The Arcane Emperor Chapter 91 Manipulator of Reality

Chapter 91 Manipulator of Reality

As they prepared to head back, Rainer noticed the enchanted blades in Kara's hands. She had been guarding Gunthar after all, even if he ended up unattacked.

"That's some enchantment," Rainer whistled. He had expected something decent with the gift being from Ymir, but this was beyond his expectations. Perhaps the King was feeling more guilty than Rainer originally thought for basically kicking his daughter out when she deeply needed his protection. Though, now that he thought about it that way, maybe even this gift was a little too small.

"The feeling I had when I first used them were incredible. I'm sure it would be of merit to inspect them with your magic eyes."

Rainer scratched his cheek as he realized when he put it that way it made the Wolf King come off as an awful father, perhaps Rainer should have considered that Ymir has other children and a whole country to worry about? Though, now he was a bit more glad over his decision to keep this fact from Kara. It was very easy to see it in an incredibly negative light.

"Rainer?" Kara asked confused, having already proudly displayed the blades in front of her for him to use [Arcane Revelation] on. Instead, he stood there with a weird look on his face, leaving her feeling a bit awkward in her pose.

"Huh? Oh right sorry," He said, looking over the complicated enchantments on the blade. His eyes paused as he took in the inscriptions as well. He had never seen a weapon with them even if he knew the basics. Gunthar had explained in the past that inscriptions with Aura could do some basic things for weapons. This, however, seemed a bit beyond basic.

"Can you use [Appraisal] as well? I got a general sense of what they do, but they don't give any hard attributes."

"Of course."

"Humph, not even asking Luna to use [Appraisal]. Luna will remember this, she'll keep Kara up all night," The fairy mumbled, slipping into third person more than usual.

Sharing the same 'philosophy' as Rainer in dealing with Luna's 'threats', Kara just sent a smile the Fairy's way.

[Heavy Blade of Strengthened Weight: One of a pair of twin blades designed for a stronger wielder. Enchanted to increase its wielder's Strength by 20%. Inscribed to get stronger and longer but heavier when Aura is infused into it.]

[Heavy Blade of Hastened Weight: One of a pair of twin blades designed for a stronger wielder. Enchanted to increase its wielder's Dexterity by 20%. Inscribed to get stronger and longer but heavier when Aura is infused into it.]

Letting out another whistle, Rainer told the descriptions to Kara. These blades could stay with her for a long time. He made a mental note to create copies and damage them in [Sleep Learning] in order to attempt fixing them afterwards. Working with Sarah and her [Enchantment Manipulation], perhaps they could try that together.

"He's seen me use the same technique as my mother so I guess he was familiar with it enough to have them make something like this," Kara said, unable to keep the smile off her face.

More like he prepared this inscription ages ago with your mother in mind, Rainer thought. He found it highly unlikely anyone but Kara and her predecessors would want such a thing on their weapons, they'd just make them heavier and stronger in the first place. Ymir had, after all, never been able to learn the same Aura skill.

"Can you completely lighten them?" Rainer asked taking one of the blades from Kara. It truly was far too heavy to be a blade, even with his improved Strength he'd have trouble wielding this without the bonuses from [Arcane Awakening]. Besides, raw Strength alone wasn't enough to swing such a heavy thing, one had to consider how they used their own body weight.

He knew Kara was heavier than she looked. He a.s.sumed it had to do with her being a Demon, but he'd decided not to try to confirm his suspicions—even though it was related to battle, he couldn't bring himself to ask his girlfriend about her weight.

"Close. It's a bit too expensive to lighten them all the way to the weight I need. I'll have to practice it at night. On that note, when are we finally going to have a real fight?" Kara asked.

"I don't mind, but we'll have to set up some rules don't you think?"

"Like no tearing off your arms with my claws. Any of your arms…" Kara said with a vicious grin.

"Hey. No jokes about that."

"What? It's just your arm. You can just refresh your body in [Sleep Learning]," Kara asked innocently, too innocently.

