Late at night, after Arlan and Felix looked in vain for the new person that was summoned, Arlan offers Felix another spar to try and get his mind off everything that day, they agree for Arlan to not teleport Felix directly, and for Felix to not phase through all of Arlan's attacks as lightning, and Felix tosses Arlan a traced blunted great sword.
Felix looks at Arlan trying to think of a plan, 'Arlan can still just teleport all of my ranged attacks, and himself, and I still don't really have an answer for that, he's really good at mixing up where he appears. I'll just have to use a stronger mana burst so I can move even faster, and try to keep up...'
They both say they're ready, and Felix coats himself in mana burst and rushes forward while projecting and launching various swords at Arlan, while Arlan counters each with void spears like usual, Felix projects Arlans great sword as he approaches, and bursts towards him when he's hit from behind by a void spear, he lets out a hiss of pain as the impact, and lets out a small mana burst powered in Arlan's direction before he can make use of the opening, and Arlan gets knocked a bit as he guards himself with his great sword.
"I didn't know you could make a spear that far away from you."
"I can make them anywhere I can make a portal."
"That's so unfair, I can only make mine a bit away from me."
"Fights aren't always fair.", as Arlan says this he launches forward at Felix, and as Felix prepares to block the hit, Arlan hops into a portal, Felix lets out another shockwave of mana burst in panic since he has no idea what direction Arlan will come from, before quickly looking up and seeing Arlan floating a decent bit above him.
'Its super predictable, but its the only answer I really have to not being able to tell where Arlan will appear.' Felix sighs, 'It'll feel awful if Arlan has to give me another handicap...'
Felix focuses when he sees Arlan open another portal in front of himself and dash into it, creating a wall of swords around himself this time, before turning around quickly towards where he hears a clanging sound, by the time he looks there, he sees Arlan winding up a devastating looking swing with his great sword covered in lightning, Felix launches the sword wall at Arlan, but Arlan simply opens a large portal in front of them, Felix readies a powerful mana burst in the unnamed sword and prepares to meet Arlan the moment the portal closes, Felix lets loose his mana burst at a closing portal behind the first portal before he realizes Arlan isn't there.
POP
[2-15 Longbow - A reliable bow made for long range use, due to the high roll, and Felix's aptitude for swords, it has been altered and reinforced specifically to make best use of swords altered into arrows, it even aids in altering swords into arrows.]
Felix launches himself forward to avoid Arlan's probably attack from behind when a bow appears directly in front of him, the strange bows information flooding his head making him barely stumble and get hit by Arlan's heavy hit, being blasted across the field they are fighting on, managing to stop his momentum by digging his sword in the ground after skipping off the ground a few times, "Ugh..."
Arlan appears next to Felix, "Are you alright...?"
Felix blinks the stars out of his eyes, "Yeah... I think I healed whatever you broke before I got up..."
Arlan gives him an apologetic look, "Sorry about that, you're improving a ton Felix, you'd destroy me if your pops didn't give me 'this'."
Felix smiles, "Thanks, its easy to forget how crazy strong you are like that until we fought."
"Ah, being able to just portal everything in a fight makes things kind of easy..."
Felix snickers, "I see your egos getting bigger by the day Arlan, maybe I should bring out the big guns and bring you down before it gets as big as Gils."
"Uh, who's the big guns?"
"Obviously Mr. Welt, he said he fought the girl you turn into right? He must have an answer for all of that."
"Ah, true, I'm sure you'll get something to keep up with my portals eventually Felix, don't worry."
"Now you just sound like you're gloating."
Arlan gives him a deadpan look, before looking at the moon, "We should get back before the others start to worry, hop in.", Arlan opens a portal back.
"Aw, we could keep sparring a bit longer though..."
Arlan moves the portal toward Felix while giving him a deadpan look.
"Alright alright."
Rin sighs as she gives up on the 'Drug of Yore' for now, "Ugh... Sapphire, why does everything have to be so different..."
