Cursed Soul: Ch.13

“So, you're finally ready to try to unlock it?” Danny asked with a raised eyebrow as I rolled my wrists and nodded with a slight frown.

“Yeah. Having Jutsushiki at my disposal is great, but going for this long without knowing what my personal magic is may result in me dying before I can figure out what it is.”

“You sure? I feel like you should read and master the books on jutsushiki that you have. That way, you're not stuck splitting yourself between training one over the other.”

“I understand that, but I'd rather have some mastery over my personal magic than be caught with my pants around my legs when it unlocks and I don't have the faintest idea of where to start with it.”

“Eh, you gain an understand of one spell instinctively when you first unlock your magic. Everything else is built upon that one spell and to make an example, there's my Take-Over: Lycan Soul.” Danny said as his hand got covered by iridescent particles.

A second later, they shattered to reveal the fur-covered and clawed hand of a lycan that came up to his elbow, with me raising an eyebrow as he clenched his hand a few times before dismissing it.

“When I first awoke my Take-Over, I started out with just one arm and I could only hold it for about a minute. It took weeks of intensive training before I finally understood how to apply the same effect to my other arm, after which came my legs, my chest and finally, the full-body Take-Over.”

“I see what you mean. However, how exactly did you unlock it?”

“Had to stop an axe from chopping my head off so I instinctively blocked it with my arm and before I knew it, the axe shattered upon contact with my fur.” He answered with a shrug and chuckled as I gave a slow blink.

“…Oh, you're being serious.”

“As serious as a heart attack. That is why most decide to train intensely to unlock instead of going right into battle to try and force it to unlock. Some are able to use it instinctively from young while others have to do intense training to do so. It's all a measure of your latent potential.”

“The more I learn about these things, the more I realize that maybe I'm doing too much…but then my thirst for knowledge gets in the way so let's go at it!” I grunted as I shifted my body to the right, going into the Scarlet Mantis stance where my left hand was pointed at him with the palm facing forward while my right hand was pulled to my side with the palm facing upwards.

“Okay, I guess. First to land a hit, wins?” He asked and I nodded, not having to wait a single moment later as the ground under him cracked before he vanished.

Appearing besides me, my left hand snapped to the side and pushed his punch away right as I chopped at his side with my other hand, ethernano covering it as he grunted and quickly leapt over it.

As his first leg came around for a kick, I slipped under it only to catch sight of the second leg coming down from above, grunting as it hit my upper back before catching myself with a handstand.

Spinning on my one hand, I lashed out with a rapid spin kick that forced him back before flipping over to my feet, rushing toward right as he did the same.

Quickly reaching up and catching his punch, I swung my right hand at his leg only for him to take a step back while lifting his leg, the attack missing right as I turned with the swing and delivered an overhead kick right to his chest.

Landing on my back, I kip-upped with a grunt and I spun around, rushing in as Danny hummed before I tried to land a chop to his neck.

Danny quickly caught it and pulled me in, making me trip slightly before I winced as I got an elbow strike to the forehead, stumbling backwards right as he spun and delivered a powerful kick to my side.

The attack knocked the wind out of me as I was sent rolling to the side, but I quickly flipped to my feet as he came down with an axe kick, jumping back when he tried to land a hammer fist before lunging in right as he aimed a high kick at me.

Moving my body to the side, my leg came around and connected with his forearm, hooking my leg around his arm and pulling him into a knee strike to the jaw.

However, it was not enough to knock him and I hissed as he kicked the back of my supporting leg with his free leg, forcing both of us to fall to the ground right before he rolled and got me in a single leg lock.

“Give?” He asked as he pulled on my ankle while pushing down on my knee, gritting my teeth as I slowly pushed up before rolling while dragging him backwards.

Rolling in underneath and through his legs, he looked surprised as I hit a stomp to his jaw, sending him stumbling backwards and rolling backwards before tackling him around the waist.

Pinning him to the floor, I swung punch after punch at his head, with him blocking them all with his arms raised before I swung a hook at his upper arm.

The man grunted as the blow made his arm drop slightly right as my other hand came across and knocked away the aching arm, quickly pinning his other arm to the floor right as I swung a chop at his neck.

