Creation began on 05-31-18
Creation ended on 06-12-18
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Grimoire of Evangelion: Show them who you are
Shinji awoke to the rising sun and tweeting birds outside his window, feeling like everything he was currently doing was part of some endless loop he was experiencing for a while. At least today would be different from yesterday; last night, he had the most unusual dream about being at NERV HQ, back in the Eva and crushing some boy he didn't know until he was pulp with a severed head. Knowing his aunt, whom he confided in a bit more than his mother lately, Suki would suggest to him that his subconscious had yet to let go of his obligation to NERV, like it was trying to make him wait for the day that they would go back to the city and he'd have to go back to that unnecessary part of his life that they feared was going to get him killed or worse. He really wanted to let go of the Eva, but that was difficult when the cybernetic giant was right next to the house, now covered in tarp and large chains, like a large, restrained or captured ghost.
For the time being, the people of Hage put up with it, either ignoring it or just wondering why magic didn't affect it.
Shinji opened his window and looked out at the village in front of his eyes, and then looked down at his uncle, who was aiding his grandmother in a section of the garden on the left side of the house.
"Good morning, Shinji!" Rika greeted him, waving at him as she used magic to water several patches of flowers and carrots.
"Good morning, Grandmother," he greeted back. "Good morning, Uncle."
"Good morning," Tenshi responded, laying down his garden hoe to wipe some sweat off his brow. I still can't believe that nobody knows about these plants. They were pretty common over a thousand years ago. The Star-shaped Herb and Jade Dragonfly Flower, plants seeped in mana with special properties.
It was funny how from their survival exile and prophesied return resulted in the lost of many important things that brought insight to the people of the kingdom. The Jade Dragonfly Flower could aid in determining one's magical level once ingested while ingesting the Star-shaped Herb in its raw state could grant increased abilities, both physical and magical…while two altered variations of it could either suppress one's magical energy, rendering them not too different from the boy in the Black Bull squad…or unlock their magical energy, enabling its usage once more if sealed away.
"How are these plants doing?" Suki, who had gotten up half an hour before Shinji had, asked the two as she stepped outside.
"They grow fast, but not too fast," Tenshi told her. "These will be the first of their kind to be cultivated in centuries since our return. I'm actually looking forward to putting them to good use."
"Which ones are the Jade Dragonfly Flower?"
"The ones with the scale-like pattern along their stems."
Suki looked down at the described plant and was fascinated by its appearance.
"How long until they're fully grown?"
"About three more days."
"Nice."
"Was there something else you wanted to ask us, Suki?" Rika asked her daughter.
"Um, yeah. Yes, I just wanted to know if…you were certain that your measures are going to be sufficient for…that?"
Rika and Tenshi looked over at the Eva, reminded that after Tenshi confided in Rika about the future he saw, they had confided in Suki.
"Yes, I'm sure," Tenshi answered her. "I've taken every measure that will make certain nothing will happen. Nothing may affect it in a way that is trying to move it, but instead of trying to move it, the goal to merely to keep it safe, to keep them safe."
They were speaking in code so as to remain inconspicuous in case Yui was eavesdropping. The precautions Tenshi took were all to ensure that Yui wouldn't get any ideas on getting back inside the Eva and triggering the future he had seen that would happen when they all returned to Tokyo-3. Should Yui make an attempt to get in it, the series of Trap Magic spells he placed around the behemoth would activate, one after another for every try, and alert them before she could attempt to deny anything. So long as neither she nor Shinji could use it, that future could never come to pass.
-x-
Even with so much time on her hands, Yui felt like she should be doing something much greater than exploring Hage. It was such a small town and she didn't even know anyone.
"Hello," she heard a voice behind her, and she turned to face a young woman with blue hair dressed in the attire of a nun.
"You're talking to me?" She asked her.
"Yes, you're the only other person outside right now."
"I'm sorry, I still don't know anyone here."
"That's because you're not trying to reach out to them. I'm Lily, I live at the orphanage church down the street from several of the other houses around the village."
"Uh, Yui Ikari. I live…at that house that was built by my mother and brother next to the purple giant."
"Your family's become quite the talk of several people here and across the kingdom since they returned from their exile."
"I really don't understand how they're being spoken about. I mean, they…don't seem to be that important in any way."
