I immediately cast Convalesce to get Hydra back to a stable place. But she didn’t react. Life Perception showed no life essence.

I felt like my balance was wavering, like time slowed, like my skin grew cold. My heart palpitated and a singing ire reverberated throughout my being. My palm faced the person, and a huge mass of devouring voidfire swirled forth.

But it disappeared? My blast of voidfire simply vanished from thin air. The peculiar stranger mimicked me and put her hand forward, her palm facing me. But it went limp. She sighed and disappeared. Life Perception showed no others besides the water spirits in the ocean.

She was gone.

I went down to one of Hydra’s massive heads and grew irritated. It felt like no matter how strong I became, I could never protect those important to me. What good was being the strongest mage if I couldn’t do much more than a flailing toddler?

My fists clenched but my mind’s calm cycled and made me think rationally again. Maybe she’s just looking for her book? I thought. Who knew, really? All I knew was that Hydra’s death made me imagine so many other friends and family dying.

That couldn’t be allowed to happen.

Swarms of water spirits came up to the surface of the ocean in their thousands. They all surrounded Hydra; I could feel the ocean itself tremble in pain and fear, melancholy and disdain. The varying bellows of deep roars and light screeches filled the air. They loved their leader with all their heart. Compared to them, I didn’t even deserve to be there.

I’d no idea when, but Arcana Levitated over the waters beside me. “Eric, do not blame yourself,” her hand rested on my shoulder. “Instead, grow stronger. Let me handle this,” her grip strengthened, “as leader of spirit lords. Just focus on growing stronger. We’ll need that strength soon.”

Despite her aloof nature, I could tell she was hurting. I casted Renew on myself and breathed deeply. How could I hope to console someone when I was in no better condition than them? I hugged Arcana, with a promise that the person responsible would be kneeling before her.

I immediately used Scry in efforts to find the person that did this, but no matter how many simulations I ran through, I saw no future in which I met that person again. How do I find her? I wondered, all whilst staring dejectedly at Hydra. Of course! But will it work? I attempted to map Hydra’s mind, but that fell flat; she was dead after all. What information could I possibly get from her? I touched one of her scales and tears flooded my face.

I took a meditative pose like Hethekk the Scryer and concentrated. Maybe I was being selfish, but I wasn’t ready for Hydra to go just yet. I cast Light Resurrection and I could immediate feel as if the soft glow of light that was Hydra embraced me. “Come back,” I told her, and she so graciously accepted. There was no hesitation at all.

To consummate the process, I took a small scale and implanted it into my torso. Once the spell was completed, Hydra’s body trembled a little, and some seconds later, her heads began rising up one after another. Hydra joined into the mental space that was shared with Dawn, Donna, and my clone’s consciousness that gave me Division.

Arcana was relieved, and other water spirits rejoiced, but I still felt horrible. Later that evening, I sat with Hydra in my study. She looked nervous and restless, because she knew I was about to question her about what happened. “I won’t force you if you don’t want to,” I clarified.

She smiled, exhaled, and shook her head, “No, it’s okay. You want to know because you feel responsible for my protection.”

I chortled, “Read me like a book, huh?”

“Yes, well,” she cuddled next to me, “you may change a lot on the surface, but you’re still Eric.” I felt her hands squeeze onto my shirt, “Eric, I don’t know why she attacked me. I might’ve been feeling a bit down before, but that had nothing to do with why that woman killed me. She didn’t even say anything.”

“What type of magic did she use?” I gently caressed her.

Hydra shrugged, “It was like nothing I’d ever seen. At first, I thought it was mind magic, or arcane. But if it was, the spirit lords for mind and arcane would know if a being was on that level. My water magics disappeared mid-air, my physical attacks wouldn’t connect. It’s hard to say what that person used, but I felt no mana coming from them. Who knows if it was magic at all?”

What the hell’s goi–

Suddenly, an utterly horrific mass of mana could be felt. That type of magical energy reminded me of when I stacked Purist above 90. It was an immense power.

Again, what the hell’s going on?! I made dozens of clones and sent them out to protect anyone who might need protection, then cast Voidport to see what was happening in the dragonkin city to the west. There were a few dead dragons and dragonkin, and in the centre of it all was the overpowering energy. I floated downward into the street and saw the woman who attacked Hydra again.

“Who are you?” I asked.

The woman had a strange, colourful and translucent magical armour around her. Brown, orange, blue, and green formed a humanoid shape around her, almost mimicking traits of dragons. There were scales, horns, and a tail formed from the draconic energy. She sized me up, “Adrasteia Winter, the Dragon Slayer. Who are you, and where is the soul codex?”

