The chilly early morning breeze could be felt clearly from the training grounds as it was near the sea. The foggy air gave birth to dew at the end of the blades of grass. The peaceful scenery was only disturbed by rhythmic grunts echoing from one side of the vast training area.
"Hmph!"
Krieg was once again training shirtless amidst the cold breeze. Each swing of the training sword made a distinct whooshing sound as he seamlessly followed it with shield strikes.
His attacks were fast, compact and precise—a far cry from what it used to be a few days ago. However, he still couldn't hold a candle for Miyamoto in terms of pin-point accuracy with a one handed blade. One loose leaf flew by him and he attempted to strike at it, only for it to swirl right past his attack.
"Tsk." He clicked his tongue. "Not enough…"
The singular leaf landed on top of his bare foot. He closed his eyes and started to concentrate on the warm feeling inside his chest.
Dragon aspect, another form of mana reinforcement that takes the appearance of layered scales of a dragon. It's normally not visible under the naked eye and only really noticeable without a discerning gaze if the user is brimming with mana. But for him, after experiencing it once, it felt like another world entirely. As if it was his calling.
His mind couldn't help but wander back at the time he was consumed by a primal rage. Before, he couldn't feel anything related to mana. Even when he tried like Leona taught him many times before, he wasn't able to 'feel' mana around him. But now, even the simple act of closing his eyes was enough to make him clearly see vestiges of both ambient mana and from life, be it from wild animals or people.
"What are you doing out here so early in the morning?"
Krieg turned around to face the owner of the soft-spoken female voice.
"Good morning, Miss Setsuna."
"Good morning." She smiled warmly. "Just Setsuna is fine."
He nodded discreetly before continuing on with his training. In the meantime, the shrine maiden was settling down on the grass with the staff on her lap in order to begin her own training.
Krieg suddenly stopped mid-swing as a tingling sensation came from his back. Upon turning around he noticed the young woman sitting just a few meters away with both of her eyes closed. He could sense mana emanating from her like the heat of a roaring fire. It came in waves as if she was purposefully radiating large amounts of it. Each time that happened made the hair of his skin stand up in goosebumps.
'This is strange…' He thought. 'Was I so insensitive to mana around me before?'
Thinking back, most of the times he had been fighting alongside Leona he couldn't tell whether or not she was casting a spell unless he had some sort of sound or visual cue to work with. Even going up against Jakob forced him to go all out in order to better support his liege. If a future where Leona was forced to fight yet again came to pass, he was determined to protect her as best as he could. He would become her unbreakable shield.
His swings became even faster, chaining one right after the other in compact precise strikes unleashed from behind the shield, leaving no room for a counter-attack. As opposed to his straightened stance using a longsword, his center of balance was much lower when using the sword and shield as he tended to bend his legs more in order to be ready to lunge forward in order to close the gap.
"You haven't skipped not even a single hour of training ever since you fought against him, have you?" Setsuna's voice made him stop for a few seconds. "That is truly admirable."
"It is the least I can do." He turned slightly to the side and noticed she spoke with her eyes still closed which prompted him to focus again on training his swings with the image of his mentor in mind. "Leona will need someone who can stand beside her, not cowering behind her."
She chuckled.
"I'm sure she will be glad to have you by her side then."
At the same time, Leona opened her eyes as she woke up. She felt rested as she effortlessly lifted herself up from the couch. The room was just chill enough to make her want to warm herself up by the fire—however, the once crackling fireplace was now just filled with ashes of the previous day.
"Good morning, Leona."
Following the soft-spoken voice, Leona saw Kaeli holding a few split logs on her forearms. The previously no-nonsense high elf was now leading a somewhat normal existence as shown in her choice of clothing.
She wore a brown loose tunic held firmly by a wide sash of a darker shade around her waist forming a bag of air just above her belly; for her legs, she chose durable dark green trousers that were tucked inside the leather boots that reached around halfway of her shins.
Her long black hair was now tied in a bun behind her head with a few strings of hair hanging beside her face which made her look more mature.
"Good morning…" Leona was impressed by her looks but more importantly she felt it wasn't the first time she was doing that given the few bruises and small wounds of splintered wood on her hands. "Are you the one always tending to the fireplace?"
The high elf smiled.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I've come to light it up again." She walked over to it and left the wood beside it before removing the ashes by adding a bit of water and scooping the ash sludge out with a trowel that was tucked in the corner around the campfire. "I woke up a bit later than usual today so it ran out before I could feed more wood into it."
After taking out the sludge and solidifying it with a flash of fire magic, she put the now bricks of ash on the side before neatly arranging the split wood in the fireplace. With a short incantation she set the wood on fire, allowing the room to start slowly heating up.
"Thank you for the fire." Leona leaned back on the couch while basking in the warmth radiating from the fireplace. "The mornings here are always a bit chilly."
"That they are." She stood up with the ash bricks between her hands. "Have you gotten used to master's training yet?"
"The whole inner world thing still feels a bit surreal, but I'm getting there."
