"Kaly wasn't lying when she said I would grasp this really quickly."
Nier said to himself as he sat on one of the two beach chairs set on the balcony in his room, and the wall was already fixed thanks to Lisa.
As he extended his arms forward, a black rose was in his the palm of his hand, and the rose soon turn into a dagger, the shape a perfect replica of the one's Nier had seen in the weapon stores he had visited in the past, and they where just as hard and sharp as they where.
But it did not end there, because Nier began to change the dagger form and state, as it soon beca a black pistol, then a football, and from a foot ball it beca a lipstick, before finally becoming a long and thick strand of military grade rope, all these objects where of course, construct's made from Negativity.
And it has been about two hours since he brought the unconscious Bella in his room to rest, his eyes looking at the sleeping beauty now naked on his bed as her clothes where tattered from the fight.
Kaly on the other hand was still resting herself, trying to replenish her power inside his shadow.
But that ti was not wasted.
Not in the slightest, because ever since things calm down, he has been practicing this new application of Negativity Manipulation he had picked up from Kaly.
And she wasn't lying, as long as he knows how and why an object in his head behaves the way it behaves, what he creates with Negativity mimics the state of the object itself.
As such he was now turning Negativity into the three fundantal states of matter itself.
A feat that was deed illogical by nature is what Negativity is in principle.
He continued to practice this new power of his till eventually he can convert the different states of being almost imdiately.
His rope turn to smoke, that swirled in the air, and then beca liquid itself as Nier form a ball of black water in his hand that was made from Negativity, till finally the temperature in the room drop by a little bit as the water contracts due to the sudden cold, as the sphere freezes in his palm, creating a sphere of black ice itself.
"Amazing."
Nier said to himself as he grasp the power he was currently holding in the palm of his hand, then a thought occured.
"If I can turn the state of matter however I please, I wonder could I pheraphs use the constructions I make with Negativity as a conduit for my already existing magic. Similar to staff in video gas to increase the efficiency of magic in order to better localize and amplify the effects of my existing spells. Hell, maybe if I did that it can even make so of my spell's even cheaper, saving energy in the process as well."
Nier began to think deeper about this, as he look into the distance of his family estate, his eye focus on a random tree about 300 ters away from where he was.
"Yeah, let's give this a try."
He said to himself, and with his mind made up, Nier began to picture his favourite weapon to date.
Before, as kid during his harsh training growing up with his mother, all he knew was his fist, knives, and swords.
But after her death, he had taken up a deep interest in guns and firearms as a whole.
And he didn't need to think long or hard about the shape of the firearm he had in mind.
Almost imdiately Nier extended both arms forward. In his mind he pictured his favorite weapon from the past, the AF492 anti-freak hand cannons he had carried and used while still working for Esther BPO.
Compact, matte-black military issue, reinforced polyr grip with textured thumb rests, short bullpup barrel, and a subtle energy-cell indicator running along the slide.
He had always liked how they felt: hard yet light, and precise enough to drop a low-tier Flux without collateral.
Now with Negativity it would be much more, as he scaled the design up slightly into true hand cannon for proper dual-wielding.
Only this ti, everything would be made from Negativity itself.
But even then it was still unmistakably the AF492 in silhouette form, only more optimize and efficient for long and short range combat, but with thicker barrels and wider grips to handle the raw power he was about to feed them.
The ice turn back to liquid, and another ball of black liquid form in his other hand. As they began to take shape in accordance to Nier's will.
They flattened and lengthened at the sa ti, till eventually the desired shape was conceived.
"Now to change the state."
Nier said to himself, and so said, so done as both guns hardened imdiately, tougher than even tungsten.
It was only after changing the state did two identical hand cannons took shape within his hands. They where sleek, nacing, and had the sa exact matte-black finish and ergonomic lines of the AF492, right down to the faint Flux-signature sensor grooves along the fra, only difference is the gun was full black.
They felt warm in his hands, and perfectly balanced in his grip.
He smiled at the sight of his first ever Flux Weapon, and one he had made himself.
"Ti to test the theory I had in mind, let's hope this works."
