Arthur and Pasta rocketed outside and immediately saw smoke coming up from the wall, and redirected their course.

BOOOOOOM

Another explosion was heard as people yelled and scrambled to where they needed to be. As they cleared the wall they saw the mages on top raining spells down below onto several dozen Alacryans, with mana barriers above them protecting them from the spells.

"Arthur," Pasta breathed out. "The Wall."

Arthur looked and saw a massive hole nearly the size of a house near the base. They had already blown away the outer layer, one more explosion and they would be inside where people actually worked.

"How in the hell did they do that?" Pasta thought out loud.

"I don't see any residual mana, so it can't be a spell or artifact. Could they have developed a bomb? Enough gun powder would make one hell of an explosion, same with nitroglycerin, but that would be dangerous to transport. Dynamite maybe?" Arthur thought as he tried to explain to himself how this happened.

"As good of a job as those conjurers are doing, how about we give them a hand before things get worse," Pasta suggested.

"Good idea," Arthur replied, as he had an idea. "I think they deserve a taste of their own medicine."

Focusing on the ground beneath the Alacryans Arthur began focusing earth and fire mana, his plan being to create a bomb of his own. However things didn't go as planned. The ground began to crack as red hot magma began pouring out.

"What the hell?" Pasta asked in confusion.

He looked to the wall, thinking some dwarves were at work, but after enhancing his vision they looked as confused as him.

"Arthur, any ideas on what's..." Pasta started, before he realized he ruled out a possibility.

He looked over to Arthur to see his face completely focused on the Alacryans below.

"That's your doing?" Pasta asked, although he was confident he was right.

"It would seem so. This is my first time so I'm a little confused right now," Arthur replied as the gears in his head turned.

He had never used magma magic before, and had never tried to use a spell like this. All of his spells, although powerful, were fairly simple and didn't require a lot of control to make the most of them.

"Should I make some golems?" He asked himself.

"At times like this I say, remember the kiss," Regis chimed in from the sanctuary. "Keep it simple stupid."

Arthur couldn't argue, since a battle was probably not the best place to experiment with anything complicated. Remembering his battle with Olfred, Arthur waved his hand, and a wave of magma quickly began overtaking the soldiers. He saw they were trying to escape, so Arthur created an eruption to block their path. Arthur began creating wave after wave of magma, as he kept missing several individuals. As he did this occasionally there were explosions as the magma set off the bombs, contributing to his difficulty of getting everyone. His control was nothing close to Olfred's, but it was good enough to get the job done. After a while all that remained were several domes created by mages hiding behind mana barriers, but soon enough they all collapsed, and everyone was dead.

"I think I need to request a magma mage to visit the sanctuary, I could use some training," Arthur thought.

"Hey, shouldn't they be called lava mages, since it's called lava after it comes out?" Regis asked.

"I don't think that's very important right now," Arthur replied.

"I think you should finally experiment with your mana some more first," Sylvie said, talking for the first time in days. "You might be able to do more."

"Consider me convinced. So how's your training going?" Arthur asked, happy to finally have heard from her.

"We'll talk about it after you get back. I want to try a few more things," Sylvie replied in a defeated tone.

"Alright, whenever you're ready," Arthur replied sympathetically.

"Nicely done," Pasta praised as they looked down on the lifeless burning battlefield.

"Yeah, but I wish we could have gotten ahold of whatever they used to make that hole in the wall," Arthur replied.

They both then looked at the wall and cringed at the sight of the hole.

"That'll take weeks, maybe months to repair," Pasta commented.

"Hmm, maybe not," Arthur replied as he had an idea. "Can you go down there and make sure there isn't anyone on the other side?"

"Sure," Pasta replied as he tried to figure out Arthur's plan, then flew back down.

As Pasta did that, Arthur began bringing forth more magma.

"Trodius said it should be completely clear, although who knows if he's right. The man is such a pain in the ass I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't actually know."

"Then I guess I'll just have to be careful then," Arthur replied as the temperature dropped and dark clouds formed overhead.

