Chapter 193: The Aura Lesson
A voice echoed through that distant memory.
"Believe me, Mother."
The words were different, yet the feeling behind them was exactly the same.
Her violet eyes remained fixed on Yuuta as she tried to understand why her chest suddenly felt so heavy. The more she looked at him, the more he reminded her of someone she had almost forgotten.
Someone she had forced herself to forget.
Those memories had haunted her for years. Every time she allowed herself to think about them, the pain returned as fresh as the day it had been carved into her heart. It was easier to bury them, easier to pretend they no longer existed.
Yet no matter how deeply she buried them, they always found a way back.
She erased that Memory just to forget those Pain.
As soon as she did,
Yuuta’s voice echoed in her mind once more.
"I want to learn aura," Yuuta said, his voice steady despite the weight of the words. "So I can protect you."
Erza stared at him.
Her heart pounded against her ribs, so fast and so hard that she was certain he could hear it. The rhythm was wild and uncontrolled, nothing like the steady heartbeat of a queen who had faced gods and refused to kneel before them.
This was the heartbeat of a woman who had just heard something she never expected to hear.
Her mortal.
Her impossible, stubborn, foolish mortal wanted to learn aura.
Not to protect himself.
Not to gain power.
Not to prove a point.
Not to satisfy his pride.
He wanted to learn it so that he could protect her.
The thought struck her harder than any weapon ever could.
Because for the first time in a very long time, someone was looking at the Dragon Queen not as an invincible ruler, not as a monster, not as a symbol of power.
But as a woman worth protecting.
For all her years, centuries of fighting, of ruling, of surviving, she had protected herself. From enemies. From allies.
From anyone who might see her moment of weakness and strike. No one had ever offered to protect her.
No one had ever thought she needed protecting.
No one had ever looked at the most powerful being in existence and said, I will stand between you and danger.
Her cold mask slipped.
The careful composure she had maintained for centuries cracked, and beneath it was something raw, something vulnerable, something she had never shown anyone.
She remained silent for a long moment, her violet eyes searching his face. He was serious. There was no joke hiding behind his red eyes, no humor lurking at the corners of his mouth. He was not teasing her.
He was not trying to make her blush or catch her off guard.
He meant it.
Her voice, when she finally spoke, was cold, but the coldness was thinner now, easier to see through.
"Protect me from what?"
Yuuta did not answer.
"From whom?" she asked again.
He remained silent.
"And why?" Her voice rose slightly, the coldness cracking.
"Why would you need to protect me?"
The accusations were bold as arrows, and she was not wrong.
Yuuta knew it.
He should have said that he wanted to stand beside her, to fight with her, to face the world as herequal.
But the word that had come out of his mouth was protect.
He did not know why he had said it. Perhaps Isvarn’s words had burrowed into his mind, *the whole world is her enemy, and the word had escaped before he could stop it.
Or perhaps there was another reason, buried somewhere deep, that he did not yet understand.
Either way, he had already made a blunder.
He could not take it back.
His hands trembled at his sides.
Not from fear, from frustration.
From the helplessness of kneeling before his own wife, begging for something he should not have to beg for.
She was overpowered.
She was a dragon queen.
She could destroy armies with a thought. And here he was, a mortal man with nothing but stubbornness and love, asking her to teach him something he might never be able to learn.
How humiliating, he thought.
How pathetic.
But he did not look away.
Erza saw him trembling.
Saw the frustration in his clenched jaw, the desperation in his red eyes.
Her heart ached, not from coldness, not from cruelty, but from the knowledge that she could not give him what he wanted.
She softened her voice.
She was happy, truly happy, that her mortal wanted to protect her.
The thought warmed something deep in her chest, something she had thought frozen beyond repair.
But it was impossible. He could not learn aura. Not because he was weak, not because he was human, but because the aura she wielded was tied to her Soul nature, to the magic of Universe, to forces that would tear his sealed memories apart.
And she could not risk that.
She could not risk him.
"Stop this," she said, her voice cold again, but the coldness was a mask now, thin and fragile.
"Stop this foolish stubbornness, mortal. You cannot learn aura just because you decided to."
Yuuta’s head snapped up.
"Why? Why do you get to decide what I can and cannot learn? Just because I am weak? Just because I smile like an idiot does not mean I cannot learn."
Erza paused.
She looked at him, really looked at him, and she realized that he was right.
She had seen his aura before, in the Death Well, in the arena, in the moments when his red eyes glowed and his power leaked through the cracks in his seal.