"Oh, that's not true. Your mother and siblings are all that remain of the original House of Ikari before they were forced to flee the day your sister, Suki, was born. They're the only three of any noble house that is over fifteen-hundred years old. Your family, back in the olden days, were among the few noble houses that respected and tolerated people of every status in the kingdom, whether they were nobles like themselves…or commoners like us with little magic. You really have much to be proud of."
"They…accepted everyone?"
"So says the old stories about them. People from as far as Sosshi and Kiten have been making their way to here ever since they found out you set up your residence here and your brother's ceremonial ritual to transition into a patriarch for the family."
"Yeah, that… I can't imagine that actually happening the way it might be expected to."
"Whether it happens the way it's expected to or not doesn't really matter. It's just part of your family's traditions. They're…what's that term some people use? Old school?"
"Yeah, that is true."
"You seem to be under some measure of negative air, ma'am. What troubles you?"
What troubled Yui indeed? She still couldn't get around being here, despite everything that had happened. Her mother had solidified her decision to keep her out of the Eva because of the sense of unfairness it did to her relationship with Shinji, who was currently being as distant with her socially as she had been with him metaphorically for ten years. She was surrounded by people that relied on magic for everything, where science was sparingly used.
"I just don't buy into this," she explained to her her mild disapproval of the whole situation. "I don't believe in the idea that we live in a world where magic is everything. I believe in rationality, in logic, not all of this."
Sister Lily found it odd that there was a member of House Ikari that seemed to resent everything there was to do with magic. It was like dealing with an older, reverse version of Asta in a way; whereas he was the only person in the entire kingdom that couldn't use magic, Yui seemed to be the only person in the kingdom that didn't want to believe that magic actually existed, that it was impossible.
"Why?" She asked her.
"Because…I'm convinced that this is all in my head, that this is a dream I can't wake up from just yet. I can't and shouldn't be deluded into believing that any of this is happening and my son might actually prefer life here as opposed to life back home where magic is just a fantasy."
"But…is your son happy here?"
"I…I don't know. I… We haven't spoken much since we left the hospital. He's…upset with me a little bit for something I did a few years ago."
"What did you do?"
"I left him alone when he was four."
"That's hard on any child, to be left alone."
"But I didn't leave him alone completely. I left him with his father…who then left him with a stranger…after a lengthy struggle with my mother and elder siblings over who he should live with."
"If it had been me, I would've chosen family over a complete stranger. There are no ties stronger than the ones you know best, most often the ties of blood."
"But the thing of it is, I thought I knew my family…but it felt like they were keeping secrets from me that were too crazy to believe in. I would hear these stories they had about being here, but as I got older, I thought they were going crazy because they grew up during a hard time of war and post-war recovery, that they chose to believe in make-believe because it was an escape for them when reality got too stressful. I honestly didn't believe that any of them were true, that they didn't come from a place that was as real as this."
"And now?"
"Now? I feel like I'm the one going crazy with every passing day. Yesterday, I was saying goodbye to my son for what I had hoped wouldn't be the last time, which ended up being for a long time, and he ended up being distant from me. I went to sleep, and when I woke up, I learned that, within a fortnight, ten years had gone by, some people I worked for were getting ready to do something I believed in that needed to be resolved, but instead of doing that, I found myself relocated to a place that seems like somebody's dream world come true, and three of my family members, instead of being in various stages of old age or failing health, young and beautiful like in their old pictures…and my son, who seems split between life here and life there where he was doing what he was told to do…and he might prefer life here over there."
"Would that be a bad thing for him to prefer life here as opposed to life where he once resided?"
"I just want him to be able to find happiness where things make sense, to embrace living."
"Why not just talk to him, then? See if he's happy."
"And what if he doesn't want to talk to me?"
"Then at least you'll know for certain."
-x-
"…I can't believe the Wizard King is going to attend such a ridiculous ritual ceremony," expressed Nozel to Nebra and Solid as the Silver Eagles were among the Magic Knight squads heading to a waterfall location to see the House of Ikari's patriarchal rite of passage, three days later. "How does something like this work, anyway?"
"From what the house's history tells, the eldest male of the family is permitted to become the new patriarch following the death of the previous one," explained Solid, "but the right to earn the status is achieved through ritual combat, won through either yield or temporary crippling. For ritual combat, if someone doesn't wish for the eldest male to become the new patriarch, either because of a belief of inexperience or something else altogether, they're permitted by right to face off. The only catch is that magic is forbidden during the fight."
