How did it come to this?
I sat in the arena with the broom resting across my lap while Blake lounged beside me on the right, looking too bored by the situation. Across the field, Uncle and Aifa stood facing each other like duelists preparing for battle.
Uncle spun the elemental gun around his finger with a smug grin while Aifa calmly adjusted the bowstring, her quiver resting against her back.
This started from a simple conversation about weapons… how did it become a competition?
"Doing such childish things is truly beneath nobles."
An arrogant voice drifted from the side.
I turned to see Aniselle approaching with slow steps, her sharp eyes fixed on the arena. The blue drills hanging from the ends of her hair swayed lightly as she stopped near us before giving a proper bow.
"Good afternoon, young lord."
"Good afternoon." I nodded before glancing again at her hair for a second.
How do those even stay like that?
"Here to watch them?" I asked.
"In a manner of speaking." Her gaze shifted toward Uncle and Aifa again before returning to me. "May I take a seat?"
She really does carry herself like a proper noble.
"Go ahead."
She bowed again and took the seat right next to me, smoothing out her skirts as she settled in.
"Now then, everyone pay attention!"
Ashar's voice rose from below.
He walked between the two with a bright smile that only made this whole thing feel even more ridiculous.
"Let's establish some rules since we are civilized people." He clapped his hands once. "Sir Erik will only use the elemental gun and no other magic. Aifa will only use her bow and arrows. She may use her Archer Arcana, but no other magic and no additional magic tools."
He raised a finger dramatically.
"The first person to land a clean hit wins. Clear?"
Both of them nodded immediately.
Aifa especially looked frighteningly serious.
...She is treating this like a real duel.
On other hand, Uncle stood relaxed with the gun, but I could already feel mana flowing through his body.
Uncle is at the Epsilon stage. Even with her skills, there is no way she can realistically win against that kind of raw power.
"Is this really important?" I asked loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"Yes!"
Both of them shouted back without hesitation.
I let out a long breath and leaned back slightly.
Well... whatever at this point. If they want to be stubborn, they might as well make it entertaining.
"Go, Aifa! Send him back to the Age of Chaos!" I cheered while raising a fist.
"Nephew!" Uncle pointed at me with pure betrayal on his face. "How could you support her!?"
"She is beauti... I mean, she is a fellow Archer."
"Thank you, young lord!" Aifa waved at me with a happy, bright expression, and I waved back with just as much energy.
"Tch. Doesn't matter," Uncle snorted, turning his attention back to the field. He gripped the elemental gun firmly. "I will show you both that the bow and arrow belong in the age of chaos."
"FIGHT!"
Ashar declared loudly before jumping back onto the arena wall in a single motion.
The moment the words left his mouth, arrows screamed through the air one after another.
Uncle calmly took small steps, weaving between the incoming arrows with barely any effort. Not a single projectile touched him.
Then he raised the elemental gun.
Multiple pulls of the trigger echoed through the arena and huge fireballs rushed forward, each one larger than my body.
Aifa pulled back another arrow. Wind wrapped around it violently.
The arrows shot forward and pierced straight through the incoming fireballs, tearing them apart in bursts of flames.
One fireball still slipped past the barrage.
Aifa twisted sideways to dodge while releasing another arrow at the same time, but Uncle had already moved in with terrifying speed, backhanding the arrow out of his way and closing the distance between them.
Aifa straightened her posture to reset, but it was already too late. Uncle jammed the warm muzzle of the gun against her side. "Give up—"
THWACK
Aifa's bow smashed against the gun with explosive force.
[Hawkeye: Parry]
The elemental gun flew spinning into the air.
"Huh?"
Uncle's face twisted in confusion as his hand suddenly gripped empty air.
Seeing her chance, Aifa pulled an arrow and drove it toward his shoulder with a grunt.
But before the strike could land, Uncle vanished.
The arrow pierced empty air.
Uncle appeared high in the air and caught the spinning gun cleanly.
To think Aifa actually used Parry...
Even among Archer Arcana users, that skill was infamous. It could deflect almost any physical attack, but the stamina consumption was absurd.
"This will end it!" Uncle shouted from the air. He pointed the gun downward, and I could feel the staggering amount of mana pouring into the weapon.
The muzzle glowed bright red and a massive fireball burst forth roaring through the air. The heat alone washed over the arena.
I moved to my feet.
That's way too much for a spar!
But Aifa remained calm.
Three arrows were already nocked between her fingers.
She released them at once.
