Chapter 441: Krygon Province (I)
One week later.
Within an open compound, where Bettie stood several meters away from a training target.
Dark lightning suddenly shot across the compound, traveling from one point to another before striking the target with tremendous force. The impact completely destroyed it, leaving only scattered remnants behind.
The dark magic circle that had appeared over Bettie’s hand slowly flickered before disappearing as she lowered her arm.
She was dressed in an oversized traditional robe, fit to her shape as she turned to the side and looked toward Isabella.
Or rather, Alter-bella; the other personality who was currently in charge.
Bella was dressed in a similar style, though her attire was predominantly dark blue.
One of the first things they had to adjust to after arriving on the Demon Continent was their style of clothing.
The clothes they had brought from the Western Continent were too distinctive and would draw more attention to them than necessary.
According to Nathan, if they were going to spend an extended period in Krygon Province, there was no reason to make themselves stand out simply because of what they wore.
Nathan had therefore provided them with new materials and had them dressed in clothing more appropriate to the Demon Continent.
Bettie asked. "How was it?"
Dark Bella studied the remains of the destroyed target for a moment before turning her attention back to Bettie.
She replied in a sweet, yet eerie tone. "Infusing darkness into your magic elements and being able to hide within shadows... I was right to elevate you to Harmonic State."
Bettie smiled and nodded her head.
Then, as though something had just occurred to her, she suddenly turned at Bella again. "There’s something else I wanted to know if it’s just me, or if you know about this too.... But ever since we arrived here, I’ve felt a certain a presence somewhere far away from here."
"It feels familiar, but I don’t know this person...I’ve never experienced anything like this before."
Yeah, I see what you mean. The awkward part is the repetition of "Blessed" and the sentence structure around "the person you sensed."
A smoother version, while keeping your meaning and wording:
Dark-Bella nodded. "It is not unusual. Those who are my Blessed can sense the presence of others who share my blessings... The person you sensed is another one of my Blessed."
The shadow beneath Dark Bella’s feet suddenly began to move, temporarily pausing the conversation as their attention shifted towards the shadow’s emergence.
It spread across the ground before pulling aside for Abaddon to emerge from it.
He inclined his head respectfully toward Dark Bella. "My lady, is she yet to pay homage to your arrival? Shall I go and query her at once?"
Bella smiled. "Since she’s in this place, our paths will inevitably cross. When that happens, she can answer for her insolence."
Bettie was quiet, listening to the exchange, but as soon as alter-bella stopped talking, bettie posed another question. "I’m sorry, but can I ask who this is?"
Bella turned toward her. "Her name is Morgana Le Fay...She was the first human to become my Blessed."
——
The training compound surrounded the quarters that had been given to them within Lord Krygon’s palace.
The style main building was old and traditional; constructed with wood that made up most of its walls and pillars surrounded the interior.
Percival was hunched over in one corner of the room, holding his ArcPhone in one hand. He had been speaking with Aliyah through the device, but the connection had suddenly become unstable.
"Hello?"
Static filled the room.
"No, no, no, no, no." Percival immediately brought the ArcPhone closer to his face. "Aliyah, are you there?"
Her voice came through faintly for a moment before breaking apart into more static. "Percival—"
"Aliyah?"
The connection suddenly went dead.
"Fuck!" Percival lowered the ArcPhone and began pacing around the room, frustrated and seeking to find new cell service.
Like the others, he was dressed in the traditional attire provided for their stay; his robes were predominantly white.
His pacing, however, was beginning to irritate someone else in the room.
Wilson was lying on a small mattress nearby, with a book in his hands. It was one of the books he had brought with him from the western continent, and he had been quietly reading it until Percival’s repeated pacing began making it difficult to concentrate.
He slowly lowered the book and looked over at Percy. "Quit walking about. You’re disturbing me."
Percival glanced at him. "Shut it wilson"
Wilson sighed, and instead of making a fuss, he simply stood and left. He was dressed in similar traditional clothing, though his robes carried a dark shade of blue with red designs.
Percival looked down at the ArcPhone again, and sighed.
Besides the clothing, they had also been forced to adjust to another inconvenience since arriving on the Demon Continent: Connectivity.
It was probably one of the hardest things to get used to.
There was practically no reliable connection here. The only time they could occasionally get any cell service was at certain spots around the palace, such as the corner where Percival was currently hunched over with his ArcPhone.
Even then, it depended on the time of day. If they were lucky, they might get a usable connection for a few minutes.
Most of the time, however, there was just nothing.
As a result, most of them had eventually stopped bothering with their ArcPhones altogether.
Some had gone for days without even checking them, having more or less given up on trying to maintain a connection with the outside world.
—
The building they had been given consisted of several rooms.
And in one of those rooms, Miss Bernadette and Valerie in their own traditional attires were currently undergoing training.
They were being taught a new form of magic known as Natural Magic, or True Magic, as it was sometimes called.
And the one teaching them was the panda-like druid; Pan.
He was the same druid who had once provided shelter to Nathan and Irene more than a decade ago, back when the two of them were traveling from the Western Continent in their attempt to reach the druid territories in the southern continent.
Just before Nathan and Eduardo reached the Demon Continent, their first stop was actually at the border between the Western and Southern Continents.
More specifically, they returned to the small cottage where Pan lived.
It had been over a decade since Nathan and Pan had last spoken; the last time was on the very day Nathan had tried to flee his barrier in pursuit of Irene.
Under normal circumstances, seeing Pan again should have brought back a painful collection of memories for Nathan.
And it did.
Standing in that place once again inevitably reminded him of Irene, and of the day she had been taken from him.
But despite those painful memories, the reunion was also a rather joyous one.
Pan hardly appeared to have aged at all. The Panda-folk looked almost exactly as Nathan remembered him, and there was genuine happiness in his expression at seeing an old acquaintance again.
He was genuinely pleased to see that Nathan himself was doing well.
The two spoke for a while, catching up on a few things that had happened over the years before Nathan eventually made his request.