Before the attack could land, I hissed and leapt back at the sensation of numerous stabbing my hand the moment I made contact with his neck, looking at my hand to see the bleeding wounds on my hand.

Looking back at Danny, I frowned as I saw the silver hair dissipating into motes of iridescent light, his arms and legs being covered in the same energy as he stood up and looked at me with an excited smirk.

“Don't suppose you'll hold back…right?”

“Hahahaha~Ah…No.” With that simple word, I wheezed as I felt a pain erupting in my chest, my vision spinning as I was sent rolling backwards head over heels.

Forcing myself to move, I slapped the ground and pushed myself to the side right as a clawed hand barely missed crushing me to the floor, the ground cratering as he rushed towards me with a fist pulled back.

His punch missed me by centimeters as it sailed past my face, my eyes widening as I visibly saw the rippling air around it before I quickly leapt back as he swung his other fist at me.

“Don't you think! You're taking this a bit! Too far?!” I squeaked as I ducked under a slash, crossing my arms in front of me and leaping back as a kick landed against my arms and sent me skidding backwards.

“Not a chance! Keep your guard up! I'm about to amp it up!” The man exclaimed as he accelerated even further and my eyes widened as he completely vanished from sight, slowly looking back right as a fist slowly drew near.

The next moment, I found myself hearing nothing but ringing in my ears while looking up at the ceiling, blinking a few times to stop my vision from blacking out before slowly looking to the side as Danny appeared besides me with a frown.

“You okay?! I pulled back at the last second.”

“Danny, Danny…shush~” I spoke with a smile as I stood up only to fall forward, giggling as Danny caught me before I poked him in the forehead.

“Oops~ Hehehe~”

“…Great, I gave the kid a concussion.”

“That sounds bad…but at least the stars are pretty, right?”

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“Urgh~ Did a Praying Mantis hit me?” I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes before wincing at the painfully bright light dancing in my vision.

“Nope, that was Danny.” Alya's voice echoed in my skull and I slowly turned to the side to see her waving, Alex sitting right besides her with an amused smile before I turned to the other side as I heard Danny speak up.

“In my defence, I did warn him that I wasn't going to hold back, but I may have held back a bit less than I was expecting.”

“A bit less? You cracked his collarbone and gave him a concussion on top of the injuries he was already working through, which reminds me. Why the hell are you fighting someone when you're already injured?!” Alya spoke with a growl aimed at me and I gave a sheepish smile before shrugging.

“I…was trying to figure out my personal magic, but as it turns out, I still have a ways to go.”

“You're still fixated on that? It would be better if you just focus on your jutsushiki skills.” Alex said with a raised eyebrow and I sighed and nodded before wincing at the pain from shaking my head a bit too hard.

“I know, but other than using my hands and feet in battle, I don't have anything else to fall back on. Jutsushiki is good, but I need something that doesn't require me sitting still in battle for a few minutes in order to use it.”

“True, but unfortunately, we can't help you with that. Alex and I picked up our family's Bow Magic quite easily especially since we had our father to he-That's it!” The woman exclaimed and I leaned back at her excitement before looking at the others.

“You guys got any idea what she's talking about?”

“Not a clue/ Nope.” Alex and Danny answered respectively and she rolled her eyes before looking at me with an excited smile.

“That's what you're missing. Someone to teach you how to use it!”

“That…kind of make sense. The only issue is…how do I find a teacher to help me learn a magic that I don't know of?” I asked and raised an eyebrow as they all looked at each other.

“…Baul.”

“Really? The Colonel?” The siblings snorted at my response while Danny crossed his arms and nodded with a smirk.

“Yeah, since the General is too busy to help everyone, the Colonel is the one that listens to everyone and most of those plights extend to us wanting to have his help in figuring out more ways to use our magic. That's not mentioning the fact that the ethernano of you two feel the same so maybe he's got something to help you with.”

“Wait, we do? How have I never noticed that?”

“Because you need to spend a while with the guy to even feel out his ethernano let alone feel if it's similar. That's why the Colonel and the General have been so friendly to you because you kind of feel like the Colonel. Well, that and the fact that you're a former slave to the Cult of Zeref, which earns you some extra points with them.”

