Tears built up in her eyes. She sniffled and wiped her eyes.

I sat in silence to process what I had heard.

During the Magic Revolution, Odette was condemned for her abilities by the people. She was seen as a monster. Her parents were murdered right in front of her as she was thwarted from stopping it. Even the great Odette wasn’t safe from mana poisoning.

“We can’t get in contact with Alucard at the moment since he is on a journey far, far away from here. We haven’t seen each other in decades.” Odette reverted back to her usual self after she wiped her tears.

“Is he also old like you?”

“Tch. What kind of question is that? No, he’s not. He’s still the handsome hunk he was when we first met.”

“How were you able to survive so long…” I asked.

They had lived for almost a thousand years. How could they still be alive, even today?

Odette chuckled. “I guess it’s the power we were born with that helped us stay alive.”

“If so, why does it look like you’re on the verge of death from old age?”

“Iris keeps asking me the same question. ‘Why isn’t Lady Odette using magic to alter your biology’. It’s because I am unable to do it.”

“Huh? You can’t?”

“Yes. My power is nearly depleted from all these years of keeping myself alive. Perhaps the gods wanted to curse me for committing those massacres. Although I don’t regret what I did, I have repented long enough. Still, my death is near.”

How could her power be near depletion if she was able to use teleportation so accurately? That just showed how much mana Odette had when she was in her prime. No wonder I came second for having the most mana.

“Does anyone else know?”

“I’m sure Viria does. She must sense how my core is unable to purify the atmosphere’s mana like I used to. I’ve been coughing up blood mixed with impure mana a lot lately. That’s proof that my core is nearing the end of its lifespan.”

“Is that a thing? I haven’t heard of it before.”

“Yes. Although, in normal humans, their cores only begin to fade once they have died. Besides enzymes, the impure mana from the core also causes your body to decompose. As I have long since reached the end of the lifespan of a normal human, mine has been like this for quite a while. Was it 300 years go? I’m not sure.”

“Then…can’t you restore your mana using mana potions or waiting it out? I thought that all mages are capable of recovering their mana. Turns out I was wrong.”

“No. I have come to the conclusion that Varian, the Goddess of Life of Death has cursed me to live the rest of my days in torment for what I did back then.”

“Lady Odette’s revenge….” I said upon realizing what she meant.

“That’s right.”

“I want to ask something.”

“Go ahead. As payment for coming to tell me of what is expected to happen, I will answer as best I can.” Odette gave a reassuring smile.

That smile froze when she saw my movements. I pulled up my sleeve and did a spirit activation.

Green spirits gathered around the white arm. I closed my eyes and whispered: “Lightborn.”

!!!

The space was heavily distorted and a sound similar to glass breaking rang out. The world was drained of its colour. The bright sun and the sky had all lost their vibrant colours. The world looked like a black and white canvas that only needed colour to be able to turn into a beautiful painting.

I looked back at Odette.

“As expected…” I muttered. “You aren’t affected by this technique.”

I had a theory about Lightborn. Depending on the level of my opponent, how much would the stoppage of time affect them? Take Aubrey’s case for example.

He was able to move within the world of Lightborn. Albeit, barely. He could move his eyes, which allowed him to be able to see my spell being aimed straight at him.

Looking at Odette, she wasn’t affected by the technique at all. It was like I wasn’t high levelled enough to be using this on her.

I hadn’t met anyone who was stronger than me as of late. At least at Aubrey’s level or higher. So I wasn’t able to test my theory. I had tried several times. Even among my professors, however, none of them could give the same result like Aubrey.

I finally proved that I was right.

‘Does this mean Lightborn can be strengthened after all?’

“What is this…? A god rank spell? No, this seems like something else…” Odette looked around. Admiration and unease was evident on her face. She seemed to fumble with her words as she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“This is the blessing Sol gave me….The world altering technique, Lightborn. Everything you see around you is frozen in my prison of time.” I picked up a piece of paper and let it go. It didn’t move at all. It remained frozen in mid-air.

“You…stopped time?” Odette’s eyes shook. “This…can’t be possible. For a boy to have this…”

She pointed at my arm. “Is that…”

“This is what I call my Spirit Arm. A manifestation of spirits.” Her eyes widened again. I threw the final blow. “You told me that if anything ever bothered me that I could come see you, right? Well, I want to know why I am able to use spirit and arcane magic. This technique you see here is the result of using green time spirits.”

“…..”

The world slowly returned to normal. Cold sweat dripped down my chin. My head was spinning like crazy. I was barely able to maintain sitting upright.

“Ha….ha…haha…” Odette laughed brokenly. She looked as if she saw a ghost.

“I should’ve….known.” She looked down at her hands. “Back when I first saw you and felt this familiar presence. Xio. Why did you resemble him so much? That was why I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. I had to know.”

