Author's Notes:
Whew, it's been a long time, hasn't it? The story isn't dead! I'm still alive! I can't apologize enough for the ridiculous delay in getting this out, almost 5 months overdue. I wish I could say I'll be back to regularly scheduled updates, but I'm not sure if I'm quite there yet, still have a lot going on. At the very least, I don't think it's gonna take anywhere near as long to get more chapters out. Hopefully, the next one will come within a month at the latest. I hope you enjoy this chapter in the meantime, extra long one to make up just a little for how late this is. Be sure to check out the author's notes at the bottom, since I have something else to mention once the chapter's been read.
Oh, and one quick note. Between these updates, I made one minor change to chapter 7. Gin's dress has been changed to a bit more simple version of the one from the fashion event in YuYuYui, over what it was before. I like the design much better than what I had in mind. I'm not a fashion expert to come up with good dress designs.
"Test number one: no success." Negi commented with a sigh, crossing his arms with a downcast expression. The clock in front of him remained unmoved and unchanged on the grass, as if mocking the mage.
It'd taken him and Fate some time to get everything in order; between studying further on local history to see if there were any differences in the timeline aside from the obvious lack of the magic they were familiar with, another meeting with the Taisha, and some brief study and theory crafting to get a better grasp on this area of magic. However, the time had finally come to attempt sending something back in time. The trial was to send a clock backwards a few minutes, just a small drop in the bucket compared to the potential demands of needing to send two people backwards over 300 years, around three times longer than Chao's travels, and even to another universe, but everything had to start somewhere. As a precaution, they'd scheduled the test for out in the country side, rather than inside their lodgings.
Unfortunately, the first live experimenting produced absolutely no results, being a complete failure.
"I wonder what could be going wrong..." Negi mused, closing his eyes briefly to think. It was true that there hadn't been much time to theory craft compared to his past attempts at learning magic, and there hadn't been any material to study from, but the lack of any progress was frustrating.
"Negi-kun, a suggestion." Fate spoke up, glancing over from the test site toward Negi.
"What is it, Fate?"
"Perhaps if we destabilized spacetime for a short period around the test, it might give us more positive results and make it easier to manipulate. I can handle this part and account for any differences in expected results due to manipulating time." Fate suggested, returning his gaze, almost a glare, back to the clock.
"It's worth a suggestion; let's give a try," Negi replied, a bit of hope seeping into his voice.
Raising his hands, Fate said a brief chant and began channeling magic into the form he desired. The world responded to the Averruncus' will, space and time warping and twisting within a magic circle surrounding the clock. Parts of the world itself seemed to change from moment to moment, grass blowing out-of-sync with parts surrounding it, and certain areas expanding and shrinking to different sizes.
For a short time, Fate continued the display, steadily unraveling the world in hopes of making it more malleable toward their goals.
"There. I believe that should be enough. Proceed when ready, Negi-kun." The mage finally announced, relaxing his arms and stepping back, while materializing multiple protective barriers to encompass the testing site.
Stretching his hand out, two magic circles appeared, one around Negi and the other surrounding the clock, a soft glow emanating from the runes. The mage tuned out of his surrounding area, drawing all of his focus onto channeling the magic for the planned spell, invisible energy slowly starting to pool itself around Negi, in the earliest stages of spell casting and awaiting the command of a mage to build it toward a specific purpose. "Then, let's begin the second test."
"Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister…" Initial preparations complete, Negi began chanting, the mana around him responding to his will and beginning to form the requirements for his spell. This was the simplest and easiest part. Negi was well acquainted with the use of magic to warp both time and space on an immense degree. There was Evangeline's creations. Her resort capable of fitting multiple biospheres onto a single small table and compressing an entire day within an hour and her scroll that could make one experience nearly an entire week in barely an afternoon. Those were part of what had inspired Negi to pursue learning how to manipulate spacetime on his own between spare time with the Blue Mars Project, in part what allowed him to accomplish an inhuman amount of work in a small span of time, with none of the drawbacks of advanced aging, due to being immortal. But the compression of time and space, while advanced magic, was still a basic task next to the outright reversal of it.
The world around the clock warped and twisted in response to the magic being cast, space becoming distorted, glow surrounding the rune circle intensifying in tandem with the swelling magical energy. Negi could feel the energy struggling against his will, refusing to bend into the shape he sought, but he wasn't going to give up here. Negi had conquered more challenging tasks than this.
Subduing the energy and completing the spell, a brilliant light engulfed the second rune circle, blanketing the area for several seconds, before slowly subsiding into a faint glimmer, and then vanishing entirely. Where before there had been a simple clock, there now remained nothing but a plain patch of grass.
Seeing the clock gone, a small smile found its way onto Negi's face. That was a good sign, but now came the second part, seeing if the clock had actually traveled back like they had planned.
Expanding his perceptions to the immediate area, both mages having restricted them before the experiment to avoid a time paradox, like detecting the clock before it was sent into the past, Negi felt around for the clock. Yet, disappointingly, he felt a complete lack of its presence. Not so much as a single trace of the object remained.
"Fate… Do you sense anything?" Negi asked with a furrowed brow, thoroughly perplexed at where the clock could have gone.
The only response Negi received was a disappointed shake of his companion's head.
"That's… disappointing. Could it have perhaps gone forward in time instead..?" Negi wondered with a resigned sigh. What could have possibly gone wrong this time? The clock had actually disappeared during this test, but with it nowhere to be found. Negi couldn't decide if they'd taken a step forward or backwards.
