The Glitched Mage-Chapter 102: Losing Control Part 1
[[ —RESET— ]]
Riven jolted upright in the Created Space, his breath coming in sharp gasps despite knowing it wasn't real. His mind screamed at him, body still reeling from the phantom pain of divine energy tearing through him.
He had lost.
Badly.
It had been so long since someone had defeated him in a fight. Longer still since he had been overpowered. Yet here he was, standing in the battlefield of his own creation, his body reset, his mana untouched—but the memory of Cassiel cutting him down burned in his mind like a searing brand.
Riven clenched his fists. He hadn't just been beaten. He had been destroyed.
The fight barely lasted a full minute.
His abyssal flames, his shadows—everything he had thrown at Cassiel had been rendered useless. The moment their blades clashed, the divine energy surging through Cassiel's sword had swallowed his abyssal flames whole. It didn't just resist his power—it consumed it, forcing the abyss back like it was a mere trickle against an ocean.
Riven had tried to adapt, using his speed, his raw strength—but it hadn't mattered.
Cassiel fought with a terrifying precision. His golden sword had moved through the battlefield like an extension of his own will, each strike executed with absolute control. Riven's defenses had crumbled under the sheer overwhelming force of divine energy. And then—
That last strike.
A single stab.
Cassiel's blade had torn through his chest, his abyssal mana cracking, splintering, collapsing in on itself. Riven had barely had time to react before the pain registered, before the golden light had obliterated him.
Even now, standing in the reset battlefield, Riven could still feel the lingering phantom pain of that attack, the deep, searing agony of divine power unmaking his abyssal strength.
His fingers trembled at his sides.
Divine mana was potent. Too potent. He had always known it would be a natural counter to abyssal energy, but this?
This was worse than he had anticipated.
Riven had fought countless opponents, but none of them had felt like this. None of them had made him feel powerless.
His jaw tightened. His fingers curled into a fist.
Cassiel was one of the greatest obstacles standing in his way. If he wanted to take his throne—if he wanted to crush the Solis Kingdom—he would have to overcome divine power.
He would have to overcome Cassiel.
Riven exhaled, steadying himself. He would fight again. And again. And again.
Until he won.
—x—
[[ Second Attempt ]]
Riven's sword clashed against Cassiel's once more, the sheer weight of divine energy crashing against him like a tidal wave. His arms shook violently under the impact, the force reverberating through his bones. His grip nearly faltered.
No—focus.
He twisted his stance, dodging to the side just before Cassiel's blade could follow through.
A flash of gold—Cassiel was already pivoting, already tracking his movement with terrifying precision.
Riven threw out a surge of abyssal fire, attempting to force distance between them—only to watch in disbelief as the golden light surrounding Cassiel's blade burned through it effortlessly, like it was nothing.
"Pathetic," Cassiel mocked.
Riven snarled, pushing forward, his abyssal flames surging around his blade as he swung—
Too slow.
Cassiel sidestepped and intercepted his strike with terrifying ease, the divine energy around his weapon forcing Riven's blade back as if his strength meant nothing.
Then came the counter.
A blinding arc of divine power slammed into his ribs, blood spurting from his mouth.
A split second of burning, searing pain.
And then—
[[ —RESET— ]]
—x—
[[ Fourth Attempt ]]
Riven adjusted his movements, forcing himself to match Cassiel's speed, to react before he was overwhelmed.
He ducked low, his body weaving through the relentless divine-infused strikes with practiced precision, sweat slicking his skin as he anticipated the next attack.
Cassiel's eyes gleamed. "Better."
A feint.
Too late.
The golden blade drove into his side.
White-hot pain.
[[ —RESET— ]]
—x—
[[ Ninth Attempt ]]
His instincts sharpened.
He no longer reacted too late.
He watched for patterns, for openings, for the slightest shift in Cassiel's stance that might betray an exploitable weakness.
Cassiel smirked, as if recognizing the change. "Still not enough."
A single precise thrust, and divine energy exploded inside Riven's shoulder.
[[ —RESET— ]]
—x—
[[ Twenty-Sixth Attempt ]]
Riven had lost track of time. The minutes had bled into hours, each fight ending the same way—death, reset, repeat. Over and over, he clashed with Cassiel, only to be cut down, consumed by divine power, shattered by overwhelming force. And each time, the system dragged him back, forcing him to relive the battle again.
Twenty-six deaths.
Riven gritted his teeth, his sword intercepting Cassiel's strike with a ferocity that rattled through his arms. His muscles burned, his mana surged, but this time, he didn't collapse.
Riven wasn't just fighting to survive—he was fighting to win.
