Author's Notes:

Hello everyone! Since it's the weekend, I have some more time for writing, so I'll try to get two more chapters out. No promises though! We're also getting close to 50 chapters, which is a really aweome milestone. Thanks a lot for your support so far. Anyway, enjoy chapter 47!

Chapter 47: Uncomfortable Victory

Sasha and Mariel quickly made their way towards Tristain. Despite the massive distance to the capital city, they were within 20 kilometers of Tristania in only about 45 minutes. They could hear the sound of gun fire and, when they came over a hill that overlooked the city, they could see several soldiers firing massive weapons into a large portal in the sky.

Through the portal, they could see a large, black dragon being agitated by the gun fire, but not particularly injured by anything other than the few more powerful, WWII era cannons that the Germanians had somewhat mysteriously acquired.

Mariel was going to go closer, as she couldn't see Louise in the crowd of soldiers, but Sasha held her back.

"We are only to observe, elder sister." She said. "Besides, I can sense little sister's strength in the crowd. She is preparing to launch an attack. I'm sure you can feel it as well."

Reluctantly, Mariel calmed down. She could, after all, feel Louise's magic being concentrated into a single point, which she deduced was where Louise was. For quite a while, they watched as the soldiers and mages constantly fired a variety of magic and weaponry into the portal until, after about ten minutes, the army stopped attacking and began to fall back towards Tristania.

"What are they doing?" Sasha asked herself.

When they fell back far enough, Mariel and Sasha saw that Louise was still standing, pointing her finger at the ancient dragon. After a few seconds, a white beam shot out of her finger and into the portal. Because of their distance from her, it took several seconds for the sound of the attack to reach them.

It was a very high pitched sound, making their ears feel a sharp, piercing pain. They fell to the ground in anguish, covering their ears to dull the sound. As soon as Louise fired off the attack, she closed the world door and quickly made her way back to the city. Sasha and Mariel saw everyone holding shields in front of them, as if preparing themselves for some kind of attack.

"Elder sister, what's going on?" Sasha asked. "They look like they're waiting for something..."

Mariel was silent for a few moments, herself unsure about what they were doing. Just a few seconds after Louise launched her attack, they saw a bright flash in the distance, several kilometers away. It was blindening, outshining the sun itself. When it dulled a little, they opened their previously shut eyes and were shocked by what they saw.

A large, mushroom shaped cloud towered over them in the distance. Lightning bolts flashed inside it as the particles exchanged their positive and negative charges. But perhaps the most disturbing part was the eerie silence that leaned on them with such immense weight.

"Is this...Louise..?" Sasha asked in shock.

"I didn't think she was this powerful..." Mariel said, staring at the massive cloud.

"Do you not think...this could be dangerous?" Sasha asked.

"Dangerous?" Mariel asked, not entirely paying attention to her sister.

"If she were to change when she gets older..." Sasha replied. "If someone were to manipulate her..."

"She will be fine." Mariel said.

They were both silent for a while, then a thought seemd to cross Sasha's mind. She immediately grabbed her sister and ran towards a nearby boulder, hiding behind it.

"What's gotten into you?!" Mariel asked.

"Now I realize why they are preparing for something!" Sasha said, covering her head with her hands.

Mariel stared at Sasha for several seconds, completely clueless and thinking her sister had gone insane. However, after a few seconds, she realized what she meant. She hid behind the rock as well and covered her head.

After about a minute of nothing happening, they both thought that it could be a false alarm. However, just as such a thought crossed their minds, they felt something strong knock them down. It felt like a very big object slammed into them. The feeling was accompanied by a massive boom sound, as well as the sound of trees snapping and wind being blown around them.

It went on like this for more than a minute, after which it finally stopped. Sasha and Mariel were covered with rubble, as well as a few bruises from random pieces of debris that scratched them.

"Are you okay, little sister?" Mariel asked, lovingly inspecting each of Sasha's bruises.

