With what appeared to be a smirk, those that magically changed their hair colours first attempted to break down his mana to destroy his spell then noticed that Will and an endless stream of mana were supplied to keep the spell up no matter how quickly they were broken down. Then they tossed illusions into his mind, hallucinations to make it appear like he was casting a spell while in fact he wasn't doing so.

The effect on him was rather interesting, his Core Skill took those hallucinations as simulations but he was always aware of what he was doing. With a few of them flooding his mind with these hallucinations, he figured it was likely their Clan Skill or just a common technique they knew to make one fall into an endless falsehood. But Ebony's first Core Skill and his third made them add to his 'experience' and simulations without affecting what his body was doing. He could compartmentalize what was real and what wasn't very well. So well that he caught the Nings off guard when the hallucinations didn't affect him in the physical world.

All except for the watching Saint of course. She was sitting out and he hoped she kept it that way.

They couldn't track him if his Will was all over the place. Banking on that plan, the Numbers and thousands of refractions of each of them along with fake bodies were conjured and split up. They included a body of Ning Xin of course, body temperature and Will that tried to copy the aura of her Intent was included too.

He admits they were a poor copy. Will might be able to shape itself in any form and was supremely flexible but having it copy the effects of a different individual's Intent was something he wasn't able to do yet if ever.

Needless to say, he wasn't able to trick any of the Nings who were sensing him through mental energy or perhaps they were sensing him through Xin's presence.

Tidal just had to be hours upon hours away…

Ebony's Mantle of Reservation was torn and dented by a lightning bolt, the gravity mana couldn't patch up the hole the lightning magic user laced on him.

"I need speed." He said honestly.

"Then hurry up and break this stupid bracelet." His bride shook her hand around his neck, clinging tight.

Ebony was good at breaking things no matter how physically hard. Nothing the good old freezing and shattering couldn't do, not when mana wasn't a problem.

But Xeng craft challenged his notions for it was resisting his attempts of heating and cooling using vibrations and ice mana very well. As far as he could tell, the unknown material wasn't packed with mana or enchantment for durability. The nature of the material just seemed to maintain its internal temperature regardless of how cold or hot he tried to make it.

Still, that nature could easily be overridden by large volumes of mana and he had been making progress since he grabbed onto Xin. It was a test of some sort, to free her from these 'chains' and to allow her to be unfettered. If that was the message they were sending him, they were a bit rude. He would not willingly impede her from progress the same way none of them would to any individual.

He guessed right when both solar and lunar flares shone on them. Using ice refractions surprisingly worked in redirecting a fraction of their energy but he was still lit aflame. With three different types of flames on his body he had no choice but to tolerate the burns and the infection. He didn't have time to simulate and hypothesise what kind of fortifications or effects these solar and lunar flames had.

While he tried to counterattack, almost all of them managed to protect themselves from his magnified gravity and ice flames. The Xu successfully protected himself, it was the lady from the Yin family that failed to withstand the spell with a weakened body and was planted into the ground.

Although his gravity spell after being compressed to the limit can flatten a stone building it was the first time it worked so well on a Xeng opponent. The lady from the Yin clan needed help from her husband to tear his gravity spell apart and free her. The husband, one of the 5th generation got annoyed enough to change the hue of his hair to a deeper shade of yellow.

With Ning Xun attacking his mind with stuns, the other man followed up with turning part of his mindspace regarding his spells gold. When experience and memories about the magnified gravity spell turned gold from their colourless and transparent form, Ebony lost the ability to properly manipulate gravity mana in that specific way.

While Will still allowed him to form the spell, he realized the spell was no longer Skill-buffed.

Along with Veronica and now her mother, Zhao Ya, Ebony lost a lot of strength and skills.

The only bright side was that Ning Xun and the third-generation Ning were the only ones capable of chasing him physically while the others had to have their magic keep up. They needed to boost each other or use a movement spell to lay eyes on him. They had the advantage of range and power but Ebony didn't think he was disadvantaged in terms of mana control when he had Will.

The woman who pushed his brain out of his head was essentially teleporting where her mana could go, and she could propel her mana faster than he could move. He didn't know how she did it, perhaps space magic was in the bloodline but that was unlikely since she was a third generation. Otherwise, the younger generations would have more space magic users too.

Ebony did not know which clan the husband of the second-generation Ning was. He only knew Shi Tao's husband had the surname of a lost clan that died of with him.

His Domain was not affecting these two chasing him as well as he would've liked and he wasn't sure if he was even affecting the Zhao clan's divination.

The Yin and Yang light-based attacks were also pretty much undodgeable not because of how fast the spells were but because they cast the spell over the entire land around and ahead of him. Concentrated beams were fired at him from every direction and he couldn't predict where they would spawn from.

