Chapter 11: Intermission Extra [1] (+AN & Poll)

A day after Luna had left, everything had largely regained normalcy. The Princes's returned to their stations, and no ripple from her departure had extended outside of the palace.

It was a rather strange occurrence as the disappearance of a Princess would usually warrant more attention. Yet her's was a quiet one, as if she never existed to begin with.

But there were many reason for this, one of which was the fact that from the start, her existence had been mostly kept secret from the world.

Not many outsiders were knew of her name and appearance. Those that did were people that was considered trustworthy enough to never spill of her.

Outside, knowledge of her only spread out as mere unreliable rumors. Even those who had suspicions never thought too deeply upon it, as hiding the existence of a royal was, while uncommon, not unbelievable.

Such cases could happen when a royal or imperial families consider a child as either defective or unworthy of being a part of them, as such, their existence is hidden by their own family so as to save face and dignity.

And so, identity of the current generation's Hero had slipped past the many ruling powers which covered the continent.

 

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The Crown Prince Aiden left the capital and returned to the northern quadrant of the Amenthys kingdom.

A distance which should have taken days if not weeks using a carriage was immediately crossed using a Spatial Bridge, one that was personally constructed by leading Sorcerer of the Amenthys Kingdom and the youngest Archmage of the Halyxeon continent, Vairon Amenthys.

Of the four corners, the northern area was said to be the most volatile, with the many powerful monsters littering it's grounds, along with being close to the border of the Woldremor Empire.

The Amenthys Kingdom and the Woldremor Empire had a long history of bloodshed, and while their conflict had largely grown stale, the turbulence surrounding the world in recent years had caused their unpleasant relations to grow tense.

Naturally, those that reside and govern this territory were far from ordinary. The battle hardened soldiers that protect these lands were infamous even outside of the Amenthys Kingdom.

The Lyrenac Duchy.

Aiden slowly entered the room, which had the Duke Enwel and his commanders gathered together. He wordlessly took his seat next to the duke, who looked as though he had a frown on his face all day long.

"You guys look like you swallowed flies, care to tell me what happened?"

"There were some strange movements detected around their borders."

"If it was just that, you guys wouldn't be this grim. Were they rallying soldiers?"

"It seems to be so, but there is no clear confirmation of their intentions."

One by one they spoke out, and soon everyone began to discuss and examine countermeasures for any potential conflict. It was only after what seemed like hours when the meeting was finally adjourned.

When the rest returning to their post, Aiden and Enwel left together. They spoke to each other while on the way, yet their topics remained light.

"...Did she already leave?"

"Yeah, in the first place she couldn't wait to leave since long ago."

 "I see, so the second Lenora was finally let loose."

Aiden gave a light chuckle, while Enwel smiled ever so slightly.

The two had known one another since young, and although they constantly bickered and fought, they eventually formed a close friendship. Enwel was also one of the few outsider who was trusted enough to be privy to Luna's existence.

They continued to talk casually while they walked, but soon, the atmosphere grew tenser as their subject matter became more serious.

"Was it really just a troop rally? Did you not find anything suspicious?"

"That's what were trying to find out. A few of the mages stationed near the border felt the Mana fluctuate from their direction, it's just that it was too distant for any them to make clear sense of what it was. At the very least, from what they reported, it didn't seem to be from a spell."

Aiden couldn't help but frown, deeply pondering his explanation.

"Should I call Vairon? He should be able investigate it properly."

"It's best not to, you being stationed here is already acting as a deterrent for them. If Vairon were to be added in the equation, they might consider it a threat. Not to mention it might attract the attention of the Arcane Council."

In this world where an individual's power can reach absurd heights, there are a few beings who are considered as threatening as a legion, Aiden was one such individual.

But Aiden, as a warrior, had a limit to his destructive capacity. As such, while the threat he imposed was great, it was still within acceptable range as a deterrent.

Vairon was different. He is a Sorcerer, a profession which was among the highest in destructive potential.

In fact, one of the unified covenants placed by the coalition of nations strictly forbids Sorcerers who had reached the status of Archmage and above from personally participating in a war. It was an agreement that was supervised by the Arcane Council, which was formed by a union of Sorcerers.

