5 Chapter Five: Natural Talent

September 26th, 2204. Demetri was reworking on the cybernetic goggles for Rose, in Demetri's own house in Seeira. Rose's blindness never got any better, but she wanted to be able to take the goggles off every once in a while, as also requested by Finn; her husband and other former member of The Six Guns. Demetri couldn't exactly make the goggles removable without using plenty of tools to take the goggles out of her eye sockets without pain, so he made the goggles mostly collapsible. The frame of the goggles could now fold backwards, over the temples of Rose's forehead. That way, Finn could once again look into her eyes, even though the cornea were still severely scarred and blurry with a thick white tissue. However, as fruitless as the effort seemed to Demetri, Rose and Finn appreciated it very much. Maybe Rose couldn't stare back into Finn's eyes, but "It still feels like I can see into his soul" says Rose. "Even if I can't see him, now that my... whatever you said it was-".

"Retina, Rose" Demetri interrupts. "The cornea and retina are damaged. Retina got singe, Cornea got scar".

"R-right... that thing" Rose agrees. "But I can still... feel him staring into me, somehow".

"I think you are just delusional" Demetri says.

"Well, I think it's love" Rose argues, then sticks her tongue out at him.

"So..." Finn begins to ask in the most persuasive manner he can, "how about... my request?".

Finn holds up his robotic arm that was put in place of his arm that was torn off during the battle against Naris twelve years ago. "Why would you need gun for arm?" Demetri asks.

"Aw, c'mon!" Finn complains. "My daughter is already about to turn 9 years old! What if boys start... y'know... hitting on her in school?".

"At least your daughter goes to school..." Holly says as she enters the room with them. "Did either of you two even go to school?".

"I did..." Finn says.

"Aw, come on, Holly!" Rose complains. "You know how I grew up! That's not fair!".

"Yes, but being raised by rebels isn't a good enough excuse for never enrolling in a school" Holly says.

"It's good thing daughter isn't here" Demetri says. "Does she know about mother's disposition of being idiot?".

"Your English is still lacking, Demetri" Holly says. "And yes, she knows".

"Holly!" Rose complains as she puffs up her cheeks and pouts.

"What?" Holly asks. "She doesn't know you never went to any school... she's just wildly aware that her parents are idiots".

Finn sighs and says "This is what we get for letting Aunty Holly babysit...".

"Damn right" Holly interjects. "We may not be related by blood, but I'll be damned if I let any niece of mine be as stupid as you two... no offense, Rose".

"Hey!" Finn interjects. "What about me!?".

"Pfft- What about you?" Holly scoffs.

"Yeah... none taken" Rose says as she puffs up her cheeks again and begins to pout more.

"Doc..." Finn says calmly, "I'm gonna need that gun arm now".

"You may not shoot babysitter" Demetri replies without enthusiasm.

Now Finn begins to puff up his cheeks as he says "Damn...".

After a lot of discussion, Demetri eventually agrees to upgrade Finn's robotic arm. However, to prevent Finn from causing any accidents, he makes his gun arm without a magic channeling charm. That way, it can't fire without using an outside charm. The gun used a very specific metal for its barrel, and could only be activated by a small metal card when inserted through the top, like a gun magazine. The object in specific that fits his arm was Finn's old calling card for The Six Guns. Vivi herself put the appropriate channeling charm in Finn's card, as Demetri began to work on Finn's upgrade. In the meantime, the world around them began to change and settle. Peace seemed to be growing more and more. Omnia has fully established a new government, and was fully functional with the assistance of Japan and Balphor. However, in order to gain their help, Omnia had to agree on the terms that their country wasn't allowed to have its own military anymore. After a long time of settling from the war, it seemed that the Hunters had given up on looking for The Six Guns. Or rather, nobody was willing to pay them anymore, since the world recognized that The Six Guns have officially disbanded. Everyone except for China, that is.

