Chapter Two: Holy Tool Grotto
We arrived in front of the sealed chamber. It was something that looked like a cave closed with a thick door so heavy there simply had to be a hoard of treasure behind it.
“This is where my master was trying to bring us. It has been here since ancient times, but no amount of investigation has ever been able to provide an answer on how to open it. This place is forbidden, even to members of our style,” Glass explained.
“Sounds like going inside will get you more than a stern talking to,” I said.
“Normally, yes. But my master has given his permission, so the only remaining issue is whether we can open it or not,” Glass replied.
“Anyone ever think of checking it out by just smashing their way inside?” I asked.
“There are thick additional barrier walls inside there, apparently,” Glass informed me. It was the kind of thing everyone thinks they might try their hand at, but no one can actually break. It occurred to me in that moment that maybe we could have just crashed through the walls in the Ancient Labyrinth Library—however, they had pretty strict rules about no fire, so attempts at reconstruction would probably get you kicked out too.
“Do you think Raphtalia, Raph-chan, and Glass might be able to open it, like at the Ancient Labyrinth Library?” Kizuna asked. I pondered for a moment. We’d left Raph-chan behind to watch the old lady in battle. I was foolish for not realizing that needing her here might be an eventuality.
“If only things were that easy,” Glass replied. “My master also told me that there is apparently a legendary holy tool housed inside.” From the external décor, I was expecting either a legendary hoe or some torture equipment. That thought originated with a bizarre murder-mystery novel I read once. It was set out in the boonies and a treasure trove like this appeared in the story.
“Enough discussion,” I said. “Let’s just give it a try.”
“We don’t have Raph-chan . . .” Raphtalia reminded me.
“We can still see if you and Glass can get in, Raphtalia,” I told her.
“Okay,” she replied. We started to examine the door to the Holy Tool Grotto. It was plastered with ofuda.
“Check out these ofuda,” Shildina said.
“I see them, sister,” Sadeena responded.
“I’m interested in what kind of magic these ofuda are comprised of. Sweet Naofumi, can I investigate?” Shildina asked.
“I mean, if you have to . . .” I replied. Having received my half-hearted permission, Shildina reached out to one of the large ofuda attached to the door.
“Hmmm . . . yes . . . I see . . . okay,” Shildina said.
“Did you learn anything?” I asked.
“Hmmm . . . it feels like incredibly complex magic is sealed in here. But it also reminds me of a similar place back in Q’ten Lo,” Shildina revealed.
“It does?” I asked.
“It’s like the seal on the weapon hall the Past Heavenly Emperor left behind. Ruft broke that seal, allowing us inside . . . but hold on. Could this be residual thoughts too?” Shildina wondered. Even as she was talking, the ofuda on the door suddenly burst into flames, and with a sound of grating stone, the door . . . just opened on its own.
“Oh dear!” said Shildina.
“What did you do?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. As soon as I realized there was a kind of residual energy here, it just opened on its own. The door may have actually been created with some kind of self-awareness,” Shildina theorized. The old man had said that it would open when the right time came. Maybe that time was now. Maybe it had opened as a reaction to our weapons. That seemed possible.
“Shildina does cause a strange sense of oppression in spirits like me,” Glass said. “Maybe she interfered with whatever is going on with this door?”
“That’s also possible, but then all you’d have to do is bring a soul eater here and the door would open,” I responded.
“Maybe those ofuda were to ward off soul eaters?” Kizuna suggested.
“If they were that specifically targeted, someone would have worked that out by now,” I countered. I still had to accept that this whole thing was likely extremely complicated. That sounded like a pain in the ass to me. “Whatever. If it’s open, then we get to check inside. We don’t need to think about how it happened.”
“I guess not! Let’s just get to the good stuff!” Kizuna enthused.
“Filo would have loved to check this out,” I commented. She loved to explore anything—even just people’s houses.
“Indeed, she would. I remember when she explored Melty’s house from top to bottom,” Raphtalia reminisced. I nodded in reply, checking inside the grotto as we talked. It looked pretty . . . moldy. I took another step inside and looked around. There were shelves lined with all sorts of items and treasure chests sitting around. Far in the back there was a big fan, which definitely stood out. It depicted a large catfish across its surface. It was a pretty dramatic piece of art. It looked ready to start swimming at any moment.
“Is that a fan for . . . suppressing earthquakes?” Raphtalia asked.
“It looks like that old Keystone Fan,” Kizuna pondered.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I gave a bunch of materials to Romina, a while back now, and that’s the name of the fan she made from them. She used this big catfish I caught,” Kizuna explained.
“That was a pretty powerful weapon,” Glass recalled. “I used it for quite a while.” She proceeded to reach up and touch the fan on the wall, and her own vassal weapon fan flashed. It seemed as if her weapon copy had been activated. Glass proceeded to check the abilities it offered.
“It has an equip effect a lot like the Keystone Fan. I guess it’s what you and Kizuna would call a direct upgrade,” Glass confirmed.
