For the next few days, Shiro would occasionally train with Lisandra in terms of just basic sparring and improving on techniques. Yin would just eat her mana stones while watching. Of course, since she was eating the stones, Shiro was slightly concerned about her stock decreasing rapidly. She had to sneak out every night in order to hunt some monsters for food so that she didn’t starve herself.
Naturally, she had also asked the King about giving her some C ranked mana stones but the sheer amount that she requested made the king want to flip a table.
‘Who the hell needs 1,000 C ranked mana stones!!! Even if your bird is a glutton, she wouldn’t eat that much ok!?’
In the end, they settled with the king getting as many as he could.
“Hais… so bored.” She muttered whilst watching the two batteries still working on converting the army. Converting an army wasn’t something that could be done quickly so Shiro could only wait patiently.
*knock knock knock!
Opening the door, Shiro saw a maid with a small smile.
“Miss Shiro, the king has sent a message. Your requested items have arrived.” She said with a smile.
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
Watching the maid leave, Shiro turned to Yin.
“Yin! The king’s got my stuff. Let’s go.” She called out.
“Oh? Is mum gonna heal herself now?” Yin asked with excitement.
“Perhaps. It depends on if the pill works or not.” Shiro replied as she hid her excitement and showed a composed expression.
But Yin wasn’t fooled.
“It’s just me and you mum, if you’re excited you should show it.” Yin rolled her eyes.
“Hehe~ Fine fine. Come let’s go.” Shiro grinned like a child with a piece of candy.
“See, I knew it.” Yin laughed as she jumped on Shiro’s back.
Making their way to the king’s room, Shiro knocked on the door and waited for his response.
“Come in.”
Opening the door, Shiro saw the king sitting in his chair while looking through doc.u.ments.
“I heard that my stuff is here.” Shiro smiled.
“Yeah, it’s in here.” The king nodded and placed a bracelet on the table.
“Thanks, you need me for anything else? If not, I’ll be going now.” Shiro said as she couldn’t wait to get a start on repairing her mana links. After all, they had been plaguing her for quite some time now.
“Actually, I do.” The king said, placing down his pen.
“Go on.”
“During the battle, if things start to look bad, I want you to take Lisandra and leave this place. Don’t even bother about the mainland since that will be overrun sooner or later. I just wish that you’re able to protect her for as long as possible.” The king asked.
“Sure.” Shiro nodded her head since that was her plan to begin with. If Lisandra was really the only hope, then she’ll make sure that she stays alive.
“Wait is that it?” The king widened his eyes after hearing her reply.
“What? You wanted more? You asked me to keep Lisandra safe and I said yes. What else is there for me to say?” Shiro replied with a raised eyebrow.
“Maybe reassure me? Say oh don’t worry the war will be won or something.” The king shrugged.
“Pft, please. I’m not your wife. If you want reassurance, ask her when you f*ck in the morning or something.” Shiro rolled her eyes.
“Hais, why do I even bother? I should have known what you’re by now.” The king shook his head with a small smile.
“But I suppose some encouragement is needed. Just focus on doing what you can and I’ll do the same.” Shiro smiled before leaving the room.
Looking at where Shiro had stood a moment ago, the king sighed before picking up his pen again. However, he now had a small smile on his face since he felt like destiny was about to change. Even though he did say that Lisandra was their last hope, he felt more secure with Shiro’s promise.
“Strange…” He mused to himself before focusing on the work on his desk.
Meanwhile, Shiro had already made it back to her room and looked at what was stored inside the bracelet.
There was a single pill along with what seemed to be 150 C classed mana stones.
[Weakened Heavenly Rebirth Pill – Purple]
Due to the influence of the fallen god’s corpse, heavenly power was spread through the land. This pill will repair one’s body from its very foundations. (Effectiveness 3%)
“Yin darling, would you mind standing guard for a little while?” Shiro asked with a smile.
