Chương 52: Book 1, Chapter 52: Stormblade

Rain poured down all around, so dense she might as well be underwater, and the wind howled through the distant trees. Rin felt like she was home. She sat on top of her probably temporary abode, legs crossed and gently breathing in and out, cycling her power through her form, working it like a muscle. She had not had much opportunity to do so recently, never mind in such an ideal environment. The deluge gently kissed her skin, embracing her like a friend before dribbling away.

Tiny bits of electricity arced between her horns, boiling water and electrolyzing some of it into its components. It was still a strange idea. One that felt wrong. How could water not be pure? It was… water, the foundation of life itself! Yet, it could break. Perhaps lightning added something to water, and her sensei was mistaken? The idea felt even worse and outright wrong. John was so confident and knowledgeable that it was hard to imagine him not knowing something about the greater truths of the universe.

No, she knew he spoke the truth on some deep, primal level. Things could be broken down again and again into smaller and smaller pieces. Surely, one could make water from hydrogen and oxygen, then? Maybe it would be in her purview with her domain over storms? She breathed in, gathering power. Then, she breathed out, pure white lightning crackling around her as an aura, racing through droplets and burning them away. Then, she snapped her fingers, a little fire at the tips and— Nothing. It was worth a try.

There had to be a trick. Even if it somehow didn't align Rin more with her domain, she could only imagine the use of being able to turn water into explosions on command. The Unbound could see it now. Two swords clashed, blade against blade, her foe, a towering ogre of a bandit who had Unbound himself, bearing down against her. He tried to push her back, earthen spikes coating the weapon pressing back against the crackling of her lightning. She could defeat him, of course, but could she defeat him fast enough?

Behind him, there were twenty—no—one-hundred innocents, kept prisoner by his cronies, and when he had seen her coming, he smashed the room's supports into splinters, and now everything would drop into a canyon if she didn't act fast! Then, she remembered the lessons her sensei had taught her not so long ago. Summoning up her will, the water in the air raced to her blade, the arcing reducing it to its components upon contact.

Then, she slid her sword up, and the contact with her foe's brutish cleaver made sparks which— BOOM! Rin jolted as thunder resounded overhead like someone had hit a celestial gong. She nearly tipped over before digging her fingers into the roof tiles, steadying herself and wincing as she felt ceramic break under her iron grip. She hoped her sensei had spares! She'd even put them up herself, but… She wasn't sure how.

The dragon-blooded Unbound cast a glance towards the open door of his workshop, watching him work at a bench on a new gauntlet to shield himself from his own power. At least, that's what she thought it was, even if she couldn't see how he'd wield it. It was heavier, bulkier than the one she had first seen him in, even missing its outer casing, and so dramatically oversized she couldn't see how he could even control the fingers.

Surely he'd have to shove his hand so far to reach the fingers that his elbow would be restricted? Maybe he planned to manipulate them with the same telekinesis he had used to get her unstuck, even if she couldn't see the point. Even then, its balance was undoubtedly going to be atrocious. He doubtlessly had enough strength to use it, but that could not overcome poor weighting when he fought a peer. Plenty of sparring with her brother told her that. Her sensei acted in mysterious ways.

Why did he leave the door open, anyhow? Did he know she was here and was trying to show her something? Surely not. She could only see through the rain clearly because of her attunement to storms. To most, it would be like an iron wall. Then again, had he not known when Yuki would come through the trees before she actually showed up? There was no doubt he had some sort of unearthly awareness about his surroundings. Was it for her, then? Some sort of coded lesson?

Blinding lightning tore through the sky directly overhead, with booming thunder coming a split second later. This time, Rin didn't flinch, and neither did her sensei. No, he was eerily steady, working away at the item with some impossible tool that directed his power into melting brass without heat. He slotted something small and green into it before closing a panel, raising the glove before stepping back, leaving the strange item hovering in the air without his touch.

This, in and of itself, shouldn't be a surprise. Rin had seen her fair share of him hefting things from a distance, but this? He didn't point at it. He always pointed at what he needed to move. Did he never need to? John rolled it around in his hands, examining it for faults before going to work on the other side, pushing it down to the counter. No. That wouldn't make sense, would it? He would have simply cut the energy to the effect, and it would have drifted down. Was this new gauntlet as light as air?

