[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Northern kingdoms.
...
...
"Are you ready for us to leave?!" Madara asked calmly, looking at the girl as she slung a strap over her shoulder and tightened her belt.
Cirilla looked at him and nodded as they prepared to head back to the exit of the hidden lab after spending an entire month inside.
Ciri was wearing leather armor, which allowed full movement since there were no hard parts where her joints were. She carried a short sword at her waist, along with a pouch attached to her belt containing a few other objects, including some kunai that Madara had given her. She had learned to use them, even practicing how to throw them.
"Let's get out of here then..." Madara said as he walked back to where his griffin was standing. "You'll stay here, remain until we can find a safe place for me to summon you again... after all, it will be dangerous for you to keep following us since you'd be an easy target, and it would be harder for us to hide. I'll summon you when we need you." Madara spoke as he decided to leave his summon here, well-fed so it could stay for a while and make this place its nest.
The animal snorted as if it had accepted Madara's words. Then Madara returned to Cirilla, fully prepared as well. Like the girl, he also wore leather armor, carrying scrolls with all the supplies he could and began to walk forward.
He moved until he passed through the hidden passage, where dimeritium dust lay at the entrance, finally stepping through it.
"Finally..." Ciri commented as she followed behind Madara, pleased to feel the morning sun on her face.
"Let's go... we have a long journey ahead." Madara said, waiting for her to climb onto his back.
"To the north from here are some smaller kingdoms, but also part of Temeria and Redania..." Cirilla asked as she climbed onto his back, and he adjusted her into a comfortable position to begin jumping through the trees.
"I don't intend to go through those countries; after all, they are the ones most actively searching for us..." Madara said, knowing that the hunt for them in those kingdoms would be intense. Before leaving, he had mapped out a better route for them while reviewing the northern continent's map. "We'll head east before going north. Passing through the kingdoms of Lyria, Aedirn, and Kaedwen will be easier..." Madara replied in a calm tone.
"Alright..." Cirilla murmured as she prepared herself. She didn't have much say in the matter, but she was curious.
And so, Madara started running, passing by the lake near the lab as he sprinted across the water's surface, something Ciri had seen before, though it never ceased to amaze her. They continued their journey.
As Madara left the lake and began leaping over the trees, their well-known enemies were growing frustrated after a month of silence. Cahir was in a camp hidden in the forest within the kingdom of Cidaris, concealed from that kingdom's soldiers as he tried to find any traces of Madara and Cirilla, searching for them ever since he had lost them.
"Nothing from them?!" he exclaimed while two men stood watching him calmly.
"Nothing... everything suggests they're still in Verden..." said a man with yellow eyes and a dark vertical slit, resembling a cat's eyes.
"A whole month and no one's been able to find them?! That's impossible!" Cahir was not pleased at all.
"At least they're close to us," the witcher said.
"Alright... you may go now... I'll think of what to do..." The Nilfgaardian spoke with a tone still filled with frustration as the witcher nodded and left the tent.
Cahir remained there, pondering his next move. His superiors were far from pleased with the results of his efforts and those of the other captains leading search parties. Even with the addition of witchers from the School of the Cat, the outcome hadn't changed. In the end, they had headed north, trying to find them, but all the search efforts were in vain. In addition to the reconnaissance magic, their trail had completely vanished...
He grabbed the vial used to find Ciri and threw it on the ground with such force that it shattered, his anger boiling over from being in this situation without knowing what to do. But then, in that moment, something happened. The liquid, which had shown no reaction before, suddenly rose in smoke, heading southwest, following Cirilla's whereabouts as she moved, sitting on Madara's back.
"This?!" He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Finally, after a month of no reactions, now he was once again tracking the girl, and she was heading south, moving southeast.
"Men!!" Cahir quickly called out, and as soon as they heard him, men entered. "I need you to bring the witcher here again! And also the mage in the camp, it's urgent!" he exclaimed as his men rushed out to summon those he had called for.
It didn't take long for them to arrive at the tent, where Cahir stood, satisfied, watching the smoke continuously follow Cirilla.
"I see, so the girl has appeared again..." the mage murmured, eyeing the smoke with interest, knowing what it signified.
"Well... as you can see, we can track them again now, and I want the witchers prepared to hunt them down with full force..." Cahir ordered as they nodded. 'Finally, you won't escape this time!!' Cahir murmured, thinking that he could finally hunt them down now. Disappointing the emperor by failing to capture them, while fighting in Sodden, had never been part of his plan.
"I advise you not to rely too much on the tracking equipment. Let us follow their fresh trail, and we can hunt them easily," the witcher said confidently. After all, there were eight witchers with them. The entire School of the Cat was ready to follow orders as assassins and hunters for the emperor's money.
