Chapter 15: Mana Step
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Takauji returned home, looking at his living room with caution. Looking for any noticeable discrepancies.
My room's door shouldn't be opened. Looks like I was right on the money.
He took a breath, changing his face from the one he had shown Raynare to his usual serene expression. And with confidence in his step, he entered his bedroom.
Here we go again.
Sat on the side of his bed, was a woman with long raven hair tied into a ponytail with an orange ribbon. Her violet eyes snapped towards him, scanning him up and down with a conflicted look on her face.
Now then. How shall I begin this conversation? Ah. I think I got it.
"How's Issei-kun?" He gave off the aura of a concerned upperclassman. "I imagine losing his friend has been quite the disheartening experience for him. He has my condolences."
Takauji dipped his head, lowering his voice to make himself sound aggrieved.
"He could be doing better," she confessed. "I'm more worried about how this will affect his relationship with Rias from now on."
"Oh?" He didn't expect her to pick up such a train of thought.
"I fear he might blame Rias for trying to distance him from Asia even though she was doing it for his own wellbeing." She stared out of his window for a moment, brooding over what the future could hold.
He simpered, able to understand her concerns but having a lot more insight on the matter than she did.
"I don't think there's any need for concern. Issei-kun may be in a dark place right now, but as long as she puts in a genuine effort to support he'll pull through. That's the kind of person he is no?"
Right now he's still under her "spell", though he is unaware of it. How terrifying love can be, even in the hands of someone unaware of its strength.
Akeno looked at him, his reassurance giving her a bit of newfound confidence. Although she hadn't been entirely convinced. Issei had shown quite the reaction to Asia's death after all.
"Do you really think so?"
"I do. You heard it as well didn't you? His proclamation to never let anyone he holds dear be lost to him again." The words of Issei's outrage were like music to his ears, such raw emotion was deserving of nothing but praise.
"That's the problem though, will Rias stay someone he holds dear?" He almost wanted to roll his eyes.
"You'll have to figure that out for yourself I'm afraid," he said despite knowing the answer for certain. "Emotions are a tough thing to gauge, especially from an outside lens. Unless the person wants to open up to you by their own volition, you won't have much luck."
Unless you become the reason for their emotions to begin with, that is.
"Maybe you're right," she exhaled. "But I didn't come here just to talk about Issei-kun."
"Is that so?" For a split second his voice almost sounded tired. Like he had been listening to the same song on repeat for ages.
"Yuuto-kun told us that you performed pretty exceptionally back there, even going as far as to say you were like a one-man army." She grimaced, having expected some sort of change in his facial expression, but receiving none.
"I mean, a toddler could step on thousands of ants. But it's still a toddler at the end of the day." He decided to reject her praise entirely. Refusing to allow the squashing of a few nobodies to make him complacent.
"There's really no need to be so humble. For someone with as little experience as yourself, your growth has proven to be exceptionally fast."
"If you say so," she breathed a faint groan. Not knowing why he was being so stubborn on the matter. "Anyhow, I'll be getting back to my studies. Might as well make use of the time as best I can."
She followed him as he walked towards his desk, noticing that he had become slightly disgruntled as he touched one of his books. The encyclopedia on the creatures of the Familiar Forest.
I don't remember putting this here, she must have touched it. Good grief, it's basic respect not to handle another's belongings without permission.
"Is something the matter?" She felt the need to ask. Finally seeing some traces of emotion on his face.
"No, just spaced out for a bit." He sat down on his desk, pulling out the book he had used to learn Mana Step and retrieving the notebook with all his notes on the subject.
Akeno frowned a little as she noticed that Takauji had gone back into "study-mode", meaning any attempt to gain his attention would be a fruitless endeavor.
"I'll go make some tea," she offered as she went to his kitchen.
I'd rather you leave, but whatever. Right now I need to focus.
He took out a pen, continuing to draw what looked to be lines depicting some sort of movement path on his notebook.
I think I've figured out how to use Mana Step to travel in different directions rather than just a straight line.
The answer lies not in the process of using Mana Step, but rather what comes before that. The calculations my brain goes through before I use the technique.
If I can successfully make a predetermined route for my Mana Step to trace before I use it, then I should be allowed a much greater range of movement.
However, there's a risk with this. I need to make sure I correctly gauge the speed at which I'll travel in order to avoid hitting any objects along the way.
By the time Akeno had finished brewing her beverage and returned to his room, Takauji was already in the backyard drawing lines in the soil with the tip of his sword.
Let's approach this step by step. Literally.
