Chapter 31: Chapter 24: Training on a cold winter day.

Echoes of Fire and Shadows

Chapter 24: Training on a cold winter day.

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And so, in the blink of an eye, almost three years have passed… The warm summers came and went, the autumns claimed the lush greenery of the forest and the extremely cold winters settled, covering the world in a beautiful white. Now, we are once again waiting for spring to arrive and bless us with its warmth and its beauty.

The chaotic sounds of metal clashing against metal reverberated around the forest as a harsh blizzard continued to cover everything with snow. 

“That’s the best you can do? I’ve seen goblins move faster than you do!” Auntie sneered as she started preparing her next spell while holding a short sword in her left hand.

“That’s funny! I was thinking the very same thing about you!” I replied as I prepared my own countermeasures for her spell.

"You call that trash-talking? You can surely one-up your game, Julius!" She tried to piss me off.

"Oh, please, I haven't even gotten warmed up, Auntie!" I said with confidence as I held my own shortsword in a reverse grip.

Today was a day like any other for me. I was already done with most of my chores and since Auntie was visiting, the two of us decided to train together.

Although I say training, the two of us usually end up engaging in a magistral class of trash-talking, which is apparently Auntie's specialty...

"Let's see how you handle this then!" She raised her right hand into the air. "You cannot run away from this, you hear me!" She grinned as she started gathering mana into her hand.

"Bring it on!" I smiled fearlessly.

Soon, Auntie's spell was unleashed... The entire might of the rampant blizzard came crashing down upon me. The snow and the cold powerful winds started crashing against my face, making me feel like I would freeze where I stood.

I quickly covered my mouth and nose with my scarf and made sure that my fur coat was well adjusted. After all, I was planning to do a frontal assault using the blizzard as cover.

"What's the matter!? Can you even deal with this or will I have to pull you out of the snow afterward?" My dear Auntie didn't hold back in the slightest, both with her spell and with her trash-talking.

Of course, I paid her no attention as I put my sword right in front of me and started focusing on my own spell.

My mana completely filled the blade almost instantly, making the sword overflow with my power...

"[Blazing Blade]." I whispered as I activated the spell.

As soon as I said the name of the spell, my sword was set ablaze.

Without any moment of hesitation, I dashed forward, using my blade as a shield against the elements. The harsh winds were also feeding the flames of my sword, making the fire more intense and violent.

Due to my high speed, in just mere moments I had reached my opponent.

"So you choose to use the Fire Element this time, eh? Do your worst!" My aunt said with a little bit of amusement before closing the distance between us.

Our swords then clashed once more. But we didn't stop there…

Again and again, our blades crashed against each other as our fierce showdown became even more frantic and intense.

The heat of my flames and the cold winds of the blizzard were both hitting me in the face with full force.

"Oho! So you really are keeping up with me… Maybe I should get my act together and one up my game as well!" Auntie looked at me with a smug look on her face the moment our swords clashed against one another.

"It'll take a lot more than this to defeat me and you know it!" I shouted as I overpowered her and parried her weapon.

"Oh…" For a moment, Auntie looked both shocked and nervous as her arms went above her head due to the momentum of her blade.

Without missing a beat, I took the chance that had just opened for me and slashed at the empty air in front of me.

A huge wave of flames was then shot from my sword towards Auntie almost point-blank. The snow beneath our feet quickly started to melt due to the heat.

However, at the last second, where the wave of scorching flames was about to reach her, she disappeared.

"That's too bad! You almost had me there!" She suddenly appeared right beside me with a smug look on her face.

I ignored her attempts at taunting me and immediately slashed at her as fast as I could, leaving a trail of flames and sparks in the path of my sword.

But, once again, she simply disappeared and dodged my attack.

"We really need to work on your aim!" She obviously mocked me as soon as she appeared a few meters away from me.

I was already used to this kind of thing during our battles, so I was not frustrated in the slightest. On the contrary, I was calmer than in our other fights.

As soon as I confirmed where she was, I slashed twice into the empty air in front of me, launching two waves of flames towards her.

“Alright, I’ll meet this attack head-on!” Auntie exclaimed with a victorious tone.

The moment the flames were about to reach her, an invisible shield covered her entire body. A shield made out of several layers of pure wind. The flames became even bigger and more powerful, however, due to Auntie’s spell, the flames were redirected towards the sky. There was no doubt in my mind that she was unscathed.