"No magic, huh?" Nebra said. "Sounds like a ridiculous attempt to even things out between those with power and those without power. Who would agree to such terms?"
"If this is how they did it in the ancient days, then we could keep Tenshi from becoming the house's new patriarch just by defeating him in this ritual combat," Nozel told them. "If he's beaten, he'll have to wait another year to become the patriarch this way, leaving only the matriarch. They need to be put in their place. The past is dead, and so are they."
-x-
"Are you ready, Shinji?" Rika asked her grandson as she finished preparing the beverage that used the Jade Dragonfly Flower to determine one's magical level.
"Yes, ma'am," he answered her.
"Please, don't call me 'ma'am', Shinji. I'm old, but I'm not that old, anymore."
She passed him the cup and he accepted it.
Shinji took a breath and drank the concoction. It actually tasted like lime or kiwi with a hint of strawberry or watermelon. He didn't feel like anything was going to happen to him.
"Now what?" He asked her.
"Now we find out your magical potential," she answered him, opening her grimoire. "Blood Spirit Magic: Heritage Factor."
Shinji felt like someone set his insides on fire, but he was in no pain. He couldn't describe the exact feeling, but it was like his core temperature was raised.
Rika raised her hands up and moved them across the air around her grandson, measuring the magical energies surrounding him that was being forced to emanate from his blood as a foundation. The look upon her face was one of curiosity and uncertainty; while convinced that Shinji was capable of magic, she had to take into consideration his diluted heritage as a result of his parentage. Her daughter, Yui, despite her paternal heritage being non-magical, did possess some level of magical energy, but it never manifested in her early childhood or later adulthood, which had her suspecting that it might not manifest unless she was around a Grand Magic Zone where mana was in abundance. But Shinji, a result of a union between a woman that never demonstrated any magical powers and a man with no magic at all, might've still possessed a degree of magic as a result of his maternal heritage, even if the chances of it were slim. Then her expression turned to concern, which wasn't missed by Shinjii.
"Is it bad?" He asked her as she pulled her hands away.
"It depends on how one would define 'bad'," she told him, and smiled. "No, it's not bad. The flower and spell did what they were supposed to do, which was determine your magical level. You definitely have some degree of magic in you, but…it's stagnant."
"Stagnant?"
"At a standstill. You probably have more magic in you, but I can't say for sure. You're like a creek that's been blocked off by stones and algae over the years, so water can't flow out properly as intended. The more blocked off the creek, the less water that flows. But…if you remove the stones and algae that block the creek…"
"The water, and therefore the magic, can flow properly as intended," Shinji realized.
"That's right."
"How do we do that?"
"All those exercise techniques that were developed over the years. Yoga, meditation, jogging. To tap into your magic reserves without restriction, you need to remove the stress that weighs you down along with whatever doubts you may have."
-x-
The new picture in the album depicted Shinji engaged in conversation with the younger Rika Ikari in the office of Gendo Ikari, along with a secondary photo depicting Yui speaking with what appeared to be a nun.
"What could they doing over there?" Misato wondered aloud.
"It doesn't seem like either Shinji or his relatives are trying to find a way to return to this world," Kaji suspected. "If anything, it looks like they're just… Living it up."
Gendo turned two pages back, revealing the previous photo of Shinji engaged in a conversation with a young Tenshi, who had a book floating in front of him. Whatever their conversation was about, he felt that it didn't help with their situation one bit.
"One day, we'll go back, Shinji. Spatial Magic takes time to master." He thought he heard Tenshi's voice say.
Misato turned the pages back to the current one…and saw a picture of a grandiose waterfall with people on the ground in front of it.
"Where are they?" She wondered.
-x-
Shinji had never seen a waterfall so beautiful as these falls, and the people from across the kingdom that came to see Tenshi attempt to become the family's patriarch were quite the formidable number that covered much of the shallow falls and grounds.
"Nervous, Tenshi?" He decided to ask his uncle, who was dressed in baggy shorts and armed with only a shield with a short staff attached to it, his weapon of choice.
"Very," Tenshi responded. "I'm hoping I get to challenge someone to become the patriarch."
"Why?"
"If I do it this way, then I'll have truly earned the right to be one, that the position wasn't simply handed to me."
Shinji looked at the people that gathered, noticing several people that were these Magic Knights that he was hearing about, wondering if any of them were considering challenging his uncle to keep him from becoming the new patriarch. He then noticed the squad known as the Black Bulls…and one of the members that had him a little bothered was this boy that had a creepy smile.
"I'm guessing he's Luck Voltia of the Black Bulls," said Suki.
"Luck Voltia?"
"Apparently, if his history is accurate about him, he's insanely fond of fighting anyone strong…and he always smiles. His nickname is Smiling Battle Mania."
"Yikes."
"But he won't fight Tenshi unless his squad captain, this Yami Sukehiro, permits him to."
"Is that so?" Yui questioned; she judged from the way the boy looked that Luck couldn't have been any older than her son and elder sister currently were. Would they really let children face Tenshi to keep him from becoming patriarch?
"Welcome, everyone," greeted the Wizard King to the people. "Quite the excitement today. Surprisingly more so that Mr. Tenshi Ikari seeks to become House Ikari's new patriarch through ritual combat. Before this can be attempted, he must have his magical powers locked away."
Gasp! Several people murmured over how impossible it seemed to actually lock one's magic away.
Rika, holding a small cup filled with the Star-shaped Herb variant meant to seal Tenshi's magic away, gave it to her son and watched as he drank the whole thing before handing it back.
"Urgh," he grunted, his face and upper body showing blackened veins as the herb variant did its purpose to suppress his magic. "Urgh."
It lasted for a brief moment, but then he returned to normal, if only slightly weakened from the process.
"No magic is to be used during ritual combat," he uttered.
"Victory in ritual combat…is obtained by either the opponent yielding," the Wizard King explained, "or when either opponent is temporarily crippled and can no longer continue. And if Tenshi is defeated, he won't obtain the status of patriarch until a year has passed and he goes through this rite of passage again. If there is anyone among you that wish to impede this young man…I now offer…a path to him."
One of the Magic Knight captains stepped forward. It was Dorothy of the Coral Peacock squad, still awake since the Ikari family's return.
"The Coral Peacock…will not challenge to impede," she expressed.
Then another captain stepped forward. William of the Golden Dawn.
"The Golden Dawn will not challenge to impede," he responded.
"The Black Bull will not challenge to impede," uttered Yami, which earned a groan from Luck.
Most of the squad captains all declined to have any member of their squads face Tenshi, either out of respect or because most of their members couldn't fight without relying on their magic.
"Is there not anyone that wishes to step up?" The Wizard King asked. "It don't matter who you are, noble or commoner."
Suddenly, Suki raised her left hand up, catching everyone by surprise.
"Suki?" Yui asked her.
"This choker I have on is becoming most uncomfortable," she expressed, her choker being a basic strap with a cat head on the middle. "If nobody wishes to challenge my big brother, can we please wrap this up and call it a day?"
"Ah-ha-ha!" Several of the children present laughed, and Shinji, despite finding it humorous, shook his head in the negative over his aunt's suggestion.
"Cowards!" Everyone heard a female voice yell out. "Do you really want this man, this…Ikari…to be another patriarch?"
From further away stood three individuals with the same shade of silver hair with differing styles.
"Are they members of House Silva?" Suki asked her mother.
"Yeah, they are," she answered.
"Is that a bad thing?" Yui asked.
"I guess you could say House Silva is somewhat…immune to change in their superiority complex."
But Shinji felt nothing but a bad vibe from these three. The same bad vibe that he got when they were in the hospital recuperating. Whoever these members of House Silva were, they just sent a chill down his spine.
Yui looked at them and thought they couldn't be any older than she was when she did her contact experiment with the Eva.
"Nozel Silva," the Wizard King greeted the three siblings, "Nebra Silva, and Solid Silva. What brings you all the way out here?"
"Him," Nebra answered, pointing to Tenshi, "and them (she points to the rest of House Ikari)."
"Ever since they returned," went Solid, "they've been the talk of the kingdom. One of the oldest of the noble houses, the strongest of magic bloodlines, reduced to this shameful display, and only three of them are living remnants from the past. Two of them of the present no better than the commoners their ancestors chose to tolerate and even associate with."
"One of the daughters of Rika Ikari even scoffs at the very fact that magic exists here," said Nozel, "and yet everyone can't stop talking about how great it is that they've returned to the kingdom. But this man, this…Ikari… From what little history recovered of the day they were sent into self-imposed exile, this man was unable to save the life of his own father."
Tenshi couldn't forget that night. His father was among the mid to last casualties of the attempt on their lives by the other houses of that time…and the ancestors of House Silva were among the offending houses that tried to do away with them. But he had no malice whatsoever towards these three or any other member of House Silva's current generation; the people responsible for killing most of his family have been dead for centuries, so there was no need to hold a grudge of ignite a vendetta against the other houses, no matter what others might have thought. The past was past, and the sins of the past were committed by those who had passed.
"We of House Silva will not have that," uttered Nebra. "I say…we of House Silva will not have that! Which is why I'm challenging to impede him!"
"Well, then, I must say, Ms. Nebra Silva," Tenshi expressed, "I look forward to our match."
Nebra must've known she couldn't use magic, otherwise she wouldn't have challenged him at all.
"Say, Noelle," went Asta to his fellow squad member, "who do you think stands a chance at winning?"
"I honestly don't know," she answered; in truth, she didn't want to consider the possibility of her sister losing to a man over fifteen-hundred years, but since most people relied heavily on magic, it was possible that Tenshi had the advantage.
"Don't go easy on her, Tenshi," instructed Rika to her son. "Show us who you are."
The combatants representing Houses Ikari and Silva stood five feet from each other with the Wizard King in between them.
"Magic is prohibited," he reminded them. "Either yield or cripple your opponent. Begin!"
Nebra charged towards Tenshi, wielding a spear as her weapon of choice.
Clang! Tenshi blocked with his shield and hit her on her right shoulder.
Wait a minute, thought Nebra, barely affected by the blow to her arm. He had an opening to attack my torso, even my head with that shield of his…but he didn't take it.
They collided into each other and were locked in a grappler hold, never letting go of their weapons.
"You had a chance to strike me severely," Nebra told him.
"I did," he agreed with her.
"You didn't take it."
"The point of this match to either make you yield or to cripple you, not kill you."
"You still could've hit me."
"And be unnecessarily disrespectful to a woman I just met? I'd rather avoid doing that unless I have absolutely no choice."
They pulled away…and Nebra understood why he didn't take the opening that had been made: Tenshi, like most of the other men in his family…was a lowly gentleman. His upbringing and chauvinism prevented him from causing severe harm to a woman unless he was in real danger…and he wasn't in much danger…unless she did something to jeopardize his chance to become a patriarch.
"Nice one, Tenshi!" Suki cheered.
Nebra charged again, aiming for his stomach, but Tenshi blocked with his shield…and knocked her off her feet, causing her to lose her spear. The rules stated that if your weapon was lost and you couldn't find it, you would have to continue the fight without one…or yield or try to cripple your opponent. As she got back up, soaked and humiliated, Nebra charged again and managed to grab him by his left arm and swing him around, causing him to lose his shield, evening the playing field for both of them. Now, all she had to do was break him to keep him from obtaining his status update for his family.
Tenshi, quickly getting up, was grabbed again by Nebra in a bear hug.
"Ha! I got you now, boy!" She yelled at him, and then head-butted him in his face! "Ha-ha-ha! No magic (she head-butted him again)! No grimoire (she does it again)! Not even a simple shield! Just a weak, old man with his youth restored to him! Who are you?!"
With a bloody nose, Tenshi tilted back, seeing his family upside-down.
"Don't give up, Tenshi!" Shinji encouraged him.
"You got this, big brother!" Suki added.
"Show them who you are!" Rika yelled, and he nodded that he would.
"Aaurgh!" He grunted, raising his head back up…and head-butted Nebra in her face! "I'm the guy that's going to defeat you!"
Against his better judgment to bring harm against women, he brought his arms up and bashed the woman on both sides of her head, causing her to release him from her bear hug. Then he kicked her in the waist and sent her falling to the ground, soaking her again.
"You'll pay for that!" Nebra yelled…and pulled something out of the water…and stabbed Tenshi in his chest with it!
It was her spear, and she aimed to use it to cripple him by damaging as much of his left arm as possible.
"How's your arm?!" She yelled at him, pushing the spear deeper into his flesh, drawing blood.
"Aaaugh!" He groaned, dropping to his right knee.
"Can you still fight?! Do you give up?!"
"Tenshi's injured, isn't that crippling?" Yui asked her mother.
"If he can still fight, he hasn't been crippled to the point of defeat," Rika explained. "He has this."
"Aaaurgh! I refuse to surrender!" Tenshi told Nebra, grabbing the spear end. "I'll tell you who I am! I am Tenshi Ikari! The only son of Rika and Mikazuki Ikari!"
He pulled the spear out and ripped it out of Nebra's grip, punching the Silva woman in her face before grabbing her right arm and taking her to the ground, wrapping his legs around her neck. His aim was now a two-way street: Nebra Silva could either yield in this fight…or Tenshi could choke her into unconsciousness or even break her arm, crippling her.
"Tenshi!" The people were chanting, encouraging the man to win. "Tenshi!"
"Yield, Nebra Silva!" He demanded from the woman. "You fought your hardest against me! Now yield! Don't make me break your arm!"
"I'd rather be crippled than yield to you!" Nebra yelled at him.
"Not unless I have to," he told her. "Look around you. I have the advantage. I could choke the air out of you or break your arm. Please, don't make me do either. I respect both nobles and commoners. You fought your to stop me, but you couldn't. Yield, woman!"
Unable to break free from his leg hold around her neck or even get her arm free, Nebra saw very little alternative in this match. She couldn't beat this man; wherever he was exiled to, he clearly had to find ways to get by without magic, making him more versatile and adaptable, and he was all the stronger from his life elsewhere, armed and unarmed. She calmly slapped his legs, surrendering the match to him, allowing him to win the right to become the patriarch of his family.
The people cheered as they both got up, and she walked away to rejoin her brothers, who were just as upset that he won.
"Whoo-hoo!" Suki and Shinji cheered.
"Eh-heh," Yui, despite not seeing any point in this, chuckled as she saw her brother stand proudly in front of everyone.
The Wizard King and Rika approached him, Rika holding a ceremonial necklace of precious stones, like ruby, sapphire, jade and emerald, and Julius accepted it to present to Tenshi.
"Congratulations," he expressed. "I now present to the Clover Kingdom Tenshi Ikari, the new patriarch to House Ikari!"
Tenshi wore the necklace and sighed at how he had now joined his father in the pantheon of the strongest men in the family.
"Congratulations, Tenshi," Rika praised him.
While it pained him to have a bleeding wound in his shoulder and chest, Tenshi brought his arms to his chest in an "X"-shaped cross as he looked to the people.
"Clover Kingdom forever!" He shouted.
"Clover Kingdom forever!" They repeated.
-x-
"…Looks like something went down," Fuyutsuki stated, looking at the other picture that appeared in the album, depicting a celebratory scene with a younger Tenshi Ikari being praised and congratulated by the people.
"'Clover Kingdom forever!'" Misato read underneath the picture. "Clover Kingdom? Shinji actually once mentioned that his grandmother and uncle would tell him stories about a place called the Clover Kingdom. He claimed they were his favorite tales to hear of."
"His mother once mentioned that her relatives held onto a belief of getting back there, eventually," Gendo expressed.
"Getting back there?" Kaji questioned. "That would indicate that they've been there before."
"Then maybe that's where they are right now," Misato suggested, turning to the next page. "Whoa."
The photo that clearly didn't belong depicted Tenshi being tended to by his mother in a kitchen-like setting, sporting a large wound on his chest and left shoulder.
-x-
"…Light Healing Magic: A Mother's Touch," Rika uttered the spell from her grimoire, her left hand glowing brightly as she began to mend the injury Tenshi got from Nebra Silva.
Tenshi had finished drinking the variant of the Star-shaped Herb to unlock his magic, enabling its usage once more, and now was feeling somewhat drowsy.
"Hey, hey, don't doze off yet," Rika told him, almost finished with healing the wound. "Don't slip off into the Ancestral Border yet."
He tried to stay away, but the variant was so strong that it caused drowsiness every time. This hadn't been his first time experiencing it, either; it had actually been his second time, and it was the same as the first time. But the first time, he didn't go to House Ikari's Ancestral Border. There hadn't been a reason back then. Now, he had a reason to want to go there.
"There we go," she stated as her hand ceased glowing, his wound healed.
Tenshi then fell face-first onto the counter, asleep faster than you could say whatever words you wanted to say. He felt like he was drifting away someplace, hearing the sound of an ocean's waves.
"…Tenshi…Tenshi…" He heard a voice say to him.
