CHAPTER 2: THE VOICE OF ALL THINGS
Unforgiving. That was the only word that could come close to describing the ravaging wind and the all-penetrating cold that was howling across the region. The land covered in snow all over, a snow that pierced the very concept of warmth. There was not one spot it did not cover, including the steep walls of the only construct atop a small hill: A single tower, with only one window at the very top. Said window was completely iced in, there was no opening it no matter how anyone might try. If not for the window, one might even think that the tower itself was made out of snow and ice, sculpted into the shape of the structure.
But, what mattered more was the presence within. Atop the highest floor, where that one window was located. A prisoner's cell, hidden behind a mighty door of pure orichalcum, the toughest metal found, often described as completely indestructible. Behind it, chains as far as the eye could see. Chains in the hundreds, hanging from each of the 6 cubic directions, all stiffened as they held down a singular being at its center. A woman, with hair of ash and skin of silk and cream, a lean and feminine build, hidden only beneath the barest minimum of clothing which consisted of an aged, damaged crop top and a cloth tied around the waist to serve as a makeshift skirt. The chains bound against all of her limbs, keeping her standing, each one of her appendages spread towards one direction. Said chains either cuffed around her, or outright impaled her flesh, but despite so many punctures from hooks, no fatal injury was to be seen.
"Sa...ve... me..." the woman whispered, her voice weak, defeated, broken, the voice of a shell with no more strength or will to live. "Sav..e... me... O...dr..."
Yato let out a small but satisfied yawn as he rose himself from his slumber, feeling his neck overcoming with soreness now that his senses were fully focused. He grunted out for a moment and got up from where he was laid down, the cold stony floor of the abandoned alley he had rested within providing him with naught but solitude and serenity. "The peace of silence..." he mumbled to himself before he stretched his neck slightly by tilting his head sideways before he suddenly felt an all too familiar situation, something akin to a tug at the very core of his being, a rope hooked to his soul that was now being pulled for only a short moment, demanding his attention. He immediately reached into the inner pocket of his kimono and took out the communications device, the crystallized ball, and rose it to eye-level. "You have called for me, my lord?"
"...I have. It appears that we have made a fatal miscalculation in a particular matter involving the coming Hero."
These words made Yato feel nervous. "Miscalculated? Him?" He thought to himself before gulping audibly. "My lord, does it have to do with our interferences as of late?"
"...You suspected a complication when you prevented the annihilation of Astraea's Children, but you were not ready to consider it would affect the future all the way to the arrival of the Hero. I fault you not, I too have only stumbled upon this discovery just now."
Yato had long since learned to not be surprised at how accurate the predictions of his superior were in regards to his own thoughts. It was the first thing he had to get used to ever since he began this... quest of his, if that is what it could be called. In all fairness, changing the outcome of the future could not be dumbed down as but a quest, it is insulting to the very concept of the greater picture. "I... have. Something has changed for the worse, and I worry that it may be a direct consequence of our interference."
"... Your worries are founded upon an accurate guess. As we have altered the eradication of Astraea Familia, Ryuu Lion will therefore never become an outlawed existence, taken into the patronage of what shall become her best friend in the future. Because of that, we must steer a different direction. Freya MUST be softened through a genuine friendship with a mortal, one haunted by too many demons to feel but agony and repulse upon her charm. One who suffers so fatally that even with their memories robbed they would remain within a cycle of self-deprecation and self-loathing."
"I understand" Yato began, letting out a long sigh as he was pondering over options on the endeavor from his end. "I suppose you wouldn't have an idea in mind, do you?"
"... I have but one reliable suggestion, but it will once more alter the events to come in a direction that will require further intervention."
The swordsman nodded his head as he listened intently. "And who shall we put upon this path? Who will be the woman that shall grant Goddess Freya the first step to awakening her ability to feel?"
