Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
after her playfully.
first wound down from
hard, taut muscles and bones
Its claws can easily
glue yourself to your
tolerate her
my feet
Noblesse Oblige [Znt/SI]
BlackoutSampler
So Easily Forgotten
I feel Karin must be receiving some flashbacks through Henry's attitude. If not of her own actions as a rebellious youth, then of the Young Princess Marianne who was, IIRC, all about that freedom as well. Maybe she is channeling a bit of that "don't be stupid like I was" parental insecurity.
Funnily enough, Henry is actually turning out to be a lot like his current parents. Despite the previous lifetime of experience. Phillip shares a lot of Henry's demeanor, being rather chill until someone precious of his is being threatened. But Henry also shares Karin's stubbornness. And while his internal monologue seems to be treating his training as a means to an end, he still has the same determination as Young!Karin. And when his patience snaps he can be as hotheaded as any of the de la Vallerie, (while the speech about what the arranged marriage was presented as a cool shutdown of his parents sugar coating of the marriage, we only get to see this as presented through Henry's eyes. I bet his volume was raising to the point of shouting by the end and he never realized it.)
Funnily enough, Henry is actually turning out to be a lot like his current parents. Despite the previous lifetime of experience. Phillip shares a lot of Henry's demeanor, being rather chill until someone precious of his is being threatened. But Henry also shares Karin's stubbornness. And while his internal monologue seems to be treating his training as a means to an end, he still has the same determination as Young!Karin. And when his patience snaps he can be as hotheaded as any of the de la Vallerie, (while the speech about what the arranged marriage was presented as a cool shutdown of his parents sugar coating of the marriage, we only get to see this as presented through Henry's eyes. I bet his volume was raising to the point of shouting by the end and he never realized it.)
This. Also, a note on the "breaking out of prison" bit: "several felonies" is a bit of an understatement. More to the point, what she commited was downright Treason, or at least would be if Henrietta wasn't so incredibly fond of her and/or Gallia actually made a fuss about it (thankfully King Bugfuck Nuts Joseph didn't cared enough to do anything about it
).But back on topic: On the subject of why she was so sudden and severe at silencing that particular line of thought, her later explanation in this chapter is actually pretty reasonable: It was a line of thought that if other people suspected it could cause major problems, and even an errant comment could make it spread. Better to not have anyone listening than risking, say, Eleonore dropping a "even my brother complained about his betrothal" in a rant with friendly acquaintances or something the like.
- Location
- Singapore
That makes me wonder what if it was Shirou Emiya who was inserted into Henry instead...
Also, I get the feeling that Henry's attitudes to this affair will make things worse in canon, by exacerbating Isabella's madness through his displeasure over this engagement leaking over to the way he treats that poor girl. To be honest, he has valid reasons to be displeased - for one, it entangles his House into the mess of Gallian politics directly; where many things can quite likely go wrong. In other words, the engagement is a huge gamble, where he is literally the collateral...
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With Henry's luck? Girl is going to be a yandere.
So what do you think, would Henry have preferred Henrietta or Charlotte before her?
So what do you think, would Henry have preferred Henrietta or Charlotte before her?
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- Location
- Little Rock, AR
Didnt Marianne escapades put her in serious danger for her life and virtue needing her square mage bestie to bail her out?
In any case. Freedom of choice.... is roundly second to loads a people dying.
And Karin is strict mom and controlled mom because kid Karin temper on anything less than a square chassis gets kick back. Very bad kickback. Kickback that may be why vampire godmum never show up.
She's also loving mom and has habit of going to the wall for her kids in positions that are rather dangerous to the whole and that many would say it's time to cut losses.
Like with Louise getting tumble dried instead of pureed for literal war provoking treason over a traitor and foreign knight after an elf. After almost doing a last stand in albion in a war that bankrupted the nation. When Henrietta had all the egg on her face and if she didn't want to prove some many detractors right would have had to axe Louise and everyone involved publicly and painfully.
I mean sure the Royals of Tristan and Gallia were insane and this didn't really go places but if realism ensued that would be cat and elanore going down with her.
Science
If you're reading this, omae wa mo shindeiru.
