Aether & Destruction Mana

Arthur POV

I woke up after getting pummeled by two scythes. It wasn't the void, I was somewhere else.

Suddenly a familiar voice called me it was Sylvia's

"it must've been the message she mentioned a year ago when I hit above white core the message would pop out" I thought. After the message ended

"Sylvie," I thought.

"Before you get all weepy, look to your right," a clear, cynical voice resounded nearby.

For some reason, I was not threatened by the voice, so I turned to my right to see an iridescent stone the size of my palm.

My eyes widened, and out of sheer instinct, I dove toward the colorful stone and grabbed it to take a closer look.

"I-is this..."

"Yup, It's your bond, "the voice said curtly before a black shadow appeared in my peripheral view.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"The name's Regis," he replied.

"What are you?" I asked.

Greetings, my pitiful master. I am Regis, the mighty weapon that has finally manifested and crawled out of your metaphorical ass. " He replied.

"Why..." I seethed.

"Why what?" It looked back in confusion. Its expression was so lifelike, so... sentient, that it infuriated me even more.

"Why?!" I roared, taking a slow and painful swing at Regis.

My hand slipped through its snarky face, the momentum causing me to lose balance in this debilitating body. I toppled forward, slamming my face hard on the cold, smooth floor of wherever the hell I was.

"Don't do that!" The will-o-wisp snapped before muttering,"... I feel violated."

Rage continued to bubble up and rise as I stared at my left hand, the exact spot on my palm where Regis had come from. "Why? Why the hell are you here now? After years of draining my mana and doing what you want, why do you appear now? "

"If you were a weapon I could've used in my last fight, I could've helped more rather than turn into this pathetic state." I continued as anger boiled within me.

I said, "I needed you back then, I needed you in the war, I needed you so many times, yet you've never appeared."

Dawn's ballad cracked, so I needed a weapon to help me fight, I continued.

Regis remained silent as I let all of the emotions out of my system. I was angry at Regis, but I was doing the same thing—using him as an excuse for my failures.

After some time had passed, my tears ran dry and my parched throat started letting out raspy stutters trying to take in more air.

Regis' voice sounded from a small distance. There's a pool of clean water here. Drink before you cry yourself into a mummy. "

I hesitated, not knowing whether I even deserved water when the small iridescent egg glistened in the corner of my eyes.

"Yes, that's it. You can do it! Do it for that rock! " Regis cheered, hovering around me like a fly I couldn't reach.

Pushing aside all of the emotions that weighed down on my body, I dragged myself in the direction Regis led me.

My milky pale arms looked foreign to me, even as I moved. I felt like I was still in a full suit of armor despite being almost bare.

Time crawled alongside me as I slowly pulled myself across the smooth floor, my biggest source of motivation to get my strength back to shut Regis up.

"Come on, pretty boy, you're almost there," he continued.

"Shut... up..." I mustered, my voice barely coming out as a wheeze.

"If you have the strength to drawl, you have the strength to crawl!" he intoned.

I'll kill him, I decided.

I focused my attention on the marble fountain beckoning to me, spouting water so clearly and silently from the top that it looked like glass.

After struggling once more, trying to pull myself up over the rounded base that held the water, I immediately buried my head inside.

It felt like I had slammed my face into a wall of ice, but I didn't care. I opened my mouth and gulped it all in, the water crisp and cool as it rushed down my throat.

My body continued to swallow mouthfuls of water until I couldn't hold my breath any longer.

"Gah!" I pulled my head out, gasping for breath, when a curtain of beige covered my vision.

I tried moving it aside, assuming that maybe the back of my shirt had fallen over my head, when Regis chortled behind me.

"You're acting like a pup seeing its own tail for the first time."

"What are you talking about?" I grunted, still trying to flip my shirt off of my head.

"That's your hair, oh-wise-one."

"Huh? That's impossible. I looked down, seeing my reflection for the first time since waking up. My eyes widened.

The person staring back at me looked a lot like myself, yet a bit older, with sharper features and skin the same milky white as my arms.

The red scar around my throat that I had gotten from the witch was no longer there, showing only a smooth long neck and an Adam's apple.

But what shocked me the most were the changes in my hair and eyes. My eyes were a piercing gold, and the color seemed to have been completely washed out of my once-auburn hair. The head of deep reddish-brown was now a grayish wheat color, even paler than Sylvie's hair in her human form.

My chest tightened at the sight of my reflection; my own hair and eyes were now a sore reminder of what my bond had done for me.

"W-What is this? Why do I? " A scream suddenly tore out from my throat as a searing pain ignited inside me, as if my mana core had caught on fire.

