“Okay, I’ll think about showing up but I can’t make any promises, see you all later.” I say as I wave my classmates goodbye.
Well… I never had any intention to go to the party anyways. I know it’s no way to make friends, but I already have all the friends I need… even if one of them is a complete moron. But a graduation party… thinking back I’ve been here a while now. Almost eight years now. When I first got here I was certainly taken aback by how different the customs and culture are here compared to home. I’d say I got used to everything pretty quickly… Almost everything. I don’t think I will ever get used to the dramatic differences in size. Even after being here for eight years, there are plenty of places left unexplored by me. Although between my studies and the training Akkre put me through, I think I still got to see a fair amount of the city.
“Huh? This feeling, its the same as back then. Took long enough.” I say while reaching for the door.
Beyond the door to my dorm room, I can feel the swirling energies shifting through space. As I open the door the sight before my eyes confirm my suspicions, it’s the time portal that was used to send me here.
Looks like my time here has come to an end. I was expecting this, it’s a good thing I was prepared and got my important stuff packed ahead of time.
“Now I just have to shove my clothes in, and... done.” I say.
I want to say bye to those two and I do feel bad for not going to see them, but how am I supposed to explain this. I don’t even know how long this portal is gonna stay open and I don’t want to keep Akkre waiting… I don’t even want to know what he’ll do if I’m late this time.
“Just going to throw this through. *Hmph* *haa* Now that the suitcase has been taken care of it's my turn.” I say, jumping into the portal.
******
Within mere seconds of jumping through the portal, I open my eyes to find myself sitting atop my suitcase, with Akkre’s shrine right in front of me. It’s been so long since I was last here seeing this place is almost nostalgic.
“Ahh!”
Upon hearing a scream I turn around to find the portal closing and see the sight of pure white hair fluttering in the wind. As she lands on her back I can see her pale white eyes scanning the environment. She quickly stands up to asses the situation, I’d expect nothing less from a newly trained soldier like herself. Irina Icrwl, one of the few people I would call a friend.
“Hmm… I give up. I ain’t got the slightest clue as to where I am. You mind filling me in on the details, Eillim. Also, you might want to get up and pick up your suitcase. You’re kinda sitting on top of someone… actually, I’ve got the feeling you knocked the man out cold. I hope he’s not dead.” Irina mentioned something rather dangerous right there… there’s no way… I hope.
“You're kidding me, right? There’s no way— holy shit you were right! I did knock someone out cold!”
In a panic, I hurry to pick myself and my suitcase up, to find out that I knocked Chronos unconscious. Thank goodness it was just Chronos, I can only imagine the terror if it had been Akkre I hit.
“Hey, that old man isn’t dead is he, Eillim?” Irina asks while looking over my shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it, it would take far more than that to kill a god. More importantly, what are you doing here, Irina? Care to explain?”
“Funny story actually. I was hiding in your closet waiting to surprise and congratulate you on graduating, but all of a sudden that portal appeared out of nowhere once you showed up. I was so surprised when it happened that I was left speechless and missed my timing to show myself because you jumped through so quickly. I was curious as to where you went so I followed you. And that about answers your question, so my turn. Where are we?” Irina asks.
“I can answer that. This is the Shrine of Eternity, one the three areas that make up the Hall of the Keepers.”
Walking up behind us is Akkre, answering a question that wasn’t directed at him. Although, now that I actually think about it I never did learn the official name for this place.
“Oh, it's Rere!” Irina yells gleaming with excitement as she runs up to him.
“*Ack*” As Irina dashes towards Akkre, she knocks up a bountiful amount of dust in her wake, choking and nearly blinding me.
“Halt! Stand and salute!” Akkre yells.
Immediately on Akkre’s words, Irina stops moving and stands up straight like a log. An almost instant response, I can hardly picture the hellish training he put Irina through in the Military Training Program.
“Just how many times do I need to tell you, don’t call me Rere. You’re not a child anymore, I know you can say my name just fine. Now come along, Irina. I’ll give you the rundown of your situation once we’re inside. Millie or rather Eillim… whatever your name is, I don’t care if you wake the old man up or not but at the very least bring a blanket or he’ll catch a cold sleeping out here. Oh, you don’t need to wake him up either. But if you do, you should be prepared for a lecture longer than anything you got at the academy.” Akkre says as he turns around and guides Irina in.