- Location
- Killeen, TX
Said by they guy with a Shinji Ikari avatar.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
To be fair, if Halk as a sane place, it wouldn't have the god empowered Joker gaining nigh infinite resources and better superweapons than everyone else, as well as all the artifacts and relics he needs to perfectly power level his broken Familiar even further. And that the Elves were giving him tacit support instead of their usual thing where "Capture any Void User at all cost, and mind-wipe them before letting them live a long and fruitful life"
Sane strategies don't work against the insane. Especially when he has good odds of being able to take most of the rest of the world in a fight, and has a pretty damn solid claim to being a higher authority than the god-damn Pope thanks to him being a Void Magic user.
It's just that they lucked out and had modern day earth insanity injected into the right place, which provided the right counterforce to ultimately lead to the crazy demigod being brought down, even if nobody knew it at the time.
Sane strategies don't work against the insane. Especially when he has good odds of being able to take most of the rest of the world in a fight, and has a pretty damn solid claim to being a higher authority than the god-damn Pope thanks to him being a Void Magic user.
It's just that they lucked out and had modern day earth insanity injected into the right place, which provided the right counterforce to ultimately lead to the crazy demigod being brought down, even if nobody knew it at the time.
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Also, take note that, at least from what I remember from the LN canon, it's very heavily implied that Karin went into full blown punishment (but very notably, non-lethal. If she wanted them dead, well, yeah...) for Louise (and Saito by extension) so once the Queen arrived she could go "I have heavily punished them already. Please accept that as the official punishment and don't order my daugther's head to be cut off.".
Jerry Finch
Stupid but lucky.
- Location
- Slightly closer than you would be comfortable with
I also agree with the viewpoint that Karin is a good parent, because by and large, she is. it always bothers me when people go on about how tyrannical and abusive a strict disciplinarian is but when you look at it as a whole? She is as fair as she is strict. Don't kid yourself, she could be way, way worse, and to be frank, if you look at Henry's fears, it's not about what Karin will do. It's about largely what she'll think. I daresay a lot of Henry's cringing comes from the idea of losing her respect more than any physical punishment she could dole out, and make no mistake, she could definitely dole out some punishment.
Her obsession with control is also very reasonable, and not just from the political side. This is the era where the wrong word in the wrong ear could result in you getting burned at the stake. It's something I don't think a lot of folks realize. Concepts like freedom of religion and freedom of speech don't exist here, and things that the modern man might get away with now would be grounds for an agonizing death, and that's not even taking into account what would happen to the family name, and by extension, the family. Power comes with it's own chains, mind, and this is one of them, something I think Karin is very much aware of. Also something I don't think Henry understand quite as wholly as he thinks he does.
Karin is right. As it stands, he will be King with all that it implies. It's sure as shit not going to be easy, with that crazy bastard Joseph and the Pope and his sister becoming a holy goddamn Void Mage in not too great a time, and that's also not including balancing out ruling a kingdom as well, which is much harder than I think some people might realize. Especially given that it's already unstable, the poor bastard. He's going to need every ounce of stoicism and hardassery Karin can impart along with as much statesmanship and accounting his father can give him. And he needs to be badass enough that if need be he can ride to the rescue or fight off the Bitchdalfr, or both. And a dragon, because there's always a dragon.
Long story short? Karin is trying to prepare him for a brutal and unforgiving world full of literal capital-E Evil, intrigue out the wahzoo and worse yet, politics. He should be thankful he got such a strong family to fall back on, because while they have his back now, pretty soon nobody will. That's what Karin fears. Karin fears a helpless and unprepared Henry, so if she grinds him into the ground with combat training, magic, statesmanship, accounting, trade, theology, and everything else she can fit in, I would applaud her as Mother of the Year. Because I promise you, when Henry is in Gallia, alone and cut off and surrounded by people who would delight in seeing him dead or worse, playing the goddamn Game of Thrones with everyone and their cousin, he will thank his lucky stars Karin gave him the tools he needed to succeed. Even if she doesn't give him enough hugs in the meantime.
As for the freedom vs. duty argument? I think deep down Henry knows that if he really wanted to be free, he could forsake everything and vanish, and it wouldn't even be that hard, but it would mean giving up everything. Honestly I don't even think it's about freedom for him. I mean, yeah, I would be a bit annoyed about an arranged marriage too, but, BUT, I think his big issue isn't so much that he's been arranged to marry, because he's going to become a fucking King, but more that he's engaged to marry a nine-year-old. Even his arguments are kinda meh, more what you would expect from a teenager than an adult. It's clear he gets it. it's clear he gets why. Hell, on an intellectual level, he knows this is the best possible answer to a lot of his issues, and what's more, it gives him the power to do a lot of good in the meantime and it's clear he knows this.
