"In the uncertainty of the natural world, we find meaning, In the wonders of the arcane, we find strength, in the sciences, our actions shape the world. Together we shall transcend all"

Chant of the Magi-Tech church.

 

Idun took a look at the shipyard underground as his people hammered, melded, and cast their miracles as a deep melodic song boomed in the background, the people singing along without words.

"This, this will change warfare as we know it even more than the battle against the First Prince and his people" Knight Commander Erwin spoke to Idun's side, the man was flanked by his now newlywed wife, the wounds of his tragic past healing bit by bit thanks to the newly established church of Saal'Xhir in the north and its healers helping the man deal with his devils.

"Master Idun, what about those suits of armor I heard about?" Sigrún asked.

Idun smiled "The Zenos prototype unit has gone through quite the iterations and we have managed to streamline the process to 3 variants, a front line bruiser meant to take the maximum amount of damage, a long-range scout with powerful jamming abilities, and BVR combat capabilities together with the new stronger version of the bolt action rifles"

Sigrún nodded "I've seen those new rifles at work in the range, they can punch through even the strongest of Ki barriers and metals, but that recoil..." Idun nodded, he had read the reports of broken shoulders and arms and the weapon was already being toned down for infantry use.

Erwin spoke "Those front line units, will they have that new weapon the Duchess had you come up it last week?" Ah yes Idun nodded, the man had taken a liking to the new weapon the so-called "shotgun" Idun didn't want to debate nomenclature with his savior and head of the church but sometimes Lady Lucrezia wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to names.

Still, with ammo that could deal with several situations, the weapon was surprisingly popular with hunters and frontiersmen braving the wilds of the wastes, close range, long-range, taking down small and big game. A more versatile weapon platform Idun couldn't name it.

"Aye Knight Commander, we have yet to crack the automatic design our Lady keeps harping about but the MK II has it together with spell rods and a special crystal meant for a long-range beam attack that drains the magical energy of its inner core, a last-ditch attack against enemies from afar" Idun spoke fast and clear as the Knight Commander and his Second in command nodded.

"Typical of her, do these suits have means to remove the pilot should they be compromised?" Erwin asked.

"We are working on portable teleportation beacons to be deployed but the knowledge for those is rare to come by, it will take at least another year before we can have safe ejections, bar that they can get out in relative quickness via the eject function that deploys a shock-absorbing slime around the pilot as they fly from the back of the suit" Idun tapped his table "I assume you want to know about the last type yes?"

"Infantry focused I wager?" Sigrún spoke.

Idun nodded "Aye lass, in the words of our Lady the Zenos MK IV is a lean mean killing machine, granting increased power, mobility, and reaction time to our troops at the cost of the protection of the MK II, together with the new model of twin-barrel bolt actions, and the semi-auto pistols it is a game-changer in the fields of battle, all powered by the Magical Crystals mined from the castle"

Erwin took a look around, seeing the other immense project being built around the flotilla, and spoke in a hushed tone "My blessing aches at the sight of this, I wasn't alive when the last sphere shift in the realm of war happened but you were" he pointed to Sigrún who spoke, "The first time crossbows were deployed into actual war..." Erwin contained "But this? this will be an order of magnitude above it"

He pointed to the vehicles "those personal carriers of hers, with the obvious weapon at the top and armored enough to take salvos from an entire battalion of knights, those death machines with the huge cannons that just a few short months before were immobile now flying across the plains with power to shake the earth and heavens both..."

Idun laughed "If only you had seen the terraforming locomotive, Erwin! a shame the damn thing didn't work, as Lady Lucrezia was delighted with its design and rail building capabilities!"

"Master Idun I must say, to have cracked the code in Airship making..." Sigrún sighed "The elves from the principality are very stingy with their technology but now, now we can fly!"

"And rain death from the skies, sea, and land" Erwin spoke his voice somber "I wonder, we aren't at war and the Duchess made clear the King is holding his wife back from killing Lucrezia, what need does she have to make these machines of war?"

From the background a form appeared, Ah Idun smiled when he saw Emilya and her scary elven guard.

"Something is brewing in that Academy Knight, something nasty that will boil over and Lucrezia is making sure she has the power to fight back whenever that happens, take a look at this" the Elven woman placed a map in Idun's table "Last week she secured shipping lanes along the entire coast, and the Academy has a small port right by the castle that's the center of those Fields of ours where people don't die" she marked the spot with magic.