Of course, although there was such an agreement, it doesn't prevent leaders from being cautious if they see an unwelcome Archmage stationed so close to their territory, especially not one from a hostile nation.

Both Aiden and Vairon being positioned here would be far too great a threat in their eyes, no different from a declaration of war.

"Then do you at least have a plan?"

"No, but there's no need to particularly hurry either. The Woldremor Empire's impulsive actions in recent years had already displeased the surrounding nations, not just us. They shouldn't be stupid enough to start a war when they might provoke everyone by doing so."

Aiden only nodded at his words, but inside, he had his own doubts.

'If they were a normal person, they would certainly think so. But if it's that emperor...'

Enwel had never met the ruler of the Woldremor Empire, but Aiden, as the crown prince of the Amenthys Kingdom, had. When he thinks about that insufferable swine, it's hard to believe that the bastard would willingly stay put.

But although he is the emperor, there was no way the nobles would allow him to jeopardize the empire so foolishly. He shouldn't be able to willfully cause chaos even if he wanted to, which was a reassurance to Aiden.

At the very least, this was what Aiden himself hopes to be true.

 

 

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[Extra: Mana Rings]

I entered the area without hesitation. It was a relatively open space, one could probably fit over a hundred people here.

Yet there was only one person in there.

As expected, it was Aiden, who was there swinging his sword around by himself. He seemed to have noticed me, but it didn't deter him from continuing his routine.

I sat on a bench located at the edge of the field, just observing him and his movements, even empowering my eyes to be have a clearer understanding of his actions.

Unfortunately, I couldn't be like those anime protagonist who can perceive and master the opponent's skills just by looking at them once. Obviously I got nothing from watching, but then again, that wasn't exactly what I was here for anyways.

He finished the session rather quickly, yet despite having swung the sword around fast enough that they left afterimages, he didn't seem to break a sweat.

I guess that was just a light exercise for him.

He had already sheathed the sword and was casually walking over to me who was sitting in the bench.

"Good afternoon Luna, weren't you supposed to be learning Magic with Vairon?"

"No way, I'm taking a break. His lessons are hell."

Actually, I'm supposed to take my lessons around this time. I couldn't stand it anymore so I ran away and am currently hiding out here, though they're probably going to find me sooner or later.

"Then what brought you here instead?"

"I'm just curious and want to know a bit more about the Warrior's path."

"Why? Didn't you want to be a Sorcerer?"

"Is it too much to asked to be both a Warrior and a Sorcerer?"

He stared at me for a brief period before sitting right next to me, rested his sheathed sword beside himself.

"Alright then, ask away."

I pondered a bit on what to ask, ultimately deciding on the most what was said to be the most common and majorly used Mana Art. Of course, even though it's apparently common knowledge, it still wasn't blatantly written in any random books.

"I want to know about Mana Rings."

"Hmmmm... well for starters, what do you already know about the Mana Heart?"

"I know that the Mana Heart is supposed to improve Mana control."

"You're not wrong. To be exact, a Mana Heart automatically spreads a person's Mana throughout their body. Mana is pumped by the heart through the bloodstream, spreading it to all corners of the body. At the same time, Mana will also return to the heart through the veins, essentially forming a cycle of Mana entering and leaving the heart. It's easy to move the Mana inside the body around when they're already naturally spread across the body to begin with."

So, it's basically just Mana following the flow of blood? I was kind of expecting a more magical explanation.

"Then? How is this related to the Mana Rings?"

"It's relevant because Mana Rings makes use of this system. A Mana Ring's function is relatively simple, It condenses Mana. If Woven around a Mana Heart, a Mana Ring will condense all the Mana that enters it. That condense Mana will then be pumped out of the heart and flow around the body. It goes without saying that the more active Mana Rings, the stronger the condensation."

"It doesn't sound like all your Mana gets immediately condensed."

"That's true, a complete cycle of your entire Mana pool entering and leaving the heart needs to take place. Naturally, you can speed this process up by rapidly accelerating your own heartbeat. Just make sure you do it at a pace your heart can actually endure, you wouldn't want it to explode now would you?"

"Wait, then if the condensed Mana completes a cycle and returns to the Mana Heart, would the Mana Ring condense it further?"