He's just being indolent for the sake of it, I think. Also, and bear with me, nine-year-old. It's just creepy. Princess or not I can't think of one person who would really be chill with that but it's just the engagement right now. He's not being asked to wed-and-bed her on her tenth birthday, and don't give me that look it's happened in Medieval Europe more than a few times. Ugh. Anyway, that's my piece.
Her obsession with control is also very reasonable, and not just from the political side. This is the era where the wrong word in the wrong ear could result in you getting burned at the stake. It's something I don't think a lot of folks realize. Concepts like freedom of religion and freedom of speech don't exist here, and things that the modern man might get away with now would be grounds for an agonizing death, and that's not even taking into account what would happen to the family name, and by extension, the family. Power comes with it's own chains, mind, and this is one of them, something I think Karin is very much aware of. Also something I don't think Henry understand quite as wholly as he thinks he does.
Karin is right. As it stands, he will be King with all that it implies. It's sure as shit not going to be easy, with that crazy bastard Joseph and the Pope and his sister becoming a holy goddamn Void Mage in not too great a time, and that's also not including balancing out ruling a kingdom as well, which is much harder than I think some people might realize. Especially given that it's already unstable, the poor bastard. He's going to need every ounce of stoicism and hardassery Karin can impart along with as much statesmanship and accounting his father can give him. And he needs to be badass enough that if need be he can ride to the rescue or fight off the Bitchdalfr, or both. And a dragon, because there's always a dragon.
Long story short? Karin is trying to prepare him for a brutal and unforgiving world full of literal capital-E Evil, intrigue out the wahzoo and worse yet, politics. He should be thankful he got such a strong family to fall back on, because while they have his back now, pretty soon nobody will. That's what Karin fears. Karin fears a helpless and unprepared Henry, so if she grinds him into the ground with combat training, magic, statesmanship, accounting, trade, theology, and everything else she can fit in, I would applaud her as Mother of the Year. Because I promise you, when Henry is in Gallia, alone and cut off and surrounded by people who would delight in seeing him dead or worse, playing the goddamn Game of Thrones with everyone and their cousin, he will thank his lucky stars Karin gave him the tools he needed to succeed. Even if she doesn't give him enough hugs in the meantime.
As for the freedom vs. duty argument? I think deep down Henry knows that if he really wanted to be free, he could forsake everything and vanish, and it wouldn't even be that hard, but it would mean giving up everything. Honestly I don't even think it's about freedom for him. I mean, yeah, I would be a bit annoyed about an arranged marriage too, but, BUT, I think his big issue isn't so much that he's been arranged to marry, because he's going to become a fucking King, but more that he's engaged to marry a nine-year-old. Even his arguments are kinda meh, more what you would expect from a teenager than an adult. It's clear he gets it. it's clear he gets why. Hell, on an intellectual level, he knows this is the best possible answer to a lot of his issues, and what's more, it gives him the power to do a lot of good in the meantime and it's clear he knows this.
He's just being indolent for the sake of it, I think. Also, and bear with me, nine-year-old. It's just creepy. Princess or not I can't think of one person who would really be chill with that but it's just the engagement right now. He's not being asked to wed-and-bed her on her tenth birthday, and don't give me that look it's happened in Medieval Europe more than a few times. Ugh. Anyway, that's my piece.
- Location
- Mountains and rivers
And then this was a Nasuverse crossover.
Hide yo kids, hide yo wives, the giant atom is in town.
Dude, you're directing this at people whose argument was literally "You can't convince the modern thinking man this that way."
Yeah, because Karin is oh so familiar with his reincarnation.
Good luck.
So wait, does that mean Hitler is an amalgamation of politics and capital E Evil? Or is he capital E Evil parading under the banner of politics?
(Don't take what I'm saying too seriously--it's currently 5 AM here.)
Those sounded more like bad pick-up lines than a conversation.
Jerry Finch
Stupid but lucky.
- Location
- Slightly closer than you would be comfortable with
Technically I'm a modern thinking man and if I were going to convince myself, this is largely the argument I would have used. Still, this argument was more directed at the people saying Karin is a bad mother.
I'm not really sure what you're talking about on that second part though. Karin isn't familiar with his reincarnation BUT he is her child. Thinking she doesn't have a pretty good bead on his personality by now is kinda folly there. But that wasn't what I meant anyway. I was referencing the fact that Karin is familiar with the duties that come with the privileges of being a Noble, and that while Henry might think he knows, he doesn't really know, and Karin knows that Henry doesn't know what he knows, you know?
