Creation began on 01-09-19
Creation ended on 01-29-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Grimoire of Evangelion: Attack of the Third Eye
Sunlight shown through the window of Shinji's room as said boy awoke to his first day as a member of the Black Bulls. Dressing in blue jeans and a loose-fitting, green shirt under his robe, the newbie vacated his room and stood out in the hallway that he could've sworn didn't look the way it did last night.
"Good morning there, Shinji," he turned to his left and saw Asta walking towards him. "Is there something wrong?"
"No, I… Were those two pillars there yesterday?" He asked Asta.
"Nope, but that's okay. I'm told this place rearranges itself all the time. It's a habit."
"An old building that can rearrange itself out of habit? Whoa, that's…some kind of magic."
"Yeah, it is. Come on, I'll show you around; you and your aunt didn't get the tour last night when you came."
But before Shinji followed Asta down a different hallway, he looked down another that led into darkness, his expression blank and like he wasn't aware of anything or anyone else.
Asta noticed this and waved his left hand in front of him.
"Shinji?" He asked him.
"Huh?" Shinji reacted, looking at the Anti Magic mage. "I'm sorry, what?"
"You were looking down that hall."
"I'm sorry, I… I thought I was… For a moment, it felt like I was being drawn toward something down there, like I was slipping or something. Has that ever happened to you or anyone else in the squad before?"
"Not that I know of," Asta responded. "Come on, it's probably excitement."
Shinji followed him and he showed him the public bath, the dining hall and kitchen (where Charmy currently was eating), and caged chamber full of shadowed beasts that the newbies have to feed each week; the building's quarters for women were protected by various trap spells to keep men from invading their privacy.
"Though, the traps don't seem to keep the women from paying any of us a visit," Shinji stated.
"Huh?" Asta responded, confused.
"The trap spells only keep the men out of the women's quarters, not the other way around," Shinji explained. "If one wants to see you, they just go right ahead, unrestricted."
"Oh. I don't get why that is so, though."
"Some people believe that this is because women are moral and less likely to do something they know they shouldn't."
"So, men are inherently bad?"
"No, just difficult to trust; if you get invited into a woman's personal space, they want to be able to trust you, to believe that you are reliable and not someone they could later fear."
"Where'd you learn this from, anyway?"
"My aunt, Suki, when she was… Well, when she was taller."
Shinji couldn't say when his aunt was older now because it felt wrong, even though it was true in every sense that excluded her physicality. Not to mention that he expected some difficulty with her because they were, more or less, the same age, physically. Despite her rejuvenation, her intellect remained the same, and sometimes, he had to wonder if the restoration of her youth and vitality gave a sense of vanity.
Sitting in the dining hall with his grimoire opened to reexamine some pages, Shinji stopped on the page with Guardian of the Void again. This time, it seemed as though the creature were staring at him in its picture.
"Is that really it?" A female voice uttered behind him, and Shinji turned his head around to see Noelle looking over his shoulder at the page. "The spell used to summon the Guardian of the Void? That's it?"
"Uh, yes," he answered her. "I summoned him during the entrance exam against my uncle."
"A creature of Anti Magic, capable of negating other forms of magic…and that such a form of magic exists… I thought Asta was the only one that could use Anti Magic."
"His form of Anti Magic is still limited to his use of the sword, though, meaning he needs to get close to magic to actually negate it. But is he getting better?"
"Ever since last year when Rades attacked the Royal Capital, things have been quiet; we haven't had any missions to carry out, even with your family's return."
Shinji turned to a different page in his grimoire and read the spell being something he didn't recognize before.
"'Water Creation Magic: Umi's Noble Tempest'," he read the spell.
Noelle looked at the page and felt the impression that it was a powerful Water Magic spell.
"Just how powerful are you?" She asked him.
"I'm not sure. I'm not looking to boast or anything. What about you? You must be pretty powerful, Ms. Silva."
"Oh, I'm quite powerful. My family has been among the ruling body of the Clover Kingdom for a long time."
"So I've heard."
"What about your family? You must be versed in your history, the mages that were capable of a wide range of spells and everything."
"Not entirely. Like I said, I'm not looking to boast or anything. Pride can be a bad thing if taken too extremely."
"That's only true if you put yourself above others, Shinji," they both heard Suki's voice as she showed up in the dining hall, carrying a large tray of food with her. "But you don't put yourself above others at all. You're humble, which makes you unlikely to give into peer pressure or feel a sense of superiority over others."
