Steel and Mana

Chapter 560 – A New Era

After sleeping for about twelve hours, I woke up feeling... okay. Not good, but not that bad either. It was acceptable, with Luna's body sticking to me under the blanket, sleeping on my chest, drooling all over me. For a few minutes, I just enjoyed the silence, her cute snoring, and kept rubbing her buttocks before she finally woke up.

"Lucky~!" She giggled, giving me a peck on my lips, thinking she was the one to get to play, but I wasn't still THAT well... so that had to be skipped, making her sulk a little.

After groaning and moaning that all my muscles were hurting, I managed to get up and move my body, which kept creaking and groaning. Oh God... Did I age a few decades while I slept? What the fuck...? After a short breakfast, I finally left my room while I held the railing of the walkway as I strolled forward like someone with a fresh hip replacement. I hope this will not be permanent, because my body objected with every step, and my head still felt like Ignis had punched it only a moment ago. But none of that mattered when I finally got into Arthur's room, where he sat on top of the bed he was supposed to be resting in, his legs dangling, eating a bowl of soup, listening to Leyla fussing about being too eager to move around.

“See?" He chuckled, looking at her, then at me as I was coming in, now leaning onto Luna, "Dad is the one who looks like shit, not me.”

"Good to see you, too!" I laughed, shaking my head, walking over to hug him, which hurt me more because when he hugged back, I swear I heard my ribs crack. When did I become so fragile? "Nice job..." I muttered, gulping the pain down, not knowing what to say... Everything was just a big fucking miracle, really. We were anything but ready for this fight.

“Thanks to you,” he whispered, “You took the brunt of it; I just exploited the fact she was confused and overwhelmed.”

Chukling, I pulled back and flicked his forehead, not lightly, mind you, making him yelp out.

“You nearly got yourself killed,” I said, smiling, “Don't do that again. Your mother almost fainted.”

“He heard it straight from her.” Leyla snorted, rolling her eyes, "Who do you think was the first to come here and see how he was doing? And then holding a lecture, somehow dragging me into it as an accomplice?"

"She still didn't calm down yet..." Arthur grimaced, glancing at his sister, "Thankfully, Mom Mikan dragged her away and occupied her with... stuff. I think Mom was way too stressed about you than me, and let it all out on us."

"Don't shift the blame onto me!" I snorted, looking at him with one eye. “Alright. Enough sentimentality! I need to make sure the dragon isn’t eating through the wall, escaping... Where is she?”

“Oh… Yeah, uh. Good luck with speaking to her.” He grimaced, shaking his head.

“Why do I need luck?” I raised a brow, “And... Is she behaving?”

"Well," Arthur scratched the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. “She can’t misbehave.”

“Explain.”

“I think about her not doing something… and she just… stops. Instantly.” He said simply, and when he raised his hand, transparent chains appeared in it the next moment. Following them, they went through the floor, like... noclipping through it, straight towards the lower decks where Ignis was being held at the moment.

“…Huh.”

“Yeah.” He nodded, waving a hand as it disappeared. "It's always there, by the way."

“Hm.”

“Dad, don’t look at me like that.” He flinched as I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Like what?”

“I don't know... You had some weird ideas, I could feel it.”

"Maybe," I shrugged, “Maybe I was just checking your fear response. Healthy instinct... That sort of stuff. Do you feel like wanting to go on a rampage, consuming the world? Maybe killing all the Vasas?”

"It isn't a two-way connection," He groaned, rubbing his head, “She can't read my mind and can't influence me... Although I do know what she feels if I focus on her... And currently, she is thinking about blowing everything up.”

"You didn't tell us that part yet!" Leyla snorted, suddenly looking at him with narrowed eyes, crossing her arms.

“What else?” I asked, already examining the chains in my head, trying to get a grip on it... But it also made my head hurt... Ugh. I am not well yet...

"Nothing." He shrugged, shaking his head, "Just a warning, Dad. She is angry. Like... super angry. If she could, she would be trying to kill all of us, mostly me, of course."

"Hmp!" Leyla snorted, "Good luck with that!"

"About that..." I looked at Arthur, who knew what I wanted to ask, and after a momentary pause, he shook his head.

"I don't know, Dad." He answered honestly, looking into my eyes, "The connection is strong and... I don't know where it starts or ends. Body? Spirit? Magic only? I can't tell. And I also can't tell what it would mean if one of us dies."

"..." I watched as Leyla, nervously put her hand on her brother's shoulder while I let out a long breath, smiling, "As long as you can keep her at bay... we will have the time to think of a solution."

...

....

.....

After leaving my son's room, my next walk led to the improvised cell block, which had never held anything remotely as dangerous as Ignis before, even when it was a storage space for ammunition... And she was unquestionably more volatile than anything else. Walking in, this time followed by my entire entourage, including Sasha, Yuri, Mikan, Luna, and also Sa'Ith, I couldn't help but shrug, being surrounded by a wall of women... Anyway! Looking at her, she sat at the back, her back leaning against the far wall. The moment she saw me, her clawed fingers began flexing uselessly next to her, her one good eye tracking me with pure hatred. But then again, there was a constantly visible, incorporeal collar around her throat that pulsed faintly whenever she tried to muster even a thought of aggression, causing her body to refuse to act.

“You,” she snarled at me, her voice hoarse, “Human filth! Vasa bastard!”

“Good morning to you, too,” I said, casually checking the runes on her collar with my eyes, while my wives didn't let me get too close to her. “I see that our hospitality is to your liking.”

“Release me so I may devour you properly.”

