Unital Ring III: Rebellion In the Underworld

Berserker And Archer

Kureha, minutes earlier

"You still see this trail of magic?" Jaymes lands on the rocky ground, catching up to an inspecting Kureha. She got off to a running start to the mountains without stopping until now. She doesn't fully comprehend her account's abilities yet, but from the little she discovered over the last three days, she has near-unlimited stamina and picks up on abilities such as the arts very quickly. Not sure how that'll help her, but this newly discovered ability, seeing the residuals of casted arts, is very beneficial.

Unseen to Jaymes, the floating faint red and green particulates swirl above them, indicating they originated here. "It ends here and goes out towards the city and the castle. They're red and green."

"Aerial and Thermal elements, then. Yeah, that packs a powerful combination." Jaymes steps forward and lines himself up with the trail invisible to him. Their surrounding is a bowl-shaped area that projects out to a cliff overlooking Obsidia. Given how smooth it is, the crater-like indention in the mountain seems to be older than the spell. But there are signs that there was an unnatural cause for the malformations. A battle, maybe?

He projects his arm outward as if he was casting the spell. "There's an issue, though. The Dark Territory might be strong, but I gather it's our physical ability to fight rather than the magical. Back during the war, the Human Empire's saving grace was the sacred arts and Integrity Knights. In physical combat and numbers, the dark realm was superior."

"All that is to say there are not many people who could pull off that attack?"

"Not just anyone. Anyone well-trained in the arts could fire the spell, despite the scarcity of spatial resources. But the force behind it suggests numerous heat and air arts combined. That narrows the list to only those with a high SC value and can manage more than ten arts at max. If they're not an Integrity Knight or a real worlder, then... Well, I had a few strong enemies in my day."

"Hersyrian, the adopted son of the Pontifex. The Pontifex herself. The First Children. All strong enough to use the scarce resources, but...all are dead." Flicking her fingers, Kureha catches on to what Jaymes is saying. Only someone with the ability to generate numerous resources at once could have powered that spell...and he isn't talking about the five heat elements at the tips of her right digits.

She learned a little of the arts back during the war and expanded her education with Cordelia, Sylvie, and Mathias the last few days. Despite picking up on it in a short amount of time, she knows how hard it is to conjure and concentrate with the five she generated now -- she can only imagine how much mental strength is required to manage ten, twenty, fifty, or a hundred. Jaymes himself doesn't seem unfazed by the achievement but by the person who achieved it.

"Do you have any idea who could manage that?"

"To generate numerous heat and air arts and fire them at the castle? It's not impossible in this day and age. I doubt there's a rule now that prevents anyone from developing their skills as it was in Administrator's day, but there's a great disparity between what Sylvie and Cordelia can do and what we can do. Not just because of the SC value, but Incarnation as well."

"How so?"

He turns back to Kureha, looking at her right hand, still holding the five unrefined heat elements. "Change those elements into an object."

"Like...this?" Kureha barely moves her hand, but the elements change from small, spherical lights to five flaming arrows. She barely molded the thought when they changed shape. She makes another thought, and the arrows turn into bullets.

"Understand?"

"I think so. The five of us real-worlders have a grip on Incarnation because we don't perceive a limit to our imagination?"