Ice Princess

Former Imperial Princess Aurora Aegis, twin sister of the Empress, Audrey Aegis.

As children, Aurora and Audrey were both hailed as geniuses, but for different reasons.

While Audrey was considered to be a once-in-a-century genius in swordsmanship, Aurora was hailed as an academic prodigy, being able to learn even the most complex of topics in times as short as two days.

And once the twins became of age, their talents were only enhanced by the ability to wield mana.

at 16, once they gained the ability to wield mana, it was clear that the twins shared talent in not only constructing spells, but doing so so efficiently that as much as 80% of their mana was utilised in the spells.

The average for a high-ranking mage was 55%.

The twins' elemental affinities ended up conflicting with each other, mirroring their respective personalities.

Audrey gained the ability to wield flames as though it was an extension of herself, and that coupled with her fiery personality and famously short temper made her infamous throughout the empire.

Aurora, however, gained the ability that mirrored her image as the 'Ice Princess of Aegis', the ability to wield a branch of magic that was thought to only be a sub-branch of water magic and not its own branch; Ice magic.

It's thought that given time, Aurora would have revolutionised what people thought possible not with only ice magic but magic in general, as her genius was that highly regarded.

However, that same year, tragedy unfolded.

The Emperor at the time, Aevillus Aegis, had gathered the entire imperial family for an event. It was unknown what the event could have been, but most speculate that it was the selection of the crown prince or princess, as Audrey and Aurora had other siblings, each talented in their own right, but nowhere near the talent of the twins.

During this gathering, however, a great fire broke out, engulfing half of the Crimson Palace in an instant, killing everyone present instantly, leaving not even ashes left.

Except of course, for Audrey, who survived the entire ordeal with no injuries.

In the ensuing chaos, it was speculated to be Audrey's doing, to ensure she became the Empress of the empire, however, this idea was quickly shot down.

In the first place, it was well known that the relationship between Audrey and Aurora was one of unapologetic love, enough to be willing to die for the other, which they had demonstrated more than once.

While it is not known what the relationship between her and the rest of the imperial family was like, it was deemed that Audrey would rather die than bring harm to her sister.

Additionally, while she was a talent that eclipsed any that came before her, the scale of the explosion that occurred was simply too much for someone who had only awakened the ability to use mana less than a year prior.

The explosion that occurred had spread flames as far as the Imperial Capital, and took mages a full four days to put out, which is also when Audrey was found, unconscious but unharmed.

In the coming months, after an inauguration that more resembled a funeral, Auredry Aegis was crowned as the Empress of the Aegis Empire, the youngest in history, at 16.

Of course, that was only the story given to the public, and the actual details of that fateful day are known only by three persons.

The Empress, Audrey Aegis, Former Praetorian Guard Captain, Librada Angelos, and Her Imperial Highness, Princess Aurora Aegis.

Everyone else present that day has long since passed, or like Elric himself, was not present in the chamber where the gathering was held.

Gathering his thoughts, Elric reminded himself that his objective was not to fight Aurora with the intention of winning, but solely to keep her busy long enough for Prince Adam to escape, or for The Empress to arrive.

Of course, Elric was not dumb enough to think that Adam would not have been ambushed himself, but knowing that the Archangel, Cephiros, was with him, made him confident that Adam could, at the very least, escape.

Adjusting his footing, Elric strengthened the grip on his sword.

In an instant, his figure faded out of existence and appeared behind Aurora.

Stabbing his sword forward with all his might, Elric had no expectations that his attack would go through, and he was proven right.

As his sword moved forward, a wall of ice suddenly appeared before him, perfectly blocking his attack, even though he was in Aurora's blind spot.

Not one to waste time, his figure faded back out of existence before reappearing barely a metre away.

However, before he could execute his next attack, his figure disappeared once again, as Aurora's slender blade cut through the air where he was just standing.

Returning to his original position, He waved his hand, summoning a torrent of flaming spears before him.

Their numbers surpassed 3 dozen and now they were all headed towards Aurora.

Without the slightest change in her expression, Aurora raised her free hand and executed a spell.

Suddenly, Elric's spell dissipated, causing the knight to frown deeply.

'Cancelation Magic?' he thought briefly, before switching his tactics.

His figure disappeared once again, appearing above Aurora's.

Moving to intercept, Aurora raised her sword high, however using this chance Elric's figure disappeared once again, this time he was crouching right beneath her.

As his sword moved towards Aurora's neck, his movements suddenly came to a halt.

Noticing the frost buildup on his gauntlet, he quickly made a decision.

As Aurora's sword changed directions to sever Elric's neck, Elric had already used his free hand to cast an explosion spell.

As the explosion went off, Elric regained his mobility and disappeared once more, appearing 10 metres from where the explosion had gone off.

However before he could even assess the damage done to himself, he raised his arms and attempted to block, but it was futile.

Aurora, who was unscathed, had appeared before him and delivered a solid kick to his breastplate, sending him flying dozens of metres away.

As he came to a stop, not even bothering to take a moment to catch his breath, his figure quickly disappeared, as Aurora's blade pierced the dirt where he once lay.

'Why is she so fast?' he thought, while continuously distancing himself from her.

He noticed, though, that while he was still faster than her, she was slowly catching up.

'I won't last long..'

Unleashing another round of flaming spears towards Aurora in an effort to catch his breath, Elric quickly took in the surroundings.

The area surrounding the two fighters had become entirely covered in snow, and more of it was continuously falling which only served to disrupt his movements more and obscure his sight.

Of course, Elric did not depend on his eyesight to see, but another form of vision in which he spread out his mana and used the stimuli perceived by it to construct a model of the world in his mind.

However, even that was affected by the snowfall, as the snow was made with mana, making his perception seem hazy, unclear and cluttered.

To make matters worse, it would appear that Aurora was continuously casting cancellation spells, rendering most of his armour's enchantments unusable, or weakened to the point where they had become essentially useless.

As his spell faded away due to Aurora's magic, Elric decided to drag the fight elsewhere, as the buildup of snow was detrimental to his ability to fight.

As his figure faded away and reappeared outside of the area affected by snow, he prepared himself for another one of Aurora's attacks...

But no such attack ever came.

Turning his 'gaze' to where Aurora was supposed to be standing, He frowned once more as she was nowhere to be seen.

He quickly attempted to expand the range of his perception, however, even then he could find her.

'Shit...'

Sheathing his sword, he tried to use the communication enchantment embedded in his helmet, however, it was still not functioning.

That alone would suggest that Aurora was still in the area, but considering that he could not perceive her, it would suggest that the effect of cancellation magic was cast over the area, and not directly cast by Aurora herself.

With that in mind, his figure once again faded out of existence, as he made his way towards Adam.