At that moment, August activated the summoning circle again.
The room flashed. Smoke churned about the room, thick, black, and acrid.
The protective barrier of the summoning circle shattered, and August instinctively reached for the power of the binding stone.
No need, he realized as the smoke cleared within moments. Sen stood alone, unharmed.
But she was possessed.
Her green eyes had turned red.
A single, thick lock of her hair had turned white.
No other visible changes had taken place, but August could feel her presence in a way he couldn’t earlier.
She felt like Ifrit to his senses, an explosively powerful presence that drowned out almost everything else near it.
Over the next minute, Ifrit’s presence faded, as his power wasn’t being actively used.
Sen met his eyes and smiled. August smiled back. She was still herself.
Then Sen tilted her head and wandered over to the chalk summoning circle.
She inspected the circle, mouthing things he couldn’t make out.
"Huh. You really did write his name down here," Sen said. "That’s a little rude.
Although I don’t have the slightest clue what it means. And Ifrit won’t tell me. I get the feeling he was always like this." She scowled. "Goddess, no wonder the two of you get along fine. He’s as secretive an old bastard as you are."
"Hey!" August said.
"You’re my secretive old bastard, if that helps." Sen winked and caught August in a hug. She froze. "Oh. That’s super awkward."
"What?"
"Ifrit reading my emotions. I kind of underestimated what it meant to let another being take up residence in my mind." She shrugged. "At least he pays rent. And I know why I felt like I’ve been missing a limb. If he’s this pervasive, then no wonder I feel like I need him."
August ruffled her hair, finding her annoyance cute. He pulled his hand back when he felt his palm begin to heat up.
"Why don’t we take you somewhere else to exercise your new power?" August proposed. "Like outside. Before you try to light me on fire."
"Why would I ever do that?" Sen asked, her smile too wide to be genuine.
After quickly cleaning up the summoning circles, and making sure to obliterate Ifrit’s name from the floor, the two of them ventured out to the outer wall of the fortress.
A large clearing lay to the south, away from the road and free of the forest surrounding it.
August suspected this area had been populated by the Empire at some point relatively recently. Or else the trees would have grown over the land by now.
"What spells do you know?" August asked.
"Um. Not many?" Sen shrugged. "Fourth rank spells only. I know the one sixth rank spell, but only because it’s super famous."
"It’s the inferno tornado, isn’t it?" August asked.
Sen nodded sheepishly.
The inferno tornado was renowned as the spell of choice by the Bastion who founded the Kingdom of Falmir, back when they had split from the collapsing Anfang Empire.
Many sorcerers learned the spell merely because of its historical significance.
Also because creating a tornado made of fire was awesome.
The nature of the spell meant you didn’t even need the wind element, although very talented sorcerers combined the two elements anyway.
"Well, don’t use that one," August said. "I don’t want to waste power from the binding stone to put out the forest fire you’ll start."
Sen clicked her tongue and leaned against the crenellations of the wall. "So, what? I use fourth rank spells against Champions?"
"Don’t dismiss fourth rank spells," August warned. "Despite the name, lower rank spells will be your bread and butter for a while."
"What about second rank? Nobody seems to use them."
August held up a hand, and a blue line appeared between his fingers. "First and second rank spells are largely indistinguishable, save for the magic power in them.
Common magic users rely on them, but actual sorcerers never go lower than third rank. Unless you’re in a pinch and need to brute force something."
"Okay, but Sunstorm seemed immune to third rank spells. What about fourth rank?" Sen pressed.
"That’s where things get complicated." August summoned a triangle over his palm. "Third rank spells are usually powerful enough, and far more flexible than higher rank spells.
You can cast several at once"—a triangle appeared over each finger in his hand—"or supercharge the spell so that it’s effectively one rank higher." The triangles vanished, and one appeared on either side of August’s hand.
"And that works against Champions?" Sen asked skeptically.
"Yes. You’ll also have Ifrit’s power to increase your spell effectiveness." August lowered his hand and the triangles vanished. "The rule of thumb is to use fourth rank on Champions; fifth rank on duogems; and sixth rank on trigems. Some trigems will need higher ranks, though.
The innate magic resistance of a Champion is one thing, but some gems can make a Champion immune to spells that aren’t strong enough."
Sen grimaced. "Trigems? You really think we’re going to fight one soon?"
"No. But a duogem? Maybe. And planning around gem abilities is always smart. Any Champion with a sapphire is likely to have increased magic resistance."
August pointed at the clearing. "Now, test out Ifrit’s power."
"Are you sure I can’t use the inferno tornado?" Sen asked.
"Don’t even think about it," August said.
Sen winced and rubbed at one of her ears. "You and Ifrit said the same thing at the same time." She smirked at August and left her remaining thoughts unvoiced. He knew what she was going to say anyway.
Pointing at the clearing, August waited for Sen to obey. She straightened up, held both hands out, and summoned a pair of red squares into her hands.
Moments later, the clearing exploded. A spiral of flames gushed into the air. When the smoke and dust cleared, a blackened crater had replaced the clearing.
"Oh," Sen said. "Okay, that’s way more powerful than what I could do before. I can only imagine how powerful my tornado is."
"Don’t get cocky," August warned. "Casting higher rank spells and supercharging takes longer. In battle—"
"Seconds kill," Sen said. "Ifrit’s lecturing me about my focus and how long I take to cast spells. Urgh. Getting used to this will take a while." She blinked, then gave August a sidelong look. "August, can I ask you a question? Ifrit’s refusing to answer.
That didn’t bode well.
Despite his misgivings, August said, "Sure."
"How does this work when we have sex?" Sen asked. "Does Ifrit feel you inside me as well? Does that mean you’re technically having sex with Ifrit as well?"
August stared at Sen. Then he placed his palm over his face and groaned.
All of his worries had been for nothing. The possession hadn’t changed Sen one bit.