Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

Even though Leon had made his choice, at the last moment, he hesitated in doing that. Summoning a copy of himself was one thing, but bringing some back from the dead was another. Even though it was just for a short time...

In the end, Leon ended up summoning Donan from his mind. Much to his surprise, Leon had to use far less mana to make Donan appear. Using Mana Magnetism alone was enough to maintain his form. Regardless, Donan opened his eyes widely when he saw Leon in front of him.

"You... why are you back so soon?" Donan said, visibly surprised. "What place is this?"

"This is a dimension created by the spirit of the time, Sekundez," Leon answered. "Right now, I'm trying to complete a trial to obtain her power. Anyway, what is the last thing that did you remember?"

"... You and the harvesters leaving my world," Donan answered after frowning for several seconds. "You said that you would help them but also would keep an eye on my world."

"Ah... that makes sense," Leon said. "Well, I'm not really sorry by saying this, but you died, and my power alone created your current existence."

"... What?" Donan asked, shocked.

"I spent some years in the harvesters world, and after I killed them, I returned to Miebos and discovered about your death," Leon explained. "According to Darya, your organs suddenly stopped working because they aged too fast. The doctors of your world didn't know the cause, but most likely, the Dark Aura was what killed you. You didn't have a body strong enough to withstand such power-up."

"What kind of nonsense is that?" Donan asked; he was pale like a ghost. "Do you think that you can fool me?"

"Deep down, you know that is true, you are getting nervous because you know that," Leon said.

"You are lying!" Donan shouted and activated Dark Aura.

One of the problems of Mind Summoning was the fact that it wasn't like the other summoning spells. Whatever Leon creates with it, it wouldn't obey him. So, Leon could be attacked, and to make matters worse, whatever tries to attack him, it would consume his own mana.

However, in the end, Leon didn't have to do anything. He just cut the link between his mana pool and Donan, and that made him disappear. Before summoning him again, Leon decided to create a statue of mithril that had the same height and dimensions as the real Donan. That would help him understand that Leon was telling the truth.

Leon summoned Donan again, and he frowned when he noticed that Dark Aura was no longer active. He frowned even more, when he saw the mithril statue between himself and Leon.

"As you know, creating something with so much mithril takes time," Leon said. "Do you think I can create something like this in the blink of an eye? Even if you think that, do you think it's wise to pick a fight with me?"

"No... it can't be..." Donan fell on his knees," Why so suddenly?"

"It wasn't suddenly. You eventually noticed that you were dying, and because of that, you prepared Darya to take your place," Leon said. "Although that kind of action didn't erase the fact that you played with her life for many years, at the very least, you had the decency to warn her to keep a distance from that bastard's dungeon."

"... Is she alive?" Donan asked after he bit his lips.

"I don't know... the last time I saw her, I was going to face your boss," Leon scratched the back of his head. "I want to believe that she followed my advice and didn't follow me, but I can't be sure."

Leon started to wonder if it was a good idea to act so nonchalantly like that in front of someone who was dead. Although Leon could keep Donan alive, it wasn't the same Donan that once existed. It was the Donan that Leon interacted with. So, he had no reason whatsoever to keep him alive for more time than the necessary. In any case, it took a while for Donan to process everything. Although it would be easier for Leon just to read his memories, he didn't want to treat even him as a tool.

"... What do you want from me?" Donan asked once he accepted the fact that he was dead.

"I want three things from you, everything you know about the shadowy figure, I want you to teach the skills that you have, and I want you to help me train Darkness Resistance," Leon said. "Unfortunately, this isn't a negotiation, so you only have one option. I'm sure you can understand that given than I brought you back from the dead... even though it is just for a short time."

"... You probably know much more about him now since you lived long enough to obtain the power to... do this," Donan looked away and saw Leon's elemental skeletons defeating ogres. "He only told me a few things... he wants to hunt the creature that developed the system and to do that, he needed all the mana in the universe. I decided to follow him because his enemy was the one who put every single creature in the universe in a battle royal for survival."

For a power-hungry bastard like the shadowy figure, Leon imagined that he would thank whoever created that weird system, but after hearing that, Leon couldn't help but frown. Leon was one hundred percent sure the shadowy figure was a bastard who deserved to die, but at the very least, according to Donan, he wasn't an idiot who was just seeking power to stand above others. Still, that was hard to be sure because Donan died and was probably fooled by the shadowy figure.