“W-What is going on?!” I exclaimed once I saw the state the bandit camp was in.
After killing Narube, I made my way back as fast as I could despite still having a broken arm. I admit I was counting on the Health regeneration from leveling up to heal it up for me. From my experience, it would usually fix up any minor fractures, but I guess this might be too much.
Another reason could be that once it counted as a status effect, it was disqualified from the leveling up regeneration bonus. An example would be the damaged mana paths inside Hestia's left wing that haven't healed up yet.
Well, it wasn’t a huge problem considering Hestia could heal this quite easily.
However, as I approached the bandit camp, the smell of smoke and the sight of red instantly made me think, “Everywhere she goes, she leaves a fire behind …” I mean, nothing could express “Hestia was here” better than a massive forest fire … during the night.
Exasperation aside, the sight of so much fire was a bit worrisome. Not because I was still cautious of the wyverns but because Hestia shouldn’t need to use this much.
Sure, she was angry at the bandit, but I didn’t think she would go so far as to kill them when she could easily subdue them with her earth and wind magic. Hestia’s current problem was that she was worried that her humanity was slipping due to her new body. Killing a human might not be the best choice to resolve this issue.
Of course, as a former teacher, I would have to advise her against doing it, but this situation wasn’t easy enough for me to just decide on one single correct answer. I couldn’t instill into her that killing humans was forbidden as we were monsters, so there was always the chance that we would fight a human to the death. Self-defense. If she were to hesitate and got hurt because of this advice, then I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.
So color me surprised when I arrived at the scene and saw Hestia chanting something while she approached a robed man prostrating himself before her. The next moment, I turned my head to the side, towards the voices of Tasianna and the saurians who were telling Hestia to stop. The numerous unconscious bandits tied up and lying next to them told me the raid was over.
“Huh? Mister Kushlek’zar, what is going on with Lady Hestia?!” I called out the leader of the “Depth Serpents” party.
“Miss Saori! You’ve come at the perfect timing; Hestia isn’t listening to our calls!” the lanky raptorsilian voiced out, frowning as much as a dinosaur could. “The bandits in the camp are subdued but the young scale is not stopping her assault.”
Kushlek’zar retold what happened during the raid. After Akasht, the mighty sarcosilian, escaped with all the prisoners, the saurians began subjugating all the bandits by capturing them with Kushlek’zar’s water magic. Meanwhile, Hestia was locked into a small duel with the bandit’s fire mage, Macklemor.
Hestia wasn't willing to fight him and tried her best to knock him out but she underestimated how persistent he was. Macklemor slung fire spells with an almost crazed fervor, setting the camp ablaze as Hestia was able to dodge them. As a fire dragon, those fire spells did nothing to her, though.
The saurians left them to their duel, due to their cultural belief, as they were more interested in capturing the rest of the bandits. Once they were finished, Tasianna came back from her distraction task looking troubled, as if she was being tormented by something. While they questioned her about what happened with the bandits she led away, they instantly stopped the moment Hestia cried out in pain.
The next moment, Hestia’s draconic body parts started to morph, as she continued growling. Her fangs and claws became even sharper and more pronounced, her scales became edgier and more vivid, while her tail started to resemble more like a jagged blade due to her protruding scales. Her wings weren’t out, but maybe this sudden change also applied to them?
Regardless, to me, she didn’t look any different, though. I had known her for the entirety of my second life, living and eating with her as we traveled through this world. To me, her dragonewt form looked just like always.
However, what worried me though was the massive red magic circle floating in the sky. It was the largest spell circle I had ever seen in my life, dwarfing even Hestia’s [Sacred Field]. And this baseball field-sized spell was hovering with Hestia, moving in tandem with her every step. It was just like her unfinished [Imperial Hellfire].
It’s nearly ready … that isn’t good. What is she planning—
“Symphonie des Feuergottes!”
Before I could finish my thought, Hestia cast her spell.
“Hmph! Coil around us, o, mighty serpent, Xohulotel’s Scaled Barrier! O, Goddess of the Depths, I ask you to perform your justice, Aqua Prison!” Dual casting two spells at once, a snake made out of water coiled around the whole raiding party, forming a scaled barrier while a water sphere covered it, creating a double-layered protective shield.
For a moment, I couldn’t help but stare in wonder at the materialization of these two azure-blue spells, granting me a short glimpse of how it would seem like to be underwater in an air bubble. However, this feeling of amazement quickly died down as my instincts forced my attention towards the glowing circle of Hestia’s spell, menacingly floating in the sky, at the brink of activation.
“Such a beautiful sight … Oh, from the bottom of my soul, I thank you Danterno for granting me a glimpse of your power …” the robed fire mage Macklemor suddenly uttered with a wry smile, tears floating down his face like a broken dam. “Forgive me, my brothers and sisters for besmirching the Talsyn name … I await my God’s absolution. Jasper … my friend … please, you must escape …”
Seconds felt like minutes as small beads of cold sweat formed around my forehead, soaking my bangs. I felt fear. I shivered at the thought of what was about to come!
With the sound of a rocket engine exploding, a stream of fire poured out from the magic circle onto Hestia, pounding on the ground like a cascading waterfall to then recoil back into the air. A magnificent inferno displayed itself, consuming anything in its wake as it spread itself like the water of an open sink tap.
"HESTIA!" I cried out as my heart raced to the brink of exhaustion as I saw my beloved friend being enveloped by her own spell, fearing that even she couldn’t survive this blazing glory.
“PRINCESS HESTIA!” Tasianna shrieked from the top of her lungs, clutching her head as she tried to run out of the water barrier with a mortified expression, before being stopped by Kushlek’zar.
“You will waste your life the second you leave our Goddess’s protective shields, Miss Tasianna. This heat is already evaporating the barrier,” the saurian said with a frown, clutching onto Tasianna’s arm without budging.
Tasianna struggled to break through despite kicking, punching, and even using spells on Kushlek’zar, but the saurian stayed stoic and ignored her wails of grief.
“LET GO OF ME! MY PRINCESS NEEDS M-ME! I MUST SHIELD HER!”
My legs froze in place, unable to move despite my deepest wish to grab Hestia out of the sea of fire. I could only watch in horror as I covered my mouth to stop myself from shouting. Nausea spread inside my throat, as this inferno sight made me remember the nightmares I had of my father’s passing.
I hadn’t seen him die, but hearing my mother’s sobbing in the night always made me think of the fire emergencies Father showed me on the TV. How he always tried to elevate the work of a fireman. They were heroes. He was a hero … but during the first year of his passing, all I could think of was that he died. His warmth, my last goodbye, and his smiling face … all lost in the inferno.
I had already gotten over it. It wasn’t really a trauma, just grief. Hestia’s fire never really sparked this memory, but seeing her disappear like this triggered it to resurface. It didn’t help that the sheer heat of her spell was being transmitted through the water barriers. It felt like a sauna here. It felt like those nightmares. I wanted to see if she was okay, but with all the steam and flames, I couldn’t.
I could technically look through it with my [Heat Vision] but Hestia’s fire was in the way, making it impossible for me to pinpoint her location. This realization, however, eventually reminded me that I had [Enhanced Enemy Sense]. Using it, all my worries washed away as I was able to feel somebody inside the flames.
It has to be her; it just has to be Hestia. It’s callous of me to say this but Macklemor can’t possibly survive through this.
Once I confirmed the signal, I immediately informed Tasianna about it, calming her down enough that her shaking legs gave up on her. “Thank goodness,” she exclaimed as she reclaimed control of her breathing.
