Chapter 32: Ascension (Part 10)
"So what exactly are the rules and regulations of this? If any at all?"
Rolling his neck and reveling in the smooth, uninterrupted play of flesh and muscle perfectly flexing and flowing as it should have always done Nanashi met Manaka's excited gaze, the girl cheerily stating, "Oh there won't be anything too complicated...you're just going to try your hardest to defeat me in whatever manner of battle you think possible to defeat me in."
With that the girl began casting a bevy of wards, bounded fields and half a dozen other forms of protection for the backyard they had taken up residence in that could probably stand up to anything short of a tactical nuke. Enchantments that kept certain energy thresholds from leaking past, spatial isolation, physical shields that would keep them from being launched about too quickly...it was quite the extensive list.
And Abigail had added her own twist to things, sequestering herself and Tiamat into a pocket dimension that could be freely seen into and out of but not meaningfully interacted with, ensuring that they could keep a close eye on the coming bout.
Halting in her cheerful loop around the field the Magus affixed Nanashi with a playful grin, a simple blouse, suit pants and modestly tough boots her 'combat' attire of choice as the homunculus had settled for a simple set of jogging shorts and shirt, not bothering with shoes as they wouldn't have a prayer of surviving the coming battle.
"Feel free to begin whenever you wish, Nanashi~! I can't wait to see how you-"
Not wasting any time the youth charged forward, pulsing mana through the circuits on his arms, elementally inclined pathways of energy flaring to life as he pushed the limbs forward...and felt his world turn white and fairly crispy as something heavy, violent and hot punched him in the face, sending his body sprawling helpless across the ground until he came to an undignified halt.
"Ow. Jesus, Manaka...hold back a little?"
Slowly sitting up and shaking his head clear Nanashi blinked away the swiftly disappearing spots in his vision-
-and blinked, finding that he'd come to a stop at the end of a fairly sizable trench carved by his tumbling body, burning grass and dirt releasing wavering trails of smoke as the homunculus realized his shirt - reinforced to withstand the stress it was no doubt going to be put under - was frayed and smoking from the sternum up, of little use to anyone.
"Holy shit."
What was even more impressive was that despite the massacred article of clothing he wore his body itself was perfectly fine, even the strands of his hair perfectly intact without so much as a mussed or split end.
Inbetween the force, heat and rough landing his old body would have been a gooey, broken mess but this one didn't feel like it had received anything more disruptive than a mild shove.
"Silly Nanashi, are you trying to keep me from beating you up by beating yourself up instead?"
Carefully rising to his feet and tearing off the useless remains of his shirt - pleasantly surprised to find that he was barely sore in the slightest despite the titanic blow - the youth turned his gaze towards where Manaka had been standing a few seconds prior, now safely sequestered behind a spinning shield comprised of raw mana that dissipated in motes of glittering light that revealed a pouting blonde, his lover tossing aside a spent gem of one variety or another that had no doubt powered the spell.
"Me? I thought you were the one who did something."
Haughtily sniffing the blue-eyed girl blandly replied, "No, I would never do something so blunt and inelegant. You blew yourself up, silly boy."
"I did?"
Nanashi raised his arms upwards, examining the limbs as he pulsed a small amount of mana through the various channels that existed beneath his flesh-
-and felt his eyes widen as the circuits within blazed like a lighthouse on a starless night, the rampaging energy actually manifesting as streamers of wind and flame as the homunculus frantically cut off the flow of energy, cursing as he exclaimed, "What the hell?! That never happened before!"
His circuits weren't new or improved like the rest of him, they shouldn't be that much more receptive to his power but here they were, flaring up at the slightest provocation as if there wasn't any kind of drawback to doing...so…
His crimson eyes widened as he realized what was happening. His old body had been a weak, collapsing bag of bones and meat that practically failed the moment he stopped reinforcing it as generated heat and other factors overwhelmed the weak immune system and organs that operated alongside them. But this new one?
He could force his circuits to operate as fast and hard as he wished, the various mystic organs and catalysts that made up his new form keeping him intact and also improving his mana generation and output, something he'd never really been able to test in his old body as it would wear him out in seconds flat.
Now? Now he could really find out just what he was capable of.
