With Phoebe, Kaeli and Robert gone, Leona focused on finishing her meal while Setsuna took her father’s seat. Yuna followed right behind her and stood on the side before Tomoe fetched an extra chair for her to sit down.

“Thank you.”

The young woman smiled at the waitress, who simply bowed and took her leave. Setsuna looked at Krieg when she started to explain.

“Sir Krieg and Miss Leona. I would like to take a moment to clarify a few things before we all start training in earnest.” She interlocked her fingers on top of the table and leaned slightly forward—her chest supporting half of her upper body against it. “You two are descendants of dragons which means you two have much more potential than your peers in terms of magic and physical might. Both me and my sister will take that into account proceeding forward.”

“Wait…” Krieg tilted his head as a sign of confusion. “I get it that I may be a descendant of a dragon, but Princess Leona?”

“She is also one.” Setsuna nodded as she continued. “In your case Sir Krieg, you are the greatson of the Silver Dragon Sylphia.”

“Silver Dragon? The same that brought the Great Freeze to Londria?!” He uttered in surprise. “But, she was alive centuries ago, not to say that I was born in Nara, not Londria.”

“Direct descendants of dragons can have vastly prolonged lifespans, mind you.” She chuckled. “Your mother was Sylphia’s daughter which means…”

Leona glanced at Yuna, who was looking at her as if waiting for a question.

“Um…” The tactician uttered. “Seeing how you’re not surprised, I can assume you also know about this, correct?” The young woman nodded in response. “Then, could you explain to me how you learned all of it?”

“It was dad. He often had others tell us tales of how Nara was before the death angels appeared. One of said tales was how Miyamoto brought about peace amongst the warring lords with the help of an Oni Princess and how she was a direct descendant of a long forgotten silver dragon.”

Leona slowly nodded as she rubbed the underside of her chin.

“That would be Krieg’s mother…”

“Yes!”

“I see…”

She turned back to Setsuna, who was still in the middle of explaining.

“...Therefore, you must learn how to better control your mana. Lest you need to fall victim to your own powers again.”

“I see…” Krieg frowned his eyebrows. “Then all I need to do is to spar with Miyamoto?”

“That’s the gist of it.” She nodded in agreement. “I’ll also be helping you to better control your mana.”

“What about me?”

Leona sincerely asked. Which surprised the shrine maiden a bit.

“Your case is a simple matter of raising the amount of spells you can use while also working on your ability to regenerate mana quickly and on demand. Father should have a more specialized training method in store for you but let’s say that his methods are… unorthodox.”

“Hmmm…”

She was lost in thought, but Yuna gently touched her shoulder and squeezed it lightly.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get through this!”

Leona smiled in return and nodded.

“Yeah. Let’s do this.” She clenched her hand and brought it closer to her chest. “I’m ready.”

“Well then… shall we?” Setsuna stood up and snapped her fingers which brought forth her staff out of thin air. “Come closer to me.”

They looked at each other before approaching the standing shrine maiden. Her little sister was trying to hold in a chuckle.

“What are we going to do?”

Leona curiously asked.

“I’m not as good as my father for teleportation magic so I ask you to remain completely still.”

“Huh?”

Setsuna raised the staff as she closed her eyes and started to chant.

“Void of darkness, shape the fabric of space under my will, Greater Teleportation!”

As the staff was slammed down, Leona felt a violent bout of motion sickness as she felt her brain being split in half from the pain. It was definitely many times worse than when Robert had teleported her without any warning and she fell on her knees as soon as her feet touched soft dirt ground.

“Ngh…”

She was holding the urge to puke as she felt a warm hand gently tapping her back. Upon looking to the side, she noticed it was Yuna.

“Sorry, big sis don’t usually teleport this many people at once.”

“It’s… ugh… alright…”

“Try to flush the mana out of your body. It usually helps against mana sickness.”

“Flush… out…?”

“Yes! Imagine as if you were washing away dirt from your clothes, except your current mana is the dirt and your body is your clothes.”

“Right…”

Leona closed her eyes and started to slowly push out the mana inside her body. It was a strange sensation since she was more used to using said mana to cast spells in the first place and not simply flush it out.

However, thanks to her constant use of offensive magic through the course of her journey, she was more than used to ‘expelling’ mana.

A throbbing sensation came from her chest as she took a deep breath and exhaled—relaxing her body and mind as she let mana run free through her mana gates. After a few minutes of doing so, she felt like the motion sickness and headache were gone.

Upon looking around, she noticed they were back at where Robert had taken her for her trial while using Kaeli as bait.

She shakily stood up.

“Oh this really does wor…k…” But, just as soon as she stood up, she stumbled backwards and was caught by Yuna’s arm. “Ooh… what is happening now…?”

She felt a strange out-of-body sensation, as if she had lost some motor control over her muscles. Yuna smiled as she helped her sit down before explaining.

“A light level of mana shock. You did release all of your mana just now.”

“Huh…? Is mana shock usually this bad…?”