Ebony took all the hits the two close combatant Nings and built Fluid Blitz up, when he reached his limit he transferred all the momentum into a vibrational spell and crushed the bracelet on Xin's arm

Then he let her mana slip into his chest.

And she popped his heart with a burst of blood and fire mana.

"uhm…oops." She must have used Intent to cast her blood magic on his heart.

"My heart is not Fortified or built like yours. Try again." Ebony held his blood together while the heart muscles regenerated.

"Sorry, I thought you could take one in your augmented state."

"My body can barely take Will infused buffs, it can't take much more augmentation." Inside, he was thinking how his heart wasn't vital as an organ if he could replicate what it does with mana and magic control.

With a sizable boost, a lightning enhancement and path of wind, he attempted to leave his bride's family behind.

Alas, the Nings simply did something similar and made a hasty combination spell on the spot. Or something they've done before with a rudimentary understanding of each other's ability. Ning Xun wrapped his senior's mana in his and zapped it ahead of Ebony.

A zap of lightning was all it took for them to get ahead.

The eldest Ning would walk out of her mana with her body and crush any spell within her range. Mind magic that dispelled and scattered all types of mana they were able to use.

Ebony's Augmentation barely held on thanks to his Domain but Xin's help was scattered and all of his external spells such as his Mantle of Reservation and tunnel of gravity exploded outwards.

She didn't use Will, but when his spells were blasted apart, she expelled her mana into the space around them and achieved dominance over the space where her mana took. Although not a Domain, Ebony failed to steal control over the space around them now. Her mana was simply too pure and her mental power was far higher than his.

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He didn't give up, even without gravity magic Phantom's Flicker was a fully physical movement skill and internal augmentation was still working.

His goal was to bring his bride home, not win a 1vs11 while they were suppressed.

Xin's Intuition had her act without communication, she blasted her Intent at the lady standing before them. A mere fraction of disturbance was enough for him to get moving.

This cat-and-mouse chase continued for another hour.

Thanks to a pair of wings, they made it back in record time considering all the weakening effects he was under.

He was proud to have successfully kept her unmarred and spotless even at great costs of maintaining her Mantle of Reservation with an immense amount of Will. It satisfied him and the Nings and Veronica seemed at peace that he was at least capable of doing the bare minimum.

He was basically cheating with the ability to use Will so early so he wouldn't even be confident in his abilities if he still failed at something basic.

'Ning Xun accepted me at some point but that third-gen Ning…she doesn't like me.' Most of them only cast a spell or two, showing that they weren't against their marriage and were just playing along with tradition.

Veronica's debuff never wore off but they weren't that potent all things considered. She acted soft on him.

Ning Xun was protective but he'd already proven to the old man what he had to prove.

On the other hand, the older Ning was persistent. She was also the most competent, anti-mage mage and anti-personnel in general.

Ebony already gave himself a considerable chance of beating Ning Xun but that prediction was moot in front of this older lady. He didn't know for sure but by rough estimation, he might not be able to wear her out with his mana or stamina. Purely from how resilient her mind and mana were. No spell worked anywhere close to her unless they were thickly imbued with Will.

Mana density simply evaporated under her mana purity, at least tens of thousands to one. That usually wasn't enough to deter him but it was almost obvious that the mage-dominant clan had similar fortifications to mana, she was merely held back to the same degree as the time she was a Grandmaster. Regeneration rate, capacity or maybe some sort of resilience and purity fortifications would not be missing from her repertoire.

'But is that mind magic? Did she not use any on me? That and the mana phantom teleporting, she's more of a mana specialist than a mind mage.' Arriving to the quiet cheers and the loud one from Hector who quickly shut up from the stares he was getting, he let Xin's waist go and took her hand instead.

Everything else wasn't important at the moment. He pulled her forward while she went back to having red hair. It felt like she was too shy to move with all the eyes on her and she fell back to her other form. This version of her was pacified with some form of self-induced mind magic, he could feel the waves of mana around her head trying to dampen her Intent. Standing not on the porch of his home but under Dusk that was where the performers had been. They weren't even offered a table by the Shi and were ushered to the side.

He was supposed to say something now but the words that came out were concise, "thank you all for coming." He raised the burning hand he held, "From now, Scarlet Rhael Ning Xin is my wife." It was already a done deal, but he got her to face him "Will you take my family name-"

His unreactive self-preservation shuddered when every second-generation Xeng had their Intents and Will zoomed in on him. But the woman wearing the Zhao clan emblem had slumped her shoulders and then the rest of them noticed that and did the same. He was sure she said something but he couldn't hear it, however, he felt their Wills and Intents. "No slaughter today."

Swapping to Gia, he called it "Rime." And watched Oplot twitching his fingers. But Navin and Yvette had no reaction.

