When night behind the evening sun beckons, who am I to tell it, 'Go back from whence you came?'
Silent memories played in her head. Of the snow. Of that man. Of the pain.
For I am a mere soul trapped in clusters of errant specks.
Of the tears that whipped past her as she ran into the darkness.
A soul that fears the night, and who longs for light.
And then the first time she saw Greed and Asura that day.
And from that longing, a star shone distant, blinking on this peasant soul.
How she looked at the light-filled night sky. We'll call her Star, Greed had said.
A star.
Oh, shine on me, my star…
That was the poem her father had always recited to her. It never made sense then. But now… It only ever does.
***
Star's eyes opened wide from her rem sleep. She gasped for air so deeply, like she had been drowning.
She was but a head on the ground. No body. And it seemed death hadn't yet claimed her. For now…
From under her neck, bone and flesh had intertwined, regenerating her lost remains.
But it didn't appear to be that simple.
Velm had already walked a good distance away when she at last rose from behind.
There was no sound, but her presence alone had sent shivers up his spine.
His eyes widened as he froze in place, turning ever so slowly around.
Impossible… I beheaded her…
When Star rose, she was like a hollow frame.
Bone restructured. And flesh formed. But there was something different about it this time.
Her body became whole, forming her torso, arms, legs. And from them, white cloth like flowing bone had streamed out, draping her ungraciously as bone armor had layered over her developed, exposed skin.
At the ends of her arms and legs, they had become black as night from the sheer amount of times they had regenerated prior, ombreing back to her natural skin tone toward her core.
They neared the same color as her dark horns, as a bone white crown had grown and tangled with it, becoming one of dark and light.
Razor curved bones protruded out from her arms, along with a mandible that rested just under her chin now.
A dead calm look had been bestowed on her face. Unlike the Star that all had come to know.
What is this? A second awakening? Velm thought as he trembled. No. That's not it. This is something else… It can't be…
Star's affinity for magic had always been higher than the average mage; her silent spell casting was proof of that. Even the form she took on now, which would have normally needed a hand sign and incantation by a normal mage, was a kind of Mana Fusion. One that combined with the workings of her natural regeneration.
But something was different. Because both her Boneshifting and natural regeneration had activated at the same time, and had done so during her death, it revived her body to a purer, natural state.
"So, the stories were true after all," Velm spoke to himself, still marveling Star's new form. "They said when the previous Demon Blight ran away, it was because his spawn was a halfbreed that could defy death, and because of her unique Anatomy type magic, rumors say one could devour her to gain her abilities. They also say that he planned to devour her himself, which was why he escaped to this realm… I thought they were merely embellishments… yet here you are!"
As Star elegantly stepped forward, dark feet rippled the air as she strode, and she formed a bone chain sword from her palm that looked more like a spine than a blade, actively completing her Mana Fusion: Bone Princess.
"Magnificent! You, Daughter of the Demon Blight—no… The new Demon Blight! You have earned my all! No longer shall I call you that name out of mockery, you are the real deal! Come!"
Velm threw his hands together, forming a hand sign, and chanted,
"Full-Body Mercury Magic: Mana Fusion: Baal, the Silver!"
From his eyes, mouth, nose, and ears, mercury had exited him, overflowing to the point where it was reshaping him into something new—something more.
His mass grew tenfold as a monstrous, humanoid frame formed, standing at over ten meters. Hands became claws, and legs merged with the ground, converting it into mercury as well. And from the torso, a head the shape of a ram emerged, horns extending at an overgrown rate.
Though Full-Body users had no higher-tier offensive spells, they could, however, reach a mock-awakening if they did not already have one. This mock-awakening was available to them if they had the skill to cast a Mana Fusion.
In his current state, not only was Velm twice as powerful, but he could convert anything he touched into mercury, including the air within a certain radius.
"Show me your true strength!" he bellowed with an ethereal voice that sounded like two at once—like beast and man—as he manifested silver, missile-shaped shards in the air all around them.
The silver missiles fired, meeting Star at the center of it all. A solemn expression still etched on her face, all the while.
She then raised the arm with the chain blade in a diagonal fashion, and swung in a drawn out manner.
And as the missiles came, each one had been slashed to bits.
Silver liquid floated all around her as Velm raised a grotesque, flexed hand.
In an instant, the floating silvers ignited one after another, creating a chain reaction.
