Chapter 40: RWBY Arc: My power is…

It has been some time after we landed on the outskirts and dropped off from the bullhead. We met up with some of the pro huntsmen standing around the borders of Vale and were directed to the direction we’re meant to embark on.

Anytime something came into our path, Minato-kun and Nep-chan dispatched them with nary a pause.

The forest was littered with Grimm from the treetops and below our feet. Tanjiro-kun and his incredible sense of smell acted as our scout so there was not a moment where we could be blindsided by them.

By surveying the surroundings, we’ve made a clear area for ourselves with no Grimm in sight. This should be as good a time as any.

“Let’s take a moment to relax. The place is nice with the open view of the landscape and some seats around us.” (Kaito)

“But we’ve been moving on foot for only a kilometer. This is barely an inconvenience for us.” (Minato)

“I know. This is for a different purpose.” (Kaito)

Lilia-san was away for now to check the area of any dangerous elements. That left just me and the team including Alyssa next to me and Kirschtaria-san hovering near us.

“I think everyone here is familiar with each other’s powers to some extent. That is to be expected seeing as you experienced it with each other back in Beacon.” (Kaito)

I paused to observe their reactions. They shared glances between each other as confirmation that they indeed recognized the other’s power.

“My use of Personas is pretty flagrant, so it would be weird if nobody understands them just from observation. Tanjiro’s talented with the sword and has an actual style he works with unlike mine that’s not at all skillful, just mixed with being self-taught and some months of training in Kendo.” (Minato)

“That’s not true. It’s not that you’re lacking in the sword, you’re too talented in almost everything you do, so maybe that’s why? You haven’t refined a single aspect you want to focus on and rather be an all-rounder… at least that is what my impression of you is. Well, maybe you do favor using magic more than a weapon. I’m on my way to using magic myself thanks to Kaito-san giving me a part of his magical power, but I’m not so great at it… Neptune-san is incredibly strong though! I’ve never won a single arm-wrestling match with her. It made me doubt if she was human at all.” (Tanjiro)

“Hehe, Tangerine over here knows how great I am. I’m stronger than Minty, so it’s a given. My sword-style is the really free kind, and I’m naturally talented in magic too. But my greatest power recently is this Semblance. You saw how it created those message boxes that day with Cinderblock, and there’s a whole lot more to explore.” (Neptune)

The conversation picked up between the three of them as they measured each other’s strengths and shortcomings filled by the other. It made me feel a little left out and envious as I’m neither good with a sword like Tanjiro-kun, excel in handling magic like Minato-kun, or naturally strong like Nep-chan.

“I thought so. You really do understand each other’s capabilities. But… you have no idea, or rather, you don’t know the full story of what my capabilities are, huh?” (Kaito)

That’s right, I’m the one who was missing from the conversation. They haven’t seen me much in action, so it’s no wonder they can’t figure out where I stand among them.

“Let’s see, why don’t we hear what your impressions of me are first before I get to the important stuff.” (Kaito)

“Erm… you have really strong pets, I think? Lynn saved me once, but I’m sorry, I don’t know what she can actually do.” (Tanjiro)

“Well… Kaito-san does have his Sympathy Magic. It can be powerful if used in certain ways like forcing a person to feel a certain emotion, controlling your comrade’s mood, or using it to attack a person’s mind. Being able to read the emotions of others is plenty helpful.” (Minato)

“Kai-chan has a buttload of unique items. And he’s absurdly lucky. So he’s got monster pets to fight for him, items to throw, and improve the party’s mood. It’s like you were geared to be the support class in the backline. I would say… the monster tamer class!” (Neptune)

Wow, Nep-chan’s apt description really does point towards me being a monster tamer… It surprises me how this idea that began with my two kouhais just naturally caught on even here.

“I’m having déjà vu from that evaluation. That’s right, I’m definitely support-oriented. Using the scale in my world, my level of power would be rated as…” (Kaito)

I stopped short of saying it to look at their interested expressions. Letting out a small smile, I declared as boldly as possible.

“A slime. Almost everyone I know says I’m as strong as the weakest monster in the world.” (Kaito)

Nep-chan was taken aback from the information. Tanjiro-kun tilted his head in confusion since he doesn’t know what a slime is. Minato-kun however had a dismayed look on his face.

