47 47

Elelaria rubbed her temples as she tried to dissuade Rainer from yet another idea relating to the Enchanter's Guild. It wasn't that he was naive, or stupid, he merely didn't care about most things. If anything was too troublesome, such as preventing people from abusing the Mana Crystals offered too freely by the Guild, he'd just write it off as an acceptable loss. While he assured her that she could assume the supply of Mana was 'unlimited', it was still hard to do so.

As it was only three days until the auction, she was a bit pressured to have the Guild ready to take in members and make connections.

"Okay, new plan. You tell me what you wish to accomplish with this Guild, and I'll handle the rest?"

"Why didn't you say that from the start? I mean it is your job to handle the background stuff."

Elelaria ground her teeth while wanting to yell 'it was you who argued with me!' but held back. There was no point in doing so and she didn't want to act so uncouth.

"Well?"

"Three things then: to advance Enchanting as a whole, to train Enchanters of our own, and then the less important to make money. I guess you can add a fourth or fifth," Rainer trailed off. This idea was looking better and better as frankly he found his love for magic didn't fully transfer to enchanting. Especially since all he was doing was copying, often poorly copying at that, it started to grate on him. He was still at a loss as how to create his own enchantments without a base or pieces from others.

Even with his Avatar doing the heavy lifting it wasn't as enjoyable as a craft. Especially since he still didn't know if [Draconic Enchanting] was dangerous, and therefore he couldn't use it.

In the past, he might have wanted to create a defense force as well, using the enchanted items to raise their Tier or bribe them but there was no point now. The combination of Kara's village and the enchanted Aura-cloaking bracelet meant he had a loyal - to Kara in any case - force. The disadvantage of not having Dungeons to level them was offset by Delilah's pack and a full source of enchanted items to help hunt with minimal risk. Plus his own abilities for being anywhere in the world so long as he had a target.

"And the fourth or fifth is?" Elelaria asked after a lengthy pause where his frankly no longer impressive but just annoying display of manipulation skills showed he wasn't paying attention. The spinning violet-colored elements lost their aesthetic appeal pretty quickly.

"I guess you can add a fourth or fifth," he repeated. "You are the Vice-Guildmaster after all."

"Oh… Oh." Elelaria now had an excited grin on her face. This was exactly what she was after in joining his service in the first place. She had to admit a bit of boredom at not having to secretly work for her own agenda but perhaps this could be more entertaining in its own way?

Elelaria ignored the look of boredom on Rainer's face as she pushed him towards yet another visiting dignitary. The auction would be starting in two days and she had suggested hosting a party for them.

The day right before the auction would be set for them getting their money in order as a partial list of the items for sale was revealed. Elelaria had no doubt they'd be trying to liquidate some of the assets they brought once it was shown beyond the few that were revealed for attracting attention in the first place.

She had wisely suggested for herself to be his escort rather than either of the two women by his side. Rainer may not be a jealous man, but he was an overprotective one. If any of the old men attending the meeting today stepped out of line, she knew exactly what Rainer would do over even a subtle comment or glance. Or what Kara would do. Or even Luna. Really, it was with supreme strangeness that only the talking Skeleton was a normal person among their group.

Elelaria didn't even want to get started on that weird shadow that was hanging around. Being told how delectable her hair was ran close to the strangest compliment she had ever received.

Which is why she was a far better choice. Apart from being familiar with these crowds, she was adept at dealing with them.

"Archon Nvos." A middle-aged man with the insignia of the Flameborne stepped forward.

Elelaria inwardly groaned at the challegening tone when he said 'Archon'. How is it only her grandfather had the good sense to fear this man on her arm? Were the rumors of him single-handedly ruining a century of war with a single sentence not spread yet? Or that he ignored enchantments against teleportation like they were decorations? Or did they think the rumors that reached their ears were exaggerations?

It was to her surprise that they made easy small talk. It was only now she noticed that this was Rainer's Avatar rather than him. She had enough understanding of the Avatar to know that he could put it on auto-pilot, which it looked like he did whenever the conversation switched to her. No wonder he had seemed little more than a functioning mannequin during some parts of the night.

"But still, to gather so many Mana Crystals in a single location, you mages from the far North are an interesting bunch."

