Times New Roman

Times new roman 7 – Partings And Promises.

​?

Archen

​Two years have come and gone, and after all this time, finding out that your teacher is a typical wine aunt might come as a bit of a shock.

It all started when she began telling stories about historical people who, I might add, lived far after the supposed time period she arrived in the Land of Shadows.

I obviously asked how she could have such intimate knowledge about them when she herself can't easily leave this place.

Yes, she can't leave, but that doesn't mean she can't watch what happens on the other side.

Apparently, all she has to do for her duty is kill any monsters trying to reach the gate to the mortal world. And after a while of fighting them and noticing how little effort it took her to do so...

She enjoys fighting and training, yes, but fighting mindless beasts that only rely on instincts is, well...

She got bored.

Yes, slaying fallen gods and monsters alike is boring to her.

A literal ruler of a hell plane got tired of preventing the dead from escaping. It's a self-appointed duty, I might add.

According to her, the shades and beasts here keep respawning, and they never grow stronger.

Thus, she thought, why not make a few spires that absorb the energy of slain monsters and store it until a new one dares to wander close to the portal?

Once one of the beasts gets too close...

The spires zap them with the reservoirs of power they have hoarded over the centuries.

This, in turn, keeps the cycle of death and undeath going, freeing up her time to make gardens, grow vineyards, and watch mortals throw hands.

She's watching history like a soap opera.

I can't get over this.

Just the imagery of her sitting on her throne with snacks and wine, all the while zapping her scrying spells across the world.

And once I put two and two together, I couldn't help it, I just started laughing every time I thought about it.

Yeah...

That might not have been one of my brightest moments.

Once she understood what I was laughing about, she decided that if I was able to laugh, I should still be able to train.

I stopped laughing for a good few months after that.

?

It's been around three years since I arrived at teacher's little slice of hell, and according to her expert opinion, I've reached the peak of the supposed middle class.

I've noticed a drastic plateau in my physical and magical training, which I can't seem to pass no matter how much effort I put in.

Training my skills with my weapons is still effective, but the frustration of halting in my gains is slowly getting to me.

I can't shake off the feeling that I should be able to break through this bottleneck easily and that it's my fault that I can't.

My frustration with my inability to progress as easily as before started to show itself in my hunts for food.

Where I was once cautious about possible dangers, I started becoming more reckless, charging ahead to provoke the wildlife instead of prowling around for the perfect kill.

This recklessness pissed my teacher off something fierce. I shouldn't start acting irrational once I hit a roadblock.

To combat this behavioral shift, I started doing more meditative exercises. None seemed to help, and my irritability only grew.

It's only getting worse and worse. The inability to even calm down is making my mood spiral, feeding the anger and recklessness.

One day, somewhere in my third year here, she sat me down and told me in no simple terms that I am to leave this place tomorrow.

I was devastated. I instantly thought that she had given up on me.

She stomped my pity party out real quick, though.

No, she explained again that living beings shouldn't stay in a realm of the dead for a prolonged amount of time. Staying in one for too long will cause the life-form to either mutate or start to go mad if they are sapient.

That's why all her "cattle" and "vegetables" are so messed up.

She had told me this before, but it didn't seem like an issue back then. What changed?

The time it takes for the effect to take hold depends on the level of strength and the age of the soul.

And at the time of my entry, I was at a civilian level, and my soul was around the toddler age.

Toddler aged?

Yeah... apparently, my soul is not fully my original soul?

Because the protector of the dimensional gap won't allow foreign souls to enter the world?

All this exposition is giving me a headache, and my nerves can't handle this right now.

I'm told to go to bed early and prepare to leave tomorrow.

Parting Day

It's kind of surreal having to leave so suddenly. At least I'll be leaving with more grace than the time I entered.

The promptness of it all is still settling in, overwhelming the sadness in its chaos.

I am set to leave at four in the afternoon, around the same time that I "arrived" here, to ease the suffering I will go through during the synchronization process.

