"That was bad, really ba—" Freezing, Eldrian spun around and started to gather mana around him. Summoning flames that brought light to the dark cave he was in, and a girl playing with the makeshift mana crystals he had made.
"Who are you!?" Eldrian asked. Asking how she managed to find him, or how she had managed to get inside. That was pointless. She was here. He could ask that latter, if she was still alive.
"How frightening! Is that how you welcome your guests?" The girl asked, throwing her golden hair over her shoulder and throwing a dazzling smile to Eldrian. Normally, that was enough to melt anyone's heart.
"I don't have guests. Only intruders! I'll ask once more, who are you?"
"That is some—" The girl wanted to continue to play, but froze as her body shivered. A cold sweat covering her throughout. "I'm Jade!" she shouted in panic, realizing that Eldrian was seriously going to kill her if she continued to play around.
"And, what are you doing here... Jade?" Eldrian asked, not canceling the flames that were covering him nor the bolts of fire aimed at the terrified girl.
Since the start, Eldrian had felt an invasion similar to the aura of a revenant. It was different, but the feeling of it trying to invade his body and mind was very clear. He would not let her appearance lower his guard, no matter how pitiful she appeared in the moment.
"Is that really how you treat guests — Yelp!" Feeling the heat of the flames rise, she tried to run away. Until she realized she was stuck in this cave and that the place was quickly turning into a sauna.
"I came to meet you!" she shouted, desperately trying to calm Eldrian.
"Meet me?" Eldrian was visibly taken aback, but her words did not calm his heart and the flames blazed with even more heat.
The only people who knew of him and were capable of entering this cave without damaging the fake wall should be Miracle. Thinking of that, Eldrian spread out his mageia through the surrounding.
'No other presences within a hundred meters. Those alarm arrays are also quiet... which means she knew how to circumvent them. How troublesome, they might be simple, but it is still magic... Which means...'
"So, you're one of the higher ups of Miracle. I'm impressed you came alone."
Jade froze, Eldrian suspecting her of being with Miracle was within her expectations. She was technically but how did he know she was alone? "Who says I'm alone?"
"Right, you might not be. But there is no one close enough to rescue you if I wish to kill you."
'Is he crazy? What's this talk about killing?!' Jade swallowed with difficulty, unable to believe how things had turned out. "Why would you want to kill me?!"
"Because you're with them."
"No, no, no, don't lump me in with them. I mean, it is true—" She froze, feeling the heat in the room jump by a few degrees again.
'What's wrong with this guy? And how the hell is he doing this?! There isn't supposed to be enough mana to form such a strong spell on earth!'
Confused by the nonsensical surrounding and the massive amount of bloodlust being directed at her, Jade didn't know how to resolve the situation.
The fact that her aura wasn't having any effect was truly, truly troublesome. Even against the old fogies, they at least looked at her with those kind of eyes.
"I just wanted to talk!" she shouted, already feeling lightheaded from the heat in the room. How Eldrian was uneffected, it made no sense. Perhaps even less sense than him being capable of summoning such power at will.
"Talk?" Eldrian didn't trust it, but from what he could tell, she didn't seem to be strong. She had some type of magical power and some basic knowledge. But the fact that she had done nothing to protect herself showed her inability.
'Or she is trying to make me think that. I'll reduce the heat, but I won't remove it... how troublesome.' Naturally, keeping the flames alive would be a constant strain on Eldrian's body. After all, mana was scarce on Earth.
At most, he had around a 1000MP gathered in his body. A good amount for sure, but to recover, that would take a week or more.
Seeing Eldrian lowering the temperature and withdrawing the flames that were basically surrounding her, Jade sighed in relief. However, her relief did not last long upon seeing Eldrian still wreathed in flames.
"Do I seem that scary?" she asked. Half joking and also half offended.
"Yes," Eldrian replied without hesitation, which naturally hit Jade's pride quite a bit. To be called scary, what a terrible thing. "After all, you have been constantly trying to assault me."
'Assault? Him? What?' Jade's eyes flew wide as she realized what was happened. "That's a misunderstanding!"
"Nonsense, you are trying to alter my mental state! Say what you wanted to say and leave..." Eldrian replied without a care, 'I need to change location now.' Throwing an eye at the mana crystals Eldrian tried to determine if it was good enough. 'I think it should be. At least for Jen it should be.'
"No, no. It really is a misunderstanding! I-I was born with this power—"
"Don't try to fool me! What do you want?" Like Eldrian would accept that she just accidentally tried to invade his mind with something akin to an aura.
'Why the hell won't he listen?' Jade felt like crying. She had never experienced being looked at with such cold eyes before.
"Fine, I'm leaving!" Eldrian had enough of her stalling. Now that his location was known, he did not want to waste time. Blasting the fake wall to pieces, he gathered what he could carry and prepared to leave.
Jada was shuddering from the destruction heat waves. When Eldrian climbed through the still glowing rocks, she finally managed to remember why she was here.
"Wait! We need to talk."
"Hmph!" Eldrian did not mind her at all. Continuing to search the surroundings with mageia, he determined the best path to take. He would first go deeper into the mountains and then find some passage to leave from undetected.
"If I had wanted to harm you, I would have done it while you were unconscious!" Jade shouted the only thing she felt might get through to this blockhead.
Eldrian did not stop. Moving towards the heart of the mountains, he tried to lose this insane girl. Of course, he had long since canceled his flames and was simply moving as quickly as possible.
Jade was trying her best to keep pace. But there was no way she could. Especially in a forest. She ended up falling for the fourth time and finally lost sight of Eldrian.
"Seriously, what's wrong with him? I came all this way to talk, and that's how he treats me?! Me of all people!" Stomping her feet on the ground, Jade was not willing to call it quits yet.
"He went that way... no matter how fast you are, I'll follow!"
"Hmph! Just you wait and see."
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