In the morning, Luna, Sariel, and Raymond woke up a little earlier to continue the magic lessons.
The princess acted more distant than usual with the traveler; after all, her perception of him had changed somewhat since he killed Indra.
"Alright, let's use the battle I had against Indra to explain a few things I did," Sariel said, looking at her. "Tell me, what was the first thing I did involving magic?"
"Well... you froze your sword. Was that to strengthen it?"
"Exactly. A common steel sword is like a kitchen knife compared to Indra's long sword, which is now Raymond's. That's why covering it with your magical power creates a layer that protects the blade and makes it more deadly, capable of cutting even steel. The next thing I want to teach you is how to do that."
As he said this, the traveler looked at the bodyguard, who immediately understood what to do. He drew his simple steel sword from its sheath and offered it to the princess, who took the weapon carefully.
"How do I do that?"
"Figure it out," the traveler replied.
"But if you don't tell me how, how will I learn?"
"How do you think the first people developed and learned magic? They had to figure everything out from scratch through trial and error, so you should try the same."
"Isn't it dangerous?" Raymond asked.
"Not with simple magic like this. I prefer this method for learning magic over simply telling you how it's done, because it stimulates your imagination and you can create creative ways to use magic."
"Okay..."
Following the traveler's advice, the princess followed her instincts and poured her magical power into Raymond's sword. However, instead of the sword being covered by a thin magical aura of ice, it froze completely.
"Hmm, no, try again." Sariel, with his thumb and forefinger, pressed the ice, which shattered.
Luna then decided to pour less power, but the blade still froze, though much less. It was only on the third attempt that she thought of keeping the magic flowing constantly from the hilt to the tip.
Finally, a thin layer of ice appeared on the blade, while a sharp, icy aura constantly flowed through it.
"Very good, now try to hit my glaive." Sariel pointed to his weapon, which floated in the air. "Don't worry about your sword technique or anything, just hit it."
"Alright..."
Hesitantly, Luna swung the weapon awkwardly and hit the glaive. To her surprise, a metallic sound echoed, and she could feel the impact on her arm due to the high resistance of that weapon.
"Very good! You were able to deduce it quickly. Raymond, can you get that stone and bring it here?"
"Understood." The bodyguard stood up and walked to a large two-meter-wide rock, lifted it effortlessly, and brought it closer, placing it near Luna.
The princess, after concentrating, tried to cut the stone horizontally. The blade cut halfway through before losing its magic and stopping in the middle of the rock.
Upon realizing this, Luna became discouraged, thinking she had failed, but Sariel's reaction was precisely the opposite of hers.
"Impressive. You were able to get halfway without any sword technique and on the first try. Perhaps you are a prodigy."
"Really?" She doubted if Sariel was just exaggerating.
"Sariel is right; it took me a few days to learn how to do that."
"But... it was so easy."
"Well, since you're so confident, let's try the next level. Try to create a sword entirely of ice, like this." Then, he extended his right hand, and a sword similar to Luna's formed, but made entirely of ice. "This one is even stronger and sharper, since it's made entirely of magic."
"Alright."
While concentrating, the princess tried to create a shape like a sword. This time, it was far more complex than creating a mere snowball, so she focused on making an ice sword with the simplest possible form.
Gradually, an ice sword formed in her hand. The blade's shape was irregular in some spots, and a constant mist emanated from the sword, but it was solid enough.
"It's not perfect, but it's good for your first attempt. Now try to cut the rock again, but make a vertical strike."
Following the instructions, the princess aimed precisely at the center with her ice sword and made a downward vertical cut. The strike was quite clumsy and not straight, but it was enough to nearly split the rock in half.
The cut had been deep, but not deep enough to completely sever the stone, as the created sword was short.
"Very good. That's more than enough to protect yourself. If you can create swords made of ice, then creating pointy ice stakes and throwing them at enemies won't be a problem."
"Are you sure? I feel like I should train more."
"We'll depart right now, so this is what we can do for now," Raymond informed them. "We can continue at the next stop."
"That's right. Besides, we can talk about other theoretical things on the way."
"Alright."
And indeed, as soon as they finished talking, they were called to depart.
