A/N: 13k words
OOO*
The U.S.S.G. had nowhere to return to. From what he understood, most of the parents in the collapsed city of Chernobog—no thanks to a certain World Burning Flames—were most likely already killed by Reunion's forces or had evacuated to another part of Ursus. That also meant that the students holed up in Saint Peterheim were left completely alone, to tear at each other's throats and to wallow in their own vices.
When inquiring about their parents during their trek around Chernobog, avoiding Reunion grunts, engaging some Reunion grunts, and searching for supplies; the same conclusion had come across their minds. It was fruitless, especially with the extra allotted time they had spent searching the premises. There were also far too many refugee camps or prisons which had been established, and the more they stayed in the confines of the city, the more their safety became volatile to a risk.
...How unfortunate.
Going back on the topic of World Burning Flames, Megumi didn't really know how to explain to the U.S.S.G. that it was him who had fired off the attack which had led to the center of the Nomadic City being pulverized into dust and ash. It already sounded completely unbelievable, and he didn't wish to push his luck with what they were willing to believe. He was already carrying enough burden with Yamata-no-Orochi's gigantic size weighing him down with the rumors surrounding it.
Overall, even if he had found a footing in Chernobog, it looked like staying in the city for any allotted amount of time wasn't going to work out in the end. Too long of a stay, and Fate had to throw its middle finger up at him, too short of a stay, and he wouldn't have gained anything from it. Not even a learning experience. He really, really wished to see Hellagur one more time, if not just to see whether he was doing well or not.
So at the moment, it wasn't best to stress himself over such matters. Keeping a clear and open mind while expecting the best for the aged Hippogryph was the only option that he had so far. So while that happened, he was going to find a home for the U.S.S.G. students somewhere in Lungmen, and maybe even get them a job for them to take care of themselves. After all, child labor was a thing in Terra, and not as frowned upon here as it would be back on Earth. It... somewhat made sense for him? Considering the monstrous strength the average Terran possessed after all.
But It still didn't sit well with him—
"Pay! Attention!"
Breaking out of his thoughts, Megumi parried a blow from Sonya. The shockwave caused her to reel as the floundering emerald fields around them shifted from the force produced, swaying to the whims of their small clash that had just occurred. Once that passed over, the Ursus girl regained her footing and gripped her tactical black axe with both hands more tightly. From the looks of it, she wouldn't find herself sent backwards in such a way again.
"Sorry, my thoughts lapsed," Megumi apologized to the woman as his fingers twitched in order to get its blood flowing, which also acted as a way to make the girl feel better—as if she had made his fingers ring from the heavy-weight blow she had sent. "I'll pay more attention." His left hand hovered behind him in a resting position while his right hand was slightly extended in a pseudo-martial arts pose.
His black haori was also off, revealing his white martial arts gi in all of its unpigmented and colorless glory. Even then, the color known commonly as white still had its significantly unique hue which many could admire, and Fushiguro Megumi was somebody who was part of such a group.
"You'd better," Sonya scoffed while entering a combat stance with her weapon. She wasn't a fool, the person in front of her could be considered a genius by many, and she sure as hell did see him as one. If Natalya was somebody who could get excellent grades and study subjects as a "prodigy" rather than a "genius," then the black-haired man in front of her was most likely a genius in the fighting aspect—or a prodigy—and maybe even both.
She was willing to bet that it was both, it was jarring to think somebody who was about four years older than her was at such a level where he could wipe out entire squadrons within a blink of an eye.
Taking in a deep breath, Sonya charged him with her axe. The black-haired man still kept his casual stance with one arm behind his back, and that had irritated her.
"Here!" She brought the weapon to her right side and feinted the blow, in order to shift it up to a vertical one. "Huh?" However, Megumi did not even react to it, as his stance remained neutral. Only when she went for the downwards strike which would be enough to cave in the ground, did he raise his right hand upwards in a chop to deflect it. "Ugh!" It was then a swift strike with the same palm was sent to her stomach, sending her skidding backwards. She coughed a few times and wiped the corner of her mouth, until she came to a stop.
"You're good at the basics," Megumi commented while shifting back to the same stance he had been using since the beginning of the fight. It was one he had replicated from Gojo Satoru whenever they had close-quarters-combat, an easygoing method utilized only to train students who wereenormouslybelow the teacher's level—Gojo's words—not his. "But maybe you should specialize in a martial arts skill-set that pertains to using an axe, rather than the improvised way you're fighting right now."
"What? No way." Sonya shook her head vehemently. "I already do well enough with my own style. Besides, having an unpredictable one is always a thousand times better than having one which can be guessed by your opponent."
"You do know that you can have an unpredictable style while studying multiple different martial arts relating to the axe, right?" Megumi asked. "It provides a good basis for what you should do in a fight, for the many situations which call for a certain action. If you constantly switch between all the ones you know, then you can be just as unpredictable—if not more unpredictable—as you are now."
A low hum left her lips, and it almost sounded like a grunt or a groan. "Fine." It sounded like she was actually considering his words, but the black-haired man wasn't too sure. She spoke again, "do you know any of those fancy martial arts to teach me, then? Maybe a manual?" The Ursus girl continued to press the black-haired man for anything he could provide for her.
"I can teach you," Megumi said swiftly. "I have some experiences with axes. Not to a professional degree, but it's enough where I can teach you a few things in regards to it." He hadn't actually utilized axes that much at all in his life, but the black-haired man was confident that he could rely on his Taira-no-Masakado genes when holding the weapon that Sonya had and understand how the concept of an axe fundamentally works. "Just hand me the axe and I can show you a few things. First, you watch, and then I'll explain it to you after you try it out."
Sonya listened intently to his words. "And? Do I just keep trying? Trial and error, was it?" She crossed her arms. "Wouldn't it be better if you told me what to do first, so I don't make a fool of myself attempting to replicate whatever fancy maneuvers you do?" Her lips turned downwards into a frown while her fingers continued to rhythmically tap against her elbow in a symphonic rhythm.
Megumi could see her impatience. "It's the best way I know," he shrugged and then continued, "you can follow along as long as you want. I'm not too impatient regarding this sort of thing." Honestly, he really wasn't that impatient. Training twelve hours a day had done something to his mental state, like a form of meditation that had made him come to terms with spending his time rigorously doing a repetitive task. Or maybe, it was the strain and burning feel of his muscles which had continued to push him forward and drive him further—far past a point of time which he would have already tapped out or decided to take a long breather for respite.
After that, Sonya had handed him her axe, and he began measuring the weight of the weapon. After a few seconds, he began doing practice swings with it, in order to get a feel of the foreign object that had ended up in his hands. It was a bit difficult at first attempting to find a prodigal way of utilizing it, but that was the moment that his genetics from a Cursed ancestral past had started to play its record.
"How long did it take for you to learn Arts? To the level that you're at," Sonya asked and watched from the sidelines as Fushiguro Megumi was demonstrating his usage of her axe. At first, she was about to call him out on how silly he looked, dangling the weapon around and going for light blows, until he started picking up his pace and flowed like an incessant river. Her words fell back down to her chest when she could hardly even begin to perceive or understand what he was doing.
"I practiced utilizing my abilities..." Megumi started talking, his voice piercing through the swishing sounds produced by his "practiced" motions with the weapon. "Since I was about, I would say—in my childhood. It started developing at that time and I just..." his voice drew out again, "started getting the hang of it. It was sudden, and there's nothing else I can really say to elaborate more on them."