Considering it has been nothing but lectures for the past few years at the university, I think I’ll just leave Chronos in the foyer. I could go without hearing another lecture for a long time.
“Sorry,” I whisper as I move him inside and a lay him on the floor.
“Welcome back, Millie,” Raziel says as she walks up with her usual gentle smile.
“… huh, oh right, that’s me. I’ve gotten so used to being called Eillim I nearly forgot it was an alias.”
“If you would like, I can call you by that instead. Which do you prefer?”
“Hmm… I don’t have any particular attachment to the name but I don’t care either way. You can keep calling me Millie or use Eillim, I’ve been called so many things over these past several years I stopped caring.”
“Very well, then I will simply keep using Millie. In any event, I will take you to Akkre and Irina. I have noticed much more power radiating from you since we last met. It would seem your little venture paid off.” Raziel says.
Ahh, finally some praise. All I ever got from Akkre was ‘not good enough, keep training’ it feels good to get some praise for once.
“That’s right, I bet I could even fight you Raziel.” I say, puffing out my chest.
“Don’t let my compliment go to your head. You may have grown… in some places more than others, I see, but I don’t think you're so strong that you can beat me in magic. You’re still nowhere near strong enough for any of us Keepers to consider fighting seriously. And as far as I know, you never once got Akkre to fight you at full power, did you?” Raziel exclaims in a stern voice.
“That’s… true… he would just nullify anything I threw at him. Just what is with him? He is horrendously weak in terms of physical strength and has no talent for magic. Yet his control over his innate abilities are off the damn charts, and don’t even get me started on all the strange tools he constantly has with him.” I say with a sigh.
“You were taught about the three divisions of power that Spirits and Celestials have, correct? Physical power, magical power, and ability power. If we use you as an example and put your power as a number it would be something around 1,000. If we put that into a bar graph it would be something around 45% physical, 45% magical, and 10% ability. Do you follow so far?” Raziel asks.
“Yeah, it’s no problem.”
“Good, now for Akkre, I can only describe his power as infinite, just as his species name suggests. You can generally figure out an Infinity Wolf’s power distribution by the number of tails they have. Seven means a relatively even split of power between the divisions. Eight means relatively high magic and ability in the middle ground with low physical power, with nine being the opposite. High physical and low magical power. Ten, however, is a bit of a strange case.
There isn’t much detail regarding ten tailed Infinity Wolves since there have only ever been three of them in existence. But each of them has 100% of their power in a single category. Akkre has 100% of his power in his innate abilities. While his twin sister has 100% in physical power and his mother has 100% in magical power. I’m not completely certain since there simply isn’t enough of them to gather sufficient information.
Based off of circumstantial evidence I think that the ten tailed Infinity Wolves all have a power distribution of 100%, 0%, and 0%. Although to begin with there isn’t much data regarding the Infinity Wolves in general considering you can count how many are still alive on a single hand. There’s even less data regarding the pre-unification society of the Infinity Wolves… sorry I started going off on a tangent there. So back to Akkre…”
Raziel went on to explain that she couldn’t define Akkre’s power as a concrete number, because of his classification as both a demon and a god. Meaning that, depending on when he last consumed a soul and how much faith people have in him, these factors will act as multipliers on his power. However, no matter how much you multiply infinity, it’s still infinity. I think I understand what she is saying, but at the same time, I have absolutely no idea what she is saying.
“How about we go to an easier topic until we reach Akkre, tell me about your time at the Academy. Other than going through Akkre’s tortu— I mean training.” Raziel says.
“How about this then…” as we continue on our way to meet up with Akkre and Irina, I tell Raziel all about the fun times I had at the Academy. All the while, I do everything I can to suppress the nightmare that is Akkre’s training.
It’s been so long I had nearly forgotten how absurdly large this place is, but eventually, we make our way to Akkre.
“Took y’all long enough to make it here. I was able to explain everything to the young Irina over here with plenty of time to spare. Now on to more important matters, lets see how strong you’ve gotten. Second lieutenant Irina Icrwl, attention! Your first order will be to fight with Eillim and gauge her strength. Raziel, can you set up an isolated field for where the two of them can fight without worrying about their surroundings?” Akkre asks.
