Chapter: 633 – Just Rewards

Tala had to restrain Lea marginally as she had the girl wrapped in her arms. Tala’s own aura and authority smoothing and soothing without actually controlling or interfering with Lea’s attempts to regain control, her willpower and self-restraint having to contain and corral not only her body, but now her magics as well, ensuring that it was a harder task than she’d expected.

It had been years since Lea had lost control to the berserk state, but to be fair, it had been years since she’d been seriously hurt.

At the moment? Lea was trying to use her magics to break Tala’s grip and get free as the next perceived, potential threat, likely because Tala was actively restraining her.

Tala simply took the hits. She could have interrupted the magics, drawing her daughter free, but that would invalidate this test. It helped that Lea wasn’t acting with full force, clearly working through the process, the added complexity.

Even her mild restraint of Lea could be seen as a breach of the spirit of things, but since she was unlikely to have attacked a wall—thus failing her test—Tala felt it was fine.

She wanted to hold and comfort her daughter, so she did.

There was no one else around to be attacked, so that hadn’t been something they were testing.

They probably should have, but changing the parameters of a test mid-way was a good way to have their daughter simply stop caring about what they allowed or didn’t.

Additionally, one of the points of the test was to be a visceral demonstration of the change her ‘boon’ had undergone. Rane had let Tala know that this might be more difficult for the girl with her magics added in, and this had been a safe means both of testing if her soul-addition matched his—as some within the Gredial family varied—and to let her experience it herself.

Terry arrived moments after Tala. Though, Tala suspected that the timing was due to him wanting it that way, rather than a question of speed or desire to be there.

Rane came to rest beside them a breath later, his own soul resonating with the distress his daughter was under.

Tala saw him embrace the mixed boon and curse, allowing the power of a Sovereign to roll through him, enhancing him toward addressing the attack upon him.

Then, with a flexing of will and authority that rivaled Master Grediv’s work with the City Stone in complexity, Rane stretched forth and tapped Lea on the forehead. “Safe.”

Their souls pulsed once in perfect sync to Tala’s sight, and then both leveled out, returning to their more individual, standard rhythms and functions.

He hadn’t actually controlled Lea in any sense, nor did he force her out of the berserk state. Instead, he simply made that one simple idea utterly, unshakably apparent to her, and it only worked because it was true.

Rane sagged backward, taking a step away and deflating slightly, taking in long, steady breaths.

Lea’s eyes shot wide, and she gasped, pulling in air in ragged, uncontrolled breaths. “Mom?”

Tala squeezed her daughter. “I’m here.”

Lea shuddered. “That was… that was intense.”

Tala smiled. “The midnight fox can be a cunning foe. Did you note the time of day?”

Lea groaned. “It’s almost midnight, isn’t it.”

Tala answered, even though it wasn’t really a question. “It is.”

The girl nodded slowly. “And such concepts can have powerful influence on arcanous and magical creatures.”

“They can.” Tala smiled. “But such is also often overstated. It was undoubtedly a harder fight than it might have been in the open at high noon, but not overly so.”

Lea sighed, nodding slowly. “I’ll keep that in mind… Berserk, too… That was harder to rein in than before… Thank you for letting me experience a true reaction in such a contained setting.” She smiled. “I’ll be better able to channel it going forward.” She took a deep breath and grimaced. “How bad is my leg?”

They both looked.

There were ragged rents in the white steel, the edges making the wounds look to have been made by a combination of melting and tearing. The more delicate magical portions deeper within were also perforated and sheared through at many places.

“Well… It’s not great, but I’ve seen worse.”

Lea huffed a laugh. “I can sense the pain, even though my body automatically cut the direct feed of sensation when it would otherwise have become overwhelming. Right now, it’s like reading about the damage rather than experiencing it.”

Rane huffed a laugh. “I’ll count you lucky in that, then.”

Lea sighed, shifting a bit to get more comfortable and just as clearly pulling herself back together, mentally. “I suppose. Let me fix the exterior and inscriptions. That should help the internals heal.” She frowned. “How was it able to pierce my steel so easily?”

Rane gave a sad smile. “Lightning has the power to cut quite effectively. Many metal workers use a more precise form of that magic to make quick, rough cuts.”

She grimaced, her expression taking on a bit of a different kind of hurt. “So, I was set up? You chose an opponent who was able to do this?”

Rane shook his head placatingly, but it was Tala who responded, chuckling. “Not at all. High pressure water can also be used, so can extreme heat or flame. Wind can be made powerful and ‘sharp’ enough to cut most non-reinforced metals. And that’s just some of the basic magics. These creatures exist because they are capable of combat at levels that most humans would find nightmarish. Those too damagable to take a hit would quickly cease to be, and those too weak to breach such defenses at need would be equally rusted.”

Lea grunted, seeming to take them at their word. “No defense is perfect.”

Rane nodded, finishing the phrase. “No attack unstoppable.”

The four fell into silence, Terry simply nuzzling against Lea in quiet comfort.

The reprieve didn’t last long, however.

First, Terry flickered away, appearing next to the midnight fox’s body and beginning to tear away at it with a vengeance.

Something about the act must have been enjoyable for the avian, because Tala was relatively certain that he could have grown large enough to swallow it whole if he’d wanted to.

Second, Lea perked up, looking back and forth between her parents. “So…? Did I pass?”

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Tala and Rane exchanged a look before they nodded in tandem, Rane speaking first. “Yes. When we get back to the exodus, we will give you the sword. We have a sheath for it, which is a pinch-blade design.”

Lea nodded. “So that the edge doesn’t actually contact the sheath. Understood. If I’m not careful in drawing it, I’ll destroy the sheath.”

Rane smiled and nodded. “Exactly.”

“And.” Tala added, drawing both of their attention.

He quirked an eyebrow, but after a moment’s quick consideration, he gave a slow nod.

Tala smiled. “We think that it is time you learn about Archon Stars.”

The girl listened intently as Tala and Rane explained the spellform and its significance, demonstrating it and conveying how important choosing a proper material was to the process.

Lea then made the obvious connection and asked if Tala’s bloodstars were that same spellform.

Tala and Rane shared a look before they both simply laughed, shaking their heads in surrender.

Needless to say, Lea was quite familiar with Tala’s bloodstars, after years of close proximity, and while her own would be slightly different, it gave her a basis of understanding that was an incredibly solid launching off point.

That, combined with her literal years of freeform magical practice in the form of enacting alterations to her body’s basic systems, meant that she was more than ready to learn and move forward.

When she stood so that they could head back, she gave out a startled cry and almost fell, her leg not working as she expected, the absence of pain having caused her to forget the injury, even if just for a moment.

She’d reformed the white steel, even manipulating the inscriptions back into place through precise control over the same, but that hadn’t returned the leg to full functionality.