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Legendary Witches 3: Cross World Battle

Chapter 29: Blessing


-April 26th, 1953-

Kye turned toward Toshiro, who shot her an angry glare. "Tell me what's going on!"

Kye remained silent, but touched her outstretched right index and middle fingers to Toshiro's forehead. His sight was overcome by a white light.


-April 24th, 1953-
-Flashback-
-Late that night after Kye disappeared-

As the light faded, his sight no longer saw the core chamber, but Kye's room back at their base. He noticed immediately that both his and Kye's bodies were transparent and had a dim rainbow glow.

"How did we get here?" Toshiro asked. "You're the mortal Kye, right? How the hell are you doing this? Even Kaylie with all her spatial abilities can't teleport this far with mortal power."

Kye shook her head and pointed at the door, where a non-transparent and non-glowing version of herself walked in. She saw a violin on her bed.

"I haven't played you since before I was reborn as Kye Miyafuji. Maybe you are what I need to clear my head."

"She didn't move her mouth, but I heard her," Toshiro said. His words gained no reaction from the solid Kye, though the transparent Kye merely pointed at the violin as the solid Kye pulled it out from the case.

The second Kye picked up the bow, prepared it, and played a note on the violin.

"Beautiful as ever, Fuyu."

"Fuyu?" Toshiro mused aloud. "That's winter in Fusogo."

The second Kye began playing. Toshiro recognized the piece as Bach's Partita for Violin No. 3, though she did have a little trouble with it.

"Is she out of practice?"

"I have calluses, but I need muscle memory."

The second Kye returned the violin and bow to the case, slung the case over her shoulder, and started glowing rainbow.

"Seen this before..."

"I used the Awakened State earlier, so I won't be able to go far before my power gives out, but..."

She vanished.

Toshiro turned to the Kye that brought him there and asked, "So what's up with this? Why aren't we blowing up a Neuroi base right now?"

"Do not worry. Time has been frozen so that she can show you what happened while she was away from the night of the 24th to the night of the 25th."

Both Toshiro and Kye heard that telepathic message. It was an unfamiliar female voice. Toshiro replied, "I don't recognize this voice, but there's only a handful of people who can do freeze time. Which Elder God are you?"

"I will introduce myself to you soon. For now, watch the memory."

"I'll hold you to that, Mystery Woman."

Kye touched Toshiro's arm, and their vision blurred out to white as she transported them to another place in the memory. When their vision was restored, they were standing in a forest which Toshiro recognized.

"I came here with Kaylie and Layla when we went camping in the mountains," Toshiro said as he looked around. "There's a small pond not far from here."

Kye pointed to a clearing nearby where her memory self was sitting on a large rock playing the violin. Kye walked toward the clearing with Toshiro following.

"Sonata No. 1 in G minor," they heard the Memory Kye think as she began playing. Over the course of her playing, she mentally noted each piece she played. "Partita No. 1 in B minor. Sonata No. 2 in A minor. Partita No. 2 in D minor. Sonata No. 3 in C major. Partita No. 3 in E major."

Her technique improved quickly as she played, as if her fingers were remembering an art long forgotten.

Toshiro looked over at the silent Kye and noticed that she was smiling.

Two and a half hours of violin is what it took to get an expression out of her?

She wasn't smiling long before she knelt down, holding her head as if in pain. As the pain subsided, Kye stood back up once again with an emotionless expression.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow, but dismissed the thought as the Memory Kye moved on to another piece. She started playing the Toccata and Fugue in D minor on the violin, a piece Toshiro knew was originally played on a pipe organ.

When she finished that piece, she moved on again to another. This time to one Toshiro didn't know. As she started playing, her True Zen Aura flared to life. She used her magic to simulate accompaniment instruments. Sailor Moon S OST No.5 Tenou Haruka to Kaiou Michiru Part 3. No 11 Uranus, Soshite, Neptune Part 1. Part 2. Part 4.

The last piece she played was also one Toshiro had never heard. Winter Sonata for Violin, RCW 58. Upon finishing that piece she stretched, returned the violin to its case, and jumped down from the rock.

"That's so much better," she said as she prepared to teleport. Before she could, a cloaked figure, obviously female, emerged from the forest and approached her.