If he could learn to control that power, if he could awaken the strength that slept within him, he could become stronger. Not as strong as her, perhaps, but strong enough to fight, strong enough to survive, strong enough to stand beside her against low-level monsters.
But then her dragon memories stirred. The cursed inheritance that lived within her blood, the ancient instinct that had protected her for centuries and allowed her to remember the mistakes of the past so she would never repeat them, the very thing that had helped shape her into one of the most powerful beings in existence, began clouding her judgment.
The warmth that Yuuta’s words had ignited was smothered beneath old fears and buried nightmares. All she could see were the memories she wished to forget the screaming, the agony, the Yuuta pain, and the seal that could reopen if she was not careful, if she pushed too hard, if she made a single mistake.
She sighed.
She had been so close to agreeing. So close to saying yes. So close to kneeling beside him and placing her hands on his and teaching him the secrets of aura that had been passed down through generations of dragons.
But she could not.
"Stop this," she said again. "Stop this stubborn attitude, mortal. Even if I taught you, you would not Understand."
"How do you know?" Yuuta’s voice was desperate now, cracking at the edges. "How do you know what I can and cannot Understand? Yuuta paused he calm himslef and said one more time in respectful way,
"Please, Erza, teach me. See for yourself if I can learn or not."
She looked at him, at the seriousness in his red eyes, at the determination in his trembling hands, at the way he refused to look away even though she had rejected him twice.
She could not bring herself to reject him again.
But she could not teach him aura.
The risk was too great.
The seal was too fragile.
One mistake, one misstep, one moment of carelessness, and his mind would shatter.
So she came up with a brilliant idea.
"Fine," she said. "I will tell you about aura, mortal."
Yuuta’s eyes widened.
His breath caught.
Did she really agree? Was she really going to teach him?
Hope flickered across his face, bright and fragile and desperately alive.
Erza saw it, and her heart broke a little.
She was not going to teach him.
She was going to explain aura to him, the theory, the history, the philosophy, in the hopes that he would realize how impossible his request was. In the hopes that he would give up on his own, before she had to crush his hope herself.
"Sit."
Her voice was calm as she gestured to the floor across from her.
"If you truly wish to learn, then you will listen to everything I say."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"You will not interrupt."
A pause.
"You will not argue."
Another pause.
"You will simply listen."
Yuuta immediately nodded and hurried to sit across from her. His red eyes remained fixed on her face, afraid that he might miss even a single word.
Erza took a deep breath.
She spent a few moments organizing her thoughts. Aura was not something that could be explained easily.
Even among dragons, many misunderstood its true nature.
"Before I begin," Erza said, her golden eyes settling on him, "understand this. I am not going to teach you aura. I am only going to explain what it is. Whether you learn anything from this is your own responsibility. Do you understand?"
Yuuta remained silent for several seconds.
A part of him was disappointed.
However, another thought quickly entered his mind.
Maybe that was enough.
Maybe if he understood what aura truly was, he could figure out the rest himself.
With that hope in mind, he nodded.
"I understand."
"Good."
Erza crossed her arms.
"Now then, since you wish to know about aura, I will explain it in the simplest way possible."
Yuuta immediately straightened his back.
His expression became serious.
He was already preparing himself to memorize every word she said.
Erza noticed and almost sighed.
She had a feeling this conversation was not going to go the way she wanted.
"The first thing you need to understand," she began, "is the difference between aura and mana."
Yuuta listened attentively.
"Aura and mana are not the same thing, despite what most mortals believe, Including you."
Yuuta blinked.
A confused expression appeared on his face.
"When did I say they were the same thing?" he asked.
Erza’s eyes instantly narrowed.
The room grew noticeably colder.
"What did I tell you?"
Yuuta immediately froze.
"...Not to interrupt."
"Correct."
"I apologize."
"Then remain silent and listen."
Yuuta quickly nodded and shut his mouth.
Satisfied, Erza continued.
Her gaze drifted toward the night sky visible through the window.
"Most people believe that power begins and ends with mana. They spend their entire lives learning how to absorb it, refine it, store it, and cast it into spells."
There was no mockery in her voice.
Only certainty.
"To them, mana is the foundation of all power."
She slowly shook her head.
"They are wrong."
Yuuta remained silent this time.
"The reason they are wrong is because mana is merely a tool. A powerful tool, certainly, but still only a tool."
Erza raised her hand and pointed toward the stars beyond the window.
"Mana belongs to the body. It flows through living creatures and allows them to influence the physical world. It can be increased through training, refined through knowledge, and exhausted through use."
Her Voilet eyes reflected the distant starlight.
"Aura is something entirely different."
