Chapter 25 – Learning Experience
24 days until Night Raid's Assault
Polaris Academia – Morning
[Name] had woken up from very needed sleep. His body had felt horrible, as if every muscle in his body had been torn to shreds. This was likely the drawback of the Teigu form he was warned about. On a positive note, he had eaten dinner that night. So, waking up in the morning at least isn't all that painful.
Nora had dinner prepared for him as they had entered last night. And by the looks of this place was a boarding school of sorts, but for witches. It was a very large and castle like and there was nothing but girls of all ages here. But he could care less for right now, if they don't attack him or start some more ruckus that'll have him out on his own starving again; he'll be just fine.
Nora had told him why she'd brought him but he retained nothing. Maybe when she arrives back up to his room she'll elaborate yet again. The tiredness gripped him tight as he sat up in the comfortable bundle of covers. After rubbing the small crud from his eyes, he looked through the wall lengthen windows to let the morning sun bathe and awaken him further. And just his luck the golden knob of the door turned and opened. Nora had come in with a tray of breakfast for him, and greeted him.
Nora: Glad you're awake [Name]. How'd you sleep?
[Name]: Pretty good considering my body feels like it was mauled by danger beasts.
Nora then walked over and placed the tray over on [Name]'s bed side table. [Name] tried to get up but Nora stopped him.
Nora: Well that's what happens when you use magic for fighting.
Her saying that somewhat alarmed [Name]. How was this woman who came out of nowhere, pinpointing exactly how he fought? His heart nearly skipped a beat.
[Name]: What did you just say?
He asked, part confused and still tired, he mused as to how she knew he had any ability to manipulate imperial arms to any extent.
Nora: I know about you. I've been tracking you with this.
She took out a talisman from out of her shirt that she used as a necklace.
Nora: This allows me to track any artifact or person that's imbued with ethereal energy. So, things like imperial arms? I can locate almost anyone I want. Buildings, people, locations.
[Name]: So, what do you want with me?
The woman then facepalmed.
Nora: I just knew you weren't listening at all. . .
She paused. [Name] returned a sheepish smile as he held his aching neck and back.
Nora: Look, I know that you've been interacting with something; some being far out. All the elder witches past and present always knew something was here, but it was everywhere at the same time. We could never pin point exactly what it was. And it's like it's a omnipresent feeling. I need you to tell us.
[Name]: How can I be certain that you won't just turn me over to the empire after I tell you?
Nora: Will you get real for a second!? That General Esdeath actually came here looking for you not all that long ago. She asked me if I could find you and I lied and told her no. We're on the same side here and we just needed you help finding out what that presence is.
Unbeknownst to Nora and [Name] all the staffing witches were listening in through the outside of the door, so they could hear as well. This "[Name]" could very well be the key to unlocking a secret that's be baffling them for one thousand years.
[Name]: Well, to be honest. I don't even know myself. It's a ghost for sure and he said he fought in the Great Sovereign War. There was this thing called the Tree of infinity or something like that, and it was the source of all ethereal magic on earth. Since it was going to be destroyed, he syphoned all the energy and died. All that energy kind of fused him with this realm so he's kind of stuck here as a ghost.
Nora: Interesting, what does he want from you?
[Name]: He needs my help to retake the empire. And that's what I want too, I want to make the empire a safer place for the people I care about and so we're helping each other out. For right now, I really need to get up.
Nora then chopped on his chest and [Name] hollered!
[Name]: OW! What was that for?!
Nora: You know good and well you can't fight right now. You siphon Teigu power from the etheric plane and use it to fight. Human bodies shouldn't be able to do that, how are you able to? It's like you're a living imperial arms.
[Name]: He tried to reincarnate himself into me before I was born but he botched it.
Nora: So? I guess that means you retained a lot of the Teigu essence he would've had in your body.
She stated while putting a finger to her chin in bewilderment.
[Name]: Wow, you're a smart lady. How did you know what I called it?
Nora: Because you went on about how you used it and probably said it a thousand times.
She looked over at him and smiled.
[Name]: Oh.
She began to laugh very loud and yet sheepishly. Then both of them looked over to the wall and saw to blue eyes slowly creep through the wall and form into another beautiful woman. Her eyes a dark blue, hair stringy and dark blue as well. He clothes were darker and she had a cloak which covered her fully.
?: What's going on here?
Nora's demeanor immediately changed from a kinder and calm expression; to a much more childish and pettier one in front of whoever this was.
?: This is that person we were warned to be careful around right?
Nora: Yes he is. Kira what are you doing here?!
Kira: I finished my expedition sooner than expected. Did you find out anything worthy of note?
Nora: Well as it turns out this presence is a veteran of the great sovereign war and now his spirit guides [Name] to help make the empire a better place.
