Tales of Illumination, Book 2: Distortions
Chapter 7: The Chapter I Can't Find a Good Name For
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It felt amazing, this power, it felt great. A grin spread across my face. The scales on my arms turned a darker shade as I charged darkness within them, and took off, instantly breaking the light spectrum, causing what looked like an explosion of blood over the land, and I flew using my dark thrusters in a random direction, creating a red and black streak behind me as I moved at the speed of darkness over the land, and quickly went south, then north, trying to find something to amuse myself with. Then I found it. A small city, almost all of the residents were outside, staring at the black streak circling above. I feel a song coming on. I thought as I changed directions and landed in the center of town. Then my rampage began, as I grabbed the nearest pony by the head, and crushed his skull with one hand, followed by creating a barrier around the town of solid chaos energy, keeping them from escaping, I began to hum the lyrics to myself
"What is this feeling
Of power and drive
I've never known?
I feel alive!
"Where does this feeling
Of power derive,
Making me know
Why I'm alive?
"Like the night, it's a secret,
Sinister dark and unknown.
I do not know what I seek,
Yet I'll seek it alone!"
I summoned a cruel looking blade, and ran it through the first pony I found after that. I then split both of my arms into tendrils and began to skewer whatever ponies I found as I sang.
"I have a thirst
That I cannot deprive.
Never have I felt so alive!
"There is no battle
I couldn't survive -
Feeling like this -
Feeling alive!
"Like the moon, an enigma,
Lost and alone in the night
Damned by some heavenly stigma,
But blazing with light!
"It's the feeling of being alive!
Filled with evil, but truly alive!
It's the truth that cannot be denied!
It's the feeling of being
Sanguine Hide!"
My tendrils split once more, and began tearing apart buildings, and hunting down whoever remained alive while I finished my song.
"Animals trapped behind bars at the zoo
Need to run rampant and free!
Predators live on the prey they pursue!
This time the predator's me!
"Lust, like a raging desire,
Fills my whole soul with it's curse!
Burning with primitive fire,
Berserk and perverse!
"Tonight I'll plunder heaven blind,
Steal from all the gods!
Tonight I'll take from all that's kind,
Conquer all the odds!"
I conjured a double-bladed scythe, with a ring in the middle, and a few surprises, and put a single tendril through it, and used it to gut and maim , sometimes throwing it, and pulling it back with darkness.
"And I feel I'll live on forever,
With Satan himself by my side!
And I'll show the world
That tonight and forever,
The name to remember's
The name Sanguine Hide!
"What a feeling to be so alive!
I have never seen me so alive!
Such a feeling of evil inside -
That's the feeling
Of being
Sanguine Hide!
"In this feeling of being alive
there's a new world I see come alive
its a truth that cannot be denied
there's no feeling like being
Sanguine Hiiiiiiiiiiiide!"
By this point, the town was a pile of rubble, and a "T" shaped pond of blood surrounded by ripped apart bodies. My arms reverted back to normal, and my left hand regrew, whilst sheathing my new sword, and placing my scythe wheel on my back. I then started my flight again, and on my way out, I saw a sign that said "Now leaving Baltimare." A grin crossed my face, and I chuckled to myself, the blood coming of with the wind. The darkness carried me to the next town I came across. I next arrived in Manehatten, where I repeated the process, with less musical numbers. The only other differences were that, 1: the shape of the pond of blood was instead a "M" shape. 2: I didn't sing while killing these ones, and 3: I created five different weapons.
1) An Ax
2) A spear
3 and 4) A pair of handguns (to explain, the metal creation power allows him to create the bullets inside the chamber, so he has no need to reload)
5) The only one I could think of a name for: the Sanguinis Unguis, or bleeding claw.
At the second town, it was starting to get boring to just go in and slaughter, so instead, I used illusions to make them kill each other instead. And it was almost perfect, after a few minutes of thought as for how to fix this, I eventually tried Latin. I looked over the town, created a second barrier around it, and mentally-shouted "FURIA!" at my maximum volume. The eyes of all the ponies all turned red, and began to beat each-other to death, either with a weapon, or with their bare-hooves. When only one was alive, I would free his mind, and watch his reaction, and I enjoyed every second of his crying over how he had killed so many, before I killed him that is. I didn't even notice my scales turn slightly darker due to the blood covering them.
