The Wandering Fairy Chapter 300: War of THorns and Mirrors

Those who possess unique and rare Affinities in the magecraft world are labeled many things. “Useless,” “Outsiders,” “Freaks.” These were certainly just the basics of the basics. There were many more like “Outcasts,” “Possessed,” and even the fabled “Abomination?”

Really? Abomination of all things?

Soren simply couldn’t understand it when Myrin inford him about these terms. He just couldn’t imagine anyone saying sothing that idiotic simply because he possessed a rare affinity like srism.

But then again…

Staring ahead at the colossal figure standing deep within the clouds of debris, Soren could only smile softly as his hands continued shaking in silence. He glanced at them for a mont—examining the exact emotion causing this strange sensation coursing through him.

Was it fear? Anger? Perhaps both?

No… He thought inwardly. This is simply excitent…

There was a part of him that was thrilled to see this developnt. His curiosity had risen significantly—far beyond even his own inner control. What he was seeing was just too exhilarating.

The script had changed in such an interesting way!

With each passing second, his mystic eyes fed him more and more information about this newly appeared foe. And with it, his smile would only continue to grow.

“Mordred, the Black Thorned Knight… One of the Twelve Seat Holders of the Round Table…”

He wasn’t underestimating Him. The opposite actually—Soren could sense death’s grip with every glance he made towards Him. But those emotions were simply too shallow in comparison to his curiosity. The world no longer felt real, he simply saw everything through the lens of a story that included him as a character. Not even his Magecraft Persona could control this sensation any longer.

As he was thinking this, a sudden thud shifted his gaze. He turned to see the disheveled figure of soone familiar standing to the right of him.

Ynixia.

Her gothic dress was torn and bloodied as the darkness surrounding her scrambled to fix the wounds. It appeared as if she had just erged from the dust cloud—thrown forcefully by sothing.

Gritting her teeth, the Shepherd turned toward him angrily. “What took you so long?! You could have easily left that banquet hall with your abilities!” She then shook her head while wiping the blood dripping from her bottom lip. “Either way, get ready! We need to deal with this bastard quic—”

Before she could finish her sentence, she felt a strange sensation wash over her. It was hard to explain…

“W-what is this?” The air was wavering under the pressure of sothing vivid. Sothing… wondrous…

“My Soul Realm,” Soren answered promptly as he stood up and dusted his clothes. Her eyes instantly widened.

“You’ve broken through the barrier… You’re finally a 3rd Circle magi?”

Soren didn’t say anything, but his silence was practically a confirmation. Ynixia smiled slightly.

“Good timing! We will need all the strength we can muste—”

“Say.”

Soren interrupted her again as he stared into the distant dark silhouette. “Back during the height of Avalon’s rule, were magi who possessed rare affinities like ostracized?”

“Why are you asking sothing like that right now?!”

She clicked her tongue, “Obviously not—magecraft was limited to only scholars and those who were trained to use it in battle. It didn’t matter what affinity they possessed, since grimoires were far too rare for any one affinity to gain prominence.”

“In my era, rare affinities were ostracized.” Soren followed up swiftly, “So it makes wonder—would those sa people be willing to insult my affinities if they were able to witness the scene unfolding in my mind?”

Ynixia paused for a mont—lips still hung open, attempting to reply. In the end, she simply closed her eyes and sighed.

“I assu you’re fully aware of our current circumstances then?”

Soren nodded. “Biblion just sent everything I needed to know using [Record]. The past loops, the battle you fought against Mordred and Morgan, the Throne of Glass…”

She shook her head slightly. “How convenient… Well then, let us begin.”

The mont she said that, the Traveler’s figure imdiately began to crack as if it were a delicate glass sculpture. It shattered instantly, followed by a soft chuckle from Soren who had vanished from sight.

All that was left behind in his wake was a golden card which the Shepherd swiftly reached for, obtaining all the information about his experiences in the banquet hall and his plans for the following confrontation. Indeed, what he was planning—the scene unfolding in her mind… It was far too crazy even for her to fully process.

She smiled slightly then shook her head.

“Y-Ynixia… I…”

A soft voice suddenly grabbed her attention. She turned back to see the disheveled figure of soone very familiar sitting plainly right next to another golden card half-stuck beneath the rubble. The cascading violet colored hair, the golden eyes reflecting the dim chandelier light that was rocking back and forth due to the impact, the cautious yet fearless expression masking her inner curiosity… She wore the crimson dress her sister once cherished very dearly.