Opening his eyes, he found himself standing on a beach with a sunset with the sky partially occupied by an aurora borealis. Further down the sandy shores was a massive tree covered in cherry blossoms…and serving as a sort of host to several humanoids. They resembled the oni of Japanese lore, fanged, horned demons, but wearing pieces of armor on their arms and legs and Egyptian-styled kilts, their skin tones varying between shades of red, blue, orange, black, white and purple.
"Honorable ancestors of the House of Ikari," Tenshi uttered, standing before them.
One of the white-colored humanoids leapt from the branches and became a swirl of rainbow-colored lights as it was replaced with the form of a young man, no older than Tenshi currently was. He bore a semblance to Tenshi, but with a more wizened tone to his face, as though he had endured more, and his hair was more spiky, unkempt and had one bang that was gray hanging over his face, wearing a white, ceremonial-styled kimono.
"Father," Tenshi greeted the man, bowing to him; this was Mikazuki Ikari, the previous patriarch of House Ikari.
"You're a patriarch now, Tenshi," Mikazuki uttered. "There's no need for bowing."
He stood back up and embraced his father.
-x-
Shinji, deciding to take a look at the ruins of the remains of the colossal demon that fell at the magic of the first Wizard King, was stunned that such a creature had been such a huge threat in the Clover Kingdom five years after his grandmother, uncle and aunt had been forced to leave. And what was most amazing about the remains were that they were created by just one man, one mage, armed with nothing but his grimoire, his magic and his determination to protect the people. It was incredible to know that there was a world where people had this phenomenal ability, this…this blessing, this power that enabled them to affect the world around them, to call upon forces to aid them in whatever situations they were in, for right or wrongful purposes. And they didn't need something like an Evangelion or had to be born under unusual circumstances just to do something impossible.
"Shinji," he heard his mother speak out to him, and he turned to face her, "what are you doing here?"
"Just looking at the popular spot of this place," he explained to her. "It's not like I'd go to the capital of the kingdom or something. It's quiet here. And peaceful. What did you think I was doing?"
It was still an awkward situation between the two of them, Shinji because he was still a little upset with his mother…and Yui because she wasn't sure how to mend the relationship between her son and herself without feeling like this was all an elaborate lie and they needed to get back to the Eva and leave.
"That's because you're not trying to reach out to them," she recalled Sister Lily's advice to her. "Is your son happy here? Would that be a thing for him to prefer life here? Just talk to him."
"Is it alright if we just talked, Shinji?" She asked him.
"Yeah," he answered, pointing over to a large tree trunk that had been cut long ago.
They sat down at the boy looked up at the night sky.
"Do you actually like it here?" She decided to ask him.
"Yeah," he expressed. "It's so beautiful and gives you a sense of living in a medieval realm where the impossible is possible. And this where Grandmother and the others used to live before Japan. This is their home. Didn't you believe in the stories she and Tenshi told?"
"I just thought they were crazy fairy tales. If they were truly capable of magic, why didn't they use it back when I was little? Why didn't they show the people what they could do?"
"Don't you pay attention to the media that deals with magic? There were probably many reasons they didn't or couldn't do so. Maybe they couldn't do magic while there, or they feared being mistreated like a commodity, or using magic there zapped them of much of their life force. It could be any nor those reasons…or all of those reasons. You could ask them why. I recently discovered with Grandmother that I may possess some degree of magic, but it's stagnant. I want to be able to use magic one day. Who knows, maybe I'll even get to be a Magic Knight."
"But why would you want to do that? I mean, why a Magic Knight?"
"I'm just keeping an open mind. Things have changed since the exile and return. Fifty-five for your mother and siblings, but over fifteen-hundred years for everyone else. The kingdom expanded, there's a military for each of the four kingdoms that share the land, and there's no… Well, there's no need for what I used to do."
Of course, he was referring to not requiring the Eva because there were no Angels to fight.
"Except people who aim to be Magic Knights usually need to have a high degree of magic power and know how to fight."
"Which is how many people are discouraged from even trying to get into the squads. But those that persevere end up getting admission from the captains of one of the squads if they're impressed enough. Nine Magic Knight squads, nine captains that instruct their squads, and one leader that governs the squads and leads the kingdom's magical military."
"The Wizard King."
"The first Wizard King saved the kingdom from a great demon. His very story became legend, and his position became a mantle that is possessed only by the strongest mage of each generation."
"I take it you want to become the Wizard King one day?"
"No. I just want to be a good mage…eventually."
