8 The past and future.
Author's notes first then Chapter.
So its been awhile. Been dealing with alot of real life stuff but things have mainly calmed down. I wasn't quite ready to start releaseing chapters again but i wanted to give an update and i hate just doing a 'fake' chapter that appears on people's updated list.
Here's where i'm currently at with regards to writing. I'm putting Bleached Multiverse on the shelf for a bit. I realized a massive issue with it overall, i don't really have a direction for it. I never really had an ending it mind so i've just been muddling around it for a bit. I've written quite a few chapters and deleted a few chapters. Its been a cycle that made me realize i don't know what i want to do with it so i figured i wouldn't stress over it and focus on this story that i actually planned out for the most part. I've already gotten some idea for Bleached Multiverse just from writing for this story that i've made notes of.
Where i'm at with this story and what my schedule is going to be. First off i have been writing for this story quite a bit and i have alot saved up for massive releases....later on. I don't think i made that clear last time. I have chapters stored up but they're all over the place with regards to future arcs. Like quite a few of them are after Arthur and Medusa are back together. Since i havn't had a schedule i have just been writing for fun whenever something pops up in my head even if i don't plan on using it. I have a few chapters that start an arc i never plan on using but i just randomly had the idea, i thought maybe i would release them later on as 'side stories' or omakes. So this leads into my new schedule, i don't want to burn myself out so i'm going to put the minimum at 1 chapters every couple days. I may do more but i'm shooting for that being the minimum.
Anyways, i'll be checking the comments if anyone has any questions or remarks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alex was sitting in his apartment, he was meditating. It was something he started to do after his initial incident over a week ago.
It was a surprisingly effective 'technique'. Just trying his best to clear his mind and focus on the events that had transpired.
He was currently replaying the events that had happened earlier. Truthfully, he didn't feel mentally unstable or anything in that regard, but having two distinct 'people' almost merge together was apparently having more of a burden on him than initially thought. He wanted to make sure his decisions were not made for the wrong reasons.
After a couple hours of mulling it over he came to the conclusion he was thinking logically and that it was the correct decision when he only had a few moments to consider. After using that weapon once, his desire to use it again plummeted. It was a difficult sensation to describe, it was equal parts exhilarating and frightening. That amount of power he could wield with a swing of the weapon.... he now understood much better why there were seals on his own blade.
He also had a better understanding on how reality marbles were so close to true magic. The creature had been using what could be described as the very, very, basics of true magic while inside. He was reversing 'time' to restore himself and possibly touching upon the denial of nothingness to create things within. Though Alex wasn't anywhere near a Magicians's level so he couldn't truly say this was correct for certain. It frankly could have just been a very good illusion and Alex got played the fool, but he made his decisions without regret and he would deal with the consequences.
He finally moved onto the creature. He was sure it was destroyed, but he didn't know if it was the 'same' one from before or a different one altogether. It was able to use the corpse of the alchemist and warp it enough to fully put out a genuine reality marble. Did that creature want to fully take over the corpse and posses it indefinitely or was it just using it as a weapon against him or the ones he was protecting? There were so many questions that he just didn't have the information to answer.
His thoughts finally drifted towards the future. He was considering what the fallout would be especially after his little 'run in' with the Roman Catholic Knight's the group met when they left the school.
The Catholic church had sent in their own order of knights and after a few of their number fell inside the facility, they opted for a more....indirect approach.
The knights were about to bombard the entire building and kill everyone within just to get to the Alchemist.
Alex did not take this well.
He did not kill any of them, but he made it abundantly clear among the bodies that were laying on the ground, that such a course of action was unacceptable to one who called themselves a knight. They would not be doing any field work for several months after that encounter.
The various organizations around the world were just now learning of the events that had transpired. Aureolus was a renown magician so his involvement raised quite a few eyebrows, but the main concern was the man who dealt with such a powerful magician.
They only had a name and his residence in Academy city. Alexander Penn, level 2 esper, known ability: Wind Blade.
It was obvious from the reports given that this was fake, he was using magic as clear as day from the reports.
Stiyl's report that he had delivered to the Church of England was also making its rounds. Alex had pretty much given the go ahead to report what ever he wanted so he did. The first concern that various organizations were having, the mythological weapons that he had displayed.
Many organizations were about to start making claims to them until the second part of the report was read.
The man had defeated a saint. A self-proclaimed human had caused a Saint to admit defeat. They only cross blades for an instant, but the saint in question had judged that to be enough to not continue the battle.
It was a ridiculous notion, but almost everyone who had the report understood the pride that most Saints held. They would not admit defeat so easily, the chances of Kaori actually being on the losing end was high.
There were also reports on what happened to the corpse of the Alchemist, it became almost possessed by some kind of entity, which followed up the crutch of the meetings around the world. The final weapon shown by the mysterious man.
The weapon had ruptured the earth and destroyed space. It was a weapon of the highest caliber and it was completely unknown, and in the hands of someone unknown. Countermeasures were trying to be drawn, but most people were coming up with blanks. Various organizations were preparing to send people to monitor or gather information on this mysterious man. But they very well couldn't march into Academy city and demand answers less they wanted a war on their hands with the science part of the world. And that wasn't even taking into account he individual's own power.
