Chapter 452 The Awaited Time.
The dew of the first sunlight fell from the green leaves in the royal garden, dropping into the ground. CLANG! CLANG! Gojo swung a wooden sword at the fifth princess, Lucy. But she blocked with her sword.
She grunted, struggling to match his speed and power even though it was clear he wasn't putting in any effort.
"Come on! Put your back into it," Gojo said with a smile, holding his sword with one hand.
"I'm trying!" Lucy growled, pushing forth with both hands. CLANG! She jumped to the side and swung at Gojo's neck but got blocked.
"You're doing well. That was a good strike." Gojo deflected her attack and swung down, hitting her head. "But stay ready to defend."
Thud! Lucy fell to the ground, rubbing her head. "That hurt," She growled and glared at Gojo, "It won't matter if I won with that strike."
"That for when you're strong enough to achieve that. Most people aren't," Gojo replied. "Keep training,"
"Are you bullying that little girl?" A woman's voice came from behind them, and Gojo turned with a smile, "You came back, Liliana."
"GAH!" Lucy cried, "A purple demon!"
Liliana glared at her, "I'm a tiefling," She took a step forward and disappeared. Lucy gasped, and a voice came from behind her, "Learn that, cheeky kid," Thud!
Liliana lifted Lucy by the head, "You don't want me to become a real demon,"
"Gojo! Kill her!" Lucy cried, flailing her arms and legs.
Gojo giggled, "I wouldn't keep carrying her like that if I were you,"
Liliana stared back at him, "What could a kid do..."
As she was replying, Lucy's body glowed with a faint white light, magic crackling from her like sparks as she cried.
Liliana turned as a powerful surge of magic rushed out of Lucy's body, blasting her back.
Liliana rolled on the ground, parts of her burned, parts frozen, and others wet and crackling with lightning. "GAH!" She gasped, exhaling smoke as she barely managed to sit, looking at Gojo consulting the little princess.
"Wild magic," Liliana sighed, "You should have told me,"
"It was fun seeing you getting blasted." Gojo replied with a giggle, "But be careful from now on. She can't control her magic, not one bit. I don't even know what she's capable of, only that streams of mana keep violently rushing across her body."
Liliana stood, "You know why I'm here?"
Gojo nodded, "It's time. You finished everything?"
"Of course, all we need to do now is follow the plan. I did some tweaks on the way as well. Should make it easier." Liliana pulled a scroll from her bag and handed it to Gojo, "Get ready,"
"I'm always ready," He replied.
***
In the adventurers guild training ground, Vars sat on the stairs, reading a book and watching Gug train. Someone had to keep an eye on her.
"Gug! Gug!" she laid on a stone, benching two adventurers sitting on a steel spear shaft.
"I didn't expect this when she asked us to help her train," One of the adventurers sighed, and the other nodded, "What is she even trying to do?"
FLAP! FLAP! FLAP! A black crow flew across the sky, landing on Vars's hand.
"Liliana's crow, anything new?" He could see a small piece of paper tied to the crow's leg.
After reading the letter, Vars looked at Gug, "It's time, Liliana is back,"
GRR! Gug grunted, throwing the spear away with the adventurers. Luckily, they landed on their legs. n.-OvelbIn
"Gug's steel," She growled, staring at Vars.
Vars waved his hand, and a black portal appeared on the ground, the handle of a massive sword wrapped in bandages extended from it.
Gug grabbed the handle and pulled the sword out. It was a massive chunk of steel in the rough shape of a cleaver, no handguard and proper wrapping.
She pulled the sword, swinging before resting it on her shoulder, "Gug ready,"
Vars sighed, "Just don't hit anyone with that for now."
****
Eris opened her eyes in Lydia's room. Her head throbbed as if her skull had cracked. She stood up, grunting, "My head,"
Lydia, who was asleep sitting on a chair woke up, "How are you feeling?"
Eris stared at her, "Where am I?"
"Back at the castle, Zephyr brought you." Lydia stood and approached Eris, touching her head, "Good, all divine magic has drained from your body. You should be fine."
Eris looked down, "Wait! I killed the paladin, but what about that ugly devil?" She growled, remembering how Pin had transformed.
