Arthur POV:
My body blurred as I weaved through the ice spikes conjured by Varay. Once out, I found myself face to face with Bairon, lightning crackling around his body as he struck out with his spear.
I let out a smirk before parrying his thrust with my sword, using the momentum to back out of his range.
Just before my feet were about to touch the ground, gravity around me increased exponentially and my heels dug into the ground.
Mica was coming from the top, using her signature downward hammer strike. Out of the corners of my eyes, I also saw Varay in her Ice Valkryie mode coming near me with dual swords.
Bairon, who was in front of me, thrust his spear with lightning bolts surrounding it.
'This is a bit dangerous,' I thought before activating the Godrune on my back.
Regis woke up and asked me, What's up, princess?
I ignored his comment before asking him, Help me, now!
Fine, fine! he growled before purple-black aether conjured around my body like armour.
Bairon's spear, Varay's swords and Mica's hammer were all pushed back while little damage was done to me.
"It's my win," I said with a grin.
"But you had to use Regis's help again," Bairon said with a smirk, "We have gotten stronger."
"Yes, Mica is stronger now!"
"We have seen a great increase in power over the seven months here," Varay acknowledged.
I nodded my head in agreement, "All three of you are close to the integration stage now, after all."
They are still no match for the majestic me! Regis said with a bit too much excitement inside my head.
"Ah, you guys are training hard!" a melodious voice caused everyone's head to turn.
Kathyln had a weary but joyful expression on her face as held her swollen belly with her hands. She was being supported by mother and Ellie.
Her transformation over the months was somewhat shocking. She had become more mature, going from a beautiful princess to more of a beautiful mother. She just started to exude his motherly feel, similar to my mother.
Before she became too weak to train, she had the most progress amongst everyone.
'If only Jude was here,' I thought somewhat bitterly, but I understood that his mission was also important.
My purple armour dissipated and a giant wolf of aether appeared by my side.
"Where's Sylvie and Aya?" I asked.
"They are both on missions," Ellie replied as she helped Kathyln sit down.
Since I was much too busy training all the lances in the ways of aether, Sylvie started going on solo missions or went with other lances as we needed all the manpower possible.
Jude's plan allowed us to evacuate the citizens of Dicathen in time, and we are simply waiting for the asuras to strike the land above.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth but it's not like I can do anything about it. There were still people living above in heavily fortified cities with direct access to the Djinn strongholds.
These cities were used as fronts to hold back the Alacaryan army and rescue other Dicathenians that may have been taken as slaves.
Suddenly, I felt a ripple inside my body and pain raked my senses. My body fell to the ground and I held my head in pain while screaming, "AAHHH!"
My consciousness faded away as I heard everyone calling out my names in panic.
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Arthur POV:
My eyes flung open as I shot up from my bed. 'This is getting too familiar,' I thought. I kept on finding myself on a hospital bed, only to shoot up when I get my conscious back.
Regis materialised by my side, Princess, you took quite a bit of mental backlash.
Mental backlash?
Regis seemed unsure of what to say as he avoided my gaze. Finally, he muttered out, Sylvie was heavily injured.
I leapt up from my bed and ran out of the room. There were various healers and doctors and they all tried to stop me but I pushed them out of the way.
After walking through a seemingly endless corridor, I entered the room where I felt Sylvie was.
My breathing hitched and stopped when I saw Sylvie's body on the giant bed. The only thing that was keeping me calm was the fact that I could her breathing.
Her beautiful midnight black scales were shattered, with golden blood trailing from all sorts of wounds.
Her jawbone has been shattered, and she almost lost her eye as well. Not only that, it seemed that her opponent tried to claw through her chest to fish out her mana core.
One of her wings alongside one of her horns was ripped away, perhaps as a memento of victory by the enemy.
The chest wound had started closing in, but I knew that her wing and horn would never regenerate.
"Who did this?" I asked while unconsciously exerting my killing intent on everyone around me. I only held it back when Regis screamed inside my head.
I signed to everyone to leave the room and broke down. The one person who had always been with me, always supported me, was now this heavily injured and on the hospital bed.
'Is this what my parents felt like whenever they found out about my near-death situations,' I thought, 'Did their heart threaten to break from the pressure it was feeling.'
The next few days felt like a blur. Aya who went with Sylvie hadn't returned and was presumed to be dead. The worst thing was that the perpetrator was still unknown.
Finally, during an ordinary morning, Sylvie's eyes fluttered open.
I instantly embraced her, ensuring I avoided her injured regions.
She turned back to human form and hugged me back, her warm embrace making me reel back into the reality where she is till alive.
"Thank god, thank god, thank god..." I continuously muttered.
We finally separated from each other and I gave Ellie a chance to embrace Sylvie as well.
Her weaker life force and mana caused my heart to twist in pain.
"Are you really alright?" I asked a bit too loudly, causing Sylvie to wince in pain. "Sorry, my senses are rattled up."
"No, it's my fault," I replied as I used wind and gravity magic to support her body.
She gave me a light smile before saying, "I feel better now."
"You should rest more before moving," I told her while trying to get her back on the bed.
However, she simply shook her head and said, "Call the lances, there is something important to talk about."
I nodded my head and immediately asked for a Council meeting. Since this meeting was unplanned, only Virion and some of the other lances managed to gather but it seemed like it was fine for Sylv.
She then started to speak about her encounter, "Aya and I were going through one of the cities that asked for help after they saw slaves being carried to Alacarya. However, it was all an elaborate trap."
She gulped before continuing, "Aya and I met Wraiths, a powerful assassin-like unit of Vritra half-breeds created to kill adult asuran warriors. I didn't meet the full team, only three members, but they were more than a match for the two of us."
"The power gap was quite big. Even after I fought with my all, the Wraiths still took a horn and a wing from me. I only managed to sacrifice because Aya burned her mana core to stall them."
Everyone was expectedly shocked and scared about the discovery of even stronger enemies.
'We already had the Scythes to worry about and now there are these Wraiths,' I felt like I had a headache coming.
She then turned towards me and gave me a forced smile, "Arthur, I only have three days left before I die."
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A/N:
Bit of an early release here, just because I am a bit too busy tomorrow as I have a test on Wednesday. I did get my IGCSE results, slightly disappointing but mostly fine.
Additional Maths - A*
International Maths - A*
Physics (Extended) - A*
Chemistry (Extended) - A*
Biology (Extended) - A*
FLE - A*
Lit in English - A
Hindi - A
Geography - A
Computer Science - B
Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!