- Location
- Mountains and rivers
I wouldn't be so certain of that.
Someone being your child does not mean you immediately know all relevant details about them.
I was referring to an example of their basis for hating her.
"How dare she not account for his modern set of priorities he probably never revealed to her?"
Or that's what one of them looked like to me, but it's almost 6 AM... so I should probably sleep.
LastStandZiggy
Last To Fall
- Location
- Kingman, Az
(also not quoting you out on this for any reason, it's just you're one of the first I've seen bring it up.)
I want to bring something up about this for most people, when you're in an arranged marriage situation, you are considered engaged until both parties are fit to be married. In other words while they would be engaged, they will not be officially married until the aforementioned nine-year-old is of proper marrying age. (Insert pun/joke on age of consent in modern Germany or Alabama)
Considering the time period i dont think there is an appropriate age for marriage. Just general consensus.
ShineUCrazyStar
Grossly Incandescent
- Location
- Being the Sun
Karin doesn't need to be a stone faced hardass to teach people how to survive political intrigue in fantasy Renaissance land. Besides that just makes her a good teacher, not a good parent.
For this fic specifically; Any one who threatens their own son with decapitation via an air hammer just because they were rightfully incensed about an arranged marriage they were not even notified about sounds like a incredibly shit parent to me. She may not ever intend to carry any of those threats through, but at the end of the day she is still using the threat of death/grievous bodily harm as a tool to discipline her children; that right there is grade A horrendously fucking shitty parenting.
I don't remember her being this bad in canon, but here in this fic she reads like one of those shitty military parents who treat their kids like boot-camp inductees; except with even less emotional support and more death threats.
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- Location
- Singapore
TLDR: Freedom of Choice is a stupid argument and misses the real problems with this particular betrothal, as opposed to other alternate betrothals.
On hindsight, this is a rather silly argument for Henry to make. If he was contemplating other engagement proposals, it is clear he is cognizant of the fact that he lives in a society where the freedom of choice of marriage partners, is rare and highly unlikely within his social class. Hence, his issue is more likely the specific choice made for him, with factors (that Karin can respect and do consider relevant) that are much less present, if outright non-existent with alternate choices.
I don't think it's so much "Freedom of Choice" that is at the root of Henry's protest, and it was an unfortunate conversation ender. Quite obviously, the age factor plays a role in his opposition. But I think the true heart of the matter, is that unlike marrying Henrietta, marrying Isabella is a massive gamble that plunges Henry right into the thick of a "Game of Thrones" esque mess. A gamble with his life as collateral, an entanglement of the entire family into the chaos that is Gallian politics. At least, he could probably justify to himself a marriage to Henrietta - by being a Valleire, he is doomed to be entangled into the internal politics of the Kingdom he was born in, and might be better able to avert or mitigate many of the problems of canon
On the other hand, marrying Isabella, means marrying a probable Lunatic, with a Father-in Law who is basically an even crazier mad-man. At least Henrietta is sane, earnest, and inclined to be just, and Tristian is broadly familiar place where his family's power is easily accessible, and where Henry can fairly easily build and maintain a power-base, as he seems to be doing with the nobles of his generation. Plus, it gives Henry the means to ensure that Void Artifacts get into the hands of his sister as soon as possible.
None of these favorable factors exist with regards to Gallia. In Gallia, Henry is a foreigner with no power base. Setting age aside, he is betrothed to a girl who has quite abit of her father's madness in her (though some of it is due to upbringing), even if Henry might be able to do something to head that off if his cards are played correctly (but this is a big if). As a foreigner whose family likely does not have previous ties to high Gallian aristocracy in recent generations, acquiring a Gallian base of supporters will be exceedingly difficult. Worst still, his father-in law to be is utterly insane. In other words, this is either an extremely risky gamble for peace that might well fail catastrophically with him (irregardless of what he can plausibly do) at the center of the fallout, or an outright suicide mission that his parents have convinced themselves can work because they don't have the S.I knowledge of Joseph's true nature; nor of the extent of Elven interference in the Gallian court.