So, Latin does hold magic power. Excellent.
After I had taken out Manehattan, I noticed this method left more buildings standing. I flew to the top level of the tallest building, and slept leaning against one wall. (inside of it, obviously)
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Dream world, 3rd person
Lumos, Mirum, Malum, and Sanguine all were suddenly sitting around a table. The first three were all utterly confused. Sanguine let out a loud cough, causing them all to look at him.
"You recognize him?"
"He seems familiar"
Sanguine smiled a demonic grin, "Funny, but seriously, I am you guys. At least, now I am. I used to be a rather large part of Akumu." At this the other three jumped up, and Sanguine chuckled, "Lets not fight now, killing me isn't the best idea, in fact, I'm the one currently in control of the body, unlike you two," Sanguine gestured to Mirum and Malum, who were nearly shaking with rage and fear, "I can take over whenever I want, as long as the imbalance between chaos and order is large enough. Oh, and a bit of advice before we wake, Lumos. Latin holds some magical essence here, and thanks to you, I know a damn good amount. Now, good morning." And with a snap of his fingers, the four were drawn back to the waking world.
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Manehattan building from before, first person from Sanguine's POV
The first thing I noticed, was that there was a piano in the room, which I slowly walked to, walked over to, and began to [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzF7mTRrrnQ] play. (RL me can play piano too, as well as flute and violin!)
Whatever caused me to play this song, I will never know, maybe it's the main soul's regret over how I made him kill so many? Eh, whatever.
I stood up from the piano stool, and jumped out the window. Creating a small cloud of dust from my landing. I thought-spoke "Extendam Artus," and my finger extended, bending unnaturally, and stabbed into a disembodied limb of some blue pony. I then pointed at a patch of ground with a different finger, and thought-spoke "Ignis." This was followed by a decently sized flame springing to life. I then proceeded to cook, and eat my meal.
Note to self, the meat of these ponies are surprisingly tender, but do not taste very good... Find good spices. I critiqued my cooking for another minute or two before I was done eating, and warped onto the roof of the roughly 4 floor building I had just napped in. I then stared out at the horizon, feeling too lazy to slaughter any more towns today. I blamed it on my Latin.
Another note: Latin based magic uses a lot of energy. Find and charge gems for more use.
A couple hours passed of staring out at the horizon, it was a good sight, at least, the trail I left ruins it a bit. I think I'll just move a little slower to get to the next town tomorrow.
I went back into the room i was sleeping in before, and began counting the ceiling tiles in boredom.
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Few minutes later
I finally finished counting all the ceiling tiles in the building. which added up to well over 3000. I returned to ‘my’ room, and sat back down at the piano, and began to play a different piece, called the black star.
I was so immersed in my piece, I didn’t even notice when two figures entered the room. It was only when I finished that I noticed an arrow hitting the left side back of my neck. It didn’t do any real damage, but still, that would have been a killshot had my scales not stopped it. I heard someone running at me, and let out a kick, hitting its target in the gut. I then picked up the arrow, and tossed it to the elf that had shot it, which I recognized as Erahaor from Lumos’ memories. The other, whom I had just kicked, I remember as my former body, whose arm was glowing. After a few moments examining them, I let out a hyena-esque laugh, while digging my feet into the ground.
(RANDOM BATTLE THEME GO!)
Well thats odd, I can’t seem to speak in this body. I thought to myself, as I drew my sword, and began to swing my head from left to right like a pendulum, following the Dust Eater technique to the letter, before slashing the ankle of Erahaor. He let out a shout of pain as he stumbled, giving me an opening for the other foot to be slashed. The second wound caused him to fall over, to which I responded by jumping up, blade poised to kill.
A blade then hit my sword disorienting me for a moment as I fell, causing my blade to just barely miss his ear by mere centimetres. Erahaor then tried to PUNCH me, probably as a last resort. Too bad I’m scaled, sucker. I thought with a smile.
I slowly shook my head, and turned to Noctis, before letting out a huge grin of a great many sharp teeth.
I pulled out Sanguinis Unguis, and placed it on my left hand, and my sword still in my right. Noctis then jumped over me, and ran to Erahaor, and they said something to each other a bit too quiet for me to hear. I watched Erahaor mutter something, and his wounds began to disappear.
