Chapter 92 - Days Before the War (3)

“Hah, jester,” Eden said in a somewhat mocking tone. “You shall regret fighting me. Our magic level may somewhat be the same, but unlike you, I have had much more training.”

In a way, her words were somewhat true. I had spent almost a year in Shail Kingdom, while Eden had spent her time in the dragon lands training. We differed in the fact that I only had some basic training with fire magic from the eldest, Navra.

Astlan dragons like us came into our other magic when we reached adulthood, two and a half years old, or when we start our second tribulation. Unlike Eden, I had trained my earth magic and improved my fire magic independently.

What it all boiled down to?

It was the difference in training and experience between Eden and I. Our magic level might have been the same, but that was not the only factor.

Through training and practicing your magic, you would be able to use more of your inborn magic capacity. For example, if I had to estimate my strength during this time in the past, it was like a small trickle of water that had been diverted from the full potential of a raging stream.

Threads of dark green colored magic flowed out of Eden's body, forming a dense, green aura around her. The aura covered her from head to toe, but it was transparent, so I could still see her face and body.

Lana, Efari (I had sensed her through my bond), the soldiers, and the mages who were surrounding us in a large circle—all of them could see the both of us use magic. We were, unlike extensively trained mages, still unable to hide our magic from the eyes of others who were far weaker than us in using magic.

“It is not only you that can do that,” I said without a trace of arrogance in my voice.

I formed my own threads of black colored magic and they formed a dense, black aura around my whole body. It was similar to the time when I had been fighting that undead lich during my second tribulation, except this time I was covered in an aura of magic, and not a blazing fire.

Eden only gave a small laughter at my words. “Let me show you how to truly wield fire magic.”

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw next.

The whole area around us was lit up with a bright flash of fire as a vortex of flames reaching twenty feet tall surrounded Eden. The vortex of flames, however, lasted only for a few seconds before the fire retreated back. They retreated back—no, they were absorbed into Eden.

When the vortex of flames disappeared, Eden stood in the center with a changed appearance.

“What in the bloody ashes is that!” a soldier shouted, his voice reaching all the way here.

“Fire woman!” another soldier said, her voice filled with awe.

“Monster!”

“Get back!” a water mage instructed the soldiers. He must have sensed the danger of the magic Eden was using.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see all the soldiers and knights hastily giving us even more distance. The only ones who did not retreat were the water mages. They still kept a circle around the two of us.

“I have never seen such fire magic before,” a young water mage said out loud.

“I have heard of such things before from Grand Magus Cervia and Headmaster Alzeroth. It must be an Eastern magic,” an older and more experienced looking mage explained.

“What are you talking about? This must be an advanced stage of fire magic mastery! I have seen Grand Magus Cervia do similar things before!” a mage captain shouted in excitement. “To think a young girl less than half my age could do this already!”

The words of the mages exactly resonated with the feelings I had.

Eden, about a fifteen feet distance in front of me, had turned into living conflagration. Her blonde hair had turned a scarlet orange, and instead of hair, she now had flames for hair. Her hands had also turned into a pair of living conflagration, blazing and crackling with power. The simple white dress she was wearing, however, was unburnt. The green aura she was covered in and her will protected her from the fire of her own magic.

“Vurdis Incentia,” Eden said, her voice soft enough so that only I could hear her clearly. At those words, the living fire that surrounded her hands and hair turned brighter, and more intense. The area of grass where Eden stood on instantly caught fire, unable to bear the heat of her flames. More than six feet of ground around Eden had caught fire.

Vurdis Incentai—Dragon Fire Armor.

Eden's words were familiar to me, yet I could not place what they were. It did not seem to come from the dragon language I communicated with the other dragons.

Perhaps sensing the confusion in me, Eden said, “Vurdis Incentia, the language of the Ancients. This is just one of the many differences between the two of us, jester. You have wasted far too much of your time in these human lands. I do not even know why our king allowed you to come here, even if he was busy.”