"No, not really. A single Mana Ring will compress your Mana to the strongest that it can, which is by a fold. Once an already condensed Mana enters the Mana Heart again, the Mana Ring isn't powerful enough to compress it further so it will only maintain it's compressed state, you would need a second Mana Ring to compress it further. That said, a second Mana Ring doesn't just add to the first Mana Ring, they resonate with one another amplifying each other's affects."

"Does it help a lot?"

"Very much so, condensed Mana is stronger than normal Mana in every way. Condensed Mana created by a single Mana Ring will will be twice as strong as normal Mana, A second Mana Ring makes it four times as strong, A third Mana Ring makes it eight times, and so forth. I think you can understand what kind of significance that makes in a battle."

It definitely sounds ridiculously powerful. With enough Mana Rings, someone could probably smash a mountain apart using sheer brute force. But in no world is there such thing as a freebee, in other words...

"What's the drawback?"

"The trade off is of course, Mana volume. A single Mana Ring will double the strength of your Mana, but will halve it's volume at the same time. If you use a second Mana Ring, you further halve what was already half, leaving you with a quarter of what you originally had. You are essentially trading off quantity with quality."

I see, think I can understand it a bit. To put it in game terms, if a warrior had 1000 MP and used a Mana Ring, their MP becomes 500 but their skill deals double damage. Using two Mana Rings would leave 250 MP, three Mana Rings leaves 125 MP, etc. It sounds great on paper, but you also need a massive Mana capacity to be able to pull off.

"Moreover, it's also a question of whether your body can handle such heavily condensed Mana. Although Mana naturally strengthens the body, there's a threshold on how much it can be strengthened before it instead becomes a strain, which is highly dependent on how well trained one's body is. If still forced beyond their limits, their entire body might just explode."

"That...Sounds horrid."

"Indeed."

"But wait, couldn't you already condense your Mana on your own without a Mana Ring? Why do you need it?"

I remembered reading somewhere in one of Vairon's books that compressing your Mana was an advanced mastery of Mana control. Considering Aiden was a bonafide sword master, he should already be able to compress his Mana without a Mana Ring.

"Well, you're right about that. But consciously condensing Mana takes mental energy and needs you to concentrate, which is not a leeway you can have while in battle. Moreover, there's a limit to how much and how strongly you can consciously condense Mana at a given moment. Your enemy is not exactly going to stand there and wait for you while you gather your Mana for a powerful blow."

"Hmmm, I think I get it now. By the way, is there a limit to how much Mana Rings a person can have? Also, can it be kept active at all times?"

"It's unknown if there's a limit, but the highest record was nine Mana Rings. As for your other question, yes actually, you can. If your body is strong enough, you can even keep all of your Mana Rings active forever. Just, if you're going to do that, its best to avoid weaker individuals, especially children. Otherwise the pressure you would exude might suffocate, or worse, outright kill them." 

"Eh?"

So when your Mana Rings are active, you emit an overpowering pressure. Got it, no in fact, unduly noted. Probably an interesting way to screw around people later on.

"Oh, while on the subject, I got one last question. How many Mana Rings do you have?"

I've already known that all of my siblings were rather strangely strong, but I didn't know to what degree were they special. Unfortunately, asking around didn't exactly amount to much either.

"Sorry, that's a secret. Why don't you ask another question instead?"

Aiden smirked at me, leaning leisurely on the bench. I sort of expected this answer, so I wasn't really that bummed out.

"Well, I don't exactly have any other question either."

"Then better think about another topic, or maybe just leave since there's someone who's looking for you coming right about now."

"What are you talking abou—"

'Woops' I stopped mid sentence, sensing someone who would soon enter the area.

"Looks like I have to go. I was never here, you got that."

I immediately placed a concealment on myself. After a bunch of practice this past few weeks, I've learned how to use the [Hero's Power] without having to turn into my [Celestial Form], although it was significantly weaker weaker in normal state.

Also, having been caught twice even while concealed really hurt my self esteem, so I've been thinking of ways to improve it. My hiding ability is definitely better than before, but not by much. It's still doubtful if I can still hide had it been Vairon himself who came looking for me, but it should be enough for the time being.

