Sellen
To entrust all of myself to someone else, especially someone I hadn’t known for very long was difficult to say the least but, had my apprentice merely sought to gain my trust, there would have been no need for her to save Master Azur and Master Lusat. These two had been considered to have been lost even by myself. I had merely hoped to find their bodies.
And, besides, the two had made clear to me something that I had not even considered to be a possibility. Lilian was a being from beyond the abyss Master Azur had once seen, having crossed a sea of worlds to arrive here. There almost certainly was no connection between her and the witch hunters who sought my head.
Of course, I could’ve asked Master Azur or Master Lusat to take my primal glintstone but…it felt right for my apprentice to be the one who I’d entrust with my fate.
“Apprentice,” I called out firmly once the lesson came to an end once more, both proud and concerned that I was rapidly running out of things to teach without getting into teaching her how to create graven masses.
“Teacher.” Lilian replied respectfully, smiling at me.
“I’m sure you are aware that the form you see before you is merely a projection.” Lilian’s sense for magic in all its forms was incredible and something I wished I knew how to properly nurture but I had to admit that I had never seen anything similar.
My student nodded in response. “Since before we met, yes.”
“And you remember my lesson on primal glintstones?” Lilian had been against creating one of her own, claiming that some of her abilities required her soul to be as it was now but I had taught her of them still.
“I do. I assume you can’t retrieve your own and need it to be done before Radahn is dead?” She concluded, so very confident in her victory against the strongest of the demigods despite the fact that I was unsure if she intended to make use of the upcoming Radahn Festival or not.
I inclined my head in assent. “My true body is on the Weeping Peninsula, imprisoned in the ruins just down from the Church of Marika, past the plain of the Wandering Mausoleum. If you could go there before your battle to retrieve my primal glintstone, it’d save me from the threat of those who might come for my life once the Starscourge will cease to hold my fate in place.”
“I’ll do it.” Lilian agreed without hesitation. “But what about Masters Azur and Lusat? What do they intend to do now?”
“That depends.” Seeing her raise an eyebrow, I chose to elaborate. “Our goal is to retake Raya Lucaria and spread the study of primeval sorcery once more. However, we have agreed that, if you desire Rennala’s Great Rune or even just to challenge the academy yourself, we will wait for you to do so. Ultimately, the Great Rune does not matter to us and, as long as sorcerers remain, the academy will be in a good enough state considering the damage the carians have done to it.”
With her current mental instability, Rennala would be no challenge whatsoever, of that I was certain. For the woman who had expelled my masters and myself from the academy to have been locked up in the library for millenia was an embarrassment for all of us but it made things easier for us.
“I do have some interest in going through the academy myself but, as a warning, you might not want to kill Rennala.” Lilian’s words surprised me.
Curious, I asked, “And why might that be?”
“Because her daughter continues to watch over her from a distance. And, even though you could probably get around the things she’d create to stop you, I have no doubt that she’d at least be vindictive enough to try and find a way to get vengeance for the rest of your life. In comparison, just keeping Rennala around in her mental instability is less bothersome and I can’t imagine the woman herself would’ve been happy about it before Radagon broke her.” My apprentice explained, bringing up some good points.
“Very well, apprentice. I will discuss it with Master Azur and Master Lusat. Now, is there anything else you would like to discuss since this might be the last time we will speak for quite some time?” I questioned, hopeful that my student would find her way to Seluvis at some point. I certainly wasn’t going to send her there, not with the many dangers in Caria Manor.
With her strangely comprehensive knowledge of this world, I had no doubt she would make it there soon, anyways.
“I have a home in another dimension. It’s a large castle. I can have them stay there until I’ve defeated Rennala. If you could discuss that with them, too, that would be greatly appreciated.” Lilian told me.
I smiled in response. It was certainly better than having the masters continue to waste away in the Lands Between. “Very well. I will speak to them about it and, an hour or two from now, I should have talked to them about all the most important things.”
“Then that’s when I will visit your actual body to retrive your primal glintstone. Good luck, teacher.” My apprentice informed me before once again simply tearing open reality, no longer restraining herself nowadays.