"Possibly. Regardless, I think we should wait a short time before beginning the next test and try to search around the immediate area and attempt to locate it before continuing. If that is indeed what happened, perhaps it will reveal itself shortly or the alterations to spacetime are interfering with our ability to sense it. Finding the clock might give us clues on how to proceed from here." Fate suggested, already levitating off the ground to begin the search.
With no other options, Negi soon followed Fate's suggestion, floating off in a different direction in hopes of finding it.
Unfortunately, no matter how meticulously Negi searched, there just wasn't a single trace of the clock that his normal, or supernatural, perceptions could detect. For all intents and purposes, it was like the object had ceased to exist.
However, there was something the mage did detect, something odd. After further widening his perceptions around the entirety of Shikoku, the mage picked up something he didn't expect. He felt something with an unusual energy around them. It wasn't any of the Heroes or the Shinju, this signature was coming from the south western area of the prefecture. At the same time, no one but them and the Shinju seemed to possess any kind of signature significantly different from a normal human's. But, this didn't feel like a Hero's, so then, what was he feeling now? It felt far too different to be the clock, but it's signature changing so drastically as a side effect wouldn't have been impossible.
Something struck Negi's senses as sudden as a lightning bolt. Like it'd appeared out of thin air, he could detect the clock now, back near the original testing site. Had his theory been correct? Was it flung into the future instead? And if it was, what was that energy he could still detect at the other end of the island?
Whatever it was, he couldn't afford to look at it now, there was business to attend to, but he'd definitely have to investigate the matter further some other time... Formulating possibilities in his head, Negi sped off toward their original testing ground.
Arriving instantly, the mage saw Fate likewise touching down near their target, already moving to investigate it.
"Fate!" Negi called out, floating down beside them. "Anything to report?" He certainly wanted to discuss that weird feeling he detected, but they had a busy schedule today. Unless Fate felt like mentioning it, then it could wait for a better time.
"The time on the clock hasn't moved in anyway worth mentioning." Fate dryly replied, glaring at the hands of the clock like it'd personally insulted him. "Combined with our inability to find it at first and the sudden reappearance, I believe your earlier suggestion is correct."
"Hrm..." Negi hummed in thought, face shifting into a tense expression and looking downward. "Not the result we'd been hoping for, but I think that's better than the first attempt." Negi continued, face brightening into an optimistic smile. "It gives me an idea of where to go from here. Let's set up for one more test."
Giving a curt nod, Fate set the clock back onto the original testing site, before stepping back in preparation to resume the experiment once more.
"Before we begin, I want to try something different. The last two attempts didn't result in anything dangerous that needed to be contained, so I believe it should be safe for you to focus primarily on helping me, instead of maintaining barriers." Negi said to Fate. Normally, safety was a high priority for any kind of experiment. However, given the lack of any issues with the first two trials, coupled with both him and Fate being immortal and wanting to make progress in the little time left, made Negi willing to relax somewhat. Perhaps, with the additional support of another powerful mage experienced in the more esoteric sides of magic, they'd be able to find success.
With everything in order, both went through the setup process a third time. The world surrounding the clock twisting and turning again.
Again, Negi could feel the difficulties in controlling the spell and bending time to his desires, but now supported by Fate, he tackled the task with renewed optimism and energy. He focused on his first experience with time travel, back when Chao had given him the Cassiopeia watch during his first Mahora Festival, drawing on everything he felt from the many trips backwards. The subtle twinges and fluctuations in time, from the largest jumps to even the smallest and subtle changes caused by going back mere seconds.
With significantly more ease and quicker pace than before, the world responded to the magic being cast, warping and twisting with greater intensity, till a breaking point was reached and the clock enveloped within the swirling magical energy vanished into nothingness.
Ritual complete; both mages ceased their spellcasting, the world returning to normal in tandem with the subsiding magical energy.
The clock had vanished once more, and Negi's face remained tense. Now came the final moment of truth. Widening his sense to encompass the countryside, Negi probed around for his target. And what he found, brought a smile to the mage's face. The clock rested a few dozen meters to the side, exactly where he had been intending to send it.
"I'll investigate it." Fate declared, already flying off toward the signature while Negi remained at ground zero of the test site in case of any unforeseen circumstances cropping up. The Averruncus would've likely had better odds of noticing any trace changes in spacetime.
Negi only had to wait a few moments before Fate returned, clock in hand. "Well, what's the result? Anything promising?" Voice containing a subdued hope and optimism, he asked.
Fate gave a subtle nod, speaking in a neutral, yet slightly lower than normal tone. "The time on the clock, combined with the alterations I could feel surrounding the flow of time, make me believe the test was a partial success, rather than something such as time being accelerated."
The experiment had finally produced meaningful results, they'd taken the first crucial step of sending an object back in time, but Negi couldn't help the frown creeping onto his face. "'Partial success'? What went wrong then? Were our estimates off for how far back it went?"
Once again, Fate nodded. "Correct."
Negi sighed, frown deepening. "That's disappointing… However, at least we managed to send it back at all, that's definitely an improvement after the first two trials." The child's demeanor and expression brightened a touch with the affirmation.
"We should begin another test immediately and continue until we can manage at least this." Fate replied.
Negi shook his head. "As much as I would like to, we have other matters we need to prepare for. The Heroes should be waiting for us."
The Averruncus' face contorted into a scowl at the mention of the girls, a bitter tone tainting his voice. "This is our first time doing any live testing. We have much work to do if we can't even send a clock back 10 minutes, much less the potential centuries to return home. I understand you insist on training them in magic, but there are better times than now. It took us three attempts to even manage something as small as this."