"It is the difference that makes this new place so interesting to me."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about the literal defenses, the enchantments are quite impressive, but any defenses with a door only require someone to bring with them the proper key. Or take it and hold the key in a safe location. In any case, you have such an impressive lineup for the auction. I'm wondering if you would consider a contract with the Flameborne relating to creating Enchanted items?"

Elelaria felt her heart drop as she heard what that man said. She tried to awkwardly shuffle away but there was no escaping her current spot on Rainer's arm. This was her favorite dress. A 31st birthday gift in the form of an enchanted dress from her late mother. And now it would have brain matter all over it when Rainer slapped the man in front of her to death. Would it be inappropriate to ask that if her Lord kill him he leave no mess?

Her thoughts steered to how she could possibly turn a murder at this event into their advantage. But to her complete and utter surprise Rainer smiled amicably.

"Any business ventures related to the Guild can be discussed at another time. I'd rather not count my dragons before they hatch."

"Of course, of course," the Flameborne Mage Guild representative smugly said, Elelaria noting the stupid, overconfident man had no idea how close to death he just came and instead seemed pleased with himself.

"What the hell was that?" Elelaria asked once they were relatively alone. She ignored how she was chastising him for doing exactly as he should have. It was just too out of character. Did he miss the reference to the 'key' being a hostage?

"Delayed gratification," he said, mimicking his enchanted ring for blocking out sound with [Wind Manipulation].

"Meaning?"

"As soon as this auction is over I'm going to track him down and spread his ashes to the winds."

"Oh… well... that's very reasonable of you to wait until later."

"Thank you."

Elelaria sighed and took Rainer to meet more guests. This would be a long night.

"Rainer?"

"Yeah?" Rainer asked, a bit confused as Kara stared despondently at her tea. They were currently in the 'Chief's Hut' of the new village being built. He had offered them actual buildings but they seemed attached to their frankly poorly built huts. His Avatar was still at the party with Elelaria.

"I was spending some time with Sarah in [Sleep Learning]. Whenever she wants to take a break she usually makes a Tee-Vee and watches something. Though it seems it's hard to watch anything other than a Dee-Vee-Dee. I've been joining her on occasion. I find a break usually helps with my Aura and…"

Rainer raised an eyebrow as Kara rambled on about the shows she was watching. He hadn't seen her this nervous and blushing since when they first got together. He enjoyed a blushing Kara with twitching ears and didn't have any particular worry about the why. It was probably something silly. He just rubbed her ears as she continued, not really paying too much attention.

"Do you regret… being with me?"

Her question brought him out of his calm. So not something silly.

"What?"

"I mean… the first thing Francis wanted to do... And you are younger than me, and even younger than that if you go by your world's standards. And I saw on Sarah's Tee-Vee shows, that it was weird for your age, and then usually-"

"Kara, those are just fake stories." Rainer wasn't going to admit that it was weird for a 20-year-old him to have his future planned out.

"Rainer, I asked Sarah what age people got married in your world. She said it wasn't strange for them to be 25 or older. And that was based on an 80 year old lifespan. I inferred. I…when we got together in Nalmar I just assumed we'd be together forever. It was just natural to me and I don't want to push that on you if-"

Damnit Sarah, couldn't you sense the mood?

"Kara. You are being silly," Rainer said before quickly realizing how stupid that was to say. He pushed down her head as she was about to look up to him, likely a glare, and continued scratching her ears as she stared down at her tea.

"Do I seem like an normal Earthling to you?"

"How would I know?"

"Kara, when was the last time you've seen someone make me do something I didn't want to do? If I didn't want to 100% be with you, I wouldn't."

"Well Luna-"

"Luna doesn't count."

"That's right. How can Luna count?"

Rainer raised an eyebrow at that weird response. He thought her and Luna were getting along well. A bit too well if he was honest. He couldn't see Kara's face as she was still staring at her tea as he was standing behind her so he had no idea what she meant.

"Kara?"

"You could sleep with every woman in this city and when you tell Luna about it you'll get one of two responses: Did you get enough variety? Or she'll promise endless revenge for waking her up from a nap."

Rainer stifled a laugh down as this was definitely not the time. Nor was it a good time to mention they weren't currently in a city. Luna had no boundries of her own while being perfectly accepting of his for her. Putting those standards on anyone was not even close to fair and he'd never do so. Nor did he have any desire to.

