An unexpected visitor

Virion reached out, patting me on the shoulder.

"I'll handle exposing the traitors, you're doing more than enough. I'd rather have you here, not send you to a long mission. You're free to go do your own thing, I'll notify you if we need your help."

1.5 months later

Entering the training room, I could see Sylv sparring with Varay in the distance while Kath sat and absorbed the last of Cadell's mana.

I climbed up on one of the rocks, and activated unleashed Realmheart.

Using the power to imbue my fist or sword with aether, I observed the movement of the particles, trying to replicate it on my own.

I felt Kath stand up from her seat, and approach Varay and Sylvie who were still fighting.

'A-arthur! Something's happening...'

Opening my eyes, I saw Sylvie fall forward onto the ground, the barrage of ice spears not slowing down.

Godstepping in front of Sylvie, I blocked the ice spears and kneeled in front of Sylv.

"Sylv, are you alright?" I said when suddenly, Sylv began to glowing in a brilliant golden light reminiscent of Windsom's transformation from a cat.

I watched as her golden form distorted into the shape of a human - a little girl, seemingly.

When she stopped glowing, I could finally make out some details. There laid a little girl in a simple black robe with two black unmistakable horns jutting out from the side of her head.

Opening her bright topaz eyes, she looked around in confusion.

"Sylvie, is that you?"

As she was standing up, the girl cracked open an uneasy smile, a trace of fear and excitement evident in her bright topaz eyes. "H-Hi, Arthur."

The two of us stood there. Neither one of us knew what to do, what to say, how to react. I still couldn't believe it. My eyes told me that I was seeing a girl that looked no older than eight or nine with long choppy hair that was the same pale wheat color as her draconic form's underbelly; looking closely, her messy hair looked more like soft feathers than actual strands of hair.

Little of the girl's small face was covered by her hair, since her bangs barely covered half of her forehead. Her round yellow eyes shifted uneasily under my scrutinizing gaze until she sent a mental transmission.

'How long are you going to keep staring like that?'

'Sorry, I'm still digesting everything right now. What exactly happened?'

"After absorbing the Scythe's mana from the horn you gave me, I was almost able to finally break the seal that you and grandpa said that my mother placed on me to keep me hidden. The spar pushed me just far enough to do so." The disparity between her childish voice and her words threw me off, but I nodded in understanding.

Sylvie abruptly lurched and staggered, nearly falling forward before she regained balance.

"Sylvie? You okay?" I asked, concerned.

Sylvie stood in place for a moment, frozen. I cautiously made my way to her, unable to even fathom what was wrong, when she slowly looked up.

When our eyes locked again this time, however, a chill ran down my spine. Her appearance was the same—nothing had changed—but her presence, her demeanor, her gaze were completely different.

'Sylvie' straightened herself, swaying her neck side to side as if she was stretching it.

"Ah, ah," she said, clearing her throat. "You can hear me, yes?"

I raised a brow, not knowing how to answer.

"I'll take that gesture as a yes," she said dismissively.

"Who are you?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

'Sylvie' smirked, an expression that looked unnatural on her face. "I'm grateful that you happened to be in the same room when the connection was finally established, though you were supposed to be alone. Were my divinations incorrect?"

"Who. Are. You?" I repeated, letting out my bloodlust.

Seemingly not even affected, her smirk widened to a smile. "Agrona."

"Is Sylvie safe while you're in control of her body?" I asked.

"Yes, but could you get these nuisances out of here?" - Agrona pointed at Varay and Kathyln - "They're really annoying me."

They looked at me, as if asking me what to do.

"Listen to him, he has a reason he wants to talk to me alone. Also, don't tell anyone about this meeting."

Varay took a step forward. "I can't do that, I have to notify the-"

"No" - I said, directing the brunt of my bloodlust at her. - "They will go after me, or worse, Sylvie. I'm not in the mood to get interrogated, especially over just a conversation."

Varay fell to the ground, unable to breathe due to the pressure. "Understood" She managed to get out.

Releasing the pressure, I waved my hand, as two stone chairs popped up from the ground and I took a seat, gesturing at Agrona to do the same.

Agrona sat down, leaning back in the seat contently. "Thanks for the hospitality, and for keeping your wits together. Makes communicating so much easier without you trying to kill me."

After Kath and Varay left, I conjured multiple barriers and a sound field around us, ensuring our conversation wouldn't get out.

"You really didn't have to bully the poor lance like that" said Agrona with a chuckle.

Not responding, I asked the first question.

"Why did you only seek me out?"

"Because"—he leaned forward and grinned—"you're the only one on this continent that I'm interested in."

...

