Chapter 74: Mana Lock!
The flames vanished.
In front of Ozai’s bewildered eyes, Bruce’s body reformed completely. His skin was smooth, unblemished, and unburned. His hair was untouched, and his calm, infuriatingly composed expression returned as if nothing had ever happened.
The divine flame, born from living cells, powerful enough to melt stone and vaporize life itself, had failed.
Bruce looked down at his hands, flexing them slowly. Faint wisps of smoke drifted from his fingertips, curling into the air before fading. Then his gaze lifted, cold, steady, sharp with quiet satisfaction.
Ozai’s eyes widened in disbelief. His technique, the pinnacle of his Flame Authority, the very essence of his Fire Lord class, had just stopped working. Completely.
For the first time, uncertainty flickered behind the ghostly white glow of his eyes.
At that moment, Bruce smiled. "It seems that’s as far as you can push yourself in this VR."
The words were casual, but the tone carried a terrifying finality.
Without warning, Bruce bent his knees and leaped soundlessly from the ground. The motion was fluid, predatory. In an instant, he was soaring upward to meet Ozai in midair, his palm reaching out to give Ozai a touch...
Ozai’s pupils shrank. Instinct screamed. He has to avoid the palm no matter what...
He immediately flew backward, panic surging through him as a memory flashed; the last time Bruce touched him with that palm, his right arm was obliterated.
He wasn’t about to let that happen again. Not here. Not now.
Seeing Ozai desperately retreating, Bruce’s faint smile deepened.
"It’s useless," he said softly, voice like a whisper of death. "There’s no escape."
Then his foot hit the ground once more.
CRACK!
The earth split beneath him, and Bruce launched himself forward like a bullet. The wind exploded behind him, forming a visible shockwave as he rocketed upward.
Ozai moved at his fastest speed, flames erupting from his body in a desperate attempt to flee. His figure blurred across the sky, a streak of red and gold. But then...
His blood ran cold.
When he glanced over his shoulder, Bruce was already there.
Calm. Effortless. That same haunting smile carved across his face.
’How?!’ Ozai’s mind screamed. ’I’m the one flying here! How is he catching up to me, from the ground?!’
His heart sank. The realization hit him harder than any attack.
At that moment, Ozai stopped thinking about the fight. He stopped thinking about winning. All he could feel was dread.
Bruce reached out, his movement so precise it almost seemed rehearsed, and placed his palm against Ozai’s back.
"Mana Lock," he said quietly.
A pulse of invisible energy rippled through the air. In an instant, the blazing aura of the Fire God Incarnate extinguished completely. Ozai’s body stiffened, then plummeted.
His wings of flame vanished. His ability to hover collapsed.
He fell.
Wind screamed in his ears as the ground rushed up to meet him. He tried, tried everything. Commanding, chanting, forcing mana to move, calling upon his class abilities. But nothing answered.
Every single skill... was gone.
His eyes widened in horror, sweat breaking across his brow despite the heat that still clung to his skin.
’No... no no no— NOOOOO!!!!!’
The faster he fell, the more hopeless it became. The wind clawed at his clothes, his body spinning helplessly. For the first time in his life, Ozai Thorne, the prodigy of fire, the pride of the Great Ancient Family, felt true despair.
’God, no... Please no! Why won’t he go down!’ His heart clenched. His thoughts spiraled.
’Bruce is a monster. How does he come up with such horrifying ideas, and why does he have to test them all on me?!’
He cursed and screamed in his mind as he plummeted, realizing too late that he had brought this upon himself.
If he hadn’t chosen to target Bruce first,
he wouldn’t be the one falling now.
The impact was brutal!
Ozai crashed to the ground with a deafening thud, dirt and stone erupting around him in a violent shockwave. His back arched in pain, his lungs burned, and his vision blurred. Yet through the haze, he could see one thing...
Bruce.
Descending calmly through the settling dust, landing a few feet in front of him as if gravity itself bowed in his presence. His steps were quiet. Controlled. Effortless.
Ozai’s breathing hitched as he looked up. "W-what... what did you do to me?!"
Bruce smiled faintly, tilting his head.
"What I did?" His voice was soft, almost amused. "I simply blocked your mana veins... your mana circuits."
He paused, watching Ozai struggle to move his fingers. "I’d explain the full process, but honestly, it’s too complicated for you to understand."
The words hit harder than any physical blow.
In truth, Bruce had done something far beyond simple interference. He had healed Ozai’s mana circuits, healed them to such an extreme degree that the regenerated cells had overgrown, forming microscopic branches that twisted and tangled inside his mana veins. Those excess growths had clogged the channels completely, sealing every pathway where mana once flowed.
It was a perfect contradiction! Healing used as destruction!
With his mana flow blocked, Ozai couldn’t circulate energy, couldn’t summon flames, couldn’t use a single skill. The only thing keeping him from being utterly useless was his physical body, and even that felt heavy, sluggish, weighed down by dread.
If Bruce had wanted to, he could’ve left him like this, a crippled shell with no power, no pride, and no purpose.
And the most terrifying part of all? Bruce could reverse it anytime he wished!
He could clog and unclog those veins at will!
With a flick of his wrist, Bruce released a soft pulse of energy...
Ozai gasped sharply as warmth flooded back into his body. He could feel it, his mana stirring again, his circuits unclogging, the familiar hum of power returning to his veins. His flames could answer him again. His body could respond.
But the feeling didn’t bring relief. It brought despair.
Because no amount of power could erase the truth that Bruce had owned him completely.
His control was absolute!
Ozai’s hands trembled. His chest heaved. And then, in a motion born of pure defeat, he crashed to his knees and bowed his head to the ground.
He didn’t care about pride. He didn’t care about his family name. At that moment, he was nothing but a terrified man kneeling before something he could never comprehend.
Tears streaked down his face as his voice broke into a desperate cry. "Please... kill me, Bruce!"