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Chapter 34
🕑 Added 2025-07-15 12:41:06 +0000 UTCSometimes, you just woke up in the middle of the night, feeling so terribly parched it felt like you were about to die. That was what happened to me that night. It was still dark out, and I could tell that we were nowhere NEAR morning just by looking out the window from the bed, and the moon still high in a sky dotted with countless stars, some brighter than others.
I slowly felt around near my pillow for my aviators, taking special care not to disturb the sleeping Luviagelita. This turned out to be quite the ordeal, considering her arm was wrapped around my neck, but I did manage it eventually.
"I... don't even wanna get up."
The bed was soft as hell, and more importantly, her sleeping face was just adorable because of how harmless she looked... Still, I felt like I was going to die from dehydration so I had to. Like a zombie, I shuffled over to the small wooden table lying under a window and picked up one of Luviagelita's wine bottles and... shook my head.
Even I knew the alcohol contents would end up doing the exact opposite.
"Ugh..."
With another sigh, I fixed my clothes, a simple black tee over some baggy trousers and prepared myself for the journey to the dining hall. Unfortunately, fate's cruel sense of humor chose to rear its ugly head the second I reached for my Mystic Eye Killers.
My eyes caught movement in the garden beyond the window, then instantly parsed what I'd seen not a second later.
"...Maan."
It was a scene that didn't fit the world I'd grown accustomed to, no, it was as if I was suddenly some high fantasy novel stuck in a medieval era for one reason or the other.
Outside, far beyond what any human possessed the right to see, a wounded knight in violet armour, coiling lance raised to his side, faced off against a massive beast with the form a great wolf except it had four glowing eyes in place of one, and a beak and pincers instead of a jaw, with curved horns jutting from underneath its odd mouth. The Knight barely kept the massive creature at bay, at times, almost clumsily missing his thrusts. Misses the beast definitely took advantage of to slash away at him with sharp, sword-like claws.
The knight was... Heine, I instantly realised. I'd seen that armour before, but I didn't think it could be broken by something like that. Somehow, it was. Blood flowed from underneath his shattered chestplate, but he still stood tall and unbothered as usual.
I could see the exchange clearly as the night had no real effects on my cognitive function Getting pushed back and already injured, he was definitely on the losing side there.
Curious, I touched my cheek.
"Was that the beast he was talking about? Looks pretty ominous... and strong."
...How exciting.
My thirst disappeared, as did my drowsiness, my heart pumped and my fingers grew jittery. But excitement wasn't the full reason I was definitely going to interrupt the fight. Heine was too good a dude for me to let him die here.
My decision was made, I decided to do a little bit of aura farming. Before I could go ahead with it though, Luviagelita stirred, rubbing her eyes with the back of one hand as she pushed herself up with the other.
"...Hal? What happened?"
"I got thirsty..." I chuckled, "then I noticed a fight to the death in the frontyard."
Being able to focus or shake of tiredness in an instant was an integral skill for any self-respecting magus. I imagined this was doubly true for the Edelfelt lineage and their unique proclivity for grave-robbi-... er... 'adventure'.
So, it was no real surprise when she practically shot to her feet. Then, she got flustered and covered herself up with the bedsheet. Honestly, I considered calling her out over that but I was too distracted by what was going on outside.
"...Where?"
I jabbed a thumb in the general direction.
"I admit when you told me the body was a fake, I thought there was no attacker." She said, habitually crossing an arm under her breasts, holding the other over her eye with the tips of the thumb and the index finger pressed together.
"Oooh, that's interesting." I narrowed my eyes at her casual display. "So it's the mystery of magnification using tub-..."
"How many times do I have to tell you... Nevermind. That's... Heine Istari and-... a familiar? Its appearance is rather close to that of a Phantasmal and considering it managed to harm him I suppose it is of some ability. Then, its master means to seize the castle by force."
While she mumbled magic jargon to herself, I cast a glance down her back. With her golden hair not done in those over-the-top ringlets, it was long enough that it fell below her big bu-... Ehem, right, there was a man dying out there. This was clearly not the time.
"Do you intend to help him?" She inquired with a curious tilt of her head.
"You really need to ask?"
"You're aware he's our competition? Him being gone would be fairly advantageous should things come to blows." I could easily tell she didn't mean a single one of those words by the small smile playing on her lips. "But, I don't believe that holds any meaning to you. Very well. This just so happens to be a part of the reason I've grown to... adore you."
Admittedly, all Heine had told me to do was look out for his sister, not for him. But nah, even if I was a big enough asshole to not care if he got hurt, I still owed him for helping me out.