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“Of course. Just who do you think I am.” Raziel says.
Without a moments delay, I feel large amounts of energy, unlike anything I have ever felt before. It feels like magic yet it’s nothing like anything I’ve learned about at the Academy. After consolidating her power into a bright orb she slams it into the ground with great force. Before I get the chance to fully comprehend what’s happening, all of us are suddenly in a completely different place. A vast field of flowers, as far as the eye can see. Their sweet scent fills the air as a spring breeze flies through, pulling up the loose rooted flowers into the sky.
“Are you surprised? This is the power of void magic, this is something you wouldn’t ever be able to learn at the academy. I’ve created a temporary space isolated from everything on the outside. Perfect for the two of you to duke it out.” Raziel says.
“So you two can begin whenever you want by the way. I’ll stop the fight once I feel like I’ve seen enough. Oh, and lethal force is authorised.” Akkre lazily says as he sits down.
He just said something incredibly dangerous right there.
“You heard the boss, Eillim. I hope your ready ‘cause here I come!”
In a flash, Irina materialises her weapon, a large scythe laced with pure ice. Just in time, I manage to bring out my own weapon and block the attack with my spear shaft. I’ve thought this for a while now but scythes just don’t make for a practical weapon, they seem so awkward to use. As I pull back to create some space I notice that parts of the spear shaft are giving off cold air. Regardless of how impractical her weapon is, that pure ice still gives her a considerable edge. But at the end of the day, the way Irina fights is just a poor mimicry of how Akkre fights with his scythe.
“Seems the way you fight hasn’t changed in the slightest since our last bout. Still, don’t have a style of your own.” I say in an attempt to taunt her.
“If that’s what you think you might want to watch your back, my old friend. Hyaa!”
Irina throws several daggers my way but only one seems like it’s aimed at me, and it’s easily blocked by my shield and falls to the ground. The Schanzild feels a bit heavier. So those were pure ice daggers. I need to stop blocking it or I won’t be able to lift this thing anymore.
“Now arise, Ice Pillar!” Irina announces, using words of power to strengthen her magic.
“Damn! I should have realised what was happening sooner!” Surrounding me are the daggers she threw, forming a circle around me acting as a catalyst for her magic. As a spiked pillar emerges from under my feet, I swiftly jump back and narrowly avoid being skewered.
“Huh? Oh, come on! *Argh*” I was too focused on the pillar beneath my feet that I didn’t even notice one spawning behind me, knocking me to the ground. I lose sight of Irina, only for her to appear right in front of me as she tries to sweep her scythe across my chest. In a panic, I somehow bring up my shield in time and knock her back. But it looks like I’m gonna have to go at this barehanded now since the Schanzild is completely frozen.
“*Tch* And that was the one attack I was really hoping to hit too…” says Irina with a super annoyed look on her face.
“Wait, don’t tell me the reason you aimed for my chest is that you're still mad about that.”
“Of course it is! Why else would I aim for your breast! You used to have the same bust size as me, but you grew dammit! By 10 centimetres too, how dare you!” Irina shouts as she loses her composure in rage.
“Come on it’s not like I can control that! And besides, it’s not like 85 centimetres is particularly large. And if you want to be mad at someone why not Amea? She beat both of us by over 15 centimetres. Moreover, this isn’t the time to be arguing about this.”
While Irina is still trying to argue with me, I take the opportunity to close the gap and get into close quarters.
“Enchantment, Fire Fist!” Using enchantment magic I cover my hand in a strong fire as I get a clean strike to Irina’s stomach.
“*Gak* I forgot that unlike me you’ve got talent in both martial arts and magic. I can only use ice elemental magic, but you’ve got everything at your disposal. I wanted to show off my strength in hopes of getting a promotion but it looks like it isn’t gonna be that easy.”
Figures that wasn’t enough. As an ice elemental, fire is Irina’s natural weakness. But she brushed it off like it was nothing. That girl can really take a hit. Fortunately, that one hit was all I needed.
“Activate sigil, Explosion!”
“Uh-oh, this isn’t good,” Irina whispers as she realises what is going on.
“You're not the only one who learned new tricks since we last fought.”
Within moments the sigil I burned onto her jacket explodes, creating a large smoke cloud. Coming out from the smoke Irina’s jacket is thrown towards me blocking my vision, but as I knock it from view Irina is already in front of me.