Right now, I have two pieces of good news one piece of bad news and something that I can't tell if its good or bad. What do you want to hear first? " Regis said

I didn't answer because of the pain.

"Let's just start with the good news," Regis said, hovering in front of me. Based on what I discovered while you were lying over there half-dead, I think we're actually in one of the hidden ruins of the ancient mages."

"The second good news is one you probably guessed, but I confirmed that Sylvie is alive by taking a peek inside."

"You went inside here?" I asked, holding up the stone.

Bite me. I was curious, "he—assuming by the timbre of his voice—quipped. Your bond used high-level vivum art to give you some of her asuran body in order to save you. Which leads me to the bad news. Your core is damaged beyond recognition. " He said

"Damaged? No, that's not... " My voice trailed off as I felt the internal condition of my body.

Regis was right. When I tried to spread mana throughout my body, an act as natural as breathing by this point, I was only met with a slight tingle.

I tried once more, this time trying to gather ambient mana. This time, I couldn't even feel anything—no blanket of warmth like before, when mana once rushed inside me and coalesced in my core.

"No," I muttered, heaving my heavy body up onto my feet.

"Now what's weird is the other mana you have," he said.

"Other mana?" I asked.

"Yes, red mana particles are running through your body. It feels destructive and violent." "I don't dare absorb its power," he said.

"Violent and destructive? Antares? " I asked myself.

"It seems like your brother set up precautions because that mana itself is even more powerful than when you had a white core, but it will kill you slowly because you don't have a core to balance it even if you do its still too violent." He replied.

"What do we do now?" I mustered, turning to Regis.

The floating black ball of fire with horns cocked a brow—or at least, that's what it looked like—before saying, "You realize you're asking advice from a weapon, right?"

I remained silent, staring at him until he clicked his tongue... or whatever he had in that large mouth of his.

"No fun," he grumbled before floating toward me. Well, it's not like we have much of a choice, seeing as there is only one way out of this room.

"So we just go through the door?" I confirmed, already heading through the large metal door.

"Hold it, Goldilocks," he began. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"What do you mean?" I asked before the familiar term registered in my brain. "And how do you know who Goldilocks is?"

I'm made from you, remember? All of the things you know, whether from this life or your past life, have influenced who I am right now, "he answered. So really, if you're annoyed at my wonderful personality, you're really just annoyed at yourself.

I retorted, "I don't remember ever being this sardonic or derisive."

Well... to be more specific, I guess I'm an amalgamation of you, Sylvia, your bond, and that charming stud of a beast, Uto," the floating black fire explained.

That's when it clicked. Regis reminded me of Uto. While his horns were shaped more like Sylvie's, out of the three, Uto's nature was the most prominent in Regis—just a lot more toned down by Sylvia, Sylvie, and my mix of personalities.

"Anyway," he droned, "You're not in a state where you should be going through any sort of door haphazardly, especially if this entire place was meant to keep people out."

Yeah, I know, "I cut in." "My core is pretty messed up and my body feels like it's made of lead or something, but it's not like we can just stay here."

Disregarding your injured core for a moment, do you remember when I said that Sylvie used some pretty heavy aether voodoo on you to keep your body from basically destroying itself?"

I nodded my head. "Mhm."

Well, perhaps the one good thing that came out of all of this—aside from myself, of course—is your new body," Regis explained. "Your body, while not being completely draconic, is pretty damn close," Regis explained.

My eyes widened, and I immediately lowered my head, looking down at my arms and the rest of my

body. Aside from the color of my hair and eyes changing, the features of my face becoming a little sharper and my skin becoming paler, it didn't feel any different from my body—actually, it felt worse than my usual self.

Regis answered as if reading my thoughts. I'm not sure how much pain you actually remember feeling, but you nearly died during this "metamorphosis." It'll take some time and a lot of effort to temper your body. "

How do I temper this new body of mine, and what happens after I'm able to? I asked.

"Beats the hell out of me," Regis quipped. "I'm knowledgeable, but I'm not some floating encyclopedia."

"So you just want me to wait here and hope that my body will get better?" I snapped. What about you? Isn't it supposed to be a powerful weapon tailored for me? Can't I use you to get out of here, or is floating around and talking the only thing you know how to do? "

"Oh, screw you!" Regis cut in, staring daggers at me. "I've been nothing but helpful after you practically killed yourself."

I wouldn't have had to go so far if you had come out during my last battle, but I guess it wouldn't have mattered if you had come out then. It's not like you could've been any help! "

"Boo-friggin-hoo!" Regis mocked "The only reason you are alive and sane right now is because of me!"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Do you know why I have four very different personalities swirling inside me, one of which wants me to kill you very painfully?"