"It is rather perplexing, perhaps you should take a break for now Miss Tohsaka."
Rin groans, "I guess so... Ah, I was trying to figure out how to turn Charybdis' core into a mana battery, but now I have you Sapphire."
"Hm, what is this Charbydis? Is it the same one from Greek mythology?"
"I didn't see it while it was fully formed, but it was some kind of spiritual being, it was possessing something akin puppet body, and had become a 'giant shark monster' as the others called it. Do you have any ideas of what to do with it?"
"Miss Tohsaka, do you have any clues how its magic functions, everything I've experienced not from our own world seems to operate on completely different principles after all."
"I don't believe I've seen anything else from the same 'world' Charybdis has come from, so its a puzzle we'll have to figure out."
"It would probably be best to leave it alone until we know more Miss Tohsaka."
"Its so interesting though, an entirely different magic system, I'll have to ask the others how it fought...", Rin yawns, "I'll be careful, Sapphire don't worry..."
"You should get some sleep Miss Tohsaka, you've had a rather long day.", as Sapphire says that, she looks over to see Rin laying her head on the desk, already asleep, "I meant on your bed.", Sapphire considers whether she should wake her up or let her sleep at the desk.
Rin mutters "...Sakura...", in her sleep, and Sapphire suddenly feels Rin's mana start rapidly draining, and instantly flies into her hand and starts providing her mana. "Miss Tohsaka! Wake up!", Rin stirs while Sapphire tries to figure out what's draining her, before realizing its the core Rin slept next to, Sapphire manages to push it away without leaving Rin's hand, but it doesn't stop the drain, "Miss Tohsaka!", Rin doesn't even stir this time, the sudden loss of mana exhausting her pulling her deeper into her sleep.
The drain of mana abruptly stops, and Sapphire relaxes after a moment of nothing happening, before trying her best to see what happened with the core from Rin's hand, and being completely stumped when it looks the same.
She sighs, stuck making sure Rin continuously gets mana to recover from before, and in case it suddenly starts draining her again, and wishing the room was closer to anyone else.
'Does this have to do with the entirely different principles of our worlds, or was it some kind of attack...? It doesn't seem like it needs Miss Tohsaka's mana, it has much larger reserves, and it stopped not long after taking mine, its rather lackluster if that was supposed to be an attack.'
The core does feel like its changing now though, its slowly gaining more mana now, although it still has less than what it took from Sapphire somehow.
'This is a mess...'
Keno jolts awake when she feels seemingly infinite magical energy coming from below, more than a bit freaked out, 'What should I do!?', she tries to hide under her blanket, before slowly putting it down after realizing that wouldn't do anything.
She feels two of the powerful strangers appear at the front of the castle, gathers her courage, and rushes to them.
It takes her a bit to get through the maze of a castle before she finds them, Arlan and Felix look at her a bit worried, "Are you alright?" "What's wrong?"
"A-ah, I suddenly felt a massive amount of magical energy from over there, and its been growing since..."
"I think that's where Rin's at...", Arlan quickly opens a portal to the room, "Thanks Keno!", she nods as they go through, she runs in too without thinking.
POP
[8-7 World Enemy Stigmata 50/50 Succeeded! - This stigmata gives the user a stigmata that gives the user enough strength be a threat to a world, its similar to a Herrscher Stigmata, even though it doesn't turn the user into a Herrscher, the user will have extremely powerful honkai resistance, absurd raw power, and gain a special ability based on who gains it. Due to the immense power of this stigmata, and its connection to the world, the World's Will will be forced to hold a tournament between those it doesn't trust, and the winner will gain this stigmata, the kind of tournament will be decided by the World's Will, though it would have to be stupid to do one based on strength.]
Sapphire perks up when she hears the pop, and sees the portal open, "Thank goodness you all came, the core of Charybdis suddenly leached Miss Tohsaka's mana while she was sleeping."
