[11]

It feels very cool to calm the thoughts that accumulate when spring arrives. Enjoy the cool breeze that rolls from downstream to upstream regularly. Green trees and colorful flower plants that adorn the environment. Maybe eating sweets on a mat in the middle of the forest would be great fun.

"Show everything you can!"

In the middle of a peaceful forest, more precisely the forest behind the castle, appeared a large blue dome of quite large size. Maybe it will look like a huge ice polar bear house in the middle of the forest. The difference is that it is transparent and there are various explosions inside the dome. Of course with a very noisy sound.

"Don't be mad if it hurts."

The red-haired child looked surprised when he saw a purple flash aiming at him. The boy quickly tried to avoid it until it rolled onto the torn grass. From his side, the attack was aimed at him again which made the boy have to counterattack. The two attacks collided and set off an explosion like fireworks. The boy got up and took out a dagger from his pocket which he threw towards the billowing smoke.

"Don't hide!"

From behind the fading smoke, flashes of lightning appeared and disappeared in an instant. And right behind the red-haired boy, someone pointed a sword right at the boy's nape. Maybe if the distance was wrong, the white nape would have been the same color as the boy's hair. Trying to stay calm, the boy raised his hands and chuckled softly. Until he took a step back and aimed the arrow right at the neck of the person in front of him.

"Stop it."

The huge dome in the middle of the forest faded and started to disappear. Along with a turmoil of magic aura that felt boiling inside the dome. I looked straight at the two children who were currently giving opposite expressions. One of them smiled warmly and the other averted an annoyed look.

Gosh, tell me what I just saw..

"Regis, you are too reckless, you know?" I asked in surprise.

The boy turned to look at me with a complaining gaze. As usual.

"I know, I know.. I just want to try it.." Regis replied.

"Tried it in repeatedly?"

Regis lowered his head in resignation and walked over to his sister who was previously standing beside me. I shook my head and turned to look at someone who was still unmoving where he stood.

"What are you thinking, William?" I asked.

William who looked dreamy turned his gaze to me with a faint smile. He walked slowly and calmly towards me.

"I just want to ask, are my skills getting better?"

"That's how it should be. Don't get excited quickly."

"I understand, princess."

"Then what about me, princess?" Regis asked suddenly.

"Restore your aura before I will test you directly."

"Hahaha I knew Sis Val would say that!" said Venus cheerfully.

"Neil, you made sure no one was following us, right?" I asked.

"Of course! everything is according to plan as usual!"

I smiled and ruffled the boy's bright blue hair to which he grumbled in return. I didn't expect that Neil, who was about to enter the age of five, already wanted to get his first wave of aura. Maybe for the beginning his waves will feel very, very rough and still need time to soften them. But still for his age, he could be said to be very good in the early stages.

You should feel proud because I myself have taught you..

"Okay, shouldn't we start too Reyna?"

The girl who was previously playing pranks on her brother turned to look at me with a serious look in surprise. It was quite funny when the protective dome started to reappear and the little girl was still looking at me with her innocent eyes.

"This time don't hold back anymore. If it comes up like that time, I can still endure it again."

"Understood, princess…"

The protective dome is perfectly closed. And Reyna started closing her eyes to chant her skill. A wave of aura burst out with the appearance of beautiful butterflies that surrounded the girl. Looks calm with the butterflies that began to spread all over the dome. One of the butterflies closed in on me as the system clink echoed in my head.

[ !!! ]

[ Poison detected! ]

The butterfly unraveled causing bright pink powder to fill the dome. I closed my eyes and held my breath for a moment before the butterflies started to fly. What the system said was true, this was poison powder. It's not strong yet, but I can feel my skin starting to burn through the pores that are exposed to the powder. I purposely didn't make the barrier because I wanted to test how quickly the poison's effects could spread on the exposed skin.

This is better than before..

I let out a wave of aura that made a violent vortex swirl around me. The whirlwind blew away most of the dust that was in the dome. Right when I opened my eyes again, I could see the little girl in front of me who was closing her eyes while muttering. Not only that, a hundred, no, maybe more than a thousand pieces of colorful glass rock flew flying with their sharp edges pointing right where I was.

[ 3126 gemstones detected! ]

Thanks for counting it for me..

Within seconds of me finishing dispelling the poison powder, all of the gemstones shot swiftly towards me. Pretty smart because the girl didn't unsheathe them simultaneously which would lead to a clash. The girl made rocks hit me from all sides without creating even the slightest gap in the attack. I think she recorded all my advice in his brain properly.

