19—Crystal Blast Wave
Rin doesn't wait to puzzle out why Sakura is heading home, nor does she approach to ask. Once there's enough distance between them, she, Archer and Taiasu resume their return trip. It's not long before they arrive, and she drops the barrier around her house, letting all of them enter unhindered. Before Taiasu can even think to ask what the strange words she'd uttered were, she's ushering him into her house.
After they reach the living room, Taiasu takes a moment to scan it.
Everything looks pristine, like the result of a tireless army's constant watchful care, making certain everything stays as it should. He's about to comment on how well kept everything is, but the second his mouth opens, his stomach roars like a train. He can't even summon the energy to let his face turn red. He just clips his mouth closed and sighs, frowning down at the carpet.
"Taruko-kun…" Briefly, Rin turns red in his stead. "I take it that means you haven't eaten in some time."
Still unable to meet her gaze, he just nods slightly. The last thing he'd eaten was that sweet, tart confectionary Fujimura had purchased for him. Before that, it had just been a few things he'd fished from his pack while the bus he'd rode ferried him around. Really, he hadn't even had the time to enjoy those few coffee biscuits.
Rin shakes her head.
"Well, I was hoping…" She looks toward the hall longingly. The hall leading to the stairs, her room, and her bed. "But if your stomach's going to be doing that all night, I think sleep is off the table for right now."
She looks over at Archer.
"But before that, we'll be using my room. When we're finished here, I want you to stand guard up there." She casts a small glance down at Taiasu. "Not that I don't trust him, but just to be safe."
Visible again, Archer nods.
"Yes, that seems most prudent. Also, your decision to rest, I feel, is the correct one. No sense rushing into battle with your magical energy in such a state."
She shows a small smile, accepting his sincere commendation.
"Anyway, I need to go prepare something."
With that, she makes her way toward the kitchen while Taiasu scuffs his foot uncomfortably against the floor.
A short time later, Rin's strange new house guest is stuffing his face with food as fast as he can shovel it in.
"This is amazing…!" Taiasu says between bites. "I thought I could cook well, but this is beyond anything!"
He grins, his feet dangling some distance from the floor as he sits in the chair, as tall as the table he's eating at. Staring in wonder, Rin sits opposite him. As he chews through his current mouthful of food, he takes another glance around the room. It's striking how clean it is, and he takes extra care not to spill anything.
As he's looking around, he spots Archer, who's moved to one corner of the room near a tall grandfather clock, eyeing him with suspicion. Paying him no more consideration than that, and satisfied with having familiarized himself with his surroundings, Taiasu returns his attention to the bowl in front of him and resumes working on it.
As she observes, Rin feels her fatigue lessen. Before, she'd been ready to crash completely, but watching someone eat her food, a humble meal at that, with such enthusiasm, helps to restore some of her energy. Still, it was with some consternation that she'd worked to prepare the quickest, easiest meal she could think of.
Once she'd sat the bowl down before him, she watched him reach into his pack and pull from it a small, amber colored stone. Reflexively, she held the bowl steady as his form was briefly engulfed in light and wind, and when it faded, he was dressed as he was when they'd first met.
In red leather, complete with a cape.
Archer had startled, nearly materializing his bow, but Rin had gestured at him to relax. After all, she'd seen it before, and though she couldn't explain it, she knew it wasn't dangerous. In fact, he seemed even less threatening, now that the long, deadly looking blades sheathed at his sides were nowhere to be seen.
As he takes another heaping bite, she sighs, palming her face and kneading her forehead.
Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm feeling less tired, since I wanted to ask him a few more questions…
The last thing she remembers hearing was him talking casually about killing something he called 'Primals', comparing them with gods. She'd asked him why he came here, and the response she received was a meandering, long-winded answer which could basically be boiled down to 'Because I'm an adventurer'.
But he never actually answered that question, so it seems as good a place to start as any…
With a starting point defined, she looks up from the ground, letting her hands drop into her lap.
"Alright, picking up from where we left off yesterday…"
Taiasu looks up from the bowl, both his cheeks packed like a chipmunk storing its winter supply.
"Ophkay…."
Before her hands have even come to rest in her lap, Rin is again palming her face.
"Swallow first, please. Then talk."
His eyes widen for a moment, and he forces the half-chewed mouthful of food down, pounding his chest to help it on its way.
"Right, sorry. It's just good…" He meets her gaze, his face split by a full grin.
"It's… just noodles and broth with some egg… It's not even proper to call it ramen," she says, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Well, you say that, but it's still good."
"If you say so…" she mutters. "Anyway, let's get back on track."
Quickly, she tries to steer the conversation before it again falls victim to his natural talent for derailing them. She even has to reach across the table as he readies himself to dig in again, smacking his hand, causing him to recoil.
"Ow! Why…?"
"You've had enough. Talk now," she says, her eyes narrowing. "Finish eating later."
His mouth hangs for a moment before he clamps it shut.
"R-Right, sorry…" he mutters, turning a shade of red. "That was rude of me."
Rin's eyes cease narrowing, relaxing into a more natural state.
"It's fine. Anyway, we're trying to continue our discussion from the roof. I asked you why you're here, and you told me you were an adventurer, but we never got further than that."
Taiasu nods. The slight motion causes his eyes to drift toward the bowl, and he has to force them up again.
"Right, why I'm here… I couldn't answer properly before because…"
He sighs heavily, his redness deepening as he considers how he actually got here.
"Well… Adventurers accept contracts from people. I accepted one from this old man… He told me to call him 'Watcher', but I think 'old man' suits him better. Anyroad, he didn't say much, but he didn't really need to."
His gaze dips again.
"I enjoy going places and meeting people, so this—" He gestures around the room. "—has been pretty fun and exciting for me. Even though I can't do much, with magic being a secret and all. And I've enjoyed adventuring for a while now."
His light grin quickly drops into an irritated frown.
"I still wish he'd told me I was going to another world…"
Rin frowns, folding her arms, tapping her finger rhythmically.
"There's nothing you said there that answers my question, Taruko-kun, so I'll ask it again—" She leans in, her frown sharpening. "—Why. Are. You. Here."
He looks up, frowning thoughtfully.
"Because the old man asked me to come here."
"To do what, exactly?"
The conversation he had with Watcher was less than two days ago, but already it feels like a lifetime, and he has to dig deeply into his mind to find the answers.
"Well… he wasn't particularly forthcoming with the details…" Taiasu mutters, fidgeting under Rin's ever-heating glare. "He even told me flat out he couldn't give me a straight answer. Just something about a chance for me to 'broaden my horizons'. That there were people in your world who could benefit from my aid."
Those words sour in his mouth, turning it down in a bitter frown.
"Except that part he seemed to be lying about," he grumbles.
"How's that?" Rin's tone eases as she asks.
"Well, how in every gods damned hell am I supposed to help people when I can't do the things I'm best at?!" Taiasu snaps. "I mean, if I go around doing the stuff I can do, people are gonna see it, right?!"
His gaze flies up again, and he locks eyes with Rin.
"It's not like that in my world! 'Magic' is as commonplace as breathing! Here, most of what I could do would—"
"Okay, okay… I understand, Taruko-kun." She speaks in a calming tone, trying to settle his vexation. "You're limited in what you can do. Let's table that for now. So you're not really sure why you're here, is what you're saying? Do you think he tricked you here or something?"
Archer snickers at the question, but both Rin and Taiasu ignore him for the moment as the latter shakes his head slowly.
"I wondered… But I don't think so. He seemed sincere, despite being irritatingly evasive. And he also gave me—!"
His eyes snap wide as he remembers.
"Right! These!"
Quickly, yet carefully, he frees the pouch from his belt and sets it on the table.
"When I was thinking about this today, I remembered he gave me these. He called them 'Soulanchor Stones'. Said they'd serve a special function for certain, unique individuals I'd meet while I was here. Wasn't sure what he meant, but when I looked into the bag, I saw some of them had changed…"
He opens the pouch, then digs around inside until he finds the two changed stones, and brings out a third to compare.
"Wait… Something's wrong, though…?"
