"And what are you going to do?" The mage continued. "You are seemingly trapped here, going to be questioned afterwards by your teammates if you and they all survive. But most importantly, you will be more suspected by the only people who trusted you. Isn't that your biggest fear until now?"
Aefia thought for a while. "I don't think so. My biggest fear, would then alter and become something even I don't know." She rapidly went though her confused mind and came to the conclusion that she would have to end up using the method she thought best from the beginning.
"But you are already weak and your teammates aren't going to be able to help you, are you still determined?"
Those eyes...I want to tear them out. Aefia looked directly towards the mage without mentioning much about how she felt a major rule being broken, but she couldn't bring it up at the wrong time. She feared that her lady would end up being frozen when she had promised her safety from the time they had met.
"Determination is a big word." Aefia calmly replied. "But also if it didn't exist, unlucky people would end their lives the second they would get the chance. And if all unlucky people died, then the whole world would have been wiped out."
"But won't it be better to die then to stay alive with problems that you can solve, only to suffer more problems in the future?"
"Thats the whole point of life, isn't it? In fact, just because you have problems, thats why you are still alive and determined to get stronger and show the ones who had called you weak, that you have successfully solved your problems." Her gaze was almost intoxicating to the mage.
"And what about you? If you believe in problems, why are you determined to find a way out? Let whoever you want to threaten, continue with their work. Who are they again? The Torture Cell?" The mage laughed.
"But wasn't your planet destroyed because of them?"
"And that isn't something I hate. I wasn't given the life I wanted and I was made fun of because of my dream." The mage said with anger. "Is it a matter for you to keep in mind that you are intervening with other people's problems?"
Aefia thought for a while, for a reply that could end this long conversation in split second for her lady's survival. "...And is it a matter for you to know why I want to personally meet with the owner of Torture Cell? Then won't that go back both ways for who is intervening with whose problems?"
The mage laughed, a wicked and crooky laugh. "Aren't you talented in aggravating others? Your own teammates are provoked by your words so what can I say for myself? If the world was a place where a person could be crowned the highest position in inciting groups of people, you would be a possible candidate for that role."
"Thats a very exasperating quote to use, but I don't think I am going to get that role more than you." She clenched her fist.
"And what makes you think so? You may be very good at having bonds made in seconds but you are also good at ruining them. Unlike you, I had my last bond lasting up to a decade!" And this time, Aefia was deeply angered and spoke out the words she had been meaning to speak of for a long time now.
"I agree that I am good at having multiple people mad at me, but I actually enjoy being left out after doing so because guess who has been alone from the time they were born!" Inresistable silence erupted around the room. Thats the thing, thats my weakness.
"Maybe I don't have the luxury of time for explanations but you can already tell why I am a lone wolf magic user by now." While speaking calmly, the next thing popped into her mind. "Albert Nicholas...isn't that your name?" Aefia finally called out.
The mage gasped at what echoed even from multiple rooms away. Helio slowly managed to divert his eyes to see the name that was supposed to be printed on the surface of his new dagger that was from the demon king's world. Isn't that the name written in this weapon?
"I believe you have a huge fan of yours in this room." Aefia suddenly pointed at a blonde haired person at the corner of the room. "He even has the weapon you had discarded a while ago. Most probably...sold to the demon king in return for an artifact." She said while keeping a poker face.
"A fan? That must mean a dedicated one then!" Albert snapped his fingers with a smile and Helio was able to move again. "How exciting to meet a person who actually treasures you and the knowledge you pass down, am I right?!" He snapped his fingers again and appeared beside him.
"How long has it been since I had seen this thing! It musn't have been long, but that still gets me excited. Show me the dagger!" Albert spoke as he raised his hand and his staff at the same time.
Helio was about to raise it, but he looked at Aefia just or confirm it was alright. "If it wasn't alright, I won't have pointed him to you in the first place. You know how I always have my next move predicted and prepared." She replied back with a piercing gaze.
He hesitated while bringing out the dagger. When the exotic weapon was at full show, Albert seemed a little too happy and snatched the blade out of his grip. He held it out in the air and a strike of lightning landed on the top and sharp edge of it.
A beautiful scene of purple, white and green colours showcased a spectacular light show in the almost completely dark room as the blade melted all the way down and hardend on the ground, until nothing was left.
Helio was terrified and questioned at how Aefia allowed that to happen. "That weapon won't have helped you much anyway, you are lucky that you had kept your own one hidden and away from my sight, otherwise I would have burned it too. Looks like the destruction has begun again!" He gave out a laugh as if he had accomplished a huge goal.
"Are you sure the destruction in specific had started? Were you just living in your fantasy?" Aefia called out after the chaos had subsided. Albert instantly turned around to look at what she meant. But the only thing that caught his sight was the cube, with her lady inside.
Due to the lightning, the temperature around the room had increased, and so did the temperature inside the cube. It was surprisingly warmer inside than in the surroundings. The frost that was accumulating before, had melted and left condensed water droplets on the surface.
He turned his head to look back at the girl who was busy provoking him earlier. "Well, I suppose you can say you have bought yourself some time now, how much do you think you have gotten yourself? Not more than fifteen I can say." He spoke out thinking it would cause her last nerves to flare up with rage.
