"Alright, I think you're ready to move on to the second stage"
Stepping on the battle arena, Eva said.
"First thing you must understand about manipulating the edicts of aether is intent. Intent is basically telling the aether what to do. You do something similar when conjuring deviant type mana, only the intent with aether has to be much more potent. Create a hollow box of aether if you please."
A human-sized box of aether appeared in front of me.
"If you had applied intent during the creation of that box, that would have been a pocket dimension. It sounds easy, primitive even, but the truth is that this step is nigh impossible for most." She continued
I tried again, this time fully intending to create a pocket dimension.
This time the aether did not form a box, but rather a dimensional boundary. It soon collapsed, but it was a partial success.
Every time I had used Godstep or created a pocket dimension before, it felt like my mind couldn't fathom it, but my body could. This time, it didn't feel like that. It felt instinctive, as if all I needed was a few tries to get it right..
"Y-you.." - Eva looked at me with an astonished face - "You are bonded with space so tightly that controlling it has become instinctive.. Not even the best Spatium masters took less than two weeks to create a basic pocket dimension, yet you did it like it was nothing.."
I tried again, this time making the pocket dimension larger. As soon as the dimensional boundary appeared, I shot a burst of universe flames at it, stabilizing it. I created a pathway inside it, and a portal appeared in front of me.
Walking through the portal, I had found myself in a purple box of aether. Its boundaries were exactly how I created them, the aether walls slowly sucking out the atmospheric aether trapped inside along with my own.
I watched as the dimensional boundary enveloped in universe flames wiggled slightly. It was a sloppily made dimension, but it worked.
Eva walked through the portal behind me, an astonished expression still plastered on her face.
"The dimensional boundary is sloppy and weak, and the walls are slightly wobbly and unstable, but this is still a perfectly workable pocket dimension. Many djinns would be happy if they got this with months of work, yet you did it so effortlessly."
While she was talking, I worked on stabilizing the dimensional boundary. The pocket dimensions created by unleashed Realmheart had a perfectly stable and strong dimensional boundary, so I wanted to replicate it.
I hyper-focused on correcting the small mistakes destabilizing the pocket dimensions that was practically glued together by my universe flames.
6 months later
KATHYLN POV
Like every day, I was training with Sylvie, currently in her human form. I couldn't even fathom the level of power Arthur wielded, yet I tried my best every day.
Eva's training room was marvelous, much better than the room Lances trained in. It could nullify most damage, and even the damage it couldn't nullify, it swiftly healed.
"I wonder what Arthur's doing." I said while casting multiple hands of ice to grab Sylvie.
"He has just started working on Aevum, the edict of time, cursing like a small child because he hasn't made instant progress like with Spatium" She said with a chuckle, slicing the hands into pieces.
After Arthur got Night's ballad, Sylvie inherited his previous sword, Dawn's ballad. She taught herself swordsmanship by reading his thoughts, and it bonded to her, just like to Arthur.
She was also a monster, now way above the level of Scythes, if not higher. I inspired myself by Arthur's [Tombstone of Ice] technique, creating a similar, albeit a rather weaker version that I called [Armor of Frost].
She wound up for a punch to my gut, with it shattering half of my armor but leaving me unharmed.
I reacted by shooting multiple super fast arrows made of ice. While Sylvie was dodging or blocking the arrows, I came in close and thrust my hand close to her stomach as an ice spike was coming out of it.
She, however, managed to kick me away causing me to miss my ice spike. Multiple bullets of pure mana approached me which I swiftly blocked with small but concentrated spheres of ice.
As she was approaching me with her sword, I conjured a huge iceberg with the last of my mana reserves, which she managed to react to by creating a vortex of pure mana that ripped it apart.
"I give up", I said as I raised my hands above my head.
"Good fight, you're getting stronger." Said Sylvie as she shot me a smile.
...
Walking through the lush garden, I looked into the midnight sky. It feels like my mind is thinking about Arthur more and more, my cheeks always getting rosy in color when thinking about him.
Two thoughts ran in my mind at the same time. 'This is selfish of you, Kathyln. You can't disturb him during his training.' and 'It's just a day, he has a whole year.'
Unfortunately, the latter thought ended up winning, as I slowly walked through the lush forest. Various beasts were watching me with curiosity, as I was the first human they have ever seen.
I ended up in front of a marvelous waterfall with a boat stationed on the shore. Stepping on the boat, I floated towards the cave Arthur was training in.
When I reached the cave, I found Arthur waiting for me.
"H-hi Arthur" I sheepishly said.
"Hey Kath, what do you need?" Arthur asked
Mentally preparing myself, I finally managed to stammer out.
"W-would you like to take a walk with me?"
It felt as if a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders, as I breathed a sigh of relief.
After what felt like years of thinking, Arthur replied.
"I'd love to."
As we silently walked through the forest, Arthur asked.
"What are you planning to do after we return to Dicathen?"
"It's hard to tell. My family will definitely force me into an arranged marriage and I will be stuck in it for my whole life. But during the time of war, I want to fight by your side. This is ironically the most freedom that I ever experienced." My cheeks flushed when saying the last part.
Letting out a slight chuckle, Arthur said.
"I'm unsure of anything, really. I have to fight a whole army of Asuras and Vritras and learn an edict of aether I know nothing about, along with protecting my loved ones. It's making me stressed pretty much all the time, so thank you for taking me on a walk, it is one of the last moments of peace for a long time and I really needed it."
After about half an hour of walking, we ended up walking to a small bench where I frequently sat, near the edge of a cliff overlooking a large valley filled with various mana beasts, the large moon directly in front of us.
"This is beautiful." Arthur said as he sat down on the bench beside me.
I leaned my head on his shoulder, I whispered.
"Yes, it is."
ALDIR POV
A monstrous power entered my body as I looked down upon the forest of Elenoir. The mana in my core obeyed my will, sparking chain reactions with the mana around me.
My stomach churned at the thought of destroying a quarter of a continent for such a petty reason as convincing the Asuras that it was the Vritra who had done it, yet I had to obey lord Indrath's commands.
The last of my mana reserves leaving me, I fired the accursed technique.
I thought I had seen purple lightning before casting, yet it didn't matter. Nothing would survive, or so I thought, before reality itself started breaking, cracks in space permeating throughout the land. Space bended as the mana particles froze, my control over them being completely overridden.
Blue flames started to mend the cracks in space, as the one capable of doing such things finally appeared before me.
"Arthur Leywin?"
Author's note: let me know what you thought of the little date between Arthur and Kath. Thx for the support as always, love you guys.