The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 27

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

Chapter 27
Ferdi was not a born prodigy like Ludian.
Where Ludian possessed a powerful Ability and specialized in wielding it, Ferdi distinguished himself in academic research and Ability theory instead.
This was partly because Ferdi’s Madness Curse was more severe than others’.
He could only use about half the Ability that Ludian could access.
Which meant that Ferdi’s current level of Ability control was the result of his own blood-soaked effort.
And that, in turn, meant he was best equipped to teach Thiel how to use and wield her Ability properly.
“Imagination?”
“Yes. Picture yourself using your Ability correctly.”
Ferdi glanced at the flame still dancing in Ludian’s palm, then opened and closed his hands lightly.
And then—
Whoosh!!
A massive column of flame erupted from Ferdi’s hands.
It was a pillar of fire every bit as enormous as Ludian’s. Thiel’s eyes widened.
“Keep imagining. Don’t stop.”
Ferdi’s gentle voice settled into her ears.
The flame pillars surged as if to swallow the boy whole. A few strands of hair that escaped his forehead whipped helplessly in the firestorm and wind.
Soon the column rising from his palms began to take shape.
It shot upward as if to pierce through the open ceiling of the Training Ground, towering even higher than Ludian’s as it roared.
“Imagine what I want to do.”
The flames shifted in time with Ferdi’s murmur.
As if recognizing its master, the pillar wrapped swiftly around Ferdi, burning fiercely to keep anything from approaching nearby.
“That crazy bastard—!”
“Ah!”
Ludian, startled by the intensity, rushed forward, scooped Thiel into his arms, and stepped back.
Thiel stared transfixed at the boy burning within the flames.
For a moment, a gap opened between the fires, and through it Ferdi’s face appeared. It was an extraordinary display of power. But….
‘Something’s wrong.’
Ferdi’s face was deathly pale. As if he were about to be consumed by the very flames.
Or as if he had already been consumed.
Not long after, the flames grew fiercer still.
Ludian, still clutching Thiel, hurled curses at Ferdi.
“You mad fool! Stop it now! You scared the girl! And you don’t even realize the state you’re in?”
“…Oh, right.”
I promised to teach Thiel about her Ability, didn’t I? Ferdi murmured, nodding slowly.
Ludian’s teeth ground together.
Held in Ludian’s arms, Thiel watched Ferdi with worried eyes.
Something was wrong with Ferdi.
And Ludian seemed to recognize it.
Yet Ferdi himself appeared not to notice as the flames burned ever brighter.
“I said stop!”
But Ferdi remained oblivious to the cry, as if he couldn’t hear it.
Unlike Ludian’s flames, the fire now roiling through the entire Training Ground felt genuinely threatening to Thiel.
It was no longer using his Ability—it was consuming him! Thiel gripped Ludian’s collar tightly.
“Brother, brother!”
“Yeah, damn it! I knew this would happen.”
Ludian set Thiel down in a safe corner and cursed bitterly.
That idiot’s completely lost it.
“Stay here. Don’t move. If you do, you’ll get hurt.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Absolutely. Don’t move.”
After impressing this upon her several times, the boy turned from Thiel and summoned flame into his palm.
A fire matching Ferdi’s size blazed to life. Ludian shaped the flames into a sword.
“This is strange. He doesn’t usually lose control like this….”
All members of the Asterian family suffer from the Madness Curse.
Among them, Ferdi was the most afflicted. He possessed a naturally powerful Ability, but his Madness Curse prevented him from using more than a certain amount of it.
But not like this! The Ability he was using now was only a tenth of what he truly possessed.
Ludian and Ferdi had wielded their Abilities together for a very long time.
Ludian knew Ferdi’s condition well.
He was not weak enough to lose control so easily over this much.
“But why the hell is this happening now…. Damn it, Ferdi!”
Ludian hurled more oaths as he threw himself into the raging inferno.