"Good morning to you, too, Suki," Shinji greeted her as she sat across the table from them with the tray, noticing the breakfast food's varying degrees of preparation. "Uh…did you just make all of that, Suki?"
"Yeah," she answered him. "Why else would I be in the kitchen for less than an hour? Though, Charmy found it ridiculous for anyone to cook using non-magic means."
"That's because for her, it is ridiculous," Noelle expressed. "I've only known her for a year, and her Cotton Magic revolves around food. Her Sheep Cooks are the chefs here. How can anyone survive without using magic to cook?"
Shinji and Suki looked at her like she had no idea that she was in front of two people that did exactly as she questioned without the need for magic…and have done so for a long time.
"You cook for yourself and others for a long time that you find a taste for it," Shinji explained.
Suddenly, the previous page in his grimoire flipped back into view and glowed, allowing them to see the Guardian of the Void emerge from the book in front of them.
"Why'd you summon it again, Shinji?" Suki asked her nephew.
"I didn't summon him," he responded.
-x-
"…I'm not sure what's worse than everything else today," went Rika to her three uninvited guests as they were incapacitated around the front yard of her home, "the fact that you three were out here all night in the cold…or that you three are from the same house and squad and decided to pay me an unexpected visit that feels like a minor reminder of what happened over fifteen-hundred years ago. Maybe you should tell me what you think. What do you think?"
Nozel, Nebra and Solid Silva were restrained, suspended or partially buried in the ground in front of Rika, each with a look of scorn reserved for her out of spite towards her family. They didn't expect for the yard, garden, not even the house itself to be cluttered with hidden trap spells designed to neutralize a potential threat before it could even escalate.
"You are nothing more than a despicable person, lady. You're no better than our black sheep sister, and she was good as banished from House Silva." Nebra expressed.
"So, there are four of you…and yet only three of you came here? I guess what I've been researching about you has been accurate so far. But you know something I don't really get? I don't get any of you. You don't like my family, and I can understand that, but you don't even know any of us. We don't even know any of you. There's usually a grudge or vendetta, but unless it's fueled by two or more sides that don't get along, it's not necessary for anyone to maintain it. So, what exactly did my family do to your family, and by 'your family', I mean your immediate family, those that live with you, not your ancestors that I might've known to a degree back then. What did we ever do to you?"
"You live and breathe," uttered Solid to her. "That's the only wrong your family has ever done worse than anyone else…and associating with the inferior like they're of any significance. Ever since I can remember, House Ikari has been the bane of the nobility because of its tolerance towards the inferior and the family's own disrespect towards House Silva."
"My family disrespected your family? In what way was that disrespect given? If you're referring to my son's ceremonial battle ritual, it's hardly disrespect because it was using old customs."
"Serena Silva," Nozel expressed, causing Rika's eyes to widen. "She was banished because of your family. Worse than banished, she was driven away because of her association with you. A member of House Silva that can't control their magic has no right to bear the Silva name."
"Serena Silva…was one of my best friends," Rika sighed. "It was your family that refused to teach her how to control her magic, so mine taught her all that we knew until she obtained mastery. When your ancestors learned of this, they rejected and disowned her. I've spent a great deal of my time wondering if she ever lived to see old age since that night my family was attacked. Did her family survive up to the present? These are among many questions I've had ever since being reintroduced to the present-day kingdom. How do you obtain such answers to questions when there are some people that either don't know…or have unexplained or unnecessary spite towards you? Can you answer?"
Nozel stayed quiet; even if he knew the fate of this disgraced ancestor of House Silva, he wouldn't tell this woman, this…Ikari.
"It's okay, I don't expect any of you to answer," Rika stated, taking out her grimoire. "At least not of your own volition, and I won't stoop as low as to try and poke at your memories. So I'll be returning you to your Noble Realm, but to ensure that you or anyone else doesn't try an encore attempt on my family home…or my family, we should make sure that this little foul play goes on record…for the sake of posterity."
All three Silver Eagles looked at one another in realization that when she said that, she clearly meant to ensure that their failed attempt on her life was on record for everyone to know.
"You can't possibly be serious about this," Solid said to her. "Can't you take a joke?"