"I think I should give you a nice present for your birthday."

It would probably feel very painful if it was hit by a barrage of attacks from those sharp stones. Because I could see from the roots of the vines that they were torn deep enough when I used them as shields from the attack earlier. I glanced at the girl's direction, and I could see that the girl's gaze was also directed at me. With a hand pointing at me. I chose to run towards the girl intending to attack her. I took only five steps, when a beam of light that looked like a large laser beamed at me.

I took a step back before finally running in a zig-zag direction where the girl was. I already knew that girl would use this technique. Before I started running, there were four magic circles that looked like mirrors. Two mirrors on the right and two mirrors on the left. And the mirror gave off a very bright beam of light. I've been hit by that once and I can tell it hurts more than being hit by a boulder. It was nature category magic, light.

"You're getting better at controlling it, Reyna."

Just as I was within three steps away, I chuckled softly. Because right at that moment the four magic mirrors attacked simultaneously towards where I was. If one beam was equivalent to a boulder the size of a palace, then there were now four of them crashing towards me. Indeed there was no explosion when the beam hit the ground. However, you can be sure that the grass and soil there were burned instantly, leaving a few cracks.

Not in my world, not here, light is indeed a troublesome skill..

"How can?!" Regis shouted from outside the dome.

"What do you mean how?" I replied with a slight smile.

Previously I had sent out one of my shadows trying to get close to Reyna. I made two shadows with my real self. So I guess Regis and the others didn't expect me to be three people during the gemstone attack just now.

I ran together with my one remaining shadow from two different sides. For a moment Reyna looked confused but refocused her attacks on attacking us.

Both of me attacked simultaneously from the girl's side. The girl muttered by conjuring two other mirrors on the ground nearby. And before both of my attacks hit her, the four mirrors above the girl cast their respective lights towards the mirror on the ground. Which of course made the laser beam bounce off and cause a wall to block my attack. And just after my refracted attack hit a reflection of light, the two mirrors on the ground made a turn directing the reflection towards me and my reflection.

I told you, this proves that the light skill is troublesome..

The beam of light was repeatedly dragging the protective dome scorched. It wasn't strong enough to crush it, but the friction of the trajectory of light that was forcibly deflected was visible on the dome. Before finally disappearing due to the dome regenerating itself.

My shadow was barely able to avoid that light attack. Because it can be seen from the left hand of my shadow that was scorched with an aura that very much resembled blood. I can't make it friendly for young children to see, because I can tell I'm used to making it look like it's real. Perhaps they couldn't see clearly the scorch marks of my first image earlier because it completely vanished in the instant it took that direct hit.

"Sis.. sis Val!"

"Princess!!"

Even though I could faintly hear the screams of the children from outside the dome. I chuckled softly still running to avoid the reflection of the light that was still chasing me. Even if I glanced at the direction my reflection was in, I wanted to laugh at her who seemed to have been overwhelmed by the attacks that followed her. But I chose to hold back for a moment because my ears were getting louder and louder. Maybe that's why I can't hear my surroundings right now.

No.. I can't hear anything now..

I turned to look at my reflection who was also looking back at me. We ran trying to get closer with the light attack still following us behind.

The rock wall rises from below to form a dome with swirling water protecting the rock wall from the outside. When the beams of light met and hit the water, the water thickened and violently fractured its surface. And at that moment the water drops fell with the light slowly starting to fade. Now it wasn't just a dazzling light that appeared, but a spectrum of colors that glowed inside the dome. I'm sure that's what's currently happening outside these stone walls.

I looked at my reflection that looked exhausted by holding her missing left hand. My reflection turned to look at me too with her questioning gaze.

"You should know you're quite pathetic, friend."

"Don't tell yourself that, idiot."

I chuckled in satisfaction and chose to touch my reflection's left shoulder. The aura slowly flowed and gathered to form a complete left hand. Just as I was about to remove the stone wall that was protecting me and my shadow, the system clink appeared again with several translucent white screens.

[ ??? ]

[ Sound exploit detected! ]

[ ??????—anomaly detected. ]

It's time already huh?

[ ??@#$587?wsd loading… ]

The system screen circled around me before disappearing. I'm a bit irritated because of the last screen that appears but I think the system is trying to show its attention to me. And the system screen came back up which made me chuckle.

