Magnus: Here goes a chapter with lots of explanations that will help on future chapters, and also a prank; enjoy! And remember, Read and Review!
Disclaimer: I used descriptions from the videos from Men at Arms, give them a look.
Chapter 21
Magic and Steel
Glynda Goodwitch had been on edge since she carried her little experiment, with her mind running wild at the implications, and unfocused by the possible meanings; that's what had her go to the shrine in hopes to find Kanetsugu as fast as possible, and that's why she panicked when she heard that said battle monk had gone to downtown Vale in a date; before the experiment she had entertained the idea of placing the priest under protection, now she had the imperious need to do so… that's why she was here now, at the docks of the school grounds, waiting for the last bullhead to arrive, and demand the truth from her target.
"Oh, Oum! Please be there! Please be fine!" Glynda muttered as the vehicle landed, and as she expected, the very first to come out was Kanetsugu, grateful for touching ground already; it was then that she noticed the first sign that something was wrong, his sleeve was missing, seemingly torn apart in a single move, then Ruby appeared at his side, with her weapon in scythe form…
"What happened to you?!" Glynda shouted as she approached the group, the rest of their teams coming out of the bullhead now.
"Well, despite your medicine working as it is intended, I'm far from accustomed to using these infernal devices." Kanetsugu answered while taking a moment to regain his footing, and take some air; Ruby kindly rubbing his back in hopes of bringing comfort.
"That is not what I'm talking about." Glynda continued, while pointing to his torn sleeve, and Ruby's weapon.
"I can answer that. Kanetsugu had to improvise some bandages in fly, and he didn't value his clothes more than the light wounds of a friend; as for Ruby's weapon, she had a malfunction while helping us to rescue a monkey from a rather large miscreant." Nobunaga replied with all the certainty of an honest guy speaking about a walk in the park.
"You had trouble with Mr. Wukong again? Mr. Oda, Miss Belladonna, if you feel like that he is bothering you too much, we can press the issue and send him and his team back to Haven." Glynda said, already aware of Sun's constant harassment.
"Thank you, Sensei; rest assured that we will press the issue if he tries something again." Blake replied, sounding serious and bothered, thing easily explained by the idea of her night being interrupted by a monkey that hadn't taken the hint about her not being single.
"Very well. Now, I'm certain you all have plans of getting to your dorms and call it a day, and I know that you love to do everything as a team, but I have to ask Kanetsugu to accompany me; I have a few questions that cannot wait until tomorrow to be answered." Glynda demanded, in a tone that left no room to arguments, while conveying the feeling of not being angry or suspicious; imagine her surprise when both teams went into full defense mode…
"We can go to bed later; whatever needs your, and Kanetsugu's attention is more important." Nobunaga immediately said, getting closer to the battle monk, with Blake giving a supportive nod.
"It won't be necessary, there are only a few questions, and is a rather private matter." Glynda tried to press the issue, astonished at the defensive stances of both teams.
"It is no bother, we'll go together; all of us." Ruby said with a certain edge on her voice, almost as if she doubted her identity.
"I insist; it is something I wish to be private." Glynda tried once more, just to find that Ranmaru and Yang had taken positions at the sides of the monk.
"We insist in that not being the case." Weiss firmly stated, with Mitsuhide by her side like a bodyguard.
"But…" Glynda was at a loss, it was as if everyone knew the answers that she wanted to get, and insisted on denying her.
"Sensei, whatever you wish to discuss with me, it will be made known to them, so it is pointless to try to separate us." Kanetsugu finally said, earning a heavy sigh from the combat instructor.
"Very well… let's… let's go to the shrine, at least there it will be private." Glynda finally relented, and accepted that things will go in a way that Ozpin would never approve.
The entire trek to the shrine was spent in silence, both for the lack of students due to the hour, and to the stress between teacher and students; Glynda was beginning to suspect that Kanetsugu knew very well what was what she wanted to ask, while both teams were wary of her motives, for they sensed them as suspicious… Kanetsugu just couldn't comprehend why everyone was on edge though.
