In Risebelle’s memory of the past, a sharp, pierg paied through Haras’s back as a shard of earth energy struck through her body. The blood gushed out of her wildly.

  Risebelle looked on in shock.

  “Haras…”

  In that critical moment, Risebelle’s emotions ignited like a raging storm. Her blue hair seemed to glow and her normally calm demeanor was repced by an overwhelming surge of anger.

  “Humans....Fillthy....Humans....”

  Risebelle’s icy-blue eyes bore into the cloaked figure with an iy that could freeze the very area around her. Her usual cold and posed face shattered like gss. It was repced by nothing but pure rage that radiated from her like a storm.

  She spared no gnce for Haras, who y injured and bleeding on the forest floor. Her focus was solely oruder who had dared to harm her creator.

  “I don’t care who you are,” Risebelle hissed. “But you’ve just made the biggest mistake of your career as a mage. I’ll show you no mercy when I bst you full of holes.”

  Once she spoke, a surge of water magiveloped her. Her affinity for the element maed in a powerful and dangerous form. In her hands, she held a on-like on, and the water within it ed and swirled. It was ready to be unleashed at her and.

  The cloaked figure couldn’t hide her surprise at Risebelle’s dispy of magical power. “A creation of teology, showing magical prowess? How utterly intriguing.”

  The figure’s words only fueled Risebelle’s anger further. She raised her on and aimed it at the cloaked woman. The forest around them seemed to respond to her fury. Water droplets in the air began to gather and swirl whied a dense mist that obscured their surroundings.

  Risebelle fired her on at the cloaked figure with a surge of water magic propelling the attack forward. It created a high-speed projectile that streaked through the air; however, the cloaked figure repared for an attack. With a staff adorned with colorful runes, she eled her magical power into the very earth beh their feet.

  The ground rumbled and shifted in respoo the cloaked woman’s ands. The earth rose and twisted. They formed jagged stone formations that reached out hungrily to ensnare Risebelle.

  Despite the efforts of the Woman, Risebelle was not so easily captured. With agility and grace, she dodged and weaved through the shiftih. Her water-infused on attacks provided bursts of propulsion to aid her movements. The two forces cshed in a battle of magid teology and the forest echoed with the sounds of their frontation.

  Amidst the chaos, the cloaked figure noticed something peculiar. She could feel the power emanating from Risebelle, the fusion of magid teology that was unpreted. With a sense ency, she spoke aloud.

  “I must report this back to the Headmaster. This is no ordinary creation. It’s a potential game-ger and they o know before that quack doctor get a ce to overtake us.”

  While the battle between Risebelle and the cloaked figure intensified, a moment of ued transformation occurred. The water that had been under Risebelle’s trol suddenly surged out from her on. It defied her will and rushed out toward her hands.

  Risebelle cried out in surprise and dropped her ohe water enveloped her. It swirled and ed f a vortex of liquid power around her. For the first time ever, Risebelle unleashed an ability, one she had never used before. She shouted:

  “Aqua Whirlwind!”

  With those words, the swirling vortex of water and magic expanded, creating a powerful whirlwind that surrounded her foe. Within the whirlwind, razor-sharp water bdes sliced through the air, making it a formidable and chaotic attack.

  The cloaked woman’s eyes widened with shod disbelief being caught in the relentless maelstrom of water and magic. She struggled to maintain her posure while her body was ravaged by the dangerous water. The Aqua Whirlwind hindered her movement and inflicted moderate but steadily mounting damage.

  “What?! This level of magic?!” she excimed with astonishment and perhaps a hint of fear.

  When the Aqua Whirlwind subsided, it left the battlefield drenched. Risebelle sed the area with her aill simmering; however, the cloaked woman who had been her adversary had vanished without a trace.

  After the intetle and the astonishing dispy of her newfound power, Risebelle rushed over to Haras who was bleeding out from her injuries. Her anger was still present but her for her creator was evident. Haras had a severe wound which was growing by the miime was running out for her.

  Haras weakly spoke with a strain. “You tapped into yic... within just three days. It’s... faster than we... than I expected.”

  Risebelle’s frustration and fusion were still apparent. “Why do I have magic? The same magic as those humans? No…I don’t want their pathetic magic.”

  Haras looked up to her and begain to expin. “You don’t have... the same magic as humans. It’s... different. You have the power... to trol water... and manipute it with teology. It’s... a fusion of magid teology, uo you.”

  Before Haras could finish her expnation, her injuries became too much to bear. She fell silent. Risebelle khey couldn’t stay out in the open. That would make them vulnerable to potential attacks by mages who she now despised even more after this enter.

  “I’m only doing this because you are my creator.”

  Risebelle carefully lifted Haras and carried her to a more secluded and secure location.

  Risebelle found a secluded spot by the mountain, a pce that mages seemed to actively avoid. It provided them with some degree of safety and privacy. While they settled into this hidden refuge, Haras checked her pockets then showed some frustration a on her face.

  “Oh, I ’t believe it,” Haras excimed. “I fot t the healing sprays with me. I’m such a scatterbrain, aren’t I? Dr.Kintovar would ugh at me.”