Having instantly finished preparation, I dashed off leaving the sitting Aiden in the dust. He seemed a little amused, or I could be wrong since I couldn't see his smirk clearly in a rush, but whatever.

 

You are reading story Mirrored Journey – A Hero & Devil’s Tale at novel35.com

Of course later on, I was still unfortunately caught by an annoyed Vairon who was forced to personally go look for me.

 

 

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[Extra: Devil's Heart]

A few weeks had passed since Niel's return from fleeing.

He had largely calmed down and was trying to make as much amends to his thoughtless actions as he could. His life was already mostly back to how it was before his awakening.

At this moment, he stood atop a tall hill a distance away from the cabin. It was a spot he chose because of it's relatively clear area, lack of animals or creatures living around it, and it's distance from the cabin.

Within the center of the mound, he calmly sat, once again preparing to release the seal covering his heart. It was something he had done several times, but he made sure to consistently return the seal afterwards every time.

For some reason, he always felt an ominous feeling while using the [Devil's Power], and so he always kept a strong guard against it even after gaining some level of mastery over it.

Usually, he would only unseal it to train his control over it or to experiment on its abilities all the while exploring its limits. So far, he had already accumulated a exceptional understanding of its powers, especially of its effects on both his body and surroundings.

But this time, the unsealing was for a different purpose.

Instead of learning about its capabilities, his purpose for this session was to obtain a clearer understanding of where it comes from and why.

One of the few details that he had come to realize after this period of time, was that his body seemed to be constantly absorbing 'something' all around him. This 'something' existed everywhere, from the air he breathes, the land he walks, and everything that surrounds him. In fact, it seemed most prominent on conscious beings like Granvar, Kartis, and Zephir.

While he wasn't quite sure of what 'it' was, there was one thing clear to him. The natural Mana surrounding the areas that he absorbed 'it' from became purer and their quality was significantly improved. Moreover, when asking Granvar and Kartis, he found that even they themselves admit their own Mana had advanced in quality by a grade.

It was as if he acted as a filter for some sort of 'pollution' that contaminated the world.

A rather grim circumstance, yet Niel was strangely accepting of it. At the very least, he felt as though his existence had a decent purpose, one that he could possibly even call honorable.

Of course, what mattered now was what the 'pollution' was and where it goes. The former was what he is trying to learn today, while the latter was something he had already known for some time now. It was none other than his heart.

The seal operated in a one way direction, blocking the [Devil's Power] inside his heart while allowing outside powers to enter. He made it this way in order to be able to automatically infuse Mana into the seal at any given time. The 'pollution' passing through the seal to enter his heart was what made it's existence and destination all too clear to him.

He once attempted to block it via the seal, but in doing so he realized a grave problem. Unable enter the heart, the 'pollution' instead accumulated in his body and brought him all sorts of problems after merely just a day, leaving him to abandon such an idea.

Removing the seal, [Devil's Power] was once again unleashed, while he himself returned into his [Devil Form]. Having learned to better control it, Niel was able to prevent it from exploding outwards like before.

He silently meditated, preparing himself mentally for this undertaking. Previously, he had tried to explore his own heart several times, but a heavy sense of dread always prevented him from taking that last step.

Now, he was fully intent on completing the exploration regardless of what lies ahead.

Slowly, a small amount of his Mana imbued with his consciousness sank into his body and made its way into his heart. From there, he could 'see' and feel his own powerful heartbeat, which seemed to endlessly gushed out [Devil's Power], spreading it across his body.

As he attempts to see inside his heart, he could feel a force that appeared to be expelling his senses from within it. From here on, he could feel a foreboding feeling warning him not to enter, but he ignored it.

Taking no small effort, he managed to slowly drill into it.

What he 'saw' inside his heart was a little different from expectation. Unlike a normal heart, his only had one ventricle which filled the entirety of the heart. A tumultuous and overbearing power swam around it's interior alongside stygian mercury like blood, moreover most of the stormy power seemed to circle around the center, forming a strangely moving, cocoon like sphere.

He found that although the 'power' itself was similar to the [Devil's Power], there was a very clear distinction between them, in that the former was more crude, unrefined, and unstable compared to the latter.

