AN: This might make you guys mad, but here's the thing, this chapter was originally a lot longer. Originally, there was this part in the next chapter where Marzanna was just going to warn Kazuto that reading someone's mind without permission was illegal and then they'd move on. Then Muse Kazuto, being Kazuto, just had to ask why.
Muse Marzanna's immediate response was to dramatically say "There are plenty of magical diseases in the world. Magic released one in response to the one time the Statute of Secrecy wasn't upheld. You'd know it as the Black Death." but then my brain decided to be the voice of reason and point out that while I'm not good at history it was pretty sure the largest outbreak of the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, was way too early to have been caused by the Statute of Secrecy being broken.
So I looked up both. Black Death- 1346-1353. Statute of Secrecy 1692. Which lead to me looking up catastrophes so I could make that little bit of alternate history to satisfy the curiosity of Muse Kazuto because while I technically could've just changed when the Black Death happened since it is my fic that would've changed everything because butterfly effect and then the fire nation attacked and next thing I know it's occurring to me that I'm going to bore everyone to death by going over legality shit, even if it was vastly simplified.
And by the end of it, I had a chapter that was 16,500 words. I got really tempted to just cut the chapter so that I'd have a decent head start on the next chapter and eventually that's what I decided to do and I ended up cutting what might seem like a place where a scene shift would occur but was actually in the middle of a scene. So like I said, you guys are probably going to be mad at me, but that's just how things are.
Review Responses:
orion0905- Of course he does, and he will, but his acceptance will go a long way to helping her deal with her problems. I'm glad you liked that part with her being called by her alias in front of her family. It wasn't written in a particularly hilarious way since I didn't mention their reactions, but I did intentionally throw it in there at least in part for humor's sake.
harlequin320- I'm glad you've been enjoying my exploration of those problems in Marzanna! I wouldn't exactly say it's been fun since it's kind of a sad thing to see someone like Marzanna get ripped down like that, but it's definitely been interesting. Honestly, I've always been irritated by how Reki Kawahara Jay brushed over that.
There were a few other things that bothered me as well, but while I've fixed some of them, others had to be left intact to set stuff up. Like the fact Kazuto doesn't just go the fuck around the tanks on the bridge in the Legrue corridor! Honestly, it's not like they had the whole fucking bridge blocked off! Or, I don't know, jump over them like he and Asuna jumped over the Army members that were extorting the kids in canon!
He even does clear them when he does that weird upward jumping slash, but because he wasted time with the attack instead of just jumping over and attacking either the mages or the exposed backs of the tanks, he ends up eating more fireballs! *sigh* On the other hand, if I'd fixed it like I originally wanted to, I wouldn't have been able to show the Dragon thing that's actually teasing something that's going to happen in the fic. I'm pretty sure it's obvious what it's teasing, but I wanted to do it anyway. No real excuse for Reki though. The introduction and use of the metamorphosis spell was cool and all, but it wasn't foreshadowing or teasing anything.
harripotterette- No, thank you for the compliment! And I'm really glad you liked it!
Kurama's Foxy Rose- I actually did realize that after two years the atrophy would be too bad for him to move, but much like as I explained to harlequin320 above, I couldn't fix some of the terrible mistakes Reki made in the series for various reasons, and it is technically canon that Kazuto somehow manages to get his ass out of bed to go looking for Asuna, so it's one of those parts that I just choose not to fix rather than an oversight on my part. That's probably me shifting blame, but for all that I love SAO, Reki really did leave some stupid mistakes in the series.
February 18th, 2025
She was leaning against the pool table off to the side tossing the cue ball back and forth between her hands nervously when Kazuto entered the shop with a look of clear curiosity at his surroundings. Straightening up, she drops the ball on the table and smiles at him tentatively when he spots her, then gestures to the door near her that leads into the house.
When he reaches her she takes his hand without a word and leads him inside, then up the stairs to her room. Letting go of his hand, she opens the door and goes inside, pausing to close the door behind him before going over to her bed and sitting near the headboard. Pulling her legs up, she crosses them while she pats the bed in front of her.
Kazuto pulls his messenger bag off and lightly puts it on the bed next to him as he sits down. He seems to realize it might be a long discussion as he makes himself comfortable before speaking up, "Sooooo... What was it you needed to talk to me about?"
She sighs, "Honestly, I don't even know where to begin, but I've already told you about magic, and I figured I'd put off telling you the rest long enough."
She sighs again as she looks toward the ceiling as though it would tell her how to explain, "Do you remember that Harpy Demon that attacked us the day I got out?" Her mate nods, so she continues, "Well, reality is... layered, like- like Aincrad or a closed book. What you're familiar with, the layer all humans reside in, is basically the 'core' of the world, as it's the direct center of the layers, and affects other layers the most. All of it is connected to some extent, but this one is the most influential."
She drops her gaze back to him, "There are other layers belonging to Earth, four more actually, but there are eighteen other layers, nine above and nine below. This layer of reality isn't the only one inhabited. Actually, at one point all 23 were populated, but the species that shared the five layers of Earth with humans went basically extinct a long time ago. I'll get back to them later though. Do you remember when we were talking about magic the other day? How I told you that all myths have some truth behind them?"
Kazuto nods, and she bites her lip harshly. She couldn't look at him for this, couldn't bear to see the look on his face when he realizes exactly what sort of monster she is. But he needed to know.
Dropping her gaze to her lap she takes a deep breath to gather herself, and forces herself to continue, "Well, you're familiar with the myths of the beings that inhabit these other layers. Their myths appear in almost every culture around the world, both past and present. The layers break down into three realms, Earth is one obviously."
Her brows furrow, "The other two have had various names throughout time and various cultures, but nowadays they're usually known as Heaven and Hell. Yes, they are in fact, inhabited by what most people today, or in any other era for that matter, would call angels and demons, but they aren't servants of Gods or Anti-Gods. My family are Demon Hunters, but that's not all. You see, we're- that is we-"
Kazuto squeezes her hand, and gently cuts her off, "Hey, take your time. There's no need to rush."
She gives him a small strained smile, "There is. You see, the thing is... The reason I needed to tell you, and need to tell our friends is… because you're in danger... due to associating with me..."
Kazuto inhales sharply, "Just because you're a Demon Hunter?"
She bites her lip, the worst thing about having to explain was she had only gotten one of the two the most difficult parts to say out of the way, the first being that Kazuto was in danger because of her, but she forced herself to continue anyway, "Not-… It isn't just because I'm a Demon Hunter. It would put you in danger, but not nearly as much... The reason you're in so much danger is because the demons have a vendetta against my family."
Kazuto frowns, "Why?"