During the entire journey, at the princess's request, the traveler explained how people's magical power formed, as well as explaining about the quantity of magical power and the percentage of elements.
"To begin, it's best to explain quantity and percentage of magic. Imagine a person's magic is like a cake; the quantity of magical power would be the size of the cake, and the percentages of the elements are like its flavors.
"A person might be born with little magical power but possesses a predominant element, like a small chocolate cake. However, it's also possible for this small cake to have several different flavors.
"The same goes for people with a lot of magical power, like a table-sized cake cut into twelve slices, with each slice being a different flavor.
"And of course, just as it's impossible to change the flavor of a cake once it's made, it's impossible for a person's elements to change; they only increase over time.
"That's why people like the Pillars are extremely rare. In fact, the requirements to become a Pillar are to have a colossal amount of magical power, with at least 90% of it being a single element.
"Furthermore, it's absolutely impossible for a person to have 100% of a single element. The reason isn't entirely known, but the most accepted explanation is connected to the formation of magical power.
"There are a few theories that try to explain this, but it's much more complicated than it seems. The most accepted one currently is that the child, while still in their mother's womb, inherits part of their magical power from their parents and another part from the environment. So, according to this theory, if both parents have a lot of the Protection element and live in a very cold place, there's a high chance the child will be born with about 75% Protection and 25% Ice.
"Therefore, following this logic, it's impossible for someone to be born with 100%, because, in addition to there being no records of anyone like that ever existing, it's also not possible to manipulate this in any way, given that even the Pillars have minor elements.
"However, despite this theory being more accepted, there are complications. It's rare, but it's possible for a child whose parents have little magical power and several elements to be born with an enormous amount of magical power and a predominant element.
"The reasons are unknown, and perhaps it's something only Kura can answer."
*****
After several hours, the group continued their journey, and the vegetation became increasingly scarce, while the temperature began to rise.
By midday, the landscape had transformed from green and vibrant to gray, red, and desolate.
The group had arrived at the Volcanic Plains, a place with extreme volcanic activity. The entire ground was covered in ash with rivers of lava flowing everywhere. There were no trees or living beings there, and the heat in the air was capable of melting metal just by being exposed to that environment.
No one lived or traveled there, as it was a deadly environment for the vast majority of people. Of course, individuals like the Pillars were capable of traversing the place, but even they avoided it and only used it if they urgently needed to cross.
As for the horses, Aegreon came prepared and brought Fire stones, leaving them with the animals and negating much of the environmental heat.
"It's so hot..." Luna was soon drenched in sweat. "How are we going to cross this?"
"Sariel can use Ice magic to create a cold area around us," Raymond suggested.
"Indeed, but all of us are quite strong, so we wouldn't die in this climate, though a little cold would be welcome here."
"We haven't gone deep into this territory yet, so let's take a break now," Aegreon suggested.
Following the Pillar's words, the group stopped before entering the hotter region and ate before moving on.
"You know, maybe it's better if we adopt false names from now on to avoid what happened with Indra," the traveler suggested. "My name and Luna's aren't widely known, but you all have a certain reputation, especially Aegreon."
"You're right," Shiina agreed. "Call me Emi when we're in public."
"Then you can call me Leopold," Raymond suggested.
After that, Aegreon remained silent for a while.
"What about you, Aegreon?" Luna asked.
"...Ammit," he mumbled after a long pause.
"Ammit? Are you from Nunma by any chance?" Sariel asked.
"It doesn't matter." He stared at Sariel seriously. "But you should use another name too."
"Why, when even you haven't heard of me?"
"Caution is never too much, Sariel." Luna supported the idea.
"Well, if you insist, then you can call me Nungal."
After this conversation, everyone focused on their meals.
Sariel finished before everyone else and went to check on the horses, when he suddenly felt a strong impact on his back, being thrown hundreds of meters into the middle of a large lava lake with a gray island at its center.
Thanks to his skill, he was able to recover in the air and land on solid ground. It wasn't long before Aegreon, his aggressor, also jumped onto the small island he was on.
"Time for a rematch then, huh?" he challenged in a carefree tone.
"Time to end this once and for all." Aegreon, with a cold, determined gaze, drew his scythe.
Meanwhile, Luna watched everything in agony.
"What is he doing?!" She tried to run towards the two, but Raymond held her back.
"Luna, they're surrounded by rivers of lava! We can't get close."
"But why are they fighting? Shiina?" The princess looked at the assassin.
"Wh-why are you asking me?"
"You've been looking at Sariel strangely since yesterday!"
Shiina, surprised that she had noticed, fell silent, forgetting to speak.
"Aegreon planned to bring him here to kill him..."
"Why didn't you tell us?!" Luna glared at her indignantly.
The assassin, however, just looked away and said nothing more.
"Damn it!" Raymond cursed. "This place has too much of the Fire element in the air! Sariel won't be able to fight the same way he did with Indra! I thought I could trust you!"
Raymond, with a rage that impressed even Luna, blamed Shiina for her silence.
She remained silent, unsure of what to say. She had convinced the bodyguard to trust her the night before, only to betray them the next day.
"We have to do something!" the princess urged. "Sariel's going to get hurt!"
"We can't do anything..." Raymond clenched his fists. "We need to pray that he survives."
After hearing this, Luna turned her eyes back to the battle, her heart pounding fiercely. Even though she had become a little disillusioned with Sariel, she still considered him a close friend.
Back in the "arena", Aegreon attacked incessantly with his scythe covered in purple flames, and his entire body was surrounded by the same flames.
The Pillar of Conjuration already knew very well that the traveler was capable of hiding his feelings, but he didn't care; he was going to show all the fury and rage he felt for that bastard.
Sariel, on the other hand, since he couldn't force a blizzard as he did against Indra, cast Ice spells weakened by the fire and wasn't even able to create a simple swirling blizzard around himself.
The advantage was obvious: Aegreon's purple flame grew stronger and hotter than the lava itself, corrupting everything it touched.
Sariel used his magic only to protect himself and remained on the defensive, for if he were seriously wounded by Conjuration, he wouldn't be able to heal it instantly as he did during the battle against Indra.
Even if he could perceive all of Aegreon's attacks, it would only be a matter of time until he tired and suffered minor injuries, which would accumulate until he was hit by a fatal blow.
"You planned this since Fire Mountain, huh?" Despite this, he still had a smile on his face.
However, Aegreon was completely focused. Furious, but focused.
Every blow from the Pillar of Conjuration was well-planned and thought several steps ahead. He slowly pushed the traveler closer to the lava, ready to deliver his final blow.
It was then that Aegreon launched large purple flames at the traveler, who used his magic to block part of them.
However, the Pillar of Conjuration moved behind the traveler and kicked him out of the arena. Then, he jumped towards him, following his trajectory in the air to make sure he would fall into the lava.
Of course, Sariel wouldn't die even if he plunged into the lava, but it would define that fight the instant it happened.
Even if Aegreon hurt himself with the lava, it would be worth it, because the power of his attacks would increase drastically.
Upon seeing Sariel getting closer and closer to the magma lake, Aegreon formed a satisfied smile. He was finally going to kill that scoundrel once and for all!
However, this vanished the moment he saw Sariel's face.
He was also smiling. A confident smile.
But it wasn't the smile that scared Aegreon; it was his eyes and his brooch.
They had changed color. They were no longer light blue like ice, but scarlet red like fire... like lava.
Sariel fell headfirst into the lava, and the next moment, a large column of fire and lava rose dozens of meters high. The heat emanating from it was even more intense than the whole place itself.
On reflex, Aegreon moved away and landed on a small rock nearby.
The next moment, Sariel emerged from the flames and walked calmly towards Aegreon. The heat was nothing to him; the lava rained down on him and flowed over his body as if it were water, without causing any burns on his skin.
His eyes were like the eyes of the devil itself, staring from the abyss at any fool who dared to peek into his kingdom, and fire bent to his will. He was now the owner of those lands.
For a moment, Aegreon saw the figure of Ardos in Sariel. Majestic, powerful, and sovereign.
The Pillar of Conjuration was so shocked that it took him a few seconds to compose himself and act.
"Bastard..." he cursed with intense rage. "YOU'RE A FUCKING VOLATILE!"