"So, now that we've finished our lesson, do you think you're ready to go a few rounds?" Ragna asked, balling his hand into a tight fist.
Davi stood on the other side of the ship as the wind blew. His robes billowed, and he thought about taking a dive off the boat and trying to escape since his scar was telling him that he was in danger, but he also knew there was zero chance he'd be able to escape Ragna.
His scar throbbed, but Davi ignored the pain. "What do you want from me?"
Ragna's grin grew impossibly large, and he threw his arms out as wide as he could. "I want you to hit me with your best spell! After that, we'll have you heal me up with your best healing spell. If you can't do that, that's okay; I'll recover later. Next, we'll try out how good your enhancing spells are, and then we'll see your defensive magic! Make sure to put your back into it also! Use Vil levels if you have them! Try to attack me as if you're trying to kill me! I can take it!"
"...I don't have offensive spells."
Ragna's smile seemed to fade. "Huh?"
"I don't have any offensive spells," Davi repeated.
"Not even one?"
"Nope."
"You have a Core, right? Not Qi lines?"
"Yep. I have Shadow magic and everything."
"But no offensive spells?"
"Correct."
"Any healing?"
"No."
"...Support spells?"
"No."
"...What do you have?"
"I have a defensive spell."
"Your armor?"
"Yes."
"Can you make barriers or just the armor?"
"Just the armor."
"How many spells do you know?"
"Three. Two of them are outfit-based."
Ragna blinked, completely taken aback. "How the hell did you make it through the exams? Qi line users don't have a type of magic either, so they can't use spells, but they have bodies that are trained to perfection, and their Qi is refined and denser than Mana, allowing them to be greatly boosted beyond normal mages, even if they lack a Spirit. You don't have Qi lines, though. Or do you?"
"I don't think I do." Then again, Davi wondered if he did. Perhaps he was marked by Rossum and Mordheim due to his mother and father. A Mask Core that gained the lines of Qi in it? He doubted it, though.
Ragna's grin returned, and the man let out a loud laugh that shook the ship. "Amazing. You're more interesting than I first thought. Alright then, let's just cut to the chase. Show me your armor spell. At the highest level you can manage."
Davi nodded, and his mana surged. "Row Shadow Armor." His shadow lifted up and began to wrap around him.
Ragna raised an eyebrow in surprise when he saw it. The spell was only of the level of Row, but the power it was generating was closer to that of Vil. It made him excited, yet at the same time, another emotion crossed onto Ragna's face. He was pretty good at reading people, one of the best, in fact, and yet as he looked at Davi's armor, something glaringly obvious occurred to him.
Davi stood before Ragna in his shadowy armor, black platemail covering him head to toe, save for the helmet, and blue fire jutted out of him. He watched as Ragna's eyes wandered up and down his form.
"This spell is interesting." Ragna nodded. "Most spells you can buy aren't that good, and I suggest people always try to make their own. This one you have was clearly made and not bought. It wasn't made by you at all, though, was it?"
"It wasn't," Davi admitted. "A friend made it." He glanced down at a gloved hand. Evelyn had built this armor for him. She crafted the spell with his mana and put the required enchantments into it, building it from the ground up. As such, it worked the way she wanted it to, focusing mainly on his mother and father's form of martial arts and sword style. "How can you tell I'm not the one who made it?"
The armor itself was like a cheat skill, giving him greater strength, speed, and durability, all while boosting his fighting style and putting him on the level near Vil, despite only being Row in nature.
The idea was that when he could cast the spell at higher levels, it would always be counted as one level higher. So casting it at the level of Vil would give him armor near the level of Ril, and doing so at the level of Ril would allow him to pull out a Vow-level spell, something only the elites of the world could manage.
Ragna walked forward, inspecting the armor with a critical eye. He looked it up and down and reached out, placing his hand upon it. He rubbed the chest plate, then tinkered with the helmet, and finally examined the joints.
"This armor is an excellent spell. I can tell it was based on a real suit, likely a powerful piece of enchanted gear that the creator attempted to imitate. Even with just a glance, I can spot dozens of enchantments and lines of code woven throughout the metal. This isn't the first suit, right?"
Davi felt his stomach flip a bit at Ragna's words. The man was a lot smarter than he thought he was, able to put ideas together with just a glance. "The suit went through a few versions."
"Were these other versions always armor?"
"Yeah. They all looked knightly as well. Some were based on chainmail, others on leather, and then finally this one, which was based on plate mail. I'm guessing you already know, but a lot of people have compared me to the Ebony Knight."
Ragna shook his head. "Nah. The Ebony Knight and you look nothing alike."
Davi did a double-take at that. "We don't?" So many people had told him that he looked like the Knight; it was shocking to hear someone say he didn't.
