Horizon's Edge Read online

  While his attitude was crude, I guess he wasn’t a bad person.

  With currents of mana already flowing inside of me, I conjured a gale to circle around us, instantly encasing us in a dome of wind.

  [Wind Barrier]

  “Fwoooosh!”

  The debris most likely wouldn’t have killed any of the trained guards but even with mana augmentation around their bodies, it wouldn’t have been a pretty site.

  I kept my spell active, noticing the gaping face of Guard number one switching his gaze back and forth between me and the wind barrier.

  All of a sudden, a familiar figure jumped backwards down from the ledge of the explosion site, landing just next to us.

  “You guys alright down... Ah! Arthur, good to see you again, brat! Sorry for this, but you’re going to need to give me a hand.” As Grandpa Virion returned his focus to the site of the explosion, I dispersed my spell.

  “Gramps, what’s going on? Was there an intruder?”

  “Bah! You think I’d be having this much trouble if it was just an intruder?” Virion clicked his tongue in frustration.

  “Then who—”

  “BOOOOM!”

  “Grandpa! Stop this thing!! I can’t control i~~~~t!”

  Out from the giant hole in the mansion appeared Tess surrounded by dozens of emerald green tendrils made of mana swaying sporadically, destroying everything it hit.

  Of course.

  I couldn’t help but curse under my breath. I initially blamed Windsom since he was supposed to have cured her from the beast will that was trying to take over her body; paying attention, however, since Tess was still conscious and quite rowdy, I deduced that she most likely couldn’t control the mana she released.

  “Tch. That aura is pretty frightening. Those tentacle-like vines protects Tess as well as attacks anything within its range. Even if I try cutting it, more tendrils take its place. Brat, I’ll support you from the back, try to reach Tess; my techniques aren’t really useful for anything other than assassinating and right now, we need a way to overpower this aura.”

  I give Virion an affirming nod and take a step forward, concentrating more mana around me.

  “Elder Virion. We can assist as well! Please instruct us on—”

  “No! You guys would be useless against her. Just clear the area and make sure no one comes near here.” Grandpa Virion waved his hand without turning back.

  I took a peek at the baffled guards. When I checked their mana core levels earlier, they seemed to be around the solid to light orange stage, which would be considered top tier considering their ages.

  “But Elder, the child is—”

  “Go. Now! I don’t have time for this,” Grampa Virion growled.

  These elites that were probably never called useless in their lives muttered in confusion, looking at me with peculiar eyes before clearing the way.

  “You know, Gramps, they probably still could’ve helped.”

  “The less people know about my granddaughter’s powers, the better. At least at this point. Now focus, brat,” he breathed, keeping his gaze on Tess.

  “Aye aye, Sir,” I smirked.

  “Let’s go!”

  At Grandpa Virion’s signal, we made a break for Tessia, who was on the edge of the mansion.

  Augmenting my legs in wind attribute mana, I waited until a condensed gale formed underneath my feet before launching off from the ground.

  Even though Tess’ back was faced us, the tendrils responded as soon as we got close. Immediately, the vines that were erratically swaying straightened up and shot themselves at us.

  “Keep going! I’ll cover you!” Grandpa Virion shouted from the back.

  While I had my back turned to him, just by the change in his voice, it was obvious that Grandpa Virion initiated the first phase of his beast will.

  The two of us hacked our way closer and closer towards where Tess was struggling to gain control over the emerald green aura surrounding her.

  I stuck with using wind spells, afraid that the aura would conduct any lightning attribute spells; and we were in a mostly wood environment so I held back on any fire spells.

  As soon as our wind blades severed the tendrils, it dissipated, another tendril taking its place.

  It wasn’t working.

  I took a deep breath, relying on Grandpa Virion to cover me for a couple of seconds.

  After finishing my chant, I felt a sizeable drain on my mana, along with a slight tingling sensation coursing throughout my body.

