' = Internal dialogue

ยจ= Normal speech

* = Sounds / Etc

-Chapter 40 Start-

After a moment, the small army of aquatic creatures in front of me stopped when the large giant raised his hand up, signaling for them to wait.

The sea giant's glowing green eyes gave me a disdainful look, and its gaze went to Nessie behind me, to the injured Bluey, then back to me, and he smirked. He was apparently pleased with what he saw.

Then he started talking, his voice the sound of stone grinding against stone.

"YOU HAVE DENIED ME MY VENGEANCE FOR THE MURDER OF MY SONS, YET THE SPAWN OF THE BEAST REMAIN ALIVE!"

Then he gazed at me hatefully after a moment and continued, "AND YOU! HARBORING THESE HORRIED CREATURES WITHIN YOUR OWN TERRITORY FROM WHICH YOU HAVE TAKEN FROM US.

I WILL DEAL WITH YOU PERSONALLY! I HAD TO BREAK THE OATHS OF OLD FOR MY VENGEANCE! ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!" He roared in my direction, voice filled with anger and hatred, and then he finally stood fully above the water and continued.

"I, THE MIGHTY ARKKOROC, WILL HAVE THE BEASTS FOUL HEADS. THEIR CORPSES WILL BE FEASTED UPON BY THE CREATURES OF THE SEAS AND YOU! I WILL GIVE YOU TO THE VILE NAGA AS MY DEAL WITH THEM FOR ASSISTING ME WITH MY VENGEANCE! WITH YOUR DESTRUCTION, YOUR PUNY STAIN WILL BE WASHED AWAY WITH THE MIGHT OF THE TIDES!" The sea giant calling himself Arkkoroc shouted with fury in his voice.

While I could understand his anger toward the hydra I killed upon my arrival, I could not understand his fury toward the creatures who had nothing to do with it, and it filled me with simmering rage when he had a gaze full of sadistic glee at the two behind me, one grievously injured, and one passed out in pure exhaustion.

I felt two mana signatures approach me from behind as Jaina and Aegwynn came to stand by my side as they had undoubtedly heard what Arkkoroc had been saying.

Calia had rushed toward the two hydras and had started healing as her hands lit up in a gentle bright light.

Jaina looked furious, and I felt her mana grow agitated as the water around her surged as three water elementals with a clear blue sheen and purple eyes took shape.

Aegwynn looked toward the sea giant with a complicated gaze but shook her head after considering something. Her staff appeared out of nowhere, the purple-looking triangle shaft spinning rapidly within itself as it gently descended into Aegwynn's grasp.

This resulted in the entire area between us and the forces of Arkkoroc getting trapped within a thin barrier of blue. Calia and the hydras, however, were not included in the barrier.

Calia whispered, "Do you need me to get reinforcements?"

Aegwynn just shook her head and said, "No, my apprentice and I will deal with this, while the young city lord will step aside because his mana is currently destabilizing the barrier, and I need to see what my apprentice can do.

This made me realize I had been unconsciously releasing large amounts of mana all around me ever since I arrived in the broken enclosure.

I sighed as I considered what my grandmother had told me.

She was right, "I'll let you both handle this then." I told them simply, turned around, and started walking toward Nessie and Bluey, who were undergoing treatment with Calia's glowing hands as she applied spell after spell.

This infuriated the giant behemoth as he yelled at me while I walked away from him, "WHAT IS THIS?! LEAVING THESE PUNY WENCHES TO DIE WHILE FLEEING FOR YOUR LIFE!?" I just shook my head and kept walking. This guy dug his grave deeper and deeper the more he opened his mouth.

The air trembled as the familiar mana of Aegwynn flared within the barrier, and a frosty voice sounded when the mana finally calmed slightly. If I had turned back to see what was happening, I'd see Aegwynn's smile when she said, "Oh, my grandson isn't fleeing from you. He knows very well that he does not need to be around for us to deal with the likes of you."

I just laughed as I exited the barrier's thin blue veil, giving the two hydra and Calia my attention.

[Jaina PoV, slightly before MC walking away]

When I lay my eyes on the pair of hydra I had befriended and played around with for weeks looking exhausted and injured, I felt something click within me.