"I know, but after all the trouble with the Taisha, they finally eased up somewhat. I'd like to take this opportunity while it's available. Besides, remember that they said there would be an attack in the near future? We don't know the exact date it'll be, and considering how their last battle went, I'd at least like to get them started training before the next attack." Negi fired back, shaking his head firmly.
Only a short time ago, the Taisha had, much to Negi's surprise, contacted the two mages and set up another meeting. The group had told him two important facts then. The first, there would be an attack coming soon. The Shinju apparently could give oracles to specific people to communicate. A red flag raised itself in the back of Negi's mind when he'd heard this, since if they could communicate with the Shinju, then the Taisha should've certainly known if it had pulled him and Fate here, yet they remained silent on the issue. Not wanting to pressure them too early into the meeting, Negi had kept quiet on that matter, urging Fate as well with telepathy.
The second, and most pleasing piece of news, was that the Taisha would allow him and Fate to teach the girls some magic, in part because of the upcoming attack, but it was not without conditions. Firstly, only healing magic was to be allowed, while secondly, it would be under the supervision of their normal teacher. An argument had ensued after that, Negi argued that using healing magic alone to try learning magic wasn't going to work. He'd managed to, after a few demonstrations, prove his point and gotten the Taisha to reluctantly relent in allowing the most basic and weak spells as additional practice. The child hoped the Heroes would've been informed of the reasoning behind this, as he knew a second demonstration might've been needed to show why this path was being taken. The girls seemed quite eager to learn, and might've not been the most enthusiastic about the limitations, Gin especially.
"We can devote more time to this once the groundwork for them to practice is laid out. They should be able to practice some basic spells on their own, but we'll have to at least get them started." The mage added with a reassuring smile, hoping to ease his companion's sour mood.
Fate sighed wearily and closed their eyes, the words having limited success. "Fine, as long as we ensure this lesson will be quick and we can resume our work."
Satisfied at the victory and realizing this would likely be as much of a concession one could get out of Fate, Negi nodded. Much as this was what he wanted, Negi couldn't deny Fate certainly was right. Hopefully this would be a short lesson and they could start working again. The last thing he wanted would be for the incident from the Ines visit to cause issues. He hoped none of the girls would still be too angry and that there'd be a chance to properly apologize. "Then, would you mind handling transportation? You're better at teleporting than I am, and we have a few things to pick up first."
Raising a glowing hand, Fate prepared a teleportation spell.
"Haaaaah!" Sonoko shouted, twirling her spear about in various movements, from offensive thrusts to defensive pivots. Each and every motion Sonoko made, she scrutinized, watching herself for even the slightest imperfections to improve on.
The Heroes had enjoyed a bit of an extended break from training, likely due to the extraordinary circumstances as of late, but Sonoko and her friends had finally begun to resume their regular training and practice recently.
Sonoko was glad to have a chance to relax somewhat with Sumi and Gin after the disastrous battle not too long ago, but she knew training was important as ever and relished returning to it. In order to prevent a repeat disaster, everyone would have to train hard to be at their best for future battles. Who knew what other surprises the Vertex held? She couldn't fail as a leader again, not when it'd almost cost Gin's life.
Another slash of her spear, and Sonoko internally chided herself immediately after retracting her spear and side-stepping back into a ready stance. She'd overextended by just a hair with the motion and her recovery lagged ever so slight for it. Little mistakes like this rapidly added up in a fight against the Vertex. Once more, this time, she'd do it right.
"That's enough!"
Her teacher's voice brought Sonoko out of her combat focus, just before she could attempt the move again. Taking breaks to ensure your body and mind were rested was important, but why was their instructor calling one now? It certainly hadn't been as long as one of their usual practice sessions and, given the new oracle, Sonoko would've expected them to train more rigorously. Could it be the announcement she was hoping for? Curious for answers, Sonoko moved to stand in front of Masuzu, joined by Gin and Sumi.
"You've all been working very hard since we resumed training," Masuzu started in a firm voice, her experience as a teacher letting her speak in a tone and manner that immediately commanded attention. "However, starting today, there's going to be a change in your practice."
Sonoko felt her features start perking up in anticipation at the announcement. This had to be what she was waiting for.
"In light of the recent oracle, the two mages will be assisting training and teaching you three magic."
"Eh?" Gin spoke up first, eyes and mouth widening into a mixture of surprise, excitement, and even a subtle bit of embarrassment that matched her voice. "We're really gonna learn magic?"
Normally, Gin would've been the person to jump at this, she was easily the most outwardly eager of the three to learn the new skill. However, it seemed like the earlier incident with Negi still lingered in her mind, no surprise she was the most flustered over it. Her cheeks were even gaining a hint of red.
Still, that accident with the more friendly of the two mages was going to be an issue. While Sonoko wanted to believe it was truly an accident, it was a simple fact that learning from the mages would go far smoother with a good relationship, rather than letting a grudge get in the way. She wasn't worried about herself or Gin, but Sumi. The other girl had been furious and in no mood to talk over it, so Sonoko had suggested the sleepover to get their mind off it. Perhaps, with their anger given a little time to simmer, her friend would be a bit easier to reason with whenever the topic came up again.
Glancing over at the girl in question to probe for any kind of indicator, Sonoko's eyes lowered at what she saw.