She swallows thickly. This was it. The thing that would most likely ruin her relationship with Kazuto. He may be her soulmate, but there was a limit to how much a person could handle. Being someone's soulmate may extend that, but there was always a limit. A person would leave even their soulmate, as much as that may pain them, if it went past that limit. God, she doesn't know what she was supposed to do if Kazuto left her.
She'd grown so dependent on him, she could honestly barely remember what it was like to not have him around, and she couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like if she had to go back to living without him. She couldn't go back, going forward would be nearly impossible without him on its own, but going back was impossible, even for her. She couldn't go back to what it had been like to yearn to meet her soulmate before she'd actually found Kazuto, she doesn't want to go back.
She's yanked from her spiraling out of control thoughts by Kazuto squeezing her hand again, "It's alright. Just tell me."
She lets out a shaky breath, "I- I'm... not... exactly.. human."
She glances up in time to see his jaw drop in disbelief, then with a sigh removes the bracelet the permanent illusion hiding her Devil Bringer is anchored to. After briefly contemplating it, she decides it was better to put everything on the metaphorical table, and pushes her angel wings out of her back.
She looks away from him, "I'm a Nephilim, a half Angel half Demon hybrid. They were actually the species I mentioned earlier that used to share Earth with the humans, but they were wiped out by the demons thousands of years ago after they refused to side with them in their war against the angels. Being a naturally occurring hybrid though, it's technically impossible for them to go truly extinct unless either angels and demons, or both, go extinct as well, seeing as all it would take would be for the two to breed to create more Nephilim. Which is actually exactly how my dad, uncle, cousin, brother, and I came about."
She trails off briefly, then glances down at her arm and decides to explain a bit, "Technically, I haven't changed my arm. My species of demon are born with two forms. A human looking one and our demonic one. Our human forms can only handle so much demonic energy though, so it's possible for us to overcharge them, destabilizing the part we charged too much and subsequently destroying it. I accidentally destroyed my human arm when I was younger, so all I have left is my demonic arm. I hide it with an illusion created by magic. All I did was remove the bracelet the illusion is tied to."
Kazuto looks down in thought, then returns his gaze to her, "Will you show me?"
She hesitates, "I guess... Seeing as you're my mate, I suppose you have a right to see..."
Looking away from him, she takes a deep breath and Devil Triggers for the first time in over two years. From previous times studying herself, she knows exactly what she looks like. Like with a partial trigger, her hair turns entirely silver, and spider web like veins spread across her face because of the demonic energy she's channeling. That's where the similarities between her partial trigger and full trigger end though.
In a full trigger, her skin becomes a dark gray and a rough natural plating of sorts, the very same that covers her Devil Bringer, grows over her legs, back, arms, shoulders, and chest, though it leaves a bit of space around her wings, a section that starts at her face and trails down her throat to between her breasts continuing on to her stomach and down to fan out over her hips and inner thighs, the inside of her upper arms and ribs, inner hands, and the bottom of her feet uncovered. Her canines grow wider, longer, and sharper, her lips and the sclera of her eyes turn black, her irises become a glowing red, and she has horns starting from above and behind her ears that curve down towards her chin.
Her other arm changes to match her Devil Bringer, though it lacks the additional abilities, and last but not least her feathery angel wings that she had out are replaced by her bat like demon wings and two sets of insectoid wings, similar in shape to those of dragonflies, grow at a forty-five degree angle below her larger wings. There was actually a rather good reason for the multiple pairs of wings, namely that though the bat-like ones were what held her weight, it was the insectoid wings that handled the majority of her maneuverability.
She can feel him studying her, and it takes everything in her power just not to let her transformation go, much less stop her nervous fidgeting, the latter of which she fails at spectacularly. During the previous times examining herself, she'd never thought her appearance was horrifying or monstrous, but now that she was revealing herself to her mate, who hadn't even known of magic and magical species before, she realized it could easily be seen as such. She was actually honestly a bit surprised he hadn't screamed at the monster his wife had turned into yet.
She's taken quite by surprise when a hand enters her vision seconds before it rests lightly on her cheek and pulls her gaze back to him. Even more astonishing however, is that he leans forward to kiss her. When he pulls back, he smiles warmly, "It's certainly different, but you're still beautiful, even if not in the conventional way. So please, stop fidgeting and refusing to even look at me."
She blushes lightly as she lets the transformation go, but though the fact he doesn't think she looks like a terrible monster eases it, it doesn't dispel all of her worry, a fact he clearly picks up on if his sigh is anything to go by, "If it wasn't that then what's wrong?"
She licks her lips nervously, not really wanting to explain but knowing it's something she'll never forgive herself if she doesn't point out exactly why he doesn't deserve to be stuck with a monster such as herself, seeing as he hasn't seemed to have realized the implications of her revelation, "It's just… It's incredibly uncommon, but it's not… unheard of…. for people to reject their soulmates… And- and nothing in the world will change the fact I'm a half demon murderer."
Her brow pinches, "I killed people in Aincrad. You did too, and I don't blame you for that, but you're human, you were on equal footing with them. I'm-... I'm not. Being what I am, it makes me a lot… I don't really know how to put it without sounding like I'm looking down on humans, but objectively I'm superior to a human in a lot of ways. I'm far more durable, both in the sense that it takes more to hurt me in the first place and even if you can it's not likely to affect me all that badly, I heal a hell of a lot faster, and just faster in general, and I'm physically stronger just to name a few things."
She barks out a rough laugh, "Fucks sake! I've literally had my femoral artery torn and been impaled in fourteen different places, including three separate parts of my lungs and once through my heart, all at the same time! Not only did it not kill me, it literally made me stronger since it pressured me into Devil Triggering for the first time. When you're like me, hurting humans is one hell of an abuse of power considering there's actually very little they can do to harm you."
He frowns, "Perhaps, but you didn't have any of that in Aincrad. We were all on equal footing to start there."
She shakes her head, "It doesn't matter…"
He explodes in frustration, "It does though! Don't you see that? It changes everything! Neither of us enjoyed killing those people, but we, you included, only did what was necessary, and that will never make me reject you, or stop loving you, or- or whatever other prosperous idea you've got running through your head!" Then he seems to deflate, sighing tiredly, "... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted, but why can't you just understand that I love you and I'm not going anywhere. Ever."
Tears well up in her eyes and he pulls her towards him, wrapping one arm around her tightly, hand resting on her opposite hip and running his thumb over it while his other hand buries itself into her hair, which for once wasn't in a ponytail.
For a brief moment he just cradles her head to his chest, then he drops a kiss to her forehead before sighing, "Oh, Marzanna… I can't believe you actually thought-... One of the times I visited you in the hospital, your mom said that you'd known we were soulmates for a while... And… And not long after Laughing Coffin, you-... You started to pull away from me… Not much, but I still noticed. And there were other things too. Your smile became a bit strained, you didn't laugh as much or as fully… I thought it was just because of Laughing Coffin, but… It wasn't, was it? At least part of it was because you actually believed I'd reject you for what happened that day, wasn't it?"