My entire being was filled with warm magic that wanted nothing but to do my bidding. This was not the usual way I utilized my magic. No, I let the warm feeling embrace me as my magic worked in tandem with my intent, then three sizable water elementals took shape, this time though they felt sapient, angry, outright furious while they gazed toward the army before me.

I could see Medan stand there with a passive gaze looking directly at the green oversized dwarf under the disguise of a fish-like giant.

Medan looked passive, yes, but the mana coming from him... It was terrifying, but at the same time, it felt comforting, protective...Warm.

But then my new mentor, who I had been looking up to ever since I was just a small child reading stories of her exploits, shook him out of his thoughts when it looked like something finally clicked in his mind, as the magic around him calmly retreated toward him, leaving only the barrier the Ex-Guardian beside me put down to keep the enemies gathered in one place.

When the giant opened his foul mouth, I heard, "WHAT IS THIS?! LEAVING THESE PUNY WENCHES TO DIE WHILE FLEEING FOR YOUR LIFE!?" Before a sentence like that would have infuriated me, it reminded me of many moments this last decade of me studying to become a mage and everything that had gone wrong these last few years.

Arthas betrayal, feeling Archmage Antonidas magic die out like weak candle-lit flame alongside many of my friends...

But now? Like water, I felt calm, but a roaring tsunami of wrath and vengeance lurked underneath the surface. It was waiting patiently, almost begging to be let loose upon the world.

I let out a shuddering breath while my concentration was at an all-time high.

My new mentor's first lesson as we made our way through the city today was something that I'd never expected, "Don't let your pain and sorrow breach the surface, use it, funnel it into your magic, it is part of you, and there are almost no mages capable of harnessing that kind of power without failing, but you dear remind me that impossibilities are but a choice to people like us."

The oldest living Guardian alive seems to have felt something within me that I had not, but her words had rung in my mind since she had spoken them. She had somehow perceived my anger, frustration, sadness, and fear of losing people close to me, these feelings I had been trying to suppress.

But no longer.

Just as Medan exited the barrier, Aegwynn cast something like a standard arcane missile. Still, this one was stuck in the air as it grew into a massive orb of pure destruction before she waved her staff in the direction the minions of the behemoth had on his left side.

The sound that escaped the *Missile* was a wail. I could feel it cry out with hopelessness as it struck the wave of sea creatures, blasting many of the enemies charging at us into smithereens while the ones who survived the impact were literally bawling their eyes out. They writhed around for a moment before their bodies decayed away onto nothingness.

I noticed something off, as the voices from the small army of enemies were... slow, delayed, and...

'Did she manage to slow down the enemy's reactions and actions just with that missile!?' I thought to myself in shock and awe.

While the enemies before us were slowly but surely getting closer, I heard my mentor say, "Don't just stand there, apprentice. Show me why my grandson was so convinced of your potential!"

Hearing this, I jumped into action and pointed my staff toward the oncoming enemies. I could feel the water around me freeze into solid ice while I was charging up the spell and after slowly waving my staff toward the enemies who had started to run faster toward us as my mentor's slow effect had begun to wear off.

Less than a week ago, it would be a single potent frost bolt I'd be able to unleash on my enemies, but now what pelted the enemies was a large volatile cloud shooting razor-sharp needle-like ice lances, which instantly killed a majority of the murlocs who had held their tridents high and charged toward us with manic glee.

They fell over dead without realizing what had hit them, thin shards of ice coming out of their bodies as blood slowly filled the water.

When he saw this, the giant let out a roar of anger and swung his large club up from the water, causing an enormous wave to head our way.

I stabbed my staff through the ice under me, stepped forward, put both my hands outward, and closed my eyes in deep concentration as magic and my intent intertwined, and I shouted angrily when I felt the magic trying to shy away from my intentions.

I let anger lead me forward, frustrated at the world around me. Never before has the world done anything to my bidding, but this, I swore, would be the point things would CHANGE!

The catastrophic wave approached me and my mentor, while the latter stood by with a neutral expression and waited to see my next action.

The twenty-meter tall wave was approaching rapidly, but suddenly it stopped as if time had paused.