"You are about to learn of a secret that was erased from the memories of everyone who participated in the battle earlier that day," the mystery voice said to Toshiro and Kye.

"Who are you?" Memory Kye asked the cloaked figure cautiously.

The female figure revealed her face to Memory Kye, but Toshiro and Kye could not see.

Memory Kye realized who it was and asked another question, "You? But... What are you doing here?"

"I have come to meet with you," the woman said. Her voice was the same as that of the one that spoke to Toshiro and Kye telepathically. "You learned today that the fate of a third universe is at stake with this simulated war."

"Yes."

"What is this about?" Toshiro asked the mystery woman, though she didn't respond.

"The universe that your opponents have been pulled from is one under my protection."

"But, that should be impossible. None of the Elder Gods can-"

"Indeed," the woman said, interrupting Memory Kye. "Had I not allowed him to, Mavet would have been unable to take anyone from that particular universe. However, this is not a matter of whether or not he could do it. It is a matter of consequence. He wants revenge upon me. When your other self proposed the simulated war to him, he gained the thought of completing two objectives in one move. I knew he would have that thought before he even had the thought. I allowed him to take those people from that world and threaten it with destruction, an act that was his choice, and his choice will have consequences."

"I understand."

Toshiro grew angry at the thought of Mavet adding the fate of a third universe, but listened carefully as the woman spoke.

"In light of what you have told me, what do you want?" Memory Kye asked.

"I will give you a choice between two options, and I will not tell you the outcome of either, only the relevant probability of each," she said. "The first option is that you continue this war as you are now. The probability of your victory is fifteen percent. The second option is that you continue this war with a blessing from me. The probability of your victory is twenty five percent with my blessing. If you choose this option, I will give the choice to Toshiro as well. If he accepts the blessing, your probability of victory will increase to thirty five percent."

"What will the blessing do?"

"You will gain full mastery of your abilities. Specifically, you will have complete control over your True Zen."

"But with a mortal body that has had very little training for it... to maintain control of True Zen will require most of my focus all the time."

"To gain anything, there is always a price to pay, and you have only recently begun training your skill with True Zen. The cost for complete mastery is high for True Zen, but even higher with little training beforehand."

"The cost will be so high that I won't be able to speak or express emotions. And if I try..."

"You will experience a sharp pain until your focus returns to maintaining control of your power."

"Fifteen percent is not good odds..." Memory Kye mumbled. "You already know which choice I will make."

"Yes. However, I want to hear you vocalize that choice."

"So be it. I choose option two."

The woman raised her hand and glowed in the same rainbow aura that Kye and Yoshika possessed. She touched her fingers to Memory Kye's head and gave her the blessing. Memory Kye's face soon lost its emotion and she stopped speaking.

"With the blessing, I transferred the knowledge of the reason I gave you this option. One consequence of Mavet's action is that he has angered me. However, I will not punish him myself. With my blessing, you have the potential to do so yourself. With my blessing, your mind cannot be penetrated by Elder Gods, nor can their nigh omnipotent power touch you. Only by your will can their power affect you. To do battle with you, they must reduce themselves to what I consider mortal standards, which is anything lower than that of Elder God level."

Memory Kye made no reaction to the woman's words.

"I now require a moment with Toshiro," the woman said as the memory world lost its color, leaving Memory Kye frozen, but not effecting the real Kye or Toshiro. The woman approached Toshiro. "I promised an introduction, and I will give it to you." She raised her hood just enough so that Toshiro could see her face. "I am the one you know as the Primordial Goddess."

The color in Toshiro's skin paled as he gulped. "The-the..."

"Yes. From watching this memory, you know the situation. I now give you the same choice as I gave Kye. Her choice has increased the probability of your victory to twenty five percent. If you make the same choice, that probability will increase to thirty five percent. The cost of you accepting my blessing isn't as drastic. Your power is that of Celestial Order. It is not as difficult to manage as True Zen, but because you have very little experience with it you will still be required to divert the majority of your attention to maintaining control of your power."

"Will I be able to speak or have emotion?"

"Yes, however in somewhat limited fashion. You will be able to speak normally, but if you speak too much in a short time or subject yourself to a certain level of emotion, you will experience a sharp pain just as Kye did when she smiled at the violin performance. Your emotional limit will not be as significant. A good emotional example for you is your temper - if you become too angry, your control will weaken and you will experience pain. Knowing the cost, what is your choice?"