Her eyes tear up and her throat constricts, so she just nods. He pulls back slightly to look her in the eyes, seeing her tears he quickly brings his hands up to cup her face and wipe them away with his thumbs, "You… I love you Marzanna, more than anyone or even anything in the world, but sometimes you can be really ridiculous. I'm not rejecting you, I'm not pushing you away, I'm not going anywhere."
Apparently picking up on the fact she's still not entirely certain, he sighs before laughing lightly, "We really are a pair aren't we? Because I think I'm finally beginning to understand how frustrated you get when you're trying to convince me I'm not a bad person." That draws a small smile out of her and he grins, "What was it you once said? 'I'm like a vampire, once you invite me in there are no take backs. You're stuck with me.' We really are similar, you know. You're not getting rid of me so easily either."
She can't help but laugh at that, before teasingly saying, "What, can't even come up with your own line?"
He grins lightly, "Nope!" There's a beat of silence before he abruptly straightens a bit, "Where is everyone anyway? I mean, I know we came straight to your room, but with a family as big as yours I'd have thought we'd seen someone at least. There wasn't even anyone in the shop. Granted, the sign was flipped to closed, but it's 1 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, so that's kind of surprising anyway."
She shrugs, "They made themselves busy elsewhere when I told my mom I was going to tell you today… Not sure what to be honest."
He gets a strange look on his face for a moment, then it then it very briefly turns contemplative before he nods to himself, "I think I might. When your mom brought those books over for me the other day she also handed me one on soulmate bonding. At the time she just said that you'd forgotten to add it to the list, but that she knew you'd want me to be completely informed about the effects and the like before you'd let me make any sort of decision, but she had this weird hopeful look. At the time I didn't know what to make of it but… You're mom knows, doesn't she? That you've been struggling with this?" She nods slowly, not quite sure where he's going with this, "Well, I read it. All of it. So you can't use that as some sort of excuse Marzanna. Bond with me."
Her eyes widen, "W-What? Now?"
He nods firmly, "Yes. Now. I can't say for sure, but from what I know of your mom, it wouldn't surprise me if she had the house clear out so that we could."
She blushes. He was right. It would be exactly like her mom to make sure everyone was out of the house in the hopes they'd bond. After all, the final step to bonding was to consummate it, and while they could technically just use a silencing spell, she would admit, if only to herself, that she might've tried to use the awkwardness of having her family in the house to put it off. Mostly because she thought Kazuto wasn't really getting what she'd told him, and she'd prefer to give him some time to come to his senses. It would hurt a hell of a lot more if it sank into him what sort of monster she was after they bonded.
She looks away as she casts her mind around for an excuse, but he once again pulls her gaze back to him, "Stop it. Please. Stop looking for excuses. If you really aren't ready, that's fine. But unless the reason is about you, I won't accept it. I won't let you push me away over this anymore than you'll allow me to push you away when I think I'm a bad person who really doesn't deserve you."
She bites her lip harshly, "Kazuto, it's not about me being ready, if it was just that, then there wouldn't be an issue. I've-... I've wanted this so badly for a while now. But I don't think you really understand what you're asking for. We- Angels, Demons, and Nephilim, live a long time. My grandparents are thousands of years old. You-..."
She trails off, unsure how exactly to explain it to him, but he picks up where she left off calmly and without hesitation, "Will become like you. I'll outlive everyone I know and love. My parents, my sister, our friends. The only people I won't outlive are you, your family, and Yui."
She gives him a startled look, but he just smiles gently, "I told you I read the book. I always thought most of your family was weirdly young looking, especially your grandparents who I met once while you were stuck in ALO. It wasn't too difficult to put together once you told me what you are. And yeah, the idea of outliving everyone kinda sucks, but… It was a possibility, if a slim one, of happening anyway."
He glances away thoughtfully for a brief moment, "Even if I stayed human my whole life, and even if we take away the possibility of some sort of accident and assume everyone I know dies of natural causes, it's highly likely I'll outlive my parents. I'd probably outlive Klein and Agil, since they're a bit older. The rest of our friends and my sister are all around our age, so even if everyone I knew died of old age, it's technically a possibility that I could outlive them anyway. Even Silica is only two years younger than us, so that's not a stretch either."
She looks away, "Maybe. But you'd grow old with them. Not watch them wither away while you remain the same, knowing that you have centuries, probably even millennia without them ahead of you."
He nods seriously, "I know. And the thought does hurt. But if anything, it just makes me want to bond with you even more, which is saying something because ever since I read that book I've wanted it so badly it's painful. If the thought of watching my family and friends slowly wither away and die hurts so much, I can't even imagine how painful it must be to wonder if that's going to happen to your mate. I already wanted this Marzanna, but I refuse to do that to you."
She looks away, heart aching and wavering at the idea she was hurting him by trying to put it off. Honestly though, the thought hadn't even occurred to her. She'd been, and still kinda was to be honest, so sure that he'd reject her, that she'd never get to see him again except perhaps when it came to Yui, that she'd never even considered him letting her around long enough for her to see him grow old.
He sighs again, "You know… When your mom told me about soulmates, she told me about the phenomenon itself first. Which of course makes total sense, but it left this moment… This one brief moment where I knew what soulmates were, but didn't know you were mine. I remember very distinctly...in that one moment, I remember being willing to give just about anything in the world to be your soulmate."
"I wanted it so badly. The thought of you having a soulmate and it not being me, it cut, and it cut deep. For that one moment it felt like my heart was made of paper and your mom had just uncaringly dropped it into a shredder before lighting what little remained on fire. And when she told me that I was your mate… Fuck, I can't even describe it."
"I was just so damned happy and relieved. It's without a doubt one of the best moments of my life, and while I can't tell you which one is definitively the best, the things it's tied with? The things it's tied with are reuniting with my family after those two years. Finding out that Yui was ours, that we didn't have to give her back to strangers, and later when I managed to save her." He cups her face and smiles, "When I managed to save you from Sugou and knew you'd be safe, that you would be awake when I went to the hospital. When you told me you loved me that first time, and I finally got to kiss you. And every single time since."
She blushes. Well. Shit. How was she supposed to tell him no now? The downside of having a mate and loving them so much was struggling to deny them anything. Especially since she actually didn't really want to tell him no in the first place. She'd managed to stay sorta firm up till now, despite her wavering yearning heart, but how could she after that?
