X777 July 9

As I walked through the streets, I couldn't get rid of the feeling of unease that I had recently had, and although it is true that it had decreased compared to a few days ago, I still carried it with me.

The last few days had been… a bit strange, since I was able to gather natural energy into a sword without having to worry about going losing my mind, I had constantly been practicing.

However, I had run into a new problem, when the natural energy transferred from the sword to me, there seemed to be a drip to the outside.

Well, calling it trickling would be to minimize the problem since I would say that around 65% of the energy was lost in the process.

This situation resulted in the maximum time that I could "use" senjutsu reaching only 2 minutes, and although I had been practicing non-stop, I could not increase the time more than just a few seconds compared to when I did it the first time.

However, this was not the worse thing; the worrying thing happened two days ago.

Now, while the time I could use senjutsu was short, it made me very sensitive to changes in the environment during the time I used it, and that night, for a few seconds, something hit my senses with the force of a truck.

It was as if someone turned on neon lights in a dark room from one second to the next and without warning, but to my bad luck, this happened when I only had a few seconds of senjutsu use left.

And when I managed to use it again a couple of minutes later, everything had returned to normal; it goes without saying that since that day, I had been restless.

I hoped that this did not mark the beginning of something complicated that threatened the life of the general population, you know, something like the opening of portals to demonic kingdoms where some demon king had the goal of conquering this world or something like that.

The next day nothing happened; no news came that some infernal army had attacked the kingdom or anything like that, at least that was what my uncle told me when I asked him if there was any important news about the kingdom's state.

Although only as a precaution, I had decided not to lower the guard and redouble my efforts during training.

Today, however, I was on my way to Lucy's house, last week, her mother had left for the capital to attend an important meeting, and from what Lucy told me, she should have returned last night.

So I would take advantage of the fact that today I would meet with Lucy to see Miss Layla and ask her if something curious had happened in the capital.

I did not need her to answer me; just some doubt in her answer or some indication in her expression would be enough for me to know if something important could be happening.

When I finally got to the entrance gates of the mansion, I greeted the guards, but unlike previous times they did not return my greeting; they just looked at me with doubting expressions before stopping me.

"Um, boy, can you wait a minute here?"

"Um? Why? Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing; just wait here for a moment, please"

"Ok?". I replied while raising an eyebrow at the strangeness of the situation.

They usually would return the greeting with a couple of words or a nod before letting me pass.

A couple of minutes later, the guard who went to the mansion returned with an annoyed Jude by his side.

"Good morning M-"

"Get out of here". The man said, clearly annoyed as he looked at me.

"Eh?"

"You heard me; I don't have time to deal with you, so go away". He said with a frown before looking at the guards. "Don't let it pass". And after that, he turned around and went back inside the house.

The guards looked at me for a few seconds with complicated expressions before sighing. "Sorry boy, we just follow orders". They said before standing firm next to each other.

My eyes widened; Jude was an idiot; that was a reality I had accepted a long time ago, but he had never been so direct as to do something like this.

And although I was upset, I felt something was definitely happening to cause this behavior.

Turning around, I got away enough to get out of sight of the guards, and instantly a couple of blades materialized in my hands, I sat down on the ground and started "using" senjutsu.

About a minute later, a holy sword infused with natural energy was in my hands, my eyes opened in the direction of the Heartfilia mansion, and all my thoughts stopped for a few seconds.

Exactly 10 seconds later, I was running full speed towards a specific energy signature.

It had been a little over two months since I was able to create what I had named a sen-sword, and during that time, I had experimented with a few things, one of which was observing people while using senjutsu.

Needless to say, that was a day to remember; just like when I observed animals and plants, humans also had vital energy running through their entire body, but the most curious thing was that after seeing the energy that covered a person enough times, it would be difficult to confuse them with another person.

Until now, those on that list had included my mother, my uncle, a few rune guards, some of the shop's most frequent customers, and Lucy, Jude, Layla, and the mansion's servants.

And that was why I ran ignoring the guards' warnings as I passed the 3 meters fence in one jump.

If I had to make a comparison, I would say that everyone's vital energy resembled the light emitted by a bonfire, with some having a little more or a little less brightness than the rest, but until now, I had never seen one as small as candlelight.

