The Beginning After The End (Beckoning Fates Book 3) (14 page)

Air manipulation is a variation of
wind magic, albeit a much harder one.
 
Breaking down the components of any element and trying to directly
manipulate it is something only the most keen and sensitive mages can do, and
that’s while meditating in a perfectly calm and peaceful environment.
 
After years of practice through
meditation, the mage might begin experimenting in real life situations like
incorporating it into spells.
 

The blue fire technique was a
perfect example of that.
 
It takes
years of meditation to reach the stage of being able to stably summon blue
flames and even longer to do it fast enough for it be of use in actual battles.

This little beast was skipping a
few steps and trying to incorporate a completely new technique in the middle of
a battle?
 
My hands were trembling
in excitement at the thought of being able to witness the development of a mage
that can perhaps become the pinnacle of power in this school, no maybe even
this Continent!
 

“GROOOOAAAAAARR!”
 
Turning my attention to where the roar
came from, it seemed like Princess Tessia and Prince Glayder’s battle was
reaching its climax.

Curtis Glayder’s uniform is full of
small gashes and nicks.
 
I must
admit that Curtis has done fairly well against the only disciple of our
Director Goodsky, although it was most likely because of his bond that he was
able to last this long.

“You’ve forced me to do this
Princess Eralith!
 
Please be
careful!
 
PHASE
ONE! KING’S WRATH!” I hear Prince Glayder roar as his body glows.

Oh!
 
He’s activated the acquire phase of his
beast’s will.
 
Curtis rarely chooses
to use his beast’s ability because he doesn’t really consider it his own power.
 
I had to hand it to him for having the
right mentality.
 
It’s said that
some beast tamers choose to only use their unique powers instead of honing
their own.
 
Because of that, while
still strong, they never really improve themselves in the long run.
 
In order to utilize the most of the
Beast Will, the user himself needs to strengthen his own power.

As he activates his Beast Will’s
first phase, a noticeable transformation occurs in him.
 
While the amount of visible change
differs by the person, Prince Glayder’s change is visibly apparent.
 
Both his deep red spiky hair and
eyebrows became longer and messier while the straps that wrapped around his
arms tightened from his muscles expanding.
 
His extended canines became visible as he roared.
 

*Whistles*

This sight never fails to impress
me.

When I shift my gaze to Princess
Tessia, though, who was standing on top of a series of vines, her face looked
unnaturally pale.
 
That’s odd, it
didn’t look like she took any damage.
 

I was quite a bit away from Tessia
and Curtis’ battle since I was encircling Lucas and Arthur’s, but with mana
infused eyes, I can make out even the beads of sweat rolling down the Princess’
face.

“
This is my most powerful attack.
 
If you can take this on, I’ll admit my defeat!
 
Please prepare yourself!”
 
Prince Glayder’s voice became a lot
louder and huskier after activating his beast’s will.
 
He was a ferocious sight to behold on
top of his bond, Grawder.
 

“WORLD HOWL!”
A serious amount of mana gathered in front of the
mouth of Prince Glayder as he invoked his breath attack.
 
The world lion had a powerful move that
they used as a last resort against enemies more powerful then them.
 
It was a beam of condensed earth
attribute mana that could shred anything in its way if not blocked
properly.
 

A little worried, I look at Tessia
again and I can see her mumble an incantation when the worst scenario happens.

ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

Goddamn it!
 
This is frustrating as hell!
 
I can only grimace and try harder as I
continue to try and manipulate the air molecules surrounding me.
 
I’ve had little success so far but I
feel like I’m onto something here.
 
Lucas, noticing this, clicks his tongue and starts chanting spells
again.

“Flame Guardians!”
 
He shouts.

I let out a small grin as I realize
he’s reaching his limit.
 
Then
again, so was I, or more accurately, so was my combat equipment.
 
I wasn’t sure when this thing would
start screaming its alarm so I had to finish this fast.

As the flame soldiers gain on me,
Sylvie’s worried voice booms in my head ‘PAPA!
 
