Chapter 118: If You Love Something

Ciaran was in a sour mood on their way back to the Tundra. He met with all of his family but his grandmother and Ariadne. The old woman had accompanied her and her teacher Elizabeth to practice their magic.

"Why did they have to go when I came to visit? This is so unfair. "The boy grumbled, but his companions had other problems.

Diana still couldn't believe she was soul bonded to him, and Verdania couldn't even look at them without her eye twitching.

They reached the border of the Tundra before the dryad let them rest.

"You have new tasks. This time you both get three individual tasks. Diana, you have to hunt down a Rank Six beast, you need to master a weapon art, and as you are a princess of the Empire, you need to kill at least a thousand of their soldiers by your own hands." She said sternly.

Both of them were shocked. Rank Five entities were hard enough, going further than that was suicide. And the thousand soldiers bit was even more insane. They weren't disorganized Hunters, and if they messed with the army they might encounter someone of the higher-ups.

Ciaran didn't know what a weapon art is, but remembering the sword element the Rank Five Swordman had was enough for him to take it seriously.

"Ciaran, your tasks are less simple. First, get in touch with your magic, meaning stabilize your magic, all of it, the Water, Wind, and Storm. Next, since you have never fought against Mages, you have to kill at least ten of them, but no tricks and you have to do it alone. Finally, you need to break through into Rank Three, for that purpose, you can have assistance from us, in the form of the operation."

"I will still come and check on you every six months, but if you want more than that, you have to trade in credits. One credit is one operation. And one Mage you kill for task two is one credit." She said stoically.

They looked at each other. Those were very hard tasks, and they only had a year. Diana's could largely be done by both of them, except for the learning part. Ciaran's on the other hand were all individual.

"That's all for the tasks. Now for the other thing. Restrains, or not, if I catch you doing something you aren't supposed to I will be forced to intervene." She said glaring at both of them.

Ciaran sighed, she was usually the one who helped him get into trouble, yet she now acted as the disciplinarian.

Diana, strangely enough, smiled at the dryad. The girl never even dreamed of doing anything, much less with a boy five years younger than her. And yet, the dryad had been hostile to her since day one, so she decided to have a little fun.

"You can't stop us even if you wanted. But you're welcome to watch, I am sure Ciaran would make it stormy for you." She said as she widened her smile.

The dryad wanted to curse her out. Verdania was more than aware the girl was just lashing out, but she was warning Ciaran, not her. The boy was emotional and was going through both his magic transformation and puberty. If he COULD control himself, she wouldn't be worried, but he couldn't.

She would usually be snarky at the white-haired girl, but just this once the Archmage made an exception, and simply shared with Diana her concerns. immediately, the girl wiped the smile off her face and frowned.

If Ciaran was really to jump her, she would fight back.

'But can I win? He is a Mage now.' She asked via their mind link.

The dryad reassured her that everything short of killing the boy would be doing him a favor as if she didn't defend herself, he would later not be able to live with himself anymore. Verdania knew that better than most.

"Good luck, and be safe." She said, with both clear and hidden meaning behind her words.

The kids were left alone.

Ciaran looked at Diana and smiled.

"So wife, what are we doing today?" He asked, getting a knuckle to the head for his joke.

Before she could answer him however they heard the sound of a battle. Their banter was put on hold, as they went to investigate.

It was a squabble between Hunters. There were plenty of Rank Twos, and even some Rank Threes fighting there. For regular people, that would look like a formidable formation, but the two lost interest.

Diana was in the middle ranks, and Ciaran wasn't far from them either.

"Do you know what a weapon art is? The others sound either too hard or too vague." Ciaran asked.

Diana took her warglaives out and infused them with Moonlight. She then spun them, and for a second there was no rhythm to them, no pattern, just a deadly beautiful image spinning toward the boy. But it was for less than a moment, after that, they turned back to normal.

"Like that. You learn about battle and weapon arts in Year Ten usually, but I got the privilege to learn one sooner. It's far from mastered tho, and no I can't teach you. Your body is far too weak, you need a constitution of at least a Rank Four to even attempt to use it."She said.

It seemed that this year's tasks would be quite a hassle.

"What do you say we join the war? I mean the real one, on the Battlefield." He asked her, and she pondered.

On one hand that would be extremely difficult, but on the other they needed stimulation. The Hunters had powerful members, but short of antagonizing someone of the pugilist's level, there was no way they could be challenged.

"Are you sure, joining the army is going to be a pain in the ass? Especially for you, since if you join, your grandfather will do his best to keep you there." She said.

He then looked in the direction of the strongholds. He sighed and looked at her again.

"I am not going. This year, at least for the next six months, you will go to the army, and I will do my own thing." He said, and the Moonlight intensified, it even gave him the sensation of burning.

She slowly came to him and lifted her hand up. He tried to grab it, but she slapped it away. She then put it on his heart and initiated a link. She wanted to establish the connection again, but she decided to settle for what she could get.

'Tell me truthfully, why do you want to separate. And do NOT try to trick me, Rony, I know you better than you think I do.'

He didn't answer, he just showed her images of all their fights. In every one of them, they won through teamwork, and carefully laid out plans. He then showed her how much he hated the idea.

"We are a great team, and call me delirious or hormonal, but I dare say we complete each other. But it's clear, this year is about personal growth, and I will be damned if I held you back, or allow you to do the same to me."

"Fuck the romance, Diana, I asked you to be my partner, and I intend to look after your interests. Believe me, my selfish ass wants nothing more than for us to just hunt in the Tundra and enjoy our lives together. But we can't. You have your family to deal with, and I have made enemies across the whole continent, if we stop for even a second, we will drown." He said verbally while projecting every emotion, behind every word to her through their mind link.

She looked at him, she looked at him with a hard stair.

"You want me to use my title as a Ranger, and go in the army for six months. I get that, and I will do it, but what are you planning for yourself?" She asked, and she knew she nailed it when the boy cut off the mind link.

He just smiled at her, silently denying her the answers she wanted. She was about to explode with fury when she felt the Storm.

"I will make friends. I cut off our connection because this is one feisty element. It would have attacked you on sight, well, on ah, on thought." He said, not quite sure how to explain the phenomenon.

They didn't say goodbye, because they would see each other again, they didn't even hug, because sentimentality was 'raising bad flags', or at least that was how Diana framed it.

She went towards the old Brigadier's base, while the boy just stood there, and watched her figure grow smaller.

He lied. He had many reasons for wanting to be alone, and he chose not to share any of them with her. Unlike her, he was ecstatic to know they were bonded, that she 'Belonged' to him. Every second with her, his mind was slipping. With every touch, his desire for more grew.

At the base of his explanation lay the truth, he was going to tame the Storm. It was just she didn't understand that at the Mage Rank, your element stopped being an external force, but merged with you, and became your closest ally.