Lex had always failed at being more than the standard. However, he also excelled at it too.
When it came to Magic Arts and the great magic phenomenology theories, he was the best of the best. Enough to make him worthy of having his Spectral Core awakened and given a Spectre Medallion for transformation.
With this kind of talent in his field, he was still unaware of what exactly this orb Simon Rainglow called 'Riot Custom— Rogue Teeth'. It seemed bloodthirsty and vampiric from the details he'd heard about it directly.
"Are you sure about this…?" Lex asked his father, who he only just now persuaded to share the process of 'awakening' the Mystic Tool with him, rather than do it himself. His father's body might be too weak right now.
The youth could share the burden, but who knew what sort of complications could occur in the midst of awakening. He also had the least understanding of this Mystic Tool out of the five of them. No idea what it'd form.
From what he was told: Rogue Teeth was named after the two unique wolf-themed weapons that formed the first time Simon had used it. The weapon awakened would be different depending on the individual drained.
Moreover, the blood shared would birth an external Jinn that mimicked a Qareen. The oh-so-sacred Spirit Companion that there was only supposed to be one of per person.
This would likely be the first time two individuals awakened the Rogue Teeth at the same time. Lex wondered if doing so could cause an unexpected reaction within it.
"Stop worrying and awaken it." Landan didn't care about consequences. This was his only way out of a bind. He could either become an undead, or try to fight his fate to the very end.
With such a push, both he and Lex bit their thumbs by habit. A unconscious action that had formed from learning how to draw Talismans in blood. Even if the user didn't have ink. This might have affected them.
The moment their blood touched the orb, a strong 'link' was formed beyond that of the Party Link that Lex had established with his father. This temporary feeling of oneness only extended towards the orb in front of them.
Only the inanimate object.
A red glow formed and spread until the entire orb started shining. Transforming like heated glass being moulded. Changing shape and evolving until it became something beautiful.
There was this sense of growth correction being applied that was filtering the worst aspects of both sides. Sacrificing power for stability, and weakness for hyper fixation.
When it stopped forming, Lex and Landan opened their eyes to see objects in their hand. It was two parts of the same weapon they had grown with their own individuality.
A blank sheet of paper appeared in Lex's hand. It was a canvas for his thoughts and medium for a twin of the new Qareen. The power within started to call out to him.
ROAR!
He could hear a stampede of wild animals from every species imaginable. All of them were screaming to let their destructive drives be released. Let the crunch and devour the whole world to make it part of his 'canvas'.
SMACK!
He clapped with the paper between his hands using 'bullets'. The roaring sounds were all immediately dissipated and replaced with a ghostly wail. It sounded like the collective consciousness of those animals felt the pain.
Whining after getting hurt.
The disobedient Qareen recognised his strength and acknowledged him. There was a slight trembling different from before. It felt like the piece of paper was showing loyalty.
Not submission.
The latter was to give in to a stronger power and stand on a lower level. Rather than such a thing, this paper was communicating with him in such a sublime way that he felt a sense of harmony. Different from anything felt prior.
The world would never be the same… There was no longer the preconception in Lex's mind that onky vocal sounds were used for communication. He instinctively felt what the paper was trying to exclaim through touch.
'Hello?' He read into a sense of happiness and dependence from the paper. Like a child that had met its parent. It communicated both respectfully and fearfully to the young man. A kinship forming between the two of them.
When he looked at how his father was doing at this moment, a completely different scene unfolded.
There was no initial struggle after having just been 'born'. In Landan's hand was a brush th size of a hand. Small, but emanating a strong power from that fragile-looking exterior.
Landan twirled the ink brush in his hand without seeking to car about retaliation. He was having so much fun right now, and the Qareen in the pen was obedient like a dog.
Showing a clear master-servant relationship.
He felt like that brush was even more of an animal than the paper on his hand. Having less intelligence and pride. However, he felt that were was something even more mysterious about the brush than the paper.
"You can give it now." Landan reached his other hand out to Lex. Since these were going to be his father's weapons, it was better for him to get used to them as soon as he could.
"Behave." Lex spoke to his 'Ego Paper' out loud. Looking like a criminally insane cashier who had a bit too much to drink on the job. It wasn't normal to talk to a piece of paper with such an authoritative tone of a working father.
With all that being said, Landan accepted his new weapon with grace and started analysing it immediately. He put them on the table before holding his chin. Making a humming sound of deep and neurotypical thought.
The result was as follows:
"This is a ripoff." Landan spoke while his body started to change visibly to the naked eye. He was becoming more… younger? Well, that was to be expected after gaining a new ability.
He didn't even seem surprised, or want to enjoy the novelty of it all. The only thing going through that head of his was what he was feeling he could do with these weapons. The now lifetime Mystic Tools he was tethered to.
"What's a rip off?" Lex wanted to be in the loop. That, and hid the excited smile from seeing his dad returning to normal. After all, it wasn't like he doubted his father's ability to overcome this crisis in the first place… right?