"In Esteria, most art of anything resembling the Ebony Knight has been completely erased," Ragna explained. "I traveled the world for a bit before coming here and happened to stumble across an old painting that contained the Ebony Knight upon it in Gallenth. Of course, the painting also featured Haru, Sigurd, Han Yuan, and the Loudest Thunder, the five heroes who battled against the elven king Sylas and freed humanity from their state of slavery, on it. To be honest, your armor is sort of similar, and I can see why people would think it's close, but it's also different, I think."
"How so?"
Ragna closed his eyes and tried to picture the suit of armor as best he could. "I'll admit, there are parts of your suit that are similar. For one, the armor appears to be made of platemail, forged from black shadows, and draped in thick, blue, fiery mana. His suit is also bulky and sturdy-looking, but unlike you, he possessed a long cape, and his suit was more monstrous. The helm was shaped like the head of a bird, and feathers formed themselves into the metal. He also possessed a pair of long wings. Many people don't know this, or don't care to remember, but Du'Lac was the son of an Angel, born from a union between it and a mortal man."
Davi remained silent, but his stomach did another flip. Whenever he used his spell at a higher level, his suit would change. Evelyn had created it so that the spell would only activate when he was near the dragon's mana. This was required because the enchantments needed to make the suit so powerful that it required drawbacks.
The transformation in question caused his helm to change into the image of a hawk's skull, and feathers began to form across his armor. Was he perhaps starting to look closer to the Ebony Knight? If so, it would better explain Jack Larison's reaction, since the man seemed utterly convinced he was the spawn of the Ebony Knight.
"Since you know a lot about history, do you think there is a chance at all that I could be related to the Ebony Knight?" Davi asked bluntly. It was a question that would make most people uncomfortable, but it just made Ragna laugh.
"Why on Earth would you say that?" Ragna questioned.
"Well, I have Shadow Magic; my mana appears as blue fire, and I come from Mordhiem, which was where he went after Haru defeated him. The fact I'm in a suit that looks similar to his and fight with a similar weapon as well… Isn't it a bit coincidental?"
"Are you worried that you're connected to him?"
"Not really…"
Ragna then nodded. "Having Shadow magic doesn't mean you're related to the Ebony Knight. Plenty of people in this world have that type of magic and aren't evil like he was. Case in point, Crow. He's a captain and a powerful Shadow mage. He and his sister Raven are some of the nicest people I know." Ragna chuckled. "Secondly, just because you're from Mordheim, it also doesn't mean you're evil. I'll admit that the environment can help shape a person, but ultimately, it is that person who chooses the path they follow. Evil is a choice. You say that your armor is similar to his, yet it wasn't you who built it; you admitted it was your friend. So the blame there would fall to her, not you, for making a suit so close to his. Then you claim that you use a similar weapon. The Ebony Knight fought with a claymore. It's a fine sword, sturdy, long, and able to slash apart powerful monsters. Many people use a claymore. It doesn't mean anything."
"And what of me having blue fiery mana that is chilling to the bone?"
"Are you trying to convince yourself that you're like him now?" Ragna let out a snort. "Du'Lac had no kids. Of that, I can promise. He was said to have died alone. Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"Because the love of his life died in his arms." Ragna gave a sad grin. "He never looked for anyone else, and perhaps it was that event that drove him into his madness and led to him betraying Haru and the other Knights. Du'Lac died alone, his corpse rotting away in a cave that became his tomb. No one in this world carries his seed. Besides!" Ragna stood taller and reached out, placing a hand on Davi's shoulder, his arm stretching across the boat. "I don't think this mana, or this armor, suits you at all. When I look at you, and I mean really look at you, I don't see a cold person who wants to burn the world away. I see someone who is lost and confused. I'm sure your friend wanted to make you a powerful suit of armor, and so she crafted this spell with that goal in mind, but it also appears she made some mistakes. She made a suit that would benefit her more instead and left you behind to fill its place. The Ebony Knight was traitorous but still a Knight at the end of the day. I don't have that feeling from you, though. I get the sense you don't really want to be here, do you?" Ragna glanced down to where Olivia stood, watching the white-haired girl spar with Ghost, the two girls going through the motions of using their knives. "Perhaps you're here for her?" Davi stayed silent, and Ragna laughed, letting go of his shoulder. "Sorry for talking your ear off." Ragna got a few extra feet away. "Would you like to begin to spar now?"
"...Yes." Then, in his head. 'This guy is weird.'
Ragna began to stretch, getting himself ready. "I did something similar with your friend. The rules are simple. Just hit me once—just one hit. We'll go until either you can't stand back up or you manage to hit me. You can use any tactic you want and any weapon you want. Try to hit me as hard as you can as well."
"Row Shadow Vault." Davi held his hand out and allowed one of the many claymores Pock had gifted him to come flying into his hand. He gripped it tightly and entered a stance. "Let's get this over with."
Ragna's eyes lit up when he saw the sword, and he looked almost giddy. "Amazing. You really do use a claymore. However, your stance seems a little rigid and off. I wonder if that's the right sword for you." Ragna shook his head, stopping himself from going on another long rant with Davi. "Before we start, I have one thing I want to ask you." Ragna looked into the helm's eyes. "Do you want me to use my weapon?"