Something’s wrong with Mama!
 
She’s going to get hit by a powerful
attack and she’s not doing anything!
 
This is really bad!
 
Should I
go help, Papa?’

Dammit!
 

‘NO!
 
You can’t do anything while you’re in
that form!’
 
I shout back in my
head.
 

I can sense the feeling of
desperation from Sylvie, making me all the more anxious.

“NOOO!!”

I take a quick glance up to where I
heard Professor Gloria’s scream and notice she went full speed to where Tess
and Curtis was.

‘Papa!
 
She’s not going to make it in
time!’
 
Sylvie echoes back, sounding
even more worried than before.

Dammit!

Dragon’s Will,
Phase
one.
 
Static Void.

My knees almost give upon
activation of the first phase of Sylvia’s Beast Will as the color of everything
is inverted.
 
This ability to shift
myself outside of the world’s time and space came with a limit.
 
I couldn’t affect anything outside of
myself unless I choose to bring it in here with me.
 

“I don’t have time.” I say to
myself.
 

As I dash through the gap between
the orbs that made up the dome created by Inferno’s Cage, I pass by the frozen
Professor on top of her mount, Torch.
 

Quite a bit ahead I see Tessia as
she’s already fainted and falling from the conjured vine she was standing on,
clutching her abdomen as a massive breath attack released by Glayder was almost
upon her.
 

Sylvie was right.
 
If I left it to Professor Gloria, she
wouldn’t have made it in time.
 
I
could only purse my lips in dread as I imagine my precious friend dying.
 

I sped up, my vision growing blurry
as I run out of energy.
 
I was
almost at my limit.
 

Fuck.
 
Hold on, Arthur.
 
You can do this.

I make my final dash towards the
area Curtis and Tess were fighting and as I jump off a crumbled vine, I wrap my
body around Tess and create a barrier around the both of us with the little
mana I had left.

Haa…. This is going to hurt.

I release my first phase and as the
world reverts back into it’s original color, I feel a tremendous searing pain
on my back.
 
Before I could even
scream, my vision fades and the last thing I hear before passing out is the
shrill sound of my gear activating.

PROFESSOR GLORY’S POV:

I’m too late!
 
Fuck!
 
What happened to her?
 
Why did she suddenly collapse?
 
Is something wrong with her mana
core?
 
Why now?
 

I could only watch in horror as
Prince Curtis’ breath attack made its way towards Princess Tessia.
 
With absolute no defenses around her,
was she going to live?
 
If so, would
she even be able to continue being a mage?
 
Forget mage, she might have to live the rest of her life as a cripple!

I could feel tears well up in my
eyes as I desperately made my way towards them, but I knew I wasn’t going to
make it.
 
What would the
consequences be?
 
I would be happy
if it just ended with me getting fired.
 
I was more concerned that this would start a civil war.
 
During this important time period in the
Continent, was I going to be the cause of the split between the three races?

“BOOOOOOOOM!”

“NOOOO!!”
 
I scream in dread as Curtis’ World Howl
engulfed the Princess.
 
Prince
Glayder had a look of shock in his face as well when he realized after
releasing his attack that Tessia was already unconscious.
 
There was no way, though.
 
There was no way to stop the attack.

After what seemed like hours, the
beam slowly dissipated and what I saw shocked me even more than the worst
possible scenario I imagined.

In utter incredulity, I just
stammered.
 
“A-A-Arthur Leywin
?!?
”
 

How the hell did he get there?
 
Just moments ago, he was occupied inside
Inferno’s Cage by Lucas.
 
Instant
teleportation?
 
Was that even
possible?
 

No… no no… no
…
that wasn’t possible.
 

I jumped off of Torch as soon as I
got close enough and rushed towards Arthur and Princess Tessia.
 
Arthur was in bad shape.
 
Most of his clothes were disintegrated,
with only patches of his uniform intact and a strange bandage around his left
arm.
 
