Creation began on 06-21-21
Creation ended on 07-17-21
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Grimoire of Evangelion: Transgressions
It was a surprise for Yami Sukehiro when he returned to the Black Bull hideout after venturing out for a while to find Nacht Faust there for the second time in many years. Actually, it was a surprise just to see Nacht Faust there at all, just as it was a surprise to see Henry Legolant up and about outside his room, looking better than he had been ever since he found him near Death's door. And then to meet Rika Ikari there and find out that she had relieved Henry of his curse that caused him to siphon the magical energy from those around him to survive, Yami had to wonder what else was in store for the Black Bulls. Excluding Rades Spirito, there was only one other member that was absent from the squad due to whatever reasons there were, and it was anyone's guess as to when they would see them.
"So…you cured Legolant?" He asked Rika with a cigarette in his mouth.
"Yes, but only because I was looking into ancient curses and how to break them," she responded, slightly put off by his smoking. "I understand it's not my place to question, but is it really necessary for you to smoke that in front of me?"
"It's a habit."
"Maybe, but unless it's for health concerns or simple pleasure, it's a habit that has repercussions on the lungs."
"Surely, you've smoked before."
"Three times, the third of which was when I was physically older and frail. I didn't like smoking, so I didn't develop a habit for it."
Yami decided to respect the woman's dislike of smoking and put his cigarette out.
"You're an unusual woman that is over fifteen-hundred years old," he admitted.
"Yeah, I get that sometimes," she told them. "I'm impressed that you were all able to help Mr. Legolant before I even met him. Again, I believe I can understand why Shinji likes this squad."
"Your grandson talks to you about us?"
"Only what he chooses to share."
"What does he say about me?"
"You? Only what he says so far about the rest of you, that you impress him."
"We impress him? That's odd."
"No, actually, it's understandable. It's not easy to impress Shinji. He's not perfect, he's not looking to be perfect, and perfection is a curse that doesn't need magic to be cast on someone. He prefers the controllable instability of the chaotic world; he can't control the weather when it rains, so he tries to find something he can do that passes the time until the rain stops. In a chaotic world, one's only sense of order is what they know they can control without being too controlling of others."
"Order and chaos?"
"Yin and yang, light and dark, right and wrong, whatever is the opposite of what you're familiar with. Things that you find don't go together will be those that you try to find stability with."
Henry, feeling like he could do anything for the first time in a long time, floated in the air above his magic house, surrounded by anti-birds and regular birds, despite the former most often not going near those with large amounts of mana. He hadn't been able to go outside for years and was just enjoying himself after such a long time confined to his home.
"Hard to believe that just a while ago he was cursed," Nacht expressed. "He doesn't look like he's ever been cursed at all."
"Yeah," Suki agreed with him, "but looks are always deceiving. You can't tell who's under a cursed predicament unless they tell you what's wrong or you can see the issue others can't."
"He's really enjoying himself."
"There's nothing wrong with a little self-indulgence," said Guardian. "He should be able to enjoy himself. There's no telling when when he'll get the chance to do so again."
"For someone that can see possibility, can you see us finding this Harbinger in the foreseeable future, Mr. Guardian of the Void?"
Guardian looked at Nacht and responded, "Do I see us finding Harbinger? Yes. Do we find him and the person that was foolish enough to enter into a pact with him before things escalate? That's not something I can answer."
"How many of us may suffer in the process?"
"Hopefully, very few…and not the severe kind of suffering. Hmm!"
"What's wrong with you?" Shinji asked him.
"One possibility among these that just made itself known to my perception…is that we deal with the Midnight Sun's leader, the man claiming to be Licht…but uses Light Magic instead of Sword Magic, after which we apprehend the fiend responsible for orchestrating the massacre of the Elf Tribe…leaving Harbinger and his ally as the last of the tormentors to be dealt with."
"Oh, yeah, that's right, we still have the Eye of the Midnight Sun to contend with, which is whoever this person claiming to be Licht is."
"You probably mean Patolli," Rika told her grandson.
"Patolli?" Suki questioned.
"If it's someone pretending to be Licht, it has to be Patolli, who was the only elf that possessed Light Magic at the time I knew him."
"Is he strong?"
"If the Third Eye, Rhya, Vetto and Fana, that is, stated that they were stronger than he is, there is always a reason for why that is so?"
"You've been in touch with the Wizard King?"
"Just about as much as your squad has been."
Shinji got the impression that his grandmother had reasons of her own for keeping in touch with the Wizard King, but since Guardian didn't say whether or not she was going to do anything wrong, he could look the other way. As far as he was concerned, she just helped a member of his squad get rid of a curse and had an association with another member that was from around the same time as she, his uncle and aunt were. She was not a threat to anyone here unless they decided to become a threat to her.
"Maybe you should've joined the Magic Knights," he suggested to her.
"No, there are some things that can only be done outside the order," she claimed. "Besides, four of our family in the Magic Knights is enough."
-x-
Although the decimation of the Spade Kingdom was not desired by the other three kingdoms, the desolation of its corrupted authority, this Dark Triad, had an unexpected benefit to members of the Clover and Heart Kingdoms. After hearing of the unsanctioned attack, the Wizard King was contacted by the ruler of the Heart Kingdom to inform him and their timeless associate that her curse came undone with the defeat of the devil that cast it on her. In addition, word came from the Diamond Kingdom that because Spade was now in tatters, the people there would be too busy trying to reclaim their stolen land from whatever forces leftover from Spade's military, leaving a calm before the next storm between Clover and Diamond. Whosoever was responsible for this unjust crime had unknowingly resolved a dozen or so issues in one night, and they'd never know until they were found and apprehended.
"But who would take such a risk destroying the entire kingdom?" Julius wondered as he needed to call another meeting with the Magic Knight captains.
"Whoever is responsible must answer for their actions," expressed Damnatio Kira; as of late, he was unable to pass his brand of judgement on anyone being addressed by the Magic Parliament due to at least two or three members disagreeing with the idea of executing them, which resulted in several suspects and culprits being sentenced to prison cells instead of a quick death, and it was mostly because of Rika Ikari and her unwillingness to let people's fates be decided so heartlessly or because of a sense of bias or political abuse. "Whoever it is has to be brought to justice and pay for their crimes."