For the first time, her voice grew quieter.
Almost reverent.
"Aura does not belong to the body."
"It does not belong to dragons."
"It does not even belong to the gods."
Yuuta felt himself unconsciously lean forward.
Erza continued.
"Aura belongs to the universe itself. Those who wish to wield it cannot rely upon their bodies. They must reach out with their souls and draw the power into themselves."
Erza pauzed thinking now Yuuta will surely give up.
"It’s actually pretty simple, Erza," Yuuta said. "Mana is for the body, and aura is for the soul."
Erza paused.
Her gaze had been on the window, but when she looked back at him, her eyes widened slightly.
He had understood it.
Far too quickly.
A flicker of disbelief crossed her expression as she realized Yuuta’s comprehension wasn’t normal it was instinctive. If guided, he would likely grasp far more complex truths without difficulty.
Then her expression darkened.
Because deeper understanding meant deeper awakening. And deeper awakening meant the memories he should never face might begin to resurface.
Erza clenched her jaw.
No.
If that was the cost, then she would have to make this far more complicated enough for him to give up before reaching that point.
"Aura is the phenomenon created when an individual soul establishes resonance with the primordial celestial current that permeates all layers of existence."
Across from her, Yuuta blinked.
His expression remained neutral for exactly three seconds before his eyebrows slowly began to furrow.
Erza noticed.
Good.
"The common misconception among mortals is that aura is energy. This is inaccurate. Energy is merely one of its observable manifestations. Aura itself is a metaphysical intermediary existing between conceptual existence and material reality."
Yuuta’s face stiffened.
His eyes were focused on her, but Erza could practically see the confusion forming behind them.
She continued mercilessly.
"To put it another way, aura is neither matter nor energy, yet it possesses properties of both while belonging entirely to neither."
A few seconds passed.
Yuuta’s gaze drifted toward the wall.
Then toward the floor.
Then back to Erza.
He looked like a man attempting to solve a puzzle written in an unknown language.
Excellent.
"The universe is composed of countless overlapping layers. The physical realm occupies only the lowest and most easily perceived stratum. Beyond it exists the spiritual layer, the conceptual layer, the astral layer, and numerous higher dimensions that remain inaccessible to ordinary perception."
Yuuta’s eyes began to lose focus.
His face had become strangely blank.
It was the expression of someone desperately trying to understand while simultaneously understanding absolutely nothing.
Erza felt a small sense of satisfaction.
"Aura naturally exists throughout all layers simultaneously. However, the quantity of aura an individual may attract is determined by the compatibility coefficient between their soul structure and the surrounding celestial current."
Yuuta nodded.
Erza narrowed her eyes.
There was no way he understood that.
Not a chance.
"This coefficient is primarily influenced by innate spiritual talent, though secondary variables such as existential awareness, self-actualization, conceptual stability, and soul integrity may also affect the final outcome."
The nodding stopped.
Yuuta stared at her.
Then he stared at the ceiling.
Then he stared at her again.
His expression carried the same look people wore when reading the instructions to an impossibly complicated machine.
Erza continued before he could recover.
"The process of gathering aura occurs when the soul achieves a state of harmonic synchronization with the universal flow. Unfortunately, synchronization is impossible without first identifying the fundamental nature of one’s existence."
A twitch appeared near Yuuta’s left eye.
It vanished almost immediately.
"The first stage of aura cultivation requires a complete understanding of the self....Which means Know yourself."
Yuuta nodded slowly.
"The second stage requires understanding the relationship between the self and existence."
The nod became weaker.
"The third stage requires understanding the relationship between existence and the universe."
The nod disappeared entirely.
"The fourth stage requires understanding the relationship between the universe and the soul."
Yuuta’s soul visibly left his body for a moment.
"The fifth stage requires understanding why those relationships exist at all."
Silence.
Yuuta sat completely motionless.
His eyes were open.
His mouth was slightly open.
He looked like a man who had been struck by a carriage.
Erza was pleased.
At last, reality was beginning to set in.
Only a fool would continue after hearing this.
She folded her arms.
"Only after establishing these foundations can one begin attempting resonance."
Yuuta’s face twitched.
"The advanced theory regarding aura’s autonomous will, conceptual density, celestial hierarchy, multidimensional interaction, and transcendent resonance can be discussed afterward."
The room fell silent.
Yuuta stared at her.
Erza stared back.
Several long seconds passed.
Finally, she saw it.
That distant look.
That defeated expression.
That look of a man questioning every life decision that had led him to this moment.
A small voice in her mind whispered.
Good.
Give up.
