Ada slung his backpack and sheathed his sword at his side after cleaning it.
"Here, Ada."
A feminine voice sounded behind him.
Ada turned and saw Irikia, whose taloned hands handed him a rolled-up sleeping bag.
"Sorry if it's torn up."
"It's alright, in fact, I had a much more comfortable time on the grass," he said, taking the sleeping bag and hoisting it on his pack.
"Looks like you're getting better; it doesn't hurt when you walk, right?"
"Nope! Getting better each minute. I feel good already!"
She said with a new excitement, hopping and raising her hands to the air, giving a wide smile even through her bandaged state. Irikia was a lot more lively than before, and that made Ada feel glad.
"That's good."
"When are we leaving to go to... where was it again? Is the city close to here?"
"Das-Ahid, and by my approximation, will only take us a day or two."
"Okay! Let's get going!"
"Hold yourself, Irikia. First, we need to prepare."
His eyes then drew attention to Irikia's body, to the rags and tattered garments she was wearing.
"Hmm..." Ada hummed, deep in thought.
"What is it?" Irikia asked, wondering why he was observing her.
"Could you come with me for a moment?" Ada asked, walking toward the huge fire pit, the flames put out, leaving nothing but a massive circle of ash.
Irikia raised a brow and cast him a questioning look.
"Would you please?" Ada repeated.
Irikia followed with a hop in her step.
"Okay, let's hope that my abilities will let me do this," Ada said nervously, before raising his arm. A myriad of sigils dispersed from his palm and began surrounding his whole arm, and in the next moment, the ashes from the fire gathered and surrounded Irikia like a tornado of ash.
"W-what's going on?" She said, looking at the whirling gray particles.
"Just stay still, Irikia, this won't take a moment longer!" Ada said, his arm straining.
Simultaneously, all the gray ashes started to combine, forming and latching onto her body like a veil of translucent fabric. Irikia stares as the ashes cling to her body, her expression of worry and panic as the gray winds whoosh, looking at her body like how a child would when an insect climbs on them, frozen stiff. Frantically, she swayed and moved, flapping her wings to keep herself from stumbling, as the last of the gray ash gathered to her, covering her body whole, leaving no skin bare.
The gray coating then transformed, morphing into and materializing into something like clothing. Pants were formed on her legs, long leather trousers that were gray in color. A shirt formed on her upper body, a black shirt, with a sleeveless vest on top of it that hung on the shoulders, a cloak, with a cowl resting on her shoulders, also in that ashy gray color.
As soon as it was over, she stood in awe as she was fitted with new garments, observing her body with sparkling eyes.
Her eyes moved to Ada, whose breath was tired, and his arm was shaking.
He gave a relieved exhale, shaking his arm to release some strain.
"There, some proper clothing, good thing my abilities were able to do that much, now you don't have to go around with rags. How is it, Irikia?"
Irikia paused, and slowly she gazed at her body, a quiet 'woahh' escaping her mouth as she saw the gray clothes.
"It's so great, Ada!" She said suddenly in an excited yell, an outburst of happy emotions, her face lighting up in a wide, childish smile with a squeal following after.
"You like it?" Ada asked, slightly surprised.
"Yeah, of course! This looks so good!"
"I'm glad it's to your liking."
"How did you do this?" She asked, her eyes wide and darting all around her body to observe every nook and cranny.
"Magic, you could say," Ada replied. Though not technically accurate, his deity abilities were very similar to this world's powers.
Irikia beamed a wide smile and began swaying and dancing with her new clothes, happily jumping and playing with her cape. It looked so clean, so new, the quality certainly of a high grade, and it suited her well.
Ada then looked at his palm and clenched it into a fist in frustration.
My powers are still stuck at the fledgling part, I see. I don't know why they aren't improving even a sliver.
Ada shook his head.
No need to think about it too hard, power is power. This is the power of creation. I'm grateful I can still use these, though I would prefer they were in their original state.
"I didn't know magic could do this!"
"Well, maybe not the common essence magic that you know, it's something quite different."
"Really? What kind of magic is this, Ada?"
"What kind of magic? Hmmm..."
I never put a name to my deity abilities. What should I call them, I wonder?
"Hmmm...," Ada breathed out a hum, placing his fingers to his chin and looking up.
God magic is simple to understand, a very literal moniker, but does have quite the ring to it, that's it then. Ada decided.
Ada then noticed Irikia staring at him, and he gave a light chuckle before walking over to her and placing his hand on her head.
"Special magic, Irikia."
"Special magic?"
"Yep, very special magic. Now, let's go."
# # # # #
The black wolfen soldier bent down and presented his back.
"Are you ready, Irikia?" Ada said, walking over to it with a foot ready on its back.
She tensed her eyes, looking nervously at the wolven soldier.
Ada then reached out his hand.
"It's fine, Irikia, no need to worry."
Irikia looked at his hand with a fretful expression, and with a calm exhale, she outstretched her own, grabbing his.
Ada then guided her up the wolven soldier before she sat down on its wide back. The wolf then stood up, and it made Irikia shake.
"Careful now," Ada said, helping her settle on the black soldier's back. "There, are you alright?"
"Yeah, thanks, Ada, what about you? What're you riding on?"
"I'm fine to walk."
"A-are you sure?"
"Yes, your wounds still need to recover, and where we're headed is far," Ada said, pointing in front of them
Ahead of them was the trail that Ada had originally been when he helped Irikia, picking up where he left off, and he pointed to the direction of Das-Ahid.
"Okay," Irikia said, clasping both her hands to the wolf for support.
"There you are, are you ready?"
"Yep, thanks, Ada."
Ada nodded. "Good."
Irikia settled herself in; this being her first time riding anything, she wasn't really sure what she was supposed to do.
"Ah! One more thing before we go."
Ada then raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
Five black armored figures then appeared in an instant, emerging from pillars of smoke, bearing humanoid forms.
Irikia jumped, startled at the forms appearing out of nowhere.
"W-who... What are these, Ada?" Irikia said, fear creeping out of her face.
"They're the same as him," he said, pointing at the wolf soldier. "I used them to guard the perimeter when we rested for the night. This is your first time seeing them, and they are going to be our escorts for this trip."
"O-okay..." she said, relaxing a little, turning her head, looking toward the beings of black that surrounded her.
"Now," he said, snapping his fingers again. "Move into formation!"
Ada commanded, and the figures bowed.
One moved to the left side of the wolven soldier, another moved to the right side, with the two of them marching at the back, with the final one placing itself at the front.
Irikia watched as they all heeded the command, all those menacing figures that were much larger and imposing than Ada, doing what he told them by the snap of his fingers. After all the surprises she had seen, this was the one that took the cake.
"Now, let us go, young Irikia! We have about a 2-day journey, so let's move on the double!"
He hopped with one leg and began to march, and all of the black beings followed with him.
"Let's go!" Irikia responded also, raising her hands in cheer.
# ## ### ####
Ada sat on the grass, leaning on a tree behind him, criss-cross style as he unlatched his grimoire and flipped through the pages. A crimson sheen glossed over his right eye, and all those unintelligible words translated instantly.
He flipped the pages and raised his left arm and conjured a magical circle, a standard, plain glowing circle.
"Oohhh, what is that, Ada?"
Irikia chided beside him, crawling closer and staring at the glowing circle.
"You don't know what this is?"
"Yeah, I do, it's essence magic, shamans in my tribe use that too, but what are you doing with it?"
"Practicing."
"Practicing what?"
"My circles, I am a mage, Irikia, and this is how mages practice."
"How does a mage practice?"
"You're curious? Are there not people who practice magic in your tribe?"
"We do, we have shamans, but they are kept sacred, and their magic is different than this as far as I can tell."
Ada moved his fingers in smooth and flowy motions.
"Well, we practice by the same principles as everything, constant use and effort, like training a muscle, but with brainpower. You see, the way a mage casts spells is by gathering essence and then forming it into a circle. The scale of that circle can be strengthened by training it, and its effects are further strengthened by how much essence you put in it."
"That's how mages cast spells?"
"Part of it, but for those spells to be cast, a mage must practice adding attributes to the circle for how a spell is formed. This is where the brain comes in. In order to attribute something to a circle, you need to imbue the circle with symbols to get the desired spell you want. For example."
The magical circle that was in his hand then glowed brighter and vibrated, and symbols of arcane magic slowly appeared, giving the circle a design.
"What I just did is just inscribed in this magic circle, a flame and a projectile symbol, which allows me to do this."
