“So, we have about 4 days until Ellie gets used as a sacrifice.” Alicia says to Ryuga whose eyes is closed as they sit in front of the Ogre Village’s open ground. The open ground is mostly used for training but Ryuga made sure that the ground is protected with a barrier at the least so that there can be no damage just in case and yes, Ryuga skipped classes.

“Umm…What’s Jau-Unfurn’s friend doing here?” One of the Ogre asked. “I heard he is training.” Another Ogre replied. “I wonder why our village? Does he plan to destroy our village?!” The Ogres begin to panic. That’s when Mearid appeared behind them. “Let that boy train, would you?” Mearid looks angrily at the Ogre. “Y-yes, sir!” The Ogres gathered there run away. Mearid sits in front of the open ground watching Ryuga.

“First and foremost, I want you to learn how to control mana. Since mana is related to your soul, I will need to know the nature of your soul.” Ryuga didn’t say a word and listened to Alicia. “The nature of your soul can be divided into six important elements. Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Darkness, and Light. Furthermore, the elements are divided into even more sub-elements. The sub-elements might diverge from Earth to Grass or Water to Ice. That is the true essence of using magic. For now, make sure to bring some of your mana to the center of your palm. Whatever element comes out from the middle of your palm will be the main magic. While it is true you can learn different magic, you will have to remember what your affinity is since it will always double the amount of magic you use at a lesser mana cost.” Alicia explained.

(Mana, the nature of my soul, I have to grasp it. The nature of mana, I need to know it, I need to know what my soul is saying to me. What is my nature? If I open my eyes now…)

Ryuga opens his eyes but it’s not the Ogre village that he sees. Instead, he sees a bunch of thread around him. Those threads are all different in color and Ryuga is trying to grasp what is happening.

(So many threads, every thread in different colors. Blue, red, white, black, green, orange…So many colors I don’t even know what half of those colors are.)

“Pick one!” That’s what Ryuga’s mind was telling him to do. At that moment, he closed his eyes and picked a random thread, “This!” He said as he picked the navy blue thread.

As soon as he opened his eyes, his mana was flowing out from his palm, and at that moment, he was holding a transparent blue crystal in his hand but the crystal was all wet and had water dripping from it. “It seems that you came to know about your soul, Ryuga.” Mearid comes from behind Ryuga to see what he is doing. “Yeah, it seems so…But what’s the element I am using, I don’t understand.” Ryuga says with a confused face. Alicia smiles, “It’s a rare type of dual-element!” Alicia says with a smile. “I don’t know since I don’t use magic but a mage might know about it.” Mearid says to Ryuga. “Thanks, Mearid-Unfurn.” Ryuga thanks Mearid and also looks at Alicia.

A FEW MINUTES LATER,

Mearid has gone to bring Ryuga lunch. That’s when Alicia and Ryuga sit in front of each other, “Listen up, the nature of your soul is that of a Dual Elementalist, it means you can control two types of magic without restrain. First is the magic to control the crystal. Second, the element to control water. I would say those are the elements you can easily master.” Alicia explains to Ryuga about his elements. “I see…” Ryuga looks at the ground thinking about the situation. “Also, I don’t know anything about crystal magic since it’s a rare type of magic but I will teach you water magic.” Alicia says to Ryuga. Ryuga nods, “Understood.”

“Let’s begin training again after you eat something.” Alicia gets up and starts floating again. “Alicia, one more thing!” Ryuga calls for Alicia. “Hmm?” Alicia looks at him. “If I am an Elementalist, wouldn’t that mean that I already broke through the second limiter?” Ryuga asks. Alicia sighs, “That’s a common mistake for someone who learns magic without breaking through the first limiter.” Alicia says to Ryuga. “Eh?” Ryuga looks confused. “You see, the first limiter determines your ability and the second the element of that ability, that’s the reason why the second limiter is called The Elementalist Limiter but when it comes to magic, that is not the case. In the case of magic, Elementalist means someone who has control over different elements and sub-elements of life. That’s why there are two types of Elementalist, Magic Elementalist or Mage, which you are. And Physical Elementalist, those are the ones who break through limiters.” Alicia explains to Ryuga the difference between the Magic Elementalist and Physical Elementalist.

“That’s the first time I have heard about that.” Ryuga says to Alicia. He looked quite surprised. “Well, of course. It’s just that Magic Elementalist are so rare. About 100 or so years ago, in our world, there were a lot of Magic Elementalist but recently, the Magic Elementalist is as rare as finding a high-quality Elven Armour.” Alicia explains to Ryuga. “That’s right, with the limiter abilities, you don’t need to be a Magic Elementalist or Mage since the second limiter decides your element for you.” Alicia says to Ryuga. “I have a question.” Alicia raises her eyebrow and says to Ryuga, “Go ahead and ask your question.”

“Do Limiter users also consume mana or only mages take mana?” Ryuga asks Alicia. “Mana, Ki, Chi, that’s what keeps your body alive. That is your life energy. So basically, if you have low mana you naturally feel tired so you need to replenish your mana from time to time and that is the reason why you sleep. Sleeping replenishes your mana. What I am trying to say is that mana is used everywhere, even in your smallest actions like cooking, walking, running. You always use Mana, Ki, Chi or some even call it Spiritual Energy.” Alicia answers Ryuga’s question. “In short, yes, limiter ability users also use mana since they use the body to use their limiter. They also get exhausted just like us mages. There you go, that’s your complete answer.” Alicia added.