If he had truly thought through the various engagements, I have a suspicion he has, in some fashion understood the implications of a previously hypothetical marriage to Princess Isabella somewhat along the lines highlighted. Freedom of Choice then is a singularly bad argument (that Henry a huge mistake in even making), because it implies the issue here is not just how crazily risky that specific engagement is for Henry's sanity and life (as oppose to say, a marriage with Henrietta), but rather, a petulant teenage attachment to the romantic notion of free love that has little place in Halkagenian high politics. I think his reaction would have been quite abit less severe, were it Henrietta, let alone any other Duchess or Countess.
There is an important conversation about risk to be had, that sadly, Henry has foreclosed by doubling down on "Freedom of Choice." Isabella was probably one of the worst, most nightmarish scenario (short of quite possibly, Charlotte) that Henry probably contemplated. Sadly, he knows simply playing his part as an imported prince to seal a marriage alliance will fail very hard, because King Joseph is truly crazy, and the marriage alliance scheme unfortunately does not take this into account, because most of the key actors aren't aware of just how crazy the Crown Prince is. Even were Isabella a saint, do you really want a King crazier that Aerys and Joffery Baretheon combined, as your father in law?
The sad part is, it's going to be difficult for Henry communicate that the marriage alliance strategy will fail due to Prince Joseph being a loony-toon, since at this point of time, there's no way he can justify his SI knowledge. What he could have done, however, was to highlight why he thought that that a marriage to Isabella and Gallia was a very big gamble that could fail catastrophically, by highlighting the risk factors present in Gallian politics that would probably be quite reasonable, for someone who has truly given alot of thought and study to the ramifications of each possible engagement over the past few years to identify.
That could open the door for a change in betrothal plans down the line, if these risks factors indeed materializes and proves to be much more severe than Henry's parents and the Tristian Crown calculated, down the line. That approach also would have probably granted him quite abit more latitude to be an active participant in this business cognizant of what is at stake and how it can fail horribly via factors likely beyond his control, rather than being a child that has to be forced into it and deprived of agency for the good of the continent. Which is what we are seeing here.
Alas, Henry has to be in a reasonable state of mind to have pursued this strategy. In his panic however, he choose one of the most sub-optimal and unhelpful strategies of getting out of his engagement with Isabella, or at least creating a legitimate escape route if things go as bad as he fears. Karin is probably assuming this is a case of youthful rebellion that will pass and can be trained out of Henry, but we the readers know that this is a wrong diagnosis that unfortunately, Karin is justified for assuming based on what Henry chooses to emphasize on; with the "you could grow to love her" spiel.
No, the issue is not whether Henry could grow to love Isabella, the issue is that his wife to be is quite mad, and her father is even worse, and he is going off into a Kingdom where treachery is the byword of politics. Karin's line of thinking would be more effective with Henrietta, unless the SI has huge issues with Henrietta as a character in canon, and dislikes her, and is convinced that he can do nothing to affect those issues.
Well, I guess look at the bright side. Charlotte and Louise now become Imoutos....
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Chapter Thirty-One
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Thirty-One
The twisting cutter tornado bristled with power as I gazed at it chip away at a large rock in the Valliere's grounds. The vacuum between the blades was sharper than steel, and as it cut through the rock and shredded it like grated cheese, my ears could only catch the whistling of the wind.
"This is the Cutter Tornado," Karin said. "Powerful square magic," she continued. The fact she hadn't even needed the full chant to activate such a strong effect meant only one thing. The full-spoken chant would have probably created something like the perfect tornado, or some sort of incredibly powerful tornado who could ravage a whole countryside for days -and even if that wasn't the case, I had no doubt it was possible to route an army with two of these working in tandem.
"The wind..." I mumbled, "How it blows." I inclined my head to the side, half-closing my eyes. "I don't get it," I continued. "How is it supposed to improve my knowledge of the elements?"
"Sometimes, deeper knowledge of magic is unlocked by the Founder's miracle during the heat of battle. Other times, it requires long hours of study and concentration into the deeper aspects of harnessing the power of the element. Most often, daily practice is required," Karin spoke calmly. "By seeing how a spell should be, can you not realize how each of the singular elements of Wind were used and weaved together to form the chant that crafted the spell?"
"Mother, you barely spoke half a sentence," I pointed out. "Without the full chant, isn't this sort of exercise meaningless?"
"If I spoke the full chant, it would ravage the countryside and I would rather not," Karin replied. "You do not need the full chant to understand the complexity of a spell, and I hope you will not need such an aid. In your life, you might come to face strong and powerful mages who are capable enough that they will not need a full chant either. How are you to know the best way to utilize your own spells, if you lack the knowledge of what an enemy might cast?"
