Blade Over Magic

Chaos V

Aubrey spent a lot of time pondering on the meaning of the phrase ’I Came, I Saw, I Record’.

When the leatherbound book first manifested within her mana pool, she’d initially viewed it with a mix of awe and wariness. After all, unlike the constructs formed in Curtis and Falael’s, which were independent within their mana pools, the book was something that appeared there as a result of her interaction with the Information River. It was natural that she be cautious.

Be that as it may, she could not deny the usefulness it had displayed thus far, as such, she spent quite a bit of time debating the meaning of the title. To a normal person, the phrase sounded like a simple and detached motto of a scribe. Someone who passively observes and documents the theater that was the world without actually touching the stage.

But, perhaps due to being exposed to someone like Xander whose form of thinking didn’t quite mesh with the traditional systems of the world, Aubrey’s brain didn’t quite function like a normal person’s anymore.

After lots of time was invested, with lots of trial and error using her Information clones, she’d sort of pieced together a far more... proactive hypothesis regarding the phrase. In a universe where mana was essentially the shorthand for all creation, information wasn’t simply data, it had weight. It was the code which reality itself stood on.

After all, she’d heard it herself when she was creating her mana construct. ’The heaviest thing in existence is Information’.

If that was true, the three segments of the phrase wasn’t just a statement. Rather, they were a sequence.

’I Came’. Was Aubrey ’anchoring’ her perception onto an area where things existed after she got there.

’I Saw’. This was her capturing something in its entirety, her layered perception stripping away everything to reveal the raw, unfiltered data of a target.

’I Record’. And this, this was the true anomaly.

After a series of preliminary guesses, she realized that ’recording’ wasn’t a one-way street. If her library could compress the structural truth of an event into its pages, then those records were essentially perfect renditions, or flawless architectural blueprints. And if she possessed the blueprint, she could temporarily project it back onto the physical world.

She couldn’t use it to straight up copy complex spells or someone’s raw stats. Lord knows what would happen if she tried to replicate the sheer destructive capability of Falael’s artificial star. After all, she didn’t have one.

Same with Xander. She didn’t possess his immense physical prowess, nor did she have his single-minded, manic obsession with the blade. Trying to perfectly replicate any of his attributes without the corresponding stats would most likely shred her apart.

What she could do, though, was graft.

By drawing from a very specific recorded file from her library and overlaying that data directly onto herself, she could essentially project its usage outward using her own body. She didn’t need to worry about the constraints of her own existence, either, because the bit she ’grafted’ was a technique Xander had created specifically for her, taking into account her proportion, frame, and general physical capability.

Only that when he performed it, it was practically perfect compared to her.

So, facing the ant which stat gapped her to a laughable degree, she had no other alternative. Her bow was useless at this range, and her dagger was the only thing she had to keep her alive.

But the file she pulled wasn’t random. It was a recorded piece of data that depicted absolute physical discipline.

The flickering phantom image of Xander’s body could be seen behind her, hand gripping the dagger with clean precision. And her body naturally did the same.

She had to admit, the sensation was strange. It was like having someone guide her movements in real time. But it wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable. In fact, it felt almost... intimate, in a way, having Xander’s data overlap with hers.

She didn’t wait to see the ant’s bladed limbs thrust forward. The grafted data coupled with her clones processing in real time already allowed her to execute the appropriate response before her brain could even process the visual info.

A linear thrust coming at 42 degree inward angle of intersection.

Her center of gravity dropped, left heel digging into the fractured earth at an angle her body would have never formed naturally on its own before now. Her right wrist shot upward with terrifying precision that was almost automated, the blunt flat of her dagger angling just right to meet the incoming strike.

Sparks flew as chitin ground against metal. Aubrey didn’t attempt to resist the sheer momentum of that ant’s strike. Rather, the grafted stance seamlessly translated the impact, transferring the devastating kinetic energy cleanly down her spine, through her locked legs, and into the ground beneath her.

The ant clicked its mandibles with what Aubrey detected to be confusion. Its one working eye looking down at the pest it had deemed to be of moderate threat in direct combat compared to the rest. The same lest who had just effortlessly deflected its lethal attack with a level of precision its newborn brain had yet to observe in its short life.

It raised its other limb and performed a follow up attack. A downward slash intended to bisect Aubrey into two.

