czbacklash

“Why won’t you just fucking die already?!” Reiss shouted in understandable frustration.“Because I have a dream that you and no one else can stop! I make this pledge: I will defeat you, I will win this tournament, and I will become the—”

Noah had already made progress in slowing the flow of his mana and his bodily functions, and the headband was helping. His heart dropped to one beat a minute, and he all but stopped breathing. Typically, such a state would be fatal, but the more he slowed down his mana, the more he could forestall damage. Without mana flowing, his cells would stop processing nourishment and oxygen, but they wouldn’t wither and die, for the molecular processes of cell death were also halted. Caught in a near-perfect state of suspended animation, his physical senses operated at the lowest possible level, and he became more attuned to the flow of mana around him, sharpening his spirit senses.

“I’ll admit, we could have certainly used a healer and an archer on our team. But I know how Sophia feels about me, and how you feel about Valia. If the four of us traveled together, she and I would have been a distraction to you two, and your relationship would have suffered for it.” He stood over Alexis and held out his hand to her, just as he did when they spoke in the snow. “You two deserved a fresh start, a chance for your love to bloom in the sun instead of wither in our shadows. I apologize for the arrest and messiness that happened after I beat Seraph, but I am glad to return here and see you two living your lives, free and in love. That’s all I wanted for you two.”