“Huh, never knew. Okay, then how do I ask?” I asked and the three of them raised an eyebrow at me before answering in unison.

“Just ask.”

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“Let me get this right. You want my help…in figuring out your magic?” Baul asked as he stood behind his office desk and I nodded as I stood in front of it with my hands behind my desk.

“If it is not a bother, sir”

“Oh, I have nothing to do right now so it would not be a bother at ll. My only issue is the fact that I would be giving away some of my free time to do so which means that I wanna know one thing.”

“And what would that be, sir?”

“What makes you think that I would give some of my free time up to help a member of our team?”

“…Because it's the right thing to do as our second-in-command?”

“Are you saying that or asking that, Sergeant?” He asked with a raised eyebrow and I took a deep breath before nodding.

“I am saying it, sir.”

“…Well, you're damn right. Sit down and tell me what you're struggling.” He said as he sat down while gesturing for me to do the same, surprising me even as I did as he asked.

“Well, you know how I got my rank, right?”

“You fought and killed Lyonel to stop him from slipping through into the mainland. What about it?”

“Yeah, we fought, but it was less fighting and more of trying to survive for me. The fight itself was harsh and if I didn't have the staff and my jutsushiki, we wouldn't be talking right now. I…I need something at least to make sure that I don't die in the next big battle and according to the others, you could help with that. Now, if you can't, I'll underst-!”

“I can help, but will you let me?”

“-and, but I-…Wait, what?” I gave the man a bewildered look and he chuckled as he crossed his hands in front of him and looked at me with a smirk.

“I can help you, but the question is if you will let me. Unlocking your personal magic is hard in itself, but to force yourself through the pain needed to do so is where some struggle.”

“Wait, what pain?”

“Have the others told you of my magic?”

“No, they just told me that you help others figure out what their magic is.” I answered and the man chuckled as he stood up before my eyes widened as a scarlet glow covered his right hand, the light slowly stretching out into the rough shape of a sword before it shattered.

“This is Rebellion, my blade.” The man spoke with a smile as he held a double-sided longsword with a skull at the top of the hilt and a red ribcage-like design at the point where the sword and the hilt met.

“It's a cool sword.” That was the truth as the blade did look kind of badass and he smiled proudly as he held it out to the side before I raised an eyebrow at the numerous jutsushiki written on the flat side of the blade.

“And this is why I think it's cool. This sword, unlike many other swords, does not cut the flesh of a person. It cuts the connection between their magic and their soul.”

“Uh…what?” I asked and the man rolled his eyes as he lifted the sword and swung it slightly.

“What I mean is that the sword itself can unlock your personal magic by cutting through the shackles that bind it. The only thing…is that it is really painful.”

“How painful is really painful?” I asked with a raised eyebrow and his smirk unsettled me as he chuckled and lowered the sword to my head.

“It's going to feel like you're being skinned alive, then rolled around in hot salt and lemon juice before finally getting washed off with boiling hot water. At least, that's what Danvers and Peekwold told me.”

“I think I'll take my chances with intense training.” I answered in response and he snorted as he tapped the sword's flat side against his shoulder.

“Nonsense! Besides, all of that pain will be over in like a minute so it will be not-!” Thankfully, I was saved from any torture by knocking on the door, Baul looking a bit disgruntled as he dismissed his sword and cleared his throat.

“Enter.”

“Apologies for disturbing you, Colonel Mundus, but there is some urgent news that requires your attention!” Liam spoke with a frown the moment he entered and I was a bit confused and wary of the serious look on his face as Baul frowned and gestured for him to continue.

“We have just received a distress call from the outpost a few kilometers to the east-north-east. It appears that an army of least 6000 mages are making their way towards the border.”

“…Looks like we'll have to push back that training of ours.”

A/N: Sorry for the late upload~!! One of our dogs got really sick last night and since it was an off-day, I had to go with my aunt to see what was wrong.

Long story short: They did about a dozen or tests to then tell us that it was just a simple high fever along with some nausea.

Anyway, back to the story as this was a quick and short chapter for some more bonding and training before we head out into the next arc: The War Upon Fiore.

Also, look out next chapter as we're about to introduce a few new characters in the form of a guild, but I'm going to keep that secret until the next time.

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next time…

Ba-Bye~!!