Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 105

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 105
[Very well. Then let’s see the results of your progress, shall we?]
The door clicked shut, and the sound of claws scraping against stone echoed through the chamber. Raulus approached me directly, resting his snout atop my head with a satisfied thud.
[Yes. Now this feels like living. That tiny form was far too constraining.]
“Goodness. If you’re living like this, I feel like I might be dying instead.”
Soft, plush fur enveloped my back gently. Raulus, now expanded to his true size, breathed out a breath brimming with Holy Power that brushed against my ears. I reached up and scratched beneath his chin.
[Where did we leave off last time? We finished offensive techniques, didn’t we? Did we move on to defensive methods?]
“Yes. The technique for deflecting attacks.”
For nearly two years now, I had been learning how to manipulate Holy Power—how to command even the meager thread of it within my body with absolute precision. Of course, my body was hardly an adequate source of Holy Power, so I had to visit the Temple regularly, once a month, to replenish my reserves. There, surrounded by the Temple’s abundant Holy Power, Raulus would temporarily recover his true form, while I would fill my depleted body and train. A mutually beneficial arrangement.
[Let me think… what else haven’t we covered?]
“Hmm…”
Over these two years, I had learned quite a great deal from Raulus. How to deflect magical energy with Holy Power. How to conjure protective barriers around my body. How to imbue Holy Power—mere energy—with physical weight so it could strike with tangible force. How to sharpen it to a razor’s edge. And so much more. I would rather not dwell on those learning experiences. Raulus was absolutely not a good teacher. In truth, it would be fair to say I had largely taught myself through trial and error, rolling about on the ground in frustration.
Yet all that suffering was not in vain. By now, I had grown accustomed to manipulating the Holy Power within my body even outside the Temple. Creating footholds in empty air. Drawing objects toward me. Defending against magical energy that touched my skin—these things I could now accomplish on my own with relative ease.
Raulus leaped onto the small Altar at the side of the Prayer Chamber and murmured thoughtfully.
[I suppose summoning purification flames is still beyond your reach?]
“I’m not sure…”
I approached the Altar, offering an ambiguous smile. Among the various methods of wielding Holy Power as a weapon, summoning purification flames was undoubtedly the most difficult. Those bluish-silver flames that burned only the wicked—the most certain method of destroying dark magic.
I recalled how Auredhian had summoned flames vast enough to engulf the entire Imperial Palace, and my body trembled. Indeed, the one who possessed the mightiest Holy Power on earth operated on an entirely different scale. Now that I thought about it, dismissing that as merely “how absurd, to leave the Imperial Palace in such ruins!” was hardly the appropriate response.
What an extraordinary man I had captured back then…
[Child, focus.]
“Oh, yes. Right.”
At Raulus’s voice, I snapped back to attention. Eyes the same sky-blue as my own swept over me from top to bottom.
[Your mind seems to be wandering elsewhere.]
“My apologies. I’ll concentrate.”
The small wolf was normally treated with considerable disdain by me, but during “lessons” things were different. For one, his body was ten times larger, and within the Temple, Raulus emanated considerable Holy Power and an oppressive presence that made our usual bickering difficult.
[Then, shall we work on drawing out your inherent healing capacity?]
“My inherent healing capacity?”
[Yes. By filling the empty spaces within your body with Holy Power to enhance cellular regeneration.]
“Ah…”
[When that child was at your side, her infinite Holy Power naturally activated every cell in your body. But that applies only when she is the one in question.]
It was obvious who “that child” referred to. I recalled silver hair that gleamed like starlight and eyes of deep crimson-violet with a melancholy ache. Raulus continued speaking.
[Deflecting magical energy is certainly a good way to protect your body, but you must also learn to quickly purify any magic that does penetrate your defenses and repair the damage it causes.]
“Yes, of course.”
[You’re so obedient it’s refreshing. Like a cute little stone.]
Raulus’s Holy Power brushed gently through my hair. I laughed awkwardly.
“The way you say that makes me sound like some terrible rebel…”
[Well, you are rather irreverent.]
“That’s only because Lari is always scratching at my patience.”
[That’s precisely what irreverence looks like.]
I fell silent obediently. I gathered the cushions stacked on either side of the Prayer Chamber, knelt down, and sat with proper posture. Then Raulus’s voice continued.
[You must move the Holy Power within your body, so concentrate. You cannot use the ‘deflection’ method I taught you last time. If you do, one of your organs will be deflected right out of you. Of course, you cannot sharpen Holy Power like a blade either. Do you understand what I’m saying, little one?]