With a whip of his hand the magma began moving together in a wave towards the wall. Freezing rain began to fall, causing a cloud of steam to rise from the lava wave as it collided with the wall, filling the crater. The rain stepped up to a downpour, and all that could be seen through the steam was a faint orange glow. In a matter of minutes the glow was gone and the steam started to dissipate. In the end it wasn't very pretty, but it was a solid patch that saved potentially months of work for the repair teams.

"Well, at least they won't have a weak spot," Arthur commented as he looked down at the hardened magma. Even though it filled the crater it wasn't even and there was a trail of black stone leading back to the battlefield.

"Yeah, it does look like shit," Pasta commented as he cringed at the sight. "But considering this was your first time, let's just write it off as a learning experience." He then pulled back his spear as he held it in both hands, and focused wind mana into the blade. "I'll just help you clean it up."

Pasta shot down to the base of the wall at top speed. Once in striking range he swung his spear up at the angle of the wall, cutting off the excess stone with a blade of wind. The end result, the section was smooth and perfectly flush with the rest of the wall.

"Much better, thanks," Arthur said as he floated down. "Now let's get back on the other side, I want to make sure I didn't break through."

The two of them flew back up to the top of the wall, and were greeted by the cheers of ranged attackers up there. They waved back, and as they did they saw Jasmine standing there, then flew down to greet her.

"Hello Generals," she greeted with a small bow.

"Since when have I ever wanted you to call me General?" Arthur asked, sounding a little hurt.

She gave a small smile, then got close and gave him a hug. "Hey Arthur."

"Hey, what about me?" Pasta asked, sounding even more hurt.

"Uncle, I was just with you a few minutes ago," she replied coldly.

Pasta placed his hand over his heart. "Such a cold and hurtful niece I have."

Meanwhile Trodius Flamesworth was watching from behind a group of soldiers.

"He knows Jasmine too? I heard she was in his fathers party, but I had no idea they were even close. As aloof as she is, I wouldn't have guessed she was friendly with anyone outside of her party." Then a realization hit him. "That's why he seems out to get me! She's told him about how I kicked her out! I know what I did may have been a bit too much, but the Flamesworth name must be kept pure, I did what I had to do for the family." Trodius thought to himself, as he was starting to regret his choices.

He never feared Pasta, since they were family after all. So even after Trodius learned Jasmine had become his disciple, he knew he wouldn't ever do anything against house Flamesworth. Arthur however wasn't family, and he had earned a reputation of going after nobles that crossed him. House Graves for instance, both father and son received discomidations for acting against Arthur, resulting in Clive being brought off the front lines and placed on guard duty somewhere, where he couldn't earn any glory or honor for his family, while his father was removed from the war completely.

Knowing this Trodius shuttered at the possibilities Arthur could make happen to his family, all to avenge Jasmine. Trodius stepped out and began to approach them, hoping he could get Jasmine alone to talk to her, and hopefully convince her to make sure Arthur stayed away from the rest of house Flamesworth. Arthur had his back to him, while he was at Pasta's left as he approached. The three were talking when Jasmine and Trodius' eyes met. Her small smile disappeared instantly and she immediately walked to the edge of the wall away from the beast glades, and took a wind mana assisted jump down.

—————————————————————-

It only took about an hour to off load the supplies for the Wall, and load up the beast cores and beast parts that were brought back by the units operating in the beast glades. An hour after that they arrived at the mining town and filled the two designated cars while also delivering their supplies. The whole trip took three and a half days to complete, four when you take into consideration that they had to stay at an Inn in Kalberk, as they had missed the narrow window where the sanctuary teleportation gate was active.

They could have returned to the floating castle and stayed there, but that would have been a hassle to get rooms for everyone, as most of the unused beds and furniture were taken to the sanctuary and hadn't been replaced yet. Arthur did consider creating his own portal and taking everyone, but decided against it as he wanted to keep his aether arts on a need to know basis, and he wanted to respect the rules that he helped establish.

Everyone waited patiently in the hall outside the teleportation gate room for the window where the gate would be active. Arthur had already explained the situation to everyone after they arrived at the castle, explaining how they had to leave for a more secure location after the castle was discovered, and how they only used the castle as a go between to maintain appearances. He still kept most of the information about the sanctuary and the mission to himself, as there was no need to share any of that yet.