I swallowed. "So...I should memorize all chants known to men?"
"That will come once you have exhausted your Willpower, and I will test your progress each day after today," Karin acquiesced. My heart sunk down a bit. Memorizing a few verses of the bible was doable. Memorizing all of it was folly. Memorizing all chants that the Holy Church approved of wasn't just folly, it was sheer impossible to-
"Did Eleonore do this too?" I asked warily.
"She did it on her own, and succeeded," Karin answered primly, "I will have her oversee your studies on the matter."
I never thought I would be missing school so much.
"But for now, I want you to listen," Karin said. "And concentrate. Everyone hears the Wind in a different way, and reaches the root of their element differently." I sighed, and closed my eyes. She was making this sound so easy, while in truth it was anything but. The grinding of the wind against the ground was rhythmic, following its own rules. It kind of pulsed in intensity, sometimes growing stronger, sometimes growing weaker.
"It's not regular," I pointed out. "There are lulls-"
"It is losing in potency," Karin admitted as much, the cutter tornado increasing in speed and pitch once more. "There-now?"
"I'm still hearing the wind grinding against the ground," I shook my head, exhaling. I looked at where the sharp bottom of the hurricane was digging a hole the size of a small bathtub, and then up where the larger part of the air currents were spinning in order to drag the air inside, speeding it up along the way and making the wind spin so fast it created a vacuum in the center, in the eye of the storm there wasn't quiet or silence, but simple vacuum. When the vacuum was unleashed because one section of the spinning winds gave way, it unleashed a momentary pulling pressure in the area that acted as a blade of sorts, but in truth was more similar to a suction act.
"Think only about the wind, Henry, not the ground, or its relation to other things-only the wind," Karin said firmly.
I closed my eyes. I could understand how the tornado worked, but-putting it in layman's terms, it was like telling someone to stare at a pool of water and try to understand how the bonds between said molecules worked in making the pool flawlessly united into a liquid without any scientific knowledge to back the claim. Not knowing how bonds worked, how molecules interacted, not knowing the proprieties of liquids -how could anyone come to understand what water truly was, and how it acted, without at first seeing it in action?
Also, the element by itself wasn't so straightforward. One could seek out a mixture of wind and water, reaching for ice, or keep oneself into the realm of air, for thunder. It was, quite honestly, like choosing from a buffet what piece to consume first. Of course, consuming a piece from a second buffet opened up the choice for the whole selection, but that first piece was quite important by itself.
The wind billowed, and yet all that I could think about was the reaction it would have if a strong surface were to interpose itself against it, not on how it interacted with the air surrounding it.
"Rise, pillar of earth," I mumbled as I lifted my wand, a lonely pillar of dirt and rock lifting itself in the dead center of the tornado only to be shredded within seconds. The noisy, rocky graveling sound echoed in my ears, the gravel-like substance falling to pieces all around the tornado in question.
"Henry, what did I just say?" Karin said curtly.
"I want to hear the sound it makes when it hits a large wall of iron," I answered softly, mulling it through, "Iron, born in the name of the Founder to be the shield of his faith, though I call you forth in my hour of need to shield me, I withstand hope that you will become the pillar that supports the creations of the Gods, as your blessings hail from the tip of an archer's arrow to the edge of a holy warrior's sword-yet, in this time of need, I need a wall and thus I summon you forth!" as I brought my wand up, a hollow pillar of iron rose on the side of the cutter tornado, the grating noise that followed similar to that of an industrial saw slicing through a steel bar.
Sparks flew off in all directions, the noise propagating in the air.
I clenched my wand tighter. "It's close, but-" I opened my eyes to gaze at the iron being shredded, spinning around within the tornado before being expelled violently in all directions. And suddenly, it clicked.
I blinked in surprise as it clicked, and as I brought my wand up, I began to chant. "Iron, born of my will, iron, conjured forth by my wand, iron, strong against heresy-let me be your champion in this hour of need, let me be the shield of the Founder's faith-I transform you in swords, that you may cut through my foes! Wind, that billows and spins, wind, that tears and destroys, be my arms and my limbs, rip and shred in my name, for mine is the Founder's justice, mine is the Founder's call!"