Sumi's hands lightly gripped the side of her outfit and made soft wrinkles around her fingers, her eyes possessed a tense look, and her lips were pursed. The girl seemed to be doing all she could to maintain her composure in front of their teacher.
"Is…. It going to be safe?" Sumi asked with restrained frustration.
"Your training from now on is likely to be more intense than it previously has. However, those two have assured and demonstrated they will be more than capable of ensuring no serious damage will happen to any of you." Masuzu responded with a level voice and calm stare.
"Ah, that's good then..." Sumi replied, voice trailing off and face falling into a pensive one.
Noticing the other's clear discomfort over the subject, Masuzu's expression and tone softened ever so slightly. "Is there something wrong, Washio-san?"
The very second their teacher finished speaking, Sumi stiffened up, like a child just caught by their parents with a hand in the cookie jar. "No, I'll be… fine." A hint of embarrassment in her voice, Sumi replied.
Sonoko internally frowned at her friend's display. It seemed like she was still anything but thrilled over the idea of seeing Negi again. Sumi always had an intense dislike of anything western, which made for an awful combination with the earlier incident. If there wasn't a chance to clear the air when the mages arrived, hopefully Sumi could make it through this training session and Sonoko could calm her down afterwards.
Wearing a mask that gave away none of her internal thoughts, Masuzu continued. "Then, before the mages arrive, there is one more specific change to your training I need to let you know, more than just learning magic." Masuzu paused momentarily before speaking once more. "While they will elaborate in further detail once they're here, you three will have a chance to practice against enemies with a scale like the Vertex. It should help you better prepare for fighting the Vertex, than just sparring with yourselves and our regular practice."
"Wait, we're gonna get to fight more giant monsters?" Gin asked with a raised eyebrow and twinkle in her eyes, excitement in her voice slowly building.
Masuzu nodded. "While not the same as the Vertex, they claimed they can summon creatures of a similar scale. Even if whatever they can create isn't exactly like them, there's a big difference between how you fight another person, and how you battle something on that scale, even if some skills can apply to both. This'll be a chance to practice fighting Vertex like enemies under safe circumstances."
"When are they going to be coming?" Sonoko finally spoke up, brimming with curiosity. She'd been expecting they would be taught magic eventually, but the chance to fight against something like the Vertex and not have the looming danger of one mistake potentially being their last? That was far more than Sonoko could've hoped for. This was just what they needed to prepare for any other major attacks.
"Within several minutes at most. Until they arrive and practice starts again, take a short rest." Masuzu said, standing up and moving away from the group while using her phone, likely making a few notes about their current practice, and leaving the three Heroes to talk among themselves.
She only had a few minutes? That was disappointing, but maybe she could still make something out of it before the two arrived, at least smooth things over a little.
Walking over to her now seated and resting friend, Sonoko took a position beside her. "Hey, Wasshi~. How're you doing?"
Sumi glanced toward her friend, face still conflicted and tense, but relaxing the slightest bit. "Ah, I'm doing alright..." Her friend's voice was low, worried. "Sonocchi, what do you think about this?"
Sonoko gave a reassuring smile. "I think it'll be okay~. There's a lot of useful stuff we can do with magic." With only a few minutes to spare, focusing on the usefulness of magic seemed the best route vs fixing her friend's personal issues with the mage.
Sumi looked entirely unconvinced, frowning in response. "But, you saw how destructive it could be. If something like that got used in the Jukai, then we might do more damage than the Vertex do."
"Well~, then we'd just have to practice more, so we can control it right?" Sonoko returned, her bright smile unfazed by the negative response. "They dealt with the last attack without causing any major damage. Right, Mino-san?" The girl turned toward their third friend for additional support.
"Huh?" Gin suddenly looked up Sonoko and Sumi, brought out of her internal thoughts by the sudden address. "Oh, uh, yeah! We should be fine with enough training, right? I wonder what kind of stuff we'll start with… Think we'll do any practice on our own or they'll be around all the time?" The girl's mind was clearly elsewhere for the moment.
Yep, definitely not over the incident from earlier, or did she just want to see someone? Under better circumstances, Sonoko would've penciled away that reaction for future reference. But, right now, bringing Negi up probably wasn't going to help matters.
As expected, Sumi's frown deepened and the girl sighed. "Even if that's possible, are they going to be able to control themselves… That demonstration ruined an entire mountain."
Sonoko opened her mouth to answer, but a rune circle appearing out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Turning toward it, she could see Negi and Fate standing within the fading light at the middle of the room. Negi wore his customary friendly smile, while Fate's was nearly the same flat gaze as always. Yet, looking closer, she could've sworn he looked a hint annoyed.
"Hello, everyone! We finished a little quicker than expected, hope we didn't arrive too early." Negi, speaking in a cheerful manner, waved toward
"Hiiiiiii~." Sonoko returned the friendly tone and greeting, despite inwardly being conflicted. This wasn't good. She hadn't had enough time at all to try and convince Sumi to ease up.
Briefly glancing toward Sumi to probe her friend's reaction, Sonoko's worries were confirmed. Sumi's expression had darkened noticeably, looking like she was barely holding back a glare in her eyes and scowl on her lips.
This wasn't gonna be easy.
"It's not a problem. We'd just finished up normal practice and were taking a short break." Masuzu answered levelly.
"Glad to hear it," Negi said, taking a few steps toward the group. "It'll just be a moment to set up everything. But, before we begin, I'd like to talk with the Heroes about a personal matter. Aki-san, Fate can explain to you the plans for today in more detail, while he sets up."