Truly… The things that can be done with magic are simply astounding… While it is true that the higher grades of magic have the power to alter reality and go against the laws of nature and physics, you can’t laugh off the power of the lower grades either… Auntie’s [Wind Aegis] is proof of that since it is only several [Grade 1] spells stacked upon each other.

“Oi! Why are you lost in thought in the middle of a battle!?” The moment Auntie’s shout reached my ears, she was already in front of me, swinging her short sword horizontally.

I was able to parry her attack, but I ended up with a small cut on my arm since I was too slow to react. She immediately went into the offensive and started to mercilessly swing her sword at me.

Her quick and powerful swings rendered me unable to launch a counterattack, so I was forced to stay on the defense as I was quickly losing my ground against the expert swordswoman…

“Auntie… I was just thinking of all the rewards you promised if I ever won against you. Since you never said what those rewards were, I thought this would be a good day to find out about it, don’t you think?” I smiled at her while I was continuously parrying her attacks.

“Pfft! That was a good one! You’re still too young to even think about defeating me!” She said with amusement as kept forcing me closer to my limits.

I simply continued to smile at her while I tried to hold on against her wild barrage of attacks. However, his situation wouldn’t last for much longer, as I already had formulated a plan to deal with this.

“Alright! This will be my 106th win! Better luck next time, Julius!” She was about to knock me out with her incredible strength just like she had done in our previous encounters, but… “Ehh?” Unfortunately for her, I was not going to fall here.

Auntie’s right foot had suddenly been buried beneath the snow, making her lose her balance, thus making her miss her attack.

While I was launching those waves of flames from my sword, I was also using another spell from the Earth Element to make that small and invisible hole beneath the snow. 

Everything I had been doing before was nothing but a ruse. That small hole was the real start of my offensive and I had made Auntie walk right into it. No pun intended.

“I got you now!” My smile became a full shit-eating grin as the first part of my strategy had been successful.

“You think this puny trap will stop me? This isn't even enough to be even considered an inconvenience! I can free myself from this with barely any effort!” She didn’t seem bothered at all about being caught in my trap.

Of course, I was not about to let her escape since she was right where I wanted her to be.

Thus, I quickly swung my sword at her with all my might... Our swords ended up clashing once again.

“Look! I don’t even need to move to defeat you! You’ll really need to think about a better strategy for our next battle!” She quickly swung her sword at me while talking as if she had already won.

This time, I was having an easier time parrying and even countering her attacks considering she had lost her footing.

While my blazing blade sent fiery sparks all around us every time it clashed against Auntie’s sword, I was already preparing myself to execute the next part of my master plan.

“Alright! If you won’t admit defeat, then I’ll just make the blizzard more powerful! How about that!?” Auntie yelled with a mix of both pride and annoyance in her voice. 

Without knowing, Auntie was being played right into my plans. She was doing exactly what I needed her to do.

“Oh really? Bring it!” I said with a fearless expression as I swung my sword twice in quick succession in an attempt to disarm her.

True to her word, Auntie made the blizzard get even more intense… The visibility got even poorer than it already was and the winds hitting my face were even way colder than before. I could hardly see Auntie due to the poor visibility and I was starting to shiver as a result of the extreme cold…

“You don’t seem as confident as you did before, Julius! Let’s wrap this up so we can get breakfast, okay?” She suddenly smiled cheerfully. 

I could tell that she was already thinking that her victory was nothing but confirmed… However, that line of thinking is what’s going to lead her to her defeat.

As soon as our swords crashed against each other again, I dispelled my spell from my weapon, which made the fire suddenly extinguish itself, leaving only the sight of the red-hot iron letting out steam whenever any snowflakes landed on the sword.

I quickly jumped backward in order to get as much distance from Auntie as I could. The second part of my plan had begun.

“Sheesh… Are we going to play hide-and-seek now?” Auntie spoke with a bit of annoyance while trying to look for me in the blizzard she had caused.

I was not the only one hindered by the poor visibility, which was an essential part of my plan.

I hastily got away from Auntie without losing track of her location. I was following the faint trails of my mana that would lead me to something extremely important I had carved underneath the snow in preparation for my battle against her.

