Kireua tried to understand what happened just now. Coal could swallow fire and spit it out again, and the flame that Coal spat out turned into ebon flame. If so...
“What happens if Coal swallows wind?” Kireua muttered.
-Gackk!
Coal swelled from the size of Kireua’s fist up to the size of the balloon, its cheeks puffed up with air like it was about to burst.
-Paaaaaah!
Kireua’s eyes popped wide open in surprise—the wind that just blew out of Coal was black. It was the ebon wind, a rare and always disastrous phenomenon for anyone unfortunate enough to cross paths with it while crossing the desert. Its whirlwinds churned the desert sands high enough to blot out the sky. Coal had amplified the power of the wind, and it didn’t even react badly with Kireua’s mana. If he could do this with all the attributes of mana...
“...Isn’t this cheating?” Kireua murmured in disbelief.
The storm of ebon wind gradually gathered around Kireua’s sword and then mixed with his innate fire mana, blending scarlet flames and ebon wind in a natural harmony before shrouding Kireua in a symphony of red and black.
“What kind of an authority is that?!” Anna shrieked. She stared at the whole thing with her jaw wide open. She believed without a doubt that Kireua had used an authority, the gods’ power. “I’m going to go nuts! Some random gods made the entire continent a mess!”
The White Wolf growled belligerently because it knew, as the highest-ranking wind elemental spirit, that the gale it was facing was just as strong as its own.
Another gale started to disturb the valley’s staid air.
Kireua’s face darkened. He knew who was behind this abnormal phenomenon. He was, after all, going up against the witch Anna bel Grace, one of the Three North Stars and the Wind Elemental Spirit Monarch. Kireua knew he couldn’t hold anything back in this battle.
Kireua drew all his mana from his mana hall and prepared to charge. He felt much lighter than before, which must have been because of the ebon wind made by Coal. Wind mana had always improved speed—that was the reason why most of the swordsmen that emphasized speed had wind mana.
Kireua shoved those thoughts aside.
He disappeared. He darted forward, adrenaline and power rushing through his veins, riding the black gale and exuding blazing fire.
“White Wolf!” Anna shouted.
The White Wolf threw itself into the fray and opened its mouth, wind gathering between its jaws. Then the wolf turned it into a ray of wind and fired it at Kireua.
Kireua felt like time stopped for a split second, but his mind worked as fast as always.
Kireua might not be the most talented person on the continent, but he was versatile with what he had learned. He knew a flow existed even in the White Wolf’s ray of wind. Kireua focused his mana into his eyes to read the flows of mana, his veins bulged around his eyes with strain. He could see the flow of highly concentrated mana in the center of the ray of wind.
It didn’t take long for Kireua to decide his next move and act on it. He swung his sword without hesitation.
“Th-Th-That crazy...!” Kireua’s response to the White Wolf’s attack nearly made Anna’s eyes pop out of their sockets. The White Wolf’s wind could pulverize a boulder; it was as powerful as Air Cannon, a Class 5 magic spell. Anna was certain that the greenhorn was going to go bouncing away and be crushed by the pressure of the wind.
“What?!” Anna shouted in disbelief. It turned out that she was wrong. Outrageous as it was, Kiruea cut through Anna’s elemental spirit magic attack with one strike. His sword had gone neatly through the core of her magic as if he couldn’t even feel the wind bending the very sky.
“Keep in mind that I am not merciful. I am... the son of Joshua Sanders, the Emperor of the Avalon Empire, the most vengeful man in history,” Kireua said, slowly moving his sword closer to Anna’s neck again.
From the murderous intent in Kireua’s eyes, Anna instinctively knew that he was serious.
‘What...? He’s just a twenty-year-old boy...!’
A name popped into her panicked mind.
“Duke Tremblin, the Sword Emperor!” she shouted. “Do you want to know where the man who used to chase me is?!”
Kireua’s sword immediately stopped. Duke Tremblin the Sword Emperor had been one of the Nine Stars; it had been a long time since Kireua heard his name. In fact, Kireua had seen the Sword Emperor’s sword techniques before those of his teacher, the Flame Emperor. If the Sword Emperor had stayed at the Palace, Kireua might have had a different teacher. However, after the Emperor’s disappearance, the Sword Emperor had also vanished.
“I think I can track him down,” Anna quickly continued. “He’d be the best reinforcements the national army could ask for! And on the other hand, I’m nothing compared to all the rebel armies!”
“...If you’re lying to avoid getting killed...” Kireua’s eyes narrowed.
“He tracked me for over ten years, like a cat and a mouse! Who else can track him down?”
Kireua pondered what to do. Realizing that she made a very tempting offer, Anna grinned.
“How does that sound? Do you feel like negotiating again?”
Kireua shook his head. “...I can’t let a witch go on an uncertain piece of information. If I let you go free, you’d be the most dangerous enemy for my army.”
“So yo-you are going to kill me no matter what? Think rationally. Look at the bigger picture! You’re the prince who may lead an empire one day!”
“Let’s change the terms. You’ll locate Duke Tremblin and become my lady-in-waiting for the next ten years,” Kireua offered.
“W-What...?” Anna’s jaw dropped to the ground. “That is too much! How can you make me a lady-in-waiting when I could have been an empress!?”
“Don’t talk like your fantasy is actually real. Besides, your goal is to stay in this country, right?” Kireua asked.
“W-Well...”
“And I’m telling you that I can make your dream come true in a legitimate way,” Kireua proudly declared.
In Anna’s eyes, the boy in front of her didn’t even look like a human. A demon would cry and run away in fear if they saw this boy while he was trying to enslave the best elemental spirit mage with only a couple of words.
‘...Let’s take the deal first and run away when I see a chance,’ Anna resigned herself.
“Oh, yeah. If you’re accepting the deal, you’ll have to write a pledge in your blood and make another pledge through your elemental spirit,” Kireua quickly added.
Anna trembled in irritation.
“I don’t trust promises without proper documentation,” he told her with a smile.