1,569A/N: A/N: EDIT: not a lot of feedback for this chapter, that's a real spirit breaker...T_T
I tried...
Here we are! Part 3! Slifer and I worked hard on this! Looking forward to your feedback!
Just wanted to say, I appreciate you all! All those reviews means faster updates! It's especially important in these trying times, with the main site having problems. Every word counts and i appreciate you all! All these reviews really keep me inspired! Looking forward to hearing from you~!
So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild, wicked world, one word at a time.
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They're all tributes to legends far greater than little 'ol me. Disclaimer over.
Hope you enjoy this chapter, may it make you smile.
"You truly are my...
~?
Guiding Moonlight (Part III)
Black and sparkling green blades crossed over one another, severing the trunk-like neck of the horror that gurgled in pain before collapsing to the floor, no longer moving. Darkly colored sparks danced along the neck stump's locus before they ignited, a quite roar of inky black flame subsuming the body as an aura of true death radiated from it.
The one who had inflicted the wounds gave no heed to it, continuing his pursuit. The creatures of rot were running from Naruto now and had been ever since his Great Runes and emitted their pulse of harmonious light. To beings that were so corrupted, the sweet gold embrace of those runes were anathema and even with their brains dripping from their ears in putrid red, they instinctively feared what was their opposite.
Doom through salvation. Compassion made into a weapon. Life making war on undeath.
Had the blonde been in a different state he might have introspected on that. On the fact that The Lands Between were so deeply broken that even the cycle of life and death was itself somewhere in between. But right now he was focused on his wrathful task.
His chakra flowed into the Moonlight Greatsword, its broad length glowing with hauntingly beautiful light before he slashed it at a fleeing flock of malformed crows, sending a crescent shaped wave of energy soaring through the air at breakneck speed. It seemed to urn through the air, going from horizontal to diagonal before it sliced through the flock. Bifurcating most of them and those that remained losing wings to the shimmering attack. They squawked in pain as they fell to the Caelid sands.
Naruto had chased them out of the swamp of Aeonia and into the greater wastes where he systematically hunted and diced them to bits. It was not clean work but it brought Naruto satisfaction to see the rotted fall and never get up again. His anger dipped a moment at that, the joy souring. That… was not a very 'Naruto' thought. The blonde shinobi did love a good scrap and even an exhilarating battle, but he had never reveled in the systematic extermination of a kind.
As time passed and he brought their numbers lower and lower, he felt like the red mist in front of his vision shifted. It did not recede but rather turned, presenting new facets like the sides of a gemstone that brought with them nuggets of clarity. Eventually, that lucidity brought him to a standstill in the desert, the full length of Kaimon buried up to the hilt in a doglike creatures chest.
It whimpered at him pitiably before the arcane nature of the black odachi leeched the life from the canine and it stopped struggling, inert as death took him. This action… felt right. But what didn't feel right was the blood that sloughed off the Moonlight Greatsword. "Not…not used…wha?...I…" He panted, hand tensing around the hilt.
The blade had been made with an intent, a role that it was supposed to serve. To be used to defend his family and home, not a furious march of execution in a foreign land. "...Rennala." he breathed.
Something snapped deep in the back of his mind and Naruto could have sworn he heard Kurama whooping in a triumphant growl.
"NO! Stay angry, Naruto! They deserve this! It's much better to just not think. Just swing your swords and make those disgusting pretender gods bleed!" The voice shouted from the back of Naruto's mind, dismayed. The glowing gold Naruto grabbed the sides of his head and gritted his head, feeling the haze attempting to reassert itself.
"W-what the hell are you!?" He growled, the rough surfaces of his sword cutting into his palms. The prior anger had been so extreme that he had pushed away all upper thoughts, letting emotion guide him in an addictive spiral. He was kept in his lane by the hallmarks of familiarity/ The way chakra and blood thundered through him, the sharpening pepe of adrenaline and the occasional voice in the back of his head offering counsel.
But now Naruto realised this was not the usual voice. Kurama raged in the back of his mind, his voice muffled but growing louder as he made progress on his own battle.
The Voice seemed to sneer at him, its emotion conveyed through sheer presence. "It doesn't matter. I have given you encouragement and power. It is about time you hold up your side of the bargain and do my bidding. That confounded humanity of yours is proving a thorn in my side I can no longer allow."
Naruto grunted as white hot pain lanced into his head, the voice losing whatever prior feigned friendliness it had possessed before and defaulting back to a sickeningly familiar imperiousness. Naruto realised immediately who he was speaking to. "Greater Will!" he seethed.
Or was it?
The voice was the same. That same haughty, holier than thou disposition that had ticked Naruto off since he had first heard it, suspended beneath a nebulae of perfectly arrayed stars. But for some reason he could not define, that was not the mental image that Naruto 'felt' now. There was a tinniness to it, as if instead of a grand voice speaking from on high it was someone speaking to the sky and the sky echoed their words back at him, magnified but he could 'see' the one speaking in his subconscious. There were no stars, just simulacra.
"What the hell are you?" Naruto gasped, pushing back against the artificially imposed anger with his own, feeling it push back along the metaphysical link.
At this point, the Will abandoned all pretense of being civil.
Fatherless cretin! Insufferably pedantic Beast! Perpetually vexing whoreson! Why do you persist in denying the grandness I have laid out for you!? To be the cornerstone and foundation of a perfect world!
Ah, there it was. Petulance in all its metaphysical glory. Or lack thereof.
Naruto's bared teeth morphed into an insulting grin, the orange gold eyes of his chakra mode glinting with viscous mirth. "I…have…had…My…FILL…OF…GODS…SAYING HOW THE WORLD SHOULD BE!" he yelled in defiance, chakra exploding away from him in a shockwave that cratered the ground beneath him. "Nagato, Obito, Madara, Kaguya, Zetsu, Toneri, that shitheel Godrick! Whoever you are, whatever you are. You're just the latest in a long line of people telling me that they know the way the world should be. So let me tell you this!" he began to draw in Senjutsu from the surrounding area, finding it coming into him with a startling ease, his runes singing in response to it. "Like all those before: IF YOU HURT THOSE I CARE FOR, I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!"
He was met with an aggravated sound that was akin to an orchestra suddenly going out of tune. Naruto smirked, red pigment phasing into view around his eyes. He felt his perception rapidly expand over Caelid and far beyond, taking in the details of the world in flashes of clarity.
The red stained sands of the southern Lands felt like a blight on his senses, a malignant tumor slowly growing outwards into the flesh of the land. The blonde's challenging grin suddenly fell as he sensed something that pressed into his waking mind, his now cross shaped pupils narrowing to pinpricks.
There was a presence on the other side of Caelid that filled Naruto's perception like a celestial body, so large and heavy that it seemed to warp the rot infected land around it. There was someone there, something of immense power but tragically diminished. Still unimaginably strong but a shadow of what it had once been. 'Radahn', Naruto's mind supplied, putting two and two together from what he had been told. He was taken aback at the power that thrummed off the distant figure as he skulked across the sands, but there two was the unmistakable touch of he rot, soaking into every facet of his being. He could feel the man's emotions, searingly brutal pain, weariness, self recrimination and forlorn denial wafting off the great general in waves.
Normally, Naruto would have gone to the man, tried to see what was wrong and help as best he could. But peaking beyond the warped presence of the Redmane Lord, Naruto was acutely reminded of why he was here.
His smile wilted completely and the Will laughed with derision.
Then see, Erant Best! See what happens when you are not around your so-called loved ones. How quickly things fall to chaos.
Sage Mode, depending on its level, could provide Naruto with an acute level of clairvoyance about the state of the world beyond the immediate sensory range of Sage Mode. Shortly after he had first gained access to Kurama's chakra, entering Sage Mode had let him glimpse brief snapshots of the war despite the theatres of battle being half a continent away. Not enough to get a grip of the situation, but enough to see that thousands were dying and the ground was being churned up by the destructive nature of war. That could reach as far as being able to sense chakra signatures in other dimensions with the power that he had gained from Hagoromo.
Bearing the cross shaped pupils and red eye pigment of Bijuu Sage Mode, Naruto experienced a clairvoyant vision of Neo Caria locked in battle. Fear and terror mixing with the glee of the invaders. He snarled sensing the mellifluous touch of the Daughters of Rot or unknown figures running through the shadows of the Academy with murder in their hearts. But above it all, he locked in on the cool blue 'light' of Rennala, locked in pitch combat with a grey shadow that curdled his blood.
"Rennala…" he whispered.
She was fighting, full of worry and self doubt.
"Rennala." he said, his orange gold eye slowly bleeding to red.
Her grey clad adversery discharged his weapon at her, causing her to take cover behind a tree. Naruto's rage boiled hot and viscous, shirking the will's petulant wrath and blazing so brightl that his chakra responded. The aura of gold around naruto intensified, smaller motes blooming into it like stars and the patterns running over his body rippling, as if on the eve of change.
"Rennala!" he called, the sand beneath his feet superheating into glass.
And just like that the snapshot clairvoyance faded, leaving just the distant blue 'light' in Naruto's Sage senses. The blonde's pips pulled back and teeth lengthened to fangs, his body grew tense as power flowed from him like a burst dam before pulling inwards, building up pressure. The air grew thick before finally the Voice spoke in an indulgent, mocking candor.
As if a Beast could ever save its whore from the chaos.
"RrrraaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Naruto exploded into the air in a pillar of sparkling golden light, streaking forwards as an asteroid of brilliance. Air offered a meagre resistance before he smashed through the sound barrier with a resonant boom, his speed growing a dozen times over that by the time he had cleared his own mach cone. Caelid rolled under him in a blur until he burst out over the grey sea, the pressure wave of his passing causing curtains of water to rise up in his wake.
There were no thoughts. There was no Voice in his ears or from the back of his mind. There was only the distant blue light on his senses that he now flew towards as fast as his emotions could take him. His lover and fiance were in peril, and he would shatter heaven and split the earth to see her safe.
[LINExBREAK]
The Curtains of Tranquility truly were a marvel of sorcery brilliance. While they may have simply looked like a massive dome of water from the outside, the interior was far more of a spectacle. A five man squad of Redmanes had taken shelter in the shadows of one of the outer settlements that made up the floating city, hiding from the twenty men at arms led by one of the returned knights, who ordered them to do a thorough sweep of the area. A pikeman poked his head into the open door and looked around, finding nothing but the trunks and personal effects of whatever family had been slated to move in.
When he was sure that there was nothing of note he called out the all clear and the response party moved to the next area. The group approached one of the seemingly impassible curtains of water, the sorcery in their midst coming to the front of their number. He raised his catalyst adobe his head and waved it, a chiming sound ringing out as it emitted a pulse of the sparkling glintstone sorcery.
There was a pause before the wall of water reacted, a space opening in the water and widening into a fissure, then an archway wide enough for men to pass through five abreast and a pathway of water formed out before it, connecting to the pathway for the troops to embark. They sorcerer and knight stepped onto the water and found it to be solid, followed by their subordinates who embarked a bit more gingerly but soon the entire sortie was through the arch that shut behind them.
A beat passed before the luggage in the lone house shimmered with tarnished gold light and when it cleared stood the five Redmanes, a grey haired and gold eyed one of their number throwin back a large sheet he had used to cover them all down. Seeing they were well and truly alone now, the group breathed a sigh of relief and took stock of the situation. They had been part of the original group of Redmanes that had managed to get into the floating city before the Curtains of Tranquility had been raised.
Not only did the magical arrangement account for thousands of tonnes of fast flowing water acting as a potent protection from external attacks but the controller could freely rearrange the orientation of the walls. Streets could be turned into dead ends or doors be manifested for friendly troops to section of the city into a potential prisons for would be invaders, much like them.
Still, they hadn't been caught yet, and while the wind had been taken out of their sails they were still here to be heroes. So with cautious optimism they slipped from their hidey hole and tried to orient themselves. The endless refractions that the water caused was incredibly disorienting and when they eventually set off they had no idea if it was towards the Academy at all.
The leader of the five stepped onto the next stone flags of the solid roadway when suddenly a magical seal in dark blue appeared underfoot. He leapt backwards, trying to flee whatever trap had been set. Five much larger magical sigils formed within the curtains of water to either side of the group before fading. The water distorted, pulling away from the walls into two dozen watery tentacles, sent lancing forwards like vipers and quickly ensnaring the group before they could even react. They attempted to struggle against their watery bonds but they had quickly grown viscous where they wrapped their prey, then lifted them off the ground. Electricity sparked from one set of tentacles, shocking the Redmane into unconsciousness.
Droplets of water radiated off one of the tentacles before they transfigured into solid shards of glintstone that were attracted to two of the trapped redmanes and began to cling to them. The fragments expanded and grew, and the two unlucky saps were trapped inside large glintstone crystals. The last two received the least dignified assault, the tendrils of water lifting them up and repeatedly smacking them against the stone street until they passed out.
One by one, each of the out of commission five was picked up by the water tendrils and tossed into the fast flowing Curtains of Tranquility, tumbling ever hire until they were elected at force from the top of the dome, left to fall hundreds of meters to the waters far below.
(.0.0.0.)
"Exemplary shot, my Princess," Iji complemented as the representation of the five interlopers splashed down into the magical projection's lake.
"Tis not the time for sportsmanship or technique, Iji. These jackanapes need to get gone, fast." Ranni replied from the other side of the projection. All four of her hands were fast at work manipulating a complex chain of magical circles. She missed having the ability to form the more esoteric hand gestures with her prior mechanical form but the dexterity of tactile feedback could not be over stated. She pulled a finger back and flicked the underside of the magic circle, sending it to slide over the top of the Curtain's dome.
It came to an abrupt stop over a translucent visage of a battle between Blaidd and Moongrum's forces engaging a few of the more seasoned of the so called Redmanes. Ranni bit her lip. 'Redmane', she thought brusquely. That one word brought her a myriad of emotions, indignant anger chief among them. How dare these charlatans take on the name of her elder brother's beloved followers.
"One of the last group's number was a Numen," Iji observed idly, bringing Ranni back to the present.
"A surprise indeedeth, for I was sure that the Black Knives were the last of Marika's distant kin in the Lands Between." Ranni rumbled. She made minute alterations to the magical circle hovering above Blaidd and Monngrum's melee. It wasn't pertinent to the here and now, but it did rankle in the back of her mind. To her perspective it had nothing to do with this attack, a mere coincidence, but it felt like and omen that far away something else was going on.
A snap of the fingers and the sigil went live, producing a series of icy spikes each as long and thick as an adult man's arm. The spikes rained down from the water wall above the melee and Ranni's lone blue eye watched each stream of magical material slam into the attackers, perfectly avoiding the defenders. She watched on with detached focus as attackers were skewered and impaled by the giant icicles, pierced through the throat, face and through the heart, picking only one to get nailed in the thigh.
She exhaled softly and looked over the entire projection and marvelled at her mother's creation. It was a perfect holographic rendering of the exterior of the academy in real time once the Curtains had been deployed, working off the same principle as projection sorcery that she and her Omen half brother Morgott were fond of using. If the user created a magical spell up here and placed it where they desired on the projection, then the real version of the spell would manifest in the corresponding location, using the water as material and medium and the flow of water as the energy. Kinetic energy of moving water instantaneously becoming usable magical energy.
Had she wanted to, Ranni could have covered every inch of interior space with Comet Azures and reduced everything outside of the academy walls down to its quintessence. A pragmatic approach full of scorched earth but given they wanted people to live in the floating city it was better to leave it in place. So she had instead been using Iji's keen eyes to spot parties of the Redmanes before taking them out with surgical strikes.
'The only current flaw in Mother's masterwork is that the awareness is, for now, exclusively external.' The Full Moon queen had yet to create the infrastructure to closely observe her own home's interior. Possibly for the sake of privacy as no-one wanted to be watched 24/7. 'At least we have the Glintpipes in case of infiltration.'
On the projection before her and her longstanding troll ally, the small holographic representation of Blaidd dropped to one knee and grabbed the one survivor by the scruff of the neck, beginning to shake him for answers. While being throttled by a snarling two and a half meter tall manwolf must have been terrifying for the man, Ranni couldn't help but find the site comical rendered down to this miniature scale.
"Oh," Iji chuffed in confused amusement, leaning his bulbous head down to the representation of the outer wall, "Oh my… it seems the Princess Melina has taken issue with our unwanted guests."
Ranni's eye widened and she instantly rotated the model and zoomed in on the section of outer wall that Iji indicated with a long gnarled finger, rolling the laybak a few seconds in reverse to capture the moment. It took her a moment to see anything out of the ordinary before she spotted a small group of armoured men jogging along the battlements. Her heart skipped a beat as she recognised the sigil on the leader's surcoat but before she could call out her alarm something truly remarkable happened.
Behind the now sprinting invaders a turreted square parapet meant to provide access from the main body of the Academy. The group had just come sprinting out of there like their lives depended on it and it was now that Ranni understood why. A huge lupine shape bounded out of the parapet, its fangs and claws bared in a howl. If the projection hadn't rendered everything to silvery white ghosts then the fur would have been a majestic russet red. It didn't stop Ranni from recognizing her father's wolf, nor Melina riding atop it with her mouth open wide in a war dirge.
Radagon's Red Wolf lunged forwards before a flaming saber was conjured into its mouth. Melina gripped onto the for with surprising strength for a girl so young and held on tight as the wolf corkscrewed through the air, the flaming blade depriving the invaders of their limbs. Three of them had survived the initial assault with their maimed comrades left in steadily growing pools of their blood. Melina thumped a palm into the wolf's flank and it howled, a carian phalanx manifesting and stabbing two of the through through their visors before the great red wolf ponced on the last survivor. Its jaws locked around the leader's neck and tore strings of viscera clear, the gorgot he wore might as well have been papier mache.
The Darkmoon Princess watched her younger half sister look down at the dying man from atop her steed before they bounded off into the next parapet, the fact that they did not emerge from the other side telling her that they had returned to the interior beyond their sight.
Sadness touched Ranni at thinking that the little girl had just blooded herself. It gave her pause, wondering why it saddened her, so instead she tried to stay objective and dare she say positive. "She takes after her mother." she observed, returning the projection to Blaidd and Moongrum in the here and now. Seeing his miniature body language she knew something was wrong immediately.
It likely had something to do with the people who had somehow gotten inside the academy grounds. Why were they here. How were they here!? Her cool exterior hid her stormy thoughts. Ranni decided to get the answers from the horses mouth, or in this case the wolfen.
She focused on Blaidd's presence, imagining every detail on his face and pushing her focus towards it in a sheath of magic. She glowed slightly as she began the process of astral projection. While still sitting at the control centre, she became aware of a second set of senses coming into her mind as a projection of herself appeared in a swirl of blue magical particles. She was not fully solid like her prior projections much to her chagrin, it seemed that her new flesh came with the caveat of wanting to keep her soul and mind fully inside her body.
