A mega 4400 word extra chapter for the 300 powerstones and 5000 collections.
Regular chapter in the morning. Am writing.
Enjoy!
...........
"Do you really believe that?" I asked, softly, taking a seat beside her on the bed, my heat wrapping around her form, gently cradling her body, a neat heat manipulation trick I developed at first to torture the stray devils I had experimented on to get them to behave, but it comes into use in other places too, like here, at a lower intensity.
Lavinia looked down at her hand, wet from the now unfrozen tears and then at me, eyes flickering with both shock and doubt.
"It's okay." I cupped her face, wiping her tears with my thumb, and instinctively she nuzzled into the warmth of my hand, grabbing it and pressing it to her face harder.
Poor girl. I could feel how ice cold her body was… these Longinuses- Longinii?- are very dangerous, if they don't even spare their users.
If they only awaken in traumatic situations and people can't think straight, especially at times like those, how is someone supposed to learn to control them unless they are a genius like Dulio or have help? This design is far from human.
Bad design Big G. Real bad.
I suppose I get that they are supposed to grow in power based on the users desires and emotions, based on the principle of extraordinary 'potential' that humans show in stressful situations, like a mother lifting a burning car off of her child and such, but still.
Their use could stand to be a bit more… intuitive. I mean how long until Lavinia here figures out that her emotions and desires influence how the doll moves and if she's constantly depressed with self-loathing, and the doll reacts to that by dropping her own body temperature?! If she went suicidal, won't the Longinus just freeze her to death?
So far as I know, the only safeguard on them is on their balance breakers, that need mastery of the sacred gear to use, unless of course, you're Issei or something and can perv your way to power.
No wonder so many sacred gear users die before they can even learn to use their gifts. Half from the strain on their body and soul, and half from the complete lack of a user manual.
Humans are the same people that need warning labels on bleach saying 'this is not for human consumption' and 'please do not pour it in your eyes'. People that push doors labelled 'pull' and can't operate simple TV remotes.
Children even more so. Giving God-killing weapons to them with no instructions on how to use them… what utter idiot would think this was a good idea?
I know times were desperate back then but shit dude.
Lavinia suddenly opened her eyes again and looked curiously at me. the colour had slowly returned to her face and her tears had vanished, replaced by a gaze filled with doubt and curiosity.
She let go of one of her hands that was holding mine and reached it slowly, hesitantly towards my face in something straight out of Tarzan and-
Slap!
She slapped me.
"Wha-"
SLAP!
She slapped me even harder this time.
"Ok, hold on, what are-" I caught her hand the third time she went for it and she was surprised, looking at my hand holding her wrist and then back at me as a blush spread across her face, a little sadness dyeing her eyes.
"I just wanted to see if you were…real" She strung out that last word as if she was pulling out a hangnail, her pain peeking through in her voice.
"And two slaps weren't enough?" I asked amused.
"I… sorry." She looked down, embarrassed, "I didn't see or hear you come in and…"
"Because you were moping in the corner." I joked, trying to shake away her sadness. It was a technique used by real professional in the mental health field. Saying something absurd and insensitive to break people out of their funk, and boy was Lavinia in one.
It was as if a person complained they were having an episode, and you asked them if it was the beach episode. Something so ridiculous it jolts them right back to their senses.
Here however, it only served to make her sadder.
I sighed.
How did Yubelluna do it? Was it this hard for her?
I would have loved to bring her along if she wasn't training under Mephistopheles in Grauzauberer. Pulling her out mid-school year, and on the eve of her end of semester exams when Mephisto already knows she was involved in the recruitment of Dulio, would just lay out our hand for him.
I mean bringing an army, though they had comes under a spell of invisibility, silence and non-detection- upon my recommendation- would still be a telltale sign, but at least this one could be attributed to a surprise 'military training exercise', and Augusta wasn't going to spill either, because she too was trying to hide her experiments on sacred gears, and we were going to negotiate her into secrecy anyways.
I looked back at Lavinia and decided to try the same line again. I got off the bed, or tried, in order to shuffle closer to her, but she grabbed my hand the moment she felt it.