There was a pause as if Eden was thinking upon something. “It also seems to me that the eldest did not told you of the Ancient training a dragon must undergo after their second tribulation. I wonder why...” Eden's dark green eyes blazed with an intense light. “You are lucky that I have barely begun to master this form.”

“Prepare yourself!” Eden yelled, closing the distance between us with perhaps twice the speed of an average human warrior. It was not enough to cause suspicions because the Grandmasters I had seen were far faster and stronger than that. Grandmaster Kizam, for example, had surpassed human limits and was perhaps seven times stronger and better than an average warrior.

I had wondered how it was even possible to reach such realms of physical strength. And Grandmaster Kizam had only replied with, “Do you think magic is the only thing in the world? Inside our bodies lie a hidden strength, which can only be forged, strengthened, and revealed through blood, sweat, and tears. When you have the time, you should visit Excelon Kingdom, the home of warriors, in the Southern Region. These warriors are far stronger than me and can rival even mages.”

Still, it was useless thinking of such curiosities at this moment. I had greater things to focus on.

I quickly formed three fireballs, each of them thrice the size of a human head, and shot it at the incoming Eden.

Eden formed a grin, a grin that told everyone around her of the joy she took in battling foes. She blocked the three fireballs with the fire that surrounded her pair of hands. The three fireballs were simply absorbed into the conflagration that was her hands. They had been swatted away like an insect.

By then, Eden had already closed more than half the distance between us in just seconds. I turned around and retreated further back, limiting myself to twice the speed of an average human warrior—it wouldn't do me any good to use more physical power than Eden did.

I turned my head a little and saw Eden still chasing, but also limiting herself to the same speed. “Stop running!” she yelled, while continuing to absorb the fireballs I kept throwing at her. There was no need to look behind, I could just direct the fireballs with my will and magic. After all, I knew the path Eden was taking to chase my back.

Every two seconds and every irregular interval of seconds mixed in, I would form columns of fire a few feet in front of her. These, Eden chose to dodge, wasting some time, while I gained a few seconds of time.

With a horizontal slash of the conflagration that was her right hand, a wave of fire about twenty feet wide came shooting forth from it. Just from the heat of the wave of fire alone, everything in its path started to catch on fire. The grasses underneath the large wave of fire crackled with flames, while everywhere Eden traveled through caused the nearby ground to catch fire.

I stopped running and turned around, taking a stance. Then I formed a large shield of fire in front of me. It was just in time too, before that arc of fire collided with the shield. Even as I poured magic into the shield to strengthen it, I could feel it straining from the pressure of holding back just a part of the wave of fire the shield had blocked.

With my sheen of black aura surrounding my entire body, and my shield of fire holding a majority of the wave of fire, I was not damaged by the parts of the wave of fire that had passed through beside me.

I heard the water mage shout from a distance behind me as they saw some of the wave of fire that had gone past my shield.

“Defensive Formation Two! Reflection!”

Not having the time to look at what the water mages had done, I didn't even turn around to take a peek, though I was a little curious.

I dissipated my shield of fire, and instantly saw Eden come spiraling down diagonally from above me with two flaming fists aimed at my face. She had jumped into the air a little before I finished blocking her wave of fire.

My choices were limited. I could roll sideways and dodge her pounce, but that would have left me vulnerable. There was really only one choice that remained to me—to take her flames head on.

I quickly moved both of my arms up, and my hands met with her two fists. My hands were formed into palms, which were being strengthened by my magic and covered with my own dense layering of fire.

My own flames met her flames, but there was no collision or any explosions—fists and palms did not even collided with each other. There was only the force of my flames against her flames. But my fire, as fast as it was forming around my palms, were simply being overcome and absorbed by her fists.

“Give it up, Jester,” Eden shouted, her whole body still in the air due to being supported by the force of my flames and her flames.

I could feel the danger of the situation I was in. It sharpened my senses and I fell into a cold state of mind, where everything, except the bare essentials of what I needed to battle, were ignored. I could feel renewed strength flowing inside me.

I formed more fire and covered my palms with an even denser aura of magic. But even that wasn't enough. The force of her magic and her flames were simply too strong to contest with.

Very well, I thought to myself.

