To Cause a Flinch, To Surface Trauma
Frill was just as confused as everyone else. She had heard the stories, of varying details, of how the Nightmare’s influence could turn a person into one. And while she had never seen someone turn before, she also had never imagined it would be Frein.
The dark red aura surrounding the Visitor froze her nerves with a chill she had never experienced before. Her eyes looked around in panic, but no one dared to make the first move. With deep breaths, Frill tried to regain control.
The Aria knew how it felt to grasp power. A feeling of supremacy beyond imagination. The maelstrom, a reminder of her loss, also convinced her that she had potential to wield the world itself. Brymeia herself. Not wrest governance away from the likes of Princess Kristel and rule over the people, no. If the voice in the maelstrom was to be believed, her potential wasn’t meant for something so miniscule like ruling.
Despite that, Frein’s display of his own maelstrom made her feel unworthy of such lofty assumptions.
Overbearing was the closest word she could describe it. A confidence so open and so arrogant that it challenged everyone in the room to fight him at the same time. Even Lady Katherine herself. All the while, boasting that he wouldn’t even break a sweat.
The irony between the then and now, illusions of grandeur versus a direct challenge, was too astonishing for her to comprehend. Yet, it froze her where she stood.
The realization quickly hit Frill. The Visitor had been focusing his intent on them instead of the four Guard Knights. His oppressive Siffera, a concept still foreign to her even now—for she only knew the Art enhanced her physically—flattened them as if they were carrying the entire household.
If this was truly because of that single Meiyal Art, then why had no one else tried to learn it? Why reduce the Art to such insignificance, such normality? Frein had always insisted that his meiyal system wasn’t special save for the fact that the Gatekeeper gave it to him.
How can I have this power?
Frill was forced to one knee and the rest of her group soon followed. Only Katherine remained standing, and even then she couldn’t move a muscle. Frein had locked on to her the most.
In a single blink, with the lifting of the pressure as their only warning, Frein moved like a blur, appearing before them with a wild hand thrusted forward. In his grip, an obsidian shard glistened in slow motion as Frill realized who it was intended for.
Princess Kristel’s arm was too slow. She wouldn’t be able to parry it on time. Frill, on the other hand, was midmotion in regaining her balance.
The shock had cost the Aria precious moments, but she refused to let another loved one die. Especially not at the hands of her friend. Turned or not, she had no choice but to retaliate. She activated all her meiyal marks in an instant and prepared to push Frein away, but an arm grabbed her before she could let loose.
Katherine had taken both her and Princess Kristel out of the way. Frein barely missed, slicing off a few strands of Katherine’s hair. Brown hair fell to the floor at the same time as the three of them. Frill saw the Visitor winding up for a follow up.
“It’s all an act, don’t panic,” Katherine whispered.
Frill didn’t even have the time to register what the Lady just said when a bone-crushing noise grabbed her attention. The elven Guard Knight had slammed herself on Frein at full force. It looked like the collision caused her more harm than Frein, but she successfully pushed the Visitor away.
“Kristel, don’t panic, it’s all an act, okay?” Katherine continued to whisper. Frill met her eye to eye. “Take care of her, will you?”
The Lady of the Void got on her feet and started spouting orders.
Frill’s attention was on Kristel. Garm and Xiv were next to them.
Kristel withdrew to herself, shaking profusely. Frill tried to touch her, but the Princess shoved her away with frantic screams.
“What’s happening to her?” She asked the two men beside them.
The two had a look of understanding, but Xiv allowed his senior to speak first.
“She’s having a panic attack,” Garm explained. “The Princess is no stranger to death or living through it, but this is different.”
“It’s the Nightmare,” Xiv replied, looking at the Visitor. “A real one. Frein just provoked her memories.”
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Frein had to keep up the act despite the guilt. He saw Kristel’s face and knew what he had done. He had expected her to react more violently compared to the rest, but not in this way. Well, it was one of two ways, and succumbing to mental trauma was not the preferable one.
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It couldn’t be helped. People had their own ways of dealing with trauma.
“We need to explore her Mind Palace and help her out of that,” he reminded Elizzel while delivering a crazed onslaught at all four Guard Knights. With effort, they successfully fended him off, resulting in a stalemate.
Katherine had taken the reins, giving them commands while pretending to prepare a subduing Void Control Technique. Not exactly the result he wanted, but it made sense. A group of rookies should be led by a commander on their first real venture on the Nightmare Lands anyway.
“You’re multitasking an awful lot, Frein,” Elizzel said. “Just make sure you don’t lose sight of your actual goals.”
“It’ll help them, it’ll help me.”
“Fair enough.”
