Chapter 121: Funeral Rites

Chapter 121: Funeral Rites

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Funeral Rites

We returned to Vale in silence, slipping into Naraka and then another of Raven's portals. It took mere moments and then we were atop one of the city's skyscrapers, looking over the empty city.

Raven hadn't said a word the entire trip back, but I didn't press her on it. I knew what she was feeling as well as she did, but also knew she wouldn't want a blatant gesture of support. Instead, I simply stood beside her silently, watching the city gleam. Beowolves spawned in short order and began to tear apart the city beneath us. In moments, the sounds of windows breaking and doors splintering began to rise in the distance and I knew from experience that sheer accumulation of damage would soon topple buildings. Within an hour, much of the city would be in ruins. By the time night fell, it would seem like a mutilated corpse of its former self.

Amazing how quickly even the weakest Grimm can destroy things, given the chance. It was a reminder of what would happen if Humanity ever fell or stopped fighting.

It was also a rather dismal sight, all told, though it seemed to match Raven's moodwhich was why I restricted my Elementals to slaying only those that drew near our tower, killing them without physically moving while leaving the rest to run rampant. Raven didn't feel any joy watching the scene, nor anything like pleasure, but one didn't always need to feel something positive to draw strength from a sight. And as she looked down on the Grimm in bone-deep contempt and hatred, Raven seemed to feel a bit better. As a Huntress, I figured she'd just learned how to keep going on sheer spite when things got bleak; given the job, it was probably a survival trait.

And this situation wasnot necessarily bad, but neither of us seemed able to muster up a lot of optimism from the picture the facts seemed to paint. Even if we didn't know the specifics, Summer had almost certainly been the one down in that room and had almost certainly encountered and contracted the Red Rider, in whatever form it had taken. And after that, she'd vanished, and though there was no way to be certain, she seemed the most likely cause of Ruby's infection. Whatever had happened, she hadn't told any of her loved ones about what had occurred or how she wasthat is, not only had she never spoken to them directly, but she hadn't, as far as I was aware, even picked up a scroll to call them. If Summer had managed to keep ahold of herself, to whatever degree, there was no reason for her not to try and inform someone of the risks and the dangers, if she'd been aware. And there certainly wasn't much reason for her to have gone completely unheard of for at least a decade, had she been in her right mind.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

But then, her having retained her own mind at all was unlikely in the extreme, and both Raven and I knew it. Even without knowing anything concrete about how the Red Rider worked, we knew one thingneither it nor any other Grimm were natural.

They were designed. They'd been madeas weapons or whatever elseby an intelligent and ruthless being, for some purpose. And that being the case, we could thus assume that they'd built intelligently.

As such, it seemed rather unlikely that the Red Rider gave power to humans without a firm way to control them afterwards, becausewell, that would have been a rather glaring design flaw. I mean, why would you do that? Even beyond the general issues of creating super soldiers you couldn't fully control, doing so via a drug which could, most likely, only be used by your enemies wasstupid. Sure, the temple set up all but guaranteed that the surrounding nations bled each other dry, but that's still no reason to not include a way to ensure the created soldiers loyalty to their maker's cause. Or at least a kill switch of some kind. Sure, it's not exactly fair to your enemybut that's exactly why you would do it. And Conquest proved the Grimm had at least one way of controlling a host. Even beyond a similar means of taking over a host body, for a presumably sapient chemical

Mind-altering substances were on the tableor perhaps even direct tampering with the host's brain chemistry. Addiction was a possibility, too, I suppose, though that seemed like it would be harder to ensure absolute obedience.

Whatever the case, Summer had left the temple and vanished without a trace for ten years. Logic dictated that she was probably compromised; I knew thatand Raven did, too. Which meant she'd been told that a friend she'd long thought dead might still be aliveand also told that she would likely have to kill her next time they met.

Though if the Red Rider's hosts were in anything like the state Conquest's had been, trapped in their own minds and forced to watch the horrors their bodies wrought on the things they lovedand really, when you're a godless abomination, why not, right?then death might be a mercy. Even if her body existed, if likely in an extremely mutated state to fit the Rider's purpose, god only knew what had happened to hereverything.

But saying that aloud would have been callous and Raven was probably thinking it anyway, so instead I waited for her mood tonot quite lighten, but achieve a more lively shade of black, and then spoke.

"Even now, I look for a way to cure those taken by the Riders," I said, still staring out over the citywith my eyes, at least. The rest of my body was looking all over the damn place, as per usual. "No matter what's happened or will happen, I believe it can be done and I won't give up until I find a way. For the sake of all the innocent people that have been taken by those monsters and all the heroes that have been tortured by them, I'll find a way, even if it takes me a lifetime. And if I should find a way and encounter Summer Rose, I promise you that I will do everything in my power to help her."

Raven didn't so much as shift her gaze as I spoke, but I'd felt the entirety of her attention fall on me the moment I opened my mouth. After a long moment, she nodded once.

"Thank you," She said at last, the words simple but meaningful.