"... Aisha Belka, the vice-captain of Ishtar Familia. She is haunted with regret, she curses herself each day and knows only contempt and loathing for a majority of her peers. She may have some friendly contacts within her Familia, some she could consider to be friends, but none can hope to mend the rift within her heart. That will change very soon. In 3 months, the Renard, Sanjurou Haruhime, will arrive in Orario, and she will give Aisha solace and peace, if only in fractions. It must not come to pass. Aisha Belka must be excommunicated from her life as an adventurer and be found by Freya before then."
"But that, in turn, will mean that nobody will protect Haruhime and ensure that she is not defiled by the clients. She will lose her purity as well as a surrogate sister figure. This in turn will only worsen her frail nature, perhabs even fully invoke the ambers of her inferiority complex as the 'damsel that does not deserve saving'. The Hero would never be able to warm her heart and earn her affection as he is meant to."
"...Accurate. Therefore, she must never reach Ishtar in the first place. Once Aisha Belka has been handed over to Freya's disguised identity known as Syr Flova, you shall inform Astraea and Ganesha of the human trafficking circles within Orario. You will prepare to intercept Haruhime and she will be entrusted under your direct care. She is to bear Astraea's Falna, but to operate only under your sole command until the time comes for her to join the side of her hero."
"I... understand" Yato responded, the new directive given causing him some concern. He was not the kind of person who knew how to take care of someone directly. And now, he had 3 months to prepare himself for 5 years of babysitting. Just thinking about the duration was nauseating. If only he could get out of this predicament.
"...My order is given upon solid founding. Do not discredit yourself, my soldier, for I have spoken. Now go, you have a steep schedule before you-
"If I may..." Yato began, gulping for a second before he resumed speaking, his demeanor having changed to look much more nervous. "I have an alternative that will not obstruct our plans as much."
The voice remained strangely quiet for a lengthy amount of time before it responded, remaining monotone as it always did. "...I must break professionality to properly express my dismay at your suggestion: That is a uniquely stupid idea, even for you."
"But it is one that could work"
"... You are my best soldier, and my last one. Befriending Freya yourself, while possibly functional, is very risky. You may resist her charm, but only for so long."
He knew that his superior was right. But, in light of just how much things could be changed, possibly for worse, if they were to go with the first option, he chose to insist. "A calculated risk is no risk at all. Is that not what you have taught me? I have means to break free of her should she try and my resistances fail me. Enough self-inflicted pain should steer me out of the pleasure. Besides, I do believe my rather vulgar nature will be welcome for her, while also being extremely irritating to her familia. They do not like the very thought of her possessing flaws, let alone someone talking about them, and yet, she herself yearns for this brash honesty, for genuine feedback, someone who won't kiss their way from her feet all up to her ass. It is for that reason she likes the company of the virgin goddesses. I believe it is an acceptable course of action."
"... I have trusted your judgement time and again, and it has proven to not be a misplaced trust. Fine, you have permission, but as soon as she is jeopardizing our operation, you are to revert to the original suggestion. The ideal future MUST NOT be compromised."
The purple-haired man nodded his head and let out a relieved sigh. "Of course, my lord. There is one more thing. All things considered, I believe it will be a wise choice to seek out and recruit Sanjurou Haruhime none the less. Having her be more properly prepared for the future could prove to be a worthy investment once the hero arrives."
"...I shall consider the option and let you know if you are permitted or not. Remember, altering the future so severely must not be done with lacking care. Time does not like being messed with, it will mess back with twice the force, and each new change will stack up to unleash greater calamity."
"Of course, my lord. I would not make such a suggestion lightly."
"...As long as you understand, all is well. Now go, my swallow. Let no wind steer your flight."
Understanding his order crystal clear, Yato put the communications device back into his kimono's inner pocket and got up from his current placement, dusting himself off before stretching himself to rid his bones from some stiffness that might have accumulated over the night.
Two hours later
Yato arrived at the large gates that lead into the front lawn of the massive mansion that defined the Astraea Familia's turf, their home, and casually hopped over it while the namesake goddess and her total of 11 members were all assembled outside, awaiting the purple-haired man, as today would be the beginning of what is supposed to be their 'training', under Ouranos' orders.