I expected my last day here to be different.

"That's it, student." I don't even look as I dodge the stakes shooting out of the ground.

"You've done well. You managed to hunt the phantom cat before you leave." A hint of pride in her voice.

Yes. I killed a ghost. Amazing.

"This is a tricky animal to hunt. You would need to have used most of your skills optimally at your current strength."

"But... teacher, I'm trying to hunt food, and spectral cats don't leave behind a corpse." I sigh wearily.

"Should've thought about that before you kept provoking them into attacking you."

...

"Teacher, I noticed you throwing sticks at the cat to catch its attention."

"Oh, you noticed that from over thirty-five paces away?" Humming thoughtfully, she continues.

"Good. The range of your awareness is still increasing." She nods as if that's what she was actually after.

Teacher. Why are you like this?

But expecting her to change things for something as banal as a separation is a foolish notion.

"I will use these grapes for a new vat of wine," she mutters happily while sitting on the cart filled to the brim with grapes.

I just pull the cart silently. Dealing with her love of alcohol is a lost battle.

"Don't you worry," she says, patting me on the head. "I will set aside one of the vats for when you return."

Oh...

"And when you do, stronger and wiser, we will break it open, and you will show me everything you've learned."

I choke up at that.

Shit, I don't do well with sentimentality.

"Don't choke up, student." ...And I'm unable to dodge the fruits she throws at me. "Isn't this part of the reason you are training?"

"Yeah, it is."

It's starting to settle in that I will leave this place behind for a while.

"Then think of it as a lesson as well, and approach it as such."

Doesn't mean I have to like it, though.

"Here we halt your training," she starts off, with what is probably going to be one of our last exercises—for a while at least.

"Since the time you've come here, you have grown a lot."

Yes, I have. I don't notice it in this unageing state, but I feel it inside of me.

"And now it is your time to leave again."

I'm conflicted about this. On the one hand, I'm sad about not being able to see her again, at least for the foreseeable future. And on the other hand, getting a break and seeing Gray again is something I do need.

"But as you should remember..."

Fuck. What did I forget?

"I would reforge you into something better."

Oh yeah. Something, something, remade man. That was a while ago.

"Or you would not return at all," she ends with finality.

And before I can react, she teleports the both of us into the middle of the arena.

"My student, pick up your weapons and show me how far you've truly come," she says solemnly.

Huh. That's all? She trains me all the time.

"Don't compare this to the normal training. If you don't give it your all..."

She grinds out the last words. "You will die."

...Aah.

She meant not returning literally.

Heh.

My spear and shield lay before me, while my opponent stands in front of me.

That means I only have one option.

To fight.

"So give it your very best—and some more."

People have a lot of different motivators. Love and hate are easy to use as motivational tools, pushing you to act beyond your station for someone else.

Anger and spite are good ones as well, giving you that extra edge to, in spite of the odds, succeed where others fail, just to rub it in the face of everyone else.

Mine feel a lot more basic, on the contrary.

Fear and joy. But mostly fear, eh?

They are fleeting emotions. Short-lived joy and the fear of losing even that. But in comparison to the others, they are focused on yourself.

And self-motivation is a hard thing to do.

...But once you do?

Nothing should be able to stop you.

So, I fight.

...

Without taking my eyes off her, as she studies my resolve taking hold, I form bolts of temporal energy in my hands and throw them at her in different arcing paths.

As they start flying at her with the sound of air being ripped apart, I hasten my entire body to quickly take hold of my weapons.

In my hastened time, I still hear at normal speed her whispering softly, "Inguz," and I see the ground beneath me crack as blackened roots try to grab my limbs.

With the reflexes honed over the tens of thousands of times I had to dodge the random assortment of shit she throws at me, I jump away while quickening my arrival to my destination.

At mid-jump, I notice she has already taken out her spear and casually deflected both my bolts away.

