Chapter Text
[This is a JJK AU. AO x JJK. Basically just the story of AO with story elements from JJK. Enjoy lol]
“He seems to be a strong one.” As he opened his eyes, the child’s father commented on his son’s appearance.
“Gods, I hope he is strong for his own sake..” His mother pleaded, as doubt clouded her mind for the future of her child.
That was, until the child opened his eyes, glowing a radiant, neon blue, its surface as calm as the lake of power his frail little body contained, its blue as cobalt as the skies above them.
The Six Eyes.
His parents were stunned as everywhere, curses grew stronger for no apparent reason whatsoever. What used to be manageable grade 3 curses suddenly grew to be as strong as grade 1 and reaching special grade, killing multiple people in the process.
His birth had disrupted the balance of the Universe, and the Universe had to compensate for it.
He was truly the honored one.
“What should we name him?” His mother asks.
“..Neviro. Neviro Boreas.” His father replies.
“A fine name.” His mother comments.
“I look forward to seeing your progress, Neviro.”
~o0o~
It had been 4 years since that day, and the child in question, Neviro, was supposed to develop his technique by now.
“Come on, use your technique!”
He was being trained by his personal instructor, his grandfather. Kessler was strong, but he'd found that the number of other strong people in his kingdom that he trusted was rather small, and a majority of them simply didn't have the experience of tutoring his young grandson.
Fine, then. He'll do it himself.
Yet, day after day, his grandson seemed to struggle to use his own damned innate technique, despite it being claimed to be the strongest technique that had ever been perceived, according to sources from the Myriad, the limitless.
“Get up, damn it! You can't be a proper successor if you don't have a proper cursed technique or magic! Get up! Fight back!”
He harshly yelled, as the child whimpered.
“B-but I don't want to hurt you, Grandfather.. I've been told my technique is dangerous and destructive, and I don't want to be a danger to you nor destroy you!”
He admitted that he might have gone a little soft on the kid.
“You can't hurt me, boy. Your cursed energy is way lower than mine. Even using lapse is acceptable. Do it.”
Yet, as the child tried to guide out his cursed energy, something was in the way.
“I-i can't.”
“You can't what, boy?! I can sense your energy rising, yet nothing is happening!”
He asked as he pummeled his own grandchild, bloody splatters flying everywhere.
Then everything went blank for Neviro as he woke up in the infirmary, being woken up by confused murmurs of his distant relatives and concerned whispers from his mother and father.
Things like:
“How did he still get hurt in training even if he has the limitless technique?”
“Is the rare Six Eyes Limitless user still that weak?”
“How would we ever win against the Ravenna Realm if our weapon isn't ready yet?”
In truth, Neviro hated to be compared to a weapon, his family be damned. He bets that if he didn't have the six eyes, his family would treat him like trash aside from maybe his grandfather.
Yet, as he feigned sleeping, he heard clearly the confused whispers from his mother, father, and even his grandfather.
An eye was now on them, despite his unmoving eyeballs.
“Oh my.. my baby boy..” His mother gasped, showing genuine concern for him.
“Father went too hard on the boy, damn it! What the hell is wrong with him?!” His father expressed anger towards his grandfather, who was slumped over. “I know, Cyril.” He sighed.
“Looks like the kid’s not ready after all. But I understand. He's only four..”
His grandfather started softening up after that. He acknowledged the fact that while he could probably access the limitless technique, it is still far beyond his reach for now. But why is that?
Through the next two years, the Boreas lineage moved quickly in order to ensure the fact that Neviro couldn't use limitless was not exposed immediately. Neviro was also given cursed bandages to cover his head in order to counter the headaches caused by information overload from the six eyes.
Every time Neviro sat down and tried to access his innate technique, he could feel a small barrier forming around himself, and yet when it was stress tested, it fell apart almost instantly. Without the neutral state of limitless, lapse was out of the question, much less reversal and domain expansion.
Instead, Kessler resorted to teaching him magic in order for the small child to defend himself, as it was later discovered that he also had the darkness curse inheritance. Truly a blessed child indeed, his relatives commented.
He never learnt those same relatives’ names. He knew they were beneath him. Not in terms of strength, but in terms of moral standpoint.
Eventually, more children were born as his brothers and sisters, a total of 5 children, including himself. 2 men, 3 women.
By the time he was 8, his siblings had grown to impressive levels of power, each possessing a unique technique.