“But Trinia is supposed to be a peaceful world. Why are the trash mobs over there so freaking strong?” (Minato)

Seriously? No… seriously? Before I knew it, I was laughing so hard at the misunderstanding Minato-kun had. I had to catch my breath first before speaking again.

“No, that’s definitely wrong! You misunderstand, this power in my necklace with Kuro’s magical power is not something I carried around before being involved with the group chat. Without it, I’m weaker compared to everyone else you know.” (Kaito)

Minato-kun furrowed his eyebrows and slowly nodded albeit he still had some doubts.

“Truth is my athletic ability may be superior to the average human Olympic athlete, but nowhere am I close to reaching your levels of being superhuman without some augmentation. My talent in magic is also abysmal save for a few attributes I’m good at.” (Kaito)

I can see everyone following along attentively. Nep-chan had this bewildered expression on her face like she wanted to ask something.

“At least you’re brave enough to be upfront about your less than stellar qualities. Don’t worry, I won’t judge. But why tell us now?” (Neptune)

I feel a little bit better due to Nep-chan’s reassuring attitude. As for why I’m telling this to her—

“Lately, I feel as if people are getting carried away with propping up my power to be some big deal. You guys deserve to know better so that you don’t have false expectations of me.” (Kaito)

Nep-chan made a hum sound and stuffed her hands into her hoodie’s oversized pockets.

“I think a demonstration would be good. Minato-kun, help me out by being a point of comparison. You should be able to sense how much magical power I’ll pour into my spells so that you can copy me.” (Kaito)

“Sure, I don’t mind.” (Minato)

I gestured with my gaze over to a tree in the distance of about 20 meters from me. Everyone stood still to watch.

I raised my hand and imagined the magic formula in my head, constructing a magic circle and then sending power into it.

“Fireball.” (Kaito)

The spell was uttered and a mass of fire “around the size of a volleyball” flew in a straight line towards the tree and impacted it. It did not catch fire and left a slight burn on its bark you can’t even discern from this distance.

“Okay… so you showed off some elementary magic. You didn’t deal a lot of damage, but you said you weren’t great at it. So what was the problem?” (Neptune)

Nep-chan had a clueless expression trying to discern what exactly she was supposed to understand from the demonstration. Minato-kun behind her understood the issue immediately with his higher efficiency in sensing magic and had sweat running down his cheek in disbelief.

I know. It’s really unbelievable how incompetent I am at Offensive Magic.

“Minato-kun, use your own elementary magic, but use the same amount of magic power that I did just now.” (Kaito)

“… Understood.” (Minato)

He came up to my side and raised his own hand. A massive amount of magic power swelled from within him, and he channeled that to his hand.

“Agi.” (Minato)

His basic fire magic spell shot out in a giant blaze of great mass. Its speed was incomparable to my fireball despite the larger size. It crushed the tree instantly and exploded from the point of impact, forming a large crater.

“Good job. I would say that it had enough power in it to destroy half a building.” (Kaito)

“… My apologies. I still don’t know where the problem is. I can only say that Minato-san has more talent than you.” (Tanjiro)

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You two still don’t have a clue, huh?

“You may not have been able to see it… but the amount of magical power I used to power my spell was around the same Minato-kun used in his spell.” (Kaito)

Realization dawned on them, and they promptly gawked at the implication.

That’s right, I concentrated a great deal of my power in it and if it were launched by an average mage, that would’ve been enough to destroy the tree in one hit. But in my case, I don’t know where all that magical power went, and the output was honestly shameful to the eye.

“Let’s do it one more time. Ice Edge.” (Kaito)

I shot out the elementary class spell for the water attribute magics. The thin icicle dissipated into thin air during its flight and didn’t even reach where the crater is.

“…Bufu.” (Minato)

A small glacier manifested and struck the crater, extinguishing the fires and filling the space with ice.

“As you can see, the ratio of magic power input and output for Offensive Magic used by me would be 10:1.” (Kaito)

“W-Well, we all have things we’re good at, and things that we aren’t.” (Tanjiro)

“I don’t even have any formal training, but I could still make a fireball to blow up a boulder… whoops, forget I said that, haha…” (Neptune)

[Brodime]: For that much magic power and yet… no, please excuse my rudeness.

Damn it, why did you, Kirschtaria-san, have to step in and offer your sympathy for my pitiful magic talent as well? The other two were bad enough, but you had to pour salt into the wound!?

… And don’t pat me on the shoulder, Minato-kun!

I was trying to act all adult-like by keeping my composure during this shameplay, but it’s too much. I caved in and lost it as I scrunch my face up.

“Even so, just like Tanjiro-kun said, I have some magic I’m good at. For instance… Dark Shot.” (Kaito)

A sphere of darkness hovered above my palm. When thrown, it crushed the top half of a boulder.

“Ooooh! That one was actually pretty good!” (Neptune)

Nep-chan cheered for me and Minato-kun nodded with the same sentiment.

“It’s weaker than my Mudo spell, but the ratio was 10:7 this time.” (Minto)

“Thank you. And finally, Plesion.” (Kaito)

This one is a non-attribute spell that adds pressure to the target. My target was a slab of stone and it got pushed down into the ground by a gravitational force. There were indents in the ground left around it and then it became dust from the crushing pressure.

“I’m fairly good at Dark-Attribute and Non-Attribute Magic. My greatest talent is Mind Interference Magic, so with Sympathy Magic I can pull off Thought Disruptions or cast hallucinations and illusions on my target.” (Kaito)

“Hmm… So then Kai-chan would be like those Mid-Bosses in RPGs who love to spam debuffs. That’s kinda scary wouldn’t you say?” (Neptune)

Gaahhh! That hurts! That’s the exact same thought I had in mind when I learned of my specialties…

“Aside from my magic talents, there’s also how I measure up as a fighter. And let me say this, your respective experiences far exceed my own. If I had to count how many real battles I’ve found myself in, including after joining the Group Chat, they can be counted up to both of my hands.” (Kaito)

“That little!?” (Tanjiro)

That one got the most reaction out of them. It was a hard pill for them to swallow, but yes, that is how little combat experience I’ve got under my belt.

“Trinia is at peace. I can’t stress that enough. There is no reason for me to search for fights to put myself in danger… I’m not even allowed to. I don’t have much battle intuition or instinct to draw on. Whenever I’m in danger, I use Auto-Counter, a spell I use in conjunction with my Sympathy Magic to move my body automatically in response to the emotions of my opponent to defend myself. Then there’s Auto-Pilot that moves my body with pre-programmed inputs at the level of spinal reflex beforehand.” (Kaito)

“Those sound really powerful! To be able to move your body like how you imagine it to is amazing in my opinion.” (Tanjiro)

Sounds of agreement rose. It feels nice to get compliments like this after that awful shameplay.

“There’s one last thing. You know my Heart Tool’s power to resurrect the dead—” (Kaito)

[Brodime]: You have a power comparable to the Third Magic!?

“I forgot; Kirschtaria-san doesn’t know. To put it short, I can resurrect people I had a bond and memories of in perfect condition with their memories and personalities completely intact. But I have another power alongside it. I can bestow a buff to others. It restores your physical state and magical power back to full, then it raises them proportional to my mental strength.” (Kaito)

“Oh, but me and Minty can already use buffs like that. The way you said it makes it sound a bit different. What’s the multipliers on this bad boy?” (Neptune)

“Let’s see… I suppose you wouldn’t understand without a reference point. The buff will give you power that makes you stronger and faster than the strongest person you know currently at the minimum. I believe that would be Lilia-san in your mind.” (Kaito)

What’s with those gawking faces of yours? That’s the best reaction I’ve seen all day.

“Wait, no, hold on… you can just turn people into monsters like that so simply?” (Tanjiro)

“Holy moly. Kai-chan just went from the weakest fighter to the strongest support.” (Neptune)

“Again, if you’re slime level then how bad is it in Trinia? You said it was peaceful!” (Minato)

Why are you accusing me of lying again? I’m questioning what kind of image of Trinia exists in your head.

“There is no slime that is… ah wait, there is Roze who can copy powers. She could become as strong as a budget version of someone like Kuro.” (Kaito)

“See!? I was right, your world is nonsensical!” (Minato)

 

 

 

Afterword:

Lazy Heart: “But for real, how strong is that buff at its most powerful?”

???: “Kaito-san has the strongest mental strength in the series even if you discount all other enhancements applied to him like blessings. His mental strength has no limit, and it exponentially grows with his resolve. If he were to apply his Heart Tool buff casually in a non-combative state, you’ll at least have power of a Six King and just below the Quasi-omnipotent level with zero repercussion and side-effects. So moving at least 10 times the speed of light and destroying planets with a swing of your arm is a given.”

Lazy Heart: “Broken. Absolutely broken.”

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