"Madness! This would be nothing short of a coup! Lady Lucrezia made crystal clear she would not move a hand against the Royals Miss Veronica!" Erwin spoke fast as the elven woman shook her head "Yes and I believe her, your womanchild of a ruler is surprisedly open with her emotions when it comes to that, but it is clear she will do something that will involve our forces"

"ours?" Sigrún asked and Veronica sighed "You aren't the only one dealing with a womanchild, Little princess over there has pledged herself to Lucrezia and she means that, if she is to fight she will be on the frontlines with the Magi-Tech Vanguard"

Idun couldn't help but smile at that, He knew Emilya abhorred fighting but her sense of duty ran more profound than that, Gods bless that lass.

"Hraax contacted me, her people are also ready for a war with anyone that comes knocking" Erwin spoke again, this time calmer "I...Would not want to fight against the Royal Knights, I can vouch for my men but our Standing Army would likely fold in the first bout..."

Idun spoke "To bridge the cap we will need more and better Magi-Tech, Yes yes I have some ideas for that" He and Emilya went off to a secluded corner as the Warriors stood amongst each other.

"Will you fight Lady Veronica?" Erwin asked.

The elven woman smirked "And miss the chance to kick Vermilion Knights in the balls without having to deal with some century-long curse being thrown at me? Yes, I will fight, if that soft-handed princess is willing to take up arms then so are we" she looked to the flotilla and airships "Still this is a tad overkill, Our blessings aren't lying here Knight, those weapons were made to level out entire cities. I dare not entertain the notion of fighting anything stronger than your Royal Knights"

Erwin frowned, if it came to that, not even the gods themselves would be able to turn the tide.

---

Saa'ryu was tired, as the days went by her and her master she began to notice a pattern to the chaos Lu was bringing to the Academy, from fixing minor stuff no one in their right mind would even be given the time of the day, to literal world-shaking events as the discovery of a godsdamned living ancient the last of their kind. In these peaks and valleys of activity, she kept her pace like it was all business as usual.

Then her time with The Owl came and Saa'ryu saw the extent of Lu's knack for anything under the bloody sun.

"Welcome home sister" the clerk at the entrance of the training grounds greeted Saa'ryu with a warm smile "And oh my Lady Lucrezia! the rumors are true then? you wish to learn our arts?"

Lu ever the unflappable individual she was spoke without missing a beat "Aye my good man, is the man in charge inside?"

The clerk snapped his fingers and a door opened "That he is, I am sure sister here can guide you to him" and so Saa'ryu after gods knew how many years walked towards her home, it felt nostalgic hearing the noises of new trainees in the courtyard, the smells of teas and foodstuff being prepped by the cooks and the cleaners ever doing their work, slowly she began to relax as if she was back in the north.

Her self-imposed exile was finally over.

In the main courtyard, a giant of a man stood tall watching the trainees, his short gray hair shining in the sunlight as the summer breeze made his battle-worn robes flutter, on his back a curved greatsword with a jagged edge that showed its age.

"The wayward daughter returns! and with her a new member of the family!" his voice bellowed as the trainees and seniors turned to welcome them, Saa'ryu saw a few familiar faces who dashed towards her and gave her hugs or shook hands while Owl greeted Lu.

"It's not every day we get a noble among our ranks Lady Lucrezia, are you sure you are up for the challenge? there will be no special treatment for you here" Lu nodded with a smile as the Owl slapped her on the back "Good! Now let us begin with the basics, shall we? Trainees! to the Gaunlet!"

Saa'ryu couldn't help but smile, oh how she would love to see Lu take on that infernal contraption meant to teach how to effortlessly navigate any type of environment with speed and precision.

Arriving in the facility, Saa'ryu took a seat near the Owl as he began explaining the rules, no magical items, or regular ones. All Lu and the trainees could use was their blessings and magical abilities, or Ki.

They could also help each other to foster a sense of brotherhood among the assassins who often would do jobs as teams, and instill the "no one left behind" mentality that the Owl is so prideful of.

She saw Lucrezia warm herself up as the go-ahead was given, she flew forward dodging and jumping without grace but with brute force, to the point she broke pieces of the ground when she landed.

