The flutter of a butterfly's wings II

POV Julián Kingscrown

I really won't try that thing again, I felt like it shook my insides; I thought as I walked much calmer and recovered after several minutes of using the first phase.

I had managed to calm Sylvie, who was about to run out of Hearth to find me, so the situation was much calmer than a few minutes ago.

I also didn't encounter any Alacryans, which was even better; with my partially melted mask, it would have been very easy to recognize and follow me.

"I guess luck still likes me," I thought out loud with a smile on my face.

I feel like eating something sweet, I thought happily, about to sing until I felt a murderous intent and an extremely powerful mana signature behind me.

God, why do you always abandon your little lamb? I've never asked you for much, so why abandon me now? I cried internally, realizing that there was at least one retainer at my back.

I thought that if I pretended not to feel any presence or bloodlust, they might let me go, but unfortunately, the situation was never in my favor.

"Stop pretending, human," I heard a man's voice.

From his tone, it was clear that it wasn't Uto, or at least I never imagined his voice like that. It also didn't sound like Cadell, whom I heard in the cave with Silvia, so the only other option was Cylrit.

"Haaa," I sighed with an annoyed face, looking up at the sky and turning around.

I saw a man with ash-black hair and a nice black armor with a luxurious purple cape. If it weren't for the horns, I could have mistaken him for a secondary protagonist in a medieval romance novel from my previous world.

He gave me a scrutinizing look while I wondered if it would be good to establish contact with them, at this moment when there were still years left for Seris's rebellion to succeed.

There really is no benefit in doing so, and Seris would be in much more danger if I did, losing a potential ally.

"You don't seem afraid," Cylrit spoke while forming a sword of dark mist.

"It wouldn't do me any good to be afraid now when you don't even plan to let me escape," I replied, drawing the sword Mordain gave me from the dimensional ring.

I hadn't been able to try it yet, as they gave it to me recently, but I had to use it because the other one I carried melted due to my stupid spell.

"You're being arrogant and foolish to underestimate me, don't you think? You've been lost in your thoughts for a while," Cylrit spoke.

I thought for a few seconds and then replied, "It wasn't my intention to ignore you, but there's something wrong with your statement. What makes you think that fights aren't a symbol of arrogance?" I asked, frowning.

I saw the retainer make a strange and confused look, so I decided to keep talking.

"Fights are the most arrogant form of expression. If there's something you want and can't get by other means, you fight for it, even if it means killing the other side."

"Still, there are codes, don't you think?" he replied.

"If there were such things, we wouldn't be pointing swords at each other. If it were as simple as you think, there wouldn't be fights in the first place," I replied.

During the whole time I was talking to Cylrit, I had a strange feeling of familiarity, as if I were talking to an old friend.

These kinds of sensations began to emerge after Silvia's incomplete awakening. Something had changed inside me, and Mordain had already mentioned it to me. I even had a vague impression of what it was.

But I wanted to deny that I was becoming soft or too sentimental. Cylrit at this moment is an enemy, and I must fight with that idea in mind.

"Fuuhhh," I exhaled and inhaled some air and then cleared my thoughts.

"Let's begin," I said as I used the sonic step to appear in front of the retainer.

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¡POV Seris Vritra

I was attentive to the combat from several meters above, far enough away not to be perceived. Additionally, I had camouflaged my presence and core to match the mana beasts in the surroundings.

I watched closely as the situation unfolded. Strangely, the boy didn't seem scared; his actions indicated that he was in that situation out of interest, and the moment he lost it, he could leave here with ease.

This made me frown, as his mana core wasn't anything special. At some point, I saw from afar one of the lances that had appeared recently, and this boy was hardly comparable to them.

But that confidence gave me a sense of incongruity. Moreover, his sword was something I had only seen in the hands of the high sovereigns in Alacrya.

This boy is definitely not normal. That was the main reason I sent Cylrit to evaluate him. It would be good if I could use him in the plans at some point, but he is still very green.

Or so I thought. The boy moved at a speed I thought only the lances could reach and clashed swords with my retainer.

I saw Cylrit retreat a few centimeters from the impact. Did he just lose in a strength confrontation?

My eyes opened with slight interest in the boy. My subordinate was puzzled for a few seconds and then got back on guard.

The boy began a sword exchange with his opponent. That was a foolish idea for someone facing Cylrit due to his magic, but the boy had no way of knowing that.

I saw my retainer redirecting each of the boy's attacks with great ease and calm, which was disappointing me, as I expected the boy to show something more.

After several sword clashes, the situation seemed the same. Everything indicated that the white-haired boy didn't realize Cylrit's trick or didn't let his bewilderment show on his face.

His lack of reaction was very unnatural. From the beginning, he seemed to know who Cylrit was, not for a moment did he seem surprised by his horns or his magic.

Which was not a good sign. The boy seemed to have an unfathomable confidence in something. I carefully extended my senses to detect information from the surroundings.

But there was nothing that seemed strange or dangerous. So, where does his confidence come from?

When I was watching their sword clash, the boy finally decided to infuse his weapon with some element.

The red sword lit up in a torrent of orange lightning, and the aura around the boy changed. It felt much more powerful, and his eyes had a rainbow glow.

Seeing this, Cylrit tried to increase the magic in his sword, but something happened, and the black mist sword fluctuated, allowing a point-blank cut to my retainer's chest.

"Grrhhh," I heard the now pained sound of Cylrit as he gritted his teeth.

The boy began to launch cuts one after another, but this time the result was different; all the cuts were affecting my retainer.

His wounds were accumulating one after another on his body, and like me, he had a confused look.

Is the boy somehow nullifying Cylrit's magic? But is that possible?

The boy doesn't seem to share any kinship with the dragons, who have been the only ones I've seen do something similar.

