Gordon is hesitant. "..I don't know about this..." he whispered. His voice was so quiet that only my enhanced hearing could pick it up. "...my magic is bad... it only hurts people... I don't want to hurt you, Ouga... you're the only one who talks to me... if I hurt you, you might stop talking to me... and then I'd be alone again..."
"Gordon." I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He flinched, then relaxed. "You won't hurt me. Not permanently. My body adapts to damage. That's what the wheel does. But I need to experience different types of damage to build resistances. Your poison magic. Your curse magic. Those are things I haven't fully adapted to yet."
"...but what if I go too far? what if I accidentally..."
"You won't. I'll tell you when to stop." I looked him in the eyes. Well, I looked at the space where his eyes would be if his hair wasn't covering them. "I trust you, Gordon. Do you trust me?"
Gordon was quiet for a long moment. Then he nodded. "...I trust you... you're my first friend... I don't want to let you down..."
"You won't."
Gordon stepped back. His grimoire floated up, its pages rustling. When he spoke again, his voice was still quiet but it had changed. There was something underneath it now. Something dark and old and powerful. This was the real Gordon. The one who could kill entire battlefields with a whisper.
"...Poison Creation Magic: Scorpion's Shadow..."
A dark mist flowed from his grimoire and wrapped around my legs. It was cold. Not the cold of ice, but the cold of something that shouldn't be alive. The mist seeped through my skin and into my muscles. I felt my legs start to go numb. The poison was a paralytic. It was trying to shut down my nerves, starting from the feet and working up.
"...Serpent's Breath..."
A second spell hit me in the chest. This one was a gas, green and thick. It burned when I breathed it in. Not like fire burns. Like acid. It was trying to eat through my lungs from the inside.
"...Widow's Tears..."
The third spell was different. I could feel it bypass my Mana Skin entirely and go straight for my mana pathways. A curse. It was trying to corrupt my mana, turn it against me, make my own magic attack my body.
CLUNK__
The first lock engaged. The numbness in my legs reversed direction. The paralytic was being neutralized by antibodies that the Talent was producing in real time.
CLUNK__
The second lock. The burning in my lungs stopped. The green gas was expelled from my body, pushed out by a sudden exhalation of purified air.
CLUNK__
The third lock. My mana pathways pushed back against the curse. The corrupting energy was isolated, contained, and then broken down into harmless particles that dissipated through my skin.
CLUNK___
The fourth lock. This one was quieter but deeper. The Talent wasn't just building resistance anymore. It was learning the fundamental structure of Gordon's magic. How his poison was different from Salim's poison. How his curses worked on a spiritual level as well as a physical one.
Poison Resistance (High) acquired. Curse Resistance (Mid) acquired.
"Enough," I said.
Gordon stopped immediately. The mist vanished. The green gas faded. The curse broke. He stood there with his grimoire still open, his chest heaving, his hands shaking.
"...are you okay? did I hurt you? I didn't mean to—"
"You helped me," I said. "My poison resistance is at High now. My curse resistance is at Mid. Before today, I had no curse resistance at all. You've made me significantly harder to kill."
Gordon stared at me. Then his eyes—what I could see of them through his hair—filled with tears.
"...I helped... my magic helped someone... instead of hurting... I've never... in my whole life... everyone was always scared of me... even my parents... but you're not scared... you asked me to use my magic on you... you trusted me..."
He started crying. Not sad crying. Happy crying. The kind of crying that happens when something you thought was impossible actually comes true.
I put my hand on his shoulder again. "Your magic isn't bad, Gordon. It's dangerous, but dangerous isn't the same as bad. Fire is dangerous. Lightning is dangerous. What matters is how you use it. You used it to help a friend today. That makes it good."
"...a friend... you called me a friend..."
"We're squadmates. Squadmates are friends."
Gordon hugged me. It was awkward, but I let him. The protective older brother persona wasn't just a persona anymore. Not since the walls came down. These people were strange and broken and sometimes annoying. But they were my strange broken people now.
"...I'm going to remember this day forever..." Gordon mumbled into my ears. "...the day I made a friend... the day my magic helped instead of hurt... the best day of my whole life..."
---
Asta went last. He had been waiting patiently—which was unusual for him—while the others took their turns. Now he stepped forward with his grimoire already open and his anti-magic sword already in his hands. The black blade was bigger than his whole body, but he held it like it weighed nothing.
"Okay, Ouga." He wasn't smiling. His face was serious. "I've been thinking about this. My sword cancels magic. Your wheel is... something. I don't know if it's magic or not. But if my sword hurts you for real, I need you to tell me right away. I don't want to accidentally kill my friend."
