Wow, talk about a useless artifact. And, unless it allows to summon/banish the creature, we will never be able to use it simply because of logistics. Well, mistake is a mistake, consequences are expected.
So, about actually crossing the chasm. Alf, will our equipment's stealth capabilities work if Shinji Fades?
To an extent.Originally Posted by Malorius
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
No artifact is fully useless. Granted this one has a limited terms of usefulness but its not useless. We might still get some use out of this item. That is if we have a chance to use it before the item wheel spins again. I am getting more sick of having an item and then having it changed out for another random one. We never really use any of the darn items.
I for one do not consider this item to be a mistake. Really all of the artifacts are still powerful artifacts, we can not lose here. Sure, we might not have what we want or have the right item at the right moment but none of the artifacts are useless.
At least their is plenty of monsters to use it on here. Maybe we can have fun riding a giant scary monster into battle. Mischa watch out.
[X] Yes, why not?
This entire island seems to run off reading the blood of people. We have registered ourselves before I am not sure why we should not do so again this time. I am willing to take the risk here.
Last edited by Skull Leader; September 5th, 2018 at 01:07 AM.
Very optimistic, Skull Leader, I like it. Yet we can't get any immediate use out of the artifact, and we do need to actually train and explore it's abilities to get any idea what the thingamajig is for. So... it's absolutely going to be useless until the next swap, and probably until we don't have anything better to use other, definitely useful items for. Months, years. Forever?.. Probably not.
And you don't need to study and learn to swing a sword efficiently to stab your enemy at superspeed. Just saying.
That depends on how much our new Power Armor Lite is saturated with Shinji's prana. Is it enough not to evaporate? May I remind you what happened to the last suit we have painstakingly acquired from Touko (and for which we are still in debt)? Also, remember the fate of the other half of ofuda, filled to the brim with Shinji's energy.This entire island seems to run off reading the blood of people. We have registered ourselves before I am not sure why we should not do so again this time. I am willing to take the risk here.
Most probably, not enough. But hey, I've been wrong in the past! What's the worst thing that could happen?
*insert a horrifying description of body/soul mutilation and humiliation the nude unenhanced young man will experience on the lower floors*
Last edited by Malorius; September 5th, 2018 at 01:50 AM.
[x] Yes, why not?
Well, that kind of temple usually requires one to shows humility. I don't see the point to a trap that already requires you to give some of your blood.
It's not a trap if losing most/all of your equipment is just a part of its function.
Maybe it was unfashionable to wear clothes among local overpowered demigods back then, what do we know? (Or maybe the mechanism just can't transfer anything but registered prana-filled targets, which is much more likely.)
Last edited by Malorius; September 5th, 2018 at 02:00 AM.
I like that idea, yeah.
But do you like it enough to risk losing a significant part of our worldly possessions? And, more importantly, remain without enchanted armor in a murder dungeon?
Admittedly, 0 defence dungeon crawl would make for a much more interesting story to tell later on - If we survive this adventure somehow.
(Of course, if the story doesn't end with: «...And that's why I failed Sion!»)
.>I don't expect twice the exact same trap for it would be boring storytelling.*
>It wouldn't be an adventure with Shinji if he didn't screw up at some point, only to be made fun of about it later on.
>I want to see Shinji struggle to unlock a secret power up.
>Sometimes you just have to follow the YOLO route for unsuspected benefits.
>I believe in the dice rolls.
Pick the one you like or all of them really x).
If we get naked again during the event, I'm assuming it will be when we are sure to damage Shinji's reputation even more, thus in plain view and likely by Lestrange's side.
*Still trust Alf to be quite creative when it comes to punishment.
Last edited by Daiki; September 5th, 2018 at 09:42 AM.
Choice 391: TIED
Chapter 93. The Other Side of the Mirror
Elesa regarded the boy silently as he explained the current issue he has with Perseus' mind/soul overwhelming his during his fusion - and how that, coupled with the rush of power he'd felt - had led him to overlook the darts on the first floor until it was too late.