"'Magic Counters' for those Confessional Daggers. 'Mana Tokens' for this one." Landan traced the edges of the weapons and found no dust. They were seriously 'born' today.
New things had such a nice feel to them.
What kind of material was this? Bone? Was it inorganic or organic matter? Could it grow and age like a person would? What kind of rules applied to create a tethered spirits like this? Nothing about this made any sense.
"Mana Tokens?" To answer Lex's question, a demonstration was made to show exactly what he meant. Though the youth was NOT expecting what'd happen the next moment.
Even though Landan had only just gotten his regular appearance back, he put his hand closer to the Ego Paper and… CHOMP! An entire finger was bitten off his hand at once!!!
WHAT IN THE WORLD?!
WHY?!!!
A mouth appeared on the Ego Paper and sucked up the geyser of blood spilling out of the stub in an instant. Lex watched on in horror as such an extreme action was taken.
His horror slowly turning into having his sense of reality twisted by that very same hand healing up in an instant. Did his father suddenly gain some sort of 'Super Healing'?
Regeneration?
"Dad!" Lex pulled his dad away from the paper and held that recently injured hand in his own. He looked up and down, but only to see there were no injuries on it whatsoever.
Only dried and still runny blood together in one place. It was gross to touch, but… he needed to grasp hard in order to get a good understanding of what state the hand was in.
"It's healed?" Lex spoke out the results.
There was no broken bones or damaged muscles tissue. That hand he saw being eaten with his very two eyes was back to normal. How was that even possible?
Could all he saw have been an illusion?
It was only after Landan coughed that Lex let go. He was making a face between being angry and worried. It felt like his father's attitude had completely changed after they awakened the weapon. It made him frown.
What was this about…?
"Sorry for worrying you. Really. I'm serious about this. Don't look at me with those eyes. I won't do it again." Landan pulled his son close for a hug. Tussling the youth's hair and enjoying how soft it felt. Almost like a plushie.
"You said something about it being a 'rip off' earlier." Lex decuded to move on, but didn't stop his father's affectionate actions. He had been living with his father's strictness since gaining the Peri Earring. It was a rare occurrence. Not unique, but still uncommon enough that every second was worth it.
"Yeah… Apparently, these… err…" Landan struggled in giving them a collective name.
"Let's call them 'Destro Humblers'." Lex put two random and cool sounding words together for that one. It was good enough that his father rolled with that name his son gave.
"It eats flesh and blood to create Mana Tokens that last a long longer than Magic Counters. They could even grow and be placed into different weapons or people."
"How did you heal yourself?" Even though Lex asked this understandable question, it didn't seem like his father wanted to answer him just yet. He had his own thoughts.
"It looks like Gifts and these abilities you gave are considered separate powers. My own Stigmata Gift-" Just as Landan was about to explain, his son interrupted his monologue:
"You have them now?" Lex raised a brow.
"Oh yeah, I have Stigmata Gifts now." The father suddenly remembered he never really told anyone why he didn't have them. It was something that didn't come up at breakfast or anything. He just didn't find an opportunity.
"I thought you couldn't have them?" There was understandable confusion coming from the son. After all, his dad had been pointing fingers at him silently for a long time now.
"Of course I have them? So could your mother. Did I say we were exceptions?"
"Well, you didn't say you could and were blaming me about not having powers." Lex was laying it all out. He was wearing a not-so-appealing expression filled with accusation.
"This and that are not the same." Landan shamelessly tried to brush it off. However, an issue like this wasn't so easy to just throw aside. He looked at his son's expression,
"…" It still wasn't good. The boy stood silent.
Crossing his arms at him.
"Alright, I might have acted a little melodramatic over it. My decision wasn't completely wrong. If I didn't have a 'Miasma Core' specifically, I would've died today. There was too much to deal with." Landan's own explanation made Lex hesitate. Wondering if he was being harsh about a silly little thing.
Maybe he'd be able to split right from wrong mentally, but he knew being 'right' would only make their relationship unstable and more hollow. Moreover, Lex wasn't looking for an awkward apology from his father anyway.
"…It's fine. Glad you're back to normal." Lex put some courage into his next action. Going past his fears of making things awkward and hugging his father. Glad that nothing the dangers that had been faced were averted.
"Yeah…" Landan paused after speaking.
He felt like he just wasn't a hugging person after all. If only his wife was here to do the heavy lifting on this emotional baggage. It's not something he was good at or used to.
"So, err… wanna learn the final technique of our family? It might take a while before you can even attempt to use it. Maybe even years at this point." Landan changed the subject.
"You bet I do!" Lex's eyes lit up as he jumped around. Excited to know something other than 'Bullet' at this point. He remembered having trained in only one skill for ages…!
"Let's go." Landan patted his son's head again to tussle on that messy hairdo. Feeling more comfortable when there was this line between them. Like they were playing roles.
He was sure the technique he'd teach to Lex and Ryan would change their outlook again.
His brand of Mystic Tools weren't simple.