He looks back into the bag and shifts the stones around some more.
"No… That's not right. I mean, I know I've met three by now…" he mutters. A few seconds more and he grumbles loudly as he sets the pouch back on the table. "Damn it…"
Curious now, Rin reaches her hand toward one stone. The one which glows off white. As she gets closer to it, she notes the color seems to shift subtly until it's in her hand. Once she's grasped it, the color shifts completely from off-white to steel-gray.
Strange—!
After holding it a few seconds, she winces, her Command Spell twinging slightly, and the stone tumbles to the table where it returns to its off-white glow. At the sound, Taiasu looks up from glaring down at the pouch.
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I think the stone reacted with my Command Spell…" She stares down at it, pressing her lip with her hooked finger. "Or my Command Spell reacted with the stone? What was it you were saying before, though?"
"Right, before. I've met a few of… Well—" He points at Archer in the corner. "—Three, including him. One as big as a mountain, one…"
Recalling the statuesque beauty, his face turns a shade of red again, and he has to shake his head to get his mind back on track.
"One was tall, and then there was him. I was thinking because the number of changed stones was the same as the number I'd met, they might have something to do with them. But if that was true, I'd have three now, not two…"
He sighs, slouching forward over the table, pushing the bowl aside and rolling the off-white stone around under his palm.
"I can't think of anything else…"
Something in his words feels off, but Rin can't quite place what, and decides not to dwell, instead using her renewed vigor to press the discussion forward.
"You may not be far off, Taruko-kun…" she mutters, staring down at the other two stones. "Though what they do, I can't say. There may be something else behind what caused them to change, but if there's some connection between these and the Command Spell, it wouldn't be a leap for them to be tied to the Servants somehow."
She sighs again, and a heavy silence prevails for a few moments…
Until Taiasu's eyes fall back to the bowl he'd slid aside, and he resumes eagerly consuming its contents.
Rin remains in quiet contemplation of these recent revelations for a few minutes more, as Taiasu finishes the simple meal she provided. Once he's slurped down the broth, he wipes his mouth, which turns up in another satisfied smile before he looks across the table.
He allows for a few more minutes to pass before speaking up.
"Um… Tohsaka?"
She frowns, reaching toward the stones, then pulling back her hand.
"If these are related, then why? Why would he have them if he's from another world?"
"Tohsaka?"
"And what about this old man he's talking about? Why would he have them? And why would he just hand them over like that? This is all making my head hurt!"
"Rin…?"
Hesitantly, Taiasu tries her 'other' name. It does the trick of getting her attention, and she breaks her gaze from the stones to his face, brow furrowed, eyes narrowed.
"Don't call me that," she snaps.
"Ah, sorry… Actually, I never asked… How should I address you?"
"Huh?" Her brow smooths out. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you know… You got irritated just now, so I'm guessing you'd prefer your family name?"
"Generally, that's how it goes, yes," she mutters. "So, yes, please, address me like that."
"Right, Tohsaka then. That's fine. Hey, can I ask you something? I mean, another thing besides?"
Rin looks up from the table, tilting her head.
"Huh?"
"Well, I mean, 'Can I ask you something?' is already a question, so I'd have to ask 'Can I ask you two things?'…"
He speaks with a sincere tone, and, still standing near the clock, Archer palms his face.
"Jeez, is this guy for real?" he mutters.
"Come on, it's cute," Rin says through a laugh. "But sure, go ahead."
Taiasu nods, then swallows down. It's something he'd noticed, yet brushed aside. But how she reacted when he'd called her by name brought it back to the fore of his mind.
"Sakura explained about how everyone here addresses each other. Like, how people who are close would use their given names, but otherwise their family names." He looks down, prodding his fingers. "I think I know what she meant when she said 'close'… but…"
He glances furtively over at Archer.
"Could you explain it so I understand better?"
"What she meant by close?" Rin arches her brow, and Taiasu looks back at her, nodding. "Well, basically, family, close friends, lovers, and the like. She probably told you, but unless someone gives express permission, it's better to ask, or just use their family name. Does that help?"