The Heroes' teacher briefly looked toward Negi, then to Fate, who was busy conjuring several magical circles and pulling various objects out from them, before giving the child a curt nod and walked over toward the second mage.
Sonoko took a few steps of her own toward Negi, meeting the mage halfway and greeting them warmly. "Hey, hey~, Spring-san~."
"Hey, Negi-san! What's up?" Gin threw in her own greeting while joining her friend, though it was just a touch more subdued than her normal energetic ones, Sonoko noted.
Sumi, meanwhile, remained silent and stood several paces off to the side, as if she was intentionally ensuring she wouldn't be directly in front of Negi in the event of any other magical mishaps.
"I wanted to say I'm so sorry about what happened last time." Negi started in an apologetic tone, bowing and face a touch red over the memory. "I didn't get a good chance to say it then, but I really am."
"Hey, don't worry about it. I mean, it was just an accident, right?" Gin reassuringly said, dismissively waving her hands with a hint of a blush on her face.
"Yeah, accidents happen~. Buuuuut, how's that happen with someone who can use magic like that anyway~?" Sonoko chimed in for additional support. She believed the mage that it was an accident, but there still had to be some kind of reasoning behind why a sneeze would flip up skirts like that. Maybe an explanation would help mitigate Sumi's issues somewhat.
"Oh, that." Negi said, rising back a normal stance, looking a little sheepish. "Well, it's a little embarrassing… But it's a problem I've had for a while since I started learning magic. It's not that rare for a mage to have issues with using a spell or two by accident while they're still learning, a friend of mine would sometimes summon fire when she got angry."
Sumi raised a skeptical eyebrow at Negi's reasoning, looking thoroughly unconvinced by the other's reasoning. "If that's the case… Then how can we expect to learn properly from you if you're still learning yourself?"
"I understand that might sound a little suspicious, Washio-san," Negi, undeterred and more of a smile returning to his face, replied without hesitation. "I know a lot about magic, more than enough to be able to teach someone. It's just that, circumstances led me toward focusing more on learning magic more useful for combat and the upper level spells. Accidentally using a disarming spell isn't that big of a problem, so I guess I just never got around to fixing that issue with everything else I was doing."
Sumi's defensive postured relaxed slightly, mulling over the reason, but the girl still looked doubtful of the reasoning Negi provided.
Negi frowned, his attempts at proving his innocence having little success with the most reserved of the heroes. "Then… how about this." Negi's expression brightened, an idea coming to the mage. "I'd be happy to show you some of my memories sometime and prove I'm being honest."
A lightbulb went off in Sonoko's head and a grin appeared on her face. "That could work~." The girl interjected just as Sumi opened her mouth to reply. "You wanted to see Kyoto in person anyway, right Wasshi? Spring-san could show you that too~." Sonoko enthusiastically said, glancing toward Sumi with a hopeful smile. If there was anything that could've won Sumi over, it'd be her weakness for history.
Sumi closed her mouth to think. Several conflicting emotions, curiosity, suspicion, apprehension, crossing her face while she considered the options. She still clearly held doubts about Negi, even with the offer to see their past, but bringing up the possibility of seeing one of Japan's greatest historical sites with her own eyes was enough to at least give her pause, even with her hate of the other.
"...Fine." Sumi finally relented, after a long pause, speaking in a resigned voice. "However, I have one question." Her eyes shifted narrowly in suspicious before continuing. "If you're not from Japan, where are you from?"
"I spent most of my life in Wales, in the UK." Negi answered without skipping a beat. "I came to Japan when I was nine and spent most of my time there since."
"I see…" Sumi flatly responded, her expression lowering considerably to a barely restrained glare and crossing her arms, fingers digging into her outfit.
"So, you're really from another country?" Gin spoke up eagerly with a curious grin on her face, Sumi's scowl out of her line of sight. "Where's that? How'd you learn to speak Japanese so good?"
"I'd love to talk, but now's not really the time..." Negi trailed off, glancing over toward where Fate and Masuzu were waiting.
In the time Sonoko and her friends had spoken with Negi, the Averruncus produced a table with a variety of objects on it. Three sticks that resembled wands, each of simple make and roughly a foot long with a small star on the top, a glass of water, and a thermometer. Standing next to the display was a rather annoyed looking Fate, with an expression that seemed to scream 'hurry up already'.
"Oh, yeah, gotta learn magic!" Gin, not at all deterred and seemingly excited even further at the cause for interrupted, spoke with a confident grin and clenched fist.
"We can talk more another time, maybe whenever I show Washio-san Kyoto," Negi said with a soft smile. "Washio-san, will you be alright with training today?"
"It's what the Taisha decided, so I'll manage," Sumi replied back, her tone and expression looking thoroughly unenthusiastic at the prospect.
Negi frowned, clearly picking up on Sumi still holding some lingering issues, before uttering a light sigh in resignation. He just didn't have the time to work this out at length right now, perhaps later during their next planned meeting. "Well.. If you're certain. I suppose we'll begin with the lesson now." The child turned around, walking over toward his friend and passing Masuzu, moving back to her usual position to take notes, on the way
Internally, Sonoko matched Negi's disappointment, trailing behind the mage. With the confirmation Negi was a foreigner, on top of the other issues, the situation definitely became worse. Sumi always had a huge problem with anything western based, but never before did she meet a person from the west in the flesh. Even with the offer to see Kyoto, her friend clearly wasn't satisfied as is, but there just wasn't time to talk out everything. Sonoko just hoped Sumi could keep things in check till the end of the training session.