I grinned.
"Fuga."
"What?"
A bright-red flame erupted in my palm, leaving a smouldering trail through the air as I waved my hand to the side. With a slow spin, I brought my hands together, and the flame grew stronger, latching to my skin. The room grew hotter and hotter, and even Luviagelita was forced to take a step back.
"You're going to burn down our bed."
"Shut up babe I'm aura farming right now."
She went still at that, backing down with a startled whimper.
A spell that capitalised upon the very basic but eternal and great mystery of a flame carrying the potential of ruin, the potential of a spark burning down a tower if left unchecked. Though I didn't need it because of my unique understanding of spell casting, it drew stability and power from the very clear visual image that word alone would conjure in the minds of many people bored like myself.
I held out my hand, and the bright-red flames leapt to the tip of my fingers. Grinning wider, I gripped and pulled it back with the other as though I were nocking an arrow. When I let it go, it shot through the night and the darkness shied away, hiding from the sudden light.
"Boom."
The next moment, it struck between the beast and the knight with the explosive force of an artillery round, ripping into the ground. Startled birds of prey hiding in the few trees took the night skies as the earth shook and the very trees buckled under the sudden build-up of pressure that exploded outwards from the strike.
"Honestly, considering I made that from Flat's little fireworks from back then, I did NOT think it would go so well... Wait no, I knew it would. It's me casting after all."
"That was... hot."
"I know. It was a fire spell. It's supposed to be hot."
"Not that, you-!"
With a laugh, I leapt out the window, already having reinforced my legs for the maximum agility and shot for the ensuing battle. By the time I reached them, they were just about to go at it again. The weird creature turned my way, and let out a deafening howl as I dropkicked it in the face.
Embarrassingly though, the darn thing didn't even budge. I just ended up face-planting in the dirt like an ass instead. But, maybe I'd startled it or something as it did jump away, giving me just enough time to lop another fire arrow right at its ugly mug. This time, I did do something. The sudden hit blew it screeching back into a thick, old tree that groaned under the sudden weight.
"Yo Heine."
"Hen...ry?" The wounded knight questioned slowly.
"Yeah."
I gave him my killer smile as he slowly stepped closer. His stone armour was shattered at the shoulder and the chest, and warm blood leaked freely from the cracks. There was also a pretty deep gash an inch beside his neck... In fact, I was positive he'd have lost his head if whatever blow did that was just the tiniest bit to the left.
"My spear was... ineffective, so how? And that spell-"
"Mhm, why did you think I was so confident about facing that priest, Mark or whatever?"
A moment passed in silence. I took that moment to dust off my clothes and stretch my arms. Our adversary took that time to screech impotently at me like it was going to do something. I just ignored it in favour of talking to Heine.
"...You were supposed... to keep an eye on Rosalind." He said weakly.
"Yeah nah, I don't wanna see the look on her face if you die."
Those were the same words he gave me when he 'helped' me out. He seemed to realise that fact too considering the small chuckle that reverberated through his helm.
"Fair enough."
"Also, it's pretty stupid. Considering what you told me, what do you think happens to her when you die?"
"That's why I... made the request." He shook his head. "It matters not. I believe... you saved my life... Thank you. Now... let us end this."
"Alright."
When both of us turned to face it, the creature unceremoniously spun on its hind legs and ran the fuck away with a speed that far surpassed what either of us could manage at the moment. It fled into the dark night, easily leaping over the tall castle walls to disappear in the surrounding forests. Apparently, it had decided it cut its losses after getting blasted in the face with a fuck you spell.
"Maaaan, what the fu-"
"I..." Heine wordlessly met my gaze.
"Why the fuck is everything in this world so reasonable!? That's an animal, y'know?! Why'd it run away?! I...I wanted to test out some spells..."
I wanted to cry.
-
Hope you enjoyed.
Please feel free to share any thoughts, ideas, suggestions or even criticisum you might have. It's invaluable for the writing process.
P.S: I'm having way too much fun writing this.
Here's a pic of the beast/familiar Heine was fighting, I'll explore it more in the next chapter.
Comments
Bleap
Mhm, I've kept it intentionally vague since the first time they did anything since I don't enjoy when stories devolve into 80% smut or some such. Give the first two paragraphs after the confession chapter another read and you'll figure it out.
SRWilson MR
I'm a little confused, did they do it or not? Henry using fuuga, huh?!? Kek, I wonder now if he can copy dismantle. It probably isn't that complicated, after all, it's a simple cutting skill. It all depends on who's using it. At least he managed to farm aura with that fire arrow and the other mages will think twice before trying to fight him.