"Is it hard to describe?" She questioned while her eyes were glued on every single movement that the black-haired man executed. At that point, she was sure that another demonstration course of his movements would be needed so she could grasp it better. "Sounds like you're attempting to scrape up a damn lot trying to describe it." The girl wanted to learn how to utilize Arts... but it seemed like a far out-of-reach dream at this point.
"When you learn something, it's often harder to describe a personal feeling to somebody else who might not understand." He nodded while shifting stances. "Sorry, I don't know how to describe what using my abilities or Arts in general would be like." His thoughts came back to Gojo Satoru, who was amazing at explaining the theories that come to Cursed Techniques and their nuances, along with appliances; but not teaching how a student could utilize it.
"So it's like someprodigytrying to teach you a new thing in math? What a pain," Sonya grumbled out.
"That's an accurate analogy."
A silence came over as the Ursus girl crossed her arms with a frown. Her eyes squinted as the movements that Fushiguro Megumi was executing became more and more complex as the hands of an imaginary clock continued to tick down. It was to the point where she had almost felt the urge to scratch her head in passing, because the maneuvers being pulled off by the black-haired man seemed almost...inhuman.
'Was that a downwards—no? How did he feint like that!'She blinked a few times as her arms uncrossed and she leaned forward from where she sat to get a better gauge of the display in front of her.'Is something like that even practical? How's somebody supposed to counteract something so quick? Eh? What's he doing?'The woman had somewhat of a feel for what he was doing at the beginning, because it waspredictable. But then when his form suddenly shifted, it started to do so in such varied amounts that she could no longer foresee what kind of new one he would undertake.
It went on for a few minutes, as she watched in great interest the many different techniques, styles, and trickery employed when he continued to strike at the air. In fact, Sonya was confident that there was some sort of shadow opponent in front of him that the young adult was fighting against, it was just that it was exclusive to him. Even so, she could just almost discern what it looked like from how each flow of his moves.
As she continued to watch the supplemental knowledge in the form of a demonstration, the newly learnt information started to enter her brain. While that occurred, however, half of her mind had also started to delve on other topics.
Admittedly, Sonya could not say that she had gotten used to this kind of lifestyle. Sitting inside the jeep and watching the outside scenery of the wasteland pass her by was... just weird. Every time she closed her eyes and reopened them, she had fully expected to end up inthatplace, where the blade of her axe would need to glint in the air against her newly made enemies, where the rumblings of an outside war would echo across, and where a pang in her stomach would force her to grit her teeth and stomach the many happenings inflicting her.
Many things were her fault, just as it were for thosedamnedstudents who couldn't pull the sticks stuck up their asses—mainly those snot-eating children of nobles. Deep inside, she was absolutely baffled and gratified when the black-haired adult in front of her had put all those dumbasses in their place. Like a scene straight out of a movie. In fact, he felt like some sort of movie character plucked straight out of a television cartoon and thrown into Saint Peterheim. That was how abrupt it felt when she had seen him walk through those reinforced doors.
But then, he was a human. He wasn't some sort of fictional character that had been brought into her world, and that made this feeling all the more stranger. Why did he help them? Why did he go out of his way to do such a thing? Why...?
"It's obvious. None of you deserved to experience something like that." Megumi's movements stopped at a grinding halt. A gust of wind blew as a result, the verdant fields' bristles shifting from his movement as the results of his actions continued to streak across the environment of nature's domain.
"Huh?" Sonya blurted out. Had she been mumbling a portion of her thoughts out loud...? From the other man's side eye, she realized that she had!
"Good people and bad people," Megumi began speaking, while raising two fingers, "I believe good people deserve more than bad people, no matter what the world or situation decides. I'm sure you've had your fair share of irritating people who pose themselves up as if they're worth something—but they're no better than a scrap collecting waste." If karma existed, then no time should exist for it. He would do anything to usher it forth his own way.
"...Are you saying you see us asgood people?" She found herself taken aback by his words from its undertones. A good person... Could she be a good person? What a hilarious question. Sonya couldn't see it, with all that she had done back in Peterheim, and all the problems she had caused. Especially with the set fire which had burnt away all hope for survival in the students, and the event which had plunged them all into a pit far deeper than the dark blues of the sea.
"Frankly? yes," Megumi said before shrugging, "you're all young. There's somebody who told me that the youth of the next generation should live in a world left behind that is better than the previous generation. He was a foolish, idiotic, and annoying man," his voice then turned into a small spat—making Sonya hold a complex look. "But... he was right. I think those words of his, and his views, were a blessing." If only he had seen the value of it earlier.
...She wondered who that was. "What are you getting at?" Sonya's voice became audibly lower, in a soft way. She hadn't seen the despondent black-haired man talk this much aside from when he was being questioned or giving them a game plan of escape back in Chernobog. "If it's because we're young, then it doesn't make sense. Why didn't you save the other..."
"The other kids? I guess it's because I saw them as bad people." The black-haired man continued to mindlessly swing the axe, entering different stances which even he wasn't familiar with as his mind continued to drone on in the sky. "I'm biased. Don't think otherwise. I don't know if I, myself, am a good person; because that's for others to decide. I can just try my best. I think you should try your best too."
"Jeez, you're talking like an old geezer now." Sonya sighed, but the words he told her still clung to her head. She felt unsettled,'me? A good person...?'In her mind, such a description contradicted her existence entirely. "Preaching all of that philosophical stuff."
"Maybe I am, you brat." Megumi rolled his eyes. "Would you look at that? A young adult at 20 years old is turning into somewise sagewith just some words," he spoke rhetorically.
"Hey? Got some humor now?" The Ursus student crossed her arms with an amused expression. "Well, what was I expecting from somebody who piled up a bunch of kids and sat on them? You should have seen yourself, posed up as if you're at the top of the world."
"...I tried, okay?"
"Then you ought to try harder."
A few more words of banter were given to each other as their sparring session ended. Megumi suggested that she practiced some of the moves he had shown her before they would go for another match tomorrow. Sonya agreed to it with a nod and a head turn away, and had also given him a glare when he had patted her head.
Soon enough, she watched his back depart as Megumi returned to camp first. Sonya didn't know what else to say. Her body remained still as she stared at the ground with a shadow casting over her eyes, her mind flashing through a cycled process of memories which she had wanted to bury so deep underneath.
A crushing strike to the skull.
A bite into flesh.
A spilling of guts.
Despite where she stood—underneath the high sun soaring high above the skies—the feeling of rotten hands continued to cling to her limbs, keeping her in place.
The moment her memories came to an end with a jolt of her body, only a single image was left lingering.
Two eyes with crimson spirals.
She could see something underneath them, but she couldn't understand fully what it was. Her eyes turned upwards toward where Fushiguro Megumi had left, and she would linger upon it for a chunk of time, deep in thought.
'Me, a good person? What a sick joke.'
With a shake of her head, Sonya decided it was best to go back.
OOO*
Anna held a pristine golden object in her hands with care. It looked immaculate, as if it were forged for royalty, but instead of being a useless ornament that was merely there to display power, it was as if it were a representation of power itself. Thunder was a natural representation of such a thing, a once understood phenomenon as an unnatural force sent from the heavens by celestial beings of legend which moved with such might that it cracked the air. That was until more understanding was made of it, and then Catastrophes became a greater worry for people—it always has been.
Especially when the Witch King could harness such destructive power in order to induce artificial Catastrophes and ravage entire armies. It was sobering to learn of such a thing when going through the books that her parents had left behind in their house, which said books were Leithanian in origin. Speaking of her parents... she was sure they had died in Chernobog's Government House during the Reunion Uprising.
