98 – Infinite Regalia
Lucina looked around with both nostalgia and a deep sorrow.
She had forgotten. Since she had returned to the past through the Outrealm Gates, the pristine and lively version of Ylisstol and its palace had slowly overlapped the ruins she came from.
But now she was confronted with it in stark reality.
The moth-eaten and bloodstained banners. Bones and dark pools of the victims who had been deemed unworth of becoming Risen.
Scattered suits of rusted armor, broken blades...
Lucina clenched her fist and swung her hand out, causing bright orange flames to turn it all to ash.
Morgan glanced at Lucina with a sorrowful gaze. "Mother... Are you-"
"I'm fine." Lucina let out a soft sigh. "Just... help."
It was unsalvageable.
Lucina knew it.
Her world was lost long ago.
Similar to the waves in the world she ended up in, Grima was a calamity. And one they failed to overcome.
All that was left in this world were memories, sorrow, and dust.
But while life might not be possible anymore...
"The royal treasury should be in one piece. Let us make haste towards it, Morgan."
"Of course!" Morgan let out a bright smile and moved along with his mother.
===
I walked through the fleshy caverns within Grima, ignoring how my body dissolved and reformed as I moved.
I was pretty sure it would be a horror show to anyone that saw me... So it was a good thing no one was around to see me.
Pretty sure Dad would definitely scold me... Mom would laugh though and applaud my resourcefulness.
I mean, after all, if you weren't going to die, you might as well abuse that ability, right?
But anyway.
Maybe since I was so deep inside Grima now, I didn't hear any of his words. That, or he was occupied with trying to deal with S'yne.
Could be both.
Still...
"Hm." I looked around at the glowing violet sigils embedded in the fleshy caverns. "This Fell Dragon isn't completely biological, is he?"
I had thought Grima was a purely biological being since its last attack hadn't been magical. But instead...
"Is he using mana as a trigger? Like gunpowder in a gun?"
It was fascinating.
If that was true, it would definitely explain why the people from Lucina's world wasn't able to stop the Fell Dragon's advance.
Magical spells could do some ridiculous things. And you could make shields with magic spell too.
But if something was purely physical by the time it reached you, you needed a purely physical shield.
Well, unless you were me and had conceptual weapon hax.
...Though, technically, even my things were based on logic and physics, so it was more like preemption than action conceptual weapon hax...
But long story short, it was interesting. A useful sample to work with.
My developed <Solaris> did something similar, but it was basically just running magic by using light as a resource. At the end of the day, it was a rederivation of magic, and not something outside of magic.
Grima seemed to have, intentionally or not, done the inverse. The Fell Dragon took magic as the baseline, then developed non-magical phenomenon through the use of it.
Like that lightning before and the dark spikes.
It had been 'magic' in the fact that the effect was carried along mana, but since it was just 'carried' along mana, you needed to block two things at once: magic and substance.
I casually carved the walls with Fragarach as I walked and nodded. "Very useful to come here. Probably can't kill Grima just yet, but this is good to know."
Since this was a different world, the make up in the air and materials of the world were different.
You'd think it'd be the same, but the fact that a different resonance of mana and something weird that felt like what I would call 'divinity' was suffused all over meant that I couldn't just have fun and use Laevateinn to willynilly terraform or blast Grima out of the sky.
To put it simply, unlike in Lia's world, this world was fighting back to my interference... and probably because Grima had claimed it.
Somehow.
"Hm."
I rounded the corner, mulling over that fact. "I had talked about 'claiming' a few worlds, but I didn't think it was possible to do it literally. I was just going to plant my flag on it and call it mine. This is more of a metaphysical claim though..."
"In... truder..."
I paused and looked up.
The flesh on the walls tore and dripped down before molding into a towering muscular man with a full face helmet. Wielding a giant axe in his hand, he glared at me with crimson eyes shining behind the helmet's visor.
Then he repeated it again. "In... truder... Kill in name... Grima..."
"...Fascinating."
It was definitely an undead. But it was a HYBRID undead. Magical for sure, judging from the ominous violet light around it. But also definitely biological.
That helmet had something hidden inside that felt alive. Or at least mobile.
The muscular man ran forward like a Berserker and spun around three times to gain momentum before slamming his axe on my shoulder. Probably to split me in half.
The axe bit through my clothes, ripping it again. The axe cleaved through a good portion of my body too.
