The Second Savior

After an hour, Lina finally regained consciousness in bed and was given some chocolate to help restore her strength.

According to the doctor, the Kraken battle had pushed Lina beyond her mana capacity, leaving her with severe mental exhaustion. Trying to force a buried memory to resurface had placed even more strain on her mind and caused her to faint.

“If you weren’t feeling well, you should’ve told us instead of suddenly collapsing,” Skayla said with a pout, stuffing another piece of chocolate into her mouth.

“...I’m sorry,” Lina apologized.

Sera picked up a piece of chocolate and held it toward Lina’s mouth.

“Open,” she demanded.

“I can feed myself,” Lina protested.

“Open,” Sera repeated more firmly.

“Sera, I’m not a child.”

“Open,” Sera demanded, fixing Lina with an intimidating glare.

Lina stared at her for several seconds before reluctantly opening her mouth.

Sera smiled and gently fed her the chocolate.

Lina quickly realized that arguing with Sera felt exactly like trying to win a battle of nerves against Queen Seraphine.

“Are you feeling well enough to continue talking?” Sera asked.

“Yes, I should be fine,” Lina said with a smile. “Regarding what we were discussing earlier, I remember seeing that symbol inside the ruins of the lost Kingdom of Agos.”

Sera immediately dropped her pen.

“WAIT, WHAT?!” she shouted.

Lina explained that Master Atena often took her to strange places for spontaneous training. On one particular occasion, they visited the ruins of Agos, where Atena revealed the truth about the Age of Chaos and the creation of the Automatons and Manavores.

Sera’s pen raced across page after page until stacks of notes began accumulating around Lina’s bedside.

“HEY, LINA!” Skayla suddenly shouted, her eyes beginning to sparkle. “CAN WE VISIT THOSE RUINS?!”

“NO!” Sera shouted. “ABSOLUTELY NOT!”

“Why not?!” Skayla exclaimed.

“Because it’s dangerous,” Sera answered. “Especially for someone like you, who might end up awakening something still hidden inside the ruins.”

Skayla crossed her arms and pouted while Sera prepared to warn Lina against returning there.

“Ah... you don’t have to worry about us going back,” Lina said with an awkward laugh. “The ruins don’t exist anymore.”

“Eh?” Skayla and Sera said simultaneously.

“Well... the ruins kind of collapsed during my training session with that eight-legged bastard—I mean, Automaton—when it decided to self-destruct,” Lina explained, scratching her cheek. “The explosion set off all the explosives Master Atena had scattered throughout the ruins because she planned to destroy the taboo site after we left.”

Sera glanced at Skayla, who merely shrugged. Disasters like this were apparently common during Lina’s adventures with Master Atena.

“I-I-I see,” Sera stuttered. “It’s probably for the best...”

“So how did you learn about The Second Savior, the Herald of the Sea?” Sera asked.

“During our exploration, I saw an ancient illustration lying on a dusty table,” Lina said. “It was drawn on a piece of paper that looked like it had been torn from a much older book. The page was dark yellow and badly worn compared to the other records around it. It also carried a divine presence similar to what you feel inside a Temple.”

She closed her eyes, trying to recall the illustration more clearly.

“The illustration showed an old man dressed in white priestly robes with a red sash draped across his chest. He stood upon the clouds with the sun shining behind him, looking down at seven people dressed in white robes, each with feathered wings.”

Lina rubbed her temple as a dull pain began throbbing inside her head.

“Six of them held their golden horns high while the old man lowered the seventh toward the final winged figure,” she continued as blood began trickling from her right nostril.

“LINA, STOP!” Skayla shouted, but Lina was too focused to hear her.

“Each horn bore a different symbol, and one of them matched the symbol Sera drew,” Lina continued as the bleeding worsened. “On another piece of paper, text had been written beside those same symbols. Next to the symbol on the Kraken’s eye were the words The Second Savior, the Herald of the Sea.”

By the time she finished speaking, blood was dripping from both nostrils.

Lina opened her eyes and found Skayla and Sera staring at her with deep concern as they held tissues against her nose.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“DON’T ‘WHAT’S GOING ON?’ ME!” Skayla shouted.

Skayla headbutted Lina with a loud BONK!

“OWW!” Lina shouted as a bright red bump began forming on her forehead.

“That’s what you get!” Skayla exclaimed, rubbing her own forehead.

Sera released an awkward chuckle upon seeing just how close Lina and Skayla truly were.

“Lina, please don’t push yourself,” she pleaded. “If anything happens to either of you, Seraphine will personally come after me, so please don’t put yourself in harm’s way.”

“O-Okay,” Lina replied weakly, still bleeding from her nose.

Sera offered Lina a concerned smile before sorting through the notes she had written.

After spending several minutes silently reading while Skayla lectured Lina in the background, Sera finally spoke.

“Hmm... a beast connected to the Age of Chaos,” she muttered. “Could something truly have survived for thousands of years?”

“You don’t believe it’s possible?” Skayla asked. “Some ancient dragons and sea serpents, such as Leviathan, are believed to be two or three thousand years old.”

“The Kraken’s lifespan isn’t what concerns me,” Sera replied. “The problem is what happened to the world immediately after the Age of Chaos.”

“What happened?” Skayla asked.

“Some historians call the following era the Age of Wither,” Sera explained. “The natural flow of mana had been destroyed. Mana Stones and Mana Cores eventually lost their power and crumbled into dust, while the mana inside living creatures slowly leaked away.”

“There are almost no official records from that era,” Sera continued. “We only know that the world eventually restored itself several thousand years ago.”

“Master Atena mentioned the Age of Wither too,” Lina said. “She said the mana inside people’s Mana Organs was slowly extracted, leaving their bodies mummified.”

Sera nodded.

“That explains why almost no historical records remain, but it creates another problem. Nothing in this world can survive without food, water, air, and especially mana. Even an ancient dragon wouldn’t survive those conditions for more than a few weeks, much less thousands of years.”

“I see now!” Skayla exclaimed. “So the Kraken may have been created during our era! Maybe some evil organization recovered records from ruins like the ones Lina visited and is using them for some evil scheme!”

Skayla flashed an evil smile.

Lina and Sera exchanged uneasy looks. Skayla’s theory sounded far more plausible than the Kraken surviving for thousands of years in a barren world without mana.

“In any case, we won’t know for certain until we examine its Mana Stone,” Sera announced. “It should tell us more about the Kraken’s age and origin, so let’s end our discussion here. I’ll also investigate the Manavores on my end.”

“Okay,” Lina replied weakly as her mental exhaustion began catching up with her again.

“Lina, please get some rest,” Sera said softly. “Skayla, you’re coming with me to conduct some research at the library.”

“Aye, aye, Captain!” Skayla exclaimed, jumping off the bed. “Get some sleep, Lina.”

Lina waved weakly as Skayla and Sera left the room and quietly closed the door behind them.

“Please check on her every hour and report anything unusual to me immediately,” Sera ordered the head maid.

“Yes, ma’am,” the head maid replied, lowering her head.

“You truly are like Queen Seraphine,” Skayla said with a giggle, noticing how similar the sisters sounded whenever they gave orders.

“Oh... be quiet, you!” Sera replied with a giggle as the two continued down the hallway.