(Niko, 16)

Everyone has been gathered outside, all thirty-eight trainees. The six inches of snow still covers the ground, only a few footsteps visible. Right now, Jason is leading us away from the building, none of us informed of the purpose of this. None of the Sages followed us out.

After nearly an hour of trudging through the snow, a path forged by fire magics to ease our walking, we come across Miralandis and Jarenidis, who are standing in a large expanse of the Unwild Lands. We have been in a large expanse of it, as there are no cliffs or valleys or woods close by.

"Today," Jason says as we line up, Jason himself standing in front of his grandmother and brother and facing us. "We are going to be performing a magical combat scenario with Fael Mira and Jarenidis. As you'll have noticed, my mamas and papas did not join us for this. That is because they do not agree with this form of training. It is one I went through as Alorovos, and one which all young members of the Delvarkari are put through. Fael Mira, if you would?"

A grey gate opens behind Jason, and he walks through it. The gate disappears, and I notice the snow leopard stuffie Jason made yesterday poking its head out of the front of Jarenidis's coat, watching us. Strange, but if it is another of his top-make stuffie golems, then its presence is likely so that Jason can return with ease, even if he could simply ask his grandmother or brother to create the gate back.

"Shortly," Miralandis says. "We will be attacked here. The thirty-eight of you will do your best to defend against this attack. You will be judged based on your performance during this attack. Those in possession of Sacred Swords and Magus Swords are forbidden from using them."

"Nearly all of us here have fought against monsters," Jacob says, and Miralandis looks at him. "Most of us go through practical training sessions against ogres and corrupted at least once a term, those in Alex's street crew regularly fight against monsters outside of Varil, and several of the Marrans have already fought in at least one battle against an ogre or corrupted."

Without magic, we begin training with the sword young, and are often out, fighting, soon after our coming-of-age ceremony.

"This will not be a fight like those," Miralandis says. "Everyone, activate your aural sheaths. It may make the difference between surviving and nasty injuries."

I use my aural sheath as I wonder what we could be attacked by. There seems to be nothing nearby which I can see. The sun on the snow makes it difficult, though. Blinding, even, especially after being outside in it for this long.

"Boss says it's on its way," the leopard stuffie looks at Miralandis.

"We will be watching," Miralandis tells us. "To ensure no one dies. Do not expect us to rescue you from a false failure."

She opens a gate and Jarenidis steps through it, then she does. The gate disappears, leaving us alone. What could possibly-

"What the hells is that?" Collin exclaims, and we all look in the direction he is pointing.

Something advances towards us rather quickly, and it only takes a moment to make out the colossal form charging our way. At least sixty or seventy feet in height with blue skin so pale, it is nearly white, the titan charges towards us. Muscular, massive, and deadly. Dark blue hair, dark blue eyes.

We scatter to the sides, no one with any form of plan. Jason never mentioned a titan lived nearby. Even during the war, we had great difficulty fighting these. A few memories return to me, reminding me that this was the region where we had fought the Titan Battles.

Thankfully, only one titan seems to be attacking us for now.

The titan slams both of its fists towards the ground, and I jump into the air, stretching out my hands. Tendrils of shadows form out of my back and shoot towards several other trainees, wrapping around them and pulling them back. A few other trainees jump into the air as well, using magic to enhance their height. All of the Magi have done as I have and rescued those we can.

When the titan's fists connect with the ground, a thunderous boom fills the air as the ground itself breaks, a shockwave rippling through it, destabilizing the terrain.

The other Magi land as I continue to hover, using the flight spell Jason taught me. I am the only one out of the thirty-eight of us who know it. With a gesture of my right hand, I set the trainees in my tendrils on the ground, then release the tendril spell.

During the war, we did not fly. We jumped, we leaped, we charged, but we never did determine how flight magics were used. That gave us a disadvantage, as a titan's only true weak points are its eyes.

"Everyone!" Jacob calls out as the titan stands upright once more. "When the titan is within range, aim for the eyes! Its body is far too tough for our magics and blades to pierce! Mages, use your strongest spells! Warriors, use any swords arts you have that project the attack! When the titan slams on the ground, that is when its face is closest! We have only moments between when it opens its eyes after the dustcloud and when it stands once more! This one seems to still for ten seconds after the pound!"

The titan raises a foot up, and everyone jumps before it stomps. That one was aimed at Collin, but Alex managed to pull him away in time. Alex is near me, but not for long, as I am flying out of the ice titan's attack range.

"Alex!" I call. "Can you do a telepathic link over a distance? Or are you restricted like Jason?"

