Leona's consciousness was floating amidst the darkness until she suddenly woke up surrounded by trees in a dimly lit clearing.
'My… inner world?' She was with her back laid against the soft verdant grass before standing up. 'Huh?'
Something caught her eye when looking down towards herself. As opposed to the white cotton shirt and cotton shorts she was given by Setsuna—she was wearing her usual clothing when she was merely a 'princess tactician'.
The frilly purple dress waved slightly against the chilly breeze blowing from behind her, the dark purple corset felt tighter on her body while the dark blue shawl resting on her shoulders was tied with an aquamarine brooch. Though despite the awfully familiar getup, her mother's pendant was nowhere to be found.
'What is happening here…?'
While she took time to ponder—the gentle breeze picked up speed and started to become more like a strong gale. She instinctively looked from where the wind was coming and noticed a path in between the trees towards another clearing.
"..."
As if following her instincts, her bare feet began to move towards it. Although she was still missing her left arm, she didn't feel fear. Maybe because she was aware it was her inner world, but something else was compelling her to act.
A deep seated sensation of 'loss' was crawling up from her gullet as if she had given up on something or someone. Though it was strange, those were not her own feelings but from someone else's.
She had regrets, but none of them involved 'loss' or 'giving up'. Those would be all too easy to forget—no, her mistake in her eyes was not being strong enough to protect those dear to her and life had taught her a harsh lesson. One that she would not soon forget.
That 'sensation' felt different and despite being in her inner world, she could tell something was off as her bare feet brushed against the grass that became thinner and worn as if that trail had been walked on countless times.
"Took you long enough."
An oddly familiar voice addressed her as she reached the clearing. Her eyes trailed up from the ground towards the elevated center of the clearing where she noticed a blonde long haired woman with her back turned towards her. She wore a full set of Londrian combat uniform, high dark leather boots, black trousers with reinforced knee-pads, a thick leather belt with satchels attached to both sides of her hips and finally a long sleeved coat with golden detailed pauldrons and sleeves.
Shock washed over Leona's face as the woman turned around to face her. A battle scarred empress stood in front of her. The self same aquamarine eyes were devoid of purity and compassion—instead they regarded Leona as weak and inferior.
"You…" Leona uttered under her breath. "You're the one who holds the title of 'Empress of Annihilation'.
The woman scoffed as a mocking smile curled up her face.
"I started out the same as you. As the 'Princess Tactician'." She raised her left arm, which revealed a mechanical hand that creaked as the metal workings grinded against one another. "Though you could say I had a more, 'direct', approach to matters that concerned us." She then opened her metallic hand and slowly lowered it with a disappointed sigh. "But you, not only you lost your arm to a creature, let alone one that could have been defeated through might alone, you chose to protect that woman? I can't believe someone like you can be myself."
Her words prompted Leona to clench her hand tightly before brandishing her arm in front of her.
"You speak of might, but what of you then? You lost your people, your kingdom, everything you fought for was for nothing!"
"Hah! As if I needed any of that." She raised her right arm to the sky and the air began to crackle. "The only 'kingdom' I need is myself."
Mana began to swirl around the empress' arm like a wind vortex as it sucked in more mana from the environment. Quickly accreting mana at the center of her palm, the basketball sized sphere of pure magic was becoming engulfed in azure flames.
The heat was starting to make nearby treetops to smolder. At that point Leona turned her full attention to the woman in front of her as she shouted atop of her lungs.
"What are you doing-?!"
"If my words could not convince you—this might!" She had a malevolent smile on her face. "I've always wondered what would happen if 'I' died in this world!"
'She's actually serious about this!'
Leona quickly jumped back and tried to cast an ice spear aimed towards her opponent's arm to at least disrupt her spell but the moment the ice projectile got too close to the empress, it simply melted into vapor.
"Ngh!" She took a few more steps back before trying to charge another spell, only for her mana to fizzle out and become even more fuel for the empress' spell. "Wha-!"
"Your power means nothing to me!" She took a step forward. "I will kill you here and take control of 'my' body!"
As all hope seems lost, an exasperated sigh came from somewhere behind Leona.
"Enough of your antics. You're not even real for god's sake." Upon turning around, she noticed Robert standing right behind her with his middle finger cocked behind his thumb as he pointed his hand towards the empress. "Get down Leona."
