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A day after his little talk with Gillian and hopefully preventing the explosive destruction of multiple Mako reactors, Alchemist and his party had found their way back to Nibelheim.
It was a quaint little mountain town. A sleepy little place where very little happened and very little changed. High up in the mountains would be the very first experimental Mako reactor that ShinRa ever built, now thoroughly gutted and its internals replaced with a handful of magical turbines that were turning the cranks to generate electricity for the village.
A bit further back from the village, partway up and into the mountains, was the old ShinRa mansion. A place of horrors, filled with monstrous intent and an unaging, undying man who chose to sleep with his nightmares instead of doing literally anything.
Alchemist once thought that Vincent Valentine was kind of cool. Dark and mysterious.
Then he got to know the man and the charm was quite thoroughly lost. That didn't mean that Alchemist disliked him, far from it, but Vincent was, to put things rather succinctly...
A party pooper.
The mage wondered if Lucrecia were still in Vincent's room in the basement of the ShinRa Manor. He'd told her she'd find a key to the exit in one of the coffins...
Well. That would be up to her to figure out.
Alchemist had a rather more pressing task at the moment. Talking to the mayor of Nibelheim.
Lance Lockheart. A big, burly man wearing a cowboy hat, a leather vest and a pair of shorts. If the man weighed about a hundred pounds less, or his gut was redistributed as muscle, he'd look right at home ripping his way out of a cake. Instead he looked like he'd rather be ripping into one.
Alchemist, Ifalna, Yuffie and Aerith had booked a room at the inn, then Alchemist and Ifalna had asked the innkeep about talking to the mayor. A short walk over and the innkeeper had introduced them to the man that ran things.
It wasn't hard to see a number of children, peeking around corners or through windows at the strangers who'd turned up. They hadn't learned the greatest secrets that their parents well knew- Sound traveled through open windows and around corners just fine.
The topic of the discussion, once Aerith and Yuffie had been dragged off by the mayor's daughter, Tifa?
A house.
"I'm sorry," Lance said to the remaining two. The talk had moved into the man's house, to a small sitting room with a low fire burning in the hearth. Liquor had been offered but coffee had been accepted. "We just haven't got any houses available. Especially not one fit for a family of four."
"We're not married," Ifalna quietly protested, a harsh glare in her eyes at the implication. "He's just... helping me."
"Pulled her out of a bad situation," Alchemist readily explained, his coffee held in both hands. "She and her daughter have been traveling with me and mine for a bit, but they want to settle down and I've got to keep moving."
"Hmm..." Lance, well, hummed. It sounded a bit like disapproval. Which was probably because Alchemist's age was hard to pin down and Ifalna was very much in the motherly stage of her mid thirties. "Still. A woman and her daughter? By themselves? This is practically a frontier town, friend. It's not an easy life."
Alchemist hummed and took a bracing sip of his coffee. Black and bitter, the beans had been burnt instead of just roasting.
Overhead, muffled by the materials in the way, Alchemist could just make out the sound of a woman coughing.
What was it with the men of Gaia not knowing how to cook or prepare things? Howard Hewley could apparently burn tea and Lance Lockheart had burned the coffee. Did these people simply never learn to take care of themselves before finding a spouse?
"I'd imagine that, between the long winters and the hard labor, sickness is a very real concern for you?" Alchemist asked, a simple plan already forming in his mind.
"It certainly makes life harder than it has to be," Lance admitted before taking a bracing sip of his own beverage. His was mixed with a splash of whiskey, likely masking the taste of the coffee. "We've got a medicine woman, knows a bit of doctoring, but there hasn't been a proper doctor in Nibelheim in... oh, since the Stratos family moved on out?"
The wizard looked over to Ifalna, the woman glaring down at her cup.
She appreciated what he did, and she appreciated what he'd done for Aerith. But she was like an abused cat, terrified of what he'd do and perpetually stressed by his presence and the environment he'd placed her in.
"Ifalna?" Alchemist asked as he made a show of shucking off a rucksack and opening it up. He reached into it and opened his inventory, quickly searching through and grabbing a bangle with two Materia slots which he handed to the woman. A moment later and he also had a Restore and a Heal Materia for her. "You know how to use these, right?"
"Yes?" the woman asked, her voice uncertain as she clipped the bangle around her left wrist, then slotted the glowing green crystals into it. "My mother taught me."
Materia, throughout the world of Final Fantasy Seven... was actually somewhat uncommon. Not rare, not quite, but not nearly so prevalent as the games made it seem.
The reason, it turned out, was actually rather simple. ShinRa held the means, through their Mako reactors, to mass produce Materia. The little balls of magic were concentrated, condensed Mako and that was also the primary fuel source for the reactors. A diversion chamber could siphon off a bit of the concentrate, it could then be condensed and formed into Materia. The results varied based on geographic location but it was a clever little system that helped to feed the ShinRa war machine with mass produced magic.
And any excess was just sold off to the curious public, most of whom might have, at best, an old naturally formed Materia that had been passed down through the family.
Some of that was common knowledge to the world's actual inhabitants. That ShinRa had yet to manufacture a functioning Summoning Materia through artificial means was not common knowledge, however. Not that it mattered at the moment.
"What'cha got there?" Lance asked as Ifalna adjusted the bangle to sit more comfortably on her wrist. "Ain't a lot of folks here that know a Materia from a marble, sad to say."
"Healing Materia," Ifalna said to the man, a finger pressed to each orb. "One for injuries and one for... poisoning and sickness?"
"MmHmm," Alchemist hummed quietly before taking another sip of his terrible coffee. "If Ifalna can earn her keep, would that change things?" he asked of the village headsman.
Alchemist didn't have any psychic powers, nor did he need any to guess at what Lance was thinking as the man looked up at the ceiling.
"...You prove you're any good with your magic and we'll see," Lance said as he stood up. "My wife is upstairs. She's been sick for a while now. How about you show me what that Materia can do and we'll figure things out."
Alchemist stayed seated, enjoying the warmth of the fire as Lance led Ifalna upstairs. The mage listened, however. He could feel it when, moments later, Ifalna gathered the magic to cast her spells. And he could hear a choked sob make its way through the house.
The mage was rather sure that Lance would be able to find a place for Ifalna and her daughter. Especially now that he owed the woman for the health of his wife.
Which... was something like Alchemist's Plan-D, truth be told. Not necessarily in order of priority, just in the order that he'd thought of it.
Alchemist still had one person in particular he needed to talk with while he was on Gaia, then he could be on his way.
Although, the mage thought as he sipped at his terrible brew, he'd make sure to check in on the Gasts before he left.
Even if their future was a bit brighter? He had an excess of Materia and staves that they could make use of and it never hurt to be prepared, especially in a world full of monsters.
-----
A few days after leaving Aerith and Ifalna to get situated in Nibelheim, Alchemist and Yuffie both were in the demi-plane he'd turned into a warehouse and workshop.
Between Alchemist and his wraiths, they'd constructed a new Incorruptus in near-record time.
"...It's bigger," Yuffie commented as she compared the two.
"It is," Alchemist agreed with a yawn.
And, indeed it was. The newly built body stood ten meters tall, three meters taller than the previous iteration. An intentional choice for a multitude of reasons, with height actually not being a critical concern.
