Chapter 6: The Royal Council (5)

~6.5~

*****

At first, she felt nothing, but soon Kye felt her heart beating. It was fast. She opened her eyes and found herself in an unusual place. The sky was reddish orange from sunset, and the ground was bathed in blood. As she looked around, she noticed red hair hanging in front of her eyes.

What?

She looked around more and found too much familiarity. Dead bodies were all around her. She recognized a few right away. One was black-haired.

Luma?

The next she recognized belonged to Liliana. The one after was Aliana.

They’re different… identical to…

Kye summoned a ball of water and morphed it into a flat surface to act as a mirror.

Catherine Lancet. So then, I’m dreaming.

She scanned the surroundings in a particular direction and found what she was looking for: a lone man with a simple longsword. The man wore a uniform befitting a general of an imperial or royal army. He had short black hair, red eyes, and was stained with blood.

Kye began walking toward the man. Knowing she was in a dream, and clearly remembering the limits of her body when she was Catherine Lancet, she brandished her aether and readied to fight her target. The difference was incredible. She wielded more aether unassisted than she did in the recent battle over Arslade. In that life, she only had knowledge of the sword and mana. She knew little magic and didn’t know of Drive skills.

“So, you are still able to fight, then?” the man said. “Come then, Commander Lancet. You are the last man standing. With your death, my liege claims victory.”

“Heh,” she mumbled. She activated Aether Drive and pooled aether into her blade. The man froze in fear at Catherine’s enormous burst of power. “You already took everything away from me. I have no interest in repeating this scene any further. Enough of you.” Her aether shined silvery white with a black glow. “<<Null Causality>>.” She brought her sword down and unleashed a wave of black coated silvery white aether at the man. He tried to block, but the wave of aether engulfed him completely.

Nothing was left of him.

Hmph. How easily I could have saved this world. I shouldn’t beat myself up over it, but it pains me to know how much of a difference my experience makes. Catherine Lancet struggled against that man and only won with Origin Overload, though she didn’t know it had a name. She casted it on instinct, somehow knowing it would work. Yet, with my experience, I could wield the power she possessed much better. Mortal bodies cannot use Origin Magic and survive, but since this is a dream, there are no consequences. Null Causality is one of my Origin spells.

She chuckled as she looked up at the dark sky. The sun had faded beyond the horizon, though some remnant of light persisted.

If Kye Akari were to use Null Causality, she likely could best any foe in the Ten Realms. Heh. That’d be too easy, wouldn’t it?

She shook her head. She had never taught anyone Origin Magic, but with the memories of her first life shrouded in mystery, she could not know if anyone from that life could use it.

As Shiori Sakaguchi, when I was faced with the death of Sayaka and madness of Suzuka, I was so distraught that I casted Reorigination. I had already recovered my memories by that point. It’s very rare for an immortal to regain oneself within a mortal life. I very much enjoyed that life. I miss my daughter so much. Reorigination erases and remakes the very world. That world was forfeit to me at that point.

“Sh-”

That sounded like Alethea.

“i-ch”

Uh, huh? I can’t-

“Shi-chan!”

Oh. I’m awake.

Kye’s vision grew bright for a moment, and soon she could see Alethea’s face blocking some of the bright light.

“Shi-chan, can you hear me?”

“Ugh…” Kye raised up with her pink-haired partner’s assistance. She was lying in a hospital bed. Someone raised the bed so that she could rest her back against it. She turned and saw her mother. “Hi, mom.”

“Sweetie, how do you feel?”

“Like shit.”

“Pfft,” came a suppressed laughter from across the room. “You look like hell.”

Kye squinted. The room was blurry beyond her arm’s reach. “Sounds like Michelle.”

“Yep.”

“What are you doing here?”

“You collapsed on the way back from the council meeting. Doran and I were nearby and saw you collapse. He’s worried about you. Can’t say I’m not.”

“I see.” Kye shook her head lightly, trying to clear up the fog. She could at least make out Michelle’s face. “How long was I out?”

“Only a few hours,” Layla answered. “I want you to stay and-”

“I won’t stay here. I can rest in my dorm with Alethea and my attendants.”

Layla looked at Alethea, who only nodded. “Okay, but at least remain here until I heal you enough so that you can walk.”

Kye shook her head. “No, I can-” She tossed the sheet aside and used mana to force her body to move so that she could stand up.

“No, you don’t,” Michelle said as she all but appeared next to the bed and flicked Kye’s forehead. The blonde felt a strange sensation when Michelle’s finger came into contact with her forehead and fell back onto the bed. Kye was shocked into silence at what had just happened.

“Wow…” Alethea mumbled.

“Stop right there, Elysia. You’ve pushed your way too far already. Don’t force anything.”

“How did you-?”

“I knew who you were the first moment I laid eyes on you, as I’m now sure you knew who I was at that same moment. After witnessing Heaven’s Fall and Swords of Light, you kinda gave yourselves away to any immortal with their memories. Adele and I both know you are Elysia and she is Maya.”