Overall, the hands of most organizations were tied, be it politically or manpower-wise. They could really only delve into their own archives or try to gather information subtly at the moment. The individual hadn't made any aggressive move against the world and even helped solve a crisis, for the most part they would adopt a wait and see approach.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few days had gone by, Alex tried to stay clear of the duo for a bit and let them settle down. Even without displaying that weapon, it had been hard on them both. Death is a hard thing to be around for those who had been sheltered like they had, in the modern world you would be unlucky to ever even see a corpse, let alone multiple people killed in front of you.
Alex was making a bit of progress in his own magecraft in the meantime. He was to the point where he was able to some-what test the limits of his circuits. It was basically muddling through since he didn't have a teacher and only knew a bit of second hand information. He dared not try to draw form his Dragon's Core intentionally like he was his circuits. It was much too powerful for the current beginner magus. If his circuits were batteries, his core would be a nuclear reactor. He had absolutely no idea how it would react if he actively tried to draw mana from the atmosphere with it. He may completely overload his body and explode or get mana poisoning if he tried. Hell, he wasn't even confidant to reinforce himself using his circuits yet. He had relied on its passive effect of pumping prana throughout his body his entire life, thinking that was enough previously.
Though there was the exception with his mana burst ability. It was one of the few things he 'learned' from merlin. Basically, she kept tossing him into life or death situations until he would instinctually use his Dragon's core without killing himself. He honestly didn't even know how he did it to be able to mimic its effect to use on other things. At the very least Merlin did warn him about using it after he 'mastered' mana burst. Something about a painful death from exploding with too much mana.
His current thoughts were to wait until he mastered his circuit's use first and when his parameters were much higher to not risk a painful death.
He also couldn't afford the next in the 'series' of Magecraft books from the shop. He was working towards his next status upgrade at 50,000 points.
There was so much to do and he was getting a bit of anxiety.
He had to get stronger, but he couldn't rush it. He had to complete his missions so he could see her again, but they would take time. He missed the days where he could just point his sword and charge through all obstacles.
"Wonder how Percy is doing…." Alex said quietly.
Those shitty gods were bound to do something stupid and make his nephew put his life in danger for their sake. He was sure going to have words with them once he gets back and possibly train the boy a bit. Giving him a few items for defense wouldn't hurt either.
He thought about what to give the boy when he saw him again and remembered he still needed to shift through the vault and start making a note of what it contained. His mind was rather messy at the moment, so it would be something easy to work on.
As he was shifting through the vault he found some interesting items, a giant ballista that he remembered was the 'true nine-lives', he found a hot spring...a literal hot spring noble phantasm. He was dumbfounded for a moment before he actually realized how convenient that actually was. After that he found another large item he recognized, Vimana. That 'aircraft' that Gilgamesh was fond of using. The one made of gold and gems with a golden throne on it. As gaudy as it was, it was very useful. Finally he found something that made him do a double take. Merodach, the precursor to all noble phantasms that have the identity of 'Selection' or something along those lines. It was similar to Caliburn.
Oh how he missed that blade. He was similar to Artoria in that regard...he truly loved Caliburn possibly more so than Excalibur even if the latter was much stronger. It was through his own faults that it shattered and was lost forever.
His mind began to wonder again, thinking about those old days from pulling the sword out of the stone up until his first death.
"Mordred...." He said quietly.
His Daughter. She was similar to Artoria's Mordred, it was a bit shocking how similar their aspects were even with the difference in gender.
He had thought of her briefly since his 'return' but…..he had not really given it any deep thought. He had been a horrible father. Regardless of her origin, she was his daughter and he failed to recognize that. He pushed the sin's of her mother onto her.
Looking back on everything, he couldn't completely blame her for her actions. He tried to rationalize it to himself, saying he was different then….but it didn't matter. He was the cause of it, he never recognized her and pushed her away. She lashed out when all she wanted was a chance to prove herself. She didn't care if she failed, she just wanted to try. And he never even gave her that chance.
He knew she was in the throne of heroes. But he was scared. He didn't know if he should summon her later on. Did he even deserve a chance to try and be her father again? Did she even want to come back?
He decided to push the thoughts down for the moment. Goals were good, but he had too much on his plate at the moment. First thing first, he would focus on his mission that was coming up and try to get stronger. Then he would bring Medusa along with him. He could always ask her advice on the matter.
He was broken from his thoughts as he heard a knock on his door.
It was the duo from across the hall.
"Well, come in." Alex said as he opened the door wide.
They both had an awkward expression on their faces.
Alex set out some tea for the duo as he sat down at the table with them.
"Still a bit shaken?" Alex asked.
The two both nodded their heads absentmindedly.
"The girl...the one with the deepblood ability…..the church took her in." Index said quietly.
"That's good." Alex responded.
There was a brief moment of silence before Touma spoke up.
"How do you deal with it?" He asked.
"The fighting.....the killing?" He spoke again.
Alex looked at both him and Index for a moment, it was easy to forget they were just kids sometimes.
"You focus on something important, something that was worth fighting and killing to protect." Alex replied. It was a simple concept yet hard to understand at the same time. They had not been exposed to this part of the world until recently so they were still trying to rationalize everything and hold onto what made sense previously, it was a turning point, adapt or die.
He must have struck a cord thankfully as their expression alleviated a bit after some thinking. Their expression quickly turned away from the depression they once held.
Its not like he imparted some sage wisdom, but sometimes you just needed someone to give you a push in the right direction.
"Well since you both are here, why don't I make something to eat?" Alex said.
The duo both had a grin appear on their faces as they realized they hadn't had any food in a while.