It took me a few seconds to recognize it, as if the sight was so fanciful that my brain couldn't process it, but when I finally did it, my body moved, and this was the result.

Me, entering in the Heartfilia mansion even when the owner did not want me there.

After passing across the patio and the front door, I climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Once there, I ran to a room; however, at the door was Jude, with an expression of evident surprise and annoyance on his face when he saw me.

"You, I told you to get out of here!" He grunted with annoyance.

"What happened to Miss Layla?" I asked, ignoring his question.

His eyes widened slightly. "How is it that you-"

"Jude". A familiar voice came from the ajar door interrupting the man. "Is that Jean? Let him pass." She said, Jude's frown deepening as he looked at me.

That was when he noticed the sword in my hand and stood firmly in front of the door, stretching out his hands.

"You won't come in; why are you bringing a sword to my house?!"

Looking at the sword in my hand, I breathed slowly to calm myself and replied. "It is this sword that allowed me to see what is happening to Miss Layla; it only serves to increase my perception skills". I replied while lowering the sword.

"It's okay, Jude, let him in". The voice inside the room answered once more.

"But…" Jude seemed in conflict, wondering whether to do what his wife asked or not, although at this point, if he decided to try to kick me out, I would ignore him and walk in anyway.

"Please". The voice said, and I could see how the man's shoulders fell in defeat, he gave me one last look, and then he turned his back on me and opened the door, entering while I followed him.

When I entered, I was surprised by the sight, I had already seen how low Layla's life force was, but her appearance reaffirmed that fact; she had a tired face, there were dark circles under her eyes, and her hair had lost the beautiful shine it had before.

"Hi, Jean". She greeted, smiling even in her state.

"Miss Layla, what ... what happened to you?" I asked her with wide eyes.

"You don't have to worry about this; I overexerted myself a bit too much, so I'm a bit tired now"

"Overexerting? Miss Layla, your life force is getting lower and lower". I said something scared to him; after all, it was obvious what would happen if a person's life force ran out.

When she heard my answer, her eyes widened slightly, and even though I couldn't see it, Jude did the same as his wife.

"You... can you see it?" She asked, shocked.

"Yes, thanks to this sword, I could do it even from outside the mansion". I said, showing the weapon.

"That sword, did you make it with your skill?" She asked curiously while looking at the blade.

Since I showed my ability to my uncle, Blade Blacksmith stopped being a secret; shortly after, I also showed it to Lucy, who obviously told her parents.

However, the only one who showed surprise and interest was Layla, she even asked me to show her how I made swords a couple of times.

"Yes, the explanation is too long, but when I use it, I can see the aura and the life force". I explained in as few words as possible.

"I see; it's a wonderfully made sword, good job Jean". She said, congratulating me.

"That doesn't matter now". I replied. "What did you do that left you in this state?" I asked her trying to get to the bottom of the matter.

She looked thoughtful for a few seconds before shaking her head with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but that's something I can't tell you"

"Okay, that's unnecessary, but how will you recover from this?" I asked her hoping she knew how to solve this problem.

"I… I don't know, I don't know of any way that I can repair the damage done"

And once again, she gave me the answer I hoped would not come; even though I knew I would say something like that, I wished I was wrong, but the facts did not lie.

In my time in this world, I never found anything remotely similar to Touki, senjutsu, or any magic that somehow controlled people's life force.

Hammering my brain in search of an answer, an idea come to my mind.

My sword only had about 20 or 30 seconds of natural energy left, so I discarded it; seeing how the weapon disappeared in golden particles, I spoke again.

"Excuse me, but I'm going to try something". I told the woman before taking a couple of breaths and sitting on the room floor.

Instantly two new swords appeared in my hands, and I started the process of filling one with natural energy.

After all my practice, I no longer needed to nail swords in the ground, and I only did it out of habit.

A minute later, I got up, and the sword with malice disappeared; approaching Layla again, I could see out of the corner of my eye as Jude tensed slightly, but a look from Layla stopped him in his place.

"Please hold this sword". I told her as I brought the handle of the sword closer.

Layla looked at me for a moment before nodding and reaching out with both hands, her fingers closing on the hilt close to mine, then I looked into her eyes seriously.

