DISCLAIR: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattles publishnt at threads/rwby-the-gar-the-gas-we-play-disk-five.341621/. Anyway on with the show...err read.
Cooperation
"You" Gilgash whispered, narrowing his eyes at us and putting an edge to the words. "Who are you?"
In response, we simply smiled. Gilgash had seed fairly confident that he'd seen all my tricks before, which I suppose was fair. After a few thousand years putting down heroes, odds were that he'd been around the block a few tisand if there was ever a ti for people to break out their best tricks, it was after running head first into a beast of legend. He'd faced everything people had thrown at him and had clearly survived it and, like all of the Grimm, had probably learned from the experiences. If nothing else, after a few hundred years camping out in the woods, I figured he'd probably taken to coming up with solutions for various things he had and hadn't faced. He struck as the kind of guy who thought the best way to avoid being surprised was to simply be prepared for everything.
But now he was confused, because I'd just pulled out sothing he hadn't thought I was capable of. I wasn't sure on how far the Grimm's senses went, but sohow I got the feeling that he had so idea of what he was looking at, and that it only made things harder to understand. However it appeared, this wasn't a cloning technique, nor was it an illusion I'd conjured to deceive his senses. It was sothing I was betting he'd never seen anything quite like.
He couldn't have, after all. By definition, this was sothing unique and personal.
It was a Semblance.
And it wasn't mine.
Of all my skills, the Hidden Heart was quite possible the one I understood the leastwhich was inevitable, I suppose, seeing how it concerned matters of the soul, which I seed to constantly learn more about but never actually grasp. The skill's description, such as it was, said that I'd created and rged with a 'nascent soul', whatever that ant. I an, that seed like the type of thing that would have pretty significant side-effects, but the only imdiate ones were that my MP doubled. Not that I could really complain about that, of course, because by and large it was pretty fucking sweet, but I'd expected more, sohow. The skill's description had even promised it, speaking of how it would demonstrate greater effects as its level increased, but nothing had happened even after relative years of training.
I suppose I hadn't really expected much. Most of my passive skills, especially the ones tied to my stats, improved at a relatively glacial pace. In the end, I'd accepted it for what it was and was thankful for what I'd gotten, putting it out of my mind. Whatever it had promised, it had shown no such results, but it wasn't as though the base effect wasn't extraordinary in its own right. I accepted it for what it was and moved on.
And then I'd obtained the Arcana and things had changed. I'd rembered who I was, who I had been, and my true na. Most of my mories were still gone, of course, but those that remained were still enough to make a differenceboth in and in .
Even then, it had taken a while to understand.
The Hidden Heart's real effect was doingexactly what it said it did. It created a soul within the useressentially a copy of their own soul, in factand everything else grew from there. The reason it doubled its user's MP was simply because the user was able to draw from twice the amount of 'soul' as before.
Of course, the process was probably more complicated than that, or at least I assud more went into making a new soul than just going poof and getting one. My soul especially was pretty different, being the result of a bunch of horrific, amoral experints, yet sohow it could make a new one on its own? Did that ant that souls split, sohow, like cells? Or was the taphysical bulk of my soul simple large enough to draw the required 'material' from above? Or, and the thought was sowhat worrying, did it have sothing to do with the Qliphoth? I had, apparently, created a soul within the Kingdomsohow. Unless I wasn't, and instead II had no idea.
But surprisingly, the developnt of that nascent soul hadn't seed to do much to , chanically speaking. When I thought of benefits from my skills, I thought of improvents to my status and nurical advantages, and even after getting the Hidden Heart to level forty, nothing like that had happened. The skill had begun to level up quickly after I'd learned the Arcana, especially when combined with Sahasrara and Etz Hayim, but still, nothing had seed to change.
It was sothing that had only made sense in hindsight and the truth was both disappointingly simple and amazingly complex. The benefit of the soul's developnt was the sa as the benefit of a child's developnt; put simply, it was the simple fact that it grew up.
Except soulsor, at least, dual soulsgrew up weird as hell. It wasn't like I started hearing voices in my head or anything; however many souls I had, I only had one brain, after all, so we justshared it. We didn't fight over it or converse inside of it or anything, we just were. I suppose that made sense, more or less; bodies were, apparently, the things souls used to express themselves in this world; after using Ohr Ein Sof especially, I knew how big the difference was in that regard. Having two souls didn't change that in any aningful sense, I just expressed both souls. Not that that wasn't fairly worrying in its own right; had my thought processes changed without noticing? Had any thoughts slipped in that were more from the other half of than from the original? I wasn't sure even I would notice if I'd been changed by it, seeing as things had gotten kind of crazy at the ti; with Conquest, the revelations about the Riders and Malkuth, my dad's death, moving, all the preparations I'd undergone, and what I'd learned about myself, I'd changed more than enough for soone to slip a few things by. If I'd started thinking about things differently, there'd been plenty enough reasons.
Still, it was sothing worth worrying about, especially under the circumstances, and so I had.
