"Very well, Illya." You focus on creating a flame as a source of heat that is capable of affecting only ice. It's really quite funny how powerful the ability to manifest truth is, yet both times you've used the ability outside of training have just ended up in you using it to create fire. That's not to doubt the effectiveness of such conceptual fire that can selectively burn a target though. After all, it enables you to basically go about doing things that would usually require a surgeon's precision, like extracting the Crest Worms from Sakura, with incredible haste. The manifested fire incinerated the creatures living within Sakura in seconds with very little trouble.

Of course, you'll have no issue with doing the same to this ice. Magical or not, the moment that you bring the small flame you had created in your hand in contact with the flame, it does something really quite incredible. The flame doesn't just melt the ice, no. The moment that it makes contact with the magical ice. The ice encasing the maids bursts into flames itself! You weren't expecting this outcome, and thankfully the flames don't seem to take more of your magical energy as they somehow burn the ice than they otherwise would.

Illya however gasps in terror as the flames engulf the giant ice crystal and the maids trapped within it. But you can tell that they will be fine. The flame itself is really only capable of affecting the ice. You can tell that much from the fact that despite the sudden inferno within the castle, absolutely nothing else is catching. "Shinji?! What did you do!?" Still. Illya isn't aware of just how your powers work, so to her, this must just seem like you've decided to incinerate her maids.

You try to make your voice as calming as possible as you respond to the girl. "Don't worry, Illyasviel. They will be perfectly fine. My magecraft is quite unique in how it works." Illya has a complicated expression on her face, a mixture between shock, suspicion and uncertainty. It's very obvious that the girl just doesn't know what she's supposed to think as she witnesses the flames, but the relief on her face is palpable as the flames dissipate after having finished consuming the entirety of the ice. Leaving nothing behind after doing the impossible and somehow burning ice. You don't quite understand just how something like that is supposed to work, considering it completely breaks all logic and reason. But the three maids that were trapped within the ice each fall to the floor as they are freed of their icy prison.

Part 8