"I'll tell you," I said. "But first, I want to try something."
I raised my arm and coated it with mana. The blue energy wrapped around my skin like a second layer. "Hit me with your sword. I want to see what happens when anti-magic meets mana that's trying to adapt to it."
Asta nodded. He swung his sword in a wide arc. The blade came down on my arm.
And something weird happened.
The anti-magic touched my mana coating. Normally, when Asta's sword hit magic, the magic just disappeared. Canceled. Erased. That's what anti-magic did. But my mana didn't disappear. Instead, it changed. The blue color shifted. It went from blue to purple, then from purple to red. And the anti-magic sword bounced off like it had hit a stone wall.
"WHAT?!" Asta stared at his sword. "It bounced! My sword doesn't bounce! It cuts through everything!"
"It didn't cut through my mana," I said. "Look."
I held up my arm. The mana coating was still there, but it was different. Red instead of blue. And when I touched a nearby rock with it, the rock started to dissolve. Not like it was being burned or melted. Like it was being eaten away by something corrosive.
"My mana changed its property," I said. "When your anti-magic tried to cancel it, my Talent adapted. Instead of being erased, my mana became something that anti-magic can't cancel. Something corrosive."
"That's insane! That's completely insane! Do it again!"
CLUNK__
Anti-Magic Resistance (Lowest) acquired. Mana property modified: Corrosion Effect.
"Hit me again," I said. "But this time, don't use mana coating. I want to see what happens when your sword touches my body directly."
Asta hesitated. "Are you sure? Last time I cut someone with this sword, they went flying."
"I'm sure."
He swung. The sword hit my arm. It didn't cut my skin—anti-magic didn't affect physical objects—but I felt it touch something deeper. My soul. The core of my magical being. For a split second, the anti-magic tried to sever my connection to my mana.
CLUNK__
Anti-Magic Resistance (Low) acquired. My soul's connection to mana stabilized. The anti-magic couldn't cut it anymore.
"That's enough," I said. "Your anti-magic is strong, but you don't have full control over it yet. Once you learn to regulate the output, we can try again. Higher levels of anti-magic will let me build higher resistance."
Asta lowered his sword. He was grinning again. "This is so cool. We're like training partners now. You help me get stronger, I help you get stronger. It's perfect!"
"It is efficient," I agreed.
"That's your way of saying 'awesome,' right?"
"...Yes."
"I KNEW IT! We're going to be the best training partners in the whole kingdom! Better than Yuno! Better than anyone! JUST WATCH!"
---
After the fights, we all lay on the grass looking at the stars. Everyone was tired. Everyone was happy. Magna had his hands behind his head. Luck was still buzzing with leftover electricity. Gordon was sitting close to me, still occasionally wiping his eyes. Asta was doing cool-down stretches and shouting about how he was going to do a thousand more sword swings before bed.
Then Finral spoke up.
"So, about tomorrow. I know a place in the capital. A nice little restaurant. Private rooms. Good food. And the best part..." He leaned in like he was sharing a secret. "It's right next to a mixer bar where lots of girls hang out."
Magna sat up. "A mixer?"
"Yes! A mixer! Girls! Multiple girls! And we're Magic Knights now, so they might actually talk to us! Probably! Maybe! I've been practicing my opening lines! 'Hello, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?' No wait, that's overused. 'Are you a mage? Because you've cast a spell on my heart.' No, that's worse. 'I have a spatial magic portal and I can take you anywhere you want to go.' Actually, that one might work!"
"How do you mess up talking to girls this badly?" Vanessa asked. "It's honestly impressive."
"I get nervous! They're pretty!"
Luck raised his hand. "I'll come to the mixer. Girls like dangerous guys, right? I'm very dangerous."
"You're also very likely to challenge them to a fight," Magna said.
"Is that not romantic?"
"No, Luck. That's not romantic."
"What if I let them win?"
"Still not romantic!"
"I'll go," I said. I had never been to a mixer before. My past life memories had fragments of social gatherings, but nothing clear. And in this life, I had spent years either training in the jungle or wearing the mask of the gentle giant. Going to a social event with emotions actually turned on might be... educational.
Asta jumped up. "I'll go too! I don't really know what a mixer is, but it sounds fun! Do they have food? I hope they have food!"
"It's a restaurant, Asta. Of course they have food."
"THEN I'M DEFINITELY GOING!"
Noelle, who had been sitting quietly at the edge of the group, suddenly stood up. Her face was doing something complicated. Her mouth was trying to frown but her eyes looked worried. "You're going to a mixer? To meet girls?"
"Yes," I said.