Other than the sphere, there appeared to be a sort of barriers that segregated the sections of his heart that, instead of flesh, was made of a more materialized variant of the same power that flowed around.

It was unknown how such a heart could function normally, or if it's strange interior was because of him being in his [Devil Form]. Since the transformation seems to change the very essence of his being, both externally and internally.

Looking around, there wasn't much else to find, prompting him to explore the strangest aspect of his heart, the swirling sphere.

His senses slowly and delicately pervaded the sphere, staying cautious. Although the sphere seemed relatively calm, he didn't dare to take it lightly, especially due to the dangerous feeling it emitted.

The moment his consciousness touched it, he felt a slight repelling force that attempted to push his senses away. Hesitation flashed by his mind, as a thought to retreat and try another time occurred. But he steeled himself, he had already reached this point, there was no more place for halfheartedness.

He put strength into his senses, slowly digging into the sphere, keeping himself vigilant while also remaining attentive and observant. As he submerged deeper, the strange tumultuous power also became denser and denser. The density made it harder for his consciousness to dive further, yet still he persevered.

Time ticked by in a steady, almost blurry manner, until his senses encountered an obstruction.

He attempted to push forward several times, but to no avail. From beyond this spot, the power had become so dense that it developed into a ball of a virtually physical substance that covered the core with a strong protective casing.

It was also here that the ominous feeling had grown so potent that it was nearly suffocating him.

Unable to advance, he changed his plan of approach. Mentally, he concentrated his senses, forming the Mana ingrained with his consciousness into a sharp spear.

He then pierced the spear through the protective covering, yet even with the force he used, only small cracks formed. Having accomplished its task, the spear disassembled, reforming into another shape along the lines of the fissures. They prevented gap from closing while at the same time gradually widening and digging through it.

Perhaps he could've sped up the process if he had acted more forcefully, but he didn't dare to rush it as it might've concerned the vital principle of his existence. And so, he remained patient until the end.

Naturally, this patience paid off, as he finally was able to reach the very end of the outer shell. It was a small, barely visible aperture, yet it was more than enough to see past it.

Without hesitation, he pushed his senses through to observe...

 

 

...only to see it.

 

 

Within an instant, he immediately withdrew at an unprecedented pace.

The moment he returned, he hurriedly gathered all the [Devil's Power], hastily shoving them back to his heart before sealing them once more.

But this seal was different from all the previous, as this time he inlaid spells that were significantly stronger and more complex than any of the last few Runic Formations combined. Moreover he had always kept a minimum of a quarter of his complete Mana pool, but now he immediately placed 9/10th of his total Mana into the seal without a slight hesitation.

It was only then that his body, which had unknowingly become extremely tensed, relaxed. At that moment, he promptly lost all of his strength, listlessly falling into the ground on his back.

He could feel cold sweat secreting out of his body and permeating through his clothes.

That image that he saw flashed by his mind, leaving him to shudder uncontrollably.

No more than a glimpse, yet that thing had irreversibly imprinted it's existence into his mind. By merely recalling it, he could feel his skin crawling and his stomach churning. Had he eaten something earlier, he might've been vomiting it out right now.

Currently, he was feeling an emotion that was both familiar yet so inexplicably alien that he could hardly process his thoughts, fear.

Fear was something that had always ever present his life, whether in this life or the past. There were many kinds of fear, the fear of loss, the fear of death, the fear of the unknown, the fear of abandonment, and countless others, most of which he had experienced one by one. While he was never truly able to conquer or rid himself of it, and perhaps never will, he had learned to cope and live with it.

But this kind of fear was different. There was something so... innately unnatural about it.

It carried an array emotions that were so foreign that it didn't and shouldn't exist within this plane of reality. He was being consumed in a sense of dread so incongruous with the world that it felt unfathomably revolting.

Most incomprehensibly however was that thing which caused all of this in the first place. Try as he might, he could find no words that could clearly explain it's existence.

Every time he thought of it, his brain freezes. It was perhaps a measure of self-preservation that he instinctively acts upon to safeguard his own mind, one that he was very much welcome of.

At the very least, he truly wishes to rid himself and his memory of whatever that was as much as possible.

Be that as it may, he finally found an answer to the question that weighed the most within his heart.

