Erik Fors
Today had already been filled with surprises, but nothing could have prepared me for this.
A circular, massive emerald disc intercepted the incoming attack from the sky. The force of the impact rippled across its surface.
But that was not all, the more astonishing thing was the fox that hovered beneath it. Except it was no longer the small creature that usually perched on my nephew's head.
It was enormous.
Large enough that the boy who once carried it now stood upon its head.
White wings of pure mana—no, it wasn't mana, but some sort of energy, unfurled from behind the boy.
He was holding something in his arms. Even though his back was towards me, I could tell his severed arm had been restored.
He's alive and safe.
Relief struck me so suddenly it nearly made my knees give way.
Sis moved in an instant, her silver aura trailing behind her as she reached up to wrap her hands around him. But he disappeared from her grasp.
I flinched back as he reappeared, hovering right in front of my face.
His movements were impossible to follow…and since when could he fly?
"Young lord!" Miss Aifa called out.
But Siegfried didn't answer or look at her. He moved closer to me, his expression unreadable. In his arms, he was holding a naked young boy with jet-black hair and slightly pointed ears. Siegfried reached out and handed me the child, his touch cold and buzzing with a power I didn't recognize.
"W-what?"
I looked at my nephew, not understanding why he had given me this boy or where the child had even come from. But Siegfried wasn't looking at me. His eyes were unfocused, hazy, as if he were staring at something miles beyond this battlefield. Even his eye, the one normally hidden under his eyepatch, was now uncovered and surrounded by a pulsing green mana. The shape of his white iris had changed, transforming into a sharp, four-pointed suncross star.
He's different. There's something about him now that sends a chill down my spine. What happened to him?
"N-nephew...?" I called out again, my voice trembling as I reached for his shoulder, expecting some kind of reply.
"That white energy... It is you, isn't it?"
The demon's voice boomed from the heavens, dripping with a newfound, hungry recognition. The monster extended its form from the black sky, pressing its massive, clawed hands against the emerald barrier. Multiple hands manifested from the sky, slamming against the green glass and pouring a torrent of blood-red mana into the shield.
The sound of the barrier breaking was like a thousand windows shattering at once.
"Tree's bastard!"
The demon roared and unleashed a storm of brown black energy from its many hands. The attacks tore through the air like falling comets.
Sis's grand spirit shifted to intercept the blast, but Faux reached out and placed a massive paw on the spirit's shoulder, stopping him mid-motion. The fox moved forward and opened his mouth wide. To my utter disbelief, the incoming attacks bent toward him getting sucked into his maw until the air was clear.
"What?" The demon's voice held the same bewilderment as mine, while Faux slowly licked his lips in silence. His tail straightened, the fur flattening as a barrier formed around it like a suit of reinforced armor. Then, I felt a familiar, sharp pressure. Willpower began to coalesce around the tail in a dense, shimmering edge.
"Sword aura?" Tavian spoke in shock as he descended from above, his body drenched in sweat. The wind spirits that once surrounded him faded away one by one.
Faux swung his tail in one massive sweep.
The sky split.
A diagonal line cut across the heavens.
The black veil parted.
The demon's body was severed along the same line.
Even the clouds far beyond it carried the scar of that swing.
The demon groaned in a discordant melody of pain, his form flickering as he struggled to pull his severed body back together.
Siegfried appeared high above, standing next to Faux with a calm that felt alien. Sis and the grand spirit joined them, forming a line of silver and white against the bleeding sky.
"Was that Gluttony he used to eat that attack?" Miss Serena asked as she landed lightly next to us.
"Statement: Positive. It matches the recorded data of the primordial sin," the blue orb replied, its mechanical voice chillingly calm amidst the ruins.
Gluttony? No, more importantly, where has she been?
Before I could ask anything, something crashed beside us with a heavy thud.
Violent coughing followed.
I turned.
Ashar knelt on the ground, bracing himself on all fours as his body shook with each cough. The edges of his long crimson hair had turned pale white.
Miss Aifa rushed to his side immediately.
She knelt beside him and began checking his condition.
Are these side effects of the magic he used?
"Damn you! It's really you, Tree bastard!!!"
My gaze lifted again toward the sky where the demon was still struggling to stitch his severed body back together. He looked more desperate now, more frantic.
"My strength has grown beyond what it once was. I will not lose again. This time, you are the one who will be consumed." The demon gripped the edges of the black sky as if it were fabric.
The creature grabbed hold of the black sky itself.
The surface twisted.
Copies of the demon began emerging one after another, crawling out of the darkness like reflections stepping out of a mirror.
It keeps popping one new ability after another.
"Defeat will not claim us again."
Every copy spoke at the same time.
Suddenly, a rush of mana surrounded the area. It wasn't the violent, crushing pressure I expected. It was controlled, terrifyingly precise, and it began to spread through the air like ink in water. I looked at my nephew and saw that he was the source. He looked so calm, floating there amidst the danger.
Sis also looked at him with an excited, almost feral smile. She knew what was coming. I slowly realized what he was up to as the air began to hum with a frequency that silenced the demon's many voices.
"Spellfield, open..."
In the blink of an eye, the color bled out of the world. Everything vanished from around us. The trees, the broken ground, the very horizon itself simply ceased to exist.
"White of the End."
We were left floating in a vast, infinite white space. There was no shadow, no depth, just an absolute white and us.
This is an advanced spellfield with complex conditions. Just how insane is his talent?
"Magnificent. A perfected spellfield by an eight year old." Next to me, Miss Serena laughed like crazy, clearly enjoying the moment.
My nephew stood quietly in the center of that endless white.
The demon copies reacted instantly.
"Kill him."
The lead demon shouted, and the entire army of shadows rushed forward through the white void.
Siegfried didn't move an inch. He slowly brought his hands together in front of his chest. He looked at the oncoming tide of monsters and uttered two simple, quiet words.
"White Death."
As his hands clasped together, a searing, absolute heat consumed the surrounding space. A flash of light followed that was so intense it felt as if it were burning through my very soul.
The blinding light died down and the spellfield dissolved as quickly as it had formed. All the copies of the demon were gone, erased as if they had never been. In the sky, the black veil had vanished, and the demon's original body came crashing down from the heights, hitting the earth with a sickening thud.
"D-damn you, tree bastard." His body was smoking, charred and broken as he tried to crawl across the dirt, his movements pathetic and desperate.
"Finish it, Valka Fors!"
As Miss Serena shouted, Sis was already on the move. She leaped through the air, her axe held high with a silver light radiating from the blade. But at that exact moment, darkness came flooding from the rift connecting to the timestream, surging down like a black waterfall to surround the demon. Sis swung her weapon down with enough force to split a mountain, but a large, jagged tentacle erupted from the darkness and parried the strike with a violent clang.
"Looks like you removed the being from the source for me."
The demon's voice was distorted, layered with a new, terrifying power.
Removed the being? The source of Entropy?
My eyes fell to the child cradled in my arms.
No… that can't be.
This boy… he's the being from the Source?
"Don't let it escape!" Miss Serena shouted as she teleported from next to me in a flash of purple light.
Darkness gathered tighter around the creature.
It condensed into a massive sphere that began drifting toward the rift.
After all the carnage and the lives he had nearly extinguished, the coward was trying to run away.
Miss Serena raised her hand and fired multiple flaming lances.
But a violent whirlwind erupted around it.
The flames were pushed away as the sphere continued moving toward the rift.
The storm expanded rapidly.
The air twisted in impossible patterns.
I could see it clearly.
The wind rotated in two different directions at the same time.
One spiral pulling inward.
The other pushing outward.
It was a dizzying sight that defied logic, a feat that could only be possible through the use of space magic.
No. That was not the end of it.
More whirlwinds burst from the sphere's surface.
They spiraled outward like twisting tentacles, each one thrashing violently through the air and lashing out to keep everyone at bay.
"Spelljammer."
The moment the word was uttered, a massive wave of mana slammed into the whirlwinds. The extended, lashing tentacles vanished in an instant, dissolved by the sheer force of the counter-magic. The primary whirlwind surrounding the sphere began to ripple and fluctuate, its stable rotation finally starting to destabilize under the pressure.
Sis didn't hesitate. She lunged forward and punched with everything she had. Her fist connected, making the entire whirlwind collapse inward upon itself. But to my horror, I saw the giant sphere use the momentum. Like a ball being kicked, it used the force of Sis's blow to accelerate, shooting directly into the open rift of the timestream.
The dark sphere slipped through the opening and vanished into the timestream.
It slipped away. Even after all of that, it escaped into the one place we couldn't follow.
"We cannot allow that thing to roam unchecked, especially in the timestream," Serena said, her voice heavy with the weight of the consequences we were all imagining. If that monster was left to wander the paths of time, nowhere and no when would be safe.
Sis nodded silently.
"Start working on closing it," Sis said to Serena before she turned around.
"Erik! Tavian!" She called out.
Tavian and I moved toward her through the air.
She summoned her axe.
The massive weapon appeared in her grasp, humming with power as always.
Then she held it out toward me.
"Erik. Take it."
Huh?
She gestured for me to take the weapon, her eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my heart hammer. I handed the unconscious child over to Tavian and reached out, wrapping my fingers around the handle of her axe.
Even for me, the weight was too much. It was heavy, a true burden of iron and spirit. I wondered for a fleeting second how she could possibly wield this with such grace, playing with it as if it were a feather in one hand. But more than that, the confusion gnawed at me. Why was she giving this to me now?
"Sis... Why are you acting like this…?"
But instead of answering me, she turned her gaze toward Tavian. Her expression was solemn, devoid of its usual fiery spark.
"Tavian... Remember, no one else is your lord. Not me, Valka, nor Sigmund. It is Siegfried Fors."
"My lady...?"
Tavian looked just as confused as I was by her words, his brow furrowed in concern. However, he composed himself quickly, shifting the child in his arms to give a deep, respectful bow. "Yes, my lady."
Sis didn't say another word to us. She flew past, heading toward Siegfried. He was staggering in the air, a hand pressed firmly over his glowing eye. His white wings were getting smaller and smaller, flickering like a dying candle as he descended slowly toward the earth. I noticed Faux was starting to shrink too, the majestic spirit returning to his smaller, more familiar form.
As she reached Siegfried, she wrapped her arms tightly around him. She held him with a desperate strength, as if she were afraid that if she let go for even a single second, he would slip through her fingers and vanish again.
"My cute little Sieg~"
"M-mother?"
Siegfried Fors
Did I black out… again?
Ugh… my head's killing me.
Where am I?
I could feel information pouring into me, a relentless stream of data that I didn't ask for… Is this because of my eye?
I tried to pull back from the sensory overload, but the world was too loud, too bright, and far too vivid.
I could tell I was outside. I was no longer in the Source or that ocean of stars. This was a forest with a high mana density, the air thick and heavy with magical saturation. I could see specks of darkness lingering in the area.
My thoughts struggled to stay together.
Graaah!! This pain. My head hurts so much it feels like it might actually burst open.
I just want it to stop. I want the world to go quiet for just one second.
Then, I felt something wrapping around me. Two familiar arms pulled me close, emitting a comforting warmth that acted like a balm against the jagged edges of my mind. The smell of her scent and the steady beat of her heart… hearts began to anchor me back to reality, pulling me away from the overwhelming flood of information.
"My cute little Sieg~"
"M-mother?"
My voice was weak, barely a whisper against her. The pain in my head began to dim as the tension left me. I felt so small in her embrace, like a boat finally reaching the shore after a storm that should have sunk it.
"My little Sieg has grown so strong~ I'm so proud of you… You were amazing today~!" Even though it was difficult to hear, there was no way I could miss her happy giggling.
"N-no… what I did was nothing compared to you."
The words slipped out between weak breaths.
In truth, I don't remember much of what I did. Just some mere flashes of memory, images of white light and a large Faux.
My eyelids started feeling heavy. It was becoming hard to keep my eyes open.
Mother hummed softly, a delicate melody barely a whisper. Yet the air around us grew so very still, as if the world itself had stopped to listen. The quiet carried a solemn weight that set my heart racing. "...Make sure to listen to your granny."
"Huh?"
I looked up
She looked at me with quiet gentleness, the pure affection in her eyes gave me the strength to keep my own eyes open for a little longer.
"Eat well, grow strong, and temper your body through relentless training. Become someone who can be both cruel and just when the moment demands it. Cherish those who stand beside you, and become a living nightmare to any who would dare harm them. You do not need to be a savior to the world. It is enough to be one to those you hold dear."
Why…
Why is she saying all of this…
A strange unease crept into me.
It sounded too much like a farewell.
"And remember this… the road to salvation is never gentle. Conflict/ war will walk beside you, guiding your steps until the very end."
I felt something move through me.
Her silver mana flowed into me, spreading through my mana veins and reaching my soul crucible.
Then, the color of the mana changed, it shifted from my mother's silver to the emerald green of my own.
Words surfaced inside my fading consciousness.
[Nascent Arcana: Ember Step]
I can't… anymore…
The world was slipping away into a blur. I felt something soft and warm touch my forehead. I did my best to keep a hold on her, my fingers clutching at her clothes, but my strength was failing. As I slowly closed my eyes, the weight of the day finally pulled me under.
My consciousness came and went in fragmented waves. I could barely hear the words being spoken around me; they felt as though they were coming from far, far away.
"Close it after I go in."
Mother's voice... distant, yet unmistakable.
"Sis? You can't be serious. You won't be able to come back!"
Uncle.
His voice sounded strained and desperate.
"…I will keep it open enough for your return. But if your mana disappears, I will close it."
Serena.
As always, calm and detached.
Their words swirled around my fading awareness.
Go in…?
Close what…?
"I am closing it."
The voice drifted through the haze.
"Wait! No! She will come back! You have to wait for her!"
"Right. You are not capable of sensing her mana."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Her mana has disappeared."
Silence followed.
Then a voice cracked.
"S-she... no... I-I... I refuse to believe it! She is my crazy sister! She would never lose! She is the strongest."
The words trembled.
Desperate.
Pleading.
"…I can only honor her last wishes."
For some reason, those words echoed deep within my soul. They felt like a final stone being placed on a grave. Somewhere between the edge of waking and fading out, I became aware of the wetness on my cheeks. I felt the tears running down my face, marking the moments of a life that would never be the same again.
My mind finally let go, and the silence of the void claimed me once more, yet, the warmth of those tears lingered long after everything else had faded away.