After a full 12 hours, Sona came out of the room feeling more refreshed than ever, with her worries out of the way. She never thought that the burden of keeping things to herself was that great.
Spreading her Demonic Power around, she found out that Serafall still hadn't come back and thought that she might not during the duration of their training, 'Looks like that bothered her more than I anticipated. I knew Nee-sama was innocent, but not this innocent!'
Kisuke also soon came out yawning, "Shall we have a meal? And while we're at it, let's talk about what happened yesterday."
"We won't wait for Nee-sama?"
"If she's not here now, I don't think she'll come back now. And you need to know more about your ability than her since I can only assume that you can only control that instinctively and I'm more than enough to help you with that."
"That's true. I have a feeling that I could use that 'water' but I'm not really sure what nature it is."
After settling down on the table and having a few bites, Kisuke asked Sona, "What do you think your ability is?" He needs to know where to start explaining as it seems that unlike Zanpakuto and their given abilities, Sona's ability wasn't automatically passed down to its user and it was only triggered by her other self, which probably took on most of her Hollow side. He also needed more information of any type due to the existence of 'Phosphoplasm' that shouldn't exist in this world, nor Sona's origin world. Although he already had a working theory, Kisuke wanted to know more.
"I'm not really sure, but I'm certain that it isn't the 'water' itself.", Sona answered as she summoned the ball of water, "If it's not the water itself, then it must be the properties behind it. Although I can summon it like this, I can only control it like how I control normal Magic so I have no idea how I was pushing you and Nee-sama last night."
Kisuke nodded and raised a glass and covered it with a fairly strong barrier, "Try slashing through this with that. No need to give effort and just swing that water as it is."
Sona was skeptical since she could tell the strength of the barrier that Kisuke placed on the glass, but she did what he instructed anyway. With a swing of her finger, the water formed an arc before launching itself to the glass. Sona thought that her water would just be splattered everywhere but was stunned to see it instantly went through the glass and traveled further beyond, wounding Kisuke's right cheek.
More than the glass, Sona was aware of how sturdy Kisuke had become even without him actively protecting himself, 'For a simple spell to cause damage to him... I see... So that's how it is.'
Naturally, Kisuke could have dodged the arc of water, but he purposely didn't do so since that might help Sona get the idea, and she did. The corner of his mouth slightly curved upwards when he saw her start muttering to herself, forgetting her surroundings.
Approximately half an hour later, Sona's awareness of the surroundings returned and immediately turned her sights to Kisuke, "Is it flow? Am I in control of the flow itself? If that's the case, then that would explain why my Magic went through your defense. The unceasing flow managed to cut through everything and if I can control or strengthen it, my Magic could theoretically go through anything."
"That's right, but that's not all. Last night, your body took on a form that could make use of this 'flow' ability of yours. In other words, a body made up of your own Magic. Like hitting a body of water, physical attacks against you become essentially useless and sealing techniques become ineffective as long as there are cracks in the technique you can escape from. Finally, if you can expand this influence of yours, you may control the flow of 'everything', be it the air itself or someone's blood."
Kisuke then shrugged his shoulders and added jokingly, "Heck, if you want to go even further beyond with this concept of yours, maybe you'll be able to control the flow of time itself."
While the first ones are achievable, Sona immediately brushed off Kisuke's last words, "No way that's possible. I can't even imagine it."
Kisuke, however, gave a small smile and didn't answer back, 'Nothing is really certain when it comes to abilities that bend the rules of reality, but she doesn't need to think about this right now.'
The two of them continued talking for another hour, with Sona mostly asking questions but then answering them herself. Finally, when Kisuke was certain that it was already enough and she wouldn't get lost, he ended the discussion, "Now that you know how your Magic or ability works, you have to figure out how to achieve that 'Magic Body' on your own and that will be your assignment for the rest of this training session. Whether you'll be successful or not, I don't know, however, you already gained something enormous with this outing, so you don't have to push yourself like before."
"Going slowly or rushing it, when it comes to unique abilities like yours, it doesn't really matter since it's not about your raw abilities, but understanding."
Sona nodded and said, "I understand. I also think that it'll be useless to mindlessly train when what I need is some sort of enlightenment."
As soon as Sona left, Kisuke couldn't help but let out a long sigh, "Haah... In the end, I wasn't able to figure out anything concrete in regards to the appearance of the 'Phosphoplasm' which should only exist in my world. Did it form because of the clash of Sona's Demonic Power and Hollow Reishi? If so, then the 'Blood of Hell' could only come to be when there's the presence of Mana or Magic Power, but I'm fairly sure that no one knew of its existence."
"Fullbringers are a mystery too and might have a connection to that. I could only guess that someone intentionally hid the existence of Mana and that someone could only be the Spirit King. But why?" Kisuke went back to the loghouse, full of new questions that could only be answered if he were to return to his original world.
Through the rest of their training period, Serafall didn't show up to both Sona and Kisuke.
Editors:
28th00: Serafall is in hiding. Phosphoplasm must be linked to the concept of hell, and Sona being a devil, would be pretty damn linked to it. Hiding Mana? Maybe because it can cheat really easily? Breaking the balance would be pretty bad in that jenga tower of a world.
