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Somehow, controlling himself and not falling for the charms of the lewd bird, Sekke remained seated—though he promised that he would have his revenge against Secre at night.
Lolopechka came after a while, having changed her clothes. She was now wearing simple casual clothes that were easy to move around in.
However, true to her luck, the moment she entered the room she tripped—only for Sekke to make her float again and bring her back to her seat.
"Thank you once again, Lord Sekke," said Lolopechka with embarrassment, the humiliating moment from earlier still fresh in her mind.
She then got up from her seat and lifted her top lightly to show her belly, which had a black cursed mark on it.
"I think this is the devil magic presence that you felt," said Lolopechka.
"Yup, seems like it," said Sekke, observing the mark.
"Not long ago, one of the devil hosts from the Spade Kingdom, Vanica Zogratis, infiltrated the Heart Kingdom. I and the leader of the Spirit Guardians, Gadjah, tried to fight and repel her—but she, along with her devil Megicula, was too much for us. She defeated both of us and cursed me before leaving. As it stands, I will probably die within six months because of this curse. So before that happens, I want to defeat the Dark Triad, or they will destroy the entire continent," explained Lolopechka.
"Hmm… want me to remove this curse?" asked Sekke casually.
"...Eh?"
"Sekke! You can remove the curse?!" asked Noelle in surprise.
"Lord Sekke! For real?! Please save Lolopechka-chan!" pleaded Undine.
Secre just shrugged. Her partner was simply amazing—what could she say?
"It's a weak curse. Many ways to fix this," replied Sekke.
His grimoire floated beside him and started flipping.
[Light Magic: Cure]
A soothing, bright light came out of Sekke's hand.
The black cursed markings started to burn away in the presence of the light.
"Agh!" muttered Lolopechka as she winced in pain and fell to her knees.
"Hang in there. The curse is connected to your life force, so it might sting a bit," said Sekke, giving her his hand for support.
"Exodia," called Sekke, and immediately the miniature Sun Spirit King materialized on his shoulder.
"My King."
"Ease her pain."
"As you wish, my lord."
Exodia floated up in the air.
Undine looked at it with shock. A Mana King was already too much—but now a Spirit King too? And contracted with the Mana King himself?
[Sun Spirit Magic: Morning Glory – Dawn's Blessing]
A dome of light surrounded them, and immediately everyone's pain and fatigue started to wash away.
Lolopechka's expression relaxed as the pain subsided. She looked down at her belly and saw the curse visibly burning away.
"Amazing. Arcane-level mage indeed," muttered Lolopechka.
"Heh, the Dark Lord lives to impress," replied Sekke with a smirk.
Once the curse was almost gone, Sekke summoned Extase to his hand.
[Extase: Transform]
The sword glowed and changed into a beautiful knife.
"What's that for?" asked Lolopechka.
Before she got an answer, Sekke stabbed the knife into her belly.
Everyone nearby froze in shock.
Undine was about to attack, but noticed that her host wasn't screaming at all.
[Extase: Magic Cutter]
With a simple swipe of the knife, the curse and its roots were cut off from Lolopechka's body and burned away completely.
"There. Now it won't come back," said Sekke, giving a few taps to Lolopechka's belly.
Lolopechka smiled but soon blushed at Sekke's actions. She immediately held his hand and moved it away.
"Pervert," muttered Secre.
"Sorry, did it by mistake," replied Sekke, raising his hands in mock surrender.
"I-It's fine. Thank you for curing the curse, Lord Sekke," said Lolopechka softly, pulling her top down to cover her belly.
"Don't mention it. As I said before, it was a weak curse anyway," replied Sekke.
Exodia stopped using his spell and returned into Sekke's body.
"Lord Sekke, was that a Spirit King?" asked Undine hesitantly.
"Yeah, that's my buddy Exodia," replied Sekke.
Undine gulped. The Mana King was becoming even more outrageous than she'd imagined.
"Now then, any other issues here?" asked Sekke.
All of them shook their heads.
"Great, then I'll go sightseeing. Let's go on a date, Secre," said Sekke with a grin, getting up from his seat.
"Umm," replied Secre with a small smile, immediately taking his hand.
"Oh, before that—Noelle. Show me where you train. I'll see what you usually do," said Sekke.Noelle nodded and stood up.
"Lord Sekke, shall I call someone to guide you around?" asked Undine."Well… I'd like to be alone with her after giving some pointers to Noelle," said Sekke, gesturing toward Secre.
Undine nodded, not asking further.
"Eh? Secre and Lord Sekke?" asked Lolopechka in surprise.
Secre nodded and showed their linked hands to the Heart Kingdom queen.
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They soon arrived at a training area surrounded by water, with a small island in the middle.
"This is where I train," said Noelle.
"Who teaches you?"
"I do, Lord Sekke," said Undine.
"You gave her too light of a training. Grind her more. My disciple is falling behind others you know." complained Sekke.
"I apologize Lord Sekke, I will make sure that she is trained harder." said Undine, kneeling to apologize.