Something Manaka evidently agreed with, giggling hysterically as she happily chirped, "Don't fall apart too fast, Nanashi~! We still have a whole day ahead of us to play in!"
A negligent snap of her fingers caused an earsplitting screech to sound out, wavering lines of force compressing into sparking and shrieking blades of slicing energy that she fired off without a moment's hesitation, hyper compressed wind heading towards the homunculus as he prepared himself to do something very stupid but also very exciting.
Overcharging his arm until it glowed like a verdant star and unleashed winds that howled like a miniature hurricane Nanashi punched Manaka's own spell head on, the conflicting forces unleashing a tidal wave of kinetic force that knocked him sprawling as dirt and wind pelted his body...but a euphoric grin pulled at his lips as glee coursed through his veins.
He'd taken one of Manaka's attacks head on and beaten it! He would have never had a prayer of doing anything like that before and the rush of success caused the youth to take off in a mad dash towards the equally joyful girl, the battle ratcheting up a notch.
One hand rapid-fired off a series of Gandr curses that floated around her like a floating minefield, the other deftly tracing rune after rune of pure mana that smashed into the ground and embedded itself into the soil, Nanashi deciding to directly test the effect of the archaic writing as he stepped on one of them-
-and was promptly whisked away to another one of the runes with his body facing the wrong direction, forward momentum preserved as he skidded to a halt, whirling around only to find a deluge of Gandr shots homing in on his position before Manaka even had a chance to turn around.
"Clever. Keep me from closing the distance and key the curses to automatically fire wherever I end up."
There were simply too many of the esoteric projectiles to avoid so Nanashi simply raised his arms in front of his face, reinforced his body to the max and decided to weather the storm. Almost a hundred of the things struck true and while most were too weak to penetrate his enhanced defenses a few particularly nasty variety of the magecraft broke through, his flesh boiling, sloughing and wilting as the Gandrs began their debilitating work...only for something inside of himself to shift, a part of his body surging forward and burning the sickness from his form as if it had never existed in the first place, Nanashi blinking in surprise before yet another grin dominated his expression.
At least until Manaka launched another attack on him, this one a small Opal gem that burned like a bit of plasma as it blew past his reinforcement and took his right arm off at the shoulder, limb bouncing away like a gutted fish as the homunculus blinked at the sudden attack, a strange ache afflicting him...but nothing more serious, oddly enough.
"Weird. Shouldn't having an arm get shot off feel way worse than this?"
No sooner had that thought percolated within his gray matter did a very strange sensation begin at his shoulder, like someone had shoved his insides with a thousand fuzzy worms that wriggled and squirmed as branches and vines of incredibly fine make burst forth from the ragged stump, latching onto his severed limb before deftly hauling it back into place, sewing the skin and muscle back together as the bone, flesh and sinew that had been burned away regrew within a second.
When all was said and done his body was back to normal as if it had never been maimed in under three seconds.
Manaka openly giggled, clapping her hands with delight as she said, "Splendid, most splendid, Nanashi! I think you regenerate on par with an Apostle's speed!"
The homunculus could only gaze in wonder at his body, scarcely able to believe its power and versatility. What he felt confident in assuming was the Dragon heart, Fae nervous system and Unicorn blood had burned away the curses before they'd managed to take proper root while simultaneously regenerating a destroyed arm, all without his conscious awareness. More to the point, they'd regenerated mystic materials from scratch without so much as a single hiccup to the process, meaning they'd properly integrated and synergized all of the various bits and pieces damn near perfectly.
"An Apostle's speed, huh?"
He offered his giddy partner a childish grin.
"Let's see just how fast I can go, huh?"
Stomping his left leg onto the ground he channeled a significant amount of power through it, willpower and focus manifesting several spires of rock that punched through the surface and ruined Manaka's rune formation alongside hiding him from view, Nanashi sprinting forward at speeds he'd only dreamed of before ascending the improvised vantage point, flinging himself into the air and whipping his right leg around in a wide arc, grinning as he manifested a deluge of water around it before firing off the stream towards where the blonde was standing below, an assault that carried enough force to topple a car.
Manaka didn't so much as blink, launching a blazing wall of fire that superheated the water and turned it into a concealing wave of steam that Nanashi simply bulled through without concern, landing on the damp and heated ground as dozens of Gandr shots once again converged on him.