“Okay. How is it compared to the True Demon Dragon weapons?” I asked.
“It has quite a lot of similar capabilities, so I think picking between choosing one or the other based on circumstances would work quite nicely,” Glass confirmed.
“Hey. If it’s an upgrade of the Keystone Fan, there’s only one thing I want to know it can do!” Kizuna said, obviously thinking Glass would know what she was talking about. Glass nodded, closed her eyes . . . gripped the fan tightly . . . and the fan turned into a sword!
“Do you mean the Wave Sealing Sword?” Glass said.
“Can you use that sword in battle?” I asked.
“Yes. As a special exception, I am able to use this sword,” she replied. It seemed like a weapon capable of transforming in accordance with the intent of its wielder. That was a first.
“The name makes it sound pretty suited to our purposes,” I commented.
“The waves caused the fusion of the worlds, which means worlds are crashing together, right?” Glass said. “Think of it like a tidal wave coming after an earthquake.” She made a good point. They had likely been called the “waves” due to them being a disaster that comes again and again, like waves lapping at the same shore. The monsters spilled out in waves from the cracks too. The tidal waves from which the name likely originated also occurred after an earthquake. That made me think that maybe this was a weapon created to resist the waves by suppressing and sealing their two causal factors.
“What skills and abilities does it have?” I asked.
“Circle Dance Reverse Formation: Lawless Counter and Fan Dance: Snow Plum . . . and then soul sympathy enhancement and soul sympathy maintenance extension,” Glass replied.
“They don’t mean much to me from just the names,” I admitted.
“Indeed. I’ll give them a—very careful—trial run outside,” Glass said. She proceeded to leave the Holy Tool Grotto and unleash a skill.
“Circle Dance Reverse Formation: Lawless Counter!” The fan unleashed the skill as though repelling something away . . . but after that, nothing seemed to happen. An uncomfortable silence fell across the group.
“Anything?” I finally asked.
“No . . .” Glass replied.
“The name suggests some kind of counter skill,” Kizuna added helpfully.
“Yeah, I thought that too. I mean, it’s right there in the name,” I replied. Some of the games I played had counters where you stopped an incoming enemy’s attacks and then stole their weapon and used it for yourself. “How about someone throws some magic at you, and if you counter it, we’ll know we’re on the right track,” I suggested.
“That’s no different from what you normally do in battle,” Glass replied with a smooth verbal counter. “If I want to just flick someone’s magic back at them, I’m sure I could do it without this skill.” Glass had indeed repelled magic with her fan in the past, now that I thought about it. It was a technique from her style, so I had been told.
“Maybe it can repel support and debuff magic then. Let’s hope that works,” I said.
“You might be right. Can someone use some? Kizuna, do you have any ofuda with you?” Glass asked.
“Hmmm. Yeah, I do,” Kizuna replied. She took one out and started to prepare to unleash some magic. The magic in our world was far more convenient than this. We didn’t need any ofuda or anything like that. But we were left with little choice but to use them now, due to not being able to use our magic here.
“It’s a waste of an ofuda,” I said. “I’ll use some of my magic; it can recharge if I let the accessory gem take a break. I’ll try some light support magic, so try and repel it.” I could apply Way of the Dragon Vein, using a gemstone as a medium to artificially recreate the magic of this world.
“Very well. Please wait a moment, though. I can’t use it again yet,” Glass said. So we sat on our hands, waiting for Glass to be able to use the skill that might reflect magic. Finally, she spoke again. “Okay, I’m ready now. Send it over whenever you are!” I applied Way of the Dragon Vein to the gemstone and launched some of the artificially activated magic at Glass.
“Circle Dance Reverse Formation: Lawless Counter!” Glass shouted. The magic that I had unleashed hit the fan just before it hit Glass, turning into a glowing ball of light and getting knocked away—right back at me. I let it hit me, and the support magic was cast on me instead.
“From the name, then, it does seem to be a magic-reflecting skill . . . Glass has already been able to reflect attack magic, but this means she can reflect support magic too,” I surmised.
“That’s right. It seems to require quite a lot of time before it can be used again. I won’t be able to use it in rapid succession,” she reported. Being able to reflect support magic did sound pretty useful, but now we had to worry about a long cool down. That said, we’d basically found exactly what we were looking for almost as soon as we got here.
“This is definitely something we can work with. Now we have a chance to deal with their support magic nullification,” I said. There was still the issue of whether she could repel enhanced magic, but we’d cross that bridge when we came to it.
“Next, Fan Dance: Snow Plum. I see. This is how you trigger it,” Glass said. She proceeded to spread the fan and then begin dancing while transforming her weapon into the sword. It immediately felt like something shot past me. It was a lot like the Sanctuary from Ritual Magic or a cursed skill.
“It feels a lot like Sanctuary from Ritual Magic,” Sadeena said, responding as I had surmised.
“I was thinking the same thing. We need to check exactly what it’s doing . . . Glass, are you finished yet?” I asked. The windup for the skill seemed excessively long.
