An Enigma
Trambelio Main Residence,
Grey clouds covered the sky, the Sun hidden behind them and it's rays unable to reach the Earth below them. Light showers of rain seemed to be happening erratically all around, wetting the sizable Trambelio compounds for they weren't a family lacking in wealth..
The smell however, it wasn't the pleasant scent of wet soil and plants but instead of scorched flesh accompanied by a strange chorus of shouts and screams... For at the moment, the Trambelio compounds had come under attack by unknown assailants.. A messenger had already been sent for the Clock Tower, to inform the Lord but reinforcements were nowhere to be seen.
At the same time, in distant locations not accessible to the common man across the continent of Europe, the compounds of certain branch families had come under attack as well, bombed from the distance, leaving nothing behind but scorched Earth...
It was all so sudden they couldn't respond properly until it was too late.
Strangely enough though, the scene wasn't one of fantasy-like duels with spells being thrown around, nay, one side did use magic yes but those were only the guards stationed at the compound. The assailants used modern weaponry, armed to the teeth, dressed in black from head to toe, and aided by golems that were far too powerful to be considered golems, in various shapes and sizes...
When one of the armed men fell, they would simply rise back up again no worse for wear. Why? Well the Trambelio servants didn't know, couldn't know that they too were humanoid golems.
A series of explosions occurred simultaneously all around before a massive section of the mansion was simply swept away by a sea of flames..
"People of your level don't have the right to stand in front of me!"
Her long white hair fluttering in torrents of wind made by her own movements, the War God of Echigo disappeared and reappeared at multiple places, tearing apart anything she could find with her beloved golden spear.... Blood was smeared across her fair skin and her fervent eyes coupled with an unnaturally massive grin was enough to make any that witnessed her do a double take.
"Really, she doesn't know of restraint, does she?"
Tamamo no Mae simply sighed, sitting on elevated Earth with one hand atop the other as she observed all that went on below.. The rain coming down from above trickled down a barrier she'd placed around herself, preserving her shrine maiden dress perfectly...
This was their current task, making sure that the eradication of all that would stand in the way of Roman becoming the new Lord Trambelio was made into a fact... Not that they truly were needed, the golems her Master had made would be more than sufficient.
Tamamo was certain of this once she arrived at the 'battlefield' if it could be called that, it was more of a massacre than anything.. The few hundred individuals present across the compounds didn't stand an inkling of a chance against long range artillery and anti material weaponry..... Her Master was kinda terrifying wasn't he? Where had he even obtained these things?
She'd be sure to ask... t-though, if he didn't want to tell that was fine too...T-Totally!
"I wonder what he's doing right now."
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London, England,
Clock Tower,
"Here you go." Zelretch pulled Roman's cane from out of nowhere and placed it on the table between them, slightly smiling when he noticed the youngster's mood was getting better by the second, "I can't say your way of coping is safe though." It was easily noticeable that he'd removed his feelings on the matter entirely, maybe a sort of self-hypnosis.
"And travelling between timelines is?" Roman asked rhetorically, picking up his cane and resting it against his leg, a hand on his chin, "Thanks." It was pretty apparent by now that he could walk properly at the expense of a small amount of prana but he was used to walking with a cane... To be honest, if he let go of it he would lose the opportunity to be hitting people with it.
"Point taken." The Magician of the Second agreed with a small grin, strangely pleased... How long had it been since someone talked to him like this? Other than the pompous retards who thought they'd found something he didn't already know....
Still, he had a reason for bringing Roman here.
"So then, young man..." Zelretch leaned forward, his previously warm expression replaced by a cold unfeeling one, "What... are you?"
Roman Trambelio was an abnormality, he wasn't supposed to be here, he wasn't there in any other timeline.... It was most curious indeed... The one eyed 'youngster' was a complete unknown.
"Oh... How come you don't know?" Roman slightly tilted his head, although he already had a theory as to why that was the case... That or the old prick was fucking with him... He gave it a 50-50. The Magician buttoned up his shirt, concealing the engravings on his body once again and narrowed his gaze.