A small shot of flame then shot out of the magical circle and set ablaze a group of logs that were laid in front of them, and warmth oozed toward them as flames rose and grew.
"And that is why it requires knowledge, you have to memorize and learn each and every symbol if you want to have a proper spell. Think of them as the alphabet that makes up the entirety of magical language, and there are quite massive amounts of these symbols that a mage has to keep track of. Especially for an arcana mage like me, whose magic is the most varied and versatile."
"You really know a lot 'bout this stuff, huh?"
"Of course, I have to be prepared for each danger laid before me."
"So that's what the book is for?" Irikia said, peeking at its contents. "Looks like just a bunch of gibberish to me."
"Yes," Ada chuckled. "That's what it looks like to you, but I am actually studying spells," Ada then flipped to another page of his grimoire.
Though that's only part of it, what I'm actually doing apart from studying is redoing spells.
Ada thought as he conjured another magic circle in his palms. Many spells in this grimoire are on the brink of what is considered dark magics, and while he could use them, that probably won't bode well if he showed them carelessly, seeing as how Irikia and the rest of the world see these dark practices, it wasn't wise to use them, so the next best thing was to remake the spells.
There were some powerful spells in here, and it would be a waste not to make use of them.
I only need the symbols and the procedure for which they are to be cast. Dark magic has a peculiar way of performing them, downright questionable with the blood and sacrifice and all that. But if I leave all that stuff out and leave only the spell, that should suffice. I need all the firepower I can get, and rewriting the spell could make me do that safely.
Though they're not quite as powerful.
Ada's plan was to completely change the nature of the dark magics, repurposing them into spells she could use. It was a simple procedure; he only had to remove the black magic attributes from the spells and use what was left, and in this way, his arsenal grew large.
Irikia stood, walking close to the fire and tended to it by poking it with a stick. A black soldier walked beside her, moving without a sound as it handed her a bunch of logs perched on top of its shoulders. Irikia flinched as she realized it was there, looking at it in surprise, but it only stood, quiet and still.
"U-um... You can drop it here," Irikia said. Shakily pointing at the fire
The black soldier bowed and placed the logs on the fire, plopping the extra into a pile before going away and marching to the corner of the perimeter they were on and standing on guard, joining the others.
Irikia stared at its back before plopping back down to the log and resting her back on it, sitting beside Ada.
"Hey, can I ask something?"
"What is it?"
"What are these guys? Irikia pointed at his soldiers.
"Ah, you are talking about my black soldiers?"
"Black soldiers?" Irikia repeated.
"Yes, my black soldiers, my nephilim."
"Your nephilim? Irikia repeated again.
Ada nodded.
"They are the risen souls of the dead that have been reborn as my black soldiers."
The ability to raise the souls from the dead.
These black soldiers, these risen souls he awakened and reborn to warriors, were his ultimate power.
He had used this ability in the first wars he waged against his siblings, and without this, without this power at his side, it would have been impossible for him to face them, but when he acquired the ability to raise the dead as soldiers, he stood a fighting chance against their rule.
This was one of his powers as the god of death, and in his realm, there was no shortage of armies at his disposal to wage his war, so much so that he could engulf an entire planet with his overwhelming amount of numbers. He was able to put up a fight as a one-man army.
"Risen souls of the undead? Isn't that necromancy you're talking about?"
Ada looked at her face and was surprised to find her expression curious, though he had expected her to be worried or something of the sort.
"Not exactly necromancy, it might seem similar, but completely different, what, are you not surprised?"
"Well, I am, you can actually use necromancy."
Irikia's eyes widened, almost in an admiring way, and Ada's confusion along with it.
"Why does that surprise you?"
"Well, there's someone who uses the same magic as you! One of the Imperial Heroes, to be exact. I can't believe you could use that same magic as him!"
Ada's body shook like trees in an earthquake.
"What do you mean, someone who can use necromancy?" Ada asked in befuddlement. "I thought it was a dark practice?"
"Well, interestingly enough, there is someone who uses necomancy away from the dark cultish stuff it's normally known for."
"What?"
"You don't know who?"
Ada shook his head, his curiosity growing.
Irikia shot him an incredulous look.
"You really don't know, huh?"
Ada shook his head. "Sorry, but I've only just started my adventure, I'm new to this world."