Why is it that every Devil in the past were, without question, demented creatures who lacked nearly any form of sanity?

Although he was constantly inflicted with searing pain and malicious whispers, they could hardly effect him anymore. There were even seldom occasions that he forgets of their existence. It was virtually impossible that he was the only Devil to ever adapt to them.

Since a very young age, he had seen others and himself subjected to countless experimentations that were no different for torture. He was more than clear of how tenacious and persistent a person's will to live could become.

It was a little implausible for him to just believe that every Devil that has ever lived couldn't endure what he had so far.

But that thing's existence changes everything.

So far it was still dormant, perhaps because he had just awakened as a Devil recently or maybe because he was still much too weak. Regardless, there was evidently still some time before it becomes active.

Of course, such an unspecified time also means it could awoke at any given moment.

The most important objective for the time being was to find ways to strengthen the seal as much as possible. Other than that, there really wasn't much else he could do as of yet.

*Rustle*

A sudden approaching presence disturbed his thoughts.

It was a familiar presence, one that had a bad habit of interrupting Niel's training sessions from time to time. As per usual, it was unaffected by any of the repellent and defensive spells scattered around here, an ability which only served to fuel it's typical mischief.

Thankfully, The recent changes that Niel undertook had strengthened his senses and allowed him to no longer be caught by it's surprises.

Niel placed on of his hand to the ground, inputting Mana that silently deactivated a [Grand Runic Formation] laid within the hill.

One of the reason he chose this hill was for the relatively denser Natural Mana buried underneath it, which allowed him to power a spell that exceeded his own strength. Moreover, using Mana that wasn't his own allowed the spell to effect even himself.

It had taken him over two weeks to construct the spell, which was one of the main reasons that he delayed the inspection of his heart.

The Grand Spell was something he had placed as a countermeasure in the off chance that things went wrong. Had he tried to leave the hill or done anything too drastic, it would've activated, sealing himself and warning the others of a problem. The only way out was through another Spell format overlaid atop the Grand Spells, which could only be properly activated through pure Mana.

If it had been activated by elementally imbued Mana, or in his case, [Devil's Power] imbued Mana, a different reaction would've occurred, causing the Grand Spell to activate with it.

Distorting it's properties or forcefully activating it using the [Devil's Power] wouldn't have worked either, as the format held a precise and delicate balance with the Grand Spell. A minute change was more than enough to destabilize it.

Of course, it wasn't a perfect plan, as it relied heavily on the hopes that he wouldn't immediately lose his sanity.

Though, it largely became inconsequential now. 

Turning around, he saw a giant wolf slightly smaller than a horse sneaking up towards him. Even after having been perturb by the prior incident, Niel was still able to retain a calm facade.

Realizing that it had been found, the wolf stop dead in its tracks, sat down and began making a strange bewildered face.

"Groouu?"

"Yeah, no. I already told you it doesn't work anymore."

"Gruuuuoooooo!"

"I believe that's your problem, not mine."

Having understood that it's prided concealment ability was no longer effective, the wolf became desolate. A sorrowful expression overshadowed its countenance, one might even be able to see a gloomy cloud hover over it's head should they observe closely.

"Let's go. I was just about to finish up here in the first place."

"...gruoo..."

Niel and the wolf began to make their way back. There was no need to gather anything back, as he had never brought anything of significance to this site to begin with.

"You've become a little to big, don't you think?"

"Grooouu?"

"We should probably solve that a bit later on."

"Gruo."

As they spoke while walking, Niel briefly paused, turning his head to give one last glance at the site. Within that instant, that image flashed his thoughts once more.

He trembled ever so slightly, gritting his teeth and turning to his original direction. In all likely hood, he will never return to that hill, as it would only serve to remind him of that thing. Nor did he dare to ever use the [Devil's Power] again, as it was a power that seemed to originate from that.

It had burned it's existence so deeply into his mind that he couldn't even bury it into his subconscious.

Even now, after having completely collected himself, he was still hard-pressed to find words that could remotely explain or illustrate that abomination. 

But if he were to give a recount his own understanding and impression from the moment he had witnessed it...

 

 

...He felt as though he had glimpsed at the very Madness of Chaos taken physical form.

 

 

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