“The explanation I am seeing just tells me to keep doing the same motions. I’ll try stopping for a moment,” Glass explained. As soon as she stopped dancing, whatever she had been creating went away too.
“A skill that’s only active while you are dancing . . .” I pondered out loud.
“I checked my status, and it looked like we were getting a boost,” Kizuna said.
“That means everyone around Glass gets a power-up so long as she keeps dancing,” I said. Both of these could be useful, but they were going to be murder to use effectively. After all, Glass was primarily an attacker. We didn’t need her dancing around in support at the back—that could also be super risky. Still, finding the magic-reflecting skill was definitely a good day’s work.
“Quite amazing! Right, little Raphtalia? Little Shildina?” Sadeena enthused.
“Indeed. We practically tripped over the very thing we were looking for,” Raphtalia said.
“However, I’m worried about practically applying it,” I commented. S’yne’s sister had fired off her support magic without so much as a second thought . . . That long cool down was going to be hard to overcome. It wouldn’t really help if things descended into a game of tag with buffs and debuffs again. Not just me but anyone who could use life force already had the ability to repel attack magic too. “We need to make it easier to handle, or it isn’t going to do us much good.”
“Indeed . . . this is the kind of skill that you need to have ready in a moment of crisis,” Glass agreed. I wondered for a moment if there was anything we could do.
“I guess we just have to continue the investigation,” I said. In that moment, S’yne’s stomach gave a serious hunger rumble. She at least had the decency to flush a little.
“I’m feeling—” S’yne started.
“Lady S’yne—food. Naofumi, Naofumi, your food,” her familiar managed to impart.
“Who are you, Filo?” I shot back. “We can eat later!” She seemed a little embarrassed to be so hungry, yet she still drew attention to it. I was also less than pleased about her asking for food from me.
“Anyone have any wine?” Sadeena asked.
“I’ve got some ancient brew right here. It came from a sunken ship in Melromarc,” Shildina replied.
“It can’t be intact if you found it down there! You drunkards!” I shouted.
“If they are drunkards, you’re the super drunkard, Naofumi!” Kizuna quipped.
“I’ll remember you said that, Kizuna!” I shot back. I wondered again why Kizuna was so eager to grab onto jokes about that. I was sure she had lots of fun in life, but I’d teach her that a big mouth could lead to disaster.
We continued to explore the Holy Tool Grotto. I came across a hoe covered with various decorations and a blade with something black on it that definitely wasn’t rust. That was pretty weird. It almost made me wonder if the ancestors who kicked all this off were influenced by stories from someone summoned from another world.
Putting that aside, we started to pull some gear with really Japanese-sounding names from the chests—things like Shichishito, a sword; Okitsu Kagami, a mirror; and Chikaheshi no Tama, a jewel. Most of them were in bad shape, however, and some were completely busted.
“These are like those sacred treasures from home, don’t you think?” Kizuna commented.
“Something is a little different about them. Maybe that’s why they weren’t out on display,” I mused. Kizuna was talking about the Imperial Regalia of Japan and other Japanese treasures from lore, mainly comprising of the Kusanagi no Tsurugi sword, the Yata no Kagami mirror, and the Yasakani no Magatama jewel. If these had been the real thing, it would have made them incredibly powerful weapons . . . but even for knockoffs, they looked pretty decent. If I recalled the lore correctly, the Chikaheshi no Tama had been a jewel that led vengeful spirits and the souls of the departed to the other side—and we were dealing with leading the resurrected, the Vanguards of the Waves, to where their souls were supposed to be. I hoped it was something created with this situation in mind. I then picked it up and took a closer look at it. I was unable to get much data within the range of my appraisal abilities, so I decided it would be faster to just weapon-copy the Okitsu Kagami.
Okitsu Kagami: Hetsu Kagami
<abilities locked> equip bonus: skill: “Release Rebound,” curse attack resistance (medium), relay mirror, support magic visual aid (medium)
special effect: magic power increase (medium), curse resistance (medium), magic power consumption reduction (medium), magic incantation (medium), warding, anti-evil spirits, soul vision, SP healing (medium), drain nullified
The effects looked very good when the abilities were unlocked, but as a weapon right now, it was basically an upgrade to the Soul Eater Shield. It couldn’t reach the heights of the Spirit Tortoise Carapace Mirror or the True Demon Dragon Mirror. For better or worse, it felt like a weapon closely related to Glass and her abilities.
“It has a skill called Release Rebound on here. I bet that’s similar to the skill you were trying out back there, Glass,” I said.
“It sounds like we’ve achieved what we came here to do,” Glass said.
“Yeah, but I can’t say my mind is at ease. Just to be sure, Raphtalia, you copy this sword too,” I instructed.
“Okay . . . here we go. I have a similar skill, Release Evade, if that means anything,” she reported. Someone had been collecting gear with skills of a similar type, from the look of it.
