"Master, it's your turn to shine. Take care of those Scholars," Good said, tossing Laz enveloped in a ball of energy that shielded him into space, and slithered down to the surviving Elites.
As it left Laz, he floated in the air, but his movements appeared to be controlled only by the ball of energy.
He was awake, with eyes still shut in a full meditation state.
"My turn to shine? Tsk."
"Of course, you are much stronger."
"More resilient."
"Even fearsome among the living."
"But, what about me?"
In this meditation state, Laz began to remember things that had happened in the past.
When his aunt, powered by her husband, threw him into the streets. He had landed hard on the concrete floor of the road, and they hadn't cared.
A small smile of sorrow spread across his lips.
"All I have ever known is to fight for breath in a world that never wanted me to breathe."
A change of scene.
As a very young tenderling, he walked on the concrete road and fell after a notable distance, and began to crawl.
As he crawled, he held onto the clothes of any passerby he encountered, and pleaded for help... but they didn't seem to acknowledge his presence.
"When others were learning to walk, I was already crawling through fire."
As a little bit feeble grown child, Laz was climbing a tall tree where he had seen a ripe Mango fruit.
'Food.' He had claimed joyfully, and hastened his climb only to fall sometime while he was almost at the top.
"It was as if my name was akin to pain, you know."
Rejected. Overlooked, with disgust. Only a few acknowledge his bowl of begging, but in a way that made him feel like crap.
"I got used to the taste of disappointment. Insults, name them. It became my daily bread."
"Now, what do you think?
The Scholars who sat cross-legged in the boat, with their hand in knife formation, had unleashed their attack.
Multiple swords tore into space, directed as if controlled as puppets reaching for Laz.
This attack was a product of anger and fury. Having witnessed what their Elite brethren had passed through in the hands of the dragon snake, they thought it best to go all out.
However, they were now shooting at a shielded being. The creature was no longer there, but the body of that which it seemed to be protecting while it fought.
It gave them a higher hope of inflicting damage on this lifeless being floating in the air, so that it could cause harm to the creature.
Unlike other Scholars, General Avaki didn't think with their motives.
He sat cross-legged as well, in full concentration. But his mind screamed a different scenario to him.
'What if this lifeless body is what has somehow been controlling the creature?'
'If it were lifeless, it wouldn't have the ability to control, to even shield itself, right?'
'I wonder what kind of creatures had appeared in this land.'
In all, the thoughts of the different Scholars led to one conclusion.
IF THEY CAN DISINTEGRATE THE BODY FLOATING IN THE AIR ABOVE, THE DRAGON SNAKE WOULD BE AFFECTED DRASTICALLY.
Except Avaki, who still concentrated on his manner, the others kept showering weapons to meet with Laz.
His luck was already determined by the shield produced by Good. It not only seeped mana-energy into him to help him regain strength, but it also protected him from this barrier of attacks.
The swords, axes, and other dangerous weapons got stuck in the shield. Scholars in different boats on the water tried their very best to concentrate their energy on the weapons, so that they could pierce through the barrier, all to no avail.
"After getting used to disappointment, I vowed never to be pathetic ever."
"Do you know what being pathetic does to a human person?"
He let out a brief smile; this time, it showed in reality.
"Of course, you won't."
'Master is great. Master, it's your turn to handle the Scholars.' Good's hoarse voice sounded soft in Laz's subconsciousness.
"It makes you weak. Emotionally, physically, mentally, in ramifications!"
"And that is why—"
Laz jammed his palms that had been apart as he floated all this while, and released his shut eyes with force.
After his meditation, he had concentrated his breath just like Good had taught him, while he wanted to save him from the prison barrier in the Land of Call.
It was a technique to manipulate any surrounding energy to his thirst.
The shield in which he was, shattered, its force sending the weapons stuck in it speeding down towards the Scholars.
"—I would make that perception of Good come to pass."
"I am Great!"
As he declared, he followed the descent of the weapons, but not with speed.
The weapons already had some energy infused in them, and that was what he targeted. He would absorb the energies on them and render them useless.
As the weapons approached the Scholars, they waved their hands with power, and the metals all shattered into debris and fell into the water.
"What does he think?"
"Using our weapon against us?"
"It is a boy!" someone thundered from one of the boats.
"A boy! A boy!" They all rose, distracted from their concentration to identify whom has been referred to as a boy.
Laz slowly descended upon the water, barely disturbing its surface.
What he wanted had happened. The Scholars were distracted.
Not wasting much time, he sharpened his focus as he gathered the water energies, blending them with the ones he absorbed in the air, using its natural flow to hold himself upright.
Joining his palms, folding his fingers into each other, and extending his index finger raised to his face, he muttered:
"Spiral Ripples!"
The moment he uttered the words, a flux of energy seemed to escape his body.
Streaks in broken water form, shot towards the Scholars standing on the boat with immense speed of full agility.
Before they could regroup, the effect of the attack had done its best. Those who weren't able to reclaim their stand were affected, and their lifeless bodies flew into the sea.
His attack had settled, and the moment of distraction had passed. The Scholars who were able to stand the attack began to recover from the shockwave of energy thrust upon them.
They were not to be underestimated.
Unknown to Laz, the Scholars happened to have the same ability as he. Laz had just used the surrounding energies to create a force against them, something they could do a hundred times, unlike Laz.
One Scholar, a tall figure in one of the boats closest to Laz, raised his hand, and the waters around them churned, reacting to his call.
"Focus! Men! This kid is not to be underrated!" the Scholar barked, encouraging his members to do as he had done.
The energy they created was massive, and even though Laz was able to stand on water with his ability, theirs was oppressive.
The attack he unleashed earlier had cost him, except for the few absorbed energies he was yet to release, which constituted his flickering aura.
He watched as the mana the Scholars had gathered materialized into arrows under their manipulation, positioned to him with deadly intent.
"Manipulative Manipulation," he found himself muttering.
And then, they struck.
With lines of force, the arrows travelled to Laz with a projectile motion, as many as they were.
There was only one thing Laz could do to shield himself from this incoming attack, and that was to use the remaining absorbed energy he had to disintegrate the arrows.
If, after doing that, the Scholars still came with more attacking skill, he would be doomed, unless a miracle happened.
His hands moved with the speed of thought as he whirled them in disentangling circular motion, and once the arrows reached closer, he pushed.
For a split second, he looked triumphant. The world around him slowed as if surrendering to his order.
The arrows had scattered into shards, falling into the sea as he planned, but now, what should he do?
The feeling of triumph was only a momentary reprieve. The Scholars had sent against him the next wave of arrows.
He had learned energy absorption, but this was an ability he could only make use of once in a while; the ones he had gathered from his descent were exhausted.
Normally, this exhaustion could have caused a backlash, which meant he would, as before, lie weak on this sea, or even drown in it. But, surprisingly, none of these after-effects seemed to have taken place.
'Maybe I can still try to absorb more energy.'
Laz thought and closed his eyes once again. Assuming the popular position of jamming his palms and bringing them to the Amen format before his eyes.
Nevertheless, it was already too late. Absorbing the surrounding manas was something that he didn't do as fast as the Scholars.
The water-form arrows they had sent against Laz were already inches from him, causing instincts to scream that he should open his shut eyes.
"Why should I open my eyes to face death?"
In that moment, the arrows that were just a finger apart from Laz struck.