Rika looked at the young man with a look of contempt on her face as she responded, "You'll forgive me if my sense of humor died a little over fifteen-hundred years ago when the majority of my loved ones died around me the day one of my daughters took their first breath of life. That was supposed to be a day of celebration, joy and remembrance…and it became a day of tragedy, loss and grief. Not many people can take a joke when something hurtful, major or minor, hits a little too close to home. If you understood some personal suffering, you probably wouldn't take a joke, either."
"Oh, we would, ma'am," Nebra told her. "Our black sheep of a little sister killed our mother. It was for this, she was banished from House Silva."
"A girl of sixteen years…murdered your mother, you say? That sounds unlikely, since I've been looking at the number of mages in the Magic Knights that are measured by their magical levels, and she's listed among those as being unlikely to be capable of sufficiently harming anyone. How could she cause life-threatening harm to the one that brought her into existence?"
"By doing just what you said," Nozel explained, and Rika's look of contempt deepened.
"Union Sealing Magic: Parental Guidance," she uttered a spell from her grimoire, and light shot out of it at the three siblings.
-x-
"This is Guardian of the Void?!" Asta gasped as he and the other members of the Black Bulls present saw the creature sitting in the middle of the common room, looking as though it were asleep. "Awesome!"
"Can I fight it?" Luck asked Shinji, who seemed puzzled by its sense of free will and ability to self-summon itself from his grimoire.
"It looks like it's sleeping," Finral pointed out, as he barely heard any sounds from it as it sat by the fireplace.
Magna placed a hand on the creature's right shoulder…and soon felt slightly weakened.
"Whoa," he went, pulling his arm away before falling backwards into a chair. "I think it just absorbed some of my magic when I touched it."
Suki then placed her left arm on the creature's head.
"He's not asleep," she revealed.
"Not asleep?" Gordon questioned, and the Guardian of the Void opened its eyes, looking at the Black Bull members present. "Not asleep."
Suki pulled her hand away and wondered what it was up to.
Suddenly, a strange, humming sound could be heard and it felt like the flooring where the creature squatted was vibrating.
"Guardian's…humming?" Noelle asked.
"No," Shinji revealed, looking through his grimoire on the page detailing the creature. "Guardian's thinking. He's actually thinking like an actual creature."
"Thinking about what?" Vanessa asked.
"About you," he explained. "Thinking about all of you, actually; he's doing something called 'historical observation', going over your individual histories as Magic Knights, measuring your magic levels and the number of spells you've accumulated since you joined. That's…creepy."
"He's missing a third sword," Guardian spoke up, raising its right claw and pointing to Asta. "He will need it to be at his strongest one day."
"I have a third sword?!" Asta gasped, and then the creature stood up, looking at Finral.
"Your doubt in your abilities reduces your success," he told him.
"What?"
Looking at Luck, the Guardian expressed, "I got my eye on you."
Grey, disguised as Vanessa, was then looked upon by Guardian, who then bowed his head to her.
"You needn't hide yourself from the world," it told her. "How are you to be remembered if nobody knows your true face?"
Then she changed back into herself in front of them.
Charmy had her grimoire out in case the Guardian tried something with her.
It looked down at her and tilted its head to the side.
"Size is never an issue," it spoke, "and no, I am not edible."
Charmy went wide-eyed. Did this creature just read her mind?
"You," it spoke, pointing to Gordon, who was farthest away from them, "you mean well and you want to help your squad, but you should really raise your voice. Even if I can understand what you say, your teammates won't be able to unless they have heightened hearing."
Everyone looked at Gordon, who lowered his head and mumbled something.
"You seem to state the obvious a little too personally, Guardian," Suki told the creature, "even if you do mean well."
It lowered its head to meet her gaze, causing her to back away a little.
"Things will get interesting later today as magic that doesn't belong to this squad makes itself known," it told her. "What happens next will be up to your squad."
"Wait a minute, what do you mean later today?" Noelle questioned. "Do you know something?"
"Out there," it pointed away from them to the front door, "magic gathers and intensifies. Will you rise…or will you fall?"
Shinji closed his grimoire and approached the beast.
"Are you saying that…someone is coming here…and they intend to pick a fight?" He asked.
"Your assumption…is as expected," it responded. "Only your best will prevail."
"Can you see the future?" Noelle asked.
"Not the future, only possibility."
"You can only see possibility?" Vanessa questioned.
Guardian looked at her…and his tail just swayed around behind him.
"People that make possible the impossible…and the impossible…impossible again," he told her.
-x-
"Missus Ikari," went the Wizard King to Rika as she walked into his office. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your unexpected visit this afternoon?"