No sane human would willingly continue after hearing all of that.
Unfortunately, she knew Yuuta well enough to understand that there was a very real possibility that, after spending the last thirty minutes listening to a lecture that would confuse even experienced scholars, he would simply look at her and ask when they were supposed to begin training.
The thought alone irritated her.
She had deliberately explained aura using every piece of theory, philosophy, and metaphysical complexity she knew in the hope that he would realize how impossible the path truly was.
Any sane person would have given up halfway through the explanation.
Yet Yuuta remained silent.
He sat across from her with his head lowered, staring at the floor.
From the outside, he looked like a student whose mind had completely shut down under the weight of information. In truth, that was not far from reality.
He had barely understood anything she had said.
Terms such as celestial currents, soul resonance, existential awareness, and conceptual existence might as well have been another language. Every attempt to understand them only left him more confused than before.
However, despite understanding almost none of the explanation, there was one thing that refused to leave his mind.
Know yourself.
The phrase continued to echo inside his thoughts.
He closed his eyes and replayed the lecture from the beginning, trying to find something, anything, that he could grasp.
Most of Erza’s words slipped through his fingers like water.
The theories were too complicated, the concepts too abstract, and the requirements sounded impossible.
Yet that single phrase remained.
Know yourself.
For some reason, it felt important.
More than important.
It felt like a key.
Yuuta could not explain why, but he had the strange sensation that he was standing before a locked door.
On the other side of that door was something he had been searching for his entire life without realizing it. He could not see it. He could not touch it. Yet he could feel its presence. The only thing separating him from it was a single step forward.
Across from him, Erza quietly observed his expression.
Unlike Yuuta, she understood exactly why he would never take that final step.
Aura demanded complete self-understanding. It demanded absolute acceptance of one’s own nature. A person could not deceive aura because aura responded directly to the truth of the soul. That was why she had never believed Yuuta could awaken it.
The greatest obstacle standing before him was not talent.
It was identity.
Yuuta believed himself to be human. He had always believed himself to be human.
But he wasn’t.
Not entirely.
His blood carried traces of countless races. Human, elf, beastkin, and others whose names had long since been forgotten. His existence was the result of generations of bloodlines intertwining until something entirely unique had been created. His soul reflected that reality. It was neither human nor nonhuman. It was a hybrid of everything.
To awaken aura, he would have to acknowledge that truth.
He would have to understand exactly what he was.
And Erza could not imagine that ever happening.
That was why she had explained everything she knew. She had hoped that once he understood the complexity of aura, he would abandon the idea on his own. It would spare him years of frustration and disappointment. More importantly, it would spare her from revealing a truth she had no desire to reveal.
A quiet sigh escaped her lips.
She was preparing to tell him that it was acceptable to give up. Not everyone was destined to walk every path. There was no shame in recognizing one’s limits.
Then Yuuta opened his eyes.
The words she had intended to say died in her throat.
"Erza."
His voice was calm.
She looked up and immediately noticed something that made her pause.
The confusion was gone.
He still looked tired, and he still looked lost, but there was a seriousness in his eyes that had not been there before. It was the expression of someone who had stopped searching for complicated answers and had instead focused on the only question that mattered.
"Just tell me one thing."
Erza felt an unpleasant sensation settle in her chest.
Yuuta held her gaze.
"Do you think I can learn aura?"
For a moment, time seemed to stop.
The question itself was simple.
The problem was the answer.
If she lied and told him yes, she would be giving him hope for a path she believed was impossible. She would be condemning him to years of struggle and failure.
If she told him no, then he would inevitably ask why.
And the moment he asked why, she would be cornered.
Because there was only one honest answer.
The reason he could not learn aura had nothing to do with effort, talent, or determination.
It had everything to do with what he truly was.
As Erza stared into his eyes, she realized that, for the first time since the conversation began, she had no idea what to say.
Truth or Lie...
Neither option felt right.
Yuuta looked at her and swallowed nervously before asking the question that had been weighing on his heart.
"Do you believe in me, Erza?"
The room fell silent.
Erza raised her gaze and looked directly into his eyes.
There was hope in them.
Bright and fragile.
Desperately alive.
The kind of hope that refused to die no matter how many times reality tried to crush it.
For a moment, her breath caught in her throat.
Because she had seen that look before.
Not in Yuuta.
Not long ago.
But years ago.
In another pair of eyes.
Violet eyes.
Determined eyes.
Eyes that had stared at her with the same stubborn conviction and the same desperate desire to be believed in.
The eyes of her son.
Yuri?..
To be Continued...
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