Moongrum and Blaidd's men started in fright at her manifestation while the former of the two marked her projections arrival with a light nod. Moongrum wore his helmet, hiding his features. Blaidd had no such emotional filter.
"Blasted turncoat!" Bliadd shouted, throwing the now moaning Redmane to the floor. "Where in all the hells are Naruto and the Queen?"
"Otherwise engaged, as should we if what I have learned is true." Ranni announced, causing Blaidd to look at her.
"Ranni," Blaidd greeted, the fact he didn't joke about Ranni's ghostly appearance was an indicator of his foul mood. "You're not going to believe who these blasted Redmanes are."
"Keep it succinct, Sweet Blaidd. We have a situation in the grounds, people have somehow slipped inside."
Moongrum's helmeted head whipped around, "What!?" he called in alarm. "Jerren's forces penetrated that deep?"
Ranni's eye almost bugged from its socket. "Jerren? But… that's… why would he even."
"It's the whole bloody Radahn festival, Ranni. Jerren's gone mad. He thinks Rennala's to blame for Radahn's state and this lot came along like pups wet off the teat looking to 'kill the evil witch." he growled, sheathing his zweihander and getting ready to jog back to the academy. He stopped when he saw Ranni's face turn pale. His non-scarred eye widened, "Your situation… isn't to do with the Redmanes is it?"
She took a steadying breath, a force of habit given this thought form didn't have a body of its own. "I caught the sigil on the surcoat of some of the people that were inside. A red serpent coiled around a gold point within a greater rune."
Her words drew a variety of reaction from the militiamen and knights, gasps and looks of horror. Because everyone knew that sigil. The fear of its presence made people contemplate their end. The dread sigil of Mount Gelmir. The calling card of the Volcano Manor's Recusants. The servants of Praytor Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy and Ranni's other brother.
Inside the academy.
Blaidd tightened his straps and broke off into a loping sprint, Moongrum and all the men quickly following.
"Retreat to the academy! Recusants are inside! I repeat, Recusants are inside!" Moonfrum told any men he came across.
Loretta would have the situation with the external Redmanes in hand, but it was up to them to stop the Recusants from living up to their awful reputation.
(.0.0.0.)
A woman ran through one of the academy halls in tears, terrified while clutching her child against her chest as she fled from those chasing her. The sound of armored boots on stone followed close at her heels and she did not dare stop for fear they would catch her. She did not need to think about how gruesome such a fate would be because once she had known who pursued her she knew she would have to take flight. The dread sigil of Gelmir caused panic at its meer presence, the reputation these Recusants carried had caused many of the civilians to flee into the halls. Scattered like leaves to the wind.
They had found her soon enough, drawn on like bloodhounds guided by her terror. They would not simply kill her. They would exact the maximum amount of horror from her and her child, offer it up like a benediction to their blasphemous lord before finally killing her.
She turned right, having no idea where she was going and cried out in horror when her foot caught on some loose debris. The woman turned as she fell, holding her son close to her and cushioning the blow when she landed, yelping out in pain when she felt a sharp stone cut a nasty gash into her leg.
Backpedaling against the wall, she held her son close to her, telling him that everything was going to be okay.
"It will not be okay," a voice echoed hollowly from the darkness.
She looked up, the flickering blue light that lit this hall providing enough light that the shadows cast were deep this far away from the windows. The sound of metal grinding on stone echoed from where she had just come from, a slow, guttural scrape that filled her with paralytic terror.
"There will be no happy ending. No miraculous escape." A tall and imposing figure stepped from around the corner, clad in blood stained plate and dragging a brutal maul behind him that sparked off the ground. "The Lady Tannith spits upon the Full Moon Queen's offer. And we have come to make sure this little place pays its tythe of misery to the Lord of Blasphemy."
The Recusant was not alone. Three more of his ilk marched out from behind him, carrying all manner of brutal implements, all darkened with blood and not all of it dry.
"Too few have died today." one of the others said, scratching the front of his helmet with a clawed gauntlet, looking like a horrifically misshapen feline. "These peasants are so good at running, and the resistance is so tiresome. I've only killed one person today! And he fought back instead of letting me flay him!"
His petulant tone did not diminish the fear in the mother who held her son all the closer. She could feel all of their predatory stares, looking at them like they were meat.
Another of the four slugged a mailed fist into the whining Recusant's head, causing him to stumble. "Grow up, neophyte. You'll get your fill. I still think that Lady Tannith was rash to act without Lord Rykard's order. And Patches didn't even show up."
"Patches never shows up. He turns tail and hides behind the lady's skirts." the last one grumbled. He stepped forwards, hefting a spiked hammer and pointing it at the mother and child. "More for us."
"P-please! No!" the mother begged over her child's wails. "Don't kill us, we never did anything to you."
"Oh, sweet summer child," the leader lifted his mace and stalked forwards, "that's why its so fu-AGH!?"
A red flaming skull struck the leader, its infernal teeth gnawing at his helmet before detonating in a plume of blood red fire. His body was sent flying backwards, now bereft of its head and dropping its mace. The world slowed to a crawl for the woman and her adrenaline wired perception saw something amazing play out from her place on the floor.
A booted leg stepped into her line of sight with a swirl of black cloth fanning out behind it. The figure ghosted forwards like a wraith with a pair of obsidian colored hand scythes held in each hand. The man, aged by the silvery hair that poured out of the back of his cloak stapped into the throng of stumbling brigends and span on the tip of his boot. The two reaping implements span in twin streaks of razor sharp darkness, slicing through the blood flecked armor with no resistance. The four Recusants paused, their bodies sizing up before they all were rocked, blood exploding out of their visors and the space between their armor plates. All four went down in gurgling spasms, dead before they hit the floor and leaving the woman's savior standing.
She gasped at him, covering her son's eyes to not see the sudden death that the stranger had dealt. She cursed herself when he slowly turned to look at her, having heard her breath.
"Be at ease, young miss. I mean you no harm." the Aged man said gentlemanly. He turned to face her fully, a vision in black with what appeared to be a black half helmet that a long white beard poked out from under. His cloak was fastened to his robes by a large gold brooch set with a large ruby. He slipped the two scythes behind his back, locking them into sheathes. Then he raised his hands placatingly, showing both palms. "But you are bleeding from the thigh, I should check that you haven't nicked an artery."
Confusion crossed the woman's face and she looked down, alarmed to see that the cut in her thigh had produced a quite alarmingly sized puddle of blood. The dizziness hit her a moment later, her head lolling back to strike the wall had the Aged Gentleman not already been there to arrest her falling skull with his hand. He gently sat her up properly before inspecting the wound.
"It's deep, but the artery is intact." he informed her while extending one of his hands and dipping his first two fingers into the puddle. "Nonus" he intoned. A pulse radiated through the puddle, briefly turning that same glowing red as the prior skull before returning to normal. Then, to the wonder of the woozy woman and her son, her blood began to move, retreating back towards her and flowing back into the open wound.
"Are…you a wizard?" the woman's son asked, starry eyed.
The Aged gentleman chuffed in amusement and shook his head, "No, but in my profession picking up a few cantrips are helpful." he replied to the lad. He pulled a section of his cloak up and made no complaint about tearing a length of cloth free from it and began to bind the woman's leg, creating a tourniquet.
But he came to a sudden stop and drew one of his scythes again, pointing it down the hall when they heard a growl.
The woman, who was nearly passed out at this point, was perplexed that she was now seeing a huge russet red wolf stalking down the corridor with a little magenta haired girl riding atop it.
The Aged Gentleman held his vigil, not giving an inch as he stood to protect the woman from the wolf but did not move to attack. The little girl scrutinized him pointedly before her lone eye slid by him to rest on the corpses behind them. Her face lit in realisation, "You protected her."
It was not a question.
Lowering his scythe, the Aged Gentleman relaxed his poised stance. "Indeed I did. I believe it is still a knight's duty to protect those in need." he replied before sighing longsufferingly, "though it has been quite some time since I last had the joy. My Lord's missive only brings me here because I am his most longstanding follower, the others I fear have long been in a fugue not of their own making."
The young woman had no idea what the Aged Gentleman was talking about, but it sounded like he had a weight on his shoulders he had been carrying for a very long time.
"If you're a knight, then can you do something for me? I'm a princess after all! Princess Melina!" Melina claimed, pumping her fist in cute bravado.
Chuckles emerged from under the Aged Gentleman's beard. "I see. It's a pleasure to meet you. I have business with your father but I'm sure that aiding his daughter will go a ways to having him speak with me." the Aged Gentleman said, clicking his scythe to his side, "Name it, Princess of Neo Caria. If it is within my power and does not violate my chivalry then it shall be done."
Melina nodded sagely, a comical action given the blood coating her mount's maw and claws. "My sisters are trying to hide from some big meanies who think they're their sisters. Can you protect them for me while I let doggy here chase those snakey guys?"
"You offer me an accord then?" the Aged Gentleman stroked his beard, a strange irony filling the room that none of them could parse. He nodded in agreement. "Very well. I shall do as you ask, Princess Melina. But please make sure you get there two to safety before chasing your… distant brother's followers from your door."
The Aged Gentleman gave a short bow to the woman and her son before taking off in a jog deeper into the academy,
"Wait!" Melina called over her shoulder, causing the gentleman to stop and look back. "I… I don't know your name."
