“This…this can’t be-be…real?” Suta mouthed almost breathlessly in despair. Granny and her mount made haste to evade the catastrophic explosion swiftly enough. She ascended high above the blast zone but still waved her staff again and fired a few glowing balls of fire to intercept the flying debris. A sudden thought struck Suta, forcing him to twist his helm towards the towering oak tree propped atop the hill.

“It’s practically unscathed?” He whispered under his breath. How was that even possible? Only when he took his time to unfold the truth away from his emotions. He gradually arrived at the doorstep of the knowing.

‘It must be a protective ward cast by Granny?’

Suta studied the clear outline circling the towering oak, where even the grass was untouched. Granny had most likely cast an incantation around the tree to prevent them from getting hurt.

Before Suta could regain his composure, he heard a terrible screech from a creature above. The screech was deafening and brought a rippling shudder against the entire air. If he could breathe properly, he knew he would likely suffocate. Despite this, his strange, ethereal presence sensed terror—a calamity unlike anything he had felt before. Tracing the skyward plane, it was clear that this all stemmed from that small blue creature, no bigger than a toddler with a strange body covered in pale and silvery veins.

Suta swallowed harshly. There was something darkly familiar about that creature above. The tiny hairless thing could fly? That alone stirred a troubling sensation within his gut, but he somehow held some strange thought of seeing that thing somewhere.

Before he was given a moment more to observe its prone body more deeply, the creature suddenly vanished, and a blue light streaked towards Granny in a furious rush. Her withered hand remained outstretched away from her body. Her fingers only needed to twist one way to create a swift blockade of thick black sand layering in front of her.

The tiny creature slammed into the stone vortex and caught itself in a sticky black sandy substance. It gnarled and fought tirelessly but found no joy in its escape. Granny used this chance to create more distance between it and her. Her fingers stroked over the pages of the floating book like water. Her mouth mumbled incantations as she aligned her index and middle finger and drew a short cross a little away from her torso—a reddish, bright glow lined into a cross. Granny nonchalantly flicked the cross, sending it surging forward. The cross continued to enlarge whilst it sliced ahead before it met the entangled creature and collapsed upon it.

The red cross relented in pulling the blue-skinned creature towards the earth. Suta heard a painfully screeching cry roaring out from the tiny beast. Its cries of anguish and defiance ruptured into a bloody howl filled with only mana. A gust of cyan light bloomed beneath the falling cross. The air quaked like before, yet there was almost a frozen stiffness against the air this time, as though even time was being held into a slow-turning metronome. Suta saw a terrible sight unfolding. The blue creature was forcefully emitting a heavy dark essence, causing a surging dark cloud filled with cyan bolts and tiny golden sparks to gather. Using its two short hands, it pushed the giant red cross with its little limbs. Each time it managed to gain an inch, a childish grunt escaped through its mouth. The Red Cross was almost five times its size, and judging by the fact, it kept getting bigger. Suta held no doubt that the inevitable was soon to come. But even still, that little blue humanoid monster was frightening. It wasn’t relenting and, at times, looked equally challenging for the collapsing Red Cross being held by the hands of such a tiny being.

Suta couldn’t understand the scene from his point of view right now. With the little he partially understood concerning this world's types of beasts and monsters. ‘The higher their rank, the more aware they were. But this little guy cant be a higher ranked beast could it? At such a young age?’

Perhaps he was looking at it wrong. Granny Baba once told him that creatures were genuinely ranked into five tiers.

Newborns were genuinely at the first stage.

Hatchling stage

Then, the slightly matured Genus stage. Followed closely by the Gamma Rank. Then the Complete stage. And lastly, the dreaded Monarch rank.

The time infants spent within those stages depended on the race of the beast. Although only a handful of creatures ever reached the monarch stage, he remembered being told.

Suta watched the tiny creature continue to fight relentlessly against what had grown to be a devastating show of power from Granny Baba.

‘This must be one of her Rank 5 enchantments. So-so strong!’ Rank 5 incantations were considered the realm where experts and masters lived, according to Granny’s notes and scrapbooks on understanding incantations and the basics of casting. And it was said to be one of the last few remnants of the old ways.