Suddenly, the obscene bulk of it made more sense. He didn't have to worry about the balance of it! Of course, this came with its own downsides. Rin couldn't imagine it would do him any favours if he had to use it up close, but had she ever seen John fight up close? For all she knew, he might simply unleash his full power and burn the area around him to cinders, if needed. She didn't see how the fight ended with the nogitsune, back on that fateful day they confronted the Nameless…

But she saw what happened when he was pressed. The bolt of white lightning, impossibly bright, straight as a javelin, tore through the sky like the smite of an angry god, shattering steel-strong Unbound bone like glass and boiling what was caught in the beam into vapour. Even though it was likely not enough on its own against particularly strong Unbound or, heavens forbid, powerful yokai, it was more than enough for anything around here, save maybe the nogitsune. Did he mean for her to come and talk, perhaps?

It felt wrong to assume anything about him after earlier. To bow so deeply, to pour yourself out to mere commonfolk… It just wasn't done. Whatever happened to him cut him deep, even if it must have been years ago, before he came here and developed his own Aegis. At least he would never face that fate again, unless one managed to somehow chip through his protection. She huffed, a deep frown creasing her face as she looked away. Ugh.

The mere idea of someone exploiting a young, defenceless version of her sensei made Rin's blood boil! She wasn't going to get any meditation or cycling done like this. Now that she thought of it, didn't that mean he had been practicing his arts for less time than she had her own? That was slightly uncomfortable. It was bad enough to see a few of her more talented peers blaze past her, without her sensei doing so as well. Love this story?

Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! She'd just count whatever time he spent learning how to do his job back home, whatever it was, towards the count, for the sake of her own health. Finally making up her mind and steeling herself, Rin hopped off the roof with a casual three flips, bringing the shattered ridge tiles with her. Even if the open door wasn't an invitation, he'd surely like to know about the damaged tile, even if he may be slightly upset at her.

She certainly had no hidden agenda to squeeze more amazing wisdom out of him, and only hoped that he wasn't too mad. He could be rather loud when lecturing, even if the only time she had heard him get properly mad at her was the disastrous day they met. Rin walked through the rain up to the door, peeking in, waiting to see if her sensei greeted her, but her sensei didn't react. No, Lord John stayed hunched over the gauntlet as he worked on it. Now that she was closer, she could see… what was that?

His right arm animatedly gestured at nothing, while a tiny fake arm, as small as a baby's, diligently mirrored its movement, carefully fitting glass into the armoured glove. Inside was a grand sprawl of tubes, almost like veins and thin metal wires, their meaning and use inscrutable. They might as well have been a nest of writhing serpents. Rin narrowed her eyes. There was a logic to it, an order, but whatever it was seemed to be lost on her.

"Sensei?" she began, and he jumped, twisting to face her, but not entirely. No, impressively, he kept the limb seemingly controlling the smaller arm perfectly in place. Oh. There went her guess about the open door being an invitation.

"Ah, Rin," he said, quickly wiping away the shock from his face.

"What can I do for you? I was just…" he trailed off, looking at the gauntlet.

"I'm just making something for the next time Ki—that nogitsune decides to show her smug little grin again." Red flushed Rin's face, and she looked away, hesitantly holding up the two broken, round ridge tiles in her hands.

"Forgive me, sensei. I accidentally broke some roofing while I was meditating." He didn't need to know about her silly heroic fantasy being the root cause, of course; the idea of sharing that with anyone sent a shiver up her spine. He waved her off, shaking his head.

"Ah, well, it's something we can deal with tom—" John started to say, before he looked outside, into the absolute downpour, face going blank.

"You know what? I should probably fix it… Today?" John squinted, glancing over to a device on the wall.

"Is it that late already? I meant tonight. Definitely tonight." With a groan, the man undid some contraption from around his wrist, tossing it on the table as he did so and making the little arm go limp before sliding his hand into the slightly beat-up, coarse-looking armoured glove he had been using since their fight with the nogitsune. Rin only wished she could have seen it! She could only imagine how incredible Yuki and John were facing down the monstrous nogitsune and her Nameless minions!

If only she had been strong enough to stick by their side and fight it out with them! It seemed like she was never quite strong enough… But that was what she was here to fix, wasn't it? John took the shattered roofing from her in his telekinetic grasp without moving from his spot, gently setting it on the table before grabbing another tool. She had seen this one before.

It was a short, dark wood and brass rod, with an angled head, and if she remembered correctly, this one melted things and froze them again, but without heat.

"You aren't mad?" Rin cautiously asked, although John hardly seemed to pay attention to her as he delicately rearranged the shards back into their original shape.

"Why would I be?" John responded, frowning and meeting her eyes. His gaze was not intense, but focused, calculating, searching for something.

"I'm maybe a bit annoyed at best, but you came straight to me, right?" Rin pursed her lips, nodding.