Taiasu nods.
"Y-Yeah… but…" He swallows again, his face reddening deeply. "But your Servant… Archer? He calls you 'Rin'… Does that mean you guys are l… l…" The red in his face deepens further.
"L-L-L… lovers?"
The last word comes out as a whisper, and doesn't hang long in the air before…
*SLAM*
… being overwhelmed by the sound of Rin's head piling into the carpet, which itself is swallowed by Archer's uproarious laughter. All of this only serves to deepen even further the red in Taiasu's face.
"I-I'm sorry… Was that a rude question to ask?"
The innocent follow up only serves to have Archer doubling over. His laughing fit quickly devolves into a coughing fit, while 'Tohsaka' springs to her feet to obliterate this critical misunderstanding.
"Like HELL, and NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN!"
Briefly, Taiasu imagines at least, he can see fire erupting from her mouth as she bellows furiously, and he presses back into his seat.
"I'm sorry… but you said—"
"NOTHING! OF! THE! SORT!" With each word, she slams her foot into the carpet to punctuate it. "That's just how he is, and I've had to learn to live with it!"
Tohsaka takes in several heaving deep breaths, trying to settle down and keep herself from reaching across the table and hurtling Taiasu through the wall and into the street.
"S-Sorry… I jumped to a hasty conclusion."
With some effort, he pulls himself out and bows forward lightly. After a few more breaths, the red in Tohsaka's expression fades, and she refocuses to see his gesture.
It's fine… It's fine… He just doesn't understand.
Still, she has to take in another few breaths before she's able to speak in a tone having any semblance of calm.
"No… I mean, I can see how that's one conclusion you might have drawn—wait." Her brow arches upward. "Just one, though… Why that one? Why lovers?"
Her tone shift helps him relax some, and he folds his arms, tilting his head at her question.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, I said close friends, family and lovers." She frowns across the table at him. "So why was that…?"
"Oh…" Taiasu frowns down at the table, trying to decide himself. "I'm not… sure? Sakura explained it to me a bit, what Servants are… I've been hearing the word over and over. She said they're summoned here, so I guess I didn't think he could be a family member…"
The answer makes a strange sort of sense to both of them.
Archer, however, hears none of it for being red in the face, wheezing for breath, nearly collapsed on the floor.
Taiasu's vacant eyes wander until he settles them on the now empty bowl, and his mouth curls down in a small frown. He lets slip a despondent sigh, which doesn't escape Tohsaka's notice.
"Something wrong?" Following his eyes to the bowl, she smirks. "You can't still be hungry, small as you are. I've seen few people eat that much that quickly…"
"No, nothing was wrong with it. It just felt… lacking, somehow…" Glancing up, he can see Tohsaka's eyes narrowing, her brow furrowing inward, and quickly imagines what comes next. "N-No, it's not what you think! It was all great, I promise!"
Sh-she can be really scary. I forgot about that. She reminds me a little of Alisaie when she's like that. I have to be more careful with what I say.
Again sighing, he reaches into his side pack.
"It's nothing you could do anything about…" When he brings his hand out, it's wrapped around a glowing, jagged, amber-colored crystal, which he sets down. He has to reach in several more times, and each time there's another crystal in his hand.
Six in total.
The battle with Archer had been more draining than he'd realized, and filling his stomach only highlighted how drained his aether had been by both it, and having spent the day maintaining a concealment field so he didn't end up getting arrested for carrying weapons, or worse, drawing a crowd of curious onlookers.
Tohsaka watches intently, her teeth that she'd been baring at his comment before last slowly receding behind her lips, and the color in her complexion returning to normal. Her eyes trace over each crystal, differing subtly in shape, and radically in color.
Amber, violet, crimson, larimar, sapphire, and emerald.
She watches as he divides them into two groups of three, then rests his hands on them, his eyes drifting closed. He lets out a long exhalation, over several seconds.
Once for each crystal.
The thought to try attuning to two or more at the same time never occurs to him. Even if it had, who could say it was possible, or even safe? Each time he breathes out, the color of one of the two stones he's resting his hands on dims, then vanishes completely, leaving behind an empty husk.