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POV Julián Kingscrown

I began to gain more confidence each time my blows connected with Cylrit, and the cuts on his body grew deeper.

The guy must be in a state of confusion and disbelief; he wouldn't expect someone to be able to nullify his spell.

But unfortunately for him, I'm a bad match. If he were more skilled with his sword or had a real one instead of that one made of black mist, I would have had to use more of my abilities.

But that wasn't necessary. With mana vision, I could see in our exchange that he could absorb impacts by attracting my sword's attacks to his. The problem is that it's something he had to continuously recast, not the sword itself, but the attraction and absorption spell he cast.

All because I noticed he could absorb one attack at a time. This allowed me to find an opening to cancel the spell when he was about to recast it and thus land effective blows.

I could see his perplexed look, thinking of solutions, and to validate my thoughts, the guy moved out of my sword's reach while starting to levitate. But he's very wrong if he thinks I'll let him do it so easily.

"Gravity Control," I shouted as I raised my hand.

At that moment, the surroundings began to tremble due to the change in gravity in the area.

Cylrit's eyes widened even more, and he gritted his teeth as he tried to rise, but I didn't allow it. I extended a thread of pure mana and dragged him down.

With the full force of gravity, he crashed to the ground. "Boom," a hollow sound was heard as the ground trembled.

I used the sonic step to get close and deliver the final blow to knock him unconscious, as I didn't have much mana left.

I needed to get out of here as quickly as possible before someone else arrived. I charged my fist with gravity magic to strike his face, and when I was a few centimeters away from hitting him, a primitive instinct screamed at me to retreat or lose my arm.

Following my gut feeling, I used the sonic step again and relocated several meters away from him.

And I saw it; a kind of black light whip striking where I had been just moments ago. "Crag," I heard the ground that received the blow cracking.

If my arm had been there, it probably wouldn't be better than meat stamped on the ground.

A chill ran down my spine as I watched where the whip's blow came from, and my expression tensed.

"Boy, what is your name and affiliation?" I heard a cold voice coming from Seris Vritra in the sky.

Why the hell is she here? I just wanted to knock Cylrit unconscious and get out of here, but this had to happen. Besides, why did my heart feel so nostalgic? What the hell is happening to me?

Worried about the whole situation, I didn't respond, and that seemed to irritate the person who spoke to me, so I heard her speak again.

"Aren't you going to answer? What is your affiliation, and who are you?" ordered the woman flying above me, with a cold look and emitting a thick bloodlust.

What do I do? If I establish any contact with her, many things could change, and if she, by some twist of fate, dies before the war begins, betraying Agrona due to my influence, I would lose a very reliable ally for future plans.

The last thing I remember about her in the novel was after the recovery of Dicathen when she was accompanied by her followers.

But at this moment, it would be dangerous for her to think about doing the same when she hasn't developed that shield to resist the Asuras.

I racked my brain trying to find an option that would allow me to get out of here alive without looking too suspicious when they reported to Agrona.

Due to the time it took me to think of an idea, Cylrit had already managed to get up and was now flying next to Seris.

Although he didn't look too beaten, his wounds must have hurt a lot, considering the expression on his face with clenched teeth.

On the other hand, Seris had an indifferent expression with her bloodlust extended around, but I know better than anyone that she must be having some complicated mental process evaluating me.

The only thing I could think to say was, "I'm not your enemy, but I can't have a chat with you yet."

While seriously considering going to Eden and spending several days inside, her pressure ceased. After that, I saw her take something out of her dimensional ring. I gripped my sword while trying to see what it was.

Then she extended her arm, throwing what she took out of her ring. I activated Laplace while my mana vision scanned a... horn?

Surprised, I raised one of my eyebrows in confusion and caught the falling horn. Meanwhile, I evaluated it without taking my eyes off Seris.

It had a lot of mana. This thing was what I needed as a catalyst to reach the white core, but why give it to me so abruptly when she almost blew my arm off?

Carefully, I evaluated her reactions; however, it was inefficient. Her poker face never changed.

If it weren't me and the person she gave this horn to was someone else, they would probably have a look of absolute bewilderment.

"Use it to reach the white core stage; you'll need it," Seris said.

With those words, I understood the underlying message: get stronger. Those were the only words she directed at Arthur in their first encounter.

I looked into her eyes for a few seconds and nodded. She did the same without changing her cold and distant expression.

For many, this would have been an anticlimactic or confusing ending, but she and I understood; we had just reached a tacit agreement between the two of us.

At this moment, I was immensely grateful that Seris is such an intelligent woman. She was able to evaluate me and reach the same conclusion as I did.

This is not the right time to establish contact. She even went further to see my deficiencies and give me a solution.

She was a terrifyingly calculating woman who put me in her debt and established a precedent as a possible ally.

After that, I turned around and started running quickly to get out of this place, and five hours later, I was back in Hearth.

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POV Seris Vritra

"Lady Seris, was it okay to give him that horn? We went through a lot of trouble to get it from the high sovereign without him noticing," my retainer asked in a worried tone.

"This is both a gamble and an investment. Only time will tell if I was right in this decision. More importantly, how are your wounds?"

Cylrit seemed a bit uncomfortable with my question, but he didn't hesitate to respond in a complicated voice, "The wounds were minor. I have the impression that the boy was holding back against me."

"Do you know exactly what he did to defeat you?" I questioned again.

"I'm not very sure, but when the balance completely tipped in his favor, it was when I couldn't activate the spell to redirect and absorb the impact," he responded in a confused tone.

If we count the elements he used, at a minimum, he's a tri-elemental with two deviations, hiding tricks like the one that allowed him to put Cylrit on the ropes.

"Don't disappoint me, boy," I thought out loud as I watched him disappear into the clearings.