"I've practiced a lot more!" He responds. "Jason doesn't use telepathy much!"

"Link me!"

"Linked!" His voice enters my head as we exit a distance in which our voices can easily reach each other.

"As I know how to fly," I tell him. "I can attack while the titan is upright, it is within my range."

"A few others can as well," he says. "Though from the ground."

"Lina, Adam, Kayla, and Cameron," I say. "The four strongest mages, after me. They are still ground-locked, and they will have issues with the precise attacks needed. I need time to build up a spell. As I do it, I will be vulnerable. Sustaining flight and the aural sheath while shaping this spell will make it take longer, but also prevent me from taking defensive actions. My flight will be minimized as soon as I begin casting the spell, as flying takes a lot of focus, just like the aural sheath."

"Got it," he says as the titan holds a hand out, palm facing the ground. The snow beneath begins to rise, a spear of ice forming from it and magic. "Crap, this one's a warrior mage ice titan."

"Your specialty," I respond.

"Yeah," he says. "Start the spell, I'll relay the information. What's it going to do?"

"It is going to be big, powerful, and dangerous," I answer. "As soon as I give the signal, everyone needs to back off."

"Got it," he says.

I begin shaping the spell as everyone avoids or blocks the attacks of the ice titan, who jabs with that spear. Either the target manage to escape it, or someone pulls them away. When that happens, its spear becomes stuck in the ground for around thirteen seconds before the ice titan manages to pull it free.

Aural sheaths disappear on people, but they turn back on soon. Alex likely linked everyone together if he could, and people are being warned quickly if they lose their aural sheaths. Against something like this, it is better to have an active defense at all times than to rely just on barrier spells. This ice titan is likely more powerful than I am. Indigo, possibly violet. Then add on its size, strength, and natural resistance to damage, before the natural boosts to those magic grants, and that is why titans are so formidable.

The aural sheaths might keep everyone from dying, but that will be it for the weaker ones. I pray to the King and Queen of the Gods everyone has enhanced their endurance and constitution.

The ice titan spots me, flying thirty yards away from it, and holds up its free hand. A spiked ball of ice forms and begins to fly towards me. A flurry of spells strike at it, from ice to fire to lightning to sword skills to force magic. The ball is first knocked off-course, then destroyed, and everyone returns to fighting the ice titan.

This spell is taking me far too long to shape. Why did Miralandis, Jarenidis, and Jason think we could handle an ice titan without great risk to us? Any titan would be beyond us. The oranges and yellows here could die just from a weak spell from this thing. Even a green might.

They are watching, though, which means they will step in if we will truly begin to die. But not until then.

"How close are ya?" Alex asks as he slashes with his sword, a burst of force magic release and soaring towards the ice titan.

"I am only around eight percent of the way done," I tell him. "This is not a small or simple spell."

"Okay," he says as I see Lina pulling people away as the ice titan begins its double-fist pound thing. "Don't screw it up, we ain't gonna be able to wait for a second run of that."

"I know," I tell him as he jumps as well.

I return my focus to this spell. It will not kill the ice titan, not at my current level of power, but it will at least weaken it enough we might be able to succeed against it. Only with violet- and grey-level mages could we possibly train like this and not have as much risk as dying, yet that risk is still there.

The ice titan continues its attack, and everyone continues theirs. Anytime its fists hit the ground, everyone attacks immediately, either jumping over its fists or running under its arms, then striking at its eyes. They quickly back off once it begins to raise again. When its spear becomes stuck in the ground, they do their best to keep it in the ground for longer, using ice, force magic, and earth to surround and hold the spear.

During the time the spear is stuck, they also try to knock the ice titan down by lashing onto its legs and other arm, pulling. They attack the back of its knees. They fail, but they grow better as they fight.

So does it.

Suddenly, it aims a hand at me once more. The spiky ball of ice forms faster this time, and as soon as it is attacked, it splits off, turning into a dozen spiky balls of ice that fly towards me. Everyone stops their assault on the ice titan to destroy those as I attempt to fly away while not losing my big spell. With my current progress on the spell and the sheer size and power of it, all that spent mana would go loose in a twisted version of the spell. While a normal spell would not have such an effect, something like this does.

Only one of the spiky ice balls reaches me, and I barely managed to avoid it. As it passes by, I can feel its frosty power licking at me, attempting to take hold, but failing. When the spiky ice ball strikes the ground, it explodes, creating a cloud of icy mist as it kicks up the snow below, ice spreading out on the ground, freezing everything within twenty yards of it.

"This thing is learning!" Alex exclaims in my head. "How close are ya?"

