I’m Here to End This Fight

Chapter 13. Mana (2)

Yuri’s mana absorption speed was extraordinary, and Johan’s eyes widened in surprise.

‘He’s already sensed mana? And what’s with this mana absorption ability?’

Had he truly sensed mana?

Or was something else happening?

It was still too early to jump to conclusions, so Johan released his mana once more.

The same phenomenon occurred as before.

Sssssss-

Mana was being sucked into Yuri at a terrifying speed.

‘No doubt about it! This guy has sensed mana!’

With talent like this, he could be called a prodigy even if he wasn’t a genius.

A short while later.

Whew-

As Yuri took a deep breath and opened his eyes, Johan asked in a slightly excited tone.

“How does it feel? Sensing mana for the first time?”

Yuri didn’t answer easily to Johan’s question.

Johan smiled contentedly at the silence.

“Ah, how can one describe that feeling? That exhilarating first sensation… How could you put that into human words? I understand your feelings completely, kid.”

Johan rubbed his nose with his index finger while Yuri blinked and asked, in a slightly dazed voice.

“So, old man… What exactly does mana feel like?”

“What do you mean, what does it feel like? The sensation you’re feeling right now is mana.”

“So, what exactly am I supposed to be feeling?”

“Mana!”

“What does mana feel like?”

“…….”

Johan’s expression stiffened at the strangely repetitive conversation.

He spoke in a slightly angry tone.

“Are you trying to mess with me?”

“Messed with you? No……”

“Then why are you lying about not sensing mana when you did!”

“When did I ever lie? I said I didn’t sense anything because I didn’t sense anything, so what else could I say!”

“This brat! You sucked up all my mana and now you’re saying you didn’t sense it?”

“What are you talking about? When did I do that?”

“Just now! You sucked up my mana just now, you brat!”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

“You, you… Are you going to keep pretending you don’t know and spout nonsense!”

“Damn it, if I had actually sensed mana, I wouldn’t be so upset!”

Yuri huffed and puffed.

Noticing the mix of confusion, regret, anger, and strong self-reproach in Yuri’s eyes, Johan stiffened.

“You……?”

He was silent for a long while before staring at Yuri and asking.

“Did you really… not sense anything?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Honestly? Not lying?”

“Yes.”

He said he didn’t sense anything because he didn’t. What did they expect?

Yuri was confident.

Then, Johan’s face turned bewildered, and he mumbled.

“This, this can’t be right?”

With the amount of mana he had released, even someone with low sensitivity should have felt a slight sense of discomfort.

Moreover, hadn’t Yuri greedily sucked up his mana?

It was strange that he couldn’t sense mana.

But there was no hint of deception in Yuri’s brazen face.

Instead, there was only self-reproach for not being able to sense mana.

Johan, flustered, stammered.

“Let’s, let’s try again. I’ll increase the mana density a bit more.”

Saying so, Johan released his mana again.

Yuri sat upright and closed his eyes.

Sssssss-

More mana than before was released, and once again, it was sucked into the area around Yuri.

Johan, full of hope and expectation, asked.

“Do you feel something now? Right?”

“Hmm……”

“How is it?”

“Ah!”

Yuri opened his eyes wide as if he had realized something.

Seeing this, Johan nodded with a face that seemed to say, ‘Of course!’

“Did you feel it? You felt it, right? Right?! Of course! If you can’t feel it after all this, then you’re not even human……”

“…I’m hungry.”

“…….”

“Come to think of it, I passed out and haven’t eaten, right?”

Yuri opened his eyes and gently rubbed his stomach with a blank expression.

Johan, looking at him in disbelief, muttered.

“…He’s not human.”

He then clutched his head like a madman.

“This can’t be… This can’t be right?”

He couldn’t sense mana?

Then everything was for nothing.

What was the point of having an extraordinary body?

Body techniques without mana were just empty forms.

What good was an exceptional technique if the body and soul, along with energy, would be completely destroyed before mastering it, turning Yuri into a corpse?

“It’s ruined… It’s all ruined……”

Mumbling incessantly, Johan glanced at Yuri and muttered.

“Can’t we just forget about our deal?”

New theories and experiments, forget about them.

How could he teach someone who couldn’t even sense mana?

“You’re hopeless……”

Johan started to take a step back sneakily.

Before he could finish speaking, Yuri’s hand landed on his shoulder.

Thud-

“Old man.”

Yuri’s bright smile made Johan feel something ominous.

“Wh-What is it?”

“Train me.”

“……?”

“Train me.”

“…In what?”

“Make someone like me sense mana. Make me capable.”

Did this brat’s words sound oddly familiar because it was his imagination?

But it wasn’t Johan’s imagination.

“How can you beat the Sword Master with this? I was really looking forward to you teaching me the magic body technique to defeat the Sword Master……”

“…….”

“Are you giving up just because I’m a bit slow at sensing mana? Old man, are you really that incompetent?”

“…….”

“Hey, if you’re going to give up, just say so. I don’t want to waste my time either.”

Johan’s face turned sour as he realized he was getting a taste of his own medicine.

“What are you going to do?”

Yuri kept smiling.

“Are you giving up?”

The more radiant Yuri’s smile became, the darker the shadow on Johan’s face grew.

“Are you giving up?”

“Ugh!”

Yuri’s continuous taunting finally made Johan mutter quietly.

“Damn brat……”

Hearing this, Yuri gently raised his palm with a kind smile.

At the same time, a fresh word popped out of his mouth.

“Back at you.”

“…….”

