Nil

Luna and my siblings were safely stowed outside of Tenebrae, so now all that was left was to deal with Ryker and whatever else Nyx had in store for me. Today is going to be exhausting, violent, and depressing. Losing wasn't an option. It never is this time around. All of these circumstances were do or die and just appeared to be getting worse and worse. It likely is going to be nothing but training and struggles until I fight the Void King. That was such a depressing thought; I shook my head because I needed to focus on here and now. I just needed to deal with an army built on the back of my failures. No big deal. Ryker just wanted to exterminate me and everyone in Speranza because of the machinations of a bitter Lord and her favorite spite beast. Why? This was such an awful spot to be in. Whining and moping isn't getting me through today. I let out an annoyed sigh. I didn't ask for this; none of us did.

"Nil, today is going to be a trying and difficult day, so I will offer you some advice before we start. No matter how dire the situation may seem, remember to keep smiling. Do not let Nyx, nor Ryker, nor any enemy know they are getting to you. Act brave and like you are fine no matter what." Krahinn advised me. I do not see how helpful that is. Did I expect something comforting to leave Krahinn's mouth being honest?

"Why does that seem like you want me to antagonize anyone that seeks to fight me?" I inquired with narrowed eyes. My body still has that odd stiffness to it. Whenever False Immortal's Serum wore off, I was likely doomed. Just another comforting thought in the moment.

"It is a generally good approach. The lack of fear can be off-putting to some and irritating to others. You need to practice it and today is a fantastic start; someone who already hates your guts and plenty of times to kill them." Krahinn pointed out to me like it was a good thing.

"I feel I need a secondary source for that; just something about your general track record." I taunted him. It was such a Krahinn piece of advise too.

"Just like that, but instead to an enemy. That dorky, sarcastic demeanor just do it to your opponents with a massive smile on your face." Krahinn shot back with an irritating smirk going.

"Similar to the one you currently have?" I checked to make sure I understood him properly.

"It would be a good example to follow; you should take inspiration from it and devise your own variation." Krahinn replied. I have no idea if he is trying to cheer me up in his own twisted way or give me actual advice.

"I will take it under advisement." I replied. I did not like how I already adjusted to the numb, hollow sensation all throughout my body. That cannot be a good thing.

"Just try it today. It might help more than you think." Krahinn suggested as he motioned for us to walk down the stairs.

"Why not just teleport with <Warp>?" I inquired. Now that I thought about it, have I ever seen Krahinn use a staircase? He took a step down one, and I all but marveled at the novelty of him using stairs.

"We need to conserve our <Magic> as much as possible. And yes, I know how to walk down stairs you forling dilwaul. Stop looking so amazed." Krahinn snarled at me as I noticed all of his eyes were currently on his face.

"I do not think I have ever seen it. I need to remember this moment for posterity." I mocked him, getting to the floor and witnessed his talons touching the stones.

"If this were any other day I would fold you into a tiny little ball and let you stay there until I felt like you learned your lesson. I will let that comment slide for now because today we need all the <Magic> at our disposal." Krahinn told me drily, gently kicking me in the face down several stairs.

"What the forl? Rolling down stairs is dangerous!" I snapped at him as I rubbed my face.

"I figured you'd catch yourself after a few because I didn't kick that hard. If your face wasn't in punting range, it wouldn't have happened." Krahinn told me pointedly.

"So, you're blaming me for your inability to control yourself." I spat at him as I stood up.

"I believe you have learned about actions having consequences. You knelt on the stairs to admire the fact I'm actually taking them, and I retaliated by kicking you." Krahinn clarified with an unamused stare.

"That sounds like you are twisting events to your interpretation." I deflected back as I resumed going down the staircase.

"If you weren't hopped up on False Immortal's Serum, I might not have kicked you. You should be fine." Krahinn assured me. Did that make it any better? No, not really.

"Just because the action did not hurt does not mean the implication of what you wanted is not there." I pointed out to him.

"Don't worry, you will survive. Hopefully to the end of the day." Krahinn taunted me while he chuckled a little at his own joke.

"Are we not on the same team?" I challenged him. Krahinn just laughed at that.

"We are, hence why I am helping you." Krahinn retorted in a cheery tone.

"How does kicking me down the stairs help me?" I inquired as we kept descending.

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"Maybe next time you'll think before doing something stupid. I doubt it, but enough examples to point to might make you at least pause for consideration before being an idiot." Krahinn explained like it justified his behavior.

"You are just making excuses to justify your poor behavior." I told him. This castle has way too many stairs. It felt a bit disingenuous to complain that my home was too large, but without the ability to teleport through it the stairs got annoying.

"I hate stairs!" Krahinn whined as we kept walking down the stairs.

"They build character." I informed Krahinn with a shiza eating grin. Taunt with a smile, right?

"Stairs are for peasants without <Space Affinity>; I hate when I need to conserve my <Mana> and <Magic>. Why do these stairs not have a railing to slide along?" Krahinn complained with a loud sigh.

"You shouldn't discriminate against others about their <Affinity>. My family was incredibly clear about that, especially Uncle Nez." I lectured him. I wanted to turn and smirk even more at him, but I figured I shouldn't press my luck with Krahinn much further.