I began caressing her back, not only to soothe her but also myself. While I was doing that, Kushlek’zar conjured up three blue magic circles, two to reinforce the barrier with [Xohulotel’s Scaled Barrier] and [Sapphire Membrane] and one to heal my arm with [Ocean’s Healing].
“Unfortunately, water magic isn’t as powerful when it comes to healing injuries compared to holy magic. However, it should be enough to staunch the bleeding and recover a few parts of your broken arm,” he said as he continued casting spells.
After seven casts of [Ocean’s Healing], the bones inside of my arm healed enough for me to move it. He was right when he mentioned that this spell wasn’t as effective as [Major Heal]. Hestia could probably solve this problem within two casts, I believe.
Eventually, the sea of flames died down, disappearing into thin air as the saurian priest’s barrier survived through it all, although the white mist of evaporated water was so thick that it could serve as a smokescreen for a whole battalion of soldiers.
After dematerializing his barriers and having Tasianna blow the hot steam away, our whole group got a clear view of what Hestia’s spell did. Everything—plants, tents, wood, even the very ground was scorched into ash, leaving nothing but a huge coal-black scar behind. Strangely enough, the spell was quite controlled as the pyre seemed to have left behind a circle at the very edge of the place.
Did the spell have a limited area of effectives, or did Hestia control the flames in time? Seeing the outside of this circle only having singed patches of grass, made me believe Hestia was still sane. Even the tent with all of the food supplies miraculously survived.
"Miss Saori, look over there …" Tasianna pointed, leading my eyes towards the center of the spell, where the ground was in the worst state. There, I could see a young girl clad in an outfit inspired by Earth's idol while a white cloak laid on the ground. Her hair was shining a bright crimson, almost as if they were glowing, as an aura of fire circled her like flies around a campfire.
Suddenly, a blue mist started seeping out from her body before a deafening roar erupted, “KRRRRRIIIIIIIAAAAAGHHHH!” as a pair of dark-red wings blew the mist away, revealing the tattoo-like markings on her wing’s webbing. The hardened scales covering her wings were nothing like the ones I remembered, rivaling the immense intimidation force of the ones on her tail.
The girl then turned her head towards us, baring her fangs as her wings released a dust-like substance into the air before flapping them in our direction. “Hestia!” I wanted to call out to my dragon friend but the red glowing eyes of hers, sharper and more primal than ever, pushed those words back down my throat.
Something is wrong! I concluded.
Flames were surrounding her like servants would their mistress, while her silky hair glowed crimson like a hot rod. Not to mention how feral her blazing red eyes were, locking onto us as if we were her enemies. A shiver ran down my spine as I noticed her dust, her scale-dust as she called them, began to spread around the area in a far faster fashion than usual.
Something had to be wrong!
"Kash! Kash! Kash!" A crackling sound came from Hestia as she gnashed her teeth together, sparks appearing like a firelighter.
“Mister Kushlek’zar!” I shouted, driven by instinct.
“The might of the oceans made into a shield for her Eminence’s protection, Sapphire Membrane!” Simarly realizing that something was wrong, Kushlek’zar immediately understood my intentions and materialized a thick, almost viscous, shield of water in front of us.
“Khaarrrr-KASH!” Opening her jaw wide and then gnashing them together, a sound like the sizzling of a dynamite’s fuse resounded for a second before the dust in front of her exploded.
Like a chain reaction, the explosion in front of Hestia led to the whole trail of dust erupting in flames before stopping in front of the [Sapphire Membrane], breaking it into pieces.
“Not fast enough! The spell wasn’t cast fast enough!” Kushlek’zar chided himself, growling like a dinosaur in front of his failed spell, despite successfully protecting us from any harm.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” an ear-piercing scream roared out of Hestia's mouth as more “kash” sounds came from her gnashing jaw.
Once the mist settled, everybody saw Hestia shooting out three beams of dragon breath into the sky, each a different color. Crimson, white, purple; how did she get the last two? In between each beam, she continued screaming as if she was in pain, as tears flowed down her rage-filled expression.
“AHHHH, A DRAGON! This feeling of being glared at by a superior beast rattles my scales into action every single time! The young scale really is a powerful dragon!” Krim-Slak the red carnosilian roared as he clenched onto his halberd and shield with vigor, slamming his tail onto the ground like an excited puppy.
“Seems like the lass has finally drowned herself in her draconic rage. She is nothing but a feral beast now,” Grazlahta the green saurian uttered as he glared at Hestia with the eyes of a hunter. “Kush, call Akasht, now! Before she condemns her soul by hurting an innocent, we shall do what is merciful to allow our Goddess to judge her fairly.”
“WHAT, NO!” Tasianna blurted. “No, you can’t do that! I-I won’t let you! I am her Highness’s shield! If you dare harm her, then may the Goddess forgive me for what I am about to do.”
An icy mist appeared around Tasianna as she stared down the two excited carnosilians. She looked like she was taking her last stand here. She wouldn’t let the saurians go to Hestia, unless it was over her body.
Realizing what they meant, I couldn’t feel anything else but disgust at what the two carnosilians said. I turned towards Kushlek’zar, who was still analyzing Hestia.
“Mister Kushlek’zar, there has to be a rational explanation here!” I pleaded. “She’s not acting herself right now, otherwise she wouldn’t even think of attacking Tasianna and me. Please, I beg you, don’t jump to a wrong conclusion here.”
From how it was looking, it would be impossible for Tasianna and me to defeat the saurians. Not only were we outmatched as mages but also as fighters, giving us literally no other option than to plead to the saurians, hoping that they wouldn’t resort to killing Hestia.
I was trying to find a reason for why she was like this but my [Identify] was inferior to her [Identity Blocker]. I couldn't look at her current status but I had a feeling Macklemor had to be involved in it. He had to be at fault here!
Without giving me time to breathe, I continued speaking, trying to find some argument that was good enough to persuade the saurian priest. “That fire mage could have done something to her! I can’t look at her status now but you know we two have the [Telepathy] skill! I can speak to her! Please, give me the chance to do so!”
“Depth Priest Kushlek’zar, I plead to you as a worshipper of our Origin Goddess, please don’t harm our princess! I swear to Goddess Plesia that her Highness has done nothing but good in her life! Anything but saving her is unjust in this situation, and it will sully your prestige as servants of our Goddess!” Tasianna supported me with a religious reason, talking back against the two carnosilians as they hissed at her.
“I will take that as an insult, wind elf. If that young scale means anything to you, then you should know what is the right thing to do,” Grazlahta responded with a reptilian hiss.
“Graz’s right, Tasianna. Don’t think I don’t know what we’re doing here! It is dishonorable of us to strike a young scale like her down! Too much of life still awaits her.” Krim-Slak suddenly went serious, throwing away his usual attitude to reason with us. “However, if we don’t do anything, she’s gonna kill somebody! Kush, call Akast! We need everybody for this. Xohulotel is watching us!”
I swallowed hard as I heard them say this, but the moment laughter escaped Kushlek’zar’s throat, I couldn’t help but be baffled.
“Ha ha ha! Has the heat warmed your blood so much that you've lost your reasoning, Grazlahta? Krim? Miss Tasianna is right. The lass doesn't deserve to die yet, and we would dishonor ourselves if we were to choose the easy way out. Besides, we saurians owe Caedhul and the Levianewts greatly, so harming their relationship with both Loatryx and Kargryx would destroy everything we have worked for to support saurian greatness,” Kushlek’zar announced with an outstretched tongue. “Ahhh, my curiosity has been fulfilled! Ahhh, of course, a princess! Ahhhh, a dragon princess of the dragon empire! No wonder about the secrecy!”
