Irisha Helkar's Point of View
But… what did you see, son? I thought worriedly, after the exchange of words between Zoe and my husband inside the kiosk we had in the forest, near our home.
Wanting to know if he was okay or not, I reached out my hand to touch him, but I was interrupted by Kadian, who intercepted it and grabbed me with some force, pulling me outside the kiosk.
"Irisha, we will make some changes to his trial." He said immediately, taking us farther and farther from Drake and Zoe.
But what's wrong with him? Why is he pulling me away like this? Annoyed at not being able to check on Drake's condition, I decided to listen to him.
"Changes? What changes? I thought we had already established what would be done in each of the trials." I asked, adjusting my pace to match his.
"You're right, but in this last trial, something unsettled me." He continued, while I thought and tried to deduce what he was referring to.
It's true… what happened with Drake wasn't normal. I thought to myself, before recalling the minutes leading up to his convulsions.
Drake had remained calm throughout his trial, with a smile that reflected the imminent success of his test, until suddenly his expression changed to one of discomfort. Then, his breathing became labored, and tears started to well up in his eyes before his body began reacting violently.
At that moment, I thought it was something temporary, something we had foreseen as a possibility, but when it intensified, I got scared.
"I know you don't have the ability to sense other people's mana, but at that moment, when Drake became agitated, he released a mana different from his usual one, a mana I recognized immediately."
"What? What are you talking about?" I asked, confused by these concerning statements.
"As you heard, the mana he released was the same as the one he had—the Dragon God's mana."
What? But that's impossible…
"Wait, Kadian." I said, grabbing Kadian this time to stop us in the middle of the forest. "That can't be possible. You yourself told me multiple times that he wouldn't be able to access that mana until he reached the Semi-God rank."
"Yes, I know, but it seems that the Fragment is acting differently inside him, because besides this, his core advanced from the Advanced rank to Expert in just 13 years, something that shouldn't have happened."
Feeling a bit lost by Kadian's words, I decided to take a deep breath to calm myself.
"I understand, but why are we going home? What do you have in mind now that you know this?" I asked before Kadian started walking again, forcing me to follow.
"It's to retrieve a magical artifact that will help me confirm whether Drake is using the Fragment or not. I want to find it since I haven't used it since before coming to this house, and honestly, I don't quite remember where it is."
Since before coming to Birton? B-but he never mentioned anything like that to me. I thought, following him in silence until we arrived home.
Once we got there, we started searching for it in the storage room, Kadian's office, and other places around the house.
After searching for more than four hours, we finally found it in the basement.
"Excellent, now I need to check if it still works." Kadian commented before channeling mana into it. Looking at the artifact, I noticed it was a small glass jar with a white crystal in the center, surrounded by dozens of what looked like golden hairs pulling at it from all sides, preventing the crystal from moving.
When the mana entered the jar, it began to glow with a yellowish hue, indicating that it was still functioning correctly. "Yes, it works because the nature of my race's mana is golden."
After I also tested the artifact and saw that the color of my mana was red, Kadian told me what he would change for Drake's fourth augury trial.
"Irisha, I want you to battle against Drake in the fourth trial instead of Zoe, as we had planned before."
"Huh? But why me?" I asked, not understanding his intentions.
"Because Drake doesn't know your abilities, and I want you to pressure him with the different spells you know, to see if he uses the Fragment's mana again in a moment of stress."
"I understand, but… I don't know if I can do it. I don't want to hurt him." I replied to Kadian, before the scene shifted back to the present, where I was recalling that phrase I had said—to not hurt my son.
"Legendary-level magic, Tempest." I pronounced with my hands raised, after feeling compelled to use more mana than I had been using.
I have to be careful and use the full potential of this spell. I repeated to myself several times before making a few ice needles fall in front of Drake, as a warning of what was to come.
Noticing the danger he was in, Drake quickly enclosed himself in a stone dome, protecting himself from the thousands of needles that began falling from the sky, precisely on the other side of the river.