Meanwhile, the Nilfgaardian army was preparing to enter Sodden at last. King Thorne was dividing his army in two, leading the main force against the approaching enemies in the west of the kingdom, leaving the south to hold back the advancing Nilfgaardians.
To the north, numerous carriages were approaching the mountains of Sodden, coming from Temeria. All of them were luxurious, filled with people of great knowledge and even some power, surrounded by Temerian guards ensuring the safety of the mages inside. They were all mages from Aretuza, following Tissaia's request to help Sodden as the northern kingdoms, including Temeria, prepared 50,000 men to face the Nilfgaardians. Should Sodden fall, the king of this realm supported Tissaia's initiative to weaken the enemy army, making it easier to deal with them.
"You're nervous, aren't you?" In one of the carriages, Tissaia looked at the young woman beside her, who nodded, showing some nervousness.
"Don't worry, Triss, we will do everything possible to succeed. If we do this, countless lives will be saved," Tissaia said, and Triss nodded, though she was still a little apprehensive about the situation, feeling as if something terrible was about to happen.
As the carriages began to pass through the gorge, they started climbing the hills, with all the mages focused on their objectives, especially Tissaia, who believed her plan would work.
Meanwhile, Madara and Cirilla continued their journey, approaching the border of the country of Verden, until they finally entered the lands of the Kingdom of Brokilon—or rather, the vast Brokilon Forest—home to dryads, hamadryads, leprechauns, and sylvans. The only thing separating Verden from Brokilon was a medium-sized river.
Madara stopped at the last tree before the river, standing quite high before beginning his descent, while Cirilla felt a mix of excitement and adrenaline on his back. He jumped into the water, which splashed around his feet, and quickly advanced to the other side of the river.
As soon as he touched the ground on the other side and continued running toward the forest, something unexpected happened. Madara was surprised to see a message appear in his system: "Congratulations! You have acquired 5% more of your total strength for escaping Cintra. Your points are being added at this moment, increasing your power to 21% of your total peak!" Madara was shocked. He had been at 16%, and suddenly, it had increased by 5%, bringing him to 21% now, which made him extremely powerful.
Immediately, he began to feel his chakra exploding from his body, increasing at least fourfold from his current amount.
"This..." he murmured with some difficulty, starting to feel a loss of control, which made Cirilla look at him in astonishment, not knowing what was happening, but she could tell he was in pain and that something was wrong.
"Is something wrong, Madara?" she asked, worried. But Madara simply picked her up and set her back on the ground as he felt his whole body heating up.
"I'm fine, it's just... I can't control my body's strength at the moment..." he murmured, still trying to balance his chakra. Usually, when the system increased his power, he gained 1 or 2%, which was easy or moderate to control. But a 5% increase, which multiplied his already immense strength, was proving difficult to manage, as if he were ready to explode... He was struggling just to stay on his feet.
"I need to sit down for a bit and meditate..." he murmured as he walked over to one of the trees, sat in a lotus position, and looked at Cirilla. "I need to concentrate. Stay away from me... I'll ask you to wait for me... we still have a few hours until nightfall, so we can stay here for at least a few hours." He said as Cirilla nodded hesitantly and began to move away, but in a moment, Madara could no longer control it as he closed his eyes, deeply concentrating on his chakra and control.
A pure blue glow began to emerge from his body, starting faintly and growing. Even Ciri couldn't help but continue watching in awe.
However, that was a mistake, because in the next instant, a sudden explosion of blue energy swept out from Madara as he concentrated, catching even Cirilla as her body was thrown backward.
"AHH!!" she exclaimed, a bit startled and unaware that she had been engulfed by the blue energy covering her body. It was a strange sensation—her body began to glow as well, reacting to the blue energy, creating a green aura of energy around her as her eyes shone brightly. She tried to protect herself from the blue energy that continued to surround her.
"WHAT... IS THIS...?!" she murmured aloud, not knowing what was happening until the blue energy began to calm down.
Madara's chakra finally started to stabilize, with him in the middle of a completely wrecked area. He could no longer release his chakra outward and kept it within his body, although it still glowed as blue energy gently streamed around him, flowing upward but much more smoothly.
Ciri sighed as she noticed her body glowing green, wondering what was happening until it began to calm down and faded away. Her eyes no longer shone as brightly as before, and she looked at Madara, somewhat surprised.
"..." She had no idea what had happened to her or to Madara, but everything seemed much calmer now.
Madara didn't even seem to notice the mess he had made, as he remained focused, trying to control the enormous amount of chakra he had received and stabilize it within his body. Otherwise, he would have been shocked to see the power of Ciri's blood reacting to the chakra. The two energies were very different, as if they were trying to overpower one another. Despite Ciri having far less energy, her blood protected her, forming a shield around the uncontrolled chakra.
Now, the girl could only sit there, watching Madara with some admiration as his chakra continued to flow upward from his body at a steady pace.