“Yu! Yu! Please! Yu! Please!”
When their carriage suddenly stopped for some reason, Yurine and Yu were thrown out of the driver's seat and fell to the ground. Now they were both between the feet of the rinos. The rinos were stomping on the ground because they were scared and Yurine was trying to protect herself and Yu from being crushed.
“Yu! Please, Yu!”
Yurine couldn't tell if Yu was having one of his usual seizures or if the black bubbles coming from his mouth were caused by the poison of the cursed sword that had stabbed him. She had never seen foam of this color before and Yu was neither shaking nor convulsing, he was frozen like a statue. He had moaned and moaned in pain when the sword had first pierced him, but now he just stared blankly ahead.
Without Yu's core, Yurine couldn't feel if he was alive or not, so she put her hand over his heart and felt his heartbeat. Her heart was constantly slowing down as if it was tired.
“Yu! Don't die! I'll be alone, Yu!”
She cast a healing spell, but it did not work on Yu's wound to heal it, nor did it work on his mind to make him conscious. The failure of the spell was not the same as in the Sigma Tower, where the mana never left Yurine's body, whereas here it did, but when it landed on Yu's wound, instead of healing him, it was poisoned by the evil curse, and the poisoned mana lost its function and dissolved into the air.
“Why is this happening?”
As hot, salty tears rolled down her cheeks, Yurine tore the cloth Yu was wearing and took a good look at the wound on his shoulder. The blood was not a deep red color, it was flowing black. The blackened veins were spreading from Yu's shoulder, reaching his neck, chest and elbow as the scab began to form around the wound.
“Yu!”
When the healing spell didn't work, she started slapping Yu's face to try to bring him to his senses, but even that failed to bring him to his senses. She shook Yu, hit him, tugged him, yelled at him, and tried every method she could think of to bring him to his senses, but all in vain.
“Yu, I promise I'll do whatever you say next time. Yu, if you say it's dangerous, we won't go. Yu, I'm sorry, I'll do whatever you say again. Yu... Get up...”
She didn't want to lose Yu just like she had lost her mother. Her mother was gone and if Yu left, she would be completely alone. If she managed to reach them, of course Sivina and Ana would take care of her and maybe help her achieve her goal, but Yu was the one Yurine wanted. She didn't even need anyone else to be there for her, she just wanted Yu to be there for her.
“Should I touch the wound?”
Perhaps she failed because she tried to cast the spell from a distance. If she applied the healing spell with no space in between, touching the wound, it might have worked.
She looked at Yu's wound, it looked disgusting and she wasn't sure she would want to touch it if it was someone else's, but it was Yu's wound and she determined to touch it even if it was disgusting.
“It burns!”
Yurine's tears of fear of losing Yu were joined by tears of pain. The curse on her shoulder burned like fire and Yurine's hand hurt.
The wound on Yu's shoulder was not like a stick with a heated tip, it was the heat source itself. The wound was so hot that Yurine had to scream from the pain.
“Hepea - Hepea - Hep-hep - Hepa'e Xi Rhea - Xi Rhaea- Hepa'e Xi Rhaea - Noxu Tavhee - Si Luel'la... What was it!”
She was trying to cast the healing spell she had learned from the book of light and healing magic she had received from the academy and had used twice before, but she was having trouble remembering the right words because of the stress.
“Hepa'e Xi Rhaea - Noxu Tevhea - Si Luel'la...”
When she pronounced the words correctly, butterflies made of light would start to emerge from her palm, but when she pronounced the next word incorrectly, the butterflies would quickly fade away and disappear. When Yurine saw the butterflies disappearing, she became even more stressed and started saying the words she had pronounced correctly incorrectly.
“Hep'e Xi Rhea - Nox-”
She could not put the right words in order, even though she said them over and over again. Now all the words, each stage of the spell, were all jumbled together in Yurine's mind.
She could have gone into the carriage and picked up the book and tried to read it from there, but she was afraid to leave Yu's side for even a second, and her heart wouldn't let her take a single step from where she was, feeling that if she was separated from him for even a second, his situation would get so bad that she would never be able to fix it again.
