Chapter 10: Initiation (10)

Learning to make use of his magical abilities, Lance decided, was really fucking difficult. Celestia had said that his power flowed from brain to chest organs to groin...what she hadn't mentioned was that the entire time he was channeling aforementioned power the organ in question seemed to kick into overdrive, running at full steam like he'd just scarfed down a bag of sugar.

Which didn't even make sense since he'd finally accepted the insanity which was him not, you know, actually having any real need for the organs within his body.

Turns out accepting that fact didn't actually mean he was some magical prodigy that could now do whatever he wished with his god-like supernatural powers...there was a learning curve. A fat learning curve. A learning curve that reaffirmed the fact that he kinda sucked at this whole 'magic' deal.

Try to focus his power that originated in his 'brain'? Turns out doing that caused a cascade of images, sounds and sights to flash across his vision, scenes of eldritch landscapes and wheeling starscapes enough to make him feel light on his feet as it seemed like he was slipping to some faraway world.

If he made it past that bit without collapsing into some cocaine-crash hallucination? The magic coursing through his 'heart' and 'lungs' caused his emotions and breath to race, pounding and coursing with such intensity that one second he was smiling like a loon, the next on the cusp of sobbing his eyes out like an overly emotional crybaby.

And if he got through that ordeal?

Well, there was a boobalicious, insanely beautiful elf with an unfairly provocative dress code intently staring at him as he attempted to channel and make use of his powers...three guesses as to what happened then.

With a voltaic crackle the energies coursing through his body reached the designated dick zone-

-and in an instinctive bid to avoid sporting a stiffy they spiralled out of control, lighting up the room with discharge that shocked his system and left him gasping on the floor...not crippled enough to see Celestia's brief expression of disappointment, however.

Which stung bad.

"...Do not despair, Lance. You merely need to keep trying and eventually you will become proficient enough with the art that these early days will seem a laughable hurdle in comparison."

"Yeah, but those days aren't here yet. And you don't need to put on a brave face just for my sake, Celestia. I'd probably be pretty pissed off myself if some punk kid just randomly showed up out of nowhere and I was required to bow down before them...especially if they were ass at a rather crucial thing they were supposed to be good at."

He met the elf's gaze with an unflinching stare.

"If nothing else, can I at least ask you to be honest with your disappointment or grievances? Seeing you constantly try to hide your frustration like that hurts a lot more than any blunt recounting of my levels of suck right now."

The elf's bright blue gaze stared into Lance's emerald...and she sighed, bowing her head briefly before responding, "My apologies, young man. My frustration does not lay with you, more the circumstances that now face us and taking out such grievances when you are already going above and beyond what we expect is a rather unfair thing for me to do."

A sad smile graced the woman's lips as she knelt before him, Lance trying his utmost to keep his eyes above chest level.

"But the days since your arrival have been...hectic, while you have been preoccupied with learning and practicing all that you can. Limbo is currently under a great amount of strain - whether you have witnessed it or not - as we prepare for the return of our leader, you. Old alliances and individuals will begin to once more approach our organization as they receive news of your choosing by Shir'Atath...and not all of them will be content with a simple returning to the fold, most will wish to test either us or you personally to ensure their loyalty will not be wasted on an incompetent."

The teen frowned, warily asking, "What exactly am I in for then? Shir's made a few passing comments and stuff but so far she hasn't told me anything directly, just a bunch of vague allusions and ominous sounding shit."

Motioning for him to join her at her desk the elf stated, "Then as an apology for my pitiful behavior allow me to inform you of those that will be of direct importance, as they hold the potential to be your greatest allies, should you convince them of your worthiness."

She pulled a tome from her desk, Lance plopping into a chair beside the woman...and marvelled at the pleasing scent of mint and earth after a rainfall, of a truly impressive boob lightly brushing up against his arm as the elf sidled closer to him so as to afford a better look at the volume.

"Well, at least my perfect memory proves useful in situations like these. I can just remember the time I saw dad's naked ass and remain as soft and cushy as a cloud."

