Somehow, someway, figured out a way, I ended up joining Blanc and Shiro to a nearby forest. We’ve been inside the forest for about half an hour now. Shiro seems to be getting exhausted but Blanc remained her composure as usual.
“How can you still be alright after this long of a walk, Blanc?” I asked her.
“I’m used to it already. My stamina has always been like this ever since I started feeding my weapon.”
“Oh really?” Shiro crossed his arms. “I think it’s probably related with that ‘thing’ on your wrist.”
Shiro pointed to Blanc’s left wrist, she was wearing some sort of armlet. It doesn’t look like any other armlet I’ve seen before. Through closer inspection, it was mechanically made and was in fact not forged normally.
“Oh? This thing right here?” Blanc raised her left arm and explained, “This thing is called The World Arc. It enables me to tame my Devourer. Without it, I won’t be able to carry it with ease.”
“So basically I can also carry that thing without The World Arc , right?” Shiro suggested so.
Blanc shakes her head, “That won’t be enough. As I said, The World Arc enables me to tame The Devourer. Without it, it will just go berserk.”
I crossed my arm and said, “Hearing all of this made me realize how amazing of an ability you have, Blanc. But, aren’t these all man made except for the fact that you also extracted some sort of monster inside that weapon…So…what’s your real innate ability?”
Blanc spiked down Devourer and took a moment to relax herself. She then told us, “To tell you guys the truth…The World Arc is also a limiter.”
“A limiter? What do you mean?”
“It means that it limits my ability. I’m not really…human. If I must be honest…”
Both of us were surprised to hear that but we tried to remain calm about it and continued listening to her.
“You guys heard of some beast like the dragons or the big felines or even the deep sea fishes. Those are all considered to be monsters as well, right? Some people even call them gods for some reason. Other than the monsters that we all know, they have their own species tree but there’s also an abomination type. This type of monster basically goes over the top by mixing itself with as many species as it could in order to adapt and to survive. It’s a lot worse compared to lesser abomination like the chimera. Some of them could be a mix of more than 7 different species.”
“Where are we going with this, Blanc?” Shiro was getting nervous.
She continued, “I’m one of those things…I’m an abomination…”
“But…but you look like a human.” I told her.
She shakes her head, “That’s what The World Arc do. It allows me to suppress myself from my original form.”
“So you’re not from Francia?”
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“I started wearing The World Arc at Francia.”
“So…what are you actually?”
“I’m not sure if I should entrust this to you guys. We just met today…and in fact, you guys might either kill me or run away after hearing what I’m about to say…”
I swallowed my saliva and told her, “Don’t worry. I can understand you in a way…Whatever you are…you are still our friend. Even though I just met you today...”
Shiro nodded together with me.
Blanc then slowly told us the truth, “I’m what’s known to be one of the most dangerous monster in the entire timeline…I ate everything in order to adapt. That also includes, mountains and seas.”
“You’re…that…huge?”
“It was until I ate a human that I’ve started to have…thoughts. I was able to think. I’m no longer a wild monster following based on instinct. I was able to use my brain. It was at that time where I tried to look for a way to become a human. But that will be another story for another day. What you wanted to know is what am I before I ate a human.”
“Yes…we are ready to listen…” I gulped down every last saliva I had.
“I don’t have any name since I was just a monster but the humans…the ones with thoughts…they call me…The World Eater…”
“The World…Eater?”
“Yes.” Blanc pulls her Devourer out of the ground and continued walking, “I give you guys some time to think. I’ll await your decision whether to run or stay after I finish hunting, White. That goes to you as well, Mr. Ghost.”
Blanc left us to think about what needs to be done to her. She went out deeper into the forest to look for bigger games. Probably some weird monster that lies deep in the forest. I was trembling with fear as I tried to think about what she had said. I decided to calm myself down by opening up a different topic to Shiro.”
“Hey Shiro…why Blanc always calls you, ghost?”
“Oh that? That’s because I’m not a human as well.”
“Ouh…Wait what?! You too?!”
“Stop.” Shiro stood up and explains himself, “I’m not like her. I’m not a monster. To be more specific, I am not a human but I am also a human. It’s like that I think?”
“Then…what are you?”
“I’m dead. I’m a ghost. But half of it. Basically I’m half ghost.”
“So when you went through me back then…I felt a chilling feeling down my spine. It felt spooky. It was you?”
Shiro laughed, “Yup that’s me. Sorry for spooking you out there. I’ve been dead for a long time already. But I didn’t possess anyone. Because surprisingly enough, my living body used to have an ability to possess the death. And once I’m dead…I can basically possess my dead body.”
“You…possess a dead body? And that dead body…is your body?”
“I didn’t possess anyone else, alright. It’s completely harmless when you think about it.”
“Yeah…your right.”
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting my brain to be carrying a lot of this in just a single day…First it was Blanc, now Shiro as well? Just how the heck did I end up with these two freaks? Shiro continues to explain himself.
Apparently, Shiro’s old self’s ability was called Phantom Power. It enables him to use the abilities of ghosts. But since he is already a ghost…That power kind of doubled down and became much stronger than any other ghost. Now this scared the heck out of me. I never would have imagined that I would be hanging out with The World Eater and a ghost at the same. But then again, I’m not much different than them. I’m kind of a half dragon.
So Blanc doesn’t really have an actual ability. She’s more of a…mixed bag. An abomination. No. She’s a beautiful abomination. How can a monster be that cute anyway? As far as I can see, her only ability is..well…eating. Is that even an ability? I guess we can accept this one for Blanc’s case.
“But does that mean that the sword is also her body?”
“Not really.” Blanc returned with blood all over her clothing.
“Are you alright?” Shiro was worried.
“I’m fine. Just some blood spillage from the monster I hunted.” She shrugs it off as if it was nothing.
“I see.” I nervously said that.
“Anyway, Devourer is actually a separate entity. It’s a monster that loves devouring anything. It’s like a mini version of The World Eater. It’s probably my family, but who cares right? It’s eat or be eaten if you think so. My parent hunted it down and put it inside this weapon.”
“So you have to feed two things now?”
“Oh not really, I’m only feeding the sword. I don’t need to eat like a monster anymore. I’m as delicate as a human now. I’ve been doing this for 20 years already.” Then, her tone suddenly shifted to a more shy state, “But I do…have a big stomach…It’s one of the flaw of being The World Eater…I can never be full.”
“It must be hard being your boyfriend then.” Shiro interrupts, “Having to feed you and your weapon as well.”
Her face turned red, “I DO NOT HAVE A BOYFRIEND!”
“Oh, understandable.” Shiro begins to mock her, “Because no one wants to take care of a hungry monster like you. You’ll be fat.”
“Excuse me?! I am not fat! You are dead! You do not have the rights to be saying that!”
Shiro then replied back, “Well excuuuuuuuuse me, princess. I’ll have to tell you one thing that I am not in fact dead. I possessed my own body.”
“You are still dead. You are a ghost possessing a body. And that’s that.”
One by one they took turns to talk about their superiority while I stood in the middle hearing all these childish banter. I step forward and used Blink to keep them apart from each other and used my wind manipulation to keep them from walking toward each other.
“White…is this your doing?” Shiro asked.
“Please stop it, White. I want to punch this ghost right in his face.”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” I shouted.
And so the day ends with a rather confusing fight. In the end, both of them gave in and went back home peacefully. Looks like Cyclone’s descendants are a bunch of weird freaks. That includes me as well. Cyclone or his earlier descendant probably went crazy and did some stupid things with a monster or something. But I’m not going there…That explanation will be for another time…
TO BE CONTINUED