"What…?"
Tohsaka's eyes widen, her mouth falling open.
What she'd seen in the shed was similar, but forgotten in everything that's happened this evening.
What is this…? What are those? Did he just… Did he eat them?
"It's the aether, remember?" With the light from the last winking out, Taiasu's eyes drift open, and he looks up to meet her wide-eyed stare. "I told you about it yesterday. There's none in this world from what I can tell, but back on my world, it's everywhere. The water we drink, the air we breathe, even the food we eat. We need it to live…"
He looks down at the now-drained clusters.
"These sustain me for now. I only recently discovered I could do this… If I hadn't, I think…"
He glances over at Archer. The battle against Berserker, if it could so be called, was nothing by comparison. His only attempted offense had to be halted in that case.
If I'd been in a similar state… I don't think we'd be having this discussion.
He looks back at the spent crystals, lifting one up to pay it proper consideration. Slowly, the events in the shed trickle back from the deeper parts of Tohsaka's memories. The one, larger crystal, and the several smaller crystals.
I remember that, now… Vaguely. But these…
She reaches over and takes one in her hand.
"I know something of jewels and gemstones, but I've never seen anything like this…"
She gazes at it wondrously, while Taiasu chuckles lightly.
"No, I imagine you wouldn't. They're native to Hydaelyn, and the worlds connected to it."
Tohsaka turns the inert stone in her hand, then winces as one of the sharp edges catches on her finger. She sets it down, but before she can tend to the minor injury, a minute droplet of blood falls from it to the crystal's surface. At the point of contact, a brief flash catches her eye, and when it's dimmed, her mouth slackens as her gaze rests on the now glowing crystal.
Not as full or as bright as before, but glowing nonetheless. And not in a stable fashion like before, but shifting between four distinct colors at regular intervals.
Crimson, amber, silver and lapis.
Slowly, her eyes grow wider with each alternation.
H-hold on a second. Did this thing just… absorb the mana from my blood…?
Gears whir and click in her mind with reckless speed as she processes the possibilities.
"How… many of these things do you have…?" she whispers.
Slowly, her lips curl up in a grin so wide and eager it practically pours her intent into her eyes.
If it did… that means…
"A few, why…?"
Taiasu glances up to see her staring at the stone like she wants to buy it dinner.
Or possibly eat it, he can't tell for certain.
Then he spies the stone itself, and that it's regained some of its former luster.
"Wait, what?"
He reaches for it, but she moves it out of his grasp.
"I'll take this as compensation for your meal, and a place to stay tonight," she says. "Well, the meal, anyway. We'd already decided you're staying here… tonight…?"
The words tumble in her mind, trying to open some important, forgotten task, but before they can, the tumblers slip back into place as Taiasu's voice interrupts her thoughts.
"Wait, why do you want the crystal?" His eyes narrow, his mouth slanting down in a small frown. "I mean, it's worthless to me now, but if you're going to do something bad with it, I can't just let you have it."
She laughs.
Perhaps with more mania than she'd meant to.
"Settle down, short man. Nothing of the sort. I'll need to confirm it first, but if I'm right, these things seem to act like capacitors. It takes time for me to store magical energy into my jewels, but this thing sucked it up like it was water in a desert."
She stares at the stone in her hand, its subtle glow reflecting in her eyes.
"It'll take some experimenting to confirm if that's the case, and to know how much they can hold if it is, and what their use cases could be, but if I'm right…" Her eyes squint closed as her enormous grin dominates her entire face. "I'll never want for money or jewels again… You said a few, right?"
Slowly, Taiasu nods, but only as his eyes narrow further.
"I… appreciate the offer, but the look on your face is a bit concerning."
"What's concerning?!" As if he needed any more reason to doubt, she lets out another near maniacal laugh. "I'm not interested in world domination or anything like that! I just don't want to keep spending money on jewels, and if there's an alternative, I'd be stupid not to seize it!"
Having never wanted for money, it's not something with which Taiasu can relate, but understanding her intent does help settle his concern.
Some, at least.