I merely wished that I could retain more of that sight than the barest of glimpses rather than losing much of my memory of it.
Shaking my head clear of my yearning for more of these sights, I made my way to the masters to begin discussing the near future with them.
Lily
There were a couple things that were best done before Radahn’s death quite literally shook the Lands Between considering the meteor that’d tear open a new hole in Limgrave leading to Nokron.
For example, stealing everything of worth in said Eternal City. Part of me was honestly tempted to just pull out Meteorite of Astel and see how many Nox still remembered that sorcery but I decided discretion was the better part of valour and instead just considered what Nokron actually had that was worth taking.
Most items were just outright out. They were either boring, not unique or, in the case of the Mimic Tear ashes – and I knew those damn ashes were a thing in this world – would require Torrent to take a liking to me so that Ranni would give me the damn bell and the spectral steed had not. I could sense his presence quite clearly nowadays with my increasing spirituality and Torrent didn’t really seem interested in me at all.
I could probably figure out some way to summon an ash without the spirit calling bell but why bother when I preferred fighting on my own?
So, ultimately, that really just left two things. The Regal Ancestor Spirit for its interesting magic and the Fingerslayer Blade.
“Wait before fighting the Regal Ancestor Spirit. It’s unlikely for another to take that opportunity from you and it may be useful to you later.” Tenkuu Niwa instructed and, for all that I disliked my own sword being so vague with me, I did believe that she had a good reason for telling me to do so.
As such, I warped straight to where the Fingerslayer Blade was being kept, killed everything around and then simply opened the chest. The knife itself felt dull and weak in my hands but that was fine. I just wanted it in case I ever needed some leverage against Ranni.
And then, I had one final idea mostly because wanted to test my newest ability.
Whatever could be said about the Crucible Knights, this one, the one that walked on a thin walkway close to the Valiant Gargoyles, swung its sword at me shortly after I finished stepping back into reality. Of course, I blocked it with Tenkuu Niwa and, in response, I reached out and just plucked out a bone from his pinky finger. “Come on, come on! There’s lots of bones in the body! Let’s see how many I can take before you collapse!”
Rather than responding to my excitement, the knight grew wings, flying into the air before then also growing a tail and spinning. I reacted by using Shunpo to get in close again and seeing if those magically grown wings had bones. They did and the knight almost fell into the abyss if not for catching himself on a roof with his tail after I removed one that was, apparently, important.
I laughed, already having decided that this was how I’d entertain myself while Sellen talked to Azur and Lusat. Shuten-Douji was quite right, removing bones was the most fun! If I’d just removed the heart at the start, the fight would’ve been over too quickly!
A torrent of mana rushed towards me in a spiral formation while I was enjoying myself and I simply redirected it while looking at the spear-wielding Crucible Knight who had apparently decided to help their compatriot.
“Han’eiseyo, Tenkuu Niwa.” I decided was an appropriate response to them teaming up on me, my blade entering its Shikai and stars soon racing out of it at my command, each one targetting specific bones.
The knights, to their credit, did their best to dodge but a bit of gravity sorcery slowed them down enough to stop them from succeeding and so a couple bones were removed, transmuted into mana crystals by sith alchemy and converted into fire dust that proceeded to explode moments later by Conversion.
‘Hm, there’s an idea.’ I decided, sending some more stars out, this time just not even giving them the illusion of being able to dodge. A moment after the spear-wielding knight was struck by the stars, his body exploded within the armour, first light and flame and then smoke leaving through the openings in it.
As it turned out, simply transmuting and converting his bones into fire dust inside his body was an option.
“Only because you are far beyond them already. Your mastery of the Force is great enough that you could transmute their flesh against their will despite their mana’s ability to resist such a thing. Of course, the fact that they themselves transmute their body so often renders it even more mutable than most so that’s another factor to consider.” Tenkuu Niwa explained.
‘So stronger people are more likely to just say no to me exploding their insides?’ I thought, not particularly disappointed despite my amusement at the fear and determination I could feel from the remaining knight.
Walking over to him, I sat down on his back and began poking spots at random before carefully selecting bones that weren’t that important to pull out.