This time the homunculus didn't bother trying to protect himself, allowing the curses to impact his reinforced flesh as he followed genetic instinct, allowing it to guide him as the various materials and catalysts woven into his new body spoke of intrinsic methods and how best to make use of them.
A flexing of his arm manifested verdant wind that blew away the steam and had his flesh smoothly flowing around wicked-looking shards of bone that he chucked towards Manaka at speeds comparable to that of a crossbow bolt, the Gashadokuro providing a steady and easily accessible means of renewable and durable attack grown from his very own skeleton.
Not that the blonde magus missed a beat, her shadow shivering and flying upwards to manifest as a nightmarish Daemon tied to the soles of her feet, all eyes and vortex-like mouths that swallowed his spikes whole without so much as a mild bit of inconvenience, unnatural giggling and cackling emanating from the creature. Unnatural giggling and cackling that matched Manaka's, the blonde magus gleefully laughing as she joyously yelled, "Catch me if you can, Nanashi~!"
Turning tail and sprinting off into the distance as her summoned Daemon stuck close the girl's lithe form glowed with reinforcement, figure shifting and turning hazy as she performed a basic bit of time alteration and accelerated herself to speeds he could barely follow.
But he could indeed follow her with his enhanced eyes even if it was tricky as the homunculus shouted back, "Ready or not, Manaka!"
Trusting instinct to guide him his arm yet again glowed like the summer sun, wind parting around his front while pushing against his back, legs flexing and pumping as directed pulses of mana crafted stone steps for him to run up as Manaka skipped away on a mobile air current, streams of water looping and twirling as they sought to cut her off only to be devoured by the Daemon or blown away by the wavering currents of air.
"Well we can't have THAT now can we?"
His heart seemed to beat in agreement, an echoing roar coursing through his mind as an already overcharged body began to drive itself mad, energy that caused his muscles to spasm and jitter with an unbreakable desire to move manifesting as magecraft and mystery that was more intention and instinct than it was conscious thought.
Rivers of water and stone pillars turned to massive draconic heads and bodies that chased after the girl with wild abandon, suffering massive barrages of manifested Ether clumps or being swallowed outright by the Daemon as Nanashi decided that enough was enough of the creepy thing, activating his Mystic Eyes and - being very careful of how he made use of his power - severed the, well...the whatever he'd just decided need to be removed from this reality, Manaka also blinking in confusion at the blank spot behind her before promptly forgetting all about it, giggling hysterically as they continued the chase that was quickly turning into more of an aerial dance than it was anything else.
He chasing after the darting and swift Manaka with the fury and tenacity of a Dragon, the magus slippery and impenetrable in her defense as she went ahead and simply summoned up the most lethal and volatile form of mystic energy known, raw and untamed Ether blasting away his pursuing constructs.
But as the chase wore on Nanashi noticed something interesting. Whereas Manaka was beginning to showcase a light sheen of sweat and dampness to her fair skin and clothing he felt no warmer than he had at the start of the chase, a blatant impossibility considering that he was running more than two-hundred magic circuits at max capacity like he was trying to set himself ablaze.
The answer revealed itself as he flipped upside down past one of his writhing water dragons, catching sight of his reflection in the clear liquid as the youth's ruby eyes widened in shock.
His hair was literally on fire, the Phoenican wig burning like wildfire as the veins laced across his body glowed with a soothing blue light, a counterpoint to the shining magic circuits as it all made sense to the homunculus. Sure, he'd known that the Yuki-onna blood and Phoenix feathers were meant to regulate his body temp but they were that effective?
Holy shit.
A wild laugh left Nanashi as he kept up the pressure, Manaka laughing right alongside him as their deadly and highly lethal game became almost flirtatious, the magus allowing him to get close as he made a halfhearted effort at blowing past her defenses, blonde hair whirling through the sky as she would again put some distance between them as the bizarre, destructive and exceedingly violent courtship ritual continued.
At least until he heard Abigail shout something that was impossible to hear over the din of battle and blood rushing through his ears, a midnight portal abruptly opening up in front of him as sinuous black tentacles grabbed his body in a secure hold that was almost tender-
-and a few confused blinks later had Nanashi laying on soft grass, the ebony flesh retreating from his own as a heaving and drenched Manaka laid at his side, Abigail and Tiamat leaning over them as the longer-haired blonde seemed highly amused by something.
