Entry 10 Family Reunions
I used google translate for the incantation Zero writes down so I apologize if I accidentally insulted someone's mother.
Wars are a tough thing to go through. I've been through so many that my personality has been irreparably damaged. Normally I can do a good job of controlling my emotions, keeping impulsive behavior at a minimum. But. Sometimes. Something happens to push me to my limits. Something that I'm not ready to deal with emotionally. Today that something was Kazé. First thing out of Chris's mouth when we saw each other,
"Kazé said you have news about mom"
Kazé was noticeably absent from the group when Chris said that. He knows me too well. Knew I'd try to melt his brain with a spell, or make up something that would leave him racked with pain and unable to speak. I could do it. Its Possible. Учинићу кичму експлодирати са много бола нанео на вас.
Where was I? Oh Right. I told him I'd fill him in later, when there weren't as many people listening in and that I had something to give him. Then the it was time for introductions. Chris is my son, technically an Ancient One too, but he's only about as powerful as Ein or Nardi. Right now anyway. Chris has more potential than everyone I've been training combined. The Ancient One blood is strong in him, and that's not just me gushing as a father. Nardi, the one dropped into our lap during the Third Holy War, is spoiled rotten but his serious face is something to behold. He knows the right thing to do and will do it, but boy willl he moan about it. He's also a bit of a trouble maker. I've never been able to figure out where that came from. Finally we have the dead one, Kazé. He knows me better than anyone now that Sieght's gone. He's an older Angel and very powerful due to training with Ancient Ones most of his life. He's got a gentle and caring personality that stops him from going all out in a fight against something he doesn't absolutely hate.
I went ahead and started restructuring our training schedule. Ein needs a more gentle touch than I can provide so he, Nardi, and Chris will mostly free-for-all. They're all about the same level so this should give all 3 the opportunity to grow. I should note this won't replace one on one sessions with me, but those sessions will occur with less frequency now. Kazé and I can swap out as we go so the others won't get sick of us.
Anyway, we went out to my place and, surprise, Kazé was there waiting. I almost stabbed him on the spot but everyone was watching so I only ended up giving him a death glare. He kind of chuckled, I should have known he'd be immune to my glares after all this time. I'm glad everyone decided to tag along, this was a good opportunity to see how the meeting room feels with all of us in it. After some more small talk, I mentioned that the newcomers be staying here, prompting Nardi to immediately object. I think he just wanted to be closer to the girls, should have mentioned this earlier but he's a bit of a letch. I told him that only Cierra and Lina were currently unspoken for. He gave up on the spot. I set Nardi up on the 3rd floor, as far from Cierra as possible, with Chris and Kazé filling up the 2nd with Cierra. The group was eager to socialize with the newcomers so I decided to let them while I talked to Chris. I grabbed the diary and we went outside.
I opened up telling him his mother had died recently. He took it ok I guess. He was viably shaken but I would have been worried if he hadn't been. I told him her name and that she loved him very much. He asked why she was so distant and I told him it was really simple. Sieght had lost both of her parents and that was basically the toughest thing she ever went through, emotionally anyway. When she got pregnant with Chris after the 4th Holy war she made the decision that since there were so few Ancient Ones left, 4 counting us, and the steady increase in difficulty of our missions, she didn't want Chris to be hurt as she had been, and I can see now that it worked. To an extent. I think he realized that she loved him so much that she was willing to remove herself from his life for his happiness. I decided to stay with Chris. My missions were dangerous, sure, but I didn't want him to be completely parentless like I was. I gave him the diary and told him to read it whenever he wanted. He was nearly in tears but he immediately hugged me. Even though I thought my tears had long dried up, I was struggling to keep from openly crying. All I could do was return the gesture and tell him how much we loved him.
After a while we went back inside. Kazé smiled knowingly when we walked in. I tried to hurl a chair at him while the others managed to stop me from hitting him. They didn't quite understand my rage but it was worth it. After I decided to murder him in his sleep we went out for a quick spar /so I could thrash Kazé a bit / to test out my new training method. Results are as follows...