"Professor, guys!" Jaune suddenly greeted the whole group, he and Pyrrha were just there, standing at the gates of the old classroom that was the shrine.
"What are you two doing up at this hour? No, wait, I rather not want to know." Glynda suddenly said, trying to stop the teens from saying anything that may disturb her current course of action.
"No need to worry, we just wanted some time to have a private chat; we are going now." Jaune cheerfully replied, while starting to walk to his dorm room.
"Yeah… right in front of the shrine of love…" Pyrrha said with a little bit of uneasiness; she had thoroughly enjoyed their chat, but she questioned the location, and how often it was that specific location the one to spend time…
"Kanetsugu, did you instruct your flock to guard the shrine?" Nobunaga asked, obviously implying that he was not the one to do so.
"No. Why?" Kanetsugu replied, earning a few confused stares.
"Then, did you instruct someone else to do so?" Mitsuhide asked now, rising an eyebrow.
"No… But I don't know if someone decided to do so." Kanetsugu finally replied while opening the shrine; in the background Ruby smiled, knowing the truth, for she had overheard a certain bunny girl giving orders to guard their sacred place, Mitsuhide though, had a deep frown, for he was beginning to compare this level of loyalty to the one inspired by Ieyasu, thought that made him shudder.
Once inside the shrine, both teams and the teacher made themselves comfortable, or as much as they could, for Glynda still kept her eyes on Kanetsugu, who was placing paper charms on the closed doors, thing that in the past would have seem silly, but now, it made her wonder if that made the room even more secure than Ozpin's office; then she saw Ranmaru disconnecting the camera…
"Our conversation will be private now; I'm ready to answer your questions to the best of my capabilities." Kanetsugu stated, not that it made Glynda's task any easier; she didn't want to ask what she needed, not in front of so many, but she just couldn't contain herself, not without going insane. It took her a couple of minutes of calming breaths to final start though.
"Kanetsugu, have you ever entertained the idea, as silly as it is, that your art, your religion, is based on magic and not science?" Glynda asked, slowly and with hesitation, making the girls to look at each other, silently asking if they had heard the same question; the boys simply face palmed.
"Really? Are you asking now if magic is real?" Weiss asked, seemingly taken aback by the question.
"I think she wants Kanetsugu to answer that." Yang was the one to silence the ice princess; Kanetsugu simply shook his head with a kind smile on his face.
"Sensei, I have never thought otherwise." Kanetsugu's answer froze every female in the room, and made Mitsuhide wince.
"WHAT?!" Glynda and the others shouted, finally reacting to the revelation.
"BUT! How?... It can't be… Magic is a spontaneous phenomenon that has no scientific explanation on its source; science is a series of calculations and repetition of steps that leads to a certain effect; the two of them are simply not compatible… and still…" Glynda had beginning to freak out, getting erratic as her mind tried to come to terms with what Kanetsugu had said, then she took out one of the paper charms she managed to make, and looked at it, now knowing that she had made magic through science…
"Nobu, why wasn't I made aware of this?" Blake asked to her boyfriend with a low hiss, and this time even Ranmaru knew that going between the two would be unhealthy for him.
"I did not know if you were ready for such knowledge… I still don't think you are ready though." Nobunaga honestly replied, for of all the possible topics to cover, this was one he didn't think possible.
"Sensei, what you said makes no sense; every day, everywhere, people combine the spontaneous energy of the spark that is life while following the steps of your science, creating things that will outlive both of the sources: Music, painting, sculpting, and even cooking." Kanetsugu said as he created a mote of light, floating on the palm of his hand; Glynda's eyes, as well as the eyes of the others, were glued on that mote, as it was created without the use of dust, and maintained by what they could only assume was aura, but without being a semblance.