[ Loading complete! ]

[ Do you want to see the situation outside for 15 seconds? ]

"How stingy you only give fifteen seconds. Just show me."

[ Displays the situation outside… ]

This is one of my favorite system features. To think it would be shown at a time like this. But I feel a bit regretful because for now it can only be a very short time. But than can't, it's better not like this I think.

I could see from the screen that the conditions outside were as I expected. But what was different from what I expected was the condition of the light spectrum created between Reyna's beam of light and my water waves colliding. The spectrum does look quiet and calm, but who would have thought that there was a pink powder that filled the empty space between the spectrum. And I can confirm that Reyna who was standing far from me was in a dangerous position.

"It came quicker.."

"You wish you could toy with the girl a little longer, don't you?"

"You have the same thoughts as me huh, my shadow."

Before the system screen showing the conditions outside disappeared, I added three more shadows of myself. Just as the system screen cleared, an explosion of rock walls shattered with gathering smoke. I could tell that right now both mine and Reyna's were completely blocked. Either from the rest of the light spectrum that was starting to fade or the powder that Reyna herself had spread. Of course the smoke I made made things worse inside the dome.

Sorry for the outside audience.. this will be kid friendly..

Relying neither on sight nor hearing, my shadow and I split up to do our respective tasks. Just tapping into the inner communication and vibrations of the ground underfoot was enough to stop the girl.

On the west side, two o'clock...

Northeast, ten o'clock.

I made it south, the girl attacked my feet from seven o'clock!

I think you're too close behind him, man..

The inner voices buzzing in my head intermingled. Until a round of violent aura waves burst from the girl's direction. Dispelled some of the smoke around it and revealed the figure of a girl who was closing her eyes. Maybe now the girl is unconscious, but for sure this is worse than what happened before.

It is..

"Edge."

There was someone who once told me that 'edge' is something that pleases him. Of course I agreed for that person since she was the 'true edge', I guess I don't need to mention what it is so forget it. I'll say this easily and call it a 'magic exploit'. True, Reyna was currently exposed to a magical exploit of her own.

There are two characteristic types for beginners who sometimes can't control their own magic aura. The first, and one that is often encountered, is the explosion of magical aura from the core of the body. The result is of course death. Then the second is unconscious. This is relatively safe because the user will faint instantly if they lose to their own magical aura. But the problem is that her magic aura seems to take over the user's body to brutally attack the surroundings. It was a magical exploit.

Even so, from some experience I've had, this happens if one's magic aura detects an excessive external threat. And this is intended to protect the user himself. It's just that, excessive use of aura can of course make anyone die miserably. It's like someone who doesn't eat and drink for days and dries up without any intake going into his body as energy. That is how it is.

I was a bit unexpected that without me overdoing it, that boy's magic aura reacted like this… did that kid feel stressed before the fight started?

One of my shadows disappeared, right after being hit in the blink of an eye. Right now it was no longer the mirror that was around the girl, but rather clear orbs that looked like bubbles. One thing I should know is when the bubble hits my disappearing shadow. My shadow seemed to scream without making a sound before finally melting into a red blob with.. I don't think I want to explain how pitiful my shadow was.

I think that's very dangerous..

I know..

I turned to look at the girl who was trying to attack my other shadows. I can see that there are several veins protruding from the girl's arms and neck. I think it will start soon, the time is right to do it.

Give me time...

OK, but don't take long!!

"Dome."

The protective cupola was ticking with a faint trembling hum at my feet. Along with the appearance of a small sized magic circle in front of me. I put my hand there which made the system screen appear again in front of me.

[ Dome responds to you! ]

[ Want to change the dome? ]

I rotated my right hand around the magic circle which made the large protective dome start to shake. What I'm doing right now is shrinking the dome room. As the dome got smaller, of course my shadow trying to distract the girl's attention got more and more difficult. I know that but this is my plan. Or maybe I should say our plans.

Do it in less than a minute!

I smiled faintly while sliding my right hand to the side. I raised my left hand in front of which I had scratched to release blood that started dripping onto the ground.

I'll do it in less than half a minute..

The name may sound terrible, but I'm pretty happy that I can do this. Right under my feet, dark red magic circles rotate opposite each other. And right after that a series of black gates with faint red light appeared surrounding us, following the size of the dome which had stopped decreasing. Right now at least my back and the girl's back were really really close to the protective dome.

