Mari and I are positioned across each other in a makeshift arena. She's co up with rules for this spar, this ti it's different from the ti I trained with her and Tarin in preparation for the Raid. According to her, it's because this ti I don't need to get strong as fast as possible; I just need to understand the skills I already have.
And the Inspiration, which throws a whole other curveball into my Firmant skills, if Gheraa was telling the truth about them. I don't think I can apply the Inspiration to any other category of skill I've tried. It's like trying to force a square through a round hole; it doesn't work.
But when it does...
I have three Firmant skills at the mont Color Drain, Firmant Manipulation, and Temporal Fragnt. My understanding of each is fairly limited.
Color Drain, according to Ahkelios, allows to drain specific colors out of things, with different colors corresponding to different effects. I don't know what those effects are, yet, and the only thing Ahkelios rembers is that red probably corresponds to Strength.
Firmant Manipulation is pretty much just what it says on the tin. I have no idea how an Inspiration like the Mirror could possibly modify it, though I'm looking forward to finding out.
Temporal Fragnt is by far the most nebulous of the three, and I suspect that has sothing to do with how the Interface offered it out of line with its usual credit-to-skill-rank ratio. I'm grateful for it, considering its versatility, but that only ans I need to understand it more I might be missing sothing important. I probably am missing sothing important.
Which brings us back to Mari's rules.
"I tell you rules," Mari says sternly. She folds her wings across her chest. "If you break rule, we train longer. We train until you no break rule. Then we eat and you take break. Okay?"
"Right," I say.
"Rule one!" Mari points at in a way I think is unnecessarily dramatic. "You no use sa skill or skill combination twice. Use Inspiration, or think of new way to use attack."
Reasonable. I grimace when I think about how I'd only thought of Firestep being more in the middle of a fight with Naru. I need to be more aware of what my skills can do, and I haven't taken the ti I should to figure them out.
"Two, you not hold back," Mari says. "I strong enough to take you."
She is ridiculously strong. The Raid had suppressed her to an absurd extent; the fact that she's able to hold her own against Naru though she'd said Naru was almost certainly holding back tells she's beyond , even now. I wonder if the crows would've been able to deal with the Raid properly, if the Interface hadn't actively suppressed their Firmant.
Probably. I rember Tarin saying sothing about that. Hestia's overwheld by monsters, and they just want the Trial to be over, so they can have the planet to themselves again.
"Three." Mari's expression is serious. "You not hurt village."
"What?" I blink at her, stunned. "I would never."
"It important rule," Mari says, not budging. "You agree?"
There's a look in her eyes that makes understand where she's coming from, a little. She has no reason to think I'll hurt anyone, obviously, but she's also clearly had a past with Naru, and maybe that's where all this is coming from.
"Yeah, of course," I say. I'm not going to argue with her about sothing I'm not going to do anyway. "I have a question, though."
"Question?" Mari cocks her head at .
"Why are you and Tarin so much stronger than the others?" I ask. It's a question that's been on my mind. "Not that I've fought any of the others, but during the Raid..."
Mari considers the question for a while. "You beat in spar first," she finally says. "Then I tell you."
Beating Mari in a spar is easier said than done by which I an I don't think it's sothing I'll be able to do this loop, or for the next several loops.
At least Ahkelios is enjoying himself. I'm pretty sure he's shoveling handfuls of moss between his mandibles, and while I'm curious about how that works when he's a fragnt made of nothing but Firmant, I decide that's a question I'll deal with later.
First, I have a scary bird mom I need to fight.
Mari wants to be creative in the spar, but her own bag of tricks at least what she's shown so far is pretty limited. She's a powerhouse in the strength departnt, but not nearly as fast as her husband; where she excels is her Firmant control. It's a force multiplier that lets her hit above her weight class, and she knows exactly how and when to move her Firmant.
Case in point: When I start with my basic move, the Barrier-Firestep-Triplestep-Crystallized Strength combination, she simply tanks it. I feel a massive spike of Firmant right over the area I'm about to hit, and although I try to shift my strike to accommodate, she simply moves to match . Punching her is like punching feathers made of steel, and I'm very glad I decided to use Barrier.
Mari doesn't even bother fighting back. She stares at , like she's waiting for to throw my next punch, and I think about what I can do.
There's Firestep. Firestep had hurt even Naru, when I used it, and I don't understand why; that entire aspect of the skill is hidden to . But I've used it, and now the flas behind are raging with Firmant. I coax them forward, trying to recall the state of my mind during the fight; a determined sort of anger, glowing brightly, with a target.
It's hard to aim that target at Mari, considering all she's done for , but the flas respond to my will anyway. They're not as strong or as bright as they were against Naru, but consciously focusing on them clearly makes a difference. Mari looks at the flas, and then raises an eyebrow at , as if to say 'really?'