Watching, Thiel gasped.
Ludian plunged into the flames and drove his sword into the very heart of Ferdi’s fire. The two flames crashed head-on, and a massive explosion tore through the air.
Boom!!!!
Billowing smoke engulfed the entire Training Ground.
Thiel coughed, squinting through the haze.
‘Is it over?’
But Ferdi’s flames showed no sign of abating.
Instead, Ludian lay sprawled on the ground, wounded. Thiel’s eyes flew open.
“No! Snap out of it, Ferdi! Get a grip!”
Ludian coughed and shouted. If you let it consume you, it’s over. Snap out of it! His voice scattered and disappeared into the smoke.
Instinctively, Thiel understood that Ferdi was now in grave danger.
Ferdi was in danger.
‘He’s going to be consumed.’
The flames had started in Ferdi’s hands, yet they had spread beyond his control.
How had it come to this?
I only wanted to learn an Ability.
It felt as though all of this—all of it—had happened because she’d asked to learn.
A stone-heavy weight of guilt crushed down on her fragile chest.
Thiel wished desperately to turn back time.
To before Ferdi was consumed by his own flames.
No—to before she had asked him to teach her….
In that moment,
[Jump in, little one. Jump in.]
[You can save him….]
Voices of unknown origin whispered to Thiel.
Thiel’s eyes trembled as she looked between Ferdi and Ludian, then pressed her lips firmly together.
Someone was telling her. That she could save him.
That only she could calm him.
Thiel knew nothing of the Madness Curse that afflicted the members of Asterian and Nestian….
“Ferdi!”
But she knew one thing: Ferdi was in danger.
So Thiel, without hesitation, ran through the smoke and into the flames.
Her trembling eyes grew steady, fixing on Ferdi with unwavering clarity.
“Thiel, don’t!”
Ludian rushed to stop her, but he was too late by a step.
Thiel stood before Ferdi, on the very edge of his rampage.
“…Thiel.”
Ferdi’s lips moved soundlessly as he spoke her name.
Thiel nodded and stepped forward.
“Don’t come near. You’ll get hurt….”
“I won’t get hurt.”
She had known from the start.
Ferdi and Ludian would never harm her.
This boy before her was kind enough to warm her cold hands even in his rage—that much she was certain of.
In that instant, the endless flames parted, opening a path for her.
Thiel advanced without hesitation and embraced Ferdi.
And she remembered. That sensation from the Basement.
Herself crying, and Cassius calling out as if to soothe her. And….
A light that had wrapped her whole body in warmth.
I can do it.
If that wasn’t a dream, then surely—
As she whispered, Thiel’s two hands shimmered with golden light.
Golden threads of radiance streamed from her small palms, rippling like water.
Then two small Golden Fish darted out, spiraling around Ferdi and Thiel as they swam.
The fish, brimming with light, swam as if through the columns of flame themselves—as if through currents of water—and began gradually to grow.
“Thiel, you—!”
The small golden fish had grown now into creatures vaster than the flames Ludian and Ferdi had summoned, swimming through the Training Ground.
And at that moment—
The threads of light flowing from Thiel’s hands, and the vast luminous fish formed from that light, enfolded Ferdi in warmth and swam out beyond the Training Ground, rippling like water itself.
The entire Asterian Mansion shimmered with warm light.
Then the roaring flames began to subside, and subside, until they faded away entirely.
Focus slowly returned to Ferdi’s clouded eyes.
Ferdi saw Thiel cradled in his arms and his expression shifted to shock.
Then, realizing why she was there in his embrace, his eyes flew wide.
“Thiel!!”
Ludian and Ferdi cried out at once.
Ferdi clutched Thiel’s small form as if she might shatter or drift away, while Ludian rushed over to check her condition.
“Thiel!!”
Not long after, Cassius and Alpheus, having heard the news, opened the Training Ground doors and stepped inside.
By the time they arrived, Thiel’s light had already spread across the entire Asterian Estate.

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