Right after, Nier synced his Negativity directly into the constructs, treating his Black Scorch spell as ammunition itself.
Rather than an external phenonon he birthed directly into reality to manipulate how he pleases.
In this case he externalize, and internalized the spell at the sa ti to infuse the spell in the dual guns to make ammunition process possible.
It took only one casting per gun, and he felt the usual eighty units of Negativity it usually cost left his reserve, coming up to one hundred sixty total.
The pistols drank the spell greedily. Causing the barrels to glow a deep, hungry black, as purple veins of fla licking along the slides could be seen.
The power didn't spill out; it coiled inside the weapons, in hyper contained manner, it was clear that spell had been compress and further localized for maximum power.
"Perfect."
He whispered.
He then raised both cannons, his eyes bleeding to solid black as uses his Occultist Eye's to help with h his aim. The world sharpened into impossible detail thereafter, every leaf, every insect crawling on the bark of a tree, three hundred ters away beca crystal clear.
He then picked the exact branch he wanted to fire at.
And with hesitation he squeezed both triggers.
BAM! BAM!
The shots left the barrels faster than sound. Twin bullets of compressed black-and-purple fla scread across the distance with a crack like thunder.
They struck the branch dead center.
The wood didn't simply break—it vaporized in a flash of devouring black fire, the black flas spreading outward in a hungry ring.
The trunk beneath it blackened and peeled, chunks of earth around the roots igniting and crumbling to ash as the matter itself burned away into nothing.
The fire refused to be quenched, eating deeper even after the initial impact.
Nier laughed, low and delighted at the sight like a kid with a new toy on Christmas.
"Hell yeah... Now that is what I am talking about."
Nier said in excitent.
"But still… How many bullets do these carry for cast I wonder?"
He wanted to know the absolute limit.
So he kept firing like a maniac with asured bursts of course—targeting tree after tree along the distant line.
Each shot carved smoking craters, turning trunks into pillars being burst apart and burned into oblivion by unquenchable black fire.
He counted every trigger pull.
When the glow finally faded from both cannons and the last tree collapsed in a shower of burning splinters, he lowered the weapons and checked the ntal tally.
Sixteen shots, for one full casting of Black Scorch gave him exactly sixteen rounds across both guns before the ammo ran dry.
"Not bad."
He said, grinning widely.
"Not bad at all. Efficiency with these, at least when it cos to focus damage, is already better than casting freehand. Now I see why mages in video gas depend alot on stuff like staffs when casting magic."
Nier said to himself as he look at his new guns.
The best part about these dual cannon's was the fact they are by the end of the day construct's made from pure Negativity.
As such he didn't need to carry them around, rather he can just create them on the spot.
"The more I learn about magic, the more invested I beco in it, I wonder how much more powerful I can beca if I fuse immutable magic alongside admission magic."
He questioned, as a scenario already form in his head.
"For example... I can already see myself as a problem if I use my Scorch Bullet's with the aid of my mory Zone to speed up my ntal awareness. And with Body Modification magic I can enhance my body to such a stupid degree that I can move as fast as my mind's ability to think. If I do that, then I can attack my enemies and move extrely fast in a slowed down world."
The possibilities and the many combinations that cos from the multi-casting of different types of magic open up many branches of power for Nier.
And he was for the first ti finally starting to see that now.
That aside though, this was good all things considered.
As Nier was preparing for tonight. The first of four trials for Bella's hand in marriage would begin.
For that reason, he was going over his own ability set, thinking of new ways in how he could accomplish the tasks given by Suldroxia.
He was confident he would past.
He can't die after all.
Although he can lose if the enemies were as overwhelming as Alexis, however the chances of running into those types were rare.
"Well let's not jinx it, I still have Mnemosyne's warning to consider... Yeah let's go over basically everything I have now, my construct aside, just to be safe.
"For starters I have a good amount of spells on hand already thanks to my Authority. Body Modification, Occultist Eye, Black Scorch, Collective Existence, Shadow Space Creation, Soul Stay, Dismal Slash, Warp Gate, Close Call, Blight Bloom, Telekinesis, Division, Words of The Lord, and Mind, Body, and Soul..... All these spells serve a different purpose, and all these spells are living. If what Kaly says about my authority is true, then every spell I make with Unlimited is essentially giving birth to magic itself.
