As winter advanced, the weather did not subside at all. It was another heavy snowfall; the skies were completely grey, but at least the wind was mild enough not to create a storm. In the past three days, we were not attacked, but that did not mean we would be safe from now on. To make sure we weren't surprised, the army was on constant rotation, keeping an eye out while constantly replacing the damaged cannons and sensors in the valley and planting mines whenever possible.

On the other hand, I was experimenting with our newest collection of materials. The ice we brought back still turned out to be different from any regular version formed by nature; it only lasted its effects of killing anything that it touched. Touching it was painful, even with ample protection, so I had to handle it with tools instead. Through my tests, it refused to melt away even when I put it next to or into the fire, and I had to invite Sasha over to have a breakthrough. Of course, after learning how I collected them, I got an earful of it... I think everyone heard it in the castle.

When she finally calmed down enough to be curious about the frozen blood, she had to use increasingly powerful spells before managing to start thawing it. By my measurements, this thing had the same melting point as steel, if not higher. When it finally turned into liquid, it was the first time I heard Sasha yell out that it burns as we poured it into a mold, watching it sizzle there while I took a look at her hands.

"It's not serious... huh, this is the first time I heard you yelp!"

"It was the first time I felt this hot and dropped something!" She grumbled, pouting, looking at the crimson blood, which was now sparkling and bubbling like a juiced-up lava lamp.

"Welcome to how it feels to us standing beside an open kiln!" I joked, looking at the pot of blood, "Weird... Because standing close by this thing, I don't feel its heat, but if you say it is hot, I believe you. Plus, one thing I am sure of is that the blood is reactive to magic."

While speaking, I pressed a spoon into it and watched as the heat melted it immediately—even if it wasn't giving off heat, it was hot, alright! The next telling point was that after Sasha managed to melt it back to its original form, the sensors that would detect CC resonated with it when I brought it close enough.

"Are you saying that this blood has the same properties as... CC? That should be impossible, no?" She asked, surprised after I mentioned it to her.

"Is it? Or are we just simply unfamiliar with how it works?" I hummed, crossing my arms, thinking. "Of course, I can tell right away that it doesn't have all of the knicks and knacks of actual CC. But it is magically reactive, and seeing how it stayed frozen, it is presumably highly conductive."

"It is logical, especially if the monster could use magic as you described. It needs to use it to move around, evolve, grow, and stay alive... then using its own blood is a quite rational solution for all possible problems it might face while evolving. Isn't this like how you designed your mechs? Only with nature replacing mechanical parts with a living body?"

"Kind of... yes. Seeing where the CC was within its body, I wouldn't be surprised if it replaced its heart or some other important organ. Becoming its engine. It would be the one pumping magic-infused blood through its veins and transforming the creature into something that is a meld between a living thing and magic. I won't lie, this is... highly fascinating! There has to be more to it, but for that, I would need to study monsters like this, which, let's face it... not happening."

"Glad to hear it." She added, looking at me with one eye, "It would be too dangerous."

"I know. I'm just curious how they do it and if we could incorporate anything like that into our lives. Oh well! Let's test the remaining stuff while this one is cooling down!"

Next on the literal chopping board were some of the scales we collected. The one before us was shaped and as big as a kite shield, affixed to two blocks of rock. We made sure it was at its weakest possible state while continuously striking it with weapons. It became like a martial arts tournament, where our soldiers could walk up and try to break it into two with whatever methods they chose. Hammers? Sure. Swords? Go ahead. Axes? Hack at it! Nothing worked.

Father was one of the few who tried it more than a dozen times, once swinging against it for ten minutes straight, but what gave way was not the scale but the war hammer he was using. No matter what we threw at it, the beast would be impervious to all conventional damage. Looking at the result, I couldn't think of a traditional army having any chance of facing off against it. I would have loved to test if some modern weaponry would damage it, though...

"How the hell did we bring this monster down?" My Father asked, sighing, wiping the sweat from his head, and breathing heavily in the castle's courtyard.

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"With magic." Sasha and I answered, as we already come to the same conclusion. "Although not every cannon fire penetrated its skin, the creature felt pain when we bombarded it, evident from its spell misfiring. I imagine it had to feel like being punched while wearing a headgear or something. It still hurt it, but it did not kill it immediately."

"If we could get enough of this..." Father whispered, stroking the rough surface of the scale, "It could be turned into a great armor! Can we work it?"

"I don't know yet..." I answered honestly, thinking of the same thing. "But we will try to look into it."

"Meaning I will look into it~!" Sasha giggled, and she would definitely be the one leading the research.