“The issue would be we don’t have anyone who uses a jewel as a weapon. I guess this one is for Therese,” I said. It was a bit degraded, but some careful work and it could make a nice weapon for her. I’d work it into the accessory I was already making for her and create a new weapon entirely.
“That seemed too easy . . .” Raphtalia commented, always looking for the cloud around the silver lining.
“I know what you mean.” In this case I agreed with her. “Something is bugging me about all this. We didn’t find anything Kizuna can use with her Hunting Tool either.”
“I noticed that,” Kizuna quipped. “I would have liked some new gear too.” I looked over the stuff we had found again as we complained. The most promising—and intact—one was the Seismic Suppression Fan. We’d have to let Romina take a look at them all once we got back.
“They have degraded over the long years they have been abandoned here, but they can still be used as weapons. We should give them to those who don’t have vassal weapons,” Glass suggested.
“Who here can use fans or swords though?” I pondered, my gaze naturally drifting over to Shildina.
“Oh dear!” she exclaimed.
“Pick it up and give it a practice swing,” I suggested. Glass passed over the Seismic Seal Fan that she had copied hers from. Shildina proceeded to turn the fan into a sword, just like Glass had done, and then give it a few swings. She looked pretty competent with a sword. It also looked a little like she was dancing. She’d been the miko in Q’ten Lo, so she must have taken part in festivals and stuff like that.
“You look pretty good with that in your hands, little Shildina. When I was a miko in Q’ten Lo, all that dancing was nothing but a pain in my sweet butt,” Sadeena bemoaned.
“Liar. I was compared to you all the time,” Shildina shot back, looking and sounding pretty sensitive about the subject. They spent a lot of time together now, but they still seemed to have plenty of issues boiling between them.
“It’s all just passed down by word of mouth. I don’t like that kind of thing,” Sadeena said. For all her complaining, however, I could see Sadeena dancing with ease. At the coliseum in Zeltoble, she had basically danced through our attacks.
“Is that all we’re going to find?” I asked.
“Hold on . . .” Shildina muttered, placing a hand on her fan—which was currently still a sword. “There are some residual feelings here. I sense the same thing in the other weapons.”
“Meaning you can oracle them up for us?” I asked.
“No . . . I can’t bring that kind of power to bear right now . . . but this type of residual energy feels like you, Glass,” Shildina reported.
“Me?” Glass replied, puzzled. So now we had residual energy that was like Glass.
“You mean like how the Past Heavenly Emperor looked like Raphtalia?” I asked. Shildina looked at me and shook her head.
“I don’t mean they have similar faces. There’s a lot I don’t know about spirits. But this quality I am feeling from it . . . It’s not her, not identical, but seems to have some strong connection to her,” Shildina explained. I, for one, didn’t really have a clue what she was talking about. “There isn’t a personality stored here. It’s not that strong. But there is a powerful intent to do . . . something. It’s a very strange case, that’s for sure.”
“Can you skip to the end here? What do you want to do?” I said briskly.
“Okay. Glass, I want to use my oracle powers to possess you,” Shildina responded.
“Hold it.” Kizuna was the first to respond. “That’s that pretty horrible thing you did to one of Miyaji’s allies when you were saving me, right?” During the fight to recover Kizuna, Shildina had used her oracle powers to bind one of Miyaji’s women, a spirit, taking possession of her by force and siphoning off her strength. Even I’d not been all that comfortable with it. No wonder I sometimes found myself thinking of her like a soul eater. If that was what she wanted to do to Glass, we might have to proceed with care.
“That’s right. I can’t get ahold on this residual energy right now. But if I’m in possession of a similar energy, I might be able to call the two together,” Shildina explained.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Kizuna asked, still on her guard.
“I’m not going to suck her dry like I did that enemy. It will drain her considerably though,” Shildina replied.
“Very well,” Glass said after a pause. “I think we should give it a try.”
“Glass?!” Kizuna exclaimed.
“What we need right now is the same hunger for strength that Naofumi and his allies already possess. Without it, we won’t be able to keep anyone safe,” Glass replied. Her face was filled with determination as she talked Kizuna down. “This is just an experiment. It isn’t going to kill me. It isn’t even her first time doing this on a person.” There might have been some issues with consent in regard to that last part, but still. “If I’m not willing to risk my own life, even just a little, it feels like I’m not going to reach the information I desire. Kizuna, I completely understand your worries. But will you let us try this?”
“It sounds like you really want this, Glass . . . but just don’t take things too far,” Kizuna finally responded. Glass nodded in agreement, and then both she and Kizuna turned back to Shildina.
“Shildina, please go ahead,” Glass said.
“Very well. I’ll give it a try,” Shildina replied. Having received consent, Shildina turned her oracle powers toward Glass. Shildina was muttering some kind of incantation, but I couldn’t make out any of the words. Sadeena was watching the scene with a perplexed look on her face.
“Sadeena?” Raphtalia asked.
“What’s up?” I said, almost at the same time.
“Oh my. Can I help you?” Sadeena replied.