She sighs, "... Ok. But wait! What about your family! I mean, you'll change physically after this, and while it varies depending on the level of changes that will take place, if my mom and Kyrie, not that I was around for hers, are any indication, you'll fall into the maximum edge of how long you're going to be out cold for while you're body changes. They'll be worried if you disappear for thirty-six hours without a word."
He shakes his head, "Your mom is playing at matchmaker enough to give me the book behind your back and clear out the house in the hopes we'll bond. That book said that according to law, my immediate family is just as entitled to knowing I'll be a magical as the family of those who were born magical to non-magical families. I'm sure she wouldn't mind explaining everything for us."
She sighs again, "Alright, alright. We'll do it now."
He grins and his hands drop to her hips, giving a bit of a tug as he tries to pull her closer. She can't help the little grin when he pouts at the reminder that Kazuto isn't nearly physically as strong as Kirito when he fails to do more than move her a couple inches, whereas Kirito would've, and had on more than one occasion, easily been able to pick her up and set her in his lap. Taking a bit of pity on his plight, she moves herself onto his lap. He grins lightly at her, shifting his hands from their resting place on her hips so that he's loosely holding her, then he steals a quick kiss before he rests his forehead against her own.
She blushes again, then gives him an unsure look, "... Are you sure about this?"
He nods firmly, so with one final sigh she locks eyes with him and easily slips inside. Unlike the other time she'd done this at the hospital, she does more than just brush her mind again his, though fuck it all if she hadn't been so relieved when the final dose of that stupid potion her mom had given him to give her time to recover finally wore off the week prior.
Kazuto obviously wasn't trained in the mind arts at all, there wasn't even a mental door of sorts to keep anyone out, but she hovers outside of the empty doorway to his mind, knocking on the frame to make sure she's welcome. She sees Kazuto roll his eyes before he reaches out to pull her into his mind properly. Just like that she's seeing two things at once. Both Kazuto's eyes that she continues to gaze into to hold the connection in the real world, and a disorderly room.
Without any sort of protection, even without digging through his memories she can easily pick up on what he's thinking and feeling at the very moment and her breath catches in her throat, threatening to strangle her and take away this moment where she's surrounded, bombarded with his love for her, the unbridled wonder at being able to feel her in his mind. His unquestionable acceptance of everything that she is, not even a single trace of the condemnation, disgust, or hatred she'd been expecting even with his reassurance. It's only when Kazuto's arms wrap and tighten around her in worry in both his mind and the real world respectively that she realizes she's dropped to a crouch and buried her face in her knees in his mind and begun crying in both.
She doesn't even know where to begin, how to explain that absolutely nothing is wrong and that she's crying because everything is just so right, so she takes her walls of experience, paranoia, and distrust and drops them so that the flow goes both ways. He gasps as he's suddenly just as able to feel her emotions and pick up on her thoughts as she can for him and his hold on her tightens in both places until it would definitely be painful for another human seeing as he's holding her as tightly as he's physically able to, though it doesn't bother her in the slightest. In fact, she relishes the absolute lack of hesitation on his part.
In the real world, he pulls her in for a searing kiss, even as mentally he just presses one to the top of her head, seeing as her face was still buried into her knees, "Oh Marzanna… I told you, I love you, and none of that really changes anything for me. You can see- feel that now for yourself, can't you? Are you finally ready to accept that I'm not- not lying, or-or hiding anything from you? That I do in fact, understand exactly what you told me and what it all means and it still doesn't change anything?"
There's still some part of her that struggles to believe it, but she can feel his emotions for herself, can hear exactly what he thinks about it all, and between his absolute emotions that hadn't ceased washing over her since she entered his mind and the pain that kept stabbing through him due to what was happening to her, that doubtful part of her had nothing to stand on. She could feel the truth of the matter for herself.
Easily picking up on her train of thought, he nuzzles against her in both places, "Yes, you can. And it's about time you accepted it my silly mate."
She sniffles and nods slowly, trying to pull herself together. He tightens his hold on her, and though he doesn't say anything, she picks up on his understanding and his desire for her to take her time, to just take it easy with the same effortlessness as he had done for her. She relaxes against him fully for the first time since Laughing Coffin. In response he gathers up every ounce of his love for her and wraps it around her, it was like his love was a warm blanket, her favorite blanket in fact, fresh from the dryer that she'd merely been laying on that he'd gathered up the edges and wrapped her up in before curling up with her.
When she's finally calmed down, she starts to feel embarrassed about breaking down like that right before they bond, but before she can even verbalize the apology he picks up on it and shakes his head, "Don't be preposterous. If you hadn't had your barriers up and I'd been feeling all this from the get go, I might've had a mini breakdown myself if for different reasons, and that's without all that crap you convinced yourself of."
She nods lightly, then pulls a bit away from him to stand up in his mind. Finally calmed down, she looks around his mind in curiosity. He wasn't the most mentally organized person, but there was a considerable amount of natural order to his mind. More so than most people started out with before learning Occlumency.
At least, it seemed that way. In half of the room, much like with that portion of her mind that was his, there are computers and parts scattered all over the place. Unlike with hers, there were far more and some of the computers were on, showing what looked like jumbled lines of text. That was actually why she wasn't entirely sure exactly how organized his mind was, because the lack of any books or scraps of paper lying around implied that the computers were where most, if not all of his memories were stored.
Which made complete sense given his interests and skills. That said, it was pretty easy to put a computer on a table or desk and have it look neat and orderly by itself or even with other computers, but that didn't at all mean everything stored on it was in and of itself sorted out in an orderly fashion. She'd undoubtedly begin teaching him Occlumency once they'd bonded, but if that was the case it could take quite a while before he can sort everything out.
She did wonder if her initial impression that he might have a more organized mind than average though, considering everything else in the room, namely white boards with random pieces of information and random knick knacks that seemed to have been tossed into the room without care. Though on a second look she realizes the 'knick knacks' actually seemed to be the majority of their shared inventory from Aincrad, and the information seemed to be things like stats and item prices. They were likely on their own instead of sorted as mere information in the computer due to how important having all that right at the forefront of his mind had been for two years.
She feels more than a bit of humor when she notices that at the bottom of his stats was a list of his skills and their levels, and at the bottom of the thirteen skills listed are two blank slots, one line circled with '110?' written beside it along with the suggestions, some of them just absolutely ridiculous. It was undoubtedly the mental notation of Kirito having been thinking about what to put in the upcoming free slot, the other being left untouched by the general rule players had to leave one slot free in case they came across a one time quest that gave a skill they wanted.
Although both the ink on the boards and the coloring on the items are fading, and the items also looked old and worn out in a way they never would've in Aincrad. It was undoubtedly an indication that after three months the information was finally starting to slowly fade from the forefront of his mind to be stored into the computers with everything else he knew. The only exception were the various coats he'd worn in Aincrad, which remained firmly unfaded on the blank mannequins they rested on.
