met with a stone wall that was erected right at his face.

He almost crashed into it.

Even more bizarrely, it was For who made it.

Out of all the magics, I didn’t expect for ILMA to use For for something this mundane.

Then again, this island was anything but mundane…

Mike wasn’t going to play around, though.

He wasn’t hesitating at all.

When he noticed that it was For who created the wall, he changed his target and pushing away from the wall he darted towards her.

This time, she didn’t have enough time for the spell.

His stone fist connected with her head with a dull thud.

She fell onto the ground like a sack of potatoes, unmoving, a slow trickle of blood staining the rock.

-What the fuck are you doing?! - I yelped, angry at him. - Are you trying to kill them?!

-Obviously. They are attacking us. What else did you expect?

If I wasn’t already worried, that was more than enough of a red flag to me.

He really changed.

And not in a good way.

Before I was able to collect my thoughts, he was already next to Kon and was about to plant his fist in his face, but ILMA managed to stop him.

Hell, for an enemy, I was glad to see her actually do something.

I dare say, I might have been rooting for her.

Well, I said stopped, but she barely made it.

It was just another wall of stone: she managed to shield him just for a second, because the second strike broke through, sending shrapnel everywhere.

The force of the punch has pushed Kon away, sending him careening towards ILMA.

She managed to catch him, or rather that just his limp body crashed into her.

Well, at least he had more luck than For: he was not bleeding. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t completely unconscious.

That show of force gave her a clear idea of what she was dealing with.

And she came to a similar conclusion as me: that she should not be messing with him.

Her only hope was counting on the fact that she was inhabiting a body that was important to him.

Or at least I thought so.

She quickly created another wall, and while pulling both For and Kon behind it, started channeling some other spell.

Mike was not stopping, though.

He crashed right into the barrier with his whole body the moment she created it.

This time though, it managed to survive the blow.

Not unscathed, obviously.

He did create a rather large crack in it, but moments later another layer of stone replaced it, mending the hole.

Seeing as his attack was ineffective, he moved to flank her, but she anticipated that and expanded her shield.

She built it around herself, covering her from every direction.

-Hm.

He stopped for a moment.

I thought he gave up for a second, but quickly realized my mistake.

He intended to attack from a different direction.

He leaped into the air.

I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

A creature made out of pure stone, jumping tens of meters high, probably even more, and crashing on top of this small rock-dome with the crushing force of a small meteor.

The lone weight was probably enough for him to break through.

Without issue, he flattened her defenses, and I thought that was the end, because she clearly was still under it.

I underestimated her.

She was not just hiding in it, she actively was moving.

Through raw stone.

The spell I noticed was a melding spell: she was digging through a rock, creating a tunnel leading underground.

Was she trying to get back inside the ruins?

Nah, it didn’t seem like it.

She wasn’t really going towards that direction, instead just digging straight down.

I guess she was trying to get away as far as she could?

I mean, the stone proved the best defense up till now, and he clearly was going to have a hard time digging through all that.

-You cannot hide.

Well, he was persistent.

He finally used magic.

Never used words, though. I mean, of course, he was skilled, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Especially if he was to use some kind of premade spell, not something that he had to come up with on the spot.

And the spell was clear to recognize: he just mimicked her, and started digging his own tunnel.

Of course, his was a lot larger.

Enhanced by the power of Origin Crystal, he was going to reach her in no time.

It’s not like that was going to stop her. She was still trying to cover more ground, and seeing as he was pursuing her, she ditched the “straight-down” approach and started weaving.

A bit pointlessly, might I add, because she only lost her small lead on him.

Or so I thought.

Well, not like I had much to say in the matter: I was just a baggage during all this bullshit. Honestly, I was kind of surprised that he didn’t drop me yet. It’s not like having me was giving him any advantage. Hell, probably even the exact opposite: besides being reduced to being one-handed, it’s not like I was a mana battery for him. I was even draining him a little bit…

It’s not really like I wanted to do that… It was just happening naturally.

Of course, I was not going to stop that.

Besides, before he was actively feeding me. And he had a lot on the platter right about now…

ILMA was not going down without a fight.

Obviously.

But, her tactics were… unusual.

The moment she started weaving, I suddenly felt her mana split.