AN:

So, I watched "For the Future." I can't wait for the finale. For now, all I can say is that I have several plans drafted up to incorporate the new lore. I'll be dropping breadcrumbs here and there as we move forward.

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Chapter 16: Alleviation

Owl House

Luz kept her hands over her mouth while King had his on his head. Fou leaned against the wall, tired. Then, they saw Eda leap out the front window and back into the woods to confront her attacker.

Seconds after she Eda, Luz sighed in relief. "Oh, man. Did you see Eda's eyes? What happened to her? Also, was that Shirou that shot her with a boxing arrow? I think we might be saved."

King pressed his claws to his skull. "Don't you see? The elixir I gave you doesn't give Eda powers." He gestured to the woods. "It prevents her from turning into that thing."

"Wait. Does Shirou know it's Eda?" Luz's eyes widened in shock. "He might kill her?!"

King felt a pit in his stomach at the thought. "Eda's turned into a nightmare. She might die, and it's all my fault." The child's eyes started to water. "I'm so sorry, Luz. I-I just wanted you to be into demons like you're into magic." He let out a whimpered sob. "I don't have many friends outside of Eda. No one even pays that much attention or takes me seriously. Maybe if I taught you like Eda and Shirou, someone would respect me."

Seeing the little one like this, Fou brushed his head against his side. "Fou…"

Luz took in King's sincerity. After a moment, she held out a pen. "Well, let's finish the lesson."

King paused his sulking. "Huh?"

Luz pressed on. "Eda's turned into some kind of demon, and Shirou's out there fighting her. We need to save her in case Shirou gets serious." She grinned. "So, who knows more about demons than the best teacher in the world?"

King brightened and pointed to himself.

Luz nodded.

King took the pen, giggled, and hugged Luz. He smacked some leaves onto the floor and started drawing. "Let's see. She was bigger, covered in feathers, and had giant black eyes. Demons with black eyes are usually sensitive to light." He looked at Luz's phone. "That's it. Light! Luz, use your human wonder rectangle."

Luz shook her head. "I can't. My camera is broken."

King slumped. "Then... what about that light spell?"

Luz sighed. "You saw me. I can't draw circles in the air. I'm not like Eda." She opened her phone and played the recording of Eda.

Eda, on the video, started drawing a circle in the air. "...spell circle is really key..." Suddenly, the video glitched, stopping on a single frame.

Luz gasped at the strange discovery. "There's a pattern in the spell circle."

King looked at Luz's phone. "What? Where?"

Luz grabbed a leaf and a pen, tracing the pattern on her screen. "It looks like this… There." Out of habit, she tapped the symbol with the pen's tip. She didn't expect what happened next, gasping. The drawing on the leaf began glowing. Then, the leaf folded into itself, forming a small floating ball of light. Afraid it would go away, Luz gently cupped it in her hands, bringing it to eye level. "It's beautiful." Thunder rumbled, and rain hissed as it hit the shield, bringing her back to reality. "Oh, my gosh. I just did magic." She stood triumphantly. "I just did magic! I just did magic!"

Fou stared at the ball of light before reaching out with a paw. A simple tap pushed it away. "Fou?"

King raised his arms in excitement. "That's great, but we're not going to stop anything with something that small." The sound of a tree falling in the distance, reminded them of what was happening. "What do we do now?"

Luz steeled her nerves. "I think I know how to get Eda back. Will you help me, boo-boo buddy?" Her raised arm offered a fist bump.

King huffed with a smirk before fist-bumping her. "I'm kind of over that nickname but okay."

Earlier

The Forest

Shirou stood in the open clearing not too far from the house, eyes closed. The hero stood tall and focused, the red bo staff held firmly in his hands. He began to move, flowing through a kata with graceful precision. His feet glided across the forest floor as he executed a Behind The Back Spin, performing a graceful arc. The movement was smooth and fluid as if the staff was an extension of their body. He followed up with a Figure Eight Spin, creating a mesmerizing pattern. The speed of the spin increased as they moved into a Front Spin, becoming a blur of motion. Shirou transitioned into a Helicopter Spin, moving seamlessly into a Neck Spin with precision and control. His movements continued to flow as he performed a One-Handed Spin followed up with a Palm Spin. As the kata progressed, he executed a Shoulder Spin with perfect control before finishing with an Under-The-Leg Spin. The warmup ended, and Shirou stood still, the bo staff held defensively. He took a deep breath and lowered the staff, his body and mind now calm and at peace. He could feel the Owl Beast's presence approaching.

Crossing the treeline, Eda let out a deafening roar as she charged toward Shirou, her wings spread wide and her claws bared.

Shirou readied his weapon, spinning it around in his hand in preparation for Eda's attack. He spun around, using a Downward Rowing Block to deflect Eda's first strike. Eda's claws scraped against the metal of the Ruyi Jingu Bang, sending sparks flying.