“Indeed. And ones that aren’t connected to things such as the Crucible or similar things would be better at resisting, too.” My zanpakuto spirit replied, sounding amused while I played my little game to the sounds of the knight’s screams until, eventually, the gravity mixed with his lack of bones won out over his supernatural durability and he died. “And remember, you may indulge in these things with your enemies for a time but don’t draw it out too much. Don’t deny your desires in their entirety but don’t let them consume you.”
‘Yeah, yeah, I won’t.’ I mentally waved her off though I did take her words seriously. These fun little games had served a purpose beyond just entertaining me in teaching me more about both my newest ability and its uses in regards to my Shikai so it wasn’t just torture for the sake of torture. It was torture for the sake of progress.
Getting up, I stretched with a satisfied grin, grabbed the spear and the sword of the knights before leaving this place. Nokron had nothing interesting left to offer until it’d be time for me to return for the Regal Ancestor Spirit.
Time to see if Missy’d woken up from her drunken slumber.
Missy
“Kill me now.” I told Lily after vomiting up everything in my stomach while she used magic to keep my hair out of the way.
“No can do.” Lily replied, sounding way too amused to not be finding this situation hilarious.
As it turned out, getting drunk was fun. Waking up after having gotten drunk sucked. Everything hurt, I was dizzy and I generally didn’t want to be awake.
“So, Missy, what do you feel about drinking with strangers while I was fighting dragons?” Lily asked, probably trying to scare me off of doing that again or something.
But I was focused on something else entirely. Whirling around to face her – and being quite happy that my stomach was empty since I had a feeling Lily’d have killed me if I’d thrown up on her suit – I meet her eyes, “Dragons? As in, more than one?”
“Yes, more than one. There were two in one spot so I just killed them both.” My twin confirmed, sighing. “Now stop changing the topic. I’m trying to get you to please not get this drunk again when I’m half a country away from you and you’re surrounded by strangers. In all honesty, I’d prefer you to just stay sober unless there’s someone to look out for you since alcohol makes people even more stupid than they already are but I’m willing to compromise in case this,” She gestured towards me and the toilet full of my vomit, “didn’t do a good enough job convincing you to never drink again.”
“I just wanted to try it once!” I defended myself.
“And you did. Do you still like it now?” Lily challenged.
I stayed silent for a moment before kind of shrugging. “Parts of it were nice but I’d definitely not go that far again.”
“…I’ll take it.” Lily decided with a sigh before taking out a can of soda, cracking it open and holding it out to me. I blinked at the thing before looking back up at my twin. “I’m fairly certain this should get rid of your hangover. You had plans with your friend today, didn’t you?”
I didn’t even let her finish the second part of her sentence before I started chugging the soda and, once it was empty, I was indeed feeling a lot better. Good enough, even, that I wanted to hug Lily but my twin nimbly dodged my attempts. “You’re not getting within arm’s reach of my suit until you’ve had a shower. You stink of vomit and alcohol.”
“Fine.” I gave in instead of trying to share the pain with her for letting me suffer through my hangover for so long despite having had a cure. I could hardly complain when I had dozens of those soda cans in my own inventory, after all. “Thanks for taking care of me and helping me, even if you could’ve really given me that soda a lot sooner.”
“If you’d told me that you’re going to become a drunkard, I’d have let you suffer through that hangover as well as all future ones without any help from me.” Lily told me cheerfully before beginning to travel elsewhere. “See you later.”
“See ya!” I called out before beginning to get ready for my hangout with Ruby.
“So, how’s Beacon been treating you?” I asked Ruby, having gotten permission from Ozpin to visit my friend on the campus. It was probably some kind of favouritism but I was fine with that if it meant I got to hang out with her. We could’ve met off-campus but I was kind of curious what it looked like and I was faster at getting us to other places and back than a bulwark would’ve been.
“Professor Ozpin made me the team leader! And I’m on a team with Yang!” Ruby answered cheerfully, making me smile even as I had to force down a bit of a blush. That crush on her had never really gone away and, at this point, I wasn’t sure it would but I also really didn’t know how to even begin how to try and start a relationship with her.
