Hecate concentrated, focusing on her domain of magic as she willed her divinity and innate domain to work together.
"You are doing it wrong. You don't need divinity to manifest things through my magic. Pull back your divinity and focus on your intent and will. The stronger you Will, the greater your control over magic. And the greater your control? The better your skill in manifesting magic in physical form."
"Do you know how little that helps?"
She snarked at her oldest friend as she continued concentrating, much to Brolios's amusement.
"I know. But it really can't be helped. If you want to use magic as I do, these steps cannot be skipped."
She grunted while still sitting in her meditative pose with Brolios's hand on her back, guiding her innate energy originating from her very soul that she never even knew she had within her until he pointed it out to her. The so-called magic that he uses.
The Goddess of Crossroads and Magic knew long ago that Brolios's understanding of the world was far different from any other god or goddess.
That he was born with the unique ability to manipulate his own lifeforce and somehow mix it with his will and his body's physical energy, creating what he calls Ki within himself. An absurd power that probably allowed him to become what he is today.
'Such an absurd feat. No wonder the Crooked One and his kin were so helpless against him.'
It really was no wonder that the Titans fell so easily to Brolios's power. Because it is literally impossible for any Titan, God, or spirit to manipulate their own lifeforce.
Mainly because their life force is a rigid, unbending thing. A representation of their nature as immortal, unchanging forces of nature.
That is why Brolios's ability to manipulate his lifeforce, and even use it to enhance his combat ability and use it in various absurd ways, is seen as such an anomaly by the various gods and titans that dabble in Mystiokinesis, the arts of reality warping.
And then, he showed an even more absurd ability that he called Spirit Control. The baility to control his own spiritual energy, focus it, refine it, and combine it with his Ki to gain even greater control over his power, maximising effeciency and minimizing his Ki usage while also making his Ki even more flexible, allowing him to manifest even more absurd techniques, such as that one time where he split himself into multiples without the need of using his divinity.
This ability of his is by far his most useful skill to date, the one called Forced Spirit Fission, which allowed him to remove any type of energy from his target, including divine energy, should he choose to. A technique he uses very liberally when he wants to punish his siblings for their idiocy.
And as if all of these techniques were already not absurd enough, he then developed his so-called Magic. The ability to use the very energy of the Soul, a power that is related to, but different from spiritual energy, to manipulate reality to achieve similar effects to Mystiokinesis.
However, unlike Mystiokinesis, where the changes made to reality can only last as long as the caster is alive, Brolios's magic changes reality on a fundamental level, making his changes permanent, as if these changes were there from the very beginning of the world itself.
A terrifyingly efficient ability.
Which is why Hecate wanted to learn this power so badly.
Brolios suddenly patted her back, bringing her back to reality.
"You are distracted, Hecate. You were just about to brush your magical power, but lost it when your mind wandered."
The goddess blushed gold in embarrassment and annoyance.
"Yes, yes. Make fun of me, why don't you?"
"Huh? Why would I make fun of you for a mistake anyone can make? There is no shame in making mistakes, after all, as long as we learn from them."
Glancing behind her, she caught the earnest look on her friend's face and could not help but sigh with that familiar mix of fondness and annoyance.
'This fool, why is he so clueless like this?'
Shaking her head to get rid of those thoughts, she concentrated back within herself. This time, not letting her thoughts get the better of her.
Slowly, but surely, she grasped the concept that Brolios was trying to help her grasp. Finally allowing her to grasp that elusive energy within her.
Brolios grinned behind her.
"Good. That's it. Now, keep that feeling in mind. The more you pull on your soul's energy, the more you'll get used to calling on it when you need. Then, you can start moulding it to perform magic."
Hecate sighed and let go of the energy.
Standing up, she stretched her body, making her Chito ride up a bit while also highlighting her body proportions.
It was all a calculated move, of course, so that she could catch the god staring and tease him about it.
Unfortunately, Brolios was far too excited at the prospect of her learning magic and at the hypothetical future where she would master this magic and give him a worthy rival to test out new techniques against.
'....This fool. I don't think there is anything in this world rivaling his denseness.'
With another sigh, the goddess relaxed into a chair nearby while Brolios sat in front of her.
She placed her chin in her palm.
"So? How far did you get with your investigations?"
Brolios shook his head.
"No progress. No matter how I try, I can't track down the source of that divine pulse. I originally felt the sense of loss, sorrow, and longing from it. But now, while the sense of Loss is still there, attracting my domain, that feeling of sorrow and longing is replaced by what I feel to be a strange sense of glee and...some kind of fun?"
Hecate giggled, knowing full well what, or rather, who was playing around with Brolios like this, but kept her mouth shut. After all, as the goddess of magic and crossroads, there was literally nothing that could hide from her.
Yet, she knew better than to blab to Brolios about the source. Especially when a certain someone was finally starting to come out of her shell, both literally and metaphorically, and learning to heal her sorrow and loneliness by playing with Brolios like this.
"Then, what are you going to do now?"
"Keep searching for a bit before returning to Olympus for the Summer Solstice."
Hecate nodded.
The Summer Solstice is the timeframe where all the gods and titans who sided with the Olympians gather at Olympus, mainly to discuss how things are going across their realms, while also spending the rest of the time celebrating.
While these meetings were originally supposed to be private and for the Olympians alone, Brolios proposed that every one of their allies should also be allowed to join them in celebration for all the help they gave them during the Titan War. A proposal that most of the Olympians agreed with.
That is how the current tradition of the Summer Solstice came to be in the first place.
Hecate's grin turned sharp as she spoke about something she had only learned about recently.
"So, I heard that you went down to the Underworld again, specifically the realms of Nyx? And even had dinner with Eris, Nemesis, and the rest of the siblings?"
Brolios grunted and placed his face in his palms.
"Don't remind me. That was a disaster wrapped in civility. I just wanted to enjoy all the rare food that the girls gathered for me, but somehow, the dinner devolved into a shouting match between Nemesis and Epiales while Eris watched the show, as always. In the end, I didn't even get to eat something before I was forced to mediate and stop that whole debacle, after which those guys went back to their respective homes, ending the feast then and there."
"I could have eaten the food right after, but given the pitiful looks that Cerberus was giving me, I couldn't do anything but let that pup eat his fill and return with an empty stomach to my groove."
Brolios looked like he really would start crying as he conveyed his bitterness at losing out on good food, softening the sharp smile on Hecate's face into one of that familiar fond exasperation.
"You glutton. Are food and training the only things on your mind all the time?"
"....Well, not really? I mean, I do have to manage my domains, which is no small task, and then find the time to check in with my nieces and nephews, and then make sure my idiots are keeping themselves in check, and then look in on my Lost, checking their healing progress and helping them along, and then looking out for-"
"Ok, ok. Enough. I get it."
Hecate stopped him, much to his confusion, while she massaged her forehead.
'Yup. Definitely an idiot. Lovable, sure, but still an idiot.'
She thought to himself before she continued with the casual talk on this peaceful and free day that she rarely gets.
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon
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