He saw Arros standing there so casually like he couldn't see the chaos around him, like he couldn't see the trained Arcanists fleeing… Like he hadn't noticed the elite security force meant to handle major threats abandoning their posts. Like the ten trumpet blasts meant nothing at all.

The stall owner's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. Then, as if Arros's calm had somehow highlighted his own foolishness in trying to save herbs instead of his life, the man dropped everything and ran.

"Ah..."

Arros let out a small sound of disappointment.

"And I didn't want to take it without paying..."

He set the herb down carefully and turned to face the direction everyone was fleeing from.

In the distance, rising from the vast magical beast forest that bordered the town, a massive serpentine shape could easily be seen. An eel-like creature, at least two hundred feet long, swimming through the air with massive fins extended from either side of its head, each one the size of a building.

Ah, so it's you I sensed earlier when coming here, Arros thought with mild interest. Good that you decided to come out while I'm still here.

He raised his hand, holding his fingers in a flicking pose aimed at the approaching Calamity beast.

He almost cast [Unravel] — the spell he typically used for... well, for dealing with anything, really. Either small or big, he had grown used to adjusting its strength for any purpose. It was just that simple, efficient and effective.

But then he remembered the little boy from earlier. The way he'd insisted Arros the Anomalous could cast [Flame Blast] if he wanted.

A small smirk played on his lips, and then he readjusted.

"[Flame Blast]," he murmured, though he didn't actually need the incantation at all.

Immediately, the world seemed to dim.

Not actually dimming — but because of the extreme brightness that suddenly erupted from where Arros stood, everywhere else appeared darker by comparison. The air warped from the heat as reality itself bent around the point of superheated energy that had appeared without combustion or buildup or any of the normal prerequisites for flame.

It was sudden. As if the state of the growing streak of white-hot fire was naturally meant to be instead of the air that had occupied that space a second before.

The Calamity beast in the distance turned its massive head toward that point of light.

…And that was the last thing it ever did.

In a beam of fusion energy shaped like flame and packed into a single concentrated streak, a brilliant white light flashed forward without any buildup whatsoever, crossing the distance with overwhelming power in a fraction of a second.

Buildings underneath its path shook violently from the shockwave. The sonic booms that came after didn't even sound like booms, but rather, bone-chilling groans that sent shivers down the spine of all who heard it for miles. Like the noise of a zipper being undone, except it was the air itself being superheated to impossible temperatures within split seconds.

Without room for any reaction, the spell hit dead center.

And the Calamity beast... disappeared.

It simply ceased to exist in a controlled detonation that looked like a miniature sun blooming for an instant before collapsing back into nothing, leaving not even ash behind.

The devastation around the spell's path was significant. Roofs were torn away, some structures partially melted, and the town gate collapsed from the shockwave. The effect spread for miles, reaching nearby settlements.

But the fact that it was only that much destruction was miraculous, showing just how expert a control Arros had over the spell he was casting for the first time. The beam had been so precisely directed that despite its power, there were no casualties. Even Finn was wholly shook by the display before his eyes.

Everything that looked damaged could be repaired. No one had died.

Wait...

Finn?

The name surfaced from somewhere deep, and suddenly Arros paused.

Finn's awareness flooded back to the fore. He could think through Arros again, he could remember why he was here. The mental training. The Mind-Cephalon. They all came flooding back as, very rapidly, the seams of this dream… memory…? vision? — whatever it was, began to come apart.

But just before everything dissolved…

He heard a voice. A female voice, sharp with exasperation and something like fondness.

Finn's head snapped around, eager to at least see before everything came apart.

It was a woman in full plate armor descending from the sky while floating on nothing. She seemed to be berating Arros for something — his spell just now, perhaps. Her words were muffled and distant, so Finn couldn't hear anything.

But he didn't even need to. Her presence alone had taken up all his thoughts.

Gods, she was beautiful. And powerful. And… familiar?

Finn frowned.

Her face was certainly unfamiliar to him. He'd never seen anyone that beautiful in his life… But the air around her felt so much like...

Order?

The thought formed clearly, and the woman's eyes locked onto Finn.

Not Arros. Finn.

Her expression shifted to shock, and she dove toward him rapidly—

.

.

.

Finn gasped, jerking backward as reality snapped into place around him.

The training platform. The afternoon sun. His body in a seated position, except he was falling—

Hands caught him before his head could smash into the platform.

"Whoa!" Osmund steadied him, pale gray eyes wide with surprise. "You barely lasted three seconds! What happened?! Did it shock you immediately? That's never happened — Are you alright?!"

Finn panted heavily as he struggled to reorient his reeling mind.

Three seconds…? What bloody three seconds…?

That was the first thing he took note of as he stabilized himself.

He'd experienced what felt like twenty minutes to maybe even half an hour. An entire sequence of events, detailed and coherent. But yet in real time, only three seconds had passed?

A part of his mind was still in shock from the whole thing, questioning what exactly had happened. But his experience with so many weird situations made him slightly numb to that fact.

He more easily accepted what he saw was real without question, and was already analyzing what he saw in a rush of jumbled thoughts.

Especially that woman… That presence.

Order.

He'd seen the bearer of Order. Not Althea — this was someone older, someone from...

From when? How long ago was that memory?

"Finn!" Osmund's voice cut through his spiraling thoughts. "Talk to me. What did you see?"

Finn focused on the short man's concerned face, trying to organize his thoughts into something coherent.

But all he could think was:

Who the hell was Arros?

He kept staring dumbly at Osmund as his mind shuttled between thoughts. Some part of him knew he should be reigning his expression in — that Osmund had surely now known that something wildly different from what should have happened, had.

But he simply didn't care. He was still coming down from the high that was Arros. A being — an entity that was so powerful all worries were mundane to him.

Finn stared at Osmund with that same aloofness, still coming down from that high.

It wasn't until a few seconds of increasingly vehement body-shaking from Osmund that Finn finally came to himself. Finally realized that he wasn't some aloof entity. That he had no such level of power to warrant being aloof.

"Stop."

He spoke finally, grabbing Osmund's arm that kept shaking him by the shoulder.

"What did you see?" Osmund asked bluntly, unable to hide his curiosity at all.

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