Return of the Fallen Volume 4 Chapter 108
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch108
When it came down to the facts, here’s what they knew. Danny had died, in fact, his soul, as well as his Mage core, were somehow brought into Kazuki’s soul world. Danny was being crushed by the god aura and was going to be destroyed so Kai was forced to sever Danny’s soul from his Mage core while at the same time fusing Danny’s soul to Kazuki’s soul world. This prevented Danny from disappearing and allowed him to remain in Kazuki’s soul world without the godly aura seeking his destruction.
They all came to this point and not much further.
Danny rubbed his chin in thought.
“So you’re saying that godly aura helped you and because of it you were able to take the elements from the Mangshi beast cores you had kept. At the same time, those fragmented beast souls were destroyed in order for you to gain control over the beast cores themselves allowing you to make their elements yours and the god aura had something to do with all of that.”
Kazuki and Kai both nodded.
“Then by that logic, we can assume that this is all the godly aura’s fault but I’m curious as to how a piece of a soul such as you was able to sever a godly aura?”
Kai thought for a moment but he wasn’t quite sure either.
“I knew that severing that energy and fusing you to this soul world was the correct choice but I wasn’t sure I could actually do it. In the end, I had to give up a lot of my strength in order to help you, be grateful.”
Danny continued to rub his chin but Kazuki was visibly distressed. Kai was annoyed by his silence and just barked.
“If you have something to say then just say it!?”
Kazuki grit his teeth.
“You said you’ve given up a lot of strength and now that I’ve taken a closer look, you’ve visibly shrunk. Does this mean…”
“Just spit it out!”
“If your strength continues to fade…are you going to die?”
Kai punched Kazuki in the back of the head.
“Little dummy, I’m already dead. I get what you mean though and the simple answer is yes. If I use up some more power, my soul fragment, this body before you will splinter and shatter into nothingness. I believe when that happens I will completely disappear.”
Danny felt bad about this.
“Is there nothing me and Kazuki can do? There has to be some way to prevent you from fading away.”
Kai thought for a bit.
“I…I can’t think of anything. I have no body to return to and a fragment can not be repaired. At this point, I can only maintain this form and as it is I have to draw energy from Kazuki just to be. Beyond this, beyond simply existing, I don’t see a future after.”
Kai saw the bitter looks on both Kazuki and Danny and he felt annoyed.
*Whack thud*
Delivering two quick punches, Kai grinned.
“Don’t feel bad nor sorry. I died long ago and just hanging around here hasn’t been too bad. It’s allowed me to think properly and I’ve also witnessed plenty of good things, observing from here, so wipe those stupid pitiful looks off your faces, it’s annoying.”
Kazuki tried to smile but seeing his older brothers state, no joy was to be had. Danny on the other hand went back into thinking mode, rubbing his chin as though he would start a small fire.
“Kai if it was because of the aura from the compass, you could say that the compass was the actual source then and if that’s the case, the aura within Kazuki was just what he had absorbed right?”
Kai nodded along.
“If that’s the case then maybe the reason you were capable of severing said energy is because it was simply far too weak. If Kazuki was siphoning off energy, maybe the amount he absorbed or the pureness of said energy was extremely low. Add to the fact that the tall Azirian womanReya took the compass away and fled then at that point, Kazuki was no longer taking in that energy, dropping not only the amount he had inside of him but again dropping the pureness even more.”
Kai and Kazuki’s eyes both widened.
“Then if we treat the godly aura like energy then when it causes an action or reaction it is, in fact, using some of its energy. To bring my Mage core and transplant it inside of Kazuki’s soul world must require a great deal of energy, plus as a bonus, you got my soul in here as well. All of that energy didn’t come from the actual power source, the golden compass since Reya already had it on her person. Instead, all of the energy that was used came from the weakened siphoned energy in your body Kazuki.”
Kai agreed.
“This makes the most sense. By the time I went to sever it, it was already fairly weakened, even still it took a shit ton out of me. Just what is that compass?”
Kazuki shook his head.
“I’ve had it most of my life and I still have no clue. We found out the aura leaking from it was a goldy one and that was not long ago. Back in Burashi village after we fought with Retsu Gai, that centipede-like creature told us it had a godly aura. He only recognized it because he was some type of god himself. It was thanks to him recognizing it at that time that we didn’t die.”
Danny pointed at Kazuki and Kai.
“You two are brothers, obviously not related but why did your adoptive parents treat you two so differently?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Kazuki felt a little offended. The way Danny said that was offputting.
Danny quickly waved his hands in the air, before he caused a misunderstanding.