"When I fuse, its normally just me and Zelkova," he stated, shaking his head. "Equals. The two of us synchronizing and merging our wills to become something greater. But with...with a third soul stuck inside me..."
"It's unstable," the American Champion noted. "As the third soul is weightier than your own, it upsets the balance between you and your familiar."
"That's about the long and the short of it," Shinji agreed, as he worked on his ofuda. After so long, he found the process of working on them quite relaxing, given that he poured his will into the little slips of paper. The repetitive motions were almost a sort of meditation, really, allowing him to bleed away the turbulent brew of emotions that filled him in battle. 'Though the rage was useful. I'll have to remember that if I ever face dementors - that while they can drain away positive feelings, anger and hate are not touched.' "What should I do?"
"If your body was...capable of housing a Heroic Spirit for an extended amount of time, I would say to ease the seal that is already on you, so slowly, you...get used to him being there during less stressful situations, but I'm afraid that's not possible in your current state."
"My...current state?"
"Your body was not designed to act as a vessel for a powerful spirit," the American Champion explained, closing her eyes as she sat down, assuming something like the lotus position. "And while it is...possible to alter it, that would take more time - and incur much more risk - than could be managed here, to say nothing of the consequences of that to your lifespan and such."
"...you seem to know a lot about this sort of thing," the boy remarked. "A lot more than someone would usually know offhand."
"Perhaps so."
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me why..."
"Classified."
Shinji grunted.
"Figures. So, that's no good, huh..."
"There are three viable options for you at this point. One is sealing away the spirit entirely, though this would likely require removing the aspect of it within your familiar - who, as I understand, enjoys his newfound ability to fly," Elesa noted. "A second is sealing only the portion within you, though this may make it more difficult to fuse with your familiar, as his essence is not quite what it was. A third is sealing the portion within your familiar, with you still being able to passively draw from the skills of the hero within you, at a reduced rate of decay, during fusion."
"...that's it?"
"Well, unless you feel like removing the spirit entirely and placing it in a different vessel, but that's not really something I can do," the young woman said apologetically. "If Ramona were here, then yes, but...the best I can do without her help is sever the connection between your souls, allowing it to return to whence it came. In that case, there would be no seal that could possibly break, no extra burden to deal with."
"You mean, you can just break the bond - send Perseus' soul...back to the Throne of Heroes?"
"Basically," Elesa summed up. "You made something like a contract with him, yes?"
"...I...suppose so?"
He hadn't really spoken the words of summoning aloud, but he had wished for a miracle, and in response, the soul had come forth.
"Then the contract can be broken," she noted. "Though if you did that, I sense that the seals on your arm might vanish."
'Wh—oh, the Command Seals.'
The symbol of the contract between him and the spirit he had summoned. If he gave up his rights as a Master, then he supposed Perseus would vanish eventually, since there would be nothing anchoring him to this plane of reality, but...
'If I do that, what happens later, during the War?'
Would someone else be asked to fight in his place? Would…
‘Tohsaka will probably have to fight in the war, and if I’m not there, she might get herself killed,’ the boy mused. ‘She’s always been…well, reckless like that. Careless too, not that I’m always much better…’
"Still, I can’t really recommend breaking the contract at this point, in case the spirit becomes…irritable at having its connection to this plane of existence severed," Elesa continued. "Many, given a taste of life again, do not wish to return to what they were."
"Ah," Shinji noted wryly. “Spite. I know it well.”
"I’m sure you do. In any case, those are your options – one of the three types of sealing, breaking your contract, or...doing nothing."
"Doing nothing?"
"It could be that you will get used to this state of things eventually, and with only half the soul within you, your body is not at risk of degrading from the strain at present. But, since it is your body, I leave the decision up to you. Your body, your choice."
For Matou Shinji, this was no easy decision. Anything he chose now could have long-term repercussions that couldn't be foreseen. From the danger that a powerful enough seal might interfere with his ability to circulate prana to the possibility that he might not be able to use the odd mystic codes he'd developed the ability to manifest, from interference with fusion to the fact that a broken contract might result in the spirit he had summoned being...somewhat unhappy with him (to the point of possibly killing him), he could see ways that whatever he decided could go terribly wrong.