She pushed that thought away, it continued to make her more nervous that she thought about it, and she hated such a feeling.
"This is an intricate object. It looks so small yet it produces such firepower that it can melt multiple layers of steel with unprecedented ease." Anna continued to mumble while analyzing the object. There were also many patterns and symbols which she didn't really understand, but it must have held significance in Higashinese and Yanese culture; seeing how they usually exchanged many things. "Control over Shadows and Summoning as Arts, and I presume this Unit is utilized to enhance a learned aspect over lightning?"
"I can channel lightning, but my Arts Unit doesn't enhance it." Megumi shook his head while holding a book. "It can fire off attacks without the need for any channeling of it, you can just will it to. Try it yourself." Cursed Tools didn't require Cursed Energy to activate after all. The versatile energy was only used to further enhance their features.
Anna had to pause for a moment and stare at the black-haired man blankly, "truly?" She didn't believe it at first. When a nod was all she received from the rather apathetic black-haired man, the teal-haired girl stood up slowly and gripped it by the handle. "Then... I'll use it against the boulder a few meters in front of us." She said out loud so he wouldn't become shocked when she fired it off, resulting in another casual nod.
With a small deep breath, the Ursus girl started to imagine the Arts Unit backfiring on her with an electric current, and other failures that could come with it. After all, many Arts Units were specialized to somebody, and there have been times where somebody had misfired one due to a lack of training in using them. She glanced back at Megumi as a result, and he was still flipping through the pages of his book.
For a moment, she felt the urge to chide him for letting an unsupervised teenager use his Arts Unit which could backfire, but Anna kept calm. He wasn't stupid, that was for a fact. His battle intelligence and the plans he had created during their time of traversing Chernobog for supplies was something she had taken note of. If the Arts Unit he had let her fiddle with andcastwithout a single worry present, then he must know what he was doing, right?
...She slowly swung her arm holding the Vajra.
Much to her amazement, a bolt of lightning that she had imagined firing off from it. The small but flowy royal red cloth attached to the end of one of its hilt flowed in the air after she had finished the action—one which was bore similarity to the long cloth attached to the neck of Fushiguro Megumi's trident-like weapon he had named a "Trishula."
"Goodness," Anna astoundedly remarked. The feeling of using such destructive Arts without even a single input other thanimaginingthe attack was... revolutionary! In order to use an Arts Unit, some understanding of one's own Arts was needed, or the specific kind of Arts the Unit was made for. So, being able to effortlessly uselightningwithout ever having an experience researching it in detail or... "This is a marvel."
"Is that so?"
"Yes!" She found herselfalmostgetting excited, before she cleared her throat. "A-ahem. I'm just curious... Where have you found or bought something such as this? Unless it's a secret which you do wish to divulge, then I am fine with that too."
"I made it," Megumi replied dully.
"You created it?" the Ursus girl repeated.
"Yes."
Anna watched the black-haired man's still inexpressive face. She had remembered some students back in her school calling her an Ice Queen or aloof, but the teal-haired girl was sure that they hadn't seenanythingwhen Fushiguro Megumi existed. Did he not know the significance of an item such as this? And the fact that he was thecreatorof it...?
She slowly opened her mouth again. "Does that also imply that Trishula of yours..."
"Yes."
She stared with an expression that betrayed no emotion, and he reciprocated the same motionless gesture.
It was that way for a while, before Megumi spoke once more, "Would you like me to create an Arts Unit for you?"
Anna blinked with her passive face, before raising her hand to habitually fix her monocle. "Yes... please, I wouldn't mind."
"Good to know."
The Ursus student watched once more as—apparently—he possessed athirdArts Unit which wasalsocolored in gold as the other two she had observed. From the events that transpired next, he clenched his fists and brought it in front of his body, and then a golden wheel appeared floating above his head. It wasglowing.
"I'll get to it then. You have a book that somewhat serves as an Arts Unit, correct? I can make it better."
She was at a loss for words.
OOO*
"This is quite the beautiful object," Natalya traced her hands upon the large Tirshula. It was far larger than her as it was made with the height of Megumi in mind, and he was much taller than her. "The more I gaze upon it, the more I'm beginning to see many patterns which I had missed on a first or even third observation." Her index and thumb finger then pinched the vermillion fabric which had been spiralling around the base of the Divine Cursed Tool's aureate neck, and left pulsing through the air like particle mists of blood.
"Its name is Ame-no-Nuboko, if you're curious." Megumi continued to dismantle the siege weapon that he had told her he'd fix. "It means "Jeweled Spear of Heaven." I hope it doesn't sound pretentious to you." He lifted an object that he had been pulled from the weapon that he was taking apart, and narrowed his eyes on it. The wheel atop his head turned as a result, and he continued to imbue a sliver of Cursed Energy into it. Multiple processes, multiple steps, and multiple turns; those were usually all that was needed before the Cursed Energy settled in as it would a Cursed Tool.
After all, an instrument of war needed a copious amount of time to be sunk into, before it can be pulled from such conceptual liquid and be reborn as an accursed weapon in its next life. The Dharmachakra as the perfect representation of harmony and the law which encompassed all of existence which resided in the universe and above allowed the process to be much quicker under its mystical turns. Every single one had a purpose, and he as the bearer of it would see the entire process through.
"That's a magnificent name. I presume it must be in relation to your Higashinese culture with its naming scheme?" She turned toward him as she had seen the object atop his head turn and produce a majestic sound.'A third Arts Unit just as Anna had mentioned. They're all colored in some form of gold, and that one glows the brightest of them all. How peculiar.'
"Mhm," Megumi nodded while responding, "it was based on a weapon from mythology. In fact, it isn't inspired—I just took the name. I doubt you can find any texts relating to what I'm referencing though, so it would be useless to find its etymology."
"That's a shame." Natalya apprehended any more budding curiosity in such a subject of its origins when hearing those words. "Ame-no-Nuboko... is that how it's pronounced? Apologies, I'm not well-versed in the Higashinese tongue."
"Accurate enough."
"That's good to hear," she said while smiling.
A brief pause occurred while Megumi continued to fiddle with the many parts of the siege weapon which he was starting to understand more. In fact, the object was more of an oversized harpoon in his opinion than anything, one which also possessed an enormous amount of voltage output considering the densely packed Originium circuits that were placed into it. Although it wasn't an Arts Unit, he wouldn't doubt a skilled enough Caster would be able to dosomethingwith them. It would just be capriciously more difficult.
"So... those extra arms you're able to manifest?" The white-haired Ursus girl touched upon another subject while turning back to the Trishula. It sparked with power, even without any commands given to it.
"What about them?" Megumi continued to work with the components he was dealing with. "If you're wondering about them, they're there so I can use multiple weapons. Using a large Trishula like the one you're holding with only a single hand is foolish and would only serve to hamper me." Especially with the many other weapons he had at his disposal.
"I see, and the added benefits would also be extra means of striking at an opponent?"
"Exactly so," Megumi affirmed, "four functional arms areveryuseful in combat." Extra arms meant extra physical attack potency, and also much higher utility.
"A truly wide variety of Arts. I'm almost jealous," Natalya said with a somewhat bitter tone. "I find it quite hilarious, they used to call me a genius or a prodigy back at my academy."
"..." He continued to listen to her.
"But it seems the words "there's always somebody better" still echoes true even for somebody like me. Goodness, how ignorant I was back then." A self-deprecating voice of low detectability left her lips as she placed the Trishula on her lap and stared off into space. Legendary divine weapons, a vast arsenal of Arts, and a possession of might so pure it could shift the tides of battle and crush tragedy itself.