The wind began to blow as swords started to appear from the broken iron pieces around the ground, spinning in circle as the air seemed to keep them all in mid-air. I twisted my wand, and then the small tornado -barely a child's size- began to spin faster and harder as my willpower drained considerably faster. It made a noise similar to that of Taz of Tazmania, and hit a nearby tree with enough cutting strength to easily shred through most of it with the same satisfying sound I had heard before.
Then, as the tornado ended, the swords exploded in all directions.
An air hammer came up an inch away from me to deflect a blade that would have otherwise come too close for comfort, Karin's eyes shining with something that was perhaps a mixture of satisfaction, pride, and something else I couldn't quite catch.
"That, Henry, was a Line spell. Peculiar chant, but a Line spell nonetheless," she acquiesced. "Now..." she waved her wand, her cutter tornado and the scraps of iron disappearing together with pretty much the swords I had summoned too. "Do it again, without the aid of already existing conjurations."
I swallowed.
This had just gotten considerably harder, hadn't it?
The twisting cutter tornado bristled with power as I gazed at it chip away at a large rock in the Valliere's grounds. The vacuum between the blades was sharper than steel, and as it cut through the rock and shredded it like grated cheese, my ears could only catch the whistling of the wind.
"This is the Cutter Tornado," Karin said. "Powerful square magic," she continued. The fact she hadn't even needed the full chant to activate such a strong effect meant only one thing. The full-spoken chant would have probably created something like the perfect tornado, or some sort of incredibly powerful tornado who could ravage a whole countryside for days -and even if that wasn't the case, I had no doubt it was possible to route an army with two of these working in tandem.
"The wind..." I mumbled, "How it blows." I inclined my head to the side, half-closing my eyes. "I don't get it," I continued. "How is it supposed to improve my knowledge of the elements?"
"Sometimes, deeper knowledge of magic is unlocked by the Founder's miracle during the heat of battle. Other times, it requires long hours of study and concentration into the deeper aspects of harnessing the power of the element. Most often, daily practice is required," Karin spoke calmly. "By seeing how a spell should be, can you not realize how each of the singular elements of Wind were used and weaved together to form the chant that crafted the spell?"
"Mother, you barely spoke half a sentence," I pointed out. "Without the full chant, isn't this sort of exercise meaningless?"
"If I spoke the full chant, it would ravage the countryside and I would rather not," Karin replied. "You do not need the full chant to understand the complexity of a spell, and I hope you will not need such an aid. In your life, you might come to face strong and powerful mages who are capable enough that they will not need a full chant either. How are you to know the best way to utilize your own spells, if you lack the knowledge of what an enemy might cast?"
I swallowed. "So...I should memorize all chants known to men?"
"That will come once you have exhausted your Willpower, and I will test your progress each day after today," Karin acquiesced. My heart sunk down a bit. Memorizing a few verses of the bible was doable. Memorizing all of it was folly. Memorizing all chants that the Holy Church approved of wasn't just folly, it was sheer impossible to-
"Did Eleonore do this too?" I asked warily.
"She did it on her own, and succeeded," Karin answered primly, "I will have her oversee your studies on the matter."
I never thought I would be missing school so much.
"But for now, I want you to listen," Karin said. "And concentrate. Everyone hears the Wind in a different way, and reaches the root of their element differently." I sighed, and closed my eyes. She was making this sound so easy, while in truth it was anything but. The grinding of the wind against the ground was rhythmic, following its own rules. It kind of pulsed in intensity, sometimes growing stronger, sometimes growing weaker.
"It's not regular," I pointed out. "There are lulls-"
"It is losing in potency," Karin admitted as much, the cutter tornado increasing in speed and pitch once more. "There-now?"
"I'm still hearing the wind grinding against the ground," I shook my head, exhaling. I looked at where the sharp bottom of the hurricane was digging a hole the size of a small bathtub, and then up where the larger part of the air currents were spinning in order to drag the air inside, speeding it up along the way and making the wind spin so fast it created a vacuum in the center, in the eye of the storm there wasn't quiet or silence, but simple vacuum. When the vacuum was unleashed because one section of the spinning winds gave way, it unleashed a momentary pulling pressure in the area that acted as a blade of sorts, but in truth was more similar to a suction act.
"Think only about the wind, Henry, not the ground, or its relation to other things-only the wind," Karin said firmly.
