Virion Leywin
Ellie and I were standing outside Arthur's room, I was going to help them absorb mana at a faster rate, which should in theory allow them to each get stronger, stronger than they would be at in the novel during this part.
I knocked on the door, and Ellie spoke up. "Arthur!" We didn't get a response, and I knew why, if he was absorbing mana from Uto's horn, he was in a dark place right now, one where he sees some of Uto's memories.
"Hold on." I said to her, going into Arthur's core inside of the room, and disrupting it, making it so he can't absorb mana anymore. "Arthur! Can we come in?"
"Come in." Arthur said, and we opened the door to his room. "What's up?" Ellie and I walked in, laying on the foot of his bed was Sylvie, she was asleep it looked like. "Is that a Beast Core, El?"
"Yeah!" She exclaimed in excitement, which was only because I was an awesome brother.
"I'm here to help you absorb mana." I told him, making my way to the couch, and sitting down. Ellie was standing at the front of the bed, looking at our brother. "All you'll have to do is absorb the mana, and I'll take it from there, allowing you to absorb more in a shorter time."
"Should Ellie be doing this at the same time, won't it be a lot for you?" Arthur asked as I activated "Blood Oath" and started to sense the blood flowing in each of them.
"No, not really." I shrugged my shoulders, knowing I was able to do it. "Come, Ellie find a seat, and we can begin, Arthur go ahead when you are ready, and I'll start to manipulate the path the mana takes."
"Okay." Ellie said, sitting down on the ground, finding a comfortable position to be in.
"Fine." Arthur closed his eyes and started to absorb the mana in the horn, I could feel most of it going to his acclorite, so I started to speed up the flow of his blood, then started to divert some of the mana from the acclorite to his core. "Woah..." It seemed to be going pretty smoothly, the mana was entering Arthur's core at a steady, I increased the speed a little more, and then kept it there.
Ellie began to do it as well, but all the mana was going to her core, the beast core I gave her, however, won't last that long, maybe twenty minutes with me helping. "Awesome!" Ellie exclaimed as I kept my spell going for the both of them at the same time.
This was easy for me, so as we sat in silence, I closed my eyes and relaxed, knowing that the road ahead was going to be even more bumpier than the past week.
After about twenty minutes, Ellie spoke up. "I think there isn't any more mana in it." The Beast Core was dead now.
I activated my mana ring and threw her another. "Here." She caught it, and I said. "That's the last one though for today." She didn't respond to me but started to absorb mana again. While she did that, I peeked at her core, she was in the light red stage, she had a long way to go.
I hope that, when Arthur's done with the horn, he is in white core, it would be nice for him to get there soon, I can't carry us the whole time, without me, he would have died to Cadell, but then again, it wouldn't have been Cadell.
"Veer, you good?" Arthur asked me, still absorbing the mana in the horn, his eyes were closed.
"Of course." I stated and the room went silent again, I know I broke an arm, leg, and maybe a rib or two, but everything was healed, and those things don't affect my mana usage, so I don't know why everyone is being such a bother.
I get to spar tomorrow, so that will be fun, as long as my opponents make it fun. I was hoping Arthur would join me, which I'm sure he will, he knows he needs to train still, not just absorb mana.
I started to manipulate the blood flow in Arthur's body a little faster, moving the mana at an even faster pace, I wanted to see just how fast I could speed up the progress for him. "You good?" I asked him, making sure he didn't die because I killed him by ascedent.
"Yeah." Arthur responded, but I could tell it was draining some of his energy, because his core still had to process all the mana, which had an effect on you if you didn't have blood magic at your disposal. "Don't increase it anymore though."
"I won't." I kept it at the same pace now, Ellie seemed to be doing fine as well, so I held it there for each of them for another twenty minutes, that's when the mana core died on Ellie again. "Let's call it there for you, Ellie."
"Dammit!" She said. "Thanks though, I could feel the mana coursing through me, it's totally gonna make me stronger."
I stopped my control of Arthur as well, feeling it, he stopped absorbing mana from the horn. "Wow, Veer, that's such a unique ability that you possess with your blood magic."
"Thanks." I was laying back on the couch still, just minding my own business, having a good time with my siblings. "Arthur, you're at mid silver stage right now, after you finish with the horn, you should be at white core, if it's like me."
"I think you are right, this thing though, it still has a lot of mana for me to take in, but with you help, it shouldn't take that long."
"Yeah, but we'll be out in the field, so I can't do it all the time." I told him, knowing when we are out there, I can't help him with this.
"True."
"I wish I was close to white core, actually, just yellow core." Ellie said, I was going to let Arthur deal with this, I'm sure he can cheer her up.
