*Sigh* you already held the overwhelming action econ advantage. Now you want to make it worse?!?
...Go ahead, it would be funny. Besides, at least if your enemies kill all six angels, the advantage vanishes until you've recovered enough to resummon them.
Note: That's not me saying just vote for that thing. If anyone wants anything more balanced, I support that too.
[X] Slow Starter (Your ability takes time to fully manifest. Every 2 rounds after releasing it, your ability gains 1 Shikai Ability (Maximum 5, They are chosen by you when you take this, and can be changed once per level). The Shikai Picks re-seal themselves after combat is over.)
-[X] Army of Angels (With every 2 turns that pass, you can summon another angel to aid you, up to a max of 6 (your base angel plus five))
I like it, and it kind of fits with Kalina's fighting style as a strategist/commander style of combatant as well.
I do want to take Mystic regen in future though, since having access to any sort of robust reiatsu regeneration is ridiculous, especially for a spellcaster for whom running out of juice is essentially life or death on the battlefield.
[X] Slow Starter (Your ability takes time to fully manifest. Every 2 rounds after releasing it, your ability gains 1 Shikai Ability (Maximum 5, They are chosen by you when you take this, and can be changed once per level). The Shikai Picks re-seal themselves after combat is over.)
-[X] Army of Angels (With every 2 turns that pass, you can summon another angel to aid you, up to a max of 6 (your base angel plus five))
As you continued to recover on Sunday you realised what it was that you had obtained. The ability to summon multiple doubles during a battle. In a way it fixed one of the problems you'd encountered in your battle with Hesiodio, that being his defeat of the single double that you could call on.
Even you realised though that it was in some ways "Unfair" or… no. That was the wrong word, this wasn't a contest that could be cheated in. Even so, the idea of unleashing your squad of doubles against any normal enemy felt… dirty.
There was an old folk tale of the Gaians called the Red Jeweled Spear.
Once there was a knight who was unsatisfied with his own spear. It was a simple and undecorated thing but made of strong metal. A simple shaft and a simple tip.
As he was adventuring about, he came across a truly beautiful weapon abandoned in a tunnel. A spear of pure Adamant decorated with red jewels all over its head and shaft.
Some may scoff and say the decorations wouldn't be helpful but the spear was magical. It held a number of incredible powers that the knight used to achieve fame and power. However, the spear was a trap. It had been possessed by a Hollow before he discovered it.
The hollow turned on the knight and the knight, left with nothing but his own spear, was weaker than he had been before finding the Red Jeweled Spear. In the time he had been using it, his own spear skills had waned.
The message of the story was typically presented as "Don't become too prideful in something you don't properly own." But in this case you were thinking about it slightly differently.
Relying on something this strong, against enemies that wouldn't be able to beat you even if you weren't using it, feels like it would cause you to get lazy with your other talents.
There was another version of the Red Jeweled Spear story, as there always were with old folktales, this involved the knight taking it with him to a duel and his opponent learning of a secret weakness in the spear.
It forces the knight into a perilous position. He was now too weak to win without the spear but that using the spear would spell his defeat.
"Draw your red spear" was a bit of a joking phrase to some people, effectively meaning something like "Do it and you'll fail."
There were a couple of similar tales, dating back a long time. A cursed blue spear that made its user lash out against the things they cared about, A golden and black spear that rotted the user's soul while they still lived. That sort of thing.
All of them had the same basic moral "When laying claim to something that isn't yours, beware that thing slipping from your control."
Beyond even that, there were many folktales about pride and it getting the better of people. Made up people trying to conquer imaginary lands and getting cast down for it.
…Hmm. You were spending a lot of time thinking about folktales.
What you should be doing now the last week you were planning on staying here? Once this week was over, you'd be heading back to the academy for your last year before your not-quite exile.
[ ] Talk with your someone (Who and about what?)
[ ] Wander your home village (Looking for what?)
[ ] Other (Completely free write in)
-[ ] Spar with the guards while wearing a lot of training weights to try and make it more fair (You also wouldn't summon your angels, obviously)
And the final week of the break begins. All those fairy tales are new clues. I wonder if any of you could figure out the Gaian history now?
The mural contains the story, it is not read left to right, top to bottom but it also isn't red right to left, bottom to top. There is a specific reading order and some of the segments happen simultaneously. Combine it with what the storyteller spoke of and with the themes of these fairy tales and I wonder if any of you could figure it out? Don't feel bad if you can't most of it will be explained next arc anyway.