"I'm fine, elder sister." Sasha replied, feeling quite happy about Mariel's affection, but also quite embarrassed.

They stood up and looked around them. Although many trees were still standing, albeit bent, several of the ones with weaker roots were pulled out of the ground and deposited elswhere. Despite the destruction, Mariel and Sasha were more surprised about the person who caused it rather than the destruction itself.

After all, long ago, they had both seen these levels of devastation before. They had, in fact, seen far higher levels of destruction, but they had been caused by a man who they regarded as the most powerful mortal to exist.

"This was meant to destroy the ancient dragon." Sasha said. "I no longer feel its presence, but..."

"That other magic is still there..." Mariel said, completing Sasha's sentence. "Shall we go and confront it? I don't want Louise getting unecessarily hurt."

"Very well." Sasha replied, completely agreeing with what Mariel said.

They quickly began making their way to the last place where they sensed the dragon. It was only about sixty kilometers away, which amounted to less than five minutes travel time for them, as they were not moving as quickly as they could.

When they arrived, they saw what looked like a massive stone statue of a dragon. The ancient dragon had been cremated alive by the power of Louise's attack. It was very clearly no longer alive, yet despite this, Sasha and Mariel felt the same sinister magic in the area. As they moved closer, they were able to tell that the magic dwelled within the now deceased beast.

"Going inside that thing could be dangerous." Mariel said. "If it collapses, we could get hurt. And we don't even know what this magic is."

"It's because we must know what this magic is that we have to go inside." Sasha replied. "Besides, we're both strong. Even if it collapses, we won't die."

"You've always been adventurous, I suppose." Mariel replied, following her little sister.

They climbed up the dragon's body and made their way to its mouth, which they entered with slight hesitation. Using her magic to light a piece of wood on fire, they slid down the beast's dusty throat. Inside, everything was turned to ash, although it didn't appear to have any identifiable organs in the first place.

There were, however, quite an organized series of what appeared to be some kind of corridors. They used their senses to point them in the strange magic's direction. For several minutes, they carefully navigated the dust filled hallways until finally, they found a large open room.

They could feel that the magic emanated from that room specifically, but it was completely empty. They looked around for any clues, but there were none to be found. As they were about to decide to leave, they suddenly heard a very distorted voice. It sounded somewhat more feminine, but also sounded as if many voices were speaking at once. It spoke in an ancient language which they both understood, but had not spoken in thousands of years.

"It's been a while..." The voice said.

"Who's there?!" Mariel yelled, pulling out her sword.

"I didn't expect this to happen..." The voice said, disregarding her question. "We'll meet again some time."

As it said this, the magic in the room disappeared. There seemed to be a whisper in the room as the presence disappeared and then, as if nothing happened, everything became silent. Sasha and Mariel stood back to back in the room, expecting something to happen. After a few minutes of complete silence, they calmed down enough to have a conversation about what happened.

"What was that?" Sasha asked.

"I don't know." Mariel replied. "Do you recognize the voice at all?"

"Not even a little." Sasha replied.

"It seemed to recognize us." Mariel said. "That's worrying."

As they spoke, their ears picked up the sound of the approaching armies of the humans. Because of their policy of not becoming involved with human affairs, they quickly left the area, only wishing to speak to Louise about the issue.

Sasha and Mariel watched from a distant hill as the armies celebrated their quite easily attained victory. They all praised their leaders as heroes for dealing with the massive threats they had to face in the past year and a half. As they watched how happy everyone was, Sasha began to have doubts about whether they should inform Louise of what they saw, or rather, what they heard.

"Elder sister, Louise has been hurting for so long." She said.

"Yes, I suppose she has, hasn't she?" Mariel said. "Why do you bring it up?"

"Perhaps we should postpone warning her of what we witnessed." Sasha replied. "We should give her the chance to have a happy life with her family."

"Perhaps you're right, but doing so could be a dangerous risk." Mariel said.

