What was magic? The question seemed far too simple to carry the weight Slady cast over the environment. Many believed magic was merely a gift granted by Zyrionq to face the Renkai Creatures, but that childish view faded in the presence of his gestures. There was something deeper, more dangerous, something never clearly spoken.
Slady leaned on his cane and tilted his body slightly. A silent tension took over the field. Elisa watched cautiously, arms crossed, while Shaphira stood caught between curiosity and apprehension, ears attentive to his every movement.
The explanation came like a gradual weight. Magic had never been explored at its full potential because those who tried to surpass its limits did not survive to tell the tale. Fire overwhelmed the user. Ice froze life itself. Water turned the body fluid. Wind tore through. Electricity disrupted everything that kept the organism stable. Wood altered the user from within. Earth absorbed the body until it became part of the soil. Blood drained life instantly. Renkai Energy stole consciousness and autonomy.
None of this was myth. None was exaggeration. Everything was consequence.
Slady approached Shaphira and brushed her hair aside, revealing the mark sealed on her neck. The mark that once had prevented her mind from being taken away from her. Elisa observed, finally understanding what she had always considered a strange detail on her sister's body.
The silence that followed was heavier than any explanation. Slady stepped back and sat on a stone as if ready to announce a verdict. He offered no promises. No reassurance. Only a possible and brutal path.
From that day on, the two would be led into training that would place them face to face with death itself. A process capable of revealing the peak of their magic, but one that could also destroy them without warning. There was no glamour in this journey. Only risk. Power and death walking side by side.
***
Inside a dimension, Ferinish stood focused while the platform shook. Cold pressed against her skin like sharp needles. Lava melted nearby, almost brushing her. The Renkai Creatures leapt at her to tear her apart, managing to wound her, yet the warrior showed no expression of pain.
Her chest warmed gradually. The mark around the area shifted to an orange hue, sparks emerging from the tattoo until turning into flames. Ferinish clenched her fists. Veins stood out on her temple and her casual clothing began to give way as fire spread around her.
Feeling mana gathering in her right hand, the Combat Pillar opened her eyes. Her feet anchored on the platform and, fast enough to disperse the flames in the air, Ferinish struck a wall at the end of that Inferius. Sounds of exertion escaped her mouth. She placed her burning hand into an opening in the wall. The force she applied caused the structure to dissolve into water. Gritting her teeth, she pulled out a sword, her sword, that had been embedded there. The wall collapsed into an avalanche that struck the quicksand, solidifying it.
Jumping from the last remaining piece of ice, with her hair, skin and clothes scorched, Ferinish spun in the air and performed a clean cut.
In an instant, everything inside the Inferius was wiped out by the whirlwind of flames hitting the portal.
When they returned to Libretânhya, Victoria asked Aurora how long it would take for her to recover from the injuries she had suffered. Speaking through the large robot, her voice carried a tone of disappointment as she said that, if she failed to achieve what she wanted, she might have to replace parts of her body with mechanical prosthetics.
The woman in the heroic blue dress admitted she blamed herself for her colleague's injuries. Aurora understood her reasons, but for her, guilt was unnecessary. The work of a Pillar was not only to represent a nation, it required accepting that death could come in any mission.
The friendly mood ended when they heard an explosion.
Turning around, they saw debris from what once might have been a dojo crashing in front of them. A whirl of flames rose from the top of the mountain.
Victoria was stunned, asking desperately what Ferinish had done while alone. Aurora, answering briefly, said she already knew Ferinish would do something reckless.
The scientist ordered Victoria to handle the fire because she would go see what "that redhead" had done. While the Protection Pillar prevented the flames from reaching the city, Aurora flew with her armor, crossing through the blaze to discover a portal carved into the earth itself.
Upon entering, she found herself dodging magma, heated fragments and drifting grains as she descended deeper into the vast pit that had opened. The lower she went in that endless darkness, the more she noticed a faint glow. A figure aflame.
Boosting her propulsion, she reached the figure and gathered it into her arms.
It was Ferinish. Her body was reddened, thin traces of steam rising from her skin. Her hair glowed faintly and the mark on her chest had returned to its original state, as if it had fulfilled its purpose.
Although she reprimanded her for the near-fatal recklessness, Aurora could not deny that the woman's determination was, at the very least, overwhelming.
What truly limited her was not only the mark, but something deeper that she did not yet understand. For a moment, she wondered...
What would it be like if Ferinish actually used her full power?
***
In a temple, Slady walked through the darkness, avoiding deadly traps. He murmured how fortunate it was that Shaphira had not entered that place.
Passing through an old door, he revealed a room filled with tools, demon hearts and energy concentrators. Injecting a syringe into one of the hearts, a reddish energy moved into a container that compressed it, making it smaller and even more dangerous.
Leaving his staff in the hands of simple machines, Slady sat in a circle and tapped the ground three times, calling the name "Medusa".
Within seconds, his body was enveloped by serpents that entered from within, passing through his mouth and slipping beneath the cloth covering his eyes until reaching the ocular sockets.
His reaction was nonexistent, as if nothing could unsettle him. He felt the serpents coil around him and pull him beneath the earth.