But even as the muscular man jumped back with his axe, no doubt thinking I was a goner...
My body stitched itself together, an azure haze knitting my broken flesh to be completely pristine.
The undead Berserker froze.
And when I saw that, I was fascinated. "Partial sentience? Or perhaps full sentience, but restrained by that mask?" I chuckled and slowly walked forward. "Well. If there is a soul left in there, I apologize in advance." I grinned. "But many things must be done in the name of the Greater Good, you see. And that good is me."
The Berserker rushed forward again, swinging his axe.
I swung Fragarach to meet him.
The result...
*schnick*
...Was the Berserker's weapon slicing apart with a shearing metallic sound.
And then I was in front of the Berserker, left hand lunging at his mask while Fragarach was replaced with Laevatein. "Mine."
Mana flowed to my will, lacing into the Berserker's mask to rip it apart and store it in my inventory.
The moment I did, I saw the Berserker's face.
A stern man with blonde hair and a scar on the left side of his cheek.
A right side of a face that looked like it had been burned by lightning.
The man stared at me in confusion and then understanding. "Little Lucy found help."
"Huh?" I blinked. "Wait, do you-"
Before I could finish saying anything, the man dissolved into a black mist.
Whether because it was a defense mechanism to prevent any intel from the body, or because his body had simply been held together by the mask, I didn't know.
But I DID know that it was annoying.
"Ugh. Fine." I picked up the axe that man had been using. "At least I get something out of this."
Now to find the dragon's heart and get rid of it. This had gone from fun to annoying...
Well, at least it was still resourceful. I WAS getting a lot of free dragon flesh...
===
Lucina watched as Morgan took point, swinging Falchion to cut down the Risen in their way. The sacred blade glowed with a burning flame that Lucina had never seen it do, and it cut cleaner than it had in her hand.
Even so...
'Would you be proud, Father? Or filled with sorrow...?'
Lucina loved her son. He was hers, even if he had come through... unwanted means, to say the least. And he had also grown up far too soon, matured by that other world's unnatural rules of existence.
But because she loved her son, seeing him like this made her heart ache.
"Aether! Hah!" Morgan shouted and swung Falchion, azure flames erupting before launching him forward at a group of Risen swordsman, cleaving through them all before he spun around for a second slash to ensure the kill.
It was talent. More than Lucina had.
Morgan had never been trained in the blade.
Lucina had never had the chance to because of their circumstances.
But here he was. Fighting as if he belonged on the field of battle, expertly weaving through foes and cutting them down as if he was meant to be there.
Morgan spun around and smiled. "I did it, Mother!"
"...Yes." Lucina let out a soft smile. "You did." She walked over and placed her hand on his head.
Morgan stilled. Then he let out a bright smile.
'Ah... how nostalgic.'
Her father... the father from her time, not the one she met after she returned to the past.
He used to do it a lot too.
Lucina had always been embarrassed to have her head patted.
But she understood now.
"...You've grown a lot."
Morgan looked proud and said, "Of course! I'm big now, so I'll protect Mother from everything!"
It was such a painfully beautiful sentence. One that echoed Lucina's own sentiments back then.
Lucina's vision blurred, but she nodded. "I believe you. Then..." She started moving. "Let us continue."
As they walked down the corridors and headed down the stairs towards the royal treasury at the bottom of the palace, Morgan looked over at Lucina and said, "Are you well, Mother?"
"Hm?" Lucina looked over. "Why do you ask?"
Morgan hesitated. "Well..." He looked around and said, "...I always knew Mother came from a place of ruins. But to see those ruins with your own eyes... does your heart not ache?"
Lucina was quiet. Then she slowly said, "I would be lying if I said it did not. But you cannot change the present by undoing the past. You can only create a new path forward."
Morgan was quiet too.
For a while, the mother and son walked in silence.
And then Morgan said, "Do you... resent having me, Mother?"
Lucina froze.
Morgan slowly turned to look at Lucina and said, "I know you love me. You have never shown otherwise. But... I know how much you have suffered too, Mother. If... If there was a chance. For you to not experience it." Morgan clenched his hands tighter on Falchion. "...Would you?"
Lucina frowned, confused on why Morgan was talking like that. But then she realized it.
"...She speaks to you. Lady Naga. Or at least, Lady Tiki. Through Falchion."
Morgan was quiet.
