"…" Corren's eyes focused on the Hero's face or at least what remained of it.
Cael met his gaze with an equally cold one, the red color of his pupils glowed and moved as if alive. His skin returned to its charred color and wooden texture now that the concealment was off.
"Urp…" Elyra's face had a green tinge to it.
Her reaction was understandable as He couldn't bear looking at his own reflection, yet Corren stared coldly letting no emotions appear on his face which didn't sit right with Cael. He almost wished that he would be the same as everyone else and be disgusted.
'And what's up with the regretful look he let slip for a second…'
He was used to outright rejection.
They stared at each other for a long moment.
And Cael had enough, he raised his hand to put on the mas—
"Don't be ashamed of it, Arlen." Corren gripped Cael's wrist with considerable force.
"I made peace with it…" Cael looked down at his gloveless hand, he lied.
"Yet it's still unsightly." Shaking his wrist out of Corren's grip he hid his face.
"That's how a non-acclimated person would react." He pointed his thumb at Elyra.
"Understood…" Lowering his hand Corren stared at the mask some more and let out a sigh.
"I am truly sorry." He lowered his head slightly as an apology.
"Raise your head. Those scars are nothing but scars… The curse has rendered me incapable of fighting at my full might."
"Has your injuries not healed at all?"
"What I'm going to say cannot leave this place." The Hero's chilling voice snapped Elyra out of her nausea and both her and Corren locked their eyes on him.
"Understood." Corren did not hesitate with his answer.
"…I'll do whatever you say." And Elyra looked a bit confused.
"I can't heal nor can I be healed. It has been more than a week since I defeated the world wound, not a single wound healed even with my constitution. I tried all the potions I had in my disposal, nothing. Even the Priestess was not able to heal me…" Their faces darkened yet it was not the reaction Cael expected.
'So they knew that already huh.'
"What is the extent of your injuries? I have noticed you relying only on your right leg to jump onto the podium."
'He noticed that!? He's too sharp. Coming to see him first was the right choice. He would have known if I changed my style overnight…'
"You are correct. All of my body suffered significant damage but my left leg and right arm took the brunt of it, messing with my center of gravity." Cael's right arm was not that damaged however it was the perfect excuse to continue being left handed.
"I see… Has your vitality and magic been affected as well?" He seemed to be calculating something as he raised his hand to his chin.
"My stamina has been reduced by half, as for my magic…" Cael knew that a question about his magic would come up and he was prepared.
"I am unable to call my flames."
"WHAT!" Elyra's silence was broken by the unbelievable proclamation, the Hero was synonymous with the sun and its flame. If he were to lose it he could hardly be called a Hero.
"It is unbelievable to think that the Worldwound is capable of such a thing… What would happen if you tried to call the flames?"
Cael raised the palm of his hand and tensed it.
Vile darkness seeped from his finger tips, it flowed and wriggled in a disgusting dance then it stopped.
Corren and Elyra froze, they held their breath and a cold sweat appeared on their temples.
A flame appeared, its edge black and its color a deep purple, it was weak struggling to stay alight as if being devoured by the darkness—the opposite of Arlen's pure white flames.
It was not the warm and comforting flame known to them, it was suffocating, disgusting, alien.
It weakened, the darkness growing thicker, deeper, darker, even more menacing.
And before the small purple-black flame was completely consumed he closed his hand into a fist making the darkness disappear.
A moment passed in silence, neither of the two wanting to break it.
"…What was that?" Finally able to breathe normally Elyra asked.
"Every time I summon my mana that darkness consumes its majority and what little fire I can produce is reminiscent of the dark flame that cursed me."
"Is that the reason for making us swear secrecy?" Corren's question cut to the chase.
"What's a Hero without his flames?"
The sister's jaw clenched; she was angered by something that Cael didn't understand.
"I want—No, I need to regain my strength. And to do such a thing I would have to change my approach. The year I spent with Cael allowed me to witness his extraordinary ability." Tooting his own horn made Cael cringe in silence but it was something Arlen would say.
"He was weaker than me in both magical and physical might, yet he was able to not only catch up but rival me and it's all due to his precision. I want you, teacher, to help me in acquiring such killing precision." This was the only way Cael could think of to not attract suspicion.
'I'm the greatest aren't I? Ugh…'
"The Sun's style that I taught you is precise in its own right however it needs explosive strength… An assassin's precision relies on the enemy's weakness and the fact that the job needs to be finished in one strike." He considered Cael's words carefully.
'So he knows of me? I wonder how good of an assassin I was if so many people knew that already…'
"I see your point, yet I would like to see the extent of the damage for myself." He stood up from his desk and headed for the door. "Follow me to the private arena."
***
Cael and Elyra followed behind Corren who headed to his personal arena.
'I'm glad that little stunt of mine worked but that darkness was deeper than usual, has my affinity to darkness increased?'
Everyone is born with their own affinities to a different number of elements, Cael is most compatible with light and darkness; although opposite from each other there are those like Cael who possess both, not all of them could cast illusion magic which mainly deals with manipulating reflections and shadows. The amount of precision it takes to even change the color of one's hair is mind breaking, you would have to identify and reflect only the desired color.
Manipulating darkness and light comes as naturally to Cael as breathing with his mastery over the two being almost instinctual, summoning water which he had no affinity to was like squeezing blood from a stone. And something like fire that he had a small affinity to took all of his strength just to summon that pathetic flame he used to fool Corren and Elyra.
Arlen's affinity is in light and fire that allow him to cast the Hero's holy flames but unlike all the other combined elements, it could only be cast by the Hero and the Priest alone. Their mana capacity was like an ocean.
Magic is categorised into main, sub and combined elements, the higher the affinity the stronger the magic and with mastery comes greater range and options allowing someone with a water affinity to cast ice and if said master happened to also have an affinity to the earth they would be able to combine the two into plant based magic.
The main elements are Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light and Darkness. The sub categories and combinations are endless from ice and lightning to illusions and weather manipulation, it depends on the person's ability.
There's no strongest element as they're all equal; it's all down to the users.
If a fire mage with a higher affinity to fire than a water mage's affinity to water were to fight, the fire mage would win due to the magic's might and the mage's mana. However, if that same water mage was a master and was able to cast ice magic the tables would turn.
No one can claim to be the strongest in a magic battle due to this delicate balance between being gifted at birth and mastery. No one other than the Hero of course.
'Let's hope that this boost in strength is a boon and nothing ominous…'