º
º….Snippet...º
º
"So...you are the mother.."
"Yep.."
"And she is the father.."
"Indeed Lumine.."
"But she is your daughter..."
"So?"
"As-well as your wife..?"
".."
"Care to explain..?"
"Life happens…"
"Neat, so...are there free room for adoption…? I brought papers..."
"My oh my, daring….aren't you~?"
"Traveller Please...NOT again!"
º
"…..." = Speech
[….] = Thoughts
º
Blood..
There was so...much...blood.
The bitter taste of the arterial ichor lingering in her mouth like a curse.
Clinging to her, suffocating her like a broken promise that refused to burn alongside the rest of broken dreams.
Her breath was ragged and haggard, but she was not tired as the sound of ribs and bones shattering like glass became music to her ears when she slammed her fist into the exposed belly of a creature.
The blood inside her veins was pumping without stop, hot like charcoal been shoved right from the pit, but she was not bothered as her blade danced through the air, biting and kissing the dark flesh of the beasts, limbs and torsos littering the now blood stained grass.
The air around her was filled with dust so thick that it managed to temporary obscure part of the sunlight on the very field she stood, making the entire area that had been so clean and filled with green and blues becoming murky with shadows that promised death.
But she could see them just fine.
Her body sprinted through the man made fog like lightning, the very ground she had been standing cracking into a small crater as she became a human sized bullet, pushing slamming herself into the shaded forms of the Hilichurls at the other end of the field the same way a full grown man would tackle a child even though the size difference was the other way around.
A part of her should be ashamed, to look away...
The sound of their squeals of sheer panic and terror soon drowned under the meaty echo of arteries pop open and muscles been carved like a cake as she tore them apart with either hand or blade.
A part of her wanted to throw up, to feel the tears prickling her eyes.
Her once pristine hair and clothes were now drenched in their blood, coating her frame in that black ooze that alongside her sweat caked her body entirely like a second skin would. Her eyes that had shone with mirth and wonder at the beginning of this day now tainted with murder written in her eyes.
But right now…..her body demanded this.
A war-cry could be heard from her left, another body she spiked with a shard of ice as big as her arm right through its mask. Shattering the ugly thing and obliterating its stupid head all at the same time, leaving nothing but broken shards and brain matter behind.
It wanted this.
"….m...ht l...i..."
A club swung at her from her right...only for her hand to grab the wrist of the offending hand and twist it like a rug, skin and flesh breaking apart and revealing the white bone underneath under the gushing sight of blood spraying everywhere.
"….l...a me….t ...nuh."
She wanted this...
Its mewling cries ignored as she rammed her knee into its crotch and jabbed her blade right through its throat, twisting the blade for good measure, finding joy in the way it fought for air through a skewed throat, how it gurgled and trembled at the way blood flowed and bloated its lungs with its own life source before kicking the thing away from her like the trash it was.
"….tr...p... m….ht r...et"
Her head was about to burst with each passing second, almost as if someone was scraping at the back end of her brain with razor sharp knifes, but it did not stop her, it did not cloud her mind….but instead she had never seeing things more clear.
It was like a damn broke in that cursed moment.
The thin veil between her mind and her body that had kept her from fully acclimating herself to her body now pulled out from her eyes.
Giving her certainty
Pride
Strength
And so much insidious bile anger...
Emotions that felt so strong and harsh, all coming at the same time, all wanting first place at the chair, things that tainted her usual self with a palette of colours she did not recognize, that should be alien to her..., that should NOT belong to her, but were now mixing with her being.
Changing...things.
Her hand lunged forward right into the chest of another tribe warrior, punching through the toned flesh with insulting ease, the sound reminding her more to a wet bag been stepped on. Blood coated her arms and slid down all the way to her elbow as a sick display of how hard she had punched.
"….d...e...b ….eht ek….m"
The Hilichurl groaned in agony, its much larger form bending down by the intrusion of her limb inside of him, weakly trashing around, sometimes even hitting her in the chest with its oversized palms, earning from her nothing more but a grimace.
The ruckus that came to an end when her hands grabbed its heart.
The azure light of Hydro now darkened with the blood coating her arms glowed brightly as she shot a blast inside of the creature. The Hilichurls body becoming bloated in seconds a bag of plastic that someone had connected to a hose. The sight was not pretty, not with the way its muscles and skin rupturing and breaking down as its shape expanded way beyond anyone's imagination.
Until….. it literally pop up, like a balloon….but instead of air or confetti what came out was a mess of guts and blood that left her drenched from head to toe.
The taste of blood had never been so strong.
Her eyes remained locked in the now empty space her hand seemed still stretched forward, flexing and clenching on its own.
It was so surreal…
She should have said something's, she should have grimaced...she should screamed her lungs out. But she barely blinked as she dragged her body through the motions. As if reality was playing catch up with her.
The horror of it somehow felt...distance, dulled.
Why?
Why was that..?
She did not know...perhaps it was because they were not human a voice whispered at the back of her head.
Because they were monsters.
Killing them was not bad because they did not look human.
This was self defence…
This….this was fine...what she was doing was fine...because at the end of the day, it was better than blaming herself.
Or at least...that was what she thought.
Or….was that really her voice..?
She slowly rubbed the back of her hand on her face, trying to wipe away the blood...yet only smearing it further. Her eyes gazed around her, the world around her a blurry mess of shadows, dust and distortion. Bodies littered the ground in their dozens.