I saw Noctis stand back up, and my grin came back to me I raised sanguinis unguis, before slamming it into the ground, while using thought-speech to say to myself “Terra muto” (earth shift)
I could feel the earth shaking from me tearing through it like a bullet, I charged out from under the building, and felt vibrations through the dirt from people trying to stay up. I drew my ax with my left hand, and tore out of the ground in the location the two were standing, swinging both ax and sword in a circulative motion, trying to get their necks. Erahaor was a bit further than expected, but I managed to nick the side of Noctis’ neck.
I began to let out a relentless assault on Noctis, all strikes aiming for the neck. Somehow he managed to deflect nearly every blow I threw at him. This carried on for a few seconds before I was distracted by an ARROW HITTING MY EYE. I let out a howl of pain, before grabbing the arrow, and tearing it out. My eye regenerated in a matter of seconds, which it’s nice to know it can do that. Noctis jumped back to where Erahaor was standing, and created a navy blue magical barrier.
I began to walk around it, searching for the weak point, or ‘breaking point,’ if you will. After mere moments I found it, not wanting to waste any time, I threw down my weapons and rushed forward, digging both hands into it, and thought-spoke to myself, the words “Verticitas tunicata” (polarity shift) to make things easier. It took longer than expected, but eventually, a hole did begin to get torn through the barrier. Noctis looked like he was saying something to Erahaor, but I couldn’t hear it, even at nearly point blank.
Huh... I guess this forms deaf as well as mute... That sucks. I thought grimly to myself. Only to be pulled from my thoughts as Noctis slammed into me, and recast the barrier spell around Era.
I smirked, and summoned my ax in a way similar to how a keyblade is summoned in the KH games. I then dropped into a stance with just the ax, and waited for him to leave an opening. And what does he do? More. Fucking. Exposition between them.
Fuck it. I thought as I summoned my spear, dropped my ax, and charged. He shifted slightly, but he let me impale him on it. When i got it up to the point where i was holding, he wrapped his arms around me, and I felt it wasn’t a friendly hug, it was a ‘I will not let you leave here alive,’ type of hug, a hug indicating, a suicide attack. I grabbed him in the same way, ready to die. I could have gotten away, but something told me this was a good way to die. Darkness began to spawn around us, and I closed my eyes and waited for a few seconds, I then opened my eyes, and saw him smiling to the side, I glanced over, and what I saw nearly made Lumos break free: It was Clare, Ven, Die, Celestia, and Luna, all there. Suddenly, the darkness swallowed us up, and took us in.
__________________________________________________________________
Ven’s POV
(Insert sad music here)
What just happened? What was that darkness?
Almost immediately after Noctis, and that.... thing disappeared, Die broke down and began to cry. It hurt so much to see her like that... Luna had done the same thing almost, Celestia wrapped her wing around Luna, and began to gently rock her, back and forth.
“What was that?” Asked Clare, fear and confusion filling her words.
“That was my brother sacrificing himself to protect us. The technique is one of the two techniques we discovered that we forbade ourselves from using, due to their destructive potential.” Die said, staring at the ground, “They’re called Dark Abyss and Light’s Judgement. Dark Abyss swallows up anything in range and sticks it into the Dark Zone. Light’s Judgement forces punishment upon the target for every wrong they ever committed. It could probably drive someone insane at full strength.”
I placed my hand on her shoulder, she turned her head to face me, and I said, “If thats what he did, then we need to find Lumos. Now.”
“I don’t think that will be possible.” Celestia calmly stated, but I could feel the sadness emanating from her.
“What do you mean?” Clare asked.
“Think about it. Right after Lumos disappeared, this creature showed up. Luna told me that there were two beings with him that were actually a part of his mind. I’m saying that I believe the creature was Lumos.” She replied.
“No,” Clare said, as I felt the last piece of hope slipping away, “That...”
“However,” She continued, “There may be another way.”
“What are you talking about?” Die asked, using a near monotone.
_________________________________________________________________________
Dark world, POV of Sanguine.
Being back in the darkness again was... awkward, the kind of awkward you get when you have to stay at a friends house for a few days after being kicked out of your own. I could feel all three of the others fighting to get control of the body away from me.