His defense is very weak. I thought, realizing that I could easily break it with the other part of my spell, which consisted of casting thunderbolts from the cloudy sky.
After a few seconds, Drake's defense began to crack from the constant impact of the needles, putting me in a dilemma about whether to stop my spell or not.
What do I do? If this continues…
With my hands still raised, I decided to stop it, but upon noticing how Drake had realized that he would soon be defenseless, I continued with my spell.
Drake, shifting his grip on the sword he had been given, started creating a fire barrier outside his dome, then emerged from it just in time before it completely collapsed.
Well done. I thought, seeing how the flames were fueled by wind magic, making them powerful enough to evaporate or melt the ice needles falling on him, putting me more at ease.
Realizing that his defense was effective, Drake launched two small wind blades in my direction with his right hand.
Pretending they were a threat to me, I moved several meters from where I was to dodge his attacks, making him believe I had no other option to avoid them.
While dodging, I took the opportunity to stop my spell, giving the impression that it was because I lowered my hands, which made the needles turn into a simple rain that gradually faded away in a few seconds.
Once at a distance, I saw Drake cross the river with ease, propelled by a stone pillar that emerged beneath his feet.
Drake has improved a lot since the last time I saw him fight. I reflected within myself, watching as he now approached me at great speed. Before, he wasn't this creative with spells, and it was all because he dedicated more time to the sword, but since he injured his right arm, that has changed significantly.
With him just a few meters away, I decided to match the effort he was putting into overcoming this trial. So, releasing more mana from my core, I prepared to put him in a moment of tension. I suppose I can be a little rougher with him.
Expert-level magic, Flash. I pronounced in my head, creating an intense light from one of my hands that completely blinded him, making dodging it not a great feat.
Drake, showing signs of irritation in his eyes, quickly turned his head in different directions, trying to sense my mana with the ability Kadian's family had, Perception.
Upon finding me, he prepared four stone cannons, making them spin with wind magic before launching them at me, making the cannons quite fast, forcing me to use one of my runes.
Blinkslash. I said within myself, recalling the sensation of the rune before my field of vision instantly changed, to one where I saw the cannons Drake had launched impact against Hexalia, my cubic weapon.
Despite how powerful and fast his cannons were, they were reduced to dust, all because my weapon was made of Carbonado Diamond, one of the hardest and most expensive minerals that existed.
Drake, after recovering his vision, lunged at me again, approaching quickly while holding his sword with both hands.
Huh? What is he trying to do by doing the same thing? I wondered, moving Hexalia behind him while preparing an ice spell from my weapon.
Once Drake got close enough, I used Blinkslash again, switching places with Hexalia, which quickly connected the ice spell directly to Drake.
Let's see how you get out of this. I thought until I saw how Drake had managed to deflect my spell with his sword just enough so that it didn't hit him directly.
Wow, so you've already learned to use your weapons that way. I thought, surprised, seeing the progress my son was making.
Drake, with both hands slightly frozen from being near my spell, smiled before lowering them until they touched the ground, shouting his next move.
"Expert-level magic! Deflagration!" In less than a second, powerful flames spread throughout the place, with Drake as the epicenter, reaching Hexalia and threatening to come where I was, despite being more than 15 meters away from him.
Seeing the danger, I let my instincts take over, making all my next movements happen in a fraction of a second.
Legend-level magic, Nightmares. I recited, as I leaped away from the radius of his attack with a powerful jump, leaving behind hundreds of black dots floating in the air.
With my spell cast over the battlefield, I concealed my presence to see what Drake would do, waiting for the perfect moment to continue with my next move.
After a few seconds, all the fire had disappeared, and then Drake stood up with difficulty before stumbling clumsily toward my former position, stepping on the scorched grass left by his previous spell.
Drake, staring into nothingness, smiled before suddenly stopping.
"I… did it." He said with satisfaction on his face before falling to his knees and dropping his sword onto the blackened grass.
Now is the moment. I thought quickly, making dozens of greenish vines emerge from the ground, capturing Drake by all four limbs and then lifting him, stretching him in every direction to prevent any movement.