That was, in practice, growing one's mental and physical prowess to a state where Mana becomes so pure it begins to replace the air within one's lungs and the blood flowing through the veins. According to what Granny Baba believed, Arcanists were getting farther and farther away from what she considered the epitome of perfection. Suta remembered she mentioned that only five or so Arcanists' ranks five or above still existed. A soft smile creased against his lips, reminding him that he had learned quite a lot from Granny. A year had flown by so quickly since he transmigrated into Raito Suta. He had even begun to let his shoulders relax and became somewhat accustomed to being around their little family.

‘Demoria…Granny.’ These were the thoughts he cherished the most about the two. Right now, Suta would do everything in his power to keep hold of them.

Looking into the skies, where the waves of golden particles continued to spread, he felt growing anxiety. Staring at what was a past remnant of Granny was more so the unknown truth about what Celina wanted him to see here.

*clap-clap*

“The rumours don’t do you justice. A rank 5 Arcanist is truly extraordinary. And perhaps I might’ve not been so confident approaching you like this. If it wasn’t for my equally and subtly more frightening view towards that thing over there. Fufufu, I think you might’ve realised it already, but…”

Suta glared with unease, only realising the tiny blue creature was holding the red cross in place. His face slackened into a look of deep surprise as he stared blankly at the size difference between the two opposing forces.

Granny’s willow pale brows knitted together. Whatever they had both realised, Suta was far from drawing towards the truth.

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Granny's dark voice cracked stiffly against the air.

“ It’s…learning?”

With one final grunt, the little blue creature shoved the giant cross aside. Suta stared in disbelief, torn between watching the giant cross continue to fall and the uncharacteristic actions of the tiny creature. The little blue creature keeled over its tiny knees, heaving soft gasps between its tiny mouth. A golden talon streaked across the air. Granny, still rooted atop her mount, rounded the slow descending cross. Suta glanced towards his right side. His eyes slightly widened upon realising the trajectory of the falling incantation.

‘Wait, isn’t that about to crush the oak tree? D-demoria? Wait! What about me? Shit!’

Suta almost scrambled forward, only halfway realising there wasn’t anything he could do in this form, and this scene, of course, was the past. Even without it, there was a slim chance he was powerful enough to change a single thing in this battle against two monsters.

Granny's hands moved with the deftness of a harpist. Her mouth mumbled an incantation, sending a colourful wind drifting towards the standing oak. In particular, Suta noticed it began reinforcing the now visible cyan barrier wrapped around the grand oak tree. The warm outdoor light gently bounced against its surface, the slight shimmering glow cast against its surface reminiscent of a glass dome. It's fragile in appearance but most undoubtedly sturdy enough to withstand quite a bit of damage.

At the same time, the earth below started to stir and groan. A few moments later, a stream of bony pale arms shot out from the warm soils, half a centurion of open palms raised high in a bid to catch the falling cross. Granny’s staff waved forward, and her free hand swiped and marked across the open book.

At the same time, the masked figure broke into a predatory stride, heading straight towards the oak tree. He twisted his gloved hand and held it up.

{Shard Rain}

A large rune appeared just above the empty space against the air. A cyan glow shone against the particles before it triggered the downpour of countless tiny swords spitting forth. The twisting crystallised daggers dropped low before spiralling down like a gust of bees.

Suta heard the sound of multiple howling owls from above. From Granny's outstretched palm came a spew of strange dark mist. A swarm of ghostly azure figures slithered around the dark cloud. Granny raised her arm again and slammed it down, sending the huge dark mist roaring forth. The masked figure retracted his run and skidded to a standstill.

“Whoops, time to go.” He yelped before swiftly performing a curt bow and hopping on his heels. Expecting him to meet the firm ground again, Suta’s eyes slightly widened upon seeing his entire body falling without end. His slender legs continued to sink into the ground as though the fundamental laws of the world didn’t apply any longer.

“You shouldn’t worry about little ol me. Besides, it looks like our friend there has just recovered, " he said to Granny.

The masked fellow's voice brought Suta’s attention towards the little blue creature standing in the middle of the air. Now it was prostrating itself, Suta held a moment to observe its adolescent body. It was no more significant than 4ft, mysteriously standing on the empty air using its baby feet. Its entire humanoid-shaped body is covered in silver veins and webbed mainly against its defined torso. Its smooth round head lifted towards Granny. There was a glint of wanderlust for a brief moment, staring against its large, curious gaze. Then, the next moment, Suta saw that innocent expression contort into a most sinister grin.