“You just have a strange expression on your face,” I responded.
“I saw it too. Is something the matter?” Raphtalia added.
“I mean, I wouldn’t say something is the matter . . .” Sadeena trailed off, watching Shildina as she started performing the ritual. I looked at Sadeena’s face again. She rarely dropped her guard and talked about her past with me, but based on what I knew . . .
“Is it something you can’t say in front of Shildina?” I guessed.
“Hmmm. I could just say it, and if she overhears us, then that’s that . . . but I’m worried she would take it the wrong way,” Sadeena responded. She has suffered mockery in her past for being unable to use the powers of the oracle. Of course, as she exceeded most people in everything other than that, it had likely been the only thing anyone who wanted to mock her could find fault with.
On the other hand, Shildina was the daughter that Sadeena’s parents had conceived in order to replace Sadeena as the water dragon’s miko priestess. As she had been raised, she was constantly being compared to her absent older sister. It gave her a complex that bordered on pure hatred, but Shildina had also possessed the oracle powers that Sadeena had lacked.
Now here Shildina was, trying to further expand her abilities as an oracle, further demonstrating an incredible talent that Sadeena did not possess. Sadeena would probably win in a straight-up brawl, but Shildina was strong too. Personally speaking, I was starting to consider the two of them pretty much on the same level.
“Mr. Naofumi, it sounds like you know what’s going on here. Can you tell me about it later?” Raphtalia asked.
“Oh my! Little Raphtalia, you want to know what’s getting me down? No, that’s not allowed! It’s too embarrassing!” Sadeena quietly slipped back behind her walls, using humor to cover her true feelings.
“Raphtalia, Sadeena doesn’t want to talk about it, so let’s leave things at that. If you really want to know, you’ll have to persuade Sadeena to tell you,” I said.
“Okay . . . I guess that makes sense,” Raphtalia replied, a little sullen.
“Oh no. Now little Raphtalia is going to be ‘persuading’ me, is she?” Sadeena joked. Based on her reaction, I’d say she would probably share the details with Raphtalia later, who probably wouldn’t be all that surprised by what was revealed either.
“It’s about to start . . . I’ve forced this on my enemy before, but I want to make it as easy as possible on you, so please come toward me,” Shildina said. Glass responded positively, reaching out toward Shildina’s extended hand and then taking it. A brilliant light flashed out . . . and then Glass was standing there alone. She looked to have a bit more vigor in her cheeks than she did normally. She wasn’t semitransparent either.
“This is . . . quite something,” Glass breathed, looking down at her hands and checking over her body.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“It’s so amazing. I feel foolish for not having done it before now. I feel . . . omniscient, almost. It’s very dangerous, that’s for sure. But never having tried this before was stupid, nothing else,” Glass explained.
“You really think so?” I asked. “Where’s Shildina?”
“Oh dear! Sweet Naofumi, can I help you with something?” Glass’s mouth was moving, her body tilting its head, but Shildina’s voice was coming out. The two didn’t match up at all. She was making the same kind of half-asleep face that Shildina often made. It felt strange to see that on Glass.
“This is kind of weird to watch, but . . . I have no idea why you think it’s so amazing, not at all,” Kizuna commented.
“Kizuna, you should give it a try yourself,” Glass replied.
“What’s happening with permission to use weapons?” I asked. That side of things was likely to get complicated, with the fan vassal weapon thrown into the mix too.
“I’ll try and make this easy for you to understand, sweet Naofumi,” Shildina responded. With that, Glass shifted from being a corporeal being to a semitransparent Glass and semitransparent Shildina placed over top of each other. Shildina was holding the fan, her hands over Glass’s own.
“It’s like I’m myself . . . and also Glass at the same time. Glass, now I’m going to try using you like the floating shield that Naofumi always uses. You just swing the fan like you always do. I’m the physical body here, so you don’t worry about anything. Just act normal,” Shildina instructed. With that, Glass floated up into the air and started to look like a ghost hovering behind Shildina. Glass made some hesitant noises and then started to move the fan vassal weapon. It left her hand and started to move like a Float Shield. But it really just looked like the barely visible Glass was moving the vassal weapon around. She seemed to be able to move it pretty nimbly too.
“We can also do this,” Shildina said, taking up her sword herself and dancing around with it as a counterpoint to Glass’s attacks. “Sweet Naofumi, give us something to hit. Think of Glass as a ghost or like a floating fan.”
“Sure, okay . . .” I replied, not entirely sure what I was getting myself into. I readied my mirror, and Glass and Shildina started to hammer on it with their dance attacks. The attacks from the fan were the biggest threat, so I took them on my body and then used a Float Mirror to repel further strikes. Glass’s attacks clattered against the mirror, and then I redirected Shildina’s sword before trying to grab Glass . . . but I passed right through her. Shildina proceeded to change her sword into the fan—
“Circle Dance Empty Formation: Moon Break!” Shildina shouted and used a skill that I’d seen Glass use in the past. It was a vertical slice with a rounded moon shape around it. Shildina could use Glass’s skills now too?!