The first stage should consist of slightly curved lines that continue and continue until I reach an L-shape. After that will come the U-turn, and once I've reached completion I should be able to perform a full on circle.
Speed, trajectory, and power. These were the three things he needed to take into account when executing Mana Step. Fail to manage even one of these factors properly, and he'd be eating a mouthful of dirt or bark.
But the difference in the level of balance required to move in a straight line, and to move even in the slightest curve was significantly more drastic than he had anticipated.
His body was already struggling to keep itself stable just by moving slightly to the right during Mana Step, he quite literally needed perfection to get the technique down.
It's basically the Magic application of Newton's laws of motion. It seems I will just have to brute force my mastery over this technique unlike the other one's I've learned up till this point. Oh well, it's not like having some variety is a bad thing.
Thanks to the sheer depth of his Mana reserves, Takauji only had to worry about his physical stamina when using the movement technique.
"Is this what you do everyday?" Akeno asked out of the blue, sitting down with a tray of beverages and snacks next to her. "Training until exhaustion by yourself all the time?"
"You already know the answer to that, seeing as you're here the most out of everyone." He replied, not averting his eyes from the tracks in the soil created from his attempts.
"But doesn't it get tiring at some point?" The Gremory peerage was used to training as a group, or at least one other person. Very rarely did they just go at it alone.
Takauji stopped and turned towards her. "Of course it gets tiring, that's the whole point isn't it?"
She waited for him to elaborate.
"These techniques would hold no value if they were so easy to master. Nothing that's easy to achieve is worth having." He paused for a moment before gathering his thoughts. "Do you like history?"
The question seemed fairly random.
"I've dipped my toes in it, but I can't say I'm much of a history-buff."
"I see. The samurai had a pretty interesting approach to the obstacles and challenges they faced during their lives. Each time they encountered a problem they would only ask themselves one thing. How many walls do I need to break down? Oh, you need me to break down wood? I'll do it. You need me to break concrete now? Consider it done. Titanium? On it."
She could feel the weight of his words crushing down her shoulders, for once she was actually being allowed a glimpse into what went on in that head of his.
"In other words, challenges are not only considered just a part of their lives, but something to look forward to. So to answer your question Himejima-san, not only do I chase these challenges of my own volition. But I enjoy doing so, the sense of achievement every time I take another step forward gives me such elation that the me a week ago could never even fathom." He took a deep breath. "Whether I do it on my own, or surrounded by others really doesn't make a difference."
He smiled, meaning every last word he said. But once he looked at her face, his lips returned to normal.
"It seems you can comprehend the honesty in what I say, but you don't actually understand the words themselves." She flinched, having let the emotions on her face be a bit too open. "Don't worry, I take no offense to that. I'm the one who let myself get all emotional."
She desperately wanted to muster up a response, but her mind couldn't find the words. What Takauji had just said wasn't overly complex by any means, but applying it to his character was.
And the man himself had already lost interest in speaking to her, now far more focused on continuing his training. Which Akeno knew meant that any attempts to start a meaningful conversation with him, would be rendered null.
She set her tray aside, and decided to return to the clubroom with a dissatisfied expression on her face. There was no real rational to the feeling inside her gut, but it was there nonetheless.
Ashikaga Takauji, the Contracted Magician of the Gremory Peerage, was slipping away. Somehow, in some way, that was the truth. A month was as short as a single breath to Devils, if they wanted to keep him they needed to act fast.
This really is rather tricky. It's like trying to turn a full-speed jet engine with your hands alone. I imagine the stronger my Mana Step becomes, the harder it'll be to control it.
And then all of a sudden, he had an epiphany.
Wait, maybe that's the answer? If I start by reducing the strength of my Mana Step in order to practice turning, and slowly ramp up the strength as I improve my control. Wouldn't I be able to master this technique faster?
He took hold of his Mana output, bringing it down as he felt the tension in his feet start to decrease.
And as he had calculated, his movements, although slower, had become a lot easier to control.
The faster the speed of an object, the harder it is to change directions, and the slower the speed of an object the easier it is. I owe ya one, Newton.
This was the method he would use to continue perfecting his Mana Step, practicing all the way until 3 in the morning which is when he quite literally had lost the ability to walk without looking like a complete drunk.
His most successful attempt was managing to turn 23° out of the 360° he needed. Which wasn't a terrible rate of progress, but seeing as each improvement became harder than the last, it could be better.
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He be shmooving.
10+ Advance Chapters: patreon.com/Accel14
Discord Link: KQAtTw9u7x\
Word Count: 2013
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