Chapter 113: Space-time Dislocation
The soldiers of Intelar and the freemen that they were locked in battle against all gradually had their attention drawn to the phenomena taking place in the sky. They had even entered a temporary, unspoken truce, and it seemed that all of them were waiting to see what was going to happen next.
This was a battlefield with tens of thousands of soldiers, but all of them were reduced to supporting actors as the main star of the show was elsewhere, namely, high up in the heavens.
With a casual flick, Lana tossed the already unconscious Ewen out of her Parting Seas and Clouds, then made an inviting hand gesture.
It was clear that this was a challenge extended toward the burly skeleton.
"You may have invented a new spell, but you're still my servant," the burly skeleton said in a rather amused voice.
However, Perry could clearly see that its master's hands were trembling, and it couldn't help but wonder why this was the case.
Could it be that the burly skeleton was afraid of Lana? That clearly wasn't true.
Looking at the red-haired woman standing beneath the dark clouds, the burly skeleton couldn't help but think of a certain person, and it felt as if the lightning flashing in the sky were crashing down directly upon the memories that it had locked away so many years ago.
The woman in its memory was trapped under the weight of countless mountains, yet against all odds, she was about to emerge.
When it came to loyalty and dedication, that woman by the name of Aglea didn't lose to Lana in the slightest.Finally, in the presence of a woman so similar to her, the woman that was sealed away in the burly skeleton's memories was finally about to emerge.
"No!" the burly skeleton suddenly roared to the heavens as it spread its arms open.
No one knew what kind of torment it was experiencing, but it seemed to be in excruciating pain.
Countless bursts of azure light erupted toward the heavens from all around the burly skeleton's body, and in the same instant, a swirling vortex appeared in the black waves beneath its feet.
The entire city was trembling, and even Lana was looking rather bewildered.
She had no idea what was happening to the burly skeleton.
...
In the sea of the burly skeleton's memories, there was a woman hovering in mid-air with her eyes closed.
The seawater beneath her was churning violently, with massive waves erupting in all directions.
She couldn't recall how long she had been here, and she had thought that there would be no one in this world capable of awakening her.
However, life had a way of coming up with unexpected turns. If she hadn't devoured Lana's memories, perhaps she would've never set foot in the world again.
However, in the instant that she read Lana's memories, the constraints that had held her in place for what seemed like an eternity had begun to come loose.
Lana's devotion to love was stimulating her sea of memories over and over again until it finally caused her to awaken from what was supposed to have been an eternal slumber.
The seawater within the sea of memories didn't consist of all of the memories that she had devoured. Instead, it was a sea of hatred. Her resentment toward a certain heartless and unfaithful man had given rise to this boundless ocean.
Through Lana's oblivious and relentless efforts, the woman had finally decided to return.
She raised two of her fingers before sending a burst of sword energy sweeping through the air, and in the face of the sword energy, seas were parted while mountains were felled.
Immediately thereafter, her eyes sprang open, and she witnessed the parting waves and toppling mountains.
The woman by the name of Aglea had been renowned as a prodigious martial artist 20 years ago, defeating all of the Fulway Empire's most formidable warriors with her longsword. On this day, she had sliced through the shackles that she had enforced upon herself and returned to the world.
The reason for this was her intrigue toward Lana. From the moment that she devoured Lana's memories, she became completely enamored with her.
We are so similar to one another, Aglea couldn't help but sigh to herself.
Both of them possessed prodigious talent, and each of them had encountered a man who had made them fall deeply and irrevocably in love.
Hence, she felt like it was very much necessary to come out and meet Lana.
As she was roaring to the heavens, the black robes that covered her body exploded into scraps of fabric, thereby revealing her bare skeleton to everyone.
However, that was only for a brief instant. In the blink of an eye, her body had already been enveloped in a suit of light armor.
Peeking through the eye holes of her silver mask was no longer a pair of blue flames. Instead, it was a pair of grey human eyes.
She slowly traced her fingers through the air, and a blue longsword gradually appeared before her.
"I told you to just be content with serving as my slave, but you didn't listen. Why do you insist on bringing about your own death?" The pair of grey eyes glared at Lana for a moment before the armor-clad skeleton abruptly vanished.
One moment, she had been standing still on the spot, yet the next moment, she was nowhere to be seen.
Lana's eyes widened in shock upon hearing her voice. That wasn't what it sounded like before! The voice that it's using now clearly belongs to a woman!
"You wanted to fight me, right? I'm granting you that wish now." On this occasion, Aglea's voice was coming from behind Lana!
Furthermore, her blue longsword was already about to slice into Lana's neck.
None of the bystanders present had seen how the armor-clad figure had suddenly appeared behind Lana in a wraith-like manner. Even a grand magic mentor like Lana had completely failed to detect Aglea, and she would've still been oblivious to Aglea's location had Aglea not spoken.
Both of Lana's brothers were exceptional martial artists who were renowned for their speed, and she had also witnessed Erwin's space split technique, so there shouldn't have been anyone capable of catching her off guard with their speed.
However, she had truly failed to sense anything.
Aglea tapped the bone claw necklace around Lana's neck with the blade of her sword. "You are my slave, and don't you ever forget it."
Even though the silver mask, Lana could sense the derisive sneer on Aglea's face.
She drew upon the power of heaven and earth, with a bolt of lightning crashing down from the dark clouds onto her palm, while a black wave rose up from below toward the back of her hand.