I would have to go look over the mural again, but I get a pretty solid "pride cometh before the fall" message from those stories. Which wouldn't surprise me at all given the ongoing societal conflict between the inner and outer gaians.
[X] Wandering and chit chat
-[X] Wander your home village talking to new people
-[X] Wander your home village taking in the scenery before you have to go
-[X] Talk with your parents about your not quite exile, and your plans to travel and see the rest of the world.
As nice as it was to get back in touch with our roots, it seems it is time to head back. Twas lovely though.
I'm definitely going to need to go back to that conversation we had when the mural was first revealed. Anyway, this was a nice relaxing bit, but now it's time to get back into the swing of things.
You began the last week by relaxing and just going on a walk around your home village.
You spoke to the people you recognised and those you didn't, though the latter was much rarer considering this was a small village where little changed year to year. The people that live here are the same people that lived here while you were growing up and they'd likely be largely the same people that would live here in one hundred or two hundred years.
You stopped by the inn to meet with the travelling merchants, they were still following the same routes they'd followed for hundreds of years, generally speaking. Only those merchants who traded with the upper towns and villages had new stories. Stories of some passages getting sealed off around the world to stop humans finding their way into the Gaian empire.
Even so, the passages were open to smugglers and the merchants happily talked about new inventions the humans had worked on. For only the most wealthy, smugglers were able to get this tool called a "Game Boy."
The reason only the wealthy could afford them were they needed a lot of batteries smuggled in to make use of it. It was a gaming system that allowed the holder to play a number of games.
Computers were such an interesting thing, if nothing else they showed how far Gaians were slipping behind despite their access to more resources.
You'd heard there were engineers in the capital trying to work out how to make a computer out of the parts they had but a lack of supply chains made that tricky in part.
Computers had first become public knowledge of the Gaians after the black out soon after the war between the Eastern and Western Heavens began. Only after it was over did the Gaians learn that humans had invented the computer at some point during all of the mess.
Anyway, You spent your next day looking at the places around your village. It probably… hopefully… wouldn't be the last time you came here but even so, you wanted to burn it into your memory.
How the houses were, how the shops were, the shape the roof of the cavern took, the few trees that were growing around the village which showed the age of this village better than the citizens did.
This small village was older than many capital cities were. It was older than most of the settlements in the new world. This ancient place that you called home…
Was it any wonder that Gaians disliked irregularity? The life they live today is the same life they have lived for so long and it's the life they believe they will live for eternity.
For your part… well. You didn't want to rock the boat that much. You wanted stability too, not stasis, but the ability for life to go on as it has been going.
Your life though would not be that stable in the future, as you moved from place to place and worked to help the stability of others you'd be denied that own stability yourself.
And… Well…
Some part of you was saying to embrace it. To break out of the stability and embrace freedom. On the other hand, to wish for personal freedom at the expense of others wouldn't be just.
Maybe it was just a coping mechanism? A part of you saying that freedom was better now that it had become your only choice. Something like "If you're forced to be in exile, you might as well think that it was your primary goal all along."
The next day, you took these thoughts to your parents. You told your mother and father about your not-quite exile.
Your father was angry for you "How dare they." He muttered "You could be their hero, a captain of the royal guard, a symbol for them at least. But because you won't join the family they're throwing you to the edges?"
Your mother calmed him "It's okay, at least our daughter won't be ripped apart by the nobles. She was completely unprepared for that sort of a world."
…Maybe so, but it would mean you'd never see some of your friends again once the year was over.
"I'm going to see the world." You told them "Not just the empire, but once I get my disguise working, I'm going to travel the human world too."
Your father nodded but looked worried "Out there, there are dangers we don't experience in here. Not just on the supernatural side either, human weapons that are frighteningly dangerous, even to Terra Knights."
There had once been a story, not a folk story but an actual rumour, that a Terra Knight had been slaying hollows on the surface. The country was called "Curria" or something like that. It was split into north and south sides and when the knight had been in the middle, soldiers had shot at them without reason.
A hail of bullets hit them, hurting them badly enough that they had to retreat from those otherwise ordinary humans.
Oh, they survived sustained fire, but it still hurt and needed healing after all was said and done.
Beyond that there were other threats. Quicnys, hostile Agents, more powerful hollows than those found in the empire and more.
Even so, you'd take it in stride. You'd look at it as an adventure.
Now then, there was only a few short days left before you'd be going back to the Academy to start your final year. Was there anything more you wanted to do at home?