“There it is! She’s really done for now!” I whispered to myself with the same grin from before since everything was going dandily.

Without any delay, I cleared as much of the snow as I could, which revealed a small magic circle with the shape of an inverted “Y” in the middle of it.

“And what makes you think I’m done for?” Auntie once again appeared in front of me with a very confident expression. She had already put her sword back on its sheath, meaning that she was really planning to end our training session soon.

I answered her question with a warm smile as I placed my hand on top of the magic circle and started infusing it with my mana. The magic circle then began to shine with a bright blue light. Besides that, nothing else seemingly happened.

Auntie looked at the magic circle with disappointment. 

“That’s it? Considering that it is you that we’re talking about, I was expecting something big to happen... This is a bit anticlimactic, Julius…” Auntie tilted her head as she watched me pour even more of my mana into the magic circle.

“Auntie, I think there’s something going on with your boots.” I had to control myself in order to not show her a shameless expression.

“What do you mean by…-? Oh…” Auntie seemed a little bemused as looked down to see her boots.

Her boots and her leg up to her calf were seemingly frozen. I say seemingly because her boots and legs were not actually frozen. It was all merely a harmless illusion I had created by using the steam produced by the hot metal of my sword and thanks to the poor visibility caused by the blizzard.

This was merely a distraction.

“How strange… It doesn’t even feel cold at all… You shouldn't have been able to freeze my feet without me realizing it...” Auntie was getting increasingly confused.

The second part of my plan was a success! It is time for the final part. The great finale!

I could already feel those things coming towards us… Three gigantic fireballs which were the size of a truck were fastly approaching my aunt while she was still focusing on the mystery of her frozen boots.

"Speaking of which, why does it feel so hot in here all of a sudden?" She started talking to herself. "Oh crap!" She shouted in a panic just when she was about to be hit by my spells.

I had to quickly cast a barrier in order to protect myself from my own spell.

With Auntie at its center, an enormous explosion shook the ground beneath us violently while sending a shockwave that made all of the snow fall from the trees nearby. The explosion also created a huge white cloud in front of me, right where my Auntie was supposed to be.

I was elated that my spell had hit its target, but I knew this wasn't enough… Knowing Auntie as well as I do, she should have been able to pull off something to defend herself at the last second, which should give me the opportunity of a surprise attack.

I immediately left my defensive position behind my barrier and circled around Auntie until I was directly behind where she should be.

I steeled myself before jumping into the huge white cloud, putting all the strength I had into a powerful kick aimed at her head.

"Finally! This is my win!" I shouted as I was about to kick her.

However, I was about to learn that things in life almost never go the way we planned once again…

My leg was suddenly caught by a slender arm, while an extremely powerful wind kept me floating in the air…

The huge white cloud was immediately dispersed by a powerful gale, revealing my Aunt whose body was surrounded by fierce winds, like she was in the middle of a hurricane. Her body then started emitting a light green-colored aura with silver sparks all around her.

Due to her power, even the blizzard was completely stopped in a very unnatural manner. 

My aunt was looking at me with a very serious expression.

In contrast, I was looking at her with shock, but despite my shock, I could still see defeat in my immediate future… I knew I was screwed. That shock was quickly replaced with indignation as I remembered one of the rules we had set before we had started…

"Auntie, that's cheating! You said that you weren't going to use that powe…-" 

Unfortunately, before I could complain any further, I saw in slow motion how her fist was fastly approaching my face…

(Oh shit… That's probably going to hurt a lot…) I thought as I resigned myself to my fate as her fist was about to come into contact with my cheek.

Fortunately, I wouldn't need to worry about the pain since I was instantly knocked out thanks to the strength of her attack.

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“C’mon! I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget!” I shouted as I quickly raised my upper body and prepared myself to throw a punch. “Eh? When did I get back home?” I tilted my head with confusion as I found myself back in my room.

I was laying on my bed, covered under the hides of a bear which I was using as a blanket.

“Sheesh… You finally wake up.” A familiar voice came from the door. That voice belonged to my Auntie. 

She was wearing only a white shirt, simple trousers and she was also barefooted. She was carrying a plate and a small cup of tea in her hands. She brought a chair and sat directly beside my nightstand.