And of course, to top it all off there was a massive bed taking up the middle of that half of the room. It was almost an exact replica of the one in her mind, the only difference being the laptop resting on one of the pillows. She had zero doubt whatsoever that it was the nexus point of his mind.
The only difference was the other half of the room. It was very clearly the part of her that was in his mind. It was neat and orderly, probably more to do with the structured order to her mind due to her Occlumency experience than any propensity or lack thereof to be naturally so on her part. Ceiling to floor bookshelves took up the majority of the walls with two standing freely with the books facing towards Kazuto's side of the room marking the boundary between the two.
What little space between shelves that there was had her weapons, both her Nephilim blade or otherwise, photos of her family and friends but mostly of her and Kazuto, and a bed that seemed like it had been shoved in later as an afterthought. She can't help but blush lightly, both at how much of a book nerd the design makes her out to be, though she knows it's true, and of the fact that she was almost entirely certain that if she'd somehow been able to see this place before they met that the bed wouldn't have been there. The bed was entirely her sleepy head's fault.
It was a strange feeling to notice Kazuto picking up on her more experienced observations and taking in his surroundings with a new perspective, his gaze lingering on her half of the room before anything else and the computers last as strange mixture of determination to get the job done partially to protect his own mind but mostly due to his correct guess that if he left his end exposed it would leave her vulnerable, and a sort of weary curiosity at exactly how much work he has ahead of him, along with stray wonderings at how a computer could convey certain aspects of his memories, like the emotions he was feeling.
A moment later though, he shakes his head and turns to her, and even though she picks up on his intentions first, he still verbalizes it, "That can wait till later though. As you said, I'll probably be physically unconscious for thirty-six hours while my body changes. I can start working on it then. For now though, we're supposed to be doing something.'
She nods with a slight smile before grabbing his hand and leading him over to the large bed on his side of the room, which upon reaching it she's weirdly pleased to discover she'd correctly guessed it to be the nexus point, the weird pressure from it holding the metaphorical weight of his entire mind making the air itself heavier in the area, like submerging into deep water, giving it away.
It was the reason she'd never bothered trying to make a fake nexus point in her mind castle. It was impossible. Admittedly, that was also part of what had tipped her uncle Severus off that the castle was fake, other than the fact he knew the memories were also fake, but most people didn't actually go looking for the nexus point in someone's mind. There were few circumstances in which it was useful, and most of them were based on various forms of bonds, the vast majority of which you had to consent for.
Though there were some that could be forced upon someone, and if you were trying to utterly break someone's mind, the nexus point was a huge target. Which was why it always lay at the center of someone's mind. It was the subconscious' way of trying to protect itself. It was literally impossible to move it because of that, you had to build any defenses or such around it.
She shakes off the wayward thought, which Kazuto had patently let take her on its merry way, or perhaps it was more curiosity than actual patience on his part, a thought that draws a halfhearted noise of protest from him since he knows it's at least partially true. Letting go of his hand, she pushes the sheer hanging aside and gestures to the bed. He grins lightly in amusement at having picked up her intention but crawls onto it wordlessly, settling himself comfortably in the middle before she settles herself into his lap without hesitation, mirroring their position in real life.
She smiles lightly at him before closing her eyes in concentration. Magic could be easily split into three categories Mind, Body, and Soul, almost anything with magic has all three types of it, except for specific cases, such as vampires which lack Soul Magic, which is actually the basis for the myth of them lacking a soul in general, or Inferi which only had the body magic that reanimates them.
The magic of the soul can't be used for much, but it's the basis of bonds between Soulmates, obviously, and it's the magic that the Nephilim used to create their weapons, hence being called soul bound. Magic of the body is almost unheard of amongst humans, as its spells just generally enhance the body. Amongst demons however, this is the magic often considered the most important, as it's almost always the type of magic that powers Styles. Magic of the mind is more versatile, it's the basis for twin bonds, and is what humans use nearly exclusively.
Obviously, it's the magic used for the so-called Mind Arts like Occlumency, Legilimency, and Obliviation, but while not called mind arts, it's this magic that is used for almost all human spellcasting. It's also what's used for illusion magic, like one of the most famous parts of the Hogwarts wards that makes Muggle's see the school as nothing but ruins. This is actually what makes the Animagus transformation nearly impossible for most people. The Animagus transformation may still be Transfiguration, but it's body magic, which most human magic users have zero experience with.
She gathers all three of these up, along with her demonic and angelic power, and begins weaving them around his nexus point. Despite being in his mind, she doesn't actually physically move there as she does this, it's an entirely mental task. As soon as she starts, Kazuto's instincts kick in and he begins to mirror her actions before he can even actually think to. This was part of the reason, though certainly not the only one, that this older version of bonding had to wait so long, because your partner had to be on the cusp of already changing so that they'd already have a spark of magic to work with.
Once they've both intricately and totally weaved themselves around one another, she begins to gently push her powers down into his nexus. Again she feels her mate mimic her actions. There's a resistance once she hits a certain point and at the very same time she feels Kazuto get stopped as well. She can feel him being held back, and if it was anyone else it would feel invasive and she'd likely react violently, but with him it just feels utterly right.
Without hesitation or even really thinking about it she releases that final barrier in her mind that she hadn't even been aware of until she felt him get stopped by it. Instantly the connection to him in her mind snaps into full being and his meager spark of magic becomes a full blown core that almost seems to merge with her own. It's not quite true, it's more like two liquids that don't mix, like oil and water, occupying the same space. Even then his magic mingling with hers doesn't feel wrong even though they stay separate, quite the contrary. It was simply matter that his magic stayed his and vice versa.
Even as all this is going on she feels Kazuto relax his own barrier with the same thoughtless reflex, gasping along with her at the sudden explosion of even higher awareness of each other, though she knows that's partially due to the fact she's both using Legilimency and their deeper bond bombarding them both at once and partially because they're still in the process of bonding which will heighten everything between them until Kazuto's body finishes changing.
However, despite how wonderful it feels, it's not… complete. It was like snapping into full existence had unanchored their bond and despite everything, she can't help but blush. The 'anchoring' of the bond was consummation. Despite it being instinctive and totally natural when done this way, rather than a manufactured ritual, it was still a ritual.
Soulmates were called such because their souls were already intrinsically bound in a way no other could. When they 'completed' their bond, they were rounding out the magic trifecta of Mind, Body, and Soul. Offering each other their minds unquestionably and unbarred, and finally their bodies to seal the bonding. And of course, their magic since that was why the bonding had to happen in the first place, given that there was an imbalance in how well they were connected.
