The Supernova Step was…complex. While it was technically a method of shaping fire, it required mobilizing Fantasy in a way I hadn’t really done before. While Might was the stat that gave Skills form, Fantasy was the one that gave them shape. It was a complicated and advanced application of stats that I hadn’t seen before, and it took me a few tries to get it.

While Cosmic Collapse operated on pretty simple principles that the fire could accomplish on its own, my mother told me that when creating your own Skills, it helped to give them a backstory. Utilizing recursion could help them stabilize without so much soul strain.

Fantasy, therefore, would be incredibly useful for my Skills going forward, and might even have a place in the ones I’d made already. Even without manually building Skills though, learning more about the stat would be helpful for my combat ability. My mom helped me learn a few visualization exercises to shape the Supernova Step, then had me practice them in order.

First step. Power. The supernova part of the name came from this. A star exploding and propelling you forward with great speed. Secondly the image of a shooting star, for propulsion, pushing me from spot to spot. And finally a constellation, providing a variety of possible landing points to choose from, in a stable and controlled fashion. I had to use Piece of Mind to shape the various parts of the Step.

That would have been impossible, even with parallels, if it wasn’t for Callie. While my mother didn’t want to teach me the Skill for Stellar Flame Fist, I did manage to learn Minor Fire Manipulation Mastery.

Callie’s absurd Fantasy and experience with Shadow Manipulation helped me capture that feeling, and seeing the new application of Fantasy and her Manipulation Skill gave her a ton of ideas for ways to progress her own combat abilities, especially given how well hers synergized with her Path.

Pulling on my fiancee’s Fantasy stat and her experience manipulating energy, I was able to accomplish the task my mother set me after about an hour.

Standing up, I held the images of what I wanted in my head, then pushed off. There was an explosion of flames under my feet, and I felt myself flash forward, nearly vanishing from the speed. Once I hit, I bounced off, and I could see in my head the constellation of nearby spaces that I could travel to and from easily.

As I sailed across the intervening space, it occurred to me what my mom was doing. She wasn’t teaching me her style of techniques. She was teaching how to MAKE techniques. Maybe not forms like I usually did, but ways of utilizing them in unique ways that would make them more effective.

Learning to make Skills was a big deal, but learning to use those Skills was just as important. I stopped, panting and doubled over. My head was aching from learning that, but I knew that it was going to be a useful and powerful ability. Once I tweaked it.

“I don’t think that shape is for me.” I wheezed. “The star stuff isn’t really… it doesn’t fit.” I trailed off, looking at her smile. “But you knew that. It’s why you had me learn it.”

She shrugged. “It’ll be useful if you’re ever in an emergency with no other way out, but I suspected something a bit more fine tuned would be needed. Cosmic Collapse shares a lot of themes with your current form. Destruction and annihilation and all that. Supernova Step is a mobility technique and not one suited to you.”

I sat back down. “Hold off on the last technique.” I said as I closed my eyes. “I’m going to try doing this myself.”

Centering my mind, I considered the problem at hand. The Supernova Step was a technique, which was a way of shaping power output. Techniques weren't just moves, they were mobilizing the power of recursion to help stabilize a Skill and utilize the power in a more efficient way.

Cosmic Collapse had an aspect of it, but I hadn't even noticed because so much of the shape was built around the obvious destructive image I'd been given and that fit so well with Mephistopheles. That was what my mom meant about it being so well suited, and why she’d picked it for me.

This though…this wasn't a natural function of the form. I was trying to figure out a shape that would suit me for a movement technique and I couldn't quite get it.

Part of that was my desire to stack a bunch of imagery into it like my mom had, but that was wrong. My mom was an A-ranker with tons of experience. Mine should be more reasonable. I could always add to it later.

I considered what my form symbolized. Overwhelming force, power and destruction, or in another light…advancing. Moving forward without any obstacles. I stood, activating Piece of Mind, and then, I stepped. Black flame roared up under my feet as I nearly vanished, appearing in another spot, I pivoted, moving again.

Not just propulsion, I had to advance, I had to DESTROY the space between myself and my target. I moved and whirled and blurred and flashed, all of it to an imaginary score in my head, to the tune of my heart beat and crackling flames. A symphony of destruction. Mephisto’s Waltz.

By the time I finished, I stood motionless, breath heaving, sweat pouring off me, but I was overjoyed. I’d felt that technique crystallize in my head. I knew I could use it again, and much more easily. I’d officially made my own movement technique, and I knew how to make more. I wondered if I could learn to use shaping when I made Skills, but even if not this training had been priceless.

My forms had been so…wasteful. Just explosive fountains of power that accomplished nothing but hurling energy at people. I hadn’t been making a staff style, I’d been making a bunch of random transformations. This was what a real Martial Art was made of.

