Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Chains unleashed

Luna was watching in horror as the fight continued. If it could really be called that. Given that it mostly consisted of Azura throwing attacks at everyone in the audience and Lux having to run in overtime to block everything. Azura had attacked her and the rest of their group several time already. The worst part of this whole situation was his eyes. Despite the glowing they still seemed almost lifeless. Or perhaps disinterested would be a better word. She didn’t understand what kind of spell would change a person like that. If he had gone berserk and started raging around she could understand, but this wasn’t anything like that.

“Epsilon canon: force mode.” She refocused on the fight at Azura’s most recent spell. This one she knew, and it sent shivers down her spine. She had only ever heard about it as a theory, but watching the 4 magic circles show up in a tight line and layer on top of eachother knowing what it would lead to was not a comforting moment, and the target being the students on the opposite side of the arena from Lux didn’t help. Even aside from the targeting innocents bit it wasn’t a tactic Azura would use, because it meant turning his back to his foe. Lux could easily take him down here, but the spell would still go off and those students would be severely injured at a minimum.

She felt it as much as she saw it, a blinding flash of light at the huge release of mana. The beam of energy was easily twice as tall as Azura after it went through the magic circle, and it was filled to the brim with power. It was without a doubt the strongest spell she had ever seen, and it was far from slow reaching the students before most of them had time to react. A few tried to flee, but there was no way they’d escape the blast radius. Lux appeared in front of the blast. Her eyes widened; she hadn’t even seen him move. The blast hit several walls of energy before piercing through each one before finally stopping on Lux’s shield. She could see it in the way Lux’s arm bent and he slid backward. He hadn’t had time to take on a proper position to block an attack like that. His arm was going to break.

She remembered how Azura had told them that they were going to see some of his secrets when the princess inevitably forced his hands, he even said he wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t want to be around him afterwards. That wasn’t going to happen of course, she had seen how ashamed he was then. Whatever this spell turns him into isn’t himself, but she couldn’t help but wish she never had to see him like this. The howling wind from the monumental attack finally faded, along with the light from the release. Somehow Azura didn’t even look winded despite all the energy that he’s released.

Lux’s arm was hanging limply despite the shield on it still being in pristine condition. “Well you’ve certainly gotten a lot stronger than last time. That attack was almost half as strong as your father’s.” Her eyes widened. An attack on that scale was less than half?! It had more mana in it than she even had.

“Well I suppose I’ll have to be satisfied with breaking your arm. Time’s up.” purple spectral chains appeared around Azura they wrapped around him as electricity surged around him. He grit his teeth as the markings began to move in reverse, retreating to his center. His hair slowly slipped back to black. She could tell he was in immense pain, but he didn’t even flinch. Once he was finally back to normal he slipped for a fraction of a second nearly losing his footing, but he was able to right himself, and then just like that all the signs of his obvious exhaustion disappeared. “I told you someone was going to get hurt.” He sighed. “But thanks for making sure it wasn’t anyone who doesn’t have a stake in this.” Lux just nodded with a smile, seemingly fine even with his limp arm.

“Splendid as always, Azura. I do so love your visits.” The princess chimed happily. Completely ignoring the fact that the area around her was completely destroyed. She was the person Azura had targeted most, and while Lux had protected her perfectly the area around her suffered severe damage. Despite that she was smiling as if he had just given her a gift. She found herself starting to understand Azura’s dislike of the princess. She had knowingly put everyone in danger, and was more than just happy about it.

Azura looked impassively at the princess. “Shouldn’t you be more focused on the man who got his arm broken following your whims?” He turned and walked away. Students got out of his way as he left the training room. She moved to follow, but was surprised by Katy’s hand on her shoulder. She hadn’t even sensed her approach.

“Don’t. Trust me I know how you feel, but if we go after him now it’s just going to lead to a fight. He needs time to cool off, and to be honest so do we.” Katy was right, and she knew it, but that didn’t mean she was happy about it. Luckily it looked like everyone in their party got the message. Though the reasoning didn’t stop the sour look from forming on all of their faces. Except for Lily, Lily had a sympathetic look on her face. She supposed that made sense, she had a dark power slumbering within her as well, so perhaps it was easier for her to understand what Azura was going through.

“I know you’re right, but I just can’t get those eyes out of my head. Just what was that?” The image haunted her, and she had a feeling it would continue to haunt her for the foreseeable future.