The sight of the inquisitive raptorsilian grinning while fidgeting with his fingers like a villain was a sight to behold, as he continued speaking, “Aside from that … that girl is my student. My apprentice. I still have so much more I wish to teach her! God Istari be praised! It is a master’s duty to stop his precious little apprentice before she does something stupid. As if an educator could harm his students!”
My eyes widened at the statement.
“Capturing and subduing, that is what water magic does best. Symbolizing our faith in Goddess Plesia, the Goddess of Honor, Order, and Tradition, no element is superior to water magic when it comes to detaining others, not even dark and earth magic! So do not worry Miss Tasianna and Miss Saori, my student will be punished, my way of course!”
The disparity of reactions from Kushle’zar’s decision was evident from how Tasianna and I were relieved to the point that we relaxed our body although we knew that we had to fight Hestia in a second, while the two carnosilians scoffed and hissed in displeasure. Thankfully, they obediently listened to their leader and asked us what the plan would be.
Thank you so much! I couldn’t help but feel a deep gratitude and respect for him, as a fellow teacher.
However, just as I couldn’t help but celebrate, Grazlahta and Krim-Slak both pounced forwards and bashed their shields with their weapons, causing them to light up for a moment. They called out “Time to bring up the defensive rune” before shouting “Auracoil!”
Something like a barrier was then released around them, just in time to protect them from Hestia’s sudden attack. Her flame-red claws pierced right through those, presumably, mana barriers, before she jumped off them. She then blasted the two with a dragon breath, before striking and grinding her tail on the ground until it glowed as hot as molten metal.
“Tch, we need to renew our ‘Auracoil’ the next time we meet a runesmith, Graz! We probably overused them from how easily the lass broke through it!” Krim-Slak exclaimed as he examined his shield, revealing something like a glowing blue tattoo on it.
Is that a rune? I thought, remembering how Hestia had talked about runes and other fantasy stuff.
In this short moment of pause, Hestia began sharpening her claws by placing them between her teeth, using them as a grinding wheel until each claw regained their sickle-like sharpness. Her bright red glowing tail looked exactly like a blade with how her scales perfectly aligned with each other, while the spike at the end of it was pointing at us. With how her tail was longer than her whole torso, it would be dangerous to come too close to her spear-like tail’s range.
Kushlek'zar gave a raptor-like call, sounding exactly like a velociraptor from a dinosaur documentary, before telling Tasianna and me to try [Telepathy] on Hestia while his party subdued her. With that said, the saurians immediately went into action with ferocious determination.
[“Tasianna, let us do this!”] I called my friend into action through our telepathic link.
[“Yes, Miss Saori!”]
As we were trying to establish a connection with Hestia, meanwhile, the fight between her and the saurians began with a flurry of strikes from her tail, slicing through the air and pushing each carnosilian back. Kushlek’zar tried to apprehend Hestia with [Depth’s Call], conjuring up watery tentacles, but due to Hestia’s Agility, none of them even manage to come even close. With her tail as a weapon, Hestia used the flammable dust from her body to stand up against all three saurians.
How is she using her dust so proficiently?! I thought as suddenly the telepathic link connected onto something.
[‘Hello, hello?! Saori?! Tasianna?!’]
It was Hestia’s voice!
[“Hestia!”] I called out while Tasianna said [“Lady Hestia!”]
[‘No, no, you two got the wrong Hestia. I’m parallel mind #1! I’m taking over while the Original Mind, your Hestia, is trying to get her body back in control!’]
[Parallel Thoughts], one of the few skills Hestia possessed that neither Tasianna nor I could get from the skill shop. We scoured through it, but we were unsuccessful. I know it was rude to say this, but it said something about her if she was able to gain a multi-mind skill like this. It honestly made me worry about her mental health before our meeting.
Anyway, this was actually the first time I ever had a conversation with one of her parallel minds. She explained the skill to us once, but I never was able to imagine having multiple people speaking inside my head, even if they were technically copies of myself.
[“Parallel mind #1, yes? What is going on right now? Why is Hestia on a rampage?! Has [Battle Frenzy] appeared again?!”] I bombarded her with questions.
[‘Yes, yes, I’ll answer them all but please give me a second …’] Our telepathic connection disconnected for a few seconds before reconnecting. [“I don’t know how this happened, but Original Mind’s body has gone on a rampage! Some bastard called “Danterno” sent a System message to us after we got this title called [Divine Inferno]. We lost all our fire spells and the ones associated with [Holy Magic]! We can’t conclude on anything, but our theory is that this Danterno dude did something to us. Probably overwhelmed her mind, or soul.’]
According to her, Hestia started acting weird the moment [Divine Inferno] appeared. She was growling as a headache appeared. She managed to come back to senses for a bit, until a Divine message, with “Danterno” as its sender, appeared. She went unconscious from the painful recoil, and had lost control over her body ever since.
The parallel minds tried to get things under control, but without permission from the real Hestia, their hands were tied. All they could do was stop this [Symphonie des Feuergottes] with [Pyrokinesis], preventing it from burning up the place. That was the last command they got from Hestia, until she fell unconscious.
Danterno? Isn’t that the Origin God of Fire? What did he do to my Hestia?!
Speaking of that custom spell, the message they got had Danterno admit his responsibility for it. He had probably done something to their [Imperial Hellfire].
Half? Wait, half?! As in, a 50% increase of her base Agility? No wonder she’s faster than a rank B merc like Kushlek’zar!
[‘We can feel that Original Mind is starting to ‘wake up.’ If she had actually fallen asleep, we probably couldn’t speak with you. She’s probably watching all of this through our eyes. Dammit! Please, you have to stop our body before she does something stupid, and definitely before she reaches the ‘finale!’ If it acts like a true symphony, then we definitely don’t want it to reach that point!’] Parallel mind #1 informed us before cutting the telepathy to resume whatever she was working on.
Relieved that we actually got some information on the situation and that Hestia herself hadn’t gone mad from [Battle Frenzy], I excitedly explained to Kushlek'zar about it while keeping quiet about her new title and Danterno. Considering that Tasianna accidentally exposed Hestia's [Princess] title, giving the saurians any more privy information would be … well, I didn’t think Hestia herself would like it.
“You two heard her companions, the young scale has a tantrum. Take this as training and subdue her. We haven’t fought against a strong opponent as a group for a while now,” Kushlek’zar ordered.
“Shut up, Kush! Use some spells already you idiot! She’s overwhelming us with all this dust!” the two carnosilians responded in unison.
And they were right. Hestia wasn’t casting any spells due to having no “mind” dedicated to cast magic but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t a threat. Her body still was able to control fire with [Pyrokinesis] and the ones flying around her could be used offensively or defensively. We also had to be wary of Hestia's claws and tail which were practically weapons at this point, including the explosive scale-dust from her body.
Parallel mind #1 also explained that something happened to her body, causing her to gain new abilities that we should be careful of. Considering that she never really used her “sparks” so offensively, I guess this had to be one of them.
With another bestial roar, Hestia “sharpened” her tail against the ground, reheating it, before jumping up and slamming it onto Krim-Slak like a broadsword.
“Graceful slithering, Slithering Serpent!” Kushlek’zar cast onto himself before shooting it to Krim-Slak with [Synergist’s Oath].
Hestia’s tail crashed onto his shield but instead of cutting through, she slipped off it due to a blue gel that was covering Krim-Slak’s weapons and body. Sliding on the ground with that gel, the red saurian moved behind Hestia who lost her balance from that last attack. He shouted [Molt] to remove [Slithering Serpent]’s effect, before slamming the edge of his shield against her left side.