I nodded back and lifted my gaze slightly to watch the clouds as Raven's eyes closed for several seconds. One of the many, many perks of having eyes as keen as mine was that I could watch the stars whenever I wanted, piercing through the refracted light that colored the sky with ease. Toggling my vision further revealed all sorts of things, from cosmic explosions that lit up the heavens to faint shifts in the stars that revealed more about them. I took a closer look at several, my Clairvoyance reaching far without the curvature of the planet or any obstacles getting in the way. After a moment, I turned my sight to the broken moon and its many pieces, mulling over the sight as I sometimes did and wondering how it might have gotten that way. Not for the first time I pondered exactly what one would need to make the trip there and back on their own power. If I was right, it might have been within my power, though preparations would need to be made, but

It would have to wait.

"I heard you were a healer," Raven spoke after a few seconds of silence, drawing me from my thoughts. "I admit, I was a touch surprised. From what I'd heard of your reputation up to that point, you hadn't seemed the type."

"I'm a man of many skills," I replied, lifting my hands and lowering my gaze to them thoughtfully. For a moment, I pondered them and considered everything I could do with them in better circumstances. "Healing is one I value a great deal. Had things been differenthad there been no Grimm to face or discrimination or any other problems I couldn't keep these hands fromI do not think I would have minded being a healer for a living. Or a scientist orwell, I suppose I've done a bit of dreaming of what could have been and could be."

At once, the storm stopped. Glass shards halted abruptly in midair and then fell as one, Bai Hu drawing back into my frame as it did. I took a moment to take a deep breath, hoped for the best, and drew up the window.

Soulforge Reformation (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP:500

Within the darkness, Man learned the truththat the soul is something infinite in distance and unbound by death. By releasing it, they found immortality even in their own passing and hope in even the bleakest of days. In her search to cure the pains of man, the healer Zaltna created this skill, perfecting her own abilities over decades as she devoted her life to mending the broken.

Without Dust Crystal, 5000 HP restored, high-ranking Illnesses removed, low-ranking negative status effects removed.

With Dust Crystal, 5000 HP restored, 2500 MP restored, high-ranking Illnesses removed, low-ranking status effects removed, mid-ranking status effects applied depending on type of dust.

"Yes," I whispered, hands curling into fists by my sides as a smile grew across my face. "Yes."

I knew itor, at least, knew there was a good chance of it. For a technique that could already heal such massive amounts of damage and even erase some status effects, the next step would likely build on that. I hadn't been sure, but I'd hoped, and I was right. If this worked the way I thought it would, fixing my mother would be simple. It might even be possible to

At once, I felt my body begin to change, mutating as I began to undergo a Metamorphosis. I helped the process along with Soulforge Restoration, raising Conquest's status effect to Max in short order. I felt power flow through me, immense even though this skill was still at level one. When the only way to return to normal was to sleep for six hours, it was a difficult skill to grind, but if I was lucky

Putting my hands together as if prayingwhich I might have been, just a little bitI used my new skill for the first time and felt a change. Opening my status window as I grew excited, there was no change, but I was sure nowsure enough to try again, charging the technique as much as I could, paying ten times the normal cost in the process. I pushed it hard and felt something hard to describe; like black sludge in my veins and light rising up beneath it. In a way, it reminded me of when I'd used Lux Aeterna, drawing upon something, and so I focused on that feeling, grasped it, and called to the same light as before.

The armor covering my hands cracked and pieces fell away, revealing hints of the dark flesh beneath. Watching the process with wide eyes, I did it again, lengthening the cracks, and pushed on.

When I'd done it ten times, the status effect dropped from [MAX] to [High], and my armor had fallen away. By the twenty-ninth, it was [Intermediate] and I could see spots of human color in my hands. By the forty-seventh, it was [Low], over half my body was clear, and I was laughing in sheer, unadulterated joy. I kept going, pushing more of the color back with each healing, drawing closer and closer to normal.

But when I hit seventy-four and the status effect didn't disappear, I realized something was wrong. When, determined, I pushed on to a hundred and then a hundred and fifty and then even more and it still didn't vanish, I was certain.

Spreading my hands, I watched as spots of black slowly began to form on my skin.

"Should have known it wouldn't be that easy," I glared at my own skin. "You persistent son of a bitch."

Was it because the Riders were entities in their own right in addition to being status effects? Because they were Grimm and somehow resistant? Could they somehow impose themselves again when they should disappear or was it because Conquest was tied to my Aura as well as my body?

I had no idea.

But

It was progress. And I'd gotten what I'd wanted, if not completely. I could practice with thistrain, experiment, learn, and growuntil I found a way, but for now

"I'm not quite there yet, butif I'd had this, maybe I could have saved you, Dad," I sighed to myself before smiling. "But don't worry. I'll make up for it by fixing mom, so rest easy. I'll keep trying until I find a way, even if it means going away for a while."

I looked out over Vale, knowing I'd be leaving soon and not sure for how long. Even so, I kept smiling.

"So for nowgoodbye." I spoke to the open air and turned away.