The entire time Jasmine kept out of her sister's sight, sitting behind some crates as Durden acted as a barrier if she were to walk passed. Not because she was scared of how she would react, but because just looking at her reminded her of their father, and stirred up a plethora of negative feelings she didn't want to direct towards her.

After close to an hour the gate activated, and Curtis and two guards walked through.

"Hello everyone, for those that don't know me, I'm Curtis Glayder. We'll be leaving as soon as I complete an inventory of all the supplies and personnel," Curtis announced.

"Curtis," Lilia said, drawing his attention to her.

Curtis' face lit up as he moved quickly to her. Once close enough he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground and he smashed his lips against her and spun her around.

"I missed you," Curtis said after putting her back on the ground and breaking the kiss.

"And I missed you, but don't you have some work to do?" Lilia reminded him.

"Sad but true," Curtis replied and pulled out a clip board. "Oh and look at this, I've got the personnel list," he said with a smile, then looked over the list for her name.

His smile soon dropped as he saw a problem. "Arthur, can you come over here?"

"What is it?"

"Why isn't Lilia's name on the list?" Curtis asked as he held up the list in the clipboard.

"What are you talking about?" Arthur questioned as he took the list and started to look it over.

"The rest of the twin horns are in there, but Lilia isn't."

Arthur scowled. "It must have been an error," Arthur replied as he took the pen and wrote her name on the bottom. "There, problem solved," he said as he handed the clipboard back, giving a known look.

Curtis saw this and immediately understood, this was the work of his father. Thankfully, in this case, Arthur held a high enough authority to undermine him, as this was his mission he requested her for, and he was given no restrictions on personnel.

Curtis and the guards proceeded through their lists, then led everyone through the gate. Those with an open mind and were paying attention looked upon the sanctuary with amazement and wonder as they could see this was beyond anything any known mage was capable of. The others just saw they were in a large cave with buildings, but remained silent as they did respect the council for choosing to live outside of the luxury they had in the castle.

"Excuse me everyone," Kathyln called out. "Please proceed away from the gate so there is room for the supplies. As soon as everyone is through the gate you'll be shown to your rooms."

"Kathyln!" Lunaris shouted as he ran to her. Once close enough he took her into a firm embrace. "I was so worried. You left without warning, all I learned was that you were summoned to the castle."

"I'm sorry," Kathyln replied as she returned the hug. "There wasn't time, Hester and I left in the middle of the night, the same day we received the summons."

"Meow," Ailuros called out, drawing attention to himself as he rubbed against Kathyln's face.

"Ailuros was worried too. Since he's never been here before he couldn't teleport to you," Lunaris said after they broke the hug and Kathyln began petting the black cat.

"I doubt he'd be able to teleport here anyway. This place has little to no mana, and only written communication scroll messages can come through," Kathyln explained.

"That explains why I couldn't reach you," Lunaris replied. He then looked around, and saw someone missing. "Where's Llyr?"

"Hunting. There's not much for him to do here, so he goes hunting the wild beasts that are right outside of town," Kathyln replied with a sad tone. "Through our bond, I can feel he's sad. He misses being outside, he can't even come into my room because there isn't a big enough opening for him to come in and out."

"Well where does he sleep?"

"On the roof of the building I live in. I helped him build a nest, but he still flies down to my window to try and get in." Kathyln sighed. "He's slept close by ever since he hatched, I guess he's having trouble adjusting."

—————————————————————-

Senyir and the other blacksmiths exited the gate and were in complete awe at the sight of the building that looked as though they were grown from the ground.

"Senyir."

Senyir looked in the direction she heard her name, and her face lit up.

"Aunt Hester!" She called out as she quickly walked to the elder mage and gave her loving hug.

Seeing this the other blacksmiths wandered off to examine a nearby building.

"I had no idea you were here. Father just said you and princess Kathyln received an urgent summons."

"After a Scythe made an attempt to kill General Leywin's family and another came to the castle, it was decided that everyone connected to the council was to be brought here for their safety," Hester replied, then gave her niece a curious look. "But what are you doing here?"

"According to General Leywin my men and I will be establishing a forge here," she replied proudly.

"Here? Why?"

