Rivers of the Night

'… Weak…' Theron shook his head.

He knew why the Mist Mancer was so weak. It wasn't just the fact that he was poor in combat; regardless of how poor his skill was, he was still a Gold Mancer. Just by the difference in the quality of Mana alone, he should have had body composition, senses, and reaction time that were far beyond Theron's.

As large as the gap between Bronze and Silver Mancy was, the gap between someone who had been through their Tribulation and one who hadn't was even more exaggerated.

The only reason Theron confidently claimed that he could kill a Gold Mancer with his father's sword wasn't because it suddenly made him equal to a Gold Mancer, but instead because he was confident that with such a good blade, he wouldn't have to worry about a hit he finally managed to land doing no damage at all…

But actually being able to land that hit was another matter entirely. And whether that hit would reap a life was yet another matter as well.

The real reason the Mist Mancer had fallen so easily was because of the sheer amount of Mana they had already poured into this setup.

First, there was this Mist that had a diameter of what must have been at least three or so kilometers. Although Mist Mana was able to cover a much larger area per degree of Mana used, to have this Mist be this thick, enough to obstruct views and dispel the placement of other Mana, it had to have taken a substantial amount of effort.

Theron was actually quite sure that this Gold Mancer had drained his Gold Core more than once to achieve this sort of effect, likely relying on some high-quality elixirs to replenish himself.

Second, there was this poisoning process.

This was obviously a Mist Mancer, not a Poison Mancer. The process of using his Mist as a carrier for this rotting poison required an exceptional level of focus and control. As such, not only was it taking up a large amount of Mana to continuously disperse this poison through the air, but it was draining the Mist Mancer's focus as well.

And all of that didn't even consider the illusion aspects of the Mist as well.

If anything, Theron was very impressed that one man could accomplish all of this, adequate preparation or not. If not for his Echo, this might have well and truly been the place he died, which actually led into the third reason…

That being that the Mist Mancer was so confident in his abilities that he didn't have a backup plan for his backup plan, and maybe rightfully so.

He was able to fool even General Pennel's eyes; how could he ever think that a Silver Mancer would see through his situation? Much less even fool his eyes in return.

As for how Theron had done that, it was quite simple…

He just made a [Water Clone] with his own blood.

Then, when he activated Veinsong and his Immortal Jellyfish Echo, he was able to control his own body to the point that it wasn't detected by the Mist Mancer's abilities.

The Mist Mancer assumed the blood [Water Clone] was actually Theron, when the real Theron had vanished along the same path, closing in the distance before the Mist Mancer could react.

However, that left a very large elephant in the room.

How was the Mist Mancer controlling blood?

It had to be remembered that when Theron first realized he could control the fluid in his body, he had been shocked. That was because this should have been impossible.

Life Mana was anchored down to the body and wasn't capable of being used. In fact, Life Mana was part of the reason it was so difficult for external Mana to affect the body as well.

Even controlling your own body through Mana should be near impossible unless you were using a proxy. For example, you could try to attach tendrils of Mana to a person's body and wield them like a puppet, or fool their senses with an illusion to make them act in certain ways, but actually going into their body and controlling them from there was ridiculous.

Although pulling on his blood wasn't exactly controlling him, it wasn't enough steps away from it to be completely unrelated.

Theron, for example, could control his own body's fluids when he entered Veinsong. That ability of his became even stronger when he activated his Immortal Jellyfish Echo.

However, he had never felt the ability to control the blood in the bodies of others.

He realized that there was something very unique about his own body in particular that allowed it. It was less accurate to say that he could control blood, or the fluid in his ears, etc., and far more accurate to say that he could control some core essence within them that was unique to that of others.

With that logic, it just might be the case that there were others out there who could control Theron's body as well. That was a worry he hadn't allowed to sprout in his mind, but it was a reality he knew he might have to deal with one day.

He thought that day would be today, until he realized that he was likely not the only one here experiencing such a thing.

When he got here to the location of the Mist Mancer, though, he finally got his answer.

It wasn't that the Mist Mancer was controlling blood. Instead, it was much like the abilities of the hounds.

The Lightning Blood Hounds were Flux Mancers, not some unheard-of Blood Mancers, nor were they Lightning Mancers. They were existences that had a unique Bloodline Resonance that made their blood spark as though it was arcing with lightning.

This resulted in their blood almost bubbling out of the surface of their skin and manifesting in these bolts that assaulted the world.

The principle here was the same. Theron's blood hadn't been directly controlled; instead, it had been influenced.

But as far as he knew, the hounds could only do that with their own blood. Since when could they do that with the blood of others, and how had the Mist Mancer tapped into it?

A new understanding was slowly forming in Theron's mind.

Rather than making a move to regain the group, or what might have been left of them, he silently slipped away.