The arrows turned light green as mana wrapped around them. All three struck the fireball at different points and lines of light connected between them, forming a triangle in midair.
The raging fireball suddenly twisted inward and vanished between the space enclosed by the arrows.
[Hawkeye: Shaft Trap]
"What?"
Uncle's eyes widened in genuine shock.
The three suspended arrows ignited bright orange and suddenly shot toward him from three different directions.
Uncle moved instantly, dodging the first arrow by a hair.
But the arrow curved sharply and chased after him again.
I don't remember Hawkeye having a skill like that...
Uncle clicked his tongue and fired more shots to destroy the incoming arrows. Explosions burst repeatedly through the air.
I noticed Aifa raise her empty bow again. She gripped the string, pulled it back to her ear, and let it go with a sharp snap.
BAM
A sharp impact echoed from above.
Uncle's head jerked sideways.
When I narrowed my eyes, I saw a thin, red graze blooming across his cheek.
"Damn it!" Uncle shouted, his hand going to his face.
"This match is over!" Ashar's voice boomed across the arena, cutting through the smoke and heat.
"W-what did she do?" I asked aloud, struggling to understand how she had actually managed to bypass his defenses and deal physical damage to him.
"...Sound Magic." Blake answered from my right.
"She is quite skilled with it," Aniselle added from my left. "And I believe she possesses an Arcana related to sound as well."
Even though it sounded like she was praising Aifa, her face didn't look pleased at all. Her expression remained rigid.
Sound Magic...
A Variant Magic derived from Wind.
If that's the case, I should theoretically be able to use it too.
"How could this happen...?" Uncle's miserable voice came from below.
I looked down to see him on all fours, repeatedly slamming his fist against the arena floor like the world had abandoned him.
Meanwhile, Aifa stood proudly over him with her chin raised high as the undisputed victor.
I quickly moved down from the stands, walking closer to the pair as the dust began to settle around them.
"I believe you have something to say to me?" Aifa said, a satisfied, proud smile spreading across her face as she looked down at him.
Uncle groaned in pure defeat. His face looked completely drained of life.
"I... lost." The words left him bitterly.
"Anything else?" Aifa leaned closer with a hand cupped behind her ear.
Uncle's shoulders trembled.
"...Bows and arrows are better," Uncle whispered. As the words left his mouth, he seemed to sink even lower into the dirt, entirely deflated.
"That's right!" Aifa shouted triumphantly, raising her bow high up into the air like a flag of victory.
"Congratulations, Aifa. I never doubted you." I said as I walked closer.
"Thank you, young lord! It means a lot to me," she said, her bright smile lighting up her whole face as she lowered her bow.
Then a familiar mana signature flared near the arena entrance.
I turned immediately.
"What are you two doing?" Granny's furious voice descended upon us. "And which one of you fired a bullet in the attic?"
Shit.
"Good luck!" I shouted to Uncle. "O wind!"
The moment the words left my mouth, wind wrapped around me and I shot into the sky.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Uncle scrambling to his feet and turning to run as well, but a glowing chain made of pure fire whipped through the air and wrapped tightly around his arm.
"Don't even think of running, Erik!" Granny shouted.
Then her eyes moved toward me.
Her free hand opened in my direction.
Danger.
I flew higher and pushed toward the edge of the arena as fast as I could.
Suddenly, something scorching wrapped around my ankle.
"Argh!"
I looked down to see a burning chain coiled tightly around my leg.
"Where do you think you are going?" Granny shouted angrily below.
The flames crawled upward, mixing with the wind wrapped around my body.
"Hot! Hot!"
I immediately canceled the wind magic and started falling through the air.
My fingers gripped the handle of the broom still clutched tightly in my hand.
I poured lots of mana into it and raised it upward.
A sharp snapping sound came.
My vision blurred at the edges as blue streaked past by in a dizzying flash before I stopped the intense flow of my mana.
The abrupt shift in momentum nearly ripped my hands right off the wood, bringing my wild ascent to a sudden end.
"Hah...?"
I looked around and realized I was floating high above the clouds.
Far below, the town looked tiny enough to fit in my palm.
As gravity slowly started pulling me down again, I glanced at the broom and carefully poured a smaller amount of mana into it.
The broom steadied itself and hovered in the air.
I dangled beneath it while tightly holding on.
...This is amazing.
Slowly, I pulled my weight up and managed to throw a leg over the handle, letting out a long breath as I finally sat upright.
Escaped a long lecture.