[ ] Talk with your someone (Who and about what?)
[ ] Wander your home village (Looking for what?)
[ ] Try to piece together history (You need to include your theories, basically this is to just get some extra information on the points your theory touches on, pointing out things you've got wrong and things like that)
[ ] Other (Completely free write in)
-[ ] Spar with the guards while wearing a lot of training weights to try and make it more fair (You also wouldn't summon your angels, obviously)
Almost at the end of this break. After this, well…
The Gaians actually have two secret backstories as a race, 90% of the clues you've gathered so far are related to the chronologically first one, the chronologically second one… well. That one is getting saved for a rainy day. All I'll say is that it happened within the last two hundred years, and it's kept top secret from the common folks.
Almost at the end of this break. After this, well…
The Gaians actually have two secret backstories as a race, 90% of the clues you've gathered so far are related to the chronologically first one, the chronologically second one… well. That one is getting saved for a rainy day. All I'll say is that it happened within the last two hundred years, and it's kept top secret from the common folks.
Secret history we likely would have been made more aware of if we joined the noble families... but I do like the story and secrets behind the gaian people. It is fun!
[X] Try to piece together history (You need to include your theories, basically this is to just get some extra information on the points your theory touches on, pointing out things you've got wrong and things like that)
-[X] Is it possible that the gold figures were a different kind of being? And that the mural posits a collective history as opposed to a history of your people specifically.
-[X] While it is tempting to suggest the beings in gold were your people in the past. The diversity of the mortals? They interacted with suggests that whoever they were they interacted with many disparate peoples.
-[X] Have you heard anything about a silver city? And people who carry silver swords...
-[X] Perhaps the two beings at the top of the mural were gods of some kind, or simply historically significant Kami... or kami with surpassing power. It would not be a surprise to see a golden statue of the emperor, even if it would be a bit tacky.
Secret history we likely would have been made more aware of if we joined the noble families... but I do like the story and secrets behind the gaian people. It is fun!
Kalina's parents are understandably pissed at her exile. Also it's a pretty big and dangerous world she'll interact with a lot of interesting people.
[X] Try to piece together history (You need to include your theories, basically this is to just get some extra information on the points your theory touches on, pointing out things you've got wrong and things like that)
-[X] Is it possible that the gold figures were a different kind of being? And that the mural posits a collective history as opposed to a history of your people specifically.
-[X] While it is tempting to suggest the beings in gold were your people in the past. The diversity of the mortals? They interacted with suggests that whoever they were they interacted with many disparate peoples.
-[X] Perhaps there are a group of animalistic people who have a spiritual duty to protect the world.
-[X] Perhaps rather than the shadowy figures that attacked a while ago this represents the shinigami? And some past conflict with them.
-[X] Have you heard anything about a silver city? And people who carry silver swords...
-[X] Perhaps the two beings at the top of the mural were gods of some kind, or simply historically significant Kami... or kami with surpassing power. It would not be a surprise to see a golden statue of the emperor, even if it would be a bit tacky.
[X] Try to piece together history (You need to include your theories, basically this is to just get some extra information on the points your theory touches on, pointing out things you've got wrong and things like that)
-[X] Is it possible that the gold figures were a different kind of being? And that the mural posits a collective history as opposed to a history of your people specifically.
-[X] While it is tempting to suggest the beings in gold were your people in the past. The diversity of the mortals? They interacted with suggests that whoever they were they interacted with many disparate peoples.
-[X] Perhaps there are a group of animalistic people who have a spiritual duty to protect the world.
-[X] Perhaps rather than the shadowy figures that attacked a while ago this represents the shinigami? And some past conflict with them.
-[X] Have you heard anything about a silver city? And people who carry silver swords...
-[X] Perhaps the two beings at the top of the mural were gods of some kind, or simply historically significant Kami... or kami with surpassing power. It would not be a surprise to see a golden statue of the emperor, even if it would be a bit tacky.
I like this one. If we posit that this represents a collective history, then the two golden figures may represent YHWH (pronounced Yahweh), that is God, and Amaterasu, which would account for two of the most important and powerful beings in the western and eastern regions (assuming that we're not including the Indian, Indigenous American, Norse, Greek, etc. pantheons in our theory crafting).
The last few days were all spent working your way through the clues you'd found over the last few years.
Golden figures are looking to the top right and reaching out to it. Red gemstones decorate the ground around them.
A golden figure with the sun behind it raises its hand, figures both in gold and carved from the rock are praying to it.