“Quite the reunion.”

“Heh. Yeah, you almost killed yourself out there yesterday. Too much more and your body wouldn’t have held out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you seriously not know? You used Mana Burst on top of Aether Drive. Are you telling me you don’t know how deadly that is?”

“I was in perfect control.”

“Yet here you are with your body in tatters. Your nerves were dulled, so you couldn’t even feel the pain right away. You woke up sore today, did you not?”

“I did.”

“You could finally feel pain properly this morning, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as yesterday. Problem is, moving around today opened your internal wounds. And when you channeled aether in the council, it exacerbated your condition. For now, we need to stop the bleeding.”

“Michelle, how in the world did you do that?” Alethea asked.

“I can’t exactly answer that in front of your mother. Elysia, does Maya know who I am?”

“No, but my mother knows who we are.”

“What? You told mortals your identity?”

Kye nodded. “Maya, love.”

Alethea’s eyes widened. She was not expecting to hear her real name in front of Michelle. Her eyes quickly fixated on the redhead. Michelle smiled and said, “Hi, Mel. Feelin’ spiffy?”

Alethea’s eyes lit up. “Sela!”

“A shared past life, I take it?” Kye asked.

Michelle giggled and gestured at Alethea. “May I introduce Her Grace Melody Galland?”

Kye raised an eyebrow as Alethea curtsied jokingly and responded in kind, “And you, High Mage Sela Altenwelt.”

“Altenwelt?” Kye mused. “Ha.”

“What’s with the ‘ha’?” Michelle glared at her.

Kye giggled. “I was in that world. Sela Altenwelt was famous in my time but was long dead before I was born there.”

Alethea’s eyes had stars. “What happened in your time? Do you know what came of Achenreich? I died before the war ended.”

“Would you believe the four kingdoms found peace?” Kye asked with no hint of mischief. “Miss Sela here single handedly obliterated the armies of all four kingdoms but did so without killing a single one.”

“Heh, what did history say I did?”

“You casted a grand spell that disintegrated all metal on the continent that were considered to be weapons. Nobody came even close to replicating the spell without discarding the condition, and even then the best mages could only affect a few feet at a time.”

“Heh, yep. That’s what I did.” Michelle sighed. “I died for it, too. That’s why nobody could replicate it. Nobody else had the mana capacity for such a spell, nor the…” She looked up at Layla. “Well, I suppose we’re digressing a bit much, but it’s good to know that world found peace after we were gone.” Michelle smiled. “Anyway. If I say how I stopped her, she’d know how to counter it.”

Kye pouted and looked away. “I already figured it out.”

*****

That night, Kye and Alethea were getting ready for bed and were finally alone. The pink-haired girl looked over at her blonde girlfriend after pulling on her pajamas and asked, “What do you think?”

“About what?”

“The council. Adara. Adele. Everything.”

“I think you’re taking too much of a backseat with the council.”

Alethea diverted her eyes. “I dunno what you’re talking about…”

Kye narrowed her eyes. “Uh huh.” Kye ran up behind Alethea, but quickly found herself with the tables turned. Alethea got behind Kye and quickly grabbed a handful.

“Hee hee, I love your boobs, Shi-chan.”

“Hey! Don’t change the subject!” Kye struggled, but Alethea didn’t let go. “HEY!”

After a minute, Alethea relented and sat on the bed, but held Kye so that she was sitting on her lap and buried her face into the blonde’s back. “You know I don’t like taking the lead in… people situations. Interacting with that many people is frightening!”

Kye twisted around somewhat and held Alethea tightly. Since she was sitting on her girlfriend’s lap, her boob was turned into a pillow. “What about the opening ceremony? You spoke to thousands then.”

“Yeah, but that’s different. It was a lot of people, sure, but I was only speaking to them, not with them. It makes a difference!”

“Yeah, I got it.” Kye sighed, knowing exactly what Alethea was talking about. “I always took the lead in our past lives because of your anxiety issue. What are you going to do once people take you up on your offer from the opening ceremony?”

“I… uh…” Alethea looked down, not wanting to think about it. “Well…”

Kye sat down and put her arm around Alethea, pulling her in. “Do you want me to help you with it?”

“You don’t mind?”

“I’ll do anything for you, love.”

Alethea smiled warmly, and they shared a kiss. “Thank you!” Suddenly, Alethea’s face went red. She nudged Kye off her lap and covered her crotch.

“Hmm?” Kye was curious for a moment, then frowned. “Oh.”

“It’s not fair!” Alethea cried as she jumped up and ran to the bathroom.

“I love you, Sa-chan! No matter what!”

After the door shut, Kye sighed and looked out the window.

Why in the world was she born male? Maya, Adele, you should never have to go through that. Our souls should influence even our natural sex… I’m going to give Eve an earful. I KNOW YOU HEAR ME, EVE! THIS IS WRONG!

*****

Revision: 12-18-2023