"And?"

"And how can I compete with that?"

"Why would you have to compete with that?" Rainer asked, understanding why this whole thing happened. It was a reasonable worry if he was a normal person that wasn't utterly obsessed with Magic. If it wasn't for Kara or Luna, he'd probably be alone. Alone, alone.

"Because…"

"Because?"

"I don't know," Kara said with a long sigh and put her head on the table . Rainer manipulated an earthen chair and sat next to her, still scratching her ears. She eventually rested her head on his lap instead of the table.

"What's really the problem?"

"Doesn't it bother you that you never got to enjoy your Charisma? Sow your 'wild oats'? What is a wild oat anyways! You and your ridiculous Earthen metaphors!"

"Kara, you are looking at that backwards."

Kara just let out of muffled hum for him to explain.

"It is because of my high Charisma you can trust I'm perfectly happy where I am."

Another hum.

"I can have any woman I want."

An annoyed and disbelieving hum.

"And yet I don't. Because I'm not interested. Why would I be? I love magic and I love you. Why do I need anything else when I have already met someone like you? Is there any reason to fill up my life with empty sex? I enjoy my high Charisma with you all the time."

A less disbelieving hum. Rainer had to admit Kara acting shy again was enjoyable but went on.

"Do I resent you being around when I have Luna who'd let me sleep with anyone and not even comment on it? Of course not. It's not bad having someone possessive of me, you know?"

"Really?"

"Really."

"Is there any chance you can forget this whole conversation?" she said, still muffled into his lap. She suddenly felt very embarrassed. Something about becoming insecure about her relationship with Rainer due to Tee-Vee shows felt incredibly shameful. Plus, Rainer still hadn't gotten revenge for her teasing him about seeing her mother naked and getting everyone to join in.

She was screwed.

"I'll be replaying your blushing red face in my head for years to come."

Completely screwed.

"Rainer is Luna's," the Fairy mumbled from his jacket, not viewing their conversation worth fully waking up for.

"Of course he is," Kara said in a better mood, gently patting the part of the jacket Luna was in.

Rainer held a hand to his Avatar's back while Talvara stood off to the side - a look of focus on her he'd be hard pressed to see anywhere else.

While his Avatar worked on letting both Arcane Power and Void Will take half his Soul, his main body would function as the buffer - to be replaced by the [Sleep Learning] space when he did this for real - and would do his best to mimic the presence of it with [Soul Manipulation]. As well as controlling the general situation with an outside [Soul Manipulation]. He could always try and remove this crutch in the future.

Rainer grimaced as he put most of his focus on controlling the Avatar and damaging it's Soul. Seconds passed as Arcane Power and Mana opposite his Void Will merged closer into his Soul. He followed the path of the great sage but his goal was far different than becoming Flame-Touched.

Rainer focused on the fake-space in his Soul as a buffer, and used it as an anchor to stabilize the rest of his Soul.

The separate energies seemed more than content to stay to their own sides. He wondered if merging them in his Soul and recent advancements in resisting them did the trick. Along with his constant efforts of [Soul Manipulation] to stop any errant parts that tried to mingle with the other half.

[Avatar Control has reached level 5]

The improvement to [Avatar Control], came as a help, but it wasn't enough to change the situation.

But further pain, now in his body, changed that thought. Since they no longer collided in the area of his Soul, the energies started spreading into his body. Blood vessels burst as the energies both tried to dominate over his physical body, no different then the process of becoming 'Flame-touched', ignoring that there were two energies instead of one.

Rainer did his best to control his thoughts as he switched back to the main body and watched with [Arcane Revelation]. His eyes bulged as he saw the powerful grey energy forming when Arcane Power and Void Will collided in his body. [Arcane Invigoration] seemed to only make the situation worse.

But any further thoughts on that were interrupted as an impossible black light began to gather in his Soul in a repeat of the prior attempts. Talvara ended further efforts as both him and the Avatar vanished in a powerful [Void Call].

Rainer reappeared moments later, noting that if he had to choose a way to die, [Void Call] was the most pleasant method thus far.

Rainer quickly recovered the damage that occured to his Avatar's Soul, and therefore his.