I couldn’t hear anything, not even the sounds I tried to make, nor could I hear Noctis anywhere around me anyway. I clutched my head as the nothingness around me began to get to me. It felt... unnatural... not even my darkness was this... evil feeling. This wasn’t just ordinary darkness, it was emotional darkness more than anything, the kind of shit that made the heartless and nobodies in KH2. I began to feel something creeping into my mind.
No... NO! I won’t let you take this heart! YOU SHALL NOT GET IT! I screamed in my head, and opened a dark passage somehow, but it was too late. The very souls of Mirum, Malum, and Lumos were torn away, leaving only me in the body. I then began to slowly change, my scales turned black, and I’m not sure how to describe it, but suddenly, I could see into the darkness almost as though it was perfectly light out.
The darkness, and to think I was keeping it from me just now... It’s beautiful...
I wonder if I can use thought speech since normal speaking didn’t work with this body... I thought to myself as I closed the passageway.
I turned toward where I could now see Noctis,just floating around, and grinned, before directing him a thought,
“Where are you? What do you want, Creature? And how exactly are we able to communicate like this? Is it one of the Dark Zone’s hidden rules?” I replied in monotone.
“Transformed? Into what?”
“Heartless? Interesting name. Now why exactly is that supposed to scare me?”
“I see. So Akumu is a heartless? And if that’s true, then does that mean Nightmare was a heartless as well?”
“You know what else is rare?”
“No, people who can actually fool me. The chilled heart allows me to think without my emotions clouding my logical process, so I can deduce things that others could not. And I know who you are.”
“True. But still, the way you act is so different to your other self, the real you. So, why exactly are you talking to me, Lumos?”
“It’s an interesting name, I’ll give you that. Now why don’t you live up to it and be silent so I can speak to Lumos?”
“I see. Then where is this, ‘husk’, as you call it. Or do you even know?”
“Hmm, I think he’d probably become something, unique, even among these Nobodies as you call them. He’s definitely more unique than you are for sure.”
“Hmm, well, that’s the thing about Lumos. In the short time that I’ve known him, I’ve learned that he’ll never bow down to anyone. Even as a Nobody, he won’t change. He’s just too stubborn. Now, are you done, or are you going to persist in trying to talk me to death?”
“Enough. Or did you not see the lack of emotions in my heart?”
“The organization?”
“Umbra, if you honestly think that Lumos won’t be as strong as them, you’re a-”
“So why exactly are you telling me this? What purpose does it serve? Or are you just spouting lies?”
“I’d wield swords, I know that much. Anyway, how are you so knowledgeable about all this?”
So he would become a Samurai type.
“Yeah, no. That’s not gonna happen. And you already know why.”
“Wrong. You’re not proof of it being false, you’re proof of it being true.”
I think I’ll troll him a bit,
“Yeah, and you will never leave this place. I beat you, whether you admit it or not. I’m proof that the darkness can be beaten, my sister is proof that it can be beaten, LUNA IS PROOF THAT IT CAN BE BEATEN!” His emotional barrier has been torn down. Trolling success.
“That’s where you’re wrong. The dark abyss is a very specific technique. And beings with dark hearts, or no heart at all in your case, are permanently stripped of any ability that would allow them to leave. I never had the ability to leave, so I’m all the company you’re ever going to have.” He said with a smirk.
The couldn’t help but laugh,
“You’re lying.” I said.
“Yeah, well then I’ll just have to make sure you don’t have the chance to leave!” I shouted, drawing my sword.
“NO, I WON’T LET YOU LEAVE!” I shouted, darkness throwing him at me, knocking us the the pseudo-ground. How the fuck did he find me?
I drew a sword and pistol,
“If you think I’ll die here, you’re sorely mistaken. I have friends, family, that I want to protect, and as long as you’re around, they’re in danger. THERE’S NO WAY I’M GONNA LET YOU THREATEN THEIR SAFETY!”
“Enough, are we going to talk, or fight? Hey, why can I hear my voice now?” I asked, confused.
I grinned,
“I’d ask who Sora is, but I don’t have time. I’ll just assume that the guy in the mosaic is him. Now, prepare to die.” I said, brandishing Tsuki no me.
I slowly sank into the floor, before splitting off into multiple pieces around me,
“I don’t care. I fight to protect the ones I love. That’s all I need. I’ll protect them, even if it means you and I battle for eternity.” Well, he’s back to being an emotionless prick
“Immortal, remember? I don’t need to eat or drink in order to survive.”