But at the same time it raised its limb, Aubrey was already moving. Her arm snapped up, catching the base of the limb just right once more. The slash was redirected to the side, barely missing her shoulder and striking the ground next to her, creating a deep trench.

The ant raised its leg and kicked at her torso, but again, she was already moving.

Her dagger was braced in front of her, but she didn’t try to stop the incoming attack. Rather, the dagger met the oncoming foot for a fraction of a second. Just long enough for her to anchor herself. Using the incoming weight, she pivoted her foot and channeled that momentum into a fluid, spinning escape.

What followed was the ant unleashing a deluge of attacks, each one entirely capable of killing Aubrey if she was so much as grazed, and yet she moved in just the correct manner, managing to just evade or deflect each attack away from herself harmlessly.

Just as the ant decided to unleash a wide ranged attack that Aubrey couldn’t block, she suddenly shifted out of the way just as a javelin tainted with a red aura rocketed past her head and struck the chest of the ant.

The force knocked it back slightly, giving Aubrey the chance to disengage, while giving the rest of the Lunatics an opportunity to dash in.

’Are you alright?’ Sparrow asked Aubrey as they once more engaged the ant, and she just nodded while thinking to herself.

’Even with the data I grafted being suited to me specifically, moving like that still hurt.’ She felt the way her body protested from moving in ways it hadn’t gotten close to mastering yet. But even with everything, she couldn’t help but marvel.

Such movements were something Xander had created for her on the spot, yet they were so effective. It was truly a testament to his skill.

At this moment, Bodhi’s stance changed, his lightning sword resting on his shoulder as he began swinging his sword in a spinning motion. On top of that, his lightning blade extended like a whip, and in a moment, he seemed to turn into a lightning tornado.

The pressure on the ant spiked immediately, and from the side, Ragna continued to throw javelins that carried bits of his aura, strengthening them more than usual.

Sparrow continued to exploit openings, moving in and out with her speed. Zeke continued to send in inconspicuous poison attacks which Sparrow aided in their trajectories, and whenever anyone received a wound, Nash would use his magic to heal them from wherever her was while also using his roots to disrupt the ant however he could.

Whenever the ant managed to create distance, the artillery immediately locked it down and rained attacks on its position, forcing it back down.

Things seemed to be going in their favor, and yet Aubrey, who shot the occasional arrow, wasn’t feeling confident. In fact, she wasn’t happy at all.

Because she’d been watching the ant closely the whole time. Not just observing, but also logging all the information she could from it despite the interference of the demonic corruption, and she’d become aware of a fact very early in the battle.

It was watching all of them.

Their teamwork and individual abilities, it seemed to absorb all of it like a sponge. And finally, that moment arrived.

Bodhi managed to smash the ant into the base of the mountain, causing spiderweb cracks to appear on its surface. But just as Ragna sent in another javelin, the ant spoke again. Voice clearer than ever.

”... I... understand it now.” It swiped its limb, and the javelin was sliced in half with the advent of a red line.

But that wasn’t all.

The projectiles of the artillery that was about to bombard it again also received the same treatment...

And somehow, the artillery batteries, which sat all the way back in Landor, were sliced in half.

In an instant, they had been put out of commission.

’... Dammit.’ Sweat dripped down Aubrey’s brow. No one else noticed, but she felt it clearly.

The reason the demonic corruption was so suffused in the air wasn’t simply because the ant was so strong. Rather, it was because it had a weak grasp on that power. The corruption was the excess energy it failed to control.

But after observing all of them and seeing how they controlled their mana to increased their attack potency, it seemed to grasp this concept, too.

Hence, she felt the way the demonic corruption in the air began to dwindle, but not because it had run out. Rather, it was all getting pulled back into the ant’s body.

’... Aubrey, what’s happening?’ Bodhi, who had been about to charge in again, felt a chill. He listened to his instincts and didn’t rashly charge in.

Aubrey swallowed before giving a wry smile, sweat dripping down her brow.

In all her layers of perception, the figure of the ant appeared darker, like a hole in the physical world.

’It would seem... like that thing has grasped mana control.’ She gripped her dagger tightly. ’Before now... we’d essentially been fighting a newborn flailing its limbs.’ Everyone’s hearts sank at that.

’Meaning?’ Sparrow ventured, and Aubrey took a breath.

’Meaning... depending on how things develop, I can ensure that we don’t immediately die. Hopefully.’