They both look over in surprise, "Arlan, can you put it in one of those pocket dimension things? Well, not the one with the Stellaron in it."
"I think I can put it in a different one.", Arlan does just that, Keno sighing in relief the moment she feels the mana disappear.
"You don't have any idea what it did Sapphire?"
"No, Miss Tohsaka said you haven't gained anything else from the world 'Charybdis' came from, correct?"
"Ah... I don't think so? I can't really tell most of the time..."
"I see... Mister Arlan, will we be able to check on what changes it undergoes?"
Arlan nods, "Yeah, ah, Keno why'd you come with us, it could've been dangerous."
She looks a bit nervous now that they all look at her, "A-ah, I'm sorry, I rushed in without thinking..."
"My portals can be dangerous for most people, please don't go into them again outside of emergencies, alright?"
"Alright..."
Felix sighs, "Lets get Rin to her bed, is she going to be alright Sapphire?"
"She should be fine after some rest."
"That's good..."
They get Rin to bed, before all going to there own beds and getting some sleep, 'I'll check what I summoned in the morning...'
Clara watches as Ms. Sothia tries to convince Mr. Svarog to let Clara go on a 'heroic adventure' with her, she'd been doing this ever since they met and Mr. Svarog had set rules for involving Clara in her shenanigans. Any outings would require Mr. Svarog's attendance, and at least one robot acompying them, preferably Mr. Svarog himself, and that Ms. Sothia would be banned from meeting with Clara again if she ignored that rule.
Ms Sothia had accepted rather easily, but had been doing ...this repeatedly since.
"How will she grow as a hero if you keep stifling her, don't you want her to live up to her potential?"
"Clara is still young, inexperienced, and according to my calculations, you are unfit to guide youth in general."
"I was chosen by the planet itself for this! Your 'calculations' are clearly faulty!"
"Although my calculations have been unreliable for your people, you have still done nothing that would make me trust your judgement in regards to Clara's development. I agree that Clara has a great amount of potential, and I will aid her in achieving it if she agrees."
"Ugh, you just don't understand heroism! Clara, you get what I mean right?"
"A-ah, I don't really get what you mean... Don't heroes usually train before starting adventuring?"
"But how does the hero form unbreakable bonds with there allies, and learn how to overcome hardship without great hardship before training?"
"Ms. Sothia... Did you get your idea of heroes from fantasy books...?"
Sothia flinches at Clara calling her out, "Of course not child, I simply used the wisdom my parent has given me, gained from watching humanity from the beginning."
"Really?"
"Of course."
Mr Svarog interjects, "I have a compromise, I too would like Clara to bond with her friends, we may take them on a peaceful outing, a kind of 'field trip', I believe it would be called. Would you like to do that Clara?"
Clara looks at Mr. Svarog in surprise before smiling, "Yeah, that sounds really fun Mr. Svarog!"
"Very well, are you content with that, Ms. Sothia?"
Sothia sighs, "I suppose that's the best I'll get out of you for now, it will be good, where do you think you and your friends would like to have a 'field trip' Clara?"
She looks thoughtful, "Everyone's been curious about Mr. Felix's place, I heard there's an entire city there..."
Mr. Svarog pauses for a moment, "I will confirm if its safe to go to from, gather your friends, and see if there are any other places you'd like to go while I do so Clara."
"Alright Mr. Svarog!"
Sothia follows Mr. Svarog as he leaves, he pauses and looks at her, she gives him a sharp look, "I need to make sure you actually see if its safe, and not just finding the safest place possible."
"Very well."
Clara sighs as they walk away, "Why can't they just get along...?", before going to find the moles, and maybe Gilgamesh, they call her an honorary member, so they are friends right...?
I've been wanting to do something like this for a while with Charybdis, this has been the only circ*mstance where its actually been viable, well ever since Rin got Sapphire really.
