Class Skills:
Territory Creation- B
The ability to formulate a territory advantageous to oneself. Meir can establish a basic Workshop that serves as his study, stocked with papyrus scrolls. The study is layered with Kabbalic glyphs that bolster its defenses against intruders. Bruriah in turn favors creating a "Household" where she gains bonuses to all domestic tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, gardening, etc. She also obtains plus modifiers to her stats while defending it.
Item Construction- C+
A talent to craft items tinted with magical energy. Both sides of Caster can create scrolls on which they can inscribe their Kabbalistic glyphs. These glyphs then serve as delayed spells, actualizing their contained mystery when Caster courses magical energy through them, which can even be done remotely. This lets Caster perform spells seemingly without incantation, though the spell in question has to be inscribed beforehand.
Meir in particular is also fairly adept at crafting Golems. He can create strong humanoid-type golems to serve as familiars, as well as (given sufficient time) prosthetic limbs and even organs by molding them from dirt. Meir is even fast enough that he can craft a full-body golem double of himself in the middle of combat, substituting it in his place to make it look like he took a lethal blow while escaping.
Personal Skills:
Kabbalist- A/C+
An ancient Hebrew mystical tradition that centers around learning and manipulating the Names of God to evoke spiritual phenomena. This Skill serves as a variant of
Rune Magic, as by reciting or inscribing Names of God one can evoke the desired thaumaturgical effects.
Meir was revered as one of the greatest Kabbalists in his era. He was taught by the great sage Elisha Ben Abuyah (before the latter's fall into villainy), and his prowess in the art went on to possibly eclipse even his master. Meir favors evoking the Archangel Raphael in his spells, specializing in wind and healing Magecraft. Like many Kabbalists he's also decently skilled at Golemancy, though that isn't his forte.
He also passed on some of his wisdom to his wife Bruriah. She's not as skilled as Meir himself, but receives a bonus when it comes to casting spells rapidly, based on the legend where she learned and recited 300
in a single day. Unlike her husband, Bruriah favors spells that reinforce her body directly, letting her deliver powerful magic-infused punches and kicks to her foes. Her favorite spell evokes the heavenly chariot Merkava to create flaming chariot-wheels around her ankles, letting her greatly boost her mobility and propel herself through the air.
"Hmm, that fighting style isn't very ladylike Bru..."
"Oh? Do you think I'd look more ladylike kicking you in the face then?"
"...Sorry m'am! (She really is adorable all worked up like this though)."
Yichudim- EX
A Skill denoting the masculine and feminine unifying principle in Kabbalistic mysticism. Meir and Bruriah together embody this principle due to being a husband-and-wife pair who equally shared their esoteric wisdom and dedicated themselves to God. As they each epitomize one half of the Divine duality, this Skill donates the pair
Divinity at rank C.
Furthermore Meir and Bruriah obtain unique abilities reflecting the nature of their respective aspect. Meir wields the male principle, Tiferet, associated with emitting energy. From this he gains the
Mana Burst Skill. As the yielding feminine role in their relationship (at least theoretically, those familiar with Bruriah's personality might doubt just how truly "yielding" she is) Bruriah bears the female principle, Malkuth, responsible for receiving the energy from Tiferet and nurturing it. This lends her
Self-Replenishment (Mana), letting Bruriah passively draw magical energy from her surroundings to heal herself.
As a pinnacle trump card, Meir and Bruriah can combine their male and female affinities together. Using Bruriah's ability to absorb energy and Meir's ability to expel it in tandem, they first gather Mana from all across the surroundings, before releasing it in a gigantic beam towards the enemy. This is similar to the concept of a "perfect emitter" in physics, something that can absorb every electromagnetic waves and re-emit them. By fusing their active masculine energy and passive feminine energy, Meir and Bruriah can simulate this feat. Meir insists on calling out this attack as
"Ultimate Love-Love Kabbalic Buster!", much to Bruriah's embarrassment.
"Come on, Bru. Let's show this miscreant the power of our love!"
"Do you have to give this speech every time? It's so embarrassing..."
"Yep, totally necessary. I've heard of something called 'Shonen manga' in this era and in it, ultimate attacks are always way more powerful if you call them out. It's a Halachic fact!"
"You're just saying that to justify your whims..."
Affection To The - B+/X
"Even if everyone else reviles him as a villain, I will--- never abandon that person."
This Skill is Meir's sublimated oath towards the man he once loved and was sorrowfully forced to kill.
