By this point in his new life, Orion could honestly say he was used to violence. It had been quite a shock at first, but over the years, he’d come to see that it was just a part of life here in Cyril.

  It wasn’t something he sought, no, but he had been in danger enough times to know that sometimes the only way to protect yourself was to apply a judicious amount of said violence.

  He was still staring in shock as he watched the first real duel of his life.

  Seraphina used more power in an instant to punish the harpy than what was being used throughout the entire naval battle, but that had been so sudden and one-sided that it had been easy to compartmentalize as something different, a freak event.

  What his mother and Unda were throwing around was maybe less awe-inspiring, but it felt much closer to him, so he could see just how much skill and power they both wielded.

  Purple winds howled across the deck, knocking anyone foolish enough to come near unconscious, but neither duelist paid any attention to those caught in their fight’s aftershocks.

  Unda flickered all around, appearing and disappearing in an instant, materializing only long enough to send blades of darkness toward Asteria, whose hands glowed with pure silver and batted away any attempt to harm her, uncaring that when those blades missed, they carved through wood and steel as if they were butter.

  Orion ducked, shrinking his Light Shield just enough so that one of those blades sailed harmlessly over his head.

  Luckily, his mother’s opponent didn’t seem interested in attacking him or Ophelia, mainly because one strike from her would be enough to kill them, and she was there to kidnap the poor girl.

  I don’t like relying on her mercy, but there’s not much I can do. They are fighting so fast that anything I try is just as likely to hinder Mom.

  He was still taking shots at any pirate who looked his way, but most of his focus was on keeping his shield strong.

  Surprisingly, his companion wasn’t as nervous as he was. “Give it to her!” Ophelia yelled, muffled behind the hand he was pressing against her mouth.

  “I preferred you when you were trembling and pretending to be lovesick,” he muttered, and Ophelia stiffened briefly before shrugging.

  A wet, disgusting feeling on his palm forced him to let her go, and he wrinkled his nose. “Was licking me necessary?”

  “I wouldn’t have had to do that if you weren’t suffocating me,” she grinned, not at all appearing like someone who had endured such suffering.

  Before he could snipe back with something, a flash of darkness made him drop to the ground, and he felt his shield crack as the knife that had nearly skewered him skittered off its surface.

  That quickly brought the mood down to earth, and he spent the next few minutes watching his mother duel with the shadowy assassin.

  Unda seemed to be wearing some sort of face covering under her nose, which Orion suspected filtered the air for harmful substances, but that didn’t mean it was enough to face off against a potioneer of Asteria’s caliber.

  But then again, she doesn’t need to filter everything forever. Having it work for a few minutes is enough.

  The way she bent bonelessly under flashes of silver only heightened his opinion of her skills, though he would have preferred it not to be the case.

  Still, the battle had a very clear direction. Although Unda was avoiding most attacks, Asteria was still controlling the flow, forcing her to keep moving lest she get pinned down and torn apart.

  That wasn’t a mystery to anyone watching, and it seemed as if Unda finally had enough. After disappearing once more to avoid being showered in a very dangerous-looking black goo that Asteria had conjured out of thin air, she didn’t reappear for several long moments.

  Without even needing [Verification Principle]’s input, Orion knew what was about to happen. He cast a second shield over his current one, overpowering it by running it through one of his last crystals enough times to cause real-time degradation.

  It was a considerable waste, given that each crystal typically lasted him nearly fifty spells, but he didn’t hesitate to do it. His life was worth so much more.

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  He was vindicated when Unda reappeared above him, knife poised to strike down.

  Time slowed. Data streamed through Orion’s mind. He could see how her skills resembled the Shadow Wolves in principle, though executed at a much higher level, and with such finesse that what had been a simple concept became a truly dangerous ability.

  Asteria was already reacting, the poison molecules in the air activating at her unseen command and beginning to converge on Unda, but it was too late. She would die, but so would he.

  Everyone involved knew that much. It was simply impossible for a tier-one mage like him to resist the signature skill of a tier-three warrior.

  That was, unless that same mage could tailor his response precisely to counter that skill. But that was ridiculous. It would require much more than a few minutes of observation, even for those at the same level as Unda, let alone for someone as inexperienced as him.

  And yet.

  And yet, the moment the dark blade touched the secondary shield, Orion allowed the supercharged mana to run wild, at least in one direction.

  Darkness mana formed Ulma’s skill. It was layered with a deep understanding of its behavior, made solid and dangerous by her intent and the immense power poured into the construct.

  It would never break against pure light, nor would it break against Light Mana, at least not in the quantities Orion could summon.

  But he only needed a moment. He was in the most dangerous game of chicken possible, and just had to give Unda pause, making her course of action impossible.

