Blade Over Magic

Inner Conflict

"Huh, I knew I sensed something weird from him." Keir, who had been doing a weird job at ignoring everything to mope, suddenly blinked and looked at the cube were Curtis was currently clawing and biting to get out.

This snapped Xander out of his reverie of watching Curtis in his wolf form.

As well as confused him.

... What do you mean? You were with me the first time he transformed?" He shifted his gaze slightly to look at Keir who was now watching with some interest.

"Well, yeah, but I wasn’t there when his Mana also changed. It’s incredibly cold. If I hadn’t known it was him, I would have thought he was an Ice Elemental Spirit." He tilted his head. "If that’s the case, he should have an easier time interact with concepts, no?" He said the words casually, but Xander’s eyes widened.

’... That’s right, Elemental Spirit aren’t just adept at using the element they are born from, they also have deep conceptual attainments depending on the Spirit. Curtis isn’t one, but if Mary herself stated that his body alone could create the conditions for creating one, could he perhaps...’ As he had that thought, he shook his head.

’Not now. Let’s deal with this first.’ One thing at a time.

He looked back at Curtis who was still attacking his cage violently. Whether he used his claws or blasted his ice at it, it took no damage, and for a moment, Xander wondered what properties Mary’s wind had that allowed her to negate the effects of Curtis’s absolute zero.

’Again... it’s probably something related to concepts... Concepts, huh.’ The word started appearing more as he got stronger, and Xander would be lying if he said he wasn’t very curious about them.

Be that as it may, he took a breath, then he did the first part of his test.

"Curtis." He called out simply. Unsurprisingly, though, the massive wolf barely seemed to hear him as he was currently trying and failing to work his jaw through the barrier.

Xander nodded slightly, then he forced his expression to harden, like he was very angry, the he looked up and yelled sharply.

"CURTIS!" His voice sliced through the night, and interestingly, Curtis’s large frame actually came to a halt, and Xander saw his ears flatten, his frost blue eyes showing a moment of confusion.

However, this change soon ended as Curtis continued attacking the barrier like a battering ram.

’As I thought, he’s still in there. It seemed like he can’t reconcile he rationality with the primal urges in this state.’ Xander recalled the first time Curtis had fought him like this. The first thing Xander did was ask if Curtis was still in there, and the large wold showed a trace of recognition before proceeding to rush him wildly.

From this alone, Xander could infer a few things.

’Lycans—at least pure-blooded ones—are known for their ferocity and primal behavior. These increase massively during the full moon. As Curtis is a hybrid, it seems like most of the time, his human rationality can keep this ferocity suppressed, but it is indeed still there, and when the full moon arrives, it comes bursting out.’ Off to the side, Aubrey had naturally noticed the commotion and gave Xander a questioning, slightly worried look.

’Is everything okay?’ She asked telepathically, and Xander nodded.

’Yeah, just making some conjectures.’ He replied, and Aubrey looked towards the large wolf inside the wind cage.

’So this is what he looks like in this form, huh.’ She thought to herself, and she hesitated for a moment before returning to her training.

Xander was still thinking.

’Let’s see, for full Lycans, its should be Ferocity/Primal Urges>Rationality, which is most likely the main reason why they aren’t considered to be a fully sentient species. I initially thought that since Curtis was a Hybrid, it was Rationality>Ferocity. But if I’m right, it’s probably Rationality=Ferocity. Tye relationship is equal, Rationality just comes first and is what Curtis favors, making him suppress his Ferocity. This leads to him being unable to hold it back on full moons.

It’s also why he still retains traces of himself while he’s like this. I’m sure if it was a full Lycan, no amount of familiarity is getting you any leeway with them whatsoever.’ Xander watched as Curtis somehow swung his huge body and smashed his tail into the barrier. It shook slightly, but it held firm.

"His physical capabilities like this are genuinely surprising." Mary commented like she wasn’t the one who was enduring said physical capabilities casually.

Xander nodded and looked forward again.

