While Hugh and company defended the periphery of the Tower of Conclave, Stella had already retreated inside.
The current Stella would have insisted on staying with them and fighting alongside them, but 'Stella'— the first Time Keeper was different. She knew when to fight and when to retreat. And at the present state of her body, she had to do the latter.
After retreating into the tower, Stella did not return to her quarters as Malia asked but to the chamber prepared for Kyran to stay in. Her reason for going there was obvious— to visit Cyneah, Layla's descendant.
Initially, Stella wanted to avoid meeting Cyneah because she was only a fragment of consciousness in the Time core and might trigger another episode that would affect the current Stella's emotions even when 'resting.'
Frankly, the reason the current Stella was affected by 'Stella's memories' was not because the Time core was triggered because Cyneah resembled Layla. As a matter of fact, the latter two looked nothing alike. The real cause was Stella getting jealous of Kyran's attitude toward Cyneah, resulting in the Time core resonating with her along with 'Stella's' memories of being jealous of Layla.
Putting aside the matter of the current Stella's emotions, 'Stella' wanted to visit Cyneah to confirm something. Just as she told Kyran, she did not know if Cyneah was the real one or if it was Haylee. But the fact that the former did not possess the Soul core— or any magic core and still stayed alive— meant she was different.'
The reason behind this is simple. An essence is formed using a mage's life force. One does not possess a magic core but will possess a 'core-like' area in their body to store magic energy. Because of this core-like area, they can attract the same magic energy in the surroundings corresponding to their original body's innate magic.
Cyneah could use Soul magic, yet she could not store them. That fact already showed she was not an essence.
It was also the reason Kyran believed Cyneah could not be an essence. Nevertheless, this alone did not prove she was not one. Thus, it was a mystery why he was convinced she was real.
Anyhow, while Kyran could not prove it yet, Stella might.
Kyran might be the only one in the history of the Tower of Tribulations to have learned around 80% or more about every Branch of Magic during training, thus making him far more knowledgeable than anyone. However, Stella had the advantage of Time— not to mention that her family's origin was connected to the Tower of Tribulation itself. She had far more experience in practical magic and traveling to other planes than Kyran.
For this reason, Stella knew how to confirm Cyneah's state.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Stella stopped in her tracks and looked outside the window as explosions could be heard outside.
One of the array formulas Kyran included in the enhanced Tower of Conclave's defensive array was to prevent magic fluctuations and shockwaves from invading inside. Thus, Stella could hear the battle but could not feel the amount of magic fluctuations that resulted from the collision of magic attacks outside.
Nevertheless, Stella still knew things were not going well outside. And although the Tower of Conclave's defensive array had been enhanced by Kyran, if the worst-case scenario happened and it was destroyed, she was not the only one who would be in a perilous situation but also Cyneah.
Alas, even if Stella wanted to prevent the worst-case scenario from happening since the current situation was something her predecessor had never witnessed when she used Time to look into the future, there was nothing she could do.
Nevertheless, that did not mean she could not come up with something now. First, she had to confirm Cyneah's state.
With this in mind, Stella continued toward Kyran's room and, at the same time, pondered how she could keep them both sage.
'But it is easier said than done,' she thought and sighed inwardly. 'In my present state, I am far more useless than her.'
Stella's concern was reasonable. She was only a small consciousness and could not use magic as she pleased.
She continued on her way and soon reached her destination.
Stella knocked once before entering, not even waiting for Cyneah to invite her in.
Inside, Cyneah was still in bed but was already wide awake. She was looking, yet not really seeing, toward the window as the explosions continued to ring from outside.
Sensing Stella entering the room, Cyneah turned toward the direction of the door. Judging from her calm expression, she did not appear surprised at Stella's arrival.
On the other hand, Aki, Kyran's puppet who had been standing guard to protect Cyneah if something happened, faced Stella. Its expression was cold, and it was watching Stella's actions attentively.
Stella looked at it but did not say anything.
"You don't look surprised to see me," Stella commented, walking toward the bed.
"I heard you coming," Cyneah replied.
"You have a very good sense of hearing. You still heard my approach even with all the noise outside."
Cyneah did not respond and only smiled slightly. If this had been any other time, she would have replied with a common, 'I'm blind, so my other senses perform better than most.' However, she did not respond like this because there was something 'uninviting' about Stella.
The truth, the commotion outside woke her up, and the myriad of lights everywhere dazzled her unseeing eyes. But amidst all of those, for some reason, there was a somewhat still and gentle sound slowly approaching from her side.
To Cyneah, Stella's footsteps were like a chime of a small bell. It rang out with a gentle ripple, dissolving the sounds around her.
"Do you know who I am?" Stella continued without waiting for Cyneah to comment on what she had said. She did not come here for idle chat, after all.
"Yes."
Stella was surprised at Cyneah's response.
As if reading Stella's thoughts, Cyneah added, "I don't mean to say that I know you personally or your name. But I feel like I know you."
"That is impossible."
"I know... but that is how I feel. At least, somewhere within me... feels this way."
Not wanting to dwell on the subject, Stella changed it deliberately, "Did you know you can use Soul magic."
"Yes."
"Did you know what it entails?"
Cyneah did not answer immediately. Her brow furrowed slightly. It was obvious she did not know how to answer Stella's question.
Stella was not expecting an answer anyway, so she continued, "It means you should have been the next Soul Emperor."
Cyneah's brow furrowed deeper as she looked toward the direction where she heard Stella stop and stand still.
"You looked confused."
"It's because I understand what you want to say, but I am confused about why you think it."
"You do not have the Soul core, meaning you should not have been able to use Soul magic. Thus, my words."
Cyneah fell silent. She felt she had had this conversation before. Or at least, she remembered hearing others talk about it. But her memory was a little hazy, and she could not remember when that happened. Actually, she was not even sure if what she remembered was real.
The truth, although she had been in a trance when Kyran and True Void talked about her state, unbeknownst to them, their conversation had been registered to her memory.
"You're not surprised to hear this. Did anyone tell you about it?"
Cyneah only smiled bitterly.
Stella sighed inwardly. She had been afraid she would also see Layla's shadow while talking to Cyneah. However, that did not seem to be the case.
Although Cyneah was blind. The way her eyes reflected knowledge and understanding was different from Layla's innocent and clueless ones. Apart from this, there was a certain confidence and strength exuding from her which was also different from the latter's fragile yet traitorous ones.
Stella suddenly let out a quiet bitter laugh, recalling someone's words.
''She's not her,' huh?'
Stella took a deep breath while pushing aside all unnecessary thoughts, before re-addressing Cyneah.
"Let's talk for a bit, shall we?"
Outside, the situation had gone from bad to worse.
More Grand Masters from the enemy side had joined the battle, while fatal casualties continued to pile up on the Conclave's side.
The only thing keeping them from being killed at once was the barrier that the enemy had yet to discover would only protect them from magic attacks.
Osric looked at the scene below with narrowed eyes. He felt something was amiss while looking at the barrier around the Conclave. The Water Cage was already in effect but for some reason, the barrier was still working.
Did he miscalculate? Or was one of the barrier's effects to render attacks like his Water Cage ineffective? Could it be that the barrier itself had water-magic properties?
No. That should not have been the case.
But then what?
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