"I don't know, but the General makes it sound very important whatever it is."

The two spoke a little longer before Curtis brought it all to an end.

"Excuse me," Curtis yelled out. Once it was clear he had everyone's attention he smiled as he gestured to Kathyln.

"All new comers please come with me and you will be shown to your rooms," Kathyln announced and started walking with Lunaris right beside her, and Curtis following atop Grawder with Lilia riding in front of him with his arms wrapped around her.

"Come," Hester said to Senyir. "I hope you don't mind, but I arranged for your room to be beside mine."

"That's perfectly fine, as long as my men are nearby," Senyir replied as she started walking.

"I expected as much. They'll be on the floor below us," Hester stated as she also walked.

As they started walking Hester noticed Pasta, and immediately felt a bit guilty as it had been years since they spoke. She opened her mouth to talk, but the words got caught in her throat as she saw Jasmine walking beside him.

"Jasmine?" Hester breathed out in shock.

"What? Jasmine? Where?" Senyir asked as she looked around.

But Hester didn't reply and began to power walk towards her other niece.

"Jasmine!"

Jasmine and Pasta turned around upon hearing her name. Jasmine instantly became uncomfortable as she saw her aunt and sister coming right for her.

"Go," Pasta said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll deal with them. I have some things to say to your Aunt Hester anyway."

Jasmine nodded and took off to catch up with the twin horns as Pasta stopped and turned around to face then.

"That's far enough you two," Pasta said with his arms crossed, an uncharacteristic seriousness in his voice.

"General please, that's my sister," Senyir said in a pleading tone.

"Uncle Pasta please, we need to speak with Jasmine."

"Uncle?!" Senyir questioned in shock.

"Your grandmother was my sister," Pasta clarified to Senyir before narrowing his eyes on Hester. "You two will stay away from Jasmine. If she wants to talk with you she'll come to you."

"Uncle..." Hester started before Pasta cut her off.

"Funny, last time we spoke it was only Pasta. You're only giving me the respect I deserve because you want something from me," Pasta sneered. "Problem is I wrote you lot off after you preached the same words to me as your arrogant father last time we crossed paths and told me to stay away."

"Why were you told to stay away?" Senyir asked.

"He savagely crippled another mage," Hester answered.

"I delivered justice! That bastard murdered the love of my life, and we both know that no one from the Wykes family would ever have been punished."

"It wasn't illegal to kill an elf slave back then, he wasn't in the wrong," Hester argued.

This proved to be an error in her judgement, as Pasta's demeanor completely changed as he released his killing intent.

"He killed her for wanting to preserve her virtue. Tell me, what's the point in living if you must constantly sacrifice your dignity and pride just to stay alive?" Pasta said coldly. "All lives, no matter race or status, are equal. What I did was wrong, but I did it for a just reason, while he merely killed her for the sake of his pride."

He took a step forward and looked Hester in the eyes with a cold dark look that rattled her to her very core. "One can't justify killing, but I felt no shame in what I did either, and would do it again without hesitation."

"U-uncle Pasta, Aunt Hester, please. I believe we've gotten off topic here," Senyir forced out, the weight of his killing intent bearing down on her.

"It seems you're right," Pasta replied as he withdrew his intent. "Regardless, what I said stands, you will not approach Jasmine or make contact with her in any way, unless you're contacted by her first. She's suffered enough already."

"Suffered? She walked out and abandoned our family!" Senyir shouted.

Pasta looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Is that the shit Trodius told you?" Senyir look confused. "That little bastard always did want everyone to like him."

"Don't you dare," Hester hissed. "You have no right."

Pasta then cast a sound barrier around them.

"No right? That bastard threw her out on her own as soon as she was sixteen! All because she couldn't use fire magic!" Pasta roared.

"What?" Senyir questioned.

"Damn it Pasta, why are you doing this to us? It's not like we could have done anything about it," Hester grumbled, her expression making it obvious that she felt guilt over Jasmine.

"She might not have," Pasta said, pointing to Senyir. "But you damn well could have!"

"How? Trodius might be my younger brother, but he is still the head of the family."

