His form was somewhat steamed from the friction generated by falling from such a height. Mikoto rolled his shoulders as he smirked beneath his helmet. He noticed Mirabella, looking slightly injured and kneeling over Agatha, who was missing a right arm, with blood decorating her chest. Whether the pink-haired girl lacking an arm and leg was responsible or whether it was the amused man in the black coat, he did not know. They all seemed to be in cahoots either way.
"Britha," Aelfric noted, sending her a glance. The woman regarded him with a glare as she quickly turned her eye back to her whimpering companion.
"You defended me well, my friend," she ran a hand through his white fur, a smile on her face that belied what she was. "You may rest, I will depend on you another day." Naga looked at her with understanding, its form lit up with a white glow as his body dissipated, naught but particles that were taken with the wind.
"What a disgusting display!" Magnus bellowed, bile biting at his throat. "Serves the betrayer right. Divine Beasts are meant to be companions of the Gods, not you vile Ancestors."
"Wait, Mikoto? What the hell is that guy? What the hell is going on!?" More and more confusion continued plaguing Mirabella as more absurd events took place.
("That large man,") Cor'nella regarded the large man with an incredulous look, ("He's bathed in divine mana. But how? That's clearly no Divine Beast or God yet...")
"Ah, General Magnus. You following someone else must mean that boy..." Aelfric's grin widened, holding knowledge only he and Britha knew. The Ancestor of Might stood back up to her full height.
"Watch yourself, Aelfric, face that boy without caution and you will perish," Britha warned.
"If Naga had to be injured near death to defend you, then I believe it. Even so, something so enticing in front of me, it pains me that I cannot make a child of her suffer," Aelfric spoke with malevolence all but laced in his tone. There seemed to be an innate distaste hanging in the air along with his words.
Mikoto did not address it, however. He seemed to be deep in thought if him rubbing the helmet of his chin was any indication, ("Grasping concepts like fate and destiny is a whole lot more complex than I originally thought. There's no way in hell I could ever control it without Harbinger, but minutely directing it seems like something I'm capable of. I altered my attack so it would damage that woman, and that it would ignore Naga's probability control. But eh, it's too much effort. I'd rather just throw out a big-ass mana explosion and call it a day,") He craned his neck to look at the one whose gaze all but pierced him.
"Seems you've done a number on one of them," he heard the unknown teal-eyed woman utter.
"And you are?"
"Rowena, merely a concerned citizen," she shrugged.
"With that kind of potent mana, I doubt it," Mikoto muttered before turning to Magnus, "You can leave now, big guy."
"As you wish, child of my great Goddess!" Magnus, of course, had to yell that much like how he always did. "To purge the heretics and descenders, know that my body and soul are both at your disposal!" He declared as his form started sinking into Mikoto's shadow. In an instant, his large body was nowhere to be seen.
"Are you sure it's wise dismissing such a powerful ally?" Aelfric mused with a lopsided grin, yet disgust hid behind the fake smile. He seemed to have an intense vendetta he hid.
"I don't need extra help killing you. I just wanted to test something with Magnus," Mikoto chuckled slightly as if he knew something amusing, "And it was useful. He helped expand my magic a bit."
"Is that so?" The Ancestor of wisdom pondered, seemingly noting something about the armored boy no one else did.
"It would be in our best interest to retreat," Britha interjected. "I've repaid my debt with Rhiannon. I'll not partake in any meaningless chaos henceforth."
"Little late for remorse, no?" Mikoto scoffed, taking slow strides towards the two as he extended his right arm to the side, a small red orb forming then expanding and taking a familiar form of a blade. The bright red was shed off the blade, shattering like glass to reveal Sabre. "I don't know what the deal with you Ancestors is, but it's clear you lot are gonna be a pain in the ass. Being complacent in killing random innocents because you owe a debt, you're scum no matter how you slice it."
"Oh? And will you enforce justice like your misbegotten Goddess?" Aelfric uttered out, seemingly amused. Britha did not seem as amused, a frown sat on her face.
"No justice, just necessities," Mikoto lifted his arm, positioning Sabre in front of his helmeted face. The sword emitted an intense red mana that pulsed with wonder, illuminating the immediate surroundings with a fierce, almost menacing glow. The shattered cobblestones beneath their feet reflected this crimson light. The atmosphere thickened with mana as the glow intensified. Mikoto's grip tightened on the hilt.
"Now awaken my sword forged in the skies and lake," his voice reverberated through the area. Aelfric smiled on as Britha grew tense. Despite varying reactions, both were too on guard to attack while he chanted. Who knows what the unpredictable boy would do if interrupted. "I call upon thee, where you belong. Strike through shadows, pierce the night. By the kings of yore, I decree this fate. With this blade's light, snuff out the darkness we'll bind."