“How was your nap? You were sleeping pretty soundly on my back while I was walking back home.” She spoke to me in a very easy-going manner before taking a sip of her hot tea. She then left the plate and the cup on top of the nightstand.

Ah… Now I remember…

“Auntie, you’re a liar, you know that?” My confusion immediately became anger as I remembered what had happened during our training session. “You said you weren’t going to use [Transcendence]...” I scowled at her.

“I didn’t say I was not going to use it! I said that I might not use it!” She said nonchalantly.

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“Even more lies…” I averted my gaze and then looked through the window with an angry expression.

My chances of winning against her were practically reduced to exactly zero the moment she used that ability…

[Transcendence] is probably the most powerful and most useful technique a person could learn, as well as the most difficult. The technique requires you to be proficient with magic and with [Kai] which is also known as [Fighting Spirit].

[Transcendence] is a direct evolution of [Fighting Spirit]. Unlike the latter, however, [Transcendence] does not only strengthen the body of the user in order to get a burst of power, [Transcendence] goes beyond that and gives its user the full power of an element. In other words, you become an embodiment of one of the [Six Primordial Elements]. Auntie became the embodiment of the Wind Element since that is the only element she is the most proficient with (as well as the only one she can use).

Supposedly, this is a power that takes years and even decades for some to acquire. It doesn’t matter how hard I try, it is impossible for me to even attempt to defeat Auntie when she’s in her transcended state at my current level.

Basically, it is a cheat-tier power through and through.

Despite all of my efforts, I am yet to become able to use [Transcendence]... I'm simply not skilled enough yet…  I can, however, use [Fighting Spirit].

“C’mon! Don’t get mad at me! We had a good training session today!” She tried to smooth things over with me.

“...” I simply ignored her as I continued to look outside through my window.

I could see a small plaza with a frozen fountain at its center as well as the many houses that had been built around it. The snow on the stony pavement was being cleared by several of our neighbors.

My anger subsided as it was slowly replaced by a sense of accomplishment and pride.

I, alongside my parents, and sisters as well as Mia and her family had built that small plaza and all the houses around it. It's really hard to believe now that almost three years ago this place was just a field in the middle of a forest with several tree trunks and a few buildings.

Now, we actually have a fully functional and self-sustaining village. We have farms, we are raising cattle, we have safe sources of water as well our own underground cold room for storing and preserving our food.

Looking back at all the work we put into the village after Mia and her family moved here with us really makes me feel proud of what we have accomplished. 

“Are you still mad at me?” My aunt suddenly rested her chin on my shoulder and then started poking my cheek with her finger.

“I am.” I replied with absolutely no hesitation without even looking at her.

“That’s a bit of a bummer… Though I suppose I can enjoy looking at your cute angry expression for longer." She didn't seem to care that I was still angry at her, so she simply kept pestering me with her neverending poking.

"If you dare to say that I'm soft and warm, I swear to the gods that I will send you back to Norvek in a wheelchair..." I said with increasing annoyance while unsuccessfully trying to stop her from poking my cheek.

"That's my little trash-talker!" She sounded really proud of me while she gave me a hug from behind.

"..." I simply frowned since I was used to her shenanigans.

"So? How are things going with Mia? Have you told her how you feel yet?" She asked with a somewhat mischievous tone.

"Leave me alone…" I tried to dodge her question.

I… I have a little bit of a small confession to make… I may not want to cancel my engagement with Mia anymore…

Why? The answer is pretty simple, actually. You see… I have developed feelings for Mia.

It is not like she did anything special to make me fall for her or something like that. It just happened…

I simply woke up one day, feeling both nervous and excited about the prospect of spending time with her as well as feeling overjoyed and embarrassed whenever she would hug me like she always does, and not wanting to take my eyes off her…

These damned hormones, I swear...

She obviously doesn't know how I feel yet. Nobody but Auntie and Lia know how I feel.

Lia, or rather, Thiasis started teasing the day I started feeling awkward around Mia. She obviously found out because she could read my mind. 

Auntie, however, found out when I was absentmindedly talking to myself when I was alone in my room a few months ago…

Neither of them have stopped teasing me since then...

"So you haven't told her about how you feel yet…" Auntie spoke with a compassionate tone while patting my head. "Does it make you feel nervous? You shouldn't be nervous! That girl obviously feels the same way about you!" My aunt was trying to encourage me.