It still takes a moment for him to get his eyes into a more relaxed state as he rubs his chin, considering.
So, she's not a megalomaniac. She's just… frugal, I guess? I mean, I barely spend my money if I can just go get what I need from the land, or from hunting wild game, so I guess I can appreciate that. And I at least owe her for getting her Servant to stand down. And for the meal.
Sighing, he nods.
"Okay… I'm still not incredibly comfortable with this, but I do at least owe you something for… well, getting him to settle down."
He aims his finger at Archer, who has since recovered from his fit of laughter and chosen to remain a silent observer of their discussion.
"But you should probably start with something a little less…" His hand disappears into his side pack again. "Potent. And actually, I was wondering if these things had a use…"
When it emerges, it's holding a single, tiny rounded husk of a crystal, about twice the size of a shooter marble, similar to the ones he'd used in the shed.
He dives in again and brings out one of the six mid-grade crystal husks he'd drained last night when he was discovering he could actually do this. Drawn in, with each passing second they remain fixed on the dim husks, Tohsaka's eyes widen further. And like it has a mind of its own, her hand slowly moves toward them.
"H… How many of these did you say you have?"
"Hold on, I need to tell you a few things first!" he snaps, hugging them out of her reach. "This is a bunch of uncharted territory! I've never even heard of them being used for something like this. Discovering it all was just a happy accident that saved my life!"
Frowning, she withdraws her hand.
"Alright fine. Spill, and be quick…"
Despite the sudden appearance of an answer to one of her worst money woes, the hour is getting late, and she's feeling her renewed vigor slip and yield to her physical exhaustion.
Taiasu nods, then goes into as succinct an explanation as he can about the crystals.
Their intended use for producing various artisanal sundries, how he's used them since arriving, precedent for such a thing as Primals draining them for similar use (Only just realizing that similarity, his lips dry out at the thought. Then I definitely have to make sure I use them in equal parts to keep my aether properly aligned…), and their relative concentration levels.
Tohsaka listens as well as she can, but her eyes soon glaze over once he's begun speaking of how he knows sweet little and less about the details.
"So I'd start with these…" he says, holding up the shard. "At least if it explodes, it shouldn't be too severe. And once you know how much it can hold, you'll have an idea how much the others can, too. Then you can do whatever you want with the rest."
Grinning eagerly, she nods.
"Sure, sure. So, any you've not exhausted?" Her eyes drift toward that magnificent pack at his side, and she has to beat down her desire to ask about it. "I want to run an experiment to see just how powerful these things are."
He nods again, disappearing his arm into his pack.
"Sure, heads up."
He's not even finished his casual warning before he's tossed over one of the small, rounded shards. A crimson-colored one. It vanishes from the air as Tohsaka's deft reflexes allow her to snatch it mid-flight with ease.
Her eyes widen as her hand closes around it.
H-Hold on, this is—!
"Ow, hot—?!" Reflexively, she winces backward, dropping the shard, then relaxes, blinking down at it as it rolls to a stop. "Wait, hold on… That wasn't hot… Why did I think it was hot?"
"That's crystalized, condensed, fire aspected aether," Taiasu says, snapping his pack closed. "I already said I'm not an authority, though. Maybe it's just an instinct you have…?"
Curious, he strokes his chin for a few seconds.
"Odd, though… That makes me wonder if your world's 'magical energy' is really so incompatible with my world's aether…"
Tohsaka, Archer and Taiasu gather in the spacious area outside, back behind her house. The most noteworthy feature is the large, empty basin. Besides that, the well-manicured lawn, and what few trees there are, everything is enclosed with a simple, red picket fence, and the more dense concentration of trees beyond it.
"We'll use the pool to run the test," Tohsaka says, eyeing the small, flame-aspected shard gripped between her fingers. About the size of most jewels she's worked with, it fits comfortably enough for her to hold like she does her more normal jewels.
"You said these are the lowest concentration, so it should give us an idea of what the other two can do."
Taiasu swallows hard. He'd not been certain what she meant by 'test', but the more she speaks, the more clear it becomes, and it's causing him some pretty unsettling doubts.
