Interlude (Part 2)

(Evelyn POV)

I was scared. A massive explosion occurred within the barrier we had just put up. We had to use a considerable amount of our magic power to keep the explosion contained because if we didn't, everyone in Soma would be dead. None of use could survive a point-blank strike like the people inside had done.

"Rudra!!!" Lucia cried out in panic. That's right, her brother was still inside. I grit my teeth. It was unlikely that he survived it.

"Look at that!" Someone yelled and pointed to the sky inside the barrier.

Everyone looked up to see the White Ice Dragon falling from the air, obviously injured. My heart skipped a beat, not in excitement, but in fear. I saw Velzard as a rival, yes, however, she was still a powerful individual who I wouldn't want to ever face in physical combat, and she was seemingly felled so easily. The defensive abilities of Dragons were legendary, so if even she was knocked out of the sky, then what happened to Alaster?

My breathing picked up and I began to hyperventilate. I didn't want to believe it. No, I couldn't believe it. Was he? Was my Alaster...?

I looked into the sky once again only to see Velzard's draconic body disappear. "Where did it go!?!" Someone yelled. I looked at them with pity for a moment before turning my attention to the sky again. The average person's eyesight wasn't good enough to see what happened in detail, however, mine was.

I breathed a sigh of relief that I didn't know I was holding in as I saw the familiar back of Alaster catching Velzard mid-flight. My legs felt weak and I collapsed onto the ground in relief, breathing heavily.

"Your Highness, are you alright!?!' Roa asked me.

"I'm fine, just... took a lot out of me to keep up the barrier is all." I lied.

After a few more moments, we all began to witness the resumption of the battle inside the barrier. I found myself gripping onto a small beaded pendant that Alaster gave me during my birthday years ago. It was a souvenir. A small thing I kept on me all this time.

A large explosion covering half of the barrier snapped me out of my stupor. We all continued to look on as the beast in the distance continued to battle with someone. We watched in stunned silence as explosions rocked the earth and power filled the sky. Even civilians who had never trained their magic perception before, were able to feel the immense amounts of magic power being thrown around by the combatants inside.

After a few more moments, Ivarage appeared from a cloud of dust and smoke, flying high up into the sky. In a single moment, it tore open a hole in our barrier like it was tissue paper and flew off. I noticed after a moment seeing the Dragon take to the sky, that Alaster had taken off after it.

"Ivarage has escaped!" Roa yelled from beside me.

I closed my eyes and prayed for his safety before standing back up. "People of Soma! The time of crisis has passed! For now, the threat has fled us, but do not let down your guards! Many enemies may still lurk in the shadows! And we cannot dismiss the idea that the World Destroying Dragon of Ivarage still roams the earth, but for today, the war is over! My father is dead, and his demonic slave dragon has been driven out! As the princess of the Ultra-Sorcery Kingdom of Soma, I declare victory!" I yelled with my hand raised into the air.

Everyone cheered and began to celebrate. Only I knew, however, that the battle might have been over, but the war was just beginning.

...

(Velzard POV)

I hate this.

When Alaster set me down and went off to fight that thing on his own, he told me to stay and rest. I wasn't even that badly injured and by the time we finished talking and he laid me down, I was already ready to go again, however, the words from my husband were shocking to me. The way he said it was unnatural. He was monotone as he spoke, as if he was trying to suppress his frustrations. The look in his eye, the slightly hurried stride in his step. The recklessness he displayed during his fight. All of it was full of a certain ugliness that didn't come naturally to him.

I knew what the issue was. He was angry. He was VERY ANGRY.

I don't think I'd ever seen Alaster being truly and totally enraged as he was at this moment. Even when he found out about Twilight's betrayal, he was more confused and filled with self-doubt and sadness than pure rage. Sure, he was pissed, and rightfully so, but I think the fact that one of his closest friends was the one to betray him and was ultimately responsible for all the trauma in his life, caused him to enter a state of remarkable calm. Twilight's main aim by telling Alaster all about his plans was to break his resolve to fight. It probably made it easier to possess his body.

Thankfully, because Alaster knew this, he could easily suppress his feelings in that instance until the fight was over, but this was different. This creature was an animal of pure and unadulterated destructive instinct. This monster didn't care at all about us as people. It hurt us, hurt me, because it could, not because there was any reason for it. It didn't snap at us because we invaded its territory. It didn't blow everything up because it wanted us to leave it alone. It didn't try to kill us out of some kind of need for power. It wasn't aiming for immortality.

It just wanted to hurt us. It wanted to kill us.

And I think that was why Alaster was so angry. He saw me injured and remembered. It took me years to learn about his past trauma of watching his parents die. Of watching the last few moments of his friend's life as they painfully melted away in an abandoned building in the slums. I guess watching me fall to the ground because my wings were damaged gave him flashbacks of those events.

I know he loves me. He loves me dearly. More than he loves anything else in the world, even more than himself. It makes me warm and fuzzy on the inside thinking about how much he can't stand to live without me, but in this instance, it made him go mad in rage.

'I hate this.'

No its probably more accurate to say that I hated myself for being the reason my husband is so angry. I had the power to stop time! I could have gotten to him in an instant, but I panicked and wasn't able to in time.

There were an infinite number of ways I could have avoided worrying my husband. The barrier isn't spatial in nature, so I could have teleported out. I could have used [Envy] to reduce the power of the attack. I could have slowed down the shockwaves with [Gabriel]. I could have used magic to create a barrier around it to contain the explosion and reduce the explosion's power. I could have used my own attack to counter it. I could have rendered him unable to complete the attack by freezing him in a block of ice.

Of course, stupid me decided to do none of those things. I did the one thing that caused him the most grief. I was injured trying, and failing, to protect him.

This is especially bad because he didn't even need the protection in the first place. He survived even without my help. He trusted me to take care of myself so he could fight freely, and I screwed it up.

Furthermore, my useless self added insult to injury by not just being unable to defend myself, but by insulting him by thinking he needed my protection. I know how much he takes pride in how strong he has become. His repeated happiness when expressing his excitement over how he was strong enough to 'protect everyone he cares about'. My stupid actions are equivalent to throwing mud on that resolve.

I put my head in my hands as I tried to fight the oncoming tears. "Please, Alaster. Please don't leave me for this! I'm so sorry!" I whispered to myself as I tried not to weep. I felt awful. I didn't want him to think less of me for this.

'What if he left me because of this?' The thought alone petrified me. I looked up to see Alaster racing off into the sky. As he got farther and farther away, I could only watch in terror.

"I hate this."

.~.~.~.

Lore Bit: I know some of you aren't going to like Velzard's characterization in this chapter, but I feel it's rather consistent with her established character. She is shy and reserved for the most part, except around Alaster where she can open up and is more free-spirited since she knows he won't judge her. The story is primarily set from Alaster's POV, so we don't hear a lot of Velzard's inner thoughts like we do with his, but in reality, she was always self-conscious about their relationship. She knows that he loves her, but she is extremely possessive and insecure.

She worries that he will get mad at her for thinking he needs protection once he calms down after killing Ivarage. It's a strange dynamic that she has complete faith he won't die and will win in the fight, yet immediately jumped to defend him from attack. Her being worried about him leaving her is unfounded, but these last two chapters are about exploring the people around Alaster since, after the fight, there will only be two or three more chapters tops until we time skip to get to canon.