Kaeli nodded with a faint smile on her face.
"It's good to hear it. Well now…" She turned around and started heading to the doorway. "I'll go take care of my sister. See you later."
However, before she could leave the room, Leona asked.
"Is Phoebe alright?"
Without turning around she answered.
"Yes. She is still recovering her ability to walk without a crutch, but things are better between us now that she knows that our mother is alive." She tilted her head down slightly. "Thank you, Leona."
She then proceeded to walk away. Leona kept looking at her back as she vanished through the doorway.
It became quiet once again with only the occasional sound of crackling from the fireplace breaking the stillness of the room. After taking one deep breath, she stood up and went to the bathroom to start her day.
Washing her face with cold water and brushing her teeth with the mint tasting splintered stick made her feel relaxed. She picked up her staff from behind the couch and headed outside. The chilly ocean breeze gently brushed her hair back as she gazed upon the clear blue sky.
"Ah…" She exhaled slowly as a trail of warm air left her nostrils. "Let's do this!"
She quickly descended the trail between the trees and reached the training grounds in top speed and the moment she arrived a visibly irritated Robert seemed to be talking to a woman almost twice his size.
She was just a tad bit taller than Krieg with her wavy fiery red hair reaching about her waist. A white robe came down from around her shoulders in an x pattern—covering her voluptuous body with a silk-like textile adorned with golden intricate details around the edges of the cloth. Around her waist, however, the robe gave place to platinum tassets with thicker white cloths that covered her upper thighs, crotch and back. She was barefoot but wore two thick platinum anklets, one for each ankle.
"Hey, why aren't you happy to see me?" The woman gave Robert a big smile as she tapped him in the back which almost sent him stumbling forward. "You haven't forgotten who helped you treat that girl did you?"
The man, clearly annoyed, brushed her arm aside and sighed before answering.
"From the headaches you gave me before, this is but a small favor to not gain my ire. You fool."
"Now, now…" She was somewhat soft spoken, but mature and cheerful. If Leona had to guess her age, it would be in her late twenties to early thirties. "We worked out our differences already. I'm sure you wouldn't mind me hanging around here for a few days."
She lobbed her arm around his neck and dragged him close to her with a wide smile on her face.
"You reek of alcohol you crazy witch." He pushed her face away and ducked out of her arm before adjusting his clothing. "Fine, you can stay for a few days as long as you don't get in the way of their training."
He pointed at both Krieg swinging a training blade and then Leona who had just arrived. That made the woman take an interest in them as she turned to face both.
"Oho? I didn't know you took even more apprentices."
"Not apprentices, they are guests."
"Don't be coy, you never entertained the thought of having 'guests' over." She straightened her back which made her seem even taller than before and with a wide smile on her face, she continued. "So when are you going to introduce me to them?"
"Tsk." He clicked his tongue. "You can do that yourself, you know."
"Eh… boorish host are you not?"
He shook his head while sighing.
"Fine, fine…" He walked forward a bit before looking at her over his shoulder. "Come, I'll introduce you."
She gave a big smile before following him.
"That's more like it."
As Leona was finishing her preparations to continue on with her magic barrier training she was interrupted by Robert approaching her with a less than amendable expression on his face.
"Leona, this is the 'red haired menace' I was talking about the other day." He pointed his open palm to her while stepping to the side. "Her name is Isabel Wolph, a witch from the north of the Elysion fields."
The woman waved at her with a wide smile on her face.
"Hello there. I'm staying here for a few days, it's a pleasure to meet you young lady Leona." She did, however, turn to Robert and give him a light slap on the back. "Being a witch isn't really an honorary title."
He gave her a stern look as he replied.
"I'm just stating the facts."
"A witch?" Leona inquired. "As in, a magic user?"
Robert shook his head.
"Not quite. Witches rely on someone else for their magic powers, or at least, she used to…"
Upon turning to Isabel, she had a wide smile on her face.
"Ah, this brings me back. I used to not be able to wield any magic. But this guy right here taught me everything." She slapped Robert a few times on his back, each time sending him a step forward. "I did borrow some of his mana in the beginning though."
That instantly picked Leona's interest.
"You 'borrowed' his mana? How so?"
That made Isabel's wide smile turn into a smug grin.
"Here." She reached for her shoulder and grabbed onto it—her rather large hand was warmer than normal. "Cast a spell."
Leona raised an eyebrow as she glanced at her hand almost covering her entire shoulder.
"Any?"
"Any spell."
She raised her wooden staff towards the sky. Mana would usually gather from around her feet and envelop her entire body before the spell could activate—however, Isabel's palm felt like it was heating up her entire left shoulder as she began to chant.
"Heed me o blazing comet, herald of doom, bring destruction upon my foes! Fireball!"
At that point Leona could feel the flow of mana coursing through her shoulder into her arm towards the tip of the staff. Unlike when she normally channels her powers, Isabel's aid made the fireball much larger than normal which prompted Robert to act before it could be released.
With a flick of his wrist, he made the fireball disappear.
