Taryeon sat still as a statue with his legs crossed and his hands resting together in the center of his lap. His outward stillness and calm hid the chaos surging within him as the lightning mana coursing through his body raged wildly, trying to escape.
He reined it in just enough that it could cry out to the lightning in the sky.
Taryeon was a zero-circle mage. He didn't have the power to control the lightning bolts. He didn't have the skills or the strength necessary to manipulate nature itself.
However, lightning was fickle. At the same time, the bolts of pure electricity weren't picky. They went where they pleased and felt like going.
Rather than saying that Taryeon was calling the lightning bolts toward him, it was more accurate to say that he was making his presence known. The lightning bolts simply saw an arrow pointing to where Taryeon was sitting and decided to follow it.
Fortunately, it wasn't visible from far away. Only the lightning hovering in the air right above the Academy could sense Taryeon's presence.
When the next lightning bolt struck, it struck far away, and a second and half later, the world rumbled in the wake of the flashing light.
As if the sky was still warming up, there was still a gap between each lightning strike, regardless of where it struck. But that gap was shrinking.
The time between each bolt decreased with every one that hit the ground.
Eventually, the thunderclouds above the Academy gathered enough electricity to send another greeting to the ground.
There was no other option.
It hit Taryeon dead on.
Taryeon felt like the world slowed to a fraction of its original speed. The raindrops hitting his skin started coming one at a time with what felt like seconds in between. The lightning mana that had been coursing through his body too fast for him to keep track suddenly moved at a snail's pace.
If he could open his eyes, he would surely see the world frozen in time, the raindrops suspended in the air, and the lingering remnants of the lightning bolt illuminating those raindrops like snowflakes.
But he couldn't move a muscle.
Electricity beyond anything he could have ever imagined filled his body. If it hadn't been for his lightning mana, that electricity would have set him on fire, sent him flying, and maybe make him explode.
But then again, if it hadn't been for his lightning mana, he wouldn't have been struck in the first place.
Taryeon focused.
He couldn't move. Time was slowing down. No, his senses were moving faster than usual. It was a mix of adrenaline and the lightning in his system.
If he lost his grip, he would die.
He needed his mana to move.
Faster.
Faster.
Lightning did not crawl forward. It didn't even run.
One moment, it wasn't there. The next, it was.
Time moving slow like this was a heaven-sent opportunity. Literally. It allowed Taryeon to do what he otherwise would never have been able to.
It let him move his mana faster than he could usually sense. It let him move it faster than lightning.
Taryeon's nose started bleeding from the pressure. His eyes bugged out beneath his eyelids, and his body spasmed. His heart beat like it was trying to catch up to the lightning.
Faster.
Taryeon pushed his lightning mana around his body.
But unlike when he wasn't filled with lightning, it was like trying to push a log through syrup. It was tough and resistant.
It wasn't strange.
But Taryeon couldn't afford to go slow.
Faster.
He needed his lightning mana to be superior to the lightning from the bolt. If it wasn't, he would lose the contest of strength. And if he lost, the lightning currently hiding in his body would run wild.
Faster.
Taryeon gritted his teeth hard enough to make his gums bleed.
He could not afford to die here. He had so much to do. So much revenge to exact, and so many things to set right.
Faster.
Even setting aside his revenge, he finally had friends other than Isidore. People who were friends with him because of who he was and not because of the blood in his veins. He was building a life for himself.
Faster.
He would not let it end like this.
Finally, Taryeon's lightning mana burst forward like the restraints holding it back snapped.
Taryeon's eyes and mouth lit up as the light from his blue mana coursing through his body at an unfathomable speed slipped out.
The streaks of lightning crashed and flushed around Taryeon's body, shattering into splinters and shards as thin as needles.
Taryeon's mana turned into a river of blustering lightning.
The mana at a standstill in his body didn't stand a chance in front of the vortex his mana created. It was devoured and consumed, turned into fuel for a qualitative transformation.
At the same time, the time-slowing trance ended.
Taryeon was almost overwhelmed by the clash of lightning that was suddenly too fast for him to control. But he didn't have a choice.
He couldn't control it as perfectly as before, but it was still mostly his mana. Some of the natural lightning was mixed in and still not part of him, which made it a little unruly. But the majority was his.
Taryeon guided it toward his heart.
The power of his mana was a little stronger than he thought it would be before he went through with this plan, but it wasn't unmanageable. It just meant he had to be careful. Otherwise, he might end up giving himself a heart attack.
With an iron will, Taryeon guided the lightning mana in a curve around his heart. He created a spiral of lightning mana that coiled around his heart. Once all of his lightning mana was by his heart, he tightened the spring, reducing the distance between each lap around his heart.
He squeezed it tight and hard with what mental strength he had left, sealing it into a perfect circle of misty lightning, mostly made of hair-fine sparks of lightning but with jagged bolts thrown in.
It was complete. It was perfect. It was the breath of an exalted being who lived and embodied lightning.
It lived up to the name of his magic circle condensation manual.
He was done.
Taryeon felt like he was on the verge of passing out.
But still, he had to celebrate.
With creaking joints and muscles stiff as stone, he stood up and threw his hands into the air.
"I did it!" He shouted happily.
A moment later, another lightning bolt hit him like revenge for the one he devoured, and sent him flying over the railing.