"I don't really understand that skill yet," I say. I'm not sure why I feel the need to defend myself.
Mari steps forward into the flas, and I almost reach out and pull her back. I rember what those flas did to Naru I rember him screaming.
But Mari doesn't react at all.
"Hm," Mari says. "Flas tickle. Not strong."
What?
Why?
The flas of Firestep clearly have an emotional component to them. Maybe what they did to Naru; he's not as in control of his emotions as Mari is. That's not exactly a theory I can test.
"Oh," Mari says. She looks up at , and her eyes are bright; I take an instinctive step back. "Flas burn heart."
That's... a vague statent. I don't have enough ti to understand what she's saying, because she suddenly rockets towards , and I have to put everything I have into defense.
Barrier!
The barrier shatters beneath her strength, though it does manage to slow her down; I'm already Triplestepping away, this ti avoiding Firestep so I don't repeat whatever it's done to her. She doesn't look like she's lost control, exactly, but she doesn't look happy.
"Hey, uh, do we need to stop"
I barely dodge her next attack, which is a kick that lands hard enough to leave a dent in the ground. I'm pretty sure she's not trying to kill I've seen her fighting harder than this but she doesn't seem like she's in the mood for talking.
Fine. Let's figure this out.
Color Drain.
Ahkelios tells that red should be strength, and Mari's primary ability is her strength and reinforcent. The problem is that there's not much red on her at all. Her feathers are a dull gray, and they shift to a dark turquoise as the red bleeds out onto the ground; she stumbles slightly, catching herself, but still darts towards with enough Firmant in her wing that I know getting hit will hurt.
I've already used Barrier and Triplestep. Temporal Fragnt.
I've been around this village enough that there are echoes of everywhere, just going around the village; the one I grab isn't one that was doing anything, just enjoying his soup. I see Mari hesitate for a fraction of a second before landing her blow, looking up as if to make sure I'm not the echo and then her blow lands, and my echo's head is completely detached.
I wince as the paradox whips away the Firmant clone a second later, and it dissolves into nothing.
"Ew," Mari comnts. I don't disagree, but I've let her take the offensive for too long. I call on Temporal Fragnt again, and for the first ti, I reach for the Inspiration within .
The Mirror Twice Shattered Temporal Fragnt.
It feels, for a mont, like ti slows down. Five options present themselves before , the initial four and the final one that I cobbled into the Mirror.
I make my choice.
Anger.
I feel energy drain out of in a flash. The Fragnt clone that forms this ti burns with a furious red. Mari lets out a startled squawk as it swings towards her for a mont, I almost think it's alive, moving under its own will. Then I realize that this is just another mont from my past, transposed in location.
I recognize myself, vaguely. I'm pretty sure this is from the mont I punched Naru in the face the first ti. I rember the boiling anger I felt in that mont how I couldn't understand how little he cared about his father. I'd only known Tarin for a short amount of ti, and I cared more about him than his own son.
Faced with an image of myself from the outside, I'm struck for a mont by how pissed I looked.
Then the blow from my temporal clone pushes Mari back, the force of it imnse despite her reinforcing Firmant. She lets out a startled caw as she twists, half-flapping a wing to balance herself again. She gathers herself and launches forward, cutting out with a wing to dissipate the clone.
Before she can, I forcefully interrupt the skill, cutting into it so the clone fades into nothing. Mari's swing hits nothing but air, and she stumbles, thrown off balance.
I've learned two things.
One, the Mirror is an incredibly versatile Inspiration. If I'm right about its use, then I've essentially got five different Inspirations folded into one. I can't help but wonder how powerful the Weapon would have been.
Two, using an Inspiration is exhausting. I've only used it once, and I feel like I've just fought through half a Raid. I've got maybe one more Inspiration in before I collapse.
So I use it, of course.
The Mirror Twice Shattered Fear. Temporal Fragnt.
Proper testing requires that I pick the sa skill, and simply reflect it through a different part of the Mirror. I prepare myself for the drain, and use my Firmant sense to watch for what an Inspiration actually does.
Firmant gathers. It rushes through , through the part of myself that feels like the Mirror, and sothing about the Firmant fundantally changes.
A yellow Fragnt clone coalesces out of the air.
In the sa mont, I nearly collapse. Even prepared, the drain that roars through makes my vision go gray at the edges. The Mirror drains sothing fundantal from .
Mari's eyes flicker to , concerned but she doesn't have ti to help , because the Fragnt clone flickers into action, moving so quickly I can't track it. I can't even tell what mont in my life it's from. I do see that its path crosses with Mari's, and she doesn't have the ti to move her Firmant to block.
It bounces off of her, thankfully.
That's about all I see before I slip into blessed unconsciousness.
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