I regressed and became the Sword Ice King

A cataclysmic event.

That was the one way to fold up the result of what was about to occur.

The damage that would be born from the mixture of abominations of destruction.

Skills threatening to flatten the entire Academy in a single breath. Never-ending vibrations of the air. Static energy trembling with a powerful decree.

Unable to be calm.

Impossible to be controlled.

Simply a rage meant to conquer.

It spelt doom. It spelt destruction. It spelt damnation.

And Thalia knew this. More than anyone.

The safety of the students. The Lecturers. The Academy's existence. Everything depended on them at this moment.

'Well, not us per se….' Her lips curled into a tight smile as she looked up.

There, she stood. The lilac-haired. Dark Mana enveloped her like a second skin. An armour meant for attack and not defence.

The energy that radiated from her and the talisman she held.

There was something unusual about that piece of paper.

Just like every other technique she had used thus far.

A mystery. A remarkable detail in the grand schemes of things. Well, things that only Sophie could see.

After all, everything she had used. Revealed.

Was timed. Used specifically when needed to.

Just enough to come out on top, leaving a truckload unsaid behind.

Thalia felt her thoughts spiral, and then her body.

Her focus ripped off as she turned back to her predicament.

Hovering in the air with no anchor or leverage. A fallen leaf in a storm.

The weight of the storm that picked her up like straw was beginning to press on her.

Her bones felt it.

The way her chest compressed. Her lungs were wheezing with any form of air. Every form of resistance against the closing tides.

She couldn't control the way her body moved, but she could at least take control of the way her insides reacted.

This wasn't just a storm or a turbulent wind.

It was a compression of mana, energy, unbridled, raw power and an equation for a terrible explosion.

The fact that she could control her insides alone showcased her resistance. Her strength. The will of the Juns to never give in at times like this.

But something needed to be done.

Fast.

As her body hovered in the wind, she felt a pressure on her arm. Warm. Firm.

A subtle nudge that caused her to glance up.

Sophie.

A silent conversation was underway between them. A tale of trust. Secrets unravelled.

Hide in plain sight.

Thalia shook it off.

A blink of an eye. A flick of her lips and she was back to normal.

"What's the plan?"

Sophie lifted her head up.

Glancing at the ongoing mixture of power and then at her summons.

She stood silent in the air. Anchored by a short, box platform that stood from her floating doors.

A mystery unsettled.

Yet, it held the weight of her battles.

"Watch."

Pulling Thalia onto the platform.

Took a step forward and raised the talisman into the air.

A shrill silence followed.

Overcome only by the sound of the raging wind and the hollow storm brewing.

A few seconds passed, and her talisman glowed.

A pale gold.

It shimmered. Shivered. Then hummed.

Exploding in a light of gold and crimson.

Thalia stood amazed, but a sudden shift in the air grabbed her attention.

Glancing at the source, her expression eased.

Tension and facial marks eased from the sight.

Over a hundred floating doors stood in the warm darkness.

It was a crimson warmth that trembled and quaked like a storm.

Yet, the golden–crimson ignition seemed to burn even that warmth.

A different kind of feel crept into the space. Alien. Unwelcome.

Still, it ravaged.

Golden crimson took play in the air.

Reaching for the imposing explosions.

The mass of crimson and black. The blast of self-implosion and death.

Thin golden-crimson lines drew across it, reaching in and pulling. Tugging at something deep.

Sophie groaned.

Her thoughts reeling in.

'This is yet another artefact.'

The Talisman of Transport.

A simple name, yes. But a complicated one to activate.

It worked like the floating doors. Transporting media between spaces. It didn't matter where they came from, or what they were.

It simply took it and moved it to another space. Well, a physical one. One that stood within the peripheral of a human.

Or in Sophie's case, in one of her summons peripheral.

She glanced up, far into the skies.

Above the heavy clouds. The thunder claps and rages with lightning bolts.

Even the rain that stormed the Academy.

There, a door opened, and Maxillan stepped out.

Arms folded.

A rope bound by an array of talismans thrown into the air.

The moon's light glistened across its onyx features.

Running along its masculine, bony structure and ominous beauty despite its careless ruggedness that resisted the moonlight.

He folded his arms and looked down.

Where their eyes met at a point.

Sophie nodded once and she looked away.

She breathed in. Heavy. Deep. Tremendously deep.

As if the whole world depended on her at that moment. Like her shoulders would tremble from the weight of it.

She closed her eyes. Letting a second pass.

Then another. And another…..until it evolved into a full minute.

Finally, she opened them.

A deep tremor spread through the air. A ripple of Dark Mana erupts in concentric circles from her form.