The giant wave suddenly started to morph until a large purple core started taking shape in the middle, shining brightly. Then my three elementals flew toward its core and merged with it, and a pair of black eyes glowing with a dark shade of purple stared right at me before slowly but menacingly turning around toward the sea giant who looked baffled.

I had done it. I had subverted the water to my will, no... That was not right. It was something else... Then I felt the magic Medan had transferred to me by accident, acting as a medium, no... an Amplifier.

I watched with bated breath toward the twenty-meter-tall water elemental as it slowly turned around, and the barrier my mentor had summoned disappeared under the strain of the current of magic forming around its core.

It was like watching a horde of sharks rapidly swim around their prey.

Suddenly, all noise stopped, and only water dripping could be heard as the elemental pointed both arms toward the remaining army of naga, crayfish, the remaining murlocs, and the utterly horrified sea giant.

As magic was released from the core and into its hands, almost like veins leading it to where it was supposed to go, space distorted in front of the elemental momentarily as the thick veins of magic reached their destination.

I could see and feel the magic start taking shape in its hands as the entire elemental was transparent to a degree. Its eyes burned in intensity but dimmed the next moment, and from its hands were two large pillars of water coming out slowly until they shot toward the enemies.

Two massive high-pressurized beams of water crashed into and directly through the enemies who had come here. Some were removed entirely from existence as the high-pressured water beam turned them into nothing, then I gazed toward the sea giant. He had a hole the size of his head through his stomach as he desperately tried to shove his entrails back inside even while he was falling to his knees.

Then my world went black and the feeling of falling was all I knew before everything turned silent I fell forward.

[Aegwynn PoV]

As I watched the small army before we shatter apart due to the mighty attack of the gigantic elemental, I saw a few of the naga and murlocs flee. I couldn't be bothered to stop them as I caught my new apprentice before she faceplanted to the ground.

Then the elemental slowly melted into the water with an unnatural groan as the core had disappeared when my apprentice fell unconscious.

Her control over the hill-sized elemental was questionable at best, as she only managed to use her anger to direct it toward her enemies.

She still has a lot to learn... Though her potential wasn't insane, no, it was downright horrifying. A twenty-four-year-old woman who has only studied magic for a little more than a decade could connect to a being she herself conjured with the help of her own magic and intent, pulling a being directly from the elemental plains to assist her.

The creature was nothing to scoff at; It would have been close to a high-ranking Tojanida elemental if given true sentience.

{Yes, it's canon, the Tojanida, that is. It's high-ranking water elemental in the hierarchy, two steps under the elemental lord.}

Just that fact she had managed to keep it under her control as long as she did was an achievement itself; however, she is... quite green when controlling her feelings.

I couldn't let that fester and become a hindrance, so I utilized a weak mind magic spell earlier to make sure she would understand that it was a problem, no doubt a young woman like her would deny anything regarding the past if it made her look weak. It is, after all, what I would have done back when I was her age.

I just hope when the time comes, she can forgive me for altering her mind like that, it is unbecoming of me as a mentor, but there was so much darkness in that young woman I couldn't help it... I saw myself in that anger, hate, and... Self-loathing.

As I am stirred from my disturbing thoughts as the sea giant in front of me was heaving for air while looking directly at me on his knees with a pleading look as if his guts wouldn't stop the escape through his hands, filling the waters with thick foul red blood.

This so-called Arkkoroc, indeed, is a fool. I have seen sea giants before but this one... Was a foul example of the species, the giant was probably as old as I am, or older, yet his common sense seems to have escaped the oaf entirely.

He had done the unspeakable, to ally himself with the enemies of the Titans, the corruptors of the ocean, the naga.

I looked him in the eye, and the sea giant realized he was not getting away with his life after what he had come here to do, as a mourning roar of frustration escaped his mouth when I fired a thin tendril of mana into his brain and turned it to mush.

With a sigh, I turned away from the grotesque sight of the beings my apprentice had just butchered as the sun on the horizon made the horrifying sight even more harrowing by releasing its warm red beams of light before finally disappearing into the night.

[Back to MC PoV, before Jaina summoned the elemental]

After making sure that Bluey was recovering properly as Calia was healing her with holy light upon holy light, I went to check on Nessie, she had a few scratches and minor wounds, but with a hydra's regenerative ability, that would heal by itself in no time, it was something else when injuries like what Bluey had was open and untreated, not many creatures can get away with that without consequences.

