The flat golden glows that served as their eyes flickered erratically like dying bulbs on the verge of burning out, dimming, flaring, and dimming again, as if whatever parasitic intelligence animated them was struggling to process the sudden, catastrophic damage.
Black ink oozed from the clean punctures where the Elental Stones had passed through, pooling beneath them in thick, steaming puddles that hissed against the torn earth.
Isabelle managed to find her voice after a long mont of stunned silence. "Was that not Spirit Magic... L-Lord Benjamin?"
"Hey! You better drop it with the ’Lord,’ or I’ll be mad!" I imdiately cut her off, trying to stop sothing really troubleso before it could take root.
The last thing I needed was titles and reverence turning every conversation into a formal audience.
"But... Spirit Magic is a specific ability," she continued, her tone a mix of awe and lingering disbelief as the distant sounds of battle raged on from other mindless Children still being torn apart by the remaining fairies. "A rare gift bestowed directly by the Spirits themselves. Even us, sub-spirits, find it difficult to use... almost impossible without their explicit blessing."
"Ah, no, it wasn’t Spirit Magic." I told her flatly, watching as her brows furrowed deeply in confusion.
She was probably thinking "what now?!"—her mind racing to reconcile what she had just witnessed with everything she knew about power in this world.
So I clarified, keeping my voice steady.
"I have quite so divine force inside that I don’t normally use; fragnts from various abilities, blessings, and whatever accumulated along the way. So I treated those forces as if they weren’t mine and powered the Elental Stones with them instead. If I had normally used my registered magic and energy—the stuff that runs through my usual circuits—I suspected it wouldn’t hurt them at all. They’d just adapt or devour it like the Eldest Born did."
"Eh...? So those were really Elental Stones?" She winced a little, her clear green eyes widening further. "Were they not a type of copy... so imitation to act as such?"
"What? Why would I make a copy of that?" I answered, genuinely puzzled by the question. "I have all the attributes, so I can make stones for all of them if I wanted. Fire, water, light, void, wind, holy, tal, lightning... whatever I need."
Isabelle paled noticeably, the color draining from her already fair skin as she turned her gaze back to the battlefield and fell completely silent.
Her lips parted slightly, but no words ca out.
She just stared at the dying Borns, expression frozen in sothing between shock and quiet dread.
The six Borns were now in their final throes, outstretching their long, grey arms toward the sky in weak, trembling gestures.
Faint, eldritch noises escaped from where mouths should have been: high, keening sounds like so undiscovered bird calling from an unmapped corner of the world—lonely, alien, and heartbreaking in their futility.
Their bodies bubbled and collapsed inward faster now, the golden glows in their eyes sputtering out one by one until only darkness remained.
But I had to make sure they were completely dead this ti, and were not faking it again like the Second Born had earlier.
One wrong assumption and these things could regenerate stronger than before.
Before I could even move to check, though, it hit : Isabelle was definitely holding back information from !
Why’d she pale so dramatically when I casually ntioned I could make Elental Stones?
It wasn’t just surprise, it felt like fear.
C’mon, she was making feel like an anomaly, like one of those parasitic Children we had been fighting. Like I didn’t belong here either.
"Hey, Isabelle," I muttered without looking at her, voice low so it wouldn’t carry over the battlefield noise.
"We’re like dating now, aren’t we?"
"Da...ting?" She sounded genuinely confused, the unfamiliar word tripping over her tongue.
Oh, right, maybe the term "dating" was foreign to her. This world probably had a different courtship language.
I imdiately reiterated, turning the phrase into sothing clearer.
"I an, you are my girlfriend, right?"
"Y-Yes."
"Yeah... I don’t want you to think I’m so freak..." I explained, the words coming out heavier than I intended. "I don’t know much about what common sense dictates in this world, and I might seem naïve half the tis I act... or say sothing that sounds impossible."
I then turned my head to look at her directly, eting those warm green eyes.
"I’m saying, you paling and getting so... afraid of feels really hurtful. I want you guys to guide through this world, please. Teach what’s normal here so I don’t keep scaring people."
Isabelle’s expression considerably dimd.
She bit her lower lip gently, a small, pained gesture that made her look even more vulnerable amid the chaos.
"Benjamin, you are correct," she muttered, genuine regret threading through her voice. "I should not have acted in such a manner. It was unbefitting of a lover. I have no excuse whatsoever."
Then she moved closer to —close enough that I could feel the warmth of her body against the cooling battlefield air—and gently grabbed a part of my shirt, fingers curling into the fabric like she needed an anchor.
And she suddenly slipped into telepathy for a quicker and more intimate delivery, aligning our emotions so I could feel the sincerity behind every word.
[Truly, I love you very much. Despite us eting in such a short ti, it feels like you are a destined light I was ant to see... But...] [Isa]
"But...?" I pressed, both aloud and through the link, not letting the sentence hang.
"But things like the elents are at odds with each other," her brows furrowed deeply, creasing the smooth skin between her crystalline eyes as she struggled to find the right words.
She continued, her voice soft but insistent, as though explaining sothing fundantal that should have been obvious yet clearly wasn’t to .
"It is not heard anywhere that soone has both fire attribute and water attribute. It never works that way because there is no harmony between them, none at all."
She pressed on, her explanation flowing steadily through the telepathic link while the distant sounds of battle continued—faint thuds, wet tearing noises from the remaining mindless Children being cut down by the other fairies.
User Comments
0 comments from readers