And though they had most of them their masks on….she had the feeling they were glaring at her.
All lifeless..
Butchered
Torn apart.
She bit her lip to the point she felt blood trickle down her chin.
Yes...
They had done this..
They had done this to her, forced her, made her….turn her into...into this...
This was their doing, not hers.
..
..
..
She sighed, exasperation and fatigue finally bleeding into her voice with what could only be described as reluctant sadness.
"I really fucking hate Hilichurls…."
º
º.….Five hours before the mess…..º
º
The sun was shining like a bitch
The birds were singing their praises like a low cost radio
And the wind was nowhere to be seeing from miles around, making the air grow hot and...a bit steamy.
In days like these, kids should probably not be walking alone on the countryside where monsters usually hanged out like hooligans after a spiritual experience through a game of Mario party.
Good thing for her, she wasn't a kid any-more.
..
..
Well...just a little. After all, like a wise bald man once said, we all have an inner child. It was just a matter of knowing how to connect with it.
Yeah, wrong universe, but it did not made the message any less true.
Now, where was she...? Ah right, the weather.
It surely did not came as a surprise that in Fontaine it rained, a lot….it was part of the culture just the same as children drank maple syrup in the great north instead of water since the moment they were born...which perhaps explained the amount of war-crimes that came as a result of it later on.
Yikes...
Still, sunny days were not rare in the land of Hydro, just not as constant as they would be in Natlan or Sumeru. However, from what she had heard….when the weather became sticky like today, then it could mean that a storm was gonna brush through the coast sooner rather than later.
The cold currents of Schenevaya would sweep through the north west while the hot winds of Natlan would come down from the east, ultimately crashing into one another over the oceans around Fontaine and its surroundings, which would lead to what she assumed was a massive downpour over her head and a very hectic end of summer before the appropriate arrival of autumn as it was proper.
Which...was she was doing this today rather than later.
Her hand trailed down the objects hanging from her waist, both vision and delusion briefly glimmering at the pacing touch of her gloved fingers.
She was curious to put these new toys to the test.
Away from prying eyes.
True…, there were SOME training grounds back at the Hearth, big ones at that given that they were used to train a small army of little child soldiers. So, why not use the already built infrastructure?
Well, that.. But…she was...well...too shy to try them
.
..
...
Yeah... it kinda sound lame to be honest, she knew that, but surely you could forgive a girl for trying to stay away from stage fright, right? The last thing she wanted was to pull another Naomi after the last experience was still so damn fresh. Also, what would the people think of her if she started jumping left and right or kicking walls to try test whether what happened at the institute was a fluke or genuine strength..?
"Yeah, I better not think much about it.."
At the end, the decision to do this elsewhere was the most logical one.
The only one she could choose actually.
With a sigh she wiped with the back of her hand a droplet of sweat from her face.
"Still, I wish the weather would not be so punitive today….."
Even though she had changed herself into what she would considered a cowboy outfit, with a set of ultra tight black pants and a loose white shirt that exposed her navel while her hair was tied into a large ponytail behind her back to make things more practical for her because for the love of god she was not going to go everywhere wearing a pencil skirt….
Things is... she was already sweating
Like...were her clothes always see through..? If so..then perhaps she could use them to...get a certain dragon boy to shake up that stiffness of his. It wasn't fair that it was only her the one getting horny after all.
º
º….Somewhere in Fontaine….º
º
Neuvillete felt for the first in his life a shiver..
Without notice
Without warning….
And...it was a strange thing. Almost that he had to double take on what had taken place to factually acknowledge the rarity of it, making the Ludex pause in his work from placing another set of documents in their respective shelves.
And...why did the face of a certain dark pink haired woman passed by in his thoughts..?
..
Shaking his head, the Chief Justice decided to resume his work, picking another pack of sheets with the background information for another trial that had taken place the day before.
Whatever it was...it surely would not be anything bad. Tomorrow would be Mr Callas speech, he should be focusing on what words he should exchange with the man.
º
º….Back to the countryside….º
º
º
Shaking her head she started to unclasp one by one the buttons of her shirt, exposing the prominent, creamy now sweaty cleavage that she was now tasked to bear in this new body...as-well as the spots of her bra that started to show around the edges.
"Urgh, good lord no one is watching...or someone would think I am more of a cow-girl right now"
The idea of using the delusion had crossed her mind….but discarded it when she realized that she did not know whether she would shoot at herself with a cold wind of frost or a pillar of cold ice instead.
Yeah, she was not planing to die today thank you very much.
Still..
She could find some joy from it.
Perhaps it had to do with the magic in the air...but she had the nagging feeling that it all came down to the blatant lack of centuries of non stop industry development and uncaring pollution of the world for just a few quick bucks.
"Ah, the air really is a lot more clean than what I had at home back on earth…..now if only it was fresher now I would not be that bothered, guess beggars cant be choosers…."
She half bemoaned her luck as she kicked a pebble on the road. In the end she found a certain spot in the wilderness that she considered good enough for her.
A small clearing among the bushes, the cups of the trees offering a well appreciated rest in the shade. Her eyes wandered slowly around the area, scanning it...before nodding in satisfaction at what she saw.
Yes..
This place would do
"Ok, lets gets this show on the road..….." She muttered as she slowly pulled down on the grass the bag she had been carrying with her before she took a hold of both delusion and vision.
She had come to test her powers.
How she managed to accomplish that he did not know, it was not like these things came with a manual. Though at least one thing was clear. She could do stuff..
Now it was just find the right way to do so on command, if magic was a muscle then it was only right for her to practice with it until she could master it, and if it flowed inside of her then all the more reason to test the limits of her body.
For her own protection of course….NOT because she wanted to go full Horus heresy march 2 ok?
For that she would need to go bald and no sir she liked her hair very much.
"First thing first though..." She muttered as he pulled the magical orbs down over her bag and started walking towards a big lump of rock on the middle of the field, a house sized lump of rock that felt a bit familiar with what was left of its former shape.
Who knew, perhaps Zhongli threw a spear at the wrong direction and ended several nations away.
It would be a funny story to be true.
She stopped only when an arm of distance remained between her and it. "A practical approach should be….the way to at it first.."
There had been two times when things had gone off the rails as far as she knew.
The time she had been able to make use of her Hydro powers was when she had been angry….and the moment she had literally kicked the metal reinforced doors into hell was when she had thought she would need to do her best to actually rattle the thing out.
What linked both events?
No idea..
Which did not help her much, buy hey, she was here to learn...that should count for something? Right..?
With a sigh she clenched her fist
"Alright, I just….need to punch this thing, no biggie…." She muttered softly. To be honest...it felt more stupid saying it than thinking it.
Still...in for a penny in for a pound or they said.
[I just hope I don't end up breaking my hand in the process..]
Shaking her head from such troubling thoughts she reared her arm back for a few moments of doubt….before he lunged forward. Her gloved hand colliding swiftly against the rocky surface with a weak thud.
..
..
"Huh..?"
She pulled away from the rock and glared at her hand with new found curiosity. Normally when you slap a rock...your hand should hurt. It was the way of your body to tell the idiot slapping rocks to stop doing that.
Surprisingly... hers didn't.
"That's….weird. "
Though not unwelcome
"However the rock its still in one piece…..so I guess this is a fail?"
Of course she had not notice the small dent on the rock. Though given that her attention was on her hand at that moment it was a comprehensible blunder.
"Hmmm…. I guess I should just hit it harder.." She mused with a shrug as she clenched her hand again.
How hard could it be.
º
º….Four hours and 30 minutes before the mess….º
º
To her surprise it seemed that it was actually quite hard indeed.
Between having to force herself to ignore her mind from listening to the logic her life in earth had taught her that punching rocks was a terrible idea and actually trying to exert more force in each strike was not as simple as it had first sounded in her head.
And so.. she was left with just one option.
If it doesn't work at the first try, then do so again. And so...she hit it
Again
And again..
And again..
Until she grew tired of the absurdity of the situation or she became used to this strange method of testing things that would not have looked out of place from the dark ages.
The sound of her gloved clenched fist smacking against the cold surface of rock and stone echoed around her in repetitive soft thuds inside her head, louder and louder and louder the more she hit the bloody thing. And the more she did the faster she went at it.
To be honest she was not even aware of how fast she was going at it by now, she was just aware that her hand was more of a blur than anything else. All because she had just thought that the previous pace was way too slow. She was still trying to come to terms with that line of thought.
Her fist landed again.
Dust started to spill out around her
Her hand punched the boulder once more
More cracks formed all over it, pebbles flew all over the place as more and more pressure was exerted on the entire structure.
She slammed her fist hard, a shock-wave rupturing around her as the wind was dispelled away from her...yet sides the rock seemingly remained unmoved, though it had started to...shine?
Nah, that could not be.
Still, no matter how much she went at it the rock would not break….and neither was would her hand.
Crucabena bit her lip staring again now at the now ruined glove as pebbles and shards of rock were now lodged on the now tattered fabric. Were they clawing at her skin? Was she bleeding? With all this dust she did not know, though it was most probable with all this adrenaline coursing in her heart.
She took a moment to step away, to take a moment to breath in and out from this free punch buffet.
She should be happy now, she was at least making progress…...but she had that bothersome feeling nagging at the back of her head that she could do more, so much more.
And the clue to it rested on the fact that after all this smacking there should have been pain, but there was not such thing.
There was however a numbness to it though.
Yeah..
Just…
A numbness…
..
..
..
Several minutes of punching the damn thing and the only thing she felt was some mild numbness.
It felt like a fucking joke.
And it was getting on her nerves.
She clenched her teeth.
Bit by bit…
Punch after punch
She felt her nerves grow alight, her blood running hot like fire while her patience continued growing ever thinner. How was this possible? How hard did she needed to hit that thing? How much time she would spent here until her body reacted the way she wanted it to? It had not been that hard to break a metal door..! AND SHE HAD NOT EVEN TRIED TO DO THAT BACK THEN..!
It made no bloody sense.
[God dammit, that R.O.B must surely have a hand on this, I just know it..!] She cursed inwardly.
She just wanted to break the rock, not play twenty questions while building a death-star lego set at the same bloody time. Why things could never ever be simple...? In fact it should not be this Hard!
"JUST FUCKING BREAK...!"
She yelled both annoyed at her lack of progress and how bloody sturdy the damn thing was, slamming her fist right back into the cold surface. However something happened this time, and for starters a small explosion of dust was one of them.
Once she managed to regain her sight and look at what laid in-front of her….she noticed something. And maybe, just maybe she meant the cannon size hole inside the cube like rock.
It had not punched through from side to side like she had initially thought, but she could easily slip inside if she wanted, in fact it the hole had to be seven or six feet deep.
She took a step back..trying to digest the scene, drinking in the huge cavity she had created with a stupefied expression.
It was glorious
It was amazing..
It was-
"Ah, ahahahahah….auuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch…..FUCK, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck yeezzzz and almighty and the Trinity that shitted on them. THAT HURT...!"
She moaned in pain as she went right away to nurse her aching hand if only to quell the abrasive, burning sting that seemed to chew her hand in and out.
She would not be surprised if there was another one growing just underneath the skin.
[Wait..pain...!?]
The revelation almost make her fall on her ass as she stared at her hand once again with renew interest. She barely paid no interest at the cuts of her glove or the blood slowly pouring out from where shard and rock had bitten into her, or at that sensation that told her of a broken nail or two.
Instead she focused on that feeling of pain coursing through her hand
As if she were holding her beating heart right there...
"Ok, so….I can almost crack massive magical boulders with my fists….and even push them away from me by sheer motion, but not really shatter them unless I want to make my hand turn to shit, good to know..." She snorted to herself.
At least she had now a good guess of what kind of staff she should not punch from her on out.
Still...it had also told her a few things as-well. That if she wanted to make use of her enhanced body she could not wish to do something.
She HAD to want it.
To envision it in her head perfectly….and the magic would the rest.
..
At least, that was what she told herself. It would surely made sense given how Childe popped Hydro swords from nothing.
The following hours she spent them running amok on the fields terrorizing the local flora and fauna.
Years later a myth would pop out to watch out for the giggling spirit.
º
….Three Hours before the mess….
º
"Alright….I just want to jump...there"
She mused out loud those words, having said them more than once already yet the act of hearing her own voice at the idea that had formulated in her head seemed to give her just a little it of courage and certainty if that was even possible about the harebrained idea that she had come across a few moments ago.
One that resolved around a particular branch at the cup of the nearest tree her eyes had spotted on. The big.., thick and….probably able sturdy enough to held her weight kind of tree branch.
At least…
At least that was what she repeated time and time again in her head.
The last thing she wanted was to picture herself falling down on her ass from those heights because she miscalculated.
She shook her head from such musing, palming her cheeks in order to bring herself back in the game.
"Just...jump there, into that branch... nothing fancy...ok?"
She repeated again as she crouched a little bit, taping her knees as if to reassure herself. Trying to feel or..push? The energy inside of her to do what she wanted it to do.
Or at least...she thought she was succeeding at that.
"Ok….here I go!"
And with that she jumped, her legs pushing her away from the soil as hard as they could. In no time she found herself raising into the air like a bird, the ground becoming more distant as she found herself almost able to taste the fresh leafs from the tree.
It was the deed of legends...!
.
.
Nah, in truth she barely rose a head or two from the ground just like any normal person would. With a sigh she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Ok...that was….disappointing."
º
º….Council of Crucabenas….º
º
In the middle of the room where most of discussions about what new hair-brained schemes were concocted inside Crucabenas mind, a television set had been placed to show the rest the progress of the bodies work
Or at least that was the original purpose before they attached a controller to it and started making bets who could get the best jump.
Serious C : "I can do it..!"
Funny C : "No you can't.."
Serious C : "Yes I can! See..!"
Funny C : "Nope, don't see it.."
Serious C : "What are saying? Clearly I was THIS high up."
Tired C :"That's how high you always jump."
Serious C : "Grrrr."
Flirty C : "Can we get a turn?"
Intellectual C : "Again? What about us who had not a?"
Serious C : "Girls I am trying to concentrate!"
Drunk C : "And…. there! Your just kicking air...comrade"
Funny C : "And there... she fell again..."
Serious C : "I have the feeling that you are enjoying this.."
Funny C : "Moi? What could have made you think that..?"
Serious C : "God dammit..."
Tired C: "Hey…..what does this red button do?"
Serious C / Funny C / Intellectual C / Flirty C : "NO, DON'T PUSH-!"
º
º
The first few attempts had not yielded amazing results to say the least.
Yes, she had noted that in one or two she had reached five heads rather than the normal two she usually managed, but it was not groundbreaking news.
[Well, its a work in progress not a 100 meters sprint….]
Looking back at it he should feel a bit of pride about it, but...no, it did not feel near as satisfying as it should, not when it was clear that she could do so much more.
Like….a crap-load more.
Canadian crap-loads
With a sly smirk on her lips she placed her hands on her hips and glared back at the trunk of the tree that stood before her.
[I mean...if baby Arlecchino could pull a mega jump then surely I can..]
She would not be able to live it down if her emo daughter got her beat at rabbit jumping.
No hell no.
She had some pride to hold onto after all.
Who knew...perhaps one day she would make a competition between Peruere and her, "first who reaches the clouds wins a hug!" Now, that sounded like a good way to avoid getting merked in the future as-well as having some fun.
Two birds with one stone.
With a silent nod she started crouching again. Taking a moment to breath in and out….feeling the energy crackled around her in her mind before each and every muscle tensed.
"Ok, here I GO!"
She jumps
The ground shuddering a little as she rises up in the air, leaving a small cloud of dust behind.
A smile warped on her lips as she found herself rising higher than her previous attempt, far, FAR higher in fact.
It takes her less than a second to see it.
She had done it..!
She was a pro at this hell yeah...!
The warmth of tucking her own horn at proving herself right was sweet indeed. Then she started screaming when she realized that she was still rising up in the air with no sign of stopping.
It seemed that in her eagerness to pull it through she had gotten a bit to overly enthusiastic of how much energy to put into it….and so her airborne body did stopped where she wanted it to. The very same force that had led her up as she requested now leading her to miss the tree branch that she had been trying to hop onto entirely, well...not really, she had slammed her head through it. Then she continued popping up through the cup of the tree in the process.
Which was not pleasant at all, smacking her head through branches, bird-nests and leafs.
It did not get any better when she made a downwards arc right into the ground though.
Face first at that
..
..
..
Lets to say that it was not a happy landing.
º
º….One hour before the mess….º
º
"Ok...how do I work with this thing...?"
She mused out loud as she casually held the delusion in the palm of her hand, its unnatural cold glimmer bathing her each and every time as if pulsating with a life of its own. In fact...it had started to glow a bit more brightly the closer she brought it to herself.
Why..?
No idea…
Ask whoever idiot made this thing without leaving her an instruction pack
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…."
Anyway, that was not what she should be focusing on. With an inward sigh she shook her head before looking back at the Delusion. Her eyes narrowed in contemplation while she stroke her chin, thinking of ways...to tackle the matter now presented before her.
Loath she was to admit it….she did not know what she was meant to do with this. What? What is with those looks...!? She had never thought she would make this far, ok?
Now…..physical power was one thing, channelling through her body and then out the energy bestowed upon her to produce incredible physical feats may not work the same way with something less….tangible? Was that the right word?
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……."
"I mean...I can see my fist and I can feel when I clench it or flex it, but how do I mentally picture the magic inside of me..?"
Perhaps it was not a good example to put things into perspective, but it was a good question…..and to be honest, game mechanics never explained such tiny bity little things.
It would have been really helpful to be the case.
Damn Hoyo for been so careless, had they never considered that such information would have been useful in case of Isekai syndrome was at work?
.
.
.
"Yeah...that was to be expected..."
[Guess that I will have to fail and test this thing until I get it right…..again] She thought a bit peeved about it. After all, if it went just as-well as it had gone with her "hippy rabbit hopping" and "fist festival" then she was not really looking forward to this.
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…."
"Perhaps if I shake it a little...?"
She said as she started moving the thing up and down as if that would activate it and help her spill its magic frosty juice.
A lame idea, she knew alright, ok?
But to be honest she did not wanted to feel...violated again by the delusion like last time.
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….thup!"
"Auch, bitch!"
She bemoaned more in anger than pain at the audacity of the bloody mosquito or wasp that had decided to pay her a visit with its sting, lunging a hand at its direction to bat it away in as punishment. Like come on, someone is working here..!
Only that this time her hand was closed into a fist instead of the open hadn't she thought she had.
Clenching around a pommel of a blade she was sure she had not been holding before.
With a body caught in a mid spin
Her eyes were barely able to follow to glow of the blade as it sliced through the air…. turn a diminutive spot in the air into two smaller ones.
..
..
..
"Oh my god…...really? I pulled a Diluc?" She chirped out loud as her eyes glared the blade like a child staring at a new toy.
A dangerous one at that though
Sharp
Light
And with a dozen things added to it that spoke wealthy as well as powerful
"I thought that was just game mechanics at work when brood boy when to fight those Hilichurls..." She said as she remembered that early in game cinematic, it felt like a lifetime ago to be honest. "Like...for real, are you telling me anyone call store shit in a hammer-space? That sounds so fucking cool..!"
Her grip on the handle was strong yet not too tightly, flexing her fingers and trying different swings as she tried to test what better way it would be to use it. However, her body seemed to already know what she wanted as the swings did not feel cumbersome in the slightest.
Nimble, simple things as the length of the blade cut through the air with a brief whistle. For some reason it just felt right.
She did not know what that meant, but before she could questioned the blade blurred into nothingness, its very real frame turning ghastly before dissipating from her hands in a golden glow of particles.
"H-hey! What the hell..!?"
She mumbled confused, looking left, right and even behind her to see if only a peek of the sword that had puff out of existence in such an anti-dramatic fashion.
"Where did it go...?"
She tried to call it back. To lunge or...do weird gestures trying to bring back the weapon into her hand However...such attempts proved to be rather poor in their success.
With a sigh she started to scratch the back of her head.
"God dammit…...this is going to take a while to get the gist of it, isn't it...?"
º
º….Half an hour before the mess….º
º
The blueish energy of Hydro started to slowly sip into her arms, like a cool blanket of blue and whites that soothed her emotions.
This time the process had been far more easier to pull out than the others, perhaps it had to do with the way her body was more intoned with the vision, or she was just getting a handle on things.
Whatever it was, things seemed to look brighter now for her.
No pun intended~
She had started slow at first..
Watching the way the energy reacted to her movements, how it built up or decreased whether she made a flicker of her hand or clenched fist. Observing how bodies of water poured out from her arms into the air, floating, with only herself and her fingers to lead where she wanted the things to go.
Shooting things was cool
Building a snowman made out of literal magic water was even more so.
She even went as far as to make a small looking blade made out of it.
It could not cut anything though.
Not yet…
If she tried the only thing that happened was that it phased through the staff like water did. Still, she had the shape already worked out
"Now...what could I do next..?"
Shooting things...? Check
Create flimsy blades...? Check
Play with water balloons...? Check
As a matter of fact what else was left for her to clown about..?
.
[Perhaps I could experiment with things..?] She thought, pondering that intrusive thought.
Nothing too serious
Just wanting to see how much she could held control over. After all...what could go wrong? It was just water.
With a silent shrug she took a stance before she started to intone a few words if just to larp a bit for the fun of it, holding her hands back like they did back in that anime as she tried to concentrate.
"Ka..."
Slowly, with each passing breath energy started to flow inside of her, the hue of white and dark blue elemental power started to glimmer around her arms and fingers.
"Me..."
Like that time back at her office, a ball of Hydro started to spin and spin between her hands, a prickling sensation poking at the edge of her fingertips as the energy flowed into the spherical object of her desires, growing bigger and brighter the more energy she felt pushing into
Ha…
A small droplet of sweat started to slid down her forehead as the ball grew bigger than two basket balls, however she did not stop, she did not even slowed down, in fact...a sense of adrenaline and fascination filling where common sense should be as she tried to see how far she could get doing this.
"Me..."
Her feet dug themselves deeply into the ground as the ball in question was now bigger than even herself, the glow was so bright at times that she had to either look away or close her eyes. Perhaps she should try wearing sunglasses for the next time.
"HAME…."
The way the ball...or bubble started to shake told her that it was about to reach critical mass.
[Oh my god, I am about to burst a leak…!]
Perhaps in both ways~
"HAAAAAAAAA….!!"
And with a stupefied grin she released the energy that had been building until that very moment, at what? She did not know, she just fired the thing at one direction without a care in the world.
Little did she know that the kick back was gonna be the mother of all truck-kuns in speed dial.
º
º….10 minutes before the mess….º
º
She was tired…
Who knew that fucking around would be so tiresome...? Shocker right..?
She wanted to snort, but the attempt felt more energy consuming than it felt worth. Instead she chose to remain there, with her back on the ground as she stared at the skies above her head through the foliage of what trees remained around her.
She had tried to be….careful with the environment….but a girl has to move around freely you know?
Her body, her rules.
..
..
Wait..that came out wrong
[Well, no point in crying over spilled milk…] She mused to herself as she tried to stand up..only to stop mid way when her back started hurting a bit.
"Urgh….this must be what Bell felt spamming all those fireballs back then, I really don't envy him…."
It would be sweet if healing potions existed in this world.
Too bad she would need to go about it the only way poor chaps like her could, with patience
Wait...since she was Hydro could she not heal herself? Barbara could do it. To have both a healing and Dps power would be top notch if she wanted to survive as long as possible. Though..once again, she was not a church nun so it was unknown how that ability worked exactly.
Not like she could ask the girl in question how she did it….given that she was not even born yet..?
[Argh, where is a time machine when you need it!?] She mentally protested in a childish manner.
"Well...we will cross that road when we come to it I guess..." She muttered to herself if nothing else.
Besides, if true she was in no hurry to test that thing anyway.
The day had already proven rather productive…even though it had consisted in her mostly throwing things at the wall to see what would stick.
Butt hey, it worked.
Kind of-
The rustling of a bush to her far left brought a stop to her thoughts.
It was a small thing at first.
A flicker sound here and there
It could have been the wind...or some stray squirrel.
Huh, an alien stray squirrel...could you imagine that?
..
Oh wait...she was in an alien world, there could Actually be alien squirrels.
Silly her...
However when the sound continued on, growing stronger as more was pushed aside she had the feeling that it was larger than your usual mountain cat. Slowly, she cocked her head into the direction where the noise was coming from, more curious than scare like she should.
What could it be?
A wild animal..?
A wandering adventurer...?
Or supper sugar daddy Zhongli...? The one with money at least…
Yeah, the last one seemed the furthest one from the truth...but a girl could only dream right..? Such good looks yet penniless, life really could not give him everything.
[Huh….I guess that makes it Neuvillete 1- Zhongli 0….]
The idea of having the two gallant and overly attractive men playing an intense match of tennis in her mind, with them all sweaty was certainly a good way to end the day.
Were there laws in Fontaine that prohibited fan art? If not then she was going to make some real money soon. Yae would surely seethe of envy at her stealing her ideas by a few years in advance.
"Beware Fontaine...I will make you know the power of rule 63…, the road to glorious evolution will be hot and smutty...!"
After a few more seconds the intruder made itself known…
And it was..
It was...
"A….Hilichurl..?" She stuttered confused as the sight of the tribal looking creature moved through the bush, having to blink several times to take on the fact that it was actually real.
And it was…
With its afro like mane all over the place that made it look more like a dirty sheep standing on two legs.
With its hunky, smelly and hunched black body that reminded her of a well roasted cockroach. Don't ask her where she got that idea from, everyone had an emo face. And of course...the mask….which kinda looked a bit silly. Like someone had pulled out a small piece of carton and written a few lines in there.
.
Was that a background orchestra playing..?
The sound of Jurassic park in the background was all in her mind, right...?
Whatever it was, it was shelved into the recess of her mind when she spotted it raise the crude looking club at her direction
.
Oh shit, it rose a club at her direction!
She immediately stood up as if she had a rocket stuffed in her ass, though the only thing she managed was to accomplish was make a mess of her coordination and half stumble the entire thing, ending hitting her back against the trunk of a tree, her heart throbbing loudly in her chest.
Cold sweat prickling her eyes as her mindset once again back to that of just a girl living in her apartment without much care in the world…. and not someone that lived in a world with fracking monsters roaming around.
The creature took a step forward.
She bit her lip, her legs felt weak yet she tried to push herself if only in order to take another one backwards in return...only to find the tree blocking her path, pressing tightly against her back.
If she just were to take a moment to think about it for more than two seconds she could have remembered that she had powers that could surely level the poor sap into red mist, but right now she was not thinking about that, not with her eyes painfully glued on that club that looked bigger than her thigh.
[Shit, shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit...don't tell me that I am going to fucking die here!? Why could it not be a wild alien squirrel!? WHY!?]
º
º….Council of Crucabenas….º
º
º
Serious C : "Guys!? Fucking do something...!"
Funny C : "I AM TRYING!"
Serious C : "Then try harder...! Its getting closer!"
Funny C : "What part of the controllers are not budging an inch you did not get!..?"
Tired C : "You broke it already..!?"
Funny C: "W-what? No..! It was this guy.."
Serious C : "Me!?"
Funny C: ""Yes, with you and your stupid hippy hopping from earlier…"
Serious C : "It was not stupid..."
Flirty C : "God dammit, am I really going to suffer death by day-player ALONGSIDE you turds...!?"
Funny C : "Its not like you are better company..."
Drunk C : "Hip….just embrace...hip, the end my...rade…"
Intellectual C : "…...I am just going to press the big emergency reboot bottom..."
º
º
She stumbled forward, even though she had not known when she took the first step forward...only that she was not pointing the sharp end of a blade at the approaching creature when a sword glittered into existence in her hand.
That…
That should have been enough...
The realization of wielding a weapon to defend herself should have made her feel better….but the iron grip she held the blade in question to the point she started to shudder violently spoke otherwise.
Just like in all of those slasher films where the first victim armed themselves with a knife before wandering on into the dark corridor...it was more out of reassurance to themselves and to scare whoever came to intrude in their domiciles than actually fight them. And... like all slasher movies….when the intruder was not your run out the milk Joe then it mattered little if you had a knife or a bloody machete, you were done for.
..
If only she knew the difference of power
If only her previous city girl mindset was not blocking her sight from what she could do.
"S-stay back! Stay back y-you….you thing! I have a weapon and I-I am not afr-raid to use it!" She swung the sword left and right as if it was a stick, trying to shoo away a dog on the street.
Of course it did not fucking work.
It instead stared back at her.
Even though she could not see its eyes with the mask on, she knew they were gazing at her. The thought made a cold sting crawl up in her back.
It took then another step forward.
"I said stay back"
She grunted in her panic, swinging the blade again...only that this time she put way too much force into it, which led her to spin over her own heels. Which….resulted in her cleaving the tree behind her in two.
A neat clean cut by the way.
"Sorry...?"
She really did not know why she was apologizing, but the words were already coming out her mouth by the time she did. Perhaps it was the stress of the situation, or the absurdity found in it.
However, before she could be aware again of her "strengths"….the Hilichurl rose its club over its head.
And then let it drop on the ground….
Clattering on the soil with a soft thud.
..
"Eh..?"
It then pulled out a white flag from behind, where? She did not know, it did not seem to posses pockets, but right now that was not the most important thing right? Not when it started waving it over its head left and right
..
"EEEHHHHHHHH….!?"
º
º
With a sigh she brought a hand to her forehead, pushing away the silky strands of her mane away as she tried to rub away the migraine eating through her very skull.
A futile gesture all things considered though
"So...let me get this right…"
She started to say before her voice dropped for a brief moment, her pearly whites biting her lip as she tried to find the right words.
"You are a nice Hilichurl...?"
To say how surreal the situation was would be to put it lightly.
First he had been fearing for her life and praying to whoever god held shop up in the heavens like there was no tomorrow, then the very next second she was blown out of her game by the meanest and most unexpected plot-contrivance..?
She really did not know whether to be thankful, angry...or just confused. When she had come out for a stroll in the woods….stumbling onto a Hilichurl pacifist was not in her bing card.
For some reason though...she had no problem with that.
The Hilichurl merely stared at her for a moment….before giving her a weak nod..or what she assumed was one.
She breathed a sigh of relief that she had not known she had been holding.
"Wow…, what are the odds…? I thought you were gonna kill me or try to cook me for my flesh.." She muttered out loud, though more to herself than anything else.
The creature seemed to flinch at that though.
A small thing..
A barely noticeable shift in its posture…
Someone else would have wondered about the reaction, perhaps look with a different glance of suspicion...but yet again, it was her they were talking about. So she shrug it aside...thinking it related more to a grimace of her thinking that the fellow sentient creature like the Hilichurl would try something so...grim-dark right of the bat.
Well, it wasn't like she was an expert in NPC characters turned real behaviour to actually set a base of proof, specially of those that were the mobs you culled for exp or money in a daily basis in the grand challenge that was to pull up the dailies when you had work early tomorrow morning…
Still, given that they were real nowadays perhaps also meant that things changed there too.
Hopefully….
"So….what are you doing here?"
"Uriuchutar..."
..
..
"Right….I don't speak Hilichurl…." [What was I even expecting...?] The idea of hiding her embarrassment between her hands was a rather enticing wish that lingered at the corners of her mind. "Ok, communication its going to have its up and downs….now, how do I speak with you? You do...seem to understand me, right?"
"Urighitar…"
She did not understood a word, but given that it was...nodding, she assumed that was a "yes"
[Huh….it felt so much easier when the Traveller was doing it, perks for been a protagonist I guess..]
"Oh...that's...good, still I think we should make a way for me to understand you instead of making this a one way trip.."
"…"
"What if...you nod your head to say yes or shake when you mean no, simple, right?"
It nodded
"Great...now.. you are lost or something"
It shook his head
No, it wasn't lost.
"Ok….so you came looking for something?"
It nodded
"Hmm….can I help you?"
It nodded again before it went to pick up a stick and started to draw something in the ground.
Her curiosity peaked she leaned closer to get a better look at it.
It was…
A bunch of terribly drawn masks.
[For gods sake he draws worse than Clervie..] She thought as she swallowed down the urge to snicker at the comparison between her daughter and this hill-billy.
"So...you want me to help your...tribe?"
It nods..
[Oh..that is so sweet..]
The little guy had come out of his way to search for some help for his buddies.
It was almost cute.
"Ok, I will help you….just point the way, little guy..but before that...I need to name you, ok?"
"Uighie?"
"Yeap, from this day onwards I will call you…..Cid Kagenou…."
"..."
"Yeah, that was a horrible idea, to much of a back ground npc name that the word sounds weird. What about Jack..?"
"…?"
"Jack it is.., here have a cookie.."
She said as she handed a cookie to the Hilichurl from a bag she had hanging from her hip as if it was a good dog instead of a wandering monster despised by all civilization. It stared at her with a well deserved weird-look...or as much as the mask could allow it to emote.
Nonetheless... it picked the cookie from her hands and then gave her... a hug?
It was so random that she froze...but soon enough returned the gesture in kind. She smiled, oh dear...this was going to be a wonderful day.
She just knew it.
"Oh Jesus…..this is going to be so great!"
..
..
..
Oh dear….if only she knew
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A/N
Hi, here comes another 9k chapter, forgive me for any grammar mistakes you may find and I hope you may like it. Feel free to share your thoughts and your opinions about it, I would greatly appreciate them.
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The chapter leading to this one only needs the first part of the C point of view to be done and I already have done the following one and an omake.
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Given the amount of violence that the story is going to have, from mild to heavy stuff...I think that having a crash course was the best idea to not only explain how she is capable of doing that kind of stuff now, but to not make it seem like she came up with the right way to use her powers on the spot.
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If you think that its strange for her to cower in fear at the sight of a monster, no matter how weak it is...remember that while she has the powers of a killing machine, she does not have yet that mindset, but oh well, there is always that traumatic "kill or die" event to push everyone over the line for the first time, no? With all the horrible things that Fontaine's noble houses and the criminal syndicates Hilichurls are rather down in the evil spectrum of things.
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gamerjay412 : Oh boy, OH BOY…..we are not going to reference that particular scene, we are going to live it! Especially when Cruacbena finds both Petronilla and Clorinde and tries to smack some sense in their titanium thick heads on how one should raise a child.
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D: Well, can we blame him….? The Milf Tag exist for a reason. (a very good reason….)
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UNIVERSE : Insert jpg Dottore rubbing his hands together
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DDDXXX : "I will choose Signora, her tsundere personality would be a perfect match for the main character" I guess that Furina has now a steep competition even before she even realizes she is in one, lol. Having Signora having quit witted moments while trying to make sense of our little Knave's idiotic antics is gonna be a blast.
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grifman275 : Ei is black listed from social services so I guess it will be up to us to fix the mess, but to be honest, Ei better come with the legendary sandal to teach her wayward son a lesson or two
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Childe is not yet born, so he is out of the equation. I do agree that Signora and Capitano are actually the best choices given that the rest would not be interested or down right antagonistic towards such ideas if we take into consideration Arlecchinos words at the end of her quest and project Stuzcha. Now, how we get them in board could change between complete honesty or either appealing to their humanity, for now, I don't know which one.
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Lol, no one likes Dotorre, not even "Dotore" likes Dotore.
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Oooh, a court battle could be a good way for her to come face to face with Furina." Given what Furina has to do and gone through for all these years I already had in mind a more wholesome and gentle way to slowly make our little archon open up to the main character (perhaps becoming friends….or more~).
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There will be a trial, but that is not going to be the way how they meet, but it may well break them, its still up in the air though….
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I feel like Bena gonna melt when she sees young Navia "That is the power of cuteness overloading, a dangerous and lethal attack that should not be underestimated. If you think about it, Navia and Clorinde reminds me of Peruere and Clervie, the two up beat girls wearing dresses and been nice to everyone while their more introvert friends been cool minded badasses"
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Quick question:
Should Shenhe who should be a child before her father tried to sacrifice her appear on the story or we just focus on the children of Fontaine who are already a handful (Charlotte, Peruere, Navia, Clervie, the children of the Hearth, Cheuvrese, Wriothlesley, Liney, Linnie, Cloride and Freminte)?
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Second question:
who do you think is Clervies father..?