"A good reasoning, Anya... What do you think, Aglaya? Do you agree? Do you have anything to add to our search for the truth?"
Dramatically, the tiefling opened her arms and turned to Aglaya, the lunar elf, who was sitting properly and reading a book in one of the armchairs furthest from the group.
Boom Boom Boom
"Your curiosity is too much, Hendrina; one day, it might get you killed..." Without taking her eyes off the book, Aglaya responded.
"But that’s exactly why we can’t waste time. What would we, mere worms compared to Dragons, be if not for our constant pursuit of the truth? We would have been wiped out as soon as the First Purge happened… So, don’t hold back, dear. Aura is the bearer of Truth, and all those who don’t seek the truth deny their own Aura."
With a glow of devotion, bordering on fanaticism, Hendrina spoke loudly, preaching the teachings passed down by the Ancient Dragons to the ancestors of the mortal races.
Words that became the foundation for the survival and development of all the races that believed in them. They evolved from small, helpless groups vulnerable to merciless nature into large, united groups seeking the truth of the world...
A quest that brought them closer to Dragons, the heralds of Aura in the world. Beings that were once inaccessible, as they deemed the mortal races too underdeveloped and ignorant to even comprehend how weak they were.
Boom Boom Boom
"Oh, how benevolent is Aura... She, who grants us curiosity, with the noble purpose of opening our eyes to see the highest ideal of life… Aura, who created everything, knows that truth brings enlightenment and dispels the darkness of ignorance… All truth comes from her… All Truth is Her… May the truth shine upon—"
Snap
Suddenly, a sharp snap of fingers, loud enough to catch everyone's attention, was heard, and they all turned to Marien, who looked bored and weary.
"Careful, Hendrina. All truth comes from her, but just as looking at the sun burns our eyes, blindly seeking the truth can cost us even more. To obtain the truth requires courage, but there’s a fine line between courage and foolishness... Answer as you please, Aglaya, just get it over with."
Rebuking the tiefling servant, Hendrina, Marien seemed uninterested in prolonging the conversation but also not inclined to end it entirely.
Thus, she chose to encourage everyone to cooperate and speed up the discussion. The faster they pieced together the puzzle, the sooner they could plan for the events that might unfold in the near future.
"Sigh We know that Great Lord Toyosaki wants to introduce the baby to Lady Inessa for some reason, and he even resorted to extreme measures for it. So yes, I agree that the baby might have some special condition. Furthermore, Lady Inessa might be essential in treating or developing this special condition..."
Boom Boom Boom
While Aglaya spoke and the fight raged on, something began happening silently within the baby's body.
The energy Akachi was channeling into the baby’s Aura core was causing changes in its functioning. Somehow, the energy infiltrated but could not adapt to the core.
Yet, for some reason, the core did not release the foreign energy; it kept it, forcing it to remain. Like a snake deforming itself to swallow its prey, the baby’s core was struggling under the load of Akachi’s energy.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
And just now, the core reached its limit…
Bzzzzt
Like the crackle of static electricity, a massive surge of Aura began to radiate from the baby’s body… So concentrated that it momentarily paralyzed all the women in the room.
Forced to stop her reasoning, Aglaya dropped the book from her hand and stood up, as did all the other women, and they moved toward the table where the baby was writhing strangely.
The baby’s movements were irregular but frequent enough for them all to realize he wasn’t conscious. Yet the movements were too violent to be unconscious.
It was as if he was caught between consciousness and unconsciousness. His face was also strangely contorted, as if he was feeling pain all over his small body.
"Shhh... It's okay... It's okay..." Marien picked up the baby in her arms and tried to comfort him with a hug, but it only seemed to increase the baby's silent agony. She quickly placed him back on the makeshift bed.
Soon, his movements became more violent, twisting and contorting sharply, yet the baby didn’t wake up. This deeply concerned the women, and panic slowly began to take hold of them.
"Heyyy, come on, wake up. Wake up… Hey, wake up..." Anya tried to wake the baby in various ways, even dripping water on his face. Still, the baby didn’t wake and continued to writhe, grimacing in pain…
Boom
"For Aura’s sake, Lord Akachi’s baby is in distress… We… We need to do something… We need to call Lady Inessa… That’s it, I’ll call her..."
Desperate and unsure what to do, Sonia ran towards the room where Inessa and Akachi were fighting. But before she could leave the room...
Thufffff
Sonia's entire body was paralyzed by a violent pulse of Aura, which took all the women in the room by surprise. The pulse, like the previous one, was quick but enough to cause Sonia to lose her balance and fall to the floor…
"BBBUUUuuuuuuuuaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH… …. … … … …"
Suddenly, the baby let out a scream of despair so intense that, halfway through, his vocal cords ruptured and began to bleed.
"We’re in deep damn trouble… hehe." With an extremely nervous and worried laugh, Mahara commented while moving towards where Sonia lay on the floor.
"Why is the baby emitting Aura, Marien??? What the hell is going on??" With a worried expression, Anya sought an answer or some idea of what this situation could be.
Meanwhile, Marien was manipulating her own Aura to thoroughly examine the baby's body, trying to identify the problem and find a possible solution.
"For Aura’s sake…" Unfortunately, what Marien found after completing the examination left her shaken.
"What is it? What did you find?" Anya asked.
"The baby has a fully developed core… But he’s no more than a few hours old..."
"You’ve got to be kidding, Marien. We need to fix this before the baby suffers permanent damage. Don’t joke around at a time like this." Anya retorted, visibly irritated, thinking it was a joke.
"I’m not joking... He has a core, but the worst part is that his core is overflowing. He’s forcibly expelling extremely pure Aura from his body. That’s why it’s affecting us; the Aura is too pure, but the cost is immense pain."
"And how do we fix it, Marien?" In a serious tone, Mahara asked while standing, holding Sonia firmly so she wouldn’t run off in a panic and cause more problems.
"We need to stabilize the core and stop it from expelling Aura so violently."
Responding to the question, Marien was now standing very close to the baby, with her palms near him. She began emitting a layer of orange-colored energy from her hands.
She manipulated this energy to envelop the baby in a bubble, just as Akachi had done earlier. Unfortunately, before the bubble could close, another pulse of Aura was emitted, causing Marien's energy to lose control and dissipate into the air.
"Damn, my Aura was nullified… Aglaya, try to contain the Aura pulse with a localized shield; I’ll try to absorb some of the Aura to make it easier for you."
For the first time since they had been in the room after Akachi’s arrival, Aglaya appeared concerned and distressed. Still, she quickly moved to follow Marien's instructions.
"I’ll create a containment structure, but it won’t solve the problem." Aglaya reminded them all that this was only a temporary fix to prevent the situation from worsening. They still needed a better solution.
Moving close enough to the baby, she brought her palms near and began to emit a silver energy. Unlike Marien, Aglaya manipulated her energy to form a robust shield resembling a honeycomb.
Soon, small interconnected hexagonal cylinders formed a large, resistant structure that quickly surrounded the entire table where the baby lay. This time, the pulse didn’t disrupt the process, as the honeycomb structure worked much better than the bubble Marien had attempted earlier.
Even so, the Aura pulse continued to push the structure to its limits, nearly breaking it, but it lacked just enough power to do so. This could happen at any moment.
"It’s going to break… Marien, hurry up..." Aglaya warned, realizing the structure wouldn’t be enough to contain the Aura pulse.
"Right..."
Quickly, Marien manipulated her energy to form a sort of reverse funnel that connected perfectly with Aglaya’s honeycomb structure. It was small enough not to compromise the shield but large enough to allow excess Aura to escape, serving as a kind of pressure valve.