3 bar menu

Return of the Fallen Volume 10 Chapter 47

Everyone noticed Lamia was extra quiet.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

Lamia shook her head.

“I…I don’t think I want strength. After hearing Tsura say she would basically do everything in her power to protect Mei, it makes me feel even worse that I decided this but…I…I’m afraid. I’ve never had real magic and only used magic tools that normal folk can use. I can’t fight, I would only be a burden would I not?”

Kazuki was surprised by Lamai’s answer. He had never known her to be one to be afraid. To protect her daughter, Lamia had even gone up against nobles. Kazuki had seen a confident woman always when it came to Lamia but now he could see she was really afraid.

(It’s understandable. Here I am talking about beings that could wipe us from this Lower Realm. The idea alone is already beyond one’s comprehension if you don’t already know about such things. Lamia who’s just recently started learning about the bigger threat, it can only be overwhelming.)

“Lamia, you wouldn’t be the one to fight. I would never force you to do such a thing. Instead, you can help in other ways. Not only that but with you at the 7th stage, the threats to your safety would be incredibly small. Glacious and Etora, they fought so hard so that the ones they cared about, you, Nunully, and the others could be safe. If you take on this power, you will be closer to the word safe more so than ever before. You could roam the continent freely and unimpeded. You could soar across the stars and see other worlds if you wish, all the while with the knowledge that there’s almost nothing in this Realm that could touch or harm you. In fact, if there was ever any danger for you, what do you think Nunully would do? What do you think I would do? Neither one of us would sit idly by, you know this.”

Asuna stepped up.

“Me as well. I would fight anyone to protect you. Nunully is closer than a sister and therefore her mom is kind of like my mom.”

Lamia was touched and hugged Asuna. Mei quickly followed up right after.

“Mei Mei will stop all the bad guys and slay them before I let anyone hurt aunt Lamia.”

Mei was still small so her puffing her little chest out and sticking her chin up with such confidence was too cute.

Shin moved like the wind and appeared before Lamia almost instantly.

“With my speed, who can touch a hair on your head?”

One by one everyone declared to protect Lamia and Lamia felt loved and cared for. Her hesitation wavered greatly but she still wasn’t quite sure.

“I’ve never even had a Mage core before, what if I mess something up or something goes wrong?”

“Lamia, you have me and everyone else here. Making a Mage core is not something difficult. I once had to reforge my own with almost no resources. Actually come to think of it, it was mainly because of you and Nunully that I was able to get the resources I needed in the first place. I remade my core then, I can create one for you now, trust in me.”

Kazuki said it wasn’t difficult and right now that was true but at the time, reforging his core was one of the hardest things he had ever done and at the time he even needed to borrow the power of the aura coming from his golden compass. Knowing now that the aura actually belonged to his grandfather and that he used Orberus’s power to help him regain his own was sickening to him. In the end, though, there was nothing to be done about it. His core was reforged and that was that.

Lamia took in a deep breath before slowly releasing it.

“I’ll trust in you Kazuki. Just as I have before, I’ll do so again. I’ll trust all of you.”

Kazuki smiled before sitting down right where he was.

“Then everyone please have a seat in a circle around me.”

Asuna and Nunully both sat incredibly close to Kazuki and Mei without hesitation jumped into Kazuki’s lap and giggled a little. Asuna and Nunully both felt jealous for a split second before they realized they were feeling this way due to the actions of a child.

Kazuki gave Mei a look but she just smiled at him and he just gave in. Everyone else sat around the three forming a circle just as Kazuki said.

Murmurs and whispers spread among everyone as their excitement grew.

*SHHHHH*

Kazuki grabbed everyone’s attention and quieted them all.

“While I am confident, any distraction will most likely be a detriment so during this whole thing, everyone needs to be as quiet as they can be. I’ll try to block out your cries of pain but as your power rises having a gang of people near my level or at my level would most likely still get to me.”

Everyone’s eyes widened and Kazuki could feel a nervous air spread around him.

“Big bro, it will be painful.”

Kazuki gently pat Mei’s head before nodding.

“I won’t lie, gaining aura will hurt. Shaila, Tozu, Danny, and Sasai already have auras so they won’t need to endure that but later on when connecting the mind, soul, and body, and a few other things, there will be challenges. Don’t worry though Mei, I will take away as much pain as possible from everyone. It will be nowhere near as painful as what I experienced, I promise.”

Mei’s nervous energy relaxed a little and she calmed down.

“Ok big brother, I can handle it. Mei Mei is a big bird after all.”

“Good. Now, everyone, shut your eyes and listen to my voice.”

Everyone did just that. To help calm everyone down, Kazuki released a wave of ki that washed over everyone’s minds and bodies. As this warm energy penetrated them, it felt like a warm blanket covered them and embraced them, easing them.

“I need you all to not resist my powers in any way and follow everything I say as we go along or things could become difficult. Don’t worry, just focus on what I tell you and follow along and things should proceed smoothly. Here we go.”

Kazuki sent out tendrils of aura and they quickly entered everyone’s soul world all at once. Inside everyone, simultaneously, there appeared a figure of Kazuki, as well as their own forms within their soul worlds. Kazuki’s eyes began to glow and he spread his power out and connected directly to their Mage cores as well as their soul trees.

For Lamia, it was a little different as she had no Mage core. A rift opened in both planet Kai as well as one in Gordonia. Kazuki sent a small strand of aura through the rift and quickly found a simple magic beast. With a thought, his aura struck the magic beast, killing it instantly and covering its magic beast core, preventing it from self-destructing. Retrieving it, he couldn’t just use it right away.

Using the gordonian element, he materialized Nexar crystals. Using these he could make the tangible intangible. Kazuki had done this in the past to get a beast core into his own soul world. Things were different now and Kazuki didn’t even need the Nexar crystals. He could have simply carved a few inscriptions directly onto the beast’s core to make it copy the same effect as a Nexar crystal but he wanted to be safe and go with a method that he knew worked, rather than a theory he had not yet tested. If it was himself he would have done it without hesitation but this was Lamia. He wasn’t going to risk her for something like this and so he went the safer route.

The Nexar crystals surrounded the Beast core and began to glow and fade before they and the beast core vanished. Mimicking the element of space, Kazuki guided the beast core into Lamia’s soul world. The moment it was inside her soul world, he destroyed the soul fragment that remained from the beasts and connected using his aura he connected her soul directly with the Mage core.

Magic started to slowly flow into Lamia and she felt a sudden pain. One she had never felt before in her entire life as her soul experienced this for the first time. Kazuki helped ease her pain with his aura and ki. Lamia released a heavy sigh and sweat started to drip from her face but besides that, she was now fine and had officially stepped into the world of magic.

At the same time, he was doing this for Lamia, he was also connecting Shaila, Danny, Tozu, and Sasai’s mind soul and bodies as one and the four were already stepping into the 6th stage, Danny though was slightly faster than the other three followed by Shaila, then Tozu and finally Sasai.

Danny was only mildly curious about his new strength while Shaila and the other two were thrilled and wished to leap into the air and test their abilities right away but of course, they knew now wasn’t the time and they contained their excitement but it was incredibly difficult to resist the temptation.

While Danny and the three Ancient beasts had easily stepped into the 6th stage with Kauzki’s help, everyone else was suffering as Kazuki crushed and ground away at their souls.