Third person POV
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One day, as I was meditating and using strict movement techniques to better control my mana, Sylvia suddenly interrupted, "Art. Try absorbing mana while you are making movements. Ideally you should be able to absorb at least a fraction of the mana you would during meditation while you are fighting . Although you would be spending mana faster than you can absorb mana, you will be able to prolong the usage of your mana."
(I skipped some parts of the chapter that I thought wouldn't make much of a difference. Sorry.)
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"Is it possible for the lances to learn this technique?" Blaine Glayder asked, greedily.
"Nope!" The Librarian said, and Blaine was now angrily staring at him.
"And why is that? If they learned this technique, they would become much more powerful." Blaine pracitically yelled at The Librarian.
"Watch the video, Blaine. It shows the explanation."
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That brought about memories of me thinking about this exact idea. I had forgotten about testing my hypothesis since I wasn't able to move as freely as I could now. I was used to having absorption of mana and the manipulation of mana as two separate things that I hadn't stopped to think about the possibilities in this new #####.
"Let me try," I nodded.
"Humans have a very linear mindset in regards to mana and find it hard to deviate from anything that already works. Practice hard now though, because you can only acquire this skill while both your body and mana core are immature. Even mana beasts learn to do this naturally, but humans awaken much too late and in most cases, their bodies are not adept for this ability when they first awaken. Considering you are so young, there shouldn't be a problem if you practice," continued Sylvia with a proud puff of her nose.
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"How disappointing." Blaine slumped into his seat.
"The only thing disappointing is your attitude, Blaine." The Librarian told him, making him for upset than he already was.
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I had to admit that, like testing most theories, it was extremely difficult at first. It reminded me of the exercises my ######### at the ###### had showed ## #### # ### #######, the ones where you tried to make each of your arms do something different... except much harder.
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"Okay, why is so much of that blurred out? It makes no sense..." Tessia spoke out her thoughts, and most people agreed.
"Right, it's really strange. And why is his thought process so advanced? He's only four years old at this time. No matter how much of a monster the brat is, stuff like this should be impossible." Virion spoke up this time.
"All in due time, people. You'll learn more soon, just keep watching."
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Practicing this essentially meant being able to fight proficiently while still maintaining a constant inward flow of mana. Sylvia's only advice was that, according to her, an exceptional mage must be able to split his thinking mind into multiple segments in order to process information at efficient speed. While I've never had a teacher tell me to split my mind, I tried doing as she said. Needless to say, I had never tripped over my own body so many times in this and my previous #### combined.
This, at least, seemed to get a few hearty chuckles of amusement out of Sylvia.
Two months had passed since then as I kept Sylvia company with stories of my family and the town I was born in, while continuing to improve in the technique thanks to Sylvia's patience and my diligence. Sylvia refused to tell me the name of this skill, so I named it myself: Mana Rotation.
Over this period of time, it would be an understatement to say I've merely gotten close to Sylvia. She had treated me like her own blood grandson and, in response, I've grown attached to this demon lord grandmother. It was because of our growing relationship that I wasn't able to simply ignore what was happening.
It was frustratingly clear that her wound was growing worse as the portal responsible for taking me home was becoming more distinct.
"Sylvia, please tell me what's happening to your wound? Why is it getting worse? It wasn't like this before! You saying it was only a fester every now and then was clearly a lie! This isn't going to go away on it's own, it's actually getting worse!" I frustratingly voiced my concern one especially bad night after she had vomited a pool of blood.
I paused for a second, struck with realization...
Why didn't I notice this before?
She had been getting worse while creating the portal.
In order to send me home...
She was sacrificing her life so I can meet my family.
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"How noble!" Agrona spoke mockingly, and then burst out into laughter at the thought of it.
"That's my daughter, silence yourself or I'll make you." Kezess said, glaring at him.
"Do it, dear father in law." Agrona continued mocking the dragon lord.