"Alright, before I begin, how much were you told about today's plans?" Negi questioned, taking a position beside Fate behind the table.
"Not too much. Just that we're going to be learning and practicing against giant monsters now~." Sonoko, being the leader of the Hero group, answered.
"Ah, well. In that case, there's a few things I need to go over with to start with. To begin with, the Taisha, while allowing this training to happen, have placed a few restrictions on it." Negi continued, slipping into an experienced teaching voice, much like the one their own instructor often used.
Gin raised a curious eyebrow, already starting to look disappointed at their training coming with terms and conditions. "What kind of restrictions?"
"Primarily that, aside from the beginner spells designed to teach you how to channel magic, your magical training will be mostly focused on things like barriers and healing magic." Negi answered calmly.
"Eh? Why?" Gin, annoyance oozing from every bit of her voice, protested with a deep frown. "All that stuff you guys did looked so cool!"
"I understand why you might be disappointed, Minowa-san." Negi started, forming a mild frown of his own. "However, that's what the Taisha agreed to, worried about safety, so it's how things are going to be right now."
The reply earned a low but resigned whine from Gin, who crossed her arms in frustration.
Something didn't feel right to Sonoko. The Taisha clearly had a tense relationship at best with the mages, and it felt like both sides were trying to be sneaky with the other. But why did they take so long to decide this and impose such a restriction? Magic, in addition to defense, could provide so many additional options for attacking. Why were the Taisha seemingly so worried about putting a new tool into her group's, the chosen Heroes of the Shinju itself, hands? After the last Vertex attack and the unusual oracle, the more advantages they could get, the better. Safety was a concern, but as long as experienced magic users were around to monitor upper level magic, it'd be fine, right? Maybe they would relent if things went smoothly?
"Moving on, the exact lesson plan for future sessions is going to depend on what happens next." Negi continued, returning to his normal demeanor immediately and earning a few curious looks from the Heroes at his plans.
"Normally, we'd start with the academic side of magic and spend a while studying."
Another soft groan sounded off.
"However," Negi quickly added, picking up on Gin's growing frustration. "Your circumstances are rather unique, and given you already have the Shinju-sama's power within you, I think that should give you an advantage over normally starting out. So, we're going to try casting some magic today and carefully monitor what kind of a reaction happens, then make a more detailed lesson plan. Maybe training can be accelerated a bit if things prove promising."
"Woohoo!" Gin energetically shouted with a massive grin and pumping her fist straight into the air.
"Casting magic has many aspects to it." Negi began lecturing, picking up one of the wands. "But there are two essential parts. First, the words themselves. Beyond the words for each spell, every mage has their own personal 'activation key', a set of words said before a spell proper, think of it like a password to unlock further magic. For now, you're going to just stick with the beginner chant everyone uses to start out, but think about something you might want to use in the future. It doesn't matter what it is and can even be made up, as long as it just feels natural to you."
Briefly pausing, Negi raised the wand up to head height, holding in a ready position. "And after that, you have the motions. Combine them with the words and it looks something like this."
Sonoko leaned forward, keeping a close eye on Negi's hand and staying alert to hear each word the mage spoke.
"Practe bigi nar,"Negi spoke carefully and slowly, giving each of the Heroes a chance to hear everything he said. With his words, the mage made a gentle motion sideways through the air from left to right, like they were drawing the underside of a bowl, topped off with a small loop at the end.
"Ardescat." Negi raised his wand upward with one swift motion, a small flame, no bigger than one from a lighter, appearing at the edge of the wand.
Sonoko applauded lightly at the display with a pleased face. It was worlds less flashy than anything she'd seen, but it was still a cute display.
Sumi and Gin, on the other hand, were significantly less impressed, looking at it with flat faces. Gin, especially looked underwhelmed. "…. Is that it?"
"That's it." Negi's cheery expression didn't falter for a nanosecond.
"After everything you guys showed last time, that's kinda..." Gin murmured with a sigh, trying to avoiding being too rude at going from storms that could vaporize mountains, to a glorified candle.
"It's just a beginner spell. You have to start somewhere." Negi replied, trying to temper his audience's disappointment. "However, while it just looks like a lighter, there's something special about magical fire compared to normal flames."
At this, Sumi and Gin's curiosity was immediately recaptured. Their disappointed expressions changing to questioning ones as they looked onward for further explanation.
Leisurely moving the wand downward, Negi dipped the tip of it, flame and all, completely into the cup of water on the table.
Seconds passed by, but to the wonder of everyone but the mages, the fire remained burning while completely underwater and without any sign of fuel, in complete defiance of physics..
"Magical elements don't exactly behave like normal," Negi lectured, removing the wand from the water and extinguishing the flame. "Fire can burn in water or a vacuum and doesn't need fuel, water won't freeze purely based on temperature, things like that. We can go more in depth on each, once we get to them. For now, who'd like to try the spell?"
Gin's hand shot skyward before Negi even finished his sentence, easily beating out her friends, to Sonoko's mild disappointment. She'd wanted to try using a spell too.
"Alright then, Minowa-san," Negi continued, walking over toward Gin and handing the eager girl his wand, standing in front of her. "Just repeat exactly what I did. You should feel a sense of energy from the spell flowing around you. Just focus on it and imagine directing it to the wand."
"Alright… Practe bigi nar-" Gin chanted, trying to mimic Negi's earlier words and motions. The foreign words were pronounced slightly slower than Negi's attempt, but the girl otherwise solidly replicated the mage's display. "Ardescat."