"Now, I will begin to pass the energy in this sword to you; if you feel any discomfort or anything similar, please tell me, and I will stop the process instantly". I warned her before closing my eyes.

Felting on the energy inside the sword, I began to change the weapon, concentrating on Layla's flow of life energy and directing the natural energy to her.

The first few seconds of the process were awkward, like passing a thread through the small hole of a needle.

I could even feel sweat form on my forehead as I did so, but little by little, I could achieve a steady pace.

In the end, when the natural energy ran out, the sword disappeared, and I fell backward while I breathed, trying to catch my breath.

"That… was… difficult". I said as I caught my breath; between breaths, I could hear how Jude quickly approached his wife.

"Layla, are you okay?"

"I… yes, I think I feel a little better". The woman replied.

I slowly got up and created two swords again, but I gathered enough natural energy for about 15 seconds of use this time.

Looking once more at Layla, my fears were verified.

What I did was almost completely useless.

The natural energy that flowed to her barely served to stop her wasting while the process was going on and increased her life energy in such a minuscule way that it would not make a real difference.

At that moment, a voice took me out of my thoughts. "Thanks for helping me, Jean; now I feel better". She said, smiling at me.

"Better?" I asked, surprised. "I ... I did nothing; the process only stopped the loss of energy for a moment, I ... I did not do anything that counted". I said, gritting my teeth.

"In my opinion, you did it". She replied. "Now I am more comfortable, so tonight I will be able to sleep much more at ease, thanks"

Her thanks made me feel even more useless, she didn't deserve this, and I would see to it that it didn't end this way no matter what.

With my decision made, I got up once more; from what I had seen, I did not have much time, five, maybe six days before she...

Moving my head from side to side, I forced those thoughts away and said. "I'll find a way, I have to." I declared, and without waiting for an answer, I ran out of the room towards my training place.

######

Falling to my knees and with my hands resting on the grass, I found myself vomiting a little blood and bile for a few seconds, when at last, the red liquid stopped flowing, I got up, spit the little was left in my mouth, and I entered the pond to heal me once more.

This experiment was another failure in my attempts to find a solution to the state that Layla was in, it had occurred to me that the flow of energy entering her was too slow, and that is why I wasn't able to increase her vitality, and I only could brake her wear momentarily.

So I thought maybe if I forced the natural energy into her body more quickly, that could solve the problem.

But I just needed to see the state I had just ended up in to say that wasn't the best idea.

My control over natural energy was too poor, so inputting more energy at a higher speed with my current capabilities would end up damaging the person instead of helping her.

As I was floating in the water, I thought once more about how I could fix this. "Come on, Jean, think, massive energy transfer is impossible, normal transfer will only stop the consequences momentarily, so, what should I do?"

Considering other possible solutions, I floated in the pond until it was time to return home.

Since that day, I stopped all my workouts, talked to my uncle to ask him for a break for the next few days, and convinced my mother to let me spend most of the day in the pond while I thought of a solution to this problem.

#######

X777 July 14

Standing in front of the doors of the Heartfilia mansion, I looked at the guards again; contrary to what I thought, they did not frown or kick me out.

They opened the door and nodded, letting me understand that I could enter, but I couldn't do it without doing something else first, so I stopped in front of both of them and lowered my head as I leaned forward.

"I want to apologize to both of you; surely you got a nasty warning because of me". I said with all the sincerity possible.

After all, even though I didn't regret my actions, it was clear that Jude would have to vent her annoyance with someone, and I doubted she would do it with Layla or Lucy.

As I had said, the guy was an idiot, but even if I thought that way about him, I had to admit that it was also evident that he loved his wife and daughter, albeit in his own rigid and, in my opinion, unpleasant way.

And being so, it was obvious that the man would look for those who had not been able to stop me when I entered his house.

"Don't worry about it, boy". One of them answered.

"Yes, we know that you care about Miss Lucy and Lady Layla, and even if you don't get along with Master Jude, we know that if he needed your help, you would do it without hesitation"

After hearing their words, I found myself sighing in relief. However, I couldn't help but think that they overestimated me, it is true that if I were in a position to prevent something bad from happening to Jude, I would do it, but I would not go so far as to say that I would do it without hesitation.