Her eyes went wide as she noticed the inhuman amount of mana that was gathering around him. That brief second was all she needed before she threw herself on the ground.
As he flicked his finger, there was a sudden change in the air before the entire landscape in front of Leona was blasted into oblivion by wind pressure alone—leaving only a conal crater of earth and pieces of obliterated trees scattered along the path.
When she looked up and noticed the destruction, nothing else other than pure disbelief came to her mind.
"What in the world…?"
"Sorry, I wish I could've done a cleaner job but-" He walked beside her and offered his hand. "-your mind has left me no other choice."
Leona was disoriented due to the high concentration of mana in the air. Her ears were ringing and all she could notice was the hand offered to her.
Upon looking up, Robert gave her a faint smile with a nod. She took his hand and stood up.
With a snap of his fingers, Robert dispersed the mana surrounding them.
"Can you hear me now?"
He asked as she was blinking from the sudden change in the atmosphere.
"Y-yeah. Thank you for helping me but how are you even here?"
"This is something of a communion ritual. I'll spare you the details for now, but I came here to help you get out of this place."
"Huh? Why are you saying that?"
"Do you not remember what happened before you came here?"
Something stirred within her once he said those words. As she stopped for a few seconds to ponder—she realized there was a gap in her memories.
"I… don't. I don't know. I was training with Yuna and then I did something, but I can't seem to recall it."
"I see. That is the root of your trauma then." He nodded to himself. "Very well."
With one snap, the entire environment around them began to change. The ground trembled as if an earthquake was beginning to happen until all the trees around them were swallowed by giant cracks forming in the earth.
The ground began to grow grass as if renewed by the trees it had absorbed and soon, the dense forest had transformed itself into a vast grassland save for the giant tree stump that remained in the same place.
Leona was turning around as she witnessed the transformation of her inner world take place right before her eyes.
"What the…" She muttered in disbelief as she turned to him. "How did you do this?"
"To put it simply, I temporarily merged part of my soul with yours. That is why about three fourths of this inner world is under my command."
He walked beside her and crossed his arms while slightly lowering his head. Leona on the other hand followed him with her eyes as she asked a question with a raised eyebrow.
"How can you have such a high amount of control if this is my inner world to begin with?"
"Yours is just that much less dense than mine. Besides, I have a promise to keep and I'm not about to let you stop growing stronger because of a trauma you suffered here."
"You keep saying trauma but I-"
He raised his right hand and snapped—recreating vivid images in the air as he was taking care of her in his lab.
"This is how you look in the real world. See the eyes? You basically had a mind shut down there."
She couldn't tear her eyes off the transparent screen made of reverberating air.
"Is that… me?" The sight of her blank expression made her feel extremely uncomfortable. "No… that can't be me…"
"It is you. But if you listen to me, I'll be able to get you out of here." He looked her in the eyes. "Tell me Leona. What is it that you fear so much in magic? Why have you gone to such lengths to learn it, only to hold back?"
"Fear? Hold back? What are you talking about?" She slowly shook her head as she repeated his words with a skeptical expression on her face—though there was a nagging sensation of insecurity deep down that she couldn't shake off no matter how confident she made herself sound. "I have been doing the best I can to keep everyone around me safe."
"Safe, from your enemies or yourself?" Those words felt like multiple daggers being stabbed through her stomach. She opened her mouth with anger in her eyes but no words came out. "You know I'm right."
"I… I have been doing my best! Every fight, every struggle, every battle I fought tooth and nail with everything I had!"
He sighed but he didn't seem bothered by her outburst, in fact he had a smug expression on his face.
"Leona, do you know what is the most common cause of death for battle mages? Mana shock."
"..."
She stared at him without saying anything. After his hurtful words, there wasn't really much of a reason for her to keep talking to him at that point.
"When the overwhelming rush of adrenaline overcomes them, only a mild to a severe case of mana shock will knock them down. Of course, you're no stranger to combat by now—but even so, I'm sure there were times that you could unleash your full power, but most battles you have fought had only you use just enough to defeat your enemy."
She brandished her right arm out and brought an open palm towards her missing left arm.
