Chapter 52: Source Magic

"Why are you blushing! There's no such thing as only killing without violating!" 

Nicola couldn't help but tease.

"Never mind that for now, let's discuss what we should do next!" 

I shook my head, then asked "Cyra":

"You said you wanted to leave this city earlier, now that it's done, how do you feel?"

Actually, Nicola and I had already discussed this beforehand. If another personality appeared, we would take Cyra out of the city to test her abilities, to see if it was like my previous situation, mainly because we were afraid of causing too much commotion.

However, after the earlier ruckus, I feel the possibility is not very high. At least, the situation with Cyra is not exactly the same as mine, and even if it is another personality, her abilities don't seem that formidable. 

"Eh, really?"

"Cyra" looked around, perhaps because of the earlier fright in the sky, she had not noticed until now that we were already outside the city limits.

"Finally left Jethrobaines? I'm not dreaming after all!"

Gazing at the towering city walls in the distance, "Cyra" seemed excited, muttering to herself, making Nicola and I feel a bit puzzled.

"We know you're not Cyra, so let's get straight to the point - who are you exactly?"

I thought for a moment, starting interrogating carefully. This question was also prepared beforehand. Regardless of the origin of this personality, even if Cyra developed split personality disorder, the split personalities would still have their own names.

And knowing the other party's name would help us further investigate the situation.

"Of course I'm not Cyra, you can just call me Cysper!"

"Cyra" answered matter-of-factly, after pondering for a moment, she spoke the familiar name.

Sure enough, it seemed she was the one who signed the True Church membership application earlier!

"From what you said earlier, it seems the angels are not very friendly to you. Is there some grudge between you and the angels?"

Next, Nicola probed indirectly. This was also an important question. Originally we guessed that this might be another personality residing in Cyra, but it doesn't seem to be developing in the direction we expected.

"Well, not really..."

Regarding this question, Cysper answered somewhat wistfully.

"That was a long time ago. Earlier when you guys kidnapped me, I couldn't help but recall those feelings, but now it seems your intentions are different from what I guessed."

"So, do you know that you're an angel yourself?" 

I reminded her. From her words, it seems the other party is unaware of this, and even has some wariness towards angels, which puzzles me.

"Really? But I don't have wings on my back!"

Upon hearing this, she froze, quickly turning her head to look behind herself, seeming unconvinced.

"Why don't you try this method then?"

Nicola immediately taught her how to manifest her wings using light elements. Soon, a pair of white wings appeared behind her. 

"No wonder I always felt this body was different from ordinary humans, it was because of this..."

Gazing at the wings behind her, Cysper rubbed her eyes in amazement, then reached out to caress the feathers, seeming to really enjoy the feel.

"It seems this girl knows nothing, bringing her out secretly is simply wasted effort. How are we supposed to question her properly?"

While she was entranced with the wings, Nicola leaned over and whispered to me. She has also realized that Cysper's personality is completely different from my situation of losing consciousness before.

"Why don't we just observe her for now?"

I was also uncertain. I had a nagging feeling that Cyra's current state seemed familiar, like the legends of being possessed! But does this world have ghosts? Even if there are, how can we remove this influence?

"As expected of an angel, magic prowess has improved tremendously!"

We saw Cysper finish examining her wings and start trying out magic spells. To our surprise, even without being taught, she could use all sorts of light-based magic. Many spells didn't even require incantations, her skill level was even higher than Cyra's own.

This confused me again - would an ordinary ghost have such magical abilities?

"Do you know any more powerful light magic you can teach me? I only know some low-level spells, which aren't satisfying enough. Angels should be able to use very high-level light magic, like the legendary celestial magic that's even higher than advanced magic, right?"

The so-called celestial magic is actually just high-level magic for angels. My frequently used "Lost Paradise Shockwave" is classified as such. However, since humans generally cannot use it, it is called celestial magic.

Of course, it's not absolutely impossible for humans to use. After all, humans are very clever! Through thousands of years of research, by using complex magic arrays to drastically increase the caster's magic power, combined with multiple casters, it is still possible to barely manifest the spells under special circumstances.

So, was this just the ghost of a human light mage after all? I guessed blindly. But then again, an ordinary human mage should find it very difficult to reach her level of magic proficiency. Just what was Cysper's background previously?

"Forget it! Under these conditions, there's no way to teach you in a short time!"

Nicola shook her head, rejecting her idea. She was already running out of patience. But what she said was somewhat reasonable. 

Intermediate (or what humans call advanced) and above spells cannot be learned immediately. Even if we gave her spell books, she may not be able to finish reading them in just a few hours. Very often it requires comprehension that cannot be conveyed through speech. Even for angels, personal research is still needed to successfully learn magic.

"I see, is that so..."

"Why don't you try this then?"

Seeing her disappointed look, I was struck by a thought and took out something I had kept for a long time in my storage ring, almost forgotten - the angel figurine! 

That's right, it was the extra reward Elara had given me before. Although promoted as containing secrets of source magic, I had never managed to unravel its mystery.

"Ah! This...this feels so familiar! What was it called again? Oh? I can't seem to recall now!"

Spotting the angel figurine in my palm, Cysper exclaimed, pointing at it.

"Anyway, I feel a connection to this thing!"

Her expression was like she had seen it somewhere before, causing Nicola and I to exchange glances.

Strange! If she were human, how could she feel so familiar with the source magic angel figurine? Normally only angels should have seen this figurine, right?

Alright, I'm completely lost now, is she human or angel? 

However, since she felt familiarity, that must mean there's a chance. Although she couldn't recall what this angel figurine was called, Cysper held it in her palm, caressing it a few times, then like finding inspiration, she waved her arm towards a distant large tree.

A white light orb swiftly flew from her fingertips, its shape and size resembling a Purification orb, but with less light element contained within. However, just as this orb reached the tree trunk, a flash of white light emerged, and incredibly within a radius of nearly ten meters, all the light elements were absorbed onto the tree! The entire tree immediately glowed brilliantly, then gradually dimmed, the whole process looked quite beautiful.

"This is..."

Nicola and I gasped in astonishment. Clearly, this was the method to control external light elements. Cysper had used it so effortlessly! 

The reason the tree glowed was because of the massive gathering of light elements. After losing the constraining magic effects, the previously gathered light elements dispersed back into the surrounding air, hence the dimming we are now witnessing.

And it's currently deep night, when light elements in the air are most scarce, proving the power of this magic as the effects were so obvious - almost all the light elements in the surrounding air had been drained!

Fortunately we were standing far from the tree, otherwise our very lives could have been in danger! After all, angel bodies are entirely composed of light elements...

"Why did you give her something so dangerous! We still haven't figured out her origins yet. What if she suddenly turns on us?"

Nicola leaned over and whispered reproachfully. Actually, she had also underestimated the situation like me, seeing Cysper's initially low level of magic, we had both let our guard down, thinking she posed no threat. Little did we know, as soon as Cysper got the angel figurine, she immediately learned such an insane magic from it!

"Um...how did you do that?" 

This has gone too far. I swallowed hard, feeling a bit guilty, so I could only act like we're still good friends and carefully probe Cysper's intentions.

"Why should I tell you?"

Cysper turned around and smiled mischievously at me, making me break out in a cold sweat. Nicola was so tense she had even secretly summoned her Condensation Sword. But then she immediately changed her tune.

"Alright, alright, I won't play coy with you two! Actually it's very simple, this figurine has an extremely intricate light element circuitry hidden within. You have to carefully focus to sense it. Just run your internal light elements according to the markings, and you can successfully manifest it."