Boundless turbulent arcane energy was flowing into her hand incessantly through the bolt of lightning and the black wave before being unleashed upon Aglea's abdomen through her palm.
However, Aglea didn't even bother to take evasive measures and merely allowed herself to be struck.
Countless bursts of arcane energy exploded upon the surface of the suit of armor, but Aglea didn't move so much as a single inch.
It was as if she were completely immune to the boundless arcane energy surging toward her.
Lana stared at Aglea with an astonished expression, and a bizarre thought surfaced in her mind: This suit of armor is alive!
The suit of armor was gently rippling in a rhythmic fashion as if it were breathing, and as it did so, it quickly devoured all of the arcane energy being directed toward it.
"Show me your true power. Surely this isn't all you've got, right?"
Aglea placed a finger under Lana's chin while sweeping her sword through the air with her other hand, severing all of the bolts of lightning hurtling toward her from behind.
Meanwhile, Perry was staring at the scene unfolding up above in a state of complete and utter shock.
Never had it realized that its master was a woman!
"Who are you?!" Lana swatted Aglea's finger aside as she repeatedly thrust her palms toward Aglea, sending bursts of arcane energy hurtling toward her.
At this point, Aglea was no longer just a skeleton. Instead, she had attained a human body with delicate skin and flesh that was giving off a blue glow.
"You don't even have most of your memories, how will it benefit you to know who I am?" Aglea jeered as she easily sliced through the oncoming bursts of arcane energy with her sword.
However, the bursts of arcane energy contained golden specks of light that resembled fireflies, forming a giant golden net to trap Aglea in the blink of an eye.
"That's true," Lana said with a self-deprecating smile. What she had actually wanted to ask just now was whether Aglea was a man or a woman. At the same time, she was making a grabbing motion with her hand, causing the giant golden net to converge toward Aglea from all directions.
"I recall you told me that you devoured my memories in order to find out how I used my spells, right?" Lana asked.
"That's correct."
Even though the golden net was converging all around her, Aglea seemed to be completely unfazed and was extremely carefree and relaxed. All of a sudden, she lashed out toward the golden net with her sword, and a huge gash instantly appeared in the net.
The two continued to chat while battling one another, and sword energy and magic energy were erupting incessantly in the sky.
It was as if someone were striking a giant drum in the heavens, and each thump of the drum seemed to be reverberating directly in the hearts of the bystanders down below.
"But you're a sword-wielding martial artist, why are you interested in magic as well?" Lana asked with a perplexed expression.
"Therein lies in the difference between you and me," Aglea said with a smile, then abruptly appeared behind Lana again before gently exhaling into her ear.
The intimate gesture brought a deep blush to Lana's face, and she was even struck by a swooning sensation.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Lana exclaimed with a hint of panic in her voice, and she hurriedly distanced herself from Aglea.
"With your looks, you could easily steal the heart of any man in the world," Aglea jibed with an amused smile. "Why settle for someone like Erwin? Wouldn't you much rather be with me?"
"Piss off!" Lana snapped.
However, Aglea remained completely undeterred, and her arms were already wound around Lana's waist.
It seemed that Lana had been defeated once again.
This was the first time that she had been so intimate with anyone aside from Erwin.
"Don't move. Let me show you something." Lana was struggling frantically to free herself, but Aglea's arm was around her waist like an iron shackle, and at the same time, blue fire was beginning to emerge from the tip of the longsword in her other hand.
With a flick of her wrist, the blue flame was sent flying directly toward the dark sky.
A dull thump rang out, and a hole was blown into the dense layer of dark clouds.
"Is that magic?" Lana exclaimed in a stunned voice.
As a grand magic mentor, Lana was naturally extremely well-versed in how magic worked. However, the way that Aglea had harnessed the energy could only have been said to have been very much like a magician, but it wasn't completely the same.
There were some details that were different, but at the same time, Lana couldn't immediately pinpoint exactly what the differences were.
Aglea shook her head with a smile. "To me, magic and martial techniques are just a matter of technique."
"If you're so powerful, then let me go," Lana said with a cold smile as she finally struggled free from Aglea's arms. "Surely I don't have any more value to you anymore, right?"
"That's correct, but you're far more interesting to me than your magic," Aglea replied with a smile. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have abandoned that ice dragon for you."
"Wow, I really do have to thank you then," Lana scoffed in a sarcastic voice.
"Most importantly, I also want to see what will happen between you and Erwin in the future. Oh, and this is for you."
Aglea pulled a staff out of her pocket as she spoke.
The tip of the staff held a Shaved Purple Gem that had already become devoid of all attributes, so it was a completely ordinary and unremarkable staff. In fact, even an elementary magician wouldn't resort to using a staff like this. For someone like Lana, Shaved Purple Gems weren't that rare, so under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have taken a second glance at the staff.
However, looking at the staff now, Lana felt it to be both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, and her heart was shuddering for some reason.
"This thing once saved your life," Aglea explained.
"Is it... his staff?" Having lost her memories, Lana shouldn't have been able to recall the origins of this staff, yet somehow, she had made the correct guess on her first try.
Aglea heaved a faint sigh upon hearing this, but still nodded in the end.
Lana immediately grabbed the staff before locking it in a tight embrace.
"This is also the second reason why I agreed to look for Erwin with you," Aglea continued.
"What do you mean?" Lana asked as she turned to Aglea with a perplexed expression.
"That little lover of yours is no ordinary person," Aglea said with an amused smile. "It has to be said that you have a very sharp eye, picking out a time and space magician. I haven't seen one of them in many years."