Alchemist had needed to expand the amount of available room throughout the various components to fit everything in. His previous Incorruptus could have either the Dimension Phase Shift generator installed or it could have the Psypher installed. The arms weren't big enough to house both.
And the chest space, where a significant number of components were housed, had become incredibly cramped with the installation of the Gemini Circuits that amplified the power of the shield generator.
"So... what'ya gonna do with the old one?" Yuffie asked as she waved to, well, the old one. For some reason, her dad had left all of the purple Materia sitting around the hole in the chest after he took out the super-massive red Materia.
"You want it?" Alchemist asked, a small shrug to his shoulders. "You'll need to make a Core Crystal which... god, you could probably pull it off in a week."
And wasn't that embarrassing. It'd taken him months to make his own.
Yuffie frowned in thought as she looked between the two mechs. The smaller one, hers now, and the bigger one. Though, she did notice something kind of strange...
"Why'd you get rid of half your Materia slots?" the ninja asked. Pointing to the differences where, indeed, the larger Incorruptus only had eight slots surrounding the Core Crystal compared to the sixteen of the smaller one. Three connected pairs were set up along an outer ring while two independent slots were set up with one directly above and one below the insert for the Core Crystal.
"Didn't need 'em," Alchemist admitted. "I've got a different set up for that part of my mech and it's a nine part balance that wouldn't work with the other eight Materia. Come on."
Alchemist led the excitable ninja down a flight of stairs, over to... an Alchemy Table set up next to an Enchanting Table. Yuffie actually did not look confused, just curious, as Alchemist began to extract a number of ingredients from a number of nearby boxes.
Red berries and gray flower petals.
"...You ever think about picking up enchanting?" Alchemist asked as he got to work on crushing the ingredients together into a paste.
"...Why?" Yuffie asked. "Between you, Kary, and Jinx? You guys all like to do this enchanting and alchemy stuff. I mean, I like making smoke bombs and stuff but you guys put, like, way too much effort into this stuff."
Alchemist quietly hummed in consideration as he mixed a bit of water into the slurry and set it to heat.
"I suppose that's fair," Alchemist agreed with a quiet hum. "But what if we weren't available? What if we were busy and you needed something right away?"
"Then I'd already be too late," Yuffie told him as the girl leaned up and looked at the mixture as the impurities were burned away. "If I needed something right away, then I probably needed it, like, an hour earlier and just didn't think about it."
Alchemist hummed and took the freshly made potion off of the table-
~~ Item Acquired: Elixir of Enchanting x34 ~~
~~ Temporarily improve the results of Enchanting items by 70% for 120 seconds ~~
-and moved over to the Enchanting table.
"I suppose that's fair," Alchemist agreed as he began to pull out a number of Materia. Two purple orbs, three blue orbs, two green orbs and one yellow orb. "Still, you might want to learn the basics. If little else, it'll let you make things that fit your preferences instead of relying on us."
Next he grabbed eight Grand Soul Gems out of the inventory and set them along the back shelf of the Enchanting Table. Followed by recasting Faith upon himself, then Charge before he cast Fortify Skill: Enchanting.
The number that he saw pop up was just ridiculous; it wasn't even funny. Quaffing one of the potions that he'd made, its power improved one-thousand and fifty percent from Alchemist's Item Mastery passive ability at its own max level, was even more ridiculous.
At his level of mastery, Alchemist could fit five enchantments on an item using an Enchanting Table. And the device had allowed him to learn the bolstering effects from the Boots of Prowess and the Dark Crystal, along with many of the other enchantments from the items he could create from Star Ocean 3. By destroying those items, admittedly, but still.
At least the effects still had a cap, even with all of the insane boosts he could apply.
When Alchemist was done, he had eight heavily enchanted Materia and they were -still- not done.
"So, what's next?" Yuffie asked as the wizard brought out the giant, elemental crystals he'd mastered. "Gonna just slot 'em into place and call it a day?"
"Almost," Alchemist agreed as he Fused a Light Crystal, along with fifteen other Mastered Attribute Plus Materia into the target item.
~~ Attribute Plus Revision 1 ~~
~~ Master! ~~
~~ All Attributes +800%
Attack and Defense +999%
Magic and Spirit +999%
Run Speed +999%
Attack +9999
Defense +9999
The Light Shines... ~~
Alchemist teleported the modified Materia into the center-top slot on the Incorruptus and its color changed to a bright white.
"...Are you gonna do that with all eight of 'em?" Yuffie asked.
"Eight?" Alchemist asked with a quiet huff before he pointed to one of the Mother Crystals and then to the Core Crystal. "I'm doing it with all nine."
-----
Physics did not stop being physics just because things change size. Energy equaled mass times the speed of light squared.
The Incorruptus, then, was an incredibly inefficient piece of equipment. At least, in its original construction. The giant suits of living armor were incredibly slow and took significant amounts of time to properly anchor themselves in between every motion.
It was a good thing, then, that what Alchemist had made was -not- a true Incorruptus.
Despite the name, what Alchemist had made, had always made, was a synthetic copy. The original Incorruptuses, Wizel the White Knight, Dinivas the Black Knight, Larvayne the Dragon Knight, Luthia the Moon Maiden and Adolmaea the Sun King were all, in truth, extradimensional outsiders that had been pact-bound. They were not made, they were found.
What Alchemist had manufactured thus was not, and had never been, an Incorruptus. It was, instead, a synthetic copy. Oh, it used technology and methods from the very same world where the Outsiders were contracted and bound. They were the ones to develope the false giants and the wizard was merely gifted with the knowledge needed to follow in their footsteps.
"Hahah!" Yuffie shouted as her magical mech vaulted backwards at speeds that should have seen the giant's limbs snap and shatter, twisting and jumping at speeds that should have been shearing the bolts and fasteners holding things together.
At least, if Alchemist had manufactured it out of steel instead of Darksteel.
Alchemist's former Incorruptus had been refit. Its armor profile had been drastically reduced, slimming it down considerably and increasing its already enhanced mobility significantly. It was, now, more limber and agile than Yuffie's own body.
A fact that the ninja was definitely getting used to as she landed from a backflip, her knees bent low and her left hand on the ground as her right went to her back to grab at a massive shuriken that was larger than most men were tall. The mech, seven meters tall, twisted into a tight circle and swung, releasing the giant shuriken at speeds so fast that its passing was followed by a literal sonic boom.
The target, a white and purple giant that was ten meters tall, tried to lift a sword to intercept-
And failed, Yuffie's shuriken skittering over and gouging great rends into the purple crystal at the heart of the Demon Knight's form.
"Get 'em!" Alchemist shouted, pumping one arm into the air as he cheered on his daughter. "Get 'em!"
The Demon Knight, the final boss as well as the superboss of the post-game area in White Knight Chronicles 2, tried to fight back. The giant ponderously brought its sword up in two hands into a ready position, its right leg coming back slowly to support its next maneuver-
And it had no time, nor the agility needed, to counter Yuffie as the girl dashed up to it, her feet carving into stone and kicking up massive rocks as she passed. The massive sin knight, half-again the size of Yuffie's mech, brought its sword up, the steel glowing with infernal flames, to prepare for a downward swing but simply was not allowed to perform the maneuver as Yuffie's left hand swung out to catch her still-flying shuriken and she twisted, grabbing the center ring of her throwing weapon in both hands and burying one of its points into the open faceplate of the Item God.
Compared to how Alchemist fought?