She's pulled from her wayward thoughts when Kazuto grins at her, "It's funny that you always call me a nerd when here you are basically reciting the how and why of bonding to yourself mentally out of nervousness."
She might've taken offense to that, especially given the ridiculousness of her being nervous given that it's not like it'd be the first time they were intimate, and even if it was their first time together in the real world it's more the bonding that she was… less than confident about. So there was definitely room for offense if she hadn't known him so well or detected even a hint of anything negative behind the comment, but she can feel for herself that it's pure good natured teasing with more than a hint of fondness and love behind it. He seems to feel the same way about it that she feels about his adorable rambling about programming. Except he understands it. Though it is an easier subject than programming, not that she thought he wouldn't be able to understand it even if she started thinking about the more complex aspects of Spell, Ritual, or Ward Crafting or Magical Theory. Her mate was damned smart after all. Smarter than her anyway.
Picking up on the thought he presses a kiss to her forehead, then smiles lightly at her, "Not true. You're damned smart yourself. I mean, I'm not the one who's doing the magical equivalent of majoring in more than one of the hardest subjects there are. Because I've been learning more about the magical world, and I know that for your ambitions you're going to need multiple Masteries." She smiles at him and his smile turns into an adorable grin, "That said, I'm fairly certain I recall us being in the middle of something?"
She blushes again, both at the question and at the wayward excited thought she picks up, in which she learns that he, apparently, has a tendency to call her 'his personal Goddess' mentally. She doesn't pull out of his mind, but she does shift her focus to the real world, moving her actual body to wrap her arms around his neck and lean down to kiss him.
When he deepens the kiss she can't help but close her eyes, but with the mental aspect of their bond already having swelled into fullness, she no longer requires the eye contact to remain in his mind anyway. Despite her earlier unexpected spike of nervousness and embarrassment, when she actually feels him begin to shift and lower her to her back, all she can feel is excited anticipation to complete their bond. The last cohesive thought that manages to cross her mind is sheer bafflement at how she could've ever doubted her marvelous mate or not only hesitated but tried to actually put off experiencing something as extraordinary as bonding with her mate.
February 19th, 2025
Fist propping up her head, she smiles down at her sleeping mate, full of so much fondness and love that it almost hurts. Currently they were in her mindscape, having moved there naturally after Kazuto fell asleep when they completed their bond. It made sense. Kazuto wasn't exactly mentally weak, but they'd been in his mind for a decent chunk of time and he was untrained and almost entirely unexposed to magic. His mind wasn't used to containing two people and it had to have strained a bit, much like how one would after their first few Occlumency lessons. Considering she'd also fallen completely asleep, with her mind being as inactive as her body, and had slept for a while as her mind adjusted to the full bond, that had been almost twelve hours ago.
Her mate's mind would've fully rested itself by this point and she really did need to start teaching him Occlumency. First though, she had to muster up the will to wake him up mentally. A much harder task than she'd thought. Idly she can't help but wonder if it's because it's a side effect of the first bit of untainted happiness they'd both had in awhile, or if it's because bonding has actually legitimately made denying him anything in any way even harder, including the sleep he loved so much.
It's as she's staring at his sleeping face, running her fingers through his bangs, and contemplating her seemingly sudden inability to wake him up that she feels a spark of contentment and amusement seconds before the arm loosely curled around her waist tightens. Without opening his eyes, he lets out a sleepy mumble, "Hmm… Don't really care much for the reason if it lets me stay in bed with you longer…"
She laughs lightly, then leans down to press a kiss to his cheek, "Nice to have you back sleepy head. It does pose a bit of a worrying problem though. If I can't wake you up, those problems are definitely going to present themselves when we live together and have jobs."
In response, she feels a weird combination of irritation at the idea of a job pulling him out of bed and away from her, a sort of mature acceptance that it was just how life worked, along with just a touch of worry as he wordlessly acknowledges that it could be a problem. He cracks an eye open to gaze at her, "That is true… It's not something to worry about just yet though."
Her smile widens, "Oh? Is my worrywart finally starting to realize he doesn't have to worry about every little problem every second of the day?"
He hums lightly, a content happiness flowing over the bond from both sides. He stretches lightly, then props himself up on one arm to press a chaste kiss to her lips. When he pulls back he grins lightly, "Maybe. Though it's more likely that most of those problems just don't bother me as much when I'm with you."
Her cheeks heat up a bit at that and she smiles warmly. As she does she gets a flash of thought from Kazuto, mostly just him thinking she's cute when she blushes and smiles like that, and another usage of that 'Goddess' pet name. It sparks a bit of embarrassment in her, and without thinking about it, she swats at his shoulder, "Shut up…"
He chuckles lightly, pulling her closer with the arm wrapped around her waist, "Technically, I didn't 'say' anything, and besides, I distinctly recall something thinking I was 'adorable' when I started going on about programming. If I'm not allowed to think you're cute, then you're not allowed to think I'm adorable."
She pouts at him, "That's not fair at all…"
He laughs, "If you say so, but I'm not retracting it."
She huffs lightly, "Fine…"
He shakes his head at her, fondness flooding his end of the bond. What little embarrassment remaining slips away and she leans over to give him another kiss. It does occur to her that they were kissing far more than usual, three times already despite him being awake for less than five minutes. It's not necessarily a bad thing, quite the contrary, just a bit unusual for them. She was fairly certain it was probably just the undercurrent of giddiness they'd both been experiencing since they fully bonded.
With a sigh, she sits up fully, "Well, as nice as this is, we really should get around to working on the basics of Occlumency."
He sighs as well at that, but sits up anyway, "Yeah, I know."
Then he finally gets a look at their surroundings and grows confused, so she quickly explains, "We're in my mind now, but this is your part of it. Your mind isn't exactly weak, but it is untrained and unfamiliar with the mind arts. The two of us being in there so long strained it, so we shifted here naturally not long after you fell asleep. We've been sleeping for more than twelve hours already though, so your mind will definitely be rested enough by now."
He nods his understanding, but then his brow furrows, "Is it natural that I'm hungry here?"
She nods, "Yes. The principle behind it is a lot like how hunger worked in Aincrad actually. Your physical body is hungry, so that's transferring here. Much like in Aincrad, you can sort of trick your mind into thinking you're full for a while if you eat something here. The only real difference is that the reason you're so hungry is because your body is burning a lot of energy while it's changing. You'll probably be ravenous when you wake up actually, though with how my mom was silently pushing for this, I wouldn't be surprised if she has a ton of food waiting for you when you wake up. I mean, she probably isn't cooking just yet, we've still got twenty-four hours to go after all, but knowing my mom she'll definitely be ready for that black hole you call a stomach by the time you wake up."