“Had to know what?”

She lifted up her head. “I had to know if you were really him…That was why I monitored you since the first day you arrived at this academy. I even had Iris try and find you. But here you are…” Tears streamed down Odette’s face. For a moment, I could see the face of a young woman with white hair look at me. It was like I was seeing the young Odette. “Xio.”

Odette pulled her arms around me and hugged me. “Each and every day I dreamed of what to say if I ever met you. What would he think if he found out that I wasn’t able to finish what we started back then? Those thoughts haunted me. I wanted him to be proud of us. He sacrificed himself to save this world. And yet…sniff.”

Odette cried. I didn’t say anything and only let her do what she wanted.

‘Huh?’

Suddenly a flash went off inside my head.

‘Where am I?’

I looked around but I couldn’t turn my head for some reason. All I was able to do was stare in front of me.

There was so much darkness that I wasn’t able to see no more than a few meters in front of me.

I felt formless. I had no arms nor did I have any legs to walk with. My throat was gone. I couldn’t even squirm.

I was…a soul amongst the sea of other souls that drifted around me.

Odette, Alucard, Heliona, Merlin…I will find a new soul and definitely come back.

Memories suddenly flooded into my head. It was like I was a different person.

Was this…Xio’s memories? Did my meeting up with her and telling her the truth trigger this?

I searched for hundreds of years yet I cannot find one soul suitable enough for this! Did Rodion curse me!? Am I forever to remain in this wretched place where souls forever wander!?

In the darkness, a single light shined. It was so bright that it outshined the rest of the other souls.

A person from another world? It’s what I’ve been looking for!

Xio’s soul burst toward the bright light.

‘Is that the soul of the girl I saved?’

As the soul got closer and closer, a shadow suddenly loomed over the river of souls. It was much more larger than the other souls. It was a giant purple soul that seemed to not belong to this river of souls.

Accursed demon! That soul is mine! With this I can be reborn again! I must not falter!

Xio’s soul sped up even further. He was in a race with the purple giant that threatened to swallow the girl’s soul.

Before it reached the soul, Xio managed to catch up. It swallowed the bright light whole. However, before it was completed, the purple giant swallowed him along with the other soul. The soul was being pulled by an unknown force.

An irregular? W-What is this power!!

My vision darkened as if I was falling to the bottom of the ocean. Xio’s soul was being forced down by this energy that seemed to defy this world’s natural order. Although he swallowed the girl’s soul, the same was said for his.

The purple giant absorbed Xio’s soul until nothing was left.

◇◇◇

I heard a voice call out to me. It sounded so far away. Like it was being shouted from the bottom of a well.

Clyde, it shouted.

Clyde!

I opened my eyes and saw that Odette was holding me.

“Clyde!” She continued calling out to me.

“……I…”

“Thank goodness, you suddenly fainted.” Odette sighed in relief.

“I…killed him?” I said after catching my breath. “I killed Xio when I was reborn in this world…”

“…It would appear so…”

I looked at Odette. Her eyes which didn’t have any sort of noticeable emotions in them looked at me with a gentle light.

“Did you see something?” She asked and helped me stand up. “When the two of us touched, I felt a strange feeling inside my head.”

“Rather than see something, I went back to the day before I was born. I was looking at everything in Xio’s perspective. How he swallowed up the bright light. However, he was swallowed up by a bigger force.”

And that force was me.

“Then…he really is inside you. Well, what remains of him, anyway. His powers, memories and ego are all gone.”

“What will you do?” I asked carefully.

I had just told the second biggest secret I had. Only a handful of people knew of my abilities.

Why did I feel the need to tell Odette? We weren’t even close.

There are many reliable people around you, son. Lean on them from now on.

I remembered my father’s words. Was that it?

Did I see Odette as someone reliable? Someone I could lean on?

Perhaps.

I lifted my head to see why she wasn’t answering my question. She was silently staring at me.

“You mentioned spirits. But aren’t you an arcane magic user?”

“I am…”

“How are you using two of the same natures at once? Is there a gimmick to this?” She pressed further to know the truth. Honestly, I wasn’t sure myself.

“Trust me…There’s no gimmick. It’s just that I have two cores. One of spirit nature and the other of arcane.”

“…..”

Odette closed her eyes. It looked like she was busy processing all the information she just heard. Her face made many expressions before she finally opened her eyes.

“Have you formed a contract with a monarch yet?”

“Eh? Can you tell?”

“The fact that your arm is glowing due to the intensity of spirits, it tells me that you are much more capable than summoning lesser monarchs.” Odette seemed quite knowledgeable.

“Was…Xio the same? Could he control a monarch as well?”

To my question, Odette chuckled. It was like my question was ridiculous.