"Last night, I received an unexpected…and unwanted visit from three of our kingdom's Magic Knights," she explained to him.
"Was there a problem?"
"I'm afraid there was…and it is still a problem."
Rika then reached into her small bag and pulled out three glass balls, each containing a Magic Knight, and presented them to the Wizard King.
Julius was surprised to see that they were all affiliated with the Silver Eagles, and they each looked as though they were frozen.
"What sort of magic did you use on them?" He asked her.
"Sealing Magic," she answers him, "which uses a combination of Glass and Thread Magic."
"Ah, Union Sealing Magic. Incredible…but… Why did they pay you an unsanctioned visit, if I may ask?"
"As it just so happens… It seems that certain members of House Silva prefer to nurse an age-old hatred against House Ikari that is one-sided and pointless. And these three felt threatened by my family to the point where they decided to come to my house at night to cause an accident. I was fortunate to have laid out a wide range of different trap spells on and around the property that respond to intentional threats against me or my family. I need this to go down on record; it's one thing to attack a family for petty reasons, such as for money or jewels, but to attack a family because of an age-old grudge that I don't even blame the descendants of the people that were responsible for what happened over fifteen-hundred years, that's crossing an unnecessary line that releases too much contempt over the heart and soul, too much anger that turns a civil society into an uncivil abomination that needs to be cleansed."
Julius sighed as he nodded in agreement with her, and accepted the tiny glass spheres.
"I apologize for their actions against you," he told her. "Is there any other way I may be of service to you while you're here?"
"Yes, sir, there is. While I'm here in the Royal Capital for the time being…I guess I should see the ancestral grounds where House Ikari once resided before relocating to the Forsaken Region."
"Oh, my, yes, ma'am," he accepted; he had never been to the ancestral grounds of House Ikari's former residence, but because of the long line of the Clover Kingdom's monarchy, these grounds were considered sacred as the family itself was of royalty just as House Silva was.
Within their glass spheres, the Silva siblings couldn't believe how much trouble they were bound to be in, and all because they didn't anticipate such a degree of trouble from the oldest of the Ikari family that was the very reason three of them got their youth back and how one of them was set free from a giant being that their magic didn't work on.
-x-
"…So your Guardian of the Void states that our squad will be visited upon today?" Yami asked Shinji after he was informed by Finral, making sure he understood correctly.
"That's what he said, sir," Shinji answered him. "Except that he said that he couldn't see the future, only possibilities."
"What's the difference?"
"If he could see into the future, then he knew what was going to happen before it happens and give us a more-detailed warning," went Suki. "As for seeing possibilities, it's like…probability. Some sort of…series of patterns that are often always unforeseen and full of uncertainty. You see pebbles falling from mountains, rivers pooling into waterfalls, and trees gathering into forests. But you're the one that has to decide which way to go, and the map you use to guide your way is only showing many routes of which to take to get to your destination, whatever and wherever it is that you're going."
As they were all outside, the squad had no idea where and when this unseen force of magic would appear, but had to be on their guard, knowing only that they would be seen today.
"And do you believe this Guardian of the Void?" Yami asked.
"I do, sir," Shinji answered him. "He has no reason to lie to me."
Shinji suddenly felt a presence in the air that made his heart beat uneasy, like someone was watching them from afar. And it felt…threatening.
Guardian of the Void appeared behind him and pointed away from the Black Bull base.
"They are here," he uttered, and Yami found it strange that this creature was several inches taller than he was.
A portal appeared in the air above them, releasing a handful of people that were dressed in white cloaks with strange, eye-like symbols on them. One of them, a young, bespectacled woman, had hers opened up, revealing a baggy, maroon-colored top, miniskirt and black boots, and was exposing a lot of skin.
Somehow, in Shinji's mind, the woman reminded him of this boyish-looking woman that worked with Ritsuko Akagi, Maya Ibuki…if she were a bit untamed and exhibiting a wild side to her personality, but that just made him wonder who this woman was and why she was here.
-x-
"You called me here to look at this photo album that's doing more than housing a few old pictures that depict this family from their younger years?" Ritsuko questioned everyone in Gendo's office, looking at the album that currently depicted Shinji facing a young woman that bore a strange resemblance to Maya Ibuki, only a little crazy from the looks of it. "What, exactly, is going on here?"
