Valeria's surprise was tremendous. How was it possible that this man, with that body and that level of strength, was a Scholar? Sigmund's story was that he had been the mixed-blood son of high-ranking Legionaries with good wealth. His parents, far from rejecting him, helped him in every way possible, loving him for being their son, not for the type of person he might become. Sigmund ended up being a Combat Scholar, a pioneer in new theories of strength augmentation for non-Legionary people.

  Sigmund had a theory of bodily modification, which was a complex system of injections and fortification at the bone level with liquids formed by a mixture of mana cores. This, besides being extremely painful—even attenuated by Cognis—was very expensive. Sigmund was practically a walking treasure. Having mana bones endowed their users with a tremendous amount of available mana, which could be modified with Cognis to achieve bodily fortification as external armor or fortification of muscles and tendons, allowing training sessions that bordered on torture. Furthermore, it was necessary to consume vitality potions to solve the organism's rejection of a foreign body like mana bones and also to compensate for the pain after exercise sessions.

  Sigmund was affectionately called "Captain" because this simple Scholar was capable of defeating all the Captain-rank Legionaries of the regiment and even some Major-rank ones, even when they used their maximum Ether channeling. Sigmund had earned the right to be there due to his strength, and thanks to Andros, he could remain at the base because of the special treatment Andros enjoyed with high command. Therefore, no one would tell Sigmund to leave, as he was backed by Andros, and this old man could even cause problems for a Lieutenant Colonel in battle.

  For Valeria, this was something that completely shattered her view of the world as she knew it. Valeria, who prided herself on the fact that no one in the Battle Devotees could last a round with her and could even give battle to many Legionary Captains from the capital, knew that if she were to receive a hit from Sigmund, even with her regeneration, her defeat would be instantaneous.

  Many questions arose in Valeria's mind: “Weren't Devotees just simple bookworms?” “How did someone who had many more obstacles than me achieve so much?” “Are there more Scholars as strong or stronger than this gentleman?”

  Andros watched Valeria with many doubts and knew what kind of questions they were, because previous Devotees on missions had asked them, but probably with a tone of disgust, seeing a weirdo who shouldn't exist.

  Andros spoke to Valeria: —Are you thinking about how this is possible?

  Valeria, with a look of astonishment as if her mind had been read, nodded.

  Andros continued: —Sigmund's father was a renowned Major in the city and his mother was a former General Guardian. Knowing his condition, they sold everything they had to make Sigmund's life the best possible so that he wouldn't suffer discrimination from people after they died. Obviously, no one would say anything to the son of Freya, the Wall of Haniel, besides the fact that Sigmund is a genius Scholar with his battle magic theories.

  Valeria expressed with some sorrow: —Then what happened with Captain Sigmund is like the story of the Flower of Kadul.

  Andros asked her to tell more about that. —It is a story of a place called Kadul that my master told me, with very sterile land where flowers that managed to grow never bloomed, until one full moon night in the field in front of a chapel, the only flower left bloomed with such brilliance that the sister who saw it was illuminated by the movement of its petals as it bloomed, and that was etched in her mind in such a way that she created the Flower of Kadul fighting style —explained Valeria.

  She remained silent for a moment, but in her mind she thought: “I always felt like a Flower of Kadul, a flower that blooms in difficulty… but I think there will always be a brighter flower,” looking at old Sigmund with an expression that her prejudices were breaking.

  Then Andros, Valeria, and Sigmund set off towards the vicinity of the town of Peseggo, where a Superior Mana Beast had been sighted. During the journey, Valeria and Sigmund conversed, although it seemed more like an interview by Valeria of Sigmund about how he had managed to become so strong. Sigmund told her that when he decided to dedicate himself to fighting, his mother had trained him harder than any Legionary, even hiring a Devotee of Grace to increase his post-training regeneration level.

  —There were years when I doubted my mother was my mother, because when training me she transformed into a demon —said Sigmund with a laugh at the end—. Only at 25 years old could I land a hit on my mother in a practice duel, and that was with her missing an arm!

  Andros commented spontaneously: —I would have liked to meet her in her prime.

  Sigmund replied: —Her too, although I don't think you could have beaten her in a duel without your great sword —ending the sentence with a hint of mockery about Andros's power.