“I would have done that even if you didn’t say it mum.” Yin smiled.
Sitting down in the middle of her room, Shiro set up a few defences just in case. Naturally, she also hid the two human batteries since it would be annoying if other people found out after all.
Taking a deep breath, she looked at the pill in her hands. Once she ate this, she would repair her body by 3%.
Throwing the pill in her mouth, Shiro swallowed and felt a fire rage inside of her.
*BOOM!!!!
A burst of wind exploded out with her in the centre.
Gritting her teeth, Shiro could feel her mana running rampant within her body. Motes of light started to appear around her while a faint golden aura slowly enveloped her.
From her chest, an orb of dark mana flared up and clashed with the golden aura causing her to flinch from the pain.
“Ssss!!!” Taking a sharp breath of air from the pain, Shiro closed her eyes to concentrate.
While her pain tolerance was indeed impressive, she had to admit that she severely underestimated the pain that came with the rebirth pill.
Every breath she took was akin to breathing in a batch of nails that scr.a.p.ed against her throat. Small movements would send a shock through her body while the gentle wind became swords that cut across her skin.
‘Why the f*ck are you fighting against the pill!!!’ Shiro cursed out in her mind. She could feel her own mana attempting to stop the foreign mana from doing anything within her body.
Reaching out with her palm, she created a magic circle and slammed it against her cheek.
“GAHH!!!!” Crying out in pain, she forcefully suppressed her own mana from basically wasting this rebirth pill.
Without the intrusion of her dark mana, the golden aura wrapped around her once more and started to seep into her body.
Furrowing her brows, Shiro sent her consciousness into her mana realm and saw several tendrils of light that started to thread her mana links together. Overwhelmed with joy, she inadvertently let down her guard.
However, she soon realised the mistake due to the bone crunching pain that amplified through her body.
“F*ck.” She cursed out before feeling her consciousness fluctuate.
Flexing her fingers, she encased herself in ice to prevent the golden aura from being wasted. This way, even if she falls unconscious, she’ll get the most out of the pill.
Just as she encased herself in ice, her body forced her into an unconscious state due to the pain.
Yin watched with worry plastered on her face since she couldn’t do anything but spectate the process.
Unbeknown to the both of them, the golden aura didn’t refine her body but rather, it started to merge with the ice. A galaxy seemed to have formed within the ice before scattering apart.
While Shiro was unconscious inside the ice, another 3 days had passed outside. Tension was at an all time high due to the demon army coming closer every second.
The scouts that they sent out had mostly died and the few that returned didn’t have any substantial information.
The king sat on his chair as he looked out the window in fatigue. Having done all he could, the only thing left was to wait.
“What else can I do?” He muttered.
Thinking about a particular snow girl that was currently entrapped in her ice coffin like an eternal fairy, the king couldn’t help but shake his head.
However, he couldn’t see the small motes of light floating pass the window. They were converging towards Shiro’s room.
Lisandra, who was in her room at this time, perked up in surprise and shock. She could feel a frightening amount of mana gathering towards Shiro.
Quickly charging out of her room, she ran towards where Shiro was.
*BANG!
Kicking open the door, she saw Yin trying to swat the lights away as if they were flies.
“Get! Away! From! Mum!” She shouted out while flapping her arms around.
“Yin! What’s happening?!” Lisandra asked in worry.
“I don’t know! These little pieces of sh*t just appeared and started to surround mum!” Yin replied in annoyance.
While others saw motes of light, Yin could see tiny fairies that snickered at her while flying around Shiro.
Tilting her head in confusion, Lisandra didn’t understand why Yin addressed the motes of light as if they were living beings. However, she felt a familiar warmth with the light.
‘Strange…’ She thought while reaching out towards one of the motes. She saw it move back and forth as if it didn’t know where to go.
Retracting her hand, Lisandra turned towards Shiro.
