Chapter 121: Funeral Rites

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Funeral Rites

We returned to Vale in silence, slipping into Naraka and then another of Raven's portals. It took mere moments and then we were atop one of the city's skyscrapers, looking over the empty city.

Raven hadn't said a word the entire trip back, but I didn't press her on it. I knew what she was feeling as well as she did, but also knew she wouldn't want a blatant gesture of support. Instead, I simply stood beside her silently, watching the city gleam. Beowolves spawned in short order and began to tear apart the city beneath us. In moments, the sounds of windows breaking and doors splintering began to rise in the distance and I knew from experience that sheer accumulation of damage would soon topple buildings. Within an hour, much of the city would be in ruins. By the time night fell, it would seem like a mutilated corpse of its former self.

Amazing how quickly even the weakest Grimm can destroy things, given the chance. It was a reminder of what would happen if Humanity ever fell or stopped fighting.

It was also a rather dismal sight, all told, though it seemed to match Raven's mood—which was why I restricted my Elementals to slaying only those that drew near our tower, killing them without physically moving while leaving the rest to run rampant. Raven didn't feel any joy watching the scene, nor anything like pleasure, but one didn't always need to feel something positive to draw strength from a sight. And as she looked down on the Grimm in bone-deep contempt and hatred, Raven seemed to feel a bit better. As a Huntress, I figured she'd just learned how to keep going on sheer spite when things got bleak; given the job, it was probably a survival trait.

And this situation was…not necessarily bad, but neither of us seemed able to muster up a lot of optimism from the picture the facts seemed to paint. Even if we didn't know the specifics, Summer had almost certainly been the one down in that room and had almost certainly encountered and contracted the Red Rider, in whatever form it had taken. And after that, she'd vanished, and though there was no way to be certain, she seemed the most likely cause of Ruby's infection. Whatever had happened, she hadn't told any of her loved ones about what had occurred or how she was—that is, not only had she never spoken to them directly, but she hadn't, as far as I was aware, even picked up a scroll to call them. If Summer had managed to keep ahold of herself, to whatever degree, there was no reason for her not to try and inform someone of the risks and the dangers, if she'd been aware. And there certainly wasn't much reason for her to have gone completely unheard of for at least a decade, had she been in her right mind.

But then, her having retained her own mind at all was unlikely in the extreme, and both Raven and I knew it. Even without knowing anything concrete about how the Red Rider worked, we knew one thing—neither it nor any other Grimm were natural.

They were designed. They'd been made—as weapons or whatever else—by an intelligent and ruthless being, for some purpose. And that being the case, we could thus assume that they'd built intelligently.

As such, it seemed rather unlikely that the Red Rider gave power to humans without a firm way to control them afterwards, because…well, that would have been a rather glaring design flaw. I mean, why would you do that? Even beyond the general issues of creating super soldiers you couldn't fully control, doing so via a drug which could, most likely, only be used by your enemies was…stupid. Sure, the temple set up all but guaranteed that the surrounding nations bled each other dry, but that's still no reason to not include a way to ensure the created soldiers loyalty to their maker's cause. Or at least a kill switch of some kind. Sure, it's not exactly fair to your enemy—but that's exactly why you would do it. And Conquest proved the Grimm had at least one way of controlling a host. Even beyond a similar means of taking over a host body, for a presumably sapient chemical…

Mind-altering substances were on the table—or perhaps even direct tampering with the host's brain chemistry. Addiction was a possibility, too, I suppose, though that seemed like it would be harder to ensure absolute obedience.

Whatever the case, Summer had left the temple and vanished without a trace for ten years. Logic dictated that she was probably compromised; I knew that…and Raven did, too. Which meant she'd been told that a friend she'd long thought dead might still be alive—and also told that she would likely have to kill her next time they met.

Though if the Red Rider's hosts were in anything like the state Conquest's had been, trapped in their own minds and forced to watch the horrors their bodies wrought on the things they loved—and really, when you're a godless abomination, why not, right?—then death might be a mercy. Even if her body existed, if likely in an extremely mutated state to fit the Rider's purpose, god only knew what had happened to her…everything.

But saying that aloud would have been callous and Raven was probably thinking it anyway, so instead I waited for her mood to…not quite lighten, but achieve a more lively shade of black, and then spoke.

"Even now, I look for a way to cure those taken by the Riders," I said, still staring out over the city—with my eyes, at least. The rest of my body was looking all over the damn place, as per usual. "No matter what's happened or will happen, I believe it can be done and I won't give up until I find a way. For the sake of all the innocent people that have been taken by those monsters and all the heroes that have been tortured by them, I'll find a way, even if it takes me a lifetime. And if I should find a way and encounter Summer Rose, I promise you that I will do everything in my power to help her."

Raven didn't so much as shift her gaze as I spoke, but I'd felt the entirety of her attention fall on me the moment I opened my mouth. After a long moment, she nodded once.

"Thank you," She said at last, the words simple but meaningful.

I nodded back and lifted my gaze slightly to watch the clouds as Raven's eyes closed for several seconds. One of the many, many perks of having eyes as keen as mine was that I could watch the stars whenever I wanted, piercing through the refracted light that colored the sky with ease. Toggling my vision further revealed all sorts of things, from cosmic explosions that lit up the heavens to faint shifts in the stars that revealed more about them. I took a closer look at several, my Clairvoyance reaching far without the curvature of the planet or any obstacles getting in the way. After a moment, I turned my sight to the broken moon and its many pieces, mulling over the sight as I sometimes did and wondering how it might have gotten that way. Not for the first time I pondered exactly what one would need to make the trip there and back on their own power. If I was right, it might have been within my power, though preparations would need to be made, but…

It would have to wait.

"I heard you were a healer," Raven spoke after a few seconds of silence, drawing me from my thoughts. "I admit, I was a touch surprised. From what I'd heard of your reputation up to that point, you hadn't seemed the type."

"I'm a man of many skills," I replied, lifting my hands and lowering my gaze to them thoughtfully. For a moment, I pondered them and considered everything I could do with them in better circumstances. "Healing is one I value a great deal. Had things been different—had there been no Grimm to face or discrimination or any other problems I couldn't keep these hands from—I do not think I would have minded being a healer for a living. Or a scientist or…well, I suppose I've done a bit of dreaming of what could have been and could be."

"Haven't we all," Raven whispered, making me smile slightly.

"I don't get to sleep much of late, but I do like to dream, when I have the time," I said. "And I like dreams where I manage to make things better a great deal, as from time to time it seems I make things worse. Perhaps that's why I like healing people—I know I've definitely helped someone in a tangible way. I like to think I help people in many ways, but most are harder to measure or point to, and sometimes the costs…."

I shook my head.

"And perhaps…" I mused slowly, not hiding the emotion on my face. "No, without a doubt, I sometimes dream of healing, because of the lives I didn't manage to save. In the end, there were those I couldn't save, no matter how hard I tried…so I'll save others. Not out of grief, but so other people don't have to feel grief, and because I think they would be proud of how I've lived without them. Does that make sense?"

"Yes," Raven replied without lifting her voice, the single word carrying certainty. At last, she turned her head to look at me and met my eyes with her own. "I will leave it to you then, Jian."

With our business concluded and arrangements made, Raven and I went our separate ways, promising to meet again in Mistral. I dropped Naraka to let her go, watching as the damage faded and life returned to the city—only to slip back into Naraka the moment she was gone in order to get back to work. The way things were now, I had to finish up my training here in Vale and tie up the remaining loose ends as quickly as possible. My family was aware—more or less—of what I was doing now and so wouldn't worry too much about me while I was gone, but I noted the time anyway and absently started a running count of the seconds in the back of my head. If possible, I'd try to go home before they had cause to worry, but this was important enough that I'd stay here for a few days if I had to. Things were beginning to move and now that I knew how…

Well, there was nothing to do but move even faster.

In the blink of an eye, my Elementals were around me, calling their power. I felt their forms muddle in my thoughts, the process almost routine now, and a storm began to rise out of the echoing crash of breaking glass. I closed my eyes as it happened, because there was no real need to keep them open when no one was around, and continued to prepare myself. I removed my clothes with a gesture, just in case, and then stored Kronos away as well—and then I drew time around me like a suit of armor in their place, compressing it into a shell between me and the outside world.

At once, the sound distorted and stuttered, warping as I Accelerated. The first of the glass shards, razor sharp and as long as my hand, slowed in its approach and seemed to gleam in the midday light as it sluggishly approached. Bai Hu rose around me, taking a step out of my body until only the tail around my ankle connected us and then turned to face me. Without a moment's hesitation, a Magic Missile appeared in his hand and flashed through the short distance between us, hitting me in the upper arm—and even through my Adamant skin and all my defenses, I felt it drive a clean hole straight through my arm, my HP dropping a fair bit as it went.

Good, I thought, paying no real attention to the blade that found its place in my throat a moment later, shattering against it. I took a moment to gauge both the damage I'd taken from the Missile and the miniscule amount the glass shard had chipped away, double checking my math.

Then I cut the power to the Adamant Serpent's Skin and tore my way out of the shell of my flesh. For a moment, I felt, well, skinless, but all it took was a quick healing to erase the sensation. A moment later, the next storm of shards followed in the wake of my testing attack, ripping through my flesh like bullets and scrapping hard against my bones. I felt pieces of myself fall away, kilograms of my body being shorn from my frame, but I ignored that, too.

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Amazing what one can get used to, given time—though the fact that I had gotten used to this probably said something about me. I liked to think it would be about my ability to endure pain, persevere for the sake of others, or something similarly heroic, but given all the things I'd done and intended to do, one could probably make an argument that I was crazy, or at least that I reacted differently enough from the norm to seem that way.

Especially since I didn't think it was enough anymore. I pushed my Acceleration to give myself more relative time to work with and shifted my power, curling my fingers—Bai Hu's fingers—around another Magic Missile and firing it point blank at the exact same spot as before.

This time, I felt my arm explode right beneath the shoulder, the attack tearing it away despite my Physical Resistances. I kept myself from stumbling in the face of the attack, healing myself as the swirling storm of glass shards added more wounds to my body, and waited for my other arm to be blown off. I didn't keep myself waiting long—I had too much self-respect to do such a thing—and was quickly in need of another healing.

The process repeated five more times, the attacks carefully hitting different parts of my body to allow me to observe the results. After testing it on each of my legs in turn, I blew a trio of careful holes through my chest, targeting them precisely. Mentally noting the results, I nodded to myself, nodded back simply because I could, and fell into a rhythm. Glass shards swirled through the air, tearing at me viciously, but Bai Hu's attacks were far fiercer as he shot me through with Magic Missile after Magic Missile, the attacks coming exactly as fast as I could heal them, which was quite quickly at my current speed.

It took a bit of getting used to. My Magic Missile was an attack with Defense Penetration and I'd been grinding it for some time now. Once there'd been a time when I'd have been pleased to level a skill from zero to ten in a day, but I was a fair bit faster now then I was then and had MP to burn besides. The skill had improved quickly and its power had risen with it, enough so that I needed to control precisely how I used it—but for the same reason, directing the attacks upon myself caused enormous amounts of damage and gave me a great deal to heal.

Enough was enough—it was time to rank up Soulforge Restoration and see if it would yield something I could use. If it didn't, I'd have to find something else to do so, which might require leveling up an entirely new healing skill, but I was hopeful. Hopeful enough that I stood in the center of a storm of glass shards and repeatedly blew giant holes in my own body until the sun set and the moon rose more visibly in the sky.

That was about eight hours, seventeen minutes, and thirty-nine seconds, real time—and several times longer for someone within a pocket of Accelerated time. I'd have complained, but honestly, I got used to that pretty fast, too. So quickly, in fact, that a part of me wondered what I would do if someone ever managed to somehow capture and torture me.

Get really bored, probably.

But none of that mattered, because beneath the moonlight, with a final throw, I did it. I pierced myself through the stomach with a lance of light and a window appeared.

By raising Soulforge Restoration to level 99, you have gained the skill 'Soulforge Reformation.'

At once, the storm stopped. Glass shards halted abruptly in midair and then fell as one, Bai Hu drawing back into my frame as it did. I took a moment to take a deep breath, hoped for the best, and drew up the window.

Soulforge Reformation (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP:500

Within the darkness, Man learned the truth—that the soul is something infinite in distance and unbound by death. By releasing it, they found immortality even in their own passing and hope in even the bleakest of days. In her search to cure the pains of man, the healer Zaltna created this skill, perfecting her own abilities over decades as she devoted her life to mending the broken.

Without Dust Crystal, 5000 HP restored, high-ranking Illnesses removed, low-ranking negative status effects removed.

With Dust Crystal, 5000 HP restored, 2500 MP restored, high-ranking Illnesses removed, low-ranking status effects removed, mid-ranking status effects applied depending on type of dust.

"Yes," I whispered, hands curling into fists by my sides as a smile grew across my face. "Yes."

I knew it—or, at least, knew there was a good chance of it. For a technique that could already heal such massive amounts of damage and even erase some status effects, the next step would likely build on that. I hadn't been sure, but I'd hoped, and I was right. If this worked the way I thought it would, fixing my mother would be simple. It might even be possible to—

At once, I felt my body begin to change, mutating as I began to undergo a Metamorphosis. I helped the process along with Soulforge Restoration, raising Conquest's status effect to Max in short order. I felt power flow through me, immense even though this skill was still at level one. When the only way to return to normal was to sleep for six hours, it was a difficult skill to grind, but if I was lucky…

Putting my hands together as if praying—which I might have been, just a little bit—I used my new skill for the first time and felt a change. Opening my status window as I grew excited, there was no change, but I was sure now—sure enough to try again, charging the technique as much as I could, paying ten times the normal cost in the process. I pushed it hard and felt something hard to describe; like black sludge in my veins and light rising up beneath it. In a way, it reminded me of when I'd used Lux Aeterna, drawing upon something, and so I focused on that feeling, grasped it, and called to the same light as before.

The armor covering my hands cracked and pieces fell away, revealing hints of the dark flesh beneath. Watching the process with wide eyes, I did it again, lengthening the cracks, and pushed on.

When I'd done it ten times, the status effect dropped from [MAX] to [High], and my armor had fallen away. By the twenty-ninth, it was [Intermediate] and I could see spots of human color in my hands. By the forty-seventh, it was [Low], over half my body was clear, and I was laughing in sheer, unadulterated joy. I kept going, pushing more of the color back with each healing, drawing closer and closer to normal.

But when I hit seventy-four and the status effect didn't disappear, I realized something was wrong. When, determined, I pushed on to a hundred and then a hundred and fifty and then even more and it still didn't vanish, I was certain.

Spreading my hands, I watched as spots of black slowly began to form on my skin.

"Should have known it wouldn't be that easy," I glared at my own skin. "You persistent son of a bitch."

Was it because the Riders were entities in their own right in addition to being status effects? Because they were Grimm and somehow resistant? Could they somehow impose themselves again when they should disappear or was it because Conquest was tied to my Aura as well as my body?

I had no idea.

But…

It was progress. And I'd gotten what I'd wanted, if not completely. I could practice with this—train, experiment, learn, and grow—until I found a way, but for now…

"I'm not quite there yet, but…if I'd had this, maybe I could have saved you, Dad," I sighed to myself before smiling. "But don't worry. I'll make up for it by fixing mom, so rest easy. I'll keep trying until I find a way, even if it means going away for a while."

I looked out over Vale, knowing I'd be leaving soon and not sure for how long. Even so, I kept smiling.

"So for now…goodbye." I spoke to the open air and turned away.

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