"If it's for more power, I accept the terms. I will fight, and I will win."

"Confidence is important, but overconfidence is virulent."

"I know."

"With your choice," she began as she touched Toshiro's head, "I give you my blessing. This blessing will give you complete mastery of Celestial Order until your conflict with Mavet is complete. After which, the blessing will fade and you will return to your original state."

"Can I not keep the blessing afterward?"

"I am giving you this blessing because I am angry with Mavet. After the ordeal, should you survive it, you will have the opportunity to train and master your power the natural way."

"I was told that I will not get to keep the same level of power when I return to my world after this war. Will I be strong enough to defeat the Neuroi? Will I still know the techniques I learned?"

"You will be faced with a choice, should you be victorious in this simulated war. Whether you keep the knowledge, part of it, or none of it will ultimately be your choice. You will not know for certain which choice you will make until the moment to choose comes. Beyond this, I will say no more about your future. Your future is still yours to write."

"But you already know the future."

"I know of an infinite number of futures, and have chosen not to know which specific future will be written into history, for now. I want entertainment for myself sometimes, and I find entertainment in seeing which future becomes reality." The goddess removed her fingers from Toshiro's head. "You now have my blessing. I will now resume this memory and return to my conversation with the past Kye. You should know that because I am omnipotent and omniscient, I know every thought you have had, are having, and will have. Contacting me is simple, but unlike with the Elder Gods, I will likely not respond."

The color of the memory world resumed, and the Primordial Goddess returned to her previous conversation with Memory Kye.

"Toshiro has made his choice. You will find out what that choice is later when you decide to show him your memory of this event." The Primordial Goddess created a portal and gestured at it as she continued speaking, "If you wish to test your abilities, Maeve is willing to have a sparring match with you. This match will have no consequences beyond injuries you may gain. No deaths will occur from this match, and the outcome will have no effect on the simulation. Speak your question now. You will feel no pain."

"I wish to train alone first before sparring with Maeve."

"Entering this portal will take you to a place where you may train with no limits. You may invoke the Awakened State without repercussion."

"But Joey is back at the base."

"While at the location through this portal, you will be able to summon a copy of the weapon form of Jouten that is capable of the Awakened State. Once you are ready to spar with Maeve, another portal will open that will lead to her."

"Thank you."

Memory Kye walked through the portal without another moment of hesitation. The Primordial Goddess then closed the portal, waved at Toshiro and the real Kye, and disappeared.

The real Kye touched Toshiro's arm and transported them.


The two arrived in a bleak, dark world. The skies were dark red and the ground charred. There were no trees or any sign of life in sight, only charred rock formations littering the uneven land.

Standing opposite of each other was Memory Kye and the one she was meant to fight. Kye's opponent was a young woman with an appearance of roughly twenty years old. She wore clothing much more casual and simple that what Toshiro was expecting - a pair of black jeans, a long sleeve black t-shirt, black sneakers, and fingerless black gloves. Her black hair reached no further than her shoulders, and her unnaturally dark red eyes were piercing. She had the same twenty point star polygon design on her irises as the other Elder Gods. Her pupils and the design on her irises glowed with a red slightly lighter than her dark red irises.

The young woman held in her right hand a black greatsword with four Hebrew words engraved in red, three on the blade, spaced out evenly from the tip to the guard, and one on the hilt that was partially obscured by her hand. The guard was red, as was the sharp, two pronged pummel. The engraved Hebrew words read "Pain", "Despair", and "Ruin". The partially obscured word could be made out as "Armageddon" as the young woman shifted her hand.

"I am Maeve, consort of my Lord Mavet," the woman said with a calm, soft, yet assertive voice. "You may also call me Armageddon, the Whisper of Chaos, as my weapon form is known. It has been a great many eons since we have crossed blades, Lady-."

"Do not speak that name!" Memory Kye said sharply, quickly interrupting Maeve having anticipated Maeve's use of the name Kye was known as long before her life as Kye Akari or Kye Miyafuji. She collapsed to her knees in pain briefly after speaking.

