Chapter 96: Reality Versus Delusion
Mute's shoes were sunken in the sand, as the odd sorcerer lunged towards him thrusting his katana directly at his throat. Mute grinned wildly before he froze the sorcerer's body. However, the sorcerer didn't stop.
Mute seeing this ignored the charging sorcerer instead, he looked to the right before he leaned back dodging a blade. The sorcerer appeared on the right slashing his blade before a heel slammed into his chin making him stumble to the side in pain before he cracked his knuckles and a massive horde of bees appeared out of thin air.
The bees swarmed Mute, blinding his vision as the sorcerer gracefully twirled around the distracted Mute's body before slashing his blade at the back of Mute's skull. The katana sliced through the air silently before its momentum was frozen. The sorcerer's muscles bulge out as he tries to slice through the invisible barrier between him and Mute while Mute glances back at the sorcerer staring through the horde of phantom insects.
Mute locks eyes with the sorcerer before his right arm blurs and a powerful jab slams into the sorcerer's nose rocking his head back. The man staggers back before he waves his hands making a cross symbol. The cross symbol starts to glow a bright blue before the sorcerer's body splits and several fake clones of the sorcerer surround Mute, who is carefully staring at the clones.
Mute lets out a grin before he speaks.
" You're quite skilled for a sorcerer I've never heard of before. Where exactly did you come from? "
The clones of the sorcerer stared at Mute with blank expressions. Mute seeing their expressions shook his head before sighing. Clearly the man had no intention of speaking. However, the sorcerer Mute was fighting didn't have a special background. He wasn't from a well-known clan such as the Zenin clan. He was just a regular man blessed with a innate technique.
This unknown assassin was named "Kitla the illusionist." Very little is known of this assassin's backstory, however, very similar to Mute. This assassin is chasing after glory. Killing one of the strongest sorcerers in the world would make him famous overnight. But this fight won't turn out as Kitla wants.
The clones surrounding Mute pounced at him in unison. Some of the clones leap into the air while the others charge directly at Mute. Mute listens to the charging footsteps before he extends his hand above his head and twitches his fingers. The air around Mute swirls as several razor-sharp pieces of string spew out of his fingers slicing through the air.
The pieces of string tear through the fabrics of the charging illusions, leaving only one Kitla charging at Mute. Mute grins before he shrinks the distance appearing directly in front of Kitla slamming a powerful kick into his chest and launching Kitla through the air.
Mute watches as Kitla flies through the air until his body suddenly vanishes. Mute glances around but Kitla's body has disappeared entirely. While Mute looks for Kitla, the sand under his feet disappears turning back into grass. Mute stares at the grass confused until his eyes widen and he jumps into the air.
Mute's eyes dilate staring at the amount of cursed energy inside the blades of grass. Every single blade of grass was potent with cursed energy. The blade of grass unexpectedly shot up towards Mute's. Mute freezes the grass with his innate technique, however, only some grass stops.
The unstopping grass blades fly past Mute's descending body gazing at him while he grits his teeth in pain before the grass blades next to him disappear. Mute's eyes enlarge while he stares at the warping air above him before a massive boulder materializes above him. The enormous body slams into Mute's body sending him crashing into the ground.
Mute's body bounces off the ground before the grass blades suddenly explode causing a massive explosion to engulf his body. A crater forms in the ground from the explosion while a dense smoke cloud covers Mute who is kneeling on one knee with a bewildered look on his face.
Mute stares at his bloody palm with several thoughts running through his head...
Some of his illusions are real? No, that doesn't make sense. If he could materialize matter into the universe he wouldn't rely on cheap tricks to attack me. But when did he get the time to throw a boulder at me?
Have I been fighting a clone this entire time or is there something else to his technique I haven't comprehended? I slowly heal the cut on my palm while I stand up back on my feet. The smoke cloud swirls around almost unnaturally. It looks like the smoke cloud surrounding me isn't real.
If the smoke cloud isn't real, then he's obviously setting up the next trap for me. But it doesn't matter, his attacks aren't deadly, they can barely damage my body. However, his cursed technique does pose a problem. If he plans on stalling for time, and making me run out of energy, it could be troublesome.
Nevertheless, if his cursed technique is the main problem, I have a tool to completely counter his strongest asset...