My relief was short-lived as I remembered my schedule for the day. Teacher had explicitly called me for a lesson earlier, instructing me to come straight to her room. I couldn't afford to be late for her either.
I shifted slightly.
This is really uncomfortable to sit on.
I pushed myself up slightly on the handle, first planting one foot firmly against the center and letting my mana flow directly into the wood to gauge the connection. Slowly, I pulled my hands back from the front, raising my upper body until I stood completely upright on the broom, balancing myself against the thin currents of the high altitude.
The broom wobbled beneath me.
I spread my arms slightly to balance myself while standing on it.
Oh?
Using Force Magic, I pinned my feet lightly against the wood.
I slowly tilted my body downward and increased the flow of mana.
The broom burst forward.
Wind rushed violently past me as I descended through the air.
"Haha!"
I steered through the air with ease, leaning into the turns as I descended toward the town below, sweeping over rooftops while people in the streets pointed upward in surprise.
This is easier than Aifa made it sound.
It's basically just a flying skateboard.
I made my way back to the manor, leaning into a sharp turn and waving down to the guards as I passed over the perimeter walls. They looked up with startled eyes, but I didn't slow down to catch their reactions.
Fearing I might run into Granny, I steered the broom toward Teacher's window instead.
"...Please, do it."
James' voice drifted upward from below.
I looked down and saw James, Nidrik, and Faux standing near the greenhouse. They looked like they were deep in a conspiracy.
Slowly descending, I lowered the broom toward them.
"What are you all doing?"
As I spoke, my eyes moved toward Faux.
Once again, his orange fur was filthy with dirt while he casually chewed on some small fruit.
"What happened to you?" I asked through our mental connection.
"Fua."
A calm, meaningless reply entered my head.
"Seriously? I'm getting 'Nothing' again?"
"S-Sieg, you can ride a broom?" James asked, pointing a finger at me, his eyes wide with pure disbelief.
I jumped off the broom and grabbed it.
"Just learned today." I replied with a shrug.
Then I looked between the three of them.
"So... from above, I heard you wanted Faux to do something for you?"
"T-that... I, we just wanted..." James looked down while nervously twiddling his fingers like a criminal caught in the act.
My eyes moved away from his guilty face and landed on Nidrik, waiting for a straight answer.
"Faux. Hit." Nidrik pointed a finger at my familiar, then shifted his finger to point directly at James's forehead. "At head."
"N-Nidrik!!" James shouted, his voice cracking in betrayal as his co-conspirator sold him out without a second thought.
Faux... hit... at head?
It took me a few seconds for the pieces to connect.
"James." I called out, making him look up at me. "Did you think if Faux poked your head like he did to me, you would awaken?"
James' cheeks instantly turned red.
Slowly... awkwardly... he nodded.
I let out a long sigh.
"James, that's not how it works." I said flatly.
He stared at me in surprise.
"To awaken, your soul needs to naturally absorb ambient mana from the atmosphere over time. When the soul finally gets full of mana, it breaks out of its shell/wall and forms a soul crucible. Sometimes it needs an outside trigger to crack that shell, and that is all Faux was to me."
I pointed toward his forehead.
"People close to awakening leak tiny traces of mana naturally. But from you..."
I closed my eyes for a moment and checked again.
"...I can't feel anything at all. You're nowhere close to awakening yet."
"B-but Erina awakened!" he countered immediately.
"She's two years older than you and a demi-human. Awakening comes more naturally to them than it does to us. Her exposure to the outside world is also much greater." I pointed toward the town beyond the greenhouse. "She goes outside every day. School, running around, playing, constantly absorbing ambient mana."
Then I looked directly at him.
"But you… There are days you barely leave the house. You stay buried inside the library and hardly exercise at all."
I shook my head, letting the harsh truth sink in. "Meditate every day and exercise, and you will eventually awaken in a year or two."
James trembled, his shoulders shaking as his hands curled into tight fists at his sides. For the very first time since I met him, I saw a bitter frown marring his face.
"But I heard Grandmother hardly let you outside either, and you still awakened at six..." His voice shook. "If you can do it, then I..."
He's clinging onto this impossible hope too much.
I don't entirely blame him. Almost everyone around him is already awakened, and he feels like he is being left behind in the dirt.
I still remember the raw frustration of getting beaten to a pulp by Zayn and still failing to awaken my own power back then.
But the difference is, I had put an immense amount of grueling work behind it, training under Zayn and the others for months on end.
James... wasn't doing any of that.