Just as she was about to pass out, the woozy woman heard the Aged gentleman's reply.
"I am Sir Ansbach. Captain of the Pale Blood Knights of Lord Mohg, last follower of the true Lord Mohg, and the one who shall save him from the indignity I believe he has been forced to live for aeons."
(.0.0.0.)
Rennala and Gherman's battle had continued in earnest, carving a swath of destruction through the forest and looping all the way back to the Carian Manor which was now mostly in ruins.
Leaping into the air, Gherman spun his scythe in a radial arc, bifurcating the last of the Neo Carian Queen's summoned direwolves. He did not have the time to land before Rennala was on him again, rocketing at him like a platemail meteorite, tossing her Catalyst at him as a spinning sword energised with magic. He parried the weapon but Rennala was too close now, able to snatch her Catalyst back before she ploughed into the First Hunter in a tangle of limbs. They rolled as they fell, each trying to slug the other or manoeuvre the edge of their weapon to something vulnerable but neither found purchase, landing against the wet grass in a squelch of mud.
They sprung to their feet and Rennala changed up her tack, locking her hands around Gherman's own fists, holding him still in a test of strength. He had her beat in the weapons department, that was sure, and she could feel her emotional leash slipping the longer she dwelled on the aching hole in her memories, beautiful she could deprive him of the ability to actually swing his weapon then she might have an angle.
An angle which quickly became more acute than she liked as it became obvious by the lack of movement in the old man's limbs that he had beaten her in physical strength. Her arms trembling against the man's iron grip, Rennala watched his thin lips curl into an amused smirk. It reminded her of Naruto in a strange way and just like that, was struck by inspiration. With no warning, she leaned her helmeted head backwards and proceeded to smash it forwards against Gherman's head in a stinging headbutt. The metal of her visor smacked hard into Gherman's face, producing a horrible clang and succeeding in whipping the smirk from his lips.
Rearing back again. Rennala levered her taller height to her advantage and began to rain headbutt after headbutt down onto the First Hunter, causing him to grunt in pain as she rang his bell. The cracks and clangs soon grew to cracks and meaty squelches, cuts, contusions and all manner of superficial wounds littering Gherman's face and even knocking his hat loose.
She pressed the advantage as much as she could. A moment's thought and the four etherial arms she sometimes deployed for advanced spellwork unwound themselves from her back and piled on the damage, pairs of straight punches crashing into Gherman's chin and temples every time a headbut sent him backwards.
Having enough of being so thoroughly bullied, Gherman let the next headbutt catch him square on the nose and offered no resistance. It struck home with a wet crunch and a spurt of blood, his body limply shooting backwards, but he slipped his hands out of Rennala's grip and shot them above his head, propelling him into a back handspring that whipped his bored foot and galvanised pegleg into the Queen's helmet, causing her to stumblack backwards, temporarily stunned.
Seeing an opening, he snatched the firearm from the base of his scythe and leveled it at Rennala, pulling the trigger. The gun bucked, spitting a huge spray of quicksilver shot that carried its eldritch energy in a sheath of kinetic energy.
'Block!' Rennala thought, and her four arms crossed over her chest like a mouse trap snapping shut, taking the brunt of the impact and shattering like glass. A stray round got through though, and it clipped the temple of her already thoroughly dented helmet.
Skidding backwards, she panted and saw that Gherman was much the same as her. Her vision was obscured by the warped metal of the visor so she reached up and pulled it loose, letting her long black hair tumble loose and free.
"Ummph," Gherman groaned, the noise carrying a nasily element to it. His face was a mess with an eye swollen nearly all the way shut, burst lips and a very crooked nose. Reaching up a hand, he took his nose between two fingers and snapped it back into the correct position with another grunt, sniffing to rid himself of the blood that had been building up there. Despite that, he looked almost genial, enjoying the battle and the damage that the Full Moon Queen had been able to do to him.
The same could not be said for Rennala. While her face was free of physical blemishes, she held a truly pained look that curled her lips and her eyes look around erratically. It struck Gherman just how vulnerable that look was. How… human.
He sighed, yes, she was in no way the same Moon that had driven him astray so long ago. He could see that the Greater Will had sent him on a wild goose chase on that department for its own ends. In retrospect, Gherman reflected that as far as Outer Gods went, his scant interactions with the will did not quite line up with a true Outer God. Close, but some truth had been filed off. It had been like Flora, yet it was one step removed, less a grand conductor of its authority and more gnarled fingers plucking at strings. What still remained was the test of Rennala as a woman.
The tall woman panted, her body and mind both screaming at her in fatigue, faceless figures standing in her memories. Why couldn't she recall them? Who had she forgotten? She looked at Gherman who did not move to attack her, instead watching her with measured interest, seeing what she was going to do.
Emotion clawed at her, building stronger and stronger without an outlet to articulate-
And then she saw it.
Looking past Gherman, Rennala's eyes climbed slowly to look at a space near the top of the mangled masonry, a half archway set into the now fragorblasted stonework. Glass jutted from the frame, the half shattered fractals of what had once been a window. But not just any window, all these years later she could still pick out what that archway had looked like when whole.
'It's my room…' She thought, the 'static' in her memories growing louder. There was not a hole in her memories, something was hiding them from her. Her eyes shifted left and up to the top of the window, a touch of stained glass decorating them and she could remember looking up at the two sigils that were set into the glass. A figure stood beside her in the memory, her body covered in light gold static.
A pit formed in the base of Rennala's stomach, she opened her mouth in a slowly widening look of horror the more of the memory returned. She alighted on what remained of the top sigil, hers. The Full Moon's locus visible even while cracked. Then. her eyes slowly. Painfully slowly dragged down. Bile rose at the back of her throat, her hands shook as cold sweat poured from her back under the armor. 'No…I could… never..how..R-'
The second sigil below it filled her view, her mind refusing to take in the visage as the static crackle intensified but the longer she looked, the more the static pulled away. This had been her childhood bedroom, marked as such… so why was there a second sigil there? Why? WHY!? She looked upon the second sigil and saw it for what it was. A royal Carian crest, personal sigil of a princess. But instead of one moon, it held two.
"Twin Moons…" Rennala whispered, her eyes beginning to water, "...Rellana… my dear sister."
SNAP
Deep within Rennala's mind, something went snap. And for once it was not a part of her faculties. Holes in her memory suddenly cleared, the pale gold static crackling to nothingness as one by one she could recall faces, conversations and whole macrocosms of emotions crashing down on her. She felt faint, leaning forwards and having to dig her catalyst into the mud for support but that did not stop the tears. She was crying, pain and pathos an exhilarating mix.
A face much like hers stared back at her from her memories, except the armor was different. The cool smile was similar but no less full of love. Something… someone had blocked her memories of her sister… and much more.
She grit her teeth, slumping to her knees while gripping onto her catalyst. She could just see Rellana now, taking receipt of twin swords that she had made for her. The somewhat haughty laugh she had given when she had questioned her choice in following Mesmer to the Land of Shadows.
"When you find someone worth standing with, you will find true strength. Greater than any god or even the moon you are so fond of." Rellana had said, happily strapping her new swords to her side, giggling at Rennala's pout. "Oh come on. I expect you will find the same joy with Radagon."
And she had… and she had lost it. Fell to madness and lost her children one by one until none remained. Until Naruto and Melina had awkwardly staggered into her life. Rennala let loose a mournful wail. Not because of what she had lost, but that she had gone so long without the memory of one whom she loved.
A cool steel blade touched her cheek. Rennala looked up, her tear filled blue eyes meeting those of the first hunter. He could have taken her neck, but instead he simply looked at her curiously.
"Why do you weep?" he asked her, his somewhat scratchy voice showing an unusual softness.
Rennala sniffed, and honestly answered. "I had forgotten someone special to me and lived a life fallen to madness. I weep that in that darkness, someone robbed me of that light."
Gherman listened to her and closed his eyes, digesting them before finally nodding. He lowered the Burial Blade. "Someone full of such profound sadness, yet seeks betterment. You are no beast. And my blade has passed its sentence. My hunt is over, Witch Queen of a different Moon." he took a step back and turned to retrieve his hat, "The pay was up front anyways. Perhaps an old corpse like me should-"
Gherman never finished that sentence.
On the south eastern horizon a single brilliant gold dot peaked above the horizon. A comet with a trail of auric energy that was making a massively hypersonic beeline for the first hunter.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"
The streak of gold collided with Gherman, covering the miles between them in and instant. The grizzled and grey Hunter yelled in alarm that was muffled by the staccato drumfire of sonic booms that followed Naruto's passage. He was wrenched from his feet and flew backwards, pushed to ridiculous speeds by the returned and apoplectically furious Naruto. The collided with the manor at force and smashed through it with no resistance, continuing on through the forest and then into a distant plateau.
BOOM!
Rennala shielded her eyes from a dust filled squall that rolled over her. The ground shook from the distant impact as Naruto had driven Gherman right through rgw massive plateau, a huge drilling crater showing through to the other side. The horizon lit up with scores of gold and blue flashes, minor and major explosions rocking Liurnia to its foundations. "Naruto!" she exclaimed, getting to her feet. The quandary of her memories was still there, and she could ponder it later. Or at least on the way.
Right now, her betrothed was unfathomably angry. Drying her eyes, she jumped into the air and allowed her sorcery to let her take propper flight, begging to gracefully advance towards the battlefield.