  [Thunderclap Impulse]

  The tendrils that were evidently growing in number and appeared to be overwhelming us in slow motion. Having the luxury to take a glance back, even Grandpa Virion’s attacks slowed down enough where I could see his movements.

  Dodging the tendrils, I avoided wasting mana on other spells until I reached Tessia.

  Every step forward at this point involved me dodging at least five tendrils, until I finally reached arm's length of the troublesome princess.

  Grabbing her by the waist, I prepare my final spell.

  “Eek! A-A-Arthur?” Tess squealed in surprise.

  Before I had the chance to respond, the tentacles suddenly retracted and gathered around the two of us before springing us off the mansion through the hole made by the explosion. With my technique still active, I was able to react in time to hold onto her before the two of us skyrocketed up into the air.

  “KYYYAAAAAHHH!” Tessia’s voice echoed loud enough for the whole kingdom to probably hear.

  “Hold on tight!”

  Locking my arms around her, I surrounded her in a layer of protective mana before casting my spell.

  [Absolute Zero]

  The amount of time it took to cast my spell took a lot longer without using the second phase of my dragon will.

  As the layer of frost slowly spread out from around us, freezing the tendrils trying desperately to separate me from Tess, I had to keep my concentration to the max to keep the spell going.

  “Break!” I roared before taking a kick at the completely frozen tendrils, shattering it into countless shards of shimmering little diamonds.

  It was a gamble to try and freeze the tendrils that Tess manifested and, like expected, my spell wasn’t strong enough to completely freeze everything, but I was able to separate the tendrils from their source of fuel, Tess.

  Tess had a glazed look in her eyes as she hung onto my neck, mesmerized by the thousands of falling ice shards reflecting the amber lights of the city,

  Our eyes locked and Tess immediately blushed.

  I gave her a playful wink in response.

  “Hi, there.”

  Chapter 86: Winding Down

  TESSIA ERALITH’S POV:

  Tell me I’m dreaming…

  The last thing I remembered was trying to release the first phase of my beast will. Grandpa had been really surprised after he checked my mana core, saying that my body was somehow already fully integrated with the Elderwood Guardian’s beast will.

  I didn’t fully understand why Grampa had been so surprised, but I remembered Arthur taking a few years to fully integrate with his beast will.

  Hehe… does this mean I’m catching up to him?

  No, we were just kids at that time, but he was able to smoothly integrate. Grandpa told me how amazing that was.

  It wasn’t fair.

  Every time Grandpa talked about Arthur, all he had were words of praise. If it had been any other person, I would be jealous.

  But it’s okay; he’s mine anyway…

  Well not yet…

  But soon he will be!

  ...hopefully.

  Stupid Arthur! I wanted to impress him by being able to control the beast will he gave me.

  So much for that… I completely failed and even destroyed part of the castle!

  Oh my gosh... Mother and Father aren’t going to be too happy when they see this...

  And then he showed up…

  Arthur just had to make his a
ppearance at the worst possible time.

  Now he’s holding me like some I’m sort of damsel in distress! Though begrudgingly, I couldn’t deny that I was in a sorry state...

  I can’t look at him in the face. I know if I look at him, I’ll start blushing.

  Don’t look Tess! Don’t look! Don’t-

  Dang it, I looked!

  “Hi, there.” Arthur gave me a charming wink with his blue eyes.

  I can feel my own face burning like an oil-dipped candle but I can’t seem to peel my eyes away from his gaze until we land.

  “Sh-shouldn’t you put me down now?” I managed to stammer out, giving it my all to keep my voice from cracking.

  There was a twinkle in his eyes as he playfully smiled at me while he put me down. I knew he was enjoying my embarrassment.

  Ugh…

  “Are you okay, Tess?” Grandpa caught up to where Arthur and I was. He was sweating and had minor injuries from where my beast will’s aura hit him, but thankfully, otherwise, he looked fine.