“Is this my opponent? So be it!” Noctis shouted.
I approached my creation, and said, whilst breaking its chains
The imprisoner jumped forward, swinging its now flaming hammer to the side. Noctis jumped back, stopping just short of going over the edge. The imprisoner snapped its fingers, causing a flaming cage to appear around him, causing him to be lit on fire, as the imprisoner then sunk into the ground. Noctis began trying to break it with only physical strength, when that didn’t work, he began to charge his blade with energy, breaking a hole in it just large enough for him to fit through, and shattering the handle. The imprisoner then came out of the ground under Noctis in a huge explosion that knocked him into the back of the cage, which repaired itself, much to my annoyance. The creature then caught fire, and began to spin inside the tiny cage, lighting him on fire once more.
Noctis then let off a quick burst of power straight from the lunar orb. My imprisoner let out a howl of pain as the blast hit it and changed back into a black mist, which flowed back to, and absorbed into me.
I let out a slow clap,
“What can I say, I like to put on a show sometimes.” He retorted with a scowl.
He replied with a simple “Blizzard,” dumping a single shard of ice on his head, extinguishing the flame.
Well, I won’t have any real use for these, now that I think about it. I thought as I threw all my weapons off of the DtH we were on, before turning to face Noctis. I took the only stance of the anti-sora I remembered. Noctis placed Tsuki no me on the magnetic disc on his back, and took a boxing stance.
“So, you ready?” He said calmly.
Noctis rushed me with a quick right hook, followed by a flying reverse roundhouse kick. With the right hook I simply bent directly backwards beyond the bounds of physics, and bent even further at the kick.
“Too slow.” He said as he grabbed my arm and threw me even higher than he had gone. I righted myself in the air, and gathered the darkness around me as I dropped,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw8pcxE6U9k&feature=player_detailpage
The explosion shattered a large portion of the glass that made up the floor we were standing on, leaving holes everywhere. Noctis was knocked off the platform, barely managing to grab ahold of the edge before he could plummet into the endless depths of the darkness below. I landed about ten feet from where he was hanging on and walked slowly toward it, savoring the moment of victory.
“I won’t give up. Even if you toss me into the darkness I won’t give up hope. I’ll keep coming back and fighting until I can’t anymore, and even then I’ll keep going.” He replied, I could feel his fear, and his attempts at hiding it were very good, but I’m a heartless, I know emotions.
I smiled and threw him,
“Fine, same to you.” He said, brandishing his and taking deep breaths.
I said, whilst summoning two copies of Sanguinis Unguis, one for each hand.
“So, no holding back?” He asked, charging the Lunar Orb and letting its energy flow into the blade.
I grinned,
“I’m sure you know about the fire cross. WELL HERE’S MY VERSION! LUNAR CROSS!” he shouted as he created two navy blue trails in the ‘air’, which were propelled at me. I didn’t even move as it hit me and exploded in a shower of stardust. When the dust cleared, I was still standing there, with a small cut on my head.
I let out a shriek of pain, before smiling, and my flesh began to shift. It slowly pulled the blade the rest of the way through, and stabbed him in the shoulders with my gauntlets. He grunted as they dug into my flesh and seared him, and pulled back before they could reach the bone, but the cuts were still deep enough for him to lose consciousness from blood loss if he doesn’t heal.
“I’ll admit I’m impressed. But you’re still nowhere near Lumos’ level.” He taunted.
I countered.
“Let me ask you something. Did I ever tell you what kind of summoning materia I possess?” he asked me.
“Nah, I gave that one to Erahaor.” HOLY SHIT HE REALLY HAD SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!?! “The one I’ve got is a little more, interesting.” He replied, as his right arm started to glow red. “DRAW YOUR BLADE! YOJIMBO!” He yelled.
At that exact moment, five creatures landed on what was left of the platform. One was humanoid, wearing a long cloak and a hat with a very wide rim, and a red dog dog at his side. The other three were in one shape, making up a giant suit of armor. The two of us stood at opposite ends, on the same side as the ones we’d summoned, me with trinity armor, and Noctis with the samurai and dog.