“Yu... If you wake up, I'll let you marry my mom... Look, I'm saying I'll let you, you just have to wake up... Yu... Come on, I'm waiting... Yu...”
When her movements were not enough to wake him, she tried desperately to use words, but whether her words reached him was as uncertain as whether he was actually asleep. His eyes were open and he kept looking in a straight line. Perhaps his consciousness was as open as his eyes and he could hear and feel everything.
Which was worse, the fact that he was unconscious or the fact that he was conscious and he could feel the curse on his shoulder, second by second, and he could do nothing? Yurine had cried from the heat just touching that wound, and if Yu could feel it, who knows what kind of pain he was in.
“Hepa'e... Xi Rhaea... N-Noxu Tevae... Si Luel'la...”
She started to take deep breaths, tried to get her body and mind together and finally managed to say the right words.
She kept her hand on Yu's wound to ensure that the spell would work, even though it hurt. She repeated the words, crying with pain and sadness.
The butterflies fluttered freely from between her fingers and flew over Yu's wound, buds of light falling from their wings, enveloping Yu's wound.
The black veins in Yu's left hand changed color under the healing spell and began to gently pull upwards from his hand. The veins that extended up to his face were also subjected to the effect of the spell and went down to his neck.
The bleeding was also decreasing, but there was no change in the temperature, it was still as hot as it had been at the beginning and continued to burn Yurine's hand.
“Yu...”
She was about to continue calling Yu's name when she suddenly stopped, noticing the dark presence increasing in intensity.
“Go on, Yu... Yu... Yu...”
Until now, Yurine, who had been so confused by her fear of losing Yu, had not realized what had caused the carriage to stop so abruptly and the two of them to fall to the ground, but now it was revealing itself. Yurine could feel the darkness.
A mocking, condescending, contemptuous, vile, irritating, disgusted, infuriating voice perfectly imitated Yurine's voice and called out Yu's name in mockery.
Yurine was undecided where to focus her attention. Should she continue with the spell to heal Yu first, or should she attack the demon, who was probably intent on killing them? Every second the demon stood there made her nervous.
“What would my mom do? I know, I think she would have attacked the demon when she realized Yu couldn't be cured. She hates demons anyway.”
Is that really what her mother would do? Yurine wanted to imitate her and find what she would do and do it, but she wasn't quite sure what her mother would do in such a situation.
If she thought Yu could not be cured, would Rie give up on him and really let him die? If her mother was alive and she and Yu would have developed a relationship of several months if they had gotten to this point together, would she disregard that relationship and let him die?
But despite being his apprentice, she left Sharley to die without blinking an eye.
When they were confronted by the hunter gorilla, Rie tried to save Sharley instead of running away with Yurine, but that was because she saw a way.
When there was no way to save Sharley in the fire in the Sigma Tower and it became impossible to save him, she never thought about what would happen to him, she had no problem leaving him to die.
But Sharley and Yu were not the same. Even after a few weeks with Yu, Yurine loved him more than she loved Sharley, more than she could ever love Sharley, and she preferred him to Sharley. Rie, like Yurine, would not equate the two and would make a different decision if Yu was the one in trouble, Yurine wanted to believe that.
Yet the fact that she did not know what to do in this situation still remained. Her mother often surprised Yurine and made unexpected decisions. If she were here now, would she try to take Yu and run away? Yurine could drag Yu a certain distance, but she couldn't run with him on her shoulder.
At this point, she could not escape with Yu, and neither could her mother. There was a demon right in front of them and the whole village was full of demons. With escape out of the question, the only options left were to stay here and try to heal Yu, or to interrupt the healing spell and attack the demon.
She wasn't sure which of these two options would be the right one. The demon was not going to be kind and wait while Yurine chose the first option and continued to heal Yu.
Yu's condition seemed stable. If she stopped the healing spell, there was a chance that his condition would worsen. So he couldn't stop healing him and only focus on the second option.