Was she still mad at him for scaring her with [Void-walking]? Now that he thought about it, maybe it wasn't the best idea to sneak up on someone who's quite literally running for her life from an entire race of homicidal demons. And so soon after they discovered a scout from said Demons.

"I'm sorry for scaring you a while back."

"I forgive you. Took you long enough. I was on edge that whole day."

"Really? But later that ni-"

"Are you really looking for another thing to apologize for?" Kara asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Anyways, I meant for me. I can just fly away from you remember? Or Void-walk far away and just hit you with spells. Rinse and repeat. My Void-walk is cheap enough since I've gotten my 2nd cla.s.s. Short distances with no one blocking me cost next to nothing. Plus, I can use [Void Descent] to cheapen that even further. [Eldritch Flight] is quite ludicrous for a flight spell, it's borderline free if I'm by myself."

"So no flying, and [Void-walking] except when only within Void-step distance? Or rather we can do a different sort of handicap" Kara offered. She had no illusions about being weaker than Rainer. Not that it bothered her, and he did have two tier 2 cla.s.ses after all. On the contrary, it would bother her if he wasn't stronger in that situation.

However, in a duel situation, compared to an Aura User, a Mage was at a disadvantage. At least, they should be. It was hard to tell with Rainer's [Arcane Blade] as a wild card. And just his general attributes from the [Archon] cla.s.s. Even a child with no skill in blades could kill a tier 2 Aura user with that spell. Add on his Hilt that made the spell far cheaper and it truly was hard to say if he was that much weaker in that type of situation.

"What kind of handicap then?"

"Attach a mission or a time-limit. Like say, if you don't kill me in the next 5 minutes, you'll die from the poisonous Aura attack pervading your body."

Of course, there was a secondary rule of using only their own resources, but that much was obvious.

"Sounds good. Or wait, is something like that possible?" Rainer asked. Apart from the basics, he didn't know too much about Aura beyond what he's seen people use. Perhaps it was time to expand that knowledge and get the two basic Aura skills he still lacked?

"According to my mother it is. I did borrow that situation from one of her stories."

"I'd like to hear some of those when we visit," Rainer said, doing a bit better to make it seem like he didn't dislike her mother.

"I'd like that."

Rainer stood just 20 feet from Kara as they prepared for battle. She had offered him more distance, but Rainer himself said that wouldn't fit with the 'mission' they decided on. After all, he had been hit with said poisonous Aura at least once.

In reality, he planned on ending their fight in an instant. Range would only mean getting closer with a Void-walk. He knew Kara would be quite angry with him if he held back at all, so he pulled out all the stops.

Sarah stood in the middle of the two, the moment she used her Void-step enchantment would signal the start. Glancing back and forth between the two partic.i.p.ants, Sarah dropped her hand and disappeared.

[Void Descent]

The world took on a lifeless grey in an instant. Kara found her transformation to a werewolf momentarily paused as she felt for the first time one of Rainer's presence skills directed on her. In that moment, she knew it was over. The presence switched to a hold, one she had no chance of escaping so long as Rainer's Void Will remained.

Two chains of Arcane swiftly wrapped around her and held her tight. Eight glowing circles of magic appeared in an Arc over the [Archon].

In the brief pause [Void Hold] disappeared, he cast his spell.

And her world became violet.

Rainer let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding as he watched Kara reform. Thankfully, she did it quickly enough he didn't have to see her dead and mangled body. a.s.suming there was anything of note left when she took on all eight beams of the [Arcanum] and the subsequent explosion.

He tried not to roll his eyes as he saw Sarah, Lilila, and Luna sitting on a comfy couch off to the side, all with popcorn in their hands. But that wasn't what he found so exasperating. It was the disappointed look on Sarah's face that it ended so quickly. From her perspective, she likely just managed to see the [Arcanum]s being fired the moment she sat down.

"So, we'll set some new rules?" Rainer asked the reformed Kara. He raised an eyebrow as the Wolfkin licked her lips, now realizing he made a good choice not to hold back.

"Hmm? … Yes, I suppose we should."