At this rate, he would only crush himself mentally trying to chase something impossible.
"... Don't compare yourself to me." My voice lowered as I looked at him seriously. "It won't do you any good."
I paused for a moment.
"We're just too different from each other."
He just stared at me with wide, wounded eyes, like the words struck a painful chord deep inside him.
Then, he bit his lower lip, tears pricking the corners of his eyes.
"I-I just want to be like you!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, before turning on his heel and sprinting away.
"Wait!" I shouted, extending my hand toward his retreating back, but he didn't stop. He just kept running, disappearing past the thick hedges of the garden.
What did I say wrong?
Comparison is the ultimate killer of joy, and the sooner he understands that, the better off he will be.
As I shook my head in confusion, I noticed Nidrik staring at me with an unreadable expression. "What?" I asked, a bit defensive.
".... Siegfried. Bad with words."
I looked at him flatly.
Am I actually hearing a lecture on communication skills from someone who didn't even know how to string a sentence together two months ago?
The irony of the situation made me scoff.
"I'll deal with this later." I muttered before turning toward Faux. "I'm going to Teacher. Are you coming?"
"Fua fa."
With that, Faux casually turned around and flew away.
Something to do, huh.
I clicked my tongue lightly and headed back upward toward Teacher's window.
But when I arrived, the curtains were closed and the window was locked shut.
Great. Now I have to risk going through the main house and hope I don't cross paths with the storm.
On the way, one of the maids informed me that Granny and Uncle had gone outside again.
Relief instantly washed over me.
As I turned the corner, I noticed a familiar set of footsteps right behind me. I stopped and turned to face my stalker.
"Why are you following me?"
Nidrik stared at me for a second with a confused look.
"She called me."
Teacher called him too?
Without another word, we made our way up to her room. When a reply didn't come after knocking twice, we pushed the door open only to find the room completely empty.
Is she out again?
"Here."
Nidrik's voice sounded flatly from behind me.
I turned around to see a swirling, purple portal-like tear in space sticking directly to the back of the door. It radiated a strange mana which sent goosebumps through me.
"What is this...?" I asked in surprise.
"In here," Nidrik said simply, stepping forward and walking straight into the tear without a hint of hesitation.
Has he been here before?
I stepped closer cautiously and reached my hand toward the portal.
The surface rippled like water.
With curiosity winning over caution, I walked through after him.
The moment I crossed the threshold, the world completely wobbled, my senses spinning as gravity seemed to twist inside out for a fraction of a second.
I slowly opened my eyes as the disorientation cleared, and I couldn't stop my eyes from widening at the sheer scale of the space before me.
"Where are we?" I muttered, turning around in a full circle to take in the sprawling hall of a massive shiny mansion.
"...Be careful," Nidrik said, his voice dropping into a low growl.
"Huh?"
Then I sensed movement.
I jumped back as something shot past at terrifying speed and struck the floor where I had been standing. The marble blackened instantly, smoke rising from the burned mark.
I looked up.
Dozens of purple orbs floated through the air around us, sharp glowing points forming at their fronts.
"Uh, Nidrik, what's going on?" I asked, stepping closer to him as the floating orbs quickly spread out to surround us from all sides.
Instead of answering, Nidrik channeled his mana into the ring on his right hand and a small spear emerged from it.
"... Fight."
He launched himself forward without a second thought, thrusting his weapon at an incredible speed that completely shattered the nearest orb into pieces. My jaw dropped as he violently kicked the empty air, using pure physical strength to alter his trajectory mid air, leaping over a stray energy beam to pierce down directly into another sphere.
Is this really the same Nidrik?
I tilted my body sideways as another beam of fire ripped past my face. The orbs began firing relentlessly from every angle.
One after another.
The hall lit up red.
As I jumped and dodged through the attacks, I saw Nidrik spinning his spear with unbelievable precision, knocking beams aside as he aggressively moved inward to cut through their ranks.
... I hope she doesn't get angry later for us breaking her toys.
Pulling my wand from the holster, I raised it high.
"O unseen threads of the world–Attract Bind!"
The gravitational pull snapped into existence.
All of them slammed toward a single point, getting violently concentrated into a tangled mass as they continued firing wildly.
I pulled back my free hand, concentrating mana into my fist.
"Fors Fist!"
Releasing the strike upward, the massive mana fist slammed into the concentrated cluster of orbs, launching the entire volatile mass straight up into the grand chandelier.
A massive explosion shook the mansion, and jagged pieces of crystal and metal came raining down.
