Chapter 16: Schools of Magic

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As Edward rushed toward the Deflective Man, the villain seemed have finally understood weapons were of no use against him so he dropped them and charged toward Edward.

The later felt quite surprised at this, but did not stop as he threw a feint toward his face before tackling him. Although the Deflective Man knew a punch wouldn't hurt him, it was a basic human reflex that was hard to curb to protect oneself when something headed toward their face, fast;

And so the Deflective Man shielded himself with his arm, unable to see Edward who tackled him. If hits didn't work, then Edward was going to copy Hercules in his fight against the Nemean Lion and used grappling techniques to subdue him.

However, it seemed he had put too much strength in his tackle as he was pushed back before he could grab him. Using the opportunity, the Deflective Man elbowed Edward's head, landing his first hit.

Edward was even more surprised as he felt pain from the blow, his Armor of the Ancients was able to tank plenty of hits from Lady Shiva, who was much stronger than a normal human being, as well as a weakened rock spear from Circe, which could still easily kill a man.

He shouldn't have felt anything from the blow if the Deflective Man had normal strength, but not only did the blow hurt, it also stunned him for a moment. He was still able to move back before he could take any other hits thankfully.

Being more careful this time, Edward dodged a punch from the Deflective Man and grabbed his arm as delicately as possible. However, as he touched the super-villain's arm, although he wasn't sent flying this time, his own arms were still pushed away.

Edward immediately jumped away, just in time to dodge a kick that came his way thanks to his Chi Sense.

As he looked at his enemy, surrounded by the policemen, reporters and civilians watching, he squinted his eyes, thinking of a way to defeat him.

He couldn't touch him or hit him in any way, which countered his martial art mastery. Maybe spells would be able to do something to him, but even that was an uncertainty, and he didn't master any spell anyway.

While he was thinking, the Deflective Man obviously didn't want to leave him a chance anymore as he once again acted. He grabbed a couple of knives from his belt, and threw them at Edward.

Edward looked at the man in armor weirdly as he easily dodged the knives, what was he trying to do? If Edward was able to dodge bullets, then knives…

As he felt pain in his back, Edward understood two things. First, the Deflective Man was able to recall the things he shot with even more speed, allowing those two knives to smash into his back. Secondly, his Chi Sense couldn't detect intents as he previously hypothesized, as he didn't feel those knives coming for him.

Thankfully, his armor really was something, so neither knife pierced into his skin, they simply caused pain.

The Deflective Man clearly knew this would happen too though as he picked up the guns from earlier before the knives even hit him, and was reloading them.

Edward dodged the bullets, and went on guard against any returning bullet, but was surprised when none of the bullets changed course to hit him like the knives did.

While the Deflective Man continued shooting, some police officers took their chance to fire at the Deflective Man, but they only ended with injuries. Meanwhile, Edward couldn't help but frown as the fight was starting to drag on. Simply dodging was proving to be ineffective.

So he decided to change tactics.

He once again rushed toward the Deflective Man, dodging his attacks, and gathered his power as he jumped up and took the Dragon Stance in the air.

The Deflective Man prepared himself for the assault this time, and didn't budge, and just as he thought, the kick didn't fall on him, but went right past him.

However, Edward knew the villain would know, but he didn't care as his aim wasn't to throw a faint. As his foot hit the ground with astonishing force, he found himself right next to the Deflective Man's head, and roared with all his strength right next to his ear.

Edward's vocal cords were also strengthened by his Chi, and having an average person cry with all their strength near one's ear was very unpleasant, so when Edward did it, the effects were much more devastating.

The Deflective Man clutched his head as a massive headache assaulted him, and he fell to the ground, his ears bleeding, and knocked out.

Edward looked down at the villain with a pensive face under the mask. The Deflective Man really was a great counter to his abilities, and thankfully he wasn't that much of a great fighter or he could have become dangerous.

At the same time, he wondered what were the Deflective Man's limits. Hi abilities seemed to be nothing but magical, so was there even a threshold of the energy he could redirect? What if Diana punched him with all her strength?

Would he explode into bits, or would she crash into the moon?

His thoughts were disrupted though as he heard the sound of clapping all around him. Looking around, Edward saw that both the police and civilians were applauding him. He felt surprised, to him the fight seemed boring, weren't those people only searching for entertainment?

However, it seemed his image of New Yorkers was somewhat wrong. Edward tried to grab the unconscious Deflective Man, and found that the repulsive ability was gone as he was able to grab him with ease.

Throwing him over his shoulder, Edward walked to one of the police cars, laid the Deflective Man's body against it and nodded to a nearby officer before taking off.

Since the beginning of the fight, his book had been hanging on his hip, he had included it inside the armor, but it felt a little uncomfortable. Actually, everything he put in his pockets when he used his armor as everyday clothes would be put in small spaces stuck to his skin.