All Arcane Rituals and presence skills were taken off the table. The second round ended just as fast with a Void-walk and Final Arcanum.

All [Arcane Awakening] skills were taken off the table. The third round ended with a Gravity surge followed by a hastened [Void Call] with the entirety of his Void Will pool.

That had been unpleasant to watch. The sight of Kara headless body collapsing as her biological functions finally determined it was time to bleed had been a memory Rainer was hoping to forget. Though he knew he never would.

They were heading into their fourth round. On top of the previous rules, no Void skills or spells were to be used apart from [Void-walking], but all [Arcane Awakening] skills with the exception of Final Arcanum could be used again.

Rainer looked at Kara as she seemed completely unbothered by her previous deaths. If anything it motivated her more.

"Ready?" Sarah asked Kara as the Wolfkin nodded before his little sister turned to him and did the same. Prior to this one, Kara had explained what Ymir told her about their fight. It boiled down to Rainer not taking advantage of Ymir dodging any of his spells to push forward, staying too close when he had teleportation as an option, and too much focus on single-target spells versus a speed-type Aura user.

He knew this was a chance for both of them to get more fighting experience. There was no way he'd hold back and waste this opportunity. No matter how difficult it was every single time, he'd kill her with all his available might as quickly and as completely as possible. She'd be given no chance so long as he could manage it with the handicaps.

His legs tensed as he went over a strategy in his mind. He briefly glanced at Sarah, waiting for the battle's start. Judging by the look on the [Runic Brawler]'s face, she expected this to be quite an interesting match.

The moment Sarah Void-stepped away Kara started transforming, and Rainer Void-walked away this time. In a moment a [Spear of Arcane] formed in his hand just as Kara became a 10-foot tall werewolf.

Rainer threw the spear, watching Kara's legs. The moment she moved he vanished in several chained Void-walks to mimic the limits of Void-step. An [Arcane-Spatial Domain] increased the gravity within its whole range. Kara's attempts at dodging the expected magic of Gravity Surges only wasted energy.

And gave Rainer all the time he needed as he launched an [Arcane Combustion] charged with enough Mana to kill her instantly. Rainer Void-walked as he mimicked Kara's own chasing of him with Void-step. It was with this reminder he remembered he couldn't use [Void Grasp] either and had no Mana-easy way of stopping her Void-walk. He could likely lock down the s.p.a.ce within his [Arcane-Spatial Domain], but it'd be too expensive to stop a Void-step versus a teleportation.

As he expected, Kara stopped Void-stepping. No matter how much she practiced, compared to his efficient [Void-walking] this kind of chasing would only result in her running out of Aura. Instead, Rainer saw the speed enchantment light up and felt she enhanced herself with Aura, keeping up with his Void-walks physically.

Armed [Arcane Lance]s launched in between Void-walks, only for Kara to dodge them. The two that managed to hit her lost most of their power getting through her Aura s.h.i.+eld and splashed harmlessly against her demonic fur and hide.

Rainer momentarily realized just how much he now depended on not only his Void Skills and Final Arcanum but the surprise element of [Arcane Blade]. He saw no way of hitting her with that. Ending the chasing game, he soared into the sky, getting high enough that she couldn't instantly Void-step to him.

He started launching [Arcane Combustion]s and charged [Arcane Bolt]s one after the other as he thought over his plans. Kara gradually failed to dodge and her Aura reserves started falling from constant use of her enchantments.

Wanting to avoid a battle of attrition, but seeing no way of it, he continued. He kept up a low hum as he poured Arcane in the air. He'd be finis.h.i.+ng it soon.

Kara leapt upwards, Void-stepping straight at him as she used it to dodge his magic in turn. He met her charge, the Arcane buzzing in the air as he prepared to draw on it. Appearing before her, he unleashed a [Cone of Arcane-Fire]. Charged by the very Arcane in the air and his continued outpour of power she could neither dodge nor resist. She only barely managed to Void-step before any fatal damage was done.

Rainer cringed as he saw her bedraggled appearance and burnt fur, but he saw no signs of her even caring and pushed forward. She expended a ma.s.sive amount of Aura to stop the Arcane-fire from burning her further.