"I don't think that would be the case. I know for short that the cube is going to still be my problem, but I still have to deal with you, am I right?" Aefia said while holding out another dagger, one similar to what he had destroyed earlier. "And you may now wonder how I still have that weapon...the one you had just destroyed was just a replica. I am the one who wields the real one."
Enraged, Albert tried to run and grab the blade out of her hands. She ran left and straight to change locations. Noticing her speed, Albert flashed another lightning staring right down at Aefia. She looked up, slightly too late to move away from the spot and pounced out of the way while landing on her knee.
"You had found that out too! How a lightning is faster than any speed related skills." She said while holding the right side of her forehead. "You had also calculated the time that I would have taken to reach this waypoint, so you could try and strike me out by a lightning bolt."
The mage smiled knowing that she had actually gotten hurt this time, and not just went on with her usual trick to making him angrier. Since he didn't speak or announce any more damage, Aefia took the chance to explain another thing.
"I have just realized that almost all rooms in this underground castle, had no ceiling but just void. I was confused until now, because what would have been the point of having a room if it didn't have a ceiling to protect the object in it from. But then, seeing how you just used your skills now, I think you don't have a full void ceiling, but rather, parts in the ground that can create statics when it detects a movement."
"And why not check it out for yourself since you are already trying to warn your teammates about the dangers. If you are really smart enough, you would go out of your way to protect them by saying, 'these tiles are made with magic and you must avoid them at all cost." Albert blabbered on.
"But I didn't need to say it." She pointed at the surroundings and slowly from the ground to Albert. "You just did so yourself. Now you might as well let the others go and have their freedom of movement."
"But I am not willing to just see how you are not willing to co-operate. Are you really afraid of dying?" He said while snapping his fingers and letting them all run towards Albert at once. The chimera dragon was up in the air and was ready to plunge down at him. The demoness held out her spear and millions of other spears popped out while her lady's son held out his sword in order to stab him.
The only ones who were not moving, were Albert, Aefia and Helio. But Helio still moved forward by a few steps while reassuring where he played his steps. When the others missed those tiles solely by luck, Helio was taking measures properly. The tiles were shown by where she first started her finger's direction of pointing.
Noticing how the others were already enraged by a few things, Albert stomped his stuff and frozen every aspects of time for the three others who were already in movement. They stayed still in the air, and Helio understood that he couldn't move either, he would have to blend in like a statue the others were.
Many things had happened in a blink of an eye and Aefia had found a surface idea of what was going on. She had long ago realized that the only one still not effected by the manual time pausing Albert had done, was Helio who seemingly breathed and left a fog hovering in the air.
"Can you give me a few seconds to go and switch my weapons? This one isn't a reliable one, doctor who had his dreams accomplished." Aefia said while bowing to annoy the final boss of the battle she was about to finally start.
"Fine fine! Just a few seconds." Albert spoke while waving his hands at her face to send her away. Aefia completely knew that he was about to plan a strike and attacks chart, where he could observe and attack at the same time. Just before walking away, she noted how he drew on the ground with the droplets of water that were formed.
She rushed to Helio's place and held the blade of the dagger he was holding. She slowly pulled it out of the tight grip and placed the bright green one she had, onto his palm before leveling it out in front of his mouth and nose. When she left the area, she insured the blade was glowing red due to heat and steaming. Before she turned away, she spoke without her voice, "Stupid".
She had precisely planned out what needed to be done next, and his movements changed the course of action. If he had stayed put while the others moved, she wouldn't have needed to went back and forth and wasted the time she had saved. When she was hurrying back, she noticed how Albert was rubbing the ground hard, back and forth with his feet.
"I don't think I need to say start or something, but even if you object, I would have already started with my own attacks." He said as he suddenly started levitating in the air with his staff pointed directly at the sky. "Let the owner of the three moons, provide me the shield I need against this robbers who want to steal my freedom." He said as he snapped his fingers and the entire room transformed.
Suddenly, they weren't in the underground dungeons anymore. It was the surface world, of a destroyed planet. The destroyed interstellar object they had unknowingly entered. The spectacular sky shown brightly with a million stars that were all distracting and the ground was oddly covered with shallow water.
In an instant, Aefia knew exactly why he had changed the location of this battle to a rocky water land with gradient sunset. An ice wielder's strength part was water and a fire wielder's weak part was, ice. Advantages were all siding with Albert Nicholas and Aefia was left to only chose the disadvantages.
She noticed how the others were sent away and was right beside Aefia, while her lady was in the opposite direction to the rest of the teammates. Water didn't appear inside her cube, but the water increased the rate of temperature decrease inside that small habitat.
She looked up at the sun. Three moons were in each side of the sun and it looked like it was almost time for a triple eclipse, one of the most power rituals upto the history of all sorts of Ritualistic magic.
"What are going to do now? You probably already know what happens next! And you don't have the strength!" Albert laughed.
"But my knowledge is more powerful than strength." Aefia said while flipping the daggers into position while walking forward, not knowing what to do next.