"He might have been the head, but you aren't poor. You could have made sure she was taken care of. That she had a roof over her head and food in her stomach. Trodius threw her out with only the clothes on her back and a single knife, she had nothing." Tears were coming to Pasta's eyes. "Hell you could have contacted me. I would have ripped this continent apart to get to her."

Pasta wiped the tears from his eyes and canceled his spell as Hester and Senyir were left completely speechless. He started to walk away, but stopped.

"You know, Senyir is praised for her control over fire mana. If you all would have seen Jasmine for more than just her affinity, you would have seen her mastery of wind is even greater. If she was trained properly from the beginning then she would have been Sapins second Lance, not Bairon."

—————————————————————-

As Arthur exited the gate in the Sanctuary, he was greeted by the sight of Sylvie waiting for him as she wore a fake smile.

"Well this is a pleasant greeting," Arthur said as he walked over.

"Yeah, Tess and Regis would have been here, but Tess is absorbing mana from the horn," Sylvie stated. "She's really determined to get up to the white core stage."

"She needs to not rush it, she'll get there eventually," Arthur replied, then tousled her hair between her horns. "But what about you? How did your training go?"

Sylvie looked at the others exiting the gate, then started to walk away, Arthur followed. She turned a corner behind a building so they wouldn't be seen then stopped after a few steps. Arthur stopped when she did and looked at her curiously as she turned to face him. She held out her right hand and ignited a black flame.

"Soulfire," Arthur said in surprise.

"Yeah. A decay mana art," Sylvie stated as she scowled looking at it. "I know I'm Agrona's daughter, but why can I only do decay arts?"

"Hey it's ok," Arthur said as he got down on one knee in front of her, and placed his hands on her shoulders. "We don't know if this is all you can do. Maybe you're going about it all wrong, but either way, doesn't the Indrath clan more so focus on their aether arts? You've already learned Vivum, and I think you've gotten even better than before."

"Thanks, but I really wish I could do more to help. Yeah, soulfire can be used in a fight, but from what I understand of it, I really don't like how it works, burning someone up from the inside out. It just doesn't sit right with me," Sylvie replied as she extinguished her flame and looked down.

"Then don't use it. Yes it would be great in a fight, but if it bothers you that much then don't use it. I'll work with you and help you unlock destruction, those flames are more powerful anyway. Or any other of my aether arts." Arthur brought her into a fatherly hug. "I know I'm limited in some ways, but I'll do everything I can to help you."

"Thanks," Sylvie replied as she returned the hug.

"So," Arthur started as he broke the hug. "Did you learn any other arts?"

Sylvie sighed. "Just mind manipulation."

"What?"

"I used it on some of the mana beasts here. I made them more docile and more like pets."

As Arthur heard this an idea formed in his head.

"How strong is it? Like do you think you could alter a human's mind?"

"I don't like where this is going," Sylvie replied, sounding a little scared.

"Not like you think, come on," Arthur said as he picked her up in his arms and started running.

"Where are we going?" She asked as she clung to him.

"To put your new mana art to good use. Despite its origins, and most likely normal use, you're going to use it to help someone!"

—————————————————————-

A little while later Arthur was walking into his apartment. He had just left Elijah, where he had the idea to use Sylvie's mind manipulation to try and stop Nico. Sylvie did what she was asked and began working inside Elijah's mind. In the end she determined she just wasn't strong enough to get rid of Nico or even alter his memories. What she was able to do though, was contain him in a mental prison of sorts. She wasn't confident on how well this would work, or if it would even last, as she could feel his rage even after being contained. As a safeguard she decided to stay the night with him in case anything went wrong. This way she could try and contain him again, or worst case, stop him if he managed to gain control again.

As Arthur walked in he saw Tess sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, as she absorbed the mana from the horn through Regis, as he laid down in front of her. Seeing as she was seeming busy, Arthur decided to take a shower to wash off all the soot from the train. Unlike everyone else, the night they stayed at the Inn, Arthur chose against taking a shower, and instead left for an isolated area outside Kalberk to experiment with his new mana arts.

There he mixed his mana into the known deviations, creating magma again and experimenting with that. He then learned he now could use plant magic, meaning he would be asking Tess to train him for a change. He created white flames by mixing wind and fire mana that could turn a twenty foot living tree to ashes in seconds. Mixing lighting and ice gave him what he decided to call, ice beam, which was a literal bolt of lightning that completely froze a tree to its very core instantly.