"We can speak of ones that will be your mortal enemies another time, as they are currently not important. As for allies first will be Aylith, former servant and guardian of Shub-Niggurath until Shir'Atath freed her from servitude to your progenitor's mate."

Lance blinked, favoring the elf with a sidelong glance.

"I sense there's a lot of history to that statement."

"That there is, but Shir'Atath herself can explain more. Aylith is proud and authoritative but very protective towards the hosts of the fourth avatar, such as yourself. Should you prove worthy of the grimoire's selection, she will serve you unfailingly."

Lance heaved out a sigh, wryly remarking, "Less than two weeks ago my biggest worry was not fucking up my math test and conning money out of our rival schools. Now we're casually talking about me earning the loyalty of eldritch beings from across the stars and reality. What a world."

Celestia smiled at his words, flipping one of the pages and pointing to a picture of a humanoid figure being worshipped by several others, the landscape one of drifting clouds and varying scenery.

"Gleeth Salem, an oracle of the Dreamlands who can view what may and will be, born of the lunar rabbits and who wishes to be a professional singer."

The teen blinked.

"...What was that last part?"

The elf sighed, replying, "Salem may not leave the Dreamlands unless brought to reality by you in person, as a result she has spent much time finding and practicing several hobbies...that of a performer seems to be her favored one."

The elf sent him a purposeful expression.

"Do not be deceived by the oddly human proclivities she displays, the ability to see and transcribe the ever shifting eddies of fate is no small advantage. Such is the providence of one borne of the God of Time and Space."

"...Still getting over the fact that this being of incredible power and foresight wants to be the next Adele."

Celestia's lips quirked in what might have been amusement.

"Such disbelief will quickly become commonplace, I assure you."

She again flipped a page, pointing to what seemed to be hulking golem or machine crouched low.

"Next is Eve, the culmination of long experimentation that began as early as Sheb-Teth, a perfect union of magic, machine and flesh. She rests within the deepest levels of Limbo, the sole operator and pilot of the Demonbane Deus Machina."

Lance immediately perked, asking, 'Wait, when you say 'deus machina'...this Eve pilots a mech?"

"It is quite the impressive machine, I will admit. Should you-"

"Say no more, I'm finding her first."

Tilting her head at the strangely gleeful look Lance was sporting Celestia eventually settled for a shrug, stating, "Well she will be quite happy to hear you were so eager to awaken her first...Eve is a rather competitive soul."

Flipping to the final page that showed only a rather unholy union of two odd creatures the elf explained, "Lavinia Exstas, wielder of a grimoire much like Shir'Atath and descended from Shub-Niggurath. She has often served as a secondary mentor to Shir'Atath's hosts - seeing as her grimoire has much less autonomy than the fourth avatar and has not selected a new host - and will seek you out on her own time."

The elf affixed the teen with a serious look.

"She is a remarkably sane and calm individual, given her long age as a host to a being much like Shir'Atath...but her examinations and requirements are no doubt the most stringent of the four, since you and she are connected on a very fundamental basis. Do put on a good showing, Lance Jacobson."

Nodding solemnly at the elf's words Lance took a deep breath...and shifted uneasily.

"It...sounds like there's even more riding on this than I previously thought. And it seemed pretty damn busy, if you don't mind me saying so. It's bizarre and honestly kind of terrifying, having all of these powerful and unknowable personas out there, waiting for me to make something of myself."

"That was the case the moment Shir'Atath chose you, Lance. And despite my frustrations you have been progressing well in your studies."

The teen snorted, wryly remarking, "Kinda hard to be bad at studying when all I really have to do to remember is focus hard on what I'm reading. Perfect memory is handy that way."

The elf smiled, genuinely responding, "It is an excellent pace all the same, one that will no doubt also turn productive when you gain proper control of your power. And I will endeavor to be more upfront and honest when it comes to advice or judgement, Lance. You were correct when you stated that you deserve such candor."

Nodding in acceptance of her words the elf stood, the teen quickly responding in kind as she stated, "I do believe it is time for Heshal's turn at your instruction. Take care of yourself, Lance. And I look forward to our next session."