"Ellie, you're going to get stronger; you know that." Arthur was speaking in a calm voice, trying to cheer her up, this was something she always talked about, not being strong enough, which I couldn't say I understood, but I can see why she can be frustrated. "And, hey, now with Veer helping you, it may make you stronger." He sent her a smile, then turned to me, thinking about something, but I didn't know what.
"I hope, I really do appreciate what you did for me today, Veer." Oh, coming from the girl who just was mad at me on the balcony. "I should be out of red core anytime now."
"Hey, Ellie, do you mind if I speak to Veer alone for a little?" Arthur asked her, I could see he was thinking about something, probably has something to do with the novel.
Ellie got up off the ground and turned to him, and then said. "Alright, but Veer, please, can we do one more Beast Core later?"
I sighed, knowing I didn't really have a choice. "Yes."
"Yeah!" She exclaimed. "I'll see you two later." She made her way out of the room, and Arthur got up off his bed, and came over to the couch, sitting on the one seater across from me.
"What's on your mind?" I asked him, Sylvie noticed that Arthur moved, and peeked her head over at us. We made eye contact, and the fox slowly got up, came over to us, stared at me for a second, then jumped onto my lap. "Oh, okay."
"Veer, we never spoke about it, but since you didn't bring it up, which you should have if I am wrong." Arthur stopped speaking and looked at me intently. "Ellie doesn't die or get hurt, right?"
"Well, no, she doesn't die, but she does get hurt, nothing serious though, just in a small battle." I know she got her hunting something in the tunnels, but that really isn't important.
"She joins the war?!" Arthur asked with a worried tone.
"Not exactly." I started to rub Sylvie's head on my lap. "So, like I told you, we lose the war, some of us go into hiding, you get teleported to Alacrya, when your gone, Ellie steps up, joins the, I don't know, guess it's sort of the rebellion, and one day she goes out into the field." I paused, thought about it. "Actually, it's the day Nico gets Tessia." His eyes widened as I said his name, I see he is still processing it.
"Nico hurts her?!"
I shook my head. "No, before Nico gets there, they raid some Alacryan camp that has a bunch of elven prisoners, the team is a bunch of people you know like the Twin Horns, Tessia, Ellie, Curtis, Kathyln, and others." I paused, trying to remember the Retainer's name, but couldn't, pretty sure it was a replacement of one though, I then started speaking again. "In this camp is a Retainer, Ellie doesn't go in, she stays back in the forest hidden, however, what they didn't know was that the Retainer had a brother hiding out there, which I don't know if he was considered a Retainer or not, but Ellie and Boo fight him alone, and they win, they take him down, Ellie gets hurt in that fight, that's it, at least from what I am remembering."
"I see." Arthur processed everything; it was a lot to take in at once. "Ellie grows strong then, wow, was the guy she took down strong?"
"To me and you, no, but to most mages yeah, he was."
Arthur had a proud look on his face, even though it never happened in this timeline. "Hopefully, those events don't happen, but I have to know, who takes down the Retainer in this camp?"
I smiled and said. "Guess."
"Tess." I nodded my head, and he smiled as well. "We can't let her get captured."
"I know that." Now it looks like I have to be worried about getting captured. "Arthur, I don't know that much about relationships, or anything, but you need to speak to Tess, you know you love her, she loves you, stop flirting with each other, and confess to one another already."
He was blushing now and shaking his head. "I can't, Veer."
"Why? Because you're a reincarnate?"
"Do I do it in the novel?" Arthur asked, and I thought back to their conversation at the wall.
"Arthur, in the novel, you tell Tess that you want to start a family with her after the war, and the two of you make a promise to stay alive, so, when Tess gets captured, and you know, everything happens, you think she dies, and basically blame yourself." We sat in silence, his face was red, still blushing. "I think, you should do it earlier, Arthur, it may change things for the better, the two of you have been in love for too long now."
You know, I don't want to say it, but Caera and Arthur also make a nice couple, but we know how Arthur feels, he loves Tess.
"Haha." Arthur laughed awkwardly, looking away from me. "I would say you don't know anything, but you pretty much know everything, so it's hard to deny you." He had a point there; I did know a lot. "It's just, it's hard to confess your feelings to people, Veer, but maybe you are right." Oh shit, was he agreeing with me right now. "If I am going to do it at some point in the future like you say, I might as well do it now, and try to change things." He looked back at me. "I do love, Tess." At least he admits it.
"I know." I said simply. "Which is why you should open your heart to her, it may help you get stronger, and win this war."
Arthur sighed. "Damn."
Out of the blue, Sylvie spoke up. "He's right, you two have been in love for too long now, be a man and confess already."
"Haha." I laughed at the dragon sitting in my lap. "Even Sylvie agrees with me."
"I have to think about it." Arthur told us. "But I think I might do it, confess to her at some point, maybe the next time things are running smoothly around here, but we just fought a Scythe, and we might be fighting another in a week."
"It's up to you, but all I am suggesting is for you to man up."