Yuffie was a fast-moving blur, a manic pixie that darted into, out of and through the guard of whatever was unfortunate enough to draw her ire.
The Demon Knight roared, dropping its sword as it tried to grab Yuffie but the girl literally ducked low, going under the attempt, and grabbed the fallen sword in her off hand.
"Nya-hah!" Yuffie laughed as she bounced back and away, dodging another slow, telegraphed grapple. "Too slow! Too slow!"
The giant ninja stowed her shuriken on her back and held her stolen sword in two hands. It was a bit too big for her frame but Yuffie certainly didn't seem to let that slow her down. Especially as the Demon Knight roared and raised both of its arms to the sky, a massive purple orb forming in the air-
And then Yuffie was replaced by a massive cloud of smoke and the Demon Knight screamed in confused pain. The collosus looked down, its magic fading as it stared at the point of its own sword, the tip poking out of its chest.
"Woo!" Alchemist shouted from the sidelines as Yuffie pulled the sword back and twisted, slashing her foe from behind before kicking its corpse away. "Yeah! Keep it up!"
After a second, a tiny light descended from the sky and sank into the corpse of the Demon Knight. The worst of its wounds sealed over, barely, and the confused entity put its hands to the ground to try and stand up-
Just to drop back down as Yuffie stomped on it!
"Finish him!" Alchemist shouted, his voice deep.
Yuffie, rather than say anything, just buried her sword down and through the back of the Demon Knight. Finishing the fight.
Watching his little girl raise her new sword high to the heavens in victory?
Alchemist would honestly admit that he was immensely proud of her.
Incorruptus 340 Empowerments-
Light Materia- ~~ Attribute Plus Revision 1 ~~
~~ Master! ~~
~~ All Attributes +800% (Base Effect)
Attack and Defense +999% (Boots of Prowess, Star Ocean 3 (Enchantment))
Magic and Spirit +999% (Dark Crystal, Star Ocean 3 (Enchantment))
Run Speed +999% (Ring of Haste, Star Ocean 3 (Enchantment))
Attack +9999 (Orichalcum, Star Ocean 3 (Enchantment))
Defense +9999 (Rainbow Diamond, Star Ocean 3 (Enchantment))
The Light Shines... ~~
Dark Materia- ~~ Dualcast Revision 1 ~~
~~ Master ~~
~~ Cast spells are echoed (Base effect)
Cast Spells are echoed again (Echo Hat, Dragon Quest)
Magic Cost x4 and Magic Power +250% and Spell Accuracy +30 (Soul of Thamasa, FFX2, 2x cost, +150%. Skull Necklace, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, 2x cost, +50%, White Robe, FFTA, 2x cost, +50%)
Magic and Spirit x2, MP x0.5 (Arch Spellmaster Jewel, Star Ocean 4)
Elemental Attack Power +250% (Various)
Magic Cost x0.8 (Warlock's Necklace, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night)
Spell effect duration +105% (Dragoncrest rings, Dark Souls 3)
And the Darkness hides... ~~
Fire Materia ~~ Master Magic ~~
~~ Offers access to all spells in FF7 ~~
~~ Absorb all elemental damage as HP (Wizard Bracelet, Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core)
HP+999% (Bubble, Final Fantasy 12 (Enchantment))
MP+340% (Bronze Armlet, Silver Armler, Gold Armlet, Rune Armlet, Mythril Armlet, Wizard bracelet, Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core)
Immune to all status ailments, including Instant Death (Super Ribbon, Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core)
The Fire Burns ~~
Ice Materia ~~ Magic Master, paired to Master Magic ~~
~~ MP Cost -25%, Magic Power and Duration +75%, Casting Time Reduced by 100% ~~
~~ Quadruple items dropped by enemies (Jewel Ring, FF7 Crisis Core. Key to Success, FFX-2)
Quadruple money dropped by enemies (Precious Watch, FF7 Crisis Core. Key to Success, FFX-2)
Steal is Guaranteed to Succeed (Brigand's Gloves, FF7 Crisis Core)
Items dropped or stolen are guaranteed to be rare (Mog's Amulet, FF7 Crisis Core)
Steal multiple items at a time (Thief's Cuffs, Final Fantasy XII)
The Ice Cracks ~~
Wind Materia ~~ Master Magic ~~
~~ Offers access to all spells in FF7 ~~
~~ Experience +9,999% (Soul Thirst, Demon's Souls (Enchantment))
Skill Experience +9,999% (Discipline, Dragon's Dogma (Enchantment))
Weapon Experience +2000% (Armsmaster, Disgaea. various Crests, Radiata Stories)
HP x2 (Key to Success, FFX-2)
MP x2 (Key to Success, FFX-2)
Regenerate a significant amount of HP ((Vitality x Level)/16) every 6 seconds (Angel Ring, FF6)
Regenerate a significant amount of MP (60%) every 6 seconds (Ring of Mental Power x10, Star Ocean 3)
The Wind Blows ~~
Earth Materia ~~ Life Absorption (Paired with Master Magic) ~~
~~ Absorb 35% of inflicted damage as HP and 0.3% of inflicted damage as MP (Not affected by inverted status) ~~
~~ Battle Skill HP Costs -50% (Star Ocean 3)
Battle Skill MP Costs -50% (Star Ocean 3)
The Earth Nourishes ~~
Lightning Materia ~~ Master Command ~~
~~ Permit access to all command skills in FF7 ~~
~~ Deflect 2 attacks at the start of combat (Chaos Mantle, Item God Exclusive worn by Chaos Weapon (FF7))
The Lightning Strikes ~~
Water Materia ~~ Life Absorption (Paired with Master Command) ~~
~~ Absorb 35% of inflicted damage as HP and 0.3% of inflicted damage as MP (Not affected by inverted status)
And the Water Flows~~
Creation Materia ~~ @**&@%$#% (Magna Materia) ~~
~~ Error: Undefined ~~
~~ Transmutation Cost -50% (Gem of Creation, Valkyrie Profile)
Conversion Cost -50% (Jewel of Creation, Valkyrie Profile)
Ignore the first 3,500 GP of material costs for spells (Gem and Jewel of Creation, Valkyrie Profile)
+600 HP at Level Up (Bracelet of Zoe x2, Valkyrie Profile)
+1 Perk Point at Level Up (Emerald Necklace, Valkyrie Profile)
Restore 15% HP every 6 seconds (Ring of Healing, Earring of Healing, Valkyrie Profile)
Magic power and duration +999% (Faith, FFXII (Enchantment))
Restore 12 points of durability to the Incorruptus and all held equipment and components every 6 seconds (Mending (Intensified)(Enchantment))
In all things, the joy of Creation ~~
Kings x3-
Reduce Movement Delay 33%
Increase Reflex Speed 66%
God x1
Grace: Move with agility and speed as though you were 1 size category smaller
Soulbound: This object is a part of you, and you a part of it. Where one goes, so too does the other.
Hah! Ah, god, I actually had to look up the sizes of mechs when I first picked things and the Incorruptus is tiny! It's just itty-bitty in comparison to pretty much anything else.
7 meters? Barely comes up to an Eva's ankles. 10 meters? Alchemist might be able to punch Shinji in the shin!
Hah! Ah, god, I actually had to look up the sizes of mechs when I first picked things and the Incorruptus is tiny! It's just itty-bitty in comparison to pretty much anything else.