“Eric Archibald, successor of the witch, Emily Crescent. I do–”

“Emily Crescent?” she asked, looking surprised. “Does this Emily Crescent have a unique birthmark under her left eye?”

I put on Magnet, activated Avatar of Fire, Lightning, and Water, then answered, “Yes.”

“Where is she now?” she asked.

“She’s dead,” I clarified.

Again, a look of shock amassed on her face, and her strange dragon armour faded into nothingness. She slumped to her knees in disbelief. A harmless display, but I knew better than to underestimate her. “How did she die?”

“That’s not for me to say. Why are you interested in Emily?”

She looked up at me with tears running down her face, “I swore an oath to my father that I would kill her.” She slammed her fist into the ground and cracked the road, “Dammit!”

I chose to save any snarky remarks about her not being powerful enough to kill Emily and instead chose to direct the conversation to something else. “How did you get the soul codex?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she stood up and brushed her tears away. “Return it.”

“No. The author is my master, and I will not simply hand it back to you.”

Her eyebrows twitched, then she sighed and looked around. With a tap of her feet, she fixed the road she just destroyed. Again, her eyes rested on me, then they went up to the sky for a few seconds of what I’d guess would be reflection. She rubbed her forehead in frustration after, then glared at me again. “Who and where is your master?”

At that point, Donna assimilated next to me, “Here I am, Donna Maxwell. What do you want, Adrasteia Winter?”

Again, the woman looked stunned, but laughed it off quickly. Her knees wobbled a little as she looked at Donna. She suddenly kneeled, “Please, teach me magic, Master!”

“What the fuck?!” I thought out loud.

Donna looked at the prostrating girl for quite a while before she turned to me and asked what I thought.

“What I think?” I chuckled. “She has to answer to Arcana for Hydra’s death. She has to answer to the dragonkin authorities for her crimes committed here. Her goal was to kill Emily, and as Emily’s successor, I don’t think we can both be your students, Donna. However,” I cleared my throat, “it’s not up to me to make that call. That decision is yours, Donna. I won’t interfere.” I raised a finger up, “However,” then looked at Adrasteia, “you should know that Donna Maxwell is a student of Emily Crescent, whom you wanted to kill.”

Again, Adrasteia was taken aback, and spent a couple minutes of silence in deep thought. “It’s alright, I’ll face the consequences as long as it means I get to learn magic from Donna Maxwell.”

I pondered why she was so hellbent on having Donna as her master; someone must’ve told her something about Donna. All eyes now converged on Donna, and she told the girl to stand up, quite queenly. “Why do you wish to learn magic?”

Her fists tightened, “I have but two goals, one of which is now null and void. I wanted to kill Emily Crescent so that I could avenge my father. But as long as she’s dead, I can at least rest easy.”

I felt Donna’s mana flare a little, but she controlled herself.

“My other goal,” Adrasteia continued, “is to grow powerful enough to kill Apollyon, or at least seal him.”

I palmed my face and laughed out, “This just keeps getting better and better!” Hethekk the Scryer, Mandy Sikorski, Drak’ka, and now Adrasteia Winter knew about Apollyon’s coming. This demon was becoming quite infamous without actually making an appearance.

Donna advised me to summon Arcana and Hydra. Hydra saw everything, since she was now inside my mind like Dawn and Donna. But Arcana didn’t, so I used the Madam Jelly’s tentacle and transferred my memories of the conversation to her. We awaited her verdict.

A white mist floated about Arcana, “How do you feel about this, Hydra?”

“Don’t care,” Hydra nonchalantly admitted. “I got to be with Eric, so I’m not mad at her for killing me.”

Oi, oi, are you crazy?

Arcana switched her focus back to Adrasteia, “Tell us why and how you killed Hydra, and I shall leave this matter behind me.”

Again, Adrasteia seemed to constantly weigh the pros and cons of her choices. “I killed her to build Dragon Armour. That way, I’d have decent protection against Apollyon’s shadow magic. As for how I killed her, well, I used soul magic.”

There were a lot of things she knew that I didn’t and vice versa. We both had the same goals, and therefore it would be of great merit to both of us to learn from each other and help each other. She even mentioned using soul magic as if it was nothing, as if one didn’t have to master mind and nature magic in order to use it. Of course, for one versed in soul magic, I should’ve had great interest in seeking her knowledge, but all I wanted to do was impale her head with an Ice Javelin.