"Please don't go!" Her grip on my hand tightened as if she was afraid that I would disappear the moment she let go, and her eyes peered back up at me like she was questioning if this was a dream again.
"I'm not going anywhere." I assured her and scuttled closer to her instead, the sheets dragging under me, crumpling in a bunch between the two of us and she latched onto my arm now, clamping down harder.
"But let me ask you again. Do you really believe that?"
She looked away again, her grip slackened and she answered, voice shaking.
"I did this. I'm a bad girl. They all said so. I don't belong anywhere. It's all my fault." She sniffled as she spoke.
"You don't belong anywhere?" I wrapped arm around her and pulled her into a side hug, "Looks to me like you fit just fine by my side."
She was shocked, and surprised, looking at my chest and then back up at me.
"I don't care what others said. I asked you." I poked her chest, "Do you believe that?"
"I… I'm a bad girl. That's why this happened. This is my punishment. I-"
I laughed softly, and pinched her cheeks.
"If you were a bad girl, a really, real bad girl, you wouldn't care about that, now would you?" I pointed out and that logic fritzed her mind.
"But I-, but…"
"So why don't you tell me why you think this is all your fault?" I coxed her gently, and she winced.
"Because of the-" She almost pointed at the doll hunched over by the edge of the room, billowing frosty winds that I had been countering till now, "You wouldn't believe me- no one-"
"Is it because of the giant ice doll?" I lay it out bare.
Lavinia looked up at me with great shock and the barest hint of excitement.
"You can see it!" She sat up straight, turning to me, "You really-" Doubt again appeared in her eyes.
Before she could even try however, this time I caught her hand as it lifted.
"Alright that's enough slapping for you, little lady." I was getting annoyed now. It was understandable.
She was gaslit by every adult she knew into believing that she was mentally ill, delusional, hallucinating, so I didn't expect her to come to her senses this quick.
But that doesn't mean I'm willing to be slapped to her satisfaction!
"Lavinia." She corrected me, "I'm… my name is Lavinia Reni. Please-"
I understood what she wanted. To be seen again, not as the cursed child, not as the mad girl, not as the liar and problem child, but as herself. For someone to see her as Lavinia. A person.
"Lavinia." I called her name and she smiled ever so faintly for the first time since I started, "Yes, I can see her. And yes, for the third time, I'm real. I'm here. You can feel my warmth, can't you?"
She blushed a little, and nodded shyly, hugging my side again.
"That doll is scary, isn't it?" I pointed at her Longinus, and cast a sealing spell, binding it in place.
Lavinia nodded.
"I hate it. I hate the doll. It…" She didn't finish the sentence but I could feel her trauma and frustration from her words. She wanted, no- needed to be free of it, even for just a moment.
I smiled.
"Wanna get away from it?" I asked, and she nodded.
"Let's go for a little flight then, shall we?" I snuck one hand below her butt and lifted her onto my lap, as a teleportation circle lit up on the ceiling above.
My wings unfurled, flaming and warm, and with a single beat, we soared right through it, out of the facility and into the skies above.
"Whaaaa!" Lavinia squeaked cutely, closing her eyes and latching onto me like a barnacle as our ascent came to a peak, just above the first layer of clouds, my demonic power wrapped around her protecting her from altitude sickness and the inertia of our flight.
A bit of a cliché move- the hero taking the girl for a flight, up beyond the clouds- but hey, it's 2001 and it hasn't been done to death yet, or at least mocked to death by a thousand pop culture critics high on their own supply, so the motto applies. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
As we came to a halt, floating up in the sky, my wings wrapped around her in an illusion of warmth, she finally opened her eyes and took in the view with awe.
"It's so beautiful." She uttered before she realized, looking at my wings, wrapping around us in a warm hug, "Who are you?"
"Oh, did I forget to introduce myself?" I chuckled, "Sorry, how rude of me. I am Riser Phenex and I'm here to adopt you."
She looked at me and at my wings for a moment conflicted before she asked.
"Adopt me?" She asked as if she didn't herself believe it was possible, her pain evident in her voice, "Why?"
But what she was really saying was 'Please don't do that. Don't give me false hope.'
"Because you are a very special girl, Lavinia, and also because I want to!" I laughed, "Do I need any more reason to do something than that?"
