Chapter 10: Up to Code
Shiro sat in the hotel room, resting against her Nii-san. On her lap was a book that was frightfully advanced for the little girl, detailing the physics and behaviour of electricity. Her Nii-san had tried to get her to test other forms of elemental magic, instead of just copying the one he was the best at, but something about Lightning just seemed to click with her, in a way the others didn't. She found it the easiest by far to visualize.
He held his hand in front of her face, so that she could see the effect he was trying to explain to her, his index finger and thumb extended to make a 'C' shape, "You see, when I start up a current, even from Magic, it starts jumping erratically and moving all over the place."
As he said, lighting jumped from his thumb and connected to his finger, creating an arc of electricity. The yellow band of energy moved back and forth, occasionally breaking the connection before latching on again, much like a Tesla coil.
Her brother continued, "But the thing is, this is magical lightning, not normal lightning, so I can stop it moving and direct it to go in a purely straight line."
The band of energy evened out, steadily reducing it's crackling before it was contained in a pure cylinder of energy. She was always surprised at how well her brother explained things to her, often times being even better at than the books she liked to read. She was smarter than him, he had told her, but she still thought the way he could translate anything to make sense to her was amazing all on it's own, and something she would struggle to do.
He finished his explanation, "This is not efficient, however. This looks more impressive, when it's contained like this, but it takes a lot more energy to keep this going and is slower then letting the Lightning do what it wants to do naturally. That's what the book meant, letting your element do what is should do naturally, guiding it instead of controlling it, means you can do a lot more with less energy."
She had no idea how he got that from, 'Listen to the very soul of your craft, for seeking to change it's nature would be grave folly', but she could easily understand what he meant. She nodded, making her feel his smile from behind her as he let go of the spell and started stroking her hair, sighing as he relaxed.
He's been doing that a lot, lately, she noticed. Sinking into the things he rested on, visibly relaxing from tension she hadn't noticed before, sighing often. She didn't know what this all meant, all she knew was that it was different from how he usually acted, but becoming more and more common.
She was worried for him. She didn't know what was bothering him so much, but she didn't like it. Shuffling, she moved the book off her lap on to the bed, and turned around to give her brother a hug. He seemed surprised, before he returned her affection by wrapping his arms tightly around her, one of his hands gently rubbing her back.
"What's this?" He asked, his voice rumbling in his chest next to her ear, "This is rather sudden."
She could hear the slight smile in his voice, but she just hugged him even tighter, "You sighed again, Nii-san. I don't like it."
His hand on her back paused, before continuing, "I guess I did. I've been doing that a lot lately, haven't I Shiro? I'm sorry I've been worrying you so much."
She shook her head, not wanting him to be bothered by her, but he continued, "It will be better after today. The thing with Serafall and the others made me move faster than I wanted to, I don't know if I'm ready."
Shiro noted down the name she heard, Serafall. She knew who she was of course, from the history books, but it seemed she had been causing trouble for her Brother that she didn't know about. She should try to find out what was going on with that.
Before that however, she needed to reassure Nii, "I know you are going to find a Queen. Are you worried about who you're trying to recruit? Are they dangerous?"
He disagreed, "Dangerous? No, not at all. At least not to me. But she can be... difficult to deal with."
Shiro did not see the same problem he did, "If she doesn't want to come with you, then she's an idiot."
He laughed, a slight note of disbelief in his voice. She did not see what was so funny, but she noticed as his laughter stopped he was a lot more relaxed under her. She smiled slightly at that, luxurating in the warm feeling making her brother happy made her feel, before frowning.
'She'? Her Nii-chan sure was getting a lot of pretty girls to surround him, wasn't he?
She didn't know why that made her feel angry.
The girl was broken out of her thoughts by her Nii-san running the fingers of his other hand through her hair, before gently massaging her scalp, making her close her eyes in contentment.
"Thank you, Shiro." He told her, "Your Brother was just being silly."
She nodded into his chest, agreeing with him, before letting the comforting warmth of her brother fill her as she relaxed with him.
She wanted to keep this warmth filling her stomach there for as long as she could.
"I know you are busy with important duties, but a full month?" Amaterasu was greeted by such an impolite remark just as she entered a meeting room in Takamagahara, the home of the Kami.
Waiting for Her, the being that felt comfortable enough to be that rude to the Queen of Heaven, was a shapely Kitsune, eschewing the use of the tatami mats to instead rest on Her voluminous tails. The sheer fluff of the things ensured that it was certainly to be a very comfortable place to rest.
She was Inari, the fox Goddess of Rice and Fertility. Amaterasu was a higher ranked deity than Her in their mythologies, but such conceptual weight only went so far. With a full third of the Shrines, festivals and worship of Japan directed towards the Fox Goddess, it would soon be the case that She was the most powerful member of their pantheon.