"Hmmm or would living magic be a better term here? My set up is also good, but I also have my mory Magic I got from Mnemosyne as well."
Nier said to himself as he held his chest with his right hand as he unsummoned his pistols.
As the red Brand containing all of Mnemosyne's magic abilities resides deep within started to glow white as if to respond to its owner’s acknowledgnt.
"Although despite only having access to a re four out of literal hundreds mory-based spells that currently exist inside it, the ones I do currently have are all still very useful to all things considered. Still, to think I would get my hands on Immutable magic so easily too.
"But I also can't dismiss the pure mind-fuck capabilities of my Admission Magic either. Despite only having access to Kaly's Divine Language on that side... It's still not to be fucked with as the sheer amount of creepy shit I can do with it, is no joke...and don't even get started on my equipnt. Like my mother's journal, and the third eye of Lakura she has left too."
"Don’t forget too, Master."
Lisa said, suddenly appeared beside him, looking him in his eyes. At this mont she was still a featureless silhouette, but the lack of features did not deter her from her purpose, much less her slight annoyance in regards to her master disapproval to her capabilities.
"Hmmm."
Nier said looking at her.
But Lisa kept on pressing, going as far as to say.
"I am your tool as well master."
"That you are."
Nier replied back to her nicely.
However he also stated the obvious.
"But I also guess you can't leave the Villa right?"
Lisa went silent for a bit, but answered with a nod as she said.
"That's right. I am bound to my Data Center. My true form is, by the end of the day, my central core within the Protheus."
"Yeah, so I can't use you for battles outside the confines of my ho, but you don't need to worry about that. I am plenty strong on my own either way."
Said Nier, but Lisa wasn't having it.
She tilted her featureless head, the silhouette flickering like static for a mont before she spoke again, her voice calm but firm in her sense of purpose.
"Master, that limitation is… optional. If you allow to upgrade you, I can manifest anywhere you go."
"Hmmm!?"
Nier said, folding his arms, and arching his brow, as replied.
"Upgrade you say?"
"Yes, the procedure is quick, but if you let do it, I can be connected to you permanently. No range tether, nor would I need my main data-center to talk to you from afar. I would ride inside your body like a second nervous system, everywhere you fight, I fight with you."
"By upgrades do you an cybernetics right."
"Nanomachines to be more precise master."
Lisa said simply, as she explain's more on the topic.
"If we inject them into you, your already monsterous physical prowess will increase twenty folds. As Protheus 8-gen nano machines are highly advanced, and also self-replicating, adaptive, and will be powered by your own energy output.
"They'll integrate with your body to enhance your spells as well, alongside everything else connected to your body, but it also cos with a lot of other features. However the procedure has to happen in the lab."
Nier stood there for a mont, stretching once before nodding.
"Well, if it makes stronger, why not? Fine then let's go back to mother's lab, and get the procedure done imdiately."
10 minutes later
The lab was fully sterile in this mont, as glowing blue consoles surround Nier as Lisa lead him to the spot in the lab that the procedure would be taking place, which was inside the Protheus itself.
Sadly he didn't have ti to tour this Eldritch like ship, but the inside was essentially akin to a non-euclidean space, so sense of direction was essentially aningless here, unless you were the captain and the crew mbers.
But Nier was inside the main lab of the ship, and he was greeted by consoles alongside a massive cylindrical Data Core pulsing gently at the center like a chanical heart.
Lisa's silhouette gesture toward a reinforced dical chair.
"Co master, please take a seat. This will only take a minute."
Nier nodded, as he walked towards the advance looking chair, and lowered himself into it. Lisa moved with chanical precision, her hands forming from light as she prepped a sleek injector gun.
The barrel held a shimring silver fluid that swirled like Liquid rcury, albeit it was far from that.
"This will sting a bit, so relax your arm."
"I'm not a pussy, go ahead and do your thing."
