Belly of the Beast

At the training grounds on the eastern side of Castle White.

Two swords collided with a loud bang. Aurelia gritted her teeth, pushing forward. Reinhardt looked down at her. He quickly stepped back pushing his sword to the side. Aurelia stumbled forward as Reinhardt hit her in the back with the flat side of his sword.

Aurelia stumbled, planting her right foot on the ground and swung back at Reinhardt unleashing a Mana slash at point blank range. Reinhardt pointed a finger towards the slash and flicked it to the side. Aurelia's jaw dropped. "How did you know?"

"Your Mana fluxes when you use a spell or emit a mana attack." He then backed a few feet away. "I want you to focus and keep your Mana stable. Then attack when you are prepared. Do not let me read the shifts in your Mana flow."

Aurelia raised her sword, taking a deep breath before whispering. "Converge into one and turn my foe to none." She then extended her left hand, shooting out black chains from her fingers. Reinhardt did not flinch, swinging his sword covered in a golden light, cutting the chains.

He then appeared behind Aurelia. She turning to look at him finding a sword at her throat. "You are far from being a Master warrior." He sheathed his sword. "How did you know, I was going to use the rotting chains and how did you appear behind me? There was no indication of your movement, no shockwave."

Reinhardt crossed his arms. "I will answer only one of your questions. You spoke out the incantations for the magic you were going to use. Although that is understandable for a Knight. Focus on doing the incantations mentally, like Kanah does. As for your second question, that is something I will teach you and Kanah together."

Aurelia nodded as she bowed to him. "Let's see how the young Prince is doing." Reinhardt and Aurelia walked to the other end of the training grounds.

The two stopped a few meters away as they watched Vonreid attempt to land a strike on his father with a wooden sword.

King Belreid avoided all of Vonreid's attempts, until Vonreid thrusted his sword at his father's stomach. The King moved to the left letting the sword go past him.

The King smiled. "Did Raghav teach you that?" He thrusted his wooden sword at Vonreid's chest. Vonreid remained calm and stepped forward with his left foot making his father's sword go over his shoulder.

He then brought his hand back hitting his father in the lower back with the tip of the wooden sword. "This is what he taught me."

"You are dead, your grace. The young Prince has the sword aimed at your heart." The King laughed as he dropped his sword lifting his son in his arms and turned towards Reinhardt and Aurelia. "That was a brilliant strategy"

Vonreid laughed. "Raghav told me to use it, he said you would avoid making the same mistake Asfan made, but he also said that you would make a mistake of your own." The King chuckled. "So you have decided to make him your teacher?"

Vonreid nodded. "I asked him to train me and he agreed." Aurelia approached him as she took the wooden sword from him. "I know you are enthused, but you should not disturb Raghav right now."

Vonreid tilted his head in confusion. "But why?" Aurelia gently pulled his cheeks. "Because he is currently busy doing research in the library. I am surprised you managed to talk to him. We have not seen him since we returned from the public appearance."

King Belreid nodded as he placed Vonreid down. "Indeed, I think I only saw him leave the library each morning for a bath and some ritual he does at sunrise. The rest of his time is spent in the library."

Reinhardt looked up towards the castle as he took a deep breath. "He bears a responsibility, which was never his to bear and instead of breaking down he is working day and night to fulfil that responsibility. It is admiring seeing someone so dedicated."

The door to the training ground was opened as a man in a black suit walked towards them. "Your Grace, Your Highness. We have received a letter from Marne. Written to you, your Highness by Kanah."

The man presented the envelope to Aurelia who took it from him. "Thank you John. You may leave." John bowed slightly before leaving.

Aurelia held the letter in both hands. "He sealed the envelope with his Mana." She then brought the envelope to her lips as a golden glow spread across the letter.

She opened it and pulled out the letter. She squinted her eyes as the sun had set and the nearby torches were not bright enough. Reinhardt watching her struggle, summoned a sphere of light above the group allowing Aurelia to read the letter.

"My dear Aurelia.

I have not been able to stop thinking about you, since the moment I left. When I close my eyes you are there, when I look around, all I see is you, all the sounds that enter my ear, sound as if you are here calling my name. This Ring that I wear, feels as if you are holding my hand. I did not know that not being near you would be this devastating.

I wish to return to you right now. As without you by my side, the air feels suffocating, the food is tasteless and water feels like poison.

I Love You, Aurelia, now and always.

That was a short glimpse of what I feel right now, now onto other matters.

We safely reached Marne this morning, and are staying at an inn called the sea-house on the eastern harbor. I made a friend along the road, he was the one who helped us find this inn.

I also read about the plot that unfolded the night of the summoning. I am glad that, Raghav managed to uncover the plot and did not let things get worse.

Please take care of yourself and your family.

Your beloved,

Kanah"

Aurelia held the letter with a smile on her face. "He made it. I shall go and write a letter back." King Belreid nodded. "It is a good omen, that he reached Marne on the first day of the new month. I am sure good things wait for him."

Aurelia chuckled. "I feel the same way." She then looked up at the night sky. "I wonder, what could he be doing right now?"

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Meanwhile, in Marne.

On the rooftop of the Guild's office in the northern sector of the city.

Shin and Kanah stared at the giant snake, "Why do you think so?" Shin glanced at Kanah as he pointed at the snake. "That might be biggest Leviathan that has ever been spotted in this sea."

It was suddenly struck by a bombardment of Mana blasts in its left most head as it shrieked, rushing forward. Kanah bent down placing a hand on the roof before he leapt forward, sending Shin flying multiple blocks away, from the shockwave he created.

The snake rushed for the shoreline, but Kanah appeared there before it and slammed his right hand down on the harbor. The giant snake collided with a Mana barrier. Causing it to back away from the barrier, it was then struck in the neck by a lightning strike, causing it to fall to the right.

Kanah looked towards the western harbor, enhancing his vision with Mana. There he saw Commander Alber with a lightning engulfed war-hammer in his hand. He then turned to his right as Shin appeared beside him creating a sonic boom. "You could have warned me. That almost knocked me out."

"Did I destroy anything?" Shin shook his head. "A lot of ears, mine included are ringing because of you. Other than that, you're good."

Kanah looked back at the snake as it had begun to get back up. It then rushed towards the eastern harbor. Kanah gritted his teeth and raced the snake, alongside Shin.

The two of them were causing chaos in their wake, the gust of wind generated from their movement threw around the boxes on the harbor and ripped off the doors and windows from nearby buildings. Some buildings with glass windows, shattered due to the shockwaves.

Kanah enhanced his voice with Mana as he talked to Shin. "This is no ordinary snake. We have to be cautious and prevent it from entering the city."

They managed to cover the twenty-three kilometers in just under half a minute. Kanah immediately stopped and struck the edge of the barrier extending it along the eastern harbor as well. "Yay, you did it."

The two were then struck by the air pressure that was following them along with all the debris it carried along with it. They managed to withstand the shockwaves and the debris, but Shin began coughing as he extended his tongue out rubbing it with his hands. "Some dust entered my throat."

Kanah quickly glanced at Shin before he heard the sound of the approaching footsteps. Soldiers approached the two of them as Kanah stepped forward. "Has everyone been evacuated?"

The soldiers were shocked when they saw Kanah's face. "You're.." "Not the time, have the civilians been evacuated?" The soldier shook their heads. "We have set up safe houses around the city, the mages and warriors who excel in barrier and shield magic, protect the civilians."

Kanah pointed towards the eastern coast. "There is an inn called sea-house. I have already fortified it with a barrier spell, people can find shelter in there as well. Keep on evacuating the civilians. We will stop this snake." The soldiers saluted and dispersed.

Shin looked at Kanah with a smug on his face. "You seem like Raghav right now." Kanah quickly turned around. "It's coming!"

The snake rushed forward heading straight for the barrier. The snake suddenly turned itself in the air, landing tail first on the barrier as it coiled itself like a spring on the shield and launched itself at incredible speeds towards the western harbor.

Kanah began running towards the western harbor. Shin followed behind his jaw wide open. "How in the hell did that long ass snake do that?" "This snake's not ordinary it is smart. It is most likely a mythical beast."

Shin laughed. "That explains the trick. So what do we do with this?" Kanah looked over at Shin until a bright light covered the city as the two looked over at the western harbor.

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Commander Alber saw the barrier erected along the northern and eastern harbor. "Who erected those barriers?" The soldiers around him all shook their head.

Alber then enhanced his vision to look at the merging point of the two barriers and saw Shin and Kanah standing there. 'It's the Hero!'