"Because of the Twelfth Angel, Shinji and his maternal relatives have wound up in a place, another dimension, where, apparently, people use magic more than they use science," Misato explained to her, "and beyond that, it would seem that, with the exception of Shinji and his mother, the other three members of the Ikari family…and were from this place."
"That's insane. If they were from another universe, why'd they wait until the last Angel attack to go back? And why take Shinji with them?"
"We don't think their leaving due to the Twelfth Angel was of their volition," Fuyutsuki told her. "When the Angel disappeared, it just took them."
"And when they returned to this other universe," Asuka added, "this…Clover Kingdom, the elderly relatives of the idiot, his grandmother, aunt and uncle, used magic to make themselves young again."
"We don't think it was possible for them to get back there, even if they wanted to," Kaji explained. "If there were rules or limitations to how they could get back to the kingdom, assuming that magic even has any, then these three, Rika, Tenshi and Suki Ikari, were bound by them. Maybe they needed a source of energy potent enough to get back or maybe they were past their prime to use their magic the way they wanted without leaving themselves more vulnerable, anything that could deteriorate them."
"But…if they're in another dimension…how do we know they can get back to this one?"
"Right now, they don't seem focused on getting back," Misato informed. "Shinji, his mother, aunt and uncle have joined these…magical squads that protect the kingdom they're in and answer to this person addressed as the Wizard King."
"So, he's like a cop, an enforcer?" Ritsuko questioned.
"No," Rei answered her. "He is a knight, a warrior, someone duty-bound to protect the kingdom against those that would harm the people living in it."
Ritsuko then looked at the next page that Gendo turned to, and saw what looked like the woman that resembled Maya…trying to attack Shinji with a giant syringe.
"What the Hell?" She questioned, and it almost felt like, for a brief moment, she was actually there with Shinji, and watched him moved out of the way of the needle, seeing the woman smile as she failed to hit him.
-x-
Sally, once she saw Shinji in person, went into a berserker frenzy towards him with her syringe, trying to stick him with the needle in order to see what could happen if she was able reinforce his magic at the cost of his life. But she intended to save as much of his body as possible for research later; as much as she desired to study him, she was confident that she didn't need him alive. She was certain that she didn't even need Asta alive, either.
"Aw, hold still," she told Shinji, trying to jab him with the needle again, but he kept dodging. "I won't hurt what's left of you when you die."
"Lady, I don't even know you, and I already don't like you," Shinji responded as his grimoire opened to give him his sword. "Wait a minute…that symbol… You're members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, aren't you?"
"Oh, you're very perceptive. I'm guessing Rades told you a lot about us, didn't he? Everything he knew, that is. To think he was defeated by you…and all you did was talk to him. Then, the Wizard King, impressed by your ability to defeat a mage that could summon his own army…that instead of being a Fifth Class Junior Magic Knight upon being accepted, gives you the rank of First Class Junior Magic Knight. I wonder, if you can defeat us like you did with Rades, you think the Wizard King will make you a First Class Intermediate Magic Knight?"
"Why the interest in the kingdom's ranking system? I didn't even know about my current rank until you mentioned it just now. And why are you here?"
"Well, isn't it obvious? You've been deemed a threat to the plans of the Eye of the Midnight Sun…and our orders are to ensure that you cease to be a threat. All three of you, actually: Asta, your young aunt…and yourself."
Shinji looked over at Asta and Suki, who unleashed their grimoires' magic like the rest of the Black Bulls…and had to suspect that someone in charge of these rogue mages didn't want to be concerned with these three among any that could be seen as potential threats to their plans, and tasked this woman with making sure of that.
"Wait a minute, you see us three as a threat?" Suki asked her, confused as she had summoned her bear. "How are we viewed as a threat, exactly? Some of us are still of low ranking and haven't been Magic Knights for long. My nephew and I, we just got started today. If you want an actual threat, you should try facing tough-as-nails veterans that have been doing this for decades, they got the experience to outdo you."
"Except none of them can use Anti Magic…or have the Infinity Affinity, such as you three do, which makes you a greater danger if left unchecked. I'm sorry to say, but you three must be dealt with before you become too strong to take on directly."
Noelle, hearing this like the rest of the squad, found it unusual that these rogue mages considered these three, a peasant boy from a nowhere village in the Forsaken Region, a noble girl from over fifteen-hundred years ago that was born in the Forsaken Region, and a boy that was viewed as some sort of intermediary between commoner and noble, a greater threat than more experienced mages affiliated with the Magic Knights. Anyone with years of experience would be more dangerous than these three, even if they were still rookies. Why view them as a threat because of their magic?