I heard behind me as Aegwynn and Jaina handled the intruders, I felt slightly disappointed that I wouldn't be the one to dish out the pain, but it is what it is.

As Aegwynn said, I'd do more harm than good in my current situation; they are enough to handle a nuisance like that.

"Will they be alright?" I heard a Calia whisper as she gazed towards the see-through dome Aegwynn had set up.

A cloud of white had just released hundreds of tiny ice shards and launched themselves directly toward the murloc part of the sea giant's small army and utterly decimated most of the bloodthirsty toad-like creatures.

I nodded, "They are more than enough to handle something like this." I said calmly, and I saw Calia slump down on her knees while watching the action through the veil with awe.

"Thank the light that we came here..." She whispered to herself, she was right. If we hadn't coincidentally arrived here just now, these creatures would have killed both Nessie, Bluey and the rest of the hydras. Then they would have started the assault on the wharf town behind us, and this place was not remotely as secure as the city, which we would need to do something about soon.

Then as that thought passed, I could see the barrier set up by my grandmother fade out of existence, and a titanic creature made of water slowly took shape. I could feel its core from here. A massive amount of magic was gathering into its very being until it sent it to its hands and fired two large beams of water, decimating whatever was left of the enemies in sight.

As a thick fog appeared before Aegwynn and Jaina, I couldn't see anything else except that Jaina had started falling forward. Calia shouted in alarm, but just as the moment came, Aegwynn caught her with one arm while still gazing at something on the other side of the fog with an unexplainable look on her face before I saw a thin sliver of mana escape her hand as she turned back to us while holding on to Jaina.

"Can I get a hand, grandson of mine? Aegwynn asked with a slight smirk on her face.

I just shook my head, walked over to them, and picked Jaina up in a princess carry, which was quite funny, All things considered. A princess was walking beside me while one was leaning on me.

"So, everything solved? Can you perhaps fill the breach before we head back?" I asked as we walked through the enclosure near the beach.

Aegwynn nodded and gently levitated herself through the air before lifting an enormous rock outside the enclosure and shoving between the damaged wall, blood, and gore still floating around the once gorgeous beach.

The other hydras screamed in victory as they rushed toward the remains of the intruders, munching on corpses beneath the surface like piranhas. Calia gagged when she saw one of the hydra have a leg sticking through one of its sharp teeth, dangling like a toy around its mouth.

Nessie had woken up and was guarding the currently asleep Bluey with solemn eyes, who were all healed up and snoozing loudly.

Aegwynn was stoic as she levitated back to us as we made our way back into the city.

Jaina was resting peacefully in my arms, seemingly trying to bury herself deeper into my chest for some reason as we kept walking. She snored lightly, making Aegwynn snicker, and Calia giggle slightly until she realized she could still see the hydra flailing the leg around its mouth like an elephant's trunk.

We approached the gates, and several guards came to us to see if something was wrong. Considering I was carrying someone, a few guards were even worried that someone had been hurt, and one yelled, "Bob! Open the damn gate!"

It took... Bob took several minutes to realize he was again not doing his job correctly as the gate slowly rose while most guards outside shook their heads in exasperation.

I could not grasp how he had managed to get a job as a gate guard. The man was an utter menace.

When we get through the gates, we are met by a worried Valeera. When she saw Jaina being carried by me, she gasped, "What happened? Where have you been? I felt something wrong was happening, but I couldn't find you!" Valeera shouted in quick succession.

I told her the quick summary of what was going on, and when she had heard Bluey being injured, she rushed off with superhuman speeds, jumping up where Bob sat while he was ditching his job, over the gate, and running down toward the beach.

We didn't stop her as we made our way toward my tower, while Calia was doing some weak healing on Jaina the entire way because she was worried, regardless of Aegwynn's ensurances that she was fine, just exhausted from spending a majority of her mana.

When we entered the tower, I entered the guest room Jaina was using while carrying her, gently put her head down on the pillow, tucked her in, and promptly left the room, only to be met by amused looks as I came out from Jaina's room.

-Chapter 40 End-