“That was what happens when Azura doesn’t hold himself back!” The princess had confidently strode up to them, smiling as if their friend hadn’t tried to kill her several times. Lux stood behind her, and waved awkwardly as his broken arm visibly began healing. Several disturbing cracking noises emanated from it as the bones mended.

“We don’t actually know the specifics any more than you do. I imagine Azura himself doesn’t either, but 1 day he found a seal on himself, and being who he is he wouldn’t rest until he had figured out what it was hiding. Needless to say he wasn’t pleased with the result even if her highness was.” Lux sounded sympathetic unlike the princess, but it only went so far when he would clearly allow it to happen again so long as the princess willed it.

“If he didn’t focus so much on hiding it away, then it would be an incredible power for him to wield. He’ll see that I’m helping him in the long run.” She didn’t find that likely. Even assuming Azura did find a way to control whatever that was, the princess would never be forgiven for the harm she had forced him to inflict on others.

“If you don’t know the nature of it, how do you know he can control it?” Lily sounded livid, and to her surprise she was feeling much the same. It took a lot to make her angry, but she could feel the unfamiliar tendrils of rage curling around her gut. The princess has as good as said that they had no idea what Azura’s transformation really is. Yet they would put all these people in danger just for the chance he might learn to control it.

“It’s his power isn’t it? You all felt his mana, it was slightly different, but it was still undeniably his. Whatever the nature of it, it’s undoubtedly his power. Thus whatever influence is causing him to act that way has to come from him as well. So since all of it is part of him he must be able to find a way to control it.” The princess wasn’t wrong, but that was all theoretical; they had no way of knowing if normal rules applied to that transformation. No matter how she looked at it there just wasn’t enough information to confidently say that.

“Still, why force him to fight in public like this? He offered to do it later so others wouldn’t be put in danger.” It wasn’t just reckless, it was cruel. Most of these people would be terrified of Azura now, and if she hadn’t known him as well as she did she would probably be one of them. As it was she had seen the near imperceptible wince from Azura when he had seen Lux’s arm, she felt a little bad that she was glad no one else got hurt more for his sake than for the other students.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“So he couldn’t hide from his power anymore.” The princess shrugged casually as if they were talking about the weather. “I’ve made him use it in private many times, and nothing has changed. I think that being forced to do it in front of people he cares about could be the push he needs to actually try and get control over it.” She had never so strongly felt the urge to punch somebody. Katy was physically restraining Lily who looked about ready to give regicide a try. Katy didn’t look much better herself though. Roran looked deceptively calm, but she could see magic sparking under his hands.

“Why do you care? You put all these people at risk, and Azura made it clear he didn’t want to do that. I imagine you severely decreased the odds of any of these students choosing to join this kingdom after the academy.” For the first time that she had seen the princess actually looked serious.

“There is something I need Azura to do, but he isn’t strong enough to do it yet. If he can master that power then he will be. As for the people not joining this kingdom, that’s fine. Azura will, and even without the extra power the sheer utility of his magic will make up for the rest joining other kingdoms.”

“You think after all this Azura is going to join you?!” Just what was with this audacity? The princess must have something pretty big on Azura for him to even go along with the earlier spar, but enough that she was this confident he would join this kingdom? What could possibly be enough to insure that.

“Of course. He hasn’t asked yet, but he won’t be able to find another solution. He will ask me to protect his sister from his father. I will of course agree, with a few conditions naturally.” She took a few deep breaths to calm her anger. She noticed Katy had released Lily and looked almost ready to start a fight as well.

“I think that’s quite enough Alice.” A taller man walked in. He was probably a few years older than they were, but it was clear he and the princess were related. He had the same blue eyes, and his short hair was the same shade of blonde. “Can’t you tell you’re making them angry? Not that I can blame them, you do tend to have that effect on people.” The princess pouted.

“They asked, I’m just answering their questions.” Did the princess not even realize how cruel the things she said were. “Besides, I was just telling the truth. The only other option he has is asking you to marry his sister, and he won’t do that because he’s too worried I’ll do something to her out of spite if she’s that close to me.” Her eyes widened. Azura had said he got along with the prince, but she didn’t realize it was to the point where he could ask the prince to do something like marrying his sister just so she would be safe from their father.

“Would you?” The prince said it like a question, but it was obvious he knew the answer.