She stared at her hand and she could feel the fatigue taking a hold.

“For someone running out of mana on purpose, yes. Usually when a mage runs out of mana is during combat and by then, your body is choked full of adrenaline, which helps you keep going for a while.”

“Ugh… come to think of it, whenever I did push myself beyond my limits I would just fall unconscious right after.”

“That in of itself isn’t bad.” Yuna turned around and raised her hand to the sky. “It’s one way to expand your mana reserves. Watch carefully.” She took a deep breath and started to focus. Leona could physically see the air burn around the girl as mana gathered from her entire body towards her extended arm. “Incinerate!”

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A golf-ball sized sphere of azure, almost purple, flames started to form on the palm of her hand. Mana from across her body gathered into that singular point of her hand, coalescing into the spell as she prepared to hurl it.

‘What in the world is that…?!’

Leona could feel her skin tingle from the intense heat from such a small sphere of fire. Yuna used wind in conjunction with the movement of her arm as she tossed it a few hundred meters into the sky where it stayed hovering mid air against the white clouds above.

“If you train hard enough, you can surely achieve the same.”

Yuna snapped her fingers and the small sphere expanded to the size of a basketball before shrinking even more than its original size and detonating into a violent explosion of blue flames that scorched the sky and emitted an incredible amount of heat that Leona could feel even from afar. The clouds above the explosion were parted in a circular pattern from the sheer explosive force as the spell faded away in the air.

Leona stared at the blue sky tinted with fading deep azure flames. The colors were indeed beautiful but it was hard to imagine a girl almost half her size to be able to cast a spell this potent.

“How is that… even possible…?”

She uttered in disbelief.

“I have been training under my father’s tutelage ever since I was born. But you have one inherent advantage over me and that is the dragon blood coursing through your veins. Your growth will be much quicker than mine if you train just as intensively as I did.”

Yuna extended a helping hand, which Leona didn’t hesitate to take in order to stand up.

“What do you mean?”

“Dragons by nature are rulers of magic. They know how to utilize it from birth.”

“Are they? My mom couldn’t use magic.”

“Some individuals are born without mana gates like Krieg. That prevents them from using our more versatile way of utilizing magic, but even if you don’t have mana gates, there are other ways to make use of the mana inside your body. Has she ever tried to vocally cast a spell?”

That made Leona stop for a moment as she thought about her question.

“Wait… now that you mention it… no, she never…” Her thought was interrupted by a loud noise that came from below the clearing they were on. As Leona turned her head towards it, she noticed dirt and dust kicking up above the trees as if there was an intense fight going on down there. “What is going on?”

“That must be big sis.” Yuna said while looking in the same direction. “Krieg’s training is no less arduous than yours I’m afraid.”

“Hm. That just means I have to work just as hard.” She clenched her fist and looked the girl in her eyes. “Let’s do this. Teach me how I can become stronger.”

She smiled warmly in return for her enthusiasm.

“It’ll be my pleasure.”

Krieg was sparring against Miyamoto a few hundred meters below the clearing where Leona was being taught.

The knight was confident in his swordsmanship but the added pressure of a spell caster attacking him while the swordmaster kept him at bay was far more challenging than the one-on-one duel that he was expecting.

The kicked up dust and dirt was thanks to a fireball’s explosion casted by Setsuna which forced Krieg to backpedal and Miyamoto latched on the opportunity to create even more space for the spellcaster behind him.

“Rend! Yoshitsune!”

The swordmaster shouted as his red curved blade cleaved upwards, creating a thin blade of mana that cut through the ground and it would have certainly walloped Krieg’s arm right off if he didn’t dodge out of its way.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a duel?”

Krieg asked as the dust settled. Miyamoto brandished his red bladed katana outwards before spinning it and sheathing the blade inside the black scabbard. Setsuna approached the swordmaster while using her staff as a sort of a cane to walk as she explained.

“You must have been trained in the art of killing demons since you were part of Eleonora’s army back in the Great War. However, times are different. You’re not here to kill demons, you are here to protect yourself and another person, namely Leona.” She had an unusual serious gaze as opposed to her often kind expression. “You must learn how to do that while being attacked by multiple enemies at once.”

“How do I even defend against a spell with a sword?!”

“That is exactly why we are sparring in the first place.” She raised the staff and placed her hand forward. “You must draw forth your draconic powers if you want to survive.”

“Easier said than done…”

Krieg grip tightened around the longsword. He could feel a burning sensation grow inside his chest, similar to the one who felt back in Londria when he was pulling the manafront vehicle through his sheer strength.

Setsuna glanced at Miyamoto as she asked in a soft tone.

“We might need to push a little harder. Can you do it?”

He placed the left hand on the scabbard as he pushed the sword out of it with his thumb.

“Anything for his growth.”

“Very well.” She turned back to Krieg. “Let’s resume our sparring. I’ll continue to attack you from range. Try to defeat either me or sir Miyamoto.”

“I will, you can rest assured of that!”