"I know… I'm not nervous because of that." I quickly shook my head while being a little embarrassed thanks to the topic at hand.

"Ah, is this about the difference in mental age and life experience you mentioned before?" She tilted her head while having a slightly amused grin on her face.

"Ah… You also heard that part…" I wanted to dig a hole and bury myself forever.

This dear Auntie of mine seems to have listened to my full rambling the day she found out about my feelings for Mia, which means that she KNOWS the exact reasons why I haven't told Mia about it.

The first and most important reason is that I'm technically 30 years old (physically 9 years old, I will be 10 years old in just a few weeks) if you take both of my lives into account. The difference in our mental ages and life experience is simply massive, especially considering that Mia just turned 13 years old a few months ago. I know I'm a child right now, but it feels immoral to even tell her my feelings...

"I did hear that~." Her grin got wider. "But I think that you should know that everybody rarely takes into account the age you had in your former life. You're also pretty childish, so the difference in life experience is not exactly as massive as you think it is." Auntie patted my back in a reassuring manner.

"Ehh? I'm childish?" I was genuinely shocked to hear that.

"You've just realized that?" Auntie looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "While it is true that you aren't exactly a normal child, you do act like a child your age most of the time, especially when you're with Lilia. So that would make you a mommy's boy~!" My aunt's amusement had gone through the roof.

"Shut up! Don't call me that!" On my end, however, my embarrassment had reached new heights as I remembered certain embarrassing moments from my past life.

I am not proud of a lot of things I did in my past life... That is the least I can tell you about it...

"Hahahaha! C'mon! It was just a harmless joke!" She laughed at my expense.

At that moment, I crossed my arms and started ignoring her after she brought back some embarrassing memories... I was once again pissed off thanks to my aunt.

"Ah, don't be like that! I'll apologize, okay? It was just a little joke! I'm sorry!" She quickly realized how I felt and tried to calm me down again.

"..." I didn't acknowledge her apologies.

Sigh… Seriously, having a lot of people in my life who like to tease can be pretty tiring at times... Auntie is the only one that actually manages to piss me off though.

Anyway, as for my other reasons for not telling Mia how I feel…

I feel like I would be cheating on my girlfriend, Claire... Well, I guess I should call her my ex-girlfriend since I died on Earth…

Even though I died and can no longer see her, I still feel immensely remorseful about having feelings for another girl…

This situation is particularly difficult for me since I've only ever had one girlfriend. Yes, I had crushes in the past, but my only serious relationship was with Claire. The two of us got together when I was 15.

"Auntie, have you ever had feelings for someone else while you were in a relationship?" I turned my head to face her and asked for her guidance.

I was expecting her to start teasing me once again and maybe even jokingly tell me to beg for her advice, however, that wasn't the case.

"Ehh?" My aunt visibly froze due to my question. "Erm… That is…" She started sweating profusely and nervously looking around the room.

(Ha! Don't even bother asking her that! She has never ever been in a relationship, so compared to her, you're the expert in this room!) Thiasis suddenly spoke in my mind and told me something a bit unbelievable.

"Wait… Really?"  I couldn't help but look at Auntie with befuddlement.

"You shut your mouth! Don't tell him that!" She shouted at the Goddess with a panicked expression.

"Auntie… You've never had a boyfriend? Or a girlfriend?" I asked with a little bit of curiosity, seeking to confirm what Thiasis had said.

(Hahahahaha! You seriously asked her that!? Out of all things you could have asked!?) Thiasis was, as usual, amused by my interactions with my aunt.

"G-G-Girlfriend!? I'm not into women, I like men!" She suddenly panicked even more. "What even made you think I was a lesbian!?" Her panic had reached catastrophic levels.

"I didn't want to assume that you were into only men, I guess." I simply shrugged, also feeling amused by the overreaction of my aunt.

"That's…" My aunt didn't seem to have a response to what I said.

(Alright, let's leave teasing Tiria about her nonexistent love life for another day, okay?) Lia said with a mischievous tone.

"Damn you, Lia! How dare you say that!?" My auntie was outraged.

Awww… I was just starting to get my payback for what happened in our training… I'll definitely tease her about it the next time she breaks one of her promises.