After a week, Kisuke, Sona, and Serafall finally returned home and upon their arrival at the gates, Hestia, Artemis, Koneko, Kuroka, and the three kids were there to receive them, "Welcome back~!" Hestia ran over and jumped into Kisuke's arms.
"We're back~", Kisuke caught her and instinctively patted her head in response.
The kids and Artemis also came over and greeted them but Kuroka and Koneko only stared silently at Serafall before the former whispered in question, "...What happened to her, nya?"
"Err... Let's just say that she's tired from her training." answered Kisuke half-heartedly before changing the subject, "By the way, Is Yoruichi watching over Irina and Akeno-san?"
A worried glint flashed through Kuroka and Koneko's eyes but they didn't show it on their face, "After they started, she never left them alone as you've asked her."
Despite hiding it well, Hestia still noticed that something was amiss but didn't confront it directly and instead asked, "Say, can't we check on Irina-kun and Akeno-kun?"
Kisuke could only smile wryly and scratch his cheek, "What they're doing is a bit sensitive and Kuroka, Koneko, and Yoruichi could only approach them because they wouldn't be influencing anything around them. Let's just wait for good news, alright?"
Kisuke turned to Sona and Serafall immediately after and said, "You two should rest for a few days before continuing with what you're doing. In any case, both of you are already on track so you don't have to worry about any stagnation for a while."
Sona nodded at him, "We know what to do. Please don't worry about us since you don't have much time yourself."
"Are you leaving immediately?" Hestia suddenly asked with a sullen voice.
"I'm sorry Hestia-sama, but sometime in the future, once we're free of worries, I'll be taking you all to a good place, so please look forward to that instead."
He didn't want to make the conversation longer so he immediately turned to Kuroka and Koneko, "We'll leave after I've checked on Irina, Akeno-san, and Yoruichi."
Kuroka and Koneko nodded before Kisuke disappeared in a flash.
Artemis approached the deflated Hestia and comforted him, "I know he also wanted to take it easy but the situation doesn't really allow him. Let's just cheer for him and watch so that he won't burn himself out, alright?"
Hestia finally realized the obvious thing but only after being told about it, "I'm sorry. I'm not being considerate enough."
Hearing their conversation, Sona hurriedly intervened, "Please don't apologize, Hestia-sama. I'm not blaming Kisuke but this also came to be because of his weird obsessions to prepare for anything and everything way ahead of time as long as that thing has even a remote chance of happening. Although also thanks to that, we could be safe and give our complete trust to him."
And with a sad tone, Koneko added, "I also feel bad for Kisuke-senpai... Although he puts great importance to his shop and makes various merchandise, he can't even tend to his only hobby these days."
After Koneko's words, the expression of concern became apparent on everyone's face, including Claire and Tanis by being dragged by the atmosphere. Not wanting to see the children make such an expression, Serafall immediately hugged the two and said, "Enough of this. As long as you do what you need to do to reduce the burden on him so that he won't worry so much, then everything will turn out alright."
.
.
.
Kisuke reached the room where Yoruichi was guarding Irina and Akeno, but before he entered it, he first checked the state of the seal on the room he left before leaving for the desert with Sona and Serafall, 'Hmm... Looks like it's still working fine but reinforcing it shouldn't hurt.'
The seal was placed not because he wanted to protect the place but to seal it away from any of the world's interference to the soul of everyone inside it. Since what Irina and Akeno were doing was pretty dangerous, their artificial bodies might fail them and die, leaving a very weakened soul to the outside world. If such a thing were to occur without any interference in place, they would be taken by this world's soul cycle if not outright reduced to pure spiritual particles because they are technically invaders.
And for added security, Kisuke didn't allow anyone that originated from this world to enter the room since they might negatively influence the seal even if he made it robustly.
Satisfied with his work, Kisuke then entered the room and greeted Yoruichi, who was watching the other two 'sleep' peacefully, "How is it?"
Yoruichi sighed and closed her eyes while shaking her head, "Day by day, the only change that is happening is their vitality dropping. At this rate, they might really die."
Kisuke sat beside Yoruichi and the latter immediately used this chance to lay on his lap. After finding a good spot and position, Yoruichi looked up to him and asked, "Do they really have to do this? If things go extremely wrong then we wouldn't even have a soul to save."
As Kisuke started stroking his hair, he replied with a gentle voice, "You know I've only given them a choice and it has always been like that in the past. I might be extremely manipulative but I'm never forceful nor give tasks that are beyond them. Besides, the reason I've asked you to watch over them non-stop is that I trust you and your ability to deal with the situation if something ever comes up."
Yoruichi creased her brows and said, "Aren't you putting way too much confidence in me? My Reiatsu control is way worse than yours."
"That is true." Kisuke nodded with a small smile before continuing, "However, when it comes to instantaneously reacting to unexpected and unknown situations, you're actually better than me. Much better if I have to say it twice. While I can only take pre-planned steps, you can make a more accurate and better decision at the same time with limited information. If a dangerous situation were to really arise, I at least know that you can stabilize the circumstances and give me enough time to formulate a more concrete step forward."
Yoruichi frowned for a bit but silently accepted it.
Editors:
28th00: Reaction vs Preparation?