  The Light Shield burst with the full power of his understanding of electromagnetic physics, designed to resemble the most perilous cosmic event humans had ever observed.

  Comparing this to a gamma-ray burst is like saying that a single electron is the sun, but it doesn’t matter as long as it works. I just needed a good template.

  The concentrated might of the Light Shield, combined with his knowledge of crystal refraction and lasers, all came together to create the most dangerous weapon Orion could think of to scare Unda away.

  The mana had just started to collapse inward, the Light Shield becoming incredibly bright, and she disappeared.

  Whether because she had realized the very real danger she was in, because she never intended to actually kill him and it was all just a ruse, or because his mother’s spell had finally come together, turning a dangerous haze into a deadly field, it didn’t matter. She was gone, and Orion now held an extremely dangerous spell in his hands. If he allowed it to go off, it would obliterate a large part of the ship’s deck, given his angle.

  That would be very bad for his continued survival, and considering the things that were supposedly lurking in the river’s depths, it might even be worse than letting himself be skewered by Unda.

  I cannot hold it. I need to aim it.

  The mana was simply too wild. In his haste to give it form, he’d sped past reckless and entered the territory of suicidal.

  Still, Orion had to act, so he did his best to add an addendum to his calculations, aiming to turn what was essentially a more deadly laser than his usual into a wave of light, hoping that by widening the area, he would weaken the magic enough to survive it.

  It was too late. The spell had already fully taken shape, and he could feel it slipping out of his control.

  As a final desperate attempt, Orion turned to the basics and simply aimed upward, feeling his muscles burn as he forced himself to move.

  Time started rushing again, and the world became light.

  Things happened around him. He heard many people shouting, some in pain, others in despair. Mana swirled all around him, a familiar kind he knew belonged to his mother.

  Someone put their arms around him, too small to be Asteria, and did something to shield him from the backlash.

  By the time Orion regained consciousness, everything was quiet on the ship. The chaos of the battle had long passed, and he could hear distant caws of birds circling overhead.

  His head pounded fiercely, but a comforting warmth was spreading from his arms, where he could feel two hands touching him.

  When that warmth finally reached his head and the pounding began to fade, he was able to slowly open his eyes.

  As expected, even the soft sunlight filtering through the overcast sky was enough to cause pain, but he forced himself to blink away the discomfort. I have to find out what’s going on.

  “Slow down. It’s already over,” a soft voice murmured, and it took Orion a moment to realize it was his mother’s.

  Damn. I must be more injured than I thought.

  Despite wanting to know what had happened, he forced himself to obey the commands, breathing in until his headache finally subsided, and only then trying to open his eyes again.

  His long, white lashes fluttered as he adjusted to the light, this time successfully. Then things began to come into focus, and he realized that even with the clouds, the light was still too dim.

  “How long has it been?” He croaked, his throat sore.

  “Four hours,” his mother answered again from above him.

  Orion found it curious that she wasn’t the one holding him, but the warmth coming from the person holding him was too soothing for him to care.

  Gathering his strength, he finally turned his neck enough to see them in his field of vision and found Ophelia there, but surprisingly, her hair was no longer the dark locks he’d known; instead, it was a deep purple, as were her eyes.

  She smiled awkwardly down at him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to deceive you.”

  Rolling his eyes was probably the wrong thing to do in his condition, but he felt it was necessary to show just how little he’d bought her act.

  “Alright, maybe I’m not a very good actor. Father told me to keep the facade up until I got to Valderun, but I don’t think it’s necessary at this point.” Ophelia sighed, though the small smile she wore told Orion she wasn’t that broken up about it.

  Considering how thin her cover had worn over the days they spent together, it was surprising she had kept it up this long. Still, the change in her appearance was unexpected.

  “What happened? I remember aiming my spell away from anyone, and then I passed out.”

  There was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that he recognized as a System prompt, but he held it back for now. First information, then rewards.

  “We won,” Ophelia told him. “Your mother managed to force the assassin to retreat, and with her gone, the pirates couldn’t put up much of a fight.”

  “That was a mighty impressive spell, lad," an aged voice grumbled, and Captain Aconite came into sight, hobbling but whole.

  The last time Orion saw him, he was fighting the pirate Meten, but it looked like he had won, judging by the confident way he carried himself.

  “A very reckless one,” Asteria cut in. “I understand you didn’t expect the assassin to attack you, moonbeam, but you almost killed yourself with that. I have no idea how you managed to summon such a dense concentration of Light Mana atop the Belt, but you will not do that again. You were very lucky that Ophelia was here to save you from the backlash, or you might have given yourself worse mana burn.”

  “Mana burn?” He croaked, still feeling out of sorts.

  “It’s not something young mages usually have to worry about,” Asteria sighed. “But I guess I’ll need to explain the dangers to you, since you somehow managed to cast a tier two spell.”

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