"You really want to… adopt me?" She still couldn't believe it. Well, that and the wings, given how often her eyes flit to them.
"If you'll have me." I smiled sweetly at her and she finally believed me. Tears began pooling in her eyes, and she began to cry, ugly cry, snot and all.
"If this is a dream, I don't want it to end." She whispered, resting her head against my shoulder, and I laughed.
"Well you're shit out of luck then, because this isn't a dream, and it's not about to end, ever." I assured her, booping her nose, "I'm here to adopt you, Lavinia and I'm gonna give you all the lovin' ya need!"
I end on a pun and she snorted out with laughter in the middle of crying, snot shooting out in strings out of her nose. Dad humour for the win! Gotta thank dad for the advice when I get back.
"That's so stupid." She sniffled, and I laughed along with her, "That's so, so stupid."
For the first time since we met, she laughed and felt, like a child again as she buried her face in my chest and cried herself out.
I patted her head all the while and tried to ignore the snot that was staining my favourite coat. Ignore the assault to your fashion sense Riser. Ignore it. It is the price to pay for a Longinus.
----------x----------
"And the hero takes the girl out for a flight through the starry night sky. How cliché~" Augusta scoffed.
"That's Riser for you. He's always had my dad's flare for the dramatic!" A tall, well-built man with blonde hair in a cream suit with a wine red shirt, appeared behind her suddenly, but she wasn't alarmed.
She had felt the net spread, and the noose tighten around her neck. A step too late, but she had felt it all the same, her instincts honed over the years hadn't failed her yet.
The army had come prepared, with multiple forms of stealth that bypassed even her early warning spells, but that was to be expected of a professional military.
Of course, she wasn't weak herself and given her sacred gear, with her enemies being devils, she was even confident in inflicting severe harm upon them if it came down to it.
The losses to them wouldn't be worth it. A fact she could hold over them to negotiate an escape.
That was until he showed up.
Ruval Phenex. One of the strongest devils in the Underworld. The perfect heir, who surpassed even his own father in sheer power. A champion of their rating games.
In the face of such power, the kind that equalled her own, her position had instantly become weak enough to crumble.
Her face wrinkled with frustration. Three days she had waited, hoping to smoke out a link to the traitor within their organization. And to whom the trail led.
To think it was the Phenex clan… how had Glenda kicked this particular wall?
Her expression worsened when she realized she couldn't teleport out of here, even with brute force now, even if she used her Longinus. The wards were laid too thick. To burn through that amount of demonic power… she wouldn't have enough juice left to cast teleportation afterwards.
She was cornered, fully and truly, and like a rat, she steeled her resolve to lash out with as much ferocity as she could muster. But she also recognized an opportunity when she saw one. If they wanted her dead, they'd have killed by now, not that they still couldn't, but at least there was a chance.
They wanted something from her. As to what that was, it wasn't hard to guess. She had but three things on her that were valuable enough to warrant the richest clan in the Underworld moving against her.
Herself, Augusta, Witch Of The East and great magician of Oz. The power equivalent to Ultimate Class and the years of experience she brought with her.
Her Longinus, Incinerate Anthem.
And the most likely suspect, her research into the creation of artificial beast-type sacred gears.
"How can this humble witch serve the Phenex clan today?"
"Not going to fight?" Ruval asked, amused.
"Only if necessary." She answered politely but firmly, sending a clear message, "A magician must be a rational agent at all times."
Cold but not unusual.
"An admirable viewpoint." He pointed at the ground near her and conjured a table and two seats, gesturing her to take a seat, "It might just save your life someday."
The threat in his words was quite apparent too. She had a choice to make. Do as he pleased or die.
It displeased her greatly to be forced like this but she swallowed it. Her pride was hardly the worst thing she had swallowed over the course of her life. Being a self-made woman in a man's world, she had had to make certain concessions for knowledge and power, a foot in the door.
But she was as crafty as she was capable. It was how she got her hands on a Longinus, from one of the same men who looked down on her, who thought more with their privates rather than their brains, and while she had lost much of her beauty, she more than made up for it in power.