Thinking back to when the acclorite had absorbed most of the mana that was stored in Uto's horn, I got even more annoyed. "Yes! Because you stole most of the mana from Uto's horn—mana that would've helped make me stronger! "

"If it hadn't been for me taking most of it, you would've been driven mad," Regis snarled. Instead, I get the pleasure of having oh-so-pleasurable psychopathic tendencies every so often!

Stunned, I didn't respond.

Time seemed to stop for a moment as we remained silent until Regis spoke up glumly. I don't know what I am. It might've been because I was forced out of you before I could fully develop, but I'm not even sure what sort of weapon I am either, and it's been driving me crazy. "

I sank down on the ground and let out a sigh. "Looks like we're both in a pretty messed up state right now."

"Now how about you tamper with the destruction mana?" he said.

"Didn't you say it would kill me?" I asked.

"If you use it to fight for more than I'd say two hours, that's when your body would start going beserk and out of control. You can use it again after I'd say around a five-hour gap, but if you're just circulating it through your body, you won't have a problem, and you could probably increase your use time, "he replied.

I sat in a meditating position, as I channeled the red mana into my body. A few hours had passed, and I felt the red mana circulating inside me. The screams the mana had were destruction, despair, loss, hate, greed, and every other negative emotion. It had it all. As time passed on, I opened my eyes to see my body covered in red mana, like wearing another layer of clothes. I punched the air, and I felt a strong wind pressure.

"Damn that mana looks terrifying," Regis said.

"It is," I replied.

But now how do I get a core?" I thought, as I was thinking

"We have guests. Keep your guard up," Regis hissed, as he entered my body.

I got back into my meditation position, hoping they'd just leave me alone.

As the pillar of blue dimmed, I was able to make out the silhouettes of three figures. My heartbeat quickened, excited to see other people here, when Regis berated me, telling me not to even think about getting up.

The light completely faded, leaving only the three figures standing in the center of the room—two males and one female.

The larger of the two men was clad in a mixture of plate and leather armor that did little to hide his bulging muscles. He carried in each hand a spiked mace, both dripping with blood that matched the color of his short crimson hair.

The slimmer, brown-haired one was still built like an athlete, with broad shoulders and toned arms underneath a brushed-silver suit of armor.

It was the girl that spotted me first with her two red eyes that shone like crystals underneath a curtain of midnight blue—almost navy—hair.

Her statuesque form, layered in what looked more like a uniform than armor, turned my way as she studied me.

It only took a moment for the two men beside her to notice me, and when they did, they didn't react nearly as subtly as the woman had.

The larger one swung his mace, splattering an arc of blood on the ground as he approached me, while the brown-haired warrior withdrew a longsword out of thin air and positioned himself between myself and the girl. His sharp eyes narrowed as a soft vibration hummed from his large blade.

I shut my eyes and pretended to continue my meditation.

If you have no business with me, then you can go. Or do you have a need to find trouble? I said with a cold tone, with my eyes still closed.

Arthur, I know you've been practicing on your destructive mana, but they are still strong. " Regis said

"I've been itching to stretch anyway," I replied.

"Boy, you sure have guts speaking like that to us." The man with the mace said

I sighed and released my mana pressure. Destruction mana came out as I felt my body covered with the red mana. I opened my eyes. My body was in pain, screaming for me to stop.

"So what, what are you going to do about it?" I said as I stood up, forcing myself to

The two of them took a stance. I turned to see the girl, and returned my gaze back to them.

"Stop it, we are not looking for trouble. You two lower your weapons," the girl said.

Taegen stared at me for a moment before saying, "Let's go!" The other man called out to Taegen, and the crimson-haired warrior turned back.

Caera Denoir POV:

My two bodyguards finally found a portal. It brought us to a sanctuary, but there was already another person there. His clothes were torn, and he seemed to be meditating.

"Keep your guard up," Taegen said, as he prepared his maces, while Arian prepared his sword.

I observed from afar that while I knew that Taegen would look for trouble, what I didn't expect was that person's mana. It was filled with malice and destruction. I could see red mana particles covering his body. His mana was sending shivers down my spine. The other two were also having trouble with his mana. I stepped in between them.

"Stop it, we're not looking for trouble; lower your weapons," I said.

The person stopped, and sat back down.

Taegen and Arian returned to me and told me that we had to move. I nodded and left, but my gaze was still stuck on the man. Until we entered the next portal,

Arthur POV

I also entered the portal after some time, and I was in a room. As I walked, I kept getting attacked by chimeras. I must've spent hours there, because I needed their aether. Since I have an asuran body, I can now absorb and see aether combined with the destruction mana. I was definitely stronger than when I had my mana core, but I still missed it.

