Ukatan Construction Site
Hao’s pulse never varied above a deadly calm constant. His senses remained razor sharp, his mind of steel blocking out any inhibiting limitations brought upon by the mind. No fear, hesitation, or wander blighted his mind, to such an extent that it was as if Hao was merely performing the most casual of daily acts. His breathing was regulated and rhythmic, and his movements had absolutely no waste to them. Every single one of Hao’s maneuvers, whether they be feints or extended attacks, were planned and performed with inhuman efficiency completely lacking in human error. A result of breathing and walking, an Eastern ideology that one drew in god through breath and released god in one’s own expression through the act of walking. The basis for the emphasis of control in breathing within Chinese martial arts, and an ideology that vastly enhanced Hao’s combative capacity, and caused him to be almost peerless in complete hand to hand combat. It was with this mindset of utter efficiency that Hao imbibed his new situation, carefully analyzing every minutiae there was to the situation with extreme rapidity. Firstly, Hao perceived rather quickly that this new foe was utilizing mental interference, which amused Hao. Perhaps if the man had been far more subtle and had deigned to remove his flashy intimidation, his mental interference might have been minor enough to overlook, but alas his flamboyance heralded a grave mistake. No mental interference of the single count level from modern magi would be able to harm any magus with decent capacity, as simply flowing prana through circuits would be enough to dispel the interference spell. It would take a family versed in interference throughout many generations to even consider such a scale of manipulation.
Flowing his magical energy throughout his body, Hao washed away the filth of Charles’s interference and perceived him clearly. The girl had immediately been seized by some other acquaintance of hers and escaped in due process, but Hao did not consider this event a loss. He had never expected to eliminate a master so early in this war, but he did not expect that anyone would challenge him directly. Rationally, Hao could deduce that the man before him was a capable Western magus, and thus a master as no Western magus would be troubled to step foot upon an Eastern land without some priorities in order, let alone engage in unnecessary conflict. Of course, this man being a master introduced the predicament that his servant was near, and would easily dispatch Hao if he was not wary. Hao instinctively understood that this situation was at a vast disadvantage for him, as he had no way to deduce whether the man’s servant was nearby or approaching in rapidly from a distant location. Even then, Hao would not be foolish enough to engage this man. He had only decided to snatch away Akane’s life as it would have been a surprise with not even time for her to utilize a command seal to call upon her cherished Lancer. But this man was prepared and ready to utilize a command seal should he face pressure by Hao, which was entirely likely. Yet Hao could not simply flee anymore. He would immediately be suspected as a master by anybody else observing, and thus his retreat would immediately herald a pursuit by those confident in their capacities as masters. Hao had excellent capacity in tactical retreat, and pursuing Hao would be quite the arduous and possibly life threatening task if this man did attempt to do such, but the presence of a servant would largely negate this risk. Hao would need to rely upon the Knight to extricate him from this situation, which was quite unfortunate.
Hao’s body automatically assumed a general defensive stance with arms crossed over the torso and body in slightly crouched position to reduce target area when he perceived his opponent firing blades of flame at him. They were created from runes, which possibly indicated a Scandinavian or Irish master as Runes were exclusive to magi of those areas. Keeping this information in his mind, Hao simply stood his ground, the swords merely pushing him back without dealing significant damage. They impressed upon Hao’s armor before fizzling away without any additional fuel to keep burning. A more significant spell would have to be utilized beyond the single action or one count realm to dent this armor, considering the status of its original bearer. In tandem with Hao, the enemy had raised a buckler, a likely mystic code along with the sword, in defense so as to safely scout out Hao’s capacities. All that he would glean from this exchange was that Hao’s armor was exceptionally durable, and the obvious factor of Hao’s combat experience. Hao’s instincts flared in the immediate next moment as his opponent fired off a significantly more powerful spell that was still within the single count range, but likely able to deal some damage to Hao should contact be solid. Although the chances of actually receiving anything more than minor injuries was exceedingly low, Hao still had the urgent task of retreat, which would best be accomplished as soon as possible.
As soon as Hao perceived the man readying his offense in time far before any ordinary man could perceive due to Hao analyzing everything from facial feature to bodily language, he contacted the knight with a simple request.
“Open the door.”
A sudden shift in scenery. A knight sitting with majestic air upon a throne within a circular room of blackened brick and mortar nodded in response.
“Open door, let him in”
A black maw opened behind Hao, distorting space as its coal black singularity punctured a hole in spatial layers. Hao immediately launched himself through this portal by pushing himself off with his forward foot. The portal collapsed when Hao’s body warped into the portal, fizzling away and leaving nothing to reminisce its existence.