He was bloody all over and I
could see deep gashes near his sides where a rib bone was visible.
 
His body was wrapped around the Princess
and from what I can tell; he used most of his mana to protect her.
  
Thanks to that, she was almost
unscathed.
 

The rest of the students all rushed
out of the viewing platform and made their way here.
 
Fortunately, the Princess was okay but
Arthur needed immediate attention.
 
As soon as I got close enough to try and help them, though, Arthur’s
little bond stopped me in my tracks.

“Grrr…” Normally, I’d find the cute
white fox that rides on top of Arthur’s head to be cute but right now, the
killing intent it was giving off was anything but cute.
 
The amount of pure menace radiating from
that little fox was no joke.
 
It
seemed to be protecting its master and Princess Tessia.

“It’s okay little buddy, I’m only
trying to help.”
 
I try to slowly
ease my way closer but its growl only gets louder.
 
Torch, who was normally unafraid even in
chaos of battle, was holding me back with her beak clutching the back of my
shirt.
 

“P-Professor, I-I didn’t mean
to.
 
I mean, I didn’t think Princess
Tessia would suddenly faint.”
 
Curtis runs to me, his face pale in fright.
 

“It’s alright, I know.
 
I don’t know how, but Arthur managed to
protect the Princess.
 
His bond
won’t let me get close to them though.”
 
I clench my fists in frustration.
 
Arthur needed immediate attention.
 
Why was his bond risking his master’s life by doing this?
 
What was it trying to protect?
 
Curtis’ attempts at trying to get Arthur
and Tessia failed as well, so we all just stood around the two of them.

Every attempt at getting even a
step closer to Arthur and Tessia resulted in the bond lashing out at us.
 
“Someone get Director Goodsky!”
 
I barked out.
 
Some of the students regained their
senses but when they were about to leave, a loud screech filled the air.

From above, a green owl soared down
and landed in front of Arthur’s bond.
 

“Kyu!”

“Hoo~”

“Kyu kyu~”

“Hoot!”

“A-are they communicating?”
 
Prince Glayder couldn’t help but stammer
out in confusion.

“I-I
think
so?”
 
I scratched my head at
this.
 
Can mana beasts of different
species communicate?

As we all stood there, watching a
white fox and a green owl ‘talk’ to each other, a couple of minutes later,
Director Goodsky arrived looking quite flustered.

“Oh my.”
 
She kneeled in front of the two of them
but this time, Arthur’s bond didn’t do anything to stop her.

“Director Goodsky…” Before I have
the chance to tell her what happened, she stops me.

“Please.
 
I’ll hear what happened later.
 
Taking these two to the infirmary is top
priority.
 
I will take the two of
them myself.
 
Go contact Guild Hall
and have them send over their top healers.”
 
She said while levitating Arthur and the
Princess.

I give her a nod before getting on
top of Torch.
 

ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

“
COUGH! COUGH!
 
Aughh…”
 

I’m woken up by a jolt of searing pain throughout my side, causing me to
have a fit of coughs.
 
My whole body
is in a concoction of different kinds of pain.
 
From the stabbing pain to the burning
pain to the throbbing pain with the occasional tearing pain radiating over my
entire body.

Without the strength to even scream, I’m left gritting my teeth as I
clench the side of the bed I was lying on.
 

They really needed to hurry up and invent anesthesia.

A few minutes later as I got a little more used to the agony that my body
was in; I feebly turn my head to see Sylvia sleeping next to me.
 

“How are you feeling Arthur?”
 
Director Goodsky’s familiar voice comes from the other side of the bed.

Without the strength to turn my head again, I whimper.
 
“Never better.
 
Why do you ask?”

“Kuku~ if you have the will to answer sarcastically, I’m sure you’ll be
okay.”
 

If I had the strength to roll my eyes at her, I would.
 

“How’s Tessia?”
 
I ask, my voice
hoarse.
 

“Well, good news is, Tessia is in a much better state than you.”
 
She sighed.