"You said you were interested in me earlier. I assumed it was because you wanted my help, but withholding your goal in all of this hardly makes me want to jump to your side," I pushed, hoping to get an answer out of him.

Agrona leaned back. "I never expected you to come to my side through this little conversation. I told you all of this because in hopes that you will remove yourself from the war."

"What? Why would I—"

"You are the only lesser capable of killing my scythes, and before you say no, consider this. Thus far, I've been progressing very conservatively in this war—refraining from unnecessary civilian deaths since I have use for them—but that does not mean it'll continue being this way.

Statistically speaking, how likely is it that you can single-handedly win the war?"

It'd be a lie to say a small part of me wasn't tempted. "What do you gain from me doing this? Telling me to keep hidden or go to Alacrya obviously means you want me alive. Why? If I'm not on your side, aren't I a threat?"

"Despite how I may have been perceived and what I've done to get to where I am today, I don't believe that allies can be made through force. If I want you on my side, I won't do so through threats."

The two of us stayed silent for a bit. He was waiting for me to respond, and I didn't know how to respond. I wanted to refuse—I should definitely refuse—but for some reason, his words carried a weight that made me truly think.

"It actually seems like you're thinking about it," he chuckled. "As a small thank you for that, I'll divulge something that you may have been curious about."

"The asuras have been out of touch with your leaders for about a month right?" He didn't wait for me to respond. The asura possessing my bond rose to his feet, maintaining his poise. "It's because a few asuras, including Aldir and Windsom, tried infiltrating my castle in Alacrya, hoping that they'd succeed in killing me while my forces are divided..."

Yeah, it seemed strange that the asuras suddenly stopped coming to the meetings..

"But doesn't that mean the treaty is broken?"

"No, neither I nor the other asuras wish for it, so we made another deal. The asuras can no longer aid you in any way throughout this war. Windsom, Aldir, and the rest of the asuras you've met have abandoned you."

Finally, after I gained enough composure to form words again, I spoke. "... Why are you telling me all of this?"

"To appeal to you of course. I'm trying to ultimately get you on my side willingly, remember?" Agrona winked. "Frankly, I don't get where your loyalty to those asuras come from. Kezess and the other asuras that helped train you only did so for their gains and you simply went along because you needed to get stronger to keep your loved ones safe. Seems more like a business arrangement to me."

After thinking about it for a few seconds, I made up my mind.

"I refuse. In fact, I do believe I can single handedly win this war, unless you have something better than Scythes. Now, if you have nothing else to say, get out."

Agrona simply looked at me, raising his eyebrow.

"I hope you won't regret your choice."

I sat down on the ground, funneling all the mana in the room into my body, while thinking about the conversation.

I needed to be ready for a large scale battle, and learning to control aether would be of very little use at this moment.

By the way my body was still hungrily accepting mana, It seemed like there was a stage beyond integration. I didn't know when, if ever, I will reach this stage, but I was certain. Every second spent meditating I felt inward pulses inside my body, just like those when I had a white core.

There were no more impurities to expel, so the next stage was increasing the density of the mana inside my body.

Is this what Myre meant, when she said my body was above asuras? A body made of pure mana had little drawbacks and many advantages.

two weeks later

Spending the entire two weeks purely meditating the entire time had a huge benefit for my body. I felt my physical strength rise exponentially while my mana capacity got a lot larger. I estimated that Cold Sun would now take about 15% of my capacity.

I was abruptly called to the Wall by Virion, because there were supposedly two rampaging retainers.

Studying the various beasts, Sylvie said

'I'll go ahead, I want to test out my newfound powers. There seem to be some powerful beasts for me to eat.'

'Are you sure you are in control of your power? You gained a huge power boost and only had two weeks to adjust to it.' I told her, not hiding my worry.

'Yeah, this is the perfect place to do so. You don't have to worry, I think I can take on a retainer or two'

'Alright, but you get hurt and I'm getting you out of there, understood?'

Sylv sent me a mental nod, taking off towards the ground like a rocket. She crashed head first into a huge humming bird looking beast, killing it.

Softening my landing with a cushion of wind, I was met with a crowd of soldiers with their weapons drawn.

Disregarding it, I asked.

"I was told there were retainers rampaging, could you tell me where?"

A man in large armor stepped up.

"They were here 5 minutes ago, still rampaging. Then they just flew off" - the man pointed towards a huge clump of beasts approaching. "in that direction."

I was about to give chase, when a thin man holding a scroll approached.

Out of breath, he managed to stammer out "I-it's from commander V-virion, he said it was very urgent."

I realized it was a two way scroll, and turned it around.

"Arthur, scythes and retainers attacked the castle! They took Tess, please come as fast as you can! The lances are currently fighting two Scythes alone!"