"Observe baby boy~"
He raised his hands in front of his face, palms facing outward, and his fingers began to move rapidly.
He ford a series of positions that Kaiser recognized as Mudras, catalytic gestures ntioned in the advanced volus of Heavenly Milf. Used by a handful of characters: the Witch of Curses, Morgane La Fay and...
’Eleanor didn’t do sothing like that once, when her voice appeared directly in my mind? Anyway, it doesn’t matter...’
First his index fingers joined together, then his middle fingers folded over his thumbs, and finally his pinkies rose toward the sky.
The air around Diavolo began to tremble. Kaiser saw filants of golden light erge from the moss on the ground, from the surrounding tree trunks and even from the stone. These filants converged toward Diavolo’s hands, wrapped around his fingers, then dissipated into a shower of sparks.
"What you see," explained Diavolo while keeping his hands in position, "is the elental mana responding to the call. I use Aura as the base energy, and these Mudras transform that raw energy into a frequency that nature can hear."
"A frequency?"
"Exactly." Diavolo released his hands and stood up. "Imagine that the universe is an orchestra. The Mystic Arts are about learning to play the right note at the right mont. When you knock on the door with the right frequency, the door opens by itself."
Kaiser lowered his eyes to his own hands. His fingers were still trembling slightly, a sign that his body was not completely recovered. "And you think I can do it? My magical talent has always been terrible."
Diavolo burst out laughing: "You’re really diocre! Nyo-hoo! It has nothing to do with mana."
Then his face beca serious again. "But that’s exactly why you can do it."
"I don’t follow."
The sorcerer crouched down again, this ti at eye level with Kaiser. "What you call ’magical talent’ is a asure of your ability to impose your will on mana. But the Mystic Arts are not about imposing. They are about understanding... A mortal who understands the cosmos can reach the Genesis, whereas a genius who imposes stays on the surface."
"I see... The Genesis... huh."
"The ultimate stage," replied Diavolo, pointing at the sky with his hand. "The one where you no longer just use mana. You beco the mana. You no longer use aura, you beco it... You no longer knock on the door. You are the door."
Kaiser remained silent for a long mont, absorbing these words. Then he raised his trembling hands in front of him. "Show the Mudras."
Diavolo displayed a wide smile, his gold grillz shining like a beacon in the darkness of the forest. "Finally so sensible words, Baby boy." He positioned himself behind Kaiser and took his wrists to guide his hands.
"First Mudra," he announced. "The one of opening. Index and middle fingers extended, ring and pinky fingers folded over the thumbs."
Kaiser tried to reproduce the gesture, but his fingers were stiff and clumsy. His index fingers trembled, his thumbs slipped on his ring fingers, and the whole thing ford a shaky position.
"It’s a disaster," comnted Diavolo. "You’re really bad at this, what the hell!?"
Kaiser gritted his teeth and tried again. This ti, his fingers found their place more easily. He felt a slight warmth born at the tips of his index fingers, a warmth that had nothing to do with the ambient temperature.
"Focus on your breathing," ordered Diavolo. "Inhale counting to four, hold, exhale counting to eight. The rhythm is just as important as the gesture."
Kaiser followed his instructions. He breathed in deeply, feeling the air fill his lungs, then held his breath while maintaining the position of his fingers. At the mont of exhalation, he saw sothing change. The golden filants that had appeared around Diavolo manifested again, but this ti they headed toward his own hands.
"You see?" murmured Diavolo. "It’s not that difficult."
Kaiser felt a little proud. "Is that the Mystic Arts?"
"It’s the beginning," replied Diavolo as he stood up. "The path is long. You will fail hundreds of tis. But in the end, if you hold on, you will understand what few beings have understood about this world."
"What exactly?"
Diavolo turned his face toward the invisible sky, and his heterochromatic eyes seed to pierce through the canopy of trees to reach the stars beyond. "That power is not asured by the amount of mana one controls. It is asured by the quality of one’s understanding of the world. A man who understands a star is worth more than a demon prince... And that’s what the Constellations fear."
Kaiser lowered his hands and looked at his palms. The golden filants had dissipated, but he could still feel the residual warmth at the tips of his fingers.
"Why do you have Grillz with ’Fuck Them’ written on them?"
Diavolo turned toward him with an enigmatic smile. "Because I fuck them, girls and constellations!"
Then he burst out laughing, "Nyo-ho-ho!", and headed back toward the cabin, leaving Kaiser alone.
"Damn, my line had so much flow... This baby boy must be inspired..." Konstantine murmured to himself.
"This guy is fucking annoying."
Kaiser remained seated for a long mont, his hands resting on his knees, and he stared at the stone covered in symbols.
He thought about everything Diavolo had just revealed to him, about this new approach to power that was opening up to him. He thought about his previous life, about the way he had always relied on brute force, and he understood that to survive in this world, he would have to beco sothing else.
He breathed in deeply, then raised his hands in front of him again. He ford the first Mudra, the one of opening, carefully positioning each finger. Then he began to count his breathing: four counts for the inhalation, hold, eight counts for the exhalation.
He had learned only one mudra, but he repeated it again and again.
The golden filants returned, more nurous than the first ti. They wrapped around his fingers with a surprising gentleness, and Kaiser felt for the first ti since his arrival in this world that there were still unknown mysteries for him.
[Ding! Because of the arrival of the demons! Many people are believing more and more in Nostradamus’s prophecies!]
Inside the cabin, Diavolo observed through the window. His heterochromatic eyes followed every movent of Kaiser. With a nostalgic smile.
"Nyo-ho-ho," he murmured to himself. "I’m getting a little nostalgic for that ti when we were all together..."
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