Camilla…
Over half an hour had passed since Marcus had asked her to spar with him so that he might better get used to fighting against another user of the Shura style.
Seeing as he said he was the one who originally created it, she expected him to be far better at it than herself and thought her help would be completely useless to him.
Yet to her disappointment, Marcus was disarmed and thrown to the ground for the tenth time already.
“Shit!” he shouted as his body slid against the dirt and grass.
“What is wrong with you?!” Camilla demanded as she felt guilty for beating him over and over.
“Huh?! What are you talking about?” he groaned as he looked up at her while dusting off his pants.
“I thought…I thought you would be better at this. It feels like I’m bullying a child while trying to train you, and its making me feel terrible,” she said honestly, hoping he would feel some amount of anger and jump back in with greater enthusiasm, but he just waved her off.
“Yeah, well...people don’t really use swords as much anymore from where I come from. What little experience I have using one is due to me participating in a sport called kendo. I have very little experience actually fighting against a trained master, or even an experienced swordsman,” Marcus explained.
“You fought against Cole Mohr. I consider him an experienced enough swordsman, and you beat him effortlessly,” Camilla retorted.
“That’s different. Cole may have the skill, but he doesn’t have the same level of power. I was able to beat him with superior strength, speed, and sheer might alone. If he was on the same level of power as me, then that might have been a different story. Moyako on the other hand, is a world renowned swordswoman with enough might to shatter worlds and stars if she wanted to. She has both the strength, and the skill to back her up because she is strong, and because she has had two centuries of battle experience. I have strength and some amount of prior training, but I don’t have much experience fighting against someone of equal strength and skill. I nearly lost to Raime and would have if not for Ender. I flat out died fighting Ares because he got the drop on me. Now tomorrow I fight against one of the most powerful and skilled people on the planet.”
“She is the most powerful and skilled person on the planet,” Camilla said, trying to correct him.
“Clearly you’ve never fought Ruvick before,” Marcus said.
“He’s right. Ruvick’s far stronger,” Nashandra agreed.
Camilla sighed in exasperation, but then curiosity overtook her as she asked, “In all the time I spent with Moyako, she was incredibly distant when talking about where she came from. You two came from the same world, or I guess universe is more accurate, right?”
Marcus tilted his head with a mildly impressed look on his face, to which she couldn’t seem to understand the reason for, before nodding.
“Yes. We both came from the same world. I’ll show you what it looks like,” he said as he waved his hand and a black stone chair appeared.
When he took his seat, he brought up his right hand and a mass of dirt and water began to collect above it, forming a spherical mass.
As a minute passed while he took his time sculpting the shape of it, he then presented it to them and said, “This is what our planet was like.”
As he held the orb representing his home, Camilla, Nashandra, and Frosk leaned forward in amazement.
“Now, obviously our home was a lot bigger than this. That should be self explanatory, as this is just a model of it,” he elaborated further.
In response, the three of them shot him a look of annoyance, as if to say, Come on. We’re not stupid.
He smirked at their reaction and pointed his left finger at a mass of land and said, “This is the western hemisphere, where I lived. I take it you should be able to figure out where the eastern part is.”
He then pointed his finger at the center of the upper land mass in the western hemisphere and said, “This is where I was born. This is North America, in which three countries exist. Canada, The United States of America, and Mexico. I lived in the USA.”
“Why is it called the United States of America if the three parts of North America are separate countries?” Frosk asked.
Marcus frowned and said, “That’s a good question. When explorers arrived in this land mass, it hadn’t been developed by the native population and was called ‘the new world’. To add to that, there were some people who were butt hurt about the fact that people in the USA called themselves Americans despite there being another continent right below it called South America. But realistically, no one cared that much.”
“If that’s the case, then what’s the point of calling it ‘The United States of America’?” Frosk asked.
“Its called that because there are fifty individual states comprising the country, with their own borders, towns, laws, and whatnot. However, all fifty of these states are still ruled by a single sitting president,” he explained, to which the three of them nodded along.
“I don’t envy the poor bastard that has to rule all of that,” he replied, to which Marcus burst out laughing.
“Neither do I,” Marcus said as he calmed himself.
“Where did Moyako come from? Was she born in America too?” Camilla asked.
“I haven’t asked her where she was born, but considering she’s Japanese, I’d have to say she was born in Japan,” he said as he turned the planet to show them the eastern side and pointed to a small island.
He then closed his right hand into a fist and the planetary model disappeared.
“What was it like living on Terra?” Nashandra asked.
