And after checking on Jamar, I moved to another important matter, finding myself right in front of Agni and his recovered sister, Leona. Aside from Surtr and his group, I've been training these two by their request. What we promised their grandfather was to protect them and also protect the fire orb fragment within Agni's forehead.
However, they insisted that they needed to grow stronger, and that they wouldn't simply allow us to protect them while they cowered in a corner. Honestly, I liked that attitude, and after we rescued them, we already had a long conversation with them, learning about their circumstances.
"It has been some time since we started this training, but are you sure you want to continue?" I asked.
"Yeah, why are you even training?" Asked Aegir angrily. "Just hold my brother's fragment in place and don't do anything reckless! If you jump right in front of that bastard he'll have three fragments!"
"I understand your circumstances and reasons to say such things, Lady Aegir… And I am completely grateful that you allowed me to keep a fragment of your brother within me for a bit longer, until we can gather them all…" Agni bowed his head. "But I simply can't stand still while everyone is training hard… This gratefulness I feel for everyone's help and goodwill, I need to pay it, even if you won't allow me to fight in the frontlines."
"Sigh… I wish he could listen, but he's as stubborn as our grandfather." Leon sighed, Agni's big sister. "Once again, we are really grateful for everything. If it wasn't for you, Lord Drake… I would had left my brother alone in this world."
"It's nothing, we were expecting you to come here, but we never thought that the Flame Emperor's troop would be so filled with Divine Beasts. I wish I could had gone to rescue you myself instead of waiting, but then again, we were busy dealing with the Mountain Guardian… Sigh." I sighed. "Maybe I should had thought things more instead of rushing, if I had used my doppelgangers to-"
"Please, that's enough." Leona gently touched my hand. "Don't blame yourself for things you couldn't do, none of the things that befell us were your fault. We'll be forever grateful, my body and soul as well, they shall belong to you forever."
"Huh? Right…" I nodded.
After having rescued Leona, she had gained a slight obsession with me. Perhaps a rather unhealthy one. I simply ignored her though; I wasn't interested on her in any sort of romantic way.
"Big sister, that's enough too." Agni sighed, stopping her from overstepping from her boundaries. "Shall we train again? I need to learn a greater understanding of Divine Power, this power I had awakened thanks to you."
"Me too." Leona nodded. "Now that I can summon and create these Fire Spirits, I must help as much as I can."
I had awakened both Agni and Leona's Mana Cores into Divine Cores, and both of them were currently Rank 6 by now. They've been receiving personal lessons from everyone, however, their powers seem to work together quite well, so they often have a personal training session with me alone so I can figure out better how they should use their powers.
Agni's abilities and divine powers derived directly from the Fragment of the Red Orb he had for now, they specialized in granting incredibly powerful buffs and also debuffing the foe with Divine Flames, however, he recently acquired the ability to conjure explosive flame magic, and also, some spatial magic. After all, Logi is the Primordial God of Flames and Space.
Meanwhile, Leona awakened something that seemed "connected" to Agni, the power to create and summon Fire Spirits out of her own flames, a power that allowed her to share spirits with everyone else as well, something that'll surely come in handy in the battle that is to come.
"Alright, let's begin…"
.
.
.
After almost seven whole days of excruciating training, with barely any rest, I found myself once more confronting Surtr within the vast volcanic lands of my own Divine Realm.
It has been almost seven days, and we have barely stopped to rest through it all. I honestly didn't need any sleep with this body at all, usually only when I felt really exhausted after fighting Deep One-level beings, but right now, I could go on for months without resting.
And Surtr was somewhat the same, with the help of Stamina Potions, High Quality Divine Meals, and many other things, I was able to help him continue fighting without feeling the necessity to sleep.
Every second was valuable now, I needed him to awaken the power that would allow us to achieve victory against that monster at all costs. I wasn't completely relying on him, but if he were to do so, things would improve to the best.
And it seems that such hard work finally paid off, as our last sparring session ended in almost a draw. Indeed, a draw. It should be impossible with the difference between the two of us, right? Well, I held back a lot… However, I still had to admit and recognize his strength.
Because the power he achieved, and the form he showcased through this battle, was something I had never seen before.
He was still standing still over the volcano, as I smiled from the skies, his entire tattered body instantly recovering in mere seconds from all the damage he took.
The Origin Flames he controlled had evolved to almost its pinnacle form… And they caused his entire body to literally "evolve" into the pinnacle of all fire dragons.
A huge crater behind him still overflowed with magma and lava, so huge that it could had only been provoked by an attack from a Rank 9 God.
Indeed, this transformation allowed Surtr to unleash power equal to someone two Ranks over his own Rank, which was Rank 7 now.
"Hahahaha! You did it, Surtr!"
"I-I did… that?"
He couldn't even believe himself.
"Urgh…"
However, he quickly fell unconscious, his transformation reverting. I guess he deserves one last nap before the battle that is to come.
"In a week, you managed to do something impossible… Well done, kid."