In my amazement, I barely caught it on my mirror.
“Let me have a go too!” Glass said excitedly. “Circle Dance Destruction Formation: Turtle Carapace Cracker!”
“Okay, okay!” I was already pinned down by Shildina’s attack and Glass proceeded to unleash one too. I was able to stop it on the Floating Mirror, but one of the mirrors shattered.
“We can apply pressure like this and use skills in quick succession. What do you think?” Shildina asked.
“That’s strong, for sure,” I replied. It was like fighting two versions of Glass at once. They had only used skills during this casual test, but if they could use magic too, then the power of this technique could not be underestimated. Shildina already had all sorts of unique magic tricks of her own.
“You still managed to block everything, sweet Naofumi,” Shildina commented.
“That’s my role in battle, after all. I can use Float Mirror too, so long as I see things coming. That said, being able to unleash two skills at once is definitely a force to be reckoned with,” I responded.
“Oh my! Shildina and Glass just got a big power-up,” Sadeena said from the sidelines. Raphtalia was nodding too.
“This is more than just the two of you attacking at the same time, correct?” Raphtalia confirmed.
“Yes. I’ve checked my status, and it has combined completely with Shildina’s,” Glass replied. Which meant they had Shildina’s level combined with Glass’s status from energy. If this new pair got serious in battle, it would be quite the sight to see.
“The issue seems to be consumption of energy. It’s not going to be easy to keep fighting like this for extended periods. Even pounding a few soul-healing waters won’t let us use this for long,” Shildina said.
“Wow . . . healing using soul-healing water won’t help? Maybe we should try using some earth crystals on Shildina,” I pondered out loud. Testing my suggestion, I discovered that using earth crystals while Glass was possessed turned them into energy. If we combined soul-healing water with earth crystals, we could create a new healing potion specifically for Shildina that would extend her possessed state.
“So we can’t touch Glass?” Kizuna asked. I reached out to confirm it and my hand passed right through her.
“At least . . . not right now,” Glass stated.
“I bet I can if I do this,” I replied, focusing life force in my hand and then trying to grab her arm again. This time it worked. “I thought that would do it. I’d heard that life force and elemental attacks can still affect a spiritual body.” It probably wouldn’t be a significant issue, as any attacker would have to actually be able to grab her first. With Glass attacking with the floating weapon, Shildina following up, and both of them using skills at the same time and magical support, they were going to be powerful. The two of them working together should be able to pull off all sorts of stuff.
“That should cover the combat side of things. Let’s take a look at what we’re really here for,” Shildina said. She reached out to the weapon found in the Holy Tool Grotto, placed her hand on it, and started to read the information from within it. Then Glass narrowed her eyes in concentration before suddenly grabbing her head as though she was about to collapse.
“Glass! Are you okay?!” Kizuna exclaimed.
“Yes, I’m fine . . . No problem. Shildina is just letting the residual intent from the weapon flow into me,” she explained, putting up her palm to indicate she was okay. “It is just like Shildina said . . . but I do sense intent, an intellect behind this. It feels very strange.” After a short while, perhaps having completely collected all of the intent from the weapon, Shildina removed her hand and turned to the ghost-like Glass.
“Well?” Shildina asked.
“I see it now . . . All sorts of knowledge and techniques have come into me,” Glass replied.
“So let’s show sweet Naofumi and the others,” Shildina suggested.
“Good idea,” Glass agreed. “Kizuna, Naofumi, please take a look at this. This is the technique found in the weapon that my master said was lost.” Glass spread her fan, and her awareness merged with Shildina, ready for me to provide some magic at any time. I obliged by incanting some support magic and firing it off.
“Secret Circle Dance: Pulse Rebound! Into . . . Circle Dance Reverse Formation: Lawless Counter!” Glass proceeded to repel my support magic, then catch up with it and use Lawless Counter to further adjust its direction. “This Secret Circle Dance seems to be a technique. Adding some power and unleashing it should allow it to be performed in rapid succession . . . if I can master it.”
“Okay then,” I said, impressed. If she could do that without a cool down, we would really be getting somewhere. That was exactly the kind of technique we had come here looking for.
“There are lots of other techniques and knowledge in here. It’s pretty incredible,” Glass said excitedly, shooting off a few of her new techniques to try them out.
“What kind of knowledge?” I asked.
“Let me see . . . The location of the country called Amachiha, for a start, and what kind of place it was are filling my mind like my own memories. The endemic plant life and culture of the place . . . it definitely seems like it was the Demon Dragon’s country. We should search for that next,” Glass suggested.
“Sounds like quite the haul then. All thanks to Shildina,” I said.
“Yay! Sweet Naofumi, heap more praise on me! More!” Shildina laughed. I proceeded to do so, thanking her and petting her on the head. But that caused Glass to put her own hands on her head, somewhat uncomfortably, and blush red.