Even if he tried not to focus on the negative, his mind kept looping back to it, given how most other things had gone for him lately.
'Still, I can't just do nothing...'
That said, he didn't want to deprive Zelkova of the gift of flight, either, since his familiar was finding it quite a novel experience, so it was clear which option was probably the one with the least downsides.
"...just seal the portion in me," the boy said quietly, with Elesa nodding.
"Lie down," she bade him. "Oh, and strip."
Shinji was already moving to do so, before the words fully registered.
"Wait...what?" he asked.
"I need to touch your skin directly for this," Elesa explained, with the boy sighing as he nodded and carried out her instructions. One satisfied that the preparations were complete, the American Champion touched his arm - right where his command seals were - with a glowing finger, and everything went white.
Reality dissolved into a sea of chaos, static filing his vision as his senses were disconnected from his body, spinning around and around and around as his consciousness plunged deeper and deeper into a paradox spiral.
His awareness flickered, as scenes of the past – his past, and then a past not his own – played through his mind, though as they did, flipping back and forth from one to the other, he could see—feel the memories of—the memories of the other begin to grow faint.
Fuzzy. Grey.
As if he was only watching from afar, not living through the spirit’s eyes, seeing the life of the ancient hero.
Seeing how he fought the great beast of the sea for the sake of Andromeda.
Turning a rival for her hand into stone.
Flying through a sky as red as blood towards an ancient temple.
Enjoying the pleasures of the marriage bed with his lovely wife – something that featured quite prominently in Perseus’ mind.
And then in the end, when the memories had all but faded away, he bore witness to one last scene, no – he was in one last scene.
This one felt…different from the rest, if only for the fact that he was riding some winged horse, wielding a long spear as he bore down on a creature out of nightmare – a pure-white beast with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and a serpent's tail.
The monster, seeing him coming, and unleashed the fires of the underworld itself upon him, a blaze that would consume whatever it touched.
Yet as the fire raced towards him, he continued to dive, coming closer, closer, closer to inevitable destruction, and at the very last moment, threw his spear and turned aside.
The metal warped, buckled, melted in the fierce heat, but continued on unerringly anyway, with the flames cutting off as molten metal burned through the Chimera’s throat, with the beast swaying, swaying, and finally collapsing.
‘Victory.’
It was sweet. Something to be savored, which he did, for a moment, before even that faded away, leaving him alone in the darkness.
When Shinji awoke, laying on the ground after a dream encounter with a powerful White Chimera, the boy found himself exhausted, as if he'd fought against the creature in real life, suffering scrapes, burns and more - and yet as he looked down on his unclothed torso, he found that this was not so, that he was completely uninjured.
'Phantom pain, huh?'
He'd heard of the phenomenon before as something that afflicted a small percentage of dreamers - and of course, also afflicted those who had lost a limb, with their bodies perceiving that the limb was in excruciating agony, even though the appendage was no longer there, and thus, logically couldn't really cause pain. But then, the human mind - to say nothing of humanity in general - wasn't really rational, something which any psychologist - or magus who looked at the collective unconscious and the horrors which dwelled with it, knew all too well.
"I see the sealing went well," Elesa noted from off to his side. "Good. It was touch and go there, since your souls are unusually similar, and aspects of Perseus' had begun to blend into yours. It was a bit of a task making sure that the separation did not irrevocably damage either party."
"Huh."
"That said, I have some bad news."
"...what is it?" the boy asked. He almost - almost - said he didn't want to know, but down in the labyrinth like this, he needed to know what he could and could not still do.
''Over the past two floors, you seemed to display increased physical resilience and a higher baseline level of prana regeneration. Because the influence of the portion of the spirit within you has been sealed away entirely, these effects will no longer apply. In addition, I do not think you retain the ability to summon forth the disguise-type mystic code you displayed to me previously. Try it now."