For a few minutes or so, at least. Then I decided it probably didn't matter; my second soul was basically a copy of my original, inhabited my body, possessing my mories, experienced the world through my senses, and existed in the sa space and headspace as I did. Existential worries aside, we were the sa person by most trics, literally bound so tightly that my Semblance had pooled 'our' MP; whatever differences there were between us probably didn't actually change a whole lot and it wasn't as though I could do anything about it besides. I made a ntal note to keep an eye out for any major developnts, shrugged, and went back to worrying about all the things trying to kill , ruin my life, or both. If anything happened, I'd just have to rely on the Gar's Mind to see through; it's not like there was much else I could do.
And then the skill had maxed out, growth accelerated bywhatever was affecting it. And when it reached the highest levelor, more likely, having reached the highest level because of itmy second soul developed a Semblance of its own.
ButI didn't have ti to waste explaining any of that to Gilgash.
Thaumiel (Active & Passive) LV1 EXP: 62.09% MP: Special
The Twins of God and the Duality of God. Thaumiel represents the shadow of Keternot it's opposite, but it's imbalance. The nature of Keter is one of Unity; the first mont of consciousness, the light born from the darkness. It is sothing without concept or shape, an intangible existence that gives rise to all that follows it but which is, in its own right, formless until given shape by the Sephirot below it. And yet, at the sa ti, that very awareness sets Keter apart from everything else, separating it from the Light above and the nothingness that surrounds it. This contradiction is undone by the Tree of Life, however, as all paradoxes within Keter find resolution within the form given by Malkuth, balancing individuality and unity. Thaumiel, then, is simply the state of Keter in separation from Malkuththe Dual Contending Forces and the division of that which is perfect only in Unity. This skill represents the Semblance crafted by a soul caught within the state of Thaumiel and given form by ans other than Malkuth.
While Thaumiel is active, the user's twin souls may inhabit separate bodies.
All traits, skills, stats, and ters remain unchanged; the user's division paradoxically leaves the bodies identical.
While separated, the user's bodies and souls remain both connected and indistinct; any beneficial effect applied to one body automatically affects the other. At the sa ti, status effects are also mirrored. Should one body die, the other imdiately dies as well.
While Thaumiel is active, the user's bodies may inhabit the sa volu of space without reuniting or changing mass. While existing in such a state, both bodies may activate skills to affect the apparent whole and may simultaneously activate the sa skill to either achieve greater effect or attack multiple targets. May have special interactions with certain skills.
This skill may only be used for short periods of ti or the user risks the collapse of their forcibly divided souls.
Current Duration: 6 minutes.
Five minutes and fifty-three seconds left. I wondered if that was enough ti to kill a legendary Grimm?
There was only one way to find out.
Without saying another word, we attacked.
The first thing I did was sothing most people probably would have thought insanebut hell, that was my life in a nutshell.
I went hand to hand with a Grimm of Legend. We closed the distance in an instant, Fluctuating to either side of him with our fists already raised. Our power flickered and snapped once before taking form around us, catching Gilgash between our Aurora's. Agni flared around , but my Aurora only affected my enemies and my other self had a fair number of ways to protect himself besides; the fire clung to him, but he didn't burn. Instead, steel began to rise from his flesh, snapping together in skintight plates that covered him from head to toe, turning his eyes to liquid silver orbs and his hair to gold. Kubera took shape around him, our divided nature bypassing the usual limits of the skill. My other Aurora shifted with it, turning into a greying mist that talized the ground around him and then caused what little didn't lt in the flas around to simply rust away.
Gilgash twitched once, perhaps grimacing as he was caught between us, but hardly slowed down. He knew that even if there were two of us now, he had the advantage of being vastly superior to us in a physical confrontation, and even with our Auras raging into a storm around him, he didn't back off. And generally speaking, that would have been the right moveI had no trouble believing he was twice as strong as I was if it ca down to an arm-wrestling contest or sothing. Butthat was the thing about teams.
We were more than the sum of our parts.
As Gilgash's bone-like sword cleaved towards my head, I snapped a hand up, not to block it but to guide it. I caught the side of the blade with the tip of my left hand's fingers, running the numbers in my head in an instant, and pushed upwards even as I lowered my own body. As his bladed whipped above my head, re centiters from driving into my skull, my other self stepped forward, knuckles cracking as he curled his tallic hands into fists. A foot ca down, shattering the ground as he stepped forward into Gilgash, and his power shifted around him, montarily receding into his flesh. Steel cords of muscle groaned as a network of patterns appeared on both his skin and my own, looking like nothing more than luminous circuitrythe power of Qigong and a half-dozen other skills, bolstering our strength in an instant. The blow he slamd into Gilgash's gut was simple, choosing overwhelming power over any kind of finesse.
But sotis, overwhelming power was all you really needed.