"And they will," Julius assured him, though not in the way that he was desiring to do so; if this ever got to the Magic Parliament, he hoped that whoever was discovered to be responsible was dealt a lengthy prison sentence instead of an execution.
"At this point, it is unlikely that anyone from the Diamond Kingdom was responsible for this attack that is akin to scorching earth. As for the Heart Kingdom, it isn't likely that they were involved, either, which leaves only someone from this nation."
"If the culprit is from here, the question would have to be why they're not taking responsibility or claiming credit for attacking Spade and eliminating the Dark Triad and their minions? Why stay quiet and pretend they had no involvement?"
"Fear of the repercussions. They know what they did was wrong and they don't want to face the consequences regarding it all."
-x-
All of the Eye of the Midnight Sun was gone, captured by the Black Bull of the Magic Knights, including those that had been marked as sacrifices and the Third Eye themselves, who were stronger than he was, and he needed to come to the possibility that it wasn't the humans that massacred the Elf Tribe. If it was some kind of demon that was responsible, then it meant that Licht hadn't been betrayed by that human whose sister he married. And, as he saw from a distance, that boy, Shinji Ikari, refused to kill if he believed there was another way to resolve the issue that didn't need violence…and he was like those from the past, loved by the mana. But there was something else about him that was strange that he couldn't wrap his mind around just yet…and it angered him, not knowing what it was about this person that puzzled him. In the beginning, it had been only his small concerns about the boy everyone believed had no magic until it was revealed by the matriarch of House Ikari that he possessed the gift of Anti Magic due to possessing the Black Clover.
Licht, or whoever it was pretending to be him, needed to face this boy and find the demon that killed his people and avenge them.
"Whatever happens, I have to avenge the elves," he told himself as he stood before a monument that possessed all but five stones that had needed to be found.
Or rather, used to be needed to implement a goal that may no longer be within reach.
-x-
Eventually, Shinji would need to learn how to create these sleeping elixirs for himself instead of relying on Rika to make them for him when sleep eluded him at night. If it wasn't one thing, it was something else that bothered him every now and then as he lay down in his room.
"What's on your mind, Shinji?" He heard Guardian ask him as he sat against the wall away from his bed.
"What you said earlier," he responded, "about the possibility you saw. So…we deal with Harbinger last…and deal with the leader of the Midnight Sun and the devil that massacred the Elf Tribe first?"
"The factors that play a role in the possibility of us facing this Licht…or Patolli as your grandmother suspects because he was a member of the Elf Tribe that uses Light Magic…varies in every sense of the understanding of factors. And as for the devil responsible for the massacre…we can either capture or dispose of it in the Void where it's unable to cause harm."
"What are the chances of putting the devil in the Void?"
"Slim if we work together. Successful if we all desire the same thing."
"But Harbinger…he's more dangerous than they are, isn't he?"
Guardian made a long sigh as he responded, "He is beyond anything you think you know about anything you think you know about. Harbinger is the only creature with whom my history goes back a long way, practically close to my connection with the ancestors of House Ikari."
"An ancient and eternal rivalry?"
"He will stop at nothing to remove all physical forms of existence…whereas I will defend those forms, no matter what they are…because they are a part of the order that exists."
Shinji then fell to sleep. It seemed like things were escalating, but even those that rush into things needed to rest after a while. But…a strange feeling that lingered in the back of his subconscious kept bothering, as though what he knew would only be made worse over time. He didn't know what or why, just that it kept him from feeling completely relaxed.
Guardian was not oblivious to this feeling he had. But so long as Shinji was the one whom the False Destiny Breaker grimoire chose because he had a false fate he needed to break away from and create his own that he was content with, he would follow and protect him until the very end of existence…and beyond that. He had done so with the previous holders…and he'd do so again.
-x-
"…Weg," sighed Rika, going over something she had written inside her grimoire long ago when she was studying magic overuse that held repercussions to the users that used a form of magic that was forbidden because it couldn't be fully understood and managed yet. "Secré developed it because she used the stones of the Elf Tribe to augment her Sealing Magic too much. There was a remedy to undo this if it wasn't caused by any demon, but finding it will be a challenge. Just as it will be a challenge to restore Lemiel from his statue seal."
She had informed Secré that she was looking for different ways to undo her Sealing Magic spell that was used to save him from dying. While Secré had her doubts that Lemiel could be revived without the use of the Elf Tribe's magic stones, she knew Rika would demonstrate a persistence in trying to help people, either from her family's past or had an association with them, no matter how long it took her.
Now that Lolopechka's curse has come undone because of the defeat of the devil that cursed her years ago, I have more time to look for alternate methods to aid the Heart Kingdom's ruler, she thought as she got up from the kitchen table and walked over to a bookshelf where some old books from the past were salvaged and pulled out one her grandfather had written on curses. The Clover Kingdom's magical diversity has increased and decreased exponentially in the fifteen-hundred years we've been away. Armor Magic has faded from memory while forms of magic that use a form of metal have developed armor-like substitutes. Light Magic is still rare, and Dark and Shadow Magic are just as rare. Glass Magic has fewer mages to use it while Plant Magic appears to have lost much of its potency because nobody has developed or inherited Sunflower, Rose, Moss or Agricultural Magic. The four primordial elements that developed magical attributes still exist, but fewer mages have tapped into their greater potential. At this point, it'll take a miracle to revive the lost arts and teach them instead of archiving them so that people can learn of their past existence. The nobility has continued to demonstrate a perverse sense of superiority while the common folk are discriminated for having a small amount of mana.
She sat back down and opened the book, starting at the beginning where her grandfather wrote how he started developing and refining his Oil Magic and achieved the creation of Black Oil Magic. Using it in combination with Curse and Trap Magic, he developed his methods of hiding poisonous traps wherever he felt he was being followed. But then, he refined it to treat curses and poisons. After a brief skirmish between five different villages, he continued to look for ways to resolve the issues with Curse Magic and found several techniques that could either cause great harm or relief to people…but only if they possessed the drive to stay true to the reasons that motivate them to use such methods.
Well, Grandfather, it seems you have much to tell me, she thought as she believed the book to be of immense interest now.
-x-
Tenshi had been asked strange questions or requests before in the past, even during his elderly years in Japan, but this had to be the strangest one he'd been asked by the captain of the Golden Dawn. In the three days that past since his encounter with the guy that approached him and ended up receiving some suggestions on how to raise his magic up, William Vangeance had asked him for an audience with Shinji. That was a strange request, since, as the leader of the Golden Dawn, William had the authority to demand an audience with anyone he chose. It made no sense to Tenshi on why he would want to speak with his nephew. Still, it probably made better sense to see Shinji than to see Yui, who was absent from the Golden Dawn HQ, another reminder that he had done nothing to keep tabs on his little sister since they joined the squad.
Why would he need to see Shinji, anyway? He wondered as he made a conscious decision to send a Communication Magic transmission to Shinji rather than use his Spatial Magic to go look for him. He's making a good deal of progress in rising up the ranks, but he's also making sure his squad also rises in the ranks, too. You'd never seen someone that committed to the progress of their team the way Shinji is. Almost the whole squad has left the Junior Magic Knight rank and are now Intermediate Magic Knights. There's probably just two of them that need to progress and get better. Maybe he wants to question what methods Shinji uses every time.
One of the best of the salvaged items their family still possessed were some old Communication Magic devices that were more powerful than the ones used by people today. If they were refined due to the magic economy of objects, Tenshi could understand how most had less magic to draw upon, needing to train more to access deeper reservoirs of power. The device he had taken for his own use was shaped like a six-pointed star with a crescent-shaped moon in the center, forged with platinum and sapphire, about the size of a floppy disk. Back in the past, to be able to use this item, one had to be very powerful, able to cast strong spells for several days at a time without losing much in their reserves of mana; he had managed to use five of his strongest spells for ten days to gain access to one of these relics.
"Hello, Tenshi," went Shinji as he replied to his uncle's call. "What's going on with you?"
"The usual things that happen here," he responded. "Everyone has free time, the criminal activity has decreased for the time being, nobody's that concerned about the danger that awaits the approaching days. What of you?"
"I just got finished using a recovery spell on Suki and myself when our curse-based burns started acting up again. As much as I want to pretend that it doesn't bother me…"
"It does bother you. I know that feeling. It bothers me, as well. Aah… I just have a higher tolerance for it due to developing a higher threshold for pain. Anyway, the reason I'm calling is… My captain, William Vangeance, would like to speak with you."
"William Vangeance? The Golden Dawn captain? Why would he want to speak with me?"
"That's the question I'd want an answer to myself."
-x-
Swat! Suki's arrow hit its target in the center; ever since a spell materialized in her grimoire that related to her passion for archery, she got back into her old archery habits.
I miss times like this, she thought as she reached behind her back to grab another arrow from her quiver; she decided to look for a bow and set of arrows to engage in her archery practice. I miss the days where I could enjoy periods of relaxation and where the pastimes can be revisited and the joys of your youth can be re-embraced. Ah, archery, one of the best things I picked up in my life. When I started learning it, I graduated second in my class.
Archery and the use of small blades, such as the tanto and kunai, Suki was, beyond a doubt, an old-fashioned girl. She rarely did anything that was more of what other girls her nephew's age did, not that even Shinji was aware of what girls his age did in his generation.
"What generation?" Shinji once joked with her. "I'm barely around girls at school and the two that I am around are the two I hardly know the way I know you three."
Pulling the bowstring back as she aimed the arrow at the target, Suki had to admit to herself that, if there ever came a day where her nephew was given a test to see where his social interests were, Shinji probably knew nobody as best as he knew her, Tenshi and Rika. Truth be told, Shinji probably knew some of the Black Bull members around his own age at around the same level as he knew some of those people he worked with at NERV…if not a little more because they actually gave more information about themselves rather than boast about their would-be superiority or state that their job was what connected them to people.
"Suki?" She heard someone say to her, and she turned her head to the left, seeing Shinji and Guardian of the Void.
"Wait one moment," she told Shinji, and returned her attention to the target, and fired her arrow, scoring another center strike. "What do you think, Shinji?"
Shinji looked at the target, seeing that the arrow had destroyed the previous arrow to reach the target center. As of late, his aunt was showing that, as a result of her rejuvenation and picking up her previous hobbies, she was a master at what she did to make up for her lack of magic.
"Another perfect score, Suki," he admitted.
"Thank you. Now, what was it you were going to say to me?"
"I'm heading to the Golden Dawn HQ," he revealed.
"Huh?! Why are you heading there for?!" She demanded; she wasn't angry at him going there, but surprised because Tenshi had explained how the Golden Dawn had an HQ that resembled a palace, something she discovered that the Crimson Lion also had while the Blue Rose possessed a large mansion, mainly to house the number of Magic Knights in each squad, but, to her at least, mostly to show their greatness.
"I just got an update from Tenshi that the captain there, William Vangeance, wants to see me."
"Oh… But why?"
"We don't know. He just wants to see me for some reason. You care to come with me?"
"Yeah, sure. I want to see where my brother lives while a member of the number one squad."
"Now, don't tell me you're jealous of him and my mother, are you, Suki?"
"Gosh, no. Give me a little house and I'll call that my palace."
Shinji then turned to look back at the Black Bulls' hideout, Henry's magic house that their family helped to build for the Legolant family, and noticed how the exterior was beginning to look slightly different from what it had been when Henry was cursed. It was starting to look like new, less like a place in need of repairs.
"Five days," went Guardian, "give or take, and Mr. Legolant will be able to reshape his home into whatever he desires."
"Yeah," the two Ikaris agreed with him.
-x-
Most of the Golden Dawn were wondering why their captain desired to meet with Shinji Ikari. Well, everyone except for Langris, Yuno, and Yui, who only returned to the HQ after completing another series of small missions solo, seeing her brother engaged in conversation with his two magic spirits.
"You've been gone more times than your brother cares to express," said Arachne to the young woman that had been keeping her distance.
"I like to stay busy," Yui expressed her reason for being out most of her time. "What gives?"