"Also, yesterday, Lady Layla called us after you left and said that no matter what happened, the doors of this house should always be open for you". Straightening up, I gave them both a nod and entered the house.

Slowly, my hand went to the necklace around my neck; there hung a small sword that had been created the night before.

This was my last option, it had not even been tested yet, and I hoped not to need to use it anytime soon.

When I got to the room where Miss Layla had been the last time I knocked on the door, I could hear two voices talking for a few seconds before it opened, looking at the person, my eyes widened when I recognized her.

"Miss Grammi?" I asked, quite surprised, looking at the green-haired woman I hadn't seen for three years.

"Jean?" She asked after looking at me for a few seconds, as surprised as I was, then smiled at me, although the remnants of tears in the corners of her eyes did not go unnoticed by me.

"Look at you, how much you've grown in all this time". She said, patting me on the head.

I just nodded to her before entering the room; just as I had left her a few days ago, Layla still was lying on her bed, looking sickly.

"Good morning Jean". She greeted, smiling.

"Miss Layla, good morning". I returned the greeting and then moved on to the more urgent matters. "Not much time left, Miss Layla"

"So you checked already?"

"I did it from afar before arriving, I was not sure if they would let me pass, so I decided to prepare myself to know where to sneak to if I needed it"

Hearing my answer, she laughed a little. "It is wrong to sneak into other people's houses, Jean; besides, you will always be welcome here; I have made sure of that already"

"They told me at the entrance, and I appreciate it, now…" I stopped to take a quick glance in Grammi's direction, asking Layla a silent question.

"It's okay; I trust in Grammi completely". She told me, and in response, I nodded; if she agreed, then me too.

"Miss Grammi, can I ask for your help with something?" I asked the woman.

"Yes, whatever you need". She answered without hesitation.

"I need a bucket of water, one big enough that I can stand in and the water is above my ankles"

"I understand". She answered before leaving the room, and a minute later, she returned with a large metal tub that I received and put on the floor.

"I'll go for the water". She said, but Layla's voice stopped her before she could leave the room.

"Wait, Grammi". She said as she raised a golden key I hadn't seen in a while. "This way will be faster, don't you think?"

Grammi froze in place, staring at the key with an incredulous expression, her eyes, and mouth open in surprise as if she wanted to say something, but the words refused to come out. "B-but, Miss Layla, how could I-"

"It's okay; after all, I still don't give it to Lucy, right?" She urged while moving the key a little.

The woman approached the key with doubt, and before taking it, she smiled at Layla. "Thank you, thank you very much for still trusting me". She said with new tears falling down her face.

After that, she took the jug full of water that was on a small shelf next to the bed and emptied it into the metal tub. "It may bother you that I call you with so little water, but forgive me just this once, okay?" She whispered to the key, touched the water with it, and intoned.

"Open the Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius"

A second later, a magic circle formed, and a familiar woman with blue hair with a bad character appeared; she had a long blue tail similar to that of a fish like that of a mermaid, no, it would be more accurate to say that she was a mermaid.

A blue bikini covered the upper part of her body with white edges, golden bracelets, and bangles adorned her wrists, while in her hands, there was a vessel painted with different shades of blue.

"You're right, be summoned with just this little puddle it's really annoying, but given the circumstances, I'll let it go just this once". The fish woman said and then looked at Layla, who smiled at her.

"Hello, Aquarius"

"Layla". She returned the greeting before directing her gaze to me.

"You have grown up, brat"

"It's good to see you after such a long time too, Aquarius"

"Please, I need you to fill that tub with water". Grammi asked the spirit.

She looked at the container for a moment and then tilted her pot, letting a massive torrent of water flow out of it, and a couple of seconds later, the container was almost full.

"Thank you, that's all"

"Hmph, then I'll stay and see what the brat will do." She said, making Grammi look at her with wide eyes. "No problem, right? After you called me just to do this little thing, is the least I hope". She said, crossing her arms.

Grammi smiled and nodded; apparently, she understood that Aquarius was worried despite not showing it.

Leaving that aside, I took off my shoes before entering the container and sat in it.

"What I will do now will take a lot of concentration; please try not to make any noise". I said before closing my eyes and starting the process as certain words rang out in my mind.

'Sacred Gears are driven with the power of desire. And it also determines its power as well. The stronger you desire, the stronger your Sacred Gear will respond to you'

I seem to remember that was what they said about the Sacred Gears, and if it really is, if you can somehow hear or feel my desires, please, Blade Blacksmith, help me save her, just like when you saved me in the fight with Jack.

Just as you have helped me all this time to keep moving forward, use my desires as fuel, and allow me to achieve.

Slowly a heat concentrated in my hands, little by little, beginning to exist in this world, taking shape inch by inch until finally, I felt the weight of a new sword in my hands.

##########

She was worried, since the day her mother returned from the important meeting, she had been ill.

When she spoke to her, she told her that she was exhausted from something important that she had to do.

When she asked when she would get better, her mother simply smiled at her and said she didn't know.

And every time she asked her father, he always seemed sadder, she didn't understand what could have made her mother so tired. When this happened to her, she just needed to go to sleep, and the next day she would be okay again, but with each passing day, her mom looked more and more tired.

Added to this, Jean had not come to tell her more stories; the last weekend, she was waiting in her room for him to arrive as usual, but that day she heard her father's voice in the distance.

He seemed annoyed, leaving her room and walking through the corridors before peeking through one, and she could see Jean standing in front of her father; he also seemed annoyed.

At that moment, she heard her mother's voice, and shortly after, her father and Jean entered the room.

A few minutes later, Jean ran off at full speed and did not return that day or the next day as he usually did.

She was sad that day, if it was because of how her mother was, because of how her father avoided her, or because Jean had not come to play with her, she was not sure.

A few days later, she saw through her window, and there was Jean, standing at the entrance of her house while he was talking to the guards.

After they let him pass, she left her room to hide in one of the rooms in the hallway and scare him; that would be his punishment for breaking his promise to her and not coming to play.

But while she waited, looking through the ajar space she had left in the door, she saw him stop in a room that was not her.

Jean knocked on the door, and shortly after, the green-haired lady who had arrived today to see her mother opened it and let him pass.

She vaguely remembered that lady of the time when she was even smaller.

A few seconds later, she saw the woman rush out, she was about to go out and look through the ajar door, but the woman returned with a big metal tub.

She waited a few seconds, then left the room in the most silent way possible and peeked through the half-open door to see what was happening inside.

There was her mother, still lying in her bed, the green-haired woman slightly familiar to her, and another woman with a fishtail.

She was a little excited to see her since her mother had told her about the spirits with whom she had formed contracts before she retired as a wizard and had a slight memory of them from when she was younger.

As she watched as the woman who should be Aquarius filled the metal tub that the green-haired woman had brought, the stars appeared in her eyes, after that, she saw Jean entering the tub, sitting down and raising his hands.

Her eyes sparkled once more when she saw small golden particles swirling in her friend's hands.

And if Lucy had looked at the other room residents, she could have seen equally surprised looks on the faces of Aquarius and Grammi.

The first of them muttering that something like that shouldn't be possible, and the second just watching the light show in front of them.

Lucy herself was completely surprised as she watched what happened. She had seen how Jean could create pretty swords before, but when he did it in front of her, the blades would appear immediately.

She never saw any golden lights appear except when the swords disappeared, and even those times, they were small and not very bright lights that went out a few seconds later, but this was different.

The lights swirled in his hands as they took shape, and before Lucy noticed, the show was over, and a sword was in Jean's hands.

#######

Looking at the sword in my hands, I sighed slightly because of the fatigue that gradually disappeared from my body.

Even with my divine protection constantly replenishing my energies, this seemed more complicated than I thought.

With this done, I looked at the other three people in the room. "Is ready". I said as I came out of the tub with water and approaching Layla I handed her the sword.

She slowly moved her left hand until she took the hilt of it.

"Don't worry, I made this blade without an edge so you won't cut with it." I clarified as she rested the weapon on her chest while putting both hands on the handle.

"Now". I said, stretching my hands and creating a pair of swords, leaving them on the ground; another two appeared, then others, and then others, until at the end, a total of 30 weapons were piled up in the corner of the room.

These swords would not disappear; they had gone through a process similar to the ones I gave to my uncle, the blades would constantly absorb ethernano to keep existing, although not enough to repair themselves if they broke.

