Decisions decisions

Blake and Irene continued their banter a little over midnight after which they went to bed. The next morning Ed was making breakfast and was wondering what Rustmore was planning. Even while he was still the General of the army, he knew their dirty tactics and lack of care for their own men. It's one of the reasons why he was so against Irene's engagement.

It gave him a sense of cruel pleasure to know that bastard was suffering in the dungeons right now. After he had prepared breakfast and was about to call on the two lovebirds to join him, he saw a sleepy Irene coming to the kitchen rubbing her still droopy eyes. After a brief goodmorning he went to the living room and saw Blake was still sleeping like a log. Remembering his stunt the other day, Ed had a mischievous smirk as he kicked him to the floor from the couch and Blake landed with a thud.

"Get up sleepy head breakfast is ready", Ed gave a victorious laugh and went into the kitchen.

Getting up from the floor Blake had a grumpy expression while muttering curses under his breath, "Stupid old man, wait till I get you back for that".

After joining them on the table, they began to dig in and Ed deiced to tease them a little, "Last night I couldn't sleep because there was laughter and talking outside, kids these days have no decency walking to such dangerous woods just to have some alone time with their lovers", he said as if he had no clue it was them.

Irene was blushing up a storm and seemed to stare at her food as if it was the most wonderful thing in the world, while Blake had a coughing fit and had a mild blush as well.

Seeing their reactions Ed couldn't hold it anymore and began to laugh jovially, "You have my approval, I couldn't ask for a better grandson-in-law for my granddaughter or a better granddaughter-in-law for my grandson", he continued to tease them.

"Grandpa!", Blake and Irene shouted in unison, embarrassed by their shameless grandpa.

"I see, you two seem to be in sync. My youngsters these days sure work fast", Ed kept teasing with a sly smirk.

Irene couldn't take it anymore and ran to her room. Blake just sighed and stood up to follow her but was stopped by Ed, "Please take care of her for me, she's all I have left", he said to Blake in a serious tone.

Blake didn't know what to say to that and simply nodded his head and went to try and calm down the probably still blushing princess.

Arriving at her door, he knocked and waited for her response. Irene slowly opened the door and her face still showed a mild blush. "You don't have to take his words seriously, he was just joking. Besides I don't think you'll have any trouble in that regard", Blake comforted her with a smile.

Irene fidgeted and grabbed the hem of her clothes, "I-I don't mind", she spoke in a soft voice.

Blake didn't understand her words, "What don't you mind?", he asked with a tilted head. "About you and me, you know", her blush came back in full and didn't know where she got the courage to say those words.

Blake was a bit taken aback by her acceptance but nonetheless smiled, "If your okay with me than I would officially asked for your permission to court you milady", he said with a gentleman's bow and stretched out his right hand while his left hand was behind his back.

Irene looked at his outstretched hand and gave her right hand in reply.

Blake took her hand and kissed her knuckles as a sign of their official courtship. "Milady, shall we take a walk outside. I hear the weather is quite excellent this morning", Blake said with a grin.

Irene giggled and covered her mouth with her left hand as her other hand was still held by Blake. "Why that would be lovely my lord, please lead the way", she answered in the same manner.

After a few moments they both burst out laughing and went outside, as they left the front door they heard Ed's voice coming from the kitchen, "Have fun".

Irene and Blake went for a walk around the forest still holding hands, they simply enjoyed each others company and and talked about mundane things laughing from time to time.

After an hour of getting to know each other Blake led her to a waterfall where he used to train, they sat on the grass just enjoying the scenery and each others company. Blake still couldn't believe she actually liked him enough to be his girlfriend. Hah, Irene Belserion, future queen of dragons and one of the most powerful mages in the world was his girlfriend. Thinking of this he had a goofy smile on his face.

Seeing his smile Irene giggled and rested her head on his shoulders as they looked at the scenery.

"Do you think your father will accept this?", Blake asked. Shrugging her shoulders, "Maybe, even if he doesn't I can't bring myself to care. I have never felt like this before and don't want to lose it, Lose you", she muttered softly.

As Blake was about to speak, they suddenly turned their heads to the south as they both picked up a large number of magical signatures going towards the border of Dragnof from Rustmore.

They both looked at each other and nodded, they quickly ran to the house and saw Ed waiting for them outside. He too had a solemn expression on his face and probably sensed them too.

"What should we do?", Irene decided to speak first. Ed didn't speak and simply looked towards Blake, who understood that he was leaving this upto him.

Blake thought for a while and said,

"This is probably the scout force or vanguard. They must have found out we discovered their plans and are taking the initiative to attack first, probably so that they can mobilize their main force and try and weaken ours". Ed nodded to his observation and simply said, "Take care of them and inform the king to make haste after your done".

Blake nodded and looked at Irene, as he wasn't sure she was ready for something like this. But was surprised by the determined look in her eyes and simply nodded her head. Seeing as she head made up her mind Blake nodded to his grandpa and he and Irene then quickly made their way to intercept the enemy. Blake was running while Irene followed him by flying.

They quickly reached a plain where the army would cone through and simply waited for them to arrive. Irene was fidgeting a bit and her hands were shaking, probably nervous and scared for her first real fight. Blake held her hand in support and decided to ease her worries.

"You asked me what I named my magic before and seems like this is the perfect time to show you", he said with a reassuring smile.

Irene felt her nerves lessen from his touch and nodded after hearing she will finally be able to see his magic.