Kira then walked towards [Name].
Kira: [Name], do you know the identity of this presence?
[Name]: No, does it even really matter?
Kira: Yes, it does. If you can pinpoint his identity, then finding out who he was while he was alive will help us find out his true motives.
[Name] held out a hand to gesture his point.
[Name]: I already do know his motives.
Kira: Do you? How can you be sure that he isn't using you? Making the empire a better place can mean having another extremely powerful monster like Esdeath, or even Faid or Budo. He can be using you to get you powerful enough to take hold of you and either retake or dominate the empire on his own. You having the power to manipulate teigu energy or magic with no imperial arms makes your potential for destruction nearly limitless.
[Name]: I would never let that happen! He isn't like that.
[Name] snapped. He would now if he was being lied to. Or at least he feels he would.
Kira: What's that symbol on the back of your neck?
[Name] then felt it with his fingers and answered.
[Name]: He called it a etheric life seal. It lets me tap into the teigu power without it killing me due to it's stress on my human body. It-
"limits your access to the abilities so it doesn't kill you outright.", Kira cut him off.
Kira: Nora, we need to do something about this.
She said while looking at Nora after looking toward [Name].
Nora: We'll figure something out.
Kira: And you didn't before make the decision to get him?
Nora then sheepishly used a finger to scratch her cheek while smiling.
Kira: Unbelievable! You'd better know what you're doing.
She said with a bite of agitation and she then walked off and through the door she'd just opened.
[Name]: Why didn't she just do that the first time?! What's with her?
Nora: She's like that, she's a pompous jerk! But she's among the best kinda like me.
She said while pointing a thumb at herself.
[Name]: She's better than you, isn't she?
Nora instantly hung her head and arms down in grief.
Nora: Kinda.
She then looked to [Name] and saw that his sheeting was blackened by dirt. [Name] was still in his clothing in which they found him in. A very well-made armor, skin tight, and strong fabric in dark blue and black.
Nora: When was the last time you showered?
[Name] then looked down at the sheets and himself.
[Name]: A while ago?
Late Morning – Head Mistress's Office
The room was large and spacious. Filled with antiques and portraits of all of the other previous mistresses. The head mistress was a smaller woman with some age on her and she spoke to Nora whilst she sat at her desk. Nora sat across from her.
Head Mistress: Well Nora, you've gotten yourself into quite the predicament.
Nora: Yeah, [Name]'s a very different type of person. But he's not dangerous, I think.
Head Mistress: Can you be sure? deep within his soul lies a deep darkness. None of which I've ever seen.
Nora: I know mam, I probably should've listened to what my brother said. Getting involved was a bad idea. I was thinking about training him but Kira's reaction scared me off.
Head Mistress: Don't beat yourself up over it. This is a learning experience.
Nora: But mam, everything can be destroyed and it'd be my fault. Maybe he should taught by someone else. I really don't think giving him to me is the best idea. Give him to Kira, or someone else. Or we should just let him go.
Head Mistress: Hm?
The older woman put a hand on her chin.
Head Mistress: No, you're keeping him. Nora, I think that the best thing for you to do is what you planned to in the first place. You wanted to train him so that way he can complete his goal, so continue.
Nora was reluctant. "What's wrong with the Mistress?" She thought "Kira's usually never wrong,". Why continue to harbor such a dangerous person like [Name]? She knew his energy whilst tracking him, but his energies are much more intense in person.
Nora: I don't know about this. But I'll do my best.
She then stood up to bow to her superior. Leaving her chair and exiting the room, the head mistress thought more to herself. Perhaps teaching a vagrant warrior from the empire to use imperial arms energy was a horrible idea, and having Nora as his teacher was even worse. Then, her intuition kicked in. She wasn't the head for no reason, and she knows for certain that everything happens for a reason.
Afternoon - Academy Courtyard
Overlooking the school the sky was a cloudless blue, but a chill was in the air. The courtyard in which [Name] sat in the middle of was very beautiful with clay sculptures and the yard was rectangular in area. Girls' shoes were clacking in the outside halls as they went from class to class, a lot of them all gawked at [Name] as they held their books close to their chests. [Name] sat on the grass as Nora was behind him kneeling, both hands on his back. Her hands were warm to him as she was healing his body.
Nora: Who were you fighting?
[Name]: Eh, crazy people.
Nora: Well, those crazy people made you nearly suffer a massive heart attack. Plus your muscles were nearly torn to shreds from the stress of the- uh? That form-
[Name]: Teigu form.
Nora: The Teigu form. I'm going to help you train your body to contain it longer and maybe even dig deeper and upgrade it.
[Name]'s eyes shot open and he quickly turned around startling her in the process.
[Name]: You can really do that!?