"But, if what you say is true, then everyone should be able to do it, to produce magic, and to measure it." Glynda said, noticing how Kanetsugu approached her, and then placed the mote of light on her hand, where it kept floating, illuminating her face as she took a closer look at the small, yet miraculous, phenomenon.
"Everyone can, is only a matter of believing, not knowing. You all believe in your aura, the manifestation of your soul, an inner strength that is as strong as you train it, and as you believe on it; in our land, we call it 'Ki', the energy within, and with the proper training, we learn to harness it to become stronger, and to achieve feats that would be impossible otherwise. What you call magic, is the manifestation of your will in the ambient, the ability to alter your surroundings with your mere thought; in our land we call it 'Chi', the energy without, which can be harnessed with training and meditation, but very few have the will to use it in a meaningful way, because as it is natural, the mind tend to limit what we can perceive as real and possible." Kanetsugu's explanation was as elegant as it was heretic; for years she had believed that science and magic were opposites, that the second was a blessing reserved for an incredible small group of outstanding individuals… like the maidens.
"Then your will must be of divine proportions, to be able to feed this phenomenon without touching it." Glynda said as she tried in vain to comprehend the enormity of what she learned, for it would prove Ozpin wrong, as well as all that they had believed for just so long.
"I'm not feeding it. You are the one who doesn't want it to disappear." Kanetsugu replied with a warm smile, making the combat instructor to go wide eyed, with her mind obviously shattered at the revelation… she was doing magic… and didn't have a notebook at hand to write all about it.
"But… then… does that mean we can do that too?" Ruby asked what the others had on their mind; then she raised her hand to her face, and focused intently on it… making a mote of light appear there, much to her joy, and the surprise of the others.
"Wait a second… Nobu, I recall you using darkness to cover your sword BEFORE I unlocked your aura… was that magic too?" Blake's question made Nobunaga give a startled and nervous laugh… that was going to be quite hard to explain.
"Hold on! YOU REALLY MEAN TO MAKE MAGIC STEEL FOR MY SIS?!" Yang suddenly screamed, holding her head in distress; back at the junkyard she had said it as a joke, finding disturbing the serious faces of the guys, now she understood, although not in a way she wanted.
"Magic steel?" Glynda asked slowly, with her heart making dangerous flips at hearing such an ancient and romantic topic… then she remembered what had forced her to have this conversation.
"Kanetsugu… do you, by chance; know about the hero of love?" Glynda asked, almost afraid of hearing the answer; this time everyone looked at the monk, but the answer came from another one.
"Didn't Ieyasu called him that once?" Ranmaru asked, vaguely remembered the affable lord of Mikawa speaking of the one who bested Nobunaga in a duel… and let him go with a mere friendly warning; on his spot, Mitsuhide covered his face with both hands, and made a sound of despair and hate that sounded more like an angry and dying animal…
"Wait! Kanetsugu is the hero of love?!" Ruby asked, her eyes sparkling with childish glee at finally having her hero at her reach; in the background, Weiss tried to comfort her boyfriend, who seemed close to have a seizure.
"Actually, Lady Aya called me 'Warrior of Love'; I don't remember to ever have reached a title like hero. I don't understand the importance of such title though." Kanetsugu replied, making Ruby wince at hearing that name, and the fondness and respect that was heard on his voice at her mention.
"Ruby, show him your book." Glynda commanded, and the scythe wielder did as told, surprising everyone when she took it from her small bag, and of course, she opened it on the final confrontation; Kanetsugu drank all the words, their meaning, and how close they were to what he knew.
"This… reminds me of one of the tales of Raikoh…" Kanetsugu muttered, remembering only a few bits of the tales, and how the children of the clan loved when lady Aya was telling them.
"Heavens… are you going to tell us that you are descendant of a legend?" Nobunaga asked with no little fear; he already knew that he was pushing his luck way too much by swaying Kanetsugu's judgment; this could mean that in the future he could become the unavoidable final stop on his plans…
"I'll let you know that I have rather humble origins… well, not like a farmer, but no heroes in my family… that I knew of." Kanetsugu replied, making sure to quench any feelings of superiority that may try to surface at being called hero or legend.