When colliding with his Soul as the medium it produced the black light, but when colliding in his body it produced something else. Rainer shook his head as things seemed to have become more complicated than just balancing them in his Soul. Even that was tentative as he had to exert pressure with [Soul Manipulation] to keep them apart.

At least his efforts in resisting the effects of Arcane Power and Void Will seemed to have a positive effect.

"Let's go again then," Rainer said, excited at all the possibilities.

"Lovely."

"You should have seen his cramped face. It seems you were right, Guildmaster, he is nothing more than a weakling of little merit."

The Flameborne Guildmaster, Verne Semptar, listened with disinterest as the middle-aged man serving as one of his diplomats continued to prattle on. The moment he left the room the wooden chair he had once occupied vanished into an explosion of blue flame.

"Samuel," Verne growled out as a shadow left the corner of the room, "what the hell is this?"

"Whatever do you mean?" the tall cloaked man in the corner asked with 'confusion'.

"I mean, why is this stupid, fat fuck still alive?" he growled out.

"Well you-"

"If you say I missed burning him and only got the chair, I'll roast you alive instead."

"Clearly, Archon Nvos saw no need to kill him," Samuel corrected, his face showing no emotion despite his continued mocking.

Heat radiated from Verne's eyes as he stared at his partner.

"Easy love," Samuel said while chuckling and going over to massage the seated Guildmaster's shoulders, "there was always a chance it wouldn't happen."

"A small one."

"Yes, admittedly a small one. With what we've gathered since his appearance, Archon Nvos is shown to violently defend his companions from even the smallest insults, even if coming from a Crown Prince. His willingness and ability to kill a descended Divinity - albeit in an imperfect host - to rescue another. And he immediately rushed to the front-lines when a suicide attacker assaulted him despite no harm being done. And those are only the confirmed rumors. There is still the whole thing with Yazir's death.

"Our diplomat threatening his companions, even if indirectly, should have produced an explosive result. At the very least I expected some maiming."

"And that it didn't? Did not most all of our plans hinge on hanging the death of him over Nvos' head? Just looking at that sorry excuse for a Mage makes me want to burn him alive, how could he not have managed to annoy a powerful Magus with a temper? The stupid man even thought him being sent here was a sign of trust. Hah, a sign of trust in him annoying Nvos to death."

"We need to reassess. Plus, Nvos avoided bringing his current known lover. Perhaps he was aware of his own faults? And perhaps we must consider he truly represents the Far North and that his backing is real. So, he can't act too unbridled when it comes to their interests such as the Enchanter's Guild. The origin of the strange race that has been antagonizing the Taraniens as well as the one saved by Nvos is still unknown. It could mean all our plans other than a working relationship or total war have become useless."

"I'll attend the auction then." He had come secretly to the city precisely because he didn't want to overstate the importance of the Enchanter's Guild. But with evidence including the enchantment of and the physical building of the Guild itself leaning towards the Magus Nvos truly coming from the Far North, and therefore a possibly powerful background, that wasn't a good option anymore. His relationship with the Flame-Touched Goblin King of the North was troubling as well. And not just because of Verne's burning envy towards the achievement of the subhuman, unintelligent Goblin.

"From how he acts towards you, we can learn more."

Francis stared at the flying fortress' core with uninterrupted interest. It was a massive sphere taller than him by at least 10 feet. The concept that this fortress ran, along with the defenses, on the environment was an interesting one. The limit of this society wasn't energy but rather materials and the strength of the core - they would degrade quite quickly if made of only normal metal.

Prejudice towards Mages wasn't an issue here as enchanted cores were quickly unenchanted within hours and therefore pointless. Though Francis had to wonder how [Draconic Enchanting] would fare.

However he was sure of one thing: the Mana-Well could definitely replace the ambient Mana this core used. The other cores had been too small for him to see it clearly. The system of harnessing the ambient Mana was pretty close to the enchanted workstations Nalmar developed.

Francis nodded to himself. An academy of Magic that didn't fly simply shouldn't exist.

"Francis," Frederick approached him from beyond, joining him in staring at the core.

"Gramps."

"I would like to apologize for the last few days."

"There's no need."

His grandpa went on as if he hadn't heard that.

"You must understand, when I heard you rationalize that your Elemental would be having a 'Good Life', I lost it. How many times over a long millinium have I had to hear a similar offers towards myself, or about my children? Or about you?