But it would be difficult for something like that to happen; after all, they would not be used for combat, and breaking a sword that was not used in a fight would be very difficult.

"Now everything is ready". I said as I prepared myself mentally.

"What are you going to do?" Layla asked as she looked at me.

"The last time I was here, I could only momentarily stop its reduction in life force while transferring the natural energy contained in my sword; after that, the degradation continued". I stopped and took a breath before continuing.

"With my current ability, I can only make a sword that gathers enough energy for a constant transfer of two minutes; after that, it would take me about another minute to repeat the process, I am ashamed to say it, but the truth is that with my current capacity I could hardly delay the end by just one day". I said with my head down and clenched my teeth.

"Jean, you don't have to-". Layla said in a calm tone.

"But". I interrupted her, refusing to accept her resignation. "Even if with my current ability I cannot save you now, I will improve in the future; each day of practice is a step a little closer to achieving mastery in senjutsu; I can't save you now, but I can buy time until the day I can do it". I said, raising my face to look at her directly.

"This sword will induce you to a sleep, you will sleep soundly to reserve your vital energy as much as possible, and at the same time, the sword will collect the natural energy to give it to you in a slowly but constantly flow and thus keep you alive by stopping the degradation until I will able to replenish the energy that you lost"

At that moment, I heard a gasp, and turning my head, I saw Grammi covering her mouth with both hands as she looked at me. "D-do you want to induce her into a coma?" She asked me as her voice trembled.

"It's the only solution, I... I was thinking for days, looking for another way, but I couldn't think of anything, I don't have enough ability to do anything else". I said, annoyed with myself for not finding another alternative.

"I agree with the child's solution". Aquarius's voice resounded throughout the room. "The choice is simple; in this way, there is still a possibility that Layla will wake up in the future; asking the brat for more would be unfair; that he can do this is already a miracle"

Everything was silent for a few seconds until Layla spoke. "It's fine". She said. "It is as Aquarius says, Jean is doing everything possible, and with this, he gives me hope for the future; also, I know that he will do everything possible to fulfill his promise." She finished saying and then looked at me. "I trust you, Jean"

Before I knew it, I found myself nodding. "Is there anything you want to do before… Did you talk to Jude or Lucy?" I asked.

"I spoke to Jude last night; everything I had to tell him I already did; I also spoke to your mother today, she was here earlier, but there is still someone I haven't talked to, right? Lucy?" She said, raising her voice a bit at the last part as she looked towards the door, a tiny squeak came from there, and the door moved a little.

"Don't worry, Lucy, I'm not upset; please come in". She said, and the door opened a few seconds later, showing an embarrassed Lucy.

"I ... I'm sorry". She apologized.

"Don't worry, honey, as I said, I'm not upset, so you don't need to worry, I just wanted to talk to you a bit"

"Okay"

"I ... I'm not going to be around for a while; that's why I want to tell you some things before that"

"You're going to go?"

"No, I'll stay here; it's just that... I'll be sound asleep, so I want to give you something important". She said as Grami approached, handing her the golden key.

"From now on, this key will be yours; you know what it is, right?" The woman asked, receiving a nod from her daughter before she said.

"It's a key of Celestial Spirit"

"Yes, this is the golden key of Aquarius". She added as she pointed to the spirit in the room. "You promise me that you will take good care of this and you will be good friends from now on?"

"I promise"

"Good, thank you, Lucy, we won't see each other for a while, I don't know how long it will be, so promise me one thing, live freely, the Heartfilia family duty has been completed with me, now nothing will stopping you from doing whatever you want in the future, so when I wake up, please welcome me with a smile and a ton of stories". Layla said as she hugged her daughter with a smile and tears falling.

After a few more seconds, they parted, and I could see that Lucy also was crying.

"Fine, I'm ready Jean". She said after taking a couple of deep breaths.

Grammi took Lucy, and they took a few steps back; I walked over and put my hand on the sword.

"No matter what happens, you don't need to blame yourself for any of this"

Hearing her words, the guilt peeked out once more, but I suppressed it with all my might and forced a smile to my face. "Don't worry, I won't feel guilty because I will definitely bring you back". I promised with all the confidence I could muster.

Then the sword began to glow as it was modified to start the process.