Nora: I guess. I mean there has to be something I can do to help.
She said with a smile.
[Name]: You mean you're not even sure?! Why are you even-?!
[Name] then jumped up and screamed in pain and excitement.
[Name]: The one teaching me?! Get that Kira lady.
He continued with agitation.
Nora: I would if I could and I don't even know why I'm here myself. It was the head mistress's orders. When I brought you here, I didn't really think the stakes would be this high. I should've listened.
[Name]: Well hey there's nothing we can do about that now. So, let's get this training underway.
Nora: No, your body is too banged up for you to do much of anything right now. And plus you really need a bath.
He then shot her a glare and smelled his arm pit. His eyes almost rolled to the back of his head from his body odor.
[Name]: I think you're right. But first can I at least do something in the meantime?
Afternoon – Academy Upper Floors
Not long after [Name] quickly found himself mopping the halls, cleaning cobwebs, sweeping, having more girls gawk at him, and reorganizing library books.
This took hours to do and since the year is coming to an end it began to get darker much faster. Luckily for [Name] he's already in his long-awaited bath. His body still ached a considerable amount after he fought with the Wild Hunt. The Jaegers did more or less save his life as he would've been overwhelmed and killed. Granted it would've been his fault, once he lost his friend he vowed to leave the empire behind. He'd heard that someone had murdered groups of children and he just had to help, he would've felt wrong if he didn't.
He'd also sworn that he'd let the darkness swallow him whole after the events at the Commonwealth, but that hasn't fully happened like he'd thought either. At this point his motives and thoughts have changed so many different times, he doesn't even know if he's doing something he wants too. As his thoughts circled around in his mind the water warmed him, he mused more.
Why even save the empire? What will he gain from doing it? Kasumi, the girl he'd saved and housed was either dead or doing something that had no consequence to [Name]. For all he knows she could be happier where she's at anyways and his job is already done. The empire is filled with horrible, disgusting laws and have easily comparable people, but what does it matter if he's not there?
The Nightraid was a group filled with alright people, but he doesn't really know any of them and they'll probably give him the same join or die that the Jaegers gave him. All they've done is coax him into going into a mission with them, and have them threaten him. While he did sit and eat with them, they probably only did it because they saw [Name] as a reasonable asset. This beast for all he knows could very well be using him only as a tool as well. Maybe he should kiss Esdeath's foot, and ask for her forgiveness for him leaving her.
[Name] saddened himself thinking this way. But he's probably thinking about this too hard. He let the bubbles and soap fill his pores even more, sinking himself deeper into the hot bath water. Looking over at his clothes/armor fully washed and refurbished he then rose from the water. After a few moments and wanting to open the blinds to see the beautiful bluish orange sky and the vast lands beyond the school.
He opened the blinds to see several girls on ladders spying on him. They saw everything on him especially his manhood and their noses sprayed blood as the ladders fell backwards. It's as though they've never seen a male before. Over the next few days incidents like these continued with more and more girls no matter which bath he went to. Thankfully he remembered not to open the blinds.
Days Later
Late Morning – Academy Courtyard
Things finally got going for [Name]. His training with Nora was different to say the least. He sat outside and meditated outside in the chilling cold. She taught him to take his ethereal energy and surge it through his body over and over throughout the days. He was breaking in his body similar to that of a new shoe of sorts. The energies needed to familiarize themselves with [Name]'s body, and this took time.
Nora: Feel, let it flow through you. It's like breathing. You can't just hold it in it and think it'll just get cozy. You must let the "teigu" energy breath and not just hold it in. [Name] opened one eye and looked at her from behind.
[Name]: Easy for you to say.
He said with a snide attitude. Nora then growled. This was pointless, [Name] thought. There's no way this is actually going to work. Especially with someone who admitted they don't even know much about this. He tried to hold this power in, ignoring her instructions.
Nora: [Name] STOP!
His muscles burned and his mind grew sporadic and his muscled then spasmed. His heart began to race and he fell out. Briefly losing consciousness, [Name] struggled to sit up again.
[Name]: What am I even doing?!
Nora: What do you mean?
[Name] then stood up and just stood up at the sky. He threw his hands up as an indication of submission. He then turned away from her.
[Name]: All this time, All I ever really wanted to do is help people. But it's like all the work I do gets crushed by the empire or something else. It's like building a sand castle on the beach and a wave smashes it every time. It's like I'm not even doing anything anymore. I can't beat Tatsumi. I can't beat Esdeath, Budo, or Faide. Hell, those people who I fought almost killed me and I'm pretty sure Esdeath could solo them all in a minute flat. I-I-It's like I'm faking it til I make it. Except me making it is me getting a public execution. Probably by the same woman who supposedly "loves" me.