It was like a protagonist from an epic given life in the real world. How lucky were they that he had stumbled upon their trashed and dilapidated abode?
"...There's always somebody better, huh?" Megumi dryly repeated the phrase she had said. "It's true, yeah." His mind came back to Ryomen Sukuna and Gojo Satoru, as it always had been whenever he thought of "strength" or "geniuses." There was also Okkotsu Yuta who he was confident must have developed in strength by a large margin too, along with Itadori Yuji. "I've come to terms with that."
"Hm?" Natalya looked upwards with a seldom surprised look, but it turned into one of recognition. "Ah... I don't know how to feel about that." She lightly chuckled after. It seemed even the black-haired man in front of her had somebody he had looked up to, or felt was superior to himself. She wondered what such people would look or feel like to be in the presence of.
He gave her a side eye before coming back to the siege weapon. A memory flashed back to when the white-haired Ursus had woken him up because there was a Manglerbeast roaming near their camp after exiting a forest, and the black-haired man almost had a heart attack because she resembled Laurentina a tad too much.
"You know, we've been speaking about ourselves for the recent time which has passed us... but we've never inquired any specifics from you aside from the display of Arts you've presented." Natalya continued on, "I wouldn't mind hearing more about you, Fushiguro Megumi. If you don't pay much mind to divulging such information, of course." The Higashinese clothing which she could tell was expensive—especially the black "haori"—the distant yet approachable side of him, and the implicitlysorrowfullook in his eyes were everything that had caught her interest.
"You're a noble, right?"
"...I am."
"You sound hesitant to confirm that. Why?"
"Well, my kind has not been the most accommodating kind. With high status, it would lead to an infectious mindset to develop, thus further deteriorating one's perception of the world. I was no exception."
"Not the most accommodating kind?"
"During our time back then..." Natalya slightly clenched her fingers as her shoulders rose, "they were quite aversive to the commoners." She was sure the black-haired man didn't care much for such status, but the negative influence her own origins have brought her still made her hesitant to speak on it.
"I understand." There was not more that needed to be said in that regard, he could already see how. There were bound to be multiple groups formed in such a chaotic environment in order to salvage any sense of order, and the children connected to nobility were bound to have their pompous noses raised upwards. "My blood is connected to what you can consider nobility, too."
"Beg pardon?" The white-haired Ursus girl looked upwards when hearing those words.
"My name is Fushiguro Megumi, I inherited my family name from my mother." "My father's side was once part of the Zen'in Clan, one of the Three Big Clans back where I had come from long ago. All I know in regards to his connection to it, is that he abandoned the family name."
"I... I can't say I'm too surprised, but that is an interesting piece of information to be exposed to." She decided to humor it with her next words. "Then should I give you a formal Ursine greeting? I remember my father had taught me one for foreigners who were expected to be potential business partners."
"I'll pass. Formality was never my thing."
"That's fair."
Another pause happened. The sound of gears being modified and turned was heard, while Cursed Energy continued to leak from Megumi's fingertips, infusing his primordial lifeblood of mysticism into the siege weapon. They had also been manipulated at some degrees to fuel his Cursed Technique, and each turn of the wheel further cemented their imbuement into a tool in front of him.
"Sonya seems to have some gripes with you," he said after, and assumed it to be the whole nobility and commoner strife. Some few observations between the two while he remained impartial to their conflicts was all that he needed.
"I don't blame her," Natalya sighed. She had led the nobility after all, and the many times they had clashed and spilt blood against each other with weapons made tokill, it only made sense that there would be problems with how they would stay together.
"Why so?" Megumi asked. Was it a shared experience over trauma that had helped them bear with the presence of one another?
"Ah, I believe some of it is deserved. Though I do have some reservations with her too, it's all but naught if they're to be considered "significant" to any degree. Survival was more important back then."
"Mmh."
"...There were also many acts of foul play on both sides. I am not free of guilt either," she said with a more tired manner.
"Neither am I," Megumi stated, which received a solemn nod from the Ursus girl, something he assumed to be "recognition."
Natalya hummed out, "you're more sociable than I would have expected, despite your mannerisms. It was a pleasant conversation." She believed she had come to know him a tad bit more, underneath those inexpressive orbs of his.
"Likewise." He nodded. "The siege weapon, by the way, should be finished in about a few more minutes. Give it a test run after and tell me how you feel about it."
"That's spectacular to hear." She smiled in response to his words. "I'll be looking forward to it, then."
Despite the girl not knowing much about the black-haired man, she could tell that his heart was in the right place. Many mysteries still remained of him which Natalya was wholly unaware of, and the same applied to the rest of the U.S.S.G., but she was content with things as they were now.
Maybe one day, she could peer under the desolation hidden beneath his gaze.
OOO*
There was a full piece of chicken attached to a sharp piece of wood that they had found. It was now hanging over the campfire they made with a makeshift stand. They were lucky that some freezer systems of some of the stores they visited still worked, and that the chicken hadn't been splashed in blood from the slaughter. If there were pieces of Originium of the Catastrophe that passed by, his Reverse Cursed Technique could remove the most dangerous of them and render the particles out—to make it edible.
They had kept it in a portable freezer, and it was going to be one of the first things they ate because of its perishable nature. So, that was where they were at now. After seasoning the chicken with some spices, salt, and peppers that they picked up along the way and tossed into Megumi's Endless Well of Shadows. Based on what he could smell with his restored sense of taste, it smelled good enough.
Lada was a rather good cook, she'd most likely become better than him in a few months or so if she kept working in the hobby as she was now. Although his cooking skills had drastically improved when he restored his gustatory cortex, it didn't lead to a development of him metamorphosing into a master chef back, however. The Dharmachakra could definitely be used to cheat in learning to make magnificent food or producing them on a one time basis through adaptation... But where was the fun in that?
It was a hobby. Taking it slow and easy to develop his skills in the cooking field was his predetermined goal that he had set.
"It smells really good, right?"
Megumi's attention was drawn to the blonde-haired girl that was sitting next to him. He and she were watching the piece roast on the campfire, and making sure that it was done so to perfection, before he replied, "it does." Admittedly, most of his meals in Chernobog were eaten in restaurants where he wore an outfit more fitting for the city than his Japanese clothing.
"I didn't know you were also awesome at cooking! Also... what do you think of my skills?" Lada was holding a clone of Rabbit Escape, because she very much found comfort in those fluffy companions.
"Given a bit more time, I think you'll become better than me," Megumi whole-heartedly said. "After all, I think you're more passionate than me in cooking."
"Uwah, really?" Lada asked. "You're not just saying that to make me happier, right?"
"Of course not."
"Wow, you're gloomier than I thought. Uh, no offense!"
"None taken, I get that a lot," he replied. "After all, it's not a completely alien statement."
"Well..." Lada fiddled with her fingers before continuing, "I just think you should smile more, right?"
"Thanks for the suggestion."
"Hehe, no problem!"
After that, they were left in silence to contemplate the chemical change occurring in the chicken in front of them. The flames continued to lick it and alter its appearance as more time passed, with each and every single slow sway they've taken.
Whatever went through their heads, they didn't even begin to comprehend. It was practically an unspoken rule amongst the U.S.S.G. that when Fushiguro Megumi had stopped talking and wistfully stared off to elsewhere that they would pay a minute or two to respect it.
Such a time had passed eventually.