"You caused the Bounded Field to collapse with your game, you know."
Tiamat trilled something in indecipherable song before kneeling next to the gasping Manaka, gently lifting one of the girl's hands...and promptly licked off a bit of the sweat with a satisfied expression, tail wagging as Manaka giggled at the action, nonetheless protesting, "S-stop immediately! Such crude means of tickling is not-eh heh heh~!"
Tiamat promptly ignored the other girl's protests, slowly but efficiently working her way down the exhausted Manaka's arm as Nanashi gave Abigail a questioning look, sitting up and allowing his hair to stop giving off flames and coolant blood to take it easy.
"While it's not as efficient as blood or semen-"
The completely shameless way Abigail said that caused Nanashi to blush slightly, his companion smirking as she spotted the motion.
"-considering how much ambient mana you were throwing around in there even sweat would be fairly rich in mystic energy. And she does appreciate a good meal~!"
The homunculus watched the tiny goddess begin to lap at Manaka's smooth bicep, the girl completely helpless - despite the fact that he was fairly certain she could have turned him to dust at the start of their battle with a flick of her finger - as she laughed and giggled uncontrollably, wheezing for breath as the exhaustion from the chase hadn't even come close to wearing off.
He made a mental note of where his lover was sensitive. Just for future reference.
"So, err...we collapsed the bounded field, right? Thanks for getting us out of there, we got a little caught up in the moment. Actually, where did the field go?"
Abigail gave him a look he recognized, one that let him know he'd just asked a rather foolish question as she replied, "It destroyed itself, obviously. We wouldn't want everything the two of you were unleashing to spill out into the backyard, would we?"
"Well sorry I can only absorb so much knowledge from the stupidly smart people around me."
Abigail giggled at his joking reply, Nanashi turning around to see how Manaka was faring-
-and just as quickly looked away, skin flushed with embarrassment as Tiamat had all but pounced on the exhausted girl, nibbling and suggestively running her tongue along the other girl's neck as if in a daze, shocked yelps leaving the magus as she fruitlessly tried to push away the goddess, evidently forgetting she could blow her away with a stiff breeze.
"Well that's an image not leaving anytime soon."
Instead he stared down at his body, fingers idly twirling a strand of his now normal hair, not smoking and flaming with released heat. He knew this container had been made to be insanely unique and overbearingly powerful, sure...but he'd outlasted Manaka when it came to endurance despite the fact that she was an insanely powerful person, who no doubt knew a billion and one ways to get the most out of her power with an efficiency most would have gawked at.
...It was enough to bring a small, genuine smile to his lips.
"Now now, Tiamat. She's already drenched, no need to add to the 'lubrication' dear Manaka is currently experiencing."
Nanashi slapped an open palm over his face at Abigail's teasing words, another midnight tentacle lifting Tiamat away from Manaka as the goddess snapped out of her trance, quickly apologizing with, "Sorry, Manaka. Mana tasted good."
Pouting up at the goddess as she finally managed to get her breathing under control - but not the rampant blush that coated her cheeks - the blonde growled, "Honestly, is proprietary something lost to all of you?"
Deciding to move the conversation along Nanashi stood, offering a hand to Manaka which she accepted - all while wrinkling her nose at how crinkled and sweaty she had become - as he said, "Well since we're on the topic of things tasting good why not order a pizza for tonight? Manaka, your family gets all the local mail, right?"
"Yes, but we seldom read it and only to keep up appearances-"
"Great! Let's pick out our toppings and rack up some savings with coupons, I'm good at that."
"Pizza?"
Tiamat's quizzical head tilt had both him and Abigail grinning like mad, Manaka largely indifferent to the proceedings.
"You, my friend, are in for quite the treat tonight."
As they discussed toppings and different cheeses Tiamat became increasingly invested in their recounting of the food, tail lashing with eagerness as Manaka watched the proceedings, chest fluttering with something warm and light as she inwardly nodded to herself.
"Oh yes, Nanashi...I think you will be able to make quite the showing as an experiment of mine."