As the red mana coalesced and increased, Mikoto raised it high. A beam of red ascended, transforming into a piercing column more radiant than any dawn, casting long shadows over the broken cityscape. Aelfric squinted, the fierce light splattering across his face, and for an instant, a flicker of a frown crossed his features.
Rowena squinted at the blade and mana, ("The blade's mana, it's not destructive yet I can all but feel the power overflowing within it. To be able to command such a powerful weapon...") She reassessed the situation. Mikoto Yukio was more...strange than she initially thought.
The waves of mana, of pure power, were unlike anything she had ever seen.
Cor'nella's shimmering wings undulated in a frantic rhythm, flaring as she watched the spectacle unfold. The blade was so vibrant, ("It's been a hundred years since I've seen him so vibrant, more so than even Leifa Allr.")
("I don't get it, it's not even destructive yet I can practically feel the power from it. If I clashed that red light with my strongest attack, I'd get overwhelmed in an instant.") Mirabella could not help but look at the reverberating power with wonder.
Mikoto's voice broke the silence, "▄︻┻═┳一." The incomprehensible proclamation echoed around the area as he slammed the blade downward. The intensity reached a zenith. The explosion that followed felt like the waking of a sleeping beast; a pulse that rippled wide, shaking the very foundations of the world itself. Red light erupted with a cataclysmic yet paradoxically tranquil roar, engulfing everything in its embrace as debris was launched like confetti.
The blast traveled upward, higher and higher, spiraling into the atmosphere, turning day into night in a matter of breath. Rowena shielded her eyes, a heavy frown on her face. His attack, ("It injured the realm?")
As the cataclysmic explosion of red energy surged outward from Mikoto's Sabre, the destruction was impressive but not absurd. What stood out was that the very essence of something within the realm changed. The vibrant explosion roared with the ferocity of a dragon unleashed, lighting up the desolate remnants of the city in a violent brilliance that threatened to consume everything in its path. Everything danced with a mind of its own, illuminating the ruined architecture with a glow. Debris, once part of the structures that stood tall, was caught in it, dissipating into nothing, scattering like autumn leaves in a tempest.
The wild eruption began to wane, the deafening roar slowing into muffled whispers. As if the realm held its breath, the ground bore the weight of the explosion's aftermath. The destructive wave began to subside, allowing flickers of quiet to seep back into the world, filling the air once thick with sound with an eerie silence.
As the brilliant red glow began to fade, the dust and debris caught in the aftermath hung in the air, swirling slowly. The scene transformed almost instantaneously; a cloak of red yielded to the hues of daylight, the landscape showed a deep, resounding pit that now gaped open where there once stood a portion of the city—a violent scar carved into the earth.
The crater's edges flared crimson, steely once more as the glow of the now-diminished mana flickered softly, bathing the walls of the hole in soft reflections of red and orange. It revealed rugged stones, slick with remnants of the fiery mana that had erupted from Mikoto's blade, liquid-like streams of mana that coiled and coalesced like a fading aurora against dark soil.
Mikoto lowered his blade and clicked his tongue, "They ran. With that kind of power, why are they such cowards?"
"The hell was that!?" Mirabella blurted out, staring at the gaping hole with an incredulous gaze. The remaining power practically gushed out of it, overwhelming in its intensity.
"C'mon, it wasn't that impressive," Mikoto waved off, impaling Sabre into the ground while resting his hands atop the hilt.
"It seems they've disappeared over there," Rowena noted, sensing the distinct mana signatures in the distance. She gestured with her chin eastwards.
"We should go after them!" Mirabella exclaimed, shooting up from the ground.
"I'm not running in heels," Rowena merely said, staring at the princess as if she were an idiot.
"Wait, how's that the problem!?" Mirabella blurted out.
"Leave it," Mikoto interrupted. Letting Sabre dissipate, he turned to the downed and ruined form of Agatha. He grimaced deeply, ("Damn it, I shouldn't have played around. Agatha wouldn't have gotten this injured if I had been here much sooner.") He approached her body and kneeled over it, giving a downtrodden Cor'nella a glance.
"How is she?" He inquired. Cor'nella frowned deeply.
"S-she's stable. The wound on her chest was deep, but I managed to close it...even with my subpar healing," her small eyes traveled to Agatha's bloody stump, "B-but her arm...I..I...can't do anything about it. I was supposed to guide her, not let her fend for herself. Even with that golden woman I offered nothing, I..."
"Hm, if you want to change that, then just be more involved," Mikoto suggested. "Agatha has come a long way, but there's still room to grow," he started as he raised his right hand towards Agatha. "This is just a redo." A soft translucent glow engulfed Agatha's form, her ruined armor was stitched back into place, the blood cleaned off. But what stood out most was what happened next. It happened in an instant. Each individual blood cell and vein began taking form at a rapid pace, along with the bone of her missing arm. In no time, flesh started to knit itself together. Cor'nella stared at the scene, flabbergasted.