Every clash, every exchange, he pushed himself harder. He didn't retreat, didn't falter, didn't accept defeat. Every death was a lesson. Every failure carved a new path forward.
And for the first time—Cassiel's expression darkened.
That alone was enough to fuel Riven's resolve.
—x—
[[ Sixty-seventh Attempt ]]
Sweat dripped from his brow, evaporating the moment it touched the heat of his abyssal flames. He could feel it now—the creeping exhaustion, the weight of his repeated failures. But there was something deeper beneath the exhaustion.
Frustration.
Riven had fought countless enemies, crushed warriors far stronger than him, but he had never lost this many times in battle.
This was… different.
Cassiel's divine mana didn't just overpower him—it suppressed him. It burned through his abyssal fire as if it were feeding off it, turning his greatest weapon into nothing more than dying embers.
Was this what the Shadow Kingdom had faced before its fall?
Was this the power that had slaughtered his people?
His breath came ragged, his heart pounding against his ribs.
It wasn't just frustration anymore.
It was rage.
Each death piled onto the last, each failure a weight pressing against his ribs, clawing at his patience, at his sanity. The battlefield had become an endless cycle of pain and rebirth, a loop where Cassiel struck him down again and again without hesitation, without effort.
And with every reset, something inside him twisted.
The abyss stirred—deep, primal, seething.
It curled in the depths of his soul, unfurling inch by inch with each loss, feeding on his fury, his hatred, his refusal to accept defeat.
The pressure built.
It pressed against his skin, against his bones, demanding release, demanding to consume.
Until it felt like he was going to explode.
Cassiel lunged again, golden light blazing.
And this time, Riven didn't evade.
Instead, he let go.
The moment Cassiel's blade descended, Riven let the abyss fully consume him.
Not just in his flames.
Not just in his sword.
But everything.
The shadows beneath his feet writhed, thick tendrils of abyssal energy snaking up his body, wrapping around him like a second skin. His mana heart throbbed painfully, stretching wider than ever before, its limits breaking as it tried to contain the surge of raw abyssal force.
Cassiel's golden light met abyssal darkness.
But this time—it didn't burn through.
It clashed.
For the first time, the divine energy didn't immediately overpower him.
Instead, the abyss pulled at it.
Devoured it.
The sheer pressure between them sent shockwaves through the battlefield, the ground beneath them cracking apart. Riven felt it—the divine mana being torn from Cassiel's blade, its sacred purity corrupting, twisting, shifting as it sank into the abyss.
Cassiel's eyes narrowed.
Riven's grin stretched wide, a sharp, almost feral expression—more like a predator baring its fangs than a smile.
So this was the answer.
His abyssal mana wasn't meant to match divine power. It was meant to consume it.
Cassiel's blade surged forward and Riven didn't dodge.
He let it come, let it connect with his abyss-infused body—and the moment it did, the divine power that should have annihilated him was instead siphoned into the abyss.
For the first time, Cassiel staggered.
A crack ran along the golden sword in his hands.
His balance faltered.
And Riven saw his opening.
He lunged.
Abyssal fire erupted from his blade, aimed directly at Cassiel's heart.
And just before his strike landed—
[[ —RESET— ]]
—x—
Riven jolted back into reality.
His hands still burned, abyssal energy thrashing violently around him, his body shaking with barely controlled power. He could feel it—the taste of divine mana still lingering in his veins, the abyssal void inside him screaming for more.
His vision flickered.
The battlefield blurred.
Everything looked wrong.
His own breath sounded distorted, his heartbeat erratic, his body thrumming with a power he didn't recognize.
A hand gripped his wrist.
"Riven."
The voice barely registered.
Another squeeze—firmer this time, grounding him.
"Riven, stop."
The world snapped back into place.
Nyx's face hovered in front of him, her eyes sharp with something between concern and warning. Her grip on his wrist was iron-tight, her own shadow energy pressed against his, forcing it back.
Riven blinked, the haze in his mind clearing.
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His breath hitched.
The training realm was gone.
He was back in the cave.
His body still shook from the aftereffects, his fingers twitching involuntarily, his abyssal fire still coiling violently around him, refusing to settle.
Nyx didn't let go.
Her voice was softer now. "You lost control."
Riven swallowed, flexing his fingers.
He had been close—so close—to fully devouring divine mana. But in doing so, he had lost himself.
A frenzied, hungry part of him had surfaced.
And that… was dangerous.
He clenched his jaw, forcing the abyss back into submission, the fire at his fingertips finally dimming.
For the first time in a while, he felt something like unease curling in his chest.
He had gained something powerful.
But he had also felt something unfamiliar.
Something that wanted to take over.