"Do you have a strange, burn-like mark somewhere on your body that blisters or stings every few hours and requires Healing Magic to take the edge off for a while because it doesn't go away?" Tenshi asked her; if she had a mark, then it meant she was also a victim of Harbinger's curse, too. But if she doesn't have a mark, then she's either a suspect or overlooked by whoever let Harbinger out of the Void.
"Is the mark reddish and looks like a disease?" She asked him.
"More or less."
Yui sighed as she pulled her robe away from her neck and revealed, to her brother's surprise, a mark on right side of her neck that was covered by her clothing of her blouse and robe and seemed less severe than the marks on everyone else in their family. This left Tenshi to assume that she was also a victim of Harbinger and whoever was in league with him.
"I've been using a medicinal cream in place of magic," she told him; she preferred methods that were proven effective rather than magic.
"Do you know when it first showed up?" He asked her.
"A couple of days ago," she claimed. "Why?"
"Our mother, sister, myself and Shinji all have these burn marks which are an omen because of whoever let a very dangerous creature out of its prison. The same person also caused the decimation and devastation of an entire country that shares land with this one and two other countries, leaving less than two-thousand refugees without a home or as grieving parents or orphaned children. It's not a good situation to have, but not one we can ignore."
"Oh, really?"
"If you stayed away as often as you do, you wouldn't have these tidbits of information about the current situation. Everyone is being looked at with suspicion of foul play; whoever let this creature out must answer for their crimes against the Spade Kingdom from whichever kingdom they reside in."
"Wait a minute, didn't the Spade Kingdom have some sort of dispute with this kingdom?"
"That doesn't change the fact that whoever attacked Spade went too far and acted unjustly. If it's a Magic Knight, it will make us all look bad, like we're criminals or monsters."
"Except they're the enemy."
"Not when you initiate an unprovoked attack on them that causes widespread casualties akin to genocide, Yui. Whoever did this will be charged severely for acting without any authorization from the Clover King, Wizard King and the Magic Parliament. Even if they thought it would be justifiable, the ends does not justify the means in this case."
Yui found this revelation to be quite a problem. Whoever was found responsible for what happened to Spade would face severe consequences for their involvement.
"If you're thinking about saying something about this matter in a scientific or political way, I would suggest that you don't, Yui," Tenshi told her; he didn't want to hear whatever she had to say that was completely different from the situation that was being faced.
"I wasn't going to say anything," she defended. "You make it sound like we're all going to be brought in for interrogation."
"That's because we're all going to be facing such trouble from the Magic Parliament. They're starting with the members of the Azure Deer and then the Green Praying Mantis. We're after the Crimson Lion, who will be after the Black Bull."
"What if the culprit isn't a Magic Knight?" Yui suggested.
"That's a high possibility, but the question would be why, though? Why would anyone release a dangerous creature that represents the end of days and caused more deaths than tolerated? Even if it's a civilian from one of the villages, they have to answer for their crimes."
Yui found this to be like everyone would be questioning everyone else on what they've either done or where they've been. People would be trying to violate her privacy to no end until they were convinced that she had nothing to hide from them.
"Is there anything else that isn't related to what's happening in the kingdom right now?" She asked Tenshi.
"Our squad captain wants to speak with Shinji," he revealed to her. "I don't know why, only that he wanted an audience with him."
"Is that against the rules or something?"
"No, as squad captain, he's within his rights to request or even demand an audience with whoever he chooses that's affiliated with the Magic Knights."
Something in the sky above caught their attention and they looked up, seeing a dark creature flying towards them. It was Guardian, carrying two people on his back.
Slam! Guardian stood in front of the siblings as he lowered to allow Shinji and Suki to climb off as the wings on his back vanished.
"The auras of mana between the four of you have changed dramatically over the time you've been separated," he uttered to them.
"Oh, yeah?" Suki questions, looking at her adult siblings. "Which of us three siblings are the strongest of the other two?"
Guardian looked at her and then her sister and brother, seeing a difference in the levels between the three, and stated the oblivious truth.
"Tenshi is the strongest out of you three," he answered, "with you yourself in second place."
"Huh?!" Shinji went; he had expected his mother to have gotten stronger in the time they've been in the Magic Knights. "Well, who's the weakest out of all four of us?"
"Shinji, you're clearly stronger than your mother currently is, and that's no lie."
"Yeah, Shinji, you keep everyone in shape when you need sparring exercise," said Suki, surprised by the revelation that her little sister was weaker than Tenshi and herself.
-x-
William Vangeance could tell the difference between the four relatives was astronomical. The level of mana in Tenshi was comparable to all of the Golden Dawn combined…and then some, but it was refined, like a series of blades suspended in the wind. When he compared this to the mana levels in his nephew, he could see that Shinji, despite being a young mage that was still learning everything he could, seemed to have these layers upon layers of energy he had yet to tap into. It was almost…terrifying if this boy was truly a powerful Magic Knight, but was so humble about his abilities and praised the abilities of his squad mates more than his own. But it was just as surprising to see that out of the four relatives, only Yui appeared to be at the bottom of their tier of power, as if she consciously stayed at the level she was currently.
I wonder why Yui doesn't show the same aptitude for progression as her son and siblings do? He wondered, seeing Tenshi escort his nephew into the Golden Dawn HQ, presumably to meet with him. All of these members of House Ikari are capable of greatness…and while it does seem like Yui's heading towards greatness, it also seems like she has something else on her mind. Something that just seems…to be keeping her from being close to her family.
Except Yui Ikari isn't the problem right now, William, a male voice reminded him. We need to handle the matter that is. I need to resolve this issue that can only end in one or two ways.
William sighed and knew this was true.
-x-
Shinji couldn't deny it. The Golden Dawn definitely looked like they were the type of Magic Knights that lived it up…in appearance, at least. If he had joined them, there was no way he could live in a place like this; he was so accustomed to places like Misato's apartment, his relatives' old home in Japan and their home in Hage Village and the Black Bulls' hideout that he found any semblance of a luxurious lifestyle or setting to be downright unsettling, even if he was something as ridiculous as the long lost heir of some ancient monarch. He had nothing against fantasizing about living wealthy lives, but when it came to having it all for real, it defeated the purpose of wondering what one would do if they had it all.
"Uncle, you Magic Knight, you," he expressed to Tenshi.
"I'm rarely here most of the time I'm out there visiting villages in the Forsaken and Common Regions," Tenshi responded. "Your mother's rarely here, too."
"What do you think about my mother?"
"Professionally or personally?"
"Professionally, I don't know Mother as anything she does outside of being a Magic Knight. Personally…I feel like I'm at odds with her."
"Would you believe me if I told you that as much as I want to believe she's moving on, she gives off an unusual vibe every time she speaks?"
"Only if you can believe that I think I have dreams that I can't recall for some reason."
"Shinji, I believe you just as much as I believe my loss of interest in Attack on Titan because the author kept killing civilians and there being more secrets hidden. I actually tried to delve into the future a little to see how certain events would transpire, and you know what I found out?"
"Isn't it against the rules or something to know the future?"
"Only if you try to change events that affect the lives of other people. But like the guy said in the Witchblade television series, a man can't touch the petal of the nearest flower without influencing the course of the farthest star. But I'm gonna tell you, anyway, because these events don't affect anyone else. The damn series doesn't finish until six more years, and the last few chapters escalate in vendetta violence and cruel betrayals."
"We were better off just watching the film based off of the manga."
"The second film begged for a third."
"I think if our lives, both here and there, were a manga or a movie, it'd probably take fourteen or fifteen volumes or five or six films just to do it all justice."
They came to a grand staircase where William Vangeance stood at the top, looking down at them. If Shinji had been worried before he got here to meet with the captain of the Golden Dawn, it was only because he had other things on his mind, such as what was on everyone's mind regarding the Spade Kingdom. This man was the leader of what the people of the majority of the nobility of the Clover Kingdom believed to be the best squad in history, the guy most people believed would be the next Wizard King. The only mage in the kingdom that possessed World Tree Magic, which, according to Rika and Tenshi, was a rare, evolved form of Tree Magic, allowing for bigger, much more powerful trees with greater abilities.
"Time seems to fly when there's different forms of trouble around, wouldn't you say, Shinji Ikari?" The masked man asked.
"Yeah," he replied. "There is a sense of time flying due to the state of trouble."
"Tell me, do you believe in things happening for a reason?"
"Not unless I understand what those reasons are or am willing to accept them. If I don't understand the reasons behind them or am unable to accept them, then they're not something that should have to happen at all. If they were benevolent reasons that have everyone's best interests at heart, I could probably understand them, but if they were reasons that were anything but good for anyone and everyone, or were from a place that could be based solely on negativity, like a vendetta or greed…then they shouldn't be something that happens and people suffer because of them. That would just be plain cruel and devoid of any sense of compassion or morality."
"Like with whoever unleashed this Harbinger of Death and Destruction?"
"That's right. You'd have to be someone completely committed to something very wrong to do what the person responsible for his attack on Spade did."
"Which would mean this person is not exempt from any wrongdoing caused by Harbinger?"
"You can't be coerced or manipulated into entering a pact with Harbinger or any other creature of magic, sir. A pact is a two-way agreement between the mage and the magic creature one seeks a partnership with, and one that can only be made consciously."
"Meaning the person responsible for the creature's attack, similar to the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, is the one that must be held accountable for their crimes?"
"It wouldn't be justice if the person that was at fault was permitted to walk away with blood on their hands and not face the consequences for their actions against others. But with the Eye of the Midnight Sun, it's a different case; a devil was responsible for what befell the elves in the past, and the elves were being manipulated to think that it was humans that attacked and killed them because they wanted more magic. With the group reduced to just the leader left unaccounted for, the one they call Licht, who may actually be Patolli, all that is needed to be done is to find him, talk with him, try to resolve this unjust matter by finding the devil responsible for orchestrating the massacre, and the hatred between elves and humans should be resolved."
"Do you believe this is possible?"
"Yes, but that's only if the leader is met and spoken with. He's a victim, too, if he's being manipulated by an uncaring creature that wants only pain and misery to befall those around them. The bad guys only win…when good people, that is, those capable of helping others in need…and are willing to do so…do absolutely nothing."
-x-
"…You can't possibly think that I am the weakest out of my son and siblings, right?" Yui asked Guardian as the two stood by a water fountain in the garden of the Golden Dawn HQ; after hearing this creature make the claim that she was not as strong as her other relatives were in the art of magic, she wanted to make sure that this beast was not some sort of seer of fates.
"If I said that, that would be lying," Guardian told her, reaching his claws into the fountain and scooping a handful of the water from it, bringing it to his mouth. "Ahh… To lie is to deceive, and I refuse to deceive anyone."
"But I am stronger than people think."
"Yes, you are…but you purposely stunt yourself in the development and adaptation of your magical abilities."
"Do you see people's futures?"
"Nobody can see the future of another person. Not even I can see people's futures. The closest one can ever see to the future of another person…are the possibilities beyond tomorrow."
"And what possibilities do you see for Shinji?"
"I see…unnecessary hardships…and an unrealistic belief being forced upon him…by someone that doesn't want to see the world the way he has accepted it to be. When beliefs are forced to collide because of unreasonable actions and lead to inevitable repercussions, he will be forced to either break down…or break through in order to be who he wants…rather than what fate has preordained for him."
"That sounds like the future to me."
"Except that it's a bad future…because it's not what Shinji wants…and will never be what he wants. To have this forced upon him…is to either see him as a pawn…or a threat before he can decide for himself what he wants his future to be like."
Yui looked up at the tallest section of the Golden Dawn HQ and uttered, "What is Shinji like these days in the Black Bull?"
"Wouldn't it be simpler to ask Shinji himself rather than ask someone that respects him enough to not trespass upon his boundaries?" Guardian questioned her.
"That's the thing, I… I don't know how to address his time with such a squad."
"Or maybe you don't want to believe that he made a choice based solely on something that you don't comprehend well."
"What does that mean?"
"It's not required of me to be a genius to see how others, that is, those bothered by the decisions made by those chosen to wield the grimoire I reside inside, to try and see from a distance or different angle, try and question those decisions…but do so indirectly if they can't bear to be direct."
"I can be direct."
"Can you?"
"I can."
"Indirection is the action of those that have very little understanding of those they want a connection to…but try to go about it in a different manner."
"Do you know everything about Shinji?"
"That would be knowing his future and fate, which I don't. As before, I respect Shinji enough to respect his privacy. I would answer that I know enough about him to know that he has yet to be the master of his life and decide what his future will be."
"You know only enough about him?"
"I know that the love he has for his grandmother, uncle and aunt are the strongest out of his relationships, that his passion for being a Magic Knight stems from wanting to put his previous profession, undesired, behind him in the abyss of the forgotten, his perspective of things, places and individuals…is different from those older than he is, which he understands would put them in disagreement if they can't agree on even the simplest of things, and when it comes to morality, he doesn't enjoy making the hard decisions when alternative options are available."
Yui could've asked again what Shinji did in his personal time, but then suspected that Guardian was no patsy. The creature was smart enough to understand others when spoken to. If she wanted to know about Shinji, she would have to talk directly to him and see how he has passed the time like every other person that didn't use technology like they did magic. But then, he'd want to know what she was doing all the time because he would naturally be curious of what she was doing…and she didn't want to share with him or anyone what she was up to.
"Wait a minute," she then spoke up, "you said out of all his relationships, the love he has for my mother and siblings is the strongest. What about me? What are his feelings toward me?"
"His feelings toward you…are different from those has for his father," Guardian stated cryptically. "Not entirely the same…but something you should really talk to him about to change for the better. You two can still change the current state of your relationship, but only if you put in the effort to try."
Yui wanted to say something about that. She wanted to share her belief that her relationship with Shinji would improve later on…but she refrained from saying so due to one assumption. If how Shinji felt for her was different from how he felt towards Gendo, which he shared with the Magic Knights present to hear when he faced Rades Spirito in that dome that kept them from interfering in their conversation, and those feelings were of a slight resentment mixed with concern for the people he could've harmed if he ever came here or had access to magic, then how he felt for her was most likely similar; Shinji likely resented the fact that she had been inside the Eva, something he had come to despise because it brought him no joy like being in this world of magic with these witches and wizards did, and just wanted for her to admit that they were wrong for doing what they did to him and promise never to do it again.
"Do you believe in fate, Guardian of the Void?" She asked him.
"I do not," he responded.
"Why not?"
"Fate would imply that nobody is in control of their own lives as they would like to believe. This, in turns, would mean that everything one does or doesn't do is already written in the unseen stones that represent their unspoken history. If such were the case, then they would be subjected to internal discord and disillusioned by the mere fact that their existence was predestined by an unseen or unjust force. If one's life is already decided, why do anything? Why go anywhere? If history is already written, what one does or doesn't do is devoid of any personal meaning to them."
"But…surely…everything happens for a good reason."
"What reason would there be to subject anyone to something that is unjust or beyond a sense of morality? If someone leaves someone else because they are not mature enough to be with, that is a reason that makes sense. But if someone leaves someone else because they need them to do something that nobody else can do and because they need them to do it, no matter how disdainful it may be, then it becomes another cruel act…and I have witnessed those acts of cruelty and hateful manipulations, time after time, and the ones hurt by them are the ones most betrayed by the ones that made the choice to do them."
So, he's one of those types, Yui assumed about Guardian; she believed that he was not a creature that followed the path of events predetermined and tried to break from the mold every time he was in the world of people.
"One of your ancestors, Angelique Ikari, said it best when she was saving the life of one of her friends from their family that had other plans for them," Guardian revealed, "and it was how selfish some people will do anything to ensure that something happens that goes against the will of the people that want nothing to do with their intentions or agendas. 'Nobody should have to exist for just some reason or another, nobody should have to belong somewhere to belong or fit in, because in the end, we're all going to the same place at the end of all things'. That's what she said before she ended up having to send him away for a while to save him from his family's intentions, changing his fate…and defying her own further."
SHINE! A bright light shined on top of the Golden Dawn HQ, getting their attention, wondering what was happening up there.
-x-
Judgment of Light
"In the beginning," William had told Shinji, "I had expected this to be between the Wizard King and a close friend of mine. Unfortunately, you and your family have changed things…and there's no turning back. So, I guess you should be the one to meet him."
Shinji didn't say anything, but was getting an unsettling impression from the captain.
"It's nothing personal, young man, but if things happened the way they were believed to in the past…then you should be able to resolve this situation before it escalates further and more people get hurt."
"What are you talking about?" Shinji finally spoke, seeing him remove his mask, revealing that the upper portion of his face, just over his mouth, was discolored and like a bruise or scar with white hair. "Whoa. My apologies. I didn't mean to stare."
"None necessary. I have looked this way ever since I was a little boy due to a curse put on my family long ago."
"One of my squad mates I've recently met had a curse on him that my grandmother helped to remove. She could probably help remove yours. Uh, that is, if you so desired."
"That'd be much appreciated. Ever since I could remember, I've heard rumors and stories about House Ikari being comprised of members that were capable of many forms of magic. It would've been an honor to meet with you. And then, to find that there was a prophecy foretelling your inevitable return to the Clover Kingdom, I was impressed by the belief that you would eventually return from wherever it was your family's surviving members were exiled to, and when you did return, it was like a grand blessing was given back to the kingdom. And when four of you tried out for the Magic Knights, most were after you because they desired an edge against the other squads, and only two of them ended up with two of the four members that tried out…and the one that was the most impressive was you for talking to Rades…and you joined the Black Bulls and made them stronger, both as a whole and individually. It's amazing. Maybe beyond impossible to measure. Maybe."
Then, Shinji noticed how his hair started changing from short and somewhat-spiky to long and wavy…and his facial marks were fading away to reveal clear skin and a different facial structure from William's.
"Hello, Shinji Ikari," a different voice addressed him, his body giving off an intense glow and a feeling of unmeasurable power. "You have been quite an unexpected hindrance in the beginning for me, and that was before I even knew where to place you on my list of priorities. At first, I expected the boy without any magic to be a problem, but then the world comes to find out that he does have magic, but it's fallen out of knowledge that was returned by your grandmother and uncle, and then you were deemed to be the greatest threat because you would eventually become stronger as time went by. Still, it is an honor to meet with you for the first time. You must know who I am by now."
In place of William Vangeance of the Golden Dawn was a man with pointed ears, long hair and strange markings on his face that resembled the man that he had seen in the memories of the Third Eye mages, but his aura was completely different and something was off based solely on the facts Shinji had been gathering alongside the other Magic Knights during the conflict between themselves and the Midnight Sun and the information granted by his grandmother that was familiar with the Elf tribe.
"You're the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun," he responded. "The one they call Licht, except that isn't who you really are. He used Sword Magic and you use Light Magic, meaning you're the one that idolized him the most. You're Patolli of the Light."
"That is true," the man confirmed, tying his hair in a ponytail to keep it from obscuring his vision. "I am Patolli of the Elf Tribe. Before I do anything else, I really must apologize."
Shinji got the impression that when he said that, he meant it in a sense that he was about to cross a line between right and wrong.
SLASH! Shinji just narrowly avoided getting assaulted by a whip made of light.
Patolli had made the first move in conflict between them.
"This is not necessary!" He told Patolli as his grimoire floated out of his pouch behind himself and into his view. "Must we really fight?!"
"I'm afraid so," Patolli stated, William's attire changing to reflect his own, looking like a robe with more features than Shinji could describe. "Whether it was people or a devil that killed my people, this can only be resolved through a show of power."
Shinji reached out and extracted his Katana of the Void from his grimoire and took a defensive stance in front of Patolli.
"I don't believe in might being right," he claimed, "but I'd rather be fighting the person that attacked your people instead of you. Surely, we can settle this like two mages that care about the people that matter to us, right?"
"We could…but I prefer this way better."
Shinji saw something beside Patolli, and was shocked by it being a grimoire. But not just any grimoire, oh, no, no, no. It was one with a four-leaf clover on it, just like his grandmother, aunt and uncle's grimoires did. This meant that he wasn't just a powerful mage, but a mage that was destined for good fortune and greatness.
"I wish it didn't have to be this way," Patolli expressed. "Light Creation Magic: Bright Judgment Whip! Haaaurgh!"
From his left hand came a blinding whip made of light, and he swung it at Shinji, who dodged it and found that he had nowhere else to evade; Patolli had maneuvered him towards the edge of the roof, trapping him between himself and the air in between the sky and the ground below.
"I was hoping for you to be an adversary worthy of me," he told Shinji. "It's a pity that you don't have conviction for this battle."
It was an attempt to provoke him, but Shinji had to give the elf props for effort.
"Dark Wing Magic," he uttered as the pages of his grimoire flipped to the desired page. "Dark Ascension of the Raven."
Large, demonic wings manifested on Shinji's back and he took to the air above Patolli like some kind of avenging spirit with his sword.
Patolli had to admit that he was impressed by this. The boy had started to take this matter a little more seriously than he expected.
"Light Creation Magic," he uttered as he decided to try and match Shinji move for move. "Sword of Divine Judgment and Wings of Vengeance."
His light whip was replaced by a large sword as wings of light formed behind him, lifting him off the roof.
"Begin," he expressed, and flew towards Shinji like a bullet!
Clash! Shinji blocked his sword with his own and found Patolli's arm strength almost on par with Asta's, if not less than the keeper of the Black Clover because he probably never felt like he needed to work out.
"You're strong," he praised him, "but I train with a member of my squad who is stronger because of his constant exercising."
"And you're holding back," Patolli revealed to him. "Don't. Show me what you're truly capable of. Show me how much the mana adores you."
Shinji brushed Patolli back from himself and had his grimoire flip through pages for another spell to make use of.
"Chain Restraining Magic: Suppress the Rage!" He uttered, and a portal appeared under Patolli, releasing several chains to surround the elf.
"Aaaurgh!" Patolli yelled, swinging his sword around with great speed, destroying the chains before they could ensnare his body. "You can do better than this! I will not be taken prisoner!"
But as much as Shinji wanted to bring him in for the Magic Knights, he knew that Patolli would not make restraining him easy. And he didn't want to risk killing him, either; murder was the absolute last thing he wanted to consider. As someone who has already suffered at the manipulation of an uncaring creature of the netherworld looking to cause as much pain and misery as possible, Shinji preferred not to cross a line that would have repercussions for those involved in this situation, except Patolli, who was clearly stronger than the young Magic Knight expected him to be, wouldn't succumb to non-lethal methods of apprehension.
I could use the Sphere of Influence, he thought, but I have to get him on the ground first. I guess this will cause him pain.
The pages flipped in his grimoire again as he chose a spell that left a sour taste in his mouth.
Patolli raised his sword of light and flew towards him.
"Slash Creation Magic: Progressive Volley!"
A series of diamond-like blades fired from in front of Shinji and at Patolli, who blocked most of them with his sword, all save for a few that caught him on his right shoulder, left leg and the left side of his waist, sticking out like like knives.
"Gaaurgh!" He groaned, feeling these blades of mana digging into his flesh. "I will not be defeated so easily!"
A ray of light shone on him as the shards used to harm him disappeared. It was a spell meant to rejuvenate his injuries.
He can use Healing Magic? Shinji wondered.
-x-
"What's going on here?!" Mimosa questioned as she and the other Golden Dawn Magic Knights came out to the fountain garden and saw the battle happening in the air. "Who are they?"
"If I had to guess," went Tenshi, recognizing the smaller figure with the dark wings and sword, "Shinji and the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun."
"The leader's here?" Klaus questioned; he had felt a strange degree of mana emanating from the base, but couldn't make heads or tails about it without seeing the person that possessed it, only that they were stronger than what he had encountered before. "That person bathed in light."
"It's gotta be Patolli, the elf reincarnated that has Licht's likeness, but uses Light Magic."
"How'd he know where to find us?" Alecdora demanded; there was no way that anyone, whether they were a Magic Knight from another squad or an elf brought back to life, could show up here unless they were invited or just had blind luck.
Guardian took notice of how Patolli, a Light Magic mage, was showing aggressive behavior in each of his attacks against Shinji, while Shinji, someone still developing his abilities and choosing which spells to use over others, was not as aggressive as his opponent was at the moment. This meant that Shinji was trying not to kill him by accident, but he was being pressured to take drastic action against the elf.
"If that's your nephew fighting the Midnight Sun's leader," went Siren, "why doesn't he just end him and bring an end to their threat against the Clover Kingdom?"
"Because he's not trying to kill him," Tenshi explained. "He doesn't want to cross that line unless he has no other alternative."
"Never show mercy to the enemy!" Alecdora stated simply.
"Never be relentless if you believe your enemy can be beaten in other ways," Tenshi countered; no matter how merciless your opponent was against you, as long as you stayed true to your principles, you had options that most others couldn't or wouldn't see available to beating them. "Victory can be achieved in subtle ways."
"Like how Shinji talked with Rades and he surrendered without further trouble?" Mimosa questioned the Ikari patriarch.
"That's right."
In the air above them, Shinji, having blocked another sword strike from Patolli, touched the pages in his grimoire that displayed the Eva he resented so much with his left hand…and he saw something he didn't like.
Flash! All around him, the Clover Kingdom was in flames and buildings falling apart as people were trying to flee from the purple behemoth that was bathed in dark light, turning it a shade of reddish-brown as it used its left arm to swipe several structures to collapse them across the ground, falling over people.
"Shinji," he heard a female voice he hadn't heard from in months, and turned around to see Misato standing in front of him, on fire. "Why are you not in the Eva?"
"I swore never to use it again after discovering what it was going to be used for," he explained.
"But people are dying. You can save them with the Eva."
"No. The Eva is nobody's salvation, including my own. It is a devil in and of itself, only made by twisted minds and end-seekers."
"Is that why you chose not to return to Tokyo-3?"
"I… If I returned, you'd question the whereabouts of the Eva, and then everyone would be in danger because of it all over again. The Eva's absence ensures the people's survival. Whatever future they get will exclude the Angels so long as this particular Eva is no longer around."
"That's not how they see it, and will go to great lengths to ensure that it's unleashed upon the world, no matter what you think."
"Who is they?"
"You know who, deep down."
"Rrrrrrrraaaurgh!" He turned away and heard the unsettling roar of the Eva as it came near him.
Flash! He removed his hand from the pages…and the vision ceased.
What was that? He wondered.
Patolli had noticed the look of dread on Shinji's face, as though he had witnessed something that haunted him to the core of his being.
It may have something to do with the behemoth that was transferred into his grimoire, he came to his own conclusion; based solely on what William confided in him about the strange giant that seemed to be based off a sort of demon, this…Evangelion…was something that the boy's mother had helped to create, which he was later made to operate…and it caused a lot of personal turmoil in their relationship.
"Tell me, what frightens you the most, young Ikari?" He asked him as he decided to forgo further swordplay in favor of his whip. "What are you most afraid of in your life? Is it the fear of dying? The fear of your enemies? A monster, perhaps?"
"All of that and none of that, Patolli," Shinji expressed, though it was rather cryptic. "People can fear many things that could befall anyone, and the fears I have are because of the one thing I dread the most that I have to carry with me every single day. A demon made by people that is a mockery of the belief that people were in the image of a divine being that governs all existence, a monster that feeds off of people in unforgivable ways."
"Why not unleash something like that against me? Maybe it'll help you win."
"No victory is worth letting that monster out of its cage. Once released, it's like opening Pandora's Box…and you can't put it back inside without paying an impossible price."
"Pandora's Box? You compare the monster in your grimoire to the horrors that were released from that ancient container?"
"I can live with it being locked away in my grimoire. I can live with never having to see it unleashed. I can even live with being called a coward because I'm too terrified to let it out against anyone, but what I can't live with are the consequences of letting it out, knowing that it could cause pain and death to anyone that gets in the way. And anyone that wants that to happen, regardless of the consequences, are just as cruel as the people that made the monster to begin with. Nobody wants to live with that on their conscience."
Patolli then swung his arm at Shinji, sending his whip against his sword.
Shinji blocked as the whip wrapped around the blade.
"It's surprising how you were able to defeat the Third Eye and yet have difficulty with me," he told the boy.
"It was a team effort that led to the defeat and apprehension of the Third Eye, not a soloist," Shinji responded. At this rate, I can't face him with a sword. It's too predictable and he can block and evade.
Down below, Guardian pondered Shinji's difficulty in dealing with Patolli. It wasn't every so often that anyone he was paired with that held the False Destiny Breaker grimoire had to deal with someone that was a lot stronger than anticipated, but Shinji was not like the previous holders of one of House Ikari's oldest relics. The boy was still learning about the limits of his magic and pushing past them; the journey to being in control of his life in every sense was like creating something as complexed as a town or city or as simple as a painting of a landscape, neither of which were something that could be rushed because you were impatient. Except the only impatience that did exist for those in possession of the False Destiny Breaker was the impatience possessed by those that came after them.
The harder one comes at Shinji, he believed, the worse the outcome becomes for the adversary when they go too far.
"Hey, Guardian," went Suki to him, getting his attention. "What can you see as a possible outcome of this fight between Shinji and Patolli?"
"Nothing that can be seen besides a degree of pressure between Patolli trying to make Shinji cross a line he can't uncross…and Shinji, who is trying his best not to take a life that will weigh heavily on his conscience." He explained to her.
"He'd probably do better if he had a different weapon."
"Yes, maybe, but what else can he use if not a sword?"
The Anti Magic creature felt an uneasy measure of mana emanating from afar, almost thinking that it was familiar with one of the other previous members of House Ikari that he was paired with over forty generations ago.
"Patolli may end up doing something that will aid in Shinji defeating him," he expressed.
-x-
Rika heard something down in the basement that housed the relics they were able to reclaim, and she wondered what was making a ruckus after so many centuries. With the basement resembling an oversized warehouse full of their salvaged items, she and Tenshi had locked up the more powerful relics that only those of immense power and restraint could wield, and she saw one of the old weapons anchored to the ground was rattling.
The pole arm that was almost mastered by Kana when she decided to practice wielding it? She wondered, seeing that the centuries of dust and grime had accumulated all over the weapon. But why is it acting up now?
To be continued…
A/N: What do you think will happen in the next chapter? And what did you think of this chapter? Yui learns from her brother that people are upset with her actions and that if she ever gets found out, she will face the consequences, and Patolli has engaged Shinji in a battle to decide how things end for the Eye of the Midnight Sun.