Ynixia could only continue smiling… “It's nice to see you again, Camilla. How many decades has it been?”

Tears swelled in the girl’s eyes. “Y-you finally rembered … I—”

“Stop.” Ynixia interrupted with a chuckle. “We will have a proper reunion after and my knight finish dealing with that damned witch. Dearest friend, will you help us in the anti?”

There was a slight pause as the young woman glanced at the floor in silence. She eventually wiped her tears and nodded toward Ynixia with a slight smile. “I will.”

Pleased with the answer, Ynixia shook her head again and sighed with a soft smile. In an instant, the surrounding darkness gathered around her palm, morphing into a colossal rod that then extended into the shape of an even bigger hamr.

Camilla could only stare at this strange spectacle in shock. This was completely beyond her expectations—Ynixia’s short stature paired with the monstrous hamr was sowhat comical to see. But also eerily terrifying…

Seeing her friend’s twisted expression, Ynixia chuckled again. “Bigger enemies require bigger weapons to slay. Don’t you agree?”

Ash rained down from above as the world swirled with darkness.

“Mutilation…

“Deprivation…

“Isolation…”

The words hung loosely, echoing off the sheet tal of His armor. Whispers He could no longer understand, but the solace they gave still left Him yearning for their presence.

They repeated endlessly within the darkness of His inner world. The tal sheets shifted and vibrated to their tunes as they endlessly morphed and transford…

“Mutilation…

“Deprivation…

“Isolation…”

The voice was faint but kept HIm steady. But like all things, they were never ant to be eternal.

[Awaken.]

A colossal bell rang within His mind followed by a nagerie of other whistling sounds. The whispers drowned within that cold abyss. And the world… beca no longer still and motionless. The silence had been replaced by blaring entropy.

Standing silently above a colossal pile of rubble, Mordred analyzed the turbulent realm below once more—the battlefield had transford significantly from just a few monts prior.

At least, according to the vibrations corresponding to so strange past mories.

Whether these scenes were truly His or not didn’t matter. There was only one sensation that filled His heart with its rhythm that He wanted to focus on. A rhythm He could only understand through a simple Dulvali word:

Longing…

What was He longing for?

He certainly didn’t know anymore. But this sensation was compelling Him to move forward. To completely reject the inner void within Himself and look outward instead.

And yet…

[Pitiful fortress, Sinner of Sinners abandoned by both enemies and allies alike… Reject those who dare to stand before you. Embrace your inner fla that drives away the dark…]

The voice once again commanded. The rhythm within His heart fluttered to its call. Yes… This was now His existence. He felt that an answer to His queries had finally arrived.

This voice that was compelling Him to move… It must be what He was longing for. It just had to be…

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He sensed the vibrations before Him keenly once again—observing the figures that watched Him carefully from a distance. There was a colossal skeletal beast to the left. It resembled the dragons of old, but also humanity’s greed. Next to it lay an unconscious woman whose tattered clothes seed oddly unfamiliar. But He did recall bringing her sowhere on behalf of that strange voice’s orders.

Where did He bring her again?...

Mordred couldn’t rember.

Continuing His observations, the Black Thorned Knight sensed the vibrations of the rest of this colossal room’s occupants. Before Him, the woman cursed by the abyss stood defiantly, mulling over her plans of escape or survival, no doubt. Though, He wasn’t that concerned about her presence.

Behind her stood another woman who he sensed familiarity to—the curiosity in hereyes seed distinctly obvious and yet His mory couldn’t fully decipher where He had seen her…

However, his attention quickly focused on soone else instead. Standing firmly before both won was a disgusting moth that no doubt believes it could fly above them all. The radiance of its eyes rejected the silence of the void—a treachery in its own kind. It reminded Him of Her in a way…

“Traitorous, huh?” The moth’s voice echoed within His hollowed armor. But the vibrations quickly vanished, leaving only fragnts behind. “I like that descriptor too…”

Hearing this, Mordred instinctively lifted His arm in less than a blink, allowing [Thorn Cannon] to erge from within the Fortress’ confines. He quickly chose His target: an eerie presence hiding deep within the surrounding dust clouds—its vibrations reflecting the figure of an arrogant young man grinning shalessly as his white burial robes fluttered with every motion.