She points her spear at me, while around her, runes in the form of a messed-up Z appear. I can't hear from this distance, but I do notice the massive tree roots shooting out and homing in on my body.

I can see the roots brimming with life, in contrast to most things here. I create a barrier of time magic where nonsentient life enters and withers quickly. To add extra oomph to this, I use the one primordial rune I am compatible with and quickly mutter, "Jera."

The roots come in contact with my barrier and promptly wither to dust, while she has already jumped over my barrier as stakes of rock head toward my landing point.

Instead of trying to figure out the best solution, I just phase myself so that, on my arrival, I wasn't actually there.

As I exit my phased time and the stakes have passed me harmlessly, she's already at my location, stabbing her spear right at my throat.

I temporarily stop my shield's time as I hold it in front of the tip to strengthen its defense.

With her strike doing less than she had hoped, she barrages me with quick strikes to my sides while also aiming stabs at my face and torso. At the same time, she sends arrows of hardened water at me, but I manage to trap those in a time-looped bubble.

I block most of the stabs that would leave me with heavy wounds while also tanking hits that would only bruise.

I've trained to take glancing blows like that, and focusing only on lethal hits gives me more openings to strike back.

As I take another hit from the butt of her spear, I notice she is in the path of her own magic. Instead of repositioning to continue parrying her attacks, I lock my shield in time again, bash against her, and release the looped bubbles while also accelerating her own projectiles.

I didn't expect it to work, and I am not disappointed.

She dashes backward almost too fast for me to notice. Without my spatial sensing, I would've believed she teleported.

From a distance, she laughs softly.

"Peak mid-class indeed," she asserts again.

"But that's not enough. Show me more, or..."

And with that, the air around her trembles while the usual shadows here start to become truly menacing.

"PERISH."

With her last shout, I feel the same kind of pressure I faced when being assessed.

Except.

This time, I just shrug it off.

I instinctively coat my light armor and clothes in stopped time to dampen the hits I will take, while enhancing my thinking speed close to my maximum.

In my slowed-down vision, she still dashes at me at breakneck speeds.

While at first, I was able to prevent all major injuries and fight back somewhat decently, now I am completely on the back foot, only able to prevent lethal injuries while counterattacking with quick jabs.

While my esoteric type of power completely stomps weaker opponents and is strong against same-level or slightly stronger ones, it's almost completely useless in the face of someone who outclasses you so purely.

As she is aware of most or maybe even all of my moves, I can't expect to survive this without going beyond what is expected.

I've been upping the training with my spatial affinity. Since I was halting on my other trainings, I needed a win somewhere else.

They cause me the same type of strain that I used to deal with while using my temporal abilities.

But I need every possible tool I can use right now.

When she kicks me in the shield again to knock me back, I shorten the distance between myself and the edge of the arena, causing me to be knocked back further away than she should've expected.

This short reprieve allows me to summon my staff to be at the back of my shield, where I can hold it and it's strapped to the shield. It's not ideal, and it gets kind of in the way, but I truly need its boost for the next steps.

In the few seconds it took me to complete the summoning, she's already back on me, continuing her barrage of attacks.

These attacks have almost destroyed all of the reinforced gear I am wearing, and the flesh wounds are piling up.

Once she goes for a sweep again to possibly floor me, I hasten my legs to the maximum while temporal jumping myself across the field.

I turn quickly while hastening to the extreme, boosted by my staff, to deliver three strikes right in front of me. At the same time, I cause those three hits to be exactly at her heart, throat, and face.

This time, she feels the danger.

And she moves.

And in my extremely hastened state, I still don't see her move.

Standing a few paces from me again, she stops and smiles.

"Yes! That is what I mean." Her battle lust starts flooding the area.

"But it's still..." Her aura literally blackens and starts wafting around her.

"NOT ENOUGH!"

She shoots forward, cracking the, as I have been told, heavily reinforced floors.

While I am hastened beyond the pale, I am unable to mount any form of resistance.