Nora: That's not true.
She stood up.
Nora: I don't know all that much about you [Name]. But I can sense something, there's a lot more people counting on you than you think and I know you won't let any of them down. The one's living or dead.
Nora then walked to [Name] and turned him around, and plopped down onto grass sitting.
Nora: And yeah sure I can manipulate energy, but nothing came easy. My brother is a guy who'd you know named "The Lord". Because of that, everyone expected so much of me but I sucked. In time, everyone expected me to fail at everything I did. And at a point I did at most things, I didn't even know my own purpose in life. That woman Kira?
[Name]: Your rival?
She then looked down and gripped at her thighs. She held firm, the sour memories doing the same to her. Thoughts of her rough past at this boarding school, tore at her but she let them pass at her current realization.
Nora: When we were younger, she bested me at everything. At every turn she humiliated me, sometimes on purpose. But when I fell, I just got back up and kept on swinging. I got better and better.
Nora then grew a great smile and loosened her grip on her thighs. [Name] thought on her words. Maybe Nora was on to something, maybe he should think the way she did about things. But when she said she didn't have a purpose, it really spoke to him and he has to have her elaborate.
[Name]: I have no choice but to do that. Yeah, you're right. Thanks Nora.
He sat back down and resumed his meditative state as Nora continued to guide him. From then on [Name] grew both in spirit, body, and mind.
Night – Academy Lounge
Nora sat with a few thousand page books stacked atop one another. She sat at a desk half asleep, in almost completely darkenedroom. The crescent moon lit the room up as the windows were wall sized and the curtains were open.
Kira had then slowly walked into the room as Nora had been startled awake.
Nora: Hi Kira.
Kira: I see you're hard at work. How has teaching [Name] been?
Nora: I don't know Kira. He's made a lot of progress, but I'm not sure if he should've been taught by you.
Kira then closed her eyes and shook her head.
Kira: You still don't get it.
She said as she went over and lightly bonked Nora on the head.
Nora: Get what?
Kira: I watched every session. And I have to say-
Nora: That's creepy.
She cut her off.
Kira: As I was saying. I think you were meant to be [Name]'s teacher. You two learned from each other and I can't say the same thing would've happened if I taught him what I know in your place. And for what it's worth, you did a great job.
Nora only looked in her dazed and tired bewilderment. Kira had turned and left out of the door, but before she shut the door. She'd stated something to her that would stick with her.
Kira: The Head mistress put you two together for a reason, even if this was a five day experience.
She'd said as she closed the door behind her.
Morning – Academy Gates
In three more days she'd taught him how to maintain his form for a considerably longer time. He can tap into more power and can now even have a much stronger version of this form. Doubling his attack potency and broadening his attack arsenal using moves he's seen others use. However, he's nowhere near invincible.
He knew he's made a significant amount of progress, though his is likely due to his extremely powerful connection to the imperial arms' power source. Whatever, the case he knows that he can't stay long his plan is to execute at least one of the empire's leading military members. The member is one that [Name] hasn't decided on yet. He didn't know all that much about the others like he did Esdeath, so it'd probably be safe to go for her life first.
If he does go for her and he fails which is very likely, his entire plan will go down the drain. As of right now his only concern right now is getting back to the empire.
[Name] stood there with Nora and the Head Mistress. Fresh grass flew through [Name]'s nose as he looked out at the fields ahead.
They'd given him a cloak to where over his current clothing to hide and evidence of imperial affiliation. It was black, hoodless, and it spanned to his shins. The sky was blue yet again and the air stayed consistent with it's chill, but bearable.
[Name]: Thank you both for everything. To be honest I thought this would be a waste of time and I'd end up killing at least someone.
Nora and the Head mistress stone faced his statement as he laughed.
Nora: So, what's going to be your first move?
[Name]: I have to take out an imperial official. General Faide maybe. Slowly but surely. I have to start somewhere. Thanks again.
He said as he began to walk away while giving a light wave.
Nora: Oh, [Name]!?
He stopped and turned around to see her.
Nora: Promise me that you won't ever let go of your purpose. No matter how tough things get, always remember you'll have people rooting for you to the end.
[Name]: Promise.
He said as he walked away and he then almost forgot to ask.
[Name]: Nora?
They did the same thing [Name] did as he a minute ago.
[Name]: Did you ever find your purpose?
Nora: Yeah, I did.
[Name] then gave her thumbs up, arm poking through his new dark cloak and he finally departed. The visage of his body eventually sank over the horizon as he finally left their few.
Once the two women finally went back inside school walls, the head mistress spoke.
Head Mistress: I have to ask. What would you say is your purpose Nora?
Nora smiled and looked ahead.
Nora: Mine, to help [Name] find his.