Marcus sighed as he went silent for a moment before saying, “Well, for starters, magic doesn’t exist there to any meaningful degree like it does here. From what Selene told me, a person cannot be alive without spiritual energy, so I’m guessing that it only exists to the extent that it can keep a person alive and that’s it. Magic as you and I understand it, from how it powers certain mechanisms in every day life in Erebus, to aiding in regeneration and fighting, along with whatever else you could think of, is nonexistent on Terra.”
They became lost for words as the idea of magic not being around in any capacity seemed ludicrous.
“B-But how could you…, how can you even be alive right now? How could your society have progressed to any meaningful degree without magic?” Nashandra asked.
Marcus then stared at her as he seemed to be thinking of a response.
“Hmm…I can honestly say the same thing to you. Think of it this way, Erebus has absurd levels of development from what I’ve seen in regards to what can be done with magic, from warping space, to changing temperature, providing light sources, and even serving as magnetic railways in Alken. Its obvious that there has been some significant developments on a technological level in this world, but its still nothing in comparison to what I’ve seen in mine. If this world gained the knowledge that my world has, or if my world gained the all powerful resource of magic that this world has, then there would be nothing that could stand in either world’s way. In my world, we have managed to peer into the deepest realms of the universe, witnessing events that have likely passed billions of years ago, through a man-made lens. We’ve been able to craft weapons of mass destruction that warp the environment with such a level of devastation you would swear up and down that it was magic if you saw it with your own eyes.”
He then looked all three of them in the eyes before saying, “You saw my battle with Ares, did you not?”
They all nodded.
“Aside from the weapons that Ares himself fought with, such as the trident, the twin blade I took, and his helm, all the weapons he created were made with human hands, crafted without magic. Purely mechanical creations.”
Camilla felt disturbed as she asked, “Even the...nukes? The weapons that killed you?”
He leaned forward and locked eyes with hers as he answered, “Yes. Even those nuclear warheads were invented by human hands, and they have been used against humans as well. To my knowledge, they have only ever been used twice in my world’s history. Over two hundred thousand people have been killed by such weapons, marking them as the single most dangerous weapons of mass destruction ever conceived by mankind.”
Nashandra then sat down and asked, “You said that people don’t typically use swords anymore. Is that because warfare evolved to the point that they were obsolete?”
Marcus nodded and said, “In a manner of speaking, yes. However, that’s not to say that bladed weapons such as bayonets and tactical combat knives weren’t still around. Although those are usually reserved only for close quarters combat or as a last resort. The most common weapon you would find in our world now would be guns like the one I carry at my waist. They have been around for the good part of the last thousand years or so and have evolved into many different forms. They fire small metal projectiles at speeds powerful enough to break bones and rupture internal organs.”
“Such weapons seem...pathetically weak,” Frosk commented.
Hearing this, a look of challenge appeared on Marcus’s face as he stared at him and said, “Is that so…? Do you want to put that to the test?”
Curiosity and excitement flashed across Frosk’s face, while Camilla and Nashandra looked at each other with concern and doubt.
“Uh...I don’t think it would be wise to tempt fate like this. Considering everything Marcus said, it would be unwise to think of such weapons as truly weak,” Camilla said, to which Frosk scoffed.
“Nah, I actually want to see how high a caliber he can take with his spiritual energy before he actually starts to feel it. You have to remember, those bullets that slammed into me during my fight were still strong enough to hurt me even with my armor. Lets get this ball rolling!” Marcus said, excited as he stood up.
Nashandra rolled her eyes and turned around, finding a place on the ground to sit as she watched them.
“Aren’t you going to try and stop them? This seems incredibly unnecessary and ridiculous,” Camilla asked.
“Don’t bother. My king Lord Dagon and Raime used to mess around like this all the time. It must be something that men enjoy, toying with contraptions and testing their own limits in over the top manners. Just let them mess around until one of them dies,” she said with a bored tone.
Camilla dropped her head in abject disappointment and sighed as she sat next to Nashandra and watched.
Over the next half an hour, the two men tested the calibers of bullets that could bounce off of Frosk’s chest without injuring him.
Marcus argued that anything above twenty percent of his soul’s output was more than enough strength for him to destroy a mountain if he was focusing all of his strength into a single spot, so they limited his output to that.
When Marcus created a weapon that resembled his own Seventh Sinner, he showed it to them and explained that it was called a ‘Desert Eagle.’
He fired three shots at Frosk’s chest, but each impact resulted in sparks as they shattered against his skin.
Looking at the results, Marcus nodded and said, “Very nice.”
Hearing that, Frosk puffed out his chest a bit and the two women shook their heads.
Marcus eventually pulled out a much larger and longer weapon which he called a ‘Barrett M82 A1 50 caliber BMG sniper rifle’
Hearing that name got a whistle from Frosk as he said, “Sounds fancy.”