"A good mage."
Yui seemed to get the feeling that Shinji had every intention of believing that he could become a mage one of these days, no matter what others believed. She had done a little brushing up on the history of the Clover Kingdom and found that the majority of the Magic Knights were comprised of nobles from houses that didn't exhibit the same degree of magic that the only two members of their house so far demonstrated…and not many knights were commoners like these two young men that hailed from this village. The chances any other person of such a low status getting admission into any of the squads were almost nonexistent unless they possessed some degree of good fortune.
-x-
"…I can't believe you were defeated by that Ikari, Nebra," said Nozel to his sister back at their squad headquarters that evening. "We should've had Solid do it instead."
"You try facing a man that used to be over one-hundred years old and had to get by without magic," Nebra defended her inability to defeat Tenshi. "These people are like that Black Bull kid with the swords; they had to adapt to situations without the aid of magic…and they're highly adaptable. And despite having his magic sealed away due to some herb, Tenshi was still dangerous. Unless there's someone as adaptable as they are and hates them as much as we do, these Ikaris are here to stay."
Nozel and Solid growled over what felt like being one-upped by House Ikari without the use of magic. And this was just to stop them from obtaining a status update for their house. Not only that, but they felt like House Silva had been disgraced just by yielding the match in front of everyone.
"Next time, we'll disgrace them," Solid uttered. "We'll show them."
-x-
"…Still hard to believe your sister lost to one of them in ritual combat," said Asta to Noelle back at the Black Bulls' headquarters.
"I guess it's safe to say that Ms. Nebra Silva relies heavily on magic," went Charmy, eating a large pastry. "That Tenshi Ikari had his magic locked away and wasn't the least bit hindered, even when he was over one-hundred years old."
"Technically, he's actually over fifteen-hundred years old," expressed Luck. "I wonder what sort of spell the three eldest members used to make themselves young again?"
"House Ikari's members practice every form of magic," Vanessa explained. "They're not bound by the same limitations that we are. They can use Plant Magic in conjunction with Fire Magic, Water Magic in conjunction with Light Magic, Steel Magic with Thread Magic."
"They're basically powerful because their family is the only one capable of such a feat," Magna clarified, "but what about that guy you three fought in the dungeon over a month ago? You said he used Fire and Crystal Magic? For those outside of House Ikari, that should have been impossible."
"Tell that to the guy that was able to use two different forms of magic that don't go together, but he had diamonds embedded in him," Noelle stated, "and his grimoire, it didn't look right."
"Describe what it looked like," Yami instructed her.
"It looked like…someone stitched different parts of two different grimoires together into a patchwork version, like someone actually tried to fuse them together and didn't get as far as they intended."
"Looks like those Diamond Kingdom nutters believed in the stories about House Ikari so much that they attempted to produce mages that were similar to them."
"But that's insane," expressed Asta. "That guy was tough, but he didn't seem to have a natural talent for Fire Magic. That Crystal Magic seemed to be his affinity."
"That's why I said he was an attempt at who the Ikaris are. It wouldn't have mattered if the Diamond Kingdom had done what they did for two-hundred years, you can't pull off who that family is. For them, the use of all forms of magic is as natural as breathing. Even I don't know how they're able to do what they're capable of, just that they have infinite potential to use all forms of magic."
"If they were in our squad, we'd probably be next to invincible," Luck declared.
"I doubt Tenshi will join," Magna suggested, "but maybe his sister and nephew might."
"Which sister?" Noelle asked. "You heard what my siblings said. One of them seems to dislike magic."
"It's gotta be the nephew's mother," went Vanessa. "That Yui Ikari's been rather off. Maybe she never got introduced to magic when she was younger."
"Whatever her reasons, it's unlikely she'd want anything to do with the Magic Knights. Not that my elder siblings will want any of them involved in their squad. I should know, they rejected me. What happened today, they're gonna take it out on the whole family, regardless of their intentions."
"So, basically, if they take interest in the Magic Knights, they got zero chance of getting into the Silver Eagles," Asta realized, "but who's to say that any of the other squads won't want them?"
To be continued…
A/N: Well, the next chapter might involve some jumping into the future through the album in NERV's possession, but there are some hints that Shinji's relationship with Yui might be on the path of mending if the mother can let go of her initial intentions regarding the Eva and Human Instrumentality and accept that magic is real and they're surrounded by people that can use it.