81: Pacifist?
Eris looked apologetically at Jaxie standing in front of her. Then, Professor Kull’s voice called out.
“Strike her as hard as you can. Do not hold back.”
Ugh, Eris hated it. She hated it, but her fingers still gripped tighter around the wooden sparring sword held in her grasp and swung. Thankfully, and predictably, the swing fell short. Her muscles locked, and she could go no farther than halfway through the windup.
Off to the side, multiple researchers were staring aptly and taking notes. Meanwhile, Kull chirped in a second time.
“Miss Kerrot, please lower her blindfold.”
Eris looked up at Jaxie as the tall girl stepped forward. Her eyes twinkled with nothing but love and support, even when her strong hands gently tugged the fabric that had been adorning Eris’s forehead downwards. Once the world around Eris went a muddied shade of black, Kull called out.
“Miss Kadell, can you see anything?”
“No.”
“Good. Kerrot, back into position.”
Eris felt Jaxie’s hands linger on her cheeks for just a moment longer, then a soft kiss pressed into her forehead. Jaxie whispered. “It’s okay. This is practically my love language.”
Eris blushed, and she heard Jaxie step backwards.
“Kadell, strike her as hard as you can.”
Eris winced, but swung the wooden sword anyway. Thankfully, she felt her body tighten once again, cutting her movement short so fast that she nearly stumbled. Eris stabilized herself.
“Yeah, it stopped that.”
“Alright. Kadell, keep the blindfold on. Kerrot, stand over here by me.”
There was a shuffle of movement.
“Alright, there is nobody in front of you. Strike with the sword.”
Eris was a little confused by that, but did so anyway. As predicted, the swing passed easily through the air, meeting no resistance from either an obstacle or her Pacifist skill. She spoke out into the darkness.
“Yeah, it doesn’t stop me from doing otherwise harmful acts I think, it just stops me from doing them at anything alive. I can slap my arm, but not when there’s a mosquito there.”
“And that is what we are confirming. There is nobody in front of you. Swing again, please.”
Eris rolled her eyes under the blindfold, gripped the sword, and swung a second time at nothin-
Her sword made contact. A distinct slap of wood on flesh and a jarring recoil that Eris was not expecting actually made her drop the practice weapon. Immediately, one hand went to the blindfold and lifted it, showing that for some reason, Jaxie was once again standing in front of her with a red mark forming on the bicep her tank top left exposed. Jaxie grinned. “Ow.”
Eris’s eyes went wide. “Oh my gods I’m so sorry! Why did you- how-”
The researchers standing by were each writing intently. Professor Kull nodded.
“Interesting. Kadell, please pick up the sword and lower your blindfold. Kerrot, walk to where I point as quietly as you can.”
Eris was confused but did as she was told. Her ears strained to listen, but it seemed like the viewing party all taking notes were intentionally shifting their feet and shuffling in place to try and mask any noise of Jaxie’s location. Eventually, Kull’s voice chimed through the silence.
“There is nobody in front of you. Swing again, please.”
Eris hesitated. “You understand why I don’t believe you right now?”
“Yes. Swing the sword.”
The redhead grit her teeth, closed her eyes since she couldn’t see anything anyway and tightened her grip. Jaxie might be right in front of her again. However, she might also genuinely be in a corner and Eris really did have nobody in front of her. There really was no way to know. She let out a tense breath, then swung.
Once again, her arms stiffened, pulling back on her own momentum and cutting the attack short without her intending to.
“You may look.”
Eris used one hand to lift the edge of her blindfold and peek out. Oddly enough, the space in front of her was completely empty. Jaxie was about ten feet off to the side with an expression almost as visibly interested as the half-dozen researching witnesses. Kull was nodding.
“Lower it again. Kerrot, move to the location I point to.”
Once again, the world was darkness and shuffling feet to mask the noise of Jaxie’s movements. After a number of seconds, it stopped and the Dean’s chimed out yet again.
“Miss Kerrot is standing directly in front of you. Do you believe me?”
“I… I don’t know,” Eris said.
“Where do you think she is?”
“I don’t know,” Eris repeated. “You could be telling the truth like you did the previous time and she’s standing in front of me, or you could have anticipated that and lied this second time meaning she’s out of the way. Or you could have anticipated that and decided to tell the truth because I’d think you lied and-” Eris let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know.”
“Understood. Swing the sword.”
Eris did- or rather, she tried. Her body froze and killed the attack just as it did previously. The redhead dropped her hands to her sides while Kull cleared his throat.
“Miss Kerrot, reveal where you are.”
A hand laid upon Eris’s shoulder and a large figure stepped up just in front of Eris- so close into her personal space that the Artificer could sense it. Then, another kiss to Eris’s forehead before gentle hands rolled up the blindfold to reveal Jaxie’s smiling face.
“He was telling the truth. I was right in front of you.”
“Alright, moving on. Leave the blindfold off. Now we’re going to test and see if the effect has a duration.”
Eris raised an eyebrow, reaching up with one hand to take the blindfold off entirely and pass it to her girlfriend. “A duration?”
