Agony was within every cell of Elijah's right arm. The forceful punch powered by mana that would usually decimate any living matter was not the cause of pain, but simply the harsh reality of the weak human physical body.
As Elijah followed through, the mana inside his fist activated and disappeared. This simple chain of events turned his fist into a pile of warped flesh and bone.
The manipulated body the scientist created was not indestructible to physical damage by any means, but only reacted to mana differently instead of the usual shattering and destructive result. If there was not a single speck of mana lingering within Elijah's cells, he was as human as one could be…
It's as if the scientist had created an artificial god — minus the fully developed mana core and eternal life.
"Don't move Elijah! I need to heal you quickly!" Abel was bewildered by the sight of Elijah's ulna and radius bones poking from his smashed and compressed fist. The only sign of hope that Abel had left was how almost everything could be reshaped and mostly healed with water magic.
"Uhhh guys??" Niko, who had swam out of the bright blue pond, began to look around his surroundings.
A large cavern with a brightly glowing mushroom at its center was filled with torn flesh — completely absent from any blood or bone. Human flesh and beast flesh were easily distinguished, but Niko's mind couldn't wrap his head around why.
Niko turned around when he heard the footsteps of Elijah and Abel touch the ground.
"Just lay down Elijah! Calm your breath and focus on your heartbeat. I have no idea if this is going to hurt, but your hand is going to move back to its natural place." Abel once again submerged Elijah's after he had previously reorganized his bones. The only visually stunning aspect was his two wrist bones sticking out from his fist like claws.
During this process, a rumbling sensation was created on the opposite end of the cave. It was the rumbling of anything but human as slobbering maws and scraping noises grew in volume. Savage beasts who moved toward any inconsistency in the chaos they adored.
"Dammit! I knew this would happen! Niko! Start creating those weird illusions you created earlier. Make illusions of ourselves and spread them around the cavern!" Abel garnered a plan and voiced it while water continued to coalesce around the squirming arm of Elijah.
Elijah was sobbing and being held down by Abel, and even uncontrollably activating mana within his body. The front pieces of cotton on Abel's chest and stomach were torn as Elijah's grip tightened.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
A dozen illusions spread forth from Elijah, Niko, and Abel. By the time the beasts started aimlessly slicing apart the air where the illusions casually laid, the healing process had concluded with Abel retaining only forty percent of his mana.
"I don't care if you are in pain! GO! Kill everything!" Abel rolled over and planted his feet on the ground after pushing Elijah away from his body. Suddenly, a large and thick bone that curved unnaturally struck and pierced the stone floor — rattling like a snake.
There was not much time until the mysterious beasts had seen through their charade. Black-fured bone reapers of all shapes and sizes with a seemingly infinite bone matrix protecting their chests began limping, crouch-walking, crawling, and enacting every kind of movement besides what a normal human would display. Of course, this all depended on the way they looked and the structure of their bones.
The moment these creatures had reared their heads, a large hole was blown into the thick brown trunk of the mushroom. There was nowhere for Niko to hide as he was helpless even with his new ability that drained his mana more than anything he had experienced before.
Boom!
An ethereal glowing fist was thrusted into the center of a bone walker — one bearing four protrusions aiming to pierce different parts of Elijah's body. The punch was not just powerful enough to shatter the flesh and bones of the beast, but was also strong enough to shatter its lopsided yellow core in the center of its body.
Elijah didn't waste time staring at the horrid creature as its purple eyes dimmed to nothing but darkness.
Eventually, the backs of Elijah and Abel bumped into each other.
With a signal and distinct repulsive look that came from Elijah, Abel grabbed onto the legs of Elijah while creating a monstrous wave of water that drowned every beast not smart enough to swim. The cavern was not nearly as big as the previous mushroom cavern Elijah had been inside, but with the addition of the natural water pools sitting calmly in many deep pools, the feat was easy to pull off.
"HIGHER! HIGHER!" Simultaneously, Abel was creating shields of water that halted every bone curving to meet their target.
Unfortunately, Elijah was far too deep into his head to notice this oddity.
Bonk!
"TOO HIGH!"
There was nothing to be done, but only to wait for the water filled with terrors to do its job.
Abel began manipulating the current once the volume was to his satisfaction, and visually showed his intensity by the way his hands twirled around.
Even with the struggling weight of the developed man, Elijah did not falter as there was more than he thought possible on the line. Moreso, more than he thought he would care about.
"ELIJAH!"
Bright red explosions were funneling up the trunk of the mushroom now submerged in water. A scream of help caused Elijah to cautiously float to the top. The yellow and blue dotted pattern gave an eerie reminder to proceed with caution anywhere near it. In fact, the idea had been engraved into his very soul — the memory of a green viscous and poisonous scythe of pure torture and death.
"Woah! It's slippery!" Abel exclaimed while watching Elijah punch a clean hole through the center. Observations were made, and by now he knew the specifics of the monster that had been created.
The man-made tunnel had opened into a view full of black goo and Niko tiredly climbing for his life. Elijah dived in head first while keeping control of his body in mid-air.
While Niko was throwing condensed balls of fire that exploded below him one after another, Elijah grabbed the underside of his shoulders and hoisted him to safety.
However, once atop the mushroom, Elijah saw multiple small pools of blood appearing from the legs of Niko.
Disfigured, pierced, and poked came to mind alongside a worried look as Elijah knew this would be a difficult injury to heal with magic. His screams of agony were enough to rattle the heart of Elijah, and even when Abel knelt down to begin his healing process, it continued.
"I can't stand here and watch… I'm gonna kill the rest of them…" Elijah muttered as he slowly walked to the edge.
At the exact moment Abel had assumed Elijah would slip, his feet instead began to walk effortlessly in the air.
"STOP! WHAT DO YOU—"
Abel received a cold shoulder from his meaningless words. "Dammit, what the hell happened to that kid…" Abel muttered as water moved from his hands to the legs of Niko squirming in pain.
Splash!
Elijah jumped in freely with his eyes carelessly open, and was greeted with a spiked bone that he caught with his ethereal fist.
The first idea that came to mind was using his own power against him. Elijah tugged violently, to soon come face to face with an awestruck bone reaper.
Boom!
From atop the slimy mushroom, Abel felt the entire cavern ripple alongside his downward current that spiraled around the cavern autonomously.
"That was him!" Niko said as he had become stable enough to talk.
The warm sensation pulsating through his legs was becoming something he could lean on in the time of despair. All he was thinking about was the different choices he would have acted on.
Nonetheless, he was still alive, and had switched places with the golden boy he once knew…