On our way back home, I got to see the splendour this city was truly capable of.
Buildings coved in a white blanket of snow in complete contrast to the vibrant vines and flowers connecting homes, stores, lampposts and the like.
"I get most of it, just not the javelin bag"
"Vic- No it just doesn't feel right *sigh* Rider isn't just a monk, she uses a bow as well"
"Wha- Really? Still though"
"It's a big bow that uses big arrows, ok?"
"Oh, where does she hide it then?"
"Hide it? She doesn't"
We passed through a few passageways, the open school gate and eventually through a tunnel to the workshop.
"Huh, she isn't here"
"Maybe she's still asleep?"
"If that was the case she would be sleeping right in front of the forge... I guess that's hard with no forge..."
"Not only that, it's clean- sort of"
"Yeah, anyway, look up"
"It was in the roof!? Damn that's big!"
Riders bow, although she lost her original greatbow, the relic; 'Fail-Not' chose her. To a normal person, having a weapon slotted into the roof would be considered crazy, for her, she just had to stand up and grab it.
The workshops roof was already raised in height just for her. Built without walls, the forge would throw anyone off the thought it was essentially a house, although it was connected to the tunnel that ran through the school.
Fail-Not is a greatbow that can never miss its target, in other words, extremely deadly when some who focuses on reading the 'life-force' of others. That resulted in her either never using the weapon for fighting unless she knew her target must die or can withstand the arrow.
Or she would use questionable non-lethal arrows, that includes targeting herself with an arrow that had meat attached as a party trick.
Not to mention, very few people could pull it's draw weight in the first place. While it's appearance was rather dull for a large laminated bow, its standout feature was its size.
Right now it sat on a rack just above where Rider would usually create her 'self-made tail lounge-chair' thing, along with a long enough bowstring wrapped around the grip ready to be equipped if needed.
"She might be inside, maybe?"
That, and I've been using it as a bag for the other presents, so it worked for me.
"Hey, I've been thinking"
"Yeah?"
"You know how you did that attack right? Like Ari does? Do you think you could move like her?"
"I tried, but I can't. I think the way she moves isn't a power from the weapon, uh, at least to an extent"
"But you swung so fast it went 'bang'! And the rain kinda bounced around you too"
"You're right..."
Was that me? My speed?
I looked down at my free arm, I still don't recognise it. The size, the muscles, is this what it's for?
"What am I really able to do now..."
Just mumbling to myself as we headed inside through the training hall, Ota offered a suggestion.
"Remind me to show you to Uber Hill sometime"
"Huh? Uber Hill?"
"Yeah, it's a nearby hill where people pair up to train or fight. They also hold festivals all the time around that, I think they have a marksman one coming up soon, after new year's"
Winter ends as the New Year begins, signalling the season of new life, Rise. Nobody knows who called it that, but somehow everyone just went along with calling Rise one of the seven seasons.
"By the way, when is your birthday?"
"You want to know?"
"Yeah? I mean you're basically my-"
"-Think very carefully before you answer that. And why do you keep looking away? Do I look that goooood?"
"Ever since that guy, I just, I don't want to use it"
Focusing on someone is how I 'activate' it. While she looks nice in that outfit, I kept averting my eyes for more than that reason.
"Hey! Don't you dare limit yourself because of that dickhead! Or... for my sake either. 'Use what you have and grow from there', Enda told me that, you need to hear that too!"
"But-"
"No buts!"
She wouldn't hear my reasoning, only insisting in pushing me forward, I assumed this was her way of returning the favour.
As we climbed the fur covered stone stairs up from the study section, we began to overhear a conversion that filled us with confusion and dread as the shouting bled through the walls.
"-You expect me to believe that? How can I do that but not YOU!"
"It's gone! You didn't just cut it off, you reduced it to a fleshy red mist!"
"SO!? Why can't you do it you stupid bastard!"
"I just can't! Our power is not to be used on the blessed!"
"Then you! Do that thing and grow it back to when he was a child!"
"My power is not to be used lightly either"
"Oh yeah!? THEN WHAT THE FUCK AM I?"
"That's- uh. That was her ok?"
As we reached the top of the stairs we saw Arisu exit a side room of Enda's laboratory and slam the door behind her. I'd never seen her so pissed in my life, her mouth was closed but her fangs where out.
She was biting down so hard her teeth cut into her lower mouth, keeping her face down and stomping as she walked by us filled with rage, heading upstairs.
Without speaking a word, we also opened the door to a scene we hoped didn't await us.
Arisu was arguing with Red and another man I didn't recognise.