"Like every important hero of every truly important fairy tale?" Weiss was the one to question now, being a fan of fairy tales herself, she had picked that fact long ago, as the characters that were princes, kings and whatnot, had a rather bland taste to their performance.
"Like the seasonal maidens!" Ruby shouted in delight, for she also wished to be like one of those; in fact, right now she pictured herself as one, because she pulled off a magic trick, even if it was a minor one.
"I… I need to tell Ozpin about this… he needs to…" Glynda began to ramble, her head feeling light, and her heart running wild; this discovery has way bigger than her, way too big for her alone; this needed Ozpin's wisdom and perhaps Ironwood's input too.
"Sensei… I will have to ask you to withhold everything you've heard here, at least for a couple of days." Nobunaga said in a tone that was demanding, and very authoritative, taking the combat instructor by surprise.
"What? Why?" Glynda asked, still reeling for all the information.
"It is complicated, and if too many people know about this, well, there could be innocent people… hurt." Blake said, trying to placate the teacher, but failing to do so.
"What is going on? What are you trying to do?" Glynda asked now, finally noticing that there was something else going on, perhaps Ozpin was not that far off with his assumptions?
"I'll tell you the same I did to the headmaster: I'll tell you when we have all the answers, but know this, we are doing this for the benefit of all the good people of this kingdom, because our white knights have demanded a happy ending." Nobunaga said, sounding terrifyingly ominous, but making the girls smile with happiness.
"Nobunaga, perhaps we should invite her and the headmaster to watch the making of the tamashiigane, so they can see that we are putting our hearts on what truly is important." Kanetsugu proposed, trying to find a way to convey his intention to the authority of the school, so he could feel less remorse at doing things in the dark; Nobunaga gave it some thought, all while team RWBY discussed loudly the pros and the cons of such action, leaving Glynda to impatiently wait for an answer.
"I see no harm on it, and it maybe softens the headmaster for the time we finally reveal our plan; however, in exchange for this opportunity, I think it is only fair for the faculty to provide the materials required." Nobunaga finally said, trying to gain as much as possible, while giving ground to the battle monk, as he knew that antagonizing him would be heavily detrimental to his plans.
"Will do, what is it that you require?" Glynda immediately said, knowing that all that magic will become obvious when Kanetsugu works; meanwhile Kanetsugu gave sigh, he really didn't want to impose himself with this, but he also knew that gathering the materials himself would be extremely time consuming.
"Well, what I need is…" And thus, Kanetsugu began to list the materials he would use…
Meanwhile…
Emerald was seething, all the time the priest was outside the school, she found that the shrine had been heavily guarded, always by three or more people at the same time, and all of them very uncooperative about giving up information; the last guard had been only two people, unfortunately, she had been busy dealing with a group of boys that were hell bent on getting a date out of her, that had led her to ask what she thought was a heavy price, getting the fabled paper charms that the priest wields… it was to her great surprise and distress to find that she had now four of the mentioned items, and four dates in the near future…
Things went horrible wrong when she finally saw the priest and his entourage entering the shrine, especially when she tried to hear through the doors, again without success; this time she returned to Cinder with her head held high, as at least she had brought with her a small prize, which she promptly handed to Cinder…
"GGAAAHHHHH!" Cinder screamed in pain as a rather powerful electrical shock hit her hand, the paper promptly turned into ashes, and her body fell to the floor, conscious, but in pain.
"Cinder!" Both mercury and Emerald shouted at the same time, and tried to help their leader, just to be pushed away with some hateful flames.
"Who gave you those… things?" Cinder suddenly asked, sounding incredibly angry at the turn of events, as she immediately considered the possibility of being pranked again.
