Blade Over Magic

Unexpected Results

”Moving on.” Xander said, snapping Mira out of her reverie, no doubt contemplating hard on what Xander had told her.

”According to your notes,” He started, eyes scanning the paper. ”Elder Zeref and several 4th-Floor Instructors spent their evening meeting with representatives from the Shadow Needle Guild, a covert Assassin Guild that exists in the Underworld, but has branches scattered around the kingdom.” Mire nodded, once again leaning against the wall and folding her arms.

”That Zeref guy was one of the more terrified ones after Archmage Irene broadcasted your fight with the Wyvern. In his waking hours, he claims you’re a fraud or fluke. But in his psyche? He was frantically writing out a bounty contract. He wants those guys to jump your group the instant you leave this dimension.” She rubbed her chin.

”What surprised me was the fact that they actually agreed to the request. I mean, your father is an Archmage, and from what I’ve seen, y’all travel together most of the time, so attempting to assassinate you guys under his nose seems... dumb.” Xander had to agree with her words. Putting aside the other things like Mia, Keir, or Mary. Xavier himself was the ultimate deterrent, so the fact that they still took the deal despite this...

’Zeref must have both offered them something that made them willing to take the risk, and they must have something that makes them confident.’ He noted before asking.

”Did Bellion dip his hands into it?” Mira nodded slightly.

”Mhm. When I sifted through his memories, there were scenes where he got ordered to cause some trouble for you. Granted, there weren’t any explicit instructions besides Bellion telling him not to leave any traces behind.” Mira shook her head.

”Man, sometimes I find your humans odd. Like, no offense but on the east alone, y’all are dealing with three Hell Gates, not to mention the plethora of other issues. You’d think that any method that could strengthen the species would be taken without hesitation, yet here you are, trying to kill each other.” Then she gave a self-deprecating laugh.

”Well, who am I to speak? Those old geezers did send me to you to basically die after all.” Xander glanced at her briefly, and in his eyes, her intent was visible for him to see.

He noted a flash of hurt among her intent, but he said nothing, he simply spoke.

”Anyway, tonight, I want you to slip into the dreams of those involved. If they set a specific time or location for an ambush, I want to know every detail. If you can find out what makes them so confident in actually pulling off the assassination, that would be ideal.” Mira just nodded slightly, and he glanced at Mia and Keir who were on his bed, watching everything silently. Obviously, Mira couldn’t see them.

”As for the second part,” Xander looked back down at the paper, then back up at Mira who yawned slightly.

”During the mock battles today, I noticed a significant portion of the knights watching the Lowell knights with intense envy and longing.” Mira nodded slowly.

”Yup. I mean, it makes sense. I’d be envious too if I saw someone progress doing something everyone told me had a low ceiling.” Xander hummed.

”Exactly. Their conscious minds are bound by duty, loyalty, and years of conditioning that basically told them that they are high ranking fodder. But their subconscious actually wants to break through this ceiling.” He looked at Mira and smiled slightly. ”In that case, can you use your Nightmare Inoculation—or rather—a modified version of it, to target those specific knights while they sleep tonight?” Mira blinked, head tilting in a way that was unconsciously adorable.

”Define modified.” Xander gestured with his hand and explained.

”Instead of planting fear or nightmares, why not do something like planting a subconscious question? When they dream tonight, I want them to re-live the fights the Lowell Knights had during the mock battles. If possible, make it so that they imagine themselves in the shoes of the Lowell Knights when they fought so they can feel the disparity. I want it to be that when they wake up tomorrow, their envy and longing will become that much harder to suppress.” Mira stared at him.

”So to put it shortly, you want to artificially manufacture a large scale defection among Knights against their masters so that...” Xander smiled.

”So that I’ll have another source of readily available students in the future.” Mira blinked.

”Students? What? Are you gonna open a school a something?” She scoffed, but Xander just smiled, which made her pause.

”That’s... you...” Before she could get the words out, Xander waved his hands dismissively.

”That’s not important. Rather, regarding what you said about my intent...” Hearing this, Mira stood straight, wings flexing in attention.

”Indeed, yes, what I said about your intent, uh... Yeah carry on.” She tried and failed to sound casual, and Xander looked down at himself, allowing Myriad Paths to activate normally.

’Normally, when I look at someone who is skilled, strong, or both, and they aren’t able to hide their intent like Archnages, I’ve always noticed that their intent and Paths are wrapped around them tightly, and the stronger the person, the harder it is to deflect their Paths or perception. But in hindsight, I never really considered the density and tightness of my own paths, and looking at them now...’ Xander was a bit surprised, but when he looked at his Paths and intent, really looked at them, he saw that their density... was incomparable to anything he had seen thus far.

He really shouldn’t have to be fair. He already knew that the things that determined the density oof paths was an opponent’s skill and strength. He had an obscene amount of the former and was rapidly gaining the former. But even then, seeing it properly for once... it was no wonder Mira was so smitten.

’In that case...’ He glanced at Mira who was staring at him intently, tail flicking back and forth impatiently, and without further ado, he unwound just a small trace of his intent and sent it towards her.

It shot out like a sharp piece of string, and before Mira could react properly, it struck her chest.

Her eyes went wide as her chest heaved, and the trace of intent was absorbed into her.

Xander watched intently as soon after...

”Haa~ Haa~...” Mira began to pant, the pink skin on her face deepening as her knees buckled, and using the wall, she slowly slid to the floor, wings coming to wrap around her.

Xander frowned as he observed this, and through the Paths, he saw her intent going haywire.

’Did I miscalculate?’ He took a step forward. He still wasn’t sold on Mira as anything other than someone to be used, but he had no intention of killing her by accident.

He saw her pink skin reddened, as though she was having a fever, and her panting turned into gasps. An unsuspecting person would believe that they were gasps of pleasure, and through the maelstrom of intent, Xander certainly did see pleasure, but there were so many others that he wasn’t sure if it was something good or bad.

”Hm.” At that moment, Mia suddenly walked up beside him with Keir in her hands, looking at Mira who seemed completely out of it.

Xander turned to her and asked.

”Do you know what’s happening?” Mia tilted her head both ways before speaking.

”Seems like you might have overdone it.” Xander blinked.

”... But how? I just let her consume a bit of my intent. Isn’t this a little too exaggerated?” At that, Mia faced him directly.

”This analogy should fit you best. So you know how when fighting, the different between attack potency and destructive capability differ quite a bit? It’s a similar situation hear. Even if you know your intent is potent, I think you underestimated just how potent it really was. That small trace you sent into her, well, it was probably no different from her consuming the intent over dozens of High Mages in a single go. None of you knew this, though, because your intent is so concentrated and dense that even the bit she sensed which made her so attracted in the first place, was just a small fraction. Leading to this.” Mia pointed at Mira who now lay on the floor panting loudly. Her manicured fingernails dug into the floor as Xander could sense her Aura changing.

”... So what does that mean?” He asked warily.

Mia shrugged.

”Well, three possibilities. A) She fails to control the influx of energy she got and dies. B) She manages to control it and evolves. C) She ends up expelling it if she senses that controlling it is impossible. It’s fortunate, though. Had you sent even more of your intent. Even just a bit, the first possibility was almost certain.” Xander’s eyes flashed when he heard this.

This... certainly exceeded his expectations.

Just as he wanted to say something, a noise left Mira, and Xander looked just in time to see her begin to... change.