“No, you got it all wrong. I don’t mean to piss you off, it’s just that…well…You received a golden compass from your adoptive father and your sister Fera received a black compass from her mother but Kai, well going from your memories Kazuki, I don’t recall Kai getting anything. Isn’t this treatment kind of unfair?”
Kai and Kazuki both shared a look.
“I remember that day. You and Fera both received a compass each and I got a sword. I was perfectly happy with my blade, after all, that was my best friend at the time. Looking at things now, both your compass and hers are special while my sword was just a normal weapon. It does seem unfair thinking about it. Just what were our parents thinking?”
Kai gave off a bitter atmosphere, it seemed this might not have actually been the first time he thought about this.
“If my compass is capable of Taking in a Mage core, does this not mean that your Mage core is now mine.”
Danny rubbed his chin.
“I don’t know but even though I can feel the element of ice within here, it doesn’t feel as though it’s mine anymore, or rather I don’t feel a connection like I did with my Mage core.”
Both Danny and Kai looked at Kazuki curiously and Kazuki knew what they wanted. He crossed his legs into a meditative position and focused on his Mage core. The very next moment his Mage core appeared in front of him. A large sphere of a bright hot swirl of energy would storm in the center and take up most of the space, while off to the sides, a small swirl of black and green energy weaved about. That’s what his Mage core should have looked like but what appeared in front of him had something extra.
A sphere of energy appeared in front of him but instead of just a hot bright swirl of storming energy, there was another. Squeezing together with the hot energy was another storm of energy, except this one, was cool and moved like a wave. Although this energy seemed more docile than the first, it took up just as much space and was not pushed back and off to the side for even a moment. At the sides though were his familiar dark energy weaving in and out with greenish energy.
(Fire, earth, dark, and now water. I actually have the element of water in my Mage core and not only that it’s as big as my fire element. Does this not mean I should be able to use water magic as casually as I can fire?)
Kazuki’s eyes snapped open and he awoke back in the real world.
He held out a hand and a small fireball formed above his hand. Holding out his other hand, Kazuki concentrated for a moment and thought about the element of water, and just as soon as he thought of it, he felt his energy within him move and in the blink of an eye, a ball of water materialized above his other hand.
Kazuki stared at this ball of water and was absolutely speechless. He couldn’t help but bring it close to his lips and take a small sip.
(It’s good.)
He didn’t know what he was expecting but his water tasted just as good as Nunully’s. It was pure and had nothing harmful in it. Refreshing and almost sweet. With a swallow, Kazuki couldn’t help but feel satisfied and at the same time amazed.
(So this is water magic.)
A million thoughts ran through Kazuki;’s mind as he thought about how convenient this power was.
Kazuki shut his eyes and reentered his soul world. Kai and Danny shared a look, they had observed what Kazuki was doing on the outside and was amazed.
“So my power really has become yours. I’ve got to say this feels really unfair. Since I’m dead though, I guess there’s not much to be done about it.”
Danny mentioned he was dead and a thought occurred to Kazuki.
“By the way, about you being dead.”
“Hmm. What about it?”
Kazuki was feeling conflicted about knowing Danny still existed even after death but he didn’t tell Tsura or the others.
“What should I tell everyone? You may be dead but you’re not exactly gone. If I don’t say anything and it comes out, later on, I could see a lot of justifiable anger towards me. At the same time, telling them would not exactly be good.”
Kazuki really didn’t know if he should tell the others and wanted to get Danny’s opinion. Surely Danny wanted them to know right? To Kazuki’s surprise, Danny didn’t hesitate to shake his head.
“No, don’t tell anyone.”
“Really, what about Tsura?”
“NO! Especially not Tsura. She…she’s been through too much already, they all have. Telling them I’m still here will just reopen fresh wounds. Not only that, but It’s also not like you can exactly prove I’m still here and they may not believe you. This could anger them and even cause you all to resent each other once again. Kimi might even suspect you planned all this. She’ll say something like, you let Danny die, just so you could get a hold of his power. Which reminds me, you probably shouldn’t openly use my…your new power for now. They might grow too curious about that and that’s just a mountain of questions you don’t need. You will be separating with them soon, hold off until then.”
Kazuki was dumbfounded. Danny had thought this deeply about it in that small amount of time when he had been struggling with it up til now.
“Yes, this is for the best. I can give Tsura false hope, not again.”
Kazuki felt the pain from those words.
“Just what exactly happened between you and her.”
Danny smiled at Kazuki.
“Sorry Kazuki, I don’t kiss and tell.”
Danny began to grin widely and laugh out loud. Kazuki and Kai just stood there and stared at him.
(So odd.)
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