"Now now, children, shut up and watch the video." The Librarian said and the two were forced to stay silent.
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Sylvia let out a deep breath, knowing that I had realized what was going on . Managing a sheepish smile, Sylvia whispered, "Art. Yes I am dying. But I will get angry if you blame yourself, thinking that you are causing this. I have been dying for quite a while now. You are doing me a favor by allowing me to leave this forsaken cave a bit faster."
As soon as she finished speaking, a bright golden glow radiated out of her body. Shielding my eyes from going blind, I tried to focus on the shape forming from where Sylvia once sat. In place of the ten-meter titan-like figure was a dragon even larger. From her snout to the end of her tail, she was a clad in a pearl white coat of shimmering scales. Beneath her iridescent lavender eyes were glowing golden runes that marked her neck and ran down to spread around her body and tail like a sacred engravings. These markings reminded me of a very elegant, almost celestial, tribal pattern, branching out harmoniously and with purpose like carefully placed vines. The dragon's wings were pure white adorned with white bladed feathers so fine and sharp that they could put swords forged by master smiths to shame.
The golden light enveloping the dragon dimmed until it fully replaced the once titan-shaped being.
"There now... Do I look a bit more like a Sylvia?" Sylvia let out a toothy smirk.
"S-Sylvia?? Y...you're a dragon?" I said.
"Now That I am in this form, we do not have much time. Yes, I am something you humans refer to us as 'a dragon'. The reason I am dying is because I had been inflicted with this wound after narrowly escaping from my captors. I had sensed one of them approaching dangerously close a few days ago, so I feel that my time of hiding is drawing to an end. This form will alert them of my location, which is why I only have time to explain what is necessary. I am giving you this to take care of from now on."
One of her bladed wings unfolded and revealed a translucent, rainbow-colored stone the size of two fists. With a myriad of colors and shades, this stone resonated an aura that made me hesitate in holding it, as if I wasn't worthy.
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"Thats lady Sylvia's egg." Windsom said suddenly.
"Yes, I suppose this is when my daughter gave this lesser my granddaughter." Kezess said in calm tone.
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Without waiting for me to respond, she continued, "Everything will reveal itself when the time comes so just hold onto this and do not let anyone know that you have this. Most will not know what it is but everyone will be attracted by the aura it emits."
Sylvia then proceeded to pluck a feather from her wings with her claw and hand it to me. "Wrap the stone in this to conceal it."
After doing as told, the once divine radiant stone merely appeared to be a smooth white rock, pretty, but ordinary.
While I was studying the feather-encased stone, I was suddenly pushed back as Sylvia's snout gently brushed against my chest where my mana core was.
Taken aback, I looked up to see Sylvia's purple eyes and the gold markings blaze brighter than they had when she first transformed. As the markings grew dimmer and then disappeared, Sylvia pierced her tongue into my core and wisped out a golden smoke that crackled in sparks of purple.
A sharp yelp escaped my mouth as I blinked, confused and surprised. I continued to just stare at her as she moved her head back, leaving a trail of blood from a hole in my worn down shirt. My sternum had bled, but when I ran my hand through the area, there was no wound.
Sylvia's expression had grown visibly pained and weak; it was apparent even for a mighty dragon that was even bigger than her previous illusion. What caught my attention, though, was that her once shimmering purple irises were now just a dim yellow with the beautiful runes that flowed across her face and body now gone.
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"So this 'Sylvia' was the one who gave the brat that monsterous beast will? I didn't really believe him at first..." Virion said, still in a bit of shock from what he was watching.
"Do not say her name in such a carefree way, lesser!" Windsom yelled at Virion. "That's LADY Sylvia to you lessers."
"Shut up and watch." The Librarian, getting impatient with all the yelling, forced their mouths shut using some magic.
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Before I had the chance to ask what she had done, a giant explosion interrupted me.