Through the falling debris, I saw some of the orbs still twitching and trying to stabilize themselves.
Conjuring blades over both my hands, I moved in.
[Swordmaster: Twin Arc Slash]
Quadruple flashes cut through the air.
The unstable orbs split apart before they could recover. Beside me, Nidrik shot forward like a black blur, his spear piercing through the remaining ones with frightening precision, and together we finished off every single one of them until nothing was left moving.
"What trouble..." I muttered, slowly wiping the sweat from my face as I looked around at the complete mess we had made.
"Attention: Siegfried Fors and Nidrik. Combat actions terminated. Performance rated acceptable."
A girl's rigid voice echoed from the far end above the staircase.
We both looked up to see a girl hardly two heads taller than me descending gracefully through the air. She could easily be described as cute, but her completely deadpan, emotionless eyes somehow added a strange depth to her features. Her light blue hair was tied neatly back in a high ponytail, swaying slightly as she floated downward.
The moment her feet touched the ground, the shattered glass around us began rattling before rising back up into the air. I watched as the grand chandelier slowly pieced itself back together, and even the broken orbs began lifting themselves, repairing their damaged shells as they silently floated away
Must be time magic...
Did she do all this?
"Excuse me, Miss." I said, straightening myself and speaking in the most gentlemanly tone I could manage. "I believe this is our first time meeting. May I have your name?"
At my words, she looked at me with a thoroughly bored expression before turning her attention completely toward Nidrik. "Red currently stationed within training chamber. Immediate arrival recommended."
Red?
Nidrik nodded once, then waved toward me before heading through the double doors on the right.
"Um, what about me–"
"Attention: Siegfried Fors. Maintain proximity and follow."
With that, she turned and began walking toward the staircase without waiting for my response.
The way she speaks...
As I followed behind her, my eyes drifted toward the swaying ponytail behind her head.
That blue color.
My steps slowed.
"Blue!? Is that you?" I asked, the shock completely overtaking my voice.
"Affirmative." She answered without even turning back.
My mouth hung open as I looked her up and bottom, trying to reconcile this cute, deadpan girl with the sentient blue orb I usually talked to.
The confusion in my head could only be described with a single word.
"How!?"
On reaching the top of the staircase, she turned toward me with the exact same expressionless face.
"Unable to process question. Additional clarification requested."
"I mean, why do you look like this?! Like a human?" I asked, completely bewildered by the transformation.
"Artificial sentient souls are capable of relocating core consciousness into bodies designed for individual compatibility. Current vessel was created by the Great Lady."
With that brief explanation, she turned back around and started walking down the right side of the long hallway.
As I followed her down the corridor, her words slowly settled into my head.
"So this is a puppet body? Like the ones from the future we met in the time dungeon?" I asked, picking up my pace to stay beside her.
"Affirmative."
Wow... she's a puppet?
She did not look like one at all.
I could feel mana flowing naturally from her body, her movements were smooth, and there were no strange mechanical sounds when she walked.
If she had not said it herself, I would have never guessed.
Teacher's craftsmanship is bordering on terrifying.
"... By the way, what and where is this place?" I asked, looking up at the high ceiling and the luxurious corridor of the grand mansion.
"Negative. Current location is not your world. This is a personal dimensional space constructed by the Great Lady through Space magic," Blue said as she continued to lead the way without slowing down.
Space magic... A personal space this big?
Teacher's skillset was honestly getting ridiculous. Spear arts, runes, puppetry, magic engineering, and peak-level alchemy. Every time I thought I had figured out the extent of her power, she pulled back another curtain to reveal something even more insane.
Is there really anything in this world that she can't do?
Blue stopped in front of a pair of large double doors and they slowly opened on their own.
The sight inside sent a wave of cold chills running straight through my chest because something very familiar came into view.
Teacher stood before a massive rectangular translucent blue screen covered in white letters. Below the floating display rested a large golden control console filled with countless rows of buttons and mechanisms.
But none of that held my attention for long.
A glass cylinder stood nearby filled with bubbling, clear liquid and suspended right in the middle of that fluid was an arm… A small… severed arm… a familiar looking arm…
"How surprising. It seems you are capable of respecting time after all." Teacher turned slightly with her arms crossed, but my eyes remained locked onto the cylinder as memories from the time dungeon surfaced in my mind.
"Is that my arm?" I asked, pointing toward it.
A terrible realization struck me.
"You have been keeping my arm!?"