"Well, you're all up bright and early" The swordsman dejectedly commented before he let out a small sigh, looking across their members and seeing not one of them being anyhow sleepy.
"Of course" Alise commented, a cheery grin on her face. "If Ouranos himself put you up to this, then you must be someone who can teach us a lot of things!"
He wouldn't disagree, though he contemplated doing so anyway to not come off as arrogant, but decided to rest the case and instead just shrugged. "Very well, I will begin with something that is going to be the basis of all your future exercises. Somebody bring me a sturdy log of wood or a wooden practice sword."
The request was somewhat weird, nobody knew what he was going to be doing with a piece of wood out of all things. Sure, the obvious answer, they all thought, would be sparring, but it didn't make much sense for an exercises of something that, from the way he described it, would be a basic skill to build up upon. Ryuu drew her wooden sword so no one had to go inside and fetch another one, tossing it over to the swordsman, who caught it quickly before making a few practice swings. The trained eyes of the members all quickly began to look in awe as he was very, very quickly to master this new weapon. Within a handful of swings, his speed, his precision, his form, his stance, his focus, his guard, all of it became refined. In seconds, he had adapted to the new weapon.
Yato nodded his head slightly and tossed it back to Ryuu. "Alright, now then. Before the explanation, I will make a demonstration" He declared and reached into the inner right pocket of his kimono, pulling out a piece of cloth he quickly wrapped around his head to cover his eyes. Then he pulled out two earplugs and put them in his ear. "Miss Ryuu, attack me with all you got. Every skill, every spell, every technique you have. Your goal is to hit me just once."
She would question this command, if he wasn't both blinded and deafened by his own hands, so she deflated with a deep breath before doing as told. She dashed forward with all of her might and swiftness, aiming for a swing to the right at neck height. But Yato just ducked and dodged it. Ryuu was caught by surprise for a moment, but then she resumed her attacks, a downward swing, a lunge at his solar plexus, a sideways swing followed by switching her grip to backhand and trying to whip him with the handle of her wooden weapon. But try as she might, he easily and effortlessly dodged all of her attacks, with minimal movement no less. Worse even, he never left the spot he stood on, only turning every now and then.
After a solid 5 minutes of attacking and missing with everything she got, Yato lifted his left hand up to sign her to stop, then removed his earplugs and his blindfold. "Well, safe to say you failed in your goal" he commented, much to her confusion and curiosity.
"How did you do that!?" Iska asked loudly while she and the rest of the group stepped forward.
"Oh, that is actually quite simple to explain. I can see the future"
...
...
"""HUUUUH!?""" they all shouted in unison.
"Okay, I was kidding. Somewhat." He fired back immediately, causing them to groan out in annoyance. "But, the technique comes pretty close to the idea" he explained further, getting their full and undivided attention. He motioned them all to sit down on the soft grass and lowered himself to a cross legged seating before relaxing.
"You are going to have to explain in great detail. The way you were pretty untouchable to every attempt Ryuu made is fascinating" Kaguya noted, arms crossed while she had one of her rare, non-smirking expressions.
"To summarize the idea" Yato began, leaning back just a bit to straighten his back. "What I did was essentially sense the intent for her every action."
The choice of words used to describe what he did was no less clarifying, evident by the confused looks he received.
Yato pinched the bridge of his nose and continued. "There are very few absolutes when it comes to life. The possibilities are endless and endlessly flexible. There are exceptions to almost everything, even conceptualities itself. But, one thing that is universally absolute for all creation is the fact that there is no action without intention."
Curiosity once more gripped the attention of everyone as they listened, all 11 heads leaning forward slightly in a subconscious display of interest for the claim.