“Nice try, but it’s not enough.” Thanks to the scythe’s long wind up I manage to get down and get a clean sweep with a low kick. Irina and her scythe fall to the ground simultaneously as I prepare another strike.
“Enchantment, Stone Fist.” I clad my fist in stone as I bring down a heavy punch on the downed Irina. *Clank* right before my fist makes contact the stone dissolves as it hits something.
“That’s enough, Eillim is the winner here.” As I bring my fist up I see Akkre’s mirror fly back to him as he walks towards us.
“You’ve certainly gotten stronger, but that fight might have gone much differently if this foolish student of mine ever used the weapon she is actually proficient with instead of using that damn scythe. But I suppose a win is still a win in the end.” Akkre says.
“Rere, about our deal from earlier…” Irina asks while avoiding eye contact with Akkre.
“You failed. So there be no promotion for ya. Also as punishment for your loss, your going to take a bath with hot water.”
“Please anything but that! I just took one, two weeks ago after you got upset at me for sleeping through the final written exams.” Irina says as crystal tears fall from her eyes.
Irina’s pleas fall on deaf ears as Akkre just ignores her, but is that really a punishment?
“Now then, lets get out of this place, shall we. Hyaa!”
Akkre swings his fist behind him creating cracks in the air. The cracks spread as the field Raziel created begins to dissolve and after a few moments, we are back where we were earlier in Akkre’s shrine.
“You know I could have just dispelled the field. The way you destroyed it lacks any form of elegance.” Raziel says with an annoyed tone.
“That’s where your wrong, Raziel. The only option was for me to destroy it. Why? Because it has impact. It just looks cool.”
“Not everything has to just ‘look cool’. Everything you do lacks elegance, it’s barbaric. Besides me dispelling the field would have been much faster.”
“Huh! You trying to pick a damn fight! Calling me barbaric, you old hag!” Akkre yells.
“Your the one trying to pick a fight old man! For starters…” Raziel, in turn, starts to get heated up.
“Hey Irina, they completely forgot that we are here, didn’t they?” I ask.
“Yep, they completely forgot we exist.”
The two of them went back and forth for almost an hour, but thankfully it never escalated to a full blown fight. The two of them finally started to run out of steam as they calmed down.
“This is going nowhere. Why don’t we just call in a cease-fire and put an end to this, well Akkre?”
“I concur. *Ahem* now then I’m sorry for makin' Y'all wait.” Akkre says.
Oh, his accent is back.
“I got a bit derailed earlier, so lets get back on track. Earlier today I sent out a message for everyone to gather in the dining hall by sunset and it would seem we are right on time. We are goin’ to be celebratin’ ya return and congratulatin’ you for finishin’ your studies at the Academy. And now that you're old enough, we got plenty of booze lined up.”
I think he's forcing that accent a little too much there.
“But it shouldn’t have been long at all for you since you last saw me. A graduation party is one thing, but for all of you, I’ve only been away for a few days… oh, I get it now. You just wanted an excuse to drink.”
“… Now come on everyone we have a party to get to!”
Ignoring me. So that means I was right.
******
It didn’t take long at all, as not even an hour into the party, Akkre drank an entire barrel and is piss drunk. From what I was told almost all the residents that live in the Hall of the Keepers are here… and almost all of them are as drunk as that damn wolf.
“You know Irina, *hic* I saw you like two weeks ago. The *hic* you from this time period I mean,” Akkre says in a drunken stupor.
“Rere, there’s something really important I need to know. Will I get any bigger?” Irina asks.
“Well your *hic* already pretty dang tall, and I’m pretty sure you stopped ageing a few years after you left the Academy.” Akkre responds.
“I meant my breast!” Irina yells in a distressed voice.
“Oh, nope. Your *hic* still pretty flat. But don’t worry because *hic* FLAT IS JUSTICE!” Akkre shouts, attracting the attention of everyone in the room.
“Noooooo!” Irina shouts as she wanders off to a corner all depressed.
I’m fairly certain that Akkre shouldn’t be telling her about her own future… wait this is my chance to get my questions answered. I need to be careful though, dealing with drunks is a complete pain.
“Hey Akkre, you got a moment?”