A rock falls from the sky, golden light trailing behind it. Below it is a golden figure pointing up at a field of stars.
A golden figure with the moon behind it raises its hand, figures both in gold and carved from the rock are praying to it.
Golden figures are looking to the top left and reaching out to it. Red gemstones decorate the ground around them.
Figures carved from the rock fill this area. There is not a single gold figure here.
Figures carved in stone with the features of animals fight with dark figures. One of the dark figures has claw marks in it.
A group of figures in golden robes are in a circle holding hands.
Golden figures clash with dark figures, there is a dark figure with a spear in it that appears to be releasing a butterfly.
Golden figures stand over a silver city full of figures carved from stone. Some of the stone figures carry silver swords
Three golden figures pointing at one figure. Around all four of them are red gemstones and dead black figures.
Figures carved from the wall can be seen practising martial arts, a golden figure watching over them.
Golden figures can be seen talking to other figures that are carved in the stone and without gold
Dark figures burst out of figures carved in the stone. The golden figures look to be fighting them.
A golden figure standing over a brass city, figures made of the same brass-like metal stand around it.
A golden figure, shot through with black veins, is killed by a golden bird.
Golden figures are fighting the dark figures and black tendrils using magical blasts
A gold figure is standing alone in a desert, black figures around him. Black tendrils reach up from below
Golden figures are fighting the dark figures and black tendrils using martial arts
All you can see in this area is cracked stone, was there something here before?
Golden figures are hunched over in the corner, above them is a craggy roof. One of them holds a spear.
A golden figure is struck down by another gold figure, the attacker is full of veins of black.
Black tendrils wrap up from below, reaching to the panels above.
Black figures march to the right, clashing with figures carved from the rock who wield silver swords.
Golden figures point down at the ground as black figures fall into a pit.
Let's start with the Mural. Specifically the golden figures that appear all over it.
Previously you'd believed that these should be Gaians, but what if they were a different type of being and this was a collective history of different races.
Okay, evidence for and evidence against. Well… there were apparently lots of different groups here.but nothing that marked one of those other groups as Gaians. In fact there was evidence that those in gold were the Gaians, they were the only figures that could be seen using spears
(Second from the right, second row and bottom left tile.)
There were however clear suggestions of them interacting with many groups of people, none of them used a spear though so they weren't likely to be the early Gaians. No, the guess of the Gaians being the ones in gold were fairly clear.
Or rather… Kami? Maybe? Well, Gaian and Kami were basically the same thing right? You'd just write down Kami in your notes.
A group of Kami are looking to the top right and reaching out to it. Red gemstones decorate the ground around them.
A Kami with the sun behind it raises its hand, figures of Kami and some carved from the rock are praying to it.
A rock falls from the sky, golden light trailing behind it. Below it is a Kami pointing up at a field of stars.
A Kami with the moon behind it raises its hand, figures of Kami and some carved from the rock are praying to it.
A group of Kami are looking to the top left and reaching out to it. Red gemstones decorate the ground around them.
Figures carved from the rock fill this area. There is not a single Kami here.
Figures carved in stone with the features of animals fight with dark figures. One of the dark figures has claw marks in it.
A group of figures in golden robes are in a circle holding hands. They might be Kami or stone figures, you can't tell because of the robes
A group of Kami clash with dark figures, there is a dark figure with a spear in it that appears to be releasing a butterfly.
A group of Kami stand over a silver city full of figures carved from stone. Some of the stone figures carry silver swords
Three Kami figures pointing at one figure. Around all four of them are red gemstones and dead black figures.
Figures carved from the wall can be seen practising martial arts, a Kami watching over them.
Kami can be seen talking to other figures that are carved in the stone and without gold
Dark figures burst out of figures carved in the stone. The Kami look to be fighting the dark figures.
A single Kami standing over a brass city, figures made of the same brass-like metal stand around it.
A Kami, shot through with black veins, is killed by a golden bird.
A group of Kami are fighting the dark figures and black tendrils using magical blasts
A Kami is standing alone in a desert, black figures around him. Black tendrils reach up from below
A group of Kami are fighting the dark figures and black tendrils using martial arts
All you can see in this area is cracked stone, was there something here before?
A group of Kami are hunched over in the corner, above them is a craggy roof. One of them holds a spear.
A Kami is struck down by another Kami, the attacker is full of veins of black.
Black tendrils wrap up from below, reaching to the panels above.
Black figures march to the right, clashing with figures carved from the rock who wield silver swords.