She made her decision. There was no need to worry about what her mother would choose to do, Yurine would make her own choice. Yu was like a second mother to her and she cared for him the same way she cared for her mother. She would not give up on Yu, just as she would not give up on her mother.
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If she think about it, she was even closer to Yu than she was to her mother. Yu was a companion as well as a parent, and that made her more comfortable and able to talk to him about more things than when she talked to her mother. This made Yu more valuable and indispensable.
“Okay, I can't let Yu go, nor can I let the devil live. If I choose one option, it will end in all sorts of disasters.”
Yurine looked around and then at the demon as she continued her healing spell.
“If I push myself, can I succeed?”
She and Yu had studied wind magic together. Trying it would have exhausted Yurine and probably made her pass out again because of using up all her mana. But she had no other method she could think of, and she had magic books which she had learned a lot from them. She was now the strongest she had ever been and she was getting stronger every day.
“Won't you keep calling daddy's name?”
The vile being's provocations were too much for her to ignore. Yurine pulled her hand away from Yu's half and saw that her palm was blistered from the heat.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, some entering her mouth through her lips, others running down her chin. Yurine wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and the wind spell she had cast began to surround Yu.
The wind gathered around Yu, condensed and began to spin. Yurine raised her hand up and with the movement of Yurine's hand, the wind went under Yu and lifted him up.
When Yurine was able to levitate objects, Yu was excited and said, “Holy shit, just like the force, Jedi Yurine.” With this method Yurine could even lift herself and fly. Of course, she had to concentrate and not get excited, which she couldn't try on herself because of Yu's worries.
In fact, Yu was the first creature Yurine had tried this skill on since she learned it, and she was terrified that he would fall at any moment. It was also hard to focus on keeping Yu in the air and continuing to cast healing spells from a distance.
And now she would have to deal with the devil in front of her. At least the devil seemed to have no intention of moving until Yurine had completed her preparations.
It was not because he was an honorable warrior, but because his sick personality enjoyed watching Yurine's preparations.
“Your job looks tough, can you fight like this?”
She couldn't deny that she wanted to kill him, but she also couldn't deny that he was right, Yurine's job was as difficult as he said it would be. She had to focus on carrying Yu as she moved, keep up the healing magic and fight her opponent, making sure that Yu's condition did not worsen.
It was the first time she had to do so many things at once, and she was inexperienced in combat. Although she had easily killed about a hundred people in Capital İlonya before coming here, almost all of them were normal people and with a little training even Yu would have a chance against them in a one-on-one.
Yurine's first serious solo combat experience was against Sharley in Rolderhelm. Against an opponent who knew how to fight like Sharley, she clearly realized her inexperience.
The reason for her inexperience in fighting was that Rie had never asked her to fight. Her mother only wanted her to stand back during a fight and support her with wind magic if necessary.
She also had to cast healing spells when necessary, which was a very rare form of magic.
As a result, Yurine had never had to ‘really’ fight, she had watched her mother's fights with admiration but had never learned how to fight. Maybe if she had been a more experienced Yurine in the past when she fought Sharley, she might have been able to defeat him.
There was no doubt that his current opponent was more experienced than she was, perhaps even stronger than Sharley. If the other demons wanted to come here and interfere in the fight, his opponent would also have the advantage in numbers. No matter how she looked at it, Yurine was at a disadvantage, in a terrible situation.
“What beautiful eyes you have, red. We love red, it's the color of pleasure.”
Yurine knew her eyes were beautiful. It was impossible otherwise, so she ignored the devil's compliment.
“Vile being, perish.” Holding Yu in the air with her left hand, she raised her right hand and shouted. “Rhae!”
She didn't actually have to say any words to cast the spell, but saying the words helped her to visualize the spell in her mind and thus to cast it.
As the magic word fell from her lips, the wall of wind that emerged from Yurine's hand in two layers, moving in the form of a shield, slammed into the demon, and the demon flew back, laughing at Yurine's effort.
“The little girl tried to protect her daddy? How sweet of you, I admire your effort.”