Johan’s already twisted face crumpled even more.

* * *

The passenger ship headed for Niger, having left Chrome Port, had been sailing smoothly for the past ten days.

The last ten days had seen no storms, not even a shower.

However, contrary to this smooth sailing, there was someone experiencing difficulties.

“Why! On earth! Can’t!”

“…….”

“Why can’t you sense it!”

Yuri picked his ear at Johan’s scream.

“If I knew that, would I be doing this?”

“Ugh!”

Johan beat his chest as if he was suffocating.

He exhaled deeply and lamented.

“Phew… It’s hopeless, hopeless……”

This time, Yuri exploded.

“Hopeless, how?”

“It’s been ten days! We’ve made no progress at all in that time!”

“It’s only been ten days!”

Over the past ten days, Johan had made every effort to help Yuri sense mana.

But Yuri still couldn’t get a grip on it.

‘At first, I thought this brat was messing with me…’

Yuri wasn’t messing with him at all.

He truly couldn’t sense mana.

His attitude during training proved that.

“Stop whining and let’s try again, old man.”

“It’s hopeless……”

“Ah! Don’t give up and try again!”

Although he pretended to be calm, Yuri’s eyes showed signs of impatience and desperation.

Yuri himself probably never imagined he wouldn’t be able to sense mana.

Given that he always had a strong belief in himself, the current situation must have been quite a shock.

Initially, there was confusion.

Then disappointment and self-reproach.

And now, he must be more desperate than anyone else.

Yuri’s desire for strength was burning intensely, even from Johan’s perspective.

As a result, it was now Yuri who was more insistent on mana sensing training than Johan.

Johan complied with Yuri’s request for more training.

‘Well, even if we part ways here, where could he go in the middle of the vast sea……’

Even if they parted ways, they were still on the ship.

So where could he run to?

But that was only for the next three weeks or so.

‘If he still can’t sense mana by then……’

Johan planned to give up on Yuri completely.

After all, such an outcome was never part of Johan’s plan.

Although he regretted the effort put in, it was better to quit than waste time on a futile endeavor.

‘Moreover, if he can’t sense mana, he won’t survive long anyway.’

So there was no point in holding on to any hope.

Johan watched Yuri as he sat cross-legged.

‘A being who can’t sense mana……’

Even if receiving mana into the body was a separate matter, with external help, anyone should be able to sense mana.

Even an untalented ordinary person.

In a world where those who couldn’t sense mana were extremely rare.

Yet Yuri was struggling with even that.

And from long experience, Johan knew that if someone couldn’t sense mana initially, the chance they would ever sense it was almost nonexistent.

‘Well, even so…….’

Johan sighed inwardly.

‘As this brat said, it’s too early to give up.’

As Yuri said, it had only been ‘just ten days’.

Moreover, Johan himself had a puzzle to solve.

‘This brat is definitely sucking up my mana greedily whenever the mana density reaches a certain level.’

And at a fierce speed, no less.

Yet, there were no traces of accumulated mana in Yuri’s body.

A bizarre phenomenon Johan had never seen in his decades of dealing with mana.

This piqued Johan’s curiosity.

‘There’s definitely something here.’

Johan’s eyes narrowed as he watched Yuri.

Then, as Yuri urged him to release mana, tapping the ground impatiently, Johan frowned.

“Did you leave your mana with me? You’re so damn impatient.”

“Hurry!”

“Tch, brat, your temper…”

Despite his grumbling, Johan released his mana once more.

Thus, Yuri’s mana training resumed.

* * *

On the fifteenth day of the voyage.

Dark clouds appeared before the passenger ship that had been sailing smoothly.

Soon, the ship was caught in rough waves and swayed violently.

The rocking was so intense that it was hard to keep balance.

But Yuri was so focused on sensing mana that he didn’t even notice.

‘Why… why can’t I sense it?’

Every time Johan asked that question, Yuri pretended it was no big deal, but he himself was more curious than anyone about the reason.

His mind was extremely complicated.

‘Can I… never sense mana?’

If that were the case, what should he do?

Would his resolve to surpass Johan be shattered before it even began?

Could he surpass Johan without mastering mana?

If he couldn’t master mana, his body would eventually collapse, and he wouldn’t live long.

Yuri felt a tightness in his chest from the gap between his ideals and reality.

But he tried to empty that frustration.

Instead, he focused even more on his senses.

‘I can do it. Don’t give up.’

According to Johan, sensing mana was not within the realm of the usual five senses.

People often said they felt mana with their skin, but that was just the delusional nonsense of those who knew nothing!

…he had said.

‘Sensing mana is a perception beyond the physical senses.’

So Johan called the sense of feeling mana the sixth sense, intuition.

‘If you can suppress your five senses, you might be able to grasp the sixth sense more easily.’

The easiest way to suppress the five senses was to directly block them.

Covering your eyes or ears.

But that had clear limitations.

Even with your eyes closed, you would still see the darkness created by your eyelids.

Even if you covered your ears, you couldn’t block the sounds your body transmitted, like swallowing or your heartbeat.

Therefore, Yuri chose a completely different method.

He forgot about sounds, smells, sight, touch, taste.

He erased all thoughts related to those senses and focused intensely on the question, ‘What is the sixth sense?’

And Johan, watching him, widened his eyes.

‘Huh?’

Blink, blink.

No matter how many times he looked, it was clear.

‘This crazy guy……?’

Knowing what Yuri was doing, Johan couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief.

‘He’s entered a state of ‘no-self’?’