Chapter 3: Reunion (4)
~3.4~
*****
"This is my true appearance as Elysia. My soul influences my mortal bodies to grow as similar to this as possible."
"Illusion magic..." James's mouth was agape. He eyed Allison, "Did you know she can do that?"
Allison shrugged, saying nothing.
Kye smiled and dispersed the illusion. "Alethea already looks very much like Maya. Imagine my surprise when I saw your soul in that dessert parlor in a body looking so similar, despite still being that young."
"I hoped if we met in this world, you would recognize me. Imagine my surprise when I saw that pendant with my name on it." She smiled, but shook her head. "I can't see souls like you. In fact, only you and Adara ever developed that ability. It was always you that found me. Even when we didn't know, you would see my soul and be unable to ignore the familiarity."
Kye smiled, then chuckled. "Yeah." The two began to look into each other's eyes. They may have spent an hour just staring at each other had Atalante not interrupted them.
"What makes this life different? You have your memories this time. I imagine a being with as much life experience as you would be... how do I put this...?" She shook her head, unsure how to word it. "It's clear to me that either of you are beyond talented. I've personally witnessed Alethea control aether at a level far beyond what any of us can, albeit with the limited output of a child. May I assume you are similar in skill?"
Kye nodded. "Yes."
She called it "aether".
"My next question... why are you here?"
Kye glanced at Alethea. "Mission?"
"Mission."
"Then we're here for the same thing." Kye looked up at Atalante, then briefly at every other adult. "There is an entity we must eliminate. I was told nothing more than that."
"That's all I was told as well."
Kye sighed. "To have absolutely no information is going to be difficult."
"Just to make sure I have the correct understanding," Atalante said, "you have been given a mission by Eve the Primordial to eliminate an entity... somewhere here?"
Kye nodded. "Do you know what this world is called?" Atalante shook her head. "Recently, the planet Daemonheim has become accessible and an alliance between Lord Apollyon and you has been formed. Do you know where Daemonheim exists? Do you know where Terra, Alcanus, Drachenheim, and Nippon Sekai exists?"
"Stop beating around the bush," Allison said, finally speaking up. "Everyone here knows that this world is called the Ten Realms. Terra exists in Realm 1, Alcanus in Realm 2, Drachenheim in Realm 3, Nippon Sekai in Realm 4, and Drachenheim in Realm 5. It is currently not possible for normal travel to Realms 6 through 10."
"Allison, you are speaking of-"
"Silence, Atalante." Allison didn't as much as glance at the empress. Her eyes were glued to Kye. "More than the Ten Realms, we also know the name of the world beyond. Almost everything you've told me about the world is information we already have, we being those of us present in this room."
Normally, someone telling the empress to be silent would not be taken well, but in the limited company of the meeting, they accepted it. Allison was, afterall, the most powerful combatant of the empire, and she rarely spoke beyond what was absolutely necessary.
"I will emphasize, however, that such information is not known beyond this room. The other royals and the nobles below us are not as privy. Some royals know some things, but none know what the word at the top left of the system menu actually is, aside us." She leaned back in her seat and folded her arms. After a sigh, she added, "What I'm saying... is that we know who Elysia is. The moment you told me your real name, I knew."
Kye narrowed her eyes and gripped the hem of her dress. "Is that right?"
"Shi-chan?" Alethea reached for one of Kye's hands.
"How?"
Allison closed her eyes and sighed. "The war. Eve the Primordial appeared to us once. World War III nearly destroyed humanity, but the goddess appeared and gave humanity a chance to survive. She elevated our system accounts to System Administrator, and from there information not available to the standard user became available to us. We met in secret and discussed how to proceed. The empire today is the result." Her eyes opened, and they were trained on Kye. "Elysia the First. Goddess Elysia. System Creator."
"I am not a god," Kye said.
"You created Elysium," Allison argued. "You are immortal. You have more mana than the entire royal peerage combined, including the imperials, and including Alethea, aka Maya the Second. People much less qualified have god titles granted by the system."
"Those are just titles..." Kye noticed the glares from every adult in the room. "But I suppose none of you are concerned about that minor detail." She sighed. "Anyway, we should talk about how to keep Alethea and I together. Now that we know each other is here..."