7 meters? Barely comes up to an Eva's ankles. 10 meters? Alchemist might be able to punch Shinji in the shin!
That's why you use size-changing magic. Or just use the mechcorruptus's speed, strength, and durability to just outmaneuver the larger ones and punch holes right through them.
Darkness and Water are the only ones that have "And the" starting the description. The other just have "The". Not sure if that's intentional or leftover from an old draft.
So Alechmist has a World Rending Sword and now a Super Mecha bound to his soul.
Jebus, now I'm kinda surprised Areru even exists with those two things able to be deployed at any time. Maybe they wouldn't have allowed him to win or anything, but you'd assume they give him a chance to escape.
And now I'm wondering if like the Scalpel or whatever it was named, this Incorruptus, imbued with nine elements forming a Rhyme will have influence as well over Alec/Areru.
So Alechmist has a World Rending Sword and now a Super Mecha bound to his soul.
Jebus, now I'm kinda surprised Areru even exists with those two things able to be deployed at any time. Maybe they wouldn't have allowed him to win or anything, but you'd assume they give him a chance to escape.
And now I'm wondering if like the Scalpel or whatever it was named, this Incorruptus, imbued with nine elements forming a Rhyme will have influence as well over Alec/Areru.
That's a topic that he'll be discussing with Jinx and Kary, considering it's a bit too heavy a topic to discuss with Yuffie.
But the long and skinny of it? The Lancet is an object of pure destructive intent. The Incorruptus, having the full elemental circuit hidden within it, should bleed off enough living magic to have a literal terraforming aspect around it.
Darkness and Water are the only ones that have "And the" starting the description. The other just have "The". Not sure if that's intentional or leftover from an old draft.
Honestly, leaving aside the nature of 'Divinity' (because that's nebulous and too fluid to actually define), Alchemist's Incorruptous probably comes Extremely close to being an actual God Machine now.
Damn. I was wondering how Areru was going to be relevant at the high end of Sailor Moon and Tenchi Muyo without the easy Entanglement vector he used to hit that level in Worm.
Now I know. Alchemist, through sheer spell mastery and utterly, mindbogglingly ludicrous gear, has propelled himself to the high end of DC Comics. And ensured that both of those things will stay with him full stop.
But, of course, true strength cannot be measured with numbers.
7 meters is shorter than a Battletech Locust (~8 m), one of the smallest 'mechs is the classic era. The Locust was one of the fastest ones, though, so there is that.
Why are both the Wind and Fire Materia, Master Magic Materia. Are the Ice and Earth Materia each paired to one of them but not the other? In that case, you should probably say "Paired to Fire/Wind Materia" instead of "Paired to Master Magic Materia", since there are two of them.
Why are both the Wind and Fire Materia, Master Magic Materia. Are the Ice and Earth Materia each paired to one of them but not the other? In that case, you should probably say "Paired to Fire/Wind Materia" instead of "Paired to Master Magic Materia", since there are two of them.
A small update has been added in for clarity following that concept. Now the support Materia paired to the Master Magic Materia have the paired one listed with its elemental designation.
Well. Powering this thing with elemental crystals strong enough to power a world and fusing an element of true creation to your soul stone will have no consequences at all, I'm sure~
What was it with the men of Gaia not knowing how to cook or prepare things? Howard Hewley could apparently burn tea and Lance Lockheart had burned the coffee. Did these people simply never learn to take care of themselves before finding a spouse?
Short version? Almost certainly. I've noticed it in a bunch of male Boomers I've known over the years and I expect it works mostly the same in most worlds/societies that still have a fairly rigid/traditional 'nuclear family' upbringing for the majority. As a rule, young guys tend to live at home being cared for by their maternal carer until they get married/formally found their own family unit, at which point their partner(s) take over a very similar role.
It can make for a mildly irritating house-mate in a share house/non-traditional family housing experience, but it's not in and of itself directly harmful, I'd say. But definitely noticeable to this firmly GenX AMAB person.
<snip> Spell effect duration +105% (Dragoncrest rings, Dark Souls 3)
<snip> Immune to all status ailments, including Instant Death (Super Ribbon, Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core)
<snip> Items dropped or stolen are guaranteed to be rare (Mog's Amulet, FF7 Crisis Core)
Steal multiple items at a time (Thief's Cuffs, Final Fantasy XII)
<snip> Regenerate a significant amount of HP ((Vitality x Level)/16) every 6 seconds (Angel Ring, FF6)
Regenerate a significant amount of MP (60%) every 6 seconds (Ring of Mental Power x10, Star Ocean 3)
<snip> ~~ Absorb 35% of inflicted damage as HP and 0.3% of inflicted damage as MP (Not affected by inverted status) ~~
<snip> ~~ Permit access to all command skills in FF7 ~~
~~ Deflect 2 attacks at the start of combat (Chaos Mantle, Item God Exclusive worn by Chaos Weapon (FF7))
<snip> ~~ Absorb 35% of inflicted damage as HP and 0.3% of inflicted damage as MP (Not affected by inverted status)
<snip> ~~ Transmutation Cost -50% (Gem of Creation, Valkyrie Profile)
Conversion Cost -50% (Jewel of Creation, Valkyrie Profile)
Ignore the first 3,500 GP of material costs for spells (Gem and Jewel of Creation, Valkyrie Profile)
+600 HP at Level Up (Bracelet of Zoe x2, Valkyrie Profile)
+1 Perk Point at Level Up (Emerald Necklace, Valkyrie Profile)
Restore 15% HP every 6 seconds (Ring of Healing, Earring of Healing, Valkyrie Profile)
Magic power and duration +999% (Faith, FFXII (Enchantment))
Restore 12 points of durability to the Incorruptus and all held equipment and components every 6 seconds (Mending (Intensified)(Enchantment))
<snip>
Increase Mobility 77%
Increase Reflex Speed 77%
<snip>
Reduce Movement Delay 33%
Increase Reflex Speed 66%
<snip>
Grace: Move with agility and speed as though you were 1 size category smaller
Soulbound: This object is a part of you, and you a part of it. Where one goes, so too does the other.
That's a shame, as Shinji generally deserves a punch in the dick. Just the one, most of the time, and sometimes not even that.
Unlike Gendo, who should get to spend eternity being constantly punched in the dick by a revolving list of pretty much the entire rest of the NGE cast, plus plenty of others from that world.
Well. Powering this thing with elemental crystals strong enough to power a world and fusing an element of true creation to your soul stone will have no consequences at all, I'm sure~
[In an over-excited electrician voice] Do you wan't to se something Cool!?
The next anime adjacent should be an adult (but nor mature) sexy sake drinking ninja / spy / thief Yuffie (because it's cool), screwing around in a Neon Genesis Evangelion dimension, playing as a Mokoto Kusanagi character (because she's cool), while trying to capture a trio of Angel Cores/S^2 Engine to punch that reality (or the local creator deity) in the dick (because that's super cool) and escape to rescue daddy Alchemist, while trying to recruit the 5 Children as her own Genin apprentices (again, because it's cool).
Watch:
Rei discovers her emotions (and hormones) behaving like a true romance-manga obsessed fujoshi ninja-of-love. And yes, while changing the password for opening the Rei-quarium to "kage bushin no jutsu" was a nice touch, she should not abuse her ninja skills to perv on civilians.