Seeing no resistance from him, I approached while raising one of my hands, aiming directly at him. Legend-level magic, Lumora.
Instantly, ten orbs of light appeared in the palm of my hand, charging with a hum, creating what would have been a catastrophic scene if I hadn't heard Kadian's voice in the distance.
"That's enough!"
B-but why? This isn't over yet. Feeling confused, I canceled my spell, lowering my arm and making the orbs of light disappear.
"What happened? Why did you stop the trial?" I asked as I watched Kadian approach us with Zoe behind him.
Smiling, Kadian went straight to where Drake was lying, who remained there after being freed from the vines. "I only did it so you wouldn't kill our son."
What? But he could still keep fighting, I was sure he would find a way out of that situation, just as he had done before. I protested internally as I watched Kadian reach Drake and take out one of the Liberto fruits he carried with him.
"Look at him closely, he's unconscious, he stopped fighting after his last attack."
"B-but how? He was putting up a great fight, and…." Feeling terrible about what had just happened, I lowered my head as I questioned my actions.
I a-almost killed my son…
After making him eat the Liberto fruit, Kadian left Drake lying on the ground before coming to where I was. "Calm down, he's fine, and besides, I know it wasn't your intention to hurt him, so don't feel bad about all this."
After a few minutes of trying to calm myself, Kadian carried Drake on his back so that we could all return home.
When we arrived, we left my son on his bed, with Zoe by his side to take care of him. Once alone, we went downstairs to his office to talk, which was located to the right of the central hallway on the first floor.
"So then, what color did the magical light up in the end?" I asked my husband directly once we closed the door behind us.
With a sigh, he responded while looking me in the eyes. "White, he used the Dragon God's Fragment with his last spell."
Then… that means everything we planned with him isn't very useful now. I thought worriedly, sitting in one of the armchairs in front of his desk.
I felt worried, confused, and at the same time surprised because Drake being able to use the Dragon God's Fragment was something that shouldn't happen, something that should be impossible for his core's rank, but...
Now we can't let him live a peaceful life, and it's all because of Boris. I thought, clenching my fists.
"If that's the case, what will we do now that we know?" I asked, even though deep down, I already knew his answer.
"We'll cancel his Augury, and we'll probably test him again once he reaches the legend rank." He said before searching through some letters on his desk. "We can't make things easy for Boris by leaving Drake to his fate."
A few months ago, we found out that Boris, Kadian's brother, was looking for us in this part of the continent, so we decided to speed up our travel plans to separate from Drake and Zoe to keep them out of danger.
But now that Drake is using the Dragon God's Fragment, it will be easier for them to track him, find him, and kill him to extract the Fragment. After all, Boris had an artifact to detect the Dragon God's mana, which he was using to search for us.
I'm so sorry, Drake… but this is for your own good.
Hours passed, and by the afternoon, Drake and Zoe came downstairs in different clothes, clean and smiling.
After seating Drake in the hall, Kadian gave him the news that his Augury would be canceled, along with other things.
"That's why, to prepare you for your next Augury, we'll take you to Lucio, a friend of ours who lives in the Kingdom of Alister. There, you'll train and prepare until we test you again in about ten years." Kadian mentioned while Drake stared at his knees in silence, filled with pure frustration.
After the announcement, Drake went to his room, with Zoe following behind him.
Hours passed, and we didn't hear from them until nighttime, when, after going upstairs with dinner, I found Zoe waiting for me outside Drake's room.
"I'm sorry, Mother, but... do you think we could eat in his room? Drake isn't feeling very well." She said without any expression on her face before I agreed.
It was already completely dark, and while we were talking with Kadian in his office about including Drake in the trip and other details, we heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
Drake? I thought happily, but after giving permission for him to enter once he knocked on the door, I was surprised to see that it was Zoe. She stepped into the room with red, swollen eyes, indicating she had been crying.
"Lord Kadian, Lady Irisha, I want to propose something to you, and not as your adoptive daughter."