Blade Over Magic

Abscinde

Similar to Falael, Curtis and Aubrey had undergone quite some physical changes.

In Curtis’s case, he was... taller. It seemed wild considering how he was already the tallest person in the group, but it was true.

As it turned out, even though he had resolved the conflict between the two sides of his existence earlier, his body was still acclimating to this unity. Hence, as he trained and time passed, some changes still occurred. His height being one of them.

Moreover, he had visibly sharper fingernails, and if he opened his mouth, one would see that his canines were startlingly sharp. However, he was weirdly... dressed up.

That is to say, he was wearing winter clothes, which was odd, but also sort of fitting.

Then there was Aubrey. She wore a dark cloak that stopped just above the curve of her waist. If she wasn’t doing anything, it would remain closed, but when she did open it, one would see a dagger fitter by her side, and over her shoulder sat her bow. And similar to Falael, if one looked past her alluring figure, they’d see that she’d also gained quite a bit of muscle, but it was more lean as she gave off the vibes of someone incredibly nimble. Her goggles hung around her neck with a strap, so she was currently looking around with her natural vision.

Xander had asked her at some point if she actually needed her glasses as even without ordinary eyesight, her perception far surpassed anything anyone in the squad could even com close to replicating. And she confirmed that she didn’t need them, she just wore them because it was comfortable.

Considering that Xander had no need to actually carry a sword in a hilt since he got his spatial ring, he actually kinda got it.

Mary looked the same as always, however, now that Xander had reached a certain level, he was able to tell now that the Mary in front of him compared to the Mary before the time dilation training was much different.

Then there was Keir.

He’d gotten bigger, again.

If before he was the size of an SUV, now he was just short of being as large as a trailer and about half as long. That being said, the group had seen what they used to feed Keir, and they frankly had no clue what it was or where it came from. The only clue they got was that it came from ’A cool spot Xavier found a while ago’.

Regardless, it seemed like whatever it was, it expedited Curtis’s growth.

When Xander, Falael, and Mia arrived, Aubrey and Curtis immediately stepped closer to them, and Xavier nodded.

"Alright, you guys actually look like what your reputations imply. Not bad." He praised before continuing.

"Now, y’all have probably guessed it since you’ve reached the end of your ’curriculum’, but congratulations, your training has come to an end." Hearing this, even though they had all expected it, everyone let out small sighs of relief. Saying the training had been grueling would be a gross understatement.

Every single day, it was one thing after the other, and they also understood what Keir meant when he said that even sleeping felt weird. They would just close their eyes for what couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, only for them to open them and feel completely revitalized. It was a jarring sensation, and saying they ’slept’ was always questionable.

But it seemed like they had finally reached the end, even though they were about to be thrown right into another ordeal shortly.

"So... how long have we been in here?" Curtis asked? Half his face hidden by a scarf. The other still didn’t quite understand the decision for such fashion, but they didn’t question it.

"Eh, a little more than six months or so. I could have pushed it further, but doing so would have caused your souls to begin deteriorating at your previous levels." Xavier said casually, but the group felt a chill run down their spine.

That was... terrifying.

As it turned out, the reason time dilation wasn’t super widespread was because other than how hard it was to pull off effectively, it was also quite dangerous if unsupervised.

Xavier had explained this to them a bit ago, but essentially, while in Time Dilation, one’s physical body would not age much, but their soul would. The disconnect between physical body and age would then cause the soul to begin deteriorating if it happened much faster than the physical body’s aging. Xavier didn’t explain why this happened, but yeah.

But what was terrifying was the fact that he could just casually turn a few weeks into half a year, and apparently, he could have pushed it further if he so wished.

"Either way, outside, there are only a few hours until the Ball. At this point, keeping the time dilation active won’t help much, we’ve achieved our goals anyway. So you’ll spend a day here to stabilize your mental states and just do general preparations. Then it’s off to the capital." Hearing this, Xander sighed.

’So the time has finally come, huh?’ Before the training, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little nervous at the prospect of the Ball due to what it signified. But after the training, he felt a lot more confident now.

Obviously not confident enough to fight an Archmage, but that’s besides the point.

As he was considering this, Xavier suddenly snapped his fingers, and a person appeared next to him.

Everyone looked at the new person.

He had a very sturdy frame and stood at 6’0 flat. He currently wore a pair of blacksmithing gloves and a dirty apron. His blonde hair was messy, and his eerie green eyes were filled with irritation.

Naturally, this was Patrick.

"Give it to him." Xavier instructed simply, and Patrick looked at the group before his eyes settled on Xander.

The two of them maintained eye contact for a few seconds, neither saying a word.

Finally, Patrick rolled his eyes and tossed the sheathed sword he held at Xander.

Xander caught it, expecting the standard weight of a blade, but he was shocked at how light it was.

He looked at the black and green scabbard, then he looked back at Patrick who was obviously waiting for him to draw it.

Feeling excited, Xander slowly drew the sword. The black blade was polished to perfection, and Xander could see his reflection in it. As for the edges, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they were impossibly sharp. The blade itself was the length of a standard longsword, with Xander having told Xavier how he wanted the blade to be made, who then told Patrick.

"The thing is stubborn. Even though you killed the thing it came from, it still seems to possess some remnant will. I’m the one that made it, but I can’t get it to obey me at all." Patrick harrumped, and though he didn’t say it, he seemed to be implying that Xander wouldn’t be able to wield it either.

As soon as he said that, intricate red markings appeared on the surface of the blade, and just like he said, a small, but clearly defiant will seemed to seep out of the weapon.

Yet Xander wasn’t discouraged. Instead, his eyes simply shone.

"That’s because you’re treating the sword simply like that. But when you wield a weapon, it’s not just a tool, its an extension of your body. If you treat your arm like a tool rather than a part of you, do you think it will obey?" Patrick stiffened as Xander spoke and calmly held the sword in a stance.

The movement was fluid and natural, like he had wielded this specific sword his whole life, like it was a part of his body rather than simply a weapon.

When he did this, the defiant will seeping from the weapon rapidly began to retreat, and the red markings that covered its surface started to crystalize, etching themselves into its surface until they existed there permanently.

The handle fit in Xander’s hand perfectly, and the blade had almost no weight to it, yet it didn’t feel awkward at all. Xander felt a connection get established between himself and the sword, and inside his Garden, a new flower bloomed, but this flower was different from the others.

It was substantially larger than the others, and it seemed almost... asleep. Dormant.

Xander huffed and smiled slightly.

’So this is what became of you in the end, huh?’ He thought and swung down once. There was no sound as the blade cut through the air perfectly. Then he swung down again. This time, the markings on the blade lit up, and everyone watched as along the path, a familiar red line was left before the space itself got cleaved open.

It seemed like the blade had inherited the ant’s signature red lines.

Xander sighed and looked down at the sword, thought for a moment. Then he spoke.

"I’m gonna call you Abscinde." As soon as he said that, the markings glowed once more before calming down. Somehow, everyone translated that as satisfaction.

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