Asuka develops a healthy mentality and self-image while dealing with her repressed trauma through the use of recreative drugs. Most surprisingly, it works. Then she becomes a stoned guru for all kind of people.
Shinji grows a spine by becoming a Liver King style anabolic drugs taking body-builder, and after a bender where he suffers a stroke and ends lossing all memories of his family, and thus his trauma, and quite a few brain cells to boot, he becomes the epitome of a shonen hero whom has come back to make Japan great again.
Mari embraces religion. Except she becomes a split personality psycho combat-nun, self-conscious about her body and previous behaviour, believing her former self a temptress lolita, and thus an horrible sinner which must constantly pray for redemption while punishing all other sinners. Yumiko Takagi is her role model.
Kaworu ends becoming the one-sane-man, trying to prevent the other idiots from destroying the world with their craziness, but he usually fails, which ends causing great pain and destruction, yet their exploits end (somehow) with them not blamed for it, and furthering one of their 'sensei' machiavelical plans.
As Yuffie-sensei would say: "All acording to cake. And cake means plan." But also cake... and beer... and a recurrent Nerv party where she tries to put drunks Ritsuko and Misato in embarrasing situations so they end confessing their "repressed" love for each other, against the oposition of a territorial (and Orochimaru-terrifying) Maya. "My father is a dragon, so I don't scare easily, but that woman terrifies the crap out of me."
Also lot's of swearing and foul language (because it's cool, you b**ch!).
And then preteen Yuffie wakes up from her sleep, and runs to tell daddy Alchemist all about her cool dream, where she was Super Cool, while poor Al wonders if some ingredient of last night dinner had spoiled, and who has corrupted taught her innocent princess such foul language, so he can look for them, find them, and kill them.
Somewhere, out there, a god shivers, and Liam Neeson feels oddly proud.
Ummmm this isn't anime adjacent. This is the main story. Also I doubt that would happen because it would 100% conflict with the current anime amalgamation.
honestly at this point i kinda want to see alchemists good karma pay off, not only has zeus already been beaten, he has been demolished by the people Alchemist has helped, like batman got ot give his parents a proper goodbye, that man is doing literally everything aside from killing for alchemist
he saved the people from dark souls, grew back speedys arm, gave tigress her legs back, is as close to personal friends with death as a mortal can become, has multiple Greek gods working with him, has multiple villains that he either cured or helped massively along the way
has the blessing of Tiamat and behamoth, has nearly the entire justice league indebted to him
honestly, Alchemist should probably get a reality check of how much people in the universe will fight for him
honestly at this point i kinda want to see alchemists good karma pay off, not only has zeus already been beaten, he has been demolished by the people Alchemist has helped, like batman got ot give his parents a proper goodbye, that man is doing literally everything aside from killing for alchemist
he saved the people from dark souls, grew back speedys arm, gave tigress her legs back, is as close to personal friends with death as a mortal can become, has multiple Greek gods working with him, has multiple villains that he either cured or helped massively along the way
has the blessing of Tiamat and behamoth, has nearly the entire justice league indebted to him
honestly, Alchemist should probably get a reality check of how much people in the universe will fight for him
Don't forget that he risked his life and soul to save Leslie, has helped P1, Kary, Jinx, and Yuffie more than literally anyone else ever has, took out an immortal soul-sucking baby murderer, killed many thousands of baby-eating vampires, healed millions of people of all kinds of maladies, dealt Hell the biggest blow it's ever had, and annoyed the absolute fudgenuggets out of Lex Luthor (which has to be worth at least a triple word score).
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 3.4.1
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
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The weeks that followed Alchemist's departure from Nibelheim were surprisingly simple. Aside from working on his equipment, he'd gone back north. Passed beyond Icicle Inn and kept going, straight to the Northern Crater and the mako storms within.
The journey was easier, this time. Some things were different, true, but not very much. The Gigants still tried to fight him but they proved to be good practice for Yuffie and her increasingly modified Incorruptus, the armor that Alchemist had made for it being phased out in bits and pieces to better suit the girl's combat style. The gargoyles and their ilk didn't prove much of a challenge, though they were adequate fodder for Alchemist to practice a few spells such as Stone to Flesh, Flesh to Iron and, once he'd completed it, Flesh to Ebony.
The dragon riders... were still surprisingly friendly. And Alchemist still didn't have an answer as to why that was.
He had theories. He thought they might be a branch of the Cetra, charged with protecting the Northern Crater and what lay within. Which... would be something they'd partially failed at? Maybe? Assuming they were supposed to keep Jenova under lock and key instead of just preventing the unworthy from reaching Minerva.
But they didn't come down to talk. And Alchemist wasn't in the business of dragging any of them down to his level to have a conversation.
They weren't attacking him and that was good enough.
Underneath of the Northern Crater were the Caves of Wonder. And those were a journey that would eat a good three weeks of time for the duo. The days spent delving into the planet's depths and the nights spent either relaxing or expanding the scope of their abilities. Often delving into the Item World of something, less to empower it and more to practice, practice and practice some more. Yuffie, a child born to war upon a planet covered in literal monsters which hungered for human flesh, actually enjoyed the battles. She enjoyed seeing herself get stronger, of being able to defend herself against beasts that would slay a lesser warrior.
And Alchemist took the opportunity to practice as well. Within the items that came from Bitterblack Island were the same horrific nightmares that sometimes haunted his dreams and he found it cathartic to put them down. And, well, some of them carried traits that he wanted.
He couldn't really say how many Hydras he Cannibalized until he gained [Rapid Regeneration], the ability to swiftly regrow missing limbs. It didn't recover HP or Stamina in any way, no, but it would allow him to return to combat-capability swiftly even if literally disarmed.
And then there were the Dire Wyrms. Alchemist initially had some reservations about Cannibalizing those but... they wanted to kill him very, very badly. And he disagreed. It took several attempts before he got a trait...
[Frost Aura]. Which was not what he'd been after.
And several more before he did get the trait he wanted. [High Articulacy] dramatically shortened casting times for even the strongest spells. Something he desperately wanted so he could bring Plant Growth all the way up to his current cap.
Getting through the Caves of Wonder wasn't the painful slog of the previous trip. Alchemist and Yuffie were stronger than when Alchemist and Jinx had delved into the caves. The fiends within, monstrously powerful, were usually kept unaware as Yuffie snuck up on them with her weapons or Alchemist bombarded them with horrific magics and the ever-more terrifying arts of the Dark Blade.
It still wasn't fast but the duo were not exhausted to the point of collapse every day. Instead, they were able to swiftly and comfortably delve through, carving a bloody swathe through the monsters that failed to impede their progress.
One-hundred floors. Countless thousands of dead monsters. Even the elemental avatars of Shiva, Ifrit and Ramuh hadn't proven capable of slowing the duo in the slightest.
All of it. All of that effort.
All of that led to a woman, wearing a stunning suit of armor with long, wheat-blond hair and brilliant blue eyes, who waited at the bottom of the caves.
Minerva, the goddess of Gaia.
"You have done well to reach me, Champion," the woman greeted as Alchemist, alone, entered the cavern where her power was at its strongest. "Few have the strength to accomplish what you have done. Fewer still are those that can challenge Minerva, Goddess of Life and achieve victory. Do you think yourself capable, Champion?"
Alchemist, inside of his armor, stared at the smiling woman for a moment before he turned his gaze up and beyond her. To the still, slumbering form of Emerald WEAPON, encased in giant crystals of Materia.