Ada felt a pang of regret as he said those words. All the years spent in the Blaidhund were solely devoted to training his abilities, the powers he possessed. It was obvious now that that was a mistake.
"Well, for as smart as you are at this magic stuff, but you really are clueless about anything else, aren't you?" Irikia asked, a grin on her face.
"Yes, I guess so," Ada said, sighing.
"So, you wanna know about the guy who uses necromancer, huh?"
"Yes, who exactly is he?"
"Well, as I said, he's a part of the Imperial Heroes, the greatest, most acclaimed group of heroes on the continent, Drato, and one of their members is Trakta, the one who uses necromancy. He is known as the Undead King Commander, and commands an army of undead."
"Is that all you know?"
"It's all known about him. He's known to be very secretive. I only knew about him because he was a member of the Imperial Heroes, and tales of them spread through the forest, and other than what I said, that's basically just it."
"I see, thank you." Ada nodded.
"I still can't believe a necromancer is hailed as a hero."
"Why? Aren't you one?" Irikia said. "From what I can see, your powers are the same, so why aren't you?"
"No, I am not," Ada said, his voice hard.
Necromancy was a tainted magic that bastardized his domain of death, and it displeased him greatly that it was used in such a way.
Ada looked to Irikia, whose expression was somewhat taken aback by his sudden change of tone, which he found natural.
"Irikia," he said, bringing his voice down to a calmer volume.
"Take a look at my black soldiers, do you sense any wicked energy from them? Anything to indicate dark magics in their forms?"
Irikia stared at a nephilim in the corner, its attention to the thick woods beyond them.
"They don't look like zombies."
"Hahaha," Ada laughed, finding it amusing. "That's right, these aren't the regular undead. Do you know why? Why are they different from them?"
Irikia shook her head, side to side.
"Because they are made from the very souls of the dead. You see, for an undead to be born from necromancy, a corpse needs to be acquired, wherein the necromancer makes a magic circle and imbues it into the body, pouring mana into it, basically making a lifeline for the corpse to move again. The magic circle acts as its heart, its veins, its blood, etc, the thing that could make it actually move again."
Ada raised his arm and moved it toward a pile of bones, a carcass of a deer they had hunted earlier, stripped to its barest parts.
"But mine operate differently."
His hand then started to be surrounded by sigils of black and purple, which only he could see, and Irikia wondered what he was doing.
The deer carcass slowly had feathers of smoke rise out of it, and before long, it materialized into form. A black, smoking deer walked toward Ada and nuzzled its snout into his open palm, moving so gently it almost seemed alive. Ada ran through its head, the fur shifting from his fingers, and gently rubbed on it.
The deer walked, and it walked toward Irikia, its eyes, its dark black voids, staring at her.
She froze as her eyes locked with it, and her heart boomed. It looked so alive, even when it was transformed into something surreal, it felt like it was actually breathing, still living, brimming with life. Its movements were natural; it chuffed and huffed as it stepped closer, and swayed its head from side to side.
It sniffed at her, and instinctively, like she would have done if she had seen a deer out in the wild, in a gentle day when she would pick flowers from the forest, and when she wasn't actively hunting, she touched its snout, then gently rubbed its cheek.
"Whoa," she ooed. "So, this is the soul of the deer?"
"No, I take only a piece of it. A piece that has all of their traits and characteristics that make them act like when they were alive. The way they move, the way they breathe, and the way they act, those are the pieces I use to make them come alive. Think of them as what they once were, still functioning the same, but without a mind to think, personality, or memory; the only thing they have is instinct, and the capabilities they had before."
Ada pointed his head to one of the nephilim that surrounded them.
"See these black soldiers that surround us, they were the bandits that chased after you. The only thing they have is their physical attributes, but not their... questionable personalities."
Irikia's eyes widened, her hand stroking the deer frozen still.
"Really? I was wondering what happened to them, so you....?"
Ada nodded.
"I took care of it."
Irikia's arm dropped down from the deer, and she looked down her eyes to her legs.
"Does it bother you?" Ada asked.
"Oh, no, it doesn't, I...." she paused. "Thank you.... thank you for helping me," she finally said.
"It was of no worry."
Irikia nodded, and she shook her head afterward.
"Anyway, huh, wow, so that's how your... nephilim work, how were you able to do any of this, Ada?"
"Oh, hmm," Ada's eyes widened.