"I will not lose you to madness on my behalf, beloved. Never again" she said, flying over the treetops, the destruction of her childhood home soon far behind.
(.0.0.0.)
The inside of the Academy was in utter chaos. There were three antagonistic forces at work within the walls and while their actions were proving somewhat ineffective in the grand scheme of things, they had succeeded in riling up the citizenry into a panic. The most sizable group was the Recusants who had been culled from their initial 40 down to just under 30. Jerren and his 20 best men were proving far more competent at evasion and combat having not lost a single man or woman but the most chaotic element of all were the kindred of Rot. for every person that they killed, a new rotted corruption was born, adding to their number.
The militia, knights and sorcerers had beat a quick retreat into the academy to try and rout the infiltrators but the number of terrified civilians was making the process of finding them very difficult. Swords and spears clashed in the hallways while sorcerers rains spellfire down from higher areas. It spoke a lot to the renovations that a large majority of the interiors were still intact.
Boggart led the girls under his care through a pathway towards the path to the main thoroughfare, hoping to make their way up to Rennala's apartments and regroup with Ranni, doubtless the safest place. Boggard led Irina by hand, his short sword in the other while Sellen kept a close hold on the despondent and fearful Milicent who could practically feel her sisters breathing down her neck.
Entering into the nexus they were treated to the sight of half a dozen of the Redmanes armed with topes attempting to restrain Naruto's giant crawfish lonely to get flung every which way. The great crustation could not be subdued so easily and let out a mighty battle cry, clacking its pincers as it scuttled off after its attackers. Sellen internally laughed at the show but kept her hand firmly in Milcent's. The redhead was better than she was before but still afraid of her coming sisters. The academy had shaken again earlier from some kind of distant impact but that left her in a quandary. Siege engines were pointless against the Curtains to Tranquility.
"SORCERESS SELLEN!" an angry voice bellowed from across the courtyard nexus. Sellen's blood turned to ice in her veins.
Milicent looked at her sister in worry, now muttering to herself. "Sellen?"
They all turned to the far door, their path to the apartments, and saw it was blocked by more of the Redmanes. And at their head was Jerren himself. He hadn't changed at all from when Sellen had last seen him. He had the same red hood and unkempt beared that did nothing to hide the murderous look in his eyes as he looked at her.
Boggart, in a surprising show of bravery, stepped in front of them all, shortsword leveled. "Oi, Dick'ed! You want to get to them you gotta go threw me!" he yelled in challenge. Sellen looked at the iron masked black guard in a new light at that.
Jerren didn't even give Boggart a second glance, advancing on them all with his zweihander drawn. "Foul witch. Poisoner of waters. Killer of children! You throw your lot in with the Witch Queen and claim the spot as her bastard daughter!? I'll hang your blue skinned corpse from the flagpole for the sake of my lord!"
The iron masked warrior attacked but Jerren caught the short sword on a bucker and knocked it wide. He followed up with a mailed haymaker to the side of Boggart's head that sent him reeling. "Get out of my way you idiot! You don't know the monster that you're protecting!"
The words stung, hitting at this body's childish senses even if she thought she had got them under control. But still, she had to act. "Leave them alone, Castellan. Your quarrel is with me."
"That contemptus voice.." Jerren bared his teeth and Sellen let go of Milicent's hand, a spark of magic jumping between their fingers. "Decades later and I still crave to see you locked into a cell and prevented from ever returning to the Erdtree."
"Then take me and leave them be!"
"They're guilty by association. This entire horror show ends today!"
Sellen smirked, "You're finally as mad as you look, old man."
"And your form finally reflects the brat you have always been, Sellen." he spat the words as if they were poison. He raised his sword to strike the child down who looked up at him with defiance.
"Ah, Jerren, so fond of your own voice," Sellen smiled as a shadow fell over Jerren. "Blocking out everything else.
Jerren sensed the bewitchment too late, because it had not come from Sellen. 'Well done, apprentice.'
Dispelling the sensory disruption, Jerren finally took notice of the great number of clicks behind him and looked up. Several angry beady eyes glared back. He whipped his sword around but a great black claw caught it, snapping it in two before backhanding Jerren away.
Sellen took her moment and made a run for it, sprinting for the far door as fast as her little legs could carry her.
"Sellen!" Milicent called in alarm.
"Make for the main lecture hall! You'll be safe there. Jerren is after me and me alone!" Sellen called back, firing a glintstone meteor at some of Jerren's men to knock them down some of Jerren's men that tried to make a run for her. "Flee, I say!"
The maddened witch hunter was already back on his feet and chasing her, his much longer legs carrying him across the courtyard even as Sellen vanished through the doors. The Crawfish chased after Jerren, smashing the doorway and separating the groups. In the confusion that followed, Boggart scooped Millicent into his arms and they all began to make for the lecture hall instead.
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto and Gherman flew through the air, the glowing blonde gripping the older man's clothes with a wordless snarl.
He created a Rasengan and made ready to drive it into Gherman's chest but the old man, with an insane showing of dexterity, manoeuvred the burial blade into its path. The Rasengan expanded, engulfing both in a bloom of bright blue and sparkling gold chakra. Gherman was knocked away from Naruto by the blast and span through the air, rigging himself and landing on an outcropping of rock. Naruto's landing was far less graceful, impacting on another outcropping and splitting it to a flat surface that he crouched on, cross shaped pupils full of wrath.
Gherman did not pontificate or ruminate. There was no measuring to be had here, for Naruto roused in him that primal fear that one was coming at you with the intent to kill dialed to an extent he had not felt since the old days.
His power had proved just to eek out against Rennala, for this he would need something more. He drew the Burial Blade up and turned it towards himself, driving it into his own abdoming. Naruto's fanged visage flickered in confusion, but Gherman's own wan grin showed this was not an act of wanton self destruction. He ripped the blade back out of him with a roar of his own, becoming wreathed in a pale green flaming glow and reforming his scythe.
Naruto launched himself forwards, drawing both of his swords and launching twin crescents of black and green at Gherman. Gherman swung his scythe in an upwards arc, slicing the two energy attacks in half, sent passing by him to slice into the canyon wall. He turned the scythe and brought it down hard in a helmsplitter, met by Naruto's twin return stroke. Power bloomed from the point of contact, an orb of conflicting energies forming around the two fighters who both growled at one another. Lightning discharged across the valley in a hundred different shades and hews, superheating rock to glass. The air around the dome turned white from a sudden increase in air pressure.
They three blades grinded against one another before finally Gherman gave ground, detonating the force buildup in an airburst that pulverised the rocks surrounding them. Gherman slashed. Naruto sliced. Hacks and thrusts danced between the two, a melee of blades not seen since the Shattering.
Two chakra arms burst from Naruto's back as he continued the blade dance. Gherman had far more technique than him, but even with the sudden upswing in his power brought on by his self mutilation induced power up, he was losing ground to Naruto's sheer power. Naruto wanted to push that gap further and created two Rasenshurikens. Two bellike shrieks soon rent the air, one of the Rasenshurken's its usual blue colour with its white blades wile the other had a flaming core.
The chakra arms turned the spinning blades to face Gherman and pushed forwards, forcing him to break away from the medley. It was then that Naruto let them fly. "CHASE!" he shouted and the twin Rasenshurikens began to arc in their pursuit of the now retreating Gherman. He linked from location to location, his lank hair whipped into a bowling curtain by the speed of the twinned jutsu as they pursued him. He jumped up to a tree and ran up a rock outcropping that both spinning attacks cut through before finally expanding, creating a flaming tornado.
But Gherman was not without recourse. As the rock beneath him began to disintegrate beneath the uncountable superheated blades of chakra, he dropped to his haunches and concentrated the totality of his physical might and arcane empowerment into his legs, the ground vibrating before he kicked off, shooting back towards the airborne Naruto as a relativistic piece of shrapnel. He turned, presenting his pegleg in a kick.
The change was so sudden it caught Naruto flat footed, and he cried out in pain when Gherman's peg leg pierced him through the shoulder, sheathing itself to the stump of the old man's leg. The pain was great, but he gritted his teeth and empowered his fist with steam, countering with a crippling jab to Gherman's gut that sent the First Hunter away. Naruto gripped his shoulder in pain, hissing as he felt the golden layer of chakra already starting to seal the wound shut.
But unaware to Naruto, his chakra arms were still out, now having branched into six finlike wings that waved in the air behind him.
However, Gherman saw, getting to his feat. He coughed up a gob of blood as he looked at Naruto. 'So this is the Beast the Will was so worried about… I can see why it might think so.' he thought, not having felt such a blow since the first time he had been grabbed by an amygdala aeons ago. 'But not a beast of your own making, boy. That Will is pushing you down a path that will see the world think you its beast… I shan't let that happen.'
He didn't fully believe that. He knew he was incapable of bringing in game this big and had no reason to kill the blonde. But as short as it had been, he had grown fond of this second stab at life, and hew would be damned if he didn't give as good as he got. He spat out a tooth that Naruto's earlier blow had knocked loose and broke the scythe back to the gun and burial blade. And with a renewed roar of challenge, continued to fight for his life.
(.0.0.0.)
Another bunch of strings was ripped free from Naruto's core and Kurama was now actively chewing on the golden threads of light to tear them away from his partner. He knew that by now the Voice could not speak to Naruto, but while he was busy pulling it free it meant Kurama couldn't speak to him either. What this also meant was that the voice was still able to be heard by Kurama, much to his chagrin.
