Arthur Leywin POV
After scaring Seris for a bit, I left the room. I decided to give the student and mentor some space and time to catch up. Caera had suddenly severed all of her connections to Alacrya, so Seris must be really worried.
Walking out of the room I spotted Ellie in the lawn as she was practicing her pure mana arrows. The arrows were all multi-purpose. They proved to be both defensive and offensive. Some of the arrows exploded on making contact. While some of them broke down midair, dividing itself in multiple smaller arrows.
A sense of pride filled my hear to the brim, watching her wield pure mana like that. Her gait was straight, full of confidence. Her gaze carrying fearlessness, unbeknownst to girls her age.
'She's grown too much' I thought smiling inwards
I conjured a small bolt of lightning, and covered it with some ambient mana to conceal it's presence. Then I shot the projectile at her. My attack was just halfway, when she pulled her bow in an instant, conjuring an arrow and shot it in my direction. Both of the spells collided, but much to my surprise her arrow didn't stopped but made its way straight to my face.
I stopped it, breaking it with my bare hands.
"That would've killed me El. I thought you loved your brother" I said in a dramatic tone, faking a tear.
"As if a weak spell like that can harm you brother." She said and conjured a short-sword in her hand, while a smirk formed on her face. I sneered at her as I got into stance bare handed.
"Aren't you a bit too confident?"
I just shrugged and motioned her to attack me. A massive build up of pure mana jolted my senses as my instincts told warned me. Before I could comprehend anything, the built up mana exploded beneath Ellie as she closed our distance in an instant. Her sword, now an arc, was so fast that it felt like it came from different directions.
Horizontal slash, stab, vertical slash, another attack on left shoulder followed by 2 other stabs and a diagonal slash by getting into a high-stance. All of these attack performed with such a grace and speed, that even silver cores might think she attacked at the same time. But the speed was all there was to it . She was so confident in her speed that she let her guard down.
"Not bad but let's end it" I announced
Dodging the barrage of relentless attacks I burst stepped towards her. As my hand was about to make contact with her, she conjured an arrow in a split second and fired it in my face at point blank range. I stumbled a few steps back, clearly taken back by her quick thinking and tactics to lure me in so she could deliver a blow to me.
"When did you learn to fight like that?" I almost yelled. A sad smile formed on her face "When you were away" she said trailing of while saying the last part.
My heart throbbed at this. Even though they had disowned me, Ellie always accepted me for who I was. I wasn't there for her when she needed me. 'damnit' I thought while mentally cursing myself.
Noticing my state Ellie gave me a light pat "It's all in the past. All of us are together now. And that is all that matters." She said with an innocent smile which soon turned into a sneer "And looking at you, there's a chance I might become an aunt soon" she said while giggling.
"Ah, oh yeah haha........ Wait whaaaat.?" I almost yelled, my voice tinged with surprise. I pinched her cheek and started to pull her upwards "You know you aren't supposed to talk like that."
"I'm sowwy. Lewis and pivy told me thwat, I sweer" she said her words incoherent, but I understood what she meant. That was expected from Regis but Sylvie too.? I guess I need to humble them a bit. Thinking about it I haven't heard anything from Regis since my return. Aside from his lewd and pleasure filled thoughts i had no clue how was he. Well, I'm crazy for even worrying about that !mutt. The pleasure must be from him torturing people.
I was brought out of my thoughts by Seris and Caera, who came out of room. Caera eyes were visibly red and Seris's were a bit moist. I gestured for both of them to take a seat. Seris sat in the seat Infront of me, while caera just flopped by my side. A coy smile formed on Seris's face but she soon got rid of it, due to the situation we were currently in.
"So, Arthur Leywin. I think we have a lot discuss and talk about."
"Yes, you're right. There really is a lot to discuss." I said as we started our little talk.
Aya Grephin POV
Currently me and Alea were in forest of Elshire. We were sent here by Arthur, since a large amount of alacryan troops were headed here. We also had General Bairon by our side. He was leaning against a tree talking about something with Alea. While I chose to ignore it at first, these two really seem to be getting along.
A smirk formed on my face as I started my illusion. Just as i was about to start messing with both of them by making them see that the other was trying to kiss them, Alea jolted her head back looking frantically In a particular direction.
"They're here" was all she said as Bairon started to bark orders and got everyone In formation. I looked in that direction and from what it seemed like there were a lot of Regalia holders among them. I looked towards Alea who gave a nod of confirmation.
I could hold on my own against Regalia holders, and Alea despite being a non-combat mage far surpassed white cores. Bairon had his growth inhibitor removed by Regis so he won't hold us back..... Hopefully.
I looked towards the huge horde of alacryans marching towards us. "FOR DICATHEN". Bairon roared as he started to attack and pour lightning type spells on enemies. Alea supported him with her plant magic.