The air rippled and exploded outwards, pushed away from us by the force of the blow and creating a short-lived vacuum that pulled out our flesh, eyes, hair, and clothes. It disrupted the flas around for a mont, carving a small and empty sphere out of my Aurora before collapsing and strengthening the flas yet further. The ground didn't shatter, simply because it couldn't anymore, reduced as it was to a field of molten earth, but it rippled violently, calling up a massive wave of lava that expanded outwards from us. And Gilgash
On unsteady footing and overextended as he was, there was only so much he could do. There was a sharp crack and then he was blown perhaps twenty ters backwards, feet skimming the surface of the lava as he tried to halt himself but couldn't.
Needless to say, we followed, this ti relying on pure speed. We kicked off, layering our skills in an instant to create a sudden burst of acceleration that cleared the lava back down to solid earth, sending it up in a rain of fire. My counterpart moved just a mont before I did, timing it ticulously, and aid another strike at Gilgash, this ti targeting his face.
Knowing better than to ignore such a blow now, Gilgash's free hand snapped up, catching the blow monts before it connectedand though he was driven back even further by it, even unsteady as he was, he held my counterpart back easily, sword wavering for only a mont as it traced a path up to his throat.
Before the edge hit ho, however, I stepped into my counterpart, shifting into his physical spaceand then forced out sothing more than physical. As I seized control of our bodies, he Projected himself forwards, spiritual presence gathering power even as he flipped over Gilgash's oncoming blow. Landing on three limbs, he flickered once and materialized as Bai Hu, lashing out with his free leg the mont he regained solidity. My hands had begun moving even before we occupied the sa volu, bringing them up not to protect against Gilgash's strike but instead to catch my own kick, letting the force push back just outside Gilgash's swing before pushing back, providing the impulse to push my other self back to his feet and giving him an opening.
Gilgash didn't even have a chance to pull back his sword before the fist connected with his chin, lifting him fully from his feet once more and leaving himfrom my admittedly warped perspective of timontarily suspended in midair.
I stepped forward, feet slipping through my other's Projected form and drawing it back into as a matter of course. As I did, I felt sothing shift in the power I gatheredthe power we gathered.
Like I said, we were more than the sum of our parts.
The hand I slamd into Gilgash's gut was secondary to the ten Lux Aeterna's that ca with it.
For a mont, the image of Gilgash being struck was all I could see as all the light around us was drawn into my hand. It didn't happen the way it usually did, darkening the world but for Lux Aeterna's own lightinstead, my view of the world rippled and writhed oddly, twisting and fluctuating as it seed to be pulled into the palm of my hand like water down a drain. The world faded away in stages, though the process was literally blindingly fast, with more distant objects fading first until only Gilgash and I seed to remain. My body pulsated, flesh giving way to Sahasrara even as the flas of Agni, Surya, and my Aurora were devoured by the almost crystalline sphere. After a mont, even my body started to get pulled towards it, my fingers elongating and twisting as they were drawing painfully in
And then the sphere fractured, losing shapeand a thin line of light split the darkness. Everything that had been devoured by the sphere seed to pour forth in the violent onslaught of twisted light and images, and at the very center of it was a narrow beam of focused power that struck Gilgash in the center of his chest. I could feel my other self working to keep the light coherent and intense, and it struck Gilgash with an inhuman amount of force, instantly accelerating the legenary Grimm to absurd speeds as it blew him away from us and back until his back struck the rising edge of the massive crater I'd made earlier and light played across it, lting everything that was illuminated by Lux Aeterna until a massive oblong shape was burnt into the earth around him.
Gilgash let out a low, restrained hiss as he bounced back to his feet, a hand over the bullet sized hole in his chest and eyes focusing intently on us. I looked back at him evenly, my other self literally running out of the space we'd occupied and gathering power in his hands, shaping it into the massive shape of Gungnir as he leapt up to eye level with the Grimm. Gilgash was already moving, a blur of dark motion who's passage left a trail of broken earth and quickly expanding fire, blowing a wide hemisphere in the slag around him. In a matter of monts, he'd closed the distance between us, clawed hands reaching towards
I Fluctuated, willing myself into the space my other self occupied even as I ford a Gungnir of my own. As we ca to occupy the sa place, our weapons ca into alignnt, the power within them resonating and growing. The light of Gungnir seed to skyrocket to an even greater intensity, and when we threw it, it almost imdiately lost shape, the spear changing direction almost mid-shaft. Gilgash dodged, blurring and racing away from the attack, zigzagging as he wentbut Gungnir matched every shift with a similar change of course, lagging just behind.
Even so, the fact that he remained ahead spoke of Gilgash's speed.
But I wouldn't be defeated by speed alone.
I focused my gaze on Gilgash and power gathered behind my eyes as I activated Gorgon.
The ancient Grimm hesitated for barely a fraction of a second before breaking free of the effectand a fraction of a second was enough. Gungnir hit ho and exploded with a sound like the crash of thunderand we Fluctuated, coming apart to target Gilgash within the smoke, pressing the assault.
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