I get rag-dolled around, and I only prevent myself from actually dying.

Still, every time I fall and find my limits, I manage to press further.

As I am only able to survive and barely adapt to her onslaught, I feel myself start slipping, and I can feel that I might die at any moment.

It's at this point her attack breaks through my spear and pierces my abdomen.

Yet at this point, I don't fall. Instead, I start to laugh, and while laughing, I dash backward, blood and viscera flowing out.

Not a desperate laugh nor one born out of fear.

No, this one is born out of joy.

As I can truly feel my progress, that even in this onslaught, I am still standing.

With my energy starting to dry up, I can feel something beating within me, something that has been there quite a while now, but I've been made to forget.

My staff vanishes from my hands. I will need two hands for my final attack.

She notices something about me, and she smirks.

"So, this is it, your final stand."

She changes her stance to a two-handed downward grip.

"Then I shall answer in kind."

"Resign yourself, and receive my blow."

​

I can feel death approaching once again, yet despite the fear, I move forward.

Because at this moment, I am still alive. So, I will show her.

I will show her my resistance.

I will show her how I claim victory from certain defeat.

The past. The present. The future. All of it is mine to behold.

I will show my resolve in this torrent.

Can your will, rival my change?

​

And with that I feel a chain snap as change is freed.

At the same time, I can hear her shout my demise, I shout back with everything I've got while trusting my weapon forward.

Gae ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎Bolg.​

[The spear that pierces with death]​

Omnia‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎Mutantur‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ Nihil‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ Interit​

[The key that heralds the change in the stars]​​

"Hahaha."

An uproarious laughter resounds through the arena.

I stand there in the middle of a ruined arena, my loaned weapon completely pulverized, looking blankly ahead of me.

Feeling as if I should have died there.

But I didn't.

I changed certain death.

Still, I noticed it.

"You held back."

The laughter stops as my teacher stalks towards me.

"Of course, I did, my student," she states matter-of-factly.

"Not many things can survive my full-powered attacks." She sighs wistfully.

"But you, my student, you just averted an attack that would have killed a peak high-level warrior. An attack that is technically unstoppable."

She looks at me, pride clear in her eyes.

"You've done something impossible." She stops there for a bit, smiling cheekily. "Well, almost impossible from now on."

Just to make sure, I've gotta ask, eh.

"...Soooo, I passed the test?"

Please. Please. Please. Don't make me do more shit. I feel something leave my stomach area, and I don't want to look down.

She studies me a bit and just smiles.

"Yes. My student, you have passed with flying colors."

Fuck yeah.

"Just sit down and eat this while we talk and wait for your time to leave."

She hands me a piece of some gold-colored fruit. Can't really figure out what it is, but it tastes like mango, my favorite fruit.

As we sit down to talk, she ushers me onto my back while giving me the famous Japanese protagonist treatment.

A lap pillow.

While we are talking about the fight and all of my mistakes and the things I can do better in the future, I notice a warmth in my stomach.

The fruit, some kind of healing item, is starting to kick in, and I feel myself becoming more and more drowsy, until, in the end, I fall asleep.

...

I notice, while waking from what is possibly the best sleep I have had in months, that we are still at the same spot.

Thinking about it, this is my final chance to ask that third question I am owed.

As I look up into my teacher's eyes.

"This is my last chance to ask this for some time."

I pause there to prepare myself, both wanting and not truly wanting to know the answer.

"What caused my arrival here, and am I me?"

She hums at that, looking pensive.

"I can't fully answer that," she says after a short moment of thought.

I go to respond, but before I manage to, she shushes me.

"I'll tell you what you can know and when you will be able to find the answer to the other."

She states in no uncertain terms.

"Firstly, yes, you are you."

I can feel a "but" coming from a mile away.

"But, at the same time, you aren't."

That's some vague-ass bullshit.

She flicks me on the forehead. "Let me cook, student."

...Did she just?

