Chương 10: Sayon Twilight Core

—Sara Reece— Sara felt great until her core turned into a searing flashbang in her chest. An hour before, she watched Edico put his hands on the ground. A moment later, fifty meters of bushes, trees, and ground cover buckled and exploded in an exciting reaction. He used a hefty quake spell on the mana vein's location, and sure enough, an overwhelming wave of mana exploded from the mana vein like an oil blowout shooting sky-high. The whole forest reacted.

Birds shot into the air like locusts and beasts growled and howled and roared in the distance. You want to use that? he had asked sarcastically as he calmed his bucking montas. My apologies, but I'm not letting you get near this thing. Sara rolled her eyes. Of course not. We're moving two miles east. This'll just give me an unlimited supply. She calmed her own monta, mounted, and rode on. Just to be sure, you have all your memories, right? he said as they sat in a shaded meadow.

I don't need to teach you how to establish your core? You don't. Do you need the chant? Sure do. Okay. Get ready. Sara sat with her legs crossed, stripped down to her undershirt. Whenever you're ready, he said. I am. Okay. Ta tomhe tolikea… Ta tomhe tolikea… Mas ítan ena mikró kosmógramma… Mas ítan ena mikró kosmógramma… The chant continued for another minute, and they repeated it three times in a row, with Sara repeating it with perfect clarity twice in a row. Why isn't it working? Edico asked.

There was no swirl of mana sucking into her core. Because I was just practicing the words, she replied. I'll start now. Sara did start, but she didn't use the Golden Core chant. She used the Sayon Twilight core expansion spell that she had memorized from Sayon's Labyrinth. Telia Sayon was the most powerful mage in history. Telia was also the one who gave her life to confine Agronus to his massive castle. She left an entire treasure trove of magic to the person or people who could conquer her labyrinth.

It was there the Hero's Party learned the teleportation arrays that Sara used, along with a legendary staff, powerful elixirs, and the Twilight expansion spell that none could use but all memorized to teach their future offspring. That was the chant she was about to use. Ro ma hika ri falahona for tobeana, i skakani ma rihika fora. Rhea mo janka es equali fequael gla. Tobinan rest a mia. Irika mota hika shi manaka… As she chanted, it felt like the entire forest's mana and aether swirled into her core.

The inhale felt like a tornado that ripped through twelve houses before hitting her chest. It was painful beyond belief. Sara screamed, but fought back the best she could, using eighteen years of mana circulation experience to tame something that was nearly impossible to tame. Daylight faded from Sara's eyelids, plunging her into absolute darkness. There, she could see her core, churning at high speed. She gritted her teeth, focusing on her mana channels, keeping the entry points from blowing like frag grenades.

It was extremely difficult. The spell didn't expand her core like the Golden Core expansion spell did. It compressed her original core to a singularity, taking something the size of a baseball and turning it into a pinpoint neutron star sucking into a black hole. Then it ballooned to the size of a soccer ball without warning before returning to its original baseball size. A sudden cold sweat washed over Sara like a bucket of ice water, and she thought the worst was over. She was wrong.

A flurry of aether shot directly into her core, and she screamed out in pain again. In her mind's eye, blue energy represented mana, and aether—the mana augmentor that corrupted cores—was orange, and that orange was winding itself around her core like thread over a bobbin. Sara's entire body shivered—but half of it was excitement. Telia Sayon created the ultimate outer core before she died. If anything could challenge Jason's ungodly core: it was this.

2 —Edico Sullsburg— Edico strode back and forth, body wrapped in a thick hide of gooseflesh. The Golden Core Expansion spell wasn't just sucking in a mana vein's worth of mana; it was sucking all the aether from the atmosphere as well. He had a divination spell present, showcasing a tidal wave of blue and yellow energies sucking into Sara's core. Why's it already sucking in aether? Edico cried within when he saw the aether enter her core. It's gonna kill her! Edico reached for her shoulder but held back.

"Fuck!" He couldn't help but run both sets of fingers through his hair. If I disrupt it… She'll die. What type of cruel joke is this? To reunite just in time to watch her die? Edico paced back and forth, waiting, listening, wincing for an hour, expecting her to seize and die. She never did. Another hour passed—and then another. Hope welled in his heart, making him take a few steps toward her. But he always stopped, retreated, preparing himself for the worst.

It wasn't until the third hour that Edico's worry blended with his hope, and he found himself sitting next to Lady Reece, watching as wave after wave of mana and aether flooded through her channels. The scene was incomprehensible, but the fact that she was still alive made him believe —believe that somehow, she would survive this gauntlet. At most, another hour would pass, and then she'd wake from it—he was certain of it. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

But she didn't wake. Edico found himself flashing his royal insignia to investigating guards two hours later, and by the third, he was warming himself underneath a crackling fire he made near her. Then, the world fell silent, and she still didn't wake. The sound of birds ushered in a new day like a brass band the next morning, and wagons neared with a whole lot of yelling and confusion when people felt the oppressive mana. But she wasn't awake then, either. Edico greeted them and ushered them away.

Sara still hadn't woken when he returned, nor an hour later. It wasn't until it reached late afternoon that Sara exited her period of enlightenment, and even then, she didn't open her eyes. She merely fell asleep. Satisfied with her safety, Edico succumbed to sleep deprivation and passed out. When he woke, Sara was on the ground, still sleeping soundly. Edico stared at the sky, chuckling. The wish he made to Delina had come true. Lady Reece had lived. He stared at her, and then his joy dimmed.

