Mana Depletion
I finally learned the girl's name. It was Yeonwoo.
Before making our way to the Tower, we stopped at a nearby village to rest our weary feet and wash off the dust of the road.
The moment we crossed the village border, however, an uncomfortable sense of dissonance washed over me.
What is this...?
The townscape bore virtually no resemblance to the modern civilization I remembered. Instead of smooth asphalt roads, uneven cobblestones paved the streets, flanked on either side by an archaic jumble of timber structures and crude stonework. It looked as though human history had tumbled backward, regressing straight into the Middle Ages.
"Yeonwoo, what's the general level of development in a village like this?"
"Pardon? Um... it's pretty much like this everywhere across the country. Just about average, I'd say."
Average? Mere centuries ago, towering skyscrapers and cutting-edge machinery had defined the horizon. How could centuries of passage result in humanity de-evolving? Tangled questions swirled through my head, but for the moment, I swallowed my doubts and resolved to watch how things unfolded.
Even the grandest adventure yields to an empty belly, and Yeonwoo, clearly famished, ducked into a nearby eatery. Still bound to the ring upon her finger, I watched from the sidelines as she set about eating.
"Spirits don't need to eat," Yeonwoo explained, lifting her spoon.
"Instead, you consume your stored 'mana' to maintain your physical manifestation or cast magic. Once your mana runs dry, you have to be replenished by your contractor."
The "mana" she spoke of aligned down to the smallest detail with the concepts of magical energy I had formalized centuries ago. It seemed that even if civilization had stumbled backward into the mud, the footprints of my research remained scattered across the world.
"Is that so? Then how exactly do you supply that mana?"
At my offhand question, Yeonwoo's spoon froze dead in midair. A furious crimson blush flared across her cheeks, and she flinched, hastily jerking her head away.
"Th-that's... I'll tell you about that later! You don't need to worry about it right now!"
Her sudden stammering and flustered panic were deeply suspicious, but I decided not to press the issue. Once the rest of her meal arrived, I used the lull to glean some general knowledge about this transformed era. Chief among my curiosities was, without question, the "Tower."
"About the Towers..." Yeonwoo spoke between mouthfuls. "They say they suddenly sprang up all over the world just days after that blinding pillar of light erupted from the research facility where you were sleeping. The Towers themselves are condensed masses of mana, which is why mages and spiritists flock to them to study their secrets."
"And yet no one set foot in the Initium facility—the epicenter of it all—for hundreds of years? Without anyone even bothering to clear the debris?"
"Ah, well... there was supposed to be an impenetrable barrier surrounding the facility that kept everyone out. But funnily enough, the moment I walked up to it, the barrier just collapsed like a lie."
The barrier collapsed, did it...?
Beyond that, I managed to learn about the various manifestations of spirits, the currencies circulating throughout the realm, and other vital facts of daily life. Bit by bit, I steadily updated my mental framework of this strange reality.
Thud.
A dull, heavy impact shuddered through our wooden table. A young man bearing a massive greatsword across his back had planted himself right in front of us.
"Hey. We're looking for party members. Want in?" the swordsman asked, jerking his chin toward Yeonwoo.
Yeonwoo didn't even spare him a glance, offering only a cold, clipped rejection.
"I'm sorry, but I work alone. Besides, I'm a spiritist—I have no need for a party."
"Tch. Playing hard to get, are we?"
The man let out a sharp, irritated scoff, scowling with deep displeasure before turning on his heel and stalking away.
Once she finished her meal, Yeonwoo insisted that thorough preparation was mandatory before setting foot inside the Tower. She dragged me across every corner of the settlement, restocking her gear and picking up stray rumors in a raucous tavern.
"Word is that the Magic Law Enforcers have been gathering to raid the Tower lately," Yeonwoo whispered to me as we made our way back toward our lodging.
"Magic Law Enforcers are... well, I guess like police officers from hundreds of years ago? If we piggyback on their raid, clearing the Tower will be so much easier. It'll be pure easy street!"
A bright, innocent smile lit up her face as she skipped lightly down the path.
Clack, clack.
Chilling footsteps echoed from the shadows of the deserted alley behind us.
We turned around to see the greatsword-wielding youth from the restaurant emerge from the gloom. He wasn't alone this time; flanking him were two rough-looking thugs with sneering, brutal expressions.
"A socially stunted spiritist turning down my generous invite this morning... it's been grating on my nerves all damn day," the swordsman said, curling his lips into a vile smirk as he smoothly unsheathed the heavy blade from his back.
"Figured I'd stop by and teach you a little manners."
A powder keg ready to blow. Coiling my remaining mana from within the ring, I urgently called out to her.
'Yeonwoo, let me help.'
"There's no need!"
Yeonwoo cut me off, her voice frantic yet unyielding.
"Spirit Oppa, if you misfire a spell and burn through what little mana you have left, you'll die! Please, just stay still!"
Inhaling sharply, Yeonwoo thrust her hands toward the alley floor and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Gaia!"
Instantly, the cobblestones underfoot and the masonry from nearby stone buildings rattled violently before surging skyward in unison. The flying boulders coalesced in midair, rapidly knitting together into a colossal stone golem standing over three meters tall.
Whoa... holy shit. That should do the trick!
Just as relief flashed through my mind—
Sshhh-clack!
A razor-sharp shriek split the air, carving a brilliant, blinding white arc through the dusk.
Slice.
Rumble—!
The golem froze for an agonizing second. Then, along a flawless diagonal plane, its upper torso slid cleanly from its waist, crashing to the dirt with a deafening roar.
