Nil

My side was absolutely aching when I woke up. Egoff did a great job healing it, but I still had another scar. Healing was useful, but it couldn’t dispel all the pain and if the wound was large enough it still scarred. I wondered what the was called. Why was it important for me to kill it? Wait. that . I carefully maneuvered myself away from Luna and immediately began working on it. As Nautilus predicted, it felt on the edge of fully . What was special about that ? Utol’s definitely seemed to feed off of death, and Nautilus definitely made sure to seek out nearly all Luna and I could handle. After all the effort of the last few weeks, I felt the last bastions of resistance crumble. At long last I the . What Nautilus failed to mention was the sensory overload that accompanied fully the ; I kept around me just to be safe usually, but this cranked it well passed the maximum. I could count the blades of grass right now as my brain screamed from the influx of information.

After a few deep breaths, I brought my back under control as everything around me just felt still. Wow. Since when did I have this much ? I activated my , trying to get a grasp of the differences. It felt like I had a bit more but that was about it. There was an odd stillness around me. Nautilus was walking over to investigate as Luna was groggily waking up. I used and could see the path Nautilus was going to be taking towards us. Nothing different there. I felt around with my , just exerting and testing the feel of using it with the . Then Nautilus was suddenly next to me. What? No time passed, but she was at the end of the path she was walking. Nautilus looked at me, extremely confused. She turned around to look at where she should have walked. My was cratered by that. What did I just do?

“Lad, how th’ forl did ya do that?” Nautilus inquired as her head kept swiveling between where she was and where she was walking.

“No idea.” I confessed. What did I just do?

“ when alter ya . Ya can activate it, and it’ll let ya do somet'ing unique based on th' of th' and ya innate .” Nautilus explained. Utol was the Lord of Death; Nautilus moved forward unexpectedly. That made total sense.

“Is it like, a singular ? Or a set of ?” I checked as I mulled over the chain of events.

“In m’ experience, a an’ a . That lik’ly was th’ .” Nautilus answered.

“Is it like an abstract alteration? Or a more literal interpretation?” I asked, trying to grasp why Nautilus suddenly moved forward.

“Lad, I ain’t a book nerd. I use wha’ works.” Nautilus snapped. Yes, theoretical explanations were not her strongest suit.

“Can you walk back and forth in a line?” I requested. Nautilus shrugged and complied while Luna was yawning sitting near me.

Nautilus walked back and forth in front of me at a consistent pace. What did I do? I activated my . I could now see the path and where Nautilus would be with . I then exerted my in her direction. Nautilus instantly lurched forward approximately four steps. Or more accurately, two seconds. Almost perfectly two seconds. I definitely didn’t send her into the future as I didn’t move forward. Wait. No way. That would be awesome. I motioned for her to walk, and Nautilus resumed the line. I exerted my without activating my while maintaining the . Nautilus again suddenly appeared forward; I motioned for her to go again. I turned off the imprint before exerting my . This time I used with Nautilus.

“So, ya clearly figu’ed i' out.” Nautilus observed as I was trying my hardest not to start dancing; this had to be my coolest yet. simply let me see what the result would be. My took a sizeable beating from this, so I used my to refill my .

“Can we spar Nautilus?” I requested to which Nautilus smiled.

“I just woke up.” Luna whined at me.

“Just Nautilus and I.” I clarified. I could probably use it three times in the spar safely; I needed to give the a name.

Nautilus and I took the starting positions and began our spar. I activated my as I coated my sword with . The version was currently the more stable of the two. I could barely make it work, as the version violently exploded soon after formation. I began using to see her incoming attacks. Her form was still difficult for me to look at with my as whatever she was made my go haywire whenever she fought or wasn’t actively containing whatever caused it. I used to make Nautilus’s attack go to the other side of me. I swung my sword at her, which she was going to dodge to the left; I activated my new ability while pivoting to a kick. I felt a satisfying sensation as I cleanly kicked Nautilus across the skull. She powered through my kick, turning into attacking me. I used to force Nautilus away and pivot away from her.

She pursued me. Thanks to the numerous spars against her, my was easily seeing where she was going to be. What was the best point to use my ? I also needed to give it a name. Nautilus had virtually no openings; I had to keep deflecting her with and dodging as Nautilus kept her assault. She unleashed endless projected hands to attack me. I tried using the and discovered a flaw in it; if my opponent wasn’t moving, they still didn’t move after. Obviously. Her projected hands went passed me which gave me a small opening to counterattack. The good part of getting somewhat working was Nautilus never tried blocking it directly even as she deflected while launching her palm into my chest. I used so her hand slammed harmlessly into the air behind me. Time to try and mix several things together and hoped the was not severe. I need to be better at gauging the . I began bringing time to a crawl. Nautilus stepped in, going to blast my skull off with a punch. I leaned to the side, moving her to the end of the attack as I switched my grip on the sword to stab sideways into her rib cage.

