The Grand Catastrophe

…

Calvaria hummed in thought. Her mind thinking about what it meant to have rough, callused hands. She really wanted to know, she didn’t know though. It was slightly annoying to her that her mind didn’t give her a single push in any direction.

Climb had walked over to her, she had asked for his hands. He had shown her his hands as she took them in her own. They were callused. Worn by time and practice. It was slightly confusing to her how calluses could grow, but that was less this and more a line of thought for another day.

She then decided to spout some words that sounded wise. While she herself didn’t really know what it was like to grow in power like the people of this world, she did know what the differing power levels looked like. This young man was rather weak, in the grand scheme of things.

Sure, it seemed to her that he was rather well equipped. His sword didn’t have the wear and tear that a well used blade would have. So, he was probably using a new one or a backup as his normal one was being repaired, or something to that effect.

His stance was also good. He shifted his weight as if he was used to wearing plate armor. His eyes scanned the area when he thought she wasn’t looking. All of these traits spoke to someone on the track to a powerful level of might.

“Your hands tell me you train well. The handle of your blade shows little to wear or tear. The way you stand tells me that you wear plate armor for long periods of time. Am I right?” she reasoned.

Climb nodded his head in conformation. He had a slightly shocked look on his face, as if she had just spoken words of wisdom. She then continued to speak.

“I sense a great level of protentional in you. Sure, you might not grow to a high power level. Yet, you could become very strong when it comes to experience. There are also many different ways to be strong,” she said, drawing on all the shonen manga she had read.

“What are those?” he asked.

“Simple, you could learn to fight without honor,” this earned a shocked look from the lad, “use your teeth, kick people in the privates. Go for weak spots that people often don’t think of. Use every tool at your disposal,” she said, and Climb schooled his expression and nodded along, enraptured in her words.

What else should she say? Calvaria had a few ideas on what to do. After all, she had noticed that very few people in this world used or encountered mental attacks. She was immune to such things, yet she had learned the differing schools on thought on how to put up mental defenses.

Maybe she should tell him to build up his mental strength? Sure, it was a long shot. Yet, she still had an idea on how to help him out. After all, if she was going to test out to grow the power level of others outside of the NPCs, then she might as well do it to this young man.

She let go of the young man’s hands, and took a step back. Climb looked at her strangely just then, and stood ramrod straight, as if at a job interview. She then told him her idea. Well, what she said wasn’t exactly what went through her mind.

“Young Climb, there are many ways to fight others,” she paused, letting her words sink in, “some use mental attacks in the form of different magics. Many people ignore this. Yet it is a rather important part of combat,” as she said this, she took a step backward.

“If you wish, I can show you a way to combat this. to combat terror and the like,” she said, and he nodded his head.

“Yes, please teach me this method!” he all but shouted at the top of his lungs.

Calvaria giggled a little. The lad had gumption, that was true. Yet, he also had a boyish and young look to his gaze that made her think that he hadn’t seen true terror before. In fact, what she was about to do might kill him. She wasn’t about to tell him that, though.

It was then that she backed up even more so. Her stance widened as she activated one or two of her passives, on the lowest setting of course. As she did so, she could see the Climb had gone rigid. His breath seemed to hitch, his skin started to sweat. He was scared, good.

“Prepare yourself for an attack, young Climb,” she said as she prepped a kick with her leg.

He nodded his head a smidge and pulled his blade from his hip. Then, he took a fearful, yet somewhat brave, stance. It was rather adorable, how much this young man wanted to be brave. If he died, she would probably resurrect him, and try and convert him to her faith.

“Is that all?” she asked as she flooded the space with her aura of despair, “I guess you shall join the dead in misery, then!” she shouted as she lunged forth with a kick.

He didn’t move. He couldn’t move. He was stuck on the spot in fear and despair. She frowned in her mind, she had expected him to put up a slightly better fight. She sighed internally as she finished off her kick.

Then the boy shifted away from the blow. Her eyes widened ever so slightly. She had thought that he would die. As he dodged, she pulled her passives back. The area became still once more. the shuffling from the interloper that she had noticed long before this scrambled and moved.

She pulled her attention from him, and then to the young man in front of her. she tutted as he shivered in both fear, and awe. It was rather humorous to see. The lad had faced her aura of despair. While it hadn’t been at full force, the opposite really, she hadn’t expected him to react like this.

“There,” she said, reaching a hand out for him to grab which he took, “now you have the might that I have told you of.”

As she said that, Sebas walked over and held out a handkerchief. Climb grabbed it, and thanked the older man while he wiped his brow from all the sweat that had accumulated from fright. Yet, as Calvaria was about to speak once more, she heard shuffling from behind herself.

She turned her body to face said noise, already knowing who it was. There, she saw someone. A person who had obviously dyed their hair blue, a katana at his hip. He was sweating a lot, his breathing was labored. He had likely bene hit by that attack of Her’s full force.

Yet, instead of rolling with it like Climb had, this man seemed to have folded. Or he came closer to folding than the young man that she had just traumatized. Calvaria quirked a brow as he waddled over, his lungs heaving.

“How did you do it?” he finally asked while looking to Climb, “how did you face that dispar and win?”

…