"There is no such thing as an action that is purely performed randomly. Everything, EVERYTHING, a living organism does is based on some intention, even if that intention is purely subconscious and even instinctual on the most basic levels. Case and point: We are never hungry for no reason at all. We either have need for sustenance or for gluttony. We have an 'intention to be well fed'. We never get tired for no reason. We have the need for rest, for dreams, for escaping stress. We have an 'intention to recover'. Whether the intention is laid out consciously or lead purely by our survival-instincts, there is no action we perform or want to perform without an intent to define the action in itself. In other words, none of you ever have, are, or ever will perform any kind of action or task without having some intention behind it. Sometimes, the intention defines our reasoning and thinking, sometimes it defines our instincts, sometimes it is based on synonymous or antonymous reaction from another action, but the rule stands, there is an intention in EVERYTHING."
This was an insightful explanation, yes, but it still lacked connection to what he did earlier, and Alise was quick to point that out. "That is good and all, but how does it explain you becoming untouchable like that?"
A small smirk grew on the man's face. "By sensing the intention, you can become aware of the action before it comes. In a fight, the intention is often laid bare with a thought along the lines of 'I want to hit them at this area for that effect' or 'I need to land this strike at that location to win' and the like. So if you can sense these intentions, you can read your opponents move before they finished processing their thoughts to commit on the action, allowing a process that mimicks seeing the future for a brief second or two. This can be learned without the use of any skills or spells or even developmental abilities, for it is a higher level of consciousness altogether."
Iska was easily the most excited to hear about this. "That is so powerful! I really want to learn that!" She commented, and while everyone was also exhilirated to learn this technique, it was easy to see that the amazoness was by far the one looking forward the most to it, as it meant that she would be that much more powerful as an amazon, and therefore, the man to defeat her and earn her affection would have to be that much stronger than her. For her amazonian culture, this was pivotal for finding the ideal mate.
"I like the look in your eyes, but don't be so happy about it" Yato said before slowly getting up. "It is an incredibly arduous process with lots of bruising to learn. To ascend your consciousness to a higher level like that, you need to undergo both physical and psychological strains unlike anything you have seen before. This technique was originally created in the Far East about 700 years ago by the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, first member of the Susano'o Familia known, but the sheer level of stress required to achieve such depth of sensation caused the practice to be banned by official law over how many people died because of it."
Quickly, all excitement the women had was replaced with pale expressions of worry. It only worsened by the devious smirk the swordsman grew as he said the next words.
"Oh, don't worry, I won't kill any of you, but you will definetly wish I had"
Sunfall
It had been the entire morning and afternoon that Yato spent with the Astraea Members, and he had made the 11 members undergo exercises so strainuous and extreme that by the time he declared them to be done for the day, not one of them succeeded in getting up or even just crawling. Exercises that were not considered normal, such as making a 3 hour long repetition of 100 push ups, 250 squats, 175 pull ups, a 5km run at the max speed they could around the lawn after he measured the circumfence of the steel fences surrounding the property. But those were only for the morning and after lunch. The afternoon was where he made it serious for them. While they exercised, he had gone to the Hephaestus Familia and purchased 11 solid 1 cubic meter sized blocks of pure platinum, which were extremely heavy, strapped them to their backs, and had them do various different exercises like pushups while standing on just the hands or balancing on the tip of their toes for 20 minutes per foot with their eyes blindfolded, causing every member to fall quite a few times from losing balance.
As of the moment of their day's end, all of the women were spread across the ground of the lawn, breathing profusedly and sweating like they never have before.
"You... *pant* weren't ki- *pant* kidding..." Kaguya moaned in a mixture of pure fatigue and soreness, almost sounding like she was in pain.
"Every single muscle you've developed in your lives will be incredibly sore. But, that is only every muscle you've already trained. From what I could see, all of you have underdeveloped, if not completely abandoned spaces in your musculature, which I don't blame you for, but it none the less needs to be addressed" He answered them and headed towards the gates. "Get yourselves cleaned up, eat well, rest well and look forward to tomorrow, because I am only going to make it worse from here on out. What kinda teacher am I to go all out on the first day" He responded with another one of his evil smirks as he hopped over the metallic gates and began to walk away.
"Damn...*pant*... he's a *pant* dem- *pant* demon" Alise barely managed to breathe out, panting so hard that she had issues properly formulating her words. She never had to breathe this hard in her entire life.