  Andros, unperturbed, replied: —Don't forget that before Damocles I was already the best in the entire academy.

  The conversation continued, and Sigmund explained the functioning of his fighting system, which is a variation of the ability that Battle Scholars have. They need large amounts of mana because, as Scholars, they cannot channel mana naturally, but he has large reserves in his bone structure, plus he optimizes training.

  In the conversation, Sigmund asked what type of mana beasts they were going to hunt. Andros replied with a calm tone:

  —A serpent.

  Sigmund's face changed to a serious expression, with eyes full of fury.

  —Of how many heads? —he asked.

  Andros, with a deceiving tone, said:

  —Only two.

  Sigmund relaxed visibly. Valeria asked him why he had reacted like that. Sigmund told her that a seven-headed serpent had taken an arm from his mother. That was a beast above the superior level, a Unique Rank Mana Beast, the "Peseggo Peach Serpent."

  The name came from the fact that each of its heads was shaped like a peach and looked like a tree when it extended its seven heads. His mother had told him that each head possessed unmatched speed and strength; the most dangerous thing was the venom of its heads, one had such an effect that not even sacred healing could neutralize it. Furthermore, one of those 7 heads had the function of healing the other heads.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Sigmund said with contained rage:

  —That vermin took one of my mother's arms, but my mother didn't leave empty-handed; she cut off one of its heads, the healing one.

  He added, with a nuance of pride:

  —And boy have I put it to good use; without it, I wouldn't have been able to achieve my current body composition.

  Valeria understood the deep pain for his mother, but also the immense pride he felt for her.

  Upon arriving at Peseggo, Sigmund pointed out:

  —I come periodically to Peseggo to clear out serpents and look for clues of that damned snake. It strikes me as strange that a Superior Mana Beast has been sighted there; perhaps it experienced sudden growth due to an energy release or something similar.

  Behind the peach fields near some ravines, they found a sector of high primordial energy density. There were a few lesser beasts in the form of dark serpents, about 2 meters long and a thickness similar to a building pillar. Andros asked Valeria:

  —Hey, nun, think you can handle those beasts?

  Valeria replied:

  —Of course, Major.

  Sigmund shouted to her:

  —Don't let them bite you, because they will paralyze you for several minutes!

  Valeria unsheathed two very thin double-edged swords and, with a kind of dance where she attracted the beasts to where she was, performed cuts in multiple directions without moving her feet from a fixed point. Occasionally, she stayed on one foot, almost in a balancing posture, delivering strangely irregular and hard-to-predict strikes. Sigmund and Andros watched her attentively.

  After Valeria finished off the lesser mana beasts, Andros told her:

  —Do you see that peach tree over there? It must be burned so the mana beasts don't increase and you don't consume its fruits, because they have an almost deadly mana concentration… except for that crazy old man.

  After burning it and Sigmund keeping a couple of dark black peaches, Andros asked Sigmund in a low voice if he would tell the girl or not.

  —It's not necessary —replied Sigmund—, but I will give her some advice.

  Sigmund spoke with Valeria and told her that he had studied many fighting styles and realized that hers was the Flower of Kadul style. Valeria was surprised that he recognized it. Sigmund asked her:

  —But you are still missing the last petals, aren't you?

  And he began to give her some advice, with the tone of a father to a daughter, to unlock the last 8 petals. Sigmund knew this fighting style very well because his mother, Freya the Wall, used it. She had earned the right to learn it by emerging victorious in a tournament of the sacred knight family. This style consisted of imitating the 16-petal Flower of Kadul, which were learned in order: first the 4 (left, right, up, and down), then 4 upper or lower oblique petals were added until unlocking the 8 petals. The most complex stage was the final one, because one had to go directly from 8 to 16, to fill all the empty spaces, but being such a big step it wasn't easy, and many stayed at 8 petals.

  Sigmund had been surprised that an 18-19 year old girl already mastered the 8 petals. What he didn't tell her is that his fighting style was also the Flower of Kadul, but it was adapted for men who don't have as much flexibility in their legs, since these represent the stem and roots of the flower, which must move with the wind. But Sigmund's style wasn't weak for that reason, because he had learned from his mother that he could still perform the 16-petal style with only one arm in a self-taught way, which had led Sigmund to think that this style can adapt to anything.