Before she was sent flying, she gnashed her teeth again, causing an explosion that caught Krim-Slak head-on. Not willing to give Hestia a moment to act again, Kushlek’zar shot an [Ocean Blast], a highly condensed ball of water. It crashed against Hestia’s skull like a hammer, sending her right at Grazlahta who swung the blunt side of his axe at her.
It hit her head, leaving a visible bleeding bruise behind as her body crashed onto the ground like a broken marionette.
That broke her [Draconic Barrier]?! I was once again reminded how these people weren’t your average adventurers.
Before Grazlahta could follow up on his attack, Hestia rotated her body over, avoiding the saurian’s attack by moving on all fours and began a flurry of swings using her tail like a spear. Although he managed to redirect all the attacks with his shield, it still was intense enough that he wasn’t able to defend himself from Hestia’s next attack.
The crimson haired girl drew her claws through the ground, releasing two sets of claws made from literal fire. Slashing into the carnosilian’s chest and ripping through his armor and scales, a clear cut could be seen, oozing enough blood to be considered critical for a human.
As Grazlahta was trying to distance himself to drink a potion, Hestia’s body instantly attempted to take advantage of this fact, but I prevented it by casting [Shadow Tendrils] to entangle her arms. As pain began to contort her face, white flames appeared from her arm, destroying my tendrils before starting to restore her Health from all the damage that she received.
What in the-?!
The white fire, something that I’ve never seen before, started enveloping her whole body. The bruises caused by Kushlek’zar’s [Ocean Blast] and the one from Grazlahta's axe disappeared as if she just used [Major Heal] on herself. Any residue white flames simply left her body and began swirling around her like the others.
This was why this girl was so hard to fight against. She could simply take any damage and heal it back in a matter of seconds without any problems due to her high mana capacity. And now she does something like automatically healing flames? They were even the same color as one of the three dragon breaths she shot out.
“Kroooooooooarrrrrghhhh! Xohulotel, laruz!” a loud war cry resounded form behind me. I snapped my head around, noticing the huge humanoid crocodile threw his hammer at Hestia.
She simply dodged it, before baring her fangs at the one who threw that at her.
“Akasht, don’t kill her. Only subdue!” Kushlek’zar ordered him.
From here on out, Tasianna, all the saurians, and I cooperated together to capture Hestia, which was difficult to do as Hestia’s swiftness was boosted by her custom spell.
Even if somebody could get close enough to attack, Hestia’s [Draconic Roar] would always burst out, stunning everybody close to her with an ear-destroying attack. Even Akasht, the physically strongest among us, was forced to back away from her when she did this. If Tasianna hadn’t tried to shut Hestia’s mouth with her ice magic every time she did that, we probably would have even more trouble.
Although she was taking quite significant damage from our combined efforts, the white flames would always appear and heal her up. Any damage we would take would also be healed from Kushlek’zar’s [Ocean Healing] or by the potions he was carrying.
The only attack that we seriously had to avoid was the purple flames she occasionally shot out. Fortunately, none of us was hit by them, but anything that was, immediately turned into a dark purple shriveled mess. Toxins; it had to be her poison attacks, although now they were in flame form? What exactly happened to her body?!
As we continued this fight, Hestia eventually realized that we were quickly wearing her down. She wrapped her wings around her before releasing an unbearable heat wave from her body, sending anybody close to her flying away as the heat slowly cooked everybody alive.
From what parallel mind #1 told me, this had to be one of the two new abilities Hestia suddenly got. The one where she would sharpen her claws and tail was [Hellblade Edge], which was similar to her [Spark Claws] and [Spark Fangs], while this heatwave was [Dreadflare Aura].
The names certainly fit the abilities perfectly. The sheer aura around Hestia right now was so hot that coming any closer would definitely combust my fur on fire. None of us could come any closer, but Hestia could continue shooting out fire projectiles at us like it was nothing.
“Enough! Does this young scale believe she can defeat me with fire? Impudent! Learn the terror of the oceans, Princess Hestia! Observe, my student!” Kushlek’zar shouted as he pulled out a rosary with a beautiful clear blue stone embedded into it, shining the moment he started casting spells.
[Azure Blade], [Kraken’s Destruction], [Torrential Rain], [Perilous Tidefall], and so many more spells were cast without stop. Strangely enough, he wasn’t casting any of them, magic circles simply appeared around him as his rosary continued beaming.
Hold on, he had to chant before. Did that rosary do something? Will this—Oh no.
The parallel minds just sent me an update. Hestia had reached the second “phase” of her spell.
50%, too? Will he be able to keep up?!
The second stage of her custom spell activated, removing the effects of the previous one while applying the current one. Explosions of scale-dusts and huge infernos controlled with [Pyrokinesis] answered the saurian priest’s spells in kind.
A clash of elements, fire and water, pushed each back and forth, continuously producing steam until it was so thick that no one could see anything besides for me with my [Heat Vision].
I was doubtful that Kushlek’zar could actually beat Hestia in a duel of spells, as I had seen the intensity of her power far too often when we were sparring. I was so pessimistic about it that I was contemplating pulling everybody into the shadow world to escape this heat wave.
… However, I was proven wrong. Kushlek'zar was an experienced water mage with years of practice and training that made him superior to Hestia as a mage, clearly to be seen as he was pushing Hestia's aura back. The pristine control of his barrage of spells contained the wanton destruction. Water was dominating fire!
I was astounded. Never have I seen anybody be able to contest Hestia in a straight up magic duel. I knew I had a very low sample size, but I never imagined Hestia would lose. She had so much more mana than Kushlek’zar. Nonetheless, I couldn’t deny the truth that I was seeing here: Hestia was losing.
[“Hestia stop! Please, you have to stop now!”] I shouted at her with [Telepathy], now that the situation was mildly in control.
[“Lady Hestia, please, I beg you to stop. I-I can’t bear this heat anymore,”] Tasianna copied me, once she heard my thoughts.
What am I supposed to do here?! I shouted to myself, unable to think of any plans as exhaustion clouded my mind through the heatstroke.
But as I was thinking this, the aura of heat and the fire barrage suddenly stopped. Kushlek'zar halted his attack once he felt no more resistance, although one of the spells did hit its mark. Rolling on the ground like a ragdoll, steam began leaking from Hestia's mouth as she laid on the wet ground, unwilling to stand up or move a muscle.
After lowering the temperature with Tasianna’s ice magic and Kushlek’zar’s water magic, the area was bearable enough to walk through. The moment we knew that, Tasianna and I immediately sprinted towards Hestia, bringing her body up before embracing her tightly.
Gurgh! … Her body is still burning! Ouch!
“OOF! Guys … that’s too tight,” she meekly uttered.
“S-shut it, Hestia. That was not cool at all, not cool at all …” I exclaimed, tightening my grip around her to ignore the pain.
“Miss Saori is right, Lady Hestia … P-please give up your right to refuse for today. All of this was too much for us,” Tasianna agreed without letting go of Hestia, eyes closed and weeping. Her twitching face was just like mine, caused by our unwillingness to let go of this person we cherished despite the burning heat.
“… Sorry,” she muttered silently.
“Don’t be. Just explain everything, that’s all I’m asking. You already did well by coming back to us,” I stated as I caressed her crimson hair, having lost its yellow glow.
“Yeah, sure … could I ask a favor before I do that?”
“Sure.”
“Well … I'm really hungry. Like really, really, really, really, hungry. I think I just burned through three days' worth of calories,” Hestia shyly said as a growl escaped her stomach.
“… Hiehie, anything you want.”
AbyssRaven Boss battle finished. Result: Good Ending.
