Mortimer starred through his binnoculars at the rare mage. This particular one had taken an interest and decieded to write a few things about his power in the magicology book the MRS was working on. Although this mage may have desired to have other people understand him, from what Mortimer could tell, the entry in the book was a cry for help. Searching for a way to understand his rare breed of magic. Still, the entry had piqued Mortimers interest. Lately he'd been acting less lazy and wanted to learn more about magic in all its forms. Hence, he had set up this little "test". With that, Mortimer summoned six shadow minions, surrounding the magical swordsman. "lets see you get out of this" Mortimer said as he looked at the scene from on high.

Sai, for today, honestly didn't feel like doing all to much. It was one of the days that he had got off so why should he do any work? Unfortunately this wasn't an option it would seem. As while on a little stroll he found himself surrounded by what seemed to be human sized beings made of shadow.. and they didn't look friendly. With a sigh, he quickly unsheathed his sword, while doing so striking the first of the six, dissipating him easily. He then waited for a reaction.. to see if whoever summoned these things, if infact this was the work of something with that sort of power, would show up.

Number one dissipated. Numbers two and four, flank and attack from two opposite directions. Number three, fall back and maintain distance. Number five Jump in the air and attack simultaniously with two and four. Number six, remain on standby. All units begin primary assault.

With this the five remaining units carried out their orders, clawed hands raise, ready to stab or swipe the swordsman. "So what can you do?"

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Spoiler:

Sai looked left and right quickly to see two of the shadowmen trying to flank him, as well as a glimpse of one jumping. Reacting quickly, the swordsman would slash while doing something of a 180 turn, the wide arc cutting the shadowmen beside him. Then deciding it was time to finish this quickly, would finally use his magic. "Liberatio!" . The sword in his hand would be gone in a flash of brilliant light, before the shadowman in the air would find itself with a hole in its stomache as it dissipated, the clawed gauntlet that had taken the swords place peircing it easily. "Come out! I know your here somewhere"

Number six, dissipate and return to me, Number three, keep running lead him up the stairwell. With that, the stationary minion disappeared reforming next to Mortimer a few minutes later. While the last doll ran away from the terrifying metal man. Mortimer stood at the top of the everlast bell tower, right next to the giant bell itself. Now, would the mage follow the creature, or kill it as it ran away...

Watching one of the shadowmen run, Sai unsheathed his tanto and followed it. While moving, the tanto would form into his second weapon, as the spell had already been used there was no need to say it again. The shadowman would make it to the top of the stairs but only seconds after it would have a blade impaled through its chest when it would then dissipate. This is when he would finally see who had caused those shadows to be in the first place. "Do you wish to make an enemy? OR do you have a reason being that attack just now?" He asked, in a mostly non threataning way.

Well that was faster then I expected Mortimer thought as the mage stood before him in full battle form. "As a matter of fact there is something you can help me with", Mortimer said as he sauntered up to the heavily armed mage. "You are a very enigmatic figure for one thing. Also, you not only managed to defeat my minions but run all the way up to the highest point on a campus and barely be winded. Ultimately, I'd like to study you and your technique... after all it could greatly increase our knowledge of how magical artifacts and pactios work. But there is one last test I would like to administer to you" Mortimer said in a slightly maniacel way. "I want to see just how smart you are". And with that three more minnions materialized in front of the sword mage and charged at him. Mprtomer made ready to bring the shadows on the floor to life at any moment, and he had one last surprise for the little mage.

Sai listened, a chance to study his magic? That did intrigue him as did the shadow magic that he could use. He did a quick look about the room.. Shadows.. everywhere. If this test was another fight, it seemed that this person had the upper hand. But, thoughts moved back towards the three shadowmen rushing him foolishly. The blade on his left hand would quickly slash and remove them quickly, if he wanted a real test he would need more than these shadowmen, or at least use them intelligently. After dispatching the three shadowmen he glanced up to the other mage. "What now?" He looks to him, and then around again, moving somewhat so he isn't directly in any shadows.

*Sigh* "I was hopping you'd be able to figure it out but I guess I didn't make it obvious enough for you. You see so far today I have created nine shadow minions. Five of which you dispatched earlier, three of which you have just killed now. WHich means that there's still one of them left. One thats stayd out of your field of vision or in the very corner of your eye... The one that's right behind you." With that, the shadow creature raised its claw, aiming for the spine of the soul sealer.

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Upon hearing the words 'behind you' Sai growled, how did he miss that? Instead of attacking the shadow beast though, he sprinted forward, avoiding the strike and attacking the other mage, who would find himself held against a wall with Sai's hand at his throat. Though the angle was strange, didn't he have a blade in that hand? "Nice trick, here is one of mine. You call off your little beastie and I won't cut your throat. Don't try anything stupid" He warned. His strength wasn't that of a mage, but something else entirely. Upon closer inspection, it would seem the blade could retract at will, which meant it could be withdrawn just as quickly. He knew the shadowman was still there, but with his master in such peril, he would hope it was going to be called off, it was the smart thing to do after all.

"WONDERFUL" Mortimer exclaimed, dissipating the minion in the process. "Congratulations. You have earned the right for an equal partnership between peers rather than an experimenter-test subject relationship. So, when would you like to begin the study of your... unique ability?" As he was saying this he was slowly gathering shadows and solidifying them in the most inconspicuous way possible, causing the shadow beneath his chin to form a black choker should the sealer decide to cut off his head. One could never be too quick to counter attack afterall.