"Thirty-nine percent, I think," I respond. "And I cannot lose the aural sheath – that is the only reason I managed to stay flying when the attack passed me. It nearly froze me just from its aura."

"We'll continue to stall," he says. "But please hurry, if you can."

"I am doing this as fast as I can," I tell him. "Sorry."

The battle rages on as I continue to work on this spell. I need to filter out all distractions. Alex will alert me if I need to evade an attack, so I tune out the fighting to focus even more on this spell.

"Niko!" Alex's voice enters my head once more. "How close are ya? We're losing steam here!"

"I need one more minute!"

"Finally!" He exclaim. "Let me know as soon as we need to evade!"

I continue working on the spell.

"Ready! Tell everyone to move at least twenty yards away the next time its spear is stuck!"

"Got it!" He exclaims. "Adam! Cameron! Get that spear as stuck as possible! Everyone! As soon as it sticks, get gone! Twenty yards, minimum! Thirty if you can! Niko's finished with the big one!"

It takes another minute for the ice titan to stab at someone with its spear, and I realize as it does that everyone here is exhausted from the fight. It took me almost forty minutes to finish the spell, and they had to fight against this thing the entire time.

As soon as the spear pokes into the ground, Adam and Cameron cast magics on it, earth and ice and force to hold it more. Everyone else flees, and as soon as those two cast their spells, they flee as well.

That should last around twenty seconds, based on what I had observed before. Just enough time.

I hold out my hands, feeling my magic taking shape around me, an aura of black and gold and greyish-brown filling the air like a light mist. From within the mist, stone spikes form, covered in black and gold runes.

They launch forward, hundreds shooting out like needles from a needleback bear. As they soar, they expand from small things thinner than my index finger to giant spikes twice as tall as me.

The ice titan spots the attack as it begins to penetrate the ground on the path from me to it. It releases its spear and holds up both hands, a wall of ice rising up from the ground and snow. My needles pierce through it, slamming into it.

Though they do not pierce its skin, the ice titan still stumbles back from the force of dozens of stone spikes striking it in rapid succession. As this happens, black clouds form above us, gold sparks dancing around in them. The ground where my needles penetrated begins to shift and quake.

Black and gold mist begins to rise up from the cracks in the ground caused by the ice titan and my own attacks, and they draw to the target, coalescing around it as it continues to stumble, doing its best to not fall. It settles for moving down to one knee, bracing itself and using its arms to protect its face.

As the mist surrounds the ice titan, covering it in a shroud, golden lightning strikes from the clouds above, joining with the mist. The clouds disappear, their magic transferred. A wail of agony emits from the shroud, which turns entirely gold for a moment before turning black. It fades away, leaving behind the ice titan, which is now covered in black and gold marks.

"I am out of commission, now," I tell Alex. "At least until I can recover my mental stamina."

"…I am terrified of the fact that I only now remember this spell," he tells me. "Thanks, Niko."

"You are welcome," I respond.

The effect of the spell has weakened the ice titan's body. Now, its eyes are no longer its only vulnerable part. Its hide will still be quite tough, but as long as they hit hard enough or in the same spot enough times, they will actually be able to penetrate it. Any Magi who have remembered the spell, such as Alex, will alert the others to the effect.

Exhausted from the effort of casting that spell, I create a stone chair to sit on, granting it a fixed location through my magic. I sit on the chair as I release my flight spell. The chair does not require any active casting on my part, now that it is created, so I can rest a lot easier. I probably could not create a small stone spike right now, even if I wanted to – the chair took up the last of what mental stamina I could manage without losing my aural sheath.

Everyone continues the fight as I rest and recover from the spell. Even as Magi, we would have taken more than three hours to kill one of these without Nolan around or the use of our Sacred Swords and Magus Swords. This will exhaust everyone, and no doubt most will have to rest from time to time. Hopefully, I will be able to rejoin the battle before their numbers of active fighters drops too far.

It takes me around thirty minutes to recover from casting that spell while sustaining the aural sheathe, and as soon as I do, I take flight once more. Only Jacob, Alex, Lina, Cameron, and Adam are left fighting it, the rest of the trainees recovering or out of commission. The ice titan is covered in injuries now, the trainees having managed to wound it in a few places.

As I fly forward, I call upon my magics once more. The ice titan notices me soaring forward and raises its left hand, a spiky ice ball appearing. As the object flies towards me, it splits off into two dozen, more than any attempt it made before.