Lucina walked forward and hugged Morgan. "No. I would not. You are my son. I am your mother. Even if time were to spin back..." She cupped his face and smiled. "I would choose you every time."
Morgan's breath hitched. "B-But-"
"They are offering it, are they not? To return to the past and correct it. To change the course of history."
Morgan was quiet.
Lucina placed her forehead against Morgan's. "My little boy. Our family has had young ones carry the blade for too long. Our fight is no longer here. Let it be."
Lucina's father, Chrom... Or at least, the younger version of him that Lucina had met in the past.
No doubt he was still out there in the past Ylisse. And Lucina was sure that her friends were there as well. After the X Zone incident, they expected her to return home, safe and sound to continue the fight against Grima.
Instead, Lucina had vanished, and...
Well.
Either way, as much as she wished to see them and carry the fight...
Lucina hugged Morgan tight and said, "All I wish is for you to be safe and happy. Everything else is extra, Son. So do not do anything for me." She poked his forehead. "Do it for you."
Morgan trembled. But then he let out a wobbly smile and said, "Okay, Mother."
Lucina patted his back. "Enough of that then. Now, if I recall correctly..." She continued moving with Morgan and stopped in front of a sealed door with the Exalt's brand on it. "This is the treasury. And the Fire Emblem should be within."
Morgan tilted his head. "Fire Emblem?"
"Yes. A shield." Lucina pushed the doors open, smiling. "While its powers have mostly faded... it should be helpful for Naofumi, should it not?"
===
I didn't know how long I had been walking, how many undead I had slain, or how much of Grima's internals I had harvested.
But I did know that I was getting close to the dragon's heart by how dense the mana in the air was.
Still...
"I guess the old JRPGs were right, huh?" I cut down another random undead that popped out of the fleshy walls and said, "Guess every giant dragon or monster has a whole dungeon inside them."
I was pretty curious what would happen if I wandered around more. Like, if there were hidden treasures or items...
But I stayed on track.
I might not be able to kill Grima from the outside with raw power without a lot of set up...
But the dragon was alive and not a sort of magically put together construct.
That meant that if I shredded his internals, it would be enough to make him dead for good... or at least out of commission long enough for me to make a proper world-sized weapon to blast him away from the planet.
So, with that in mind, I continued advancing.
And then I saw it.
A giant, pulsating violet crystal with... a naked white-haired woman inside?
And in front of that woman, an undead with short-cropped blue hair, a tattered blue tunic with a scorch mark over his heart, and a blackened gold sword in his right hand.
"Huh." I tilted my head. "Was not expecting-"
A blur of dark flames.
The swordsman closing the distance in a single bound and slashing at me.
Like before, I didn't bother blocking, just letting the attack go through while I countered with a slash to the swordsman's arm, taking it.
The sound of tearing flesh echoed twice.
But...
"Hm?"
...I noticed that the black flames were preventing my body from healing.
It didn't hurt per se... Well, at least no more than I expected a wound like this to hurt.
But it was surprising.
I looked up at the swordsman who had already reclaimed his arm, putting it back together.
Meanwhile, the woman in the crystal stared at me with pleading crimson eyes. As if telling me to run.
"Mm. I don't quite know what's going on here. But I DID promise Lucina that I would kill Grima. And I think I've gathered enough data. So."
I opened up <Parallel System>. "Let's see if Grima is truly darkness or not."
===
> [Death Note] has been unequipped from your loadout.
===
Spells (6/6):
...
(New!) Master of Darkness: The absence of light does not mean a space is empty. Through using mana as a catalyst, generate 'anti-light' a particle that emits 'true darkness,' an energy that repels light from an area. When light is absent, you are able to suffuse the area with anti-light and manipulate the darkness. When light is present, you are able to shove it away and replace it with 'anti-light.' 1000 capacity.
===
I smiled and held up my hand. As I did, I said, "Bullshit magical physics say hi."
And then light died and the shadows bled.
===
An explosion and furious roar echoed across the land, shaking the ground and the ruins of the palace.
Lucina and Morgan had just returned to the first floor of the castle when they saw Grima suddenly shake and burst apart, golden light rushing out from within.
S'yne noticed and took advantage of it, racing around like a blur of white light, spooling the golden light and collecting it.
But then Grima stopped moving, suspended in the air, the light in all of its crimson eyes fading away.
Lucina gasped. "Did... Naofumi win? Already?!"
Morgan laughed. "Mister Naofumi truly is divine..."