I ran Renew through me and took a couple deep breaths to calm down. If Hydra’s okay with it, then I should be okay as well.

A representative of the dragonkin community chose not to pursue any punishment with her – instead, they just wanted her out of their lands. It amazed me how lenient they were when dead dragons laid about the city. When I pulled the representative aside, he told me that they contemplated executing her for her crimes, but they saw that it would be beneficial to them and the entirety of Methelia if she was to learn amongst the likes of me and Donna. Their reasoning for this was Apollyon. They must’ve overheard her when she mentioned that it was her goal to defeat the demon, so they put the greater good above their sense of justice.

I thought them foolish for making a wise decision.

Now, all the weight was on Donna’s shoulders. Her face showed no expression. After a moment of thought, Donna agreed to become Adrasteia’s master. Admittedly, I felt an immature sense of betrayal, as if Donna should’ve been my exclusive master. I wanted to protest her decision, but I’m sure Donna wouldn’t condone my selfishness.

Adrasteia smiled in relief and became rather excited at the prospect.

“However, I have a condition you must fulfil if you want my teachings, Winter,” Donna made clear.

Ah, this makes sense. You accepted way too easy.

“What is it?” Adrasteia listened attentively.

Before she could answer, an insane power was felt and Mandy Sikorski appeared. She was the person Drak’ka mistook for the witch’s successor. Well, she would be the witch’s successor if I didn’t rise to the challenge, so she was more of a contingency plan. Her eyes were dead set on the troublesome Dragon Slayer. “You…” her voice clearly trembled with rage. Mandy lunged and sank an uppercut into Adrasteia’s stomach. It was so blindingly fast that I barely saw what happened. Mandy was no August, but she somehow managed to punch Adrasteia with enough force for the young woman to smash through several houses’ walls.

I quickly Voidported to the nearly dead Dragon Slayer and had Apothea tend to her. Mandy suddenly appeared above the girl and was about to stamp down on Adrasteia’s head with intentions to squish her brain like a cockroach. I quickly pulled Mandy away with void manipulation but she disappeared again and appeared right next to me with her fist raised, “If you interfere again, I will kill you.”

I shivered. That threat was not empty. I didn’t know much about her abilities, but I felt like she certainly possessed the strength to do what she said. “Wait, wait, just hear me out first, alright?”

“Do you even know who she is?” Mandy looked at me like I was an idiot.

“Uh,” I scratched my cheek, “Adrasteia Winter?”

“Exactly!” Mandy glared at the recovering girl, “She’s Samael Winter’s daughter. Emily fought that asshole tooth and nail because he was an enslaver of dragons. She only wanted revenge because Emily killed her father, but her father was in the wrong, and now she’s in this realm, taking advantage of its dragons just like her disgraceful father!”

A huge mass of mana exploded and Adrasteia employed her Dragon Armour, “Disgraceful, you say?! You’re the ungrateful ones who never even tried to understand him!”

Mandy totally faced Adrasteia now, and without a word, she engulfed herself in the horrific shadow apparition that Emily used the first time she cast Phantasm on me. Similar to Dragon Armour, this shadow magic warped around Mandy just like it did Emily. Anyone with an inkling of a sense of danger could feel the threat of death about her.

“Eric, if you don’t do something, they will destroy Methelia!” Donna warned me. Certainly, she was right; their power was nothing to sniff at. By all means, they were both tremendously dangerous.

Just as I had the idea to cast Banish on them, a blast of shadow magic flew past my face and swamped Adrasteia, but the Dragon Armour seemed to easily protect against it. If that blast hit me or anyone else, our flesh would rot away in seconds. Two Earth Walls protruded upward from the ground and slammed together to crush Mandy, but she batted those walls away with titanic power. The moment Mandy did that, Adrasteia zoomed past me and executed a perfect spinning back kick into Mandy’s stomach, sending her tumbling through several walls. The skies lit up with strikes of lightning immediately after; Adrasteia didn’t let up.

I Voidported to Mandy and found that a Wind Cutter was carving its way towards her. Mandy sidestepped easily and caught the speeding Adrasteia by the throat and slammed her into the ground hard enough to rock the place like an earthquake. Her foot was again about to crush Adrasteia’s skull if not for the mother of all fire breaths released from Mandy’s mouth. Mandy jumped back quickly to avoid it.

“Eric!” Donna spurred me on again.

Right! I snapped out of it and stacked 50x Purist quickly. With a mere thought, I slammed both of them down with void manipulation boosted by over 7000% mana power. “Behave.”