The devil's eyes were red. It was unclear whether this was the original color of his eyes or whether he was wearing this color because he enjoyed it, but he was clearly having fun.
“Shall we try something like this?”
He never took his eyes off Yurine's and raised the sword, which probably had Yu's blood on it.
Yurine was trying to understand what he was about to do, what did his raising his sword mean? Before Yurine knew it, balls of flame shot upwards from the sword and rose a few meters before descending towards Yu.
“Yu!”
She created a layer of wind over Yu's body to protect him from the fireballs. Yurine breathed a sigh of relief when the fireballs disappeared into the wind before they could land on Yu.
She may not have been able to protect her mother and Yu was partly to blame, but this time it was different, this time she would protect Yu no matter what. Yurine's heart could not bear to lose another person she loved.
Unfortunately, her relief did not last long. When the demon saw the look on her face, he laughed and sent the fireballs at Yu again.
Yurine was alarmed again, she again covered Yu with a layer of wind, and again the fireballs failed to reach his body and disappeared into the wind.
“Is that how you're going to play? You're going to attack Yu and not me?”
Demons were dishonorable, vile creatures and it was said to think the worst of them, but Yurine didn't think it would come to this. She was aware that demons were beings who reveled in human emotions, but would they do this too? Just to see the flustered look on her face, he chose as his target not his main opponent, but the one she was trying to protect.
Yurine thought she was going to fight him one-on-one, but the devil was simply playing with her and did not see her as a real opponent.
“I have to be careful, if I'm not careful, when he attacks me I might think he's targeting Yu again and I'll be vulnerable.”
In such situations she was grateful that Emily was at least a mature girl. Thanks to her thoughts, her own thoughts were maturing and she could analyze things more calmly.
Of course, this rarely happened and Yurine's personality was more dominant. That's why she usually acted in her own way, but when it came down to it, she didn't hesitate to use her emotions.
“I can't stay like this forever.”
As the demon continued its attacks, he enjoyed watching Yurine's cold sweat as she tried to carry, protect and heal Yu at the same time.
Yurine could not go on like this. If she only defended and used up her mana by applying a healing spell, she would be left unprotected and die along with Yu. If the defense option ended in death, she should at least consider the offensive option, and if she was going to die, she should die trying to live.
“Aral'c!”
She could create the light spell without the help of the magic word if she wanted to, but the light spell without the help of the word would be of low level.
Aral'c was an entry level spell of high level, offensive spells that could be used to damage an opponent. As Yurine improved, she would be able to cast even more powerful spells without the aid of words.
She opened his palm, radiating bright, searing light from her hand, keeping one eye on Yu to ensure his safety.
It was a good thing too, because just before the demon burned and screamed with light magic, it sent its fireballs at Yu again.
Yurine simultaneously kept Yu in the air, continued the healing spell, defended him, and attacked the demon.
Doing so much at once was taxing on her body and soul, she felt her head was going to explode, but in the end, even though she had pushed herself to her limits, she made it through the moment.
When the light emanating from her palm and traveling in a straight line towards the demon, enveloping its entire body, faded and slowly disappeared, the demon was still standing, but it didn't seem to be enjoying itself anymore. On the contrary, his red eyes had turned yellow and his brow was furrowed.
Yurine had succeeded in enraging him and she did not regret it.
The demon was still standing, but not in a good state. Yurine had only thought of it as an idea, knowing that demons are dark beings, she had used straight logic and assumed that light magic would kill it.
Even if she hadn't managed to kill him, as Yurine had assumed, she had hurt him and now she knew that light magic was his weakness. Now it was time to find a way to attack more effectively with light magic, because the only attack spell she had learned was Aral'c.
He looked at the devil. He was covered in burn marks, obviously in pain, and smoke was rising from his skin.
Yurine smiled contemptuously, looking at the demon's pained face. Who was the one enjoying it now?
“Whore seed.”
“You... What did you say about my mama?”
Everyone had a red line and crossing it was absolutely intolerable. Crossing the red line was absolutely unforgivable.