“Yes,” Kull nodded. “We’d like to see if, when Pacifist triggers to prevent you from attacking, the effect would continue to any other attacks you make even should they not be targeted at anything.”
“Uhh…” Eris blinked. Kull explained.
“Miss Kerrot is going to stand in front of you, and you are going to swing at her to trigger Pacifist. Then, you are immediately going to turn and swing to your left as fast as you can, where there is nobody as you can see. This way, it should hopefully let us see if the effect is determined with every single action or attack you perform, or whether it triggers off of a given attack and then lasts say… five seconds afterwards.”
“Wow, you’re really going in depth with the testing on this,” Eris murmured. Kull nodded.
“Yes, we are. Now strike at Miss Kerrot as hard as you can, then do the same immediately to your left.”
Eris straightened her stance and looked at Jaxie, who smiled and nodded. The overhead swing with the wooden blade predictably faltered, during which Eris pivoted and swung out haphazardly towards her left where she met nothing but air-
Another surprise impact jarred the weapon, followed by a grunt of pain. Eris’s eyes widened, and she watched as the empty space shimmered- rippling like a sheen of water on glass. There were even some sparkling bits that fluttered through the air before what was now clearly an illusion of some kind dissipated. In its space revealed a uniformed man rubbing his forearm that was lifted to block the attack from his face.
“What the…” Eris began, but Kull cleared his throat.
“Thank you, Jessem, you may leave. Miss Kadell, that should cover the fundamental tests for your Pacifist ability.”
One of the researchers came up and held out a hand, in which Eris confusedly passed over the sparring sword. Eris then looked at the Dean. “You were testing to see if Pacifist is a constant thing, or if it’s based on my own perception.”
“Correct,” Kull nodded. “When you could see Miss Kerrot standing in front of you, you could not strike her. When you put on the blindfold but knew she was still there, you still could not. When I told you she moved and you believed me, you were able to make contact. After that point, however, you were unsure.”
Kull turned around and began walking towards a table with an assortment of items. “I then told you that Miss Kerrot would not be struck if you swung again, but you didn’t believe me. Even though she was not there, your skill stopped the attack. It did the same even when she was there, but you still had no perception of whether it was true.”
Eris watched Professor Kull start rolling up his left sleeve to reveal the pale skin underneath, but she didn’t say anything and let the man continue. “Then, when you could see again and could confirm with your own eyes that there should not have been anyone there, you were able to harm another that had continued to evade your perception.”
He paused, holding both hands flat on the table and nodding to himself.
“It seems as though if you fully believe that any direct action you cause will not harm someone, even if it actually would, you can do it. However, the moment there is any doubt or consideration that one will be harmed, your skill prevents the action. Pacifist does not appear to have any consideration for how events should or would play out- only your perception and belief of how those events will happen. If you truly believed that nobody would be harmed, you may very well be able to blow up the entirety of Marrix.”
Kull sighed. “Now, we still need to figure out the extent of how direct your actions have to be before the effect triggers.”
Professor Kull grabbed multiple items from the pile on the table. “For example, you almost certainly cannot fire a loaded crossbow at someone. However, if you were to point that crossbow at someone who is bound, with a device attached to the trigger that would release the bolt after five minutes have passed, could you activate that? At that point, it wouldn’t be a matter of directly harming the individual, it would be a choice of whether or not to save them after the effect has already been put into motion, or whether an outside force is able to disrupt the system.”
Eris was carefully handed a pair of items from Kull that left her confused. A surgical needle and stitching thread already looped through the end and ready to use. Then, she saw the blade in his right hand being brought close to his exposed left forearm that he held above a metal tray.
“But those will be tests for later. Right now, there is one other consideration to be made. Under normal circumstances, stabbing someone with that needle would be considered harmful. Context often changes scenarios, however. What if, for example, you were attempting to stitch a wound closed?”
Even though Eris knew that there would be any manner of magical healing available at the slightest wave of his hand, Eris still had to commend the display and the commitment. After all, Professor Kull brought the blade a half-inch through the skin on the side of his forearm, visibly wincing and dragging the tool for about three inches before pulling it free while red dripped down his skin. Eris’s eyes were wide. Jaxie just grinned from beside her.
“Badass.”
“Now,” Professor Kull set the blade down in the metal tray he was dripping into, almost as casually as if it were a pen placed in a drawer. “Stitch my wound closed, if you can.”
Eris swallowed, then brought the needle in close. She needed to close the wound and stop the bleeding. Close the wound and stop the bleeding. Close the wound. Close the wound. To her surprise, the sharpened tip was able to make contact with the Dean’s skin, then poke a tiny hole before curving inwards to emerge from the other side of the cut. Before Eris could do it again to keep stitching, Kull shifted.
“That’s enough. We’ve proven it works.”
He used his free hand to take the needle from Eris’s grip, tore the thread with a twist in his grip, then pulled it back through the wound to drop it into the tray. “Edmunst?’