"Hey." He called Isabel out. "What was that overload of mana just now?"
She muttered under her breath with a slight pout on her face.
"I just wanted to see how powerful it would be."
"You fool!"
He flicked his finger which made a wind pressure strong enough to snap the branches of a tree behind her as it hit her square in the forehead.
"Ugh!"
Despite her size, she was knocked flat on the ground as he let out a long and exasperated sigh before explaining.
"Unlike you, she didn't have thirty years to work on her mana control. If she ends up overloading her spell like that now there is no telling how much destruction it would cause."
Leona lowered her staff and glanced at Robert who still had a sour look on his face.
"You seem concerned with my abilities now."
"I'm more concerned about this place. If you unleashed that fireball up in the sky there would have been a veritable rain of fire upon the forest. It'll ruin the scenery."
"Ah… so that's what you were worried about…"
"The silver lining is that you didn't imbue the fireball with compressed wind like last time. It would function like napalm instead of an explosive."
That made Leona tilt her head slightly with one of her eyebrows raised.
"Napalm?"
"Uh… forget it, you don't need to know." He dodged the question by waving his hand back and forth while changing the topic. "Continue on with your training on magic barriers, I need to adjust a few things with Isabel here before she can freely roam around the place."
The woman massaged her forehead as she got back up.
"Ow… you could have at least held back you know?"
"Ah shut up." Robert said while dragging her up. "Let's go already."
In one snap of his finger, they both disappeared out of thin air.
'True teleportation.' Leona thought. 'Knowing that spell would have been really useful back in Akrapocalis…'
Her mind was starting to wander but thankfully she shook her head and focused back on what she was supposed to do.
Upon raising her staff she closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. Mana gathered around her feet as it spiraled upwards along her body before condensing in her hand. The familiar tingling sensation spread throughout her limb as mana coursed from it to the magic tool.
With the tip of her staff she drew a sloppy hexagon in the air that failed to hold its shape before dispelling itself into scattered mana.
"Tsk."
She retracted the staff and rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand.
'How did I do it the first time?' She thought. 'It wasn't like this…'
Upon taking another deep breath and focusing, she started to visualize the small piece of magic barrier that she intended to 'draw' in her mind but no matter the way she chose to employ the knowledge she had, it just wouldn't come to fruition. It would either break apart in scattering mana or fizzle out from the lack of it.
However, she kept going, each time trying to find the right amount of mana to bring the barrier into existence.
"Argh…!"
Shattered.
"Dammit!"
Fizzled out.
"Ugh!"
After the fifth time she knelt down and shook her head in disappointment.
'I managed to do this before, why is it not working now?' She tightened her grip around the staff. 'If it's merely to block incoming spells, then pure mana should do the trick, right?'
Albeit almost bordering anger, she raised the magic tool once again and focused at the very tip of her staff. Strings of mana rapidly erupted from each splinter of her staff, rotating around like a vortex before expanding out and creating a makeshift barrier with gaps that were being filled by leftover mana flowing out of her arm. The result seemed like a light blue umbrella forming in front of her.
"Oh! That's a good barrier Miss Leona!"
A friendly voice came from behind her and as she turned to see who it was—her barrier fizzled out.
"Ah, Yuna, hello." Leona had a half smile on her face. "I was trying to make a barrier like your father told me but I managed to do it in another way."
"It should hold up against most projectile based spells."
The tactician sat down and let out a long tired sigh.
"When you say projectile based spell, are you referring to spells like Fireball and Wind Bullet?"
"Yes, anything that can be launched at a distance. Since they lose most of their destructive potential on release, even a makeshift barrier like that one will stop a spell in their tracks."
Leona tilted her head slightly to the side as she raised an eyebrow.
"So, this barrier isn't as good as the hexagon one?"
"Not by a long shot. Any continuous type spell will break through it like Megido or even something with more firepower like Thunderbolt or spells that can hit adjacent targets like Chain Lightning can go around frontal only barriers like the one you produced." She raised her hands and between them a hexagon shape formed before mana expanded from inside and formed a single piece of protection. "The barrier my father invented has modularity in mind, for example, against continuous spells, one can make multiple layers of hexagons to stop a high powered spells, against projectiles with explosions like fireball, one can produce a large layer of smaller barriers to stop both the projectile as well as the explosion and against something like Chain Lightning, you can simply cover yourself entirely inside a big barrier to avoid the spell entirely."
"This is… enlightening. I didn't know there was so much depth in barriers of all things."
"It's just something my father came up with because he's an otherworlder, his mind inherently works differently than us."
Leona's wide smile made Yuna tilt her head slightly with a mildly confused expression on her face.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing, I just noticed you are much more comfortable in teaching."
"Ah! So you noticed…" The young shrine maiden seemed embarrassed. "Father taught me to be better with words as well as how to teach magic safely to others."
"You really like your father don't you?"
"He has always been patient and kind to me, even when I made mistakes." She bowed slightly. "I hope I can be of use in teaching you what I know."
The tactician nodded in return.
"I'll be more than glad to rely on you."