"So, what has the princess learned about magic during the castle days?"

"Nothing much, I was never able to use it" answered Isabelle with a grim expression

"Hmm, why were you not able to?" Lilith's interest going up

"The instructor said that I didn't have Mana inside my body to use it"

"Those dipshits. They lied to you princess" anger rising on Lilith's face

"huh? what? but why?"

"As I would know, must have been the same reason for as to why they kept you inside the castle and fed lied of the outside world"

 

Isabelle's eyes wide open with shock, the more she learned, the more her love for the parents declined. What reason would they have for lying to their daughter about everything? Did they even see her as a daughter in the first place? Was all the affection they showed nothing but a sham?

 

If the answer is yes, then for what reason? Lilith and Isabelle couldn't come with an answer but decided to put that matter on halt for now

"oh! how does the teacher knows that I can use magic? It's not like I didn't try to do it before...but it never worked" 

"It's simple, without Mana, you would die but as both of us can see you are alive and well"

"I see..."

and thus began a short explanation of mana and magic until the intruders passed by them.

 

According to Lilith's lesson, the human body has both blood and Mana flowing through its veins. With the deficiency of either one, the person would die. 

The amount of Mana just like blood decreases with age. The older you grow the less Mana flows through your body due to the reduction of body water. 

 

Mana is used in casting spells. The process of casting spells is easy but to cast an effective spell is a different matter.

 

"But if casting requires mana then wouldn't a loss of it from body cause problems?" 

"Wonderful, princess!! just what I expect from my student. Hahh, your sharpness reminds me of myself when I started learning about this stuff"

 

Lilith started behaving in self-praise mode again instead of answering the question asked. The more praise Lilith did of herself, more pissed off Isabelle started getting but it came to a quick halt, "Hoohh, really what a genius I am, did you know I accomplished things 16 years old couldn't even fathom to thin--oh, it seems like the intruders are finally near now, what a bummer. Anyway, let's continue where we left off"

 

The intruders are here, shouldn't she deal with them before continuing her lesson? was what's going though Isabelle's mind but she still didn't know the full extent of Lilith's eccentric ways.

 

"Instead of just telling all this bullcrap, let's actually see how it's done. Practical knowledge is way better after all" 

"Kyaaa!!"

 

Quickly Lilith princess carried Isabelle and jumped down the tree, landing right in front of the group of five people. They were John's team. After their small fight, they continued progressing further in the forest when suddenly they heard a scream and then suddenly two people standing in front of them. 

 

One woman, with an exceptionally beautiful face and long purple hair wearing a matching Goth dress which reached to her knees, along with an umbrella hanged to the back, the look on the woman's face was full of smiles.

 

The second a girl, with beauty similar to one standing beside her. Short black hair with a hinge of pink in front, wearing a black leather armour along with dark green pants, there was nothing as a weapon to be seen on the girl's body but unlike the woman next to her, this one's face was full of panic.

 

From their demeanour and atmosphere, John and his team couldn't tell whether they were friendly or not. The first to speak is John.

 

"Excuse me, but it isn't safe inside this forest. You two should leave as quickly as possible" showed John concern for the two, the four girls behind him also showing their concern, after all, it is true that no one left this forest alive before. So if they came by accident then it was their duty to guide them to safety. It's what any kind person would do, but John had yet to see that the world is also filled with many dangerously twisted people too.

 

Lilith ignored the other's party concern towards them and beckoned to Isabelle to Listen and see everything with extreme presence of mind.

"Student, the steps involved in casting a spell is three"

Isabelle realized that Lilith was going to teach her magic using this group of intruders as dummies. The realization almost stopped her heart and she looked at Lilith with eyes of disbelief. 

 

Would this woman go even as far as to treat these intruders who looked almost her own age as training dummies? The intruders also showed their genuine concern towards them, however way Isabelle thought, she couldn't wrap her head around it and accept it, but the look on Lilith's face was completely serious.

 

"Don't worry student, like I said before, I don't kill those not on my bad spectrum. Just focus on the lesson from now on" Lilith knew what was going through Isabelle's mind and gave her reassurance.

 

Wouldn't kill them? but wouldn't she still hurt them? what about honor....suddenly Isabelle remembered their talk. 

 

Lilith doesn't live by honour.