"Good job," I said to my companion, just in time to hear the soft "click" of the door leading to the next stage unlocking.

"So, pretty boy, did you want to consume this hunk of bone and move onto the next room?" Regis asked with renewed confidence.

"Not quite," I mustered, hobbling toward the fused chimera corpse. "You know how you said that even asuras have mana cores that sustain and power their bodies?"

"Yeah?" Regis tilted his head. "But your mana core is broken."

"Yup." I looked back at him, images of the purple-clad chimeras ingrained in my head. So what if I tried forming an aether core?

"This is crazy. It's not going to work. " Regis barked

"It might work if you stop your relentless badgering," I quipped, flexing the fingers of my newly regenerated arm.

Regis zipped right up to my face. Oh, I'm sorry. Is my genuine concern that you might blow yourself up bothering you?"

I swatted him away. "Yes."

My floating companion's smoky black head sizzled in anger. Why are you even attempting this anyway? You just demolished the hidden boss of this level with a punch! I think you're strong enough. "

I can't just rely on sustaining my body temporarily by eating aetheric essence off of monsters, and relying on the destruction mana will only lead to my death. I retorted.

So your plan is just to form your own power source? Geez, I wonder why the wise and powerful dragons of the Indrath Clan haven't thought of something like that... oh wait, they have! "

Yes, I remember the story of the elders of the Indrath Clan attempting to form a core out of pure aether within the body of an infant clan member that was born without a core. You literally just told me. "

"And what did we learn from that story?" Regis asked, as if he were speaking to an infant himself.

I sighed. "That the baby was met with a bloody death."

"So why are you still trying to do this?" Regis seethed.

Because I have no other choice if I want to get stronger. I don't want to rely on temporary power boosts that I can't even control from consuming another lifeform's aetheric essence. You saw how fast it depletes my body even when I'm not fighting. "

"'That's no reason to kill yourself over this! "

Mr. Regis."I stared coldly into the eyes of the black will-o-wisp.

I'm sure you know this from being fed my memories, but I've barely been able to fight against retainers while scythes are in a whole other league. I'm not just looking at surviving this hellish dungeon or ruin—whatever this place is. I'm looking at obtaining strength that can put me above them and on the same level as Asuras. Otherwise, getting out of here just means giving the enemy another chance at beating me back down. "

Regis remained silent as he studied me, his expression laced with a mixture of frustration and concern.

Finally, he let out a sigh. "Fine. Aside from the fact that you can physically eat aether, why do you think that your attempt won't be any different from what the asuras attempted? "

You're forgetting that I was responsible for prematurely forming my own mana core when I was three. I'll figure something out.

Every time I did the same thing, my body was met with an unimaginable amount of pain, as every second that passed, my body kept getting destroyed and regenerating itself. I kept eating the aether from my core, and I told Regis.

"Regis. Position yourself right where my mana core used to be on my mark and leave as soon as I tell you, okay? "

Regis stared down at the sharp arrow in my hands. "What are you planning on doing with that?"

"Okay?" I repeated through gritted teeth, barely able to breathe.

Regis let out a groan. "Okay."

(A/N: same procedure as LN)

By the time I came to, my head felt like it had been split in two, and my breathing was ragged. Prying my eyelids open, I was greeted with the sight of a smirking Regis in front of the familiar backdrop of the battle-scarred walls of the chimera hallway.

"Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty," Regis chuckled.

I pushed myself off my back, sitting up. "What happened?"

After you committed seppuku and sat completely still for about a full day, your body suddenly combusted into purple flames and then you passed out for another two days, "the black ball of flame" explained before shooting me another grin. "But you did it, you sick sadistic bastard!"

That's right, my core!

Taking a moment, I concentrated internally, getting a feel for the state of my body.

Regis was right, I had done it...I had successfully forged a new core. The color struck me as odd—it was closer to a red color, like magenta—but it still held the ethereal purple sheen of aether.

I had done what even the asuras of the Indrath Clan couldn't do.

I had forged an aether core.

"Congratulations, now what more crazy ideas do you have?" He asked.

"Combining it with destruction mana," I replied.

Regis's expression changed from a toothy grin to an expression of fear.

"Are you crazy? First of all, for all I know, that destruction mana of yours doesn't exist in this world, and you want to imbue it with this world's first ever aether core? " He shouted

"We won't know if we don't try," I replied.

"We don't have to know," he replied.

I ignored him and began channeling destruction mana alongside the aether.At first I felt nothing, but as minutes passed by, an unimaginable pain struck everywhere in my body. The mana and aether weren't in conflict, but the power was great, nearly making my body explode. I stopped, and didn't continue as I gasped for air.

"Know the limits," Regis said as he sighed.