He broke in a sprint and at the same time, Miyamoto drew his blade into a cleave. Without any verbal components, he simply unleashed a horizontal mana attack that forced Krieg to jump sideways.

As he was in the air, Setsuna pointed the staff at where he would land and quickly chanted.

“Wind Bullet!”

A violent blast of concentrated air hit the knight directly in his chest—sending him back first into the ground.

“Ugh!”

“You’re making yourself too predictable.”

The shrine maiden advised.

“Ngh…!” He rolled to the side and stood up with his sword in front of his body. “This… is nothing!”

He was baring his clenched teeth as a surge of mana began to course through his body.

“Almost there…”

Setsuna muttered under her breath as Miyamoto charged with the katana. Krieg had barely any time to think with the swordmaster unleashing a flurry of deadly sword strikes that could sever flesh down to the bone.

One of the slashes managed to nick his forearms and he took a few steps back while Miyamoto stood with his katana angled towards Krieg..

“Dammit…!” The knight was feeling a fiery sensation surging from within as if it was ready to take a hold of him. “I’m not going to go down until I take one of you out!”

He set on the offensive—pushing the swordmaster back through sheer speed and force of his swings.

“Unrefined.”

Miyamoto uttered as their swords clashed for a moment in a lock before Krieg tried to wheel the blade around his, only to be met by the swordmaster’s sword handle.

“Gah!”

The knight stumbled backwards from the smack he received on his chin.

“Those movements may work on an unintelligent foe-” His father raised the red blade and gripped the handle tighter while holding the sword parallel to his own body. “-but you would be as leaves on the wind in the face of a true master.”

“Nnugh…” Krieg’s teeth were starting to creek with the amount of force he was clenching them down. The constant surge of mana suddenly transformed into a raging torrent that seemed to scorch the very air around him. “Argh…!”

‘This is it!’ Setsuna thought as she noticed the rampaging mana coursing all throughout his body. ‘He just needs a final push!’

She raised her staff and pointed it towards him.

“Ice Spear!”

Multiple lances of ice formed from the coalescing air before they spinned forth through the air. Miyamoto threw himself backwards as the spears whistled right above his head. As opposed to his expectations, the ice projectiles melted into vapor before it could even reach Krieg.

“Huh?” The knight looked flabbergasted. “What happened…?”

“Don’t fight it!” Setsuna shouted. “Let this rampaging mana flow out!”

“Flow out…? Ugh… the heat…”

Despite his body’s extremely high temperature, the knight raised his sword once again but this time, the blade was glowing with a strong blue aura. Seeing how he was still hesitating, the shrine maiden decided to resort to another tactic.

“Show me you got what it takes to be called Leona’s personal knight!”

“Ugh… dammit!” The knight dashed forward towards Setsuna, but Miyamoto quickly got back up on his feet by rolling backwards and stood in his way. ”Out of my way!”

He raised the glowing blade above his head for vertical strike.

“Don’t parry it!”

Setsuna yelled just in time for the swordmaster to sidestep the attack. As Krieg missed him and his blade hit the dirt, a violent shockwave spread throughout the ground, cracking the earth and shattering his steel longsword in half once all the stored up mana coursed through the metal.

“That’s it!”

Setsuna shouted, which snapped Krieg out of his trance-like state. As he looked down, he saw his weapon in pieces. His legs gave in and both his knees hit the cracked earth. All the heat that was consuming him was gone in a flash.

“What the…”

He stared at his own hands as the shrine maiden approached him. She was clapping her hands with the staff cradled in her arms.

“Congratulations sir Krieg! I never expected you to be able to perform an aether blade in your first try!” She stopped next to him and kneeled. “Though I think you might have pushed yourself just a bit too far with it. How are you feeling?”

He tried to look at her but his vision was becoming blurry, his eyelids felt like chunks of steel trying to stay afloat in water as his whole body was weighed down by boulders.

“Extremely… tired…”

He passed out once he closed his eyes.

“Oi!”

Miyamoto quickly approached his son but Setsuna offered a calming gesture with her hand.

“He just exhausted himself. I’ll transfer some mana to him and we’ll do this again.”

The swordmaster had a troubled expression on his face before standing up, but after taking a slow and deep breath, he composed himself and asked her.

“Is this really the only way?”

“Yes.” She answered without looking at him as she was proceeding with the mana transference, not unlike what Kaeli did for Leona a few days prior. “Father told me the future of this world should be shaped by those who belong in it. That he is merely a keeper of knowledge fated to observe.” She chuckled. “Though he often likes to strike deals for his own gain at times.”

“I figured as much.” He stared at his own hands and body. It was the only thing the lord of a fallen kingdom had to offer to the strange otherworldly man. “I never had the courage to ask, but is he a good father to the two of you?”

“The best we ever knew…” Her gentle expression wore a bittersweet smile born from a distant yet comforting memory. “I’m thankful to him for teaching me all the things I know.”

“I see…”

He looked at Krieg with guilt weighing down his heart, though he was still too prideful to admit it.

‘I wish… he can say the same from me once I’m gone…’