Ultimate Class. A level of power most mages never even dreamed of reaching, and she had gotten there with decades to spare on her life. She hadn't done that by being pushed around by others.
She had greater dreams than just this. The first time she knelt before her old master's chair, took his vile organ into her mouth, she'd decided it. She would carve her name into history, forever.
She was so close to it now. The Three Demon Beast Project. The creation of Longinus level artificial sacred gears. It was her and Glenda's idea, but once they were done, she'd planned on seeing to it that there would only be one name on the credits of this achievement. The right one.
The Witch who stole the authority of God.
The second coming of Prometheus- no.
The first Augusta.
Yes, she wasn't about to be the second version of some man. No, she'd be the prime, ur-example. The greatest witch in history, now and forever. Her name would be spoken before Merlin Ambrosius, soon. Very soon.
She wasn't about to give up on it, so close to success. Just ten, no seven years. She could do it. Even without Glenda.
For that, she'd make any concession, any deal.
She took her seat opposite Ruval Phenex, and scanned her surroundings.
She was encircled, each direction, including up and down, even through the dimensional gap. Very thorough indeed.
Why would they go through such effort if they didn't need her alive?
She smiled.
"I don't suppose I can convince you to give up on the girl?" She tried one last time.
"No. My brother seems quite taken with her. I think she'll make a good gift for him. Wouldn't you say?" Ruval smiled slyly, taking a sip of tea that he had again conjured.
She would be lying if she said she didn't envy the devils and their Demonic Power, something that was able to fill in for the meticulous calculations of magicians, sometimes even bypass them, completing entirely new spells without the devil having to put any thought into it, only the vaguest idea, the power of imagination.
"No, I wouldn't." She replied, but refusing to partake in the tea he had conjured for her as well.
"If I cannot take the girl, what do you require of me? Why not just let me go?" She crossed her fingers, knotting knuckles as she thumbed her forefinger nervously. An affectation meant to present vulnerability. Gauging his reaction.
Every move a calculation.
"Now, now. No need to fake your intentions. I am not my father. Let us speak plainly." Ruval caught her act, pulled the curtain from the façade.
Truly, the perfect heir. Cunning, gentile, powerful. Every bit the kind of man she could respect.
"Then speak. Or do I have the right of way?" She taunted this time and he sighed, rolling his eyes.
"I hear you are planning to recreate Beast and Independent Avatar-type sacred gears. An interesting line of research, though, it's hardly novel."
He was playing her game now. Trying to offend her, insult her work? Incite a reaction? He was a few centuries too early for that.
"Were that the case, I doubt the esteemed house Phenex would accost a poor old witch on her nightly stroll."
"My lady, you're hardly just some witch. A mind such as yours, it is hard to come by even once a century." Ruval praised, but she felt there was an insult to her age hidden in there somewhere, "House Phenex simply feels such minds should not have to worry about funding and support. Consider it an offer for investment."
Now that was within her expectations.
"What do you propose?" She asked.
"We have high hopes for you, Lady Augusta." He said, "You desire to study the girl's sacred gear-"
"Longinus." Augusta corrected, "Let us not mince words. We both know it is the Longinus, Absolute Demise."
Trying to short charge her? Just a sacred gear? Hmph!
Cheap bastards.
But when she looked at his face, she immediately regretted her words.
He was shocked. Not a mask, not a lie.
He did not know.
Just who was their spy in Glenda's faction? Or was there spy in her own faction? How did they know about the project but not the level of the sacred gear? So many questions she could not ask, at risk of projecting weakness.
Tsk! She cursed herself. In her disdain for them, she had made a stupid mistake, to give the enemy more information than she needed to.
At least, it wasn't too bad. It only increased the value of their investment now.
But she noted this weakness in her mind. She would remedy such habits as soon as possible. She wasn't immortal after all. She couldn't afford to make such stupid mistakes.
"Ahe-hem!" He cleared his throat and continued, a little flustered now, "Either way, we would like to cooperate with you on it. We will study the girl and her Longinus independently, within all the parameters you prescribe.
We will then offer this data and reimburse you a portion of all your research funds and costs. Even send in a few of the mages affiliated to us to help, if needed, or guide you to talents you can recruit yourself. Of course, all of this must not lead back to us.