Small fractures could be seen slowly spreading over the surface of the ice as she realised that this meant that Shiro was about to wake up from her ‘sleep’.
*KRRR!! CRACK!
More fractures appeared as the motes became jubilant. They gathered towards Shiro with more vigour than before while Yin continued to try her best at swatting them out of the sky.
*BOOM!!!
“Dah!” Yin cried out in shock as a gust of wind smacked her on the back and sent her flying towards the wall.
Lisandra wasn’t spared either since she too was hit in the face by a heavy gust of wind.
“Fuuu… Well isn’t this refreshing?” A melodic voice chuckled.
“Teach?”
“Mum?”
“Sup.” Shiro grinned since she felt her entire body full of energy.
Dusting the ice shards off her body, she looked at the motes of light floating around in the air with interest.
She felt like she could connect with them but at the same time, that connection seemed to be blocked by a veil. Thin yet impenetrable.
Dancing around for a small while, the lights started to fade away as if they were never here.
“Mum, what took you so long?” Yin pouted as she pounced on Shiro.
During the time that she was ‘sleeping’, Yin felt incredibly bored. So the fact that Shiro was back gave her a sense of relief.
“Sorry, I was busy upgrading my attunement. Right now, all of my elements have reached Tier 3.” Shiro grinned. The reality was that she had finished repairing her body during the first day but had taken the time to upgrade her attunements as well.
Her first target was naturally Glacial since that was her main element as of this moment.
But after that was upgraded, she noticed how there weren’t any strange movements within the kingdom and proceeded to upgrade her other elements.
“How’s the situation so far Lisa?” Shiro asked, turning to Lisandra.
“Nothing’s happened just yet. If anything, the army’s just a little tense.” Lisandra smiled.
“Mn, that’s pretty good then. Honestly, I didn’t think they’d wait this long. It has been almost a week since the fortress appeared after all.” Shiro replied with a small nod.
“Since that’s the case, why don’t we take the initiative?” She asked with a grin.
“What do you mean?”
“We start the war instead of waiting for them to invade.”
Carrying Yin on her back with Lisandra following behind her, Shiro made her way to the throne room.
“Say mum, you said that your attunements reached Tier 3 right? Does that mean you have the True Elemental Armour now rather than the fake one?” Yin asked with curiosity.
“Yup.” Shiro nodded.
“Can you show me?” Yin asked as her eyes brightened with excitement.
Lisandra was the same since she was curious about Shiro’s elemental armour.
“Hmm… Nope.” Shiro grinned.
“Ehh!? Even if your darling baby asks you?” Yin frowned as she tried to pull the puppy eyes at Shiro.
Gently flicking Yin on the head, Shiro laughed lightly.
“You’re a bird. Why are you trying to be a puppy?”
“Che.”
“Be patient. I’ll show you during the war. Though I think you’ll be too preoccupied with something else to be focusing on me.” Shiro chuckled.
While Yin did know that she was creating soldiers, she didn’t know that she was converting the ENTIRE army into her soldiers.
Arriving at the king’s study room, Shiro could feel that the king was alone and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
‘Damn, the 3 days seemed to be rough on him.’ Shiro thought after hearing the fatigue in his voice.
Entering the room, Shiro waved her hand lightly.
“Sup, how’s the war effort coming along?”
“Fine. What about you? You were in your room for 3 days.” The king chuckled.
“Had a small upgrade thanks to the pill you gave me. But damn. Is it me or have you been more active in the morning? You look DRAINED.” Shiro grinned.
“Oi! What the hell are you saying?!” He widened his eyes as he looked over at Lisandra.
Seeing Lisandra with a puzzled face, he sighed in relief.
“Haha, but all jokes aside. Let’s help you out shall we?”
“What do you mean?”
“Since the demons haven’t invaded yet, why don’t we abuse them as much as we can and reduce their fighting potential?” Shiro suggested with a dark look in her eyes.
“I’m listening.”
