Just as the cane began its swift descent straight for Stein's skull, a light started to flicker in the distant sky. The old man stopped mid-swing to figure out what it was. Using one hand to shade his eyes from the sun, the man squinted as he tried to figure out what he was seeing.
"Heh, it's here." Stein said snickering. He took advantage of the old man's sudden stop, to roll away in case he decided to finish out his swing. He rested his back and head against the tree as metal pieces began raining from the sky above. They weren't random, ordinary pieces of metal either, they were shaped like articles of clothing. Stein quickly collected the pieces and began to put them on. He grimaced from pain as he moved, careful that only his backside could be seen. He was reluctant to show any pain in front of the old man for fear of receiving another smack to the head with his reed cane. It had been a long day since he first regained his consciousness and he was convinced that if the old man had his way, he'd lose it again!
"There, all better!" Stein said, exhaling deeply.
A faint white cloud began seeping from the joints of his metal suit. It resembled water vapor but slightly denser. A relaxed expression washed over Stein's face. The old man watched confused as these strange things took place. He was convinced a thousand more whacks with his cane wouldn't be enough to get the lesson through this boy's thick skull.
"What do you think you're doing boy! You need rest and to eat the spirit mana to restore you to health!"
"This is my medical suit. It's designed to examine my body and begin a restorative and regenerative process for healing while also tending to superficial wounds and pain management." Stein said proudly. "Like this spray is numbing spray, I no longer hurt. The suit has a hard shell for protection and stability, but on the inside the cushions are designed to help brace and cushion my joints." He continued. "I designed this suit after my last close encounter."
"Did you not hear me boy? MANA is the only way!" The old man said, getting angrier.
"Science can best magic at anything, geezer." Stein snarled back.
"Your fake mumbo jumbo cannot do anything better than magic…BOY! " the man snapped. His emerald-colored eyes grew large, and his leathery skin flushed red the angrier he got. He gave Stien's suit a good whack with his cane as he turned to walk away, mumbling things that could hardly be heard under his breath as he went.
"….stupid…. boy…. toy… magic… ha…"
Stein couldn't help but smirk. Besting that old man in an argument about science being better that magic sure felt like a win, especially with the pain from his bruised body now gone.
It was getting late in the day but Stein had one last thing to do before he could leave and go back to Libast, he still needed to find followers for Jack. He followed the small boy back to the village. Much to his surprise, the village wasn't back to its supposed former glory.
"Wait, why's the tree alive but the village is still a mess?" Stein asked.
"The world eater was beaten by your leader, but not killed. He lost great deals of power which flowed back into the tree giving it back its life. Unfortunately, we must rebuild." The young villagers said.
Stein gazed around the village as he walked, very few had been reconstructed and made beautiful again. As he arrived at the village's main square, he was astonished. Just yesterday there had been a hole there that reached to the depths of the earth, but there was no trace of it and in the place of the old village hall that had been ruined, stood a magnificent marble hall glimmering in the final light of the day. As dusk approached and shadows began to stretch, it highlighted another piece of architecture that had gone unnoticed before. Etched into the marble walls, Stein found carvings that depicted the battle in great detail. They served as a record and memorial of all that it took to save this land and their tree of life.
"How did you manage to make this in only a day?" Stein asked eagerly, waiting to meet a master architect.
"I did it." a familiar voice called from out of sight.
Before the old man could be fully seen, a cane peaked through the arch way first. A complete look of disdain soured Stein's face when he realized who was appearing from behind the door.
"Ahh come on, you again?" Stein burst out in frustration.
"Boy, have we met somewhere?" The old man asked indignantly.
"Yes! Don't act like you've forgotten me already!" Stein said, beginning to get angrier pointing at his welted forehead which was now as big a ping pong ball.
The old man walked over and examined the massive welt on Stein's forehead. Stein began to get uncomfortable by the burly, turtle-man being so close when suddenly, wham! He struck Stein on the other side of the head with his cane.
"Arghh!" Stein let out gripping his head.
With a new look of malice in his eyes, Stein wasn't about to receive two welts and not return at least one of them. Swinging his fist, Stein lurched for the old man determined the land something somewhere! But the only thing that landed was Stein… on the ground. He was confounded! There was no way he missed running into him! In fact, he was sure he didn't! Now that he thought about it… he went straight through him! Stein got up and started to turn around only to be greeted with the melody the reed cane made as it came into sharp contact with the back of his skull repeatedly.
"Ok! Ok! Ok! Stop! Why're you hitting me?" Stein cried out while trying to shield his head, he was still in pain from his earlier wounds.
"You accused me of giving you a welt which I hadn't! But I'm kind enough to not make you a liar so I gave you a welt." The old man said.
Stein's face was met with his palm over disbelief of how quirky the man was.
"This doesn't explain how you built the hall, or how I went straight through you!" Stein said.
"Magic!" the man said before going into a manic coughing fit that could rival the strongest thunderstorms in volume. As he recovered from his sever coughing fit, a sinister grin stretched from ear to ear. All Stein could do is wonder why he was met with such a sinister gaze and what the possible meaning behind it could be.
"Unless it really was him from the tree..." he thought.
As moon beams streamed down on the village, they unveiled a massive stone monolith where the hole used to be.
"This will be the spot for our shrine to our savior, Jack. Unless you, his trusted assistant, refuse to accept magic into your heart." the old man rang out.