"Then it's fine. You caused a minor problem, and you took immediate steps to fix it," John calmly said, pushing the pieces of the tile together before lightly melting the edges and finally freezing them again. What resulted was not a perfect recreation; no, you could still see a thin seam of warped ceramic, but it was still whole, ready to do its job. Rin's brow furrowed, and she watched him carefully, even if she could only see the back of his head as he worked. Was this another lesson?

He always seemed to have something to teach her, even if it was often well disguised. She should say something, say that she understands. But what if he tests her on it? Rin squirmed uncomfortably. He was a good teacher. She had to be a good student, didn't she? A good student understood what she was being taught without wasting her teacher's time. She knew that. That was one of the things she had learned.

"Well," John said, standing up from his seat and grabbing a wide-brimmed hat and his curious flying disc from the side, "we best get on with it, then. Mind leading me to it?" Rin bowed and acquiesced, heading back out into the rain with John at her heels as she headed back to the storage building where she was staying. It was simple to hop up, only spinning once in the air and landing in a stance that a stray cat inspired to compensate for how slippery it was.

John hovered after her, although he didn't set down on the roof, just staying close.

"Ah, there it is," he muttered, barely audible over the rain as he floated over to the damage.

"How is it that this happened, anyhow?"

"Well, I was—" Do not mention the fantasy, Rin.

"—Meditating, when the lightning surprised me," she confidently stated, voice full of conviction as she stood up straight. John turned to her, scanning her with a mild smile. Sweat ran down the back of her neck, and she could only pray that he couldn't sense her terror.

"Meditating. On the roof, in the rain; in your element. In a way that you've done plenty of times before. Then the lightning surprised you."

"Y-yes, sensei!" she barked, stiffening. He lingered on her longer before smirking, fishing something from his side. It was a long rod, wrapped in fabric. Was this another magical tool of some sort to contain his power? How would it help him fix the roof? Before she could ponder on it for too long, though, he pressed a button on the handle, and it popped open into an umbrella!

"Hold this, I need something to keep the water off while I work," he said, finally turning his attention away from her.

"Of course, sensei!" she beamed, gladly accepting the umbrella as an escape from that conversation, holding it over the slot the broken tile was from. Underneath was a layer of clay, and a bent nail stuck up from the wood underneath it. John looked at the tile, then the nail, then the tile again, eyes lingering on where a hole for the nail to hook onto might once have been on the underside, patched over during his repair.

"Well, damn," he muttered to himself, but without blinking, he pulled a knife that hummed with magical power from his belt and started to cut a groove into it. Using such a tool for mundane housework felt sacrilegious, but her sensei rarely did things normally.

"So, in an ideal situation, you'd get an actual professional to do your roof, right? But that doesn't mean you can't know how. You ever hear somebody say 'It's better to have something and not need it than need it and not have it' before? It's the same way with skills." She perked. Was this the lesson she was waiting for? She could see the wisdom, but when would she need to repair a roof?

Perhaps it was a metaphor, and guidance that she should learn weapons other than the sword, to learn how they fight, so that she could counter them.

"There was a man back home who insisted that specialization was not for people, but insects," he said, turning his gauntlet onto the open slot and giving it a quick blast of heat, boiling the water away from the site like he was cleaning a wound, but not enough to bake the clay below in a great show of control.

"I think he was onto something, but I just had to spend half a decade alone, so maybe I'm biased. I definitely wouldn't have had as good a time if I didn't know many things, and that's saying something." And there it was. A clear command to broaden her horizons, but how? There was no match for her blade to be found in his place, and although she could reinforce a mundane one to reinforce her strength, John kept few weapons. Perhaps he'd be willing to lend her that axe she saw him with once?

Finally fitting the tile, John pulled the tool out again. At one point, Rin thought she heard him call it a'magi-welder', although the meaning was lost on her. She was sure it was named after some magnificent weapon in his native tongue. While he used it peacefully for now, she could only imagine its destructive potential if he felt the need for it to be unleashed.

"And done!" John exclaimed, trying to shake the tile, which was now more thoroughly affixed than ever before. Perhaps he would allow her just one question.

"Sensei, what would you have me learn?" Would it be the kanabo? The axe? Maybe even the bow? Ugh. She hoped it wasn't the bow. He paused in the middle of standing up and scratched his chin.

"Hmm. That's a good question," he said.

"How's your knot tying? Medical skills? I know you still aren't the best at organization, but we can touch on that later. Oh, good idea! I'm no climatologist, but I know a bit from my electives at university. Perhaps that'll help you, after we get this second tile down." Something deep in her mind screamed that this was a mistake, but she could only nod to her sensei's enthusiastic speech.