“…Her body can’t handle her beast will, right?”

“H-how did you know?”
 
Director
Goodsky comes around so she’s facing me.

“Because I was the one that gave the beast will to her.” I try to sit up
but the pain from my body makes me stop almost immediately.
 

Continuing what I was saying, I grit my teeth to bear the pain.
 
“Make sure no one knows that Tessia has
a beast will, at least for now.
 
I’d
help Tessia with the assimilation myself if I was able to but I’ll leave her to
you.”
 
I can tell she wanted to ask
more questions but she held back for my sake.

“Once I got you both back into infirmary, I didn’t let anyone else see
either of besides the healers.
 
I
contacted the royal family, as well as your own though.
 
They should be coming soon.
 
I assumed that she acquired the beast
will from Virion but to think it was from you.
 
Get some rest, Arthur.
 
Your body is unusually strong though, so
I don’t think there will be any repercussions but it’s better to be safe than
sorry.”
 
She heads to the door but
turns back before leaving.
 
“Thank
you for saving Tessia.”
 

I give her a weak smile as I slump back to sleep.

_______________________

I stir awake from Sylv licking me on my cheek. ‘Papa, are you feeling
better now?’
 

I must’ve been having a nightmare because I’m drenched in sweat.
 

“Honey!
 
Art is awake!”
 
I hear my mother’s voice to my left.

Turning my head is a lot easier now if I ignore the pain.
 

“Hey Mom, when’d you guys get here?”
 
I give her the best smile I could muster up.

“Are you okay?
 
Director Goodsky
didn’t really tell us happened yet.
 
How did you get hurt so badly on the first day of school!” I could tell
she wanted to hug me but she held herself back after realizing I probably
wasn’t in the best state for that.
 

My sister rushes to the other side of the bed and leans forward.
 
“Brother!! Are you okay now?
 
Does it hurt?”
 
My eyes widen in horror as I see that
she was about to place her hand on my body to probe me but before she’s able
to, Mother stops her.

“You’re already getting into fights, son?”
 
My father smirks.

“You should see how the other guy looks like.”
 
I grin back making him laugh.

My mother just gasps at this and starts actually imagining what the other
person must look like.
 

“He’s only joking Mrs. Leywin.”
 
Coming in through the door was Director Goodsky with the whole Eralith
family, including Tessia, who was looking a lot better.
 

“T-this…” My father takes a step back in surprise as my mother gasps with
her mouth covered.
 

“Pleased to finally make your acquaintance Mr. and Mrs. Leywin.”
 
Alduin Eralith, Tessia’s father and the
former King of Elenoir grabbed my stunned father’s hand and shook it.
 

“We have always wanted to meet the parents of Arthur.
 
It is such a pleasure to finally get to
meet you in person.”
 
The former
Queen of Elenoir and Tessia’s mother, Merial Eralith hugs my mother, who still
had her hands over her mouth in disbelief.

Merial, then, goes to Ellie and pats her head gently.
 
“You must be Arthur’s little
sister.
 
You’re so adorable!”

“I-I saw you guys at the announcement a couple of months back…” My father’s
speaking skills seems to drastically decline in front of them, which I find
surprising since they didn’t react this much even towards the King and Queen of
Sapin.

“Greetings.
 
I go by Virion
Eralith and I am your son’s former teacher.”
 
He shoots me a cheeky grin as he grasps
my father’s hand.
 

Without the energy to even retort, I just smile helplessly back as my
father and mother’s gaze switches back and forth between the Eralith family and
me.

 
“H-h-h-hello!
 
My name is Tessia Eralith.
 
It’s a pleasure to m-meet you!
 
Please take care of me!
 
I’m Arthur’s childhood f-f-friend and
I’m not sure if he talked about me with you but I really am!”
 
Tessia bows so her body is at a full
ninety-degree angle as her voice is a mixture of respect and panic.
 
She quickly gets back up with her hair
draping over most of her face and as she tries to fix her hair, I can see her
face becoming more and more red.