It was salvaged through the air with stretching tendrils.

Rushing in a blast.

Her talisman quaked and hummed.

A silent decree ravaged through it as the lines drawn from it tethered the world.

An anchor built solely from Dark Mana and focus.

It spread.

Reaching her summons and their talismans responded.

Like a child woken by its mother.

They hummed. They cried. They decreed.

The lines shivered. Took shape.

Built a solid foundation around the ongoing explosion.

Thalia watched in awe. A silent one.

Hidden behind her mask of indifference.

This was power meant to suppress.

But more so, this was akin to the traits of her people. Her family. Her household.

She let her thoughts stumble.

'It's like an Aura Field Of Vision.'

The ability to manifest their traits in the world.

Like marking their signature on a land. Large or small. Marking a domain.

The power felt like such. Familiar.

It startled her. Nearly as scared as her.

She remained silent, nonetheless. And watched.

A sudden quake shifted from the drawn lines as it formed a symbol.

Irregular strokes and patterns, shaping into something much more.

It began subtly. Then it didn't.

The air cracked. Its intensity shivers like a static voltage.

Trembling under the weight of an invisible force driven by Dark Mana.

A prehistoric power unleashed. Kept hidden behind closed doors. Passed through the means of mouth.

Making its stance in the world for the first time in ages.

The force it caused was tremendous.

It vibrated and pulsed with a tremendous amount of force.

The effect was immediate.

A sudden flicker of vibration through the combining abomination of collapse.

It pulsed again. Louder. Firmer. Stronger. At least twice as much.

Again, the combined explosions shivered.

More than a flicker, yet not strong enough in its frequency.

Then again. Fivefold.

It pulsed. It moved.

And again. Tenfold.

The air literally whipped.

A sudden slice that tore through molecules. Screamed in a hollow pain.

The rain stumbled. It warped. Spiralled around the explosions.

Shifting back upwards to where it once came from.

Unnatural Phenomenon.

'Shit.' Thalia thought to herself on observing it. 'That's a cause–and–effect for a power this tremendous. If those talismans shake again. The combined effect of the blast and the skill will cause a stronger effect.

We might actually tear a space through reality…..now that…..'

She gulped.

'....that would be bad.'

Finally, as if nearing another pulse – a powerful climax that would get the job done. Ripping what little strength reality held against the pressure of the building explosion.

A world-level catastrophe is begging to happen. Nearing closer and closer to the drum of destruction.

Its hunger is growing rapidly with raging intensity. Striving for something more. Much more.

Pulling. Tugging. AWAKENING.

FINALLY—

It disappeared.

Like a television set suddenly turned off at the peak of action.

The peak form of an anti-climax bearing fruit.

Hollow and Empty. Silent.

Thalia blinked once. Then shook her head.

'What happened?' confusion evident.

The strong currents of the wind died down. Reaching a subtle form different from what it was a moment ago.

It was calmer now.

As if a storm had passed.

The aftermath lingered for a moment before it began to disperse into nothing.

Thalia was taken aback. Immensely.

She shifted her gaze to Sophie.

Her expression shifted even more so.

Sophie appeared silent. Calm.

Indifferent while she stood in her spot.

Invoking the will of her talismans into the unordinary.

It felt like she had lost focus.

Head tilted downwards.

Breathing was calm and low. A slow hum to her rhythm while her chest rose and fell.

Her body was still. Too still.

Thalia tapped her lightly. Her confusion slowly turned into realization.

She glanced upwards.

The summons walked back into their doors. Talismans of gold dimming into oblivion as they were swallowed by the darkness of the floating doors.

They left. Disappeared.

Thalia sighed. A brief one. She glanced at Sophie once again.

Pulled her slowly towards her figure. She placed her head on her neck.

'You've done your part, Sophia Arcanus.'

She let the young girl sleep.

With a subtle smile, Thalia glanced up.

The wavelength that disappeared reappeared once again.

Just as she instructed. Sophie had taken it away from the surface of the Academy and into the skies.

She had teleported the entirety of a world-class explosion.

That was dangerous.

Careless even.

Impossible under normal conditions, but not to a Family from the Great Families.

Thalia could prove that. If her mana levels weren't at the bottom of the pool, at least.

She stood on the platform for a moment.

Basking in the silence in the air.

The rain returned to its normal frequency. Falling with intensity as it did before.

Everything was as it was – until it wasn't.

A bright light broke through the skies.

A surge of mana and raw power ripped through the heavens.

The Earth shook from the onset of the ongoing explosion.

It grew. It flared. It screamed. It roared.

It scattered the rain and wiped the clouds clean from the skies.

The rain stopped.