 

is it because of this, that she's so strong? Would even I be as strong as her if I don't think through honour? suddenly, the look of panic and disbelief. vanished from Isabelle's face and she started giving all her concentration to Lilith.

 

Isabelle started her thinking in the right line of direction, harming someone not bad and treating them as dummies is like throwing a huge dump on the concept of being honourable but what she didn't think about was the morality of the situation.

 

Whether this thing they were going to was Moral or not...never crossed her mind.

 

John and his party was confused at the scene in front of them. The two people in front of them were talking about something and the little girl's face suddenly changed to one of immense focus. They couldn't understand what was going on......then suddenly a sharp chill went down everyone's spine.

 

"Wh-what was that, J-john?" asked, tank Julia with heavy sweat forming on her forehead. But John didn't answer and neither did anyone else from her party. She glanced their way and immediately froze. Everyone was looking in the same direction, their legs shaking with tremors, look of disbelief and horror written all over their faces. Even the usually emotionless Noeya had a really grim look on her face, like she had just seen some terrifying  ghost, her teeth clattering with no control.

 

Julia gulped and forced herself to look at the direction which caused her teammates to look like a weathering spirit, she turned her head with all of her might and finally saw it. The smaller Girl still had the look of concentration on her face but what was different was the other woman besides her. The amount of pure sinister aura emitting from her was something they had never seen before, she looked almost triple their size, just like a giant monster, but what was most horrifying was the sinister smile and the hint of twisted Joy which could be seen in her eyes

 

But to Isabelle it didn't seem like it and she got confused as to why the intruders suddenly froze in fear. It was time for Lilith to start to practical lessons.

 

"Student, you know that Mana is used to cast spells. The first step is to gather the amount of Mana needed for the spell on your palms" smoothly and with kind voice, Lilith spoke to Isabelle.

"How do I gather it?" Isabelle also giving her complete attention, trying her best to ignore the bizarre situation in front of her.

"It's by imagination. You just imagine some amount of Mana flowing through your entire body to gather at your palms, when it's done you feel the something boiling inside your palms. Try yourself, it may not be good but you should at least me able to see how it's done"

 

Isabelle looked over at the intruders who were still frozen and shaking in fear. She closed her eyes and imagined a small amount of Mana travelling from her arm and gathering at the Palm but she didn't feel anything. She failed.

 

She was doing something wrong, Isabelle thought that it's because she can't properly imagine Mana flowing through her but then remembered Lilith saying that Mana and Blood are similar. She knows how blood flows, this time she imagined Mana to flow towards her palm just like blood with and suddenly she started feeling a gargling sensation inside her palms. She could see the skin on her palm moving and forming very small waves, like some kind of insect was travelling inside. It was a weird and creepy sensation but managed to complete the first step.

 

"Is this Mana? I can also use it......" said Isabelle completely astonished but there was also a hint of grief in her eyes, realizing that her previous teacher and dead parents were indeed lying to her about the inability to use magic.

"Excellent! You figured out the imagination part very quickly, just like me" no matter what Lilith didn't miss the chance to praise herself.

"..." Isabelle remained quiet on the remark

 

On the other side, John and his group became more terrified looking at the situation in their front. The bigger woman was teaching the girl how to use magic, they just couldn't wrap their heads around it, but they wouldn't let their training go to waste just because of being oppressed by this aura. 

 

Their honour as the only group training under the hero's timothy personal guidance, wouldn't allow it. 

 

They gritted their teeth and moved their feet forward, pointing their weapons towards the enemy.

"D-don't Underestimate us!!!" screamed John and ran towards Lilith while bringing his sword in fighting stance.

 

His teammates couldn't let their leader take all the glory of killing such a sinister being, they also shrugged the fear away from their body and moved forward with their leader. Julia ran beside John and upheld her shield to protect them from any strike by the enemy. The knight Jeremiah also followed along and got ready to strike the moment the enemy got busy with her two comrades. Ranger Noeya, prepared her bow and took out a poison arrow from her quilt and got ready to shoot it at the enemy's blind spot. At last, the mage Sarah, used her staff, casting a protective aura her comrades and getting ready to cast a fire spell.

 

Isabelle started panicking seeing the intruders coming their way, but seeing the carefree look on Lilith's face, she calmed down, assuring herself that nothing will happen if she stays beside Lilith and again started focusing on the Mana gathered at her Palms.

 

Isabelle didn't realize but by each passing moment, she was putting her trust in Lilith more and more.

