Chapter 9

"Magic."

"What is it, Patchouli?"

"I sense some magic." Patchouli closed up her book and took off her glasses, staring off at the window located east from her direction. From there, the full moon radiated brightly and some of its rays pierced through the spaces of the window to illuminate the poorly lit Viole Library.

"You don't usually say that, I thought this land was devoid of magic?" Remilia was sitting on top of one of the many book shelves in the library, basking the moon light.

"That was usually the case, however, not tonight." Patchouli stood up and levitated herself to Remilia's level, trying to gaze as far as she could from the window she sensed the magic originated from. "It was no ordinary magic, it was time magic."

Remilia's eyes widened, "what did you just say?"

"Manipulation of time. It is amongst the highest level of magic out there." Patchouli waved her index finger, and one of her books just flew into her hand as she willed. It was a book relevant to the topic in hand, detailing about spells involving manipulation of time. She placed her glasses back to her eyes, and flipped open the book with a simple spell, not touching the spellbook at all while keeping it hovering during the process.

"Users capable of manipulating time could also bend the fabrics of space, as the two of them are interconnected in our universe." Patchouli added, quickly flipping through the pages.

"Now you've piqued my interest." Remilia replied. The feeling of excitement coursing into her veins once again, after being dormant for so long. "Hardly anything happens since we arrived 5 years ago."

"Not really, the ghouls had been very active since our arrival, there was much chaos occurring in this land, accountable to our presence." Patchouli replied starkly, still reading her grimoire.

"All I did was to cast a weak spell across this land, and that was exciting for first few months." Remilia smirked, feeling full of herself. "Though," she immediately rested her head on her right hand and pouted her lips, "things had calmed down too easily, and now nothing's interesting is happening these few years."

"It was only a matter of time that the humans knew how to deal with any threats that beckons them. They are, after all, logical beings." Patchouli closed up her book and waved for it to return to its original place. "However, it seems that, the wait for any excitement is over." Patchouli placed her right palm in front, and materialized a glowing screen, showing a silver-haired girl and her struggle against a man.

It became apparent to both the vampire and the magician that the source of time magic, was from this little girl. Not only once, but she stopped time twice. The first was to rid herself away from the clenches of her tormentor, the second was to stop a flying knife midair and dodge it, which was otherwise impossible without the help of time stopping. Both of these moments involved the manipulation of time, stopping it for a split second, as well as encompassing the entire wooden shack, the effect of the spell very noticeable to the vampire and the magician who was viewing through the magical screen.

"That's not all, she did stop time very briefly when she was six," Patchouli changed the imagery to the moment when Lidoris was attacked by ghouls, during the instant when a ghoul reached its deathly hand into the tunnel where this same silver-haired girl stopped time in a much smaller area, only halting the time ticking against the attacking ghoul for half a split second, but it appeared to be sufficient as it gave her incoming savior just enough time to catch up and save her.

"You see, it appears that her growth is related to the growth of her magical power. However, it seems that she could only activate it during the time of utmost distress. In order words, the spell is far from maturity." Patchouli explained with her eyes closed, feeling the need to look at the vampire while talking wasn't necessary, she was sure Remilia would not leave a single word out.

Indeed, Remilia extended her ears to absorb every single word the magician said, as well as paid full attention to the visuals she was shown. Her entire body twitching with excitement, "I want this power!" She boldly exclaimed, "I want it for myself."

Patchouli chuckled, "as expected from the great Scarlet devil herself." Patchouli had knew Remilia for more than a hundred years now, she was well aware of her friend's interest. Clearing her throat once, she added, "normally, spell users would only reach full maturity at the age of sixteen, I am afraid that you have to…"

"Then I will make her grow faster," Remilia quickly interrupted Patchouli's speech, not bothering to follow the rules. "Just tell me the catalyst to improve her magic."

Patchouli lowered her chin, eyes closed and pondered for a bit. "Fear, and despair. As deduced from the three instants she activated her spell. These two factors were commonplace in all three occurrences."

"Fear… and despair… Fufufu…" Remilia grinned largely, after all, injecting those two elements onto one being was most exciting to her, as well as being her specialty. Transforming into a swarm of bats, she returned to her chamber, and begun to concoct the plans to meet her ends.