49 Death

"Your name? You don't even deserve it. Death magic? You are just a fool who dabbled in the taboo to gain power."

"While that may be true, what does that make you? Mister "I created Mind magic"?"

"I created it to better humanity! Make us smart enough to just maybe dig ourselves out of this hole we've buried ourselves in!"

"And then it was stolen by the government and hidden under pretenses, sure, but it's still your fault it exists, you took away the free will of countless people. How are you any different than me?"

"True, but where I'm going, you're coming with me."

"And just what are you going to do? I don't know if you've realized this, but it's too late to change what we're doing. Sapients are just the first step."

"We used to be brothers, now I can't even look at you! Look at yourself, you're a murderer!"

"Eh, I've been called worse."

I throw a punch at the Death magician and I feel something hit my chest.

"Ah, Death magic so early, don't worry, I've found a way to counter your spells."

"Good, at least this will be interesting."

I say I found a counter, but it's more like letting the spell hit me than redirecting it's effects. Death magic can kill you in a lot of different ways, but this crazy magician's favorite spell makes the heart stop instantly.

Basically, the way to counter this spell is to use your MP circulation to redirect the spell to somewhere else. If you are not careful you'll kill an important organ, but if you do it right, you may just kill a mole on your body, or maybe a fingernail or hair follicle.

He starts throwing spells at me, and I dodge all of them that I can. I can cancel them out, but if too many hit me, that's out of my league. I also try to confuse him with Mind magic. Making him see two of me, or making him disorientated.

The "problem", or really the saving grace of Mind magic is that it takes a long time to use more complicated spells. Ones with little effects like disorientation are quick, but the ones that take away free will will take a long time to cast. This handicap makes it so someone can't endlessly brainwash people.

The reason for this is because of how complicated the human mind is. Even we humans don't understand our brain completely, so trying to control it is extremely difficult.

On top of that, Mind magic isn't really just one type of magic, instead of a mixture of many others. The brain is driven by chemicals, and the body itself, including the brain, is mostly water. Many different factors must be controlled and manipulated. That's why when using Mind magic, it can be said you are manipulating many different types of magic.

Long story short, it isn't really suited for combat. It was designed to make people smarter, improve reaction time, etc. Not to kill people.

Nevertheless, it is the magic I use, so I don't have much of a choice but to fight with it. Over the years I've found ways to overcome the magic's weakness in combat, but other magics are still more effective in combat than Mind.

In order to dodge all the spells coming after me, I use magic to accelerate my mind and perception. That way I have quicker reflexes.

I've dodged most of the Death spells, but I'm still not much closer to the magician that is throwing them at me. I'm also starting to feel sick. In order to not die from the Death magic, I'm basically killing parts of myself that I don't need, but that starts to take effect over time.

Well, that just means that I can't drag this fight any longer. I need to buy time to use a more effective spell, hopefully one that can put him to sleep or incapacitate him. I don't know how though.

If only there was someone who could do that for me.

"You seem to be getting tired. You look sick too. Do you need to sit down?"

He's always been sarcastic. Well, I gotta do this.

"I once called you a brother, but look at you now. The man I knew is gone. May your death be my final gift to him."

There is only one way to buy time for this spell... I let the Death magic hit me. I redirected it enough to not kill me right away, but there's no way I surviving this hit. He should drop his guard enough for me to pull off one last trick.

"Looks like your moment as a so-called hero is over, so how do you feel?"

"Let a dead man rest you fool... let this be my final gift to you, you shall never use magic again."

Using Mind magic I make it so his brain can't comprehend how to use the latent MP in his body. This shouldn't kill him, but he will never be able to conjure magic again. He's been crippled.

Ah, the world's getting darker. I wonder how I'll be remembered, probably the fool who created an abomination of a magical technique. Well, it is true. In my strive to better our people I ruined the lives of many. The government said they bought my research, but really they just shoved money down my throat and stole it.

Well, that's just how it works. I'm just a simple nameless fool in the grand scheme of things. My history will probably be forgotten with my death.

That foolish Death magician used to be my closest friend, we were practically brothers, however we were not related by blood. We grew up together and studied magic together. Things were going well with my research but something was off about him. He started studying restricted magic for some reason.

I thought it was just curiosity, but that was my biggest mistake, after my research was stolen I came home to my family dead on the floor. I ran over to see if he was safe just to find his family had met the same fate, with him standing over their bodies.

Oh, the cruelty of this world, why did this happen. Where did everything go wrong? I guess my time is up, oh the child from before is waking up. At least I could save the children here. Please don't make the same mistakes as me.