"I... I actually don't know... I've just, I've always been able to do this."
Ada said, which was actually the truth. Ever since the beginning of time, he was always able to manipulate souls, and that was partly why he was given dominion over death. But when the fighting started, he was able to call upon his deity powers and made himself able to summon the nephilim as if it were second nature. A deity's power is without master,
"Really? That's it?"
"Yeah, I really don't know what else to tell you, Irikia."
"So, what does that make you? Some sort of talent? A genius? Something like that?"
"Well, I wouldn't say that personally."
"Yeah, well, what about that magic stuff, and your nephilim?"
"They are the abilities I have, Irikia, but I still train them. Just because you have a special power, it means nothing if you don't know how to use it or they remain stagnant."
"Huh, you're starting to sound like an old man, humble much?"
"Just telling the truth. Well, how about you? Any specialties that you have? You are an Aura user, correct?"
Irikia sighed.
"Yes, but my abilities aren't worth noting. They are pretty useless."
"Surely not, in fact, I consider everything to be of use."
"Not mine," Irikia said, another breath exiting.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, you can see for yourself," Irikia said, opening her clawed hands and aura emanating from them.
It was thin, translucent, and seemed feathery in its quality.
"My core, it's weak. My mana reserve is quite small, and I struggle to enforce anything that is even somewhat large with aura, and even then, it's brittle and breaks easily. "
"How about swordsmanship? Do harpies do such things?"
"Well, yeah, we have aura users, but our arts are focused on our wings. We enforce our wings with aura, and that is our weapon. But it's impossible for me, not only because of my weak core, but also because of my wings."
"What about your wings?"
"They're small, smaller than the average harpy," she said, shaking her hands and fluttering the wings on them. "My grandfather said that it was probably because of a mutation, so I was not able to learn martial arts. The only thing I can do with my wings is to sharpen my feathers."
Irikia looked to Ada, showing him a pained smile.
"Pretty lame, huh?"
"I don't think so, Irikia."
"What do you mean?"
"I said I don't think your abilities are inadequate. Tell me, when did you awaken? How long have you been practicing martial arts?"
"I awakened at 10 years old, so for six years I've been practicing."
"Mhm," Ada's words went up and down. "Could you show me those enforced feathers of yours?"
Irikia did so, plucked out an enforced feather, and handed it to him. Ada ran the tip of his finger along the edge of the plume, an aura-enforced finger, and noticed its sharpness, a sharpness that even cut through his aura.
"Its edge is really developed extraordinarily; it is honed to such thinness and sharpness that it even scrapes my finger. How was it made as such?"
"It was the only thing I was able to do, so I've gotten pretty good at it."
"That explains its sharpness."
Ada saw her eyes tense, and her hands clenching tight into a fist.
"Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
Irikia paused, then nodded.
"You don't like to be weak, don't you?
Irikia snapped back her head and turned to look at him. It lasted several seconds, several long seconds, before she nodded her head.
"Is it because of those bandits?"
She nodded again.
"I-I hated it, I hated being in the ground, not being able to do anything, not being able to stop it."
Ada understood.
He knew what it was like to be weak; his early life showed how much despair and pain it brings, but there was one thing weakness brought that inflicted a deeper ache: fear.
Fear of not being able to do anything, fear of not being capable of fighting back, fear of being helpless, of not being strong enough to stop the monsters from coming. Ada shuddered, remembering the figures of his siblings, and it brought a chill down his spine.
"Heck, I couldn't even fight back because my feathers were too weak."
Ada snapped from his stupor, shaking himself awake. He looked to Irikia, who looked down, before placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Of course, your feathers would be weak," he said, which made Irikia flinch and widen her eyes and furrow her brows. "You are only 16 after all, you expect to be at the pinnacle of abilities when you are so young?"
Irikia's shock faded as soon as it appeared.
Ada raised the feather to his face and began observing it.
"You look at yourself and see only your weaknesses, but have you not considered what you can do with your abilities? The hidden strengths that you have?"
"Eh"
"How about we fiddle with your powers? Get in a little practice with your wings? What do you say?"
"... I-I'm not even sure if I have the strengths you're talking about."
"We'll see if that's the truth. Ah, I forgot to mention, aside from being a mage, I am also a martial artist as well, so expect that it may be a little bit rough."
".... Huh?"