"Not subtle at all is she?" the Owl smiled "Wonder how she will fare against the fighters"

---

"Out!" screamed the referee as Lucrezia kicked another trainee from the ring a the center of the courtyard, Owl smiled to himself as he stepped down towards the ring.

Ye gods, the old fart was going to fight Lucrezia, wasn't he? Saa'ryu rolled her eyes, the man always had these flights of fancy but to fight Lucrezia? she couldn't believe it.

"Haha! The new initiates are not enough to whet thy appetite little duchess! Mayhap ah increase in the challenge is required!" He spoke out loud as he unsheathed his enormous outright impractical sword, a hunk of iron that no one would be mad enough to swing about, especially a master assassin.

The Owl loved his theatrics.

Saa'ryu watched as her lady placed her ax down and grabbed a training sword from the basket near the edge of the arena, she then walked up to Owl and bowed without a word, the old assassin smiled and bowed as well, as the referee raised his hand both jumped backward and took stances, ready for the bout.

The Owl dashed forward, his strikes heavy and blunt seeking to overpower Lucrezia, who instead of responding in kind was focusing herself on dodging, parrying, and poking the Owl in the seconds he let his guard down in between attacks.

"Impressive! for someone whose very soul is haunted by the beast!" Owl barked as he began casting illusionary magicks, the great bird that shared his name manifested itself in the skies and dove down towards Lucrezia who dodged flawlessly as if she had seen that attack one too many times.

Saa'ryu began noticing her father losing his usual mirth after that, and yet Lucrezia spoke nary a word but grunts of physical effort, she was honed in the battle to the point where even her "condition" wasn't flaring up, Saa'ryu's experience told her she was likely too focused to lose herself into the bloodlust, as the Owl was no opponent that one could fight with reckless abandon.

Her father started using more and more magic, teleportation spells, smokescreens, and loud bangs to stun her, the type of combat only seniors like Saa'ryu and her older sisters and brothers could handle without folding like wet paper.

And yet Lucrezia held on, with minimal use of Ice spells and Magnetism she countered the spells that could be countered, held herself against those that would breach any type of defense she could muster, and even employed the most basic of defensive spells that she learned so long ago to give her that sliver of an edge she needed. As if she knew the Owl was the best killer when it came to magic users like her.

Was Lucrezia some sort of battle genius that graced the planet every generation or so? Saa'ryu couldn't believe it herself but watching the woman reading her father and master so effortlessly, and pushing the man into going into serious mode begged for a different evaluation of her lady's abilities in the field of battle.

The Owl stomped his feet on the ground, sending shockwaves that physically molded the very soil into waves that nearly shallower Lucrezia who jumped in the air only to send a flurry of iron bars towards the ground where the Owl was, a second later a thunderbolt flared and struck true, the sound enough to break nearby windows. Lucrezia went down as the Owl popped from dimensional partition and said "Out of mana" she threw the sword on the ground as the Owl nodded "Very good Lady Lucrezia, very good indeed" he took a deep breath and spoke "Now for the final test"

Saa'ryu smiled, glad the fight was over and that Lu would finally learn the best part of being an assassin.

Stealth Magicks!

Saa'ryu missed in her heart of hearts the days of slowly infiltrating enemy strongholds, dismantling defenses both magical and divine, taking out guards, masquerading as regular workers, jumping from shadow to shadow like a wraith.

And now she would see if Lucrezia had it in her!

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the final location, a huge arena filled with contraptions and traps. Patrols of senior assassins everywhere as they tested the trainees in every part of the craft, with man failing every once in a while as the day went by.

"Here's how the test goes little lordling" the Owl spoke "Each room will have a set pattern of traps and wards placed in it both magical or divine, your job is to get past it without alerting anyone or anything of your presence in 5 minutes, do you understand?"

Lucrezia nodded and the test started, Saa'ryu watched as her Lady began whispering to herself in a steady rhythm, almost as if she was singing! when the doors opened Lucrezia immediately crouched and began sneaking by the traps, every once in a while she would disarm or outright break some of the wards with a burst of magic or using the rage, which made Saa'ryu's eyes pop.

Who knew you could use the rage like that? Lucrezia did, as always she had the answer for the issue at hand, unorthodox and way outside of the box yes but answer nonetheless.

"We make do, Saa, we make do," she told Saa'ryu once when asked why she came up with such convoluted solutions for issues.