Amongst all Abuyah's former colleagues Meir alone tried to reach out to him after his apostasy. Even as Abuyah cursed God and lashed out against the world, Meir still extended a hand of friendship to him, hoping to convince him to repent and return to Judaism. Although that effort proved in vain, and Meir ultimately had to kill his friend with his own hands to protect the world, he never forgot their time together. According to legend after winning their Kabbalistic duel Meir draped his cloak over Abuyah's dead body, honoring the fiend who'd once been his dearest friend.
A specialization of the Skill
Discernment Of The Poor, this allows Meir to see the good intentions of people buried beneath their evil façade. At this rank even the faintest glimmer of goodness in an otherwise totally evil being can be clearly gleaned by Meir.
From there, it's simply a matter of drawing that goodness to the surface.
Visually, this takes the form of ethereal butterflies swirling around the person, with good intentions shining gold and evil intentions being dyed ominously black.
When argumentation alone isn't enough to get through to the enemy, Meir also has a final card to play. A secret function of this Skill, that Meir only uses as a last resort because of its riskiness, both for himself and the opponent. He can literally dive into the target soul, entering their internal Reality Marble (for instance, if he used this ability on Shirou he'd find himself in a desolated wasteland filled with swords a la
Unlimited Blade Works).
Here Meir can communicate with them telepathically, as well as glimpse their memories through the same mental link. He can also make the target relive through memories they'd forgotten/repressed. Inside the Reality Marble Meir faces a mental representation of the opponent, which is just the same as the real opponent.
This technique is risky because it basically forces Meir to confront the target on their own Reality Marble. If they reject him, he'll end up fighting on their home territory. Additionally if done carelessly Meir could end up accidentally destroying the target's mind, rendering them comatose or worse. Should Meir be killed within the mental world, he won't die in real life but simply be kicked back to reality with his Mana heavily exhausted.
The initial "diving" qualifies as a mental attack and can be defended against as such. Enemies with high mental resistance will be able to block out Meir from invading their psyches.
During his final battle with Abuyah, Meir used this technique in a desperate last effort to get through to his former friend. Sadly, it failed, as Meir found himself overwhelmed by the torrent of hatred and despair within Abuyah's soul. Before he could recover himself, he was expelled from the Reality Marble.
"Your sadness, your pain, your rage... I was too weak to accept those feelings. Instead of reaching out I ended up the one being repelled. Please, forgive me, Acher."
That even his best technique wasn't enough to save his friend, is truly Meir's deepest regret.
Until The Sabbath Ends- X/A
"Not yet... it's not over yet...! Until my friends are safe, and everyone can smile together happily... until that time, I won't allow myself to be weak or shed tears!"
A Skill born from the most famous episode illustrating Bruriah's mental strength.
One day during Sabbath two of her sons suddenly fell ill and died, while Meir was away at the temple conducting his observances. When he came back, Bruriah hid the bodies by covering them with a shroud, not wanting to disturb her husband's mind during his evening prayers. When she revealed the truth afterwards, she held Meir as he sobbed into her chest and consoled him with a parable.
This immense fortitude of will has been sublimated into Bruriah's Personal Skill. It allows Bruriah to ignore the effects of any damage she suffers until the end of the "Sabbath". In this case, the "Sabbath" equates to the current battle. In other words, this Skill gives her a unique variant of
Battle Continuation.
While she can still get injured and feel pain, it won't affect her battle prowess nor show on her face. Even as her heart cries out in grief, even as her legs buckle from exhaustion, Bruriah will always put on a brave face and keep fighting for those she loves most. For her opponents, it's a terrifying sight. A mere young girl who keeps dragging herself up inhumanly no matter how broken her body becomes. For her allies, it's a sight just as awe-inspiring but far more tragic. A heroine who will never give up, even as her body gives out, sprinting gladly towards her own demise if it'd mean extending her friends' lives by just an instant. That, is just the sort of person Bruriah is.
That said, even willpower transcending one's flesh falls short of boundlessness. When
draws to a close all benefits of this Skill will wear off, resulting in Bruriah likely collapsing as the accumulated injuries she ignored take effect all at once. Since this Skill blocks out the effects of damage it makes difficult for Bruriah to gauge how wounded she is in the middle of battle, which can lead to overexerting herself.
Thankfully, Meir is always there to step in with healing Magecraft.
"You always work yourself so hard. It's okay to just take a break and let others handle things sometimes you know? Don't worry, I'll take care of you until you can move again..."
"Thank... you..."