The younger brother, Asher Boreas, possessing the technique of sky manipulation and snow magic;
The eldest sister, Sera Boreas, possessing the technique of Copy and no magical energy. Even though it's unknown to the family, him alone with his six eyes could percieve the technique flowing throughout her body;
The middle sister, Luna Boreas, possessing the technique of Atom Composition and ice magic;
The youngest sister, Aurora Boreas, possessing the technique of Cursed Energy Dispersion and no magic.
They all were so young, Neviro knew, and yet so powerful. Perhaps his grandfather would favor them over him? He didn't know, but he envies them for their strength, strength gifted to them by the gods. Here he was, stuck with a gift that he couldn't even utilize.
Sera had gotten quite chummy with him, trying to “help him unlock the pathways to limitless” by demonstrating her copied version of his limitless, utilizing the lapse variation of it to create a barrier of nigh impenetrability. However, Neviro had found several holes in that. For one, outputting enough cursed energy forces her lapse, dubbed “infinity”, to crack and shatter, leaving nothing but cursed shards which disappeared not long after its separation from the host, that being Sera.
He loved Sera, her possibly being his favorite sibling among all the others. She was kind and loving, as well as being lively. A ball of joy that he would love with all his heart.
Luna was weird, to say the least. Out of the five siblings, she was the “nerdiest” one as her technique gave her the ability to perceive atoms and an advanced knowledge of all the elements existing in the world. It is probably this grim vision that started to warp her perception of the world, seeing people as nothing but an amalgamation of atoms. She struggled to see people as people, and not just atoms grouped together to form an organism worth slightly more than a co*ckroach.
Neviro tried to form a connection with her, but her cold and distant demeanor prevented her from even making the first step to affection. She backed off from group hugs, excelled in all her studies, and were disinterested in social events in favor of her studies and getting stronger. She was, in the eyes of his elders, a perfect child. He wanted to love her, and it is his responsibility as an older brother to do so, but she makes it so hard for him to do quite literally anything.
Aurora related to him in the fact that they both had advanced perception of cursed energy through one method or another, and had mastered Reversed Cursed Technique at the ripe old age of 3. Such a feat was unheard of throughout the entire kingdom of Winterveil, perhaps even the entirety of the bronze sea, yet she kept to herself and only showed off to Neviro in order for him as the Six Eyes user to save face. Even though she was the flaunty co*cky type, according to him, she was still his adorable youngest sister, and he'd always love her for that.
Asher was another oddball in their family. He could fly with the help of his technique, but he couldn't maintain it for long due to his low reserves of cursed energy. He was bitter for that, angry at the fact that his family was so blessed by the gods yet he faced punishment in the form of a small cursed energy pool.
So bitter, in fact, that he hated Neviro for being the most blessed of them all, yet still couldn't utilize his gift properly.
In short, even though he was 7 years old, Asher already harboured hate towards Neviro.
Neviro never understood this vendetta, and tried to work through it anyways, trying to grab as many opportunities as he could to talk to him, share things with him, do things he'd sworn he’d never do with any of his sisters, but only because Asher was into it, he wanted to be with him. It was naive, but the small sparks of admiration, or even love when Neviro manages to master something as, in his opinion, trivial as cricket fighting.
No matter, Neviro loved Asher as his brother all the same.
However, as their ages hit the double digits, they met less and less.
Neviro could never hear Sera’s cute laughs as she attempted to copy Asher’s sky manipulation;
He could never hear Luna’s muttering about Chemical Equilibrium and how it interfered with her technique, with him attempting to instruct her on such a complicated topic that he'd mastered years before thanks to his Six Eyes;
He could never see Aurora’s taunting smile as she used Reversed Cursed Technique to exorcise a grade 1 cursed spirit within a single tap of her finger, a feat which he still could not replicate;
He could never see Asher’s progress in miscellaneous activities and his sparks of admiration in his eyes for him, a sight which warmed his heart as an older brother. So warm, in fact, that it could melt the snow surrounding them.
All of them, whisked away by training and studying.
None of them were allowed to see him, inwardly known as the disgrace of the kingdom of Winterveil.
It was the other nobles in the kingdom which persuaded Kessler to do that, no doubt; forcing his own siblings away from him in order to remove even the slightest potential of the five children someday combining their political forces uprooting the entire system, and destroying their own positions as nobles.
A pathetic abuse of their power to be sure, but what did he know? For all they knew, he was Neviro, the useless one.
He did not let that deter him, however. He continued training every day, learning to improve his cursed energy efficiency. Learning simple domain. Learning how to use cursed tools. Learning how to make seals. Everything about Jujutsu except his own innate technique, he hoped to master.
