"Oops, I'd better stop the bleeding first."
If she lost too much blood, she would die. The moment I used healing magic to close the wound on my own wrist, Talia’s matching injury vanished as well. I see, so the link works both ways.
"Wh-what?! You healed at that speed...?!"
Talia looked absolutely stunned by my healing magic. Her method seemed well-suited for a silent assassination, but the effect was negligible against a mage.
"Damn it!"
Galilea fired his threads at me, but I deployed a Magic Barrier to block them. My Magic Barriers are automatic and can be generated infinitely, so no matter how many he managed to strip away, it was a futile effort. In fact, I began to wonder if his thread supply was finite. The volume seemed lower than when we started.
"Kuh...! Look at the sheer number of Magic Barriers! I don't feel like I can land a hit at all...!"
Babylon twisted his body in impossible directions to strike through the gaps in my barriers, but since he was essentially just slashing with a knife, I could easily keep him at bay by maintaining distance or pushing him back with the force of the barriers. To be honest, once the gimmick is exposed, it’s probably difficult to use this style in a direct confrontation.
"『Blow Away』!"
A violent gust of wind erupted along with Crow’s words, but it did nothing more than ruffle my hair. Since his Cursed Words only affect the immediate area around me, as long as I used 'Levitation' to firmly anchor my position, the wind had no impact on me personally. The ability seemed useful for handling weaker opponents or for pinning someone down, but I wondered if it had any applications outside of combat. For example, could he say "Become delicious" to ingredients? That was probably asking for too much.
Meanwhile, Ren remained on the sidelines, likely because her poison would catch her own comrades in the crossfire. An ability that constantly generates toxins from one's own body seemed somewhat inconvenient to manage.
Well, now that I’d seen a decent sample of what they could do, I figured it was time to take the offensive. If I just kept defending, I’d never grasp the full extent of their abilities. I’d have to hold back as much as possible, though...
"『Wind-Ki Blast』."
This was a combination of the Wind System Magic 'Windball' and 'Ki'. I fired a swirling sphere of wind imbued with the energy of Ki. Since my mastery of Ki was still immature, I couldn't project it to hit a target on its own, but by hitching it to a Windball, I could bridge the gap. The advantage was that it functioned as a "peaceful" attack—dealing a decent amount of blunt impact to the opponent without actually wounding them.
"Gwahhh!" "Kyaaa!"
The Wind-Ki Blast struck Galilea and the others, blowing them off their feet and slamming them into the walls. Using normal magic was a nerve-wracking process because I had to hold back so much to ensure I didn't accidentally kill them. I figured I'd start with this as a test, but... hm?
I stood ready, waiting for them to get back up, but even after a long silence, none of them moved.
"...Huh? What’s wrong?"
"They’re completely out cold, Master Lloyd," Grimo said, sounding exasperated.
You’ve got to be kidding. I thought I’d held back quite a bit. Or was this simply the physical limit for normal people who couldn't use magic?
"...It can’t be helped."
I began applying healing magic to each of them.
"What are you doing, Master Lloyd?"
"I haven't seen all of their techniques yet. I need them to keep fighting until I do."
Since my last attack was too strong, I’d have to use something even weaker. I’d heard that true masters of martial arts could subdue opponents without a single scratch. As I thought, I really wasn't very good at the actual act of fighting. If I sealed away both magic and 'Ki'... right, I’d try using this.
I drew the Sword of Magic Absorption from my waist. While the base 'Magic Absorption' enchantment could only absorb existing spells, this sword reacted to and absorbed all phenomena involving mana. Furthermore, it could store multiple techniques for long periods. I decided I would simply absorb all their techniques and analyze them at my leisure later.
While I was preparing, they finally regained consciousness, likely thanks to the healing magic.
"Ugh... Wh-what on earth did you do to us...?"
"Good morning. Shall we continue?"
I gave them a refreshing smile. For some reason, Galilea and the others turned pale.
"...I pity you, humans," Grimo muttered under his breath.
For a while after that, I engaged them in battle. I let them attack, countered with just enough force, and healed them whenever they became unable to move. About an hour must have passed.
"I give up! P-please, have mercy already!"
Galilea threw his hands up and slumped to the floor.
"Eh? Why? Let’s keep going."
"No, no, everyone's finished! I’m at my limit too!"
Looking around, I saw the others were indeed completely collapsed. That was strange. I’d been applying healing magic, so they shouldn't have been suffering from any physical damage.
"They’re out of mana, Boss. Apparently, their fuel efficiency is terribly bad."
When mana is completely exhausted, the body is overcome by a tremendous sense of lethargy and the person loses consciousness. Normal people don't have this problem because they only leak a tiny amount of mana, and mages who handle large amounts of mana are trained to control their output. However, these people—being natural mana users with unique constitutions—didn't seem capable of that. It was as if they constantly had a hole in the bottom of their bucket. In a battle with high mana consumption, they would run dry almost immediately.
"Does that mean they can't fight anymore?"
Galilea and the others nodded vigorously. ...Hm. To be honest, I still felt a bit unsatisfied, but I suppose there was no point in pushing them past their limits.
"I understand. Since you put it that way..."
At my words, Galilea and the others looked at me with eyes full of hope.
"I’ll just teach you all how to control your mana. That should fix the problem."
At my words, Galilea and the others looked at me with eyes dyed in pure despair.
"Wait! Hold on! We don't have the will to fight anymore—"
"Now, now, it's fine, really."
I placed my hand on the back of the protesting Galilea and poured mana into him all at once.
"Aaaagh!"
Galilea's massive body twitched once before he collapsed.
"Galilea!"
The others rushed over in a panic to help him up. Galilea opened his eyes immediately and stared at his own body with a puzzled expression.
"Wh-what is this...? My body isn't sticky...?"
"I-it’s true... What did you do, Seventh Prince?"
"I inscribed a spell formula directly onto his body."
If he couldn't control it himself, I simply had to force the control from the outside. I had inscribed a spell formula to circulate the leaking mana back into his body, thereby suppressing his mana consumption. Of course, he could still use his previous abilities whenever he wished. It was my first time enchanting a human body with a spell formula, but it seemed to have been a success. This was clearly the result of my experience crafting so many magic swords.
"How is it? Do you feel any discomfort?"
"...No, this is amazing. I’m shocked..."
I peered closely at the inscription; the spell formula seemed to be functioning perfectly.
"Now then, I’ll do the rest of you too. Line up."
The others looked at each other and nodded. Good, good—it’s nice when people are cooperative. I would have forced it on them even if they refused, though.