Her technique may have been a fine copy of Negi's, but the results were far from comparable. Instead of a tiny flame flickering at the tip of Gin's wand, a raging ball of fire exploded into the air, the blazing inferno being easily the size of the grown person. But, just like an explosion, the flame flickered into nothing after an instant, the wand which summoned it dropping to the floor from Gin's surprise. And nearly with it, the wielder.
"Minowa-san, are you okay?" Negi asked with a worried voice and concerned tone, putting a hand onto Gin's shoulder for support. The wobbly legged Hero looked about ready to fall over.
"Gin! What's wrong?" Sumi jumped in on Gin's other side with similar worry, bracing her other shoulder with one hand, while wrapping her other around Gin's other shoulder, almost like she was trying to push Negi away.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Gin dismissively said with a tired voice, straightening herself up and away from the hold of her friends, shaking her head a few times. "Just felt… A little dizzy there."
Sumi's attention immediately shot towards Negi, her eyes in a glare and voice accusatory. "What was that?! This was supposed to be safe!"
"Sumi, really! I'm ok!" Gin came to Negi's defense with a hurried tone, a strained smiled on her face to try and further prove her words. It was still clear Gin's normal energy wasn't in quite as perfect a condition as she wanted everyone to believe.
"Washio-san, just give me a second, please." Negi, taking a step back, pleaded with a worried expression. "I wasn't expecting something like that, but I think I can explain. I just want to be certain Minowa-san is alright first."
But Sumi refused to budge, silently glaring daggers at the mage.
"Negi-san." Masuzu's voice came from the back of the room, drawing everyone's attention. The teacher had stood up from her normal sitting position, keeping a composed, but stern expression. "You're certain that you can explain this and Minowa-san isn't in any trouble?"
"I can." Negi called back confidently, expression relaxing.
"Then, go ahead." Masuzu replied after a tense moment of silence.
Frowning deeply, and with one cautious stare toward Negi, Sumi reluctantly stepped aside and stood next to Sonoko, keeping her concerned gaze on Gin.
"Minowa-san," Negi gently said, stepping toward Gin. "Tell me exactly how you're feeling. Everything okay?"
"Small headache and a little tired, but perfectly fine aside from that." Gin admitted with a light shrug, shifting her expression to a grin an instant later. "Nothing I can't handle."
"That's good, nothing serious then. Let me help you first." Negi continued with a relieved expression. Moving one of his hands in front of Gin, the familiar glow of healing magic briefly shone from it for a few moments and earning a content sigh from Gin. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah, thanks, Negi-san!" Gin replied, much of the usual fiery voice and confidence everyone knew her for restored.
"Now, about what happened with Minowa-san's spell… I wasn't expecting something like that to happen, but I do have a theory." Negi returned to his teaching voice, taking a step back to begin the lesson anew.
Sonoko leaned in with Gin, both curious to learn more about what this could mean for learning how to use magic. As long as it was truly safe, Sonoko was sure things would be fine right? Negi and Fate both used magic without any kind of backlash like that, so surely there had to be a way to master it. All this stalling and time spent around magic couldn't have been for nothing.
"Every mage has their own personal capacity and ability with spell casting. A beginner and high-class mage could cast the exact same spell, with the exact same power and effect, but the latter would still use less energy. Not just because they have a higher level of personal stamina, but because they can use mana more efficiently. Think of it like how different cars can go different distances, despite using the same amount of fuel." Negi lectured, pausing to give everyone listening a moment to process the information.
"In this case, I was right that the Shinju-sama's energy gave you a ton of raw power to work with. However, because you haven't done any training to control magic, you have absolutely no efficiency in spell casting at all, along with little control. So, in Minowa-san's case, that basic spell caused her to use far more mana than it should've taken. Since using magic is based in part on your willpower and mind, getting low on mana can cause things like dizziness and exhausted. Someone can even pass out in extreme cases."
Sonoko raised a curious hand.
"Yes, Nogi-san?" Negi said, pointing toward her.
"Then, how'll this effect training? You said plans might change, depending on what happened." Sonoko spoke up. The explanation certainly made sense to her, but then came the problem of dealing with it. If they couldn't even cast one of the most basic spells without almost collapsing, especially Gin who arguably had the most willpower and guts out of all of them, then what good would it be against something as deadly as Vertex?
"I have to test something first. I need to see if this affects you while not transformed too. If you can use magic in your normal states without exhausting yourselves, you could learn how to properly control it then, and maybe that control and efficiency will carry over while transformed. You could end up incredibly strong much faster than normal, if that's the case. That all said, Washio-san, Nogi-san. I'll need one of you to detransform and try to use the same spell, just in case. I don't want to put Minowa-san through too much at once." Negi finished, glancing between the other two Heroes expectantly.
"I'll do it~." Sonoko spoke up before Sumi could open her mouth to voice any objections, reverting back to her normal school outfit and picking up the dropped wand. "I'll be fine, Wasshi~." Seeing her friend's worried face, Sonoko reassured with a cheerful smile.
"It'll be ok, Washio-san. I'll be ready to step in the second anything goes wrong." Likewise, picking up on Sumi's doubts, Negi assured with a similarly friendly expression.
"Sonoko'll be fine, Sumi. Look at me!" Gin chimed in, giving Sumi a pat on the back for extra comfort.
The third Hero remained silent for several moments, wearing a tense expression, before finally sighing in acceptance. With everyone trying to ease her worries, it was difficult to stay tense. "Alright."
