13 Nirvana

Upon placing his hand on the 'tree' and activating mana sight, his sight "exploded".

The kaleidoscope of colour assaulted his vision and made it very difficult to focus on the individual magics.

It took him a while but he finally started to be able to follow the 'war of magic' going on in the tree.

It didn't take him too long to figure out the majority of the magics were the "tree" itself, it was actually a very elaborate illusion/formation that hid the "warring energies" and nirvana itself.

The quantity of light and dark magic trapped in eternal struggle within the formation was so high it would send a magic beam a couple KM's into the sky, pretty much broadcasting its location to the world if released.

'I'll probably need to destroy it as soon as possible, or figure out a way to deactivate the formation without letting the energies run rampant' he thought.

To do that he would have to be very lucky on which "strings" of magic to pull or manipulate.

Not having any knowledge on magical formations or enchanting it would really rely on luck.

"I could always go to Cait Shelter and ask the old ghost for the key, although I very much doubt he would give it, even if I told him my plan" he mused aloud.

Deciding he had nothing to loose in asking and having already marked the location so he could find it easily, he headed in the direction of the Cait Shelter guildhall.

He knew the journey would take a while as it was at least halfway across the forest but he still didn't rush.

He had found his mark so all that was left was to enjoy himself in destroying it.

That was the real reason he was going through the trouble to not broadcast the walking city.

Yes he was going to destroy it, but that did not mean there wasn't anything to learn from the ancient weapon.

He also wanted to explore the ruins of the lost city before wrecking it.

Arriving at Cait Shelter in {Stealth} he explored the area.

He wanted to see how much authority the old ghost had over this location and as a bonus he wanted to see if he could "see-through" his creations (guild members).

Upon walking around the little town and even in some of the buildings, including the guildhall, to test if they could sense him Alex was satisfied.

They didn't appear to be able to sense him and if they could they had remarkable poker faces.

Sitting down beside the guild building and activating his mana sight, a couple things became clear.

1) The old ghost was very good at illusions, 2) he was definitely the one whom created the illusion around nirvana, and 3) he was kind of a perfectionist when it came to illusions.

All his creations had their own personalities, could have a full conversation with each other and even emitted a slightly different mana signature.

With {Mana Manipulation} he could see they were all connected to Roubaul but he was still very impressed.

After observing the "villagers" and the mana fluctuations for a while he decided it was time to talk to the old man.

When he was looking around before, he didn't manage to spot Wendy and Carla.

'Looks like they must be out on a job then, guess I wont get to meet them just yet' he thought, still looking around.

Making his way inside the guild hall he dropped {Stealth} directly in front of an old man dressed in tribal clothes and sitting in a meditative position in the middle of the building.

Roubaul opened his eyes and glanced at the young man standing before him for a second before gesturing for him to take a seat.

Alex realized from his reaction that he must have been able to sense him from the get go and just chose not to do anything about it.

This was proved true by the fact none of his guild members bothered shouting out or even acknowledging his presence in the room.

"How long have you known I was here?" Alex couldn't help but ask.

"From the moment you got within 400 feet of the guild building, Nabura." was the reply from the stern looking old man.

"That is a very sensitive magical detection you got, I would love to be able to do the same" Alex stated matter of fact.

"Nabura" the old man said softly. It was all the response he got as Roubaul kept studying him.

He couldn't blame the man, only an idiot gives out secrets without a price.

"If you knew I was here, why didn't you say something sooner? Or even try to attack me?" Alex asked curiously.

"I was able to know something or someone was in the area, Nabura. But we could not pinpoint the location... nabura. Also, I could not sense any malicious intent coming from you. Nabura" Was his slow reply.

"What is your goal here?" Roubaul asked.

"I seek Nirvana" Alex replied simply.

Now the old ghost reacted.

Surprise and slight fear could be seen momentarily on his wizened old face, before he quickly schooled his features.

"You wish to transcend to godhood? Or perhaps looking for inner peace?" He asked as if to change the subject, while still remaining conversational.

"Don't play dumb, history is not so lost that the Nirvit people have been scratched from it" Alex said in a more serious tone.

Roubauls face grew darker at his words, as if upset or saddened to hear it.

"Listen boy, that magic is better left to the annals of history. It is not something anyone in this world should have access too" he said in warning.

"I know" Alex replied just as sternly. "My end goal is to destroy it permanently".

"That is not possible. Nabura" Roubaul said after pondering his statement.

"I appreciate your conviction to remove this black mark of my people, nabura. But it cannot be done, nabura ...at least not alone" he continued a little lost in thought.

"My people and I created this great weapon as a way to stop the wars plaguing the world, nabura.

It worked exactly like it was supposed to, nabura. However, the price for our success was costly, nabura.

Energy cannot be destroyed, nabura, so when we "removed" the darkness from peoples hearts we simply took that darkness into our city, nabura" He said sadly.

"By the time we realized what was going on, it was too late. Nabura. We were already tainted by the very magic we sought to destroy. Nabura." he said with deep regret in his voice.