Eda reached him again in a blink of an eye, her jaws wide as she lunged for Shirou's throat. Shirou quickly blocked the attack with a swift strike. One end of the staff pointed towards her, and following the will of its owner, extended out, connecting with Eda's jaw and sending her tumbling backward.

The weapon shrank back to its normal size. This was no ordinary staff. It was Ruyi Jingu Bang, the signature weapon of the Monkey King Sun Wukong.

Eda quickly regained her footing, her wings flapping wildly as it lunged again. This time, Shirou was ready. He spun around, using the momentum to deliver a powerful strike to Eda's chest. Eda let out a pained roar as it was sent flying backward, her wings flapping wildly as it tried to regain her balance.

Shirou quickly followed up with a Low Block, using the weapon to deflect another attack from Eda. He could feel the strength of Eda's strikes, but he knew he had to stay focused.

Eda lunged forward, but Shirou was ready. He used an Overhead Block to deflect Eda's attack, followed by a Cross Strike to the creature's chest. She let out a roar of pain, and Shirou knew he had hit it hard. The hero held the staff tight and extended the length downward, launching him into the air. He quickly followed up with a Down Strike, using the Ruyi Jingu Bang to strike Eda's chest.

Eda let out a deafening roar as it lunged once more, her jaws open wide. Shirou blocked the attack with a swift strike, his weapon connecting with Eda's throat and sending her tumbling backward.

As Shirou considered landing a final blow, a voice shouted from the upstairs window. "Shirou, get Eda into the house, quickly! We have a plan to get her back!"

Trusting his master, Shirou nodded. "Alright!" Turning back to the Owl Beast, Shirou started taunting. "If you're gaining this much weight, I might have to start cooking you diet food." A screech echoed through the wood, unclear if it was Eda or the Owl Beast reacting. With a smirk, Shirou sprinted to the house, a warry look at the door on the ground. 'Hope Hooty is okay.' When he enters the living room, he ducks as the Owl Beast misses him and pounces onto a chest. When she was about to return her attention to Shirou, a clicking sound distracted her.

In a nearby doorway, King held a light-up pen. "Oh, what lovely thing do we have here? It's just so dang shiny. Oh, my. Oh, dear."

Eda stared at the pen's light, cooing.

The servant watched with a deadpan expression. 'Oh, yeah. Forgot birds were like that.'

She screeched and lunged for the pen. The bait working, King ran, and Eda followed with Shirou tailing behind. King ducked down a hallway as the speeding Eda missed a step and slid on a pile of books and papers, crashing into a wall Luz and Fou were drawing on. Luz stood on a ladder while Fou had a crayon sticking awkwardly out of his mouth.

Seeing the strange symbol on the wall they were drawing, Shirou predicted what the next stem was. With that in mind, he concentrated and struck the floor next to Eda, a blue glow emanating. The Owl Beast attempted to swipe at Luz, only to be held in place like before. Her head swerved left and right to find those troublesome blades in her shadow. She found nothing. As it would turn out, the area hit by the staff had the small space around it fixed by a semblance of Wukong's Authority, creating a solid block of air that pinned the Owl Beast in place.

"I'm sorry, Eda, But it's for your own good." Luz had just finished drawing a giant light glyph on the wall. With a grunt, she slammed the glyph to activate it. Blinding light erupted and pierced through Eda's eyes, a scream fading into the night.

Later

Back to normal, Eda lay in her nest with a straw in her mouth. Her eyes fluttered open from the texture against her tongue. She tried to sit up, but her body hurt all over. It felt like she got run over by a carriage several times. A few test movements showed that nothing was broken, just very bruised. Feathers still stucking out of her. "Ahh! W-What happened? Everything hurts. And my mouth tastes like roadkill. Eda groans before gaging and ends up barfing a giant owl pellet that breaks, revealing the Snaggleback.

The demon groaned. "I'm just gonna... lie here for a minute."

Eda looked down and grabbed the potion she was drinking from. "Hmm? I was looking for that."

From the side of the room, King walked over. "Actually, we found an extra one in your closet."

Eda turned and pointed to her roommate accusingly. "King? King! You stole my elixir? I ought to break every bone in your—"

King pressed a claw to his mouth and whispered. "Shh! Over there." He pointed to another corner of the room.

There, Luz was drawing multiple light glyphs before turning them into balls of light that floated up into the air. While Shirou continued brushing away broken glass, Fou played with the strange lights.

"How are they doing that?" Eda asks amazed.

King shrugged. "She saw something in your spell circle. I don't know what it is, but she found it all on her own."