“So, do you think I could get a freebie this time?” Noctis asked the samurai casually. He gave Noctis a look that said ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ Noctis sighed and reached into a pocket, pulling out what looked like a wallet, before throwing him a few coins. He just gave Noctis a blank stare, before pocketing the money and moving to engage the armors.
The armors moved first, its torso spinning and shooting lasers, while its arms and legs remained straight forward, the lasers barely going around Umbra’s head. Yojimbo ducked and weaved through the deadly light show with speed and grace, the kind that takes years of dedication and mastery to attain. Even I would have trouble moving that well, it’s pretty fucking impressive. As he closed the distance, the lasers started to come close to hitting him a few times, yet sadly, they never actually did. By the time my armor lined up a shot, he was upon them, drawing his short sword and slashing just in front of them. For a second, there was nothing. Then, the armors stumbled back as an invisible force slammed into every part of their bodies, slashing through them as if they were made of paper. Yojimbo returned to his side, shooting him a smug look. I saw him reply with a shrug and a quick thumbs-up.
“Yeah, well I wish you weren’t so ugly, but we can’t always get what we want!”
So he CAN troll decently.
“What, you don’t want to see your creature lose?” I asked.
“Fair enough,” He replied, mimicking me, I replied with a grin, and he drew his blade, “Ready to lose?”
I could feel my grin growing,
“Alright, but he’ll only fight if you pay him.” he replied. “And I’m all out of cash.” He said with a smirk.
“Oh? And that would be...”
He thought for a moment, and got a surprised look on his face when he figured it out, “You’re insane, you know that? You really think I’ll let Akumu out just to let you have a challenge?”
“Ok, then you’re really insane. I don’t really give a damn what others think of me for the most part. And I’m not letting Akumu out.”
I began to pour all the darkness into my replica, so it would release his darkened heart anyway, and he pointed it at him,
“Not gonna HAPPEN!” Noctis shouted.
The dark aura around my key continued to grow, and grow as I prepared the shot. The beam of darkness shot out and struck true, hitting him dead in the chest. Noctis collapsed, and I could see his darkness ready to start seeping out.
Noctis’ body stopped moving, and a splotch of dark, in the form of Akumu, began to form. Meanwhile the other side began to reshape itself as Noctis’ pegasus form.
The scenery was the next thing to change, in a bright flash that made me know we had left the dark world, the top level of the dive became a darker shade of blue. Sora’s picture morphed into one of pony-Noctis, the background of the Destiny Islands had changed to a farm-town, and the faces in the other circles shifted to show Luna, Die, Celestia, and his old face. Finally, the crowns in the outer rim of the floor had morphed to the symbols for the elements of harmony and the Solar and Lunar Orbs.
“I don’t know. But the floor changed. Take a look.” I said, pointing to it.
“So this is my Dive to the Heart as you call it? Does that mean we’re actually in my heart or something?” He asked, obviously confused.
“Yeah, well you’re gonna think this is even more incredible!” He said, and, to my horror, summoned a keyblade.
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The Lost Woods
I leaped out of the dark passage, landing on the soft grass, my apparent hitchhiker wasn’t so lucky, Akumu flew out of the Passageway, crashing into a tree. I just facepalmed as he stood up, and brushed himself off.
“Who’s asking?” He asked, looking around.
He turned to face me, “Oh. Also, thanks for letting me follow you.”
I smiled,
“Wait, you mean it worked? Does that mean that Noctis is... what did you call it again?”
“That makes a surprising amount of sense, coming from someone who murdered three towns.”
He shrugged, “Touche.”
“It’s... Relaxing actually, much more so than i thought it would be.”
“I remember something about there being other parts to you, right?”
“You mean ‘On with the hunt?’” Akumu said with a grin.
“You got any guns?”
“I could draw up some blueprints for a silenced mp5, if you can make it.”
“You can try though. Also a sword would be nice.”
I snapped my fingers and two blades appeared, one i made look like Tensa Zangetsu, which landed in front of me, and another I just randomly decided on making, but turned out looking pretty good, which landed in front of Akumu.
I looked at him with a grin,
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AN: Yeah, yeah, KH references galore, what can I say? Its better than the other way this turned out, which I erased, and will never tell you how it went. Anyway, here is a riddle for you that my old history teacher used to ask my class:
“What is wet when you dry?”