’If I’m correct, then the optimal decision would be to go about this gradually. Perhaps have Mia recreate a full moon over and over again, allowing Curtis to more consistently experience the Feral part of himself. After all, he only experiences the full moon once a month compared to the remaining days he’s rational. So only 12 times a year compared to over three hundred days of Rationality, for who knows how many years? Of course one side is suppressed.’ He sighed. He didn’t blame Curtis for this, though.

As someone who lived in a society where Rationality was the main thing differentiating him from a beast, suppressing that part of him made sense. Not to mention how terrified he must be to lose control like that.

Which is also why Xander was a bit reluctant to go through with the gradual option, as it would be forcing Curtis to experience that fear and trauma over and over again. Some could argue it was exposure therapy, but that didn’t always work and could sometimes make it worse.

’... Alright, let’s attempt this from another angle.’ Xander nodded to himself, and without wasting time, he fully activated the Myriad Paths.

Instantly, his vision was filled with countless colorful Paths that converged, intersected, and spread out everywhere. However, he focused solely on Curtis.

Most of Curtis’s Paths were aimed at him, but as soon as they met Mary’s barrier, they were stopped abruptly.

Xander started to trace his gaze upwards to Curtis’s person, however, he got distracted halfway as he noticed something odd.

’Huh?’ He noticed that quite a few of Curtis’s Paths extended out of him, but they weren’t aimed at anyone. Rather, it seemed to meld into his very surroundings. It sort of reminded Xander of how using the second set of Paths, he could extend his target to metaphysical things, like space or...

Xander’s pupils constricted.

"Uh... Mary, can you notice him doing that?" Mary blinked and gave Xander an inquisitive look.

"Doing what?" As soon as she asked that.

CRACK CRACK

Xander’s head snapped forward at the sounds of something freezing. With Curtis at the center, a blue sheen surrounded him as... the space itself started to freeze.

Mary’s eyes immediately narrowed, and before Curtis could continue his actions, she clenched her fist, and inside the cube, wind suddenly raged.

It ignored the freezing space and surged towards Curtis, entering his body, and as soon as it did, his large body stiffened before falling to the ground.

Not just that, but Xander also noticed was wasn’t able to unleash his Mana, Mary binding him both physically and magically.

Yet Mary’s eyes showed genuine surprise.

"... It seems like I’ve underestimated your friends, Milord. I can feel his Mana freezing mine. It seems like in this state, he doesn’t just transform the attributes of the ambient Mana. He can freeze magic itself. However, he himself seems unaware of this ability, otherwise, he would have attempted to freeze my barrier. But that also means this is just an instinctive application. How... absurd." Mary said with slightly furrowed brows, her fist still clenched, while Curtis looked at them with his eyes in pure Ferocity.

Xander went silent at those words, then he sighed and mumbled.

"You’re incredible, buddy." Then his gaze also turned solemn as he once again looked at Curtis using Myriad Paths, and when he looked at his body directly, he saw an odd scene.

Curtis’s Paths... almost seemed to be at odds with each other.

Multiple paths with the same source, yet different intents, almost seemed to be attacking each other. One part gave off a primal, feral feel, while another gave off a sense of Rationality and intelligence. As it stood, though, one side was heavily suppressing the other, with the Primal Side practically stomping the rational side, and Xander could sense the desperation in the latter.

’I knew it.’ He nodded. He intentionally did not make use of the Paths on his friends, but he was sure that if he had gazed at Curtis’s at any time before this, he would have seen a similar scene, only that the roles were reversed, and Rationality held down Ferocity.

With this in mind, Xander had an idea.

"Mary, could you let me enter for a moment?" He asked, and Mary glanced at him before nodding.

An opening just large enough for him to pass through opened up in the cage, and he stepped inside.

He walked closer to Curtis who was still on the floor, growling in a threatening manner. The growling only got louder when Xander used Sword Projection to summon one of his swords, and he raised it.

However, he did not swing it at Curtis.

Rather, using the second Seth of Paths, he changed the target of his swing to the Feral paths holding down the rational ones.

And he swung.