“Of course I would.” Her jaw dropped. She had already figured out that the princess wasn’t a good person, but to think she’d admit to moving against Azura’s sister out of spite if the option was there.

The prince sighed. “I still can’t believe you came from mother. You know if he really wanted to Azura could probably make you disappear right? He’s a friend of mine and supposedly yours so he has basically free reign of the castle, and while his magic is decent in combat it really shines off the battlefield. It would not be difficult for him to rig something to kill you without leaving a trace behind. From his point of view it would solve a lot of his problems too, maybe you should be a bit more careful.” She hadn’t ever really thought about it this way, but Azura did like to say that with enough time he could do almost anything. So she supposed that was more than within the realm of possibility.

“Of course I know he could just like I know he won’t. That’s not the kind of person he is… well except for when he’s in white hair mode, then he would probably do it, but he hates using that power so much I have to go out of my way to force him into it, so I’m sure it’s fine.” She hadn’t expected the princess to be so cavalier about her own life, but she supposed at least in this the princess was right. Azura wasn’t the type of person to kill someone for personal grievances. Despite his hatred of the man, he had never even considered actually killing his father. Granted his father wasn’t the easy target the princess was, so maybe not the best comparison.

“I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been tempted.” She turned to see Azura walking up clearly having calmed significantly. “It’s good to see you Xander, hope it hasn’t been too rough for you.” She almost wanted to laugh at the contrast. With the princess it was all clearly forced formalities, but Azura seemed genuinely comfortable with the prince. It was clear they were old friends.

“Not too bad, I’ve been allowed to travel a lot lately so I’ve managed to be away from my dear sister’s machinations for a while. Sorry I’m not able to provide much assistance with your current problem.” It was kind of weird knowing that these 2 royals were related. They couldn’t be more different. Really their appearance was all they had in common.

“I’m right here you know.” The princess pouted.

“It’s not your fault your sister’s a menace, anymore than it’s my fault my father is. Besides I’m actually really glad you’re here, I have some friends to introduce you to. As I’m sure you’ve guessed by them awkwardly lingering here even after we took over the conversation.” She narrowed her eyes. Azura was a good actor, but not this good. The recovery was too fast, and he hadn’t even acknowledged what they had seen something was up.

“Fine ignore me, I’m going to get what I want in the end anyway. I always do.” The princess turned and stalked off. She hardly even noticed too busy watching Azura and Xander converse. It was obviously him, from the mannerisms to the magic being emitted, but there is no way this was the same one that had been here before.

“How did you swap?” Katy’s question put the pieces together for her. He had swapped with the copy that had stayed at the academy, but how? As far as they knew he didn’t have a long range teleport spell. Yet that must be what happened, it was the only explanation that made sense.

“Do you really want to know, or are you just confirming that I did in fact switch?” A valid question, given that whatever spell he had used was no doubt very complicated. Her and Roran would be the only 2 to even grasp it. Roran because he loved magic research as much as Azura, and her because she had to learn quite a bit about enchantment in order to master the anti-magic field.

“Confirming.” Katy said without missing a beat. She giggled finally releasing the building anger that the princess had brought on.

“Then yes, I did switch with my other. We figured the princess would do something to make us lose our cool, so we worked on a way to switch places with one another. In theory it would work with the original too, but we didn’t figure out the spell in time for the trip, so he doesn’t have his piece of it.” She hummed. So they had some item on them for the switch? Or is it a spell they have to cast in tandem? She was tempted to ask, and she could Roran vibrate with the effort of not asking, but now wasn’t a good time as they had more important things to deal with.

“Did the other copy tell you what had him so upset?” She already knew the answer to that, it was clear in how he was acting. He wouldn’t be that nonchalant with them if he knew. Katy probably knew that too. The question was probably just a prompt to move the conversation along.

No, the trick we pulled isn’t so advanced as to allow us to talk to each other. At least it isn’t yet, but I can guess. Or rather the leftover mana gives it away. Hopefully I didn’t do anything too brutal. My unsealed self can be a little callous.” She raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t expecting Azura to be this forthcoming. She supposed it was because he didn’t know the specifics. He probably assumed the princess would at least close off the fight, so the possibility that he had attacked her and the others hadn’t even occurred to him. “Well I’ll ask about the specifics later, for now go ahead and ask the stuff you really want to ask, it’s come this far so I might as well do my best to answer.”