A yell with the [Devil's Soul Language] elicited a small flinch, her Soul close enough in strength to Rainer's on top of his own lack of skill. But that was more than enough. A gravity surge went out and, unlike the start of the duel, she was unable dodge, her bones and organs affected by the all-body pressure. An [Arcane Blade] from a flying Rainer ended the duel moments later.

The two stood across from one another, staring. Duel after duel had come after that one, no change in the rules. Kara grew better and better at dodging his magic without Void-step and pressuring him so he couldn't cast any stronger spells, or abusing the mission time-limit of 5 minutes. Rainer's accuracy improved and he started using more and more wide area spells, as well as getting better at exploding spear spells at the perfect time.

Despite any improvement Kara made, however, victory was always his. Rainer's ability to convert Mana to Arcane Power gave him a resource pool that far outmatched Kara's own, and his [Arcane Awakening: s.h.i.+eld Mode] covered any fatal mistakes.

Kara was a bit flushed after their most recent fight, yet having recently reformed her body there should be no physical reason for that. They continued staring at one another before one of their audience members spoke up.

"Oh ew, just go make a room you two. Come on Lilia, no more duels for us," Sarah correctly guessed.

"But I really wanted to watch the next one," Rainer's apprentice complained, eliciting both a groan from Sarah and uproarious laughter from the male subject of said next 'duel'.

"So who exactly will be giving the talk?" Sarah asked, before everyone suddenly looked away from her.

"Luna will do it!" The Fairy offered.

"Maybe my next apprentice…"

"And Sarah, you know the rules, she who smelt it dealt it," Rainer joked. Kara would be an actual better choice for that given Sarah's age.

"That doesn't even apply. Not even remotely. Is Luna corrupting you? Will I lose my brother to nonsensical comparisons and sentences that only border on the proper grammar of whatever language they came from?"

"Rainer is already lost to you," He responded with unhidden glee.

"Kara thinks Sarah should just accept it and join us," Kara added before she turned red with embarra.s.sment as both Nvos siblings stared at her. "I didn't mean it like that," she mumbled.

"My girlfriend's incestous inclinations aside," Rainer said, ignoring a quiet 'hey' from Kara who was too embarra.s.sed to say anything more, "I would really appreciate it. As you can see, her other option may not be the best for it."

"Aunt Flo too?" Sarah knew about Lilia's past and why that might not have happened yet at her late 11 years of age. Nor if it would happen any time soon.

"Kara already did, but might as well get a Human perspective."

"Oh yeah, forgot about the whole race thing."

Lilia was quiet during their conversation, hoping it wasn't more imminent bad news for when she grew up. Part of her already wanted to ask her master for a magical solution. She'd bring it up when he had a spare moment.

"Fine, but just the Aunt Flow thing."

"Kara?" Rainer then asked.

"Of course. I should have done it the first time," She responded.

Rainer grabbed both Kara and Luna and used the power of the White s.p.a.ce to get quite far away from the other two.

The next night, Rainer mentally went over what he learned from Talvara as he pushed his [Void Domain] practice forward. In his most recent sessions, he had managed to push [Void Domain] to level 9, but now both his Domain skills were stuck at that level. Given that he planned on buying [Time Manipulation] and then later perhaps another of his [Harbinger] skills, it was an irritating wall that faced him.

The Void and the Arcanium functioned as opposites to one another, according to her. The all-consuming nothingness of the Void holding back and being held back by the destructive power of the Arcanium. She added that the entirety of the physical world may have been created from the result of the two colliding.

Talvara's 'joke' on how fun it would be if the Void overtook the Arcane one day and consumed all of existence went through his mind. He got the feeling it was only a half-joke for the Void-being.

Rainer thought of them as less opposite but more of opposing forces. After all, Arcane was both chaos and order, serving as its own opposite, from what he gathered. Either way, his longer talk with her had given him a hint for his Absolute Dominion. The energy of Arcane and Void would have to be in-balance, else the spell collapses.