"Good" The sealer let him go and took a step back. "Now how do you plan to study this? He allowed his weapons to reform into their original states, which he would then quickly sheathe them, he felt no need to have them out any longer.

"Ah, now you see that is the most simple thing of all. You revealed quite a bit more than you realize when you wrote that magicology entry. Furthermore, your personal school file gives us your magic in much greater detail" Mortimer stated nonchalantly as he held up what appeared to be a stack of documents labeled with a large red-stamp "personal". Honestly the school doesn't keep its records under much security."

"First of all, lets start with what we know about your magic so far, alright? Now according to your file" *leafing through documents* "Your magic is based on the principal of binding your soul core (the seat of your magical power) into an object. Now, as your soul core grows in power, it is constantly seeking the one it belongs to. Magical energy leaks out of it seeking the person it was bound to. This constant straining of locating the user actually increases the total magical capacity as it constantly "exercises" itself by searching. When the soul core and the person are finally reunited the must re-synchronize and in the event that this is successful the object (containing the soul core) and the person fuse together into a single entity. Basically that weapon you have is an extension of your self and soul, and it will grow in power and form as you do... Do I have everything right so far?"

Spoiler:

"... Well mostly right" Sai looked up for a second, as if thinking, the placed his gaze back onto Mortimer. "But when you say bind into an object, it is somewhat wrong.. The object is the magical essence in itself.". He then took out what seemed to be the hilt of a sword, the blade missing. ”After excessive use, the blade must reform, this shouldn't take long though Upon close inspection, there were small glowing particles, building up the blade again.

"Ah so then that's it" Mortimer exclaimed chuckling slightly. "That sword hilt IS your soul core... it's just been made to take on a mundane form outside your body... that blade its forming is symbolic of your magic energy. Unlike most mages whose power is insubstantial unless like light or thrust (unless put into a spell), your magic can actually be quantified by the shape and density of the blade. Your blade is solid magical energy!" Mortimer exclaimed excitedly.

"Almost, but again not quite. It is simply an extension of my soul core. As is this He drew a tanto, which was quite similar to the sword but much more complete.

Observing the tanto he replied "so you are capable of splitting your soul core into multiple parts.... hm" he began pacing around trying to think of what this meant. After pacing around he realized it "so then, hypothetically speaking what would happen if we tried to fuse your external soul cores, with the one in your body? They have grown independently after all and so by splitting them you've been able to actually increase your total magical ability. Sort of like taking power from youurself at rank five, then removing one rank to crete a rank 1 object which would grow parrellel to you. So when you reached rank 5 again, your weapon would also have grown proportionally with the experience you gained... make sense?"

"That is what you would of seen before, it is the overloading of power that forms the release form of my weapons. I have not tried to condense the power but I assume that would be potentially dangerous..." Sai said as he then replaced the tanto back to where he had it hidden. He had never really thought of the benefits of trying such a thing, fusing directly with his soul core and condensing it would cause quite a large amount of magical potential that most people couldn't dream of.

"So, since it seems that I do not understand your method nearly so well as your self please, enlighten me as to the full nature of your magical ability and from there we should be able to discern what you do NOT understand and go from there.... sound plausible to you?"

"I have been studying it as long as I can remember, really I haven't learnt much away from my clan... but, I plan on finding them again soon" He says. "But, what I have said is all I know, I can only assume the rest... I can seal magic, any magic, into a physical form for later use. I can also seal the magic away permanently into weapons, but that is more taxing.. that is all I know"

"Hmmmm, so then you are taking magical energy and causing it to solidify... I don't know what Einstein would say about it but then again magic tends not to follow the normal laws of physcis. So can you turn anyones magic into a physical object for later use or just your own? And this begs the wuestion, could you eventually turn a normal physical object into magical energy?"

"I'm not limited to who's magic it is I am sealing, as long as it is magic..." he said, as he looked around somewhat. "But, that I am not sure of... I can remember when I was younger my clan... well, actually I can't remember much" he then shrugged. It wasn't really his fault, he had been taken away from his clan a long time ago.

"Please, you have to remember something... Think about what we know so far, you are capable of taking your magical energy, segregating it from the rest of your being, then causing the magical energy to take on a physical form, usually metalic, at least in your case. You think that so long as it is magical energy it can be sealed into a physical form right? Well I think whatever you were told during your early life with your clan might give you some answers... now think."

Pausing for a time, Mortimer attempted to guide the sealer on what he called a "memory regression exercise".

"Just close your eyes and imagine your childhood... what was it like?"

Sai thought back, as far as he could to when he had been taught the very basics of his magic. Which was pretty much he was ever going to learn from them before he had to leave. Then something came to him. "Actually... Now I think about it, our clan always traveled light... We only really carried around little trinkets when we needed... like" He rummaged through his pocket to find what looked to be a coin with a water drop symbol on it.. "Like this one"

"Hmmmmm... So then they probably could make things as needed... but the very fact that they keptsome things around means that they can make charms which automatically change when magic power is applied to them... aha that's right, you made Larita's staff-flute didn't you? So then you do have some knowledge as to how to make physical objects for other people. So what happens if I put magical energy into this coin" he said reaching out his index finger charged with magical energy reaching out and touching the object held in Sai's hand.