  The next morning they returned to the excursion, after defeating a few minor beasts and some mid-level ones. They reached the end of a ravine, a place where there were no mana beasts. Andros signaled in silence and pointed to a cave.

  —That must be where the superior beast is, there are no more animals nearby; normally these beasts eat and hunt everything around them —said Andros to Valeria—. Get ready, follow my orders, and don't get too close. If it's a two-headed serpent, we don't know what kind of power they have.

  They entered the cave, which was a circular tunnel with dim light, thanks to the cave spores. The walls were somewhat damp. The atmosphere was tense, only their footsteps echoing through the cave could be heard. At the end of the tunnel, a space open to the sky, with a great two-headed serpent about 15 meters long, black with some yellow scales. One head had green eyes and the other, yellow eyes. The serpent reacted quickly. Sigmund fixed his feet on the ground and began to move mana, creating armor. The serpent attacked them with its tail, which, like a war mace, impacted with the force of a cannon shot. Sigmund defended with his mana-coated fists, while Andros, with his sword Caliburn, returned the attacks to measure the strength. However, the blows didn't seem to cause it damage.

  Between the tail attacks, the green-eyed head charged at Andros. He defended with his magenta sword, but the beast managed to land a hit that threw him several meters back. Then, the serpent headed towards Sigmund and Valeria, who already had their swords ready. But Sigmund ordered her:

  —Stay back!

  When it struck Sigmund, he moved his hands with amazing speed in six directions, creating a sort of mana shield, stopping the head, which crashed against his fists as if it were a liquid hitting a wall.

  Sigmund shouted to Andros:

  —The head changes state!

  Andros, who was already returning to combat, understood what happened: his sword had cut the head, but it had rejoined and hit him like a jet of water, unavoidable. Regardless of the cut, he would end up hit by it.

  Andros threw himself again against the green-eyed head, maximizing the weight of his sword to generate a wide kinetic impact wave area. However, the yellow-eyed head crossed in defense of the other; that head deformed like an elastic substance and reflected part of his attack, making him retreat. Now it was clear to them: the green-eyed head, being liquid, couldn't be cut, but was vulnerable to blunt blows of a larger area; the yellow-eyed one could resist any blunt blow and reflected it in proportion to the impact area.

  Andros activated a smoke bomb.

  —Sigmund, you who know about serpents, what plan do you have? —shouted Andros.

  Sigmund, channeling Cognis, sought a plan in his mind with the greatest possible speed.

  —We have to land two blows without pause —he articulated—. First, we attack the green head with a blunt blow, and before it reforms, we must cut the other head with a very fine strike. A delay of seconds would allow one head to protect the other.

  —I need you to cover me for about fifteen seconds to charge Damocles —added Andros, gripping his great sword while his armor vibrated to accumulate sufficient kinetic energy—. Entertain the heads, please!

  Valeria began to contain the green-eyed head, while Sigmund took charge of entertaining the other, acting with a synergy that seemed the fruit of years of practice. In a matter of seconds, Valeria realized that Sigmund also used the Flower of Kadul style, although in a different way, as he only employed six petals.

  Andros shouted:

  —Now!

  Valeria and Sigmund struck the yellow-eyed head with several quick cuts to its eyes to distract it. Andros released the seal of Damocles, and Sigmund took Valeria away from the two-headed serpent. Andros aimed with all his contained force at the green-eyed head, unleashing energy as if an entire castle were falling upon it. The impact moved rocks and raised a dense cloud of dust. When it dissipated, the green head lay melted like gelatin on the ground, and the other head, severed, was on the other side. Andros, with his sword sheathed again as if nothing had happened, watched the heads dissolve, common in superior mana beasts.

  Sigmund, now more relaxed, told Andros:

  —I never get tired of seeing that. But, how jealous are you that you never let anyone see that sword unsheathed?

  The cut had razed the entire crag, turning it practically into a field suitable for planting peaches. Sigmund collected the mana stones from each head.

  Valeria began:

  —Wow, this trip has been intere…!

  Andros moved faster than the wind and threw Valeria away. A black liquid covered part of the armor on his forearm and arm, which quickly began to evaporate. Andros expelled it with a pulse of Ether, leaving himself without protection on that arm.