"Just like that? 'Yes'? No hesitation? No second thoughts?"
"Is there a reason I shouldn't go?"
"No! No reason at all! Why would I care if you go to a mixer?! It's not like we're—it's not like I—do whatever you want! Go meet your stupid girls at your stupid mixer! See if I care!"
She turned and marched toward the castle. Her steps were stiff and her fists were clenched and her silver hair was bouncing with each angry stomp.
"What's wrong with her?" Asta asked, genuinely confused. "She sounded mad but her face was all red. Is she sick? Should we get her medicine?"
"Asta," Vanessa said slowly, "you are the most innocent person I have ever met."
"I am? Thank you! I think?"
"That wasn't a compliment."
"Still taking it as one!"
Vanessa shook her head and stood up. "Alright, boys. Go to your mixer. Have fun. Try not to get arrested. I'm going to find Noelle and explain a few things about feelings."
"What kind of feelings?" Asta asked.
"The kind you clearly don't understand. Finral, make sure they don't embarrass the squad too badly."
"I'll try! No promises!"
That night, in my room, I opened my status screen. The blue light filled the small space, casting shadows on the stone walls.
═══════════════════════════════════════
▰▰▰ STATUS PROFILE ▰▰▰
═══════════════════════════════════════
◆ IDENTITY
Name : HASEGAWA OUGA
Age : 15
Height : 6'3" (190 cm)
Mana Stage : 0
◆ CORE TRAIT
「 Adaptation to any and all phenomenon 」
═══════════════════════════════════════
◆ RESISTANCE MATRIX
─────────────────────────────────────
PAIN ▰▰▰ HIGHEST
SOUL DAMAGE ▰▰▰ IMMUNE
EMOTIONAL NULL ▰▰▰ (ACTIVATE?)
PIERCING ▰▰▰ MID
CUTTING ▰▰▰ MID
WATER ▰▰▰ MID
FIRE ▰▰▰ HIGH
FALL ▰▰▰ MID
BLUNT FORCE ▰▰▰ LOW
POISON ▰▰▰ HIGH
CURSE ▰▰▰ MID
LIGHTNING ▰▰▰ MID
ANTI- MAGIC ▰▰▰ LOW (Mana property: Corrosion)
═══════════════════════════════════════
◆ ABILITIES REGISTRY
─────────────────────────────────────
REGENERATION
└─ High Mid-Tier
OFFENSE
└─ Soul Slash
MANA ARTS
├─ Mana Pressure (100m radius · High Density, Physical Manifestation)(under permanent bunding vow)
├─ Mana Skin (Standard)
└─ Mana Skin (Full Release)
REINFORCEMENT MAGIC (ADV.)
├─ Mana Skin Integration
└─ Total Concentration(24 hours active)
UTILITY
└─ Underwater Breathing
═══════════════════════════════════════
STATUS: [ ACTIVE ]
═══════════════════════════════════════
There was a lot of new information. My resistances had grown. Lightning was at Mid now, thanks to Luck. Poison was at High and Curse was at Mid, thanks to Gordon. Fire had jumped from Mid to High with Magna's new spell. And Anti-Magic... Anti-Magic was at Low, with my mana property permanently altered to include a corrosive effect.
Mana Stage 0. That still felt strange to see. I had been chasing this level for so long, and now it was just... there. Part of me. The level of captains and royals.
But the thing I kept looking at was the Emotional Nullification line. It didn't say IMMUNE anymore. It didn't say ACTIVE. It had a question mark now. (ACTIVATE?) It was waiting for me to choose.
I had spent over a year without feelings. Without love or hate or joy or sadness. It had been efficient. It had been clean. It had also been empty in a way I hadn't understood until the walls came down.
Now I could feel again. And the feelings were messy and complicated and sometimes annoying. Magna's frustration. Luck's joy. Gordon's loneliness. Asta's endless hope. Noelle's confusing mix of pride and insecurity.
And my own feelings. The rage at Heath Graice. The satisfaction of crushing him. The warmth when Noelle cast her first spell.
These feelings were inefficient. They made things complicated. They could be used against me.
But they also made things... real. In a way that the cold void never had.
I left the question mark where it was. I would keep the nullification ready, a tool I could activate when I needed to make hard decisions without interference. But for everyday life? For training with my squad? For meals in the cafeteria and missions in the field and whatever was happening with Noelle that I didn't have a name for yet?
I would feel it all.
I closed the screen and lay back on my bed. Tomorrow was the mixer. Tomorrow would be strange and awkward and probably embarrassing. But it would also be new. And new experiences were data. Data I could use to grow stronger.
(Author note: Oi ! where are you going without donating your power stones??)