None of the members were doing any better, even Ryuu, who easily had the best stamina out of all of them. She was breathing so heavily that she was having a cloudy vision every now and then, as if on the brink of passing out from sheer exhaustion. "So... thirsty..." she barely managed to voice, earning her a choir of groans that were displaying their mutual agreements to having a drink.
"My children, I am ba-WHAT!?"
Astraea returned home in that moment, opening the gates and seeing her familia completely knocked out on the floor, barely staying conscious from the looks of it. She immediately began to grow concerned and approached her children, but saw no wounds or any indications of fighting. "What did he put you all through!?" She shouted in a mixture of irritation and concern.
Alise was the one to answer, as she was always the voice of the group in situations like these. "Pure...*pant*... torture...*pant* ne-*pant* need... *pant*... water..."
Astraea began to work quickly, running into the familia residence and getting bottles of water for them all, putting the neck of the bottles to their lips to have them drink a few gulps. The rejuvenating effect of hydrating properly awoke them almost like a miracle would, and just moments later, the first person, being Celty, could properly speak coherent sentences now. "Thank you, Lady Astraea, you are a true savior" she spoke with no small amount of exasperation for their wonderful deity.
"Now, what did he make you all do to leave you on our lawn half dead!?" Said goddess asked with just as much irritation, but less worry this time.
"He overtrained us on purpose" Ryuu responded. "He said that for the first technique to learn, we have to undergo a level of stress to body and mind that could go as far as risk our lives if done carelessly."
"HE WHAT!?" Astraea shouted at full capacity, causing most of the members to cringe slightly. Astraea rarely got angry, but dear god, when she was pissed, may Tenkai have mercy on your soul because she won't.
Kaguya slowly sat up, albeit with difficulty as her arms felt so weak and sore she visibly wobbled as she pushed herself to sit. "Not to worry, Goddess, this man seems to know exactly what he is doing, he has informed us that he will carefully monitor us to ensure we will not actually face life-risking conditions, but has disclosed us that we will definetly be pushing it as close to the line as we can without overstepping it."
Astraea sensed no lie from Kaguya's words, but it did nothing to ease her concern. "Are you sure about this, my children?"
"""Yes""" all 11 voices responded in unison.
Alise then continued. "We are, Lady Astraea. The reward, the strengthening we will aquire if we succeed is going to be worth all of this pain. I wouldn't trust his methods had he not shown us first hand the results of success. I may not trust him, but I trust his power."
Ryuu was second to begin seating up, and she too visibly struggled with doing just that, almost falling back down on her back twice. "I must agree with Alise. Besides, he was tasked by Lord Ouranos himself. If the God of Orario himself has assigned him, then he must be aware of the methods used on us. His agreement can only mean his faith in our success."
Their goddess relented under their determination and let out a defeated sigh. "You all have good points... I just hope that you don't have to suffer this spartan training for too long."
Meanwhile...
Yato had slowly begun making his way towards the central part of Orario, walking towards the Tower of Babel and approaching one of its entrances with the elevators leading upwards. He slowly glanced up to the highest floor and gave a simple wave of the hand, two fingers of his right hand placed right above his right brow, then cocked upwards in a gesture to display 'what's up?'. Afterwards, he moved his eyes and aimed his gaze towards the elevator that would lead to his destination, waiting with arms crossed.
About 2 minutes later, the door opened and two people stepped out, both being two of the most well known adventurers across the world. The 'King', Ottarl, and the 'Vana Freya', Allen Fromel.
Ottarl stepped forward a step further than Allen. "Our Goddess has informed us of your audacity to wave at her so casually"
Allen grit his teeth and had a tight grip on his spear, clearly out for some blood it seemed.
Yato just shrugged casually and glanced back and forth between the two once before answering. "Had to get her attention somehow. That she sent you down here either means she does want to grant me the audience, or she REALLY doesn't want to. Which will it be?"
Allen hated his attitude greatly. If not for Freya's clear command, he would have lunged at him spear first then and there for being so... lax and without formality.