Ultimate WEAPON waited at the very top and Alchemist had no idea where most of the others were. Diamond, Sapphire, Jade and Ruby existed, certainly, but they were likely buried even deeper. The mage even recalled rumors of an Onyx or Obsidian WEAPON, though he'd never actually seen the beast.
"I have a request," the mage said, his flat voice filling the stifling, oppressive silence. "There's something that I want, something that I can't get under my own power."
"And I will hear your words, Champion," Minerva told him, her tone of voice pandering as though to a child while she twirled a great spear to point the tip at him. "But my audience is earned, not granted."
...Yeah, Alchemist expected as much. She'd tried the same thing the last time he met her.
War Goddess? Or just a battle-junky? He didn't really know.
He also didn't know if that was something to do with the setting or if it was her attitude, seeping into the Mako that turned animals into monsters and filled them with bloodlust.
"...Fair enough," Alchemist agreed as he raised one hand and snapped his fingers. "Have it your way."
Magic gathered about the mage, a ludicrous sum that would dwarf most any spell he would otherwise cast.
"There is no other... way?" Minerva's voice trailed off as Alchemist's magic coalesced into a form, hovering in the air. A humanoid torso, covered in metal appeared first-
It was swiftly followed by jagged metal hooks ripping out of the bottom of its skirt, magic arcing between the dozen-odd blades that formed underneath of the summon.
"Zirconiade?!" Minerva shrieked as the Materia crystals binding the Emerald WEAPON began to crack and shatter in response to the World Burner's presence. "Are you mad?!"
Alchemist's answer for the woman was to summon the Tower Shield, the massive slab of metal long-since enchanted with the impenetrable Shield spell, and hunker down beneath it.
"Dispel it!" Minerva screamed as the summon crossed its arms and surrounded itself within a sphere of raw power. "Dispel it no-!"
The woman, the goddess, was interrupted as Zirconiade did as it was made to do. Fire and fury exploded from the summon, force enough to send Minerva flying back to the chasm housing the Emerald WEAPON as the hundred odd floors of the Caves of Wonder were torn asunder and sent flying, up and into the air along with the corpses of all of the monsters that had previously considered the caves their home.
Icicle Inn experienced the worst of it, with flaming rubble descending on the sleepy little village before being stopped by yellow shields that appeared above the houses.
Banora, distantly connected to the Caves of Wonder, saw a jet of flames rip its way out of the sealed caves on the Rhapsodos family lands, the treasures within having long since been stolen by Yuffie.
Elsewhere, various cities and settlements noted slight tremors rocking the windows and some of the more advanced settlements had their seismographs notice an irregularity.
Underneath of Midgar, in the now-defunct Reactor Zero's mako pool, Omega WEAPON stirred briefly before turning over and returning to its slumber.
And, at the very heart of the explosion, Minerva was buffeted by fire and sound, crushed beneath countless thousands of tons of stone. The goddess's sanctuary was ruined, nothing more than rubble.
And she was very, very unhappy.
-----
Minerva took a moment, in the dark, under the pressing weight of countless tons of stone and the corpses of more monsters than mankind had ever seen upon the surface of her world, to wonder if, somehow, maybe, she'd been asking for such an event to happen.
She would admit, she'd lost track of the Zirconiade Materia. And the Apocalypse Materia. And Ultima...
Under her helmet, the goddess pursed her lips.
Well. That was certainly not a good set of circumstances. Not at all.
Had she been irresponsible?
No! It was the Humans that were wrong!
With a brief flare of her power, fueled by her irritation and rage, Minerva released an immense explosion of force! The rubble covering her rocketed away, clearing out the crater she'd been entombed in and revealing the brilliant night sky far overhead.
The goddess looked up after she stood up properly and paused for a moment. The stars...
When did she last see the stars? How long had it been since she'd been summoned anywhere but her sanctuary at the heart of Gaia?
Minerva relaxed, lowering her spear to a resting position as she gazed upwards, to the heavens where her countless lost sisters doubtlessly resided.
How many planets like Gaia had been seeded throughout the eons? How many had been infected as she'd been? How many-
Minerva's maudlin thoughts were distracted as gravel and slate were sent flying into the air as, nearby, a great machine of brass, wood and Darkness ripped its way free and flew into the sky! And, upon the prow of what Minerva recognized as a foreign summon, was the fool that thought to challenge her by summoning her own Zirconiade!
The arrogance! The gall! He'd come to her sanctuary, spat upon the honor of dueling her and then destroyed -everything-!
"Go, my Jade!" Minerva screamed, her will aligning with the planet, already roused by the presence of the False WEAPON. "Drag him from the skies!"
The rubble rumbled and shifted before a massive figure, a giant black V, ripped out and darted into the sky.
The Jade WEAPON. Perhaps the most fragile of Gaia's WEAPONS but it was the most agile, without doubt. It chased after the fleeing summon, its body so dark it appeared almost black. The only visible color upon it was the dark red claws upon its six insectile arms.
Arms which were swiftly launched from its body, speeding after the human that had so disrespected her.
But Minerva watched, her concern growing as the summon, shaped like an airship of old, did an aileron roll and left behind dozens of glowing white circles. Her confusion was soon answered as balls of fire exploded out of the circles, hunting after her Jade's arms. The fireballs chased, darting and swerving through the air, growing faster and faster in their pursuit until, to Minerva's horror, they impacted with great explosions and shattered the tools of her WEAPON!
But it did not stop the flying armament. It pursued on its own, energy crackling at its fore as black clouds trailed in its wake. The mortal flew beyond the edge of the great crater, leading the WEAPON towards the sea-
"What?!" Minerva asked as a great swell rose from the ocean. It could not be the Sapphire WEAPON, even now rushing to her side from where it once slumbered. And it most definitely was not the Emerald WEAPON, ponderously burrowing its way free of its entombment.
No, it was the head of a massive, impossibly massive serpent. Pitch black but for what looked to be stars within its body. It rose from the ocean, more and more and more of it, and clamped its jaws on to the Jade WEAPON as it failed to fly away fast enough!
"No..." Minerva whispered in shock as the impossibly massive serpent closed its jaws. The sound of the WEAPON shattering, like a glacier giving way, was a nightmare she'd never thought possible.
Her Jade's wings fell to the ocean, their impact sending tidal waves crashing against the sides of the northern continent as the impossibly massive serpent swallowed, the core Materia of her WEAPON consumed before her very eyes.
"No!" Minerva screamed as shock gave way to rage. As the rest of her WEAPONs were woken from their slumber. "No, no, no, no, no!"
Ultimate WEAPON, already struggling to its feet from where it had been sent flying, landing miles and miles away in the forests near the abandoned Cetra City, shook itself to full wakefulness and took to the skies.
Ruby WEAPON, the one truly meant to traverse the underdark, slithered and clawed its way through stone and soil.
Emerald WEAPON, pressed into haste, opened its beak wide from where it was buried and began to blast great gouts of energy into the stone impeding it.
Sapphire WEAPON, already on its way from where it had slumbered near the shrine of Chaos, moved even faster, sending waves throughout the oceans.
And Diamond WEAPON, the unassailable, the undefeatable, her perfect WEAPON clawed its way up from where it was buried close to the Planet's core.