"Why would I accept something I can't use?" Stein replied.
That must not have been the reply the old man was hoping for, because after Stein said it, he stared deeply into Stein's eyes then raised his hands to the air. After a few moments, the night sky began to fill with clouds and the air began to hasten. The clouds collected and churned. The storm then developed thunder and lightning. A flash of lightning crossed the sky and came crashing down, shocking the old man. As the booming thunder rolled its wake, his long bushy beard was left singed and sprung out in every direction. But something else had changed too, his cane was still the most finely crafted piece of wood but now with a garnet encrusted gem at the top.
Rain began pouring down but never reached them. Stein could reach up and touch the water as it began to pool above his head.
"What's happening? What's this old man doing?" he thought.
Just then, Stein felt his feet leave the ground, he and the other villagers were being lifted towards the floating pool of water. Stein met their eyes, his full of confusion and concern, their filled with delight and excitement. The water above them had collected into a giant sphere. As he reached the edge of the sphere, he took as deep a breath as he possible could, still confused why everyone seemed so happy. Half of the villagers were being swept to one side and half along to the other along with Stein. After being swirled along, Stein's face started turning as red as a cherry. His reddened cheeks were puffy from the air he had frantically taken in and looked near bursting. Finally, he exhaled, a flurry of bubbles rose up from him and as he thought through his goodbyes. Unable to resist any longer, he inhaled expecting to drown, but instead he was met with air.
"What's happening?! Isn't this water?" Stein thought in amazement. As soon he realized that he no longer had to panic in the floating pool, his eyes began to sparkle in the moonlight. The old man, who even swam like a turtle, flew next to him.
"How do you like my magic now boy? This is the magic used to play our village's favorite game, if you win, we'll build our monolith in Jack's name." the old man said.
"Fine!" Stein said confidently. "How do you play?" A small wand with a blue gem instantly appeared in his hand.
"Use that wand and imagine a ball of color shooting out, use that color to tag someone on the opposing team. Last team standing, wins." the old man explained.
Stein began to swim away back to his team. "The rules are simple, it's like underwater paintball from my world." he thought.
Right when both teams took positions, a timer began to count down in massive crimson letters at the top of the sphere. As soon as the timer struck zero, both teams shot out like rockets and a mess of red and blue began streaking throughout the sphere.
Waiting in the back, Stein saw a little girl with her back turned. This was his chance to figure out how it worked. He aimed the small wand with a sapphire gem attached to the tip and focused his energy, as he did a blue orb shot out at an incredible speed. Tagging the girl's arm, she turned around with a furious look on her face.
"I didn't want to get out yet!" she angrily yelled at him.
Both teams began dwindling down. Stein, a much slower swimmer than anyone else, made up for his deficit with his incredible aim.
"I guess all those years playing shooting games is paying off now." he thought to himself.
Each team now had less than ten players. A member of his team went down and Stein suddenly felt himself get tugged inside a current. The current was much stronger than he could swim though, even his more agile teammates were having a tough time not getting completely swept away.
Trying to figure out what is happening, Stein looked up and noticed members from the red team waving their wands to create the mess. They would've been easy picking if it weren't for the unpredictable current tossing him about making it incredibly hard to aim.
"Magic must be fair game which means I should be allowed to use science to win as well." Stein said.
In the midst of the chaos among the ambush, Stein slipped out of the metal suit he'd been inhabiting but left a holographic image of himself seasick in his place to fool the others. Taking only one of his tools with him, he kicked off the back of the suit and swam away. His team had been decimated. The red team, cocky enough, surrounded the sick image of Stein as he was the final member left to be eliminated, but much to their surprise he wasn't in the suit. From the bottom of the sphere, he called out,
"Hey guys over here!"
The villagers on the red team frantically looked down. They were much higher up than Stein in the sphere. "At least three stories higher than I am." Stein thought. From the below, all the red team could see was a small crescent moon shape. It was Stein's bright smile that was reflecting the light form the stars themselves as he was assured victory in his quest to defeat the red team.
He raised his wand up. The red team was confused because they could easily dodge his attacks from that distance. What they had not seen was in Stein's other hand. He raised it holding a magnifying glass. He shot out several orbs, but unlike the baseball sized orbs from before, these were more comparable to meteorites. It was as if the red team had morphed into a group of synchronized swimmers, because at the same time they all felt their jaws drop, and eyes pop out wide. Each orb had met its target and the game was won.
Water began raining down immediately after he nailed the final participant. Stein swam over to his suit and hopped in before being swept away in the crazy current again. He washed up right before the monolith and the old man who stood beside it.
"Congratulation's boy, I didn't think you'd win. That was an impressive trick indeed!" the old man said, chuckling.
"Thanks." Stein replied, getting his long silver hair out from his dazzling green eyes.
"We shall construct our city-nation's honor now as promised, just promise us one thing." the old man said quickly, getting rid of his smile.
"What's that?" Stein asked.
"Never forget to have fun. Is life really worth living if you don't have fun with those you love?" The old man asked redundantly, letting out a nice gentle and warm smile this time.
"I'll never forget! That's a promise." Stein said cheerfully, almost fully forgetting about his past welts.
Stein remained with the villagers for the rest of the night but planned to set back for Libast in the morning