CHAPTER 12: RADIANCE, P9

~12.9~

*****

A few minutes later, Liliana opened the door for Hannah, who immediately rushed over to Kye upon seeing Aliana holding her up. She held a hand up and encased Kye in an aura of light green mana, the signature color of healing magic. After a few minutes, she looked Kye in the eyes. “Well, it could be worse. You did a number on your muscles. No small wonder you’re having trouble on your feet. You just need some time to recover. I expect that’s a side effect of Aether Drive. Even for a few minutes, you’re tearing your muscles rapidly.”

Kye grimaced, but confirmed her theory. “Yeah. That’s right. The method I used to train my body involves a much weaker implementation of that very concept. Aether Drive is very hard on the body, which is why I don’t like using it.”

“It’s a relief you don’t when it’s not absolutely necessary.” Hannah glanced at Alethea, who had come back to the room with her, alongside Layla, Mikan, and Keiko. The redheads stayed in the lounge so as to not crowd the room. “What about you?” Hannah quickly wrapped healing mana around Alethea. “Nothing. You’ve already healed.”

Alethea smiled apologetically and held a hand to her head. “Well, I used Awaken only. Not Aether Drive.”

“Yes, well.” She turned back to Kye. “I have half a mind to classify that spell as forbidden. It could literally kill you.”

“Would you believe I used it for the equivalent of around five-hundred thousand seconds back in January?”

“Yes, we all are aware of what happened during that meeting.”

“Don’t make light of this,” said Mikan, Liliana’s mother. “This and that are very different. We know that stunt in January should have killed you, but nobody seems to know why it didn’t.” She glanced at Alethea, who only shook her head.

“Actually, I don’t know either,” the pink-haired girl replied. “Shi-chan, she’s right. How are you alive after that?”

“The equivalent of a couple hundred hours of Aether Drive should be fatal to anyone,” Kye said. “But, Mana Burst is my creation, and I know well how to prepare a mortal body for it. Doing that properly is likely why it didn’t outright kill me with Aether Drive active.”

The elders collectively sighed.

Kye had Liliana and Aliana help her back to the bed and sat down. “The fact that I didn’t know Aether Drive and Mana Burst are much more harmful together should not be confused with not knowing how harmful they are separately. I know very well the damage each can do and how to make up for the limitations.”

“No, you’re right,” Keiko said. “Given the severity of a situation that demands such a drastic measure, I think it’s fine to not ban it. Rather, I think it’s safer not to. If we told you that you can’t use Aether Drive anymore, and you adhered to that, what would you do in a couple of years if your children are in harm’s way? Would you not take extreme measures to make sure your children are not harmed?”

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“More than that,” Mikan continued, “have you not already done that in one or more of your many past lives?”

“I have died to save people, be they my children or not. There were multiple lives where I either kept or recovered my memories, minus the memories I do not have right now, of course. In some of those lives, I forced my full power. I wielded one hundred percent of my power as Elysia and ensured the people I wanted to save were saved, but that cost me my life every single time, without fail. Using the hypothetical with my children in a few years, would I do the same to save my son’s or daughter’s life? Yes. I would.”

“Keeping your options open is important,” Hannah said. “Speaking as a medical professional, I don’t want you to do anything that causes your body harm. But speaking as a realist, I understand that extreme measures are sometimes needed. The best solution would be to work toward making those extreme measures be accessible without the backlash. In your case, the power you could wield with Aether Drive is five hundred fold of your output? The best case is to train up to where you can use that level of power as your normal output, and then you could use Aether Drive to a smaller and safer degree for the extra output you would need.”

She paused a moment to catch her breath. “And helping the rest of us that have the power output you need to better utilize that output and eliminate the need for you to shoulder the burden alone. Traditionally, we have always fought in teams to take on big threats, but we have spent a very long time without any threats. The demon beasts only became a threat a few decades ago, and we never had any cross over beyond Daemonheim until this year. Teaching the strongest among us how to wield aether properly would be the best course in the short term, and training yourself to not need these measures is the best course in the long term. Allison can kill a SS-class beast as she is now if she goes all out, but nobody else will survive the fight, for example.”

She paused again and smiled. “Anyway, you are well enough now. You just need a little recovery time. You’ll be fine tomorrow without any healing magic. For a mercy, you’re in better shape than you were after the battle in January.”

“I was utterly shocked when I was called over to help take care of you after you collapsed the next day,” Mikan said. “Your body was in such bad shape.”

Kye smiled apologetically. “For once in a long time, I gained valuable information. I don’t regret that experience.”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it,” Hannah said. “Anyway. Get some rest. I am told you were about to bathe?”

“That’s right.”

“Come to my residence. I have a hot spring. We can bring whoever you’d like.”

Kye had stars in her eyes. “Let’s go!”

“Who may join us?”

“Whoever. I’m not skiddish with nudity. Besides, I’m Japanese.” She shrugged.

Hannah and several others cracked up, and soon everyone was laughing.

Soon, Allison entered the room, after having been summoned by Hannah, and asked, “What do you need?”

“Teleport us to my place. The bath house, specifically.”

Allison nodded and started channeling aether. She muttered a long chant under her breath and she invoked the spell, “<>.”

Everyone present was transported directly to Hannah’s residence. After a brief exchange of instructions, the Venturi sisters took Kye inside with Alethea leading them, and the four quickly washed up and headed straight to the bath. Allison went back to the resort to pick up the rest of the group, minus her sons. She left them at the resort, knowing they would do whatever they wanted, anyway.

*****

Revision: 2024-2-24