"If you want to stop me from becoming a threat to you," went Shinji, suddenly sounding angry at the mere thought of these people wanting to get rid of him before he could achieve his own goal, "then you'll have to break me."
One of the other members of the Midnight Sun took off their hood and revealed themselves to be another girl, one with a deadpan face and pink hair, decorated by a gem on her forehead. Then, her face contorted into one of rage and contempt.
"Shinji Ikari," she uttered, sounding uninterested in what was going on right now, as a grimoire levitated in front of her and a strange, reddish-orange lizard appeared on her right shoulder, staring rather viciously at the Black Bulls, "you are loathsome, abhorrent, and you do not know your place in the order yet to come. You must die."
Two other mages then removed their hoods, revealing a young man with bits of white in his dark hair and a tattoo on the left side of his face…and another man that looked more like a beast.
"Meet the Third Eye," Sally introduced the three mages to them. "Here is Rhya of the Treacherous, Vetto of the Despair…and Fana of the Hateful. They are the strongest of the Midnight Sun…and the sealing of your doom."
They're called the Third Eye? They're the strongest of the group? Their names correspond to the opposite of the three virtues of the Clover Kingdom, faith, hope and love, thought Suki as a page turned in her grimoire and she activated another spell. "Time Thread Magic: Pacemaker Reduction!"
From out her grimoire, dozens of glowing threads shot across the environment, missing each individual mage before disappearing from sight.
"Was that supposed to intimidate us, little old girl?" Rhya asked her.
"Nope," she answered him. "I just needed to get my heart pumping. Doing nothing much of the time is a pain…at my age."
"I'll take out the Ikari boy," said Vetto. "Rhya, you take the old girl. Fana, you can have the Anti Magic peasant."
"No, I want the Ikari boy," said Rhya. "You'd just rip him to pieces."
"I'll dispatch all three myself," went Fana, deciding not to argue over who got who, and her lizard spat out a large stream of fire at them.
Shinji quickly scrolled through his grimoire for a defensive spell and found one that was just right for this attack.
"Spatial Time Magic: Magnified Return!" He called out, and a large portal appeared in front of the squad, allowing the fire attack to pass through it completely before closing. "And now we wait for it!"
"We don't have time to wait!" Asta informed him, brandishing his Demon-Dweller Sword at the rogue mages. "Let's get 'em!"
"Hell, yeah," Magna agreed with him, summoning his sword of fire. "You guys picked a fight with the wrong squad!"
-x-
"…These three must be the strongest of this group that just showed up where Shinji and Suki are," Misato suspected as they saw a picture of Shinji and the Black Bull squad facing off against this other group being led by the woman that looked like Maya and these three people that seemed more dangerous than the rest of them.
"What is this, the kingdom they're living in has three virtues that are represented by the three-leaf clover?" Asuka questioned, seeing a picture that had a clover that had three words written on each leaf. "Faith, hope and love…and their corresponding opposites, treachery, despair and hatred… The girl looks like she's full of hatred."
"It's starting to seem more like a story than a glimpse into another world through a photo album," said Kaji, looking at the man that looked more like a beast. "What chance does Shinji and his aunt have against these three when they're grouped with a bunch of people that are deemed a bunch of misfits?"
They turned to the next page in the album…but found any answers to such a question nonexistent. The next sequence of pictures that didn't belong in the book showed two different scenes that were most likely going on: On the left page were three pictures of Rika Ikari looking around what looked like a castle-like ruins in a spacious meadow a great distance from a town or city with this man that introduced the Ikari family's return to the kingdom…and on the right were four pictures depicting Tenshi and Yui and three other people, all wearing the same robes to indicate that they're from the same squad, exploring some underground location, but it looked as though Yui would rather be exploring alone than with anyone.
"Why does it seem like Shinji's mother is giving off an antisocial vibe?" Misato asked.
"Maybe she's disappointed that he joined the Black Bulls over one of the other squads that have more of a reputation for being accepted by the people," Gendo suggested, though this was just his opinion, as he could care less about the boy.
"So, how does it feel to be on your first mission, Mr. Ikari?" They all heard a female voice say to Tenshi, and it had to be the young woman the picture depicted walking beside him.
"Tenshi, please," they heard him respond, "and securing a new dungeon for the kingdom will ensure the people's benefit. All of the people's benefit."