For all the world to know, House Phenex had nothing to do with this. You achieved it all on his own.
In return, you will personally- not through an assistant or familiar- deliver regular updates on the project, monthly seems right?"
She nodded and he continued. A little secrecy was a fair exchange for that.
"You will not reveal our involvement with this endeavour or any of our meetings including this one, and any other information that could implicate us in any way. You will, on the other hand, keep nothing from us, when it comes to the project. All data, every inch of progress, every last spell and procedure. Everything will be transparent to us."
Not an unfair clause. She nodded again.
"I agree."
Neither during, nor after the project, will you target anyone related to the Phenex clan in retaliatory action out of pride or revenge or otherwise."
"I am not so thankless, nor am I such an ingrate that I would do such a thing." She was offended at the implication.
"Then you won't mind agreeing to it, yes?"
She grit her teeth at the insult but nodded.
"I agree, but only until I am attacked. If house Phenex or anyone affiliated with them moves against me in the duration or after the project, this clause is voided."
She wasn't an idiot. She knew they wanted to tie up loose ends after. She wasn't about to disappear someday, somewhere shortly after she succeeded. Agreeing to that would simply be the same as laying down and offering your neck to the executioner's blade.
Ruval knew he was caught, she saw and took some much deserved pleasure in that, before he sighed with disappointment.
"You think too little of me, my lady." He faked, and she countered, "And you me, sir."
He looked back at her and smiled as she had seen him smile all those years back as a young magician on her first visit to the underworld, on the rating games screens.
A cruel, sadistic smile that made her weak in the knees.
She bit her lip, unconsciously at the sight.
"Very well then." He spoke, his voice deep and rich like a smooth, fiery liquor, "Let us hammer out the finer details of the deal."
----------x----------
Once Lavinia has settled own, I gently wiped her face clean, before descending back into her room again.
While, I had temporarily sealed her sacred gear, she was still connected to it and I couldn't exactly take her far from it. It was the reason we were flying straight above the institution, with the teleportation spell kept active the whole time, keeping a close distance with it, but just out of sight.
It had worked wonders for her mood. She was feeling fresher, freer than before, and as we descended back down, her face began to wilt again, especially I set her down on the bed once again. She held on tight, wrapping herself around my arm like a blonde little snake.
"Will I wake up now?" She asked pitifully, with those big, sad puppy eyes that melted my heart, "Will you be gone when I wake up? Will I see you again, in another dre-"
I pinched her ear.
"Ow!" She cried out, and I replied deadpan.
"How many times do I have to tell you? It's not a dream."
"But we were flying!" She argued.
"Because I can fly! And why are you only asking this now?!" I was flabbergasted, "You have the survival instincts of a mayfly, girlie."
She looked genuinely surprised.
"My brother is waiting outside, completing the adoption process. This is real."
"But- b-but the doll, it was away from me, it was gone and we were-" She realized finally, and blushed a deep tomato red, cupping her face as she squealed. She did let go of my arm though, her cheeks pressed firmly against it.
I couldn't help but pet this adorable little creature. She was so damn cute! Hngh!
"Will the doll come with us too?" She asked, looking back at the thing hatefully.
"The doll isn't your punishment, Lavinia. It is a part of you." I explained, "It has to come with us."
"But it is so cold. It makes me so cold." She spoke distraught.
"I will teach you to control it." I assured her as I unsealed the doll with a point of my finger, "And trust me, Lavinia, I will never let you feel cold and alone, ever again." I pulled her closer to me, planting a kiss on her head, as she sniffled once more, nodding happily.
"Promise?" She extended a pinky and I tugged it with mine.
"Promise."
..........
Lavinia loyalty get! Though it took a lot of convincing.
When you traumatize, gaslight, girlboss a child into believing she's a bad, delusional, madwoman, they tend to not believe their own eyes! Who knew?
Also, Ruval being the tall, dark and handsome, billionare, bad boy heartthrob as always. He can seduce even crusty old feminist crones like Augusta, with just one look.
Tell me what you thought of the chapter?
Any suggestions? Plotholes? Anything I missed?
Thanks for reading!
Don't forget to donate your powerstones.