I extend my right hand, and two dozen of my stone spikes pull out of the ground, moving to intercept and destroy the spikes. As the spiky ice balls are destroyed, I gesture at the ice titan, and the two dozen needles fly towards it. The ice titan summons up a wall of ice, but I increase the force of the attacks, my spells destroying it. Several are lost from that, but the rest impact the ice titan, all which do pierce its flesh.

With another gesture, I activate a spell contained within them, and black and gold marks form on the spikes. The ice titan roars, its skin turning an ashen grey, then black, then back to normal, the marks of my earlier curse still present.

It took us three hours before for an ice titan. However, we were also dealing with other things, and we did not know then all the spells we know now.

I drop my aural sheath so that I can focus on another major spell while casting all of these minor ones, striking at the ice titan with my spikes. Some of them miss, impacting back into the ground, others are destroyed by its attacks or ice walls, and others impact into it.

With each spike I manage to drive into the ice titan and activate the curse in, the curse weakening its flesh grows stronger. This curse was the one and only time I personally came close to killing a god as Benjamin, and I created it more than a year after we fought the Titan Battles.

Were I back at grey magical power, I would not need to reinforce it so much. The initial cast would have made the ice titan's flesh like a human's. But due to me being only blue in magical power, I am not powerful enough for that. Yet.

So I buy as much time for everyone else as I continue to weaken the ice titan and avoid its attacks. Those who need to rest and those who can rejoin the fight do so, the ice titan focusing on me. Doing so is the logical choice, as I am the one most capable of damaging it and it has no doubt assumed that if it kills me, the curse weakening it will end.

Alex continues to fight and direct fighters through his telepathic link, which amazes me. How can he manage to last this long with such a spell? I know he has an immense amount of mana, but to perform that while sustaining all the other magics and casting all the spells as well? Without having taken a break?

I hold out a hand, and a tendril of shadows soars forward, grabbing Alex from behind. I throw him to the side, and he uses magic to catch himself.

"Stay!" I command him.

"Niko-"

"Stay and release the telepathic link, or Jason is going to rip into you even more. Now!"

"But-"

"NOW!" I mentally yell as hard as I can.

I notice him flinch, but the telepathic link between us disappears. The battle continues as I feel my annoyance rising. Alex should know better than to do that, especially for a training thing. Limit Break is risky and can damage our minds and bodies. He needs to rest, we can manage without telepathic direction.

Jacob rejoins the battle and takes over issuing commands and instructions, and I continue using any spikes still viable. The ice titan has been destroying them when he can now that it has realized just what they are really for, either with his stomps, his fist-slams, his spear, or his magic. There are not many left.

I take my eyes off the ice titan to try to find more of them, only to have something impact me and spend me spinning as my vision turns black.

When I come to, the glow of healing magics surround me and Jarenidis is kneeling over me. The fight sounds over, unless I am not near enough to hear it.

"The battle?" I ask.

"Over," he answers. "That was a rather nasty curse you placed."

So that part worked. I was not certain it would.

"It was designed to kill a god," I sit up, groaning. "What happened?"

"The ice titan noticed you look away and attacked," he answers. "It threw the spear. Its aim was off, and you were struck by the shaft and knocked out. Fael Mira and I had to perform an emergency rescue, as you had stopped casting your aural sheath.

"I was preparing another large spell," I say. "I could not do that and go on the offensive if I had the aural sheath active."

"With all the magic poured into it," he says. "The spell went berserk when you were knocked out, released from the control you had over it. We had to pull the others out as well."

I look around, spotting the others examining the ice titan, which is no longer covered by the marks of my curse. The ground is a mess, with pillars of stone and ice, walls of ice, cracks and crevices, holes, burns, and more, the terrain turned uneven from the impacts and spells cast.

"Ow," I rub the back of my head.

"I'm almost finished," he tells me. "Jason was rather unhappy you stopped using your aural sheath, but we promised him we would ensure you weren't harmed too badly as a result."

"I was hit with a spear twice as big as me," I say.

"Another few minutes," he says. "And that spell you were forming would have been even more devastating."

I look in the direction of where I had been, only to find the entire land blackened by my curse. Not a trace of snow remains there, the land looking as if boiled. The spell was not completed, and had I finished it and managed to hit the ice titan with it, it would have been a guaranteed victory.

"Not as nasty as the curse you hit the ice titan with," he tells me, and I look at him once more. "I wanted to stop this as soon as I realized what you were shaping with your mana, but Fael Mira prevented me."

I turn my attention to the ice titan, then go to stand, only to realize my left leg is missing. I give Jarenidis a confused and worried look. How many people noticed? What happened to it? What do they think of it? How much have they figured out?