Some cursory glances were still shot around by the Xengs, most of them were unmasked but there were actually a few people who were masked and he didn't recognize the clan emblem. Perhaps they were living second generations that came from Earth and had never married or given offspring so their clan never grew and their clan names were not public.

Next came pouring a drink to her parents.

Veronica was the only one who took this responsibility in their place.

Then the Kong sent the two of them along with Shi Tao, Veronica and the Ning Saint to the Shi Clan.

He felt Xin's confusion but slowly led her to the back mountains. They left Veronica waiting at the temple.

"My mother lies here," Ebony informed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Black spoke beyond Red's control. She scrunched her dress, not expecting this.

Perhaps the thought never came to mind. Perhaps she assumed one of the Shi would take her place or she thought he reunited with his mother. The last wouldn't be wrong.

"I haven't told you, now I have."

"Auntie, I'm your daughter-in-law." She squatted down, took the cup the Ning Saint held and poured it over his mother's tombstone.

Ebony was about to push her aside since his Mantle of Reservation would fail for sure but she summoned her swords first.

'I think Quasar likes her.' He saw that the spear wasn't overly rough or diabolical with where it was aiming. He was a bit curious at what they thought about her Sword Art.

It was also the first time he was seen it after their duel, and it supposedly evolved.

'Something feels wrong…it's not my first time seeing her evolved Art.' He didn't remember, but his body was telling him he knew the changes that he was seeing for the first time.

He was allowed to admire her physical mastery and limit once more.

Impeccable muscular control.

Inhuman reflexes now matched with Intuition that was pretty much foresight in battle. She was avoiding delayed strikes that he couldn't just because of gut feeling.

He let his bride and the spear have fun while he sat down too, "She's who I decided to be family. Quasar and even you won't change my mind, but I think you would've liked her too if you were here."

Ebony didn't know when but Xin had become even faster and stronger. Thanks to her ability to transmute into flames, her Sword Art was not burdened by a weak body anymore. Although he could still match her Core Skill's augmentation with his Domain, her Sword Art far surpasses what Fluid Blitz could support him with.

He couldn't see her swords or arms and she was just a blur moving in the air. Not because she wanted to fly but Quasar met power with power and speed with speed.

'She might almost be faster than her great grandfather.' Not in terms of movement but in terms of her sword skill and general attacking speed, her Sword Art was shining through.

Gravity mana slapped his chest gently.

He turned to Shi Tao, "Aunt Tao,"

"Got it, let's go." Shi Tao must have been able to sense the same words he did or perhaps the Intent of the Spear Spirit.

He was told his mother had a gift prepared for his future wife as if she expected this day to come.

When the two Shi, including him reached the entrance of the Infinite Variations, he adeptly slid himself to catch Xin's rocketing body after she was smashed over with chipped swords.

Ebony felt bad for her swords, they didn't have self-healing abilities anywhere close to Icicle's. Although they drank blood, they weren't strengthened in the same way Xin would be strengthened if she drank blood.

The wedding gift his mother left behind was a training session.

"Wouldn't it be rude to keep the guests waiting?" He had a real concern. Training sessions were rarely short.

Quasar answered him, "I'll delay this room, you'll exit a second after you've entered. Now brace."

Shi Tao didn't have to wait for long outside but within this contraption, at least 30 hours had passed.

Regardless of black or red hair, Xin had her arms around his waist while his shoulders were moist with her tears.

The two of them miserably lost to a recording where Quasar didn't make any moves of its own. This was a dedicated recording as a gift.

And they all aimed for his and her butts only.

His butt was swollen and bruised at all times even with his healing speed.

It seemed obvious enough to protect a single area when all attacks were aimed at one spot but Tier 5 arts be damned, it made no difference.

The recording wasn't made for young Grandmasters like them, that he was sure of. Maybe she didn't expect him to get married so under-evolved.

"Am I not strong enough for you?" She sniffled her nose all over her mask.

"There there," He copied his mother's words that she always said after breaking his younger spirit down.

He was used to this, but she clearly wasn't. The feeling would probably be weaker than if his current self were to beat a 15-year-old version of Xin. "nothing of the sort, you're stronger than I am."

The thirty-hour recording of a beat down was over but Quasar let them stay here for a moment longer. It let them heal their swollen behinds before they had to go back out.

Quasar bent and rubbed Xin's head then poked at his torso. "You didn't train hard enough!"

It seemed that the Spear liked his bride and was blaming him for not being able to keep her away from pain.

'Can I take that as your approval…' Ebony felt better than before this wonderful gift had been received. Not so good about seeing his wife cry so hard for the first time but it was an experience too.

Since he learned from painful experiences better, he should be better at preventing this from happening from now on.

"Thanks for the gift."

She echoed after him when they bowed to the room and exited.

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