He checked his pocket watch. It was the next morning. A whole three days had been lost. She's not gonna make it to the Festival, Edico thought. But if she doesn't… she'll kill me. Truthfully, he didn't want to take her to the Festival. He knew full damn well she wasn't there to fight. Taking her there knowing what she planned to do would amount to treason if it weren't an order. Yet even if it was… Edico would bring her there. He knew it.

Grimly humored by what he was about to do, Edico lifted Sara and folded her over the back of his monta. Then, he activated a windbreak and acceleration spell on both montas as he flew toward Amia, where the Markinoa Festival awaited. 3 When Sara opened her eyes, she saw Edico staring at her in a state of shock.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Edico laughed and ran his fingers through his untied hair. He looked like an emotional wreck.

"I don't even know how to answer that question." Sara felt a bad premonition and looked down. Her shirt was drenched in sweat, her skin lobsterized and burning. She swallowed and looked through the forest, combing her fingers through the dew-dotted grass. It was dark, but the sun was slowly returning to its throne to the sound of birds acting as its trumpets. Her intestines writhed like a coiling snake as she turned to Edico, preparing the question she knew the answer to and didn't want him to confirm.

"How long have I been out?" Edico chuckled, staring at the sky as if asking Delina why his reward for worrying about Sara was her unbridled fury.

"You've been out…" He laughed sharply, reaching a high pitch.

"For two days.

"Two days?" Sara screamed.

"We're not gonna make it to—""We'll make it, provided you can maintain your acceleration spells. I rode you on the back of my monta like a sack of potatoes. You're lucky Hellia here kept pace." She turned and saw her monta, scratching her hoof against the ground.

"Just how much do you remember?" she asked.

"About me?"

"Enough to question my loyalty to King Escar." He chuckled grimly.

"Of course, I'm bound to him. So don't get your hopes up." Sara sighed.

"So? How long do we have?"

"Six hours before the Festival."

"How far out are we?"

"A day's ride."

"Then we'll make it." She stood and winced.

"Sit down! Your mana channels have been strained for almost two days."

"Then give me an elixir on the road," she said, unknotting her monta's rope. The monta snorted uneasily, anxious by her energy.

"Think this through." He rushed to her side, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to him.

"We'll make it—but at the cost of everyone knowing you have an acceleration spell."

"Oh, I'll behave in public," she said.

"Those spells I was using before? Child's play. Keep up." Her monta swirled with mana, and then she broke off at a speed he didn't think was possible.

"Wait for me!" Edico yelled.

"I still need to pack up!" Sara stopped her monta and waited, but she wasn't returning to help. Supplies or not, she was going to make it to the Markinoa Festival on time. He was sure of it. 4 —Jason Newborn— Jason's body trembled. His palms ached from being clenched so long, and his shoulders were tight and unyielding, like plastic that had melted into another shape. He kicked the sand.

He and the other "heroes'' were standing on the arena floor of the Royal Amphitheater, the colosseum they had done much of their training in. The structure wasn't as grand as the Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, and it was empty save for, you know, the most powerful fucking people in the entire kingdom. Today was the start of the Markinoa Festival, and he was the starring attraction.

Soon, he and the Chosen would be showing their talent to the kingdom's strongest, fighting for patrons who would buy them elixirs, body-tempering supplies, weapons, magical artifacts, and other resources in exchange for a percentage of the treasure that they brought back from quests and wartime plunder. It was a monumental moment for investment— —and Sara wasn't there. The other Chosen were there.

Everyone but Sara and Daniel were standing in the center of the ring, sweating their balls off in the sweltering summer heat as potential patrons eyed them like cattle. And where was she? No one knew. It was five minutes before the Festival, and she was still missing. It'd be one thing if they could just continue, but apparently, that wasn't possible. All the king seemed to care about was Sara Reece, the fraud of the Escaran Kingdom. The key word was "king." Jason was all that most people talked about.

It was just the king and the people speculating on her importance. Still, every time someone spoke the word "Sara," it drilled into his mind like a dental drill. From what he overheard, Edico had originally said that they were too late to make the Festival, but he later wrote, mere hours ago, that they would make it. So, they waited. And that pissed him off.

Jason had woken up at four every morning, ate healthily, practiced with total concentration, made incredible strides with magic, and now, during his time to shine, the Festival was being held up. All because of Sara. Sara, Sara, Sara. Sara was a callous cunt that couldn't console Emma on a good day, yet she was still somehow revered as if she weren't a raging alcoholic. True, she was fluent in Krallen and the runic language, and yes, she was impressive in other matters to some extent.

But so was he, and he deserved the credit. It was just a reminder that men didn't have the same privileges as women in any world. Sara had breasts and a pretty face. That's what did it for people. He finally understood what other men were talking about when they said that women got everything for free. He never noticed because he was at the top, but the moment he came here, he finally understood. Read a book? Here's a promotion. Attract a general's eye? Let me give you personal tutoring.

Now, Sara was running late, and Aelia Twilix, the stone-hearted bitch who punished anyone who showed up late mercilessly, didn't push back against starting late!

"Bro. Chill out," Raul whispered, eyes focused ahead.

"It's a good thing she's not here, isn't it? That means we'll get more resources."

"It's not about resources," Jason said.

"It's about the principle."

"No, it's because you wanted to humiliate her in front of Amia's elites. And now she's not here."

"Seriously?" Jason snapped.

"That's what you think I want to do?" Raul nodded.

"Yeah. There's not a word in Spanish for how patient I've been, but seeing this? Bro. There's something wrong with you."

"Right. I'm at fault. I'm always at fault."

"Yeah," Raul said.

"Pretty much."

"Oh, I swear to God, Raul. When I fight you in the finals…"

"You'll what?"

"Just wait and see."