“Okay, okay! Can we split up now?” Glass asked, flustered. She must have been feeling what I was doing to her body as well.
“Okay,” Shildina agreed and ended the oracle state just as Glass had asked her to. Glass became corporeal again and landed on the ground . . . then tilted her head.
“Hold on. The details of how to use that technique have faded from my head . . .” Glass said. Shildina raised one hand and placed what looked like a soul into an ofuda. Writing appeared on the ofuda . . . and it turned into something like what she had used to call back the Past Heavenly Emperor. I stared at it for a moment and realized I was able to appraise it.
Oracle Ofuda
Quality: divine. A collection of residual energy and soul fragments. Used in a special ritual.
That explained how she made those things.
“That’s because I was using my oracle powers through you, Glass. Once we ended that state, it makes sense none of it would stay in your head,” Shildina explained.
“So these are the powers of an oracle . . . a very strange experience,” Glass marveled. Even among my motley crew, Shildina had perhaps the strangest powers, I’d give her that.
Then, with a moan, Glass staggered again.
“Are you okay? Glass?” Kizuna moved over to her and offered some support.
“You need to watch out for the comedown,” Shildina advised.
“Indeed. This is the price I have to pay. We will need to be careful when applying this in the future,” Glass responded.
“That’s our issue,” I said. “Right now, Glass possessed by Shildina is the only one who can repel the cancellation magic.” From what I had seen so far, it wasn’t going to be something we could just replicate on a whim. We needed to break the whole thing down or we wouldn’t be able to copy it easily.
“If I can perform it in front of my master, that should help with an analysis. After that, I’ll just have to practice as hard as I can,” Glass stated.
“I wish it was easier to learn. Like a skill,” Kizuna moaned.
“Kizuna. You are still so lazy at heart, aren’t you?” Glass admonished. She sounded like Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu, back when they had complained about having to train. It was going to be important to drill this technique into everyone who could learn it in order to have it ready to respond to anyone using cancellation magic.
“You and I in particular, Kizuna, are forced into defending when fighting humans. We can really benefit from learning this kind of redirecting and evasive abilities,” I said.
“I know, I know,” she replied. S’yne, meanwhile, had clearly watched the technique Glass unleashed carefully and was already trying to copy it. She had her familiar firing off some magic and was intently trying to send it back.
At that moment, the Raph-chan face icon popped up in my field of view.
“Hey, perfect timing. That’s the signal from Raph-chan,” I said.
“Does that mean the two masters are reaching the peak of their battle?” Glass asked.
“Looks like it. If they’ve got that out of their system, we should report everything that’s happened here and have them analyze that technique,” I said.
“Right! We all need to learn it as quickly as possible!” Raphtalia agreed. Glass nodded. “It does feel like things went very smoothly for once.” I had to agree with that sentiment—however, if Shildina and her super-useful skills hadn’t been here, we wouldn’t have acquired half as much.
“Be careful what you wish for, and all that. We still need to keep our guard up,” I cautioned.
“I understand,” Raphtalia replied.
“I think you’re reading too much into this. Can’t we just enjoy having been powered up a bit?” Kizuna asked, as easygoing as ever. I wanted to remind her that nothing was as expensive as a free meal. We needed to be ready to pay the price for this, whenever it might come.
“Crack a smile, little Naofumi. This is good luck,” Sadeena said.
“Yay! Praise me, praise me more!” Shildina added.
“I’m only basing this on past experience! Come on, move it!” I said. And so we recovered the lost technique for handling cancellation magic and headed back toward where the old man and old lady were fighting.
The high level of skills that the old lady and old man unleashed was creating an exchange of one powerful move after another. There was maybe even more to see here than a fight between heroes with holy or vassal weapons. It was like watching a bout from a fighting game playing out before us—complete with all sorts of crazy shouts and cries as each move was unleashed.
The old lady landed a long combo on the old man, ending it with a throw. The old man was back on his feet at once and retorted with his own throw combo into a launcher.
“Hah! You really are obsessed with that fan, aren’t you? Well, I’ve stolen your style already!” the old lady crowed, snatching a fan from one of the old man’s students, spreading it wide and attacking. “Observe! I’ve already created a new attack incorporating it! Hengen Muso Fan Style: Paper Blizzard!” The old lady created a ball of life force, then hit it with her stolen fan to create a blizzard of life force that blew the old man away.
“You think that will stop me? Circle Dance: Divine Wind!” The old man proceeded to blow away the life force attack from the old lady. “Don’t think you’re the only one who can steal attacks either! Circle Dance: Turtle Carapace Cruncher!” Then he launched what looked like a life-force-based attack himself—and a lot like Glass’s own Turtle Carapace Cracker skill. The two of them were fighting at an incredibly high level. I’d been told that Hengen Muso Style wasn’t picky about weapons, and here was the truth of that. The old lady was applying one attack after another to her weapon.
“Amazing! Drawing in techniques from other styles and immediately creating new techniques! That’s my master!” Glass enthused as she and all the other students from her style watched the battle intently.
