Chapter 481: Mana and Aura

Selena let out a quiet breath, and the tension in her shoulders eased, just slightly. She looked at Garrick and allowed herself a small, tired smile.

"Thank you, Garrick."

Garrick didn’t answer. His grip on Gill tightened instead, his massive arm pressing against the Archivist’s ribs until the smaller man let out a strangled wheeze. Garrick leaned in close, his voice low and rough, each word grinding out through clenched teeth.

"Now talk. What are you planning?"

Gill tried to wriggle free, but there was nowhere to go. He sighed and gave up resisting.

"Finally, you’re listening to me." He tried to gesture with one hand, but Garrick’s grip pinned his arms to his sides. "I’ve been trying to explain since the beginning, you know. But you—"

He stopped talking when he noticed both Garrick and Selena staring at him. Garrick’s eyes were still burning with fury and selena’s gaze was cold and patient, the kind of patience that said she was willing to wait, but not forever.

Gill swallowed.

"...Alright. Alright, fine. I’ll tell you everything." He paused, then looked up at Garrick with a cautious expression. "But you have to promise me something first. You have to guarantee my safety when this is over."

Garrick’s expression twisted. His grip tightened again, and Gill let out another pained gasp.

"You’re still confident enough to make demands?" Garrick’s voice rose, his teeth bared. "After what you did to my people?"

The growl in his chest deepened, his muscles tensed, and for a moment it looked like he might crush Gill right there, safety guarantee or not.

Selena stepped forward and placed a hand on Garrick’s arm.

"That’s enough."

Garrick’s head snapped toward her, but she didn’t flinch. She met his gaze evenly, her voice calm but firm.

"I said that’s enough."

Then, slowly, Garrick’s grip loosened, just a fraction. He wasn’t about to let go of the man who had turned his people into sacrifices.

Selena turned to Gill.

"I will guarantee your safety," she said. "But only if what you tell us is the truth. If you lie, or if you leave anything out, I won’t stop him next time."

Gill, hearing that, felt relieved. He let out a long, slow breath and nodded.

"Alright."

He straightened as much as he could with Garrick still holding him, and when he spoke again, his voice was quieter, more serious than before.

"Do either of you understand what mana and aura really are?"

Garrick’s brow furrowed. His grip on Gill’s arm didn’t loosen.

"What does that have to do with what I’m asking you right now?"

Gill didn’t flinch. He just tilted his head slightly.

"Everything. Mana is the energy that lets people cast magic. Aura is the energy that lives inside a body, born from oaths, conviction, and the will to protect or destroy. So tell me—" He looked from Garrick to Selena. "Do you think those two things are different? Or are they the same?"

Garrick’s jaw tightened. His patience was already thin, and now this man was talking in riddles.

"What are you talking about? From the start, what have you been saying?"

Selena raised a hand, quieting him without a word.

"Mana and aura are different things," she said. "Their concepts are completely separate. The way they’re used, the way they grow, they can’t be combined. The only thing they share is that they’re both forms of power."

Gill nodded slowly.

"That’s what everyone believes and that’s what I believed too, once." He paused, letting the words hang. "But my master didn’t think so. He believed they were the same thing."

Gill felt the tension in Garrick’s arm ease, and he pressed on.

"He said that all energy is connected. It comes from one place, one source. We just use it differently. Magic users draw it out and shape it with formulas. Aura users pull it from within and sharpen it with oath and will. But the root is the same." He looked at Selena. "You know what an oath is, don’t you? It’s just another word for aura. A different name for the same thing."

Selena wasn’t sure why Gill had chosen this moment to explain all of it, but something told her it might matter. So she kept listening.

"And that," Gill said, "is what Wincent is after. He wants to merge them. He wants to combine both into a single energy, something no one has ever created before."

Selena’s eyes narrowed. She repeated the words slowly, as if tasting something bitter.

"A new energy...? Then what does he want? To become a god?"

Garrick’s growl deepened. His grip on Gill’s arm tightened, and the Archivist let out a pained wheeze.

"What does that have to do with the sacrifices?" Garrick demanded. "My people—what did they have to do with any of this?"

"It has everything to do with it," Gill said quietly. "When I performed the ritual, I chose them specifically. Human mages and beastkin. Their mana and their aura are different. I needed to see if the theory was true. I needed to see if they could be merged."

Garrick’s hand trembled against Gill’s arm, he felt so angry that he wanted to eat him alive.

"You used my people as experiments?"

Gill didn’t deny it. He just looked away and said, "Yes."

Selena stepped forward, her voice sharp.

"And how does Wincent know about any of this?"

Gill let out a tired sigh.

"Because he has a copy of the book my master wrote. Everything about the theory, the experiments, the methods—it’s all there. Wincent has been following my master’s notes for years."

Selena’s eyes sharpened.

"But weren’t all of your master’s books burned? You destroyed them yourself. Why is there still a copy left?"

Gill let out a frustrated sigh, his expression twisting with something between irritation and regret.

"Because my master was paranoid. Insanely so. He made backups. Dozens of them. He hid them in places no one would think to look." He paused, then let out a short, bitter laugh. "He never expected that his own student would be the one to kill him."

Garrick’s voice was low, rough.

"Why did you kill him?"

Gill looked down blankly, then he said, "Because the Archivist wanted to become a god."