“That really helps me out know more about our own selves.” Ryuga talks to Alicia and at the same time, he looks at Mearid arrive. Alicia sighs, “Now again, you won’t talk about your doubts to me until Uncle Mearid goes away.” Alicia says with a disappointed tone. Ryuga joins his hands and says, “Sorrrry!” Ryuga pleads and Alicia sighs with a smile.

“Here ya go Ryuga, have something to eat.” Mearid brings some fresh dragon meat to Ryuga. “Let’s dig in!” Ryuga starts eating dragon meat. Mearid has lunch along with Ryuga as well. While they were having lunch, there other things going on in The Land of Vampires.

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

Few slim and handsome men walk up to another handsome man who wears a long black colored cape which goes along with his white shirt and black pant. He also has long greenish hairs which come down to his forehead and cover his right eye. “My lord, the preparations are almost done.” One of the men in the room with long silky smooth blonde hair says to the man greenish hair. “That’s good, this means, we only have to wait for 3 more days.” The man with greenish hair who the blonde-haired man referred to as the Lord says. “Announce the whole other world, that The Mana Killing will soon take place in 3 days and we will throw a feast a day before it! It is the symbol that we vampires are the most powerful beings on this land and if anyone dares to stop us, we will take them down! Doesn’t matter who tries to fight us.” The Lord asks the men to post the announcement. The blonde-haired man kneels on one knee and bows accepting the Lord’s request and then leaves.

“I shall leave now. I want to spend these last few days with my daughter before she is sacrificed.” The Lord says to everyone in the room. The Lord leaves the room and outside waits for a young woman. She looks to be quite beautiful and has long dark bluish hair like Ellie. Even her face looked somewhat like Ellie. “If you really care about her, why did you offer her up as a sacrifice to Alucard?” The woman asked The Lord. “As the new Alucard, I need the power to protect this land and the way humans are progressing, this power won’t be enough. Someday, we will be suppressed by them. That’s the reason why I need more power and this is the only way.” The Lord said to the woman. “Why our daughter though? They were many other vampires in this land…So why our daughter? Just because she has the best potential to be the next Alucard? Is that why? Is that why you want our daughter to be sacrificed?!” The woman constantly questioned the Lord’s decision.

Another beautiful woman with some huge assets and crimson hair joins in the conversation, “Don’t be so upset, Erina. This is all for the betterment of our Country and our world. We know how greedy those humans can be and we can’t let those humans overtake our world. What our Lord is doing is for us, it’s for our children’s future.” The woman in crimson hair calls the woman with dark bluish hair Erina. Erina also seems to be the mother of Ellie. “That is correct. If I don’t sacrifice Ellie today, there won’t be anyone to save this world when the humans try to overtake it. I don’t want to miss the opportunity to protect this world from every danger even if it means to sacrifice my daughter and this time there will be no one to stop me.” The Lord says. “That is right, last time madman had foiled all your plans…But this time, there is no one who will stop you.” The crimson-haired woman said.

That is when something struck Erina’s mind. She didn’t say it out loud but she thought about the moment that happened 10 years ago, “Your husband said that he failed today but he will get what you want even if it takes him 10 years, didn’t he? Then, 10 years from now, it won’t be necessary for me to save that daughter of yours. That’s because…The one who will save your daughter will be my little Ryuga. That’s not only a promise from me but a statement.” Erina thought of the child who madman who stood next to madman. “That’s right, that boy, even if madman will not save my daughter that boy will. That’s because I know they will never back down on their promises. After all, that boy is Madman’s son. So I can rest assure that my daughter is in safe hands.” Erina smiled. “That smile…What are you thinking Erina? Are you thinking about disrupting our Lord’s ritual?!” The crimson-haired woman asks Erina. “Don’t worry Bin, I won’t do anything and I know my daughter will be safe as well.” Erina smiles at the crimson-haired woman she called Bin and bows in front of the Lord. “I shall take my leave, my Lord.” Erina smiles and leaves. “I don’t like the look on her…I don’t know what she might do.” Bin says with a lot of concern on her face and tone. The Lord sighs, “This is quite troubling…” The Lord speaks to himself.

AT THE OGRE VILLAGE’S TRAINING GROUND

It has been a day since Ryuga discovered his Magic Element and he has been practicing. Mearid is looking at Ryuga practice and that’s when Shura arrives along with the Octa baby that Ryuga and Yuri had treated. “Hey now, is he seriously…Controlling water already?!” Shura looked quite surprised looking at how Ryuga was controlling the water bubble in his hands. It’s almost as if the water itself is wind and Ryuga is just going with the flow of the wind. It makes the water look beautiful at the same time, it helps Ryuga practice. It also seems that Ryuga can create new water bubbles and also extend the water bubbles at his will.

Alicia observed Ryuga and took notes of his progress, “It’s quite unbelievable. It has only been like 3 hours since he discovered his element and within the last 2 hours, he also learned how to control it. This man… His adaptability to learning new things is as fast as the beast that humans call cheetah. Even I took a few days to learn control over my element but this man is on a whole another level and if Ryuga keeps on going on at this rate, he might even surpass me. What will I do then?!” Alicia looks a little concerned after thinking over it.

“No use fretting over it. Let’s just help him for now. He's still got a long way to go before he reaches my level.” Alicia thought to herself. She smiles and calls for Ryuga, “RYUGA!” Ryuga looks at her while controlling his water bubbles. “It’s time I taught you some defensive spells to protect yourself and offensive spells to attack whenever you get your chance.” Alicia says to Ryuga. Ryuga smirks, “So, it’s about time!”