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“W-What is going on?!” I exclaimed once I saw the state the bandit camp was in.
After killing Narube, I made my way back as fast as I could despite still having a broken arm. I admit I was counting on the Health regeneration from leveling up to heal it up for me. From my experience, it would usually fix up any minor fractures, but I guess this might be too much.
Another reason could be that once it counted as a status effect, it was disqualified from the leveling up regeneration bonus. An example would be the damaged mana paths inside Hestia's left wing that haven't healed up yet.
Well, it wasn’t a huge problem considering Hestia could heal this quite easily.
However, as I approached the bandit camp, the smell of smoke and the sight of red instantly made me think, “Everywhere she goes, she leaves a fire behind …” I mean, nothing could express “Hestia was here” better than a massive forest fire … during the night.
Exasperation aside, the sight of so much fire was a bit worrisome. Not because I was still cautious of the wyverns but because Hestia shouldn’t need to use this much.
Sure, she was angry at the bandit, but I didn’t think she would go so far as to kill them when she could easily subdue them with her earth and wind magic. Hestia’s current problem was that she was worried that her humanity was slipping due to her new body. Killing a human might not be the best choice to resolve this issue.
Of course, as a former teacher, I would have to advise her against doing it, but this situation wasn’t easy enough for me to just decide on one single correct answer. I couldn’t instill into her that killing humans was forbidden as we were monsters, so there was always the chance that we would fight a human to the death. Self-defense. If she were to hesitate and got hurt because of this advice, then I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.
So color me surprised when I arrived at the scene and saw Hestia chanting something while she approached a robed man prostrating himself before her. The next moment, I turned my head to the side, towards the voices of Tasianna and the saurians who were telling Hestia to stop. The numerous unconscious bandits tied up and lying next to them told me the raid was over.
“Huh? Mister Kushlek’zar, what is going on with Lady Hestia?!” I called out the leader of the “Depth Serpents” party.
“Miss Saori! You’ve come at the perfect timing; Hestia isn’t listening to our calls!” the lanky raptorsilian voiced out, frowning as much as a dinosaur could. “The bandits in the camp are subdued but the young scale is not stopping her assault.”
Kushlek’zar retold what happened during the raid. After Akasht, the mighty sarcosilian, escaped with all the prisoners, the saurians began subjugating all the bandits by capturing them with Kushlek’zar’s water magic. Meanwhile, Hestia was locked into a small duel with the bandit’s fire mage, Macklemor.
Hestia wasn't willing to fight him and tried her best to knock him out but she underestimated how persistent he was. Macklemor slung fire spells with an almost crazed fervor, setting the camp ablaze as Hestia was able to dodge them. As a fire dragon, those fire spells did nothing to her, though.
The saurians left them to their duel, due to their cultural belief, as they were more interested in capturing the rest of the bandits. Once they were finished, Tasianna came back from her distraction task looking troubled, as if she was being tormented by something. While they questioned her about what happened with the bandits she led away, they instantly stopped the moment Hestia cried out in pain.
The next moment, Hestia’s draconic body parts started to morph, as she continued growling. Her fangs and claws became even sharper and more pronounced, her scales became edgier and more vivid, while her tail started to resemble more like a jagged blade due to her protruding scales. Her wings weren’t out, but maybe this sudden change also applied to them?
Regardless, to me, she didn’t look any different, though. I had known her for the entirety of my second life, living and eating with her as we traveled through this world. To me, her dragonewt form looked just like always.
However, what worried me though was the massive red magic circle floating in the sky. It was the largest spell circle I had ever seen in my life, dwarfing even Hestia’s [Sacred Field]. And this baseball field-sized spell was hovering with Hestia, moving in tandem with her every step. It was just like her unfinished [Imperial Hellfire].
It’s nearly ready … that isn’t good. What is she planning—
“Symphonie des Feuergottes!”
Before I could finish my thought, Hestia cast her spell.
“Hmph! Coil around us, o, mighty serpent, Xohulotel’s Scaled Barrier! O, Goddess of the Depths, I ask you to perform your justice, Aqua Prison!” Dual casting two spells at once, a snake made out of water coiled around the whole raiding party, forming a scaled barrier while a water sphere covered it, creating a double-layered protective shield.
For a moment, I couldn’t help but stare in wonder at the materialization of these two azure-blue spells, granting me a short glimpse of how it would seem like to be underwater in an air bubble. However, this feeling of amazement quickly died down as my instincts forced my attention towards the glowing circle of Hestia’s spell, menacingly floating in the sky, at the brink of activation.
“Such a beautiful sight … Oh, from the bottom of my soul, I thank you Danterno for granting me a glimpse of your power …” the robed fire mage Macklemor suddenly uttered with a wry smile, tears floating down his face like a broken dam. “Forgive me, my brothers and sisters for besmirching the Talsyn name … I await my God’s absolution. Jasper … my friend … please, you must escape …”
Seconds felt like minutes as small beads of cold sweat formed around my forehead, soaking my bangs. I felt fear. I shivered at the thought of what was about to come!
With the sound of a rocket engine exploding, a stream of fire poured out from the magic circle onto Hestia, pounding on the ground like a cascading waterfall to then recoil back into the air. A magnificent inferno displayed itself, consuming anything in its wake as it spread itself like the water of an open sink tap.
"HESTIA!" I cried out as my heart raced to the brink of exhaustion as I saw my beloved friend being enveloped by her own spell, fearing that even she couldn’t survive this blazing glory.
“PRINCESS HESTIA!” Tasianna shrieked from the top of her lungs, clutching her head as she tried to run out of the water barrier with a mortified expression, before being stopped by Kushlek’zar.
“You will waste your life the second you leave our Goddess’s protective shields, Miss Tasianna. This heat is already evaporating the barrier,” the saurian said with a frown, clutching onto Tasianna’s arm without budging.
Tasianna struggled to break through despite kicking, punching, and even using spells on Kushlek’zar, but the saurian stayed stoic and ignored her wails of grief.
“LET GO OF ME! MY PRINCESS NEEDS M-ME! I MUST SHIELD HER!”
My legs froze in place, unable to move despite my deepest wish to grab Hestia out of the sea of fire. I could only watch in horror as I covered my mouth to stop myself from shouting. Nausea spread inside my throat, as this inferno sight made me remember the nightmares I had of my father’s passing.
I hadn’t seen him die, but hearing my mother’s sobbing in the night always made me think of the fire emergencies Father showed me on the TV. How he always tried to elevate the work of a fireman. They were heroes. He was a hero … but during the first year of his passing, all I could think of was that he died. His warmth, my last goodbye, and his smiling face … all lost in the inferno.
I had already gotten over it. It wasn’t really a trauma, just grief. Hestia’s fire never really sparked this memory, but seeing her disappear like this triggered it to resurface. It didn’t help that the sheer heat of her spell was being transmitted through the water barriers. It felt like a sauna here. It felt like those nightmares. I wanted to see if she was okay, but with all the steam and flames, I couldn’t.
I could technically look through it with my [Heat Vision] but Hestia’s fire was in the way, making it impossible for me to pinpoint her location. This realization, however, eventually reminded me that I had [Enhanced Enemy Sense]. Using it, all my worries washed away as I was able to feel somebody inside the flames.
It has to be her; it just has to be Hestia. It’s callous of me to say this but Macklemor can’t possibly survive through this.
Once I confirmed the signal, I immediately informed Tasianna about it, calming her down enough that her shaking legs gave up on her. “Thank goodness,” she exclaimed as she reclaimed control of her breathing.