"Come on now..." Zelretch laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, "You can't expect an old man to know or remember everything." The older man wasn't willing to give away the situation though it may have been too late as his fellow Magician had already somewhat grasped it.
"The Kaleidoscope is the operation of parallel times..." Roman spoke slowly, having an epiphany, his eye widening ever so slightly, "You actually don't know do you?"
"What makes you think that?" A thin smile formed on Zelretch's face, the Magician slightly tilted his head too, he wasn't dealing with the usual too pompous to think magus was he?
"I wonder what too." Roman calmly sipped his tea, greatly amused....
If his understanding here was correct, the Kaleidoscope was the operation of parallel times and knowing the future or the past was a simple matter of observing different points in two extremely similar timelines with the same history and future.... in Roman's case, as proven by the encounter with Flauros, he didn't exist in other timelines making it impossible to know his future or past via the Kaleidoscope because there would be nothing to see in the first place.
This boiled down to the simple theory that Zelretch didn't know jackshit about the individual that was Roman Trambelio Hauth.
How could he?
There was no parallel version of Roman and going forward or back in one timeline wasn't the territory of the Second True Magic.. It was the Fifth's.
"You look like you figured it out." Zelretch leaned back, completely relaxed and self-assured, him being an unknown didn't make the Second True Magician any weaker did it?
"Why wait so long to interact with me?"
"It was hilarious to see you play the magical world.. What has our society come to? They've become jackasses." Zelretch scratched his beard, smiling joyfully, giving away his actual feelings.
"Major part of my motivation right there.." Roman admitted with a nod, "It was bloody hilarious." He snickered, thinking over it again.
They'd been believing he was the jackass for over a decade now. How was that not hilarious?
""Did we just become best friends?""
But then, Zelretch noticed something strange...., "Is your.... hair changing colour?"
".....What?" Roman looked at the Magician estranged, were the physical changes from becoming Angra Mainyu kicking in? He touched his hair, unable to understand why it would take so long.
"It doesn't look that bad." Zelretch tried to salvage the situation, mostly unconcerned about the strange phenomenon.. His was the role of an observer till he decided otherwise so there was no use mulling over things needlessly.
-
London, England,
Unspecified Hotel,
"...."
Sakura silently observed her surroundings, not paying attention to Thea standing by her side, he really did have a thing for going overboard didn't he? ..... It was a little too much for him to clear out a whole high end hotel by throwing money at the management just to ensure that no one got to her while he was away....
Looking down, the purple haired girl clenched her fists, unable to understand.
She didn't get it.... She didn't get this at all... Why was he protecting something as... as wretched as her? Sakura had been defiled, violated.. She was filthy yet why.... Why was he doing so much for her?
He'd provided her a home, killed her tormentors, protected her against heroes from the past...Spoiled her..
It didn't make sense!
"....Why?"
Noticing the girl's question, Thea who had been standing with closed eyes so far opened one, staring down at Sakura, a small barely noticeable smile, a genuine smile formed on her face,
"That's just the way the Master is, young miss."
Sakura wasn't by any means the first person he'd helped with no motives other than wanting to, nowhere near it… That was just the way the man she served was, most of what he did was done without the expectation to be repaid… not all though, he was no saint.
Who knew better than Thea of his dealings?
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Share thoughts mfs.
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For those about to argue about the Second True Magic, save yourselves the time. All that shit is fanon promoted by retarded fucks in fanfics with hard-ons for AUs when they can't do proper research, the Kaleidoscope doesn't let you travel to other verses either. It's domain is, Operation of PARALLEL worlds, not operation of time itself. Magic Blue (Fifth) though, that one has a feat where it reversed the timeline it was used in. Touko Aozaki saying it can was an unconfirmed statement in a verse like fate by a magus. The same magus who here, would theorise that Roman's Magic revolves around the destruction of atoms and free manipulation of energy produced consequentially going by how he used it.
Zelretch's all-knowing stems from him constantly observing multitudes of timelines in the black room of his.
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