“What about your other teammates? And your classes, I guess?” I prompted, ignoring the question of how to ask out someone who’s not only a girl you’re not sure was into girls but also a friend and from another world once again.
I couldn’t even really ask anyone for advice since I didn’t know anyone who was in a happy relationship. Lisa might’ve had some for me but she was also just about married to the work Lily shoved onto her already and I was pretty sure she was slowly going insane. I didn’t want to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Besides, just being friends with Ruby was nice, too. She was fun to hang out with and she looked really cute while gushing about weapons.
“I had some problems with Weiss at first, she didn’t like that I’m the leader, but we cleared it up and are friends now.” Ruby told me, still sounding excited before rambling on some more in that endearing manner.
She didn’t have too much to say about her final teammate but maybe this Blake person just was a bit of a loner and, besides, Ruby not having much to say was better than her having problems with Blake.
“Oh, hey Weiss! Meet Missy! She’s a friend of mine.” And, as we wandered the campus aimlessly, we apparently did eventually run into one of her teammates. Weiss, apparently, was a pretty girl wearing a dress out of all things with a rapier and a thin scar over one of her eyes as well as snow white hair.
She kind of reminded me of Lily but less…restrained, I guess? Lily usually didn’t really stop acting out the role she’d assigned herself until we were alone but Weiss seemed at least somewhat relaxed. Until she saw me, at least. For some reason, she seemed strangely hostile towards me. Not much but slightly.
Aside from that, though, they seemed pretty similar. Fancy clothes, ‘elegant’ weapons, posture that did still kind of seem to say ‘I am better than you’ – on the surface, they were really quite similar.
“Nice to meet you.” I said, waving towards Ruby’s teammate despite her apparent dislike for me.
Weiss harrumphed in response before turning towards her teammate. “I recognize her, yes. She’s the sister of that upstart trying to build a dust mine in the middle of nowhere as if that’d ever work without a lot of expertise in such things.” I had no idea what her problem was with my twin’s business but I didn’t appreciate people insulting Lily in front of me.
“C’mon, that’s rude Weiss.” Ruby frowned at her.
“Besides, if Lily thinks she can do it, she can.” I defended my sister. I could’ve pointed out those anti-Grimm wards Lily’d made but Weiss probably wouldn’t believe me about them until Lily started advertising them and making it obvious to people that they’re real.
Weiss looked at me almost as if she pitied me and I resisted the urge to punch her in the face for that. “The Schnee Dust Company spent years and lots of money figuring out the correct process and, while getting assistance from the military and Professor Ozpin might have helped, I’m sure it was no proper substitute for that experience.”
“And I’m sure she knows more about the entire thing than you do.” I argued out of sheer spite at this point, glaring at her while I was at it. I didn’t know what Weiss’ problem was but she had one and I didn’t care what it was at this point.
Weiss, fury in her eyes now, opened her mouth to respond when, “Can both of you just stop?” Ruby interjected, making me freeze up because her tone and wording both reminded me of the many times I’d tried to do the same thing for arguments between my parents.
Meeting Weiss’ gaze for a moment, we both came to a silent agreement. Sighing, I nodded. “Alright. Let’s just agree to disagree I suppose.” I offered an out.
Weiss, reluctantly, nodded. “Very well. Have a nice rest of your day, Ruby.” She told her team leader before walking off.
“Sorry for all of that.” I apologized to my friend after Weiss was gone.
Ruby sighed but didn’t seem too upset. “It’s fine. I don’t really know what’s going on but I’m sure it’s just some kind of misunderstanding.” I wasn’t as sure as she was but, then again, I didn’t know Weiss. I just knew my first impression of her was really bad.
“Moving on, how about we go to Vale for the rest of the day now? We could check out some weapon stores for new parts.” I tried to cheer her up and, thankfully it worked, my friend happily agreeing and the two of us being off moments later
I’d like to note that I like Weiss and I will just say that she didn’t just start all this out of nowhere. I just haven’t given her a perspective yet. On that note, it will be time for an interlude soon as we’re nearing the end of arc 4 and nearing the beginning of arc 5
Anyways, hope you enjoyed and let me know if you have any feedback