As Omnia continued to grow, so did Seeira. Larger cities were being built in Seeira, however, they still refused to form any official government. The people liked their country this way, being run and organized by civilized shops and business. However, people kept rumoring that now that The Six Guns were no longer together as a rogue group, that the members were considered Seeira's military. Most of the former Six Guns members now lived in Seeira. Tanya, and her daughter Alissa, Finn and Rose with their daughter Dana, Siran and Zia with their son Silas, Vivi and Alex with their son Carl, Demetri, Robin, Ying, Blake and Holly. The only ones who weren't there were Mikoto and Satomi, who have been back home in Japan for the last several years; as well as the deceased member, Ruby. China was unable to pursue The Six Guns outside of their own territory due to their treaty with Japan. Because of that, Japan kept China from chasing them down, even though they broke one of their members out of China's prison. On the other hand, China had the chance to do anything they wanted to towards the crew if they had entered China again. Meanwhile, for all of the former members of the crew; their children were fully aware that their parents are the former Six Guns. Their crew was well known throughout the world, after all. It brought a lot of attention towards the kids when they entered school, which drove most of them to be more recluse towards their classmates. The only one that didn't have troubles socializing was Dana, Rose and Finn's daughter. However, the three of them, Dana, Carl and Silas, all got along together really well.

After Silas came home from school on this day, September 26th, Siran and Zia spent some time with their son. Holly came over, asking for Siran. "I need some help learning a new technique" Holly says, "and we still have that deal about you teaching me more about magic. So get your ass out here".

"But I have responsibilities as a father too, Holly" Siran complains.

"Syr, it's alright" Zia says gently. "I'll get started on dinner now anyways, and have Silas help me. He's been learning so well how to cook for himself, so it'll be fine".

"See?" Holly asks. "You have an excuse. Now, come".

"It's not- but" Siran tries to argue. Siran sighs, then says "Alright, you win... as always". Siran and Holly spend a while outside of their house, as Siran helps teach something new to Holly. "Now" Siran says, "since you finally have the hang of armament magic too, you can combine that slowly with other magic to create new effects. For instance, using your knowledge about animated digital magic that you perfected back in the war, you should be able to use that much more quickly if you activate that magic on a smaller scale. Like this!". Siran holds out his hand and makes a glowing pyramid out of digital magic, floating above the palm of his hand. "You can use this defensively, but it's effect is slower when used on a large scale, like with your digital art Dokkaebi".

"It didn't seem very slow to me" Holly says. "Although, you have my interest".

"Right" Siran says. "The art activated immediately and can shift on a large scale roughly at half of the speed of an normal human's movements without a speed buff. However, if you shrink it down, you can shift the animated digital magic much faster. Like, say... the speed of a ballistic magic spell".

"But it's digital..." Holly says. "It's only effective as a wall to block other magic. To physical objects, it's only about as effective as using a piece of paper to block something".

"Right!" Siran agrees. "But what if you manipulate it with buff magic to increase its mass and density? You've seen me do it before. I've trapped those hunters in a dome shield that they couldn't break out of, back in Australia".

"Mhm..." Holly says, as if studying Siran's words. "Then it becomes a hard object".

"What if, instead of buff magic" Siran says, "we combine it with armament magic? We could create a digital object that has its own force, unaffected by both gravity and airspeed, like so". Siran forms both of his hands into finger guns and shoots digital magic at the ground. The magic hits the ground, faster than a bullet, and leaves a small hole in the ground.

"It's impressive that you've found a way to combine those forms of magic" Holly says. "It seems like its combat effective too".

"But?..." Siran asks.

"But only a dork like you would come up with something as stupid as magic finger guns, Siran" Holly says.

"Oh come on!" Siran complains. "It's cool!".

"Well, it's development" Holly says. "I'll give you that".

"Daddy!" Silas cheerfully shouts as he runs out of the front door and hugs Siran's side suddenly.

"Ah! Yeah, kiddo?" Siran asks.

"Dinner's ready" Zia says as she stands in the doorway. "Also, it seems Silas picked up one of your secret tricks...".

"Secret tricks?" Siran asks.

"It's impressive" Zia says. "I can read into magic and copy abilities fluidly, and yet, even I haven't learned how to do it".

"Do what?" Siran asks.

"Silas, show daddy" Zia says gently.

Silas looks up and nods as Siran. Silas then takes a couple short steps away from Siran and begins to focus. However, as Silas focuses, Siran sees something strange about Silas's eyes. He has the same birth defect as his mother, Heterochromia Iridium. Silas has one white eye, while his other iris is black. However, as Silas focused, his sclera began to turn black as well. "S-Silas?" Siran asks. "What's going-".

