"Ahh…I too, had someone I pledged all of my loyalty to in the past. It all just ended after he finally showed me his true colors. No, even so, hehe…I still long for him. Let's both place our loyalty on the line with this battle!"
Alice weaves a hand sign and casts a basic fireball spell, though its size and destructive capability is far from ordinary due to her potent magic amplification.
Anastasia then countered it by erecting a thick wall of dark ice in front of her, ultimately blocking the fireball, though it explodes on impact resulting in the wall of ice to disseminate. As the smoke clears up, Anastasia sees Alice's hand pointing towards her, and with a grin she casts:
"
Without a moment's notice, the fireball was re-casted in front of Anastasia giving her no window to dodge. And with that point blank range, she also has no chance to erect another wall to protect herself - that's what Alice has been thinking.
"Begone to dust!"
"...fuuuuhh…"
"...!?"
A chilling soft sigh was let out from Anastasia's mouth which sent shivers through Alice's system. As Anastasia's dark hand touches the fireball, it immediately freezes, turning it into a sphere of solid dark crystal, unable to explode on impact.
"Your wits deserve commendation. But that's not enough for me."
Alice could be seen shocked by what has transpired. Without any delays, Anastasia then whirls the dark crystal sphere towards Alice.
"You can have your spell back."
With a flick of her fingers, the crystal shattered, revealing a minor amount of flames left from the fireball.
In a panic, Alice hastily weaves her hand and forms a thick barrier surrounding her as she also notices that the shattered crystals also moved towards her location.
"Trying to pincer me!?" "
As Alice roughly clasps her hands, the barrier becomes sturdier as it decently blocks the harmful projectiles coming for its weaver.
"Very good. Your spell weaving and formation are on par or even better than Athy's."
Coming from Anastasia herself, the compliment is quite an honorable one for mages, however, for a genius like Alice, being compared to an unknown mage and not even scaling herself to the powerful sorceress in front of her is an outrageous insult.
"Save me your empty praises, you have not seen all of what I can do!"
Separating her clasped hands, Alice weaves a foreign sign, something Navean natives are not aware of yet, meaning–
"A newly developed spell…" Anastasia commented as she watched in curiosity.
Alice's eyes squint as she notices Ana being too arrogant and confident despite being presented by a spell unknown to her. It's as if she is indirectly telling her that there is no such mage that can outmatch her spells. Though, Alice acknowledged it. Since this is the top sorceress, the Prism ranked witch of the strongest guild.
"I will make you acknowledge my talent and prove the fruit of OUR research!"
Anastasia slightly tilts her head and asks "...? Our?"
With this remark, Alice gasped. She did not notice her words to be able to still include the work of her loved one despite being betrayed by him. Her lips bled as she bit it with force.
"Yes…IT IS THE FRUIT OF OUR LABOR! Behold!"
A huge part of the forest became quiet all of a sudden as its ecosystem became the source of the spell's energy. At the center of it was Alice, who is now currently holding, atop her palms, a gigantic hole which on the other side is something no one could possibly believe.
Anastasia's eyes widened. Her curiosity has reached its peak. Despite being pale, awkward, and dead eyed, she is still a mage. A spell of unknown origin is bound to trigger her wisdom seeking self. As a result, instead of stopping it, she gets closer. All her attention focused on what awaits after the whole spell is formed.
–Several years ago–
In a small village, Southwest of Frostfall, a child who is said to have been cursed with a strange syndrome akin to a witch's. Her whole body is too cold, even if someone pours a pot of boiling hot water on her, it will cool down first before hitting her skin. A child named Anastasia, the only daughter of a travelling witch, who has now taken shelter in the said village.
"Ugh, it's cold enough already, now they added a freak whose temperature is as cold as the weather here when she gets close to you."
"P-please stay away from our kids. It's not like you're a bad girl, uhm…just stay away from them…and from all of us."
"Uwaaah!! I got frostbitten!! Mama! It hurts! It hurts!"
"....."
The little girl speaks no words. Her eyes look like it does not have any interest or even pay attention to its surroundings. It's as if…a doll. She's a doll with no emotions, only there to stand and watch the villagers be frightened of her existence alone. One day, however, a group of researchers became interested in this certain child.
"Hello little child, how are you? Ah, I forgot our introductions. We're a group of friendly researchers from the official Estate of Verspala. I have heard so much about you–"
A certain woman then steps in, resembling the face and eyes of the child.
"What kind of news about my daughter has reached you then?"
As the researcher looked up, his smile did not vanish from his face. It's as if he's trained to deal with the public often.
"Ah, greetings. I apologize for my sudden interaction with your daughter, Madame. Please be at ease, I only want to say my greetings and be acquainted with the people here."
Anastasia's mother pulled her by her side and squinted towards the group of researchers.
"You did not answer my question."
And with that, Anastasia and her mother left them behind and went back to their small cabin.
"What now, Roderick?"
The lead researcher, who was the one talking with Ana's mother, does a thinking pose and grins. He turned around to face his colleagues and walked away without saying anything. But after a while, he responded:
"Sooner or later, a dungeon will form at the center of this small village. We already dealt with the authorities who are expected to report it to the chief, so no one will know the dungeon's formation. We will take advantage of that to capture her."
As their group entered a tavern, another group arrived at the village. They are all weird looking adventurers, children accompanied by adults…is what it's supposed to look like, however…the children seem to be strong in their own rights despite being little kids.
"....."
"I want some cheese and hot cocoa…"
Zephyr and his little group in their childhood days.