"Holy..." Mirabella was much of the same mind. She, however, expected such absurdities from Mikoto.
("This is no mere healing magic,") Rowena deduced quickly, ("Not restoration either, this is...")
"Creation Magic?!" Cor'nella exclaimed as she watched Agatha's arm be fully restored. Even her gauntlet and cloth fixed itself up thanks to Mikoto. The fairy whipped her head his way with a look that was dumbfounded.
"But..but how and at such a level to restore an arm. You're not a spawn of Isadora, I would have known, but..." The fairy was trying and failing to wrap her head around it.
Mikoto stood back up with a grunt, "Don't sweat the small stuff." He merely waved off.
"I hardly call restoring an entire arm small," Rowena mused, folding her arms.
"Hold on, that's cool and all, but what the hell do we do about those guys? Should we really not go after them?" Mirabella asked in agitation.
"No," Mikoto stated, staring into the distance. "They had a Divine Beast with them, capable of affecting probability to an absurd rate. In simpler terms, it's lucky, extremely so, its opponents not so much. Getting around it is a pain, not to mention that woman had absurd defenses, and getting around that was even more of a pain." He informed. Mirabella knitted her brows at his words, but Rowena listened intently. "Then there was that guy, something's off about him. Usually my instincts tell me how strong someone is. With him, it didn't go haywire, but I could gauge he was pretty strong," Mikoto frowned beneath his helmet, "But then my instincts also told me not to fight him. It's why I used a strong move." He finished, gesturing to the wide and deep hole, "Sabre's abilities are fatal, far more potent than most spells I have."
"Seriously?" Mirabella blurted out. "Things just keep getting more complicated. But what the hell was their goal here anyway? Did they seriously just want to kill and destroy then screw off?"
"I doubt that. Aside from that pink-haired one, the other two seemed to have their own agendas," Rowena corrected. "A warning for you, in good faith. These Ancestors, they're from the age of Gods."
"From that far back, huh?" Mikoto mused.
"Indeed, I've only heard a first-hand account, so don't take my words for it. The main forces of power in that age were the Gods, Divine Beast, the dragons, and these Ancestors. That should give you an idea of how truly powerful they can be. I assumed the one I dispatched was weaker than the rest. The Ancestor of Wisdom attested to that."
"That chick was the weakest?" Mirabella blurted out in exasperation. That tidbit of information was not comforting. She and Agatha were not even a match for her, yet she was the weakest out of five.
"They're pretty strong, huh? Makes sense that woman didn't budge when I threw a planet at her," Mikoto noted.
"A what?"
("I doubt even my last attack would've dented her if I didn't affect destiny and fate to a minute degree. But that mutt jumped in front of her regardless.") Mikoto internally thought. There was a chance the other Ancestors were much more powerful than even her. ("Hm, this may be troublesome.")
"I advise staying clear of them in the meantime," Rowena warned. "You seem to be able to combat them just fine," she said, looking at Mikoto before turning to Mirabella. "You, however, need to refine your newly acquired Arcane Ascendance. Being a spawn of a destroyer God, your potential is high, yet you'll not reach it if you're dead."
"Wait, you keep talking about Arcane Ascendance like you're an expert in it or something," Mirabella could not help but note.
"Hmph, mayhap I am," Rowena mused. Turning on her heel, she gave a lazy wave. "Well, my job is done here. Heed my words well." With that, she merely walked away, albeit slowly due to her heels clashing with the debris-strewn ground.
("What an odd woman, an Inheritor too.") Mikoto noted. A crest was embedded in her mana, though he had to actively look for it. Unlike knights who could see it at a glance, he had to go the extra mile. ("A Goddess who embodies the very realm, huh? Sounds powerful, yet I never saw mention of an Inheritor of hers. Only some spawns here and there. I wonder if there really are many more Inheritors. Hm, I only need to observe two more to glean the true essence of magic. Mirabella seems to have awakened it as well. She's come to terms with what she represents, but I feel like I am missing something. I accept what I am, yet I cannot gain Arcane Ascendance.")
"Oi, Mikoto!" Mirabella's exclamation snapped him out of his thoughts quickly as he glanced her way. She was happily waving around her partially transformed arm that rapidly came undone, dissipating into white particles to reveal her original arm. "I finally got it! You saw!? I got it!"
"Yeah, yeah, I saw."
"You're jealous, right? Super jealous!" She gleefully noted with a big stupid smile despite the carnage.
"Che, I ain't jealous," Mikoto denied. ("Arcane Ascendance isn't even all that. Pshh, who needs a super cool transformation that's a trump card. Not me, obviously, because I'm strong and I don't need it.")
Cor'nella could not help but deadpan, ("He is jealous.")