"Uhm, I've also been meaning to ask, those two super cool weapons of yours are for fighting and using lightning—but what's that wheel for? It looks like it came from a pirate ship! No offense, though, it's still really awesome to look at."
"It's called a Dharmachakra, to be precise."
"Dharma... what?" Lada asked.
"Dharmachakra, it's modelled after a religious symbol." Megumi pointed upwards to the glowing object. "I don't know its prevalence here in Ursus, or even Higashi and Yan. It's a thing completely exclusive to my home, or so I believe."
"Oh!" The blonde-haired girl nodded after hearing his explanation. "Wait—a religious symbol? I didn't take you to be somebody who's religious."
"I don't worship anything, it's just how the Arts Unit was modelled," Megumi replied.
"Aha! I get it now!" She nodded after mulling over his words with a thinking gesture. "So it's like... probably for uh... what was the word again? It's like when you do something for... emotions or am I mixing it up with something else?" The girl could have sworn she learnt the word somewhere back in school.
"Sentimental purposes?"
"That's it!" She pressed her fist against her palm. "Sentimental purposes," she repeated.
"I guess you could say that," Megumi said. Looking upwards, he had become fond of the Dharmachakra with how utterly useful it had been for his everyday life, and even that was an understatement.'Whatever it represents, I'm starting to have some belief in it.'But he certainly was not one to worship.
"Did you make this one like your other things?" Lada questioned.
""My Vajra and Trishula? Compared to them, I didn't make it. The Dharmachakra was inherited."
"Oooh, like a family heirloom?"
"Somewhat." Megumi shrugged. "I guess you could say it's their prized jewel." After all, the Dharmachakra was a representation of the Ten Shadows Cursed Technique as a whole, which is how Mahoraga seemed to act as the core of it. The strongest Shikigami, the tenth and final Sacred Treasure, and the way his Maximum Technique functioned. They were all the cogs needed to be gathered and attached together for him to come to such a conclusion.
"Woah, and they gave it to you? Where are they now?" She continued on with her curious questions. The roasted chicken in a pot hovering over their campfire continued to slowly cook in the burning flames, and it was now up to Fushiguro Megumi to keep watch over it.
"Where they are at now doesn't matter, I never really had any connection to them in the first place."
That came as a surprise to her. "Why not?"
"A bunch of unruly people. Elitist people and all the sort—I'd say the best comparison you can make is with Ursus' nobles."
"Oh... that doesn't sound good." Lada could see what he was getting at now. "So... what does the Dharma...cha... er, wheel do?" She gave up on pronouncing it.
"It helps me analyze things, rather than acting as a tool for destruction."
"I'm starting to wonder how many things you have under your belt. Flinging lightning around like those fairytales, movingsuuuperfast, and growing extra arms?"
"Enough about that." Megumi waved her off after. "Our dinner should be about finishing. I'll see how our other meals are doing in terms of preparation." He stood up from where he was seated, as Lada watched him go with what he needed to do. "Don't go biting raw ingredients, by the way"
She brought her knees upwards and propped her chin on them. "Don't worry, I won't make the same mistake!"
...Lada definitely would.
Though, the Ursus child felt a rather small amount of disappointment for not learning more about him.
OOO*
The hallways of the L.G.D. headquarters were filled with office workers, and all officers who were supposed to be on field duty were already sent out to deal with whatever. A vacuum in the Lungmen slums due to a large majority of the Siracusan crime bosses being slaughtered two years ago had been somewhat filled up after a length of time had passed—but other hands have been making their progressionmuchslower.
For Swire, she already knew how and why something like that was happening. After all, a certain Rat King would much prefer if the Underworld of Lungmen wasn't touched by sullied hands, in order to keep order on both sides of the city.
"I'm telling you! This entire thing is crazy!" However, something like that wasn't of much interest to her, for the Feline already knew something like that was bound to happen. She continued to speak into her phone with a frustrated breath, "what washedoing in the Kazimierz Major of all places? The hell? Humiliating a nation's pride by running them straight through? Okay, nevermind... that sounded wrong."
Swire promptly shut her mouth when a few office workers had turned to her while taking off their headphones, with raised eyebrows. It was then she remembered who she was, "get your minds out of the gutter and get back to work!" Her voice was enough to have them scampering back to whatever subjects they were at, making the woman sigh at the aftermath.
"You sound like Ch'en,"Hoshiguma's voice bled through the speaker of the phone.
"Eugh, yuck!" Swire spat her tongue. "Don't compare me with her. It was just a one time thing where I decided to imitate that sorry dragon. Besides, she's been obsessed with Kazimierz and has been sending agents there after I told her about the previous Major. Isn't another one coming up next year?""
"Hah~ I remember that,'Hoshiguma sighed from the other side, and Swire could feel as if she was rubbing her brow at the moment."I'm sure Lin also sent a few. And yes, a new Major is coming up next year, I doubt he'll reappear again."
"Probably," Swire agreed. "Bastard just went there to screw shit up, huh?" Further research also showed a six-winged gigantic bird obliterating an entire work-in-progress city plate of Kazimierz's capital and leaving a gaping hole.'Wow... who could that have been?'she exaggeratedly spoke in her mind.
"Burning a hole through a large portion of an entire city plate... what a monster."
Swire agreed whole-heartedly. Seriously, when thehelldid that oversized bird of his gain six wings and gain the ability to fire off a golden "orbital laser" by itself? The change in color was curious along with the obvious increase in firepower, because some agents they sent to Kazimierz had noted that the entire city plate was in danger of being scrapped and abandoned because of the amount of damages it had sustained.
Toppled skyscrapers and melted steel digging straight to the barren earth of Terra.'Damn, it's a mess.'She shivered, wondering what kind of economic impact it would have for Lungmen if they had toabandonan entire city plate rather than just going for repairs. Kazimierz's K.G.C.C. were already being dealt a vicious blow from what she could tell, as their little pet project had been put to waste. She only knew that specific portion well, because the Swire family held some business dealings and partnerships with the K.G.C.C.
That wasn't even mentioning the blackout which had previously occurred, or the long lasting damage to their systems—for whatever reason she still couldn't grasp—via some... electromagnetic pulse wave. Those were the easiest to fix however, but the ruin it left a good portion Kawalerielki in the dark was still detrimental for a few days.
Hoshiguma's sigh was heard through the phone once more."Anyways, has Ch'en shared any information with you from an uncontrolled spout?"
"You know her too well," Swire amusedly said, "it's the same. She found no leads. The only thing she did find was... erm, how should I put this?"Excited"fan posts on the intranet for the infamous "Cursed Samurai" and criticisms thrown his way too."
"...Remind me to forget about those,"Hoshigumaalmostgroaned.
"You and me both." She shivered when rememberingthoselong ass articles of fangirls being fangirls.'Fuck... what is wrong with people?'Unsavory images flashed through her head of a jar and...'Forget it! Forget it! Ugh!'
"You okay down there? You're in the headquarters, right?"The Oni on the other side seemed to hear her clutching her head, because the tiger lady had almost bashed her head against the wall.
"Agh, forget it. Just some bad memories." Swire shook her head and cleared her mind from all the atrocities she had seen in the form of insane fangirls. "I've got stuff to deal with, so I'll call you later."
"If you say so. See you later, then."
"See you," she said before the call ended. Heaving a large mound of air stored in her chest, the Feline finally found a sense of comfort taking her once more. "Alright, so..."
"Ms. Swire!" A voice had interrupted the woman's ruminations, with footsteps also echoing across the hallway
"...What is it?" Swire turned around with her tail swishing. She reined in its erratic movements, in order to show that she wasn't annoyed by their entrance in the slightest.