"As you wish Master."
With Nier's consent, Lisa didn't waste any more ti beginning to lift his right arm, and injecting him with the substance, as that happened the injector hissed against the inside of his elbow.
A cool rush spread through his veins—first his forearm, then his shoulder, then everywhere. It didn't hurt Nier one bit, he was already accustod to pain, so sothing like this was a tap on the shoulder.
Although sensation wise, it felt like lightning dancing under his skin, rewiring him from the inside out.
Then the changes began.
Nier lifted his right hand and stared, it suddenly felt numb all of a sudden, but it started to burn like crazy, as intricate red circuits like patterns blood across his palm and fingers going up his arm, glowing like lted wiring just beneath the surface.
They traced perfect geotric patterns, branching and reconnecting in real ti. At the center of his palm, an eye-shaped rune ignited, sharp, elegant, radiating the sa crimson light as the circuits.
The circuits and the weird eye marking pulsed in sync with his heartbeat, bright and active.
"Whoa… what the hell is this?"
He muttered, turning his hand slowly.
Lisa stepped closer, her silhouette now sharpening into a more defined form as the nanomachines synced with her core, and Nier mind.
She took his hand gently, her touch cool and steady.
"Those red circuits are the visible part of the nanomachine lattice."
She explained, her voice calm and patient, like a teacher simplifying a textbook for a curious student.
"Think of them as microscopic power highways built inside your body. They're not wires like in an old computer, they're living, self-repairing Xeno biological threads that carry energy, data, and commands faster than your nerves ever could. They are connect directly to your heart, spine, and brain, physically speaking. Basically, they turn your whole body into a walking super-computer that can run my programs without needing the Data Center anymore. I can project myself through them—in layman terms your perceiving through an augnted reality program, as such you now have access to my full combat support, anywhere you are."
Nier flexed his fingers. The circuits flared brighter.
"And this eye thing in the middle of my hand"
Lisa's voice softened with sothing like pride in that mont as she explain what the mark was, it match the circuit but it was more like a tattoo than a lattice.
"That is the anchor. A complex rune passed down from your mother's father to her and she incorporated it in her research as a volatile power source, using the divinity of the God of the Sun, Helios, as a perma-battery for her tech.
"Essentially it is an immutable rune. And of his many children, this is one of his ultra unique ones he usually keeps to himself or for his champions, as only they use this specific rune in combat when they use his Divine Language.
"It translates simply to 'the all-seeing light.' As long as you carry that mark, the circuits and the nanomachines inside you will never run out of power.
"It tunes you into the stars and the light of the universe itself. Every photon, every stray ray of starlight that touches you gets converted straight into clean energy that fuels the lattice. That's why the circuits glow red, they're saturated with stellar energy, always charging, always ready. It's elegant, really. Science and divinity working together like they were always ant to. It is such a beautiful phenonon, now that I look at you, your aura is closer to your mom now because of it."
Nier stared at the glowing eye on the back of his palm when he heard, unsure on how to feel about that, as he watched it pulse in ti with the circuits.
"Like my mom, hah!"
Lisa could sense his emotions now too, and she sensed Nier anger, but most of all confusion.
"I apologize, master."
"No, it's alright, either way thanks for this, it is strange to see Science and Divinity working together like this as you said."
It was clear Nier wanted to change the topic, and Lisa obliged.
But just then, Lisa picked up sothing, causing Nier to ask.
"I can sense your attention shifting sowhere else.
"Hmmm... A perfect opportunity for you to test your Nanomachines. Why don't you see for yourself, we have a lot of visitors coming towards the estate."
"Ohhh really, let check real quick."
With that said, Nier began to sync his brain with the many caras in the estate.
He saw hundreds of different footage play live in his head, but his brain processed the information as easy as breathing.
And that's when he saw a surprising sight at the outer gates of his property.
A massive crowd of people, at least fifty to sixty of them.
And at the forefront was Jeffrey in a bronze robe, kneeling down, and the other people did the sa.
"My Lord... We, your followers, have co to greet the Great Mother... Praise be to the All Mother."
Volu 2 FIN
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