A group of Kami point down at the ground as black figures fall into a pit.
That said… the golden figures are fighting in many different ways. Not just spears but martial arts and magical blasts. If they were different races though, why would they all be shown the same when they are clearly interacting with more distinct races?
Speaking of the other races… Second row, second from the left. An Animalistic Non-Kami is fighting the same black creatures that the Kami fight. So an alliance with some kind of animalistic group that also works to protect the world? Yeah… that sounds right. You weren't sure if you've heard of a group like that though.
There was one small thought you had that might cause a problem with the Gold figures being Kami. It was the same second row, second from the right image you'd noted earlier that you used as proof these were Gaians, due to them having a spear. You second guessed for a moment as it appeared to be releasing a hell butterfly… but Gaian spears could release hell butterflies too. That wasn't something unique to Shinigami.
Okay, then next. Second Row, furthest to the right. A silver city filled with stone figures with silver swords. What was the metaphor there? The Silver swords show up again, bottom row, second from the right. They're fighting with the black figures.
You took a moment to note down all the races that seemed to show up on this.
Gold Figures (Or Kami), Normal Stone Figures, Animal-like Stone Figures, The Robed figures (Maybe? Assuming they aren't part of another group.), Dark Figures (Hollows?), Stone figures with Silver Swords, Brass Figures, Gold figures with Black veins (They may actually be something other than Kami, you weren't quite sure, you did mark them as Kami on V2 though).
So… who used Silver Swords…? Who used silver in general? Shinigami used silver coinage but that was less dramatic than the Quincys who seemed to use a massive amount of silver.
Did they have a silver city in the past or… No. No it couldn't be the Qunicy. They disrupted the cycle of souls. Plus, it's strange that none of the silver-carrying figures in the entire mural used a bow if they were meant to be Quincys.
So… just Shinigami coinage?
Okay, no, work it out the other way: a Stone figure with a silver sword. Stone means… "Mundane" maybe? If it meant "human" then it was a Human with a silver sword… whatever that was meant to represent.
Your memory slipped back to the Quincy again but… no. No it wasn't them. You didn't even know if they were fully human. They had a thing to do with blood didn't they? Surely they'd be something like… a stone figure shot through with silver? Yes. Since there's nothing like that, it's not the Quincy.
Maybe it wasn't literally silver? Silver was sometimes used to note something like "Lesser gold." So maybe humans equipped with weapons the Kami made for them? Yes, that was much easier to stomach.
Lastly, the two figures at the top of the mural. Top row, second and fourth from the left. Golden figures (Kami?) with the sun or moon behind them and they're being prayed to by figures carved from stone (Humans?) and other golden figures.
You'd heard that in Japanese, Kami is another word for God. Maybe the Kami of old were worshipped by humans? Who were they though? Who were these Kami who were lost to history? Some great figures maybe? Gaians loved making gold statues of the greats in climates that they wouldn't melt in.Things like the emperor or his high court.
Kami worshipping Kami though? No, it would just be a show of reverence.
…Hmm. Well. You'd done what you could. You still didn't know how all these pieces connected together but you tried to put together an updated version of the mural again.
A group of Kami are looking to the top right and reaching out to it. Red gemstones decorate the ground around them.
A Kami with the sun behind it raises its hand, figures of Kami and humans are praying to it.
A rock falls from the sky, golden light trailing behind it. Below it is a Kami pointing up at a field of stars.
A Kami with the moon behind it raises its hand, figures of Kami and humans are praying to it.
A group of Kami are looking to the top left and reaching out to it. Red gemstones decorate the ground around them.
Humans fill this area. There is not a single Kami here.
Humans(?) with the features of animals fight with dark figures. One of the dark figures has claw marks in it.
A group of figures in golden robes are in a circle holding hands. They might be Kami or stone figures, you can't tell because of the robes
A group of Kami clash with dark figures, there is a dark figure with a spear in it that appears to be releasing a butterfly.
A group of Kami stand over a silver city full of figures of Humans(?) carved from stone. Some of the stone figures carry silver swords
Three Kami figures pointing at one figure. Around all four of them are red gemstones and dead black figures.
Humans(?) can be seen practising martial arts, a Kami watching over them.
Kami can be seen talking to other Humans
Dark figures burst out of Humans. The Kami look to be fighting the dark figures.
A single Kami standing over a brass city, figures made of the same brass-like metal stand around it.
A Kami, shot through with black veins, is killed by a golden bird.