He turned his full attention back to his level 9 [Void Domain]. The last few hours hadn't produced even a modic.u.m of progress, something quite strange as in the past, even with the hardest spells or abilities he had always managed to make some progress, no matter how small. Whether in efficiency, range, or power.

Thinking over just what his [Void Domain] did exactly, Rainer tried to find a way forward. It offered basic improvement to nearly all his Void-skills, and functioned as a replacement for [Void Detection] in targeting if needed. He rarely used it given that [Void Mastery], while more expensive and not improved by bonuses to magic, did the same thing but far better. And [Void Descent] now had a similar function.

He sunk into his Void Will for familiarity and pulled upon his Void within the [Sleep Learning] s.p.a.ce. His own power fueling the [Void Domain] wasn't enough. If he wanted to push to the next point he needed it to borrow the strength of the Void Itself.

More time pa.s.sed unnoticed as he used the power of his own Void to enhance the spell, and used his various Void Skills within the Domain. Gradually he s.h.i.+fted from using [Sleep Learning] to bring about the power of the Void, to the [Void Domain] itself borrowing it. The originally colorless spell that produced only a strange haze within it's range now created a greyness to it.

With every pa.s.sing second, [Void Domain] drew on the Void more on it's own. Rainer's Mana cost increased astronomically. He couldn't even guess what pulling on the Void with the spell was costing at this point. But so long as he reached the final point, that was all that mattered now.

He sunk further and further into his Void Will, and an hour later he stopped helping the spell with [Sleep Learning]. The greyness vanished, and all that was left was the usual [Void Domain]. He continued on, using even more Mana as he now pulled with [Void Domain] alone, before it finally clicked, but this wasn't enough to reach the level he wanted.

It was an incomplete success, but one he welcomed nonetheless.

Rainer dove into his [Void Domain] practice the next night once more, and gradually the spell cost less and less to draw upon the Void itself in it's strength.

And on the third night he reached the end point. A sphere of an almost unnoticeable tinted grey spread out as Rainer used the spell. It still couldn't compare to his Void Skills of a similar function, but it's power in enhancing his Void Skills had gone through a huge upgrade.

[Void Domain has reached level 10]

[Reached the maximum proficiency of a Tier 6 spell for the first time: Rewarding 100 skill points.]

[t.i.tle Gained: Master of Magic]

[Experience Gained: 3.8%, 406%]

Rainer stared in surprise. Not at the skill points but the unexpected t.i.tle gain. But when he thought over just what it would take for a normal mage to reach level 10 with a tier 6 spell, he almost felt it was too little.

[Calculating Excess Experience.]

[Harbinger has leveled up to lvl 13/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed. 2 Attribute and skill points have been rewarded.]

[Harbinger has leveled up to lvl 14/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed. 2 Attribute and skill points have been rewarded.]

[Harbinger has leveled up to lvl 15/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed. 2 Attribute and skill points have been rewarded.]

He calmed himself as he dealt with a new difference in Intelligence, and spread his [Void Domain] once more, noticing the difference that his newly increased unlocked attributes of Harbinger made to the spell. But having more than enough skill points now, his focus switched to an entirely different matter: purchasing [Time Manipulation].

And he did so without pause.

[t.i.tle Gained: Manipulator of Reality]

[Manipulator of Reality: A rare individual capable of manipulating the very fabric of reality. s.p.a.ce-Time bends to their will. 15% Experience Bonus. 15% Bonus to all Manipulation skills.]

[Experience Gained: 0.1%, 13%]

Rainer used his new skill with a bit of glee in his eyes. Spreading out the power around him, he wielded [Sleep Learning] as he sped up Time around him. He stood there in patience as he further put power in the skill, feeling the s.p.a.ce and time around him warp at his command.

He stopped using the skill as he started laughing to himself, or rather at himself. How on earth was he supposed to tell how much faster it made him when he had nothing to compare to? And did speeding himself up in [Sleep Learning] make [Sleep Learning] last longer? At least relatively. He had no idea if speeding himself up might also affect the actual perceived pa.s.sage of time.