The boy did as she asked, finding that the mantle no longer appeared when he bade it - that he remained topless.
"Damnit...it doesn't work anymore," he grumbled. He'd suspected this might be a consequence of sealing, but... 'Oh well, it wasn't like I really used the mantle much.' So he told himself, though losing an ability he'd spontaneously developed still rankled somehow.
"That said, something unusual did happen during the sealing," the young woman related, with Shinji stiffening.
What did she mean by unusual...? His body didn't decide to manifest some strange brand other than the Command Seals, right? He glanced over at his arm, seeing that the Seals were still there, though...
'Huh...'
...there was a new seal of sorts inscribed on his other arm, mirroring that on his right, an eye and a pyramid, also glowing blue.
"...I assume this was your doing?" he said wryly, looking pointedly at the arm.
"That was, yes," Elesa answered, as she walked up to him and knelt beside him. "It is the seal." Then she lifted up the end of a golden cord that was apparently wrapped around his waist. "This, however, is not. It is a remaining piece of the spirit I could not fully seal."
Shinji blinked, trying to will it to disappear, only it remained stubbornly visible.
"Is this some kind of rope?"
"Something like that," Elesa replied. "I'm not sure exactly what it does, as I do not have authority over it. Perhaps it is locked to your soul. Or to the soul of Perseus."
"...huh. Odd," the boy mused. "I'll have to figure it out later."
"Yes. That sounds like a good plan."
Back at Durmstrang, on the eve of the final task of the Tri-Wizard Championship, George felt pensive, though not because he was anything less than confident about his skills or his chances of victory.
‘Both Fleur and Krum will do their best to win, of course.’
Fleur, proving to herself that she was qualified to be on this stage, trying to convince herself that things like feelings didn’t matter. If she lost to him, she would no doubt believe herself to have been distracted, blaming herself.
Krum, of course, was the underdog after all that had transpired, and wanted to prove that he – he whose name had been a household name in his own country even before this – was more than just someone good at Quidditch. That he, too, could stand on his own as a Champion.
George was willing to admit that Krum was well trained by the standards of his school, and that if he were up against any other person from Hogwarts, might well win.
‘But he’s not,’ the Gryffindor mused. ‘He’s up against me.’
And George knew that if he desired, while he would certainly be able to crush the other two, as the abilities he’d gained – his spirit form, his wand with an obscurus core, his training with Lockhart’s apprentice – far surpassed what either of the two could match.
‘I held nothing back, no one would be unable to stop me from seizing the title of Tri-Wizard Champion – the first in over two hundred years.’
Not even if he had five competitors, or ten, not just two.
But…that was if he was willing to use the fullness of his might, which considering that he’d gone out of his way to save the two people he was now competing against, seemed counter-intuitive.
It was tempting to demonstrate his power, yet in the end, what worth was ‘Eternal Glory’ and a pitiful sack of Galleons?
‘We earned far more from our ill-fated Acromantula adventure last year…’
Perhaps if he’d still been poor, the gleam of gold would have proven an irresistible lure, but as it was, the money, impressive as it might be to any other student his age, meant very little, especially compared to things like possible futures, connections, or wanting to see someone smile.
‘Now…what would Matou do in a situation like this?’ he wondered. ‘He defeated Harry once, but we all know that was for the sake of Sokaris. If he was here, if he was Champion…’
George found himself laughing as he imagined what the press would have said – would have written – if Shinji, with his womanizing ways, had been chosen as Hogwarts’ Champion for the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
‘I wonder how he’s doing in the Potions Championship,’ the Gryffindor mused. ‘Knowing him, I’m sure he’s gone off on some adventure with a pretty girl – probably a blonde, instead of trying to win at any cost.’
Yes, that sounded like him.
‘And knowing him, he’s probably done something others would consider foolish or wicked.’
Probably for the sake of Lestrange, at that, since the French Potions Champion did have an uncanny resemblance to Luna.
