The next time Askyros' eyes opened, he felt a strange pressure on his body.
("Something feels heavy…") [Adam]
Looking down at himself, he found himself on a bed.
"...What is this?" [Askyros]
Two familiar figures slept soundly, resting their heads on the end of his bed.
("Oh, it's Ryse and Tida. Wait, why is Tida sleeping here?") [Adam]
Askyros observed the two in silence, thinking deeply to himself. After staring for a good while, he laid back into bed and rested his eyes.
"...This is a strange feeling." [Askyros]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
After a few hours passed, Ryse began to move.
"Hm?" [Ryse]
Wiping his eyes, he blinked the sleepiness out of him.
"Good morning." [Askyros]
He greeted Ryse with a gentle smile, a mellow feeling welling up inside him.
"Huh?!" [Ryse]
He jumped, startled by Askyros' expression.
"Are you… smiling?!" [Ryse]
Askyros brought a hand to his face, checking if what Ryse said was true.
"Smile? I don't think I did." [Askyros]
"I could've sworn… No, you did! I'm positive!" [Ryse]
His voice raised, waking Tida from her slumber.
"Mn… Can you be quiet for a bit…" [Tida]
She moved sluggishly, yawning as she stretched.
"Askyros smiled! That's the first time I've seen him smile!" [Ryse]
"So? Everyone smiles at some point." [Tida]
"Yeah, but not him!" [Ryse]
"Yeah, yeah… Whatever you say." [Tida]
Watching the two full of energy brought another smile to Askyros' face, but the two were too busy to notice it.
"You two seem to get along with each other quite well." [Askyros]
His words ceased their quarrels, turning their attention to a different subject.
"Well…" [Ryse]
"We're childhood friends." [Tida]
"She often visited my house when we were five. Seeing as how they didn't call me "trash" yet, I was still treated like a proper child of a ducal household." [Ryse]
"...Are you fine with telling him that?" [Tida]
"It's not like I care anymore. Besides, he seems to have it worse than me." [Ryse]
His gaze wandered upon his body, realizing he was covered in bandages once again.
"Oh, I'm injured." [Askyros]
("...How did he not realize that yet?") [Adam]
"You better not get up like last time. It's the second time you've come here and you arrived even worse than before." [Tida]
Askyros looked off to the side. He took notice of a bucket overflowing with bandages, each one dyed with the color red.
"...Is that my blood?" [Askyros]
Directing their attention, He nodded at the bucket.
"Oh, that... " [Ryse]
"It's your blood. We couldn't stop the bleeding with holy magic, so we had to use more bandages than usual." [Tida]
"It was horrible! We weren't sure if you would make it out alive!" [Ryse]
"..." [Askyros]
"Good thing you're tougher than you look." [Tida]
"Eh... he looks pretty tough to me." [Ryse]
Tida looked at him with unamusement, but decided not to delve into it.
"Anyways, we need to get down to business." [Tida]
"We had business?" [Ryse]
"It about how holy magic little to no effect on Askyros." [Tida]
She stood up and left the tent, returning with a strange object in hand.
"...What's that?" [Ryse]
Tida held a scope that was seemingly made out of copper and glass, but the rest was too complicated for Askyros to figure out.
"This is called Erev' Nitis, it allows me to see the flow of mana." [Tida]
"...And where did you get that?" [Ryse]
"I… I uh… "borrowed" it from the magic department." [Tida]
"...You always had a knack for swiping things since we were little." [Ryse]
"Hey! I said "borrow" didn't I?!" [Tida]
The two bickered, throwing the topic off course.
"Why did you bring it here?" [Askyros]
("Wow, blunt as always.") [Adam]
"Well, before I was interrupted, I was going to use this to examine Askyros." [Tida]
"Uh… Are you not going to ask him for permission?" [Ryse]
"It's fine with me." [Askyros]
("That was fast.") [Adam]
"Seriously?! A-are you sure? The magic department is known for their… accidents you know." [Ryse]
"That does not concern me." [Askyros]
"...Well if you're that confident, I'll give it a try." [Tida]
She raised the scope to her eye and peered into it. It seemed to rotate with a low hum as Tida moved the scope up and down, inspecting every bit of Askyros' body.
"...Is this malfunctioning? There's no way!" [Tida]
"Wh-what?! Is something wrong?!" [Ryse]
"Ah. I'm out of time." [Tida]
The scope froze, leaving it lifeless. Seeing that it no longer had any use, she tossed it to the side.
"Woah!" [Ryse]
He dived for the tool, barely catching it before it hit the ground.
"Phew…" [Ryse]
("If the magic department knew how Tida was treating it…") [Ryse]
As he pondered in his worries, Tida moved on to different matters.
"Askyros, you're incredible!" [Tida]
Her excitement skyrocketed, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Your body is something else! A rare condition that only appears once in a thousand years!" [Tida]
("...If it was a thousand years, how does she know about it?") [Adam]
"C-calm down! Explain so we can understand what you're saying!" [Ryse]
He pocketed the device and tried to calm Tida, but her energy seemed to be a bit much for him.
"Usually mana is stored within the body and leaks out when using magic, but your body doesn't do that!" [Tida]
"Elaborate." [Askyros]
"Your body automatically leaks mana without the use of magic. However, it stores the leaked mana instantaneously. With nowhere to go, it constantly flows through your body causing you to become more resistant to foreign objects!" [Tida]
"Thats... " [Ryse]
"I do not follow." [Askyros]
"Eh? W-was I going too fast? Uh… how about this? If you get stabbed by a spear, your stored mana will go to your wound to increase your resistance for it next time. It won't really heal you, but it will make it harder to penetrate your skin." [Tida]
"Hm… Going by that logic, if we cut him enough, swords won't have an effect on hit anymore." [Ryse]
"..." [Askyros]
"A-ah! Not that we would do that to you, of course!" [Ryse]
"But think of all the possibilities! I tried healing him with holy magic, and there wasn't much of an effect. But what if I used offensive holy magic?" [Tida]
With that thought, she didn't hesitate to conjure up multiple magic circles in the moment.
"He's still injured you know!" [Ryse]
"If it hurts him again, I'll just bandage him up again!" [Tida]
She put her hands together, meshing up the circles and began to chant.
"Sol de lumi cresso, Holy Ray!" [Tida]
Facing her palms at Askyros, a beam of light burst forth.
("I'm gonna die!") [Adam]
The light enveloped Askyros, but he didn't feel pain. Rather, it felt pleasant. The light vanished, leaving behind the results.
"He's… completely fine?" [Ryse]
"It worked! I was right! Holy magic has no effect on him now!" [Tida]
"I-Isn't that a bad thing…?" [Ryse]
"Oh… Yeah…" [Tida]
The two went silent, but that silence was broken when a trainee burst into the tent.
"E-emergency! We have an emergency! Brace for combat!" [Trainee]