"Where are we going now?" I asked
"To the tower I couldn't have you use these in the vault especially the sword you might make the manor come crashing down." Mother said
"What's the tower any books or maps I've read about Ignia never mentioned it."
"That would be because they are secret massive structures shrouded by spectral magic to hide them and for good reason all four of the towers have a shielding crystal in them should it ever be needed the emperor or empress can activate a shield which covers the entirety of Ignia one drawback its creator was the only one who could allow people through the barrier but she is gone so once activated we're trapped until the mana crystals run out of power."
"So why take me here if you're scared of me leveling the manor?"
"Because inside the towers is reinforced beyond belief destroying one would take me at least a day of bombarding it with universal magic and I'm the greatest mage in the universe."
I marveled at her statement as we approached the enormous tower that touched the clouds it was made entirely of mythril there was so much mana in the air you could touch it. As we stepped through the huge doors leading into the tower I was met with an empty room big enough to fit the manor I lived in four times over and a lone glowing red crystal in the middle the man's inside so dense it was humming and spinning.
"Welcome to Ignia's first line of defense." Mother said.
"First line why would the barrier be the first line that's a horrible idea."
"Ok not really first line there is a lot of other defenses surrounding the empire but you'll never see them unless they're needed now we are going to start things off with a show within you there is the flame of destruction which is in your heart I want you to embrace that flame let it take you over."
I closed my eyes trying to focus and find this flame I could feel it burning I focused on the power eminating from it and slowly let that power take me over I could feel my mama grow hotter I could hear the air around me begin to boil the sleeves of my shirt burning away I could feel my body grow stronger and lighter. As I opened my eyes the area around me was glowing blue my arms had runes of glowing blue flames on them my mother manifested a mirror infront of me my hair was an inferno of blue flame my eyes were leaking azure flames as if they were tears I stared at my reflection astonished.
"Now try to contain only a portion of that flame as long as some of it is released you will fully benefit from it but while unleashed you'll cause massive damage to everything around you and I mean everything that includes any universal or dimensional barriers I can contain it with my barriers for some time but not forever."
I did exactly that I was able to contain and control it nearly flawlessly it felt like manipulating mana just deeper the only issue I had was trying to use just enough to enter overheat every time I tried I let a little too much out and the area around me began to burn.
"I forget how easily you get the hang of things."
"You know Dread said the same thing."
"I can see why one more thing overheat is the incomplete form of afterburn."
"What do you mean incomplete?"
"The complete form is known as afterburn and you need both the flames of creation and destruction you only have destruction but that's not something you're born with Astra the war goddess would have to go out of her way to find you and give you her flame of destruction and there only being one of each means Astra only has creation now."
"So until I meet Astra this form will be incomplete."
"Yes and so will hers but you'll definitely see her again if she went out of her way to give you that gift then she definitely has a plan for you as for what that entails that is beyond me but you can trust her we've known eachother for eons."
"Grandma Astra hopefully I meet her soon."
"Please call her grandma when you see her she will go crazy ok we're burning time now here this bracelet is an active magical item meaning you have to put mana into it to use it."
"What will this one do?"
"Healing very very high tier healing you'll feel it."
Looking back at the bracelet I put a small amount of mana into it my body began to feel warm as the bracelet had a gentle green glow emitting from it.
"You know even though it's a bracelet I wouldn't wear it on your wrist because if your arm gets cut off it's pretty useless." Mother said playfully.
"I feel like that can be said for pretty much every artifact."
"True true now for the star of the show the blade of eternal war we're going to use this to teach you battle arts all battle arts require incantations and are different depending on the blade they are engraved into the soul of the blade so very few actually have battle arts now one thing you will not be using the first battle art on this sword I'll tell you the incantation but don't use it because if you do I can't be completely sure the tower will survive."
"Didn't you say it would take you days of continuous universal spell fire to destroy this tower how would this do that in one attack."
"I may be the greatest mage but even I'm not as strong as the goddess of war this was her blade and I've seen that first battle art wipe multiple universes at a time from existence and that's not even the craziest thing I've seen her do."
"If she's wiped multiple universes off the map at a time how are we still here?"
"This is the cardinal universe more specifically this universe is home to one inhabitanted gargantuan planet Urga thats ours it'll take a lot more than what pretty much anyone has to destroy this universe it heals itself over time."
"So we exist on a super planet in a super universe."
"That about sums it up yeah let's get back on topic eternal war has four battle arts it's first incantation remember don't repeat it Causality Breakdown self explanatory everything loses all reason and simply ceases to exist if you're good with it and can control it you can target specific things or people but to do that you need to practice with it and you can imagine how much of a nightmare that is second I want you to look at the wall and point the sword towards it then say solar wind."
"Why teach me all of this now?" I asked as I turned to the wall raising the tip of the sword to it.
"Solar wind." Once I recited the incantation I felt my body grow weaker and a blast of pure heat erupted from the tip of the sword rocketing towards the wall hitting it charring the wall and rocking the whole building I fell to knees holding the blade breathing heavily.
"You feel that that was essence leaving your body battle arts don't use mana they use essence and unlike mana if you use all of your essence you die it is as the name says it's your essence the more powerful the battle art the more it consumes and the only way to increase how much essence you have is by killing the essence of that persons soul will fell or into you adding to your own." Mother said staring at the wall where the charred spot once was.
"Then why let me use it if it was only going to drain my life force?" I asked
"Because it's better you learn that fact now in a controlled environment instead of out in the field going overboard with battle arts then realizing you went too far when you're lying in a ditch being destroyed from the inside out because your body self destructed when you ran out." She said expressionless the same way dread always looks she bent down to eye level and put her hand on my cheek.
"Nyssa your age immortality is progressing faster than normal I'm going to have to advance your growth again by at least another ten years."
"How much did you do it the first time?"
"Five years your five but you appear ten but exposer to overheat and your shattered core is accelerating your divine growth sit down and close your eyes so I can use the spell."
"Before I do that dread said you do this so I don't stay with the appearance of a child is that true?"
"Yes it is after you reached two I realized your immortality would set in far faster than I thought it would which would leave you with the appearance of a child for eternity and as you might understand that is not something I would want I believe you would t want that either sadly your life seems to be the very embodiment of growing up to fast and despite all my power I'm powerless to help you." Mother said with a saddened look I knew she couldn't tell I had already asked her before I kept quiet not knowing what to say an sat down and closed my eyes letting mothers time magic flow through me.