When they exploded, the detonations remained in a silver, frozen state.
Star dodged it all, not even letting a drop touch her skin.
But as she landed on the ground, it converted to mercury and it pulled at her.
She sank, as she checked around, expression never changing. Velm threw another hand out, causing the suspended silver to surge around her into a dome.
The gray skies flickered in her face as she watched it close overhead.
Then, with both hands flexed and on a path toward each other, the dome condensed.
The ground ruptured, causing a fracture in the terrain. Pillars of earth transmutated into mercury, and silver lava spewed from its depths.
The dome was but an orb now, with no visible hope for a typical mage's survival. But Velm had already deduced by this point that Star was no such thing.
The orb sliced a multitude of times, then shattered.
Star was suspended amidst it all, expression still ritual.
From the bottom of her black foot, she sent a bone pole down into the depths of the mercury sea.
Once it had been swallowed, the silver attempted to climb up, but was converted to bone instead.
It flooded all the way to Velm, passing him, turning the mercury around him into a valley of crystalized phosphate.
He was unaffected; his Soul Subsistence was still in effect.
Still in the air, Star broke the bone pole beneath her foot, and sailed down, landing gracefully.
Mercury had met her there, but she was unaffected as well.
She stood over her own bone scourge like Velm did with his silver, as both mages faced each other, having effectively rejected each other's magical outputs.
She adapted instinctively… Velm thought as he readied another attack. It seems, all that's left for us is absolute, revolting power.
"Come then!" he roared, and Star bolted.
Her steps turned the mercury ground into bone with each stride.
Velm clawed the air, sending slash beams at a violent speed toward her.
She maneuvered swiftly, dodging like she saw the attacks coming before they even reached her.
Leap. Duck. Dash. Sever. She pushed through. Letting nothing stop her. And her bone chain sword fluttered behind like a slicing ribbon.
Finally, she met Velm as they engaged in vicious close combat.
He grew a superfluity of arms, each with different massive weapons, and threw them down one after another, unforgivingly. Each strike was more powerful than the last, as the land suffered the consequence.
The place ruptured at their wake while their magic beneath them were in their own kind of war. Mercury. Bone. Mercury. Bone. Over and over again as if taking turns.
Star avoided a stream of attacks, leaping in the air where she became the sun in this sunless, native land.
She ascended higher, leg outstretched overhead with the other below, and chain sword pulled all the way back behind her, linking consecutively to completion. In a breath, it grew so large, it looked like a tower in the sky.
And she spoke at last, "Here. You want to be cut so bad? Take my blade, you watered down devil."
Though in Velm's form, his ram of a head could not make an expression; from within, the look of utter horror flooded him like an instinct.
An instinct telling him— avoid it!
Why? he grappled with himself. I am silver!
Avoid it!!
Too late.
Star's mountainous blade thundered the air, cutting the clouds above to let the sun peak through. And when it circled down over Velm, it cleaved him in a perfect path from his shoulder down past his groin, severing him completely in half.
The cut—like a sharp scissor shredding clean across cloth, his Full-Body Mercury had finally been dismantled.
What is this… feeling…? It… hurts…
Among all this, Star's interweaving of her magic and her Demon regenerative abilities had created an imperfect new form. One of magic and one of not, all in the same. An absolute form.
One that can cut a Full-Body to the extent of Tantra, without rejecting it. A new form in this world of magic that could possibly rival Tantra itself. For though it did not reject magic, it simply passed through… all things.
A state that would later become known as Pure magic.
I see… Velm thought as the world slowed to his perspective, witnessing only the white, bone princess who had cut the sky—and who had cut him. She was a queen after all… The Queen of all Halfbreeds. My queen.
Silence filled the land for but a moment.
And then a mountain nearby shattered, followed by the ground.
Splatters of crimson ichor pooled from both Velm's halves. At last… what he had always—ironically desired, he had finally achieved…
The mercury and bone that scourged the fields subsided.
Star landed to a crouch and rose slowly, leading her green eyes to the sky. The cleaved clouds still remained parted, allowing the sun for but a moment longer before once again turning back to its natural, gray state.
The rays gleamed off her bone armor, her new spotlight, rather than the earlier spotlight of the circus.
Oh, shine on me, my star…
"Did you see?" she spoke, calm and clarity sown into each word.
"Star did this. Not Stella… Father."