Kitsune of the Blue Sun

Chapter 120- Core Awakening

[Keeno POV]

“First things first, you need to undress a little. Though it won’t be for long, I do need to make skin contact. Just your top will do though.” (Fafnir)

{Oi!}

“Calm down. You know she doesn’t have any ulterior motives.” (Fia)

{Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I like it.}

“The phoenix is right. I hold no feelings of lust for my own daughter. And this part will take no more than five minutes at most.” (Fafnir)

“Ama, how about I let you feel for a day to make up for it?” (Keeno)

{Deal.}

I chuckled at Ama while I removed my top and bra.  Mum stared at me for a moment before looking down then back at me. She then silently reached up and touched the center of my chest.  I then felt tiny pulses of mana coming from her hand.

“I must say, you truly do have masterful control over your mana. Normally yours would try to interfere with mine, but I can tell you are allowing this small intrusion. It’s making this process much faster.” (Fafnir)

About a minute after this started, I felt a weird sort of hollow feeling in my chest.

“Do you feel that hollow feeling?” (Fafnir)

“I do.” (Keeno)

“Start filling it with a small amount of mana.” (Fafnir)

I did as she said, and the hollow started sucking in mana at an alarming rate.  Not so much that I couldn’t quickly stem the flow, but enough to make me a little dizzy.

“Ugh...not a lot of mana left…” (Keeno)

“Hehe.  Well, you did use a lot earlier.” (Fafnir)

She took her hand off my chest and helped me redress.  After that, she pulled me into another hug.

“Rest, my little one. Now that you’ve awakened your core, you can fill it with mana at any time.  Let your eyes close and welcome slumber.” (Fafnir)

I closed my eyes and almost immediately fell asleep.

“Sleep, my darling little one, place your burdens aside and allow me to keep them. Once you awaken, your strength will be renewed, and you can continue onward.” (Fafnir)

She then started to softly hum that same song from earlier, though I didn’t hear much of it due to fully embracing sleep.  Later, when I woke up, my head was still in mum’s lap.

“You know you could have moved me whenever, right?” (Keeno)

“Yes, but why would I?” (Fafnir)

“How long ago did you stop feeling your legs?” (Keeno)

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.” (Fafnir)

“Oh really.” (Keeno)

I got up from her lap and offered my hand.  She hesitated for a second before taking it. I helped her up and almost immediately she started to fall.

“…” (Fafnir)

“The one time I wish I could use healing magic.” (Keeno)

I caught her before she fell and started moving her toward the mouth of the cave.

“Accused humanoid form.” (Fafnir)

Every step we took she winced until we were at the mouth of the cave. There I sat down on the ledge after helping her do the same. The scene in front of us was amazing. The suns were starting to peek over the ridge, lighting up the entire mountain range in beautiful morning colors.  It was then that I noticed the former Dead Zone island was gone.

“Ama, when did you get the island?” (Keeno)

{Last night.}

“I must thank you for that. While interesting visually, it was a nuisance when it came to space here. It messed with the wind and made flying annoying.” (Fafnir)

“Wait, it was here even when you were alive the first time?” (Keeno)

“Yes.  I was here when it was first built, too. Those people were so strange, even considering normal mortal strangeness.” (Fafnir)

  “I see.” (Keeno)

I decided to not think about this further since it really put into perspective just how little I’ve actually seen compared to most people I knew and just focus on the scenery.  With the time it was and how the mountains were arranged, the suns’ light was reflecting off the snow of the peaks and the ground and were painting everything in either orange or blue.

“…” (Keeno)

“This is one reason dragons love mountains.  Sure, they are easily defensible, difficult for thieves to access, and so on, but the views are almost all stunning.” (Fafnir)

I nodded at that as I continued to look out over the beautiful mystery of nature.  Focusing on a blue part, my mind started to wander.

“…So blue…so orange…Ama……suns…I don’t focus on my Solar Authority enough, I’ve been so caught up in the Death one that I’ve neglected it…Wait, mum, you said we store mana in our cores, right?” (Keeno)

“Yes.  Though I don’t know the reason we are like that, it makes our mana easier to control and makes breaths and magic more potent, even if only slightly.” (Fafnir)

“I wonder what would happen if I also stored Divinity in mine.” (Keeno)

“…” (Fafnir)

{Hmm.  Most likely it would act the same way as it does with mana; make it easier to use, slightly more potent, so on and so forth…Keeno, remember our agreement.}

“I know, Ama.  No using Divinity and breath at the same time.” (Keeno)

{No using Divinity without my permission.}

“Ama, if I do that, then I’ll never get the same amount of mastery over it as I do with my mana.  I know we made that promise since I don’t have a lot of usable Divinity, but that should have been mitigated a little with my third tail.” (Keeno)

{Yes, but compared to a god, you still have the equivalent of a drop in an ocean.}

“Isn’t that going to be the case until I fully take my place?” (Keeno)

{Yeah.}

“Then don’t compare me to a god like that.  It’s influencing your viewpoint.” (Keeno)

{…}

“She’s right, Rasu.  And, I say we should see what happens.  Divinity is useful for things, and if Keeno can use it, then she should be allowed to train with it, in moderation.” (Fia)

{…Fine, but you still aren’t allowed to mix it into breaths.  I’m not going to descend to fix the damage if you do.}

“…Wait, how much damage are we talking here?” (Fia)

“I’m curious as well.” (Fafnir)

{Well, when we tested it here, the environment was an ocean, and she evaporated half of it with a fully powered, fully Divinity-enhanced breath.  Did we also try one mixed with Death?}

“I don’t remember exactly, but I don’t think so.” (Keeno)

“As your mother, I say you are not allowed to mix any of your breaths with Death, or at least anymore.  The ones you did in your rage were probably charged with it, so I can’t really do anything about that, but from now on, you can only use your Solar aspect with them.” (Fafnir)

“That’s not any better, but if we banned that as well, it would basically ban Keeno from using breaths all together, so Solar is fine.” (Fia)

{Yes, Solar is fine, as long as it’s a 25% charge or less.}

“Oi!  Don’t just arbitrarily ban things for me!” (Keeno)

{Keeno, you do realize that you’re trying to help the world, not make it even worse, right?  Things you do, even now, have effects, be they socially or in the grander picture of the world.  The social aspect can be handled with enough time, but the other is more complicated.  Nothing too bad has happened yet, but you using Death a lot DOES have things you need to be extremely careful with.}

“So that descending thing wasn’t a joke?” (Keeno)

{For the most part it was, but if you do something too big, then I would actually have to in order to fix it.  Pram isn’t my Apostle yet, so any major damage to the world caused by Death would have to be fixed by me.}

“What about Life Spirits?” (Keeno)

{They can’t handle everything.  I thought I taught you that much?}

“You did, but never the exact scaling of what they can or can’t handle, or if you did cover that, I don’t remember it.” (Keeno)

“Your knowledge is very scattered, my little one.” (Fafnir)

“Well, most of what I learned was in regard to controlling my mana, survival, and fighting.  Things like common sense were relegated to afterthoughts.” (Keeno)

“Hmm.  Well, it’s not like I’m any better with that, I’m a dragon and have been dead for a long time, so the world has probably changed significantly from what I once knew, this country excluded.” (Fafnir)

“I did try, but even with that, my own common sense is different than what is actually considered common.” (Fia)

{Getting back on topic, Keeno, Life Spirits can handle a lot, but anything above their scope can only be left to my Life Apostle or myself.  And most things caused by your Death Authority would need to be handled by me if you ever went any further with it, Divinity wise.}

“Ok, so as long as I don’t use any of my Death related abilities with Divinity, then I should be good unless it’s absolutely necessary?” (Keeno)

{Yes, but Solar is fine.  Mix Divinity with that as much as you want.}

“Yay!” (Keeno)

“I have reservations about that too, but I know I can’t convince her anymore.” (Fia)

“I’m happy you are happy, my little one.” (Fafnir)

Mum then started to pat my head.

“Hehe.” (Keeno)

I leaned on mum’s shoulder as we continued to look at the mountainous scenery and I slowly started storing Divinity in my core.

Chaos Realm:

Order: Payto, did you send the invitations?

Yep.  I’ve got replies from several too, Crim is bringing drinks, Envy, is bringing cookies, Mofu is bringing…something.  Alex is making something, but she didn’t tell me what it was.  I think Mary is also coming, but she said she’s getting another tail, so she may be late.

Order: I see.  Then we should start preparing everything on our end as well.

Yeah.  Do you want to cook, or do you want me to?

Order: We can cook together.

Then let’s do that.  I’ll also make the preparations for the barrier.  With all those Gods of Chaos and other beings in one place, there needs to be something to protect existence.

Order: I’ll help with that too.  Now, the most important thing, Astraea.

Of course we are going to brag.

Order: Perfect.

*Meanwhile in Astraea’s room*

Astraea: …

Evelyn: What’s wrong?

Astraea: Don’t know…I feel…scared.

Evelyn: *Hugs Astraea* Better?

Astraea: Ehehe.