IdleMuse's Snippet

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP. 

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 2

Grand Magical Zone [Fire]

–Mereoleona Vermillion–

This was not the first time she had met interesting people in the Grand Magical Zone but most of them didn't have the Fire flavoured Mana that her family had been refining for generations, not to mention her level of power so most of the people she met in the middle layers were people who were either injured or barely alive. 

She helped the ones she could and killed the ones who were actively taking advantage of the bad situation, irrespective of what was displayed on their Grimoire. More than one Noble from the Clover Kingdom had found themselves charred to a crisp when she had found them in the middle of a heinous act. Killing fellow nobles, especially without grounds for retaliation was grounds for treason, if only anyone found out how they died or who killed them. She usually did it in a flash, the target not even feeling any pain. Many times she had to put their victims out of their misery as well, something that grated on her psyche a lot.

It was not a new idea, training in the Grand Magical Zones. No, her family had been sending their most talented Fire Mages to this very zone for generations, with most of them achieving much higher progress in their magics in the edge zone itself. She had actually been the first Vermillion Fire Mage to reach the Middle Zones in a century. 

So, while seeing the familiar brand of orange-red hair in the Grand Magical Zone was not new, seeing someone who could just do away with her magic with such ease was rare, downright impossible. 

Some would say that chasing people capable of rendering someone helpless with a mere gesture was not wise and they would be right but she was not here to remain helpless, she was here to become strong.

And that was why she was chasing down the impossibly strong person whom she suspected to be of the Vermillion family, even as he continued to gain speed without even using a shred of Mana, while she burned through all of her Mana simply trying to keep up. The man seemed to know the Zone as if it was his home, twisting and turning, burrowing into caves, only to pop up at the oddest of angles, to come up out of the ground. 

She continued to follow him through all of it, her sight never leaving him because her Mana senses continued to fail her completely. It was as if she was chasing a ghost. More than once, she allowed her Fire Mana to burn a small part of her body to check if she was caught in an illusion but no. This was reality and for some odd reason, she was chasing a person who might possibly be the strongest Fire Mage she had ever seen, and the man was still running.

"Stop running, you coward!" She shouted with all her might, Mana enhancing her voice as she was sure that everyone within her edge of the Zone heard the rage induced bellow.

The effect was obvious as the man slowed down, her grin widening as he did so. He was still a fair distance away when he stopped but she had no intention of doing so. After all this time, she had finally encountered someone who could defeat her, she was not going to let this chance get out of hand.

She was not stupid though. She had already transmitted the man's image as well as her rough location to the guards who were permanently stationed here because of the amount of time she spent in the Grand Magical Zone. They had no doubt already passed on the image back home to the Old Geezer. It also included a rough message as to what was happening.

They were no doubt already on their way here using one of the Spatial Mages they had on call. One way or another, she was going to get her fight today.

"Fire Magic: Calib–"

Her chants never finished as the man turned around, looking at her with dead eyes. As his gaze slid to her hands, she found her magic winking out of her control, then he looked her right in the eyes, and to her horror, and slight arousal, she could not control her mana anymore, not from her body or from outside her body, causing her to crash into the ground.

Hissing at the fire wounds, something that had never happened before, she stood up and looked up at the man because wow was he tall, and said, "So, who are you?"

Probably not the best look on her because her legs were slightly trembling for reasons she would never admit to anyone.

The man looked her up and down, crossed his arms, "I am Ignis. Who are you?"

She narrowed her eyes as she noticed the man didn't have a last name but his hair was unmistakably the Vermillion colour. His control over Mana might be a whole other ability because she had yet to see him use Fire Magic. His presence in this Zone might indicate his affinity but she couldn't assume anything. She had to make him use his magic, a tall task considering the man had thoroughly subdued her with a mere wave of his hand.

'Something that the Old Geezer would no doubt be thrilled to learn.' Then again, she might not mind it much if it was this fine specimen she was going to marry.

Clearing her throat, she banished those thoughts from her mind, replying, "I am Mereoleona Vermillion, the first Daughter of the House of Vermillion." Usually, she did it with a lot more fire in the background but one, everything was already on fire around her, and two, she did not have control of her mana back yet.

"Royalty, huh? That's troublesome." She caught onto the man's mutterings.

"So, what can I do for you, Miss Royal?" She grinned at the informal way the man greeted her, utterly disregarding her Royal Status, something that would have even foreigners in the Zone falling over themselves to please her because offending Royalty, especially of the Clover Kingdom, was a sure fire way to die.

"Well, you can start by releasing my mana but if that's not possible–Ohhh," That was certainly odd, feeling her mana get back under her control. She experimentally created her signature fire arms behind her but didn't try anything funny, knowing the prowess of the man before her.

"Thank you. Secondly, who are you? Can you tell me if you are from the Vermillion Family?" She asked softly because if he was then it was the greatest news she had heard since Leo was born.

The man's jaw clamped shut as he was about to say something. He then slumped in defeat, sitting cross legg–

Her jaw dropped as the man sat cross legged but not on the ground. No, the man looked lost in thought and yet, was floating mid air, scratching his chin as he contemplated something. Her mind reeled as she thought of the casual feat of mana control in front of her.

Being in such turbulent mana meant that one had to have a much higher level of control over their mana to even use Mana Skin, let alone use Mana to float mid air and this was the first time she was sensing even a slight disturbance of mana in her surroundings.

For every other effort from her yielded no other result. All she could sense was a slight curving of the Mana in the surroundings as the man was kept aloft in the air.

"Haa, what a drag. Fine! I am Ignis, formerly Vermillion. I was once a part of that family but I no longer identify myself as such. There, happy?"

No, she was not happy, not in the slightest.

"But–"

"Why am I no longer Vermillion? Especially since I can do…this"

Her pupils constricted as she fought to keep standing, the entirety of the mana around the man finally being revealed to her, causing the temperature in the surroundings to skyrocket past levels that she could bear, creating smaller burns on her body. Her vision blurry, she saw as the man created a tiny fireball on his fingertips and yet, that fireball gave her the chills because the fire was white.

The only other mage in Vermillion family history to create white fire went on to become the Wizard King. 

'So this is what it feels like, to have the temperature of the sun in one's hands' Were the last thoughts in her mind before she blacked out, from the pain of the burns or the mana stress, she didn't know and didn't care.

A/N - 

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon. 

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

Anyway, I was reading a fic called 'Reborn as Papa Silva' on Webnovel, and therefore something clicked in my mind, I clicked on my mouse and keyboard, and there you go.

Hopefully this clicks in your minds as well.

We'll see if this becomes just snippets or a full fledged story, depending on the interest generated.

Thanks for reading!

Toodles!