That all went on, until one day the tremors hit;
Nero had declared war on Winterveil, and he'd never seen them ever again.
~o0o~
“Leave.”
Kessler Boreas told his eldest grandson, who was now standing behind him. They were both facing a room blocked off with seals powered off of Kessler’s own cursed energy.
“Why should I, Grandfather? If Nero insists Winterveil take this challenge I could at least help you!”
Neviro Boreas replied, desperately pleading with his grandfather to let him come with. His fists were shaking as rumbling could be heard outside.
Nero had found them.
“Six eyes, and yet you are still so young, boy..” Kessler replied, turning to face his grandson.
“Exactly! I have the Six Eyes, I can help you!” Neviro’s body flared with cursed energy as the rumbling intensified.
“Foolish boy.. you are only 15. Don't put such pressure onto yourself. Now listen up.” Kessler replied,
“You are the hope of Winterveil, possessing potential on par with the War Phoenix himself.. I can tell that I am outmatched in this fight with Nero, and without your limitless technique, you are useless.”
Kessler broke the news to Neviro, as his eyes began to fill up with water. “Don't die, Neviro.” Kessler then began to unseal the talismans that were placed so long ago.
“I'd give my life for you, Grandfather! Please don't do this to me!”
Neviro pleaded.
“If I die.. when I die. Reclaim this weapon as your birthright. I love you, Neviro. Don't let the Caesar lineage end off our bloodline.”
The unsealing was complete, and an intense presence radiated off of the weapon itself, as Neviro could see for himself the magnitude of strength the weapon possessed. Though forged with several binding vows in place, it was still an extremely strong weapon.
“Farewell.”
Kessler leapt, and blasted off, only to be knocked down immediately by Nero.
“Your darkness curse is nothing compared to me, Kessler.”
Kessler did not respond, but started to chant.
“闇より出でて
闇より黒く
その穢れを禊ぎ祓え”
A veil began to descend over the thickening tension, a sign for the Winterveil prince to flee.
“Survive, Neviro.”
“闇に身を投げ
目を閉じ視界消え
盲目の座を奪う-”
~reality~
“Gah!” Neviro woke up in a cold sweat, his sight no longer occupied by tears. It had been three years since the fated duel between Nero Caesar and Kessler Boreas, marking the fall of Winterveil, and yet that blasted memory still haunted him every day, taunting his uselessness as a fighter.
He had been cursed out on multiple occasions by his father, Cyril Boreas for his inability to use his own innate technique, the limitless, even as he was born with the Six Eyes, destroying his own hopes of truly becoming the beast his strength entailed.
He could still remember the blue light piercing through his land, his people and his birthright as Nero declared his victory over Kessler. His grandfather had lost all because of him. The path of a curse user was not one he had desired, but it came out of necessity. He would take hits from the Assassin Syndicate, improving his strength as he went, hoping to surpass Nero in strength.
He'd wager he would be around Grade 2 in strength, but that could be an understatement. He had also racked up quite the bounty, making his rank skyrocket to Assassin Maestro without much difficulty. After all, these measly criminals were nothing compared to the might of the Six Eyes.
Nero was still paranoid of the cowering Winterveil Prince, and had set out to search for him, but to no avail, as wherever he went, he placed his mask onto his face to hide his eyes and, with an enchanter assisting him, hide his massive amounts of cursed energy reserves.
He was no longer renowned, and he knew that.
In the past, he loved his people, his people loved him as they preferred him over any of his younger siblings to become King of Winterveil - should King Kessler’s life come to pass and for him to shuffle off the mortal coil.
He vaguely remembers killing cursed spirits, something so kind yet so distant to the current him. He'd stopped doing that since his grandfather had died - he was no longer Neviro Boreas. That part of himself had died along with his Grandfather. He was now Phyllis, the Assassin Maestro - an identity he had come up with himself to hide.
And yet, despite all this, some pesky bounty hunters, his own colleagues, in fact, had managed to discover his true identity. Luckily, no one ever lived to speak the truth. He made sure of it. Whether it be through dirty play, or just brutal fisticuffs in general. Despite not being able to use this technique of his own, he had mastered simple domain, and was able to counter any domain expansion before it even began - all in part thanks to the genetic lotto he'd won in the form of the Six Eyes, he'd wager.
He sighed, getting up and moving to find some food. He’d conserved his galleons these past few days by only drinking water. Galleons were hard to come by these days because of the rampaging curses that were damaging the economy of the Bronze Sea at every turn.
Luckily, Ravenna is a vast island with its leader being more oblivious than a 3 year old toddler. That's right, Neviro was hiding within the enemy’s territory. He knew Nero could never find him, he’d just outpace him at every turn.