"What about this then?! Are you telling me I haven't been giving my all?!"
"Leona. You're missing the point here." He tilted his head slightly up. "The power you wield serves no bad or good. It is merely a tool. A tool which you are failing to make the most use out of."
"Oh yeah? Then please enlighten me with your boundless knowledge!"
"If you lack firepower, you need to make up for it in accuracy." He raised his left hand towards the horizon while the right snapped and created a person sized rock pillar. "In your case, you merely took a shortcut to power by using Kaeli's mana to fuel your aether blade which resulted in losing your arm."
"I bet it would be too easy to say those things if I also had countless years to work with."
He sighed and flicked his hand towards her with disdain.
"I won't be wasting both of our time trying to talk this out just to make a point. I'll just show you instead."
With another snap of his fingers, Leona was teleported beside the rock pillar—disoriented as she looked to the horizon—a bright light began to gather at the dot that was now Robert.
'That…' Her eyes went wide as she realized he was aiming towards her direction. 'He's not intending to fire that spell at this thing is he?!'
Her first thought was to run away from it, but her mind was invaded by a sudden pang of headache.
'Stand very still Leona. You don't want to accidentally get blasted.' Those words echoing in her mind were enough to make her body freeze up from fear and that split second was just long enough for Robert to unleash his spell. 'Megido.'
Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as a white flash passed by her in a blink of an eye. The spell looked more like a laser beam that passed through the rock pillar like it was made of paper and only stopped after hitting the grass a few more meters behind the intended target.
The leftover light that emanated from attack thinned out before blinking out of existence as the mana fueling the spell dissipated.
"So, how does it feel to be near the receiving end of a highly accurate spell caster? Intimidating no?"
The voice suddenly came from her left which prompted her only to turn her head towards him. Her eyes were widened and there was a hint of trembling in her lower lips. However, despite the immediate fear, she also felt compelled to strike back with a rhetorical question.
"What exactly was the purpose of this demonstration? So you could show off even more?"
"Oh please Leona." He rolled his eyes before letting out an exasperated sigh. "I thought you to be a brighter student." He extended his left hand out and opened his palm. It didn't take long before mana began to gather in the middle of it—forming a light blue orb the size of an apple. "See this? This sphere currently represents how much mana you have." He twirled his fingers around the orb which quickly shrunk it to the size of a ball of marble while also turning it white. "If you were to unleash all of it in one singular accurate spell, you can kill just about anything as long as you know where to hit them."
However the more she heard, the more it felt like he was making fun of her instead as she lashed out.
"Then what was the point of me straining myself with training yesterday and today?! Why increase my mana capacity when I AM able to deal with things just the way I am?!"
At first there was an almost imperceivable hint of surprise in Robert's eyes but it faded away just as quickly as he pinched the gap between his eyes with his right thumb and index finger.
"Listen and listen well Leona. Not everyone out there in the real world knows how to utilize spells to their full potential, nor know how to hold back." He looked at her with a piercing gaze as if he was determined to hammer his beliefs through that thick head of hers. "Do you really believe that Alexander of all people, would hold anything back against you or anyone you love?"
At that moment it was as if the last piece of the puzzle finally fit and now there was just a lingering sensation of dread that couldn't be explained by words alone.
"Wait… so this training-"
"Is to prepare for your eventual fight against him." His eyes had a glint of pride when speaking those words, but Leona couldn't yet perceive nor appreciate his mentorship through the violent swirling of emotions she felt. "If I were to only teach you about precision and careful mana usage, you'd be at his mercy when it comes to raw magical power. This isn't only for yourself Leona, as a mage, you are also responsible for protecting those around you from spells that would be otherwise impossible for them to avoid."
He snapped his fingers and the ground began to shake beneath her feet and the earth began to rise.
"What is happening…?!"
"I'll show you one last thing before we go back." The originally flat terrain now became a hill with both of them standing atop of it. With another snap of his fingers, countless rock pillars formed in rows and columns as it were soldiers in rank and file. "Just now I gave you a demonstration of 'precision'. Now I'll show you what 'overwhelming power' looks like. Of course, I will be using the amount of mana you currently have as a basis." He held the bright orb between his fingers before he closed his hands and mana began to emanate through his fingers. "Now, don't blink."