Dimension Weaver: My Wife Is The Dragon Empress!

Chapter 96: Chapter 96- Burning Flames And Fair Game

"You really…" Acrypha couldn't find the words to describe what she heard.

It was simple and innocent, absurdly so. He didn't think about a way to control the flames like every single other person and instead thought differently than everyone else. Acrypha found herself unable to understand how she and everyone else never thought of it that way before.

The flames had their own will and because of their strength and scaredness the last embers left of the Eternal Flame, they had a sense of pride that makes them not easily abide by someone's will. So, actually trying to give them a reason to follow your commands was the better choice.

It was such an obvious possibility and yet, no one had ever thought of it before him. That fact alone blew her mind away.

Looking at his smile at that moment, Acrypha's eyes flashed with a myriad of emotions. She didn't know why, but she felt that it just fit perfectly. This ridiculously innocent approach to a problem… It just fits Talon's bizarre character like a puzzle. These two almost polar opposite sides to his personality totally captivated her.

He is a man capable of coming up with the most clever solutions to the weirdest situations and executing those solutions perfectly. He was certainly very smart, sharp, and even cunning in more than one instance. However, there was his other side, a totally different one. The side that simply lives life innocently.

The side that made Acrypha feel like Talon's presence was a breath of fresh air. This exact moment was but another example of that innocence. Living her entire life surrounded by schemes and conspiracies, by a facade that people built to take advantage of her or to get something from her.

In such a world, finding someone who truly didn't care at all about her status or her strength, was just an indescribable feeling. Talon is that kind of person and just like how he doesn't care about her background, he also doesn't care what others before him did, he just follows what he deems right.

'He really doesn't care, does he?' She asked herself as her expression finally relaxed and a smile formed in her mouth. 'He never did… He has always been like this. I wonder why I'm surprised now.'

"Hahahaha!" In the end, she couldn't hold herself back and started giggling. Her laughs were more beautiful than the best melody Talon ever heard.

Staring at her, he was confused as to why she started laughing. "What? Did I say something funny?" He asked.

"No… Nothing at all…" Acrypha replied as she wiped her eyes. "I just remembered something really nice."

"Hmm, what is it?"

"It's nothing."

"Oh come on, it's gotta be something. It's rare to see you laugh."

"I do laugh… When I find something funny."

"Which means zero percent of the time, right?" Talon asked as he tried to hold his laugh back.

Meanwhile, Acrypha's face changed subtly from calm to dangerous. Her beautiful smile felt threatening at that moment.

"Ehem… Ignore what I said." Talon coughed before he looked away. "Anyway, I should continue trying this new ability. I'm sure I can learn how to throw it around by the end of today."

"If the Eternal Flame clan elders heard about it, they would probably die from a heart attack,"

Acrypha murmured.

"Hahaha! Sucks for them."

***

After that, for the remaining hours of the morning, Talon experimented with the azure flames in all kinds of ways. Even though he was able to throw it up and down with a single thought, actually making the fire fly away in a direction he wanted was harder than that.

It required more focus and more control which was something he still lacked. But, it didn't take that long for him to finally start seeing results. It seemed the Azure Flames were willing to accept the connection he was trying to create with them and would listen after a few tries.

In a mere few hours, he went from having to jump back each time because the flames would explode, to consistently being able to hit a random wall in front of him a few consecutive times.

However, what truly shocked him and made him rethink his expectations from these Azure Flames was the sheer destruction they left behind.

"Damn…" Talon murmured as he touched the wall in front of him. A gaping, charcoal black hole could be seen where his fireball hit. After one single attack, the thick wall was completely destroyed as if it were nothing. Mind you, Talon barely used a fireball the size of his fist. "This is insane…"

"That's the true destructive nature of these flames. At higher levels, you can easily burn an entire planet out of existence with them." Acrypha explained casually.

Just hearing that made Talon shudder. Burning an entire planet sounded like a nightmare. These flames weren't made to be used by the wrong hands and he could see it with his eyes now.