As he walked along the empty road from the Shining Plains to Tiberia, he heard a voice behind him.
“Hello.”
He turned to see a woman more akin to a curse spirit than human. She had red hair yet four eyes, two arms yet two mouths. However, from his eyes, he could tell that this was still a human.
“State your business.”
Neviro bluntly asked, his mask’s voice changer made from runes mixed with cursed energy and magic distorting his voice until it was unrecognizable to anyone.
However, this was no ordinary woman.
“My name is..”
The woman paused for a moment, clearly unable to think of a name on the spot.
“..Ignazio. You are Neviro Boreas, are you not?”
Neviro immediately raised his guard and glared at her, the cyan shine of the Six Eyes still radiant through his mask despite it being covered.
“Who told you that?”
Aiming a blast of cursed energy at “Ignazio”, Neviro sweated as she chuckled and raised her hand, unleashing a blast made of pure magic, dispersing the cursed energy with such efficiency that he did not feel, nor see her exert any bit of effort.
“This is the power you could achieve, yet you were sealed off from your potential by a wall which you cannot overcome.”
Ignazio told him,
“I will help you achieve your full potential, if you help complete my goals.”
Neviro considered the offer, then nodded, seeing as she wasn't emitting any negative intent. She smiled, her mouths widening with satisfaction.
“Follow me. I would not rather have my ally dying of starvation the moment I recruit him.”
Ignazio beckoned him to follow, and so he did, traveling to Rubica and purchasing some food to eat in the form of some bread cooked on a pot, for some reason. Neviro never really understood why that worked out, but he decided to ignore it.
Chowing down on the bread, Neviro could feel the mastication of his mouth as he could feel himself getting more and more energized.
“Now then. I feel as though you are still skeptical of my plans. I will explain them to you in exchange for you not exposing any detail to anyone except for the both of us.” She extended one of her four arms.
“Do we have a deal?”
Neviro was reminded of his failure against Nero and how that had cost him. He had to win.
“Yes, we do.”
A binding vow was formed, one he'd come to regret.
~o0o~
She led him to a warehouse, stacked with crates. It was simple, rugged, but effective as a training grounds. He respected the efficiency of Ignazio.
“Nice place.” He complimented.
“Indeed, Boreas.” She walked further into the warehouse, igniting her own magic with cursed energy and turning it into a handheld Bunsen burner, basically.
“This used to be Ravenna’s food storage. If it weren't for those cursed spirits that used to be outside, they would've continued using it.”
She comments, as he flicked all six of his eyes from a 360° angle. He found no hidden traps, no seals, no nothing. It seems that she was telling the truth. However, he saw an emblem, the iconography of an organization of some kind. He wondered what it is, but knew he had to keep moving, and so he removed the eye that was attempting to decrypt the image through the darkness.
“Here, I shall teach you all you need to know to become stronger, and to unlock something you've never been able to before.”
All six eyes widened at once. Was she talking about-
“The limitless.”
“For real?”
Neviro questioned with a tilt.
“For real, real.”
Ignazio nodded.
“But first, you must retrieve something for me. Children.”
“What?!”
Was she telling him to kidnap children for no reason?
“It’ll go towards my research in order to help the world in studying cursed energy. I need you to seek out these three children.”
She showed three images of three different dark haired boys, one having hair similar to a sea urchin’s, one having brownish shaggy hair, while the last had an odd tinge of purple to his hair.
Those were all defining features, something that radically seperates themselves from others. She knew about the six eyes and know that he is more proficient in searching for anything than anyone else.
That same day, Neviro had found and kidnapped said three children, one being eight, and two being nine. He felt sorry for them, especially when their expressions looked so similar to that of Asher and Sera’s.
Oh well, that's for his conscience to know.
It was light work anyway, like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by him.
Once he returned, she nodded in satisfaction at the caged children.
“Thank you. The world will thank you for your service, Phyllis.”
Ignazio smiled, her two mouths parting once more.
“Now, for your first assignment. Draw out your inner technique and create a teleportation seal, teleporting to Whitesummit. Even though it is not the most simple application, it is the easiest to draw out energy from as seals forcefully take instead of your hand seals voluntarily drawing out your power.
He nods, as he began drawing seals from memory. Bit by bit, he felt his cursed energy being tugged at, and as he completed the seal, a massive amount of cursed energy comparative to a simple domain was drawn out of him, warping the children away from the warehouse.