‘Yeah. Knowing him, that’s what he’d do. Save the girl, damn the consequences. Probably telling the press to go bugger themselves if they make trouble for him.’
His old friend was perhaps not the best example of sound judgement, and certainly not of objectivity, at least as far as Magical Britain was concerned, or if there was a beautiful young woman in danger, but in this case, with far more on the line than some transient victory, his might be an example worth following.
‘If I win as decisively as I can, Britain will use it to make political hay, claiming that my victory proves the superiority of the British wizard. They might even use it as propaganda for the war effort. Especially if Krum died.’
They would spin it as a valiant British youth overcoming the Bulgarian monster, and the temptations of a French harlot to seize his well-deserved crown, no doubt.
‘How unpleasant.’
He wouldn’t let them ride on his coattails, when they had done nothing, save to slander and libel Fleur – doing the same to Matou, now that he thought about it.
‘Save the girl, damn the rest. That sounds about right.’
Tomorrow would be an interesting day, he thought, but not because it was the end of the Tournament. Tomorrow would be interesting, because it was the beginning of everything else.
Choice 392: As it turned out, while he dithered, Elesa stepped up to the bowl and ran her fingers over it, with the vessel lighting up as she did. She then proceeded to pull the switch, with a quiet hum sounding, but otherwise, nothing else of note happening that Shinji picked out.
"The pathway should be active now," the young woman remarked, with Shinji furrowing his brow as he followed her back to the mid-point of the ledge.
"What pathway?"
"An invisible one that traverses the chasm. It is a...slow way across, and treacherous, should you take a false step, but it should not catch the attention of whatever is slumbering in the abyss."
"Ah."
"How you cross, of course, is up to you."
So how will Shinji cross?
[ ] Try the invisible pathway
[ ] Have Elesa carry one of his ofuda across and see if he can flow through
[ ] Just have Zelkova fly across
[ ] (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Try the invisible pathway.
Everyone knows the value of a good nap, no need to disturb the local population (who is unaware of their presence) over a little trespassing, right?
[X] Try the invisible pathway, hand in hand with Zelkova so that he can grab Shinji in a misstep.
Let's not get fancy here. Just use the path that Elesa is fairly sure that will not alert anything. Flying is likely to do that and it is rather iffy in Ofuda. Who knows if Ofuda will even work since there might be something that stops it. Plus I would think that the use of magic like that would alert any magic sensitive creature.
My addition to the choice is just the logic here of using Zelkova flying as the backup when/if we fail on the bridge.
Oh, come on, it was barely a day! It was your choice of pace that influenced this decision.while he dithered
[X] Try the invisible pathway, hand in hand with Zelkova so that he can grab Shinji in a misstep and give Elesa an ofuda
Maximum overcaution because why not? (Pft, I didn't even pull a ten foot pole to check if the chasm is an illusion, guys. This isn't even my final form!)
Maximum splitting the votes because controversy.
[X] Try the invisible pathway, hand in hand with Zelkova so that he can grab Shinji in a misstep and give Elesa an ofuda
.
Really, another tie. No, Shinji won't be as wishy washy as us, I refuse to let it happen.
[x] Try the invisible pathway.
The choice is pretty much a flavor anyway, let's get to the dramatic exploration sequences already.
Choice 392: [x] Try the invisible pathway
Choice 393: For Matou Shinji, the choice of how to cross the chasm is obvious - while he could use other methods like flow ofuda or have Zelkova carry him, something told him that minimizing the use of his own prana was probably the right idea, especially if Elesa, who no doubt had her own tricks, was not using any of them, choosing instead to take the invisible pathway that ostensibly led across the labyrinth.
"You, uh...went this way before?" he asked in a hush, visibly unnerved to be walking out onto what seemed like thin air, following Elesa's footsteps. Surprisingly, the ground seemed solid underneath his feet, though as he moved away from the bounded fields and anything solid-looking he began to feel a bit of vertigo. He also drew on his prana to stabilize himself but--
"Don't," came the reply, with Elesa's voice soft but firm. "Don't use your prana."
"Why?"