I began caressing her back, not only to soothe her but also myself. While I was doing that, Kushlek’zar conjured up three blue magic circles, two to reinforce the barrier with [Xohulotel’s Scaled Barrier] and [Sapphire Membrane] and one to heal my arm with [Ocean’s Healing].
“Unfortunately, water magic isn’t as powerful when it comes to healing injuries compared to holy magic. However, it should be enough to staunch the bleeding and recover a few parts of your broken arm,” he said as he continued casting spells.
After seven casts of [Ocean’s Healing], the bones inside of my arm healed enough for me to move it. He was right when he mentioned that this spell wasn’t as effective as [Major Heal]. Hestia could probably solve this problem within two casts, I believe.
Eventually, the sea of flames died down, disappearing into thin air as the saurian priest’s barrier survived through it all, although the white mist of evaporated water was so thick that it could serve as a smokescreen for a whole battalion of soldiers.
After dematerializing his barriers and having Tasianna blow the hot steam away, our whole group got a clear view of what Hestia’s spell did. Everything—plants, tents, wood, even the very ground was scorched into ash, leaving nothing but a huge coal-black scar behind. Strangely enough, the spell was quite controlled as the pyre seemed to have left behind a circle at the very edge of the place.
Did the spell have a limited area of effectives, or did Hestia control the flames in time? Seeing the outside of this circle only having singed patches of grass, made me believe Hestia was still sane. Even the tent with all of the food supplies miraculously survived.
"Miss Saori, look over there …" Tasianna pointed, leading my eyes towards the center of the spell, where the ground was in the worst state. There, I could see a young girl clad in an outfit inspired by Earth's idol while a white cloak laid on the ground. Her hair was shining a bright crimson, almost as if they were glowing, as an aura of fire circled her like flies around a campfire.
Suddenly, a blue mist started seeping out from her body before a deafening roar erupted, “KRRRRRIIIIIIIAAAAAGHHHH!” as a pair of dark-red wings blew the mist away, revealing the tattoo-like markings on her wing’s webbing. The hardened scales covering her wings were nothing like the ones I remembered, rivaling the immense intimidation force of the ones on her tail.
The girl then turned her head towards us, baring her fangs as her wings released a dust-like substance into the air before flapping them in our direction. “Hestia!” I wanted to call out to my dragon friend but the red glowing eyes of hers, sharper and more primal than ever, pushed those words back down my throat.
Something is wrong! I concluded.
Flames were surrounding her like servants would their mistress, while her silky hair glowed crimson like a hot rod. Not to mention how feral her blazing red eyes were, locking onto us as if we were her enemies. A shiver ran down my spine as I noticed her dust, her scale-dust as she called them, began to spread around the area in a far faster fashion than usual.
Something had to be wrong!
"Kash! Kash! Kash!" A crackling sound came from Hestia as she gnashed her teeth together, sparks appearing like a firelighter.
“Mister Kushlek’zar!” I shouted, driven by instinct.
“The might of the oceans made into a shield for her Eminence’s protection, Sapphire Membrane!” Simarly realizing that something was wrong, Kushlek’zar immediately understood my intentions and materialized a thick, almost viscous, shield of water in front of us.
“Khaarrrr-KASH!” Opening her jaw wide and then gnashing them together, a sound like the sizzling of a dynamite’s fuse resounded for a second before the dust in front of her exploded.
Like a chain reaction, the explosion in front of Hestia led to the whole trail of dust erupting in flames before stopping in front of the [Sapphire Membrane], breaking it into pieces.
“Not fast enough! The spell wasn’t cast fast enough!” Kushlek’zar chided himself, growling like a dinosaur in front of his failed spell, despite successfully protecting us from any harm.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” an ear-piercing scream roared out of Hestia's mouth as more “kash” sounds came from her gnashing jaw.
Once the mist settled, everybody saw Hestia shooting out three beams of dragon breath into the sky, each a different color. Crimson, white, purple; how did she get the last two? In between each beam, she continued screaming as if she was in pain, as tears flowed down her rage-filled expression.
“AHHHH, A DRAGON! This feeling of being glared at by a superior beast rattles my scales into action every single time! The young scale really is a powerful dragon!” Krim-Slak the red carnosilian roared as he clenched onto his halberd and shield with vigor, slamming his tail onto the ground like an excited puppy.
“Seems like the lass has finally drowned herself in her draconic rage. She is nothing but a feral beast now,” Grazlahta the green saurian uttered as he glared at Hestia with the eyes of a hunter. “Kush, call Akasht, now! Before she condemns her soul by hurting an innocent, we shall do what is merciful to allow our Goddess to judge her fairly.”
“WHAT, NO!” Tasianna blurted. “No, you can’t do that! I-I won’t let you! I am her Highness’s shield! If you dare harm her, then may the Goddess forgive me for what I am about to do.”
An icy mist appeared around Tasianna as she stared down the two excited carnosilians. She looked like she was taking her last stand here. She wouldn’t let the saurians go to Hestia, unless it was over her body.
Realizing what they meant, I couldn’t feel anything else but disgust at what the two carnosilians said. I turned towards Kushlek’zar, who was still analyzing Hestia.
“Mister Kushlek’zar, there has to be a rational explanation here!” I pleaded. “She’s not acting herself right now, otherwise she wouldn’t even think of attacking Tasianna and me. Please, I beg you, don’t jump to a wrong conclusion here.”
From how it was looking, it would be impossible for Tasianna and me to defeat the saurians. Not only were we outmatched as mages but also as fighters, giving us literally no other option than to plead to the saurians, hoping that they wouldn’t resort to killing Hestia.
I was trying to find a reason for why she was like this but my [Identify] was inferior to her [Identity Blocker]. I couldn't look at her current status but I had a feeling Macklemor had to be involved in it. He had to be at fault here!
Without giving me time to breathe, I continued speaking, trying to find some argument that was good enough to persuade the saurian priest. “That fire mage could have done something to her! I can’t look at her status now but you know we two have the [Telepathy] skill! I can speak to her! Please, give me the chance to do so!”
“Depth Priest Kushlek’zar, I plead to you as a worshipper of our Origin Goddess, please don’t harm our princess! I swear to Goddess Plesia that her Highness has done nothing but good in her life! Anything but saving her is unjust in this situation, and it will sully your prestige as servants of our Goddess!” Tasianna supported me with a religious reason, talking back against the two carnosilians as they hissed at her.
“I will take that as an insult, wind elf. If that young scale means anything to you, then you should know what is the right thing to do,” Grazlahta responded with a reptilian hiss.
“Graz’s right, Tasianna. Don’t think I don’t know what we’re doing here! It is dishonorable of us to strike a young scale like her down! Too much of life still awaits her.” Krim-Slak suddenly went serious, throwing away his usual attitude to reason with us. “However, if we don’t do anything, she’s gonna kill somebody! Kush, call Akast! We need everybody for this. Xohulotel is watching us!”
I swallowed hard as I heard them say this, but the moment laughter escaped Kushlek’zar’s throat, I couldn’t help but be baffled.
“Ha ha ha! Has the heat warmed your blood so much that you've lost your reasoning, Grazlahta? Krim? Miss Tasianna is right. The lass doesn't deserve to die yet, and we would dishonor ourselves if we were to choose the easy way out. Besides, we saurians owe Caedhul and the Levianewts greatly, so harming their relationship with both Loatryx and Kargryx would destroy everything we have worked for to support saurian greatness,” Kushlek’zar announced with an outstretched tongue. “Ahhh, my curiosity has been fulfilled! Ahhh, of course, a princess! Ahhhh, a dragon princess of the dragon empire! No wonder about the secrecy!”