"When you were captured, and when your rescue had led to your Father's death - it was his fault you were captured in the first place so don't blame yourself for my grandson's mistake - I had to wonder whether their offer of giving you a 'Good Life' would have been better. Sarah wouldn't have had to work hard to defend the family in the future as your father would still be alive. We would have finally been free from the council, for a time being at least, as I had no doubt this organization had some secret support from them.

"After all, my lifespan was coming to a close and I had exhausted all means. I could have keeled over that day for all I knew.

"But no. To compromise, to accept such a thing. It is not the Nvos way. It has never been my way. Nor has it ever been your sister's way. And I can tell it is not yours either."

"Damn right."

Frederick grinned at the response.

"So tell me about these elementals, and why you thought it was impossible to go and get your… child right away."

Francis stood at the highest tower of the fortress, a lack of a moon and an elsewhere impossibly thick belt of stars in the sky giving him the familiar feeling of not being anywhere near home.

He reached out his hand. Void Will answered his call and created a formless blade in his grasp. Sinking his mind into it, he reached out towards the Void. Out here in the real world, the Void resisted his attempts. The entirety of it stretched far too wide and remained far too large to be bent as easy as before.

But his control over the Void overcame that.

The original passive edge took on a fearsome aura, and with a single swing the space in front of him contorted, a black scar left for a brief moment before vanishing.

[Skill Gained: Blade of the Void lvl 1/10]

[Title Gained: Reality-Cutter]

[Experience Gained: Deferred, Deferred]

Francis nearly lurched forward as space snapped back together, replacing the part that had ceased to exist and taking the nearby air towards the former scar with it.

It was far stronger than he could have imagined.

The blade returned to its passive state after the swing, lacking it's reality-cutting power from before.

Francis cast an [Arcane Blade] with his other hand, maintaining both with little effort. Could the [Arcane Blade] be improved in the same way? A thought for a rejoined him.

He let out a deep sigh as he looked over the landscape. Sleeping with random Mages wasn't helping fill the hole in his Soul anymore. He wasn't sure it ever did; he merely did it because it's what it made sense to do. What any 20-year-old with his attribute-enhanced appearance should want to do. Technically, he had gone through a break-up. And the idea of making his creator feel guilty appealed to him.

But none of those minor things mattered now. His previous acts of revenge just seemed petty. All that was left was a profound emptiness that the Void Will in his body seemed happy to fill and make worse. Rainer needed to hurry up and figure out how to rejoin them.

He looked down, thinking of the Divinity following empire on the other side of this planet. Could he gain some more Void Will through sacrifices of Divine Power to Talvara? It was something to ask her. Questioning the innocence of the followers he planned to kill wasn't a plan. He wasn't sure he cared anymore. They were against Magic and the freedom of Mages, so they were his enemies. There was no need to think of anything else.

Rather than sex and magic, should he fill the hole in his heart with blood?

"Rainer, I've been thinking," Kara said, turning to face Rainer from where she had been silently leaning on him. Snow gently fell on their shoulders, Rainer taking some time with Kara while avoiding the preparations going on in the Enchanter's Guild.

"Hmm?"

"All this time spent with my family, and my tribe… and a Mage's issues with fertility… and starting a family in the future… and for the future of my people… I… I was thinking…"

Rainer froze as he felt a pit in his stomach.

Kara gave him a weird glance before her eyes widened.

"No, no, no, I meant - not that. I didn't mean that. How could you think I meant that?" She sighed before shaking her head and knowing that if she could infer that of course he could too, "Why do we always have these misunderstandings between us?"

Rainer chuckled, relieved as he put an arm around Kara.

"Maybe we are cursed? Or maybe I'm cursed. The misunderstanding is always on my side. It's not fun."

"Definitely cursed. So I was thinking you could start studying all the things related to a Mage's fertility ahead of time. That way whenever we're ready it happens. And related to mine. I've been speaking with my mom about it; a Demon's fertility is already pretty low. Plus, with me being half and half she thinks I might be…"

"Infertile?" Rainer filled in with a sigh. He had already guessed as much. It wasn't uncommon for hybrids, not that he'd reveal the animal comparison to Kara. "Well there's no point in worrying about it. It's not like it matters."

"It's not like it matters…" Kara echoed, backing away from Rainer, ignoring his hand as it searched for ears to scratch that weren't there anymore.