“I think we’ll leave it here,” the old man said with a nod.
“Hah! We’ll settle this next time,” the old lady replied. Thus, the fight came to an end with the beaten-up and battered old lady and old man shaking hands. It seemed to have the desired effect too; hit with the passion of the old lady, the old man said all his concerns had been resolved. A pretty violent way to work out your issues, if you asked me.
“You have some potential! I would be willing to accept you as my student. Carry on and make Hengen Muso Style your own!” the old lady said.
“You learn so quickly, but I fear you might be too old already. But with some training I think you could become worthy to carry the name of my style!” the old man replied. Neither could understand the other and yet their words almost seemed to be getting through; I wasn’t all that impressed myself. The old man looked really pleased with himself, which I didn’t like either.
“Are you feeling better now?” I asked him.
“You bet,” he replied.
“Okay then. We went ahead and checked out the place you meant to take us,” I told him. Then we explained to them both the weapons and techniques that we found in the Holy Tool Grotto.
“Hmmm . . . from the sound of the technique, it could be similar to a lost Hengen Muso Style one. I would very much like to see it performed,” the old lady said.
“Yes. Glass! Show us this lost technique,” the old man said. Shildina used her oracle powers to possess Glass again, and Glass proceeded to perform the variety of residual techniques for the old man and old lady. There were numerous ones along the way that I really had no clue how she was pulling off, and it made me feel again that my own skills were rough and unpolished. The old lady and old man had become transfixed, childlike looks on their faces as they observed the whole performance. Glass was similar at times. Had she brought us to a den of combat fiends?!
“Quite an interesting flow of life force! Like this, maybe? No—” the old lady said.
“Hah! Dance like this, creating a flow of planna, and then apply some strength—” the old man cut in. The two of them were already starting to try and copy the movements of the possessed Glass. It looked like they wanted to learn these new techniques as quickly as possible.
“They’ve got the key points down already, much faster than us. It will only be a matter of time before they learn them,” Raphtalia commented.
“Looks like it. Once those two old goats can perform them, they should be able to teach us,” I said hopefully. The old lady was a good teacher, I’d give her that. I leaned closer to defense, so in many cases I was basically teaching myself. S’yne had taught me a few things, just casually. That was about it.
Looking at them again, the two old masters were indeed getting the hang of the techniques much faster than us. It was easy to learn a skill but much better to be able to use something like a technique. This should greatly increase our options when it came to dealing with nullification attacks—exactly what we needed in the coming days.
While waiting for the old masters to finish their analysis, we focused our own efforts on learning the techniques as quickly as possible and returned to the castle.
After returning to the castle, we concentrated on hammering the techniques into our allies. Rishia and Ethnobalt had no complaints, and even Itsuki joined in without comment. L’Arc was a fighter by nature—a natural—and he looked pretty happy to have the old lady and old man doing some hands-on training. He still pissed me off by worrying about me stealing Therese from him though. I was too busy to worry about anything like that!
With the old lady and the old man both in the castle, the training area was now starting to overflow with their combined students. The Hengen Muso Style term “invasion of culture of other words” did pass through my head a few times . . . but I decided not to pay it too much mind. Kizuna, as expected, only managed to obtain a fairly half-hearted knowledge of how to use life force and how to release it. She hadn’t been as derelict in her duties as Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu had been, but until the waves started, she had just been a normal adventurer. Even after we left the last time, she had lived a pretty laid-back lifestyle, mainly just fishing and sometimes training with Glass.
“I can’t believe I have to join in this training that Ethnobalt is always doing,” Kizuna moaned.
“I kept on telling you to stop having so much fun and get some training done,” Glass admonished her.
“I was . . . just in my own way!” Kizuna responded.
“We seem to have a very different definition of ‘training,’” Glass said, her eyes cold. It sounded like Kizuna had really been letting loose.
“This is a serious issue for our upcoming battles. Stick with it and continue your training,” I said.
“What about you, Naofumi?!” Kizuna replied.
“I trained and acquired those techniques after leaving this world the last time. It was a pretty rough time, but I made them mine,” I told her. I’d mainly trained with Raphtalia and Atla back then. I felt a wave of nostalgia for a moment, thinking about how Atla’s attacks had helped me gain an understanding of the concept of life force. “Although I admit, it was a bit of a blow to find an energy-boost-type power-up method after learning life force,” I said.
“If you’ve got a power-up method, we don’t need this!” Kizuna exclaimed.
“Silence! The vassal weapons and holy weapons in this world might not even have it,” I retorted.
“Indeed. Once the analysis is complete, let’s have my master and Raphtalia’s train everyone,” Glass suggested. She seemed a lot happier with the situation after seeing how strong the old lady was.
“Learning the techniques from your style will be useful, Glass, but there’s no harm in having them learn Hengen Muso Style too. We need everyone in the castle to learn these abilities for the battles ahead!” I proclaimed. And so the research into these new techniques became our top priority.
Look at this chapter its soo looonng!