The sight of the inquisitive raptorsilian grinning while fidgeting with his fingers like a villain was a sight to behold, as he continued speaking, “Aside from that … that girl is my student. My apprentice. I still have so much more I wish to teach her! God Istari be praised! It is a master’s duty to stop his precious little apprentice before she does something stupid. As if an educator could harm his students!”
My eyes widened at the statement.
“Capturing and subduing, that is what water magic does best. Symbolizing our faith in Goddess Plesia, the Goddess of Honor, Order, and Tradition, no element is superior to water magic when it comes to detaining others, not even dark and earth magic! So do not worry Miss Tasianna and Miss Saori, my student will be punished, my way of course!”
The disparity of reactions from Kushle’zar’s decision was evident from how Tasianna and I were relieved to the point that we relaxed our body although we knew that we had to fight Hestia in a second, while the two carnosilians scoffed and hissed in displeasure. Thankfully, they obediently listened to their leader and asked us what the plan would be.
Thank you so much! I couldn’t help but feel a deep gratitude and respect for him, as a fellow teacher.
However, just as I couldn’t help but celebrate, Grazlahta and Krim-Slak both pounced forwards and bashed their shields with their weapons, causing them to light up for a moment. They called out “Time to bring up the defensive rune” before shouting “Auracoil!”
Something like a barrier was then released around them, just in time to protect them from Hestia’s sudden attack. Her flame-red claws pierced right through those, presumably, mana barriers, before she jumped off them. She then blasted the two with a dragon breath, before striking and grinding her tail on the ground until it glowed as hot as molten metal.
“Tch, we need to renew our ‘Auracoil’ the next time we meet a runesmith, Graz! We probably overused them from how easily the lass broke through it!” Krim-Slak exclaimed as he examined his shield, revealing something like a glowing blue tattoo on it.
Is that a rune? I thought, remembering how Hestia had talked about runes and other fantasy stuff.
In this short moment of pause, Hestia began sharpening her claws by placing them between her teeth, using them as a grinding wheel until each claw regained their sickle-like sharpness. Her bright red glowing tail looked exactly like a blade with how her scales perfectly aligned with each other, while the spike at the end of it was pointing at us. With how her tail was longer than her whole torso, it would be dangerous to come too close to her spear-like tail’s range.
Kushlek'zar gave a raptor-like call, sounding exactly like a velociraptor from a dinosaur documentary, before telling Tasianna and me to try [Telepathy] on Hestia while his party subdued her. With that said, the saurians immediately went into action with ferocious determination.
[“Tasianna, let us do this!”] I called my friend into action through our telepathic link.
[“Yes, Miss Saori!”]
As we were trying to establish a connection with Hestia, meanwhile, the fight between her and the saurians began with a flurry of strikes from her tail, slicing through the air and pushing each carnosilian back. Kushlek’zar tried to apprehend Hestia with [Depth’s Call], conjuring up watery tentacles, but due to Hestia’s Agility, none of them even manage to come even close. With her tail as a weapon, Hestia used the flammable dust from her body to stand up against all three saurians.
How is she using her dust so proficiently?! I thought as suddenly the telepathic link connected onto something.
[‘Hello, hello?! Saori?! Tasianna?!’]
It was Hestia’s voice!
[“Hestia!”] I called out while Tasianna said [“Lady Hestia!”]
[‘No, no, you two got the wrong Hestia. I’m parallel mind #1! I’m taking over while the Original Mind, your Hestia, is trying to get her body back in control!’]
[Parallel Thoughts], one of the few skills Hestia possessed that neither Tasianna nor I could get from the skill shop. We scoured through it, but we were unsuccessful. I know it was rude to say this, but it said something about her if she was able to gain a multi-mind skill like this. It honestly made me worry about her mental health before our meeting.
Anyway, this was actually the first time I ever had a conversation with one of her parallel minds. She explained the skill to us once, but I never was able to imagine having multiple people speaking inside my head, even if they were technically copies of myself.
[“Parallel mind #1, yes? What is going on right now? Why is Hestia on a rampage?! Has [Battle Frenzy] appeared again?!”] I bombarded her with questions.
[‘Yes, yes, I’ll answer them all but please give me a second …’] Our telepathic connection disconnected for a few seconds before reconnecting. [“I don’t know how this happened, but Original Mind’s body has gone on a rampage! Some bastard called “Danterno” sent a System message to us after we got this title called [Divine Inferno]. We lost all our fire spells and the ones associated with [Holy Magic]! We can’t conclude on anything, but our theory is that this Danterno dude did something to us. Probably overwhelmed her mind, or soul.’]
According to her, Hestia started acting weird the moment [Divine Inferno] appeared. She was growling as a headache appeared. She managed to come back to senses for a bit, until a Divine message, with “Danterno” as its sender, appeared. She went unconscious from the painful recoil, and had lost control over her body ever since.
The parallel minds tried to get things under control, but without permission from the real Hestia, their hands were tied. All they could do was stop this [Symphonie des Feuergottes] with [Pyrokinesis], preventing it from burning up the place. That was the last command they got from Hestia, until she fell unconscious.
Danterno? Isn’t that the Origin God of Fire? What did he do to my Hestia?!
Speaking of that custom spell, the message they got had Danterno admit his responsibility for it. He had probably done something to their [Imperial Hellfire].
Half? Wait, half?! As in, a 50% increase of her base Agility? No wonder she’s faster than a rank B merc like Kushlek’zar!
[‘We can feel that Original Mind is starting to ‘wake up.’ If she had actually fallen asleep, we probably couldn’t speak with you. She’s probably watching all of this through our eyes. Dammit! Please, you have to stop our body before she does something stupid, and definitely before she reaches the ‘finale!’ If it acts like a true symphony, then we definitely don’t want it to reach that point!’] Parallel mind #1 informed us before cutting the telepathy to resume whatever she was working on.
Relieved that we actually got some information on the situation and that Hestia herself hadn’t gone mad from [Battle Frenzy], I excitedly explained to Kushlek'zar about it while keeping quiet about her new title and Danterno. Considering that Tasianna accidentally exposed Hestia's [Princess] title, giving the saurians any more privy information would be … well, I didn’t think Hestia herself would like it.
“You two heard her companions, the young scale has a tantrum. Take this as training and subdue her. We haven’t fought against a strong opponent as a group for a while now,” Kushlek’zar ordered.
“Shut up, Kush! Use some spells already you idiot! She’s overwhelming us with all this dust!” the two carnosilians responded in unison.
And they were right. Hestia wasn’t casting any spells due to having no “mind” dedicated to cast magic but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t a threat. Her body still was able to control fire with [Pyrokinesis] and the ones flying around her could be used offensively or defensively. We also had to be wary of Hestia's claws and tail which were practically weapons at this point, including the explosive scale-dust from her body.
Parallel mind #1 also explained that something happened to her body, causing her to gain new abilities that we should be careful of. Considering that she never really used her “sparks” so offensively, I guess this had to be one of them.
With another bestial roar, Hestia “sharpened” her tail against the ground, reheating it, before jumping up and slamming it onto Krim-Slak like a broadsword.
“Graceful slithering, Slithering Serpent!” Kushlek’zar cast onto himself before shooting it to Krim-Slak with [Synergist’s Oath].
Hestia’s tail crashed onto his shield but instead of cutting through, she slipped off it due to a blue gel that was covering Krim-Slak’s weapons and body. Sliding on the ground with that gel, the red saurian moved behind Hestia who lost her balance from that last attack. He shouted [Molt] to remove [Slithering Serpent]’s effect, before slamming the edge of his shield against her left side.