He grinned as he turned towards the running snake. "Prepare your Mana blasts, they need to be fast enough to reach the eastern harbor within seconds. We strike the moment the snake collides with the barrier and stumbles."

His soldiers all prepared their Mana blasts all aimed towards the snake. Just when they thought the snake would collide with the barrier it coiled itself on it and jumped towards them.

As it uncoiled its body, it was just a Kilometer away from them within three second. Alber quickly swung his hammer unleashing five lightning bolts towards the five heads.

The soldiers had also thought of the same thing as him and fired all of their Mana blast towards the snake.

The snake opened its mouths, five spheres of blue mana were fired from the mouth colliding with the lightning bolts and exploded.

The blast spread far and wide engulfing the snake and the harbor. It lit up the entire city as if the sun was up.

Kanah's eyes widened as he grabbed Shin and jumped through his barrier. The two landed in the sea and Kanah began running faster, Shin who was being carried by Kanah moved closer to him. "Kanah, if you go this fast, you will bring a tsunami to the harbor."

Kanah shook his head. "It will stop the water." Shin looked forward as his eyes widened, he gritted his teeth as Kanah ran beneath the falling snake. As the two narrowly avoided being crushed under it.

The snake fell and stopped the water and shockwaves that Shin and Kanah were bringing with them. They then arrived at the western harbor which was reduced to a massive crater.

As the two looked around, they could only see a flattened city for kilometers. "This city just got nuked." Kanah looked around with a worried expression until he saw a small glow, under a rock in the distance he ran towards it.

Once there, he looked at the rock, it was as big as the Guild's building. 'I have to strengthen it with Mana so that it does not fall apart.' He then gripped the rock with both hands imbuing it with Mana before he threw the rock away.

He was then greeted by a morbid scene. Commander Alber had lost his lower body from the hips down and his skin was completely burnt off.

He was hugging a green barrier, shielding all of the soldiers inside. Kanah and Shin both approached him and began casting, healing magic.

Alber smacked their hands. "Don't waste time on me. Get them out of here!" He then opened his barrier as he fell down in Kanah's hands. Kanah looked at Shin who nodded taking the soldiers away with him.

Kanah kneeled down with Alber laying in his lap. Alber weakly raised his right hand which Kanah held. "After all this time, I finally found you. I have achieved, that which I have sought my entire existence. I get to lay down my life in your arms."

Kanah shook his head. "I can heal you completely, you will live as if it never happened." Alber chuckled as he smiled with tears in his eyes. "Live? What sort of life would that be, I will die again, but will I ever get blessed with an end like this? My head is in your lap, your hand is holding mine and your eyes are on me and mine are on you. There cannot be a greater death."

Kanah closed his mouth as he gently smiled. "Will you help me before you go?" Alber's smile grew even wider. "I am honored." He then nodded keeping his eyes on Kanah. "What is it that I can give you?"

"How do I move without disturbing my surroundings?" Alber moved his left hand a few centimeters over his chest, his eyes fixed on Kanah. "When you run, move or do anything. Your body needs to move out the air in front of it and that air moves to fill the gap where you were. You go fast enough, this effect begins to get violent."

Kanah nodded paying full attention to Alber's words. "This technique is risky hence, it is kept hidden from most. Only Great Master level warriors know of this technique, because it poses a threat not only to the surroundings but the user themselves."

He then pointed towards Kanah. "You spread your Mana outside your body reaching and grabbing every particle that exists in front of you. You then hold that particle in place, when you move those particle will enter your body and come out behind you. You essentially run through the particles. As they are coated by your own Mana they do not damage your body."

Alber tightened his grip on Kanah's hand. "Beware, if you let go of the particle before it fully leaves your body, the results could be catastrophic."

Kanah nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Sir Alber." Alber looked at Kanah's eyes with a smile, and exhaled one last breath. "Raghav."

Kanah gently placed a hand on his eyes and closed them. Shin arrived back placing a hand on Kanah's shoulder. "It's getting back up."

Kanah nodded, standing up with Alber's body in his hands. "Take this to the soldiers." Shin nodded as he took Alber's body from Kanah.

As Shin ran away with Alber's body in his hands. Kanah turned towards the ocean as the Snake stood up unharmed. The snake looked directly at Kanah as he smirked, locking eyes with the snake. "Time to dance in the belly of the beast."