Shirou entered the room, having finished setting Hooty's door in the living room until he could replace the hinges. He looked at Luz's work. 'With darkness comes Light. Yin and Yang. These were the first concepts to emerge from the Root of existence.'

King slumped his shoulders. "Hey, I, uh, kind of messed a bunch of things up back there. And I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Eda huffed. "Well, you better be. I got a long list of disgusting chores with your name on it." For a moment, her anger died down as she looked away in shame. "But it's not entirely your fault."

Noticing that their host was finally awake, Luz and Shirou walked over. Shirou put away the broom and narrowed his eyes at the woman. "Eda. I'm sure that you owe everyone here an explanation. Your curse, nearly killed King, Luz, and Fou while I was gone."

"Why did you come home early, anyways?" asked Luz.

"I ended up learning about why Eda is called the Owl Lady while I was at work." The redhead looked away for a moment. "After realizing I forgot to teach you how to use the command seals, I thought it safer than sorry to come to check on you."

Luz looked down at her seals. "Yeah, I realized that too. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Eda groaned. "This is not how I wanted you guys to find out, but it's true. When I was younger, I was cursed. I don't know exactly how it happened. For the sake of everyone else, that's why I lived alone in the woods, less of a chance to hurt people." She looked back at the trio in front of her. "Well, not alone anymore.

Shirou's expression softened at her words. "Even after all these years, you couldn't discover a way to break it?"

Eda held up the bottle of orange liquid. "Nope. This elixir is the only thing that keeps the symptoms manageable."

Luz tilted her head. "Whoa. So are you okay?"

Eda took a breath. "There's nothing for you to worry about. It's all under control, and as long as no one steals my elixir—King—then I'm fine. But, hey, look at this. A human doing magic. Good on you, kid.

Luz rubbed the back of her head as she looked to King. "I had some encouragement from a great teacher."

King smiled. "Oh, you."

"Say, Eda." Shirou caught the attention of everyone in the room. "I was able to look into your curse while we had a quarral in the woods. It's more severe than you think."

Eda narrowed her eyes. "Wait. You're the reason why my body feels like it fell off a cliff."

The teen deadpanned. "You tried to eat us, so I used the non-lethal route."

"Fair..." She looked away. "So... What did you learn. I assume you used your scrying magic on the Owl Beast."

Shirou sighed. "For a lack of better words, there are two souls in your body. The soul of a Phantasmal Beast is tied to your own."

"My soul?"

"Phantasmal Beast?"

"Is that like a demon?"

"Kind of. In general, I refer to all non-human creatures that are found in legends and fantasy. They embody magic simply by existing. With age, they grow stronger. In the case of the Owl Beast, it is old, very old."

Eda let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Woah... No wonder the healing coven could barely do anything about it. That soul stuff is borderline necromancy.

Luz frowned. "Do you know anything that can help her?"

Shirou was silent for a moment. "What if I had a way to manage your curse without needing your potions?"

"That sounds like something I'd jump the chance for, but how could you possibly help? You seem more the domestic warrior type than a healer."

The teen stared at his open hand. "I'm sorry, Luz. I didn't exactly give you the whole truth regarding my projections." Shirou took and breath and focused. "Trace On." He activated his magic circuits, thrumming as a small wind manifested over his palm. Tendrils of magical energy converged overtop with the sound of static. Energy emanated outward. Motes of light began forming into place.

"Judging the concepts of creation."

It would sever all bonds and return everything to zero, materializing and embodying the Divinity of the late Medea.

"Hypothesizing the basic structure."

It was a dagger of absolution—a twisted knife of betrayal.

"Duplicating the composition material."

The metal was mined from the base of Mount Olympus.

"Imitating the skill of its making."

The energy in Shirou's right hand began to take form. As a favor to Hecate, it was forged by the followers of Hephaestus.

"Sympathizing with the experience of its growth."

The magical knowledge of its making was a fraction of what was parted to Medea.

"Reproducing the accumulated years."

Controlled by Aphrodite, the Princess of Colchis used this ritual knife to slay her kin and betray her homeland for a stranger she had just met.

"Excelling every manufacturing process."

The bright light emanating from the weapon forming in Shirou's hand caused everyone to look away briefly. When they looked back, they were met with a sight that was beyond their wildest imagination.

A legendary artifact materialized, a crooked blade appearing in his grasp, adorned with precious stones along the handle and encased in a hint of ceremonial gold.

No one could speak, left breathless at the ominous aura such a weapon had.

"What... What is that?" asked Luz.

"Rule Breaker, the sword of negation and betrayal. Nullifying every kind of magecraft in the world." In his heart, Shirou hoped that Medea would find some solace in Chaldea to bring back to the Throne. Golden eyes seemed to stare into Eda's soul, unsure of what the result could be. "Tell me, Eda, what risk are you willing to take?"

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