A woman had approached her and released her headphones, most likely somebody from the communications part. "Chernobog... the city..." She looked to be out of breath.
"Huh? Wait, what about Chernobog?" The tiger lady raised an eyebrow, her fang peeking out when she opened her mouth. "Do we have terrorists from there leaking into Lungmen or something?"
"No... that isn't it!" the woman denied vehemently. "All signals that come out of the Nomadic City have been completely cut off! We only received news from a messenger who had passed by its perimeter, and they couldn't detectanythingeven when they were up at its walls!"
Normally, the condition of a foreign Nomadic City wouldn't matter, but with how close Chernobog was to Lungmen... "tell me more." Swire crossed her arms. "In fact, let me see the data regarding this situation, an entire Nomadic City losing its signal istooabnormal to overlook."
"Yes, Ms. Swire!" She nodded.
The only time some part of a Nomadic City had lost a part of its signal—Swire recalled—was when the gigantic golden beam had crashed into a section of Kawalerielki, which disrupted electronics enough for the signal to temporarily disable before coming back online. It was just a hunch and potentially a far-fetched connection, but...
Holy shit.
What was going on out there?
OOO*
A foot stomped on the dirt ground, and dug into it, before a foot rose upwards and altered the land beneath it. A small portion of dirt, soil, and grass had been sent up in the air as a method of distraction had been perfectly executed; blurring the gap between Fushiguro Megumi and Rosalind. It provided spoken aid for her next attack, with the raise of a weapon stolen from the hands of those who were once unworthy of wielding it.
"Hiyah!" Rosalind raised her crossbow and fired a shot, producing a cracking sound with reinforced string snapping back into position and letting the projectile go free. Her world slowed around her as the object's trajectory had been subconsciously calculated by her mind, and she would have expected it to at least catch him off-guard... but that was unfortunately not the case for her.
"Good work," Megumi dryly commented while flicking his arm upwards, and gabbing the projectile with a firm grip. It halted dead in the air as small pressure was produced, snapping the steel boltcleanin half. "When we get into Lungmen, I'll have to carry your steel bolts in my shadow. They're illegal after all, and they only allow rubber as an alternative, in order to prevent needless crime and violence." But the last time he remembered... it didn't really disincentivize the blood-soaked nobodies roaming the rambunctious underworld fromsomehowgetting their hands on it.
Some blackmarket deals, illegal shipping, and the lot. He wasn't too well-invested in it, but had some experiences with striking against criminal organizations from all around the glove—literally—and also seeing some of the inner machinations happening in Siracusa.Theplace for organized crime, because the entire country bore the entire badge of criminality itself.
Rosalind was flabbergasted at how he had so easily caught the bolt, but simply let out a sigh in response. "I don't need a history lecture, you know?" She chuckled with both absurdity and humor, both for the previous event of the black-haired man snatching the blitzing projectile in the air, along with his unneeded comment on the bolt. "Though, that's good to know, we wouldn't want the law enforcement on our butts." An automatic function was on the crossbow which loaded another bolt onto the weapon, with a total of five being able to be stored in preparation for the mechanism to work its course.
The Ursus girl whistled with an impressed breath. She still found it a marvel of convenience, which was also impressively applicable in combat with how much time she could save in getting her crossbow ready. It had also aided in her combat style of utilizing a long axe and the crossbow at the same time, because she needed two free hands to load a bolt into its mouth, after all.
"My bad," Megumi apologized half-heartedly. "I took you for the studious kind in those kinds of subjects, but you're more similar to Sonya than I thought. In terms of combat skill, of course." He didn't know if studying and learning was more her forte as it was for somebody like Natalya or Anna.
"The Winter General herself, eh? Hey, uh..." She glanced around to see if Sonya or anybody else was around, but they weren't. She turned back to Megumi, before opening her mouth again. "Would you say I'm just as fierce as her?" Rosalind held a rather expectant look on her face, as if prepared to face criticism or something in the same ballpark as that.
"You all have your own traits, I wouldn't put anybody above another," the black-haired man said. "Comparing yourself to others is a good measure to see how much you've grown, but I wouldn't say pulling yourself down over a feeling of insignificance in comparison to them would be a healthy stance to take." Case in point, himself. He had already come to terms that he wasn't on the level of the two Strongest back in his world, but letting it bog him down to the crevices of hell had already been something he'd let go. He was simply content with letting it fall alone into such a place. "Rosalind, you're already quite amazing on your own."
After all, from what he knew, she was the least afflicted by the trauma of what happened back in Saint Peterheim. Her mental fortitude and strength of will, along with the capability of keeping a genuine smile after such a gut-wrenching event was... admirable. Even for himself.
"Hey, hey, hey! Flattery will get you nowhere!" Rosalind bore a wide smile, despite her words. "Come on, make it more genuine, haven't the others told you that you should smile more? Now you're making me imagine you as some teenage heartthrob back in your high school days... Were you?" It was then her curiosity came to a rise. "Actually, whatwereyour high school days like?"
He ignored the heartthrob part, that was the most inaccurate description of him that he had ever heard. "Not much of note, the same applied to my middle school. At most, I just dealt with a lot of delinquents in middle school." It was a half-truth, because his high schoolwasquite insignificant in his opinion—especially after he had become used to working as a Jujutsu Sorcerer from being exposed to Cursed Spirit at a young age.
She whistled, "out there executing your justice or something?"
"That's ridiculous." Megumi was miffed.
The girl did not miss that. "Hey~ can't you tell me more?" She set her axe down as she fiddled with the many components of her crossbow.
"No."
"Aw," Rosalind said while releasing a saddened sound, "could you tell me if I did better against you than Sonya, at least?"
The black-haired man paused for a second—and then looked around before replying with "...You did."
"Heh!" She placed her hands on her hips. Shetotallydid not feel a thousand times better from those words.
Nobody would know anyways, but that was fine. Just knowing that her teacher thought highly of her was enough.
"Also," Megumi chirped in once more, "I'll have to hide my identity in Lungmen. I've made too many enemies."
Rosalind opened her eyes and glanced toward him. "You made a lot of enemies? Since when?" She hadn't heard that before.
"I already told the others beforehand, you're receiving it the latest. I don't think it should be surprising considering I'm most likely Reunion's number one target anyways."
"Hah... that's true," she said and nodded. Most of her assumptions came from the fact that he most likely had butted heads against influential criminals in Lungmen's underworld or something. "Anyways, about our parents..."
"Do you want to keep searching for them?"
"Um..." Rosalind let out an uncharacteristically nervous sound. "I don't know..." she really,reallydid want to see her mother again. But with the chaos that had erupted all across Reunion, the relentless search they did, and the bird which Fushiguro Megumi had sent to scout for the U.S.S.G. (how versatile was he?!), it all pointed to the fact that... yeah. She didn't want to finish that line of thought.
"Do you want to continue?" Megumi crossed his arms and turned elsewhere. His black haori was already off. "Or would you want to rest for the rest of the day?"
"Rest? Ah, no, not at all!" Rosalind snapped out of her stupor before turning to the Jujutsu Sorcerer. "You taught Sonya a lot of nifty tricks, huh? Show me some too!"
He turned to her with a side glance, before immediately relenting to her request. "Would you like to know how to dual wield more efficiently?"
"Sure!"
That was enough of an affirmation before he began teaching her the same way he did Sonya.