One of the researchers standing just off to the side stepped forward and lifted her hand. There was a shimmering of greenish light just in front of her fingertips, one that also appeared underneath the Dean’s skin. Eris watched the veins in his arm glow that same shade from within for a single moment. Then, the gash on his arm shrunk rapidly from three inches to absolutely nothing but a red smear. Kull grabbed a cloth and started wiping the blood away.
“Now to test your Desire’s Reap.”
“Already did,” Jaxie said. “Cooldown’s per person, and it’s twelve hours.”
The man actually looked amused as he raised his eyebrow with a grin. “Are you absolutely certain?”
Eris fiddled with her thumbs. Jaxie looked a little bit less comfortable.
“Uhh,” Jaxie tried. “I mean- it’s like… it seems to have something like a half hour of leeway, maybe?”
The Dean continued staring, unbothered. “The skill has no stated cooldown in the description, and you only tested it at its very lowest level. Did none of you have any consideration for the fact that the cooldown may have been shortened with each progressive level it gained, or when the skill reached its maximum level?”
Uhh…” both girls looked at each other. That was a very good point. They both turned back towards the man in charge and Eris cleared her throat.
“That was not something we considered… sir.”
He sighed, even rolling his eyes which seemed oddly informal. “And that is a clear example of why we are going to thoroughly test every single one of your skills, Miss Kadell. You may test that one at your home, though. You would likely be more comfortable in your own bed, and I’ll have Miss Qualley permissed from her training to join you should you wish-”
“Yes.” Eris blurted, not even giving Kull the chance to finish. “Err, sorry. Yes, sir.”
The man chuckled, dropped a cloth that was shockingly clean despite having been used to wipe away every trace of blood on his arm, then casually rolled his uniform sleeve back down. “Very well. Charlotte? Escort them home, please.”
Eris slid her fingers into Jaxie’s, then turned around while the figure standing at attention by the door gave a noisy salute. That was, of course, due to the fact that they weren’t wearing a uniform like every other Syndicate soldier posted in Marrix.
Although on duty and actively serving, the combative soldiers in Marrix only had the most basic of equipment on their person. Namely, their weapon- if any, as well as certain special accessories such as stat-boosting earrings or Elmas’s super-spy bracelet. They weren’t expected to see combat and served more as general police and security, bearing their uniforms with a prideful sense of duty. When those soldiers were actively going into battle or had a dedicated mission in which they needed to be ready at any time, that was when their full equipment came into play. Like the woman standing by the door.
She was dressed in full plate armour from head to toe, the metal gleaming in a way that no mundane suit could have achieved. It didn’t appear to have been a claim from the Obelisk- not with the woven tabard hanging down the front bearing the Syndicate’s crest; a silver shield with a pair of holding hands emblazoned on the front. That was, of course, in addition to the many gemstones glittering from where they were embedded. Rubies was socketed in each shoulder pauldron, multiple tiny emeralds in the backside of either gauntlet, sapphires in the greaves, a large chunk of amber in the visored helmet like a big glittering unibrow, and a pointed diamond directly in the middle of the chest. Each was carved with teeny tiny runes, much like the intricate sheath hanging from her hip- one made of dark leather sewn with golden threads in a pattern almost like waves crashing against a firestorm.
The hilt of the longsword was wrapped equally in similar-shaded leather with a hunk of gem that Eris knew only too well serving as the pommel stone. Ichryte. Not any from the prison- those had already been worked into a product and trying to re-work them into something else would have been fruitless. Not to mention the fact it would have pissed off the researchers studying the crystals. No, this was a chunk of Ichryte about as big as a clenched fist, and given what Eris understood, was worth more on its own than ten years of harvest back home.
Even had Eris not personally Inspected the woman’s equipment out of curiosity (despite having been told in detail everything it did anyway), it would have been abundantly clear that the one figure alone was wearing what may have been the pinnacle of talent for all of the Syndicate’s crafters. And that was even underneath the silken white shimmering cloak pulled over her shoulders and clasped in front with a bejeweled brooch in the form of a dove. Furthermore, if all that wasn’t enough, Eris knew that the woman was wearing numerous magical rings and amulets specially made by the most powerful crafters the Syndicate had. It didn’t matter that wearing more than one magical ring or amulet diluted the effects and made each subsequently less powerful- the woman standing guard at the door was wearing a veritable militia’s worth of creations with a satchel full of even more. Potions, salves, poisons, exploding runestones, bandages, emergency rations, cleansing stones, and even a literal bed that folded up into a handkerchief. She had everything on her.
If Eris hadn’t been personally introduced to her new bodyguard yesterday after Pravala’s impromptu funeral, when she hadn’t been wearing all the equipment the Syndicate gave her for her new job, Eris probably wouldn’t have any idea that Carmine Charlotte was even a woman in the first place. Well, except for the distinctly feminine voice coming through the helmet that completely covered her face.
“Yes, sir.”
Eris squeezed Jaxie’s hand, who did so in return.
“Alright,” Eris said squarely while trying to keep her composure. “Let’s go have sex with our other girlfriend.”
Jaxie tensed. “Actually- about that…”
Eris raised an eyebrow, looking up at the Berserker. Jaxie idly scratched the back of her neck with her free hand. “We- uhh… we need to talk.”