Moving time around him 30% faster could easily mean [Sleep Learning] was 30% shorter, and thereby they'd cancel each other out. Without someone else here, he couldn't test it.

Either way, he decided to end his [Sleep Learning] session through leveling [Arcane-Spatial Domain]. There was little reason to not save the second level of [Time Manipulation] for when he could get experience from it. He had little doubt it would be a powerful enough skill to give even his level 24 [Archon] at least some experience of note.

What was a more legendary magic than bending the very time around you? Rainer mused with a grin.

Waking up with both Kara and Luna by his side, Rainer found himself [Void-walking] out of bed and more than eager to play with, or rather train his new skill.

He stood in place as he operated the skill, holding a quickly created clump of Arcane-Earth. Throwing it up in the air, he poured his Mana and manipulated time itself, focusing solely on the now falling dirt.

Or so he thought. The world itself seemed to resist him as even under his observant eyes and high Intelligence there was no change in the dirt as it hit the ground. He was too stunned to even catch it. It plopped onto the ground, awaking the room's other two companions.

"Not Luna...poke the She-wolf instead…" Luna mumbled, while Kara, who had fully woken up from the noise, then poked the Fairy in the forehead 'exactly' as she asked not to be.

"No one ever listens to Luna," The Fairy mumbled with her eyes still closed. She tightly gripped her forehead like covering a grievous wound.

"What exactly are you doing?" Kara said, rubbing her eyes. With over half her time spent aware in [Sleep Learning] she found herself valuing actually unconscious sleep all that much more.

"Playing with dirt apparently," Rainer said, more to himself than her.

"Can you stop and go back to sleep?" Kara sighed, noting there wasn't any sun coming through the curtains. She knew that wasn't actually what he was doing, she dearly hoped at least, but no matter what magic he practiced, it could wait till morning. Or rather, back in [Sleep Learning]. Where only he could hear the sound of dirt hitting the ground.

"Sure, just one last thing. Tell me if my hand starts to move any faster," Rainer said as he methodically snapped his fingers, keeping a beat in his head. Focusing on himself now instead of anything else, he used [Time Manipulation]. The resistance to the skill was still quite strong, making Rainer realize he must have subconsciously done something in [Sleep Learning] to ease it, but he gradually pushed [Time Manipulation] onto himself.

He used more and more mana, a part of him needing to focus on keeping the same exact beat.

"It's faster now."

And a few seconds later, "A bit more. What are you doing with all that Mana?" She asked, now genuinely curious.

Rainer let out a long breath as he stopped.

"Manipulating Time."

[Time Manipulation has reached level 2]

[Experience Gained: 0.5%, 65%]

"Well time for bed," He said [Void-walking] back and giving the stunned Wolfkin no time to ask anything as Luna let go of the sleeping spell she had been quietly chanting. Rainer was asleep moments later.

It seemed she wasn't the only one who valued this kind of sleep, Kara thought while smiling at Luna.

Alaya stood across from her father preparing to spar with him. Having gotten a decent enough handle on her new enchantments with Kara's help, she wanted to demonstrate them for him. Did a part of her perhaps want to enjoy a few looks of envy from her father? Not that she'd ever admit it.

Her Wolfkin mother stood off to the side, the powerful sensor herself curious. Aele Fenrar, the other half of the reason her father was so feared during the war with the North. And also why their country soared in status soon after. Compared to everyone else, they lost next to no one important to group spells. And in sensing powerful mages futilely trying to hide amongst and behind their own armies, the crimson-red-haired Wolfkin was second to none. Or rather, futilely only in front of her. Many of her father's war merits were at her direction.

Even though the Mages of the North were quite adept at hiding the preparation of their group spells, nothing slipped past Aele. And she became the first Queen, or perhaps even Wife, of no notable Aura talent to marry into this Bloodline. Ironic in that Aele ended up producing more Heirs with the Golden Wolf Bloodline than anyone else.

Alaya's mother had oddly refused to meet with either Kara or Rainer. For Kara, it wasn't hard to guess why she wouldn't be fond of the love-child of her own husband's lost love. Unlike his other wives, Aele truly loved her King and Mate. For Rainer, Alaya had no idea why.