Of course, for Gods, 'soon' could mean decades or even centuries.
"Is that really how you should speak to your Queen?" She knew it was a futile rebuke, but Her pride demanded it of Her anyway, "Besides, it was not just my schedule that needed to be cleared."
Omaikane, the God of Wisdom, walked in from behind Her. She had requested His presence for this meeting, His wise consideration and advice was usually worth hearing on matters such as these.
She sat properly on a mat, Her posture immaculate and without reproach, a subtle message to the Goddess across from Her, "Let us begin. You said the Devils wish to trade with the Japanese again? I have heard as much from Yasaka, but you were approached personally by one?"
"No." The other Goddess disagreed, "This Devil was very adamant that this was an offer from him, alone, not from the Devils as a whole."
The Fox then explained Her meeting with the strange Devil, going through his propositions about opening up trade with the underworld again. When She was done, there was a brief spell of silence as each Deity thought over what had been revealed.
"Personally," Inari broke that silence, "I say we accept. So long as we can ensure he is not deceiving us, even if it causes strife with us and the Devils as a whole, it does not change their tenuous position in the Abrahamic pantheon, we could just cut our losses and isolate again."
Amerterasu nodded thoughtfully, "Even if it breaks down quickly, so long as we limit it to only the trade resources, we only stand to benefit. Especially if Agaresite is one of the possible items to trade."
Inari looked contemplative at that, "Yes, that would be better than the Jade we are currently using... Still, we should be careful."
At that, the two Goddesses looked to Omaikane, who was thoughtfully tapping His chin with a closed fan, looking off in to the distance, considering the problem. The Goddesses waited, having already come to a coclusion, but knowing the value of the God's advice.
Eventually, the Knowledge God's hand stopped, holding the fan against His face as He spoke, "The Sagan were on the losing side of the Devil Civil War... That means that there is potentially some friction between the Devil Government and this Young Devil you met. The fact that he approached you, outside of the official channels, offering a personal deal, not one backed by the Leviathan, supports this."
He tilted His head, "That could, of course, be a ploy. A way to get us to go back to our previous agreement with the Devils via incremental stages. I find this unlikely however. Our sources in the Underworld report that he is only a Baron. Or will be. The Leviathan would not allow such a low-ranking Noble to receive that level of honour or success, where she failed."
He continued, "Given that is the case, we could instruct Yasaka to argue aggressively, should we accept. He reached out to us to build an independent power-base, seeking to turn us into his allies, or perhaps a safe haven should Underworld politics turn against him. That means that he would be negotiating from a much weaker position. This might have downsides, however."
The two listening to Him let Him explain, used to this behaviour from the God. He enjoyed explaining the thoughts that led to His final conclusion, usually ending with every party having a clearer picture of the situation.
"The major risks I see are us being forced to involve ourselve to an internal squabble with another faction, but so long as we give no promises or guarantees of support, that should not be too great a problem. On top of that, if we accept his proposal, we snub the Leviathan, which could close some opportunities to us in the future, as well as strain our relations with the Devils as a whole..."
He considered the problem, dissecting it from all angles, before He reached His conclusion, "I agree with you both. We stand to benefit immensely in the short term, especially if he can supply Agaresite. Additionally, this will allow us to manipulate Devil politics to our advantage."
Amerterasu saw where He was going with this, "Sagan is an old name. A powerful name. He will not stay a Baron forever, especially if it comes out that we are supplying him with the reagents and no one else."
Inari finished the thought, "And once he is a higher rank, we would have a debt of gratitude to pull on within the Devil power structures, should we need it."
Ameterasu considered that, "I'm not sure I am comfortable relying on a Devil's sense of gratitude."
Omaikane shrugged elegantly, "That is but a theoretical, future advantage that might not come to pass. In the immediate, the risks to us are comparatively low, compared the the potential benefits. Yasaka and the Yokai do need extra resources to expand. More worshippers can only aid us. Aggressive bargaining now will reduce the likelihood of us being able to leverage his behaviour later, but could net us greater short term gains. It will have to be carefully considered."
The Sun Goddess nodded, glad they could reach a quick conclusion, "Good, I am glad that we can agree. I will contact Yasaka to set up a meeting. I will have to think on how to approach this."
She stood, dismissing the other two Deities after some time spent discussing other matters they wished to use the meeting to bring to her attention. Standing up and stretching, she let her dignified air drop after ensuring she was alone.
Bolting through her abode, she frantically picked up a remote, aiming it at the excessively large TV taking up one of the walls of the room. Settling in to her favourite sofa, snuggling up into the blankets that were still warm from earlier, she pressed the play button and sighed contently as the colourful images filled the device.
