Chapter 1250: Chapter 1249: Learning More

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    Kat PoV

    "Tell me, what is it that you see?"

    Standing atop a hill, Lilith rested her hand on my shoulder and waved the other out over the landscape before us, asking me a question as we took another break; the rest of the group was down below us, making the most as they took quick naps or gnawed on wolf jerky to sustain their bodies.

    "Are you asking for some theatrical, in depth analysis of the simplistic forest we are looking at right now, or do you legitimately want me to describe this forest to you?"

    The Demoness laughed at that, but as I turned to look at her eyes I noticed that they were serious as she asked "Either or, but preferably I want you to look deeper than surface level, Katherine Zara. Tell me, what do you see when looking at this forest?"

    It was rather startling with how her moods could shift at the drop of a hat, but perhaps that was what had given her the ability to reach where she was today; this level of magical control that had resulted in being so powerful, filled with such potent mana that the ''rule'' I had come to believe needed to be followed was being ignored by her.

    Her eyes were still visible despite being so very clearly stronger than Lady Fenyras, whose silver eye was only visible because she had taken a half step into whatever realm these people were on; the level that the Sultana, Duchess Klaki, and the Empress alongside some of the Empress'' wives were at.

    Lilith didn''t seem to care about that rule though, and that was a bit frightening when it came to trying to determine where she was at in terms of power, so having her focus all on me was quite... unsettling.

    Despite the trees being leafless and nothing more than a giant stick with dozens of smaller ones attached to their canopies, the forest was anything but lifeless as hundreds of goblin- esque creatures stood on the border of these biomes, staring out listlessly at the lava lakes.

    "What..? How is it..?"

    "How is it what?"

    Lilith was smiling at me again, and as I turned towards her I cried out when I noticed that the Demoness was little more than a pillar of radiance standing beside me, the swirling red, blue, green and brown colors of each element writhing together to create this woman.

    "Ah, so you managed to do it that quickly. Color me impressed, Katherine. I would stop the mana from flowing to your eyes for now, lest they turn to jelly."

    She turned my head for me and gave me a few moments before she continued on, ignoring my agony as I clenched my eyes shut and tried to stop seeing only colors even as my eyelids clamped down together, the darkness they were supposed to provide never showing up.

    Her brilliance had been seared into my eyes at this point, at least that was what I was convinced of as nothing but light consumed my head, but with its gradual fading I was able to hear her as she said "If I had known you were so talented with control I wouldn''t have wasted our time like this. Not everything in the world is as it seems, and if you weren''t that talented you would be temporarily blind right now, which I could have healed.

    Anyways, this forest was a perfect moment to teach you that there is more to what you see each day then... well, what you see. Outside, sure, these things aren''t even considered rare; they simply don''t happen, so no one has ever actually found a need for this sort of skill. It used to be a niche part of magic way back when, but I digress.

    What you just did is looked past a ''worldly illusion'' and saw what was really there. The Labyrinthian itself is actually laden with these things, but that forest was the first deadly example of it. Now, why does it matter, I hear you asking yourself mentally? That''s the fun part~!"