Book 1 Chapter 625
625.
Fwoosh-!
As Reina swung her sword, a blade of fire extended with a swoosh.
The long, fiery blade gracefully weaved through the air like a whip.
Seeing this, Jora suddenly vanished.
Reina’s red eyes instantly tracked Jora.
“There you are!!!”
The spear of flame burning in her left hand let out a fierce growl for a moment.
Kwagagagagag-!
The thrown spear flew in a straight line towards Jora, who had revealed herself.
Blue flames traced a trajectory in the air.
Fiiiing-! Puhbuhbuhbuhbuh-!
Fragments of blue flame scattered in all directions.
The intense heat caused a haze, making the surrounding area appear distorted.
Reina narrowed her eyes.
‘That spatial movement isn’t magic.’
The advantage of spatial movement magic in close combat is immense.
No matter how fast one moves, movement is ultimately a connection between points.
The movement can be predicted.
This is why many Battle Mages utilize short-range spatial movement in close combat.
Even with enhanced movement speed through magic, there are limits when facing Knights who use Aura.
However, when facing Knights who have reached a certain level, close-quarters combat using spatial movement becomes a hindrance.
This is because the location of movement can be predicted by the mana wave.
The biggest drawback of spatial movement is that for that fleeting moment of movement, you cannot know what the opponent is doing.
For a Knight close to a Hero, that fleeting moment is enough time to inflict a fatal blow.
But the spatial movement Jora used now had no magical wave.
‘It was like that before too.’
There was no mana wave when she was kidnapped and brought here.
She literally appeared and disappeared.
While the nature of mana itself could be stealthy, this was on another level.
The moment Reina was about to attack Jora again.
Jora vanished once more.
Seeing this, Reina’s lips curled upwards.
‘Aura.’
Instantly discerning the opponent’s ability, Reina swung her sword upwards.
Kwagagagag-!
Red flames and blue flames clashed, creating a giant ripple of fire.
Reina’s eyes gleamed as she looked at Jora, who resembled her younger self.
“Unpleasant, that appearance.”
“Then what will you do? You know the characteristics of your flames well, don’t you?”
Jora’s flames swallowed Reina’s flames.
“I don’t know how you’re using the Great Fire Spirit’s flames. At best, it’s just flames at that level.”
Jora gave a cold smile.
“What difference does that make?”
In response to Jora’s question, Reina smiled faintly and then unleashed an immense amount of flames as if exploding.
Fwooooooosh-!
“Useless! I’ll swallow all of those flames…”
The moment Jora sneered.
BOOM-!
“Ugh?!”
Reina kicked Jora squarely in the abdomen.
Wheeeeeng! Kwagagagag-!
As the kick, imbued with immense power, landed, Jora was sent flying and slammed into the ground.
Reina landed lightly on the ground and said,
“As you said, since they were my flames, I know their characteristics well. That means I also know their weaknesses.”
Reina’s flames consume the opponent’s flames and generate even more powerful heat.
At first glance, it seems like anyone who uses flames is bound to be consumed by Reina.
However, Reina’s flames require a digestion period when they engulf the opponent’s flames.
And during that time, she becomes defenseless.
That’s why Reina didn’t blindly try to swallow the opponent’s flames.
“You didn’t even know that?”
“Eek!”
Seeing Reina looking down at her with a look of pity, Jora sprang to her feet.
She clearly had the superior power.
“Aunt!”
“Oh my? Celia!”
At the voice from the sky, Reina smiled brightly and waved to the sky.
At that moment.
Jora’s figure vanished.
Without a trace, Jora appeared behind Reina at some point.
Seeing this from the sky, Celia’s eyes widened.
“Aunt! Behind…!”
Thwack-!
But before Celia could warn her, Reina had already swung her sword towards where Jora had appeared.
Jora’s cleanly severed head flew into the sky.
For a moment, Jora’s skull, having returned to its skeletal form, contorted in shock.
“How in the world…!”
“Indeed, that spatial movement is not magic but an ability using Aura, so it’s hard to know the exact location of movement.”
It was as Reina said.
Jora’s current technique was to cut space using Aura.
It was a movement that cut through space and moved to that location, making prediction almost impossible.
Reacting to the killing intent would inevitably be too late.
However, Reina accurately discerned Jora’s movement destination.
Reina’s red eyes sparkled.
‘Temperature.’
Users of flames are sensitive to temperature.
And Reina’s ability to sense temperature was exceptionally superior to others.
Like a snake sensing prey.
She could detect the subtle temperature of a person.
Even if there was no movement of mana, because a specific temperature disappeared and reappeared within her senses, she could react quickly.
-Crazy!
Istar, who had lent Reina power, exclaimed in shock.
-Even so, how can a human be so familiar with heat! Or rather, in the first place!
-How can you wield my power so freely!
The power of flames that Istar had lent her far surpassed Reina’s power in her prime.
Yet, Reina was wielding Istar’s power with such ease.
-It’s not impossible. There are occasional individuals like that. Those whose vessels are already complete!
Normally, when a person increases their strength, they grow along with their vessel.
But sometimes, there are individuals with exceptionally large vessels compared to their current strength.