A group of Kami are fighting the dark figures and black tendrils using magical blasts
A Kami is standing alone in a desert, black figures around him. Black tendrils reach up from below
A group of Kami are fighting the dark figures and black tendrils using martial arts
All you can see in this area is cracked stone, was there something here before?
A group of Kami are hunched over in the corner, above them is a craggy roof. One of them holds a spear.
A Kami is struck down by another Kami, the attacker is full of veins of black.
Black tendrils wrap up from below, reaching to the panels above.
Black figures march to the right, clashing with Humans(?) who wield silver swords.
A group of Kami point down at the ground as black figures fall into a pit.
Kami, Humans(?) and… the black might be Hollows but that doesn't explain some other things. Maybe it would make more sense for them to be Abyssals?
Well, you could figure that out later.
Your thoughts had taken up the rest of the time you had at home. You said goodbye to your parents… hopefully not for the last time. After that you met up with Hesiodio and began making your way back to the capital city.
Hesiodio was quiet on the way home. Maybe he too was thinking about the momentous fact that this was your last year of learning.
This was the year that would make you all into Terra Knights.
Getting to the Academy, there was still a short time until classes started up for the year. Over those days your fellow students showed up. You found time to sit on a balcony that overlooked the entrance hall. From there you watched students entering the Academy. Not just your own class or even your own year. Even fresh new faces were coming in.
You remembered when you were there, a newcomer to all of this.
When the Nobles began showing up over the next few days, they smiled at you (At least those you were friends with did) but they didn't speak to you. When you managed to get Helenria alone, she explained what they'd been told.
They were meant to try and shun you this year. Something to do with saving face when you were sent to the outer reaches of the empire instead of grabbed up into noble circles.
Even so, she passed on a message from the prince and princess. They still wished you well (Even if they had been doing the best job of shunning so far by being almost impossible to find) and wished you luck during this last school year.
Well then, let's see what you could get up to. The field trip wasn't scheduled until a few months into this year.
…Not that you were to know at the time that something would come up before that time came.
How did you want to spend your first few days of lessons?
[ ] {Talk} Write in (With who and about what?)
[ ] {Spar} Write in (Who do you want to ask for a spar?)
[ ] {Extracurricular} Write in (After regular lessons have finished, what sort of things do you study)
None of you made any real guesses as to the story that connected the 24 intact plates. You just seemed to be searching for clarifications. So I'll just note now: Gold = Divine, Gold Figures = Kami, Stone figures with Silver swords ≠ Quincys. Those figures are something else.
Also yes, obvious foreshadowing in those last few lines. You'll have to jump into an action after only two weeks, not a few months.
I could have written this yesterday but I was a bit distracted playing SMT5V.
...If/When this quest goes on hiatus (Due to the Sister quest needing to catch up with this one if they can't get enough votes and so keeps going slowly), I'm now thinking about running a mini-campaign set in this AU's version of Hell (I mean the Hell for the West spiritual world, their version of hueco mundo)
You second guessed for a moment as it appeared to be releasing a hell butterfly… but Gaian spears could release hell butterflies too. That wasn't something unique to Shinigami.
I assume it depicts the kami empowering other races and doing battle with those shadowy beings in some kind of war.
[X] Friends and enemies
-[X] {Spar} Adamus
-[X] {Talk} Wish her and your noble friends well. Tell them it is unfotunate. But you understand their position.
-[X] {Extracurricular} Learn more about the shadowy figures that attacked the city and possessed people
Friends and enemies
- {Spar} Adamus legs goooo
- {Talk} Wish her and your noble friends well. Tell them it is unfotunate. But you understand their position.
[X] Friends and enemies
-[X] {Spar} Adamus
-[X] {Talk} Wish her and your noble friends well. Tell them it is unfotunate. But you understand their position.
-[X] {Extracurricular} Learn more about the shadowy figures that attacked the city and possessed people
And so your last year began in earnest. The teachers were trying to bring each of you to the level of True Terra Knights, a difficult task indeed.
Let's do some definitions. A Terra Knight was a Gaian who had been knighted. Each of you would do this at the end of your education assuming you passed the final test. Those that didn't could choose to become members of the Igneous Order while they finished the last of their studies.
The Igneous Order were "Common Guards" of the most important things. For the things too out of the way to have a knight protecting them exclusively but also too important to be left in the hands of common militia members.
You could actually become members of the order without going through the academy, but you'd wanted the higher position of Terra Knight.
