Back in the Kitchen of Yoshino's Home

Tsuyoi made sure to see Yoshino climb up the ladder before turning to his mother. "Okay, would you mind explaining what's actually going on?" he demanded.

Kurai, busy cleaning the dishes, paused. Her instinct was to ask what he meant, but the stern look in Tsuyoi’s eyes made it clear he would see through any deception. She sighed, confirming Tsuyoi's suspicions. "Follow me," she said, guiding him to the house's basement where her dark barrier lay.

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After a long day of searching for non-lethal restrictive magic, Kurai was about to exit her dark barrier to prepare dinner when she sensed a rift tearing through reality behind her. She soon felt the presence of Judai, Henry, and two others sharing Henry's energy signature.

She turned, a calm smile on her face, but it vanished the moment she saw Henry. He was on one knee, an arm and leg missing, supported by Judai as the other two men vanished. Without hesitation, she rushed to Henry's side. “What happened?! Who did this to you?” she exclaimed, trying to sense the energy preventing his stumps from regenerating. She felt a light—a searing, vaporizing kind. What...is this?

Henry was too shaken to respond. Judai interrupted, his voice urgent. "He needs help immediately. Is there a room with a bed?"

Kurai nodded, her heart racing. "Y-yes, follow me!" She led them swiftly to a guest room in the castle.

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Tsuyoi entered what he always assumed was one of the castle's guest rooms. It looked more like a dungeon—old and dusty. Normally, anyone entering his mother’s barrier found themselves at the castle's entrance, but this time, he bypassed the usual traps and challenges.

On the bed lay his teacher and uncle, Henry, missing an arm and leg. His face, usually disguised by a fake mask, bore a sickened expression reminding Tsuyoi of the time he cared for Yoshino during a fever—only this was far worse.

Tsuyoi inspected Henry’s stumps. Signs of regrowth were there, but they were slow—far from the near-instant regeneration he was used to. Closing his eyes, he sensed a mix of Henry's and Kurai’s dark magic, implying Henry’s condition was much worse before Kurai intervened.

Noticing wet spots near Henry’s side, Tsuyoi realized they were his mother’s tears. She had healed him under immense stress, requiring extraordinary concentration.

Anger boiled within Tsuyoi as he cursed whoever had hurt Henry and made his mother cry.

A voice interrupted his thoughts, Hey… gutt, could I…?

Tsuyoi nodded and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a sleek, black pulse watch on his wrist. At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary luxury timepiece, the kind you'd find in an upscale boutique. However, its true nature was far from ordinary.

In one fluid motion, Tsuyoi raised his arm to the side. The pulse watch seemed to pulse with a life of its own, reacting to an unseen command. Within moments, it began to morph and expand. The sleek, compact design of the watch contorted and elongated, the straps unfurling like a raven's wings.

The transformation was both elegant and formidable. The watch's face splintered into intricate segments, forming the chest plate of an imposing suit of armor. Black metal cascaded outward, each piece snapping and interlocking to create a full-plate armor that gleamed wickedly in the low light. The texture of the armor was like matte obsidian, absorbing light but hinting at unyielding strength and resilience. The dark metal exuded a sense of both power and dread, as though it held within it the whispers of ancient battles.

The helm was the last piece to form, and it was perhaps the most awe-inspiring. The faceplate depicted an adult man's stoic visage, carved in a way that suggested both calm serenity and grim determination. The eyes of the helm were narrow slits, hinting at a latent ferocity. Topped off with two metal wings where the ears in the helm would be, exuding authority and menace.

A long, red cape unfurled from the armor's back, billowing dramatically as it settled into place. The fabric appeared weightless, rippling with every subtle movement, yet it carried an air of regality and valor. The bright crimson of the cape contrasted starkly with the dark armor, making Tsuyoi look like a warlord from an ancient epic.

This was Ooinn, Tsuyoi’s living armor, mentor, and partner. The transformation not only provided Tsuyoi with formidable protection but also symbolized the unbreakable bond between them. Ooinn was more than just armor; he was a sentinel, a teacher, and a friend who had guided Tsuyoi through countless challenges to get to where he was. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with, embodying the result of perfect cooperation between a human and a darkspawn.

Turning to his mother, Tsuyoi asked calmly, "What happened?" hiding his anger to avoid upsetting her further.

Kurai looked away, ashamed. After a moment, she pleaded, "Can we... discuss this outside, please?"