"Ehem, yeah, I definitely need to be careful with it." He noted down in his head and went back to trying.

The improvement was visible and it surprised Acrypha even more, knowing that Talon wasn't exaggerating when he thought that he could do it.

In the end, even when she thought that it was impossible to shock her anymore, Talon proved that she was far from accurate when it came to evaluating his talent. It was akin to a very deep well, no matter how much she went down, there was still more depth to it that she couldn't discover yet.

Eventually, Talon's Aetheris was depleted after the countless attempts he made and exhaustion took over his body. So, he stopped for the time being and went back to the gymnasium.

He had agreed to meet Hyun-Jae at that time to discuss the plan and what they had to do before the actual day arrived.

Back in the gymnasium, he found the students moving around in a hurry. It was clear that they had already heard the news about infiltrating the research center and were getting ready for it.

Naturally, the tension inside the place was palpable. But, it wasn't as bad as before. The students weren't paralyzed in fear anymore after everything they went through. Their hearts were far stronger than ever.

"Good…" Talon murmured as he walked through the bustling place and headed toward Hyun-Jae's room.

The moment he knocked on the door, it opened and two students walked out in a hurry. Inside, Hyun-Jae was seemingly busy writing down some things in a notebook.

Talon walked inside quietly and closed the door behind him before he sat down. He didn't utter a single word as he waited for her to finish. It was clear to him that she was extremely focused.

Eventually, her hands finally stopped writing as she finally seemed to notice that someone was in the room. Looking up, her eyes widened slightly.

"Oh? Talon? When did you get here?" She asked.

"Been here for the last 5 minutes or so." The latter laughed.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I was so focused, I didn't notice someone entered the room."

"It's fine. I wasn't going to stop you either way. So, how is your planning going so far?"

"It's finished for the most part. Take a look at this." Hyun-Jae said as she stood up and walked around the table till she stopped next to Talon and bent down to show him the notebook.

"I have been thinking about it and I think this is the best strategy we can do for now. Since we're now on the offense rather than the defense, we have to take a bigger risk trying to pave a path through the forest. It's not an empty terrain and it's hard to maneuver through it with a big number of people.

So, we have to somehow pull the monsters out of the forest and fight them on an empty field." Hyun-Jae explained as she showed a drawing to Talon.

"Yeah, normally, it shouldn't be that hard to pull them out. However…" Talon frowned visibly. "That girl could potentially be controlling those monsters. They don't have their own will and that's why they're still swarming that forest like a hivemind."

'I doubt she will let us drag those monsters outside and fight them in an advantageous position.' He thought to himself.

"Mm, I already thought of that too and to be honest, I couldn't find a clear way to actually go around it. We have to somehow trick her into losing control of them."

"Hmm…" Talon rubbed his chin silently for a few moments as he seemingly contemplated something. "I think I have an idea."

"You do?"

"Yeah, though, this one is definitely dangerous and requires a little bit of luck."

"..." Hyun-Jae stared at him silently. "So it's very dangerous?"

"Ugh, I mean, it will require making the students do something dangerous."

"And that is?"

"... I need them to enter the forest and fight the monsters there to buy me time."

Hearing that, Hyun-Jae frowned visibly. That was indeed very risky and could kill many of them. However, she didn't deny the idea because it was Talon who came up with it.

He definitely had a good reason why he would want them to do that.

"For how long?" She exhaled a small breath as she asked.

"... 3 minutes. No, 2 minutes. I just need 2 minutes and I can definitely pull it off." Talon thought for a moment before he answered.

"2 minutes, huh? And what are you exactly going to do in those two minutes?"

"... Hmm…" Talon smirked slightly as he pointed at the notebook, catching Hyun-Jae's attention. "I'm going to make it a little more fair."

Seeing where his finger pointed, Hyun-Jae's interest peaked. "I'm listening."

(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )