Chapter 44: Blades of air

Feeling cold and warm and heavy and light? The demon's words couldn't have been any more contradicting. But somehow judging from his expression, Izaya knew that he wasn't joking. This was what he needed in order to cast spells. To actually use magic. Made sense that there was more than just a little effort and training to it.

For a second the idea of raw skill, inherited by fate, crossed Izaya's mind and he hoped he was not one doomed to fail and never use it.

But hot and cold…?

Looking around the surreal cave made of flesh and lights Izaya tried to think of something fitting the description.

A fever.

Chills.

The sensation of skin touching a blanket that had long heated up but felt cold to the touch forced itself onto his mind.

Before he knew it the white flames surged- A moment of regret filled Izaya's mind as he worried he might have just spoiled his attempt, but to his great surprise he seemed to have had just the right visual in mind.

Traversing the air like threads of a silken spider the white from his black flame ascended as all remnants of black were sucked from its counterpart.

Surprised, Izaya blinked as he looked at a perfect color of black and white, separated by his palms. "I did it-"

Even Shizuo seemed mildly perplexed as Izaya raised his gaze to meet his eyes and mild laughter traversed the cave.

"Shizuo was fast, but you are even faster," the guardian's voice suddenly laughed and the wall ruptured. "Careful, demon lord, this one might beat you to the position next."

Izaya wasn't sure what he had expected upon facing the crab's return. A brighter vision? A different color setting on the crab's face or a few gruesome details?

Seeing as Shizuo had used some sort of spell in order to enable Izaya to see what demons did, he figured the crab's exterior would have changed.

But not as vastly as this.

The teeth spiked mouth talking to them somehow had transformed to gushes of green and emerald. Nacre stones replaced what Izaya had thought to be some sort of teeth and a couple small salamanders of bright turquoise quickly rushed back and forth between what appeared to be its own ecosystem of a water cave inside the crab.

The eyes had changed too.

Stalks of disgusting flesh had changed to manifested liquid glittering like ice on an icy winter morning. Even the iris of the guardian had changed its size and curiously looked at him as they elongated towards Izaya.

Izaya wasn't about to call the guardian beautiful, but it was hard not to feel a similar sensation when he hummed gently.

"You have an awful lot of faith in me Mr. Crab," Izaya picked the conversation up where it had been left and the crab chuckled quietly.

"Krƚuᵏhilyჹr. That's the name." Syllables and vocals Izaya had never heard before traversed the cave and it felt as though just speaking his name had somehow enriched their surroundings with warmth.

The idea of ever calling the guardian by his name was quickly discarded as Izaya had no idea how to reproduce the sounds he had just heard.

"What is this language you use?" He had heard Shizuo use it before. Words that he didn't understand and that seemed to hold an awful lot of power.

It differed from the one that he had found in his foster father's study upon reincarnating into the body of the royal son.

"It's spiked with power," Shizuo explained, "Even whispering the name of a demon holds a spell."

So the warmth claiming the surrounding air was something Izaya hadn't just imagined.

Looking at the demon he had been travelling with for so long his eyes narrowed for a brief confused second. "And yours doesn't?" he called Shizuo by his name too many times to count so far and never noticed any effect on themselves or their surroundings.

"It's not my real one," Shizuo sighed, and somehow his expression seemed a bit lost. "I think."

Not his real one?

Somehow that statement felt awfully wrong. Izaya couldn't even tell why, but addressing the demon as Shizuo had come as natural as it felt absolutely right. It was a gut feeling at the end of the day.

Looking at the pendant resting around his own neck he read the inscription of Shizuo's name.

Did he find this? Or was it given to him? If so, by who? Questions over questions popped up in Izaya's mind, but asking them would not bring his desired answers.

Because Shizuo had lost his memories, just as he had upon arrival to this world.

"I thought you were going back to sleep?" Shizuo had turned and faced the guardian with light amusement.

An amused expression forced the corners of the crab's mouth upwards and he nodded towards Izaya.

"I thought so as well, but how could I miss this opportunity of entertainment?"

"You didn't expect me to learn as quickly as I did, did you?" Izaya snorted, but the crab merely laughed as he negated his conclusion.

"No, the concept of what you just saw is as simple as breathing to all demons here."

The crab probably hadn't meant to deal a blow to Izaya's confidence, but those words just now actually did.

Glancing at his palm Izaya felt quite set back by the revelation of inferiority.

This was just the beginning. Nothing grand. Nothing useful. And yet he already struggled with it more than he thought he should.

"It's something else that caught my attention," the crab suddenly announced and before Izaya knew it, its eyes had extended. Clear like a fresh spring's water fountain the curious embodiment moved around Izaya, looking up and down as the guardian hummed approvingly, as if he had found what he had been looking for.

"You have potential for separation."

Separation?

Blinking, Izaya looked down at his own body, half expecting to see something he had missed earlier. Maybe some kind of magic circling his waist or runes that had magically appeared on his skin. None of which was to be found, however, and he frowned quizzically.

"He does?" Shizuo beat him to the question on the verge of his lips and Izaya sighed. "Should I be scared or impressed?"

The crab laughed, "It means you have fine control and precision most demons fail to execute," he tried to explain and as if on cue a soft flame started to burn in the midst of the cave. It was turquoise just as the salamanders traversed his mouth and if having been offered a treat they quickly rushed over before dousing themselves in the pleasant heat. "Fire for example is easy to blast and even more simple to produce. It's wild and uncoordinated," the crab went on and with a few quick flickers the flame grew and burst as it disappeared, leaving a couple very disappointed salamanders behind.

"But creating blades of air requires a much finer level of perception and foresight," the guardian went on, and for the first time Izaya heard something that somehow rang a bell in the back of his mind.

"Blades?" he repeated, and it felt as though a couple memories, too intangible to touch, started to flicker in the back of his mind.

He used to handle some, he knew that. In his previous life that is. And yet talking about them he felt as though he was missing an important memory connected to them.

Looking at his palms Izaya's eyes narrowed as he tried to shake the odd sensation. "You mean I can create a weapon out of nothing?" Because right now they were talking about magic, about some kind of energy usable to demons and those who learned how to manipulate it. Talking about blades seemed awfully contradictory except they were made of the same substance.

And the crab smiled, very much pleased by how quick Izaya was to follow and grinned, "A blade that cuts any other with ease."

Confidence and an odd desire to learn suddenly blossomed in Izaya's chest.

For some reason he suddenly felt extremely hyped.

Strength was never part of his repertoire, or at least not the number one resolution he would choose. But a blade that could cut everything and would always remain by his side- it just felt so familiar and right that it caused the slightest hint of goosebumps to trail up his spine.

More.

He wanted to know more about this.

As if having noticed his eagerness the crab suddenly spoke. "ֆƈhᶰཞiĐ."

Quick and harsher than expected a cut suddenly tore through the side of the cave and forced the wall apart. Both the waterflies as well as the salamander were quick to scurry away as they seemed to realize this area was about to become a little more dangerous than before.

"Repeat it," the guardian suddenly ordered and Izaya tore his eyes away from the fissure inside the stone.

But the word he had spoken- it had contained vowels Izaya never heard before, nor knew how to imitate. Especially the first sounded as if it had reverberated inside the cave almost as if two voices were spelling it simultaneously.

"Shneid…? Shnaid?" Izaya tried nonetheless, but as expected whatever it was that he was saying had no effect at all. It was equally awkward as it was disappointing and Shizuo tilted his head as he seemed to fall into deep thoughts as well.

"I don't think hell reacts to him like it does to us," the crab suddenly concluded and Shizuo seemed to have arrived at a similar conclusion as he crossed his arms. "But how else are we supposed to make this work?"

"There is always an option of not saying anything at all," the guardian threw in and Shizuo turned as though he had requested skinning him alive.

"He is a beginner, I doubt he can do a chantless incantation," Shizuo argued, and Izaya felt somewhat lost as he watched the two argue.

"Boy," the guardian was the first to address him as he nodded into the air. "Look." And Izaya did.

Fast, and without any further explanation the guardian repeated the word he had used earlier and it was as though Izaya saw the air shimmer for just a second.

The blade.

He couldn't quite see it, and yet he knew it was there. Like a stream of slightly impure water being mixed into purified one. A waterfly was in the direct course of the blade's slash and for a second Izaya felt a tinge of regret. The poor creature-

Meeting the black waterfly head on the slash finished its path by burying itself into the wall behind it.

Dead. It should be dead. The waterfly, that is. Chopped in half. But oddly enough it wasn't and Izaya's expression grew even more curious at the sight the guardian had just displayed.

"It's not dead? What are these creatures?" Izaya asked, thinking that the waterfly itself must have some kind of invincible properties, but the guardian quickly corrected his mistake as he smiled with the kind of expression that caused Izaya's chest to tighten.

"It's not the creature, it's your will forced upon them. Your blades only cut what you want them to if you maintain control."

Amazing.

Izaya didn't know what to think or feel about that revelation except actual anticipation and excitement.

A blade cutting only what he wanted it to? The ability itself seemed too insane to own and suddenly he understood why the guardian had taken interest in him.

He didn't need Shizuo to tell him to understand that this kind of ability was rare and probably unusable for the demon lord himself.

"Again," the guardian suddenly announced and Izaya's body tensed as all his attention focused on the crab's actions. "Keep close attention to every detail you can see," the guardian announced, "I cannot tell you how to use it, you have to find your own way."

It was on him to learn how to use this spell. To learn how to finally defend himself in this world of heaven and hell and he was incredibly motivated to do so.

Because at the end of the day, he knew Shizuo would protect him with all his might, but that was not what Izaya wanted. That was not how he had led his previous life.

Another blade rushed through the air and Izaya's eyes narrowed as he tried to make out what it was that moved it the way it did.

Blade after blade traversed the air as Izaya tried out to understand its inner workings. But there wasn't much to see.

Just a shadow, or rather a distortion in the air, briefly allowing for the blade to be seen.

Maybe that's what he was looking for. The distortion. The air. From the looks of it, it seemed almost like it wasn't a gush of magic that the crab was bringing forth and throwing into a random direction, but rather like the air around was being manipulated into creating a gap holding too much force for objects to remain.

Like a bubble of air trapped in water and moved into a deadly shape by gravity.

A bubble like that could be formed by manipulating the surroundings. Could be made smaller, larger, and Izaya looked at his hands as he realized that it wasn't sight the demon's relied upon despite their enhanced vision.

Quickly brushing the runes Shizuo had drawn into his palms off, he tried to get rid of everything that might interrupt his attempts.

To Shizuo, however, his action seemed quite contradictory.

"It's alright. Even if you can't cast spells, I can still make sure you are safe," the demon lord quickly assured and Izaya snorted. "I'm not giving up."

No. If anything he was just starting.

Looking towards the carb he followed its movements. It's eyes. The flow of air.

Moving his own palm Izaya tried to mimic what he thought the crab was doing. But of course he couldn't touch the air. At least not in the way he imagined.

But water could be touched. And Izaya tried to remember the sensation felt upon diving. The way the body was trapped in a medium so similar yet so different to air.

The way it hovered all around and gathered in strength the faster one's own body moved. And Izaya tried to imagine it. The resistance.

As if there were something in his palm to be pressed.

More.

Larger.

Longer.

Filling the entire room-

And for a brief moment he felt as though he actually brushed something and the waterflies flocked towards his body.

Was he onto something? Or just imagining things? He didn't know. All he knew was that he had a feeling he was on the right track with his visualization and his head turned.

Where? Where to aim this pressure he felt?

And he watched the waterflies as they floated around and moved according to his visualization. A spot lacking their presence was what he aimed for and he imagined them gathering. And suddenly it was there.

A sensation.

Clear and unbelievably light.

A flicker, a glimpse and the sound of something metallic rushing through the air- albeit into the completely wrong direction-

"Fuck, sorry-"

Blood.

Albeit just a droplet of it, rolled down the side of Shizuo's cheek as the demon lord had avoided being hit by the blade head on.

A blink followed, spelling surprise and for a moment Shizuo touched the small cut on his cheek before smiling.

"You were right."

to be continued~

I simultaneously like and dislike the trainings arc xDD It's funny to write since I never wrote one before, but it also feels a little cliche so it will probably be the only one of its kind hahaha

See you next friday everyone~ C: