On-Field Testing
Manifesting the Blood Moon Fulgurblade was a lot smoother than either Frein or Elizzel had anticipated. They could both feel the Emerald Guidance doing work.
It was an odd manifestation. For one thing, Frein didn’t need to Draw the Fulgurblade. The weapon itself was not a Meiyal Art. Displaying his Exhibit caused the blade to manifest, as though it was part of the circular Display on his back. While the material’s appearance in reality emitted ripples in space through sheer meiyal pressure, it still remained perfectly under control.
Frein felt the sword’s eagerness to be used, to be drawn free from the shackles of the Shinemoon Scabbard, And while the scabbard itself enjoyed keeping the Fulgurblade’s power in check, it was also paying close attention to him and his commands.
It was like both materials were somehow alive. The two had known each other for a long time, originating from Rindea herself. It was the same for the Blood-Ribbon Tassel, an addition accepted by the two. It was simply happy to be around, cruising on the fact that it could exist with the help of Frein and Elizzel’s Tether.
Katherine hovered near him, using her Rivasia to remain afloat. She observed the weapon. “I don’t think you should pull that out with Enza nearby,” she said. “Unless you can make sure you can control it.”
“You’re right, but don’t worry,” Frein assured. “I’ll draw the sword when it’s safe.” He nodded over towards the rocs.
The cloudbark vanished behind the swarm of giant birds. If it wasn’t for the fact that these creatures wanted him and everyone else who jumped off Atlas Sid for breakfast, he would’ve relished the view. Instead, he had to focus on the amount of beaks aimed towards him and away from him.
Almost none of the rocs wanted him or Katherine.
“What’s going on?” Frein asked before he looked. It was difficult to turn away from massive, murderous birds of prey after all, especially since they blended so well with the clouds and losing sight of one could be a death sentence. But as soon as he pried his eyes off them, the answers quickly hit him.
The sea was a battlefield. Arrays of Meiyal Arts fired off in a systemized rhythm from one end of the field, bouncing off a barrier on the other. Frein saw massive tentacles behind the force field, whipping enormous tidal waves back at the Jumpers. They created their own barriers in response before the colossal tsunami engulfed them.
Frein didn’t have time to observe further. The rocs were closing in, and now some of them have noticed him and Katherine.
“We can’t let them through, Frein,” Katherine said.
He stood on top of Enza’s saddle, using Siffera to keep his balance. With a thought, he reached out with his left hand and commanded the Blood Moon Fulgurblade to spin to his palm, rather than appearing in it. He still couldn’t get over the giddy feeling of controlling the blade like it was a part of himself.
“Time to get to work,” he said, turning to Katherine. “Kick.”
With that simple word, Frein tossed the Fulgurblade to the Lady. And without question, she spun, catching the sword’s hilt with her foot. She flexed her Siffera in an instant and shot the sword with her spinning kick, aimed at the closest Cloud-Nester Roc. The sword instantly disappeared as it shot faster than a bullet, leaving behind a sonic boom.
Frein only had a second to wink at Katherine before he pulled on the Blood-Ribbon Tassel. With an insignificant cost of meiyal, he instantly appeared right next to the Fulgurblade.
Sword Step. It was the most logical name Frein and Elizzel could come up with. Like taking a step, either of them could travel instantly to the sword or to each other.
With the combination of the Shinemoon Scabbard and the Blood-Ribbon Tassel, he could also order the sword or the faunel to appear anywhere within a certain range of him. Ribbon Blink, he named it, alluding to the Ribbon’s ability and restriction.
To the untrained eye, these Meiyal Arts seemed to bypass an ironclad rule of the discipline, that the Art should always originate from the practitioner. However, it was the scabbard’s ability to send a small portion of his Milled meiyal in a blink of an eye combined with the Ribbon taking advantage of the Tether that made both Arts possible. A simple Mesiffera could easily let anyone see whenever he used Ribbon Blink.
These two Meiyal Arts were both what Elizzel categorized as Special Style Meiyal Arts, akin to Kristel’s Judgement, or Flimeth’s Grand Fissure, or Katherine’s First Spark. Unlike how Mesiffera named itself after Frein pieced the parts together, he was able to choose the name for his own Stylized Meiyal Arts.
It was Destiny who gave him the name for Mesiffera, now that he thought about it. He was sure of it. But now was not the time to see if he was correct or not.
Frein caught the sword and spun above the roc in front of him. It reacted a second later, surprised to find something foreign on its head. With an ear-shattering caw, negated by the power of Siffera, the giant bird began to spread its wings in an attempt to maneuver an attack.
The Visitor was a hundred times quicker.
“Remember, you have to invoke the Art,” Elizzel’s reminder echoed through the Tether. “Giving it voice will help you Draw the Art easier. The Emerald Guidance will handle the rest.”
Frein didn’t have time to argue with the logistics of it. Even during his training days, he had been constantly reminded to invoke Siffera until he had mastered it.
Within a single instant, Frein held Nakiri’s hilt with his dominant hand, invested eight-meiyal through the blade, and uttered the invocation.
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“Song of Aya: Meteoric Lightning!”
Frein drew the blade and attacked in a single masterstroke. The dark edge of the Fulgurblade sparked with black, electric meiyal. It ignited a lightning slash large enough to decapitate the roc. The lightning was the pure color of darkness and the flash of light that followed it seemed to swallow normal light as a whole. For a blink, there was nothing.
Thunder clapped a second after, causing a massive ripple of meiyal as his influence bathed his surroundings with sizzling heat and electricity.
Within the same instance, Frein had returned the Fulgurblade to within the Shinemoon Scabbard.
The extravagant eruption of meiyal caused multiple rocs to turn his way, diving towards him as he began to fall. Katherine’s voice echoed with the strength of nine-meiyal a second later. He barely managed to turn her way.
“Sandai-Katastro-Diferenfra!”
The Lady of the Void swung her own blade and painted the skies with brilliant, flaming sword slashes, instantly decimating a large portion of Frein’s assailants. For a moment, it looked like the sun had exploded in front of him.
He was left at awe towards the burning skies, towards the destruction before him, towards the singular fact that Katherine’s capability for annihilation was still out of his reach. True, he might’ve supplied eight of the nine-meiyal she was currently using, but that simply proved how powerful she really was. To control a tremendous combination of meiyal so effortlessly made Frein wished he could see what she was like during the peak of her power.
“No time to get jealous, Frein,” Elizzel said, pulling him back to reality and making him aware of his continued fall.
He quickly Ribbon Blinked the sword to a roc below him and Sword Stepped an instant later. Rather than the quick combination of Meiyal Arts, it was the aiming that was more difficult than he imagined. The target moved faster than he anticipated, causing him to miss. He quickly compensated for the next Blink and Step combo, and appeared exactly in front of the giant bird.
This one was more alert, immediately spinning out of the way and lashing out with its tail. Frein had a moment to react, raising both hands to defend just in time before impact. The collision pushed him far away, throwing him next to another roc. He dispatched it quickly with Meteoric Lightning.
Siffera quickly helped him regain balance and orientation, allowing him to keep his eyes on the main target. It was circling around, which gave Frein some perspective. This particular roc was far larger than the rest.
An elder, or the leader of the flock, Frein guessed.
Searing pain made him look at his arms. They were bleeding slightly, as if a knife had sliced through the length of his forearm. Frein observed the elder roc once again, paying attention to its tail. It glinted slightly, reflecting the lime rays of the sun. They were as sharp as blades.
The Cloud-Nesting Roc closed in and flipped rapidly forwards, somersaulting in midair. It caught Frein by surprise, to see a bird—a giant one at that—curl like an armadillo as a way to constantly attack with its bladed tail.
He didn’t have the time to question the logistics behind it. Defense was of paramount priority. The Fulgurblade Ribbon Blinked towards his hand, just in time for him to draw it. The roc slammed into the black blade, causing a meiyal explosion that threw Frein closer to the sea.
He flipped upright, preparing his legs to land on Enza who caught him just in time. Frein felt a little awkward standing on her invisible saddle. It made him look like stepping on air. The thought quickly reversed the awkwardness into a sense of confidence. He looked up and met the gigantic roc eye-to-eye.
It began to transform in front of him.
The tips of its feathers shimmered under the sun, becoming blades like its tail. With a flap, a bunch of its down scattered around him before transforming into blades as well, swirling around the roc like a twister of sharpness. It appeared like a cocoon, meiyal surging from within it as it continued to transform.
All manner of instincts left Frein. To take advantage of the situation, to attack the creature while it was completely defenseless—for a tornado of blades surely was just for show—was something that had crossed his mind and instantly discarded.
His gladiatorial mannerisms took over. The desire to entertain despite the lack of audience. Even if the fate of the world was at stake, Frein would never do something so underhanded as to make a cheap shot against a formidable foe.
Instead, he took the time to find Katherine. All around him, flaming sword slashes the size of buildings appeared one after the other, and the amount of falling rocs increased. He noticed the more experienced ones retaliating against the Lady, but she fended them off with a series of Meiyal Arts.
He really did not need to worry about her. And she, on the other hand, avoided stepping in between him and the Cloud-Nesting Roc leader.
With another ear-shattering screech, the swirling blades around the roc leader dispersed and coalesced into nine larger swords. It formed a circle, keeping the evolved form of the creature at their center.
“Are you sure this isn’t a Nightmare?” Frein asked aloud despite directing the question to Elizzel.
“It’s not,” the faunel replied. “This is a Cloud-Nest Sovereign. Cloud-Nesting Rocs thrive in the Nightmare, but they could instinctively filter its influence, providing themselves with an abundance of meiyal. They’re still beasts through and through, strong enough to battle Nightmares themselves.”
Nine wings spread out of the quadrupedal creature. It no longer looked like a roc, no longer like a giant bird. It looked something else entirely, something familiar to Frein.
“It’s a griffin,” he said. But some of its features weren’t the same as the ones he pictured in his imagination.
The Cloud-Nest Sovereign retained its avian head, replacing its neck down with the features of a wyrm. Two pairs of its wings were of the gigantic roc, while the middle pair was the scaly, webbed wings of a dragon. Scales dominated its body, leaving few areas filled with feathers, and some portions even sported fur.
It gave Frein the feel of chaos a Nightmare would have. But if Elizzel was sure, maybe it would be possible to settle this skirmish other than through violence.
“Hey,” he said, calling out to the Cloud-Nest Sovereign. “Do you understand me?”
It responded by commanding the nine floating blades around it to attack him. He Blinked and Stepped as far from Enza as possible, keeping the yuma out of harm’s way. Then he met the giant swords with a series of Meteoric Lightning, destroying them at the same time. The Sovereign flapped its wings hard, creating more down-blades. It rapidly made another nine, but this time, its dragon wings enveloped them with flames.
“They’re not meiyal-attuned creatures, Frein,” Elizzel informed him. “They’re mastery over meiyal is purely based on instinct. Meiyal-attuned creatures are more sentient, capable of expressing themselves through a variety of ways, able to entertain themselves, and most of all, they can understand and bond with people.
“There can be some outliers for creatures who constantly thrive in meiyal heavy environments like the Nightmare Lands, but they’re far and few between. This Sovereign surely, isn’t one of them.”
Frein held the Blood Moon Fulgurblade in front of him and drew the sword slowly. He continuously invested eight-meiyal on the blade until he was able to completely draw the full length of the sword. Black lightning surged from the massive cleaver which was far taller than he was.
Now that he had freed the Fulgurblade completely, Frein was now able to keep the Shinemoon Scabbard floating in the air underneath his feet. He was essentially air-surfing, flying with the help of the meiyal-charged material.
He swung the Fulgurblade in a flourish, creating an arc of black electricity, and prepared to meet the Sovereign head on.
“Don’t worry,” he said to Elizzel. “I just wanted to make sure I’m not eating someone I can talk to.”
Just then, another surge of meiyal exploded in a torrent from underneath the sea.
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