"Well yeah. Why would it?" Rainer said, looking out over the snow as he paused for a few seconds, "I'll have to magically alter our fertility anyways, so what's having to use a bit more magic?"

"You-" Kara started, before shoving him into the snow.

Rainer didn't react quickly enough to avoid falling face first into the snow. Mouth open.

"It's not a curse if you do it on purpose!" Kara yelled, halfway between furious and laughing. Shouldn't he have some more sympathy for how awful this kind of thing felt?

"What?! What was on purpose?!" he yelled while spitting snow out of his mouth. This was not how he expected a girl to react to him perfectly answering an 'our future' type question. Mind you, pushing him that hard when he was basically made of steel was the equivalent to a light pinch... but still. Was there no winning for him? And this had conversation started so 'well'.

"The pause, the misleading phrasing!"

"What? No? What?" Rainer was confused before finally realizing what she meant. "If it was on purpose you think I'd be stupid enough to stay around you? I'm at least smart enough to Void-walk out of arm's reach!"

"I… yeah, you would run wouldn't you, " Kara said and then bit her bottom lip, a bit of her sharp canine showing. It would have been cute if she wasn't holding in laughter. "I'm sorry."

"The grin on your face makes that sorry very unconvincing."

"I'll give you a more 'proper' apology later."

"I can't find any argument with that. Does that make me easy?"

"I don't think men are supposed to worry about being easy."

"How sexist of you. Warrior-women everywhere are disappointed."

Kara smiled, chuckling as she easily dodged the snowball Rainer launched at her head. And the second one he used magic to manipulate from behind her. She dodged another from the front only to let out a loud yelp, more of surprise than anything, when a tendril of manipulated snow smacked her butt and another dumped cold snow down the back of her top - she didn't wear much in the cold.

"We really are cursed aren't we?" she asked, shaking a few times and then cautiously glaring at the dozens of undulating tendrils of snow now surrounding her. This reminded her far too much of one of Luna's revenge plans she'd vividly described when Kara had accidently pushed the Fairy off the bed.

"And to think, I had hoped my curse hadn't passed on to you," Rainer said, dropping his manipulations and deciding he had enough revenge for her pushing him into the snow. It's not like it was that cold for either of them after all.

"How noble, and what a lie," Kara said as Rainer turned away, definitely pretending to be ashamed, "Promise me you'll punish whatever Divinity is responsible for fate and curses and destiny too for good measure?"

"Most certainly. I'll give him a fate worse than death," Rainer spoke pompously.

"Kara," Rainer said suddenly, a smile on his face as he wiped the snow off himself. He stopped getting up halfway.

"Hmm?"

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes."

Francis gave Talvara a weird look as he rubbed her feet. She had finally beaten him. Only… something had felt off. Francis was no stranger to manipulating games in [Sleep Learning], or he wouldn't have been able to truly practice by himself to a competitive level. So when Talvara won in a series of events that a god of luck would find hard to match, he of course wondered about it.

But he wasn't a sore loser. And her failing to hide her guilty look was worth the price of having to rub a pretty woman's feet. Really, why did she just copy his own first bet? Did she actually think this was even remotely embarrassing for him?

"Talvara, I've been thinking of getting more Void Will."

"Getting?" the Void Pseudo-Goddess asked with a raised eyebrow. Did he think she could just give it out indiscriminately?

"On the planet there's a Divine Theocracy. And I've hit a wall in improving my [Void-walking], so there really isn't much else for me to do during the day." That he was looking for some excitement went unsaid. He didn't feel the need to talk about his fatalistic leanings.

"It seemed like you had plenty of things to do."

"Well, I've grown bored of it," Francis said, wondering if he imagined that tinge of jealousy in her voice. Was it because he never went to her? "So?"

"Even if I could give you more Void Will, you wouldn't be able to support it."

"What do you mean?"

"As you are no doubt aware of, the strength of the Soul is mostly related to the size of one's energy pools. You could say energy pools make your Soul larger, but it is something that goes both ways. It makes your Soul larger, because you need a larger Soul to support those energy pools. But unless it is aided by the system, the process isn't instant."

"So I'm 'full'?"