"A group of boys… who wanted a date… and I asked them to…" Emerald couldn't continue, for Cinder's glaring eyes were set on her, as if about to set her on fire; Mercury inching away from her didn't help to reduce the feeling of impending doom… she even considered making a run for the window.
Next day…
Getting the materials had been far more easy than what she thought, and yet she found it funny to find the monk already waiting for them just before dawn; as agreed, she gave the day off to both teams, and made sure to schedule the event for her and the headmaster, who upon hearing the term 'magic steel', was more than eager to assist to such an enigmatic event… unfortunately, they couldn't get rid of the third wheel.
"Clay, hay, iron ore without dust traces, charcoal without dust igniter, an old school anvil and hammer; this sounds rather interesting." Ironwood muttered as he recalled all the materials, making Goodwitch growl at his nosey attitude.
"Seriously, James, if they stop due to your presence, I'll kick you out myself." Glynda warned, knowing that the presence of the general was not previously agreed; as soon as they entere the workshop, they were greeted by the sight of Ozpin being enthralled by what was happening.
Ozpin had watched the whole process, from the hasty making of the smelter, to the placement of the charcoal and minerals, marveling at how meticulous the monk and the scythe wielder were; the he was surprised to find that to ignite the hay, and beginning the process, no dust was used, instead the monk began to hit a small piece of iron with the hammer, until the tip began to glow due to the friction, using it to ignite the fire; up to that point, there had been no magic, just a lot of care, but then both Ruby and Kanetsugu began to chant a prayer in Edo language, and he was able to see their auras mixing together, infusing the mineral as it was melting, it was so mystical, that he never noticed the new arrivals.
"Why is he here?" Nobunaga asked, obviously noticed someone out of place.
"As the leader of the Atlesian academy and army, I'm always in the lookout of new technologies and techniques to increase the efficiency of our protecting duties to mankind; that's why when I heard of steel being forged Edo style, I couldn't resist taking a look at it." Ironwood replied with a smile, not that it helped to reduce the frown of the visionary.
"It is ready." Kanetsugu's voice made everyone turn their attention to the cheerful duo; Nobunaga decided to believe that the general would dismiss the technique due to not being possible to mass produce, as it was the mentality of Atlas.
"Is this the tamashiigane?" Ruby asked with curious eyes, watching the blob of glowing metal coming out from the bottom of the makeshift smelter; being the resident expert in all weapons related stuff, she quickly picked a few differences between the normal steel used, and the slabs of metal that were now cooling in the clay covered ground, she couldn't call it superior, but it was different.
"No, Ruby; this is tamahagane, which, if treated correctly, will make for a fine blade; to make it tamashiigane, we need to give it a heart." Kanetsugu explained, gaining the undivided attention of the three adults in the room.
"How do we do that?" Ruby asked as she helped the monk in collecting and separating the pieces of metal in two groups, using the hardiness of the pieces as reference.
"First, we'll fuse the slabs into two blocks, one will be the hard tamahagane, and the second the sweet tamahagane." Kanetsugu replied, and Ruby immediately understood what to do; soon the forge was on full heat, and after some hammering, they had two blocks of the steel, then Kanetsugu took the sweet one, and divided it into two smaller blocks, then he hammered them into flat and thin rectangles.
"Now, to make kokorogane, the heart of our steel, we need to provide the kokoro, heart, which will channel the tamashii, soul, of the metal; Lord Kenshin told me that using your own essence to make the kokoro, will make for a finely tuned weapon… I do believe different though, as having the essence of the one who loves you most, is a better way channel the strength of love." Kanetsaugu recited while cutting a bit of his hair, placing it on one of the rectangles, instantly becoming ash due to the immense heat, then he made a cut in his hand with a small knife, and allowed some of his blood to fall on the ash and metal, then he nodded to Nobunaga, who approached the other rectangle, and did the same.
"What the hell?" Ironwood muttered, feeling uneasy at watching the ritualistic magic being performed in front of him; Glynda was mute, for her eyes showed her that the metal had changed somehow when both ingredients were mixed with it, generating a resonance of sorts.