"She is a mother." Sasha said. "As mothers ourselves, we know how much she must want to be with her children. Worse still, she has not even had the chance to have her wedding. It must hurt her so much to think about it."

"When you put it that way..." Mariel said, beginning to sympathize with Louise's situation. "Fine. I suppose this is something we can deal with ourselves for now."

Unusually happy about the decision, Sasha hugged her sister, making Mariel feel uncomfortable. They made their way to Louise's home, where they waited inside her room for her to return. After several hours of waiting due to Louise having to travel back to her own kingdom, the door to her room opened and Louise walked inside, looking incredibly exhausted.

It took her a few moments to notice the two elves who sat on her bed, smiling at her with a great amount of happiness. When she finally realized who was sitting in front of her, she ran towards them and gave them a hug, making them fall onto the bed.

"It's so good to see you!" Louise said

"Yes, I'm happy to see you again as well." Sasha replied.

Soon, Louise let them go. As she was a rather observant person, she quickly noticed that they were both wearing armor and seemed like something was bothering them in the back of their minds.

"What's wrong?" Louise asked.

"Nothing, we were just worried about you, so we came to make sure you'd be all right." Mariel said.

"Thank you very much." Louise replied, trying her best to sound like she believed Mariel. "How are the kids? How is Saito?"

"Saito and the kids are getting along very well." Sasha said. "It seems that seeing them has inspired him to try and move more."

"That's good. I want to see them as soon as possible." Louise said, sighing with relief. "Now that the dragon is defeated, we can finally live peacefully as a family."

"I look forward to your wedding. We are invited, right?" Mariel said, rubbing her cheek on Louise's.

"Of course! You're my elder sisters, after all." Louise replied.

As they had their touching moment, suddenly, Louise's door flung open. Immediately, in a movement too fast to see, Sasha and Mariel appeared behind the perpetrators, holding knives to their throats. Louise immediately got up, trying to pull Sasha and Mariel away.

"Stop! They're my friends!" Louise said.

With a little more convincing, they finally let go of them and returned to Louise's side. Alex and Shion were petrified by the experience, with both of them become even more pale than they already were. When they recovered their breath, they fell to the ground from the fear they felt.

"I apologize on behalf of myself and my elder sister." Sasha said as she and her sister bowed.

"W-Who are you?" Shion asked quietly, shivering from the life threatening experience.

"I am Louise's elder sister, Sasha. This is our eldest sibling, Mariel." Sasha replied. "May I ask of your own names."

"I'm Shion." Shion said, starting to get over her fear.

"I'm Alex." Alex said, brushing away his long hair which covered his face when he fell.

As soon as she saw his face, Mariel's mood immediately changed. She became far more serious, almost emotionless, in fact. She didn't say anything at all. Instead, she just stared at him for a few seconds with a blank face, then turned to speak to Louise.

"I'm sorry, littlest sister, but I'm afraid I must leave." She said.

Before giving anyone a chance to respond, she walked out of the room and disappeared. Both Sasha and Louise were very worried. It was extremely unusual for her to take on such a serious attitude, especially because of what appeared to be nothing more than a small boy.

"What was that about?" Alex asked.

"I don't know..." Sasha replied, feeling great pain in her heart from seeing her sister in such a condition.

"I'll go talk to her." Louise said.

"I'll come with you. Mariel can be...violent if she's upset." Sasha said.

She bowed towards Alex and Shion, then left with Louise in search of Mariel. For hours, they searched the palace and surrounding area until the sun had gone down. The last place they searched was the beach. As they walked down the shore with the pink and blue moons illuminating their path, they finally saw her sitting on a large rock, staring up at the sky with tears rolling down her face.

They slowly approached her, taking the time to think about what they should say to her. When she noticed them, she quickly wiped away her tears and put a welcoming smile on her face, doing her best to assure them that she was okay.

"What's wrong, elder sister?" Sasha asked.