OOO*
Kal'tsit placed her tablet on her desk. The footage had already been transferred of what had happened in Chernobog, and the fact that all of their drones had been killed by an EMP wave except for one was enough for her to know thatsomethinghad gone wrong. That was especially apparent when the returning team had to be washed by Rhodes Island's system of radiation the instant they had stepped into the landship.
Thankfully, thanks to their distance—it wasn't anything too severe. She needed to do more testing in tandem with the medical field to see, but it was likely that Oripathy would assimilate the damaged DNA and thus make the problemslightlyless severe. There were still many things that still needed to be confirmed however. At the moment, higher doses of medicine for Oripathy needed to be administered to the team which had returned in order to deal with the Originium shards replacing the affected cells.
...It might become a problem, even if the radiation wasn't lethal to them. The developing Oripathydefinitelywould be. She needed to find a way to effectively deal with them both. Perhaps the extracted Aegir technology Gladiia had recovered from the Church of the Deep in some parts of Iberia could be of use... but as it stood, perhaps calling in Operator Touch for usage over her Arts would be best to deal with the problem.
What had caused such problems? Well, she already knew.
The tablet set on her office desk had already been transferred the data of what had happened in Chernobog. A mushroom cloud, intense heat, a distortion and destabilization of electronics due to an EMP wave, and then a shockwave which razored every single building close in its vicinity. There was no doubt about it, a form of power and energy had been touched which could potentially shift the balance of the world.
'How complicated.'
Kal'tsit closed her eyes in deep contemplation. She had already known Reunion would take over Chernobog with ease, and with practically zero resistance from any other part of Ursus because ofthem. But an attack which was most likely to disable the Nomadic City's functions and systems due to the immensity of it—and the fact that it was in its dead center—would mean they would be stalled for an unknown amount of time. Until the predicted systems which she assumed were disabled were restored.
There was also the matter of the black-haired man who had been grazed by the footage of the camera. He was practically guaranteed to be the one who had sent such a devastating attack at the center of Chernobog and toward the leader of Reunion, Talulah. Single-handedly, he had thrown a magnificent wrench into the plans of the terrorist organization-turned group; despite the severity of his actions.
'I need to research him.'
A single plan was stamped on a note in her mind. From what she had heard of the rescue team and further analysis of the surviving footage, he was somebody who could summon gigantic beasts which held a pattern to them—the possession of a Dharmachakra. It was a religious symbol in some parts of Yan and even Higashi, but the significance of such an object had long since been lost for other variations of the religion, and other factors which had contributed to its loss in importance.
It was only prevalent in ancient times.
'Most likely, the object is a mere symbol.'
Sadly, there was no footage of them being utilized in combat.
'Four eyes, and strange markings. Higashinese in origin, and possessing an unhealthy amount of strength. An unfriendly stature, as described by Operator Nearl, that is to be expected.'
Kal'tsit continued to clinically dissect every single pixel of the images which had registered in her mind. While one section of her mind focused on this subject, another one was working on what should be done when the landship had arrived at Lungmen. Amiya had convinced her to let the Doctor attend the meeting they had scheduled with the Chief Executive, which the Lynx had hesitantly accepted after some convincing. But she didn't let the hesitance be known.
'Amnesia. I can't tell if this is supposed to be ironic or not.'
Shaking her head, she compiled the rest of what she knew.
An enigmatic stranger who had practically crippled a section of Chernobog and hampered Reunion's plans until further notice. Who just so happened to possess some sort of ancient symbolism of the world which had since lost prominence, andfartoo much power in his hands to be used responsibly, it seems.
Potential need to call upon Operator Touch to revert the status of the irradiated cells of the Operators who had been exposed to the radiation from the blast, even if they were a rather "safe" distance away. Risk was still a factor, and Kal'tsit would rather start trusting the Doctor than abandon such factors. In fact, she had already contacted the woman.
Then there was the problem with Specter's mental state. For some reason, the Operator had reportedly become more despondent, despite having recovered from the worst of the debilitating effects of what seemed to be a dissociative disorder. More analysis needed to be taken in that regard, and it was most likely the Aegir needed to be monitored more by Skadi through means of keeping them in close proximity. Only the other Abyssal Hunter could keep her in check—Gladiia was far too occupied with other matters.
Now, the foremost problem was just a few steps in front of her. Lungmen.
The city had a ratherpeculiaroccurrence that had Kal'tsit raising an eyebrow many times before, along with many other countries.
Lowered Originium levels, strange monsters appearing, and an entire district being left a black hole—which had seldom fully finished its repairs.
The lowered Originium levels had had many countries speeding toward the city for research, and most likely had been a diplomatic headache for Lungmen to handle. The strange monsters weren't held as much of a focus, except for the last recorded one which had tossed skyscrapers around, with information of its death still being undisclosed. It was most likely the main military of the city had dealt with it, but Kal'tsit still held a skeptical view about it.
'Most likely—I've already found the core cause of such a thing.'
Her eyes turned back to her tablet while narrowing.
The footage of the "Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga" was classified, but she had her ways of getting her hands on it. The most prominent feature atop its head was a Dharmachakra.
Of course, who else possessed such features? The monsters summoned by the aforementioned black-haired man which had ravaged Chernobog while fighting against Reunion.
Her index finger twitched as she turned back to look outside her window.
It was likely he could be a threat. She wasn't willing to look past such a possibility.
As it stood, more needed to be seen.
'Especially your connection with Specter.'
She needed to inquire from Amiya more about what she had empathically detected from their stranger.
Tapping her tablet once, she was brought to another saved image. A recent one written by the Abyssal Hunter bearing the features of a shark.
The sketches made were always nearly incomprehensible, and the same applied to the one she had saved along with the rest.
The only difference was that it bore the same silhouette as the black-haired man she had seen in the recorded footage by the drones. But instead, it also bore wings upon its face, stretching backwards. No color was seen, as it was sketched in monotone colors.
'...How curious.'
OOO*
"How's Talulah?" Mephisto fiddled with his cane as his teeth gnashed together, his brows shaking as sweat developed at the back of his neck.
"Her state is severe," FrostNova replied in an emotionless voice. "Your treatment only stalled the effects as the doctors have said. The problem is deeply rooted in her DNA and genetic data—meaning that the complications she is facing is almost just as bad as Oripathy."
"Damn it...!" The white-haired boy gripped his cane tighter, leaving his knuckles to turn white. "That bastard...! I swear..." A growl escaped his lips as the corners of his eyes could be seen creasing.
"I had been recommended to apply cryotherapy to Talulah," FrostNova continued on. "Most likely, the best we can do is stall the development of her problems until a method of curing her is found."
"Ahaha...what...? How did this...?" Mephisto gripped his head as the denial started to settle in. "She'll make it, right?"
"We don't know."
"Tch...!" The Liberi pressed his fist against his forehead. "So the best we can do is stall her condition?"
"From what the doctors said, yes."
"Those incompetent bastards!" Mephisto had almost sprung up from his seat if it weren't for his legs. "They're probably lying to sabotage us! I'll have their goddamned heads on a pike if they don't—"
"Mephisto," FrostNova said, her voice crawling out as the cold winter wind would in Terra's most frozen parts. "Enough. The Nomadic City's functions and electronics have already been destabilized at its center, and it can no longer move. We arenotkilling or torturing the only doctors we have access to."
"Talulah's life is at stake!" he yelled and jolted from his seat, but hissed and gripped his cane to further balance himself.
"Do you think your rants will change that?" The white-haired Cautus glared. "Answer me."