"I'm… not sure this is such a great idea anymore…"
Inexplicably, the image of a colossal mushroom cloud laying waste to a vast area plays on repeat in his head. Tohsaka chuckles, grinning eagerly, holding the shard in her left hand, her arm stretched outward. From beneath her shirt and jacket comes a soft, blue glow as she activates her crest.
"It'll be fine."
It was not.
Though, admittedly, it also could have been much, much worse.
A few moments after Tohsaka's arm began producing that soft, blue glow, the shard's own glow intensified. The moment she detected the slightest fracture forming within it, she'd used her magical energy to form a protective shield to guard against any blow-back.
The result was an intense shockwave, blowing back her twin tails to their fullest length, and an intensely heated, crimson-colored frontal conal blast wave issuing forward about five meters. It sounded like something between a bomb exploding and a thunderclap, and the produced flash of light was so bright it lit up the entire backyard for a sound few seconds.
Once her eyes have adjusted to the returning darkness, Tohsaka wipes her brow with her free hand as she looks around the yard.
The pool is still intact.
Mostly.
Except for that telling massive scorch mark running the length of it. Also scorched is the ground, where the ray of raw magical power that had erupted from the shard at her coaxing overshot the pool. It smolders plaintively, releasing its last gasps of life into the night sky as pitiful wisps of smoke.
Tohsaka frowns at the carnage.
How the hell am I going to explain all this to a pool technician…?
It was actually closer than she's comfortable admitting. Out loud, or even to herself. She'd tried using the shard just like one of her normal jewels, releasing its stored magical power. With her jewels, there's an incantation that goes with it, and they don't explode until the moment of impact with their target.
Here, there was no such delay. It was like a too-short fuse had been ignited, and there'd been no chance to throw the stone.
It's not ideal… But now that I know how it works…
Her heart stirs, realizing the possibilities.
I can use these… Just like that. I just have to be ready to raise a small shield before, so I don't get vaporized.
Taiasu's expression is a wide-eyed tabula rasa.
"Thank every god we used a shard, first…"
And his voice is a full monotone, almost like a robot.
Somehow, the mushroom cloud imagery his mind had painted before now seems woefully insufficient.
I don't think we'd be around to appreciate the destruction caused by a crystal or cluster…
Tohsaka glances down at her hand, where the shard had been. Except for a dark smudge and a few fragments like glass, there's nothing left, yet her hand seems no worse for the wear.
"So that's the lowest grade…" She brushes the shard fragments from her hand, then closes and opens it a few times, satisfied that it offers no complaint. She then looks over at Taiasu. "What did you say about the other two, Taruko-kun?"
Hearing his name snaps him from his dazed shock and lets him blink the dry from his eyes.
"Uh, yeah… Clusters contain about fifty times that much—" Just mouthing those words causes his entire body to jerk violently in a visceral wince. "—and crystals are about twenty-five times…"
He sighs, kneading the bridge of his nose.
"Also, we've never used them for such reckless, wanton destruction. At least, not that I'm aware. Like I said, I've only used them for forging weapons, armor, and whatever else have you."
Those artisanal sundries.
Dismissively, Tohsaka shrugs.
"Well, it was just a simple experiment," she says. "I tried releasing its power, like with one of my jewels. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect, but this is…"
Slowly, her lips curl up in a disconcerting, eager grin.
"Pretty enticing."
"Well, I'm glad you're having fun, but I can't just give you every single one I have," Taiasu says, breathing out another deep sigh. "Maybe five more of those shards. I can't use them anymore because… reasons…"
The deep frown on his face almost caves in.
Getting into aether corruption would take more time than it's worth. And it's not something she needs to know about, anyroad.
Hearing his words causes Tohsaka's eyes to practically shine with anticipation.
"Five more crystals? Each capable of this?"
He nods in response.
"Yeah. Like I said, I can't use them anymore. At least, not here. When I get back, I'll…?"
His voice trails, his thoughts cut into by one more disconcerting. One to which he's paid little mind for quite some time.
'When'… I get back…? I still don't know if that's even possible…