"Same. See you then."

The teen ran a hand through his hair, strode out of the room...and promptly muttered, "Geez that T&A just does not quit."

"I know, right?"

Popping out of the small booklet attached to his hip Shir floated alongside her contractor, salaciously smirking as she stated, "If you ever end up banging her in the future I want in on that, hips like those would really cushion the ride, eh~?"

Doing his level best to get that provocative image out of his mind Lance replied, "Enticing, but I don't think I have a chance of getting a country mile within range of her bed, never mind non-existent pants."

The grimoire merely smirked at him with a look the male was quickly beginning to realize meant he was out of the loop on something important...and that she wouldn't tell him a second ahead of when she wanted to.

"Great, more surprises."

"Ah, you're here. Perfect timing."

The fallen angel tucked away the book he had been perusing as Lance arrived at the training grounds of Limbo, an adjacent building next to the gymnasium that seemed custom-scaled to handle the no doubt absurd amount of shit supernatural beings could perform. Multi-tiered platforms, weapons racks of mostly melee weapons but with a decent chunk of ranged variants thrown in...the works.

"Came straight from Celestia's office...on that note, mind if I ask a question before we start?"

"Certainly, inquire away."

Wondering if his question veered a bit too much into 'awkward' territory the young man nonetheless straightened his spine and asked, "Celestia's dress code...as well as that of a fair few other supernatural. Is it normal to go around in stuff that somehow makes a birthday suit seem overly stuffy?"

Snorting at Lance's words the fallen guided him towards a collection of staff-like weapons, explaining, "The supernatural - a few exceptions aside - tend to have more relaxed attitudes when it comes to sex and bodily exposure. Elves especially have a minimalist approach to clothing, although their inclinations veer less towards attracting or advertising themselves to prospective partners and more of a, 'one with nature' kind of mindset."

He gave Lance a brief look, the teen sporting a raised eyebrow.

"Gods freely walk among our number and a fair number of them are related or literally beings of lust and romance...you will quickly come to realize that many human standards and mindsets will seem woefully conservative among the supernatural...at least when it comes to matters of an amorous nature. But do not mistake our current leader's appearance, disposition and dress as that of a ditzy or innocent woodlands creature, Lance."

Blinking at Heshal's sudden comment the older man continued with, "Limbo is comprised of countless personalities, species and factions that over the millennia has managed to stay even marginally cohesive thanks in no small part to its leadership. Celestia is just the latest in that long line of succession and I would advise you to pay more attention to what she does rather than what she says in the coming months, before you assumed overall command. She has held her position for three decades and counting through the unanimous decision of our members, not because she has a nice smile and bombshell body."

While it was a bit more involved of an answer than he had expected Lance took the warning and advice to heart, the fallen shifting gears once again as he asked, "Is there any type of weapon you prefer?"

"Err...a knife, I guess? In all honesty the only bladed weapon I've ever handled was the kind you use to slice your palm open when cutting frozen bagels."

Shrugging to himself the fallen tossed the teen a simple dagger, stating, "We'll begin with footwork today and go from there."

And then the man removed his coat, revealing a simple short-sleeved button down...and the corded, scar-covered forearms of what Lance could only assume was a true warrior, the man spinning a plain wooden pole in a flourish so fast that the wind actually howled.

"You have an immortal body and perfect memory, so your training will likely be quite a bit harsher than what I would employ against others. Do try to keep up."

The teen nervously swallowed.

"Think of the big elf titties, Lance...think of the big elf titties."

A few days ago I posted a new SAO/Overlord crossover story and I'm super hyped up to keep writing chapters for it, the amount of ideas I've got stewing is crazy. I'd appreciate it if anyone passingly interested gave it a shot, at the very least!

11/2 update: Reuploaded chapter to see if that fixes the issue of some readers being unable to access it. If that doesn't work we'll just ride it out for a few days and see where that gets us, this sometimes happens with reviews where they don't show for a while before randomly popping into existence.