“He was the god of the elves; the Spirit King. Not just one monarch, he could control them all. Even the Spirit Beasts were at his mercy.”

The Spirit Beast referred to the mystical monsters like Leviathan and the World Serpent. There were many others but those two were two of the most well-known.

“He could control all four elements? That’s insane…”

“Not four. All five.” Odette corrected me.

“Five?” I frowned. “But Undine didn’t tell me that the green spirits had a monarch…”

I only knew of earth, wind, fire and water had monarchs.

“Have you heard of Celestial Spirits?”

“Celestial Spirits?” It was a new concept. It was my first time hearing of it though.

I shook my head.

“What are those?”

“Well, they refer to the elements outside of this world.”

Odette pointed at a certain chart. It showed the basic outline of magic spells ,which was ,again: earth, fire, water and wind.

“Those are the only elements we practice in our schools. This is the basic elements that make up nature. However, isn’t light and gravity also elements? We can’t touch them but they exist. This is where my Theory of Ether comes into play.”

“Ah!”

“Does that ring a bell?”

“Yes. I heard the goddess talking about it.”

Yeltena mentioned that ether was the manifestation of all the elements. It was the fifth element. However, since it wasn’t something seen by the naked eye, no one believed it existed.

It was theoretical, like the question when we ask if time is linear or not. If so, why was de ja vu a thing?

Could it just be our parallel selves sharing each other’s memories? Or was it just distorted brain activity due to unhealthy lifestyles?

In the end, it was only a theory. Like ether.

“Ether is not a thing we can see. But the accumulation of elements is known as Ether. I believe the Celestial Spirits were born from this element. They were space-time and light. What you just did makes me believe that your powers fit in this category. Space and time. You used both those concepts to stop the world. However, theoretically, time never stopped in the first place, we were only locked in a space box that sped our time several times faster than the real world.”

“Thus meaning that Ether isn’t just a theory.”

“Exactly. What you just did proved that.”

“Does this mean I have a Celestial Spirit inside of me?”

“We should assume so. But seeing as how your abilities are limited, it cannot manifest. I think that the blessing Sol gave you woke up the Celestial Spirit inside you. And her or his attribute is space-time. Those attributes fused are what makes Lightborn.”

‘No wonder I can stop time.’

I had always wondered why my spirit arm activated whenever I used Lightborn. Turned out that I needed to use the power of the Celestial Spirit.

“So Xio had all the spirits in his grasp, huh…”

There was a reason they called him the Spirit King.

“Have you sensed anything strange during your usage of spirit magic?” Odette asked.

“Well….” I tried to think back to that day I asked Skyrith to help me with my training. She was fine the moment I closed my eyes, however, when I opened them she looked horrified.

I explained it to Odette as such.

Odette silently pondered.

“…She must’ve seen the spirit then. There’s no other way to explain it.” Odette looked up at me. “I will come into contact with Skyrith. We haven’t seen each other in decades but I’m sure she’ll be willing to answer my questions. When you come back to the kingdom, head straight to my office. Understood?”

“Yes. May I know what the gods blessed lady Odette with?” I asked to find out how she was able to predict the Immortals arrival on this world.

She tapped her right eye. “I have the ability called Foresight. Known as the all-knowing eye or the Eye of Clairvoyance. This is how I could see the destruction this world will go through. The Magic Revolution, Dawn of the Dragons Lords or maybe even the disaster on its way…It will be nothing in comparison to the war approaching. This will be the second Rodion.”

My eyes widened.

The Demon Battle God was the most dangerous enemy humanity had ever faced in this world. Some said that he was once human. Abandoned his mortal flesh to become an all-powerful deity. He was a martial artist who was known to be able to punch away an entire mountain in one strike. His very power created the crevice that separated the two continents in this world.

“So…we’re doomed after all…Hahaha….” I sat down on the chair again.

“Foresight can be wrong at times. Perhaps we might be able to resist their assault on this world.” Odette turned around. “Did you forget? We have a new dawn of heroes. The White Order.”

She stood up and took her cloak and hat.

“You can see yourself out of the door.” She said in a monotonous voice. It was like our business was over.

Odette banged her office door.

I was left alone in that classroom to process everything that happened.

“……”

Silence was all that surrounded me.

-◇-

When Clyde left the magic lab, another girl was observing him from the door of the classroom. She only wanted to walk by since she was already done with all her projects for the term.

However, she ended up learning something fruitful for the future.

“So, Clyde Astley is the incarnation of the Spirit King. And Odette is the Great Sage?”

She muttered as she remembered what they were talking about.

‘Was this why he was so special? Why I could never surpass him?’

“How shall I use this information to my advantage?”

Bridgette, Clyde’s lab partner and the one pushing to become the next Head Mage, smiled amusedly as she watched Clyde’s back.