I put forth as much magic as I could in one instant and instead of trying to overcome Eden's flames, which were continually growing stronger and stronger, I grabbed onto both of her fists, ignoring the damage being done to my hands.

Then I spun Eden around once before throwing her away. “Ashes,” I muttered, seeing the damage the fire around her fists had done to my hands. The damage was mostly on the palms of my hands, but they were an ugly mess. The whole skin had peeled off, revealing a raw redness, and blood of various shades of red were weeping out from the entirety of my palms. Some areas of my palms were even blackened.

Even with the impressive regeneration of dragons, the damage would take more than a day to heal; in this, I somewhat envied my other self who could heal far quicker than I. Just how was my other self that much more powerful than I?

About eight feet away from me, Eden was already getting up from the place I had thrown her toward. She had a look of excitement on her face, and the area of grass around her had caught on fire. Eden, as she was getting up, indeed looked as if she was being born from a blazing fire.

“That was incredible,” Eden said with pleasure as she jumped up with joy. “I had not expected you to last that long in a direct confrontation with my flames.” Her green eyes blazed with the joyous fire of battle. “Again! I am far from done!”

In the age-long and familiar method of giving up, I raised both my bleeding palms up above my head, and walked about two feet toward Eden. “I concede. It is your win, Eden,” I softly said, neither sadness from loss or joy from victory in my voice.

As Eden heard my words, the battlelust in her eyes disappeared, and she returned back into her normal form. Her usual cool and haughty expression was also seen. “It is my win, jester! I only hope you will put up more of a fight when we have our Dragon's Duel of Dominance.” The expression on her face changed a little, becoming perhaps slightly softer. “Oh, you're injured,” she said, her voice yielding a slight sliver of its usual coldness. Then both her expression and voice quickly became normal again.

The changes in her expression and voice were barely noticeable and had quickly returned back to normal, making me think that the change was just my imagination or perhaps due to the aftermath of a battle. There was simply no way that I sensed the slightest bit of worry from Eden. It was unthinkable.

“No need to worry, I can just go see a mage healer.”

“You must be crazy, jester. Why should I be worried about you? In fact, if you die, I would be rather thankful, since I will not need to marry you then.” Eden turned her back toward me and said in a voice low enough that I could barely hear it. “Not too shabby, Verath.”

Then she left without even once looking back, the crowd of soldiers and mages spreading apart to form a path for her. There were fearful expressions on their faces as they let Eden pass through. All of them had seen the power of her scarlet-orange fire. It would haunt them forever in their dreams, and perhaps nightmares, the intensity of her flames.

All around me, water mages were quickly containing the patches of wildfire that had started. Steam was made as streams of water were dropped onto the fires to extinguish them.

I could hear the whispers of the mages, soldiers, knights, and commanders. Judging from the whispers, most of them seem to think Eden had only used some form of strange magic, advanced magic, or perhaps a unique magic talent of her own. Or perhaps it was Eastern magic. None of them thought that she was a monster, a dragon hiding in plain sight.

How curious...Just what was Eastern magic and advanced magic? And the language of the Ancients? Why hadn't the eldest spoke of it to me?

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Before the night truly started, I went to see a mage healer, and in just a few seconds, the old man had fully healed my bleeding palms.

“Thank you, Sir Lorae,” I politely said.

“Not a problem, General Verath,” the old man, most likely past seventy years, replied with a strong voice. Age had not caught up with him just yet, the strength of his voice an obvious testament to it.

I nodded a thank you once more at the old man and turned to leave the healing tent.

Healing magic.

It was a strange magic talent that were only seen in very few humans. Being quite rare and powerful in its own way, healing magic usually overtook any other magic affinities you could have. This was why most mage healers did not go into battle.

And in a way, magic worked quite similarly in humans and dragons, though there were some exceptions such as the fire magic of dragons.

Magic showed itself once you reached adulthood, or in the case of humans, puberty. This was why most human students, in general, started their education in Shail Mage Academy at around twelve years old.

Dark magic and the undead, however, were entirely different matters, as I would find out in the future.