Without giving the enemy a chance to dodge, Mordred's arm recoiled, blasting an armored shell toward the distant figure. An explosion rang out soon after, drilling the surroundings with His presence—thorns embedded themselves into everything, even the air itself.

Monts passed by as the dust slowly began to settle. And yet… Mordred still hadn’t sensed anything. The arrogant moth had vanished completely!

“I’m traitorous, rember?” The arrogant voice reached the Black Thorned Knight once more—this ti from a different direction. He quickly aid His [Thorn Cannon] toward it without waiting a second longer!

But this ti, the unexpected happened.

He sensed an incoming projectile heading His way. It was sohow the sa cannon ball He had shot out just seconds earlier.

His attack… It had been reflected back at him!

Mordred quickly activated [Unbroken Pillar], montarily rging Himself with the surroundings as if He were an immovable object. The explosion was imdiate—the fortress shook violently as the cold tal sheets slid against each other chaotically. Then in response, [Thornmail] automatically activated, sending out the sa damage back to the attacker.

But rather than Him sensing the moth’s demise, He instead felt the vibrations of sothing else shattering in the distance, the image of which was captured by His embedded thorns:

A reflection of not just the attack itself… but of Himself as well?

Before He could process this developnt, the voice called out again—this ti from two separate locations:

“Is this really the extent of the power one of the Twelve Knights holds? Why are you holding back this much?”

Mordred remained silent against his taunts. It was all far too strange—the vibrations of the stranger’s presence were identical to one another even though they were clearly illusions of so kind. Such an elaborate trick wasn’t normal at all.

And yet, He wasn’t annoyed or angry. He wasn’t sad or afraid either…

The enemies before Him were far too inconsequential for HIs attention. They were nothing more than little wasps vying for the attention of sothing beyond their asly lives. And from the apprehension His thorns were sensing, they were never truly dedicated to this matter either. He could feel the fear dripping from their gazes.

But these thoughts reminded Him of sothing. The fortress hadn’t felt any motivation to continue this struggle—it was attempting to search for sothing else instead. Although the commanding voice was compelling Him to move, the radiant lethargy of the void was clawing against the sheet tal compelling Him to return to His slumber.

Only now did Mordredrealize what He had been longing for all along…

“War.” The arrogant moth’s fragnted voice announced to the whole world. It continued echoing within His hollowed armor:

“I declare war on you.”

This ti, he didn’t use illusions to say this. The strange moth simply walked up to Mordred proudly—a cold grin plastered across his face. But the Traveler’s warm, amber eyes hid flas that seed to enjoy piercing through His inner abyss. There was no fear in them whatsoever—only desire and excitent.

“That’s what you want, don’t you?” He crossed his arms. “War… A challenge. I can give it to you.”

Hearing this, Mordred for the first ti in centuries began to feel sothing strange emanating deeply from within the Traitorous Fortress, It was as if ancient rivets and bolts had sohow undone a millenia of rust—the movents He resigned Himself into forgetting were once again returning.

His Black Thorned armor… was now truly awakening.

In an instant, Mordred slamd His thorned blade into the mired marble floor. The audacious challenger watched silently as its shadow dwarfed him in size, its serrated edge forming new cracks in the ground with every passing second.

Hearing the loud rattling of His armor, Soren smiled deeply. He gazed into the dark blade curiously, taking in the details of its shape. Though, his mystic eyes revealed far more than its exterior…

He shook his head slightly. “So I assu you won’t hold back like before, right? It will be more interesting that way. This is no longer a mindless battle that you’re commanded to carry out by soone else—we are now at war. My banner will soon conquer that rusty armo—”

Before Soren could finish, the giant serrated sword suddenly exploded, shooting out all the thorns that were once wrapped around its darkened form. The Traveler’s figure instantly shattered into hundreds of shards. But not before launching an attack of his own!

Soren had quickly activated his new 3rd Circle spell, Mirage Shatter. This allows him to detonate any illusion of himself into a cloud of mirror shard shrapnel that pierces anything in its way. The mont the declaration of war happened, he had already swapped his presence with an illusion without Mordred noticing!

The Violet Mirage illusion that had just been destroyed by the sword’s thorns began to explode on its own as well, scattering shards across the entire vicinity.

Erging from a distance, Soren used [Hymns of the Unseen] to feel the presence of every one of Mordred’s thorns that had been embedded into the surroundings. He smiled as his mystic eyes gazed into the now Traitorous Fortress. The scattered shards surrounded the dark knight from all sides, forming many reflections of HIm across their surfaces.