Giving a slight nod toward her friend, Sonoko refocused her attention onto the wand. Slowly, she flawlessly replicated the same steps Negi had before her."Practe bigi nar," Sonoko focused carefully, slowly feeling an energy building up around her. It was a feeling that wasn't entirely unlike when she transformed and the Shinju's power empowered her body. But, unlike when fulfilling her duty as a Hero, the usage of this energy wasn't something that Sonoko instinctively knew how to use, not like the various shapes her spear could take, or the flames of Gin's axes. But, like when changing her spear, the energy needed to be directed and controlled by her own will.
Focusing in the same manner when using her weapon's powers, Sonoko directed the energy around her toward a single point on the wand, focusing on the star and the image of a flickering flame. The spell seemed to resist her instructions, trying to pull away and dissipate into it's default formless state, but Sonoko wasn't going to let herself get beaten by a beginning move like this. For every pushback the energy made, she pulled twice as hard, until she could feel the spell was ready. She didn't exactly know how to describe it, but Sonoko knew the only step now was to complete the chant.
"Ardescat."
A small flame, not an inferno or blaze, just a tiny light, appeared at the tip of her wand. The flame swayed gently in the breeze, looking like a perfect replica of the one Negi had cast earlier. She'd done it!
"Woohoo, I did it~." Sonoko beamed with a radiant expression.
And then the flame flickered into nothing. Just as she began to celebrate.
"Aww..." Sonoko whined, her expression dropping significantly. She was certain she didn't cancel the spell of her own accord, but it'd still faded away after only a few seconds.
"Woah, it looked just like Negi-san's! Good job, Sonoko!" Gin excitedly said with a wonder stuck face, leaning in closer toward the wand's tip, as if starring at where the flame had been would somehow give her better understanding of the spell.
"That was great, Nogi-san!" Negi commented with a pleased expression. "Looks like I was right, that there'd still be a little influence to help you, even without being transformed. Even that can sometimes take people a few months to do."
That certainly caught Sonoko's attention. Even something like a small flame could take months to normally do, when she'd managed it on her first try? How long did it take to learn the kind of high scale magic Negi and Fate did then? Did they have unique circumstances surrounding them as well? There was a lot to ask the mages next time they met up...
"A-a few months?" Sumi stammered, likewise taken aback by the implications. "What were you planning if it takes that long to learn normally and nothing happened?"
"We'd focus more on helping with combat training than learning magic for the short term. I'm glad the test went so well, though. It means you should be able to pick this up very quick." Negi answered bluntly, cheery as ever. "How do you feel, Nogi-san?"
"Fine~," Sonoko answered casually. "No different from normal~."
"Great, then I have a plan for how to continue. Considering circumstances and the next Vertex attack should be coming soon, I think it'd be best if you all tried to study and practice on your own a bit. If you can use a beginner spell that easily, we should focus more on improving your control and efficiency, and practicing some basics in daily life is a great way to get a feeling for magic. Then, you should be able to use the more defensive spells while transformed, without a huge drain on your stamina. I can get some books with plenty of notes ready, with the wands, and give them to you by tomorrow." Negi confidently spoke.
"More studying..." Gin looked immensely conflicted over the proposal. On one hand, learning to do magic was an awesome idea to her and way more fun than reading a normal book, history didn't teach you have to shoot fire from your hands. On the other hand, she never got along well with the idea of studying in the first place.
"Of course, if the Taisha don't mind." Negi continued, looking directly at Masuzu. "I can give them the same notes I'll be providing the Heroes. I think it's best this way, since they'll be able to learn as quickly as possible, and we can focus on their regular combat performance in the meantime. We should be as prepared as possible for the next attack."
Masuzu's expression, as usual, was extremely difficult to read. If she was at all taken aback by the rather forceful nature of Negi's plans, she masked it perfectly. "They'll decide after a report of what's happened here. I'll be sure to let them know your suggestion."
"I'm glad to hear. With that in mind, I think we should move onto the next part of your training we'll help with." Negi, spurred by the positive reaction and events, said with a bright smile. "I'll explain in more detail, once we arrive. This place is right next to your school and a little small for what we have in mind, so we'll be going somewhere else."
"Ready, Negi-kun." Fate, speaking for the first time since the lesson started, dully commented. While everyone had been talking, the Averruncus had caused everything previously set up to vanish back to wherever it'd come from, replaced only by the same black key Sonoko recognized when he visited her house.
"Is everyone else prepared?"
Several affirmations and nods answered Negi's question.
"Then, ready when you are, Fate." Negi said, looking back toward Fate expectantly.
"Relocate." With a single word, a bright light enveloped everyone's vision and the world vanished.
Spell Translations:
Ardescat:
English: Ignite flame.
Author's Notes:
Alright! Since the girls are learning magic now, I'm having a little reader participation in the story here. I'm taking suggestions and ideas for what kind of "activation keys" the girls will have. Like Negi's is "Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister".
The only restriction is at least about 3 words and Sumi's must be something "Japanese". You can suggest Latin for the other two, but I'd rather it be correct Latin and not just run through google TL, please. And, when I say Sumi's must be something "Japanese", I just mean suggest it in English. They're all speaking Japanese inuniverse anyway. Feel free to suggest something English for Gin and Sonoko as well, if you don't know Latin. They've got unique circumstances to justify not picking Latin and I'd prefer it over google translated Latin.
Just leave the suggestion alongside a review or PM me! I'll be taking suggestions for the next few chapters, and will announce when submissions get closed.