Understanding, Tsuyoi nodded. On his way out, he noticed Ooinn hadn’t moved. Ooinn? He mentally called for the darkspawn's attention.

I know, I just need some time, I'll be back shortly. Ooinn responded.

Tsuyoi slowly nodded as he left the room and closed the door. "So... where were we?"

Kurai visibly tensed, but after some hesitation, she began explaining to Tsuyoi what she knew.

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As Ooinn heard the sound of the guest room's door closing behind him, the living armor turned his attention to his cowboy ally. "Okay, we're alone now."

Henry slowly opened his eyes and slowly turned to Ooinn. After a few seconds of silence, as Henry tried to focus his hazy vision, he finally recognized who was by his side and smiled weakly. "Hey..."

Although Ooinn was physically incapable of smiling, or even making any expression besides a stoic one, he still tried to oblige Henry's greeting with one of his own. "Hey... how are you... handling everything?" Ooinn turned to look at the stump where Henry's missing arm was once located.

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Henry slowly turned to where Ooinn was looking. After a few seconds as he attempted to concentrate on an answer, the cowboy spoke, "Oh... well... I'm not dead... so y'know... better than I expected... he he..." Henry giggled weakly.

"So I assume that everything went according to plan?" Ooinn asked as he dared hope that things had gone as planned, even though the possibility was next to none.

Ooinn waited with bated breath as Henry opened his mouth in an attempt to speak, but he had exhausted the strength to do so. After a few seconds of consideration, he settled on a slow nod and a weak thumbs up.

That relieved all the tension from Ooinn's metallic body as he took in the good news from Henry. The plan agreed upon between him, Henry, Youwa, and eventually Ambrosius was risky, to say the least. But with the hardest part of the plan over, Ooinn felt hope for once after a long time.

"Oo... inn," Henry said weakly as he slowly motioned with his hand for Ooinn to come closer.

When Ooinn lowered himself down to one knee so Henry could speak to his ear, the living armor couldn't believe the next words Henry had just muttered.

"Yo... shino... found out... the truth."

If Ooinn had eyes, they would have become as big as saucers. Ooinn's mind went into overdrive as he quickly pierced the implications of Yoshino finding out the truth on the same day Henry encountered the magical girl together. Does this mean... is Yoshino a magical girl? That... would answer a lot of lingering questions about how Henry managed to pull his part of the plan off so smoothly. But still... Yoshino? Of all the potential girls in the world... it's just their luck that the one possessing the power of a magical girl would be the one they hoped wouldn't become involved in all of this. Life could be such a bitch sometimes.

Ooinn would have asked for more, but he could see that his talk with Henry was already taking its toll on the latter. Ooinn could wait for when his cowboy friend had his well-earned rest to ask more questions.

Before Ooinn stood up, a thought crossed his mind and made him tense. "Hey, Henry... clarify something for me. Did Yoshino find out before or after you enacted that part of the plan?" Ooinn asked sternly. Ooinn wouldn't blame Henry if he did it, since although Ooinn didn't know the full context, he knew Henry wouldn't hurt Yoshino intentionally. But... Ooinn would be a liar if he said he wouldn't be upset for a while if Henry had done that to Yoshino.

It didn't take long for Henry to realize what part of the plan Ooinn was referring to before the cowboy mumbled his answer. "Before..."

"I see... okay." Again, Ooinn felt the tension leave, before he got up to let Henry rest. "Rest well, old friend, you earn it." He then exited the room to start the next phase of the plan.

When Ooinn opened the door, he was met by Tsuyoi and Kurai, both with expressions that told everything Ooinn needed to know about how their talk went.

Upon noticing him, Tsuyoi walked up to Ooinn. "So... how's he?"

Ooinn shrugged. "He will live... he's more tired than hurt. He will probably return to his usual laidback self by tomorrow morning." From the corner of his vision, Ooinn saw how Kurai's expression visibly relaxed over the news of Henry's condition.

Tsuyoi nodded, also visibly relaxing, but not as much as Kurai. "Good, then..." Tsuyoi offered a handshake to Ooinn. "Let's go find whoever did this to him, Ooinn."

Kurai's eyes widened in surprise. "WHAT?! No, no, absolutely no way you're going!" She positioned herself between them, as best she could given their size compared to the two. Ooinn thought it was kind of cute.