And Minerva launched herself into the air, tears burning at her eyes as she lanced forward, spear held fast and ready to avenge the loss of her Jade!
-----
Alchemist kept low, one hand on the railing on the side of Ark's bridge as Minerva took to the air.
His other self, in the water and fused to Leventhan, could feel the waters around him churning as a severe earthquake shook and rattled the northern-most continent.
He hoped his Wraiths were going to be enough to keep everything under control. He'd thrown an entire detachment to each settlement he knew about just to keep things from being destroyed.
His hands clutched the railing harder as Ark went through another roll, dodging around a giant arrow, the Judgement Arrow formed of Minerva's regalia. Twisting to look over his shoulder, he could practically see the magic bleeding off of the goddess.
Maybe upsetting her wasn't the best idea?
Fury was a legitimate status effect in the world of Final Fantasy Seven. One that made it easier for those afflicted with it to unleash their limit break attacks.
Dropping down as a new shadow flew overhead and tried to swipe at Ark's propeller, Alchemist supposed he was going to have to take things a bit more seriously.
Ultimate WEAPON had just arrived.
The monolithic titan was an unholy fusion of two beasts with a massive Materia sitting at its core. The upper body of a western dragon with the wings to match, sitting atop the body of... another western dragon.
It was basically a centaur. Except both of its halves were dragons formed of black Materia.
"Keep Minerva busy!" Alchemist shouted, his voice barely carrying over the ripping winds. "I'll handle the dragon!"
Alchemist's method of handling said dragon?
He rolled over the side, dropping off of the Ark as the airship zoomed away, Minerva chasing after it with her spear and magic.
Ultimate WEAPON was working right alongside her, ready to grab at the Ark if it slowed down for even an instant-
Until Alchemist teleported directly overtop the beast's skull and slammed his fists into it, empowered beyond all reason with Focus in a two-handed sledgehammer blow.
The WEAPON rocketed down, slamming into the shuddering, shaking ground-
As, meanwhile, the other Alchemist, fused with his Juggernaut Leventhan, found himself being harried by a giant fish.
Sapphire WEAPON was smaller than the fused beast and that offered the entity greater agility underwater. Leventhan's arms were comparatively quite small and its claws rather clumsy. Practically blunt weapons, especially expanded under the effect of Titan of Twilight rather than being fine, dexterous manipulators. Every time the fused entity attempted to grab the tentacular WEAPON, it simply darted out of the way!
It was like trying to catch a particularly motivated fly!
Alchemist's frustration at the matter kept growing and growing as he tried over and over to grab at the irritating gnat until his ire boiled over when the WEAPON, infinitely more mobile underwater than it had been when it surfaced during the events of Meteorfall in Final Fantasy Seven, lowered its mouth guard and fired off an extended, concentrated beam of energy-
While it kept moving!
The millennia-old monster wasn't being nerfed to be cinematic for an animation suite from the nineteen-nineties -and- Alchemist was fighting multiple of them at once?
Absolutely unfair.
Alchemist raised one claw, struggling to block the Azure Beam long enough to see where the WEAPON was and, more importantly, where it was going-
And then he lashed forward, a blue aura surrounding his monumental form as his cavernous maw closed around Sapphire WEAPON and he crunched down, ending its laser barrage.
~~ WARNING ~~
~~ MAKO TOXICITY: SEVERE ~~
Alchemist waved the notice away, well aware of the burning in his body as he Cannibalized the manifested defenders of nature.
...It was rapidly leveling up his Poison Resistance, however. Which was... something.
Back above, Alchemist summoned a knife to his hand which swiftly transformed, expanding and changing until the mage held a polehammer in his hands whilst he approached the downed form of Ultimate WEAPON. The beast, potentially the one with the strongest offense according to the lore, also suffered from the lowest defense.
A fact that Alchemist took full advantage of as, like his polehammer, his body also expanded. It was only a few moments and a few steps later and he was back to the true size of his Incorruptus, standing tall at ten meters. Still only half of the overwhelming size of the Ultimate WEAPON-
But it served the mage more than well enough as he twisted, more than a human body would have allowed, and swung his polehammer into the Ultimate WEAPON's spine, the draconic beast's body cracking and breaking as its core was literally launched out of its chest.
"...Home run," Alchemist said aloud as he tilted his polehammer over his shoulder and held one hand up to shield his non-existent eyes from the glare of the sun as the core went flying over the shattered rim of the crater, heading out to sea-
Where the fused entity of Alchemist and Leventhan rose from the sea, devouring the orb.
"No!" Minerva screamed, an explosion ripping through the air. "My WEAPONs! My servants! How! How could you-! What are you?!"
Alchemist turned to look up to where Minerva was shouting at him-
And an arrow, made of Minerva's spear and the various pieces of her armor, had pierced through the Ark and slammed into his chest and exploded. The blast ripped apart his Shield of Glass and sent him tumbling, spinning away as he skidded and skipped over the ruined rubble of the crater-
Until his momentum came to an abrupt and total halt when a pair of tentacles ripped through the stone to grab him.
"You brought them," Alchemist answered her as Ruby WEAPON's insectile head pushed aside the rubble and its distended, distorted body followed. It tried to lift its arms, the tentacles coming from its 'fingers', but found Alchemist unusually immobile. "I'm just handling them."
The beast kept tugging, a confused hiss coming from its mandibles as its actions became more and more frantic.
Unfortunately, Alchemist simply had greater Priority than it did.
"They didn't do you any good, two-thousand years ago," Alchemist continued as Minerva's regalia reformed around her. His arms moved in front of him, tearing through Ruby WEAPON's tendrils as his polehammer reformed into an unstrung bow.
A light of magic glinted from the ends, connecting them, and Alchemist placed his right hand at the center of the magical string and began to pull. Around him, spectral remnants, copies of Minerva's armor briefly formed before exploding apart and reforming into an arrow upon the string.
The Mimicked Judgement Arrow spun, magic twisting around the copy as, in the air, Minerva's body went slack.
He wondered what the goddess was thinking...
Until he released his hold on the power and the Judgement Arrow ripped out and away from him, slamming into Ruby WEAPON's core, hitting it with such force that the giant Materia ripped its way through the entity's back.
Alchemist didn't bother watching as his other half darted out of the water, devouring the Materia.
...He was starting to feel sick, actually. A feat, given that half of him wasn't made of flesh or blood at the moment.
"..." Minerva trembled, fury filling her frame as she descended from on high. Light warped in a haze around her as she raised her sword and shield-
And reappeared directly in front of Alchemist, a scream of unmatched rage echoing from her helmet as she lunged and stabbed! Her spear skittered over Alchemist's armor, sparks flying in the air before she swung her shield into his face, knocking him back!
She kept up her assault, bashing and stabbing and bashing and stabbing! All the while, her breath echoed around the devastation in a racking sob, but...
For every second, her blows did less and less. For every second that they fought, Alchemist grew more and more. Until, eventually, Alchemist grabbed the woman's shield-
And Leventhan rose from the ocean, the mangled form of Emerald WEAPON gripped in his maw. Its core ripped loose from its body.
"No..." Minerva whispered as she dropped to her knees. "You... you have no idea what you've done."
"You mean Omega?" Alchemist asked as he brushed his armor off. "You know that Chaos is sealed within a vaguely human host, don't you?"
"Without my WEAPONs?" Minerva's voice actually trembled as she spoke, her helmet turning up to face Alchemist. "How can I answer the Calamity? What will I do when she awakens?!"