"Now we close the kokoro, sealing the essence, and paving the way for the tamashii." Kanetsugu recited as he folded the metal, encasing the ashes of the hair and blood, then he cooled the newly formed blocks with rice wine.
"So, we have the kokorogane, how do we mix it with the tamahagane?" Ruby asked, hoping to not have to melt such a precious thing again; in her seat, Blake was aching to touch the kokorogane made by her boyfriend; that had looked so dark and mystical…
"Now, we make the tamahagane embrace the kokorogane, once this is done, and despite not being mixed, both will become one, and then will become tamashiigane." Kanetsugu explained, and then Ruby proceeded to heat, split, and then hammer the tamahagane, forming two sheets, which then were used to encase the smaller pieces of the kokorogane. When they were cooled with the rice wine, both pieces of metal had gained colors of their own, one was like pure silver, the other was polished black.
"Unfortunately, this is everything I can do; the rest of the smiting will fall upon you, my love." Kanetsugu sweetly said, and Ruby smiled like a crazy child with a super expensive gift; she was going to enjoy playing with such material… and remake Gambol Shroud too.
"That was… something." Ironwood said to Ozpin; both had left the workshop when Ruby began to hammer down the metal to make the parts of the weapons, believing that they had seen the most important parts.
"That steel… there is nothing to compare it, at least not in modern techniques; it certainly is special" Ozpin replied, knowing very well there was magic in the metal, just not the kind he was used to deal with.
"I wouldn't go that far, Oz; I mean, it is a cleaver technique, but is more a scientific discovery that anything else. The hardened steel is sharper, but brittle; by combining it with a bed of soft steel, the hardened bit will have an easier time dealing with the impact and stress. Make no mistake though, I'll certainly put the research team to seek for a way to implement this technique in the mass produced steel we use." Ironwood explained his point of view, missing the important parts of the ritual; Ozpin could only shook his head at the obliviousness of the general, while being thankful for it, he would have to talk with the monk though, for that was magic, and magic he was not aware of.
Glynda had remained behind, watching the whole process of the making of the weapons, partially believing it would go just like usual, with the metal being smelted and placed into molds to make the separate parts; instead, Ruby had taken to the hammer and the anvil, going te extra mile of hammering each individual part, leaving the finished pieces to Kanetsugu, who was engraving kanji into them… adding layers of magic on the already magical steel.
"Steel molded like clay will break like clay, but steel molded by strength will prevail in the heat of battle, against the tide of time." Kanetsugu explained as he saw the questioning eyes of the female members in the room.
"That actually explains a lot…" Weiss said as she looked at Myrtenaster, which was a handcrafted weapon, and not made with prefabricated parts, just like Winter's weapon; both masterpieces had prevailed under heavy abuse that would have broken anything else.
"And the runes?" Glynda asked, her throat dry, and mind numbed; she even forgot that they were called by another name.
"My love for Ruby compels me to cover her weapon with at least a thousand blessings, so she never lacks protection." Kanetsugu said with a warm voice, imprinting even more aura on each kanji, leaving Glynda amazed, and Ruby with a massive blush.
"Don't worry, my love; I'll make sure to inscribe your weapon as well." Nobunaga said to a staring Blake, who was wondering if she'll get the same type of gift… of course Nobunaga never clarified that Gambol Shroud would carry a thousand curses instead, so no enemy of hers would escape.
It took several hours, but by dusk, both weapons had been completed, reborn with new bodies, and sporting dormant souls of their own; Ruby gave a few swings to Crescent Rose, feeling the abnormal change of weight and balance, and still, it reacted just as she wanted it, not like a part of her body, but as an entity delighted to be on her hand, the transformation between scythe and rifle was even smoother, less forceful, the magazine, while foreign to the weapon, felt perfectly secured in its place, and looking through the scope, Ruby could see the kanji faintly glowing, somehow clearing her line of sight for a clearer shot… as if Kanetsugu himself was using his magic to clear her view.