Tsuyoi sighed before he looked down at his mom. "Mother, please—"

Kurai cut Tsuyoi off. "Kettei Tsuyoi, I don't care HOW much you've trained, I'm not allowing you to go and risk you returning with missing limbs like Henry or worse, not return at ALL!"

Tsuyoi groaned as he rubbed his forehead, a habit developed through his talks with Kurai every time the conversation went anywhere in the direction of darkspawns, magic, or anything unrelated to their everyday lives.

Ooinn remembered how the only reason Kurai ever agreed upon Tsuyoi going around the most dangerous parts of the world for training was Tsuyoi's insistence to be involved, Ooinn's argument over how Tsuyoi having the ability to defend himself would keep him safe from other darkspawns, the trust they had to build up with Kurai where she knew they would keep him safe, and... downplaying the danger of the training. Something Ooinn did NOT take pride in but... he felt was necessary if Tsuyoi ever wanted to become strong enough to don Ooinn as armor.

Tsuyoi looked up at Ooinn with an expression that immediately told the latter to support him in the argument. Unfortunately for Tsuyoi, Ooinn had to give him the opposite for the plan's sake. "I'm afraid that I have to agree with your mother Tsuyoi. We don't know who or what we're dealing with, and until we get more information, it's best if we stay low for now."

Tsuyoi's expression turned confused over Ooinn not supporting him, while Kurai's expression became happy over having someone who shared her concerns. "See, even Ooinn agrees with me! If you were to go outside right now would you be able to promise me that you would come back safe?" Kurai asked with a determined expression.

Tsuyoi's face tensed before he looked to the side and clenched his hands. "So... what do you suggest? That we wait until they strike us first and one of us actually dies before we finally decide to do something about it?"

Kurai's determined expression twitched a little at that question, the reason was obvious for Ooinn. The kid has a point. If we let an unknown enemy strike us first, chances are, we wouldn't be in a much better position than if we were to attack blindly. Granted, said point kind of becomes moot when knowing that, in reality, there's no need to worry about a potential attack from the one who did this to Henry.

"I..." Kurai bit her lip as she tried to think of a satisfying answer. Her and Tsuyoi's expressions grew progressively frustrated with each passing second.

Ooinn decided now was the time to step in and enact the most important part of this next step of the plan. "I... may have a suggestion."

When Kurai and Tsuyoi turned their attention to Ooinn, the latter elaborated. "How about if we delay this decision until Henry recovers enough to tell us what he knows and from there, wait for Ambrosious and Youya's arrival so that we can all decide together on what to do next. How about it?"

"That... would be preferable, yes!" Kurai agreed though Ooinn didn't know if it was due to her genuinely finding the idea good... or because it meant her son wouldn't go outside to search for the one responsible for Henry's wounds at the moment. Either way worked for Ooinn.

Kurai and Ooinn turned to look at Tsuyoi expectantly. Tsuyoi considered for a few seconds before reluctantly agreeing. "I guess... that would be fine for now. BUT, on the condition, I'm allowed to fight when the time comes. I won't settle for less," Tsuyoi said with a resolute expression.

"That's..." Kurai was about to object when Ooinn interrupted her by placing his metallic gauntlet on Kurai.

After Ooinn gave Kurai a nod for her to let him speak, she let him after some brief hesitation. "That's acceptable... but only if you accept letting the others fight the enemy first."

Tsuyoi frowned. "Between Henry, Youya, Ambrosious, and us, we're the strongest. Why shouldn't we go first?"

Ooinn answered his frown with his usual stoic expression. "Because we're the strongest, we should go last. So we can be fully prepared for the enemy after we gain enough information from the other's fights." After he took a brief moment to consider, Ooinn mentally continued speaking to Tsuyoi so that Kurai wouldn't hear them. And... your mother would be more willing to accept this way.

That seemed to do the trick as Tsuyoi closed his eyes and took a deep breath before slowly nodding. "Very well, I can accept these terms."

Kurai's body visibly relaxed as she moved out of the way between Ooinn and Tsuyoi. "Okay, now with that out of the way... shall we settle for the night?"

Tsuyoi and Ooinn nodded before the latter transformed back into its disguise of a regular pulse watch. As Tsuyoi followed his mother to leave the barrier, Ooinn couldn't help but internally let out a sigh of relief at how everything worked out in the end.

Ooinn would later need to notify the others about the plan's current state so they could proceed accordingly whenever he had the chance.