  Risebelle, who had been listening ily, felt a sudden surge of for her creator. “Idiot. You hat healing spray. You’re hurt, and we ’t just wait here without any means to treat your injuries. I’ll carry you back to the b when the area clears up.”

  Haras; however, patted Risebelle’s arm gently and smiled, though there ain in her eyes. “I’ll be fine here, Risebelle. You’re strong, and you make it to the b and back without me. I don’t want to worry Kintovar about this. She has enough oe already.”

  Risebelle couldn’t quite grasp this. Haras wao stay behind? She wao be left injured and open to attacks? Risebelle’s frustration and anger were still evident as she scowled. “Idiot! Why do you want to stay here when you’re hurt?! Don’t you see how reckless this is? How you expect me to leave you behind like this?”

  Haras sighed softly and spoke with ess. “Risebelle, please, go to the b arieve the healing spray. I…I ’t afford to let Dr.Kintovar see me like this.”

  Risebelle responded, “Don’t you see how reckless this is? How you expect me to--”

  Haras interrupted gently, “Risebelle, please trust me on this. I know what I’m doing. Once you have the healing spray, you return ao my wounds. But right now, we ’t afford to draw any more attention.”

  “I ’t just leave you here like this….What if something happens while I’m gone? What if the mages find this pce? I ’t take that risk.”

  Haras, however, reached out and pced a hand on Risebelle’s shoulder.

  “Risebelle, please listen to me. You o report back to Dr. Kintovar. Tell her I’m okay and that I’ll be back soon. We ’t afford to draw any attention here. I’ll be safe. It’s the best course of a for both of us. Just follow her orders and you’ll see me ba the b before you know it. Tell her I’ll be gone for three days.”

  “Fine, do whatever you want,” Risebelle replied with her face regaining her ess.

  Risebelle on the inside was aory. She was torween her frustration and growing for Haras. She stormed off back to the b. While she traveled through the mystic forest, she couldn’t shake the sehat something within her was ging. She felt… actual worry? For a Human? It was impossible to her.

  Risebelle ehe b. She found Kintovar and expihe situation with a serious look on her face.

  “Kintovar,” she began, “Haras found a spot in the mountains, and she’ll be gone for three days. She said she’ll be fine, but I her sprays and other items she fot. I’m sure she’ll be back as she promised.”

  Kintarded Risebelle with uanding in her eyes, but her was evident ione as she responded.

  “I trust Haras,” Kintovar said. “If she said she’ll be back, she will be. Even so, I need eyes on that part of the forest that I don’t have. Keep a watchful eye on her return, Risebelle. I trust you will be able to hahis along with your other missions, won’t you?”

  Risebelle nodded, relieved that Kintovar uood the situation.

  During the hree days, Risebelle tirelessly teo Haras’s injuries with the limited supplies they had. The secluded spot by the mountain remaiheir sanctuary, and no mages ventured into that area during this time.

  Haras’s recovery was slow, and she bore the pain of her injuries with remarkable resilience. She was grateful for Risebelle’s care and support, and she khat her creation was doing everything in her power to help her heal.

  On the 3rd day, Risebelle went out on her mission to elimihe mages. She had carried out her duty with her usual cold and ruthless effid left no room for mercy when it came to her enemies. Now, she was eager to che Haras and ensure her well-being.

  When Risebelle returned from her mission to elimihe mages, her heart raced. She had carried out her duty as ordered but her mind was ed with her thoughts on Haras and her meeting and uanding of the woman who was one of her creators.

  However, as she approached the secluded spot by the mountain where she had left Haras, her excitement turo shod dread. The sight that greeted her was horrifying – a massive blood sptter staihe ground. It was the evidence of a violent and gruesome event.

  Risebelle’s eyes widened with arm as she sed the area. She searched for any sign of Haras. Her heart pounded in her chest. There was no trace of her creator, no body or any indication of what had transpired.

  Fear and anger surged within Risebelle as she tried to piece together what had happehe thought of Haras being harmed or worse filled her with a deep sense of dread. She couldn’t prehend the possibility that something terrible happening to the one person who had shown her any form of kindness and care.

  Desperation gripped Risebelle as she shouted out, her voice eg through the secluded spot by the mountain.

  “Haras! Haras, where are you? Answer me!”

  But there was no response, only the eerie silence of the mystic forest, and the disturbing blood sptter that seemed to mock her with its gruesome presence.

  Risebelle’s emotions were a turbulent storm within her. She left the mountains behind. Her Anger coursed through her veins like a relentless fire, driving her forward with a burning desire to front the mages who came anywhere within this secluded spot. This was not a mission assigo her, but she didn’t care.

  Her senses heightened, and her instincts sharpened. She moved with a deadly grace, stealthily trag the mages who were in the area. Her cold and ruthless persona was on full dispy, and she shot with no mercy as she engaged in bat with those who posed a threat.

  But amidst the battle of magid teology, something ued happeears welled up in Risebelle’s eyes, blurring her vision as she fought. It was a sensation she had never experienced before, and it caught her off guard.

  “Why...? I am…g..?” she whispered to herself with fusion. “Why…am I still able to cry?”

  The ahat had fueled her as had masked a deeper, more profouion – sadness.