I was terrified. I squeezed my eyes shut preemptively. The most fundamental aspect of Holy Power training was sensing the flow of Holy Power filling one’s body. I could read others’ Holy Power with keen sensitivity, but perceiving the Holy Power circulating within my own body proved difficult. Because there was so little to perceive—it was pathetically weak.
What good is keen sensation when my basic stats are lacking? I sighed and began to sense the flow extending throughout my entire body in rhythm with my heartbeat.
Thump. Thump. With each faint pulse, I felt a weak flow of Holy Power. There were far too many parts my Holy Power could not reach. As the sparse, unfilled gaps extended throughout my body, they only multiplied. If magical energy infiltrated these empty spaces, I would perish.
From beyond my closed eyes, Raulus’s voice echoed like a whisper.
[Do not accept the Temple’s Holy Power. Fill one empty space using only the Holy Power within you.]
An empty space. I focused on the area near my heart, the vital point, and gathered the scattered Holy Power. Very slowly, something deep within my body rippled gently as it converged toward my center.
Thump. Thump—.
“…Ugh.”
My chest felt heavy. It grew increasingly burdensome as if being compressed. The sensation resembled something I had felt before. That is—two years ago. Those days in that land which had been hostile to me, when I had always absorbed the strongest Holy Power. I remembered that sensation vividly.
Despite the passage of considerable time, I recalled it clearly. The sensation of infusing vitality into each cell of my entire body. The feeling of the clearest, most refreshing Holy Power surging into my empty form in an instant, shimmering as it filled me. That overwhelming dizziness.
[…Yerenika!]
“Hah.”
Raulus called out to me sharply. He rarely called my name properly. I snapped back to awareness.
[I told you to concentrate. I said not to ‘deflect’.]
Raulus clicked his tongue and leaped down before me. His front paw, twice the size of my face, lightly brushed my head. Holy Power far denser and stronger than what I possessed flowed into me immediately.
[I must have taught you the sequence incorrectly. How troublesome. I trained you in an offensive manner, and now you’re turning spikes on your own body.]
“Ah….”
I looked down at my body in bewilderment. Raulus was right. I could feel spikes sprouting all over the Holy Power that had gathered near my heart.
[That is the path to suicide, little scrap. I told you to concentrate.]
“Good heavens.”
I had nearly taken a one-way trip to the underworld for a moment of distraction. It seemed the aftereffects of training Holy Power as a weapon against magical energy were manifesting like this. Raulus clicked his tongue.
[This won’t do. Practice with your fingernails or toenails instead.]
“F-fingernails…?”
[Places where it doesn’t matter if they break or deflect a little. My goodness, does that child still mean so much to you?]
“…?”
There was a considerable gap between the beginning and end of his words. I lifted my head in confusion to look at Raulus, then felt myself flinch involuntarily. I could feel my ears burning red.
“Please don’t read my heart….”
[I haven’t read anything. You were thinking so loudly that I heard it.]
This was absurd. How was I supposed to control the volume of my thoughts? I pressed my lips together firmly and straightened my posture again.
“I’ll try again. Again. This time I’ll really concentrate.”
Even if they were just fingernails, it would hurt if they were torn out. With that thought, my mind became sharp. Past or present, I hated pain!
* * *
When I emerged from the Prayer Chamber completely exhausted, the sun was already setting.
“Ah….”
Throughout the training, my body had barely moved a meter in radius, yet every ounce of energy had been drained from me. My forehead and lower back were damp with sweat.
“I’m dying….”
Even while in the Temple, I was in this state. I could barely walk a few steps before collapsing onto the Staircase at the Temple’s entrance. Manipulating Holy Power within my own body was twice as difficult as drawing it outward.
Since I had grown accustomed to sharpening Holy Power keenly, I had to pour more than ten times my usual concentration into making it dull enough to ensure it wouldn’t cut anything inside my body.
“Life is truly difficult.”
As I grumbled, Raulus—now shrunken once more—slipped onto my lap with a soft thud.
[You did well regardless. For a first attempt, that is. I’ve said it before, but you’re not without talent.]
“It’s just that my body can’t keep up, right?”
[You know me well.]
“Is this what a sickly prodigy looks like?”
[That’s going too far, dear.]
Raulus was cold and resolute. Tch. I scooped him into my arms and pushed myself upright once more. I’d felt the weight of their gazes upon me.
Lately, I’d been noticing an uptick in moments where I caught people whispering about me from various corners. This time, it was the Holy Knights training in the spacious grounds before the Temple. I shifted my steps toward the rear of the Temple and asked.
“What do you make of it, Raulus?”
[Make of what?]
“This strange situation.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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