"The power of True Zen is unfathomable," Maeve said. "It requires so much attention controlling it that it literally hurts your mortal body to divert your attention even to something as second nature as speaking. I'm not a sadist, so I'll respect your wishes and suggest that we begin." She began to emit an aura of powerful dark red energy. "The power of True Zen wielded by the mortal form of Kye Akari versus the power of Celestial Chaos. Begin!"

Memory Kye vanished instantly, before Maeve could act, and appeared in front of her in midswing with her rainbow aura already flared to life. Maeve blocked the attack with her sword, but was thrown backward through the air from the force of the attack. Kye quickly followed up by launching a powerful beam of rainbow energy, using her blade as a catalyst. The beam soon dissipated, leaving everything in its path vaporized, though Maeve had since teleported.

In the same instant, Kye vanished and Maeve appeared where Kye was standing with her sword in a powerful downward swing. Maeve's attack hit the ground, but she quickly recovered as Kye reappeared. The two clashed, resulting in a powerful shockwave that threw both back a fair distance.

Both fighters disappeared before they slowed down and met up with another powerful clash, this time both stood their ground, though the ground itself crumbled under their feet. Maeve's black and red chaotic energy engulfed her weapon as she began to push Kye back, but Kye responded in kind by imbuing her own blade with rainbow energy.

"Gensuto."

Kye vanished, reappearing behind Maeve to deliver a standard downward cut. Maeve managed to block it, but Kye teleported to Maeve's left side and landed a direct hit with an upward slash on Maeve's left hip. In a series of teleports and slashes, Kye attacked Maeve a total of twelve times before completing the technique, landing six of her blows. She teleported a short distance away once she finished.

Maeve was left with the cut on her hip, leaving her pants torn in that spot, as well as a cut on her right arm just above the elbow, a cut on her right leg just above the knee, a nasty cut on her back, a light cut across her cheek, and a cut on the backside of her left hand. Kye came out of the technique with a few scraps of her own, but Maeve took the worst.

"Nice move," Maeve complimented as she flared her aura of chaotic energy for a moment, causing her wounds to burn closed.

Kye simply healed herself with her True Zen magic, but was unable to completely heal due to having Maeve's chaotic energy in the cuts.

"My turn!" Maeve said as she charged forward at Kye with her sword already charged with chaotic energy.

She brought the sword down on Kye, though Kye blocked it with her own blade. Maeve already had a ball of dark red and black energy prepared in her left hand, which Kye saw coming, but couldn't properly counter against. Kye teleported away, but Maeve sent the chaotic orb at Kye from a distance.

Having enough time to react properly, Kye erected a shield of rainbow energy, but Maeve's orb vanished before hitting the shield. It reappeared behind Kye and exploded. Kye was protected from the worst of the attack thanks to her rainbow aura, but much of it still broke through and burned her. Most of her battle kimono was burned away with only a few shreds left intact. Kye discarded the remains, but even the bodysuit she wears under the battle kimono was burned in a few places, the most notable being a large hole in the backside.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it," Toshiro said. He glanced over to the real Kye, who was emotionlessly watching the battle. "I haven't known you very long, but this is the first time I've seen you take a hit."

As the battle continued, Kye tossed her sword to her left hand. She held the sword out and hovered her right hand over it, seemingly pulling energy out of it.

"If you're doing that, then you're going to take a beating first!" Maeve shouted as she charged toward Kye.

Kye ignored her and continued preparing her technique, imbuing the energy she collected from her sword with True Zen. Maeve cleared the distance between them quickly and landed a nasty cut across Kye's front extending from just below her neck, between her breasts, down to her waist. Maeve then dismissed her blade and resorted to unarmed assault, all while Kye continued to prepare her technique. Despite her efforts of pounding Kye with her fists, leaving much of her front side bruised, Maeve couldn't stop Kye from finishing her technique.

"Light Nova."

As Kye released her technique, Maeve released another chaotic orb at point blank range. Kye's attack carried Maeve off into the distance, where it exploded brilliantly while Maeve's attack detonated the instant she was blown away.

Maeve's attack had shrapnel in it that time, leaving Kye burned in several more places, as well as leaving cuts all over her body. Again, she was protected from the brunt of the attack with her rainbow aura, which even disintegrated some of the shrapnel, but she still came out of it with some nasty damage. Her True Zen magic was able to heal her some, but the lingering chaotic energy prevented it from taking much more effect. Most of Kye's battle suit was burned up, only the part protecting her lower modesty remaining.