Soon the army was in sight and was about 1000 strong with black roman like armour with swords, shields and spears. They moved like a well oiled machine and stopped their march just a mile away from where Irene and Blake were standing. They would be a truly intimidating sight for anyone to face except that neither Blake nor Irene were just anyone.

They were one of the strongest people in the world but the soldiers didn't know that, soon the commander of the army stepped forward and with a cocky tone shouted, "I don't know wether to laugh or feel insulted that Dragnof decided to send two youngsters to fight and army. Hey boy, if you surrender now and send the girl to warm my bed. Maybe I might give you a quick death", the soldiers were jeering and laughing at their commanders words.

Irene was disgusted and was about to rain down hell when she was stopped by Blake who smiled at her and said, "Let me have the first go, you should focus on making sure they don't run away".

Irene nodded and got ready while Blake stepped forward as a blood red magic circle appeared beneath him. His body began to be covered by a red aura as red lava like lines appeared all over his body, his hair started to dance around and his red eyes glowed with power.

He had a feral grin and pulled his hand backwards in a punching stance as red magic compressed around his fist. {Ragnarok magic : Meteor fist} he punched out and a wave of red energy blasted forward and quickly arrived before the army. They couldn't even react as a large portion of the army was decimated by the powerful strike as the energy created a huge crater in its wake.

After Blake had learned the ancient language the magic was derived from, he was amazed to find the words that contained norse mythology. So he decided to name it Ragnarok.

Irene was amazed by the power contained in that single punch while the army was stricken with fear. But before they could regroup, the ground surrounding them began to move like it was alive and giant spikes made of earth impaled them from all sides. Irene began her attack as she enchanted the ground. With her enchantment magic anything around her could become a weapon as well as empowering her allies and herself or weakening her enemies.

Blake decided to show off too and jumped high into the air above the remaining army, his right leg glowed as magic concentrated around it, he lifted his leg high into the air and descended into the middle of the army, {Ragnarok : Valkyrie's Descent}.

*Boom* A large explosion ensued as most of the army was either crushed or thrown away violently by the force of impact. The ground caved in from the impact, after the smoked cleared Blake was standing in the middle of the crater without a speck of dust on him.

His current appearance seemed like a demon in the eyes of the few remaining soldiers, then the sky suddenly darkened as clouds formed and lighting crackled, Irene decided to end the battle or more like a massacre with a lighting storm that killed off the remaining soldiers.

Blake whistled at the display of Irene casually casting high tier elemental magic like it was nothing. After sweeping the area with his magic sense and finding no survivors, he went to where Irene stood as she was leaning her weight on a magic staff she was now currently holding. From where she suddenly took out a magic staff, if you were wondering. 'Magic Inventory' a basic form of magic that lets the user create a sort of pocket space to carry objects, but is limited by the users magic as well as the spell itself. It couldn't store something bigger than 8 cubic meters.

This was a handy magic spell and used a lot by most mages for carrying things, and this magic spell will later be upgraded in the future that will make a new spell called 'Re-equip' magic. A magic that was used by a certain red head girl in a certain magic guild. But that was far into the future and right now it was nothing more than a handy space bag you can carry everywhere without physically carrying it.

Blake carefully studied Irene's facial expression for any sort of trauma for killing for the first time. It definitely would be traumatic for any person. He still remembered his first kill 3 years ago, when Ed led a single bandit into a closed off area of the forest and they had to find and kill each other.

It was certainly one of the most harrowing experience, after hiding in a tree and waiting for a day Blake had successfully ambushed the bandit by jumping down on his back from the tree then slicing his throat open. The weird thing was that he didn't feel all that different after killing him. No nausea, or guilt or any sort. He was worried about his mental state but was assured by Ed that he wasn't wrong or broken, there were sometimes people like him. When face with a kill or be killed situation to be able to face it without much reaction.

After arriving next to her, he didn't see any sort of lingering sadness or guilt but worry?. Irene looked at Blake and with a worried look, "Blake isn't it normal to feel some sort of guilt or something when killing someone. I just killed more than 300 people but I didn't feel a thing", she was worried just as Blake had been on his first kill.

"Don't worry I had the same reaction after my first kill. Grandpa said it happens to people sometimes", He assured her and placed a hand on her shoulders.

Irene nodded with a smile and then Irene created a magic circle under them and teleported into the capital.

This form of teleportation spell could only be used by drawing a runic magic circle at the place you want to teleport to. It was limited in its use but only needed a small amount of magic as opposed to normal teleportation magic.

Mages often used them as a means of quick escape measures in case they are in danger and need to run away quickly.

They teleported into a side chamber next to Irene's room and after exiting the room they quickly went to find the king who was currently in the throne room discussing plans for the war with his two generals.

Seeing them enter the king and generals waited looked at them and waited for them to speak. After a short greeting Irene gave a quick explanation of what happened, they had angry expressions on their faces hearing how their enemy nearly succeeded in their plans if it weren't for Blake and Irene.

"It seems we need to move faster than we anticipated. Mobilise the army to march tomorrow. We'll intercept them at the Borung plains and cut them off from gaining the a proper foothold", King Edmund ordered the generals who quickly nodded and went to mobilize the army.

After they left the king looked towards Blake and Irene and thanked Blake for his help and participation, "Thank you for your help otherwise it might have given them an advantage in this war".

Irene felt sad that even now her father seemed so distant towards her but had simply accepted their relationship because she didn't know what to do to make it better.

After leaving the throne room Blake noticed the sad look on her face and decided to cheer her up by holding her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. Irene smiled at this gesture and was happy she atleast had two people who always cared for her.