After a few more bouts, Frein had mentally settled the four into their specific roles and how their teamwork operated. The elf essentially took the frontline with the human providing ranged cover. The canintine offered protection with his Rakkera and other externally enhancing Meiyal Arts he’d never heard of. The felintine was their Samesia specialist and offered ranged cover as well, but sparingly.
The four had a well established formation. Each of them knew their roles and how to respond with each other’s movements. They used gestures and eye contact to signal each other rather than spare any words. There certainly were improvements to be made, but as far as Frein was concerned, this team was operational.
Now to give them one final push.
With a step, Frein launched himself to the felintine healer. He ran out of obsidian shards, so a fist would have to do. The Guard Knight swerved in panic. Frein allowed it, giving her some credit. Just in terms of speed, he had her totally outclassed. But he could appreciate action regardless of the cause rather than allowing disbelief to freeze her movements on the spot. He deliberately missed his punch, but not so much that they would notice his façade.
The earlier she learned the irony of her role, the better it would be for the entire group.
It was a common tactic to aim for the backline. For him it was straightforward, but for the elf and canintine who dwelled in the front, it might as well have been an unsolvable riddle.
But the answer was pretty simple, all things considered: Just don’t let him through.
A stream of Diferenfra engulfed him and the felintine in its flames. Frein liked the human’s approach the most. He knew his Meiyal Art had almost no effect, and yet every time he Drew, the Art was stronger. He reminded Frein of himself. In fact, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if he turned out to be exactly the same as this guy if he had trained under the same environment.
Still, with that amount of Meiyal Arts at such an intensity, Frein could tell the human Guard Knight would run out of meiyal before he even reached Art fatigue. Unlike him, their norm prevented them from Gathering during combat. But, to be fair to them, they never trained to Gather on the fly in the first place. Much less so to Mill while fighting.
Frein gave the human Guard Knight a stare. His clad of dark meiyal still lingered about him and he knew it had an effect on everyone mentally. And yet, he chose to ignore the human Guard Knight. It was for the best, he thought. At worst, this treatment would break him and force him to quit his career; at best, he would come to accept the existence of greater heights accessible only by divesting the shackles of tradition and reworking his training. Frein could see the latter having a ripple effect, and he truly wished that would be the case for the future.
Within that instance of interruption, the elf and canintine managed to put themselves in front of Frein, protecting their felintine. The two of them attacked in unison, a practiced combination of meiyal blade flurries. The other two joined as well. The human increased his Diferenfra once more and the felintine Drew a Meiyal Art Frein couldn’t recognize.
He pushed through all of them. Frein couldn’t deny that it was not his skill, but rather, it was due to the absurdness of the gap between their strengths that allowed him to overpower the four of them without breaking a sweat.
Still, he appreciated their efforts. When it really mattered, these four could really work together. He didn’t know anything about them at all, but the slight reactions and nuanced interactions between them reminded him of his relationship with Katherine. That even without words, just through subtle body language—not even that; just a mere look was enough—they could have an entire conversation.
For Frein that was enough. He could see the desperation and determination still present on their faces. It would be best to leave them at that state rather than crush them altogether. He’d rather have them thinking they had a chance than make them give up just to stroke his ego.
As one final display of prowess, Frein slipped through the elf’s overhead slash, and pulled her momentum out of balance. She collided with the canintine but whatever their felintine support Drew, it prevented any sort of damage. So Frein nudged a shoulder to push the two down the floor.
He raised a hand, normalized his Siffera, and stopped his meiyal from dispersing out of his body. “That’s good enough. I think this test is over.”
The realization dawned on the four as their tensions collapsed, exhaustion dragging their breaths. The human Guard Knight showed signs of Art fatigue. Not surprising considering the amount and increasing intensity of his Diferenfra. The other three were simply out of breath.
“We can talk over lunch. I very much want to know more about you guys, but I think your Admiral has a few choice words he’d want to say first.” Frein gestured for Katherine’s father to step forward. Evidently, after Katherine managed to spur the four into committing to the fight, she went on and spilled the beans to the observing group.
But Kristel remained on the floor. Worried, Frein approached her slowly. He ignored whatever it was Garm said to his rookies.
“She okay?” Frein asked Frill in a hushed voice. The Aria just looked at him worried.
“Frein?” Kristel’s eyes snapped to him. She struggled on her feet, her panic and poor balance sent her tumbling down before she could even fully stand.
Frein caught her and settled her kneeling on the floor. The Princess sobbed.
“You’re okay! Thank Brymeia you’re okay.” She gripped his arms. “Please don’t do that ever again.”
Frein sent a signal to both Katherine and Frill and the two wrapped the Princess around their arms. He couldn’t help but place a hand over her head to reassure her.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll warn you next time—”
Kristel shook her head vigorously. Katherine glared daggers at him.
“Okay, okay. I won’t do it again, promise.”
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