"Did anyone else just hear that?" Asuka asked.
"If you're referring to Shinji's uncle talking, then yes, I heard that," Kaji responded.
-x-
The ancestral grounds of House Ikari were about as large as half of the village of Hage, but preserved by the order of the Clover Kings that existed over the generations that came and went, waiting for the family to return. And as Rika sat on a rock just inside the old training grounds of her family's former dwellings, the rejuvenated witch sighed at how much the palace had fallen into disrepair after being abandoned.
"It's incredible," expressed Julius to her over being in such a place.
"Yes, it is," she agreed with him.
"Might I ask something?"
"Feel free."
"Are the grounds haunted?"
"Heh-heh…no, they're not haunted. They're just…ancient."
Letting the three Silva siblings go with a warning not to go after any of the Ikaris again was the only warning they would get. If they tried to do so for any reason that stemmed from an unnecessary vendetta against them, there would be consequences they wouldn't be able to avoid, ranging from humiliating their squad and house to being excommunicated from the Magic Knights, not entirely different from a dishonorable discharge. And all because of a simple…meaningless…dislike of an ancient family.
"You could've had the three suspended from the Silver Eagles, or forced them to do community service, Mrs. Ikari. Why let them go on probation?"
"If I didn't, then I'd be no different from their ancestors, whom I'm sure now were among the other houses that attacked my family the day Suki was born. Their ancestors from that time were responsible for the deaths of the majority of House Ikari. To blame the descendants of the families for what happened is to hold a grudge towards all of them, regardless of whether they were involved or not, whether they wanted to or not. I have no ill will towards the people of the House of Silva today for what happened back then, I just don't like the fact that these three chose to carry on a grudge that is as meaningless as it is pointless. Even if they managed to kill me and make it seem like an accident, it'd just be more meaningless violence. One magic family killing another magic family over a grudge? Where would it end? People kill each other over petty reasons, but soon come to realize that those reasons hint at larger problems. Jealousy, resentment, hatred, doubt, regret or just simple cruelty. And then, there's the social status issue; people from the upper class thinking they can get away with their bad acts just because they have more influence over others to deciding they can treat the people of the lower class like garbage. Either that's an inferiority complex or an outright disgust towards people that have to work for everything they have, it's not something one should overlook just because you're either told to or bribed into doing. My family couldn't treat others like they're expendable or replaceable, and that's why we left the Noble Realm and lived in the Forsaken Realm for as long as we did before our exile and return. I guess during the exile, just as with my upbringing, I just took crud from people that felt they were in control…just to learn how they were heading down slippery slopes with no way to stop until they hit something harder than their egos."
"And your opinion on the three from House Silva?"
"They're…likely too invested in their family's hatred of my family, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt…so long as they don't do it again. I'm not out to get any of them, so they shouldn't have to be after us…unless that is what they want or fear."
"With your family being the strongest of all other magical families because of your Infinity Affinity, you'd be able to inspire both fear and admiration, but why would anyone think you'd be after them if you weren't planning to go after anyone?"
"Because fear pushes people to do senseless acts. I once read an article about a man that murdered his friends…just because he thought they were going to kill him when they were really going to throw him a surprise party. It turned out the guy was not well in his head and had been battling with a disorder for years and nobody knew until after he did something bad."
"You believe them to be…unstable?"
"No, not unstable, just off. You get obsessed with something or someone long enough, it becomes all you concern yourself with."
Julius then bowed his head to Rika and saluted her for her wisdom. As the current matriarch of her family, she was clearly the wisest of them all, not just the oldest of them and everyone else in the kingdom…and maybe the world.
"Hmm?" Rika went, looking out at the land beyond her family's ancestral grounds.
"Is there something wrong?" Julius asked her.
"There is a presence of magic out there," she explained. "Probably some mages performing spells somewhere in the Common Region."
"You can feel magic from that far away? That's amazing, Mrs. Ikari."
But what she didn't tell him was that the magic she was feeling wasn't just strong…but full of malice. It was as though the people in possession of such magic were full of spite towards others…and were on a mission to cause harm somewhere.
I should call Shinji and Suki later today, just to see how they're doing on their first days as Magic Knights, she thought, unsure if she needed to worry about them.
To be continued…
A/N: Oh, no, what's going to happen next? Anyone have any idea what was up with Shinji and Suki's spells? How they're going to put up a fight against the Third Eye? Or even how to survive the fight?