“If you were to get hit by this without magic reinforcing your body, any part struck by the bullet would cause that area to burst apart,” Marcus explained as he lined up the sights and aimed it at Frosk.
“Come on then!” he shouted, and Marcus fired it.
Once again, it shattered upon Frosk’s chest as if it were made of glass.
However, unlike before, he rubbed the area where he was hit as if it was sore from the impact.
“That actually stung a bit. Did they really use weapons like this against each other in your world?” he asked.
“Oh that’s just the tip of the iceberg of weapons our world has made. Just wait until you’ve seen the Gustav Cannon,” Marcus said with a mischievous grin.
“Oh yeah…?” he asked as he folded his arms in an act of challenge.
Marcus then snapped his fingers, and in seconds, a gargantuan metal structure appeared out of thin air next to Marcus, with its barrel trained on Frosk.
“HOLY SHIT!” Frosk shouted as he took a startled step back.
The outrageously large firearm was six times the height of Marcus himself and looked like it could destroy a castle with a single shot.
Marcus cackled at Frosk’s reaction and snapped his fingers once again, making it disappear.
“I think we’ve messed around with that long enough,” he said as he and Frosk walked back to the two of them.
“It makes a little more sense now how your world was able to develop, just based on what you showed us,” Nashandra commented.
“Yeah, but that’s just with weapons. There’s so much more to Terra than that, much of which even I don’t fully understand. There are people in my world’s history far smarter than I am, and they are still human. That should mean something,” Marcus said.
“With weapons like these, I can understand how the need for swords and even the need for skill in combat could end up being...so watered down,” Nashandra said.
Marcus nodded in agreement as he said, “That’s a good way to put it. Now obviously, there is still skill in knowing how to properly use a firearm, and you do still need proper training when fighting hand to hand. However, the warriors of Terra in today’s age are not the same as they were in the past. War evolves with time just the same as any other aspect of life. Its just far more visible in our world where magic isn’t present.”
“I find it shocking that Moyako could have come from a world like that. The longer I spend time with you, the more I notice that you feel foreign to this world based on your behavior and what you have told us. With Moyako however, she feels like a part of this world more so than what you have described,” Camilla said.
He breathed out a sigh as he said, “That probably has to do with the fact that she came to this world as a child, where as I came here as an adult. I grew up and adapted to our world, she didn’t. She didn’t have that privilege and came to Erebus at the age of eight, looking for me.”
He then looked at each of them for a moment until something seemed to catch his eye. He squinted at Camilla as if something were bothering him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Your eyes. They haven’t always been red like that. Is this a result of being struck by the Scarlet Bolt? Your eye color is permanently changed?” he pondered.
“That’s generally how its been for all of Forrosa’s history, yes,” Frosk confirmed.
A troubled look flashed across Marcus’s face as he asked her, “It bothers me.”
The three of them blinked in surprise and Camilla asked, “W-Why does it bother you?”
“Well…think of it like this. If you loved a certain part of yourself that expressed who you were as a person, and then were suddenly chosen by a god and had that changed forever, would you really appreciate that part of yourself being taken from you? Because I wouldn’t,” he explained.
The three of them looked at each other, lost for words.
Camilla and Nashandra had only recently been chosen and changed, so they hadn’t had the time to think it over.
Frosk however, had been chosen over fifteen years ago, yet even he seemed lost for words on the subject.
“Well...in Forrosan culture, the red eyes of the chosen is seen as a blessing. One that is passed down even to the children of the chosen. Its a sign of status in our land if you bear the red eyes of the chosen,” he said, trying to sound proud, but still somewhat conflicted.
Marcus stared at Frosk for a moment before he asked, “Like that Dark Elf woman Fayebel?”
Frosk flinched as he tried to say, “How did you-?!”
Marcus raised his hand to silence him before saying, “I won’t intrude on that, but think about it. Lets say others outside of Forrosa’s culture had this ‘blessing’. Do you think they would appreciate having that part of themselves robbed?”
Frosk couldn’t seem to muster a response, but Camilla decided to chime in.
“I don’t see any problem with my eyes...but I think I might miss the green later on. My green eyes were a sign of my ties to the Lykos royal lineage, just as my blonde hair was descended from Athena herself,” she said, with the last part catching Marcus’s attention.
“Athena had children? As in, actively giving birth?” he wondered.
Confused by such a seemingly foolish question, she replied, “Of course. How else would a woman give birth to children?”
“Well, according to Terran myth, Athena was spawned by Zeus after Hephaestus took a hammer and chisel to his skull and cracked it open. She appeared, fully grown and clothed, with a shield in one hand, and a spear in the other. So you tell me,” he said.
“Oh…,” she said, trying and failing to process how that would make sense.
