“Learn how to properly make use of magic.”

Lastraeus sounded serious, more than ever for the infamous playful god. Leona was unsure how to reply to such an odd suggestion, so instead she decided to take another kind of approach.

“Are you implying I don’t know how to cast magic?”

“Not cast, use. There is a fatal difference between them. The first is by taking lessons and using predetermined words to shape mana in an usable manner such as fire, wind, water or earth spells. What I meant with the latter however, is true mastery of magic.”

He stood up from the throne which instantly dissolved back into the water blade floor below, while the god continued to explain.

“How can ice be considered a separate school of elemental magic if the starting product is simply water? Or why nobody can use multiple fire spells without burning out all their mana? These are just some blatant examples of how ignorant magicians of your world truly are to magic.”

Through those few words, Leona glimpsed some possibilities how she could improve her own abilities, albeit all of them were just theories at that point. Without any hesitation, Lastraeus stood right up against her, the hazy figure towering over her much like Krieg as he looked down directly into her eyes.

The swirling black haze seemed to suck out her soul the more she looked at it.

“Seek my former champion in the village of Nara. He shall lend you a much needed aid, should you survive the trip.”

No words could leave her mouth, she felt her entire body being crushed under the god’s presence. It wasn’t frightening but ominous, much like staring at a bottomless pit.

She started to feel her body suddenly lose footing as her feet sunk deep in the freezing cold water floor. At first she tried to grasp the god’s legs, but her fingers passed through the black haze like it was air. Lastraeus stepped closer, leaning over her while waving his fingers as she was engulfed by the water floor.

Instinctively, she tried to hold her breath, but the more time passed her body sank deeper and deeper into what it seemed to be an endless void beneath her flaying feet.

Her body screamed for air, as pressure raised the remaining gasp of breath in her lungs started to burst into bubbles from her mouth. Both eyes felt heavy as the lack of air started to take her consciousness away, she saw a gentle flash of the fractured sky before fainting.

“Pfff! Gah!”

Leona jolted back up awake when a chunk of snow hit her right in the face. The sudden movement sent a spike of pain from her lower back to her brain, prompting her to groan.

“Nnnngh…!”

She arched back and with her left hand she started to rub part of her back in order to alleviate the pain as best as she could.

“Princess are you alright?”

Phoebe’s voice made Leona open her eyes. Upon seeing a blurry image of the high elf’s face uncomfortably close to hers, she sat back up straight to make some space between them while answering.

“It was just a minor pain in the lower back.”

The Princess scratched her eyes to remove some of the rheum that had built up during her sleep in the corner of both eyelids. Even though she had slept for at least a couple of hours, seeing it was night-time, she didn’t feel exactly rested. She did notice however that a green colored cloth was covering her upper body while the snow sledge moved ever so slightly in short intervals.

When her vision started to focus, she leaned over the edge of her seat and noticed a humanoid figure holding thick links of chains over against each shoulder, pulling the vehicle forward through strength alone. In that freezing cold night, Krieg had taken off the jacket of the military garb he wore in order to warm her up, all the while pulling the extremely heavy metal sledge.

“Krieg!”

She yelled before tossing the jacket aside on the seat, despite the pain in her lower back, she jumped over the vehicle and ran towards the knight. Just after that she noticed they were no longer in the incline hills near Akrapocalis, but instead in a snow covered forest.

The knight seemed so focused in pulling that he didn’t seem to notice her approaching his left side. Phoebe noticed the Princess’ proximity to the knight and also jumped after her while shouting.

“Wait Princess don’t touch him-”

“Krieg are you alright?!”

Before she could think of touching his upper body, her fingertips felt a sharp pain of heat as she pulled her arm back and fell on her butt on the snow. Phoebe rushed to her side and checked her right palm if there were any signs of burns, but thankfully nothing happened to the Princess’ skin.

“Ow… what is happening with him?”

Leona was shaking her hand slightly when she noticed the snow beneath the knight’s feet was melting and leaving puddles of water behind him. Phoebe helped her stand up while explaining.

“Apparently he discovered a method to utilize his own mana to strengthen himself, but then after he decided to use it to haul this whole chunk of metal.”

The high elf motioned to the vehicle behind them with her thumb as she continued.

“His mana started to suddenly change, though his body still seems to be holding itself well despite the extreme amount of heat coming off from him.”

“Hmmm…”

Leona observed from afar, her aquamarine eyes possessed a faint blue tint around the irises as she focused on observing the mana in the air around him.

“Wait… no way…”

In the night brightened by moonlight, Leona could see a fierce aura being emitted off the knight’s body, much like waves of heat emanating from a very hot surface, the air seemed to distort around him as result of the constant release of mana.

Normally most living beings passively release the excess mana inside their bodies through the endings of magic circuits present inside their bodies, however in Krieg’s case, instead of flowing through the normal pathways that are generally the extremities of the body like hands and feet, his mana was seeping through the skin directly, as if his whole body was radiating fire aspected magic.

Leona had a vague memory of reading in her father’s study about dragons being able to coat themselves with mana in order to repel magical attacks, but the last sighting of an actual dragon was over two hundred years ago according to some other books. She knew Krieg was a demi-human but being a descendant of a dragon seemed too surreal.

Leona cleaned the snow off her uniform and started to circle around the knight, standing in front of him as result.

“Krieg!”

She called out, but he didn’t seem to respond to her voice. However the Princess wasn’t totally convinced, she grabbed a chunk of snow and lobbed it at him, but it evaporated even before it could reach his chest. Phoebe accompanied her in a slow step while trying to maintain a healthy distance from the knight.

“Princess, I believe we’ll need to stabilize his overflow of mana before doing anything. I tried talking to him for quite a while but nothing seemed to get through him.”

“Very well. Stand back.”

Leona took a few steps back and upon inhaling deeply, she started to chant while pointing both hands open towards the Krieg.

“Great power of the sea-”

Thin strings of mana gathered from her fingertips, spiraling out like a blooming flower while she continued to speak.

“Lend me your almighty strength-”

Suddenly, part of the symmetric array of light blue strings started to curve themselves back in between her hands forming a condensed mass of mana as the air around her seemed to take shape, her long blonde hair fluttering on the gentle breeze before she chanted the last part of the spell.

“Maelstrom!”

The condensed mana transformed into a sphere of clear water before the spiraling mana took the form of a wind cyclone, shooting the excess liquid like a powerful jet towards the knight. With a vicious torrent of water, the first few seconds near Krieg was just a thick screen of steam, before the water finally overtook the heat and started to hit him directly.

“Princess Leona, isn't this a bit too much?!”

Phoebe was shielding her face from the heat dissipated through the hot steam while she tried to speak over the noise of splashing water. The spell lasted only for a few seconds before she hunched over while holding onto her knees with each hand.

‘That was close… I almost fainted again.’

The world felt like it was spinning slightly, throwing off the balance of her body. Since the mana levels in her body haven’t stabilized completely yet, using any magic of a larger scale would drain the last remaining reserves she had, causing another mana shock.

“Are you alright?!”

Phoebe approached her whilst extending her hand in case she’d fall.

“I’m fine, just… tired that’s all.”

A sizzling noise caught both girl’s attention, once they looked at Krieg, they could see a faint red glow coming off more prominently from his arms up until his neck. His hands were still clutching the chains tightly. After standing up properly, even though her back still hurt, Leona approached him.

“Krieg?”

She extended her hand but before she could touch him, he dropped head first into the snow.

“Krieg?!”