Of course, having a large vessel doesn’t mean faster growth.
It just means the vessel is large.
It only means a larger permissible range when borrowing power from external sources.
Even for Reina, if that were the case, it wouldn’t be strange.
-But Reina Florev had been without her powers for a long time!
This was in a situation where she was borrowing the power of another being, not her own.
There should have been awkwardness in wielding flames.
But there was no sign of it in Reina.
It was as if she had been wielding power for a long time.
She was perfectly handling the power she had accepted.
It wasn’t a matter of willpower.
Literally, her skill in wielding flames was beyond imagination.
“This wench! You’re looking down on me! Kuaaaaaaa!”
Kwagagagagagag-!
Jora was losing her composure.
Leo had said.
That she was ruining the power he had stolen.
Jora had scoffed at those words, but now someone appeared before her eyes, proving them true.
And humorously, that existence was the mother of the one who spoke those words.
Goooooo-! Crackle crackle! Crack!
Immense mana surged.
Jora, with fierce killing intent in her eyes, prepared a great magic.
“Let’s see you block this!”
Seeing this, Celia said with a pale face,
“Aunt! You have to get away…!”
“Celia.”
“Yes?”
“Look behind you.”
“Behind…?”
Celia involuntarily looked behind her.
And she gasped.
There, she saw the walls of Florev Territory.
“If we run away, many people will die.”
“……”
Celia gritted her teeth.
Seeing such Celia, Reina smiled faintly.
“Can you lend me Flame Storm?”
“What? Ah, yes…!”
Celia handed Reina Flame Storm, the treasure of Zerdinger that she had received.
It was a sword Reina had wielded long ago.
A sword that blazed without breaking as long as its will lived.
“Of course, dying with those people would be nothing more than a dog’s death, nothing less. But if there’s a possibility, fighting is my creed.”
Reina bowed her head deeply.
She felt ashamed of herself for immediately thinking of running away without considering the consequences.
Seeing such Celia, Reina stroked her head.
“You don’t need to be ashamed. You’re still a child, aren’t you? And you don’t have to be exactly like me.”
“Aunt….”
Reina gently caressed the cheek of her niece, who was looking up at her.
‘Sometimes, she seems more like my daughter than Leo.’
Her niece, who resembled her so much.
“You will definitely become a much greater Knight than I am. Create your conviction and decide your path. And if I can be even a small direction for the path you must take… I would be truly happy.”
Reina turned around and approached Jora.
Fwooooooosh-!
Blue flames flickered from Reina’s body.
Stomp- Stomp-
The rising flames concentrated at the tip of Flame Storm.
Seeing this, Celia’s mouth fell open unconsciously.
‘How can she wield flames like that?’
Even Celia, who had trained Zerdinger’s Aura her entire life, doubted if it was possible to wield flames to that extent.
‘No. It’s not just me.’
Riss… Lunia of the Lundar family too.
Even Leo.
Even though it was the same flame, the flames Reina used were different.
It wasn’t just a matter of wielding flames freely.
The flames that rested and moved at Reina’s fingertips burned more intensely.
‘Father. Why was Aunt called the Flame Witch?’
‘Because there was no more fitting nickname.’
A past conversation suddenly came to mind.
‘Ah. I see.’
Looking at that retreating figure, she realized it instantly.
‘So that’s why she’s a witch.’
Even the characteristics of the Great Fire Spirit’s flames, upon touching Reina’s fingertips, transformed into Reina’s flames.
Looking at the crimson flames concentrated at the tip of her sword, Celia muttered,
‘The flame, in itself.’
That intense sight captivated Celia’s eyes.
***
“You said it.”
Reina said, gripping the crimson flames imbued in her sword with both hands.
“After that day, I regretted it my entire life. Yes, it’s true.”
Reina’s red eyes sparkled.
“I spent every day in regret.”
Regretting the choice I made then.
Longing for the self I had lost.
“Because of that foolish lingering attachment, I couldn’t stop training.”
Even though she had lost her flames, Reina did not stop honing herself.
It wasn’t just swordsmanship.
She had honed her flames in her imagination.
The ugliness of clinging to what was lost and gone.
-Was that how it was?
Hearing Reina’s words, Istar seemed to finally understand and clicked his tongue.
Now he understood.
The reason she could wield her flames so freely even after losing them for decades.
Those foolish decades of lingering attachment.
That time that might have seemed meaningless and pathetic.
It had been rewarded in this brief moment.
-You… you didn’t give up.
Reina smiled at Istar’s words.
“Prominence.”
The essence of Zerdinger’s flames manifested at Reina’s sword tip.
The compressed and concentrated flames at the sword tip pierced the magic and cleanly bisected Jora.
“Kuaaaaaaaak! A foolish struggle!”
Jora, her abilities lost by dying once again, let out an enraged roar.
“Why! Why don’t you give up?!”
“Why would you ask something so obvious?”
Looking at Jora, who was rambling senselessly after losing her reason, Reina replied with pity.
“My son will be here soon.”
Reina pointed at Jora with her finger and said with a growl,
“And then you will die. I will never give up until the moment I see you die.”