The scale was the same as the blood. It showed remarkable resilience to magic, up to a certain point where it became somewhat malleable. Still, it didn't show the same cracks and injuries our cannons left on it at the very end. There was something more to why we managed to break it, and I think I knew what.

When we were back in the palace, putting our children to bed, I watched Sasha with a gentle smile, tucking the little ones in. Maybe it was because of her intensive magic use today, but they got full from one meal without crying for Mikan and went to sleep without any fuss, which was rare.

"I was thinking," I started, whispering, "It is very much likely that the cause of the damage on the monster's core and what killed it was Merlin's interference."

"You mean, the magic he canceled its shields with?" she asked, blinking her eyes, quickly thinking about it. "Do you think it not only canceled the defenses but turned all of its magic off?"

"Could have." I nodded, biting my lower lip. "It could have initiated some kind of backlash, or because its magic got disrupted, it was hurt in the process. Then our magic hit it, and with his own, under Merlin's interference, we managed to damage it for real. If magic is their integral part, it is possible that by disabling it, the scales lost their strength just the same."

"What about the previous monster? That didn't react like that."

"I can only think about differences between their strength or species. It may have been enormous, but it could also be weaker than this one was. This managed to conjure a snowstorm to hide within. This lizard-like creature had a much higher intelligence, which means it was probably stronger by a lot. Of course, I am simply theorizing here, but that is my current conjecture."

"One thing is sure." She chuckled, walking over to me and hugging my neck, tiptoeing to kiss my lips, "We can skin it and have a lot of cool resources! If I can devise a good method to work with the scales, Dorian can make them into armor. That way, our army could be dressed in something that outshines any conventional platings the Empire may have!"

"I like your thinking~" I answered, holding onto her soft butt, gently kneading them until she pushed me onto the bed, rubbing against my body. "Can you be quiet? We just put them to bed..."

"I can!" She protested, rolling her eyes while undressing me, "It's rare that I have you for myself, I'm going to enjoy it!"

She was right, and since our kids liked to wake up regularly, Luna and Yuri decided to... sleep in a different room to be able to rest. Honestly, I thought that Sasha maybe wanted to get pregnant again to keep the status quo, with how often she climbed on me, and I wasn't about to say no to her. I was letting her sit down on me as I was ready since she kissed me, expecting it to happen... Feeling myself sliding into her warm, moist, and soft slit, I will never be not amazed by the female body. She gave birth to two of our kids, yet she was just as tight as before, moving her hips like a professional rodeo star, giving both of us immense pleasure.

"Mooore! Ah!"

"Sssh!" I chuckled, reaching up and holding her mouth shut. In answer, she simply grabbed onto my wrist, holding it there, letting me cover her moans while also speeding up and looking at me with heart-shaped eyes. God... I love it when she is this hungry!

...

....

......

"Huh... this... this is weird." I murmured, back at the castle, looking at the hardened monster's blood. It had gone from being a hot liquid to hardening into a crimson rod, taking up the shape of the mold we had poured it into.

"Careful!" Sasha warned me as we took it out, but to the human touch, it was completely fine. It was slightly warm, but only as much as holding hands with someone would feel; it no longer gave off a burning sensation. Examining it, its semi-transparent, crimson surface was eerily beautiful, like a lollipop for vampires.

"Do you feel anything?" I asked, looking at her holding it after ensuring everything was fine.

"It is... a bit weird. I can't really tell why. It is not like holding CC but close. Very close! I think you were right about your idea."

"Let's get to a safe place and see how it reacts to a spell!"

Walking out into the pass, I stood a few meters behind Sasha while the rest of the army looked on from the walls. When she began chanting and forming a familiar magic circle of a fireball spell, the rod of blood reacted as expected by releasing a faint orange glow. When the magic completed and it emerged, it did so at the tip of the stick, flying in an arc before landing in the snow, blowing it high into the air. The spell wasn't stronger nor faster than it should have been; I could tell by analyzing the appeared runes. Still, it was different, and I noticed the change immediately.

"Did you see that?" Sasha asked, excited, and I nodded at her.

"Try it again!"

Sure enough, now that she knew what reaction it would have, it worked even better. Once again, the spell was the same as it should be; the difference was in the speed at which it was formed. Holding onto the hardened blood, the spell was completed at least 20 to 30% quicker than usual. Seeing the results I sent for CC and after affixing it to the end of it, the effects were exponentially better this time: It not only formed maybe even 50% faster, but it was also just as much stronger!

"I was thinking you and Merlin should have already got yourselves some kind of staff or something." I murmured, rubbing my chin, "To become a proper witch and wizard... but now I think we have found the perfect material to do it."