The divine wards proved far more challenging for Lucrezia, those she couldn't avoid she had to take more time than usual to destroy them while dodging the senior patrols, her pace through the rooms slowed down to a crawl as the time tickled down second by second, Saa'ryu could see the sweat in Lu's brow as she tried her hardest to go fast without giving away her position.

With 1 minute left on the clock, Saa'ryu saw a flash of resignation on Lucrezia's face as she went down on her belly and crawled towards the nearby guard, knocking the woman out with a savage punch right in her nose, grabbing her body and princess carrying her to the finishing line while dodging the remaining guards.

"She figured out the guards are immune to the traps, the true test was stealing their ward key but I guess she couldn't figure it out and decided to go with this...method" the Owl spoke out loud then shook his head "No points for subtlety but she did dodge the others while carrying poor Yukinoshita on her arms, someone drag the woman to the infirmary at once!"

He walked to Lucrezia who was gasping for air, no doubt this was the first time in a while she had to push herself outside of her comfort zone of battle and said "There's much to iron out on you Lucrezia, but if you stick with us to the end we will make you a proper Assassin yet" he went for a handshake and Lu accepted it, a tired smile on her face as she spoke.

"It would be my honor, Master Owl"

---

"Settle down, Settle down!" spoke Laplace as the class became embroiled in a heated debate about the ethics and morals of employing soul-destroying magicks, Laplace noted that her star student, Lady Lucrezia was oddly quiet today and she kinda felt a bit lonely thanks to it.

Not one to lie to herself, she knew very well her class was on the boring side, essential material yes, but gods above it was boring! how could she coax the imagination of these blue blood who never had to dream, as their lives were already the best they could be?

But not Lucrezia, she dared to thread, to read those dusty tomes and books and instill on her classmates a sense of wonder for the beyond, a rare thing in youth nowadays.

"Ahem, today we will be talking about the inner mechanics of Blessings" Laplace spoke as the room fell into comfortable silence "Now I am sure most of you know about the basics of it, Increase in Mana Reserves, Physical and sometimes Magical augmentation, the ability to commune with one's God and more" Laplace began writing in the blackboard as she waited a few seconds for questions, none came.

"Now, if you have any questions about these better know mechanics of the Blessing, the On Gods and Men volumes 1 through 4 explain in great detail about them, the Academy's Library also has a shorter version for those who would balk at reading 4 volumes worth of common knowledge but I digress, today we will talk about a fairly well known but rare effect of those Divine Blessings, the so-called Blessing Cascade"

Laplace began writing more, as she made short lines of text to better pace the explanation of the phenomena, the class was focused like a predator stalking its prey as she finished writing.

"Now to start, why are they so rare?" Laplace asked and a voice spoke "Only those with Greater Blessings can start one"

"Very good! It is as he says, this is something you all will learn in advanced magical studies next year but there's an underlying rhythm or song so to say inside every blessing, as they don't use mana or life force to power themselves but the God's unique divine energies" Laplace spoke as a hand went up "But isn't the Mana Core a creation of the All-Father? Wouldn't then run off his divine power?"

"The inner workings of the Mana Core are sadly beyond mine and the church's knowledge, only the All-Father and the Goddess of Magic know how it operates but tests on the mana we have in our planet that didn't end with the mage being struck down by divine light show that they do not use the same source of power" Laplace explained as the heads around the class nodded.

"Now, what adds to the rarity of the phenomena is the confluence of elements and power fluctuations between the God's Sphere of Power and other Sphere's around of it, usually they are kept in check by the biggest Sphere of them all, that of the All-Father" Laplace made a series of drawings as it helped cement the image inside the heads of the young ones, a tactic taught by her old master back in the monastery.

"But even the Supreme Deity of this and many other universes aren't safe from a lull in his Sphere, as he flexes and fights against the Terrors beyond the Stars, pockets, where there's a vacuum of power manifest themselves and those with Greater Blessing caught on one of them, are thus exposed to a Cascade"

"Still, such pockets are rare in our world as it's the seat of power for All-Father, with only a few happening every odd year or so..." Laplace continued as a light cough was heard in the back of the class.

Ah yes, she recalled, the Scion of House Amenora and his two "friends" All had Greater Blessings of a particular Goddess many didn't like talking about in polite company, even when her biggest supporters were the selfsame families whose progeny were in these halls. She had received the report from the High Priest the other day about him, and what he had done.