“Auaah.” It mumbled, holding out its short, chubby arm. A few blinks later, a round ball of pulsating energy, no bigger than a baby’s fist, appeared in its hand.

Granny reacted and waved her staff in a arc shape conjuring three revolving bright lights, without any kind of hesitation she fired three mana arrows. A slight look of surprise flashed across the blue creature for a moment. The little blue creature straightened his hand and fired the condensed beam—a scorching sound scalded against the air. Granny hastily steered her mount to the side before firing another set of arrows. A delightful smile creased against the creature in return. It ducked and rolled against the air. Then it leapt high, with soft childish cackles against its mouth, before giving chase. It fired another beam from its left hand, then its right, causing Granny Baba to steer her golden owl further up.

Her arrows appeared agonisingly close to the creature, just about skimming past it at every opportunity. Unfortunately, the little blue creature was as graceful as a fox, with the deathly power of a baby wyvern. Growing in confidence and wisdom at every exchange. It joined its two palms together and fired a noticeably larger azure beam. This surprised Granny, who was forced to cast a ward of protection and steer to one side.

Suta noticed the pair flying further and further up. Uneasiness grew whilst he powerlessly watched. At that moment, he captured the sounds of someone humming to the side of him. He shifted his gaze towards the right-hand side; at first, nothing out of the ordinary appeared until he peered a little closer, where he discovered a strange slither of silver in the air, followed by the slender masked figure slowly unearthing away from it. Like a secret door, he seemed to climb away from this jagged tear in the atmosphere and slip out into the open again. This drew countless questions from Suta, who couldn’t help but make the correlation between his glitch ability and the strange movement.

‘Is that what Celina wanted me to see? Could that weirdo with the mask help me with my skill?’ It would be the only evidence supporting his reasoning for being shown all this. Celina mentioned that the key to understanding his one-of-one ability would be found within this memory. Suta kept a close eye on the slender figure whose top hat was slightly titled to one side. Its attention was fixated on the towering oak ahead for some reason. Still eagerly watching, the masked figure dusted his heels and darted towards the oak tree. It held out its arm and flipped its palm upright while cackling almost maddeningly into the air.

“I win-I win.” He continued to sing

Half a dozen bright azure balls of light appeared above its head. The twisting balls quickly formed into those identical glassed daggers he had seen before. The masked fellow waved his hand forward. The daggers stirred into action and darted ahead, pouring cold water on Suta, believing the masked fellow would be of any help.

‘Great, so he’s out to kill me.’

Although it did fill him with some form of confidence knowing he didn’t die, considering he was alive enough to go back and be privy to all of this. But this battle he was witnessing was pulling him into a about of unease the longer it continued. Thankfully, the cyan daggers met Granny's barrier and bounced away. Suta inwardly sighed with relief. But The masked one wasn’t finished. He waved his hand again, and another set of daggers formed and battered into the shimmering dome of mana.

Initially, Suta held reservations about whether or not those attacks would cause any real damage. It wasn’t until he started seeing cracks webbed over the cyan dome that he realised perhaps it wasn’t as indestructible as he first thought.

Suta desperately turned towards Granny Baba, who was still engaging with the blue creature in the air, ‘I don’t know what I'm expecting staring at her, but she needs to hurry up and stop that madman from getting close.’ He thought to himself harrowingly

Granny seemed to possess a sixth sense and responded dutifully; her staff shot forward and knocked the creature off balance. The cane twirled and ferociously slammed its flat end twice before delivering a resounding upward blow, sending the helpless creature flying across the air. Granny took a short jump forward before torpedoing down. Her book remained floating closely beside her. Her mount dissolved into a scorching golden mist and wrapped itself around her fast-descending body. Granny slung her staff forward. Golden mana missiles spewed furiously out of her wooden cane and rained toward the fleeing masked fellow. Suta unconsciously made haste to remove himself from its landing range.

The masked fellow swiftly withdrew himself. This time, Suta noticed the figure making strange seals with his fingers before twisting his index and middle fingers together. A silver tear in the air appeared behind him, to which the fellow rocked back and fell into it, completely vanishing away from his sight. And from the reach of Granny's attack.