Finally, back to more important matters. She needed to know who Uesugi-kun picked!
My Magic was strange, I noticed. Every Devil's Magic was unique in some way, but I felt that mine was particularly odd. I only confirmed my suspicious after teaching Magic to Shiro, who served as the 3rd incident to confirm the pattern. Usually, when spells were cast, they were the colour of the Devil's own Magic. My magical power was sky blue, Shiro's was a rose red, Naomi was sapphire and Kasane was violet. No matter what spells they cast, the energy always appeared in that colour.
Not so for me, however. Instead, something about my Magic made the colour of the spell always correspond to the element I was casting, or type of spell I was using. Yellow for lighting, Blue for water and Ice, Red for fire and so on.
I don't know if it was just because decades of games and entertainment had taught me that those were the colours they were meant to be, or what. It confused me and I was unable to find anything to explain it within the Sagan library.
Even more odd, was that there was a type of Magic I could use that had two colours.
A sword in a sheath, parting the water, ripples on the surface.
My perfected mental image of the spell worked, just as it had when I finally constructed it, sending a pitch black blade of magic trailed by deep purple lines of energy into the building in front of me. It parted the concrete, penetrating into the room beyond, before the wall rippled, bending and breaking under the intense gravitational forces it was subjected to, while screams could be heard from inside.
Stepping through the hole in the outer wall, I was greeted by the sight of what happened to the people beyond it. I paused, looking at the chunky, squashed remains of what used to be human beings, smeared across the room like paste. Some of them were still alive, missing extremities or cradling crushed limbs, staring at me in wide eyed terror.
I expected to feel revulsion, disgust maybe. Horror at taking life, especially in such a brutal fashion. Instead, I looked upon the scene with a sense of detached apathy. It was either Stress Defence passively protecting me, or something to do with my new Devil physiology, but either way, the result was the same.
I walked passed the survivors, anyone who got away relatively unscathed by my opening salvo seeming to have retreated through the door that was just beginning to close on the other side of the room. Reaching that door, I was unsurprised to see it locked.
'Oh well', I thought, swinging my arms as another blade-shaped anomaly shot forth, 'Nothing overwhelming force can't handle.'
Stalking through the facility, I was glad that I had fried the systems for the alarms from outside the building. The room I had to go to was at the very centre of the complex, meaning having to fight an alerted force every step of the way would be tedious.
As it was, however, I only met a few scattered guards, blasting them off their feet with lighting before they could aim at me. I stopped by one of them, to pick up his rifle, before continuing on my way while inspecting it with one eye.
Hmm, the rifle technology of this world was surprisingly similar to what I was used to. The calibre was certainly different, but aside from that it operated in much the same way mechanically as the firearms I was used to.
Made sense it wasn't some form of rail-gun, I suppose. Sakuradite was supposed to be rare, after all.
Eventually I made it to the room just before my target, which to my annoyance was filled with guards. It seemed that someone had managed to raise the alarm after all.
One of them, clearly in charge by the pompous way he carried himself and the shiny pips on his shoulder, started speaking to me, "Whoever you are, Know that this is a secure facility! The Prince Clovis shal..."
I emptied the entire magazine into him, watching as he wheeled back in surprise. The other guards all shot back, but a pale shield just above my skin protected me from harm. Surprisingly, even with thirty different bullet impacts, the man's armour held up well, only the last few being able to punch past the buckled and warped plating.
Holy cow, these guys were equipped with the good shit.
Having satisfied my curiosity, I sliced my hand through the air, reducing the panicking contingent of about two-dozen armed soldiers into a chunky mass.
That having been dealt with, I turned my attention to the person who was watching this all take place placidly behind a glass pane, held up by her restraints in an 'X' fashion, wearing her iconic straight jacket.
I knew it was coming, however it still struck me actually being here.
Trim form, painfully long legs leading to a pert arse, insightful golden eyes on a beautiful face and her most defining feature, the long, swaying tresses of verdant green hair.
I was finally in front of my target of this escapade.
The Witch of Britannia, CC.
AN: Oh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, another chapter so soon? I am spoiling you!
Please note, that this chapter was mostly written out towards the tail end of a 16 hour shift, if there is any formatting weirdness or mistakes it's probably due to that.
In regards to the 'fight' scene, unprepared baseline humans without Holy weapons vs a Devil that has had time to train his Magic? Yeah, those dudes were fucked, even if the devil in question couldn't turn them into salsa with gravity waves. I transitioned into that straight off of the joke in the previous segment to try and make the ease with which he can now slaughter people a bit more stark.
Eager to see your guys reactions to this one!