(Instead, let's focus on Julius' love life again!) Thiasis spoke with increasing excitement after ignoring my Auntie.

Ah, talk about instant karma…

"I'll pass…" I tried to avoid getting back into that conversation.

(Julius, it is absolutely fine to feel like you're feeling about liking another girl. It is healthy and it is proof that you loved your girlfriend so much that even though it has been ten years since you were reincarnated, you still have strong feelings for her.) Thiasis ignored my attempts to avoid the topic and simply tried to comfort me.

"Technically, it has been only three years since that's when I got back my memories from Earth." I corrected her.

(Don't focus on such an unimportant part, dummy!) She got a little annoyed at me... (Sigh… Look, the point I'm trying to make here is that you're absolutely entitled to grieve what you had with Claire, after all, it ended in a tragic situation that neither of you could have foreseen. But! You can't let that grief dictate your future relationships! You deserve to be happy, so it is fine to have feelings for one girl. Maybe two. A hundred even, or a thousand would be fine as well. Even if you did that at the same time it would be alright! So do not feel remorse about liking Mia, okay? In fact, go for it and tell her how you feel! You don't need to care about the difference in mental age or whatever! What really matters is what the two of you feel, dammit!) Thiasis spoke to me in a very compassionate and understanding manner.

Thiasis' words were full of wisdom and I felt like those were probably the exact words I needed to hear... 

As expected of the Goddess of Knowledge and Emotions.

"Thank you, Thiasis… That does make me feel b…-"

(By the way, Mia is about to come into your room! Why don't you take this opportunity to confess? Good luck!) Unfortunately, as I was thanking her she decided to interrupt me to inform me of something extremely important.

Due to the suddenness of her announcement, I couldn't react rationally...

"Aaaaah!!!" I immediately panicked and hid beneath my blanket. I wasn't thinking clearly since the panic of not being prepared to face the one I like had immediately taken over me...

(Just kidding! It is still way too early in the morning, so she's still fast asleep at her house!) She appeared to be really amused. (Haha! You should have seen the face you had! It was so cute and funny!) She said happily.

…

…

…

Dammit! I can't believe I fell for that!

"Thiasis…" I looked at the empty air with a blank expression after getting out from my bear hide blanket. "You totally ruined the moment we were having, you know that? It wasn't funny at all..." I said with a slightly annoyed look on my face.

(I just couldn't resist! It was such a perfect opportunity!) She didn't feel remorseful at all about ruining the moment we just had.

"I have to agree. It would have been a crime not to take that chance!" My aunt supported the Goddess' actions.

(See? Even Tiria agrees with me! It was really funny to see you reacting that way!) Thiasis was even happier that Auntie agreed with her.

"..." I simply gave a blank look at the traitorous person I had for an aunt… "Thiasis, please tell me more details about Auntie's love life." A grin appeared on my face.

(Of course! I'll be pleased to do so! So, where should we begin?) Thiasis immediately joined in to tease my aunt.

"You're right! It wasn't funny! I agree with you, Julius! She ruined a perfectly beautiful and wholesome moment she had with you!" Auntie started panicking again. "I beg you! Let's not talk about it!" She suddenly got on her knees in front of me and started begging.

"Auntie… Is your love life really that sad?" I looked at her with pity.

"I wouldn't say that it is sad…" Auntie averted her gaze and started twiddling with her thumbs.

(Disappointing would certainly be a fitting word!) Thiasis added with an amused tone.

Damn… She didn't need to destroy her like that...

"Alright! You've done it now! Come down here so I can teach you a lesson!" Auntie suddenly stood up on top of my bed and angrily raised her fist into the air.

(Try to make me!) Thiasis was certainly not making the situation better…

"Now listen here you little…-!" Auntie got red in the face from both the anger the embarrassment she was feeling.

Unfortunately for me, I wouldn't be able to find out about what made Auntie's love life so disappointing as she started to shout at Thiasis, who in turn, was provoking Auntie for her own amusement.

Despite what you might think, I was already used to this kind of thing since it happened often enough for me to know that they would be all buddy-buddy again in just a few minutes.

For the moment, I had to watch my aunt yelling at the ceiling in order to make the Goddess who talked to us in our heads come down to the material plane.

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Chapter 24: Training on a cold winter day.

END

ACT II: Tournament

BEGINS

 

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