Sekke nodded and then turned back towards Noelle.
"Show me your mana control. I will release my mana slowly maintatin your spell." said Sekke.
Noelle nodded and formed a giant water ball in front of her.
Sekke started releasing his mana and immediately the mana around them got denser and excited.
Lolopechka who felt the surge of mana for the first time looked at her surroundings with surprise. She too was close to the mana and could tell it was very excited.
Noelle tried to maintain the water ball, but soon the mana became too turbulent and the ball burst apart.
"Hm… come here," said Sekke, summoning his Sacred Gear.
Noelle followed a bit excitedly as well. It has been a long time since Sekke taught her and she was starting to feel happy.
The Sacred Gear shot forward and wrapped around her hands. Immediately, she felt mana entering her body.
"Feel this." said Sekke taking control of her mana.
"Eh? How is my mana moving?" asked Noelle in surprise but Sekke didn't answer.
Soon her mana spread around and mixed with the mana in the surroundings.
Noelle frowned, this was a completely new feeling for her. She could sense all the mana around her very precisely and could also feel what was happening inside the area under her mana control.
[Mana Zone]
Noelle's eyes widened, she could feel the area being under the control of her mana.
"Got the feeling?" asked Sekke.
Noelle closed her eyes, committing the sensation to memory, then nodded.
Sekke released his control, and the mana zone dissipated.
"Your first objective in the Make Noelle Great Again plan—master the Mana Zone. You have until tomorrow to get the grasp of it," said Sekke.
"EH? Just one day?!" protested Noelle.
"Your fault for lagging behind. Do it by tomorrow. Undine will you be looking after her training?" asked Sekke.
"I will do so Lord Sekke. However I have to aid Lolopechka in her duties too." replied Undine.
"Fine. But while training her, don't go easy. Attack her every two minutes. Noelle, you're not allowed to use any magic that isn't based on [Mana Zone] to counter her attacks. Either dodge or use [Mana Zone]. If she uses another spell—drown her."
Noelle looked horrified. There it was again—the dreaded Sekke-style training.
Undine nodded with determination. She was not going to dissapoint the Mana King.
Noelle gulped, she could ironically see fire in the eyes of the water spirit.
While the two prepared mentally, Lolopechka slowly walked up to Sekke.
"Lord Sekke." called Lolopechka.
"Hm?"
"If it's not too much trouble, could I ask you a favor?"
"Yes? What is it?"
"Can I ask privately?" she said, glancing at Secre.
Secre nodded and moved away from the two of them.
"Um...I have an issue with my magic....you see I have a lot of mana and can use a wide varity of support spells....but I cannot use attack magic at all." said Lolopechka in a low tone.
Sekke nodded, already guessing what she wanted to ask.
"So I was wondering if there was a way to....you know...gain an attack magic." asked Lolopechka.
"That depends....tell me why do you want to use attack magic. You already said that you have a large amount of mana, and can use a lot of support spells. Tell me why do you want to use attack magic too?" asked Sekke.
"...I want to fight the enemies of the kingdom if they ever threaten to harm the citizens. The Heart Kingdom has the spirit guardians who are very strong, but in the fight against Megicula, even they fell while I could't fight much at all. I don't want to face that powerlessness. To be hiding behind others when my kingdom is in danger. I don't want to feel that." replied Lolopechka in a determined tone.
Sekke nodded with a smile.
"Good attitude, now give me your Grimoire and sit down." said Sekke and made chairs with his magic for both of them and Secre who was away from them.
Lolopechka tilted her head in confusion but still followed his orders and gave her grimoire to Sekke.
Sekke took it and started reading it page by page.
Normally Grimores can't be read by people other than their hosts but Sekke who was now a Mana King could easily understand what was written in these books.
After reading through all the available spells in the Grimoire he closed it and gave it back to Lolopechka.
"You weren't kidding—you can use a lot of support magic. Sadly, the offensive potential of these spells is limited," said Sekke.
Hearing that Lolopechka's expression fell as a helpless smile appeared on her face.
'It's impossible after all,' she thought.
"But when has limits every stopped the Dark Lord!" declared Sekke as he stood up from his seat.
Lolopechka blinked in surprise.
"If these spells in their current form aren't helping, then let's break their limits!" said Sekke, grabbing her hand and pulling her up.
"And you Heart Kingdom people have developed the perfect method to amp up spells. Know what it is?"
Lolopechka thought for a moment. "Mana Method?"
"Exactly," said Sekke.
"But how will that help me gain offensive magic. Mana Method only allows us to strengthen our spells and add specific properties to them like 'follow the target' etc."
"You ignorant fool. If you know this much then there is no need for you to struggle." said Sekke and flicked her forehead.
"Ow!" yelped Lolopechka.
"You can use support spells, sure—but support doesn't always mean helping others. You can support yourself too," explained Sekke.
Lolopechka rubbed her forehead but still listened to his explaination.
"Let me show you an example."
