First Arc (King of Euphorion) – 13. Strange Power

The sun that was shining above the Luminus City's sky was about to set. Angel lined up in the castle courtyard along with other troops. In front of them, King Xenos stood at the white balcony facing the courtyard and gave them a speech about his plans to attack the Kingdom of Asteria which was accompanied by the Euphorion troops' applause and cheers.

Shortly, the entire troops bowed when King Xenos returned to the castle. Then the troops dispersed and returned to the barracks behind the castle. He followed them but before he reached the barracks, he slipped out of the line and hid behind a tree. His eyes stared at his palms.
'It's strange... I shouldn't be able to use my magic power here but why can I still feel it?'

He glanced at a branch above him and tried to shoot it with a Magic Arrow, the most basic spell of all magic users. But no matter how many times he tried, he always failed.
' I knew it... I couldn't use my magic power here, but what is this strange power?'

After thinking for a few moments, he looked at his palms again and tried to bring out his dark aura. Soon, his dark aura began to emit from his hands. Quickly, he clenched his hands to prevent his dark aura from coming out more.
'I can use my dark aura. It means... This power is not a pure magic power, but something else.' Somehow, this made him a bit afraid of himself. But he knew, this power would be a great help to fight King Xenos.

He closed his eyes and tried to feel the power that was flowing in his body. Though he came from a swordsman family, sometimes he chatted with some magic users or observed them when he was on his mission. That's why he knew some basic things about magic users. A few moments later, he opened his eyes again.
'I only can use it to certain limits...' He was deep in thought for a moment, looking for the best plan for his current condition before a smirk appeared on his face as a crazy idea crossed his mind.
'If I remember correctly, Lady Belle will come for lunch with the king tomorrow. I think I'll give them a nice surprise.'

He glanced at the castle behind him.
'Now I have to hide.' A place where he often hid himself when he was a child occurred in his mind. That place was always locked and almost never visited by anyone except for checking books once a year. The Royal Library!
'I'll hide there until tomorrow. But I need to stop by somewhere first.'

Once everyone was gone, he came out of his hiding place and slipped into the castle.

The sun had set, replaced by the moon shining brightly in the night sky. Angel sat in the library, his hand was opening a book in front of him. His mouth busy chewed, occasionally he bit the bread from his other hand, something he had never done in his life since eating in the library was forbidden when he was still the Prince of Asteria, if he was caught doing it he would be punished for cleaning the entire library for a month. But now, who cares? He was not a prince, nor was he in Asteria, there were no annoying rules that binding him anymore.

His eyes focused on the book before him accompanied by the moonlight that illuminated him from the window.

'Teleport, Manipulation Spell, Magic Barrier. There's a lot of magic books here... But this is not what I'm looking for.'

He drank from the water bottle next to him, got up from his seat and walked along the row of bookshelves. His eyes moved quickly reading the books' titles before him. After a short walk, his steps stopped at a book about magic formations. He picked it up and brought it back to the desk as his hand flipped through the book until it came to a page containing an explosive magic formation's image.
'Found it.'

This explosive magic formation was only a low-level magic formation, with explosive power that could hardly kill anyone, but its power was enough to make a mess. Moreover, this magic formation could be activated remotely just by giving magic power to its formation. Something that he needed as a diversion.

He quickly placed the book on the desk, opened the drawer to get the paper and pen. His hand moved the pen on the paper, trying to copy the image formation but the ink was dry.
'This place has never been visited by anyone for years, of course, the ink is dry.' After trying to find another pen and didn't find it. He finally poked his finger with the tip of the pen and began drawing it with his blood.