"Your weapon?"
"I'll give you the choice," Ragna said, and he smirked. "I can either fight you barehanded, or I can use my weapon and use more effort. What do you pick?"
Davi thought about it for a moment. "Do you ask this question to everyone?"
"I do."
"So then what did Olivia say?"
Ragna's grin grew. "She asked me to use my weapon. She didn't want me to hold back at all, and shockingly enough, she was the third fastest person ever to land a strike upon me."
Davi felt his respect for Olivia grow slightly. She must have improved a lot more than he thought. He knew she had gotten stronger since the exam, and she even had that new trait, Polymorph, something Evelyn had taught him about since all witches had it. Still, for her to reach the level where she could do battle with Ragna?
Well, likely not a battle, but actually able to spar with the man?
Davi felt his scar throb some more. He was in danger. That much was obvious. Just standing near Ragna was making his body want to run away. Ragna was powerful, way stronger than those two monsters who had fought him, and likely just as intense as Mr. Bloom had been. Without a doubt, if it were a battle, he would lose.
There was a part of him that was annoyed by that fact. After all, when had he gotten a win?
In the battle with Grey, he lost. In the first exam, he failed. The second exam wasn't combat-related, but after that, he fought Rowan, and he lost that battle as well. Then, in the third exam, he battled the dragon, and he lost. In the fourth, he wasn't able to even challenge the King's core; then when he joined the Guild, he would have died in his sparring match with Falco if the Captain hadn't gotten involved, and then once more he lost in his fight against the two monsters and Bloom.
Loss, after loss. Was that what he was becoming? Someone who would constantly lose?
"So what's your answer?" Ragna called out to Davi, who had remained lost in thought.
Eventually, he had an answer. "Go ahead and pull your weapon out," Davi said quietly. If he was going to lose anyway, he might as well lose against a great, monstrous force, rather than just a monstrous force. He imagined that Olivia had a similar thought.
Ragna's grin grew more jagged as he was given permission. "Nice. This year's recruits are truly the best." He cupped his hands together and placed them over his mouth. Then up toward the heavens, he let out a loud cry that shook the entire beach. "GREENIE!"
A shadow loomed high above and rapidly began to crash down. It smashed into the top of the metal ship the two of them stood on so hard that it left a massive dent. Davi felt his scar throb even harder, and his Danger Sense began to go on the fritz as he stared with wide eyes.
Greenie, the weird mimic he had seen the first day he showed up, had arrived. The creature was far bigger now, though, looking almost like a large octopus, with dozens of green and black tendrils that whipped out at the world. Its entire body twisted and molded, and it began to glow with a bright golden light.
Ragna placed his hand over the golden light, and Greenie transformed, the mimic using its power to alter itself. The monster's color became a dark silver, and its tendrils fused together, becoming a large pole. More changes happened at the end of the pole, and eventually Ragna lifted Greenie up and pointed the mimic toward Davi.
"What do you think of my weapon?" Ragna chuckled. In his hands, he now held a massive, heavy-looking glaive. One that looked like it could carve through mountains. The blade was thick, nearly half the size of Davi's own claymore, and the pole was as long as Ragna and so round that a person would have to wrap both their arms around it just to hold it properly, yet Ragna's hand was able to wrap around the weapon fully. It must have weighed at least a whole ton, but to Ragna it was as light as a feather.
Davi suddenly regretted his choice.
Ragna placed the glaive over his shoulder and let out a barking laugh. "This is going to be fun! Get ready! In this fight, I'm going to ask the question, and I'll discover the answer based on how your body moves and acts! Who are you!?"
Down below, Olivia blocked a strike from Ghost with her knife, and she twisted the blade around in her hand, launching her own strike toward the other woman, but Ghost ducked down at the last second. Olivia went to attack again, but she stopped when she heard Ragna roar, and she looked up with wide eyes, getting bad flashbacks to her match as she saw Ragna wield a massive glaive.
Ghost also stopped, and the woman let out a loud laugh when she saw the weapon. "Damn! Davi and you are both insane! I can't believe the two of you actually gave Ragna permission to use his weapon! It's like you're asking to die!"
"I wanted to become stronger," Olivia said quietly. "I needed to grow in power." She still remembered the way Davi had nearly died. That had caused her to grow more serious than she had ever been before, and so she decided she'd work her ass off to help Davi, using both Ragna and Maya if she had to. "I don't get why Davi would, though?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Ghost gave her an odd look. "Clearly, he wants to become stronger as well."
"Davi wants to become stronger?" Olivia's head hurt a little as she tried to process that. Davi was already so strong. Stronger than her. Right?
Just as she was processing that, there was the sound of metal tearing and denting, and without warning, Ragna launched toward Davi, swinging his weapon toward the shadowy knight.