"I very much do not like being kept apart," Alethea added with a smile that left no room to argue.
*****
Later, I tested the remaining five weapons and found them no less satisfactory than the fire aspected weapon. My only problem is wielding one at a time would drastically reduce my versatility while wielding all six at once would be difficult at my current age. As I began to think about how to overcome the problem, I wondered if they were approaching the problem the wrong way. I realized that because the weapons were specifically adapted to each element none of them were adapted to raw mana. I could not use any of these weapons properly for white mana on its own.
I thought perhaps I could bring in an idea from a past life. I remembered one smith in particular that managed to craft a sword that was very conductive to every elemental aether by melding various aether "cores" onto a single blade. That weapon required a significant amount of reinforcement to use properly, but it was possible. The problem here is that white mana and aether are so potent that they shatter virtually anything they are channeled into. I could solve the restrictive issue by combining these weapons, but what of the durability. Would it increase or decrease?
I only ever had white mana in a handful of lives, and always had an exceptional weapon to wield it with, a soul weapon. Those are actually people, though, and I could not rely on that solution. I had no choice but to work toward advancing weapons technology to withstand white mana
With the idea of combining the existing weapons in mind, I began working on overcoming the problem by slowly enchanting manasteel with my own aether. This technique is no secret in this world when performed with mana, but it was unheard of with aether. Enchanting limits the tool to the person who enchanted the material. Since the issue was creating a weapon that could withstand white mana, I was okay with that restriction. I made many mistakes and completely shattered many manasteel ingots, but eventually I was able to enchant enough manasteel with significant enough amounts of white mana to move on to the aether step. After that I began enchanting ingots with white aether. I found that I could not enchant a manasteel ingot with white aether directly, but if I enchanted one with white mana first then over-enchanted it with white aether...
"It worked!!!" Kye jumped for joy with her ingot of aether enchanted manasteel in hand. The now twelve-year-old girl held up the ingot exuding white aether and admired her work. "I call it, aethersteel!"
"Aethersteel?" Layla said as she walked into the workshop Kye was using.
Kye was so excited that she didn't realize she was saying "aether" in front of her mother. "Yes! I wasn't able to enchant this manasteel ingot normally. The aether wouldn't stick, so I tried enchanting it with aether after enchanting it with mana and it worked! It was very hard, but it worked! I have to tell Alethea right away!"
Once I managed to create aethersteel, the best blacksmiths in all five worlds teamed up to finish the creation of this weapon. One was my grandfather Hiroto Akari, and the other was Nelkara Zelenov of Lord Apollyon's council. It turns out that both were involved in the creation of the elemental weapons, so I was excited to work with them on creating a base to combine them. It took days of labor, but they managed to forge an aethersteel blade and embed the cores of the elemental weapons within it. Alethea wasted no time preparing the materials for one of her own.
Over the next few years, this method was refined and by the time I turned fifteen we had used aethersteel to make every component of the weapon, including cores for each alignment. The cores did nothing for the durability, but they did increase efficiency, drastically so for the cores made of aethersteel. This method was further used to forge weapons for others that were capable of wielding aether. Allison was the first to acquire one after myself and Alethea.
"Time flies," Alethea said.
"Yeah, wow. It's time for us to start the academy already." Kye jumped forward, spun around quickly, and whistled. "Woo-wee, look at the hot girls!"
"Indeed, Princess. Even though you have physically matured greatly," Liliana said as she eyed Kye's breasts, "you still have not matured beyond your addiction to combat and I question this strange addiction to our appearances."
"What do you mean!" Kye's voice rose several octaves by the end of that phrase. "I have no addictions whatsoever! Aside those that can be satisfied at the pastry shop here in Arslade. Such an addiction is perfectly becoming of a noble woman. I'll have no disagreements! Besides, I'm not addicted to any one person's appearance in particular! I would dote on anyone as cute are you, regardless of gender!" Alethea giggled.
Liliana and Aliana sighed, knowing they would never win the argument. The two exchanged glances and shook their heads. "That's our princess." They were standing before the academy waiting to meet with their parents before going inside.
*****
Revision: 7-13-2023