[Completed] Legend of the Five Knights III: Song of Divine Wrath

Episode 56: Balance of Energies

Carlos tilted his head as his bluish-green eyes were drawn toward the golden aura at the tips of my fingers. No words left his lips, but the look in his eyes was enough to tell that he found it peculiar.

I clenched my fist shut and extinguished the aura.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I simply have to do it again.

I shifted as much mana as I could toward my clenched fist, just like how Setsuko had taught the four of us. A warm sensation akin to that from my battle with Hideo spread across the palm of my hand.

I opened my eyes and found only the interior of my fist covered by the aura. At least it had some improvement from my second attempt, but nothing compared to the first.

"I think I understand now," Carlos said as he leaned back against the throne.

I sighed. "That's good, mind telling me what's wrong with it then?"

"Your prana ends up leaking into your mana, causing the aura to be unstable. It's akin to attempting to start a fire in a moist forest."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "My prana?"

"Have you heard that mana and prana, while similar, are in certain ways opposing forces? Mana comes from the natural world, while prana comes from within the body and taps into the spirit."

I crossed my arms as my master's face popped to mind. "Yeah, I think that I might've heard that once."

Carlos sighed. "Let me guess, you weren't paying much attention at the time?"

I scoffed. "I had better things to do."

"Like zapping a paper plane with your magic?"

I leered at my angel. "Come to think of it, you sound a lot like my master. Why is that?"

Carlos snickered. "Angels who were born from weapons take on the aspects of their owner's precious memories. Your magic tutor must've been significant to you if I have some of his traits."

I turned aside and scratched my face. "Well, he was like the big brother I never had. In other ways, he was a bit of a father figure too."

"That's why you miss him, right?"

I snickered. "I give up. Is there no hiding anything from you?"

"We guardian angels know our protectees better than they know themselves. Anyway, we should get back to our main topic. Since prana and mana's sources are different, they tend to clash with one another. There are two ways that can be fixed. One of them is to prevent the leaking of prana as you transform into second heaven. The other is to mix the two in even amounts."

"Mixing them won't weaken the end result?"

"Not if done right. If it is done correctly, then the resulting product should be stronger than what the first method offers."