Wish Upon a Sin

Arc 2 - Chapter 8

In the days before the Royal Selection meeting, Subaru trained like there was no tomorrow. Now that he had access to Yang magic though Sol, he could practice a much wider variety of magics. By the time the day of the selection came, he had made some significant progress.

"Akua!"

A square of golden light, about the size of Subaru's mid-section, flickered into existence in front of his outstretched hand.

He let out a breath, and examined the plane critically. The spell wasn't drifting away from him anymore, which was a plus, but other than that, it didn't look great.

"What do you think? It seems a bit thin to me."

Sol circled around the square, not yet committing to a verdict. He gathered mana from the surroundings, and flung it at the spell, causing it to ripple like a sheet in the breeze. Subaru winced. It wasn't supposed to do that.

Poke. Sol ordered.

Subaru raised a finger, and gently touched the spell, feeling the glassy texture for just an instant before it cracked like thin ice. The shards shimmered as they dissolved, shedding motes of light which spread throughout the empty waiting room.

While Subaru wasn't sure whether he was supposed to be allowed to use magic inside the manor, no one had yet told him off for doing so.

He sighed. "Still no progress, then. I think I'll just stick to illusions, there's no time for me to learn this properly."

Sol bobbed understandingly.

It was a shame, since the Akua spell would have drastically increased his defence. It was a spell Sol already knew and was able to cast, admittedly limited to around the size of a hand. That said, the spirit's version was strong enough to deflect one of Subaru's sword strikes.

"I've still got plenty of spells I can use though! Paralak and Fal Shamak are really good debuffs, and I have Goa and Huma for offence. You can cover defence for me, and Luna can use Shamak as a distraction. I suppose I could also use Huma to jerry-rig a shield if I have to... Hey, Huginn? I want to try something."

The fire spirit flew over curiously, leaving his sister and Luna in the corner.

"Alright then... Visualisation, then execution." He raised his hand, trying to imagine a shield protecting him from harm.

"Huma!"

When Emilia and Puck had created shields of ice, they had been beautiful hexagons of interlocking snowflakes, that could turn aside blades like they were walls of stone.

Subaru's diamond shaped shield looked a little less impressive, which wouldn't matter if it worked as well, but it had one readily apparent flaw. It was small, as if a normal Huma projectile had been moulded into a shield shape, which, Subaru supposed, he had. It was even smaller than Sol's Akua, severely limiting it's application as a defensive spell.

Success? Huginn asked, not quite clear on what Subaru had been trying to achieve.

"Not quite, Huginn. I suppose this will have to wait too. I can't really afford to spend time learning the intricacies of ice magic."

He clenched his fist, and the ice cracked apart into smaller pieces. One open window later, the evidence had been safely disposed of.

He stretched his arms, falling into a routine of radio callisthenics as he thought.

"I suppose I could ask Reinhard to show me how to use a shield. He barely ever has time he can afford to waste teaching me, but with his Divine Protection of the... something about training, he could make sure I know the basics. I'd ask Velia, but she doesn't seem like the person to use a shield."