Maybe she too could sense whatever it was about him that made Liandra so afraid of the Magus even though he was unusually nice for a Mage of his power. Alaya herself hadn't interacted too much with him beyond the enchantments and seeing Kara and Rainer together, but she saw nothing that was of concern.

She snapped her attention back to her father. Both speed and strength filled her as she poured Aura into her enchantments. It was a rush that was hard to ignore. She launched herself forward at her father, using Aura strings as he did the same. Just before their charge met, she poured Aura into her s.h.i.+eld enchantment, manipulating it just as Kara said, and bas.h.i.+ng it into her father's head a few feet from her. Though, it had been more him charging into it.

The surprise of the move had been enough to rock his head back as he lost his balance for just a moment. Alaya moved beside the now off-kilter charging Wolf King and slashed a powerful claw of Aura into his side, knowing anything short of complete obliteration wouldn't kill her father. Watching him regrow his head during a training session with her older brother when she was younger had been disconcerting, to say the least.

Blood splattered, and Alaya guessed any normal man would soon have died from where the wounds were. It was the first clean hit she had ever landed on him in a serious spar.

She jumped back using the recoil of his fist hitting against her s.h.i.+eld to avoid his second attack. Watching as he rushed forward, Alaya did the same as she manipulated her Aura strings. The two jolted all around the arena as they met through a series of blows. Yet unlike before, Alaya could focus on both attack and defense, something all but impossible to do while manipulating Aura strings so heavily. Too much attention on cladding, and they'd fail. But with the enchantment… she traded blows with her father, him taking damage or dropping strings while she blocked with her s.h.i.+eld.

Alaya managed to land another heavy blow on her father, abusing her increased speed and strength as well before finding herself wrapped by Aura strings just a few moments later. She had been fending them off the whole fight with her s.h.i.+eld as well, but she eventually failed against the more experienced manipulator, as he snapped all of them around her and crushed the s.h.i.+eld she tried to block them with.

He moved in instantly, his hand clad in Aura claws against her neck.

"What happened to properly holding back, Ymir?" Her mother asked from the side, earning herself a playful but annoyed glare from her husband.

"The Magus happened," He said rubbing his head. Alaya knew said injury was long since healed, but the memory of pain, for the quick healers they were, stuck for a bit.

"Have the Enchantments been checked by anyone we can trust?" Aele said, walking over. The way she glared at Ymir reminded Alaya of the argument they had had when she had gotten her enchantments without talking to her mother first.

Ymir shrugged, "Is there a person in the world that can check such a thing? Do we have any Fae on retainer that I am unaware of? I called Tiyar over and he can barely tell there's magic on Alaya's skin. According to him it's just lines of dried and enchanted magic liquid of some sort that not only should have been washed away, but doesn't seem to do anything. Not that you can even really see the lines when it's not in use."

Tiyar, a strange runaway from the Stonehold Guild of Mages. In exchange for Magicite, he had been secretly serving their family for some time. Usually just in the form of tracking and hunting down spies or other black mages causing problems in their territories. They rarely ever met as far as she knew.

"I trust Rainer," Alaya offered, and was summarily ignored by the pair who continued their discussion. She shrugged, that feeling was mostly because of time spent with Kara, and also the ludicrous enchantments that Wolfkin got. Although she never admitted it, Alaya knew Kara's ability to teleport had to be related to the Body Enchantments. Such a thing...she couldn't even imagine having such an advantage herself. She found it unlikely Rainer was using Kara in anyway to get close to her father.

Despite her mother arguing against it, there was little Aele could do facing the glimmer in Ymir's eyes. He wanted the enchantments. Badly. Even just the physical enhancers made a huge difference in their duel. Had they been fighting to the death, Alaya guessed her usual chance of winning went from 0.01% to perhaps 5% or even 10%. That was too huge a difference to pa.s.s up, especially given they'd both be heading to the Dungeon Meet.

