Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

It was kind of surprising but that Leon managed to stay focused on the training for like three hundred years. Since his partner was Ilyana, he got stronger much faster than he was supposed to. However, after that much time without seeing Ilyana and the spirits without showing any weird behavior, Leon began to imagine that the crazy theories in his head were just that.

Just when Leon began to think that, Ilyana began to act weirdly again. Although that Leon couldn't notice, even in that spirit-like form, Leon could sense that she was using magic to observe him day and night… that Ilyana was like a stalker that reached a whole new level. As if that wasn't enough, Leon also could feel some resonance between the mana inside their heads… where their spirits were supposed to be. As if… their spirits were communicating with each other.

"The first Vol that I met said that he could communicate with spirits of other planets, so it wouldn't be weird if the fragments could communicate with others fragments," Leon rubbed his chin. "Still… that doesn't explain why they do that without letting that Leon realize it."

As if Ilyana's behavior couldn't get any more suspicious, she began to offer that Leon the chance to use her mana. That was something pretty unnecessary since he already could recover millions of mana points per second.

"It is unnecessary…." That Leon frowned while he was watching Ilyana extending her hands.

"It doesn't matter," Ilyana said. "Just hold my hands and use my mana, I have a lot more, and thus you will be able to become stronger even faster."

It was weird… it looked like Ilyana was really looking forward to seeing them holding hands. That behavior was kind of cute even in Leon's eyes, but it wasn't supposed to be the behavior of someone who had the knowledge of another version of her. It was also weird that Ilyana was visibly interested in that Leon. Why? Because even Leon could tell that that version of him was boring as hell. The only thing he did in all those years was train day and night, never smiling, never laughing, never trying to do anything novel with his powers… the sole redeeming quality that such a guy had was the fact that he still treated the spirits like friends.

Still, with that kind of behavior, Leon didn't see many reasons why he should say no to Ilyana's proposal. So, they held hands, and he began to use her mana to speed up his growth speed. While the third Leon was focused on his training, Ilyana stayed the whole time in a good mood… showing a wide smile the whole time. However, when his concentration waned, she would feel it, and then she would put a serious façade on her face.

"This is…" Leon said, a bit surprised.

It was a weird feeling… to think that he would begin to feel so conflicted about someone. Despite that, Leon was fully aware that it was only a matter of time before that could happen. After watching memories worth of a lifetime where he and Ilyana stayed together, it was only natural… and now after seeing Ilyana silly but expected actions, Leon couldn't help but wonder seriously… was that just really an illusion or the memories of another version of himself in a parallel universe? Weren't those his own memories?

Once Leon learned about Sekundez's existence, he always wondered about one thing… could he use her power to go back in time to the point where everything started? Perhaps even before that? Just moving to the past wasn't enough for him; Leon wanted to reverse the whole universe's time because that was the only option to solve the things he wanted to solve without any risks. However, once he obtained her power and realized that mana's cost to make his body alone return on time a fraction of a second was tremendous, Leon realized what he wanted was close to impossible. Despite all that, here was he wondering if somehow Ilyana, Serena, and all the other kids managed to do that when the first Leon died. At the very least, the first two Leons didn't obtain the power to make time move backward in the whole universe.

"I can't jump to conclusions…" Leon muttered to himself. "There is always the chance that several Ilyanas across the multiverse obtained the power to communicate with each other and perhaps even share their memories… that actually is more plausible than anything."

If their memories are getting mixed up, then that would explain the behavior of that Ilyana. However, in the end, Leon knew that that was only his wishful thinking. The Ilyana he knew could do everything, and now that he thought about it, she didn't need to train. So, the time he saw her summoning monsters was just an act to fool him. Just like him now was leveling up his skills by watching those lives, Ilyana could have obtained her power by doing the same thing. However, there was one thing Leon couldn't understand. If Ilyana, Serena, and the other kids really managed to reverse the whole universe's time, why did they do it? That was the only question Leon couldn't find an answer to…

In any case, after using Ilyana's power to get more powerful for a while, the third Leon finally felt confident that he could find and destroy the whole spaceship that belongs to Crik and his people. However, before he could put his plans into action, Ilyana's world begun to tremble, and then a dreadful aura began to envelop it… the black-haired woman finally appeared again.