  “Yes, Grandpa. Sorry for causing all of this mess.” My gaze lowered to see that Arthur’s right leg was bleeding through his pants.

  Oh no! He’s hurt! Sigh… I really messed up big time...

  *Flick*

  “Oww! Wha-?” I stared wide-eyed at Arthur who suddenly flicked my forehead.

  “I’m just glad our troublesome princess isn’t hurt. Right, Gramps?” Arthur said.

  Even though he teased me like this, his worried gaze couldn’t help but make me feel warm inside.

  “Yes, my troublesome little granddaughter is fine. That’s all that matters. Who cares if she destroyed half of a historic mansion passed down in our family,” Grandpa smirked.

  “Hnngg…” I felt like I had shrunk half my size in embarrassment as both my grandfather and Arthur broke out into laughter.

  ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

  It took a while for Tess to be able to look me in the eyes after letting her back down. As soon as Gramps called the guards back, we left the manor for them to keep watch. While the royal family's mansion was still standing strong besides the gaping hole in the corner, due to security reasons, Virion arranged for us to be taken to an inn, where it was easier for the guards to keep an eye out for any potential harm.

  “I should let my son know about what happened in case he and his wife come back early from the meeting. They'll probably assume the worst case scenario.” Gramps let out a deep sigh.

  He was rubbing his temples as we sat down on a leather couch at a separate lounge in the first floor of the Spiral Ivy Inn.

  I won’t lie. It was a pretty enjoyable sight once we got inside. Since it was just around dinner time, the inn was filled with indistinguishable babble and clatters of plates and utensils. Once they saw us, it felt like someone muted the entire inn as baffled faces of the inn workers and customers that were once eating dropped everything, including their jaws, witnessing the former king of the kingdom with his disheveled appearance carrying his granddaughter, the princess of their kingdom, entering the inn accompanied by an unknown human child

  Fortunately, the inn manager quickly raced out, beating back all of the nearby elves and merchants courageous enough to horde us, and escorted us to the VIP lounge.

  “I must apologize for this, Elder Virion. We weren’t expecting a visit from someone of your status or else we would’ve surely made accommodations.” The manager’s posture was deliberately lowered, one hand cupping the other. “Might I ask what brought you to our humble inn?” he continued on.

  “The manor is a bit... messy at the moment. We’re fine here for now; just have a room for us to stay.” Gramps waved the manager away after setting down Tess, who had fallen asleep on the way here. On the other hand, you can almost see the tail fiercely wagging from the ever-attentive manager as he nodded like a puppy that just got a treat from his master upon receiving Virion’s directions.

  I got myself settled on the couch facing Virion’s as I laid the sleeping Sylvie who was quietly snoring in my arms by the time we got here. “So what happened back there, Gramps?”

  “You wouldn’t believe this, brat. I examined her mana core the other day and guess what… her body was already fully integrated with the Elderwood Guardian’s beast will!” Virion leaned in forward. The excitement in his sharp eyes contrasted how softly he spoke to not wake Tess up.

  “You can’t be serious… How can her body be fully integrated with an S class beast—” I stop what I say as Windsom pops up in my mind. Were the orbs that he gave to Tess responsible for this unprecedented phenomena?

  “What’s wrong? Why did you stop talking all of a sudden?” Virion raised a brow.

  “No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking. Gramps, is that why Tess tried to release the first phase of her beast will?”

  Virion let out a wry laugh at this while he scratched his cleanly-shaven chin. “We both got a little ahead of ourselves in thinking that Tess would be able to control her powers because her body was already integrated.”

  While the integration between the beast will and the host was essential in order for the body to fully adapt to a mana beast’s will, especially for one that was at a higher stage than their own strength, it was also a training process of sorts. Through the integration process, you become accustomed to how the beast will might affect your body and how you can control its powers, even if it’s a little bit.