"Nil, I will let this sass of yours slide because today is going to be difficult." Krahinn warned me. I'm likely at the edge of what he'll tolerate today.

"Stop saying such ominous things please." I requested, dreading that he was likely correct.

"Nil, I think you underestimate or refuse to acknowledge what lies in store today. We are going to be killing thousands of copies of someone today; the stench of <Ichor> is going to haunt you for a long while. That is also until whatever Nyx's final little surprise is going to be because I guarantee you she is one to have some malicious final surprise." Krahinn warned me. More ominous things from him.

"Is it going to be that bad?" I asked Krahinn. It was a pointless question, or I guess I was more worried about what his answer was going to be.

"It is going to be war. A minor snippet of war." Krahinn answered with little hesitation.

"What do you mean by that?" I inquired, curious as to what his point was.

"War is like nothing else, there is almost nothing that can compete with it in brutality and horror. The only rule is victory; no one is going to care after the fact what happened as long as you didn't kill a bunch of noncombatants or ruined the land." Krahinn clarified for me.

"I've always heard war is awful." I grumbled as I went down a few more steps.

"Because it is; words don't do it justice, and nothing can grasp the brutality. Granted, today is going to be one, singular, bloody battle that ends until one side is gone." Krahinn added on. From his tone I could tell he shrugged as he said it.

"Wouldn't a siege make more sense?" I asked. Try to bleed out our supplies and make us starve.

"You are so adorable sometimes, Nil. Do not ever give your opponents chance to recover their <Mana>." Krahinn lectured me. I don't think <Magic> would change their effectiveness that much.

"How do you know what a siege is if they are ineffective? Why is that concept known here if letting your opponent's <Mana> recover is a bad idea? According to Luna I made sieges work once in a while." I pondered. I mean, Krahinn knew what a siege was.

"The concept of starving supplies is a good one, but I also imagine when you made them work you could long distance bombard your opponents while keeping your <Mana> well above your opponents which helped. Now, the other issue with a siege is you need to have a supply line or way of obtaining resources that is not relying on your opponents possessing the resources that you need. Ryker does not have those resources, nor do I imagine even Nyx could overcome the restrictions of <Homunculus> being poor at recovering quickly. A long battle favors us, not them, so he is going to try and resolve this all today." Krahinn explained. I do not think I heard them discuss a siege either, but I was also kind of out of it yesterday. I get his point overall; <Magic> just complicates being able to siege your opponents.

"<Homunculi> can't recover quickly?" I inquired. I did not know that fact.

"No, they also require special effort to be repaired rather than healed as they are constructs; it is one of the things that favor us. It also helps Nyx likely created copies of Ryker or his soul to imbue them with his abilities which also would copy his <Astral Scale>. It is the best part of her chosen method." Krahinn informed me. That is interesting, I guess this is better than it seems. Overall the situation looked kind of awful, but this made me feel slightly better.

"Is there an alternative method she could have used? That power training session kind of hinges on the assumption that the <Astral Scale> value was copied." I pointed out, which was not doing my mental health any favors as I realized that.

"I did mull it over to make sure we were on the right path, but I couldn't fathom an alternate method she used. The <Magic> she created was wildly complicated, especially considering she needed to not destroy her ability to manipulate the <Veil> or unleash her wrath on you. The fact she needed to store them and have you send them back in time meant she couldn't make the underlying structure too complex. There are a few other ways to make it possible but not with the given restrictions." Krahinn answered. That was somewhat comforting, not as much as I would have hoped given what today was going to entail.

"I wish that comforted me more." I grumbled as we continued going down the stairs. Seriously wish I could just <Warp> down these, but I know I need to conserve my <Magic>.

"I wasn't trying for comforting; I prefer to be realistic. Just remember to smile and act brave regardless of how difficult the situation at hand is. We are going through today one way or another no matter how much you dislike it. You are as prepared as you can be which is the most important thing." Krahinn shot back with little hesitation.

"I think it is safe to say the smile advice was serious and not some attempt to comfort me." I sighed as I reached the next landing.

"It was serious advice you should follow and try today. There may be dire straits today, but you need to not show Ryker fear. Fear inspires your enemies and hinders your allies. You need to learn to be the beacon your allies rally behind, the one that inspires your comrades by showing them that everything will be alright, and making enemies dread your existence. A smile can be a powerful thing." Krahinn lectured in a surprisingly strict tone.

"You almost never smile." I pointed out. Krahinn chuckled as we kept going down the stairs.

"I do when I'm fighting someone. Do you remember when I dueled Hoggdin?" Krahinn reminded me. I was more focused on what I thought was an angry, murderous dragon. Was he smiling?

"Sorry, I was more concerned with Hoggdin wanting to murder us, or so I thought. And the events that transpired after." I replied, feeling a bit embarrassed about that memory.

"You mean nearly trapping us in a <Null Space> severed from time? That was a fun event." Krahinn teased me.

"It was an accident." I defended myself, trying not to feel too embarrassed. Why did I bring that up?

"More of you didn't think it through, like admiring me walking down the stairs." Krahinn taunted immediately. He seems to be in a good mood despite what is happening today.

"I guess I can try it." I conceded as we kept going down. Seriously, was the castle always this tall?

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