"To force a cascade on Lucrezia, hmm the report said the young woman remained polite to him after the fact which is a feat in of it itself, knowing her tendencies of extreme violence, still to be able to starve off the cascade with the power of that accursed entity...the Rage is not to be trifled with indeed"

"Now, usually I would end the class by giving you fine people books to read and an assignment but today we actually have people who experienced such a rare phenomenon in our class! If the Individuals in question could present themselves for the class" Hector Amenora and his two friends rose up as did Lucrezia who looked like she was ready to fall asleep right on the spot.

"Extra points for you four! More if you entertain the class if anyone has any questions about the Cascade and its effects!" Laplace said with a twisted smile, ah how she enjoyed watching these nobles squirm under the spotlight! It was bad she knew but she couldn't help herself.

They explained the little event as some questions were thrown at them, it was a tad underwhelming as Lucrezia in particular who rumors said wasn't the biggest fan of her ties with Saal'Xhir explained her side of the events with some emotion but nothing more than that, she really was dead tired, wasn't she?

The class ended there, Laplace gave everyone a few passages to read from various books and sat down, waiting for the bell to toll and lunchtime to begin as she let the many convos around her wash over her, one, in particular, caught her attention.

"...You doing alright Lucrezia? looks like you just crawled through an Orcish combat training" Asked Richard the ever-present young man who walked together with the woman in question.

"Training, too much bloody training ugh, my left leg for an afternoon where I can just eat and sleep in peace" she spoke with a sigh, Richard smiled at the odd phrase "Careful with that, some up and coming God might take you on that deal, I know I would"

Lucrezia stared at him "What would you do with my leg dude? sell it? you can't curse a detached limb no more not after the treaty of '23" she shook her head "It's a bad deal anyway, and I can't skirt off my duties..."

Richard maybe a noise in agreement and said "For someone as busy as you already are, you sure like getting into more time-consuming activities don't ya? What's this I heard about teaching Hope how to make leather armor?"

Lucrezia smiled "Gods you should've seen her face when she smelled those foul fumes Ha!" to which Richard replied "I don't need to, I can see her staring daggers at you from here" as he pointed to the upper section of the class where a young woman with red hair was actually staring daggers at Lucrezia, who in turn waved her with a wink "It's good for her, the blessing allowed her to make gauntlets and boots already, as soon as she learns how to cook and make potions we are good to go on the dungeon raid"

Richard sighed and knocked his head on the table "I cannot believe you managed to convince mom to allow me to go into this death trap of a maze, In case you forgot Lucrezia I am not a fighter, nor do I have some secret blessing that will turn me into one" he spoke his voice full of resignation "But I wouldn't hear the end of it if I dodged this from mom and you ugh"

Lucrezia slapped the young man's back and he nearly went over the table "You worry too much dude, trust me I can turn you into a fine soldier! no need for fancy blessings or hidden techniques! Just good old drilling and the best equipment money can buy!"

"Yeah, I got the boxes on the dorm yesterday, nearly got stampeded by the others trying to get a look at this "Magi-Tech" armor of yours...It's not as flashy as I thought it would be, same for the spear and the shield" Richard said his face a little red.

"Course, not brother, it's made for footsoldiers, and since you didn't want one of the guns I had the spear custom made for ya! Still, only my stuff and Kaine's is a bit on the showy side, mostly because as Duchess it behooves me to be fancy" Lucrezia explained as she noted something down, her head bobbing along "Not that it matters when I am knee-deep in bodies and guts, blood too of course" she shook her head.

"Of course" Richard replied trying to steer away from the topic to something else "Shall we? the others have already left"

"Let's" Lucrezia spoke as she left the room together with Richard "You know the rumors will likely get worse right?"

He shrugged "At this point my friend, I doubt you could do anything to get them worse"

Laplace stopped paying attention to their banter as they left the door, her mind slowly drifting into sleep as the room became empty before she was jolted back to the land of the living and rushed to the Professor's room, a new batch of coffee had arrived and her colleagues became fiends when the stuff was fresh! Her mind was then cast back to the words of Richard.

"May the All-Father give you luck in your dungeon run" Laplace smiled as she walked to the room, wicked and wide.