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Good news. The combination of , , and actually managed to hurt Nautilus. My sword went in maybe half an inch which made her actually bleed. Nautilus being Nautilus, rationally and calmly decided that this was an accomplishment worth celebrating. Also in this hypothetical fantasy land, Luna began cheering, we were already in Umbra, and thunderous applause descended from the heavens above. Bad news. Nautilus decided my subscription to an intact rib cage had ended as she full speed rotated into an open-handed strike. Instead of flying from the force, my body just kind of floated backwards like I was going through molasses; I couldn’t breathe as I seemed suspended in an ocean. What was this? What did Nautilus do? I tried recovering, but my body did not respond at all. My eye still worked unfortunately, as I could see her fist hooking into my skull. A loud thunderclap erupted as stars filled my vision.

“Nautilus!” Someone snapped. Who was talking? Why were there so many stars when the sun was clearly rising?

“Imma heal th’ grublin.” I think Egoff stated. After a few moments, the stars cleared, and I could confirm it was Egoff healing me.

“Thanks.” I gasped. Luna was next to me, using to align my ribs for Egoff.

“What was that? And why did it piss off Nautilus so much?” Luna inquired as I grit my teeth through the pain.

“I combined a few , my , and to hurt her.” I answered. What was that odd suspension she did?

“Lad, ya seein’ things.” Egoff chuckled. Nautilus stormed over, glaring at me.

“Egoff, I need a lil healin’.” Nautilus informed him. It was such a tiny scratch, but it was bleeding. This was a wound against the grandest monster in the land and I was going to take it.

“Such a deep woun’.” Egoff laughed as he went to heal it. The smile vanished nearly instantly.

“Oh yea. Lad barely did anyt’ing.” Nautilus mocked. Wait. Did I actually inflict a real injury? I began celebrating, which earned me several glares.

“You shouldn’t celebrate hurting people.” Luna grumbled at me.

“It’s not people; it’s Nautilus. This is my moment.” I retorted. I left an actual wound on the and I likely was never going to get a chance for the foreseeable future.

“What did th’ lad do?” Egoff inquired, still not having closed the scratch I gave her.

“Lad inje’ted me wit’ . His is qui’e devstatin’.” Nautilus explained. How did I do that?

“That’s possible?” I checked. Was this worth pursuing?

“Yea lad; ya acciden’ly inject’d me wit’ ya . I’d recommend shelvin’ it fo’ now as ya control ain’t that good.” Nautilus informed me. Noted for future me. For now, I’d improve my and use my better.

It took Egoff a few more minutes to heal the wound. What did I want to call this ? It needed a name. The ability to erase two seconds of time was huge as I did not move in time, but my target suddenly jumped to where they were going to be. Just call it ? Nah. I could do a bit better. Wait. was a much better name. Could I manipulate how much time I erased? What was the I could do with my ? How did I test to try and figure it out? Luna walked up and poked me.

What’s up? I asked her as she was shifting back and forth a bit awkwardly.

Just checking. Luna informed me with her eyes fixed on me.

Checking what? I inquired. Whenever I did things like this, she always seemed a little on edge.

Making sure. Your aura was intense there for a moment. Luna checked, looking substantially more relaxed.

My tyrant nature is slowly taking over. Soon, the world shall kneel before me. I joked with her. Luna looked at me completely unamused.

Uh huh. I bet we need to be worried about the Speranza world conquest any day now. Luna retorted. She was giving me a deadpan stare.

You were the one who got worried. I teased her.

Because I care about you. Luna retorted. I felt really flush and red.

“Wow, lad go’ red.” Nautilus teased as she motioned for us all to get moving.

“What did you tell him?” Ailla chuckled as we began our trek for the day.

“Does it matter?” Luna checked as she was walking next to me. My heart rate could not have been healthy. Why am I reacting like this?

“I’ve never seen Nil look that flustered.” Ailla laughed. I was not that flustered; I was totally calm.

“I’m not that flustered.” I spat at them. They only laughed harder.

“That’d be more convincing if you weren’t crimson.” Lilas informed me.

“I’m not crimson.” I insisted. Luna poked me in the cheek.

Just a deep, non-crimson red. Would you prefer ruby? Luna taunted. I glared at her.

Why can’t you be on my side here? I probed. Luna looked at me with a smirk.

Because someone liked being told I care about him. Luna retorted while smiling.

Just a bit. Why don’t you get flustered? I confessed which made Luna chuckle.

Because you don’t realize when you do. Someone is thankfully a bit dense at times. Luna replied. What? I made her get flustered?

When? I asked. Luna just shrugged in response.

What did I say that got you flustered? I pressed. Luna was just smiling in response.

You have moments where you are surprisingly really smooth, and then you have moments where you are your usual, dorky self most of the time. Luna informed me.

What do you mean dorky? I challenged. Luna looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

I like your dorkiness. You do things your own way and don’t tend to care about convention. It’s one of your best traits. Luna clarified. Why was it so warm?

“Luna, stop. Nil looks ready to explode.” Ailla chimed in as several were chuckling.

I was struggling to form a response as we all kept moving forward. Luna was next to me, walking like everything was normal. My face felt so hot. I like your dorkiness. It was replaying in my head on repeat. Because I care about you. How could she say those things so casually? My heart felt like it was about to explode for some reason. Deep breaths. I tried a few breathing exercises, hoping to calm myself a bit. Luna looked pleased with herself as she walked next to me. As I stared at her, she just poked my cheek. Because I care about you. For some reason, it kept repeating in my head over and over.