Kye's attack left Maeve in bad shape, too. She managed to teleport back to the battleground, though a short distance away from Kye. Most of Maeve's clothing was shredded by Kye's attack. Her shirt and shoes were destroyed. All that was left was her pants, which were reduced to shorts, and some of the bandages that were wrapped around her breasts.

Toshiro looked toward the real Kye and said, "I thought the Light Nova was a Light Magic spell that you, Rei, and Kamiko used."

"Yes. However, the real Light Nova is one of the Seven Primordial Techniques. The Light Magic version is based off that. The real Light Nova can use Light Energy, Zen Energy, or True Zen, but it always requires an imprint of the target," the real Kye explained before buckling over in pain. As she recovered, she continued, "This was the real Light Nova performed at mortal level. At godly levels, such as what I was at as the Goddess of Light or as what my godly mother Queen Xera is at, that technique will blow the target off the planet and into space at a speed several times greater than the speed of light. I don't know what it is capable of at Elder God level." She buckled over in pain again.

"I see."

Both combatants were in bad shape. Maeve slowly walked toward Kye, but she fell forward as soon as she summoned her sword. Maeve caught herself with her sword, using it as a prop. Kye dropped to her knees.

"I can't continue without lifting the limit I placed on my power for this battle," Maeve said. "It looks like you can't continue either."

Kye looked up at her and quickly muttered a word, "No," while accepting the short spike of pain that came with the word.

"We'll call this a draw then." Maeve glowed in an intense aura of colorless energy for a moment, her body healing and her clothing reforming. "I'm not allowed to do the same for you, but I can send you back to your base."

"Yes," Kye said, accepting another pain spike.

"Epic battle," Maeve commented with a smile. "I enjoyed it. I hope we can have another spar sometime after the conflict between you and my Lord Mavet is over. Goodbye, Milady."

Maeve laid her palm on Kye's hand for a moment and sent the injured blonde away. Maeve teleported away soon after.

Toshiro turned back to Kye, "So this is why you returned injured last night. But, that was a full day after you disappeared." Toshiro experienced a slight spike of pain as he began to talk too quickly.

"I didn't show you the part where I trained. I trained the rest of that night and the entire following day before the match took place," Kye replied before she buckled over in pain. "We'll return to the mission now that you have your blessing. I'll fix your bomb's timer so you can set it off. Set it for five seconds, and I'll teleport us out." She took another intense pain spike from speaking, but recovered quickly.

"I guess it's good we only feel pain instead of it actually doing damage to us, though the pain is a lot worse than getting cut by a sword," Toshiro commented, this time purposely speaking too quick to test his speech limit before the slight pain spike became an intense pain spike.

Kye stood back up and held her outstretched right index and middle fingers a few inches in front of Toshiro's head. He nodded at her and she touched his hand. Their vision blurred to white again. The next thing they saw was a colorless Neuroi core chamber. Before Toshiro could comment, the world regained its color, signifying that the time freeze ended.

Kye walked over to the bomb, pulled the timer out, used her True Zen magic to fix it, and handed it to Toshiro. Toshiro set the timer, returned it to the capsule, and activated it. Kye teleported the two away, them reappearing in the group floating high in the sky.

The bomb went off and completely incinerated the base and vaporized a large portion of the surrounding sea that was within range. As was predicted by Yami, the blast radius didn't reach its full effect due to the Neuroi base and the water absorbing much of its force, but the fireball did reach just over one kilometer above sea level.

"Bada boom," Kaylie commented.

"Bada big boom," Layla added.

Toshiro snickered.

As the fireball faded, only the Neuroi commander was left in the enormous hole in the ground, floating up with a powerful energy barrier protecting her body, which was completely unharmed.

"I can't say I'm surprised that didn't kill the commander," Yami said.

"That was rather underhanded," the commander said as she reached the altitude where everyone was floating. "You completely destroyed my base with minimal effort. My Guardian Turtle didn't even get a chance to come out and play. Who is to blame for this?"

"That would be me," Toshiro said.

"Then you shall be the first I fight. I am High Commander Maris." She generated a longsword in her right hand. "Come at me."