Red wore in a casual outfit of short sleeves and long pants, whilst the other man with black hair and short neat beard wore a complex black robe.
Amongst these two I saw several other people I didn't recognise and a few I did; Stathon and Ru, whom I forgot to get something for alongside Enda and Swiftsteal.
The last person both Ota and I picked up on instantly. I lowered my bag as both of us walked upto the young master tied to a chair.
I hit him right in the stomach, Ota hit him in the face.
Nobody was shocked.
Nobody tried to stop us.
Everyone was aware of the monster sitting down in front of us.
Sighing as she got up, Enda grabbed Ota's fist and quickly whipped it down with a handkerchief before speaking to me directly.
"I suspect you may be thinking of something we wish to try"
"Yes"
I took off my coat, laying it down on the nearby table, unlooping my relic from its knot alongside it before walking back over to the monster gagged and tied to a chair.
He sat there, almost as if ready and will to accept the challenge.
As soon as Enda removed the cloth around his mouth, he spit directly at me, hitting my cheek.
Ota immediately tried to retaliate before being held back by Stathon as plate armour quickly surrounded her body in its entirety.
She had overcome her fear and hesitation, turning those emotions into a strength that did not go unnoticed by the room as Enda herself had to reach out and stop her, using mana to flow through her veins to assist in holding her back.
I brushed of the saliva from my face.
"You disgust me"
"Bow your head you peasant!"
"Fuck off"
I spat back at his face, hitting his eye and slowly witnessed fear cross his face.
"You at that bitch are the same!"
"Hold your tongue before I cut it off"
The mysterious black haired man stood forward again and the young master tried to spit on him failing miserably as a small square barrier I could only describe as a picture of the world unaffected by time itself appeared and disappeared just as quickly after stopping the bodily fluid attack.
"You- You're not effected!?"
Ota spoke up first.
I wanted to do this without having her worry, she's the first person I could ever call a close friend, and that makes me want to protect her from pain.
I failed once to notice it already, I don't want to make another mistake like that again, then I head words I never expected to hear.
"It's not a second blessing. It's innate resistance, he's mostly human, yet a part of him isn't"
"Explain"
"One of his parents must of been a half-human"
"Do you think they might be related to-"
"I wouldn't rule anything out. Be it high-drake or god"
"Great *sigh* I might of not believed you, if I never met someone reborn by a goddess"
"Speaking of, did you find the reincarnated?"
"No, just the summoned and reborn"
I was listening in as while tying the gag back on the young master after Enda passed it over.
"So... I don't get sick, and recover faster because one of my parents was half-something?"
"All pieces of the puzzle"
Ru stepped forward and wrote text mid-air out of magic; ''I've seen plenty of kids grow up in unsanitary conditions thrive once they leave that environment, the same could apply to him. Not to mention his body spent so long on survival, only now is he hitting puberty''
Is that what's happening to me? Either way I wasn't comfortable with the topic. I never met my real parents, all that's left is a scale and the ashes of a letter that could led me to find them. Not exactly a great start if I wanted answers, so I set my sites elsewhere.
I just want to live, then find my place, my own path through life.
Ru wrote once again, noticing my discomfort "Maybe we should keep this talk another day? It is Heroes Giving after all"
The room agreed, but before we left, the stranger walked up to Ota as armour disappeared back into her heart in a shift of steam.
"I cannot replace what is lost, even so, I can do this"
"I keep my promises Ota"
Ota was hesitant at first, then calmed down as Enda spoke to her as he reached for her broken horn and unwrapped the bandages.
Underneath the wraps there was a metal stub with an small elastic clamp acting as a seal. After removing it, she bled slightly before bending her head forward and holding the it with pressure.
The man took out a strange crystal fang from his robe. It had a deep purple hue that glittered slightly with the light.
Out of the corner of my vision I saw Enda face plastered with shock for a slight second before she calmed down, that fang held great power.
"The forgone tooth of Fenrir shall replace your pride. From the little I know of you, I doubt I could find someone else so befitting"
Flipping it point up, he aligned it with her broke horn and it melded together before a bright flash enveloped her and both horns began to share the same appearance, half pale red, half deep wine with small sparkles of violet matching her eyes.
"There we go. Now, shall we get something to drink?"
"W-who are you?"
Ota could barely speak as she tough her intact horns as feeling ran through it once again despite both now no longer covered in skin halfway up.
"She didn't tell you? My apologies then, my name is Myrddin Wyllt Emrys, the Time Magus. I would of thought you knew who I was? You did call me by activating that coat"
"Oh, uh, I think that was just coincidence?"
"In my line of work, we call that destiny"