Now, being knighted doesn't make you a True Terra Knight, that requires one last step of power. A power that your teachers were using this year to try and draw out from those qualified. This was quite possibly the single strongest class that had in centuries so they wanted you to shine.
Most Knighted take the next few years of their life mastering the true power, and your teachers wanted you to reach it in one. A challenging task but one that you were willing to attempt.
And so… you wanted to push yourself. Adamus had called foul in the last match- claiming that it was an environment where he wasn't at his best. So now you'd settle this properly. Finally you'd deal with this matter once and for all.
You had the teachers come and watch it, your class gathered too.
Standing on a stone circle, you both drew your spears.
His body changed and morphed,becoming a dragon. As his claws stamped on the ground, the area of the ring around him morphed from stone into bone. A skeletal set of tiles replacing… you think it was granite?
Regardless, you sprung into action too, summoning your orbs and sending them after him.
Oof. That was quite a hit that you failed to stop. It made you stagger slightly as you stepped back. You needed to reinforce your defences if he's going to keep at you.
"Spectral Armour come, A battlefield awaits me, guard me with your all! Bakudo number zero-six: Kaisatsuguchi"
Pouring a ton of reiatsu in, you fortified your armour as Adamus kept advancing.
Adamus' full attack
Spear strike: 16+23+9 (Reiatsu)
Your defence: 20+28+10 (Reiatsu)
Claw Strike: 7+11
Your defence: 16+28
Bite: 6+11
Your defence: 5+28
He was slowly sapping away at your reiatsu with each clash and you worried that he now had far more than you. In this battle of attrition, he would certainly win.
You'd have to rely on your new distractions to win. Your Doppels.
Stepping back you quickly summoned two of them (You can summon a third but you didn't have time in that instant).
The light burst out of you and took armoured form instantly to strike at Adamus.
First Doppel full attacks:
First: 19+17
Defence: 1+24
Damage: 3d6+3, 6
Second: 15+12
Defence: 4+24
Third: 8+7
Defence: 12+24
Each wasn't going all out as their primary job was as a distraction for now.
Adamus snorted and muttered something under his breath when suddenly something shifted about his armour. Under the plates of bone, his scales glowed red hot and you saw magma bubbling up under the plates. A further increase to his defence, but this seemed to be the sort of thing made to absorb damage instead of deflecting it.
After that he just took his spear and- with a two-handed strike, plunged it into one of your doubles.
Now that was a good way to waste his reiatsu. Your doubles could safely use way more of their supply. Each one was basically another full set of your reiatsu after all.
You summoned another double and sent your orbs at him at the same time.
First Double attack:
First: 12+17
Defence: 1+24
Damage: 3d6+3, 0 (If this was an in-person game, you would have seen I didn't even bother to roll)
Second: 10+12
Defence: 10+24
Third: 6+7
Defence: 19+24
As the first of your doubles managed to get a hit in, the magma burst out of the cracks in his armour, burning the double a bit. You also noticed that the double's clean hit had failed to do any damage at all.
He didn't fear getting attacked by the doubles anymore. They couldn't do anything to him unless they used reiatsu, and if they did use reiatsu they'd be left open to him next turn.
That said, it looked like Adamus was starting to slow. You deployed another double and redirected your orbs against him, but you gave your doubles specific orders to not perform all-out attacks. Just to box him in.
Your victory here would come from your orbs, not your doubles. Even if you could now summon an army of them.
Adamus stepped away to use his second wind but you clearly had an advantage now.
And it was because that clear advantage that Adamus called out.
"Still not fighting me face to face, you send all of these stupid things in to fight for you because you're still not able to fight me face to face. Your own spear broke and you'll never be able to get past it."
Anger rose in you but you pushed it down.
"This is how I fight." You denied him "How a Terra Knight fights is up to them. If this is the ability I've been given I am fully within my right to use it, just as you're using that draconic form and that armour of bone."
You raised a hand, considering the use of a spell but… no. He was trying to distract you from your orbs. Besides you only knew one real spell that would be useful right now and he'd just use reiatsu to dodge the rope when you shot it.
This was a case when tiring him out wasn't strictly necessary. You moved your orbs and had your doubles surround him again. Even summoning up a fourth one to finally surround him on all four sides.
He was silent now as he fought. No more yelling, no more insults. Well, it still seems your way of fighting was an insult to him but he was no longer yelling about it.
There was a moment where he looked to be calculating something in his mind and then-
He stamped on the ground.
"I forfeit. There is no move I can make which leads to my victory."