Sekke's grimoire's started floating beside him and soon a bronze magic sword appeared.
"You see this sword, I didn't use any offensive spell to make it. I just used my magic in it's raw form to shape it." said Sekke while Lolopechka nodded in understanding.
"Now I will add support spell to this."
[Flame Debuff Magic: Blaze Touch]
Immediately the bronze sword started emitting a red glow and both of them could feel the heat coming out of it.
"See, now it's an offensive magic spell without me requiring to support anyone else. I cast my support magic on my spells to make them far more destructive than they are. I don't need to use mana method since mana listens to me very well but you can amplify your spells even more with Mana Method." said Sekke dispelling his magic as his grimoire floated back to his holder.
Lolopechka nodded but still wasn't sure whether she can do it. It will require simultaneous casting along with using Mana Method. It was going to be a complex process.
"Don't run from grind. It is the grind that you do that will make you stand far ahead than where you stand now. Let me show you something to motivate you a bit more." said Sekke as his sacred gear appeared and
"I will show you how to use your spell." said Sekke with a smirk and took control of her magic.
Lolopechka gasped. Her mana was moving violently—but purposefully. Was this what offensive magic felt like?
[Water Magic: Blessing of Water Gathering]
Hundreds of water balls appeared in the sky.
Lolopechka knew this spell, it was afterall one of her own spells.
"Now some support"
[Water Magic: Boiling Purification]
The water balls started to turn hot and the temperature around them rose.
This made Noelle and Undine stop their training and look at what was going on.
"Now combine them."
The waterballs came together and merged to form a giant ball of boiling water.
"Now mana method."
Runes made of mana appeared around Lolopechka's hand making her focus on them and see what was written with the runes.
The ball of water started compressing and the mana within it got denser and denser.
"Hmm...lets test it. Noelle! Fire you [Sea Dragon's Roar] at Lolopechka." said Sekke.
"Huh? Are you sure?" asked Noelle hesitantly.
Sekke nodded making Noelle point her wand at the Heart Kingdom Queen.
[Water Magic : Sea Dragon's Roar]
A giant water dragon rushed towards Sekke and Lolopechka at great speed and with a lot of destructive power behind it.
"Adding more methods." muttered Sekke as more runes appeared around Lolopechka's hands and the ball boiling water got even hotter.
[Compound Magic: Scalding Ocean Blade]
A highly pressurized jet of boiling water launched from the water orb towards the water dragon, destroying it in an instant and moving forward to pierce throught the thick wall behind them without any issue while schorcing the rock in the process.
"See? There it is—your 'no offensive magic' offensive magic," said Sekke proudly, dismissing his gear.
"What the hell Sekke! It almost hit me!!!" yelled Noelle who barely dodged the attack.
"Oh my bad." replied Sekke non chalantly.
"You! How dare you treat a royal like that."
The two began bickering as Secre sighed at their childishness.
Lolopechka, meanwhile, looked at the grimoire in her hands, the spell that Sekke just used came out her own magic.
A smile was forming over her lips.
"Lolopechka-chan!!" called Undine worried about her host and appeared beside her.
"Undine!!! I can use offensive magic now!" exclaimed Lolopechka with a bright, childlike grin.
Undine smiled back—it had been so long since she'd seen her this happy.
"Congratulations, Lolopechka-chan! See? I told you we should welcome the Mana King! Wasn't my advice great? And you all criticized me when I invited him myself," teased Undine.
"Umm Umm. You were right. Lord Sekke is amazing. Wait! I should go and thank him too!!!" replied Lolopechka.
Everyone had given up upon her using offensive magic. And even though she wanted to use it her grimoire showed no signs of her gaining one. Even she started to believe that she could not use offensive magic.
But the Mana King came like sunshine and blew away all those dark thoughts away from her mind and showed her that even she too who only had support spells could use offensive magic and a very strong one at that.
She turned to go thank Sekke—but stopped when she saw him and Secre walking away hand in hand.
She just clutched her grimoire tightly feeling a bit conflicted.
Suddenly, from the side, Undine appeared with a mischievous grin.
"Hm? What is it that I sense? Is it… jealousy?" she teased.
"Wha—Wha-What are you talking about?! I'm not jealous of Secre-chan and Lord Sekke!" stammered Lolopechka, flustered.
"Hm? But I never mentioned Lord Sekke~ You naughty Lolopechka-chan~" teased Undine further.
"!!!"
Lolopechka's face turned crimson as she hid behind her grimoire.
"Iyaa~ A shy Lolopechka-chan is cute as well~" giggled Undine.
"Get away from me!!!" yelled Lolopechka, running off—without tripping this time.
Undine smiled warmly. Her host was finally returning to her cheerful self.
"Lord Sekke is amazing in more than one way," she murmured—then turned toward Noelle with a dark grin.
"Now then… Lord Sekke helped my Lolopechka-chan, so it's my turn to follow his orders—and beat the hell out of you."
"...Why does it always has to be me..." muttered Noelle in despair.