A single stroke of the man's greatsword had pulverized the construct into rubble.
"Heh-heh. Don't look down on me, little girl. I happen to be the strongest adventurer in this backwater town."
The swordsman's mouth twisted into a triumphant, mocking grin.
I glanced at Yeonwoo. Her face was completely drained of color, paralyzed with sheer terror. Driven into a corner, she began chanting incantations in a wild, desperate frenzy.
"Ignis! Aqua! Ventus! Corno...!"
A frantic cascade of esoteric names tumbled continuously from her lips. The space around her rippled and distorted as swirling flames, torrents of water, and shrieking gales materialized into over a dozen assorted spirits, summoned simultaneously in a frantic burst.
"Go! Attack him!"
With grating, high-pitched shrieks, the swarm of elemental spirits surged toward the swordsman.
At the exact instant of their coordinated strike, the man casually snapped his fingers.
Snap!
On cue, one of the lackeys beside him tore open a leather pouch and flung a thick cloud of scarlet powder into the air.
Whoosh—!
The scarlet dust caught the draft, washing over the attacking spirits. The moment it made contact, bloodcurdling screeches tore through the alley. As rapidly as they had taken form, the spirits lost their radiant glow, their elemental bodies disintegrating into tatters as they dropped helplessly to the earth.
"Gwahaha! Did you really think we'd pick a fight with a spiritist without preparing beforehand? That stuff's a specialized venom fatal only to spirits, you little bitch!"
Wheeze... gasp...
The swordsman brought his heavy boot down ruthlessly onto a tiny, gasping spirit writhing on the dirt.
"Every last one of you spiritist freaks is a goddamn psychopath. Guess that's why you can't make real friends and have to play with lumps of monsters like this, huh?"
With a cruel grin, he kicked the dying spirit like an empty can, sending its dissolving husk skittering across the stones straight toward Yeonwoo.
'Yeonwoo, we're screwed! Run, now!'
I yelled at the top of my lungs from within the ring, but Yeonwoo was already catatonic with horror. Her legs shook uncontrollably before giving out completely, and she collapsed onto the filthy cobblestones with a hollow thud.
"Heh, look at you now. Serves you right."
Sneering, the man strode forward at an agonizingly leisurely pace. Reaching down, he grabbed the slumped girl by the jaw, roughly yanking her head up to inspect her terrified face—before burying his steel-toed boot straight into her stomach without an ounce of mercy.
"Guhk—!"
Yeonwoo shrieked as she went tumbling across the alley floor. Seeing her sprawled defenseless, the two lackeys surged forward, joining in to unleash a savage, collective beatdown upon her curled form.
The sickening, merciless thud of violence echoed off the alley walls.
Crack! Thud! Crunch!
"Gh... aagh...!"
Strangled groans choked past her lips as she vomited dark crimson blood.
Unable to endure the sight for another second, I pushed my mana to the absolute limit, desperate to burst free. But even beneath the barrage of vicious blows, Yeonwoo curled her battered body tightly inward, using her entire frame to shield her left hand—to shield me.
"D-don't... come out... You can't come out..."
Even as she was being ruthlessly trampled into the dirt, her tear-choked whisper reached my ears.
"I can't... lose Spirit Oppa too..."
Crunch! Thud! Heavy stomps battered her ribs and back without pause, and with every blow, a muffled whimper slipped through her gritted teeth.
"Don't... leave me all alone..." she muttered in a daze, spitting up blood-laced saliva like a delirious prayer.
I couldn't take it anymore. Watching this gruesome, horrific cruelty unfold before my very eyes made something snap deep within my core.
Right then, the swordsman's eyes caught a glint of metal against her battered fingers.
"Huh? What's this? This ring looks pretty damn expensive."
He reached down, his dirty fingers clawing to forcibly wrench the violet-gemmed ring—the very vessel housing my soul—from her bruised hand.
At that exact instant—
KABOOM—!
'That's enough.'
From the dead center of the ring, a blinding, violet blast detonated like a flashbang.
The mana gushing from my core surged upward to blanket the night sky, aggressively dragging turbulent clouds across the moonlit heavens. The entire alley was swallowed in a tempest of billowing blue smoke and crackling violet mana.
Within seconds, the dense haze coalesced into the towering silhouette of an immense titan.
"H-hik?! Wh-what the hell is this giant smoke monster?!"
The men stumbled backward, shrieking in pure, unadulterated terror.
Without hesitation, I brought the titan's swollen, smoky fist crashing straight down upon the swordsman's head.
BOOOOOM—!
A deafening, earth-shattering explosion pulverized the cobblestones, collapsing the ground into a shattered crater.
Yet with that single blow, I felt the last dredges of my remaining mana scrape absolute rock bottom. A suffocating, terrifying lethargy washed over me, as if my very soul were a dying ember on the verge of extinguishing forever.
Pushed to the brink of collapse, I had no choice but to hastily dissolve the giant's smoky form and retreat deep into the sanctuary of the ring.
Scrambling out of the wreckage, the men screamed in horror and fled blindly into the dark streets.
"Uwah... hic...!"
Covered in blood, Yeonwoo clutched the ring tightly against her trembling chest and burst into sorrowful, inconsolable sobs.
"Why... why would you do something so dangerous...?! I told you... I told you you'd die if your mana ran out...!"
Bruised from head to toe, battered and soaked in her own blood, she wept not for her broken body, but out of agonizing worry for me. Gasping for breath from deep within the cold metal of the ring, I could only offer her a quiet, weary reply.
'...If I lose you, I might never find my original body again.'