"Yes." Though it went unsaid that he was 'full' because he wasn't the original. "It will take awhile for your Soul to fully adjust to your current pools, only then could I give you more. But there are other factors at play."

"Was Rainer 'full' when his Void Will and Arcane Power collided?" Francis asked archly. It had happened shortly after she gave him more Void Will after all.

"No. I wouldn't make such a mistake. The original you had more than enough room in his Soul. And I had said from the start about how strange it was you could have both Void Will and Mana, let alone anything else in the same body."

"Well, consider it a gift then. Teach me how to sacrifice Divine servants to the Void."

"Just like that?" Talvara was confused. He wanted nothing in return?

"We are friends, aren't we?"

Talvara seemed to think that over, before the pleasant mood of before vanished from her voice.

"Would you like to see my real self?"

Francis was confused at the sudden change of subject, but motioned for her to go on. His eyes widened as he felt something enter this space. He slowly turned around trying to understand the presence that reached out towards him.

Tendrils that seemed to be made out of smog reached towards his face. The thing in front of him seemed both like the Void itself and not. But whatever it was… it felt wrong. Like something that didn't belong in this world, or in any. An abomination. The tendril lightly brushed against his face and that feeling was only amplified. A rejection at the deepest level. It was nothing like the first time he received Void Will from her so long ago. Was it the difference between her true self and any Avatar she made?

It must have showed, because the tendril reaching out towards him paused and retracted. Francis only chuckled as he reached out instead, letting the smog-like being twist around his arm. Was she an abomination? A perversion of nature Divinities refused to allow, perhaps? A competing power that threatened themselves?

Did it matter to him? Of course not. If he was bothered by her, then did his own self - a perversion of nature in his own right - even deserve to return to Rainer's Soul?

The moment he accepted her, the natural rejection he felt towards this Void-being seemed to fade. He turned back around to face the more human-like Avatar even as the Void-being wrapped around him.

"Well? Are you going to teach me the ritual?" Francis said, awkwardly scratching his cheek as he faced the radiant smile on her face.

"Yes, let's begin. It isn't too complicated."

Outside his beach house, Francis stared at his blade made of Void Will as he tried to Void-Travel yet again. His old self had wanted to learn Void-Traveling long ago, but could never manage it. And now that he had plans to travel halfway across the world, Francis hoped his Void Talent would be enough with the usual addition of the [Archon]'s bonus for the first two levels of a skill.

He was using his newest Void skill to try and get a closer feeling for the Void.

[Void-walking] was like tunneling through the Void, using it as a bridge, where as Void-Traveling was truly navigating its depths to get to where you wanted to go.

He had been at this for weeks, wondering if the discovery would help with [Void-walking] away from the Mana-filled planet, family in tow. He had finally managed something he thought was close to it in Talvara's space, but it seemed her rendition of the Void wasn't accurate enough to get a skill. She stuck to her guns that it was his fault, not her knowledge of the Void's fault. Whatever the case, her space had provided him plenty of practice to avoid any life-ending accidents.

Francis' eyes seemed to grow darker as he changed his Void Will blade to something far stronger, his mind sinking deeper into the Void. Standing in place his body suddenly vanished. A flash of the Void appear in front of him, as expected, a strange force kept him inline with the planet as he traveled through the Void for a fraction of a second.

[Skill Gained: Void-Traveling lvl 1/10]

He collapsed onto a stone road, not even paying attention to the strange gasps and screams of fear in his surroundings.

That was unpleasant…

He thought to himself as he slowly stood up. An unshakable chill pervaded his body. Very unpleasant. Not having the slightest clue where he was on the planet, Francis slipped into the Void again. He'd figure it out eventually.

Every journey in the Void let him become more and more familiar with navigating through it. It was only with a boost from his [Archon] leveling bonus, however, that he could truly take in what he felt and choose the places he wished to go. As if he had gained instinctive understanding whenever he used [Void-Traveling].

[Void-Traveling has reached level 2]

[Experience gained: 7%]

After a few close misses, he managed to end up back at his house.

The Divine followers of this world were now only a second away.

Francis hovered over a massive city. If he wanted someone worthy of his attention he needed to do some scouting or spying. But how could he have the patience for this?