Even if the smoke inside the dome cleared, at least they couldn't see the conditions inside..

Then you take care of the rest yourself!

Okay, thank you..

Now all my shadows disappear like an aura that evaporates and disappears. Now only the real me and Reyna were left standing here. I smiled as the girl tried to attack me. But right after that all nine doors opened and revealed a red image of a wolf's head that opened its mouth wide. Reyna's swift strike stopped right in my face. That's right, it was a bubble that melted my image.

"You've worked hard, sweet girl."

"System, you know what to do."

[ !!! ]

[ Do you want to neutralize the target? ]

I smiled faintly and chose to walk slowly closer to Reyna who was still stiff.

[ ??????????--to neutralize the target… ]

[ Opening the gate… ]

The magic circle rotates and the wolf head shadow which was originally dark red, turns dark blue with the eyes on the head shadow lighting up. Signaling that it had received the order, the mouths of the nine wolf heads closed loudly together. Right after that I caught Reyna's limp body after her aura flow was forcibly normalized. This is indeed not the only way to stop the exploitation of magic. But this is the safest way to do it than anything else. At least I was lucky enough that the neutralized target was weaker than this gate I created.

[ Target neutralization successful! ]

[ Not detecting an anomaly. ]

[ Does not detect sound exploits. ]

"Nice job."

The wolf head's shadow came back in then the door closed with the high gate wall disappearing. And right after the protective dome had completely disappeared, the children who were waiting outside the dome came running up to us. I can find that my hearing is getting better again because I can hear loud screams.

"Sis Val!!"

Venus ran towards me quickly and hugged me from the side. The kid's collision was strong enough that it almost made me fall and let go of my hold on Reyna's body. I could hear sobs muffled by my left hand. I chuckled at the condition of the little boy who was currently hugging his sister while hiding his face.

"Hey, Neil. Did you hear a child's cry?" I teased.

"Silly sister! Please just shut up?!"

I chuckled in satisfaction and chose to stare at the two boys who were glaring at us uneasily. Especially Regis who was already sitting beside his sleeping sister in my lap.

"Princess.. is Reyna okay?"

I can hear from the child's voice that seems a little trembling. I guess he couldn't hide his worry for his twin sister. I smiled serenely to give the boy a bit of reassurance.

"Right now she's fine. Doesn't this happen often"

"I know.. that's why I entrust my stupid twin to you, princess.."

"Just tell me if you're worried, Regis," I said intending to play a trick on him.

"Not like that!!"

His self esteem is higher.. its good to keep teasing him..

"Princess, are you all right?"

William's question distracted me. The boy remained standing with a slight bow. His calm face was shaken by the current situation. Because now I can see the glint in his eyes that look scared.

"At least you can see I'm fine now," I said while chuckling softly.

Maybe what I said has a different meaning. But for now let's think about the next battle. I turned to look at Regis who was still playing with Reyna's long hair.

"Have you recovered your energy, Regis?"

"Ah! Are we still going to continue?"

"Do you think you can get through this?"

Regis seemed to be grumbling as he pushed his lips forward. Venus, who was trying to wipe his tears on my shirt, now looked up at me with a serious look that looked funny.

"Why can you say that sister? Sis Val almost got killed!"

"Where did you see that? I'm fine."

"Sister's hand was cut earlier!!"

"And you're currently holding my hand that was cut off?"

Venus looked down and noticed my left hand in the boy's arms. Now not only was Regis looking sullen, but Venus seemed to be even more sullen than Regis.

"How did the princess do that?" now William asked.

"I divided myself. The one that got hit earlier was my shadow," I explained.

"Ah I understand."

"Neil, you also have to understand like William," I said, turning to look at Venus.

The boy kept his face away from me, still tightly hugging my left hand. And when I glanced at Regis, unfortunately the boy shook his head vigorously without even looking at me. I could hear William laughing lightly because of the two of them.

"Princess, I think it would be better if we rest first," said William politely.

Now I could see Venus and Regis nodding simultaneously after hearing that. I sighed and chose to get up from my seat. Regarding my body that suddenly woke up, of course Venus's body was also attracted to getting up. I activated the Gravity Seal to lift Reyna up.

"Okay, let's look for a big tree around here," I finally said.

After my words, of course I could see their happy expressions were very bright. Maybe if I were to exaggerate it, it was so bright it beat the cool mid-afternoon sun.

✼⊷♛⊶✼