I siphoned a significant amount of mana from my core as mist started to envelope everything. Reaching the integrate stage wasn't all about acquiring a new core level and increasing your mana pool. Remembering Regis's explanation of how after reaching integrate stage one could develope their own mana arts, I started to prepare my spell.
My attribute was wind magic. However, in essence, true wind magic was actually related to air itself. After hours and hours of concentration i came up with a spell. The spell was actually to control the very air around us. But training day and night with Regis and him helping me with his mysterious magic I unlocked something even more fascinating.
Controlling air in atmosphere, let alone in someone else was almost next to impossible for anyone. It required decades of practice , insight and concentration.
I closed my eyes as I raised both of my hands towards the alacryans. I parted my fingers and started to feel the air around us. I felt my conciousness draw over to it. The air showed me; people dying, limbs and heads getting severed, air getting filled with stench of blood and death. I felt myself one with the air.
I clenched my fists. Suddenly a dozen or so alacryans fell to the ground and started to cough. The coughs changed into wheezes as they started to struggle for their life. They looked at me with fury in their eyes. "Y-you. A scythe will s-soon arrive and that'll be the end of you all" the man exclaimed before his face crashed into the ground and passed away.
The expressions of the ones staring daggers now changed into a plead as they started sobbing and begged for mercy. But mercy was the last thing I was going to show them. I activated my illusions making them witness the death of their beloved again and again. I repeated the process many times over while feeling nothing for them. At this moment i felt empty.
Soon they started to beg me to kill them. As I was gracious enough In this aspect I fulfilled their wishes with which stabs and slashes. I glanced over at Bairon and Alea who fought in complete sync. They were giving the alacryans a taste of their own medicine by adopting their technique.
Bairon remained totally on offensive, while his opening were perfectly covered by Alea. They cleaved, butchered and scorched every single enemy they faced, and showed no signs of stopping.
Suddenly a pressure weighted down on me as I looked upwards. Pure White hair tied back with eyes and lips that matched her onyx horns, a girl stood her gait straight and hands tucked back. Her horns erupted from her head and curled sharply back, one pair exactly beneath the other.
One look was enough to tell that i won't be able to beat her. It would've been a different result if it was the time when the battle started. But due to using that ' Vacuum Pump ' as Regis puts it I was low on mana and strength. I didn't knew she'd appear so quickly. Bairon and Alea won't be able to go against her.
She looked down to me and instantly conjured a blade, made of sickly fire. I glared back at her as I withdrew my blade from my dimensional ring.
In the next instant we were face to face, as we started to exchange blows. Sounds of clash started to resound throughout the battlefield as we started our exchange of blows. Every time our blades clashed, sparks would generate and metallic sounds would resonate everywhere.
Our battle was currently on a stalemate. However, her speed increased as she lunged forward and thrusted her blade towards where my mana core was. As soon as her blade pierced my sternum, the illusion vanished and the mist that formed me dissipated.
"Tsk"
She clicked her tongue audibly. Without wasting a second she grabbed her sword like a dagger in her right hand and thrusted it backwards, underneath her left arm. Once again my figure dissipated into thin mist.
"Is hiding all there is to you, lesser" she provoked emphasising the Lesser part, filled with disgust.
I appeared in front of her "Yeah yeah. All you talk is lesser this and lesser that, like you're some hailed queen of dieties. You're just a mutt who's mother was hooked up by a snake. That's all there is to you and all your fellow alacryans" I spat back at her.
Hearing those words she fumed visibly as the sickly grey fire engulfed her whole body.
"I'll make you regret saying that." She said while dashing towards me at an abnormal speed. Her speed and strength had increased twofold. While it wasn't a problem for me as I could follow her every moment, the spell i used earlier required utmost concentration. My eyes could track her every move but the strain on my brain was hindering in sending appropriate responses to my body.
She balled one of her hands and punched me. I narrowly escaped it as the fire on her hand managed to graze my cheek. Her attack got fiercer and erratic at the same time. In her fury, due to my words she forgot the basics and started to show openings while attacking me relentlessly. I saw an opening on her left, mustering up enough strength I slashed at her left side, but it was a lure. She immediately countered it by blocking it with the flat side of her sword and delivered a punch at my torso.
The air was almost knocked out of me as I almost lost my consciousness. She turned her sword and swung at me, it's flat side facing me with a lot of mana imbued in the sword. She was using the sword like a hammer. She didn't planned to kill me but to throughly humiliate me.
Her attack was bound to do a substantial amount of damage.
'If only I hadn't experimented in the midst of a battle' was my last thought as I saw a purple dome engulf us and an oppressive pressure started to shook my soul. As much as it was terrifying it still filled my heart with hope. I smiled as I saw 3 figures looming over in the sky.
"You're done for good this time" I said as I felt myself falling unconscious
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Mm, that's all for now. Hope you guys enjoy it. Happy reading stay blessed and I'll see you next time.
Sayonara