He perks up considerably at that, "Your mom is awesome! Even better, it'll be that delicious food you told me about in Aincrad, rather than the meager salads and sandwiches my sister and I make!"
She laughs at that. She barely spares a thought to it before clothes appear for them. Grabbing her own, she climbs out of bed and starts getting dressed, though she almost immediately picks up on the fact that Kazuto is simply watching her rather than putting his own clothes on.
When she glances over her shoulder at him with a bemused smile he just grins and shrugs, "Nothing wrong with admiring my mate. Actually I wouldn't mind if you'd just forgotten about the clothes altogether."
She rolls her eyes with a laugh, "Hmm. I wouldn't have minded either, except we are supposed to start working on your Occlumency in a bit, and I'm fairly confident in saying that we wouldn't get much work done without the clothes."
His grin widens, "Fair point."
She shakes her head at him, still grinning, then finishes getting dressed. Only once she's finished does Kazuto bother to get out of bed and start putting on his own clothes. Returning the favor, she unabashedly watches him as he had her. Clearly picking up on it, he shoots her an amused look over his shoulder as he's buttoning his jeans, but she just grins at him then makes a show of checking him out.
It draws a laugh from him briefly before he shakes his head lightly, "If there's one thing you should've learned by now it's that there isn't much to see here."
She doesn't bother responding to that verbally. Personally she thought there was plenty to see. She wasn't one of those kinds of girls that was into buff guys, there wasn't anything wrong with them in general, but it really just wasn't her cup of tea. No, he could make as many comments mentally and verbally about how 'pitiful' his body was as he wanted, but while she certainly wouldn't mind if he toned a bit, she quite liked her mate as he was. She sees her mate blush a bit in reaction to where her thoughts were going. Though, the toned thing was definitely going to happen, given that she could guarantee that now that they were bonded, it wouldn't be long until her grandpa forged her mate a Nephilim blade and her family began running him through training to make sure he could at least fend off a demon attack to protect himself, even if he choose not to go into her family's profession.
Now finished getting dressed, Kazuto turns to look at her with a weary look, "I kinda figured they'd want to make sure I at the very least wasn't a burden in demons decided to attack, but this is going to be rough, isn't it?"
She grins lightly as she grabs his hand and begins leading him through the house, "Considering most of the males in my family don't like you all that much because I'm their baby girl and you're their baby girl's boyfriend, now technically husband in the eyes of the magical governments since we're a fully bonded couple? Yes, it's probably going to be very rough." She sees him pale slightly, "Aww, don't worry! They won't cause permanent damage or kill you! Since you're my mate, doing so would hurt me as well in some way, and they'd never hurt me like that! Not to mention, my mom, my grandma, and I especially wouldn't let them do anything bad to you."
He lets out a breath slowly, "Gee, thanks for the reassurance."
Her grin widens, "You're welcome."
She can't help but giggle at the weird mixture of dread, resignation, and exasperated fondness that's put together with a look of fake betrayal he's giving her, "Not even bonded for a full day and you're already throwing me to the wolves. I see how it is."
She gives a fake nonchalant shrug as she leads him into the kitchen, "Gotta prove you can handle me and my family somehow. Figure I'll just throw you in the deep end with the sharks and see how it works out."
He laughs lightly as he tugs her around to wrap his arms around her and press a kiss to her lips, "I suppose it's a good thing I already know how to swim then, huh? I'll just have to figure out how to keep myself from being torn to shreds by sharks."
She grins lightly at him, "A shame we both know I wouldn't let someone as cute as you bite the dust. I'd like to see you try and get away with punching a shark, or my dad and uncle for that matter."
He chuckles lightly, then tilts her head, "Onto another matter though… Why on earth do you have a kitchen in your mind?"
She laughs lightly as she pulls away to go over to one of the bookshelves in the room, "Technically speaking, it's not actually a kitchen. It looks like a kitchen, and there's food stored in here, but a kitchen is in essence a place where you can cook food, and you don't cook food here. I built this house on my nexus point almost a month ago, and when I added the kitchen I made copies of the memories of everything I've ever eaten and put them here. Anything that didn't need to be cooked, like that bowl of fruit on the counter, I just manifested it as it looked. Everything else is in these books."
He frowns at her lightly as she makes her way over with a book from the shelf, "Ok, I can understand that, but it's just passages in a book, how does that translate to having the meals you've eaten on hand in your mind, like the bowl of fruit, and why do it anyway?"
She grins at him, but doesn't answer his question as she sets the book down and taps the page, "This is the most delicious cake my mom's ever made, but something went wonky along the line and she doesn't know what it was so she's never been able to replace it."
She picks up a wooden box without a bottom by the little knob at the top, then places it on top of the book. A second later she picks it back up and moves it to its original spot before lifting up the dish the cake is on so that she can pull the book out from under it and move it off to the side, where it now shows nothing but an empty page.
Grabbing a couple plates and forks, she serves them both a slice. Grinning at her mate's baffled look as she hands him his slice, "Technically, if you can imagine it, then in your mind it's possible. Like for instance, imagining that gravity doesn't apply to you in the conventional sense in your mind."
And with that, she pulls her legs up and crosses them comfortably, grinning at the way Kazuto is gaping at her, "As for why… Well, first of all, a kitchen without food isn't really a kitchen. It's just another room. As for why eat food in your mind, like I said earlier, it works like Aincrad did. Which is to say via the placebo effect. When you eat in a virtual reality or in your mind, you're subconsciously convincing yourself that you've actually eaten, so the brain stops sending that signal telling you you're hungry. One use you can make of this is for things like now, where we're going to be working on Occlumency in a bit, which is something you can't do while distracted by things like being hungry. You can't physically wake up and eat, so here we are, convincing your brain that you've eaten. The plus side to both eating in your mind and virtual reality is that it's one of those things that knowing you're using the placebo effect doesn't actually stop it from working."
She eats a large bite of cake before continuing, "There's other uses for it as well though. The most common being if you're trying to eat healthy. It's one thing to tell yourself you're not going to eat that slice of cake or those cookies or chips, it's another to actually do it. However, if you eat just one of those slices of cake or cookies or chips, you'll have the memory of it and if you have even a bit of Occlumency training, then you can pop into your mind and enjoy it as much as you want without having to worry about actually eating those things except for that one time to get the memory."
She eats the last bite, "And even better, no matter how much you eat it, you can't actually devour a memory. Have you ever heard how every time you remember something, you subconsciously change it just a little bit? Changing the wording slightly, or making an embarrassing situation a little less so? Thinking of what you should've said so many times that you start remembering it that way?"