"That was the god of murder, but don't worry. I found traces of Amaterasu's holy magic in you. She must have interfered." Lydia lifted her hand from Eris's head, "What did you even do? To get her to act, or was it just to stop the murder god?"
"The goddess of the sun helping a vampire, you must be joking. I don't remember anything that could...draw her attention?" Eris stared at her hands, "The purple sun,"
"I did cover my whole body with plasma, creating something akin to a sun," Eris gasped.
"Akin is probably underestimating what you did, seeing that Amaterasu responded. That explains the heat wave that washed over the city and the melted burial chamber," She sat back on a chair. "Too close to the real thing,"
"Wait, why didn't I burn then?" Eris gasped, "If that was close that the goddess herself interfered, it should have burned me."
Lydia nodded, "I also thought about that, why Arad isn't harmed by the sun," She stared at Eris, "I doubt the blood he got from Ginger is the reason. Since she's unharmed by the sun due to her long family bloodline, Arad doesn't have that,"
"You have a guess?" Eris looked at her.
"The thing protecting Arad from the sun is his draconic nature. The light bounces in his void until it fades before reaching his vampiric blood or his draconic blood protects his vampiric one directly." Lydia lifted her arm, pulling her sleeves back.
"We humans have an immune system that counters diseases. Draconic blood might be acting in the same way to protect the vampiric blood. But, there is another thing."
Lydia's eyes shifted to stare at Eris, "You don't have the void, so the second explanation fits you, but I have another one for you. Acquired resistance, since you made your own sunlight,"
Eris opened one of the window frames and watched the sunlight shine inside the room. She slowly extended her hand toward the rays, hesitant to touch them.
****
"The whole place melted, you say," Aella said, dangling her legs from the chair as she stared at Zephyr flying around.
"True, I could sense her magic filling the whole cave. She must have created something akin to Arad's void expansion." Zephyr replied, throwing punches, "See, told you she can handle herself."
"Heee," Aella glared at Zephyr, "That doesn't the fact am not forgiving you for knocking me out,"
"Come on, events proved me right," Zephyr buzzed around like a restless bee.
"You would have stopped me if I wanted to go fight alone," Aella grunted.
"You know you aren't like her or Arad. Those two are monsters in their own right. "Well, I'm a fatter monster than them," She looked down, scratching her head.
"If you're a monster, can't I use your powers?" Aella glared at Zephyr, "For what purpose was that contract even?"
"You haven't chanted for me once," Zephyr stared at her, "You can't expect power from a patron without giving back,"
"Believe it or not, your mother is the one who wrote that strange script. Chant it, and I may grant you something akin to their expansion." Zephyr stared at Aella, her eyes glowing with a horrifying green light, "A tornado large enough to cover the city with a rain of arrows,"
****
Outside in the blacksmith shop, the smith and Jack stared at Mira, sweating in terror as she giggled.
"Lady, that thing looks dangerous," The smith said with a worried face.
"I might have helped you stabilize it, but I don't think it will hold up," Jack added, taking a step away from her.
"Come on! You can't make anything new without taking risks," She chucked a lighting crystal into a small wooden box and strapped it on her back.
"At least, let Arad test it first. If someone is fine with their back blown away it has to be him," Jack moved further away from her.
With a smile on her face, she linked the copper pipes across her right arm and lifted her sledgehammer with two hands.
"Let's see if it will work," She moved a leaver from her side, and lightning crackled across the copper tubes and reached the hammer, electrifying the head.
Mira laughed as her hair started spiking up, "It's working! It's working!" She yelled. "With this, I can get more charge than just putting a small crystal in the hammer itself,"
CRACKLE! A small lightning spark sparked from her hair and hit her eye.
"GYA!" Mira cried, falling to the ground as lightning started stinging her everywhere. It wasn't damaging her, only painful.
"Stop! Stop it!" She cried, moving the leave with a lot of strength and breaking it, "Jack! Do something,"
Jack lunged in, ripping the copper tubes from her backpack, "You okay?" He looked at her.
Mira lifted a thumb up, "I need goggles while working with this thing," she sat up, "And probably some armor, resistant to lightning if possible."
"You better do," Jack sighed, "Arad would kill me if you harmed yourself,"