Alaya laughed a bit, wanting to be there to watch her father negotiate with Rainer. For all the politician he was, when he was this interested in something, he struggled to hide it. It was good for their country that the things that interested him could be counted on one hand.

Their party was already set with her older brother, a few other kings and their heirs, on top of a Magic-Focused Hunter Party. Though she wondered if asking Rainer might be better. After all, she doubted there was a mage in the world who could fight her father in close-combat other than him. That had to count for something.

Rainer spent the days before the meeting with Gunthar and their new 'Brother' hunting for more shades in the mountain as promised. They had watched the [Chimera Shade] carefully, but found no reason to be concerned. The gains in power were small. And said Shade only grew more attached to Rainer, much to his hair's dismay. At least Rainer had discovered he could grow it easily enough with [Arcane Invigoration].

He had little doubt that, when they were done, the Shade would be following them in some manner. Luna was well aware of that as well, and was quite excited about the prospect much to the dismay of practically everyone else. Though, Rainer himself found it easy to like the Shade-being. And he spoke better with every pa.s.sing day.

The promised day for the leaders.h.i.+p meeting had come. Elelaria had told him she would come to retrieve him and they'd head there together, where he'd be able to sit in on the more public portions.

However, since his meeting with her grandfather she hadn't visited him even once. He hoped he hadn't canceled that relations.h.i.+p, and at the very least there hadn't seemed to be any attempts at retaliation. All he could do was wait as Luna modified his clothes around and under his enchanted Overcoat to the style of the Earth's upper cla.s.s.

While fitting in was a possible route, Rainer ventured hammering in the notion he was a Foreigner had its own benefits. And what better way to do that than the way he dressed? His enchanted overcoat functioned easily enough a formal coat, if one ignored the lightly s.h.i.+mmering purple runic lines.

All he could do is wait. Worse comes to worst, he could show up uninvited and make his pitch as if he never met Elelaria at all. A knock on his door, told him that plan was thankfully shelved. Now that he gave it even a modic.u.m of thought, strutting into a room of some of the world's strongest uninvited was detrimental for his health.

Luna finished up and flew into his overcoat as Rainer went to answer the door himself.

"Greetings, Lord Magus," Elelaria said with a bow, her stance more open as opposed to her grandfather. Either personal differences or gender specific. He partially copied it in return, remembering her grandfather's motions as opposed to hers.

"Lord Magus?" He asked.

"It would not do to appear too familiar at the meeting. My grandfather had lept to the conclusion that your gifts to me were of courting. Such an image to the leaders.h.i.+p would mean presenting the enchantments was only a convenient after-thought rather than your intended purpose."

Even for her planned purpose, Rainer felt she was far too stiff. Given what she was saying was to his benefit and that was the closest she's ever spoken to a complete truth, he guessed it wasn't because she was angry at him.

Afraid?

"Whatever happened at the meeting, I don't hold you responsible in the slightest. Your grandfather's choices are his own."

The way Ele momentarily pursed her lips made Rainer think she didn't agree with the reasoning, but the smile after showed she was at least happy with it.

"I'm glad. I would hate a misunderstanding to ruin our relations.h.i.+p."

"A misunderstanding?" Rainer questioned darkly. Nothing about the threat was a 'misunderstanding' no matter whether his reaction to it was justified.

"I-in that the guards were my grandfather's," She quickly corrected. The way she seemed like a cornered animal made Rainer regret his approach. "They were not. They were a.s.sa.s.sins or spies, humans at that. Likely waiting for the opportune moment to strike if the former. It seems we owe you a debt, no matter the circ.u.mstances."

Rainer swore to himself. Their souls were so closed off and he left in such a hurry he didn't even take note of their race.

"Happy to be of help. Then we should be off. If you give me directions, I can have us appear from nowhere and make the other amba.s.sador regret not meeting me," Rainer said, still a little sour about not having seen any Lamia since he came here. Biological interest, of course, he repeated to himself.

"The meeting hall is both enchanted and inscribed against teleportation."

"And?"

Ele laughed to herself, "So it would be a fitting show of your status."