He chuckled slightly. “This is my first ti sieging a fortress on my own. This should be exciting.”

“Are you forgetting again?!”

Another voice erged from the distance—Soren shifted his gaze upwards, noticing a familiar silhouette descending from the sky above Mordred’s horrifying figure.

The Black Thorned Knight looked up as well—the thorns that had been embedded in the ballroom's ceiling were announcing her presence. He could see Oblivion’s Cursed Maiden holding a colossal shadowed hamr that was far larger than her size, readying to slam it against Him with full force.

In response, the Traitorous Fortress once again stirred. A greenish fog began to seep from every crevice and gap in the darkened armor, forming a colossal pool on the fractured floor.

[Boundary of Vengeance].

From the sky, Ynixia saw the pool forming swiftly and gritted her teeth. She had seen Him use this exact skill once before—it allowed the giant knight to manifest strange ghostly creatures that fight on His behalf. Within minutes, an entire army could form before either of them could stop Him!

“Screw it…” She once again activated her skull ring, allowing the black flas to coat the entire hamr.

On the ground, Mordred seed unconcerned by the approaching enemy. He continued forming the strange monstrosities that now plagued the surrounding fog—all of them seed tiny in comparison to His presence. Then, He activated another skill called [The Siege].

From a distance, Soren could see all of these developnts happening through his mystic eyes. Although he had already been overusing it for a while, he knew he had to continue pushing himself into chronicling more information anyway—this battle required it.

[The Siege] skill, however… wasn’t like anything [Eyes of the Fairy] expected. Even through the Beyond, Soren sensed no direct changes—only the sensation of anima being stirred quietly could be felt. However, he did know from its description that it was likely tied directly to what he was longing for… A declaration of war from a worthy enemy.

Soren had provided him exactly what he needed for this skill’s activation. As for its manifestation, it didn’t take long for him to realize that as well.

It was hard to notice at first, but once the Traveler did, looking away beca impossible. Second by second, the giant knight was beginning to grow larger and larger, dwarfing everything else in size.

And even more strange, Ynixia who had leaped into the air for her attack had still yet to fully descend either. As if the very space between them had remained the exact sa despite His indescribable growth and the passage of ti.

But just when this scene couldn’t be any more confusing, Mordred activated a new skill: [Fortress Armory]. The description Soren had obtained for this one was fairly simple, but it couldn’t have prepared him for what he saw next.

The shattered remains of Mordred’sonce fractured blade began to gather together magnetically, morphing into a completely new shape: A colossal hamr even bigger than the one Ynixia had manifested with her shadows!

The Shepherd’s eyes instantly widened but it was too late to avoid the confrontation. With a twist of His now expanded form, Mordred swung the mountainous hamr toward her with full might, creating several shockwaves in the process! Not willing to hold back, Ynixia grit her teeth and did the sa.

The clash was imdiate.

The walls, floor and ceiling of the ballroom all began to crumble at once as the force of the impact shook everything in its surroundings. Fortunately, Soren was fast enough to activate Fairy Barrier on Camilla, Victoria, Ynixia, and himself simultaneously in the last second.

But despite his best efforts, they were all still thrown back several feet—the impact of which blew out the air in his lungs completely.

Lifting himself off the rubble after going unconscious for a few seconds, Soren assessed his surroundings again. Indeed, his spell had shielded them from most of the damage, but that didn’t an they weren’t injured… He could feel a slight sting from one of his left ribs. As for the others, they were relatively fine since they were farther away from the impact than him.

Ynixia on the other hand… was a separate story. She had fortunately survived, but was now partially unconscious on the other side of the ballroom and covered in blood. The shadows that clung to her had all lted onto the surrounding rubble, as if no longer being controlled.

Next to her stood Albert who had moved Victoria with him, shielding both girls from Mordred's terrifying presence.

The re fact that all of this had unfolded in just a fraction of a breath… Soren shook his head slightly.

Surrounding the now gigantified Mordred was a growing pool of greenish fog filled with eerie screams. It continued to birth these monstrous unknown entities that seed hungry to consu them. And it seed there was far more that His Soul Weapon could do as well that they have yet to experience….

Soren couldn’t help but chuckle nervously to himself. “So that’s why they call Him the Traitorous Fortress…”