The match was called and your forces vanished into the air.
"What did you say?" Your voice was filled with surprise.
Adamus sighed as he shifted back to his normal form.
"You are too effective at dulling my attacks. I could have gone on, maybe landed one or two good hits on you, but then I would have been exhausted and left open and you would still be relatively fine. Then your doubles and orbs would have been able to finish me off."
Wait… he said something there, a you he didn't credit to your summons. Seeing the surprise on your face, he grudgingly repeated it.
"Yes, I respect your ability to hold out. For now at least. Once we're full Knights, I'll figure out a way to break through your armour. Then we'll have another fight."
He stepped away.
"Until then, I'll accept that you can beat me without any further comment."
…Holy shit. You really had gotten him to accept it.
He was quiet after that, still chatting with his own friends.
You spent the next day trying to find time to speak to each of your noble friends. You just wanted them to know that despite the unfortunate state of affairs, you understood.
You got a lot of grateful responses to that.
In the short time that you got with Mariannerie, she even made a specific comment.
"Regardless of if we ever see each other ever again once this year is over, I'm grateful for the friendship we've shared. One day, maybe, we'll be able to get you back. I don't know how due to the nature of the situation but we'll find a way."
You hoped so.
The day after that you took some more time to look up the Abyssals. You'd looked into them almost exactly a year ago before the exchange trip so it was more that you were just covering old ground.
First was their source. Abyssals were probably from the Dangai, at least most records of possessions occur to those passing through.
Hmm. You wondered if Shinigami ever needed to deal with them?
Regardless, you looked for more information. Stories about things they did.
There weren't many records of them in the history books. Or rather few references that were confirmed to be them.
The only one that was known for sure was called the "Serial Killing Disease."
At first it just seemed like a normal serial killer, the town guards eventually tracked them down and captured them. Then the culprit killed themselves in captivity with a strange black blade.
Confusion had followed as a few days later the serial killings started up again. The soul of the killer had never been found so they suspected they'd returned as a hollow to continue their work. Only in the end it turned out to be one of the guards. They were caught, killed themselves and then another guard took over the killing.
Things had escalated from there. Terra Knights had been sent to deal with the problem but then some of them got possessed. Eventually one of the commanders of the Terra Knights had been forced to deploy.
He was one of the rare folks with a holy innate ability, only his didn't work the same as yours or the prince's. Apparently it was something closer to a strange Quincy-like mutation.
At the direct order of the Emperor, the Knight Commander unleashed his true power and he'd tracked down the spiritual form of the Abyssal as it was between hosts and he'd destroyed its soul entirely, denying it the chance to come back again.
Said knight commander had then been put through many tests to ensure he hadn't been possessed but he came out clean. He'd retired at some point though, about four hundred years ago or so?
Interesting at least.
Regardless, the rest of the week awaited you, what did you want to do?
[ ] {Talk} Write in (With who and about what?)
[ ] {Spar} Write in (Who do you want to ask for a spar? Adamus will refuse.)
[ ] {Extracurricular} Write in (After regular lessons have finished, what sort of things do you study)
Well, that happened. Adamus' read of the situation was basically how I read the next few turns going. I didn't want to waste that time so I pondered if Adamus was the type to relent and all said and done? Sure, at this point.
It should be noted that I think He could beat just about anyone else in the class though. You're just OP.
"Regardless of if we ever see each other ever again once this year is over, I'm grateful for the friendship we've shared. One day, maybe, we'll be able to get you back. I don't know how due to the nature of the situation but we'll find a way."
Technically it should only be 2, but I'll accept three options
(Most options are meant to take up a day and you've got 5 day school weeks but I'll let you squeeze two choices into one day because it makes it simpler.)
So yes, please vote for a plan with three actions.
[X] Take a look, It's in a book (unless it's classified)
-[X] {Extracurricular} Look up what you can about the Terra Knight who fought those shadowy figures. Maybe you can meet and ask them in the future. And as a fellow wielder of the holy element...
-[X] {Extracurricular} Take some time off to explore the city, go have lunch, maybe look into getting some human currency for later.
-[X] {Extracurricular} Look into objects of artifice, persistent magic items perhaps? If any exist that you might be able to requisition as a Knight
Lets see if we can look up that captain later... and take some time off. We did just beat our rival!
Well, I think that went rather well. Once Kalina started leaning into an actual fighting style that complements her power instead of trying to match him face to face, it managed to drag an acceptance out of him.
[X] Take a look, It's in a book (unless it's classified)