I start to pale rapidly.

"Did you look at all my memories, teacher?" I blurt out instinctively.

She smiles wickedly. "Which of the questions do you want answered, the last one or..."

"The first one, the first one," I plead instantly while averting my eyes.

I can't look her in the eyes ever again.

She laughingly continues, "Humans are part body, soul, mind..."

Yes, yes, I've heard that theory before.

"...fate and heart."

Oops, thought too soon.

"You have been changed, yes, but in the end, the core components of what make you, you, are the ones that survived the change."

That's sort of reassuring.

"I won't bore you with the explanation of what those concepts mean, as they would most likely fly over your head anyway."

I am affronted; I have consumed so much media that I can guesstimate what all those things mean.

I try to protest this injustice, but I get shushed again. This time, physically, as she puts her finger on my mouth.

Bitch, I bite.

"But, for how you came here..."

She takes a longer time to think about this.

"I can only say that you have to find the answer within, and when you believe you've found it, then, and only then, should you consider returning to the place where it all began."

She goes to say something more but catches herself and just shakes her head.

"Saying anything more would hurt you more in the long run than it would do you any good now."

Damn, I can't fault it if she thinks it's best for me.

But the question is, do I trust her explanation?

Yeah, at this point, she's the one person in this world I can fully trust. She has seen everything that I've gone through, and apparently more, and helped me reach levels of strength I wasn't even certain were real.

If I can't trust her, who else could I trust?

Thus, I nod and try to convey that I accept it for what it is, not fully trusting my voice to hold fast.

"Before you go, we need to discuss when you are allowed to return and what your tasks will be while you are away."

Shit, I'm getting homework.

"You will be allowed to return to further your training once you either understand your arrival or when you reach low ultimate levels of strength."

This power scaling naming sense has been giving me the shivers for a long time now.

"You will need to take the gravity bracelets with you while you use them intermittently. At the same time, you will need to find a teacher who is able to teach you about modern magics and what you have to pay attention to. This will also give you a look at where you stand compared to modern humans."

That's smart, this is why she's the teacher!

"And lastly..."

She stands up while pulling me up, holding my hand, and drags me towards the massive gate at the foot of the castle.

"I have a few items for you to take with you."

Oooh, presents!

"This is your new spear; it's made of alder wood with a tip of cold iron. It will grow in size with you until your majority."

She hands me a spear that feels just right in my hand.

"These are a few trinkets for you to use. This cube is something that is only breakable at low ultimate levels of strength."

Hell yeah, an easy-to-use measure to know if I've reached my new goal.

"And finally, here is a pendant that will allow you to return here. Once."

A necklace with a stylized Sowilo rune, with the implication of it only working once loud and clear.

As we reach the gate and stand there, she turns me around and looks me up and down. She swishes her hand a bit, and I am back in the same clothes that I came here with, spear safely stored in the necklace.

And as the parting is finally there, she grabs me and looks at me with a gaze filled with heat.

"You will return to me stronger, and then I will train you into a man."

I can almost see the heat radiating from her.

"No one has ever truly stopped my spear from landing. Blocking or redirecting, yes, I've seen plenty of that."

Her face is now mere inches from mine.

"But outright preventing it? Impossible. And I will take my pound of flesh for that. One way or another."

The gate opens, revealing a forest beyond, where apocalyptic monstrosities charge toward us. The spires continue disintegrating them with laughable ease.

Just as I expect to be let through, she gives me a final farewell gift.

A kiss—unexpected, but not unwelcome.

She steps closer, bringing us to eye level, her arms snaking around me. Then, I feel it—her lips on mine. Breathless, I reciprocate.

For that moment, passion flows unchecked as she shows her appreciation for my achievement.

As our bodies drift apart and our lips separate, I stand there, dazed.

She smirks.

"Get stronger, student, and return to me."

A shiver runs down my spine.

And before I can respond, she unceremoniously shoves me through the gate.