Apart from the book, he also had his phone, the keys to his apartment and many more things stuck all around his body, protected by his armor too.

Some people, including the helicopter from the news, tried to follow him as he left the scene, probably eager to thank him or know of his secret identity, but he managed to lose them rather quickly by going into alleys and crowds, changing clothes everytime he did. No one paid attention to a single particular person in a crowd.

Once he managed to do so, Edward walked back home, his book in hand. He was surprised to see the door was already opened, and as he entered he saw a blur as Diana appeared before him.

She looked at him up and down and asked "Are you okay?" Edward smiled as he pecked her on the lips and said "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

Diana accepted the peck, but remained unmoving as she replied "I saw the news, you know?"

At that Edward rolled his eyes and walked past her as he said "The Deflective Man, more like the Repulsive Man. Should have called himself Nemean Man though. He was annoying, but of no real danger."

Diana frowned and said "No real danger? He had a magical armor, and a very powerful one at that." Edward smiled as he put down his book and grabbed Diana by her waist as he said "Stop, Diana. He wasn't as dangerous as he looked. And how can you be worried, it must have been pretty boring to watch, what dangers can come out of a boring match like that."

Diana opened her eyes a little wider as he said "Boring? What part of that fight was boring? You showed a fitness equal to Captain America, dodging bullets like they were pebbles thrown by a child, and you adapted to the fight quickly by understanding you couldn't touch him and used a sonic attack."

Edward snorted as he caressed her cheek and said "Nice way to describe that fight, are you my biggest fan in secret?"

It was Diana's turn to roll her eyes as she said "Can't you be serious for a moment?" Edward smiled as he hugged her a little tighter and said "I'm fine. His ability wasn't to return damage, it simply charged whatever object hit him with kinetic energy, sending them flying. The only damage I could take was when he sent my flying into something or when he hit me, which happened twice and didn't really hurt me."

Diana bit her lips, obviously still worried, so Edward said "I am a hero, Diana. As much as you are. You have to accept that sometimes I will get in danger, and trust I will walk out of it alive, just as I will when you fight dangerous enemies."

Diana lightly sighed and asked "Can't I be worried for you?" Edward smiled and said "I hope you will be worried for me, and it's fine. Just don't let that worry ruin your life."

Diana was obviously torn between her worry for him and the trust she wanted to give him, so Edward let her think as he looked at what she cooked.

The reason she was here on a workday was that it was noon, so she had been eating something. He opened his eyes wide though when he saw lasagna in the oven.

Sending a curious glance at Diana, she said "There was an incident at the museum this morning, someone tried to steal from the museum, so I finished early."

Edward snorted and said "So I wasn't the only to fight today?" Diana blushed ever so slightly and said "I made Lasagna, do you want to eat or not." Edward grinned and took set the table as the dish was being cooked.

Then, he sat down and began reading the book the Ancient One gave him. The book had a lot of introductory knowledge about magic, such as the branches of magic for example. They were called schools.

School of the Magician, a school that relied on innate talent the most, the students of this school used spells relying on their own magic. It was a powerful school, but only few people had the talent required to use this magic. It was also a dangerous school of magic, both for the user and the target.

School of the Sorcerer, a much more widespread School as anyone could become a Sorcerer. Sorcerers did not rely on their own magical energies, but rather on magical objects and concluded deals with cosmic being of other dimensions to draw on their power. This school of magic was much more studious than any other, but also much safer as the only backlash that could hit the sorcerer were ones they accepted in their contracts.

School of Magic Blood, which relied on innate talent like the School of the Magician, with the difference being their power comes from their blood, meaning the spells they can conjure depends on the kind of blood they have. The most widespread users have Demon Blood.

School of Champions, which was basically an empowered version of the contract from the School of the Sorcerer, and without any need for foreknowledge. The price for this easy way to power though was that the receptacle, the one invested power in by a higher being, a Champion, gave up their freedom most of the time.

School of the Guardians, a very similar school to the School of Champions, with the difference being the magic users were selected by elements rather than higher beings, and were often selected for protection of said element.

As for the last two schools, they were a bit different from the ones above.

School of the Archmage, but instead of a school it was more of a classification of certain beings. Archmages are the ultimate goal of any Sorcerer as they are either Sorcerers who managed to surpass the use of higher beings' artefacts or energies by becoming higher beings themselves, or they were higher beings who fell from their previous plane of existence for one reason or another. However, an Archmage wasn't necessarily more powerful than a Magician or a Sorcerer.

Finally, the last school, the most powerful one, the School of the Judges. They are much more abstract beings than the higher beings Sorcerers took their powers from, and were among the most powerful beings in existence as their powers were given by the supreme being. Despite their incredible power though those beings were restricted to a particular set of tasks.