"As you have not displayed aggression or hostility, you shall be granted this audience, but you shall pay proper respect to our Lady" Ottarl answered, his gaze displaying absolutely no tolerance for any disagreement.
Yato just nodded to show he understood. "I can easily agree. I am here with a proposition I know as a matter of fact she will be interested in. To give her something she hasn't had up until now."
Ottarl simply nodded while Allen audibly growled at the purple-haired man with distain, but obeyed orders none the less and guided Yato to the elevator together with Ottarl in order to bring him up to the 50th floor, where Freya resides.
As they arrived, Yato let out a whistle of awe at the sheer and tasteful decorations displayed. "I don't think I ever walked into a hallway that looked so expensive before in my whole life. Gotta admit it looks very good."
A short distance later, they arrived within what clearly appeared to be a meeting hall for Freya and her familia, with the goddess herself seated at one side of the table's lengthy body, straight at the center, and Yato was quickly moved to sit opposite of her. He gave a courteous bow before her and lowered himself on his seat.
"It has been a while since someone just walked up to my home like that" She began right away. "I will admit that it has piqued my curiosity. What would you want from me badly enough to risk insulting me?"
It was clear to Yato that she was in what seemed like a bad mood. She may smile curtly, she may have the aura of sweetness incarnate, but the choice of words gave it away. Yato understood right away when she asked him so boldly, no teasing or slight flirtatious small talk as an opener. As such, he decided to respond in kind. "You have many admirers and children in your familia, the few who aren't charmed by you seem to have something against you, be it a grudge or plain envy. I don't think you've had someone resistant to your charms want to offer you a friendship, plain and simple."
Freya cocked her left eyebrow up slightly and her expression grew into a smirk. "Oh? What makes you say that?"
Yato just shrugged his shoulders slightly. "If you chose to wear the ugliest, most raggedy piece of cloth on you, would a single person you currently know be able to tell you that you would look bad in it, without meaning to mock and insult you, but as genuine feedback?"
Ottarl's hand twitched ever so slightly, surpressing the urge to punch the man's lights out for insinuating that his Lady could ever look bad in anything.
Freya on the other hand widened her smirk and leaned in slightly. "That so? You argue your case well, but why should I say yes to anyone, let alone you?"
Yato responded to her smirk in kind. "Allow me a demonstration of the honesty you never get. I may not know you well enough, from person to person, but I do know that you do yearn for something much more genuine. Not just for love, but for companionship too, which is why you begun to switch places with Helun, disguising yourself as a regular girl to experience the outside world from a commoner's view."
Freya was caught off guard, if only a bit, but made sure not to show it on her expression, her smirk remaining unchanged as if made of stone. "Sharp eye you got there, with equally good deduction skills. As far as applications go, so far you've impressed me."
"With all due respect" Yato then started, causing Ottarl and Allen to itch their hands again, as everyone knows you never start a sentence with those four words unless you are about to say something negative or disagree. "You have amazing taste in art and literature, but damnit if your meals haven't killed someone already."
Ottarl and Allen visibly moved their arms, causing Freya to lift hers up in a 'halt' sign for the two to ease them. Afterwards, she began to chuckle somewhat, which evolved into a rare full blown laugh from her, something that both Allen and Ottarl had only seen her do once in all the many years they were a part of the familia.
The Goddess of Beauty leaned back into her seat and let out a satisfied sigh. "A platonic, respectable friendship with no charming and no false formalities to uphold some public standarts. Very well, you have awakened my interest in it. I shall see how you intent on keeping my interest without succumbing or seducing."
Yato just chuckled into his right hand, covering his mouth with it before he leaned back into the seat as well. "I do really think you need it. I mean, only ever having people kiss their way from your foot all up to your ass has to get boring at some point. The variety is, if nothing else, at least a modicum of entertainment to get through the day, don't you agree?"
Freya just glanced at his eyes with hers and gave another smirk, but one that clearly spoke in agreement to his words.
"Now, why don't we start this off with a little get to know" The purple-haired man suggested. "Tell me, you got a chess board for us to use?"