Instead, he scanned the city with [Arcane Revelation] and decided he'd take the first person he could find with enough Divinity to have his or her mind rummaged through by his grandfather. When forcefully using mind magic, as opposed to slowly getting their mind used to your presence, the first attempt was the most effective. So the previously captured Mage that infiltrated their ranks was already useless for this unless Francis was willing to wait weeks if not months.

He wanted to pit his life against someone, not casually waste his time picking out low-leveled followers to sacrifice to Talvara. For that he needed information. But a telepathic message from his grandfather interrupted his search.

It was time for war.

Francis stood on the edge of the flying Fortress, his grandfather and a few of the stronger Mages by his side.

Out in the distance, still out of range of the Fortress' cannons was a massive ground army, an assortment of vehicles meant for transportation and war machinery with them. Their numbers easily surpassed twenty thousand, and they had far more Mages than Francis' side.

"So where will we take them after I knock them out?"

"Where will we take them?" his grandfather echoed in confusion, "This is war, Francis. We'll burn and bury the bodies."

Francis was taken back. He hadn't even considered that.

"But they…"

"Are innocent?" his grandfather filled in and jabbed a finger towards Francis' head.

Francis felt a foreign magic but didn't resist. He looked at the scene he now saw with confusion. Why did his grandfather want him to see a well-dressed man talking with what looked like a commander of this force?

"That right there is their guide. To help avoid poor terrain, monster's habitats, among other things. There are numerous others who could have done this job. So you could say he's done us no real harm. Are you saying we should spare people like him? And the common soldiers only following orders? Because they are innocent?"

"It's within our power to," Francis answered, knowing that was the crux of the issue.

"I once thought the same. To only punish the masterminds after me. After my family. They were the truly guilty. But then I realized, as I dealt with the same organizations over and over again serving as trackers, as guides, as suppliers, and arms dealers, there wasn't innocent and guilty. Not in battle, not in war. There is only those who are and are not my enemies. Nothing else.

"If we do not show people that there are consequences to their actions, what then? Those who are neutral will only become more bold. Perhaps mercenaries will see this conflict as easy money if we repeatedly only kill the leaders of the army. Perhaps merchants who sell floaters and other such things will offer even more supplies. Perhaps more soldiers will enlist and scouts will act more bold.

"We are not invincible. What if one day they master a way to fight against your technique? You have yet to experience just how strong their anti-magic weaponry is. They already have cast numerous anti-mind magic techniques on their army, not that it'll help. We must stop their momentum before they get a chance.

"You see those floater-like vehicles," Frederick said as Francis' vision changed again. "They were sold in bulk a few towns over when this army lost part of theirs to a monster encounter. Typically such an organization which didn't deal with military-type goods would stay out of blatantly funding one side of a war. But we are just a rebellious ragtag group of Mages aren't we?

"I slaughtered the entire merchant's union responsible. And I made it quite clear why."

Not only Francis, but the rest of Mages standing by looked stunned at the revelation. He had forgotten that this wasn't just his grandfather; to most Mages on Earth he was a millennia old evil, known for taking revenge for even the slightest grievances.

Francis swallowed loudly, a bit stunned as he looked over the twenty-thousand strong army that wouldn't be alive by the end of the night. However, no matter the major flaws in his grandfather's argument, he found himself agreeing. Who would dare attack him, or even help his enemies, if their actions carried weighty enough consequences?

"But shouldn't we leave some alive, to spread the news?" he argued, a last ditch effort to change his own mind. Void-deadened or not, this seemed a bit much when they had the power to spare many.

"Which is why I'll only 'discover' half the scouts that numerous interests have stationed away from the battlefield.

"Will you help or not?"

Francis nodded. Of course he'd help. No matter his moral issues, he valued his family's lives, and even the lives of the Mages on his side more than any in the opposing army. He sank into his Void Will and found his last complaints and issues fading. There hadn't been that many in the first place in his Void-deadened self.

Frederick traded words with the rest of the Mages before the 30-strong group flew towards the distant army camp, Francis and his mother included.

Francis led the charge as he spread out his [Void Descent]. Any non-Mages he flew towards passed out. He swept forward, those below him collapsing in waves as magic lashed out towards them. Enemy Mages rushed to attack, but even just Frederick alone could match dozens. And Francis would be joining him soon, a [Void Call] to quickly break collars at the ready. The collared Mages would be spared when possible but for the rest...

This wasn't a war, but a massacre.