It angered her that he attacked Yu dishonorably just for fun when she was his opponent, but it was Yurine's fault for not expecting it from him, as the devil is a vile being.
But there was one issue that Yurine could never, ever, under any circumstances, forgive, and that went far beyond the red line: insulting her mother.
Yurine was not going to ignore him, even if he was a vile being and spoke as she expected him to speak. Even if he was a king, let alone a demon, she could not stand still.
It didn't matter how disadvantaged she was, she wouldn't stop when that line was crossed, even if she was about to die. Yurine didn't have a character like Yu to hold back herself, and right now she couldn't even suppress herself using Emily's emotions.
She wasn't trying to suppress herself anyway. She was not going to stop until she had crushed the demon she faced here today, and she was not forgetting Yu's need for protection in the process.
This time the enraged demon brought his sword into a fighting stance, half of the flames above his shoulders aimed at Yurine and the other half at Yu. The demon rushed at Yurine to take out all his anger in one blow.
“Vixa, Rhae, Minue'e!”
Gone was the anxious and flustered Yurine of before, and in was a calmly casting her spell, but extremely angry Yurine.
With every word she spoke, a layer of wind formed around Yurine and Yu, and they spread out.
The first layer with the word Vixa eliminated the fireballs.
The second layer, formed by the word Rhae, struck the demon running towards her with its sword and threw him into the air.
The third layer formed by the word Minue'e was the most powerful, after Yurine's light spell struck and shattered everything around her, including the demons that had noticed the fight and targeted her, sending her flying meters back.
“I hope Yu won't get angry when I show him the car.”
The grass was uprooted, the earth levitated, the arak crystals crumbled as they came towards them, the fireballs were extinguished in the wind, and a great void formed around Yu and Yurine.
Trees were smashed to the ground and even rocks were uprooted, as well as, unfortunately, the houses of the people of roaron. The rinos attached to the wagon were also blown away like demons, probably with broken bodies and moans of pain. Even the roarons had their share of Yurine's fury and were victims of the storm.
The wagons could be repaired and the rinos healed, and since the village had already burned down, the damage to the few remaining houses was not a problem. It was not something she should prioritize anyway; she immediately checked Yu's condition and, seeing that he was still stable, she focused on the demons.
The wind magic had hurt them, turned some of them into black pitch, but not enough to kill them all, and with a few roarons and rinos around, she didn't want to go crazy with wind magic and slaughter them and the innocents with them.
“You'd better close your eyes.”
None of the demons took pleasure anymore. They were angry with Yurine and wanted to kill her painfully. Yurine knew she had to kill them all.
She could not underestimate the hatred and capabilities of a demon, she could not allow even one of them to remain alive.
She imagined the mana in her body. The mana produced in the nucleus in the center of her chest would be evenly distributed throughout her body, but Yurine directed the mana in her body to her hand. She was now directing all the mana produced by her nucleus into her hand.
Normally when she did this, she would create a strong wind spell, but now, there was no cold air circling around her arm, instead her white arm glowed gold.
She raised her hand up, she could feel her palm burning, as if the mana was trying to open a rift there to get out of his palm.
Normally this spell would only work to illuminate the surroundings, but by combining it with the Alar'c she had learned, she was trying a new spell for the first time.
“Ulita Alar'c! Golden Light!”
The demons moved to block her, but it was too late, and even if it wasn't too late, they couldn't even get close to them because they were protected by the wind shield.
Her magic, which she called the Golden Light, rose in a straight beam, burning her hand as Yurine channeled the mana. When it reached a sufficient height, it took the shape of a dome, Yu and Yurine were inside the dome, but Yurine could see everything that was happening outside the dome.
The searing Golden Light spread outward from the dome, and the demons that came into contact with the mana that created the light began to melt with ear-splitting screams.
When the light went out, smoke billowed from the remaining demons and Yurine now knew exactly how to kill them. She continued to carry Yu in the air, and walked towards them to hunt down and destroy the remaining demons.