"Please don't worry. I'm fine." Mariel replied.

"That's very obviously not true. When you saw Alex, you suddenly changed." Louise said. "Please tell me what's wrong."

Mariel stared at the two for several minutes, contemplating what she should tell them. She didn't want them to worry about her, but she also didn't feel comfortable lying to them either. Lying to them, she thought, would be setting a bad example as the eldest of the three.

"Very well." She said. "That boy...is my son."

In Sasha's Cabin

Saito laid on his back looking straight at the ceiling as Laura fed different kinds of magic into his body. It was a strange feeling, as if blood was being taken out of his body, but then put back into his veins again.

"Your spine is damaged." Laura said. "That's why you are unable to move very well."

"So my body couldn't heal it alone, huh? Can it be fixed?" Saito asked.

"Your body cannot heal more complex wounds such as this. For fixing damaged objects, dwarf magic is the best in the world." Laura replied. "I can use it to heal you."

"How does dwarf magic work?" He asked.

"In essence, dwarf magic is the magic of...intellect and manipulation." Laura explained. "Unlike the other forms of magic, dwarf magic is not particularly useful in combat. It is used for constructing various objects or for solving puzzles, including the puzzle of how to rearrange a person's flesh and bones in a way that either improves their ability, or returns them to the way they're supposed to be. It is therefore best used for constructing defenses, making a person somewhat stronger, and by extension, healing others."

"So does the user already have to have knowledge of whatever they're using the magic on in order to be effective?" Saito asked.

"You do have to have somewhat of an understanding of the way things are put together." She replied. "However, the magic also has a habit of accelerating your thoughts and calming your nerves at the same time, allowing you to work more efficiently."

"Wow, that's amazing. Thank you for telling me. I'm ready when you are." Saito said.

"It will be very painful." Laura said.

"I figured. Go ahead." Saito replied.

Laura nodded and closed her eyes. Saito closed his eyes as well and, before long, began to feel a strange feeling in his back. The strange feeling slowly grew into excruciating pain. He could feel the shattered vertebrae and severed nerves in his back shifting and fusing back together.

The whole process took several hours, in which Saito had to try his best not to scream in pain, although his efforts were in vain. Laura had given his children a sleeping medicine so that they wouldn't wake up from the sounds of pain which came from him.

Much to Saito's relief, when Laura finished the operation, she soothed his pain with another form of magic. He wanted to ask her which one it was, but she seemed rather exhausted, so he thanked her for her efforts in helping him instead.

"No need for thanks." She replied.

"So how long will it be before I can move again?" He asked her.

"Hmmm, it would normally be about a week for a normal person, but seeing as you aren't exactly normal, it could be three days or less." She replied. "Be warned, though. Even when you can move, you will be a bit shaky for some time, so you should have someone with you if you plan on walking somewhere."

"I understand. Thank you very much." He replied.

"Again, no need for thanks. I'm happy to help." She replied.

Saito stared at the ceiling and closed his eyes, preparing to fall into a deep, well deserved sleep. As he slowly drifted into unconsciousness, his head was filled with thoughts about what he would do once he saw Louise and how happy he would be once he could run like he used to. These thoughts translated into happy dreams when finally, he fell asleep.

Author's Notes:

Hello everyone! I told you I'd give you another chapter this weekend, and here it is! I also told you the ancient dragon 'arc' would be extremely short due to there being no reason for it to be longer, so if you didn't like that...piss off! Just kidding! If you didn't like it, feel free to tell me in a PM or review. Also, tell me what you want to see next! Spoiler Alert! The next part of the story won't have much action. It will mostly deal with Saito and Louise's ordeal in meeting each other's families. Anyway, I rambled enough. Thanks for reading, and I'll catch you next time!

P.S. I made a map of how the borders of Halkeginia look as of now. It's rather crude with several rough edges, but it should give a fair idea of how things are at the moment. I hope it eases any confusion you might have had! The map link is on my profile page. :)