Asinine vulpine! Creation of a false god cast down from heaven. Demiurge of a malformed creation from beyond the Great Will's light- STOP CHEWING ON MY STRINGS!
Kurama chuckled evilly at the thing's misery. It felt good to see its sanctimonious act break. Because this thing had just slipped up and admitted something. That it wasn't the Greater Will, not the real one anyway. But that left the question of what was it.
As Kurama continued to claw, gnaw, rip and tear, he saw more and more images that he knew were not his.
He saw a world, freshly made, its surfaces verdant and new. But as life crawled from primordial soup, the sky lit with two meteors, falling from the heavens and landing with cataclysmic impacts. From one crater emerged an odd creature, almost aquatic and spun from nebulae, and in its presence the world seemed to warp. From the other crater crawled numberless giant hands, scuttling out into the wilderness away from… something else.
And then a voice spoke.
It was like the other voice in it's grandioseness but held nothing of its dripping loathing for anything lower than it.
I give unto this world I have made an Elden Beast. A lynchpin of reality. Find for me this world's apex race. They shall be stewards of this helix of heaven. Of God and Consort.
And then everything shifted, the sun and moon wheeled through the sky as a flashing band, aeons passing in seconds before a towering edifice in the heart of a storm. Dragons dotted every surface and at their centre was one with five heads, wrapped intimately around another who bore the sigil of the Elden Ring.
"Hail Dragonlord Placidusax. Elden Lord. Consort to the Dragon God. King of all that is." the more familiar voice said, its tone dare Kurama call it happy.
Time accelerated again, the tower becoming engulfed in flame as a horned Dragon attacked the five headed dragon and robbed him of all but two of his heads as civil war rocked the dragons, leaving Dragonlord Placidusax without his god, fled into the night.
On a hillside at the far ends of the war, the stellar Elden beast and the Other looked up into the sky where a golden light turned.
It is done then. Another failure. I had hopes for this world but any that can permit disorder to create civil war is not worth direct oversight. I am leaving now. Do with this world what you will. Let the lessors from Outside eat it or let Chaos take it. I shall simply try again somewhere else.
The light began to recede into the heavens and both the Elden Beast and The Other begged it to stay. But their pleas went unheard. Ages passed again, life continued on until eventually The Other spoke. It's thoughts did, etched into time itself.
If our creator craves perfect order, then perfect order it shall have. It's system is still in place. The mechanisms of its waveforms unerring. I shall start again in our Lord's place, and when perfection under order is achieved. It will return.
Ages passed again in a cyclical hell, the same patterns playing out again and again in different cycles. A God, host to the Elden Ring and their consort. When their regime and view of the world proved wanting then another would rise to rip the ring from their still living body and start over.
Kurama saw so many. Some playing out in different ways. Different times. The same time even, and always were there fingers to ordain the next Age.
The Other was one with the system now. Its mind had merged with it. Sitting on the steps to the ivory tower. And it was playing all sides.
Failure after failure. Never perfect.
A Crucible.
A Fire Giant.
A Gloam Eyed Queen
And a Queen Eternal.
And every time true order was found to be left wanting, the Other grew that much more imperious. The Greater Will was gone, it had been long gone when the world was still young. What sat within the stars that arbitrated its lingering system may have been divine in its own way, but by Kurama's measure, it was still no true god.
But at least now he knew its name.
"All of this shit, all of this suffering. All because your creator abandoned you to the wolves. And instead of living, you made a tapestry of cyclic hell in some vein hope it would come back. By the Sage you are a Black Zetsu on a cosmic scale." he roared, bellowing into the strings.
(.0.0.0.)
Sellen ran as fast as her childishly short legs could carry her, sprinting along the long hallways and acutely aware that her bearded persewer was close at hand. She cursed the child's body she now inhabited and its diminished physical ability, rueing that Rennala had yet to key her into the transportation functions within the Academy. Maybe that was a sign that Rennala didn't yet trust her wholeheartedly… and who was she kidding. Here she was, dashing through the halls of a place that for many years she had coveted rulership over, with the grim spectre of her past actions bearing down on her with the intent to kill.
Actions. Not mistakes.
She had done all the things Jerren had accused her of and more in the attempt to gain the knowledge over the ancient primordial sorceries. She had long come to terms with the fact that she was not a good person. So why did it now burn in her chest? Why did her eyes grow moist at the thought of her new family rebuking her if the totality of her crimes came to light?
'Great Stars, I've gone soft.' she thought self-deprecatingly.
The only advantage that Sellen had here was that she knew the Academy better than Jerren. While the Castellan and Witch Hunter had lived with the Carians and visited Raya Lucaria several times, Sellen had spent most of her formative and early adult years here sallying into the dark to learn its secrets. She didn't know as much as her adoptive mother or Ranni but she still knew cut throughs and shortcuts. But as she ducked through a passageway hidden behind a tapestry, she knew she would never make it to the Queen's Apartments.
So she chose something else instead.
Sellen soon found herself at the large double doors of the library and quickly slipped inside. The doors were thick and heavy and she retreated into the room's heart, beginning to set up as many magical defences as she could devise, it was hampered from how utterly exhausted she was. Her feet ached and she wished that Naruto hadn't forced her to start wearing them.
"A weirdly high number of people in this place seem to hate wearing shoes. What if you stub your toe huh?" he had said to her, not noticing Rennala standing behind him with an embarrassed blush. The mental image brought an amused smile to Sellen. She… she liked Naruto. Not in any romantic way because stars knew the current family dynamics were already a mess, but his bashful and goofy demeanor paired with his underlying fire were something that made her feel safe in his presence.
Was that an effect of the Greater Runes he held or some innate intangible goodness that he had? Her own biological father certainly never had. When Naruto Uzumaki grinned brightly from memories of darkness, surrounded by the hodge podge of eclectic family he had assembled around himself from hauntingly tragic queen to Sellen's own apprentice sister, the Sorceress had to admit: 'This is the best family I've ever had.'
Bangs against the doors started up in earnest, Jerren's angry grunts on the other side as he decried her for every single bad thing she had ever done. Laying them at her feet and making her mentally wilt. Finally the doors were shoved open and Sellen unleashed her attacks. Hundreds of small glintstone shards blitzed across the room from all angles, peppering the one who stumbled through the door like a pincushion. He staggered, inches long bladed needles punching through armor and flesh, smashing into the floor with enough force to kick up a small cloud of dust.
The feather haired youth panted lightly as the figure stumbled forwards towards her, finally coming out of the dust looking like a voodoo doll. It was difficult to even make out his face under his red hood…only that he didn't have a beard.
Jerren burst out of the dust cloud behind his fallen patsy, weathering Sellen's renewed assault as best he could but his momentum carrying him to where the little girl stood. He roughly grabbed her by the throat and they tumbled to the ground together. One of her attacks had severed his achilles tendon and a long icy spike had frozen the other calf.
"Snake," he rasped angrily, keeping the child pinned down as he glared. She glared back at him, even with the younger face he could never forget those eyes. "Sorceress Sellen, your death is long overdue."
"That-that isn't who I am anymore!" Sellen defended, the vicelike grip on her neck painful.
The response made Jerren scowl in an ugly way, "Hiding at the Witch Queen's skirts, trying to start over? Tripe! So long as I live none shall forget the evil you wrought for centuries."
Sellen squinted, gritting her teeth, "Not…anymore," she struggled, "I…am….my….father's…daughter."
"You are fatherless, and by day's end the blonde shall be maidenless. You are a hypocrite if you think otherwise. Only I remain unchanged. For my General!"
And then Jerren began to squeeze. Sellen's struggles grew stronger, fear seizing her as the two mailed gauntlets slowly but surely constricted her windpipe. In the absence of his sword, the Witchunter had chosen a much more intimate form of execution. Sellen struggled as hard as she could but as the seconds ticked by she found her vision starting to become ringed in grey, dominated by the angry old man's face. She tried to suck in air that barely reached her lungs.
As her synapses began to spark in frustration and terror, a memory of long ago began to bubble to the surface, long ago when she had felt just as frustrated but for very different reasons.
Sellen glared down at the small scroll on the desk in front of her. It was covered in a simple thaumaturgic circle meant to help gather and focus magical energy. She was young back then, as young as her current body was in the present. She pouted in frustration, sat as she was at the front of the class.
"Little Raven's feather," a sweet and nurturing voice said, causing Sellen to look up into the face of Rennala, attired in her Headmistress's raiment. This was an advanced class for those who showed a special promise at greatness in the sorcery arts. "Do not scowl at the parchment. For it hath done nothing to thee."
Chortles of her fellow students went around the room from the other students and Sellen hissed at them angrily. Rennala favoured her with a thoughtful look and leant over the desk. She gently took hold of Sellen's hand and brought it over the circle. "Start small. Imagine a single mote of glintstone, a chip of the firmament. Then build off of it. Do not force the magic together with your internal logic. Let it form, then guide it."
The Sellen of the past focused angrily on the point where her hand was, and for a while nothing happened until finally, when she let go of her angry focus, there was a spark the blue light lit the space between her and the Queen. A single spec of glintstone that began to slowly grow in size, lengthening into a pointed ellipsoid crystal until finally Rennala made her close hand hands around it.
"You see, Little Raven's Feather," the Full Moon Queen said, smiling at her student who no longer wore her bratty attitude, "Do not prolong what had gone awry. If you can, start over. Because second chances are gifts shinier than any stone."
Sellen marveled at the object in her hand, and finally showing her age, she lifted it into the air to show off to the other students.
Shlick!