"It disappeared when you were knocked out," he tells me. "I've a slight illusion up keeping anyone from noticing at the moment, and my magic is keeping you from bleeding."

I look down and notice my pants soaked in my blood, then sigh. This is awful. How can I keep this a secret forever? I must have lost control over all of my magics when the second curse went wild. It will be at least a few hours before I can reform the gargoyle leg, too.

"Thank you," I mutter.

"You're welcome," he says. "Jason told us how much you wanted to avoid anyone noticing. How long before you can regrow it?"

"At least a few hours," I tell him. "No way I can do that before now."

"Alright," he places a hand on my shoulder, and I find us outside the training facility's property line, just beyond its wall. "Come on, let's get you inside and resting."

He leads helps me to my foot, allowing me to use him as a crutch. What will the Sages think? There is no avoiding them finding out, now. Jarenidis leads me to my room without us meeting the Sages, and my worry only grows. They will check on me and find out. Will they tell the others? Or will I be able to keep it just to them, Jason, and his family?

"Scanning spells cannot enter this room," Jarenidis informs me as I sit on my bed. "It was enchanted quite well. I will inform the Sages that you need your rest and should not be disturbed, and they will leave you be. None of them had a scanning spell active, so it is doubtful any noticed your state."

"Thank you," I say. "Sage Elena will likely wish to check on me, though."

"I am a far more powerful healer than she is," he tells me. "I will tell her to give you rest and leave you be. My spell will last until you regrow your leg."

"Thank you," I say, and he leaves.

"That's not fun," a small voice says, and I look beside me to find the snow leopard stuffie standing there, looking at my missing leg. "I have your boot, by the way."

The white ring of a dimensional space forms, and my left boot drops out.

"Thank you," I put a hand on his head. "What is your name?"

"I'm Snow Leopard Alpha," he answers. "Though you can just call me Leopard Alpha if you want. That curse that activated when you were knocked out was rather scary. Boss never mentioned you could do that."

"Jason talked about me to you?" I ask. "You are only a day old."

"He said you are the second-most terrifying Magus."

That part is true. My temper is greater than Alex's, and my curse magics can give even him pause. His mind magics might give me pause, but they are less terrifying than what I can do. The first curse I used on the ice titan was not a single-part curse.

It was set so that if I lost consciousness, it would trigger a secondary effect. The weaker the titan was, the greater the effect that would result. The other trainees likely have no idea what happened, as not even the other Magi were ever told the full extent of that spell.

Based on what I know, the ice titan's blood likely turned to fire as its heart ripped itself apart and brain melted into a single, solid mass. I had reinforced the curse more than one hundred times and the ice titan had grown considerably weaker as a result.

I never did activate the secondary part against the god as Benjamin, I was forced to flee, and the god managed to shed the curse at some point. A flock of griffins later killed him.

"When did he say that?" I ask.

"When you cast the big spell," Leopard Alpha answers.

"Where is he?" I ask.

"In his room," Leopard Alpha answers. "He came here after sending the ice titan your way, though he was watching the fight through my eyes. I'm an advanced version!"

Jason can watch through Leopard Alpha's eyes?

"I'm not doing that right now," Jason's voice comes out of the stuffie golem. "I know you were likely wondering that. I stopped watching when Jarenidis brought you here, as I figured you were probably going to strip down and get cleaned up and wanted some privacy. Just showing me the leg pushes your comfort, showing what it's like without it no doubt goes past that. Sorry if saying this bothers you, but it's just the explanation."

"Thank you," I tell Jason, then start undressing so I can clean up. I will need to use magic to do that, and store the water and rags in a dimensional space after, to dispose of at a later time. Hopefully, no one else comes in here. "How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted," he answers. "Fael Mira and Jarenidis captured the ice titan last night and put it in a cage. I released it and directed it your way, then had Snow Leopard Alpha open a gate between me and here so I could rest."

"He can open a gate without being at either side of it?" I ask.

"They all can," he tells me. "It's just not something they generally do, and I have to be at one side of it."

"Your recovery did not affect your ability to make the golem cores?" I ask.

"Snow Leopard Alpha's was already made," he tells me. "I have four more left before I'll need to make more. Anyway, I'm going to get some sleep, Niko. You should do the same. I've made sure Mama Elena knows to leave you alone."

"Thank you," I tell him.

"I also put an extra enchantment on your door," he tells me. "And asked Snow Leopard Alpha to keep an eye on things, just case. Don't worry too much."

"Thank you," I tell him again. "Sleep well."

"You as well."