Round 1: Ein vs Chris vs Nardi
Combat Performance: Well
Comments: Ein's still recovering from his impalement but he wanted to fight, so I let him. His performance was fine and his Disaresta attack getting stronger. He's also decent at fighting multiple enemies. Nardi hung back for the most part until I yelled at him. He doesn't actually have an element, he likes fire spells but his Diviner uses destructive energy with a red tint. I told him to just stick with sword fighting, don't want anyone to get too badly injured. Nardi's Diviner, Hyndla, is a red great sword. It's light for it's size so he can swing the thing around quicker than one would think possible. Chris did well too, he's nice like Kazé and doesn't fight seriously all too often, but he did today. He must be training to avenge his mother. Chris's Diviner is a single gray clawed gauntlet named Sigoir. He uses magic to supplement and enhance his claws, coating them in elemental spells. He's also good with most elements, which is a trait he got from me. He's got some control issues due to lack of actual combat experience though. Ein just needs to heal, Nardi... I'm a bit worried about him due to his sacrifice. He lost his sense of balance, and it doesn't interfere as badly as one might think with fighting, but I've noticed that it's getting worse. He just needs to learn more spells so he won't have to keep moving around for the time being.
Round 2: Kazé vs Ledah and Serene
Combat performance: Ok
Comments: Ledah and Serene have opposing elements and since we are such a diverse group, this is going to be a problem that needs to be addressed. They have to learn to work around this in order to increase their chances of survival. Kazé is quite a bit stronger than his sparring partners. His birth element is wind but he's capable of using spells from almost every other element. Kazé is also really, really, fast when he needs to be. His Diviner is a short sword/long knife with a green coloration named Yngvi. He's really good at getting close and he's agile enough to dodge most everything, something Ledah and Serene couldn't deal with properly. Because of this large difference in speed they focused on wide range spells to try and catch Kazé. Unfortunately for them, he dodged those too and countered with several spells of his own. We'll probably need to work on dealing with high speed opponents to keep them from losing their cool in a combat situation.
Round 3: Me vs Fia, Cierra, Lina, and Leon.
Combat performance: Well
Comments: Fia and Leon attacked me at the same time! I was very proud. They only let up whenever Cierra started flinging huge spells at me. Both Cierra and Fia have learned a few abilities from their new weapons giving them a noticeable spike in strength. Lina just kept firing, she was good at not hitting her allies but bad at actually hitting me. Although I did take a couple of hits from the two melee fighters due to me holding back a little too much. Leon hasn't fully recovered from his brush with Scath which kept me from doing too much for risk of hurting him more.
They're getting better, quickly. I'm proud. I can't wait to see how strong they'll be when this is all over. I've grown quite close to this group. I almost want to stay here if we beat The Origin. If I don't die in the fight anyway. I know my sacrifice wont let me do that though. I lost my ability to remain at peace. Not like meditation and a calm mind though. I can't settle down for extended periods of time. The max I can idle around is about 2 years. After that I'll be forced into a mission or to participate in another damned war. It keeps me bound to the will of the Magi, something I don't always agree with, and makes me a very efficient choice for dealing with lengthy missions.
After training we had dinner. I talked about my past for a bit, and about our enemies. Serene left with Leon when they finished eating to go be together. With all the chaos I think they were going to do something special. After chatting, Kazé and I went outside to talk about a few things. I asked if he thought Chris would mind if I didn't openly dissuade Cierra from trying to pursue a meaningful relationship with me. He said he wasn't sure but that Chris would either tell me or would want me to be happy regardless of his feelings. Next, I asked if I should talk to Leon about Scath. He thought about it for a bit but said we shouldn't interrupt him and Serene with it tonight. After that, the five of us left for home and called it a night. I'll write again when something happens.
-Ø-
As always backstory is given bits at a time. This time a bit on Seight and even a bit more about Zero. I still haven't settled on Cierra x Zero, I think I'm just going to have him ponder just letting her flirt with him. I think this is around the point Lilly and Kino were initially introduced, and Max was in this group too. I also kind of have to elaborate on fighting styles in the training rounds because of the journal format. Regardless this has cut quite a bit of useless filler from INO while still being around the same number of chapters, in fact being 7 chapters LONGER than the first version.