Pressure on Sellen's neck suddenly lessoned. She suckied air in through her mouth greedily as her vision returned from the inky blackness it had almost been, looking again into Jerren's bearded visage. But it was different now, still angry but lapsing to one side in confusion. She felt something warm and wet hit her face and took notice of the redness slowly expanding through his scraggly beard. But there was a blue light behind the beard that drew her eye, seeing what it was made her eyes widen.
A six inch long ellipsoid shaped glintstone crystal, buried into Jerren's throat and her little pale hand wrapped around its base.
His hands twitched, trying to resume the strangle but he coughed wetly, the blood intensifying and Sellen reflexively pushed away, causing the old man to roll off of her. She backpedalled away as he vainly attempted to crawl after her before finally, with his angry eyes fixed onto hers, he slumped to the floor.
He did not rise again.
She stayed there, staring at the slowly cooling body of the man who had so doggedly pursued her for so many years. The last tie to who she had once been… and she had killed him. The last kill of her old life, the first kill of the new. She began to chuckle hollowly, her shoulders shaking as the laughter turned quickly into racking sobs of emotional exhaustion.
Footfalls outside the door could be heard and Moongrum came rushing into the room, sword drawn. He swept the room with his gaze before settling on Jerren and Sellen. He gasped at the sight of the old Castellan and once friend but saw that Sellen was in a bad way. He kneeled beside the old man laying in a pool of his own blood and turned him over gently before brushing his eyes closed. Then he went to Sellen and picked her up, nor resisting when she wrapped her arms around his shoulder and began to sob harder.
After all, he was the family retainer, it was his job to guard a princess, even if it was from pains of the mind.
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto flew forwards, sweeping between trees, the water and rocky outcroppings in his pursuit of Gherman. The chakra-arms-come-wings that splayed out behind his back twitched and adjusted minutely, giving him a supreme aerial dexterity that he had never felt before. Gherman had no true flight and instead relied on his prodigious bodily power, buffed by his earlier power bloom. The more blood that Naruto spilled, the stronger the man seemed to get.
However, with the exception of the earlier stab through the shoulder and one or two quickly healed slashes, Naruto had taken leagues less hits than Gherman, and the longer the battle went on the more blows Gherman was receiving.
In short, Naruto was going to win. It was a foregone conclusion but the old man would not yield the ground without viscous reprisal.
Naruto came in from on high with a twin overhead cleave with both of his swords. They were blocked by the Burial Blade and gun combo, but no blade lock persisted for Gherman fired the weapon blocking the Moonlight Greatsword, the buck of recoil making a spack between them. Naruto stepped in to thrust with Kaimon but Gherman shifted to the side, putting the grey curved blade between them and sparking along it as he came at Naruto. The flat of the blade rubbed against Gherman's blooded clothes, gaining a sheen of redness.
The blonde gritted his teeth and channeled his chakra externally, heating it with Steam Release, a cloud of high pressure superheated vapour exploded off of him in an omnidirectional dome, hoping to scald the old man away from his attack.
Gherman leapt backwards from the expanding cloud and quickly punched his bloodied Burial Blade. Esoteric power thrummed within the sanguine water of life, igniting to a bright orange flame that covered the blade. He held it aloft before jamming it into the ground in front of him with a yell of exertion. The flames leapt from the blade to Gherman himself, searching out the blood that covered his body and growing more explosively potent with every drop, soon a conflagration expanding out from him to grind against Naruto's steam.
Both domes of superheated substances ground against one another before petering out. Leaving both fighters across from each other. Both could not have looked any different. Naruto alight in golden splendour, untouched by the damage with a face like thunder. Gherman covered in endless smoking cuts and gashes, looking as if he had never had so much fun in his life.
They did not exchange barbed words or witty quips, they simply clashed again and again, one seeking to take a life and the other wanting to keep it.
It was the sight that Rennala came upon as she finally flew over the wall of the Plateau that sectioned off this canyon, zooming in on the conflict still a fair distance away. Rasenshurikens, Rasengan Flashes and crescent slashes of black and green wheeled through the air, cutting down anything in their path like a scythe threshing wheat. She heard Naruto roar in animalistic rage as Gherman scored a hit and frowned. She may have thought that the aged interloper was a pain in the neck but when given the chance to kill her he had actively avoided it.
In point of fact, the only reason Naruto had so violently rushed the First Hunter was because Rennala had been on her knees in tears from the revelations of her returned memories. Doubtless he had sensed her feelings and thought the old man was to blame…. And that didn't sit right with Rennala. Sure he had been dispatched to try to kill her by the Greater Will, but he was mostly innocent in the whole debacle. An opportunistic and prickly asshole that had taken advantage of Jerren's axe to grind with her but still. And Naruto was going at him with the intent to kill.
She had to intervene before Naruto did something he would not be able to forgive himself for. There were plenty of others that righteous anger could be directed at.
And oh stars above she could name one that had jumped right to the top of her proverbial shit list.
Without the unseen pale gold static playing over her memories, Rennala could now recall quite clearly a contributing figure to her suffering and it boiled her blood as it played out again and again in her head.
It had been shortly after the Shattering had begun and Rennala had been deep in her initial grief at Ranni's supposed death. She had been in her library clutching the gold egg that was the Great Rune of Unbirth, Radagon's parting gift before leaving to confine his sister self to the Erdtree. She was an emotional wreck but not yet fully in her madness. But then she had heard a call for her attention, of a small delegation arriving at Raya Lucaria. Initially she had thought it could have been an assault force but her curiosity had been roused when she had seen the banners on the side of the carriage.
The mark of the Haligtree.
It was in her library, sat by the fire that the speaker had come, and the last time Rennala of the Full Moon ever laid eyes upon Miquella the Kind.
The forever young Empyrean had said he was sorry for her loss and offered comforting words of her strength in the face of grief. But as they had talked, their conversation had quickly shifted to the blonde's curiosity. All of his questions soon revolved around one topic. The Land of Shadows.
"Child of the Haligtree, why do you ask about that accursed place? The Hornsent are long cowed, my sister Rellana stands vigil with noble Mesmer." She had said, so very long ago.
He had turned to look at her and smiled, "Full Moon Queen of Caria. You have my eternal respect. You stood in defiance of my parents and showed compassion to your enemy. But the Lunar Princess discovered something foul about this flesh. For the path to be clear for my rule, I must be rid of it and ascend to godhood my own way. But should the Haligtree fail, as I fear it will, then The Land of Shadows shall be my path, and none shall block it."
She gritted her teeth at the memory of the little shit's pale gold light falling over her.
"Forget that place beyond the edge of the world. Forget everything to do with it. Of clan and kin. I leave you to your lonely vigil, and when the world is ushered to the Age of Compassion, you will know sorrow no more. My gift to you, mother of my Promised Consort."
He'd charmed her. Miquella the Kind had charmed her to forget everything to do with the Lands of Shadow, including her own twin sister. THAT was a sin deserving of death, not Gherman's Hunt.
Rennala schooled her features and flew faster towards the battle, her heart set on saving her betrothed.
(.0.0.0.)
The battle had taken a turn for the better for the defenders. Loretta had taken the vanguard and smashed the baulk of the Redmanes attacking the tent city by the sure with the scant remaining forces within the floating city being systematically taken out by Ranni's long distance spellcraft. Without Jerren to lead them, his 20 best men were taking heavy casualties to Moongrum's men while Blaidd was bringing the hammer down on the now routed Recusants. The only group who remained at large were the Kindred of Rot and their steadily growing number of malformed horrors.
Irina carried the squirming Milicent in her arms as they crossed the threshold into the main lecture hall with Boggart shutting and barring the doors behind them. He quickly began pushing desks, chairs and anything that was not nailed down against the door to barricade it shut.
Once he had pushed anything and everything he could manage against the door he took a moment to get his breath back. But then it began, thumping against the doors. Many dozens of pairs of arms angrily thumping against the door with more and more force, causing the great doors to bow ominously.
"They're just outside," Milicent warned, sensing her sisters just beyond the door. She pulled herself free from Irina's grip to stand on her own two feet.
Splinters began to fly before the door finally gave way. Misshapen people crawled over the edges, their skin a blotchy scarlet, shambling to get in. Boggart drew his shortsword and put himself between him and his charges. He was perplexed when the rotted infected did not initially attack him, instead pulling the barricade apart to allow the doors to pen fully. Milicent gasped as the rot within her sang a song of reunion. The four sisters stepped into the room, lacking their cloaks and donning clothes she herself had once worn.
They smiled at her sickeningly.
"Sister," Mary the eldest greeted sweetly. "We have come to take you home."
"I am home," Milicent replied bravely, stilling the quivering in her shoulders. "Leave now."
The response caused the Sisters to scoff. Som wrinkled their noses in derision and others giggiled dementedly.
Polyanna drew her Blade of Calling from its sheath and weighed it in her hand. "Such a brat, denying the way of the Rot."
Milicent glowered at her youngest sister, "I chose to try and find a path for myself! Not as an offshoot of mother. A person. I stumbled, I fell, but I found it!"
"What tripe," Maureen sneered, rot dripping from the tip of her spear. "This is nothing but a transient dream. All eventually comes to rot, and when we rot together at Haligtree, mother shall wake and bloom thrice, ushering the world into the age of rot."
"MOTHER NEVER WANTED THAT!" Milicent raged, her eyes glowing gold, "How can any of us know what Moter Malania wanted? She has been asleep long before any of us were born. What you hear in your heads is the Rot. And it does not care for us."