“Oh, it’s you uhh… *hic* Rillim, what’s up?”
He got my name wrong again, but I can’t let a drunk get to me. If I let him make me angry it means I lose. Alright, let’s start with something easy.
“It’s Eillim and I was wondering, how old are you?” I ask while casually correcting him.
“How old am I? I don’t know, *hic* I stopped counting after like 15 billion,” he says while picking up an empty jug.
Geez, he really is an old man. For someone that age he barely looks older than 30.
“I see, oh here’s a refill.” I hand him another drink in an attempt to keep Akkre satisfied.
“Why thank you, Qillim.”
He’s doing it again…
“Anyways, what did you do after I left the Academy?” I ask while desperately trying to hide my annoyance with him.
“Hahaha, *hic* I did what no one has done before or since. I *hic* conquered all of Spirit World. I united everyone *hic* under the banner of the Empire. Hahah—*snore*”
Without any warning at all, Akkre falls over and passes out. I wanted to start off with easy stuff then lead into more complicated questions, but I guess I should have expected this. Especially after considering all the alcohol he drank.
“Hey, Eillim! I did it! I found someone smaller than me!” Irina says excitedly as she drags someone behind her.
“That’s not hard though, you are rather tall after all.”
“That’s not what I meant. She has smaller breasts than me, and by 1 whole centimetre, isn’t it great.”
Irina looks rather proud as she says that, but I don’t think she has much to be proud of… wait that’s Tsuki, right?
“Hello Millie, oh that’s right or perhaps I should call you Eillim now.” Tsuki says.
“Don’t worry about that too much.” I say.
“What, the two of you already know each other?” Irina questions with her head tilted.
“Yeah, she’s Akkre’s wife.”
“Huh? I thought Rere was engaged to that Vampire princess.”
“You mean Mila, right? Why don’t I tell you a bit about that. The marriage between those two is a matter of ceremony to symbolise the submission of the Kingdom of Kzoszo to the Empire. It’s one thing for Millie to not know but you Irina should have known that polygamy isn’t uncommon amongst Spirit royalty. Anyways, while it is a political marriage, Mila does love Akkre… but I love him more, so it’s fine.” Tsuki says.
“I don’t think Mila would like to hear that. Oh, by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. How are you still alive?
“…”
Tsuki just silently looks at me like I’m crazy. Yeah… that definitely came out wrong, oops.
“Don’t ask someone that, Eillim it’s rude.” Irina chimes in before I get the chance to rephrase my question.
“You’re the last person who should be calling me out for being rude. But I should have phrased that better. I mean, your human right? Then how have you lived so long?”
“Oh, that's what you meant. What's the best way to explain this… A long time ago some stuff happened and now I’m immortal.” Tsuki says.
Well, that didn’t help much.
“Why don’t I explain in place of my mother.” Ena says as she sits down next to us, “Essentially you can’t consider father and mother to be a separate existence. Their souls have been tied together, the first ever case of a successful soul bonding. The soul bonding has tied mother’s life force to father’s, and because he is immortal that trait was transferred to her.”
“That’s correct, but I don’t recall ever explaining this matter to you before.” Tsuki says.
“That’s because elder sis Alice is the one who told me.” Ena says.
“Speaking of, where is Alice?” Tsuki asks.
“Elder sis Alice passed out drunk next to father, after gorging down three large barrels of alcohol.” Ena responds as she points over to the black haired beauty sleeping next to Akkre.
“Ena do me a favour and bring Alice to her room. I’m going to bring Akkre to our room and I’ll probably go to sleep as well. But the rest of you are free to keep enjoying the food and drinks until they are all gone. Oh, and before I forget, Millie, make sure your ready tomorrow. We are sending you out again.” Tsuki says as she picks Akkre up and carries him over her back.
With a heavy sigh, I say, “I would like to rest a bit since I just returned after so long, but I know Akkre isn’t one to let me do that. So, where to this time?”
“We’re sending you across the galaxy to help deal with a civil war that’s going on over there. Welp, goodnight everyone.” Tsuki exclaims as she carries Akkre out of the room.
“Wait! What the hell do you mean?!” I shout while trying to catch up to Tsuki, but she is nowhere to be seen.
Guess I’ll just drown myself in whatever alcohol is left and hope a hangover will be the worst thing I have to worry about.