“Mm, tempting offer, but I’m full.” I chuckled, spreading my arms, nodding towards my wives.

"He is not into bestiality anyway." Yuri snorted, making me twitch my mouth, watching as Luna nudged her, whispering something, pointing at the back of Sa'Ith, only to then receive a stomp from Sasha, right on her toes. Girls... please! Come on...

"Hmph!" Her claws scraped the metal floor, looking at us, “You mock me. I am Ign—” but then she froze, her throat muscles tightening the moment she was about to yell at us. Then, a few seconds later, she made a strangled sound as her muscles unlocked, just enough to let her breathe and speak again, in a more... regulated tone. Kind of. “This is humiliating,” she spat, growling like a tiger.

“That’s called ‘consequences,’ sweetie,” I said, shaking my head. “Welcome to civilization.”

"You call this... civilization?" She asked, pointing at her neck. "I have memories, I know what kind of civilizations the Vasas have, where they enslave everything and everybody. Hmph! Civilization... You act like the world is yours, when it is mine..."

"Yeah, you see," I leaned forward, but Sa'Ith kept standing before me, only watching Ignis, ready to move at a moment's notice, "That's the attitude that landed you in that position. So let me stop you right there. Whatever you’re about to threaten us with, you literally can’t do it unless Arthur permits it. You wanted to avoid being a slave to humans so much that you caused your own downfall. If you were a bit more reasonable, given how intelligent you think you are... This all could have been avoided. For one, I am known to be good at making friends. But you refused to talk.”

"Hmph!" She snorted, actual sulfur-smelling smoke coming from her nostrils, "One day... I'll be free. I broke free from your kind once... I will do it again. The one thing I learned first was... patience." She sneered, flashing her sharp teeth at us, making me realize that for now, there was nothing to talk about.

"Well, good luck with that." I shrugged, deciding to turn around, "For now... Enjoy being not dead!"

...

....

......

About an hour later, when I was feeling once again a bit better, I was standing atop the Pride's walls, smiling to myself, enjoying the warm air. Everywhere I looked, someone cried, laughed, hugged the other, including the Vasas, anyone who survived. Despite the lingering smell of ash and burnt monster flesh as our mechs dug massive fire pits where they threw and disposed of the beasts' corpses, the atmosphere was quite... Alive.

I don't know what this all means for the future... But with Ignis being captured... Are we done? No more world-ending scenarios? Can we finally... Rest? Of course, I think the winters will still be winters, monsters will still come, but we can protect the Passes. Especially that now others will have the means to step up and do the same. As I was thinking about the future, Sasha practically tackled me in a hug that squeezed the air from my lungs, jumping on me from behind.

“Found you,” she whispered, hugging me, “Stop trying to slip away from us!”

“I wasn’t doing that.” I laughed, patting her arms.

“You tried very hard!” Yuri walked up to us next. "I get it, Sasha keeps nagging you."

"I do not!" She pouted, acting like a teenager again.

"You act more like me," Luna said, hopping up and sitting on the wall, grinning. "Finally, we can go home! Yes? We need a vacation so... Start planning!"

“That does sound great!” Mikan agreed, "We could also tour the continent, take some long train rides. That does sound fun, no?"

“You know what?” I looked at them, "That does sound like a plan!"

"I'm in!" Yuri poked my side while saying it, “But we also need to discuss if Sa'Ith comes with us or not.”

“She won't.” Sasha said at once, and then, before I could say anything, she pointed towards the Gods' Formation that I had already forgotten about, "They can't cross it."

“Speaking of that...” I murmured, "I wonder what will happen when winter comes... And the countdown ends."

“We will see it when it happens,” Mikan murmured, suddenly snapping her fingers, “Wait! Can... Ignis come through?!”

Good... question. None of us had the answer, so we just looked at each other, trying to see something that was not there. Haaah... We will have to test it, because if we try to fly back and she gets rejected... We could ram my dear Camelot into a wall. I was about to speak up when my kids finally found us. Morgan was the first to come, running up and clinging to my arm, feeling relieved with Galahad appearing next, pretending he managed to stay as composed as ever, even though his voice cracked when he spoke up.

“You did well, Dad.”

"Well, I still have it, don't I?" I grinned, rubbing his head and pulling him and everyone else into a hug. "Be proud of your daddy~!"

"That sounds so baaaaad," Lancelot said with a grin, yet he still joined in on the big, family hug. “Took you long enough to wake up!”

"I was tired... I bet you were too." I said, looking at everybody, "Well, with your brother," I winked at Arthur, "solving the problem, we can all relax!"

"For now." Lancelot shrugged, making me look at him questioningly, "The Gauntlets." He explained, looking back and forth between Arthur and me, "Jila had an idea, telling me about how the Artifacts are not from this world... How our spell was not from this world and..."

"Wait..." I raised a hand, pinching the ridge of my nose, "Nooo..."

"I told Merlin about it, and there is a pretty high chance," Lancelot continued, "that the Gauntlets had transformed into the chain that Arthur has in his hands."

"Really?" He reeled back, first time hearing it, "Does this mean...?"

"That we will have to deal with Khulman..." I moaned, not wanting to think about it... "Gods damn it..."

"Just say we have no idea what happened to it." Lancelot chuckled, patting my shoulders, "Jila's idea is pretty much the same. Deny everything. They can't prove it either!"

"Haaah..." I let out a long breath, deciding that this was an issue for future me, or future Arthur, "We will deal with it when it happens." I threw my arms up, "For now, we don't care! We just won... let's celebrate that because... I am super hungry!"