“I’m more surprised that Athena physically gave birth to children at all. According to the stories, Athena, along with Hestia, my own mother, and Artemis, Selene’s mother, were the trio of Greek Goddesses that swore to be eternal virgins. The fact that all three of them eventually broke their oaths of eternal maidenhood is shocking to me,” he said, looking at the ground while thinking.
When he returned his attention to Camilla, he said, “I wonder about something…”
Then, when he spoke again, he switched to a language that she thought she would never hear again. One that was taught secretly within the royal family to carry on Athena’s legacy and history.
Marcus spoke in a fluent Greek tongue as he asked, “Can you understand me in this language?”
A gasp left her lips and she covered her mouth with her hand as she shuddered.
“How do you…,” she tried to ask in the same language but her voice failed her.
“We can talk about this later. Lets get back on topic,” he said before returning to English and looked at Nashandra, “Do you miss your old eyes? Considering how old you are, I bet losing them would be very unfortunate.”
“Its rude to comment on a woman’s age you know…,” she said jokingly, to which he smiled.
She then sighed and said, “But now that you’ve brought it up…I will miss my old eyes. As a natural born Amaskian woman, my eyes were a sign of my heritage from there. Although, most children you see descended from the old Amaskian kingdom have tanned skin and red eyes from Vulcan’s line, I was as well an Amaskian. To lose them now, after ten thousand years… I would like to have them back.”
“Alright,” Marcus said, as he sat straight up, closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath.
When he exhaled and opened his eyes once more, his left eye glowed with red light as his voice took on the authority of the God of Wrath.
“As of now, those who bear my blessing will not be marred of their nature. The natural glory they were given upon birth will remain as it were. Only in the moment of brandishing my authority through your own flesh, will my blessing be visible through your own eyes,” he commanded, and as his voice came to a halt, an almost tangible change in the world could be felt.
King Razel Aldia…
The night was coming to a close as one of his sons, currently an acting messenger, was delivering the current reports of happenings in Forrosa to him while he was finishing his meal.
He was just about to take a bit of the last cut of steak on his plate when he heard the voice of his lord and the commandment he declared.
When silence eventually followed, he, and his son, stood in stunned silence.
It wasn’t until the fork in his hand fell onto his plate, startling them both and breaking them from their trance like state, did either of them speak again.
“W-Was that...the voice of our lord?” his son asked as he looked his way.
“I believe it...was…,” the king said before his voice failed him as he realized the color of his son’s eyes change from the red that he had been born with, the true sign of the blessing from their lord, to a now silver color.
“Father...your eyes,” his son said to him.
Frantically looking around for something reflective enough to view himself, the King grabbed the silver platter in which his plate of food had been delivered to him.
He took the plate off the platter and stared at himself closely.
Rather than the red he had seen for nearly his entire life, they were now a warm brown color.
King Razel Aldia looked back up at his son, noticing the silver color in his eyes, and knowing that they matched those shared by his mother.
Deciding to test his lord’s words for himself, the king brought up his hand and forced a red spark to dance across his palm while looking at his own reflection.
Just as he heard, his eyes flashed red when his lord’s power was used.
Slowly lowering the platter back onto the table, the king leaned back into his chair, and thought aloud, “I wonder...what could be the meaning of this my lord? Is this...your kindness? What is the purpose of such an act?”
Azazel…
He was strolling around Alken as he thought about how all of this land would soon come under his lord’s rule.
Under Marcus’s rule.
With his reappearance, the Forrosan people saw him as a blessing that their lord would finally appear in the world.
Much to Azazel’s sadness, he had already appeared, but would not announce it just yet.
Though he had finally arrived, the people would remain unaware.
Or so he thought...until he heard his lord’s voice.
And so too, did all the people around him.
Walking past, or walking up to Azazel, were already dozens of Forrosans who carried the blessing of the scarlet bolt shown in their eyes.
But upon hearing their lord’s words, the color within their eyes changed, reflecting the nature in their birth.
Azazel was confused as to why Marcus would decide to do this, but then he thought, Is this how you intend to give hope to your people, while yet hiding the knowledge of your arrival in this world? If that is indeed the case…then it is quite ingenious.
As Azazel looked upon the faces of the confused masses, it became apparent that the blessed were not the only ones who heard their lord’s voice.
Perhaps all those who aimed to serve their lord had heard it.
The expressions on the people’s faces were many.
Confusion, happiness, shock, fear even...but not hate. Not anger.
Though the presentation of the blessing that was once visible to all has been changed, so true a blessing was it to see the beauty of their lineage given to them by their own family for all the world to see.
Azazel smiled as he thought to himself, I wonder what the future holds, now that you exist within it Marcus.