I whipped my head up to see that the ceiling of the cave had been blown off and what came into vision was a figure that reminded me of Sylvia's previous form.
Clad in sleek black armor and a blood red cape that matched its eyes. The figure's pale grey skin matched the clouded sky in the background. The horns were different, though, as this entity had two horns that curled down and under its ears, lining its chin.
Sylvia immediately covered me with one of her wings in time to protect me from the falling debris and probably keep me hidden from our visitor.
"Lady Sylvia! I advise you to stop your stubbornness and hand it over. You've already caused us quite the trouble after hiding yourself! If you submit, the Lord may even heal your wound," the entity reasoned impatiently.
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"That's Scythe Cadell." Caera muttered under her breath. Unfortunately, her voice was heard.
"So this Vritra is one of the Scythes? Are the Scythes powerful?" Dawsid Greysunders was the one who asked this, and he was already considering betraying Dicathen and joining the Alacryans.
"Yes, Cadell is one of the Scythes. The Scythes are some of Alacrya's elite soldiers, and I am one of them." Seris Vritra spoke this time, and she recieved a nod from Dawsid.
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Immediately after he had finished speaking, the world around me seemed to pause. Everything but Sylvia and myself, the colors of the world were as though it was being seen through an inverted lense. What surprised me the most was that everything was still. The entity, the clouds behind him, and even the falling debris of the ceiling.
Ignoring the enemy, Sylvia casually peeked underneath her wing. "I'll open the portal now. I didn't have the time to make it go directly to your home but it should take you to a place with humans nearby. Do not let him see you and do not look back," she whispered, her eyes solemn.
I ignored Sylvia's instructions after I heard what the entity had promised. "Sylvia! Is what he said true? If you turn yourself over, will you be able to live?"
"Do not trust his honey-coated words . It will be worse off for you if you are found right now . As for me, I would rather die than go back to where he is," Sylvia said, impatience and anger mixed in her voice.
"No! I won't let you die here. If you refuse to go with him, then please, just come with me!" I begged.
"Unfortunately I cannot go with you . You will forever be in danger if any one of them finds out you have had contact with me . I need to stay here."
Sylvia gently wiped my cheeks with a claw, her draconic eyes lined with what I saw as tears.
"You asked me once, why I chose to save you. The truth was to satisfy my own greed. I wanted to keep you as my own child even for just a little bit. I intentionally prolonged the transportation spell because I wished to spend more time with you, but it seems I didn't even have the chance to finish it. I'm sorry, little Art, for my selfishness but I have one last request to make... can you be my grandson and call me grandmother just this once?"
"NOO! I don't care about all of that! I'll say it as much as you want if you come with me! Grandma! Grandma! You can't! Not like this!"
"I-I-I... Please, I'm begging you, just come with me. I-I don't know what you did but everything is frozen right now; we can escape! Please, Grandmother, don't go. Not like this!" I held on to Sylvia's claw, desperately trying to pull her away with me.
In my last moment with her, Sylvia's face blossomed into such a beautiful smile that I swear I thought I saw a human.
I could barely make out the words she said, before she pushed me into the portal.
"Thank you my child."
And the screen faded to black as he went through the portal.
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At this point, some of the Dicathians had tears in their eyes as they watched.
"Damn... That little brat didn't deserve that." Adam was trying to act tough but failed miserably.
"How sad. Whats on the next video?" Agrona asked, eager to see what was to come. He completely ignored the tragedy that just happened.
"Next up is Grey doing the impossible. I'm sure this one will peak both you and Kezess' interests."
A/N: Next is Grey forming his Aether core. Then it's gonna be the attack on Xyrus, then Grey vs Wraiths. Then maybe arthur's past life reveal and after that it's gonna be Arthur vs Cadell and Nico.
None of this is set in stone, so if you got a problem with it or think it's good, comment. I'll be checking to see any suggestions.
Thanks for reading. Go check out my other story on my account if you have a bit of time.