Yeah, I Know A Little Kung-Fu

Uhh... six a.m.?

Wait—what even was six a.m. here?

“It’s barely first light!” Martha snapped. “Not even second bell’s rung!”

I put my hands on my knees, catching my breath. “I needed to… practice my magic... somehow. Because… right now, I’m doing a whole lot of nothing.”

Martha looked rattled at my admission.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“No, no, Cotter—it’s just… Magic is an elf’s best friend,” she said slowly. “Without it, you may as well be… well, I was going to say defenseless, but clearly you were a human in your last life.”

“I was.”

“Honestly, Endo… You sneak out at first light, don’t eat, and then wear yourself to the bone before breakfast. You classify yourself as a mature adult?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “It’s not—”

“Ah-ah.” She lifted a finger. “Don’t ‘it’s not’ me. You’re shivering, and—” She squinted. “—you didn’t even sleep much last night, did you?”

“…No.”

“You truly are hopeless.”

She stood there for a while, as if internally warring with herself on what to do.

“Argh… why the hells not. I was in the middle of cooking breakfast, but the kids can go hungry for thirty more minutes.”

Honestly, Martha really was an angel in mortal form if you think about it.

“Magic can’t simply be externalized,” she said after a moment. “You must feel it. It’s not just will. It’s not just mind. It’s physical. Rooted in your core. So… breathe… pause. Look inward. What do you see?”

I closed my eyes. Searched.

…And came up empty.

“Nothing.”

She frowned. “Let me do it for you, then.”

“You can do that?”

“Any self-respecting nun knows how to search for someone’s Soulflame… it is as much a diagnosis tool as it is... eh, not relevant.”

She stepped forward, hand hovering just over my sternum.

Her voice dropped to a murmur. “I mean, your Soulflame feels bright—”

The words barely left her lips before it happened.

A boom of heat surged outward that I swore turned the winter snow into mist in seconds. Martha was flung back, gasping as her boots skidded against the courtyard dirt.

She hacked up her lungs. “What in the hells?!”

I staggered, dizzy. My chest burned—not in pain, but in pressure. Like something had unclogged. And it goddamn hurt.

“Was this… argh—meant to be this painful?”

“I—I mean, no?” That doesn’t exactly give me the confidence boost I needed, Martha!

Still… if this continued…

A burning surged from my chest to my throat. My legs buckled.

I doubled over, arms outstretched as I hit the ground. Fingers dug into the dirt like it could ground me; cooled me down. But it seemed to be in vain!

“Martha…” I gasped. “Help…!”

She was already rushing over.

“I got it, I got it—think, Martha, think!” she muttered, ripping off her outer cloak and dropping to her knees beside me. “You’re not combusting, you’re surging. The mana’s loose—Posteria spare me!”

She pressed her hands to my chest.

“Breathe. Cotter, breathe. Don’t hold it in, let it flow out—through the arms, through the legs—out, not in! Don’t resist!”

The pain was everywhere. In my skull. In the marrow of my bones.

No thought or logic left in me remained. Just instinct.

The only word left in my head:

[SIGNATURE MOVE: WHITE FLAME]

I didn’t scream. I couldn’t.

I unleashed.

“By Posteria’s name!!”

For three seconds, dawn became day.

A veritable beacon of light tore and ripped through the clouds above us, and for a moment, I swore I saw the moon. Every window in Posteria House lit up like it was noon!

And within it… came the hiss of steam, rising from my arms, my back, my legs—every part of me burning but somehow… still whole.

Was this my Crystal power...? What was Malmagos' game here? What could have prompted this?

This was such a sudden and odd way to gain a newfound power. Why didn't she give me this to start with? Knowing Malmagos, though, she had this planned right from the start!

As if to drive the point even further to me, I felt a second surge immediately chase after my first one. Slowly but surely, I saw white text slowly shimmering in front of my eyes, floating and telegraphing its arrival.

This must have been... a status screen?! 

Finally! After all this time, I had a way to view where I was at! Let's open the status screen to see what we have to work with...

[SALARYMAN STATUS SCREEN: ENDO TAKUYA/COTTER DOE]

ORPHANAGE GOLD REMAINING: 112

ASSETS:

ORPHANAGE LAND MASS

LIABILITIES:

-- GOLD OWED: 1201

-- Guards and crown hate you

-- Deep winter incoming

[Click to reveal MORE!]

Status Rating: Dead Broke!

OH, WHAT THE FUCK!

As I was stewed like a petulant child, I wasn’t cognizant at all of my surroundings at that point. When I saw her, I felt my stomach drop.

Martha… writhing on the ground, smoking coming out her skin.

“MARTHA!!”

I collapsed to my knees beside her. My fingers scrambled uselessly over her shoulder, her sleeve, her side.

Okay, okay. She wasn’t in the path of the blast. She wasn’t completely scorched.

But her outer robes were torn clean open, seams frayed like paper.

Then I heard footsteps. Lots of them. Shouts of panic coming from inside the building.

Oh no.

I turned, just in time to see a flood of students pouring out of the dorm buildings, panic and confusion scrawled across their faces.

They looked at her, collapsed on the floor.

They looked at me, scorched, panting, surrounded by smoke and standing over her.

It was very incriminating.

And from the crowd, the first to step forward wasn’t just anyone.

It was Alexandria. The one who’d challenged me the moment I stepped out of line.

Now she’s here to fulfill her promise.

“Fight me.” Her voice was venom. “Fight me right now, you bastard elf, so I have an excuse to kill you!”

“Mr. Sticks-for-Bones is in for it now!” someone in the crowd gleefully shouted. “He’s never been as powerful as her even before he got the Chills! Now? He’s finished!”

I staggered backward, hands half-raised. How were things this deep around here?!

That’s when Piper broke through the crowd, pushing herself in between us.

“Alexandria, please! It was clearly a mistake! And we don’t need to give the king yet another reason to withhold funding from us!”

The girl froze at the name. Her gaze flicked from me to Piper. Soon enough, a bitter laugh tore from her throat.

“You?" Alexandria said. "Sticking up for him? Should’ve expected nothing less.”

“I owe him a blood debt,” Piper snapped. What did that mean? What exactly happened between us?

“Then bleed with him.”

Through the noise, through the heat still pouring off my skin, I heard the faintest sound.

Martha. Whispering something hoarsely to us and looking utterly mortified.

“Please… don’t… fi…”

That was all she could get out before her eyes fluttered shut. I dropped back to my knees beside her. Checked her pulse… and luckily for me, still breathing.

“She’s okay,” I said quickly. “See? It was just a mistake. My mistake. So can we please talk this—”

“Nah.” Alex’s voice cut through the courtyard like a knife. “Enough of your excuses. Enough of Mother’s excuses. If she doesn’t see what a danger you are, elf… then it’s up to the people who actually care about her to defend her.”

Her hands were clenched, and magic shimmered faintly at her knuckles.

…

Shit.