?The word "breakthrough" for a Pagna warrior and a mage meant two different things. For a warrior, it was when one was stuck at a stage and needed to do something different than they normally would to go onto the next stage.
The most common times one would be stuck in their cultivation were through the different stages: Initial, Middle, and Divine.
However, every person was different, meaning the times when they would need to break through might be more often compared to others.
For a mage, a breakthrough wasn't a spell; it was more so a type of technique, something that only a few mages could do and had managed to achieve.
A breakthrough allowed one to activate all of the magic in their core around their heart. The core would essentially break in that moment, exploding magic all over the body.
This would make them immensely powerful, but there were a few things to note. Because a breakthrough involved the breaking of a magic core, the powers obtained would be related to one's magic core and its base.
The other thing was the state only lasted a certain amount of time. Although powerful, they no longer had a core that could be used to control magic in the conventional way.
Which meant, after the breakthrough state was over, a person couldn't perform magic until the magic core was repaired.
This would happen naturally and was nothing for the mages to worry about, but if one couldn't defeat their enemy with a breakthrough, it certainly meant it was their loss.
Every breakthrough was different for every mage, regardless of if they had the same core or not, giving them strange powers.
Right now, Eston was performing that very same breakthrough.
"Breakthrough!"
The magic core surrounding his heart expanded and broke out, and mana was unleashed throughout his body.
A faint white glow could be seen lingering over his body. His eyes started to glow slightly to the point where one would find it hard to see the color in his pupils.
"I guess it takes a monster in its own right to defeat another monster!" Eston said.
Seeing this transformation, Amir needed to do what he could and transformed his hand into another long barrel, firing out a Qi shot.
In response to this, Eston opened his mouth wide, and a large amount of wind back had hit the Qi, to the point that it had been sent right back.
The attack crashed right into Amir, exploding on impact. However, Amir was strong in his form, and he continued to charge through with his unique body.
"You kept going on about how I don't understand who you are or what you have been through, but it's the same for me. You have no idea what I am capable of!" Amir exclaimed.
He burst with power forward, right at Eston. Before he could reach him, though, Eston had raised his hand and then lowered it to the ground.
At the same time, a massive amount of force was felt on Amir, slamming him into the ground and breaking the floor underneath him.
Just like before, Amir was unable to move, but there were worse things he had to worry about.
Hanging above in the air were several swords shaped by his wind magic. They had just appeared behind him, hanging around his back.
Right then, a sword went right down and pierced right through Amir's back.
"It hurts right? You said I had no idea how strong you are, well why don't you show me?" Eston asked.
Another sword flew from where Eston was and pierced right through Amir's hand, breaking through the hard black armor.
"Wind at high speeds and velocities, condensed, is a very, very dangerous thing!" Eston said.
He lifted both of his hands, and being pushed by the wind magic, like some type of telekinesis power, he was lifted into the air.
Right after that, the swords that were hovering in the air followed, each one of them rapidly started to move and slice apart Amir's body.
As they moved and flew in the air, he was getting cut all over, one place after the other, and blood was dripping from the sky, falling like raindrops.
"Alright, time for the more serious stuff!" Eston said.
With Amir still in the air, Eston's own body started to float up at an amazing speed, to the point he was now above Amir.
The power he had, the mana, it was as if he had never been fighting or hurt in the last attack, and his next attack was just even more proof of that.
"Double vortex!" Eston shouted.
From his hands, two large vortexes twirled and intertwined with each other like dragons before they crashed into Amir's body.
He tried to fight it with his Qi, tried to fight it with the rest of his power, but it was doing nothing until he was slammed on the ground.
The rest of the tornado followed, pushing Amir further and further. The power of such an attack caused the wind to ripple out in the area.
It lifted the other mages off their feet, sending them back. The Crimson Crane, who were close as well, were unable to fight it as they started to slip away, being pushed out, and at the same time, Reno could do nothing, as Raze was flung from his back.
He bashed on the floor, being hit across the sand a couple of times until the attack had eventually stopped.
Eston landed back on the ground next to the large hole he had created; he was unable to even see where Amir was.
The power was still glowing around him; he still had plenty of strength to use.
"Come on then, do I have to do everything myself? You guys, get rid of them!" Eston shouted.
The mages, in their daze, snapped out of it and began to attack.
Meanwhile, Reno was doing his best to look around; he was twisting and turning his head until he could see Raze.
He ran over as fast as he could; Raze's body lay flat out on the ground. Reno had arrived and could see he didn't look to be in any harm.
"That's good to know," Reno said, looking at Raze's face.
"Watch out!" Tilon shouted, diving in again. A number of lightning, fire, and ice spells had come their way; his shield took the brunt of the attack, but his grip was weak and flung in the air landing in the sand.
Now Tilon had nothing left to protect them.
The mages that were near them continued to use their spells as well.
Tilon tried to get up, but his body was hit by a flame ball in the chest, causing him to kneel off and part of his body to be shredded.
"Tilon!" Reno called out, but he felt something pull his leg, a giant plant growing from the sand dragged him out.
The two of them could do nothing, and when more spells came their way targeting all of them. They had also gone past them.
In particular, one lightning strike-like spell had continued past, hitting Raze's body.
Reno witnessed it light up right there and then. "Crap!" Reno shouted, he managed to leak some of his power onto the plant burning the tip like some acid, and then started to make his way over.
"If he's like this, and gets hit any more, he could die, I have to protect him!" Reno said to himself.
When moving closer though, something was felt as he took a step. The sand around Raze, it was swirling in a circular motion.
Another step closer was taken by Reno, and a strange power was felt, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.
The third step was taken, and a large pulse of energy, similar to that of a heartbeat, spread out like a ripple.
'Is this… coming from Raze?' Reno thought.