Not every combination seemed to produce any real results, some of which he wondered if they were normal combinations that were too advanced for normal mages to gain any noticeable results. He trained till sunrise, feeling very satisfied with his results.

—————————————————————-

Several hours ago

"Alright cutie elf, let's get this show on the road," Regis said as picked up Cadell's horn.

"So my nickname is cutie elf?" Tess asked as she sat down on the floor.

"I'm trying to come up with a name that's not going to embarrass you and won't have to be changed in a few months," Regis replied as he laid down in front of her. "Blame Warrior princess for that. Enough of his mind is inside me and makes me feel guilty for most of my ideas."

"Like what?"

"Battlian maker, though that doesn't apply till after the wedding." Tess blushed a bit, clearly understanding that meaning. "Then thicc."

"Thick!" Tess snapped angrily.

"Not that kind of thick, thicc, t-h-i-c-c. In Arthur's old world it was a term used to describe a woman with a voluptuous figure, like yours."

"Oh," she blushed brightly. "Does Arthur think my body is, thicc?"

"Do you know the real reason why he sleeps on his stomach with you, or wakes up early? I've seen him leave your room with a raging boner so many times. He leaves because he's having trouble with his self control, and lays on his stomach to hide it when he doesn't leave in time."

Tess' blush couldn't get any brighter as she buried her face in her hands.

"Come on, you two will be married soon anyway, you should like that he desires you. Feel embarrassed later. I want to see what new memories we'll get out of Cadell today," Regis said as he saw she wasn't moving.

"Umm, speaking of memories. Do you think it would be possible to see some of yours?" Tess asked as she calmed down a little.

"You really want to see my memories?" Regis teased wagging his eyebrows.

"I was just curious what Arthur looked like in the other timeline."

"Hmm, I guess I can help you with that, or at least I can try," Regis stated with a mischievous smirk.

Tess became nervous, but she nodded her head as she placed a hand on Regis' back, and began meditating.

Regis didn't start out having fun. He focused first on his first memory of Arthur, showing when he woke up in the relic tomb with his new appearance, then cut his hair like a badass, then formed his aether core by stabbing himself. However, next she saw him strip naked and bathe in lava so he could absorb a massive aether crystal and improve his aether channels and veins. Tess' heart ached from the guilt that she wasn't there for Arthur when he was going through all of this for the sake of everyone.

While he was in alacrya he had a different look in his eyes. His usual bright and warm eyes were completely replaced; they were just lifeless and cold. Tess hoped she would never have to see Arthur's eyes like that. She saw how much pain he had to go through being in an enemy territory without anyone for help.

Regis then started showing Tess his memories of Caera and Arthur in central academy and how she helped Arthur stealing the relic and one of their fights in the relictombs. Tess could see a look of longing in her eyes at Arthur, while Arthur's eyes remained cold and distant. But Tess wasn't bothered by this since she knew Arthur will never see Caera again. Then regis shifted to other memories. She saw him well dressed and in battle, mixed with occasional images of him getting dressed or getting in and out of a shower.

After a few hours they were done, and Tess was even more embarrassed than before.

"So, what do you think?"

"I had no idea he was so gorgeous," she breathed out.

"Hahaha. Yeah, he turned a lot of ladies' heads back then," Regis laughed. "So which is your favorite?"

"Between what?"

"This Arthur from the previous timeline or this one?" He asked, pointing towards the bathroom.

They both turned towards the bathroom to see Arthur standing there with a towel wrapped around his waist with his back turned towards them. His purple godrunes were visible that started right below his nape and ended at his tailbone.

Seeing him now the answer was so easy Tess felt ashamed. Arthur from the other timeline was more gorgeous, but because of his flawless skin, to her he looked like the average noble that needed to be protected.

This Arthur was incredibly handsome with a toned, muscular body, and scars that showed how hard he fought to protect everyone. Regis was right, the Arthur from the other timeline looked more feminine, while this one looked like a man, her man.

Tess smiled. "This one, without any doubt."