Back to Basics (Open)

[hisfathersstaff.livejournal.com]

Step. Arms go in, push out slowly. Feel the magic thrum through your arms, from the tips of your fingers down to the pads of your toes.

Negi glided through the motions of a more graceful art than the usual counter-based system of the various Kung Fu styles he had learned and refined over the months. Kung Fu had many motions and he was focusing on the task at hand.

Slowly, gracefully, his hand moved up as did his leg, guiding his "opponent" in motion: a cobra who flicked it's tongue out at him. The way of the Cobra was one of the rare few styles that required intense focus. True the snake wouldn't lash out at him, but it was still the art of moving the snake in the way he wanted to make certain that he was doing this correctly.

It almost looked like a cheesy standoff in a movie, seeing Negi with one arm outstretched and the other above his head like a cobra, his leg drew up to his waist and balancing on one leg. The practice was intense, quiet, serene in the Chinese mountainside he had drawn up.

Okay, maybe it WAS stereotypical.

The cobra had all of it's focus on him, as he moved his hands, guiding it into motion. Latin began to reverberate with power as he whispered, "Rastel Raskil Magister."

In a beat, he swapped to Ancient Greek as he added, "Kenotetos astrapsato de temeto."

The snake stood perfectly still as Negi drew up his finger, crackling with lightning as he pointed it downwards in a motion of intense concentration.

KRACK-THOOM!

The Axe of Lightning struck home and the snake exploded into coins. 1000 appeared over it's head as Negi relaxed slowly.

It wasn't the showy attack or the long hour he had spent staring and moving through the motions, but the practice. He needed to get back to basics.

Comments

[hisfathersstaff.livejournal.com]

"That's incredible," said Negi, honestly fascinated with the idea. "Most of our barriers involve redirecting force, or warding off energy attacks. It's why we typically put up layers and it takes micros of seconds to put up several of them and layer them with space in between to cause a dampening effect through each of the barriers penetrated."

"I am very impressed," said Negi with a grin. "If anything, it's like a shield-variant of Asuna-san's Magic Canceling ability."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"Not that I'm denigrating your own barriers, mind. They're a lot more impressive than my mage armor." He tapped the comparatively feeble force protection around him wryly.

"Magic cancelling?"

[hisfathersstaff.livejournal.com]

Negi nodded and then went on to explain at his question. "Magic Cancel, a rare and powerful ability to instantly nullify and negate all magic, be it directed towards the user, or channeled through an item. While it's not 100% reliable, it shields Asuna-san from 99% of all spells, no matter what the intensity, type or lethality."

Negi shrugged. "I've seen her take some hits that she just walked through, like a conflagration spell which would have ignited an entire forest, or breaking out of Master's Eternal Rest spell which entombs the opponent in ice that will last a hundred years."

For this, this was old hat for Negi. To the mage before him, it would probably sound like a walking apocalypse for magic users everywhere.

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

Negi would think that... but he's about to get a surprise. "Oh, so it's basically an antimagic field contained within her body? That's not a technique I've heard of -- doesn't it make it difficult to provide enhancement spells to her?"

It's only a sixth-level spell. Aibghalien mastered the basic ages ago.

[hisfathersstaff.livejournal.com]

Negi blinked and said, "Oh you know of those? Yeah, it is an antimagic field. Back home though, it's tough to deal with, but I've managed to channel magic into her as my pactio partner."

He grinned at that. "It's not easy, but the results are rewarding. And she's got some incredible power, able to do the thing Takamichi can, the Kankaho. Which is the art of fusing chi, life energy, and magic together into the Ultima Art."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like you guys run in the big leagues," Aibghalien said, grinning. "But if anti-magic fields are rare to you... what about dispels and disjunctions?"

[hisfathersstaff.livejournal.com]

"Dispelling magic is often used in Anti-Magic zones so to speak," said Negi. "Only high level security zones are used with that, since it's not quite as common, but is a big part in shattering illusions. I think Yue would have been better with that since she can learn and access the new ones."

"I haven't really run into someone who has used it on a grand scale yet," added Negi. "Canceling magic is pretty rare altogether in my world."

[for-magic.livejournal.com]

"That does explain a lot of my observations." Aibghalien nodded thoughtfully, highly intrigued. "Is it also a rule that the strongest spells also tend to have the most substantially pyrotechnic displays?"