 

Lilith seemed satisfied seeing the look on Isabelle's face and continued her lesson

 

"The second step is to actually shape the Mana into a spell. Think about the properties to add into the gathered mana, the shape it will take once caste and the speed with which it will come out. All the things you add needs to be also witnessed by you before adding them. You have witnessed the fire, know the shape of burning flame and the speed with which the flame burn, use that this time"

 

By the time Lilith finished speaking the intruders had already reached close to her. John swung his sword diagonally, to which Lilith just stepped back and took the umbrella in her hands. The next moment, Julia swung her sword vertically to which Lilith just blocked it from below using her umbrella, with the tip of the umbrella pointing towards Julia's swung down arm.

 

*Shluck* a button was pressed on the Umbrella's handle and suddenly a sharp, deadly blade surface with high velocity, piercing Julia's forearm and shattering the protective aura around her body. If the aura was not cast by Sarah then there would have a hole in Julia's forearm instead of a deep pierce

 

"Ahhhhhh!!!!!"

"No! Julia!!"

 

The sword fell from Julia's hand, Lilith retracted the blade and blood spurted out of the pierced forearm. The instant the other party fell into the sudden shock, Lilith used the blade and made a slight cut on her wrist. Blood started flowing out from the slice, Isabelle shocked seeing the self-harm Lilith did. Is she into that kinda stuff??!! grimaced Isabelle.

 

The group recovered from their instant shock and Noeya launched the poison arrow towards Lilith. They can use the moment their enemy uses to evade or block the arrow and attack her.

 

But failing their expectation, Lilith caught the arrow with her other hand. The three in front still saw this as an opportunity and positioned themselves in three directions (∇-positioning) surrounding Lilith with her at the center. Now she had no way to escape.

 

"The first is properties. I thought of adding an elastic property along, the shape to be of a string and speed to be normal. Remember you just think about this stuff." but Lilith still treated it like nothing had happened and continued her lecture, which further damaged the intruders' pride, making them frustrated and irritated.

 

As told earlier, Isabelle quickly thought about fire, imagined it to be in the shape of the burning flame and similar speed. Suddenly a very hot sensation could be felt where the gathered Mana was. It became so hot that Isabelle could feel her palms melting.

 

"D-done! now what??!!" but the excitement was overwhelming the pain in her palms, the adrenaline making her unable to feel the stinging pain in her palm.

 

The intruders didn't think of Isabelle as an enemy. It was Noeya and Sarah job to make sure that if the smaller one tries anything funny, then to shoot her. The moment they heard her saying that something is done, they became cautious and Sarah immediately cast a firebolt towards Isabelle's direction.

 

"Beautifully done. Now for the final step. You give a name to your modified Mana and say the name to bring it out in reality outside. The name should match with the spell you thought of, like this!! Blood Strings!!"

 

Suddenly the Blood flowing from Lilith's palm changed shape. It turned from dense liquid and into a solid elastic string. The strings made of blood started dancing like snake above the wound, all the strings connected to one single source that was the flesh wound.

 

The firebolt travelled fast, making Isabelle unable to think straight. In panic, she immediately did what Lilith told and gave a name to her cast.

 

Suddenly a massive single burst of fire came out of Isabelle's palm. The force of the burst pushed Isabelle away from the ground and she flew back a meters. The overwhelmingly large burst swallowed the small firebolt and together faded into thin air.

 

Lilith jumped in the air like it was the happiest day of her life, the intruders taken back by that deadly fire. Lilith didn't miss their distraction and with the speed of light threw a dagger taken out from her pocket towards the archer. The dagger pierced the archer's shoulder and impaled her on the tree behind.

 

The next instant, the blood strings dancing from her wound grew big and wrapped around the necks of three people surrounding her.

 

"Little Mage girl, don't do anything stupid or three young heads will before your eyes" declared Lilith with a face full of happiness.

 

Such bizarre nature of the enemy made the timid Mage Sarah lose her consciousness and she fell down. The archer also unconscious from being impaled on the tree. The same fate for the remaining three, who lost consciousness because of lack of oxygen due to choking.

 

"I DID IT!! Miss Lilith, I did it!!!" suddenly Isabelle excitedly jumped from the ground and with shining eyes looked at Lilith, ignoring the five unconscious people and the grim burn mark on her palm.