He nods, so she shrugs, "Well, it's not actually possible to alter a memory. There are charms that are described to do so, but they actually just do the exact same thing you do when you change your memories yourself by playing them over and over. Namely, you make a copy that you apply changes to and bury the original. Occlumency practitioners don't have this luxury though. Since part of the process is examining memories exactly as they really were and sorting them, you're not capable of deluding yourself about how things happened. There are plus sides to this though. One being that anyone who's finished going through and sorting their memories knows immediately if their memory has been tampered with. The other…"
She cuts off a piece of her slice of cake with her fork and pops it on her mouth, grinning as her mate's eyes dart between her cake slice and the rest of it, which is no longer missing the two slices she'd severed them, "You can't actually devour the memory of food. It'll always be there, exactly as you remember it in every detail, even those your subconscious might have filtered out that you at the time perceived as unimportant. It's also why Occlumency users make some of the best witnesses to crimes law enforcement could ever hope for. All they really need is a couple seconds to dip into their mind and dredge up the memory, and they can tell you exactly what was going on, even things they weren't consciously aware of at the time. Of course, this also has a downside, if they're a victim of some crime, they'll never be able to forget it or even bury the memory, of course that's true of really any terrible thing that happens to a practitioner of Occlumency."
Kazuto bites his lip, "Like the Laughing Coffin raid…"
She nods solemnly, "Yes. That is a downside to Occlumency. It'll stay with you, exactly as it was, for the rest of your life. That doesn't mean you can't move past it of course, but you'll always remember."
He takes a bite of his third slice of cake chewing it slowly as he thinks that over, and for the first time since she entered his mind more than twelve hours ago, she purposely puts a mental barrier up to give him some room to think that over without having her reactions to his thoughts distracting him.
After a few minutes he leans against the corner of the counter with one arm and smiles lightly as he brushes some of her bangs behind her ear before cupping her face, "I'm not exactly looking forward to always remembering that in crystal clarity, but that applies to all my memories, right? I have a lot of memories of you and I, along with Yui and our friends and families, that I certainly wouldn't mind remembering so sharply for the rest of my life. The good memories, along with being able to protect myself and you, are more than enough to make it worth it."
She blushes lightly, then clears her throat, "Well, then, if you're full we should move over to your mind and get started."
He nods, so she grabs the now empty and clean plates and forks and is about to put them away when she realizes she's being stared at and smiles warmly, "Oh, Eryx. Did you want some?"
Kazuto whips around and stares in pure confusion at her mostly silent gauntlets, who simply nods in answer to her question. Cutting off a slice and putting it on one of the plates, she places it and one of the forks in front of her as she settles into one of the chairs on that side of the counter.
Glancing at Kazuto as she puts the cake back into the book and moves to put it back on the shelf she realizes she should probably explain so he doesn't start thinking she's actually crazy, "This is Eryx. You remember that ax I was using when that Harpy demon attacked? That was actually Arbiter, but they're both part of my Nephilim blade. They were originally just semi-sentient for the first ten years I had then but when I summoned Shuraba, the Falcata, to me when I was trying to protect you from Kuradeel and later Heathcliff…" She shrugs, "Something happened to them. We're not exactly sure what, but it made them fully sentient. Not that I'm complaining. I do need to get around to asking Grandma about it though… With everything going on recently, I keep forgetting…"
He nods slowly in understanding, still staring at Eryx, faintly he says to her, "I'll try and remind you later…" Then he shakes his head, "Err… I suppose you already know this, but it's only right to properly introduce yourself, so… I'm Kazuto, nice to meet you."
Eryx looks up from her cake briefly enough to give him a polite nod of greeting, but she knows her gauntlets would feel that her explanation would be more than enough of an introduction. Sure enough, once she's done nodding at him she turns her attention back to her cake.
Kazuto gives her a questioning look, clearly wondering if he'd done something wrong, but she quickly lowers the barrier she'd almost forgotten she'd put up while he was thinking earlier, immediately reassuring him without words before adding an explanation, "Eryx isn't very talkative. So she just feels that my earlier explanation suffices as a polite introduction on her part, and that pausing her eating to actually look at you while she nods politely in greeting is enough of a polite response. Come on though, we should move over to your mind and get started."
He relaxes, then nods, following her without hesitation, "Yeah, I know. I was kinda hoping to see more of your mind though. It seems a lot bigger than mine. Especially since you called that bed the nexus point of my mind, but this entire house is built upon yours."
She looks back at him and smiles in bemusement, "Well, considering you're just starting out, your mind probably won't be able to handle more than two hours at a time at which point we'll need to let it rest for a minimum of six before you can work on it more. As you gain more experience and your mind becomes accustomed to it, you'll be able to stay there and/or work on it for longer periods of time before eventually you'll be able to be in there as long as you want. That's later though, for now it'll be two hours of work followed by six hours of rest before we can head back again. So we'll have plenty of time for you to explore later if you really want to."
Opening the door to the set of rooms that is her connection to Kazuto, she waits by it to close it behind him, then leads him over to one of the two doors on either side of the bed. Just as she's about to open one, she realizes Kazuto is staring out the large window above it. He hadn't so much as given it a glance when they'd woken up, but now he was staring out the window overlooking her brothers Quidditch pitch and the rows upon rows of massive shelves between it and the looming monolith eating up almost the entirety of the horizon that was her connection to Pandora's box.
He slowly closes his gaping mouth, "... Definitely bigger than my mind."
She smiles lightly, "It only seems that way because everything that's you is stored digitally." He gives her a disbelieving look, and she sighs, "Let me put it this way. You were born October 7th, 2008, and it's now February 19th, 2025. If you count today as well, that's… 5980 days you've been alive. I was born July 31st, 2008, which would give me… 6048 days of life. Considering my Quicksilver ability, you could stretch that to be an even larger number of days, but that's not actually important right now. 6048 days, and unlike you and your digital mind, as a bookworm I see thoughts and emotions and all that as the written word. So right off the bat, you have to give me enough books to sort that all into."
"Normally, each book in my mind only actually contains 1-5 snippets of memory, but let's just say that wasn't the case and that I sorted it by day. Right off the bat I've already got 6048 books of memories. It doesn't stop there though. Then you have to start adding in the information I learned during those days because it's entirely different to have a memory of attending school and the knowledge of what you actually learned that day. Everything I've ever read, be it recreational books, scholastic books, or even things I read online on posts and forums or comments, every story I've heard, every movie I've watched. Every class I ever took, every skill I learned from walking and talking when I was an infant to fighting, and Crafting Wards, Rituals, and Spells."
She looks out the window, "And it just keeps going too. Everything I've ever tasted, everything I've smelled, every sound that's ever reached my ears. All those things that fill the memories of those days are in and of themselves knowledge to be absorbed as well. So… No. My mind isn't really larger than yours." She grins lightly at him, "You just use higher, more compact tech than my paper and ink."