A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

Eldrian understood that things would never be so simple. Their mana was being kept perfectly in the form of a human being. With mana sense, they were closer to humans made of lights than ghosts. 

Stealing their mana would not be easy. Most tricky of all, Eldrian had yet to see much loss in this mana—outside of when they canceled his spells. This meant they weren't weakening as time passed. Their time limit would simply suddenly cut them off from the world when reached. 

Making the entire situation worse, Eldrian had no clue just how long that limit could be. He certainly couldn't wait here to figure that out. His guildmates could hold for a while more, but there was no guarantee they could last longer than the ghosts. 

'And that brings me to how to actually deal with them.' Eldrian commented to himself, slipping his Mageia into the mana composing their ethereal forms. Testing the mana, so to speak. 

'They really can't sense it. Which confirms they can only react to mana movement.' This meant Eldrian had a chance. 'But if I attack all seven, I won't be strong enough. And if I attack only one, the others will relieve the pressure... if they even can.'

Eldrian wasn't sure, but he didn't want to roll the dice to find out. Instead, he would create a plan they wouldn't be able to withstand. 

Closing his eyes, Eldrian withdrew his Mageia and entered a meditative state. Quickly slipping into his soul, he pulled at the very fabric of 'space' and started making the core of his attack. 

His plan was simple. Pre-make his attack 'spell'. Just like he had often done with normal spells, back when Two was still with him. But make it far more advanced. 

These 'spells' would be less spells and more like semi-living 'things'. Terrible if compared to actual living things, but hopefully good enough to prevent those they targeted from helping the one he was truly focusing on. 

This took a while, and while in his soul, Eldrian received no updates on the war situation. But he couldn't rush things. He needed these spells to work. To be capable enough to stall elite players. Players who know how to feel and sense mana. How to guide it, if not outright control it. 

For that reason, Eldrian invested far more time and energy than normal. Once he had his automatic spells designed, he filled them with mana from the stars and planets floating over his soul world. Affirming their functions, testing them on some of the things in his soul world. 

'Now.'

—

"Has he finally accepted his loss?" The female commentators asked. Almost half an hour had passed yet Eldrian had yet to move. 

Of course, the viewers all understood the trap he was in. They could even see the ghosts. As more traditional ghosts—not humans made of lights. Near invisible human forms. Ethereal.

The viewers even had the option to view the battle from the perspective of these players. Though these perspectives looked strange. A world of mana, not of normal matter. And in that view, Eldrian shone like a star. 

His brightness told the tale of just how far he outstripped other players. Mana at least ten times as dense as any other. 

And this person was resting in the middle of the formation. Eyes closed. Not moving an inch. 

In that state, he stayed as the minutes passed. As his friends fought to survive their predicate. As the archers ran out of arrows and the mages of mana.

As death neared them.

And second place beckoned them. 

Then, suddenly, Eldrian moved. In a flash, he was attacking the barrier. His attacks told the tale of just how powerful he, and his weapons, were. Yet, the barrier stood strong. Not a flicker, not a crack, not a speck. 

Then...

—

Opening his eyes, Eldrian charged forward. Crystoi in his left hand and Willo in his right. Both landed against the formation barrier with a massive unified clang. Shockwaves sent dust billowing, yet the ground itself was undamaged. Protected by a similar barrier. Of course it was, if it hadn't been, Eldrian would long since have attacked the formation directly. 

'It really is tough, being able to withstand Willo without so much as a flicker.' Eldrian commented as he struck again. At the same time, he sent out his Mageia to the seven ghosts. 

His sudden movements had caught the ghosts by surprise, the violence of his attack stealing their attention. They thought it was his last attempt. After all, his friends were surely running out of steam. 

Their thoughts otherwise preoccupied, if only for a moment, was precisely the moment Eldrian had needed. 

His automatic spells latched onto their targets at that moment. The spells consumed the mana of their hosts; and converted the mana into fire and brimstone.

Shockwaves rocked the ghosts, sending them tumbling through the world. Passing through physical matter didn't change the outcome. The explosions happened whether they were in the sky, in a tree, or in the ground. 

As for Eldrian's actual target. That ghost's mana was now completely at his mercy. He was sending attacks after the tumbling ghosts, causing internal combustion to his target ghost, and... gathering mana to destroy the crystals supporting the barrier keeping him locked in. 

—

"What am I seeing? What did he just do?" The female commenter shouted, voicing the question in all the viewers' minds. 

The sudden change from a relatively peaceful siege to a full-blown armageddon had them all struggling to grasp what had happened. 

One second it appeared that Eldrian had accepted defeat. And the next... he had somehow attacked the players in their ghost form?

But how?

Any spell would surely have been noticed by them. And, didn't the formation itself also detect the formation of spells?

"Truly impressive" Oier commented. 

"Do you know what he did?"

"No, but I have a few ideas."

"What do you—oh!"

"Don't just keep it to yourself, explain to our confused audience." Oier teased. 

"Since he couldn't cast spells inside the formation, he cast them outside?" While she had started out confident, that confidence had disappeared by the end of her sentence. It was common knowledge that you could cast spells distant from your body, but there were limits. 

Most importantly, wouldn't the formation barrier (if not the formation itself) have prevented the spell from completing? At the very least, it should have bought the Nihon players a second or two. 

"Indeed." Knowing that a bit more explaining was required, Oier did just that. "The formation Eldrian is trapped in isn't—"

The explanation was disrupted as a truly massive explosion rocked the arena. Like a second sun being born, the world turned white. 

—

"Phew..." Eldrian sighed in relief.

After everything, he still ended up using the Ring of Avyssos. If he hadn't, he wouldn't even be ash. He would be nothing more than atoms riding the shockwave of the largest explosion (Eldrian excluded) any player in ANW had ever witnessed. 

Heck, if not for the barrier of ice surrounding him and two other players of Phoenix, he would be just as much atoms riding a shockwave. 

"Umm... Eldrian... What's going on?" Silver—who had nearly had a heart attack when Eldrian suddenly appeared next to her, grabbed her, and summoned a dome of ice—asked. 

Her question was hardly audible. After all, the world was still shaking. Heck, their surroundings were naught but molten earth at the moment. The heatwave was even melting ice summoned from Tranquility. 

"Well, you see..." Eldrian started, but couldn't finish. The declaration that they had won just felt so out of place that he didn't know what to do. 

It was natural they had won. After all, Eldrian couldn't envision anyone else surviving that blast.

He hadn't even been sure he would be able to stay alive. He had prayed it would delay his, and the two players he had grabbed, deaths long enough for them to win.