Before she was sent flying, she gnashed her teeth again, causing an explosion that caught Krim-Slak head-on. Not willing to give Hestia a moment to act again, Kushlek’zar shot an [Ocean Blast], a highly condensed ball of water. It crashed against Hestia’s skull like a hammer, sending her right at Grazlahta who swung the blunt side of his axe at her.
It hit her head, leaving a visible bleeding bruise behind as her body crashed onto the ground like a broken marionette.
That broke her [Draconic Barrier]?! I was once again reminded how these people weren’t your average adventurers.
Before Grazlahta could follow up on his attack, Hestia rotated her body over, avoiding the saurian’s attack by moving on all fours and began a flurry of swings using her tail like a spear. Although he managed to redirect all the attacks with his shield, it still was intense enough that he wasn’t able to defend himself from Hestia’s next attack.
The crimson haired girl drew her claws through the ground, releasing two sets of claws made from literal fire. Slashing into the carnosilian’s chest and ripping through his armor and scales, a clear cut could be seen, oozing enough blood to be considered critical for a human.
As Grazlahta was trying to distance himself to drink a potion, Hestia’s body instantly attempted to take advantage of this fact, but I prevented it by casting [Shadow Tendrils] to entangle her arms. As pain began to contort her face, white flames appeared from her arm, destroying my tendrils before starting to restore her Health from all the damage that she received.
What in the-?!
The white fire, something that I’ve never seen before, started enveloping her whole body. The bruises caused by Kushlek’zar’s [Ocean Blast] and the one from Grazlahta's axe disappeared as if she just used [Major Heal] on herself. Any residue white flames simply left her body and began swirling around her like the others.
This was why this girl was so hard to fight against. She could simply take any damage and heal it back in a matter of seconds without any problems due to her high mana capacity. And now she does something like automatically healing flames? They were even the same color as one of the three dragon breaths she shot out.
“Kroooooooooarrrrrghhhh! Xohulotel, laruz!” a loud war cry resounded form behind me. I snapped my head around, noticing the huge humanoid crocodile threw his hammer at Hestia.
She simply dodged it, before baring her fangs at the one who threw that at her.
“Akasht, don’t kill her. Only subdue!” Kushlek’zar ordered him.
From here on out, Tasianna, all the saurians, and I cooperated together to capture Hestia, which was difficult to do as Hestia’s swiftness was boosted by her custom spell.
Even if somebody could get close enough to attack, Hestia’s [Draconic Roar] would always burst out, stunning everybody close to her with an ear-destroying attack. Even Akasht, the physically strongest among us, was forced to back away from her when she did this. If Tasianna hadn’t tried to shut Hestia’s mouth with her ice magic every time she did that, we probably would have even more trouble.
Although she was taking quite significant damage from our combined efforts, the white flames would always appear and heal her up. Any damage we would take would also be healed from Kushlek’zar’s [Ocean Healing] or by the potions he was carrying.
The only attack that we seriously had to avoid was the purple flames she occasionally shot out. Fortunately, none of us was hit by them, but anything that was, immediately turned into a dark purple shriveled mess. Toxins; it had to be her poison attacks, although now they were in flame form? What exactly happened to her body?!
As we continued this fight, Hestia eventually realized that we were quickly wearing her down. She wrapped her wings around her before releasing an unbearable heat wave from her body, sending anybody close to her flying away as the heat slowly cooked everybody alive.
From what parallel mind #1 told me, this had to be one of the two new abilities Hestia suddenly got. The one where she would sharpen her claws and tail was [Hellblade Edge], which was similar to her [Spark Claws] and [Spark Fangs], while this heatwave was [Dreadflare Aura].
The names certainly fit the abilities perfectly. The sheer aura around Hestia right now was so hot that coming any closer would definitely combust my fur on fire. None of us could come any closer, but Hestia could continue shooting out fire projectiles at us like it was nothing.
“Enough! Does this young scale believe she can defeat me with fire? Impudent! Learn the terror of the oceans, Princess Hestia! Observe, my student!” Kushlek’zar shouted as he pulled out a rosary with a beautiful clear blue stone embedded into it, shining the moment he started casting spells.
[Azure Blade], [Kraken’s Destruction], [Torrential Rain], [Perilous Tidefall], and so many more spells were cast without stop. Strangely enough, he wasn’t casting any of them, magic circles simply appeared around him as his rosary continued beaming.
Hold on, he had to chant before. Did that rosary do something? Will this—Oh no.
The parallel minds just sent me an update. Hestia had reached the second “phase” of her spell.
50%, too? Will he be able to keep up?!
The second stage of her custom spell activated, removing the effects of the previous one while applying the current one. Explosions of scale-dusts and huge infernos controlled with [Pyrokinesis] answered the saurian priest’s spells in kind.
A clash of elements, fire and water, pushed each back and forth, continuously producing steam until it was so thick that no one could see anything besides for me with my [Heat Vision].
I was doubtful that Kushlek’zar could actually beat Hestia in a duel of spells, as I had seen the intensity of her power far too often when we were sparring. I was so pessimistic about it that I was contemplating pulling everybody into the shadow world to escape this heat wave.
… However, I was proven wrong. Kushlek'zar was an experienced water mage with years of practice and training that made him superior to Hestia as a mage, clearly to be seen as he was pushing Hestia's aura back. The pristine control of his barrage of spells contained the wanton destruction. Water was dominating fire!
I was astounded. Never have I seen anybody be able to contest Hestia in a straight up magic duel. I knew I had a very low sample size, but I never imagined Hestia would lose. She had so much more mana than Kushlek’zar. Nonetheless, I couldn’t deny the truth that I was seeing here: Hestia was losing.
[“Hestia stop! Please, you have to stop now!”] I shouted at her with [Telepathy], now that the situation was mildly in control.
[“Lady Hestia, please, I beg you to stop. I-I can’t bear this heat anymore,”] Tasianna copied me, once she heard my thoughts.
What am I supposed to do here?! I shouted to myself, unable to think of any plans as exhaustion clouded my mind through the heatstroke.
But as I was thinking this, the aura of heat and the fire barrage suddenly stopped. Kushlek'zar halted his attack once he felt no more resistance, although one of the spells did hit its mark. Rolling on the ground like a ragdoll, steam began leaking from Hestia's mouth as she laid on the wet ground, unwilling to stand up or move a muscle.
After lowering the temperature with Tasianna’s ice magic and Kushlek’zar’s water magic, the area was bearable enough to walk through. The moment we knew that, Tasianna and I immediately sprinted towards Hestia, bringing her body up before embracing her tightly.
Gurgh! … Her body is still burning! Ouch!
“OOF! Guys … that’s too tight,” she meekly uttered.
“S-shut it, Hestia. That was not cool at all, not cool at all …” I exclaimed, tightening my grip around her to ignore the pain.
“Miss Saori is right, Lady Hestia … P-please give up your right to refuse for today. All of this was too much for us,” Tasianna agreed without letting go of Hestia, eyes closed and weeping. Her twitching face was just like mine, caused by our unwillingness to let go of this person we cherished despite the burning heat.
“… Sorry,” she muttered silently.
“Don’t be. Just explain everything, that’s all I’m asking. You already did well by coming back to us,” I stated as I caressed her crimson hair, having lost its yellow glow.
“Yeah, sure … could I ask a favor before I do that?”
“Sure.”
“Well … I'm really hungry. Like really, really, really, really, hungry. I think I just burned through three days' worth of calories,” Hestia shyly said as a growl escaped her stomach.
“… Hiehie, anything you want.”
AbyssRaven Boss battle finished. Result: Good Ending.
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