  Tessia was able to skip this long and arduous process, whether fortunately or not, preventing her from becoming exposed to what effect the beast will can have on her when released.

  “It’s fine now that everything has been settled, but Tess needs to be more careful when using her beast will.” I sank back into my seat, taking a long look at the princess sleeping.

  “Mmm. I was thinking the same thing. Maybe getting a seal for her until she’s able to better control her beast will. It’s a shame that there’s no specific seal for beast wills; I worry that she wouldn’t be able to protect herself while her seal is on. Even if it was removable, she would be practically defenseless without mana protecting her for a period of time,” Virion let out a deep sigh.

  “You could always give her some sort of protective artifact. If that’s not enough to keep peace in your mind, I’ll be there too, Gramps. I won’t let anything happen to your precious granddaughter,” I nodded.

  “Oh I’m sure you’d protect Tessia even if she wasn’t my granddaughter,” Virion shot me a teasing wink.

  We discussed a bit more about the potential powers that Tessia’s beast will might have until the both of us were too tired to continue on. Tessia stirred awake every now and then while Sylvie was so deep asleep that the only indication that my bond was still alive was by the rhythmic expanding and contracting of her belly.

  We found ourselves in a luxurious suite with more than enough bedrooms for each of us upon reaching the uppermost level of the inn. The rooms were lavishly decorated in ornaments and trinkets with the walls intricately laid out with vines, giving the place a very fairy-like ambience.

  Virion set Tess down inside one of the rooms and came back out to the living room as he poured himself a concoction from a bottle that I assumed to be some sort of liquor.

  After wishing him a good night, I tossed Sylv on the bed as she kept sleeping, unfazed, while I changed into the loose silk robe that was hung up on the robe. Taking a deep breath my mind ran through the events of today. After the intense happenings as of late, I finally had some time to consolidate my thoughts. With some time to think, I divulged myself to what I seemed to have forgotten to do since being born again into this world. I began to strategize.

  When I wasn’t training my own strength, I was constantly coming up with different methods of handling my problems. It was essential to come up with a backup plan in case things went wrong, and a backup for the backup plan for when plan A went horribly out of line. I hated to admit it, but there were times when I catch myself regressing in the way I handle things. As th
e world around me became some sort of exaggerated fairytale, my mindset also turned into an immature and shallow child-like protagonist.

  Streams of if-then scenarios played out in my mind as I thought back to what I discussed with Windsom. If things were really happening as the Asuras made it out to be, then I needed to prepare in advance. Advancing my mana core would be the easy part. I was more worried about what I’d have to leave behind, at least temporarily, while I started training.

  Before I leave, I’d have to make sure that my family, Elijah, Tess, Grandpa… that they’d all be protected enough so that when the war starts, they can be relatively safe if I’m not there.

  I thought about my sister, Eleanor. She was still making progress on awakening but it’d still be maybe a year or two before she’d be able to start learning magic. She and Mother had the protective charm I gave them, but that was just for that one, life threatening situation. It wouldn’t save her repeatedly.

  After running through different options, an idea dawned on me. It might be better at this point to maybe find a bond for Ellie. But it couldn’t just be any bond or there wouldn’t be any meaning to it. The mana beast needed to be strong enough and protective enough so that it could protect my sister’s life...and maybe occasional discourage the weak-willed boys that are audacious enough to try and woo her.

  Hehe…

  The more I thought about it, the more I came to like the idea.

  Hey, it would be pretty normal for a loving brother to get his younger sister a pet that could potentially maul anyone that gets within 3 feet from her... right?

  Chapter 87: A Will’s Unwillingness

  ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

  Tessia didn’t wake up until late into the afternoon of the day after. Virion had left in the morning to deal with what had happened to their home, and left a note on the other side of my door telling me to take “good care” of Tess until he got things sorted out. It normally would’ve sounded serious if not for the winking face he crudely drew at the bottom of the note, making me question what exactly Gramps’ definition of taking good care of someone was.