"He's only 8 years old" Zia says as she looks down at her son, impressed, "but he somehow has already learned magic".

"Magic!?" Siran asks as he looks down. Silas kept focusing, then suddenly, some black smoke formed around Silas's feet. Pure Endoindustria. Silas's skin seemed as if it was peeling, like ash falling off of his body. As this happened, Silas began to shapeshift into what looked like a smaller version of Siran's beastly form, minus the short horns and dark skin. Silas's skin was still white, but his sclera was jet black, his hair went from black to a glowing white, and the cloud of endo around his feet began to dissipate. "Silas..." Siran says in shock, "where did... you learn that?".

"I didn't!" Silas says, very proud. "I just figured it out!".

"When!? And how!?" Siran asks. "It took me 60 years to learn that! When did you start learning magic!?".

"Did I do... something bad?" Silas asks, suddenly falling quiet.

Siran pauses for a moment, then kneels down beside his son. "No" Siran says as he pats Silas on the head, "of course you didn't. I was just... a little surprised. I just... I mean- when did you start learning magic?".

"I've kinda... always knew" Silas answers.

"You mean to tell me... he just... knows?" Holly asks. "Magic... of all things? That can't be possible! Something is wrong here. You don't think it has something to do with... you know... Naris?".

"Naris?" Silas asks. "That thing mommy and daddy stopped from-".

"Yes, that thing!" Holly interrupts. "Who has been teaching you magic!?".

"No... one... has" Silas answers, getting nervous.

"Holly!" Siran shouts. "Don't antagonize my son!".

"Sorry!" Holly says. "It's just... nobody just... knows magic. It takes years to get the hang of any single magic art!".

"Yes, and it took me several decades to learn what he just did in front of us!" Siran declares. "But Naris is dead!". Siran looks Silas in the eyes and asks "Silas... you didn't do anything wrong, but you have to be honest with daddy. Has someone been teaching you magic?".

"No, dad..." Silas answers.

"Have you heard any... voices... telling you how to use magic?" Siran asks.

"No, dad" Silas answers.

"Any... imaginary friends or anything?" Siran asks.

"No, daddy..." Silas answers again.

Siran ruffles Silas's hair, then says "Alright, kiddo! Just be extremely careful with magic. It's dangerous! Got it?".

Silas looks up at Siran, smiles, then says "Yes, dad!".

"Good" Siran says. "And don't ever use magic around school. Okay?".

"Mhm!" Silas replies.

"Now wait for me inside" Siran says as he stands up. "I'll be in for dinner in just a minute, alright, little man?".

"Okay, dad!" Silas says cheerfully as he runs inside.

After Zia and Silas go back inside, Holly says to Siran "There's got to be something going on".

"What do you mean?" Siran asks.

"It's freaking magic, Siran!" Holly says. "You don't just learn that overnight!".

"I know, I know" Siran says. "But I trust my son. He's a good kid. If he says nobody is teaching him, then it may just be his ability to read into magic".

"Like from the Mahina Clan?" Holly asks.

"Right" Siran agrees. "You see, there's several factors that can go into this. Like for one, the Mahina have always been good at reading into magic. Their capacity for magic has far exceeded the average human's since before the Mahina Clan was formed. It's likely due to the fact that the first member, Lily, was born with Naris's endo already inside of her. Endo can have an imprint, when left behind by certain people. Then there's also the fact that both Zia and I have been in Valhalla. After entering that place, the knowledge of how to use magic without a charm was imprinted on our minds without us realizing, and Silas seems to be able to do that too! I mean- you saw it! He didn't have a charm at all! I wasn't so sure about how it worked until I saw it happen to Zia as well. At first, I thought it was part of my curse from Naris".

"So, certain formations or entities of Endoindustria can imprint knowledge on the human mind..." Holly says as she thinks.

"It's just a theory" Siran says, "but it's the best I've got".

"Man..." Holly says, sounding impressed. "To think he'd learn something like shapeshifting... of all things".

"Imprinted knowledge from me, I guess" Siran suggests.

"This definitely calls for more research" Holly says.