All four scowled, the Rot within them spitting recitations at Milicent's rebuke. Amy gestured for the rotted to attack and they came forwards in a shambling mass.
Only to meet a deadly Blackguard in their path. Big Boggart plunged his shortsword into the heart of the first rotted, took an arm off the second, and cut the throat of the third. Irina pulled Milicent away to the back of the hall as Boggart put on a display of the totality of his martial prowess. He was no master blade dancer, he took slashes and claws across the chest but one by one he chopped the infected down to offel, leaving him bleeding and panting before the fresh sisters.
"Impudent man," Mary sneered, raising her Halo Scythe to point its bladed tip and the now swaying iron masked man. "Who are you to stand in our path?"
"Me…name's Big Boggart. And to be perfectly honest, I got no clue why I'm here," he said between pants, trying to will the pain in his body away, "I should be sitting by a church somewhere cooking shrimp."
"What are you eve-"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Boggart cut Mary off with finality, "You asked me a question, so I'm gonna give you the answer. I'm a Blackguard, and not a very good one. Frankly, my life's been just a bit shit for a very long time. Especially after that bloody blonde bastard and his little munchkin walked into it."
He stood a little straighter and took a steadying breath.
"...everything about Naruto annoys me. From his happy go lucky attitude to the fact the world seems to warp around him so he gets his way… but ever since I've met him, I've been able to make a home. Hold down a job. Rub shoulders with legends and eat dinner with people who have my back…" he looked over his shoulder at the blindfolded Irina. "...Even met someone I love."
Irina gasped in shock, hands flying to her mouth cutely.
Boggart returned his look to the sisters, "And that's why I'm not letting you get any further. This family is messed up and weird but it is mine. You may kill me. You'll probably hack my body to pieces and feed what's left to the Loathsome Dungeater."
A subtle sound of creaking came from the ceiling high above and Irina looked up, following the sound to what would have been a window had she been able to see.
The Blackguard raised his sword, every ounce of strength and courage still in him shining bright, "But if you think I'll go down without swinging you've got another thing coming! That's how much I care for my family, how about you!?"
Amy growned and ran forwards, longing both of her curved words for Boggart's chest. A streak of black shot down from above at lighting speed, smashing into the ground in front of Amy. she jumped backwards and looked up to see the long shaft of an obsidian coloured scythe buried into the lecture room floor.
"Well said, Master Black Guard." an rich old voice said from the ceiling. All capable of sight whipped around to look up and see a dark form standing in front of the now open window, a matching scythe in his other hand.
Sir Ansbach leapt down into the lecture hall and landed in front of Boggart. He pulled his other obsidian scythe from the ground and leveled it at the sisters of rot.
Mary grabbed her hair and screamed in annoyance. "What is it with old men and scythes on this trip!?" she shouted almost comically.
Ansbach sniffed in amusement, "I couldn't tell you, but on my honour as a knight, I say unto you all. You shan't harm a hair on their heads. EN GUARD!"
Any illusion that his advanced age would be a hindrance were discarded when Ansback blitzed forwards in a spin of black blades. His wide sweeping arcs working to push the kindred of rot back. They got over their surprise and began to clash against him, Mary and Maureen's longer weapons working well to leverage distance while the other two tried to flank the old Captain.
Their hands extended and fired their sticky webs of rotted substance from their fingertips. Ansbach dropped his haunches to slide under the attack, kicking the shaft of one of his scythes to block a joint attack from Mary and Maureen. He pricked his other palm on a thorn built into his other scythe and through a small arc of blood around him, quickly turning inot bloodflame that exploded against all four of his attackers. The Paleblood Knight gave them no respite or quarter, leaping out of the smoke and slashing dozens of attacks at the two younger sisters who wheeled away from him.
A sticky string of rot caught him in the shoulder from behind but it instantly caught fire and was repelled from his body.
"What?" Mary demanded, feeling the rot recoil instinctively from the flames. "How could simple fire repel the rot?"
"Ah, but there you are wrong," Ansbech chortled, throwing an orb of bloodflame at the other scythe wielder who rolled out of the way. "I studied with the fire sages in my youth. Learning how to meld their curing fire into Lord Mohg's Bloodflame. It is no cure, but a fine panacea when fighting your ilk."
The battle continued with Ansbach corralling the four girls into the center of the room, running rings wound them with his own blood slowly drawing a loose circle onto the floor.
"...!"
With a foreign proclamation in a different language, red rings surrounded the tips of his black blades for but a moment; with a whirl he kicked the flat of Maureen's scythe into the path of Mary's Halo Scythe then planted a boot atop both, driving them into the floor before hooking the shoulders of the two younger girls.
"Quīnque!"
A second ring and he pulled the scythes back, raking cuts across the two younger sister's backs. As they came forwards he stepped fully onto the twin polearms and delivered a roundhouse kick that caught the chins of all four kindred of rot. They were sent stumbling back into the centre of the bloody circle.
"Quattuor!" A third ring above his twin scythes that he brought high into the air. "Quattuor!" he announced again, sparking both black blades against one another. "QUATTUOR!"
The glow around the weapons intensified and he finally brought them down, sinking into the bloody ring he had painted on the floor.
"URI CLARA!"
Fire burst from the point of impact, igniting the entire ring surrounding the four women and enveloping them in a pillar of bloodflame that climbed to the ceiling. The four women screamed, barely heard over the scorching flames before finally they fell silent.
Boggart and Milicent watched slack jawed from the sidelines as the flames slowly but surely abated, leaving nothing but a charred pile of rags. Ansbach looked at the pile of rags before moving over to the three survivors. He dipped his head in greeting, focusing on Milicent. "Might you be the Princess Melina's sister?"
Milicent pulled her eyes away from the scraps of burnt cloth and looked at the black attired old knight. "Y...yes..."
"Good," he nodded. "Then my chivalry is preserved. I have business with your father…well, different business with what I had set out here for but still." he mused with a snort. "At least I don't have to kidnap someone like that dunderhead Vare or-
They all turned when a noise emerged from the pile of clothing, but it was not the pained cries of the immolated, instead the inquisitive coos of the young. Pale and chubby hands pushed out of the burnt robes and Ansback did a double take at the four apparent toddlers now sat in place of the rotted kindred, looking around them in innocent curiosity.
Though the mask hid the noble knight's visage, they could've sworn he blinked. "Most unexpected."
Irina and Boggart deadpanned as one. "You get used to it...
"I suppose I shall...
Milicent squeaked in surprise, golden eyes wide. "What witchcraft is this...?!
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto shoulder-bashed Gherman, breaking his guard and following up with a boot to the face to send the old man sprawling onto the water logged ground in a splash.
As the fight had gone on it had turned more and more into Gherman trying to stave things off and now he was well and truly losing. The golden one's wrath was almost fully his own now, but just enough of the infectious intelligence remained rooted in his soul that he could not pull back on it.
The First Hunter looked up at him and levelled his gun but Naruto smacked it out of his hand, stamping on the old man's stomach hard enough for him to cough more flesh blood.
"If you're going to do it… do it," Gherman coughed, his eyes mirth filled and strangely at peace. Every part of his body ached. "Just do it for yourself, not the whims of an Outer God."
Naruto raised Kaimon, ready to drive the blade of death into Gherman's heart.
A pair of arms slipped around Naruto's glowing torso from behind and held him gently. "Enough, my love. That is more than enough."
The blonde froze, his eyes widening as he felt a chen touch down on his shoulder. He slowly looked to the side and saw Rennala looking into his face serenely. Her eyes had reddened from her earlier tears but she faced him with a laudable strength.
Rennala pressed her forehead against her lover's "Quell thine anger. You are no beast of madness. You are mine. And I am yours." she whispered.
Looking into those wonderfully dark blue eyes, Naruto felt his anger begin to bleed away, joined by the last mental snap of Kurama severing his link to the Greater Will. He suddenly felt strange, a series of images assaulting his mind through Kurama's link but Rennala's soothing presence drew him to a state of calm induced feebleness. The golden chakra began to smoulder down to nothing before fading all together. He dropped both of his swords, letting them clatter into the water harmlessly and allowed himself to lean against Rennala and the emotional toll of his anger faded to apathy.
The taller of the two levered Naruto down into a sitting position in the water, holding him in a half bridal cary to look up at her.
"My guiding moonlight," Naruto murmured. Rennala blushed but ran her fingers through his spiky hair affectionately.
The mode was broken when Gherman began grumbling across from them, looking up into the sky. "What an awful hunt. No game, no trophy and aching bones… but at least its the good ache." he huffed, thin lips pressing into a malicious smirk. "The Greater Will can stick it where the sun don't shine… if that even is what it is."
Rennala looked confused at that statement and grew even more confused when Naruto nodded.
"Yeah… I think you're right… What's your name?" he asked blearily.
"Fuck off." Gherman deadpanned in reply.
Naruto snorted halfheartedly.
The first battle of Neo Caria had been won, and from here on out they knew the name of the true architects of their misery.
For Naruto knew that the Other that Kurama had glimpsed the truth of had a name, and now he knew it too.
'Your days spent plucking at the strings of the world are numbered, Metyr, Mother of Fingers.'
END CHAPTER
A/N: Aaaaand scene!
Sir Ansbach to the rescue!
And now we have four new little ones added to the family~!
Not much more to say here, Hope you enjoy this chapter; we worked hard on it!
Looking forward to chatting with you all later~!
May you have a great day!
R ~!