The young woman just looked at Shinji as if he was a tad...slow.
"Sajyou and I came this way before. We...erred, shall we say, not realizing what needed to be done."
Shinji blinked. So even Nyx could make mistakes. Still...
"Seeing as you're alive, it couldn't have been too--"
She cut him off with a look.
"The field responds to intruders with magical abilities by leeching away their prana at an accelerated rate, should they employ them. It is one way that what is within here is kept...contained," Elesa responded, glancing down into the darkness below.
"And just what is below?"
For a moment, the boy saw indecision flash across Elesa's face, though the moment passed quickly enough that he could have sworn he just imagined it.
"...something that is better off left to the world of dreams," the American Champion spoke softly. "If it wakes, Matou, you will die."
"What, you won't?"
"If only it were that easy," she muttered. "Come along."
The boy did so, following her every movement, since she seemed to have a knack for where the walkway was - something he himself couldn't. He couldn't see it, nor sense it passively with his spiritual senses. And he wasn't about to extend his staff to check, not if there was something that scared Elesa.
"How do you do that?" he asked instead.
"Do what?"
"Walk upon the pathway, along its twists and turns, so confidently?"
"Oh that?" she asked, blinking. "When I touched the bowl, it sent something like a map into my mind," the young woman replied. "Well, a number sequence that resolves into a map anyway. So, I'm just following it, trusting that the ground will be there."
"Isn't that a bit of a leap of faith?" the boy wondered, narrowing his eyes. "You couldn't have known that the walkway would be there, since you couldn't see it - and...you can't sense it, can you?"
"Except for the fact that I'm standing on it, perhaps not."
"Then how can you trust that it will lead you across? What if its another trap, to fool people desperate for an easy answer?"
"Matou," Elesa replied in a very dry tone. "Trust me, this isn't easy. Keeping track of the steps I take, the turns I've made, and more - and it gets harder the more you distract me by talking."
"Right. Shutting up. Right now."
Somehow, they make it across to the other side without incident, though by that time, Shinji's mind and body were exhausted. The chasm was only one, maybe two kilometers across, yet the pathway had doubled back a more than a few times, dramatically lengthening the course they had to walk.
Still, they made it across, which was what counted.
"The next floor contains spirits of fire," Elesa remarked idly. "The floor and ceiling are stable enough, but the walls are in flux, moving - a labyrinth of silver and black flames. There are several Jinn about, though they are not hostile unless you attack first - or so I have seen. Be warned however, though you cannot pass through the flames, and seek openings, there are creatures that can."
What is his strategy for exploring this shrine to the element of fire and reaching the other side?
[ ] (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
Hmm.
Well with fire, I think the fire absorbing Staff is a must here so that should be our main attack route. Ofuda is almost useless here so we should just hold onto those for now and not use them. I think we need to try out Fusion now for the M.Def increase as well as to make the Staff more effective. We might as well go ahead and see now what the effect on Shinji-Zelkova fuse state will be now that we applied the seal.
Anyone else has any ideas here on a strategy beyond those two basic things.
.Oh boy, Zelkova isn't going to like that one.
I assume this is when we attempt to seal those flames with ofuda only to have them burn afterwards because the material isn't resistant enough.
We could initially test out how the flames react to our corrupted water and earth ofuda. Although I doubt Shinji's decay is enough to starve the flames, the element themselves might allow to open a path, even if only temporarily.
Outside of the various factors that could be dangerous (heat, monsters, traps and such), I think the main issue is to find a way through. Not only the labyrinth is constantly changing, it will probably provide stuff that will cause disorientation. So, even if we have the means to ditch it out against whatever is inside (like Fusion), we will need a sure way to navigate through.
Too bad we didn't study runes harder, for we could have used Berkano here.
...Or we can aggro all the Jinn in the room and deal with them at once. And then slowly and methodically force a path through the room without interruptions. Brute force is always an option, guys!
Of course, Touko will probably have to replace half of our body after that and Shinji won't be able to cosplay Full Metal Alchemist anymore.
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