"...Tsk." Mephisto clicked his tongue and turned away. "I don't need to hear you talking like Patriot now. I'm seeing Faust." His gritting teeth could be heard as he sauntered away with his chain, an angered look most likely present on his face.
FrostNova let out a frustrated, "hmph," before crossing her arms and turning away herself. Her gaze met the cityscape and how rundown and abandoned it had looked after the invasion of Reunion. Destruction laid across, and all stores have most likely been looted by refugees or members of her own movement. Most likely—they would be ransacked by any Reunion members who stumbled upon them, as supplies were an important factor which needed to be procured as soon as possible.
...Especially since a large section of Chernobog had become inaccessible due to a strange residual which had been dubbed as "radiation" after so many people had attempted to understand it. The thing was dangerous, wholly so with the state that Talulah was in to the point where she had to be frozen by FrostNova's own Arts in order to slow down the process of what was happening, and to let her Oripathy consume her damaged cells.
Although she didn't say it to Mephisto, it would take a blessing or a miracle for Talulah to be healed. A strange feeling crawled up in her chest as she reached her hand to grip at it, because a single fact made itself present. The main pillar of Reunion, despite her recent fall in morality and degradation in the mental side of things, was most likely to crack, collapse, and fall. The thought that it would be an inevitability shook her to her very core.
"My... daughter."
"...Father," FrostNova sighed and shook her head, turning upwards toward the Wendigo. "How were things on your side?" She couldn't appear weak, especially with how volatile Reunion had become.
"The other commanders... have been searching. Whether any results... appear... is naught up for me to decide... at this point," Patriot replied. His footsteps when arriving toward where his daughter had been were silent, especially for the build that he had carried. Of course, there was no need for his rumbling stomps, as those were only needed for battle intimidation.
"I understand." She nodded, and then turned back to the city. The wind kicked up and blew at her hair. "Do you think... Reunion is going to fall apart... sooner than we imagined?" The words were hard to get out, but she could just barely release them.
"...That day..." Patriot's voice was heard once more. "Do you remember... what had happened...? When the Emperor's Blades... appeared?"
FrostNova was confused at first on why he was asking it, but decided to go along with it. "What do you mean? And yes, I do... My Oripathy reached critical levels when I had overexerted my Arts—or that's what it felt like. I wasn't too sure."
"Yet... despite such an... occurrence, you had...reducedOripathy stages..." the Wendigo iterated. "Do you remember... what could have caused... such an impossible... phenomenon?"
"I..." She scrunched her brows as her hands remained still under her cloak. A single image flashed through her mind of the still mysterious dragon which had appeared in front of her and set its head down, lightly touching her body. It made the Yeti Squadron panic, and the Cautus girl was sure that she thought herself to be hallucinating. "There was a dragon during that time which..."
Nothing was known about it, they never did. Only just about a month ago was the subject of the dragon ever brought up again, and the only conclusion they had come with it was that it was one of the summons of Fushiguro Megumi—which had practically been all but confirmed when he had called upon those pale beasts with wheels atop their head.
The main feature she remembered from it was... "Wait...!" A flash of realization hit her, "healing... It healed..." She found her mind droning for a moment.
"Indeed."
FrostNova didn't know what to say. She could only tighten the grip on her hands as a hidden despondency overcame her. Her gaze was obscured as her head turned down from the shadows emitted from her bangs, furthermore developing the strange feeling welling up inside of her.
Her palm raised upwards, and a black shard formed above her palm, catching even the astonishment of Patriot, "father." It was a strange occurrence, something she had only developed ever since her condition had somehow improved.
"...Speak, my daughter."
"You always told me practice makes perfect. I can practice now, right?" She turned toward him with a determined gaze, "after all—I've never felt better."
"If that is your wish..." Patriot nodded his head, the message already ringing clear to him. "Then I believe... I can oblige. However, I hope... you know what... you are delving into."
"I do." She really did.
Her goals became more apparent.
She needed to find him, and most likely—the only way was tobrute forceit.
OOO*
Mostima stood at the center of one of Lungmen's most economically prosperous districts, a center of flourishing life which showed itself off in blistering neon lights and rumbling footsteps of constant activity. It was strange to know that it had once been a crater hole with what had happened, and she had seen the footage.
'Huh, maybe that's why he's hiding his wheel more.'The Fallen Sankta wondered how many people out there had made the connection that the black-haired man's "Dharmachakra" as he had called it, was related to the pale beast which had thrown skyscrapers across Lungen before.'What a surprise—he's been in more messy situations than I thought.'It still didn't explain much about him or the Lungmen anyways.
It was from digital footage, so she couldn't detect anything from the towering monstrosity which had been recorded by drones. Civilians were evacuated in large masses during the time, and any footage which hadsomehowbeen uploaded from a phone was promptly erased and cracked down on. Which were none—because nobody was able to get close enough to the monster for recorded footage aside from the L.G.D.
She was... let's just say,luckyto be able to see a few seconds of it while the footage was still active on the L.G.D. side. Maybe that was why her staves had gone ballistic when she was still arriving back to Lungmen during that day, and she had missed the entire event.
'Did he snatch that wheel off its head after killing it? Or is it something more complex than that?'The Fallen Sankta was seldom curious to learn more. "ah—hm?" she mumbled out a sound after her staves started to communicate with her. Mostima glanced around, and nobody was shooting her weird looks or were even paying attention to her, so she placed her hand on the objects hanging by her hip and waist in order to see what had gotten it so riled up.
It was showing her a path, as if it was drawn to something. Acknowledging its interest—which was rather hard to pique—she followed just where exactly it was pushing her to go. A few steps and turns across the street while not bumping against the solid masses of people were taken, before she started to feel the strange thing herself. It must have been related to the strange mythology-like phenomenon that had happened in Lungmen, and would surely tie into the Dharmachakra.
She soon came to a grinding halt as she observed what had caught her stave's attention, and by extension her own. It was past the middle of the road which had multiple intersections, along with a grand line of towering buildings each with stores and malls in them. At the center of what should have been ground zero for the absolute incineration of this district, along with a small memorial as she passed through...
Mostima came to a mall. The largest mall in Lungmen from what she could see, and continued to move past people in a visible trance, just as her staves had begun to hum louder in her mind. At that pivotal moment, she finally knew what had caused her staves to react in such a way—becauseboywas itout of this world.
An absurdity given form.
She looked at it, further and deeper. It was an anomaly, a strange occurrence which should have never appeared in the world. Her staves were practically vibrating aninterestedhum at what it was seeing, the gash in existence itself which had continued to pulsate an invisible energy. The Fallen Sankta had come to the conclusion that she and the staves were the only ones who could see and detect it.
The starless void of a space which she felt her spine shivering from, formless for none to see.
A slash which bisected the world.
"Interesting, isn't it?"
Mostima blinked a few times and turned around to see who had just spoken those words. "Pardon?" She came to a halt as a woman with white hair and red tinges holding a fan, possessing soft but scaly ruby colored arms, and holding the racial features of a Lung. "Oh—I get it now." A somewhat humorous huff left her lips as the Fallen Sankta understood a hint of what the person in front of her was.
"Oh, enough about me." The presumed "Lung" waved her fan in the air dismissively. "We're both here for that strange little thing, aren't we?" She grinned while pointing the item she was holding toward the anomaly both had detected.
"Can't deny that," Mostima said while shrugging, "what's your name?" Two interesting events in one day, she was on a streak wasn't she?
The other woman smiled while the fan flapped open. "Nian."
OOO*
A/N: I will most likely shift more perspectives this arc. Expect more POVs on Reunion or Rhodes Island or Lungmen.