"I have been looking for a way to destroy it for centuries, but because of its ability to repair itself, nabura, it is beyond me" he said, still looking at the ground and lost in thought.

"I can help you with that" Alex spoke up. He did not want to interrupt the old man as he was telling his story.

"My magic is very special, I know energy cannot be destroyed but it can easily be targeted and broken down" Alex said with a small smile on his face.

{Fel-Fire} could consume anything with energy in it, and given the nature of this world where everything was created through Ethernano, his options where limitless.

At his words, Roubaul looked up with a start. "What do you mean by that? Nabura" he asked quickly.

In answer, Alex summoned a ball of {Fel-Fire} on his hand and showed it to the old man.

"This fire targets the very make-up of whatever it ignites, that aspect of it burns only its target, but the heat produced from the flames is another story all together" Alex said as an explanation.

"Such a destructive magic exists!? Nabura" Roubaul asked, surprised but with slight hope in his eyes.

"That still doesn't change the fact that 1 person alone cannot destroy the weapon. Nabura" Roubaul said, his excitement turning to regret once more.

"That is not necessarily true" Alex chimed in. "This magic belongs to me and me alone. I can confidently say there is not another like it in this world." he continued.

"One of the "abilities" of my flame, is that once it gets a hold (ignites) of an object, I no longer need to fuel it with my mana, and it will burn its target until there is no more energy left in it.

I could easily ignite the 6 lacrimas 1 at a time to effectively destroy the weapon" Alex continued in a jovial tone.

"I see, that could indeed work nabura" Roubaul said in agreement. His excitement coming back.

"Wait..." he muttered as if realizing something. "How do you know about the lacrimas and what you need to do to destroy it!?" he asked, eyes wide.

'Opps, may have said too much' Alex thought before he smiled and said. "I have already found the weapons sleeping place.

It is common practice to do research on dangerous items you find hiding under a tree, is it not?" he revealed as a way to change the topic off things he shouldn't know.

There were many types of information gathering magics in this world, so long as you knew what you were looking for and had the knowhow or knew someone whom could use that magic, it was pretty easy to find out a great deal of information.

Hibiki Lates of Blue Pegasus used the magic "archive" to figure out how to destroy Nirvana in the story, so it was not impossible.

Although he was surprised that Alex had already found Nirvanas resting place, he could not refute the rest of his words.

He was well aware of that type of magics existence so he dropped that part, however, something else had him curious.

"If you already found Nirvana, why would you still need to come here? Nabura" he asked in confusion. "Couldn't you just use your magic to destroy the seal?"

"Yes I could, and still will if you choose not to help me" Alex replied.

"But I am unable to do so without activating the first stage of the weapon. While it won't affect me, it will still broadcast to the entire Worth Wood-Sea and surrounding area its location" he continued.

It was foolish to think it would go completely unnoticed and even more so to think there wasn't anyone looking for signs of it.

"That is a very good point, nabura" Roubaul said after a couple minutes of silent thought.

"What is it you need from me?" he asked, coming to a decision.

"I need the control sequence and knowledge to deactivate the formation without setting off the first stage of Nirvana" Alex replied unhurriedly.

"Then I will need the knowledge to activate its second stage, again without firing the first, so I can get the city to its full height and away from the forest" he continued.

"To destroy it while it is underground would probably end up taking half the forest down with it from how intense the fire is going to be" he reasoned to the old ghost.

"If your magic only burns its target, why would it matter?" Roubaul asks.

"It is still fire, by its very nature it will burn everything it can, the green flames will die out once the magical energy from the target is gone, but it wont magically put out the regular flames that start from the heat of my flames" Alex answered patiently.

"The amount of heat produced by my flame is already so intense I'm not entirely convinced it will be tall enough to keep it fully away from the forest" Alex muttered to himself.

Having been keeping a close eye on the young mans heart rate as well as emotions as he spoke and described his plans, Roubaul was confident he was being honest with his intentions.

He decided he would put his faith and trust in the young man and maybe, just maybe he could help him right a wrong done soo very long ago.

It took the remainder of the day and part of the night for Roubaul to show and explain all the specifics about Nirvana to Alex.

It would have taken significantly longer if Alex was not already proficient in {Mana Manipulation} and copying magics.

When they were wrapping up Alex watched the old man stiffen up before he relaxed and looked towards the east.

Upon following his gaze to the wall he finally sensed a new presence and scent.

Waiting in silence with the old man they sat and watched the entrance to the building, clearly feeling the presence getting closer.

About 5 minutes later a little girl, looking no older than 10 walked through the door holding a white cat in her arms.

She was a petite girl with fair skin and long dark blue hair that reaches down to her waist, with two bangs framing her face down to her chest.

She had a big smile on her face as she walked in the guild hall, that promptly froze as she noticed Alex.

"U-uh.. Umm, Hi" she squeaked out as a small blush appeared on her face.