Alchemist crossed his arms as the ground trembled and a great, white hand ripped its way through the broken stone, mako seeping up and through the countless cracks. He didn't bother turning to watch as Diamond WEAPON ripped its way free-
He didn't have to. Not as Leventhan descended, its great form blotting out the stars as it lashed out at the giant, its claws Piercing through the diamond defenses as though they were wet tissue paper.
"Two-thousand years ago? They accomplished nothing," Alchemist said, derision in his voice. "The Cetra sealed her away and these monsters did nothing. In sixteen years? When Jenova would finally awaken? They would still accomplish nothing!"
"What?!" Minerva demanded as Leventhan Devoured the core of the last WEAPON. "How could you know this?! How could you know any of this?! Who -Are- you?!"
"Alchemist," Alchemist responded. "Gamer. You challenged me to earn your audience, Minerva. Next time we met, you challenged me again. This time, I answered."
"...Time travel," the goddess spat. "Well? Are you proud of yourself, Gamer? You've condemned this timeline!"
Alchemist would have rolled his eyes if he could. Instead, the bow in his hands shifted into the shape of a sword. One that ended up pointing directly at Minerva's face.
"Spare me the theatrics, Minerva," Alchemist coldly scolded the goddess. "You've accomplished nothing. Your chosen champion would accomplish nothing. Your WEAPONs accomplished nothing. I came to talk. You chose to fight. Yield, now, or I will put you down and walk away."
"...Fine," Minerva tiredly agreed, her hands relaxing as she dropped her spear and shield to the ground. "I yield. Say your piece."
~~ Enemy Defeated! ~~
"...I've removed the Calamity," Alchemist explained as Leventhan coiled around the duo, its four eyes glaring at the two of them. "And destroyed her taint. I've undone the machines that were made to leech at your blood. And I've bound the summons into your Materia Caves, tethered them to crystals connected to each of the eight elements."
For a long, long moment Minerva simply remained in place. Kneeling upon the uneven ground, her head aimed at him-
And then she leaned back and laughed. It was not some bell-like tinkling, not what one would expect from a goddess such as her.
No, it was a deep chortle. She crossed one arm over her belly and leaned forward, her other hand slamming into the broken stones as she laughed-
And cried.
"You!" she shouted, her voice a high-pitched whine of mania and hysteria. "Everything I feared! Everything that I plotted and planned and you-! You claim to have simply undone it all!"
Claimed?
Alchemist reached into his inventory and extracted a toad statue. One he simply tossed toward the goddess before snapping his fingers and casting Esuna on it-
Turning it into a naked, confused copy of Ifalna.
Hitting it with Dispel turned it into a hideous, oozing amalgamation of missmatched organs that flopped bonelessly to the ground.
Alchemist wasn't particularly worried about her victims reverting. Jenova's genetic material, once it had been made 'human', would not have been immune to, well, the human immune system. Sephiroth, Genesis, Angeal, Lucrecia and Gillian would have all killed off the interfering bits of Ifalna that had invaded their bodies sometime during the weeks prior.
Shrinking back down to a more human size, Alchemist reached out once more and a horrific weapon found its way to his hand. His Lancet, yet unused...
Found its first taste of blood in Jenova.
The entity screeched, loudly, as the damage penetrated beyond mere flesh and blood.
Minerva watched, her thoughts inscrutable beneath her helmet. She watched and waited, listening as Jenova screamed...
Until the alien entity perished. Until it went limp and no soul passed on, no infection moved from the physical to the metaphysical.
"...What is it that you desire, Champion," Minerva asked, her voice... tired. "For what reason have you sought me out?"
"Two things," Alchemist admitted as he sent a message to Yuffie.
~~ To: Yuffie ~~
~~ From: Alchemist ~~
~~ Did that Goddess Materia get mastered? ~~
"I want you to get something for me," Alchemist explained as he waited for a response from his daughter. "An urn, from a future that no longer exists. I want the ashes of Kasumi Kisaragi, from nine years in the future, in the timeline where you and I would have first met."
~~ From: Yuffie ~~
~~ To: Alchemist ~~
~~ Two of them got Mastered! I pulled out the second one when the first one divided. Then the second one got full and divided again! What'd you do? ~~
"...You do not make simple requests, Champion," Minerva grumbled. Power surrounded the woman for a moment before it coalesced in her gauntlets-
And so, too, did a small, porcelain urn. It looked like a canister, made of clay and then glazed a deep, rich red.
Alchemist took the urn from the woman, his grip light but sure, half-afraid that he would drop it.
~~ From: Alchemist ~~
~~ To: Yuffie ~~
~~ I won. ~~
"And the second request?" Minerva asked as she crossed her arms, her tone of voice indicating that she was well tired of dealing with him.
Which was fair. He didn't want to deal with her, either.
"I'm going to set up a final crystal," Alchemist explained as he swapped the urn into his inventory and held his hands up, catching a Mother Crystal as it came from the inventory whilst overhead, Leventhan reached into the inventory and pulled out one of the Goddess Materia that Yuffie had stolen from the caves under Banora. "To finish fixing the harm that you've suffered."
Minerva stared at the crystal, then looked up to the crimson Materia in the hands of Alchemist's other self slash familiar. Then she took off her helmet and just...
Laughed.
"You are utterly insane!" the woman shouted, a smile gracing her face. "Utterly and truly insane! To first insult me so thoroughly, then in the very next breath offer me power untold!"
Alchemist... wasn't really sure how to respond to that.
He didn't like Minerva. He really didn't. But she was still the Goddess of Gaia and her existence helped to protect the planet, helped to maintain the Lifestream, the literal afterlife of the planet. His opinion didn't really matter against all of that.
And, more importantly, he'd gotten the ashes of Yuffie's mother.
The mage had no reason to condemn a world just because its overseer offended him.
-----
Materia Consumed-
Jade WEAPON-
The Quick and the Jade: 1/400- Dexterity and Agility +1% per level. Maximum movement speed +1% per level.
Sapphire WEAPON-
Inner Sapphire: 1/400- Spirit +1% per level. Non-Combat Spell Power +1% per level.
Ultimate WEAPON-
Ultimate Magic: 1/400- Magic +1% per level. Combat Spell Power +1% per level.
Ruby WEAPON-
Blood Ruby: 1/400- Strength +1% per level. Likelihood of inflicting negative statuses from all sources +1% per level.
Emerald WEAPON
Luck of the Emerald: 1/400- Luck +1% per level. Experience and Skill/Spell Experience +1% per level.
Diamond WEAPON
Diamond Body: 1/400- Vitality +1% per level. Defense +1% per level.
Enemies Defeated
Jade WEAPON, Sapphire WEAPON, Ultimate WEAPON, Ruby WEAPON, Emerald WEAPON, Diamond WEAPON, Minerva, Goddess of Gaia
Items Acquired: Desert Rose x5, Ultima Weapon (Sword) x5, Earth Harp x5, Rising Sun (Shuriken) x5, Jade Hairpin x5, Sapphire Tiara x5, Divine Slayer (Accessory) x5
I want you to get something for me," Alchemist explained as he waited for a response from his daughter. "An urn, from a future that no longer exists. I want the ashes of Kasumi Kisaragi, from nine years in the future, in the timeline where you and I would have first met."