I closed my eyes. I could understand how the tornado worked, but-putting it in layman's terms, it was like telling someone to stare at a pool of water and try to understand how the bonds between said molecules worked in making the pool flawlessly united into a liquid without any scientific knowledge to back the claim. Not knowing how bonds worked, how molecules interacted, not knowing the proprieties of liquids -how could anyone come to understand what water truly was, and how it acted, without at first seeing it in action?
Also, the element by itself wasn't so straightforward. One could seek out a mixture of wind and water, reaching for ice, or keep oneself into the realm of air, for thunder. It was, quite honestly, like choosing from a buffet what piece to consume first. Of course, consuming a piece from a second buffet opened up the choice for the whole selection, but that first piece was quite important by itself.
The wind billowed, and yet all that I could think about was the reaction it would have if a strong surface were to interpose itself against it, not on how it interacted with the air surrounding it.
"Rise, pillar of earth," I mumbled as I lifted my wand, a lonely pillar of dirt and rock lifting itself in the dead center of the tornado only to be shredded within seconds. The noisy, rocky graveling sound echoed in my ears, the gravel-like substance falling to pieces all around the tornado in question.
"Henry, what did I just say?" Karin said curtly.
"I want to hear the sound it makes when it hits a large wall of iron," I answered softly, mulling it through, "Iron, born in the name of the Founder to be the shield of his faith, though I call you forth in my hour of need to shield me, I withstand hope that you will become the pillar that supports the creations of the Gods, as your blessings hail from the tip of an archer's arrow to the edge of a holy warrior's sword-yet, in this time of need, I need a wall and thus I summon you forth!" as I brought my wand up, a hollow pillar of iron rose on the side of the cutter tornado, the grating noise that followed similar to that of an industrial saw slicing through a steel bar.
Sparks flew off in all directions, the noise propagating in the air.
I clenched my wand tighter. "It's close, but-" I opened my eyes to gaze at the iron being shredded, spinning around within the tornado before being expelled violently in all directions. And suddenly, it clicked.
I blinked in surprise as it clicked, and as I brought my wand up, I began to chant. "Iron, born of my will, iron, conjured forth by my wand, iron, strong against heresy-let me be your champion in this hour of need, let me be the shield of the Founder's faith-I transform you in swords, that you may cut through my foes! Wind, that billows and spins, wind, that tears and destroys, be my arms and my limbs, rip and shred in my name, for mine is the Founder's justice, mine is the Founder's call!"
The wind began to blow as swords started to appear from the broken iron pieces around the ground, spinning in circle as the air seemed to keep them all in mid-air. I twisted my wand, and then the small tornado -barely a child's size- began to spin faster and harder as my willpower drained considerably faster. It made a noise similar to that of Taz of Tazmania, and hit a nearby tree with enough cutting strength to easily shred through most of it with the same satisfying sound I had heard before.
Then, as the tornado ended, the swords exploded in all directions.
An air hammer came up an inch away from me to deflect a blade that would have otherwise come too close for comfort, Karin's eyes shining with something that was perhaps a mixture of satisfaction, pride, and something else I couldn't quite catch.
"That, Henry, was a Line spell. Peculiar chant, but a Line spell nonetheless," she acquiesced. "Now..." she waved her wand, her cutter tornado and the scraps of iron disappearing together with pretty much the swords I had summoned too. "Do it again, without the aid of already existing conjurations."
I swallowed.
This had just gotten considerably harder, hadn't it?
- Location
- Philippines
That something else in Karin's eyes Henry?
That's love. Pure, proud, joyous, motherly love.
That's love. Pure, proud, joyous, motherly love.
- Location
- Little Rock, AR
You seem to spend a good bit of time almost getting yourself killed in wise ideas like super shrapnel grenades without anti shrapnel armor.
Also momma karin. Weapon of mass destruction.
Raabe the country side with a fully chanted spell? Break the sound barrier on a manticorr.
Next you'll tell me by studying metrology she can summon up hurricane katrinas and control the weather.
Good lord. What if she actually did?
Louise gets it honestly.
Also momma karin. Weapon of mass destruction.
Raabe the country side with a fully chanted spell? Break the sound barrier on a manticorr.
Next you'll tell me by studying metrology she can summon up hurricane katrinas and control the weather.
Good lord. What if she actually did?
Louise gets it honestly.
konamikode
Cooking Harder
Fools who believe we will ever get to see Karin's true dere form before she is taken away by the cruel whims of plot.
Never forget that this is a Shade SI.
Tears shall be shed.
Never forget that this is a Shade SI.
Tears shall be shed.