"I can feel your love in it… I love it." Ruby said to Kanetsugu, while hugging Crescent Rose like a newborn baby.
Meanwhile, Blake tested Gambol Shroud, feeling it lighter, easier to grasp, but with a natural aggression in the edge, like a wild beast full intent on murdering anything remotely threatening to its mate; even in an inanimate object, she could feel how overprotective her boyfriend was; changing the small blade into a gun was faster than before, and the bladed sheath seemed even more sturdy, capable of being used as a shield, not that she'll ever allow that to happen.
"This is beyond perfect… I'm never going to lose it." Blake said while looking into Nobunaga's eyes, although she knew that most of the work was done by both Ruby and Kanetsugu.
Glynda for her part decided to leave the youngster, and find somewhere to rest; she couldn't shake the sound, the ringing, the singing of the blades; on one hand, she couldn't wait to see them in action, showing up the extent of the magic in them… on the other, she feared for the safety of the other students, as she doubted that normal means could stop those edges from taking away a limb, or even a life.
While all of this was happening, certain evildoers were talking about their own progress…
"So what have we learned so far?" Cinder asked, knowing that the cafeteria was a very safe place to hold this conversation, as they won't say anything really incriminatory.
"I didn't have as much luck as I wanted; I can't get into the shrine, and the cultists are not talkative. However, I managed to learn some useful things; the girl with silver eyes, Ruby Rose, is from Patch Island, and is engaged to the priest of Edo; the poor guy seems to have trouble with controlling his hormones, because the girl is still too childish to engage in juicy action; another thing of interest, is that Vale's council doesn't particularly like the cult of love, you know, because they love faunus too." Emerald reported, happy to be of use to Cinder, who frowned upon hearing the name of the girl, but didn't comment on it.
"We can certainly use that; maybe you can help the priest to find some 'relief', which would help you greatly in gaining entrance to the shrine." Cinder stated with a no so subtle wink, one that made the thief smirk, for she believed to be able to seduce the priest, if only she could find him alone.
"What about you, Mercury?" Cinder asked to the assassin, who snorted at remembering what he had learned.
"Well, your dark knight loves to be in control, as he seems to direct every move of his girlfriend; I don't blame him though, she looks hot. As for the champion, well, tomorrow I'll challenge her to get a taste of her skill, nothing serious, just want to confirm something, but she also has a veritable weakness. Did you see what happened when I tried to talk to her?" Mercury reported, mentioning a small event that had happened just a couple of minutes ago; he had tried to approach Pyrrha, offering a bit of his plate of pork chop, which in turn made the Mistral Champion run away with a green face, closely followed by her toy boy, meaning that she couldn't tolerate that particular meat.
"I must admit that was interesting, and even fun to watch, but we'll need more to work with; if possible, taste the dark knight and the priest too, I have a bad feeling about them." Cinder stated, just to go quiet when a random student approached them with a small tray with what appeared to be sauces.
"Here, we are giving samples of our new Edo sauces; must warn you though, these are spicy." The girl said while leaving a small vase with a yellowish soft paste on it; not knowing how to deal with such a friendly gesture, each smeared a little bit of bread with the paste, and gave a tentative bite, full expecting it to be another prank.
"Holy shit! It IS hot!" Emerald said with a reddened face, not knowing if it was a prank or not, for they had been warned about it being spicy; meanwhile, Mercury had fell to the floor, where he kicked and struggled, sweating profusely through a reddened skin, in silent screams of pain and misery, for he just couldn't deal with the level of heat. Cinder smiled, widely, she had loved it and now was placed the stuff over all her food, and she made a mental note to get the recipe before destroying the kingdom.
Behind a pillar, someone took more notes, as this particular group was becoming something to worry about.
Magnus: I don't think I'll ever get tired of torturing these guys... next time we'll have more Mercury beating, by Kanetsugu!