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Across from me, my mother beamed, pride shining in her eyes. “That was…beautiful.” She whispered happily. “I’ve never seen anyone learn to make a technique so quickly. More than just the soul, the mental requirements…your Focus isn’t high enough for you to sidestep those difficulties so easily, yet you did.” She blurred forward, wrapping me in a tight hug. “My baby is a genius!”

I laughed, exhausted, but I knew I wasn’t. Piece of Mind allowed me to essentially stack my Focus in this particular category. It was insanely broken, because most people would have had difficulty sectioning off their brain to address different aspects of the process.

Still, it was really nice to have something I was uniquely suited to. Skill creation was cool, but I didn’t have anyone to measure myself against. I didn’t know how good or bad I was.

This though…even my mom thought I was talented. It was a heady thing. She ruffled my hair with a laugh, strolling away back to her spot about ten feet from me before resuming the lesson. “So, you got that easily enough. We have one last technique that you should have before the games. This one is going to be hard. I know you have a form for this, but there are a lot of stipulations on its use. I think it would be best if you created a defensive technique.”

“I can’t.” I said immediately. “Mephistopheles is antithetical to defense. It’s all overhwleming power and lethal force.”

Callie, who was sitting off to the side watching, cleared her throat. “I might be able to help with that.” She said with a wide smile. “I’ve been learning some of this stuff while you have, thank you so much by the way Sasha, I can’t wait to test this out, but I think state of mind and point of view are key. You need to reframe your thinking. After all, the best defense is a good offense.”

And at those words, my brain shifted and it clicked into place. My eyes went wide. “Nullification!” I said excitedly. “Instead of blocking, pouring out force to cancel force. Fighting fire with fire. That’s perfect!”

I sat back down, closing my eyes as I tried to come up with a shape for the technique. I’d used two very basic shapes for the Waltz, though they had been incredibly well suited to the original intent of the Skill. I had no idea how much that mattered, but it seemed like it would be important, so it probably was.

So I thought about Mephistopheles. The demon, the dealmaker. This had been one of my first forms, and I tried not to consider how much that figure had in common with my old man or what it said about me that I’d picked him. Stories (despite their origins mostly being lost) about so many demons persisted. Why had I picked this one?

Mephistopheles had been bound in a circle. It was ostensibly for the protection of the man who sought to make a deal, but it had been its own form of assault, a pressure on the mind of the summoner. Was the circle perfect? Would it save him?

I focused on that imagery. On the circle and how its very presence as a deterrent was an oppression on its surroundings. “Attack me.” I said, eyes still closed.

Callie, love of my life as she was, didn’t even hesitate. A wave of shadows smashed down toward me. I released a pulse of energy, an oppressive circle of flame that smashed apart everything nearby, defending me with raw destruction.

“Circle of Damnation.” I intoned as it washed away the threat. Saying it out loud made it feel more solid, though who could say if that was real or just imagined, or even if that mattered.

When I opened my eyes, I shrieked and fell over, ruining all my cool guy cred, because my mom was leaning over in my face, eyes bright and smile wide as she beamed at me. “Sweet Revenant!” I shrieked as I toppled onto my back. In the distance I heard Callie cackling, and chose to ignore her.

My mother looked sheepish. “Sorry about that.” She winced, helping me up. “But you figured it out, huh?”

“I got it.” I said with a nod. “I think I might rework Cosmic Collapse, too. Make something a bit more suited to my form. This is…this is really advanced stuff, isn’t it?” I asked cautiously. “Am I even supposed to be learning this yet?”

She shrugged. “Shaping is pretty advanced, yes. It has a lot to do with how Domains form, actually. But don’t worry. You’re not forming an early one. Like I said that’s not a good idea. This is just a way to practice. It’s also a good way to learn to alter your Path, if you decide to do so. Especially after it solidifies it can be hard, but before you form your chronicle it’s still possible.”

That…I gaped at her. That information would be worth a king’s ransom to a lot of other E-rankers. If this wasn’t stuff I was supposed to be taught yet, did that make it like…trade secrets?

Whatever it was, it was priceless info to me. Especially the changing my Path part. I had a feeling that information would be damned useful soon. I’d considered possible ways to do that for a while now. My goetia staff art itself was a way of doing that in a sense. I stepped forward, wrapping my mom in a tight hug. “Thank you.” I said quietly.

She squeezed me back, glowing with happiness, and then she let go. With a sigh of contentment, she turned to Callie. “Now, clearly Shane needs a bit of a rest from all this effort. How about I do some sparring with my future daughter-in-law.” It was such a nice gesture, I couldn’t help but be proud of her. I just wasn’t sure why Callie was so terrified.