“Good. Now, for more applications, you’ll have to forcefully draw it out through battle. Seek vigorous fights, and when you are pushed, you will break through the binds you have placed upon yourself.”
Ignazio gingerly explained as Neviro felt that he was scammed.
He kidnapped three children just to get some third rate counselling advice.
“Now, now, no need to get so worked up over nothing, Neviro.” She replied, casually shrugging. “Meet me back here after you’ve finished off 4 people on the top 50 bounty, or around the same tier as you.”
Who was she to order him around?!
He surpressed his anger properly and sighed, deciding to follow her instructions and hunt down people worthy enough to fight him.
With each individual fight, he could feel his strength growing. With each individual brush with death, he could see his cursed energy bubbling up but still not quite enough to be directed into a technique.
However, the catalyst he needed, was about to appear.
~o0o~
Carina.
In a family of pure mages and conjurers, Carina was born heavenly restricted, both cursed energy and magic values lowered to a mere 0. However, in exchange, she had gained massive amounts of strength, enough to destroy the entire royal palace of Ravenna. However, she chose not to.
She was hated, not even bothered to be given the title of “Lady”. Despite this, Elius never gave up on her, always trying to help her go on the path she wanted with or without her freakish strength.
She chose the path of an assassin, while frowned upon, Elius respected her choice and still gave her the admiration she needed as an older sister.
Every day, she’d go out, assassinate someone, earn some income and go back. Rinse and repeat, while cultivating her strength to the max.
One day, she received a peculiar request, from an anonymous requester, involving the lost prince, of all people.
And so–
As Neviro went out to meet with Ignazio, she was suddenly stabbed through the back by the split-soul katana. “Shank.” Commented Carina.
“You got a licence for that?” Neviro humorously replied. “Quite rude to be stabbing people in the middle of their business, isn't it?”
“By the architects.” She lets out a toothy grin, before kicking him away like a pile of trash and showing him the crest of the assassin syndicate. “Of course it is. After all, this is the part where I kill you.”
“Wait, what-”
Immediately swapping to a dagger, Carina shanked the neck of the assassin maestro, before stabbing at the arms and through the precise nerves, in order to disable signing out cursed techniques.
“Come on, get up. I wanted a good fight. Aren't you supposed to be the strongest? The one that literally f*cked up the balance of the world just by living?”
Carina stretched her well-toned muscles, and got into a position as though she was getting ready for a 100 meter sprint.
“I'm surprised that the Bronze Hound allowed his daughter to become an assassin. Surely you'd think he cares about his own image.”
“The bastard doesn't care about me once I found out I couldn't use cursed energy or magic.”
He seemed to have struck a nerve.
Neviro could feel it once again, that same energy bubbling up to fill in the mold that is his cursed technique. He was hyped, but will it be enough for her?
Only one way to find out-
Six Eyes could not see the speed that Carina leapt towards him, dagger in hand as she cut off one of the nerves that sustained blood flow.
“Strike one.” She warned.
More cursed energy filled the mould.
But it was still not enough.
Neviro sighed and opened the domain of the weak.
“Shin Kageryū: Kan'i Ryōiki - Battō” (New Shadow Style: Simple Domain - Sword Draw)
Carina recognized this technique, but what she did not recognize was the fact that the domain was growing, somehow.
Without moving an inch from his spot, Neviro had charged his fist with cursed energy, praying to the gods that she would not recognize the growing domain, and she would get immediately hit by his fist the moment she steps into the domain.
Carina smirked. “Guess you do have some tricks up your sleeve after all.”
She sprung the trap, and Neviro was met with a double punch as Carina was disarmed on both hands while trying to stab Neviro, ending up in a punch instead of a stab.
Neviro ended his domain, and knew he had no choice but to fight. She was simply too fast for him to outpace and run, and too nimble for him to hit without using simple domain.
Hand to hand it is.
Trying to strong arm his way through, Neviro put up his fists and ended up being able to fight almost on par with Carina’s speed and agility as well as her strength.
The mould was slowly filling up, he knew it, but how could he unleash the full might of limitless on her if the mould isn't full?!
The answer came in the form of a rude awakening by fist.
Screw it, Neviro thought. Can't hurt to try and power through the process, right?
All his life, he'd been accustomed to the life of a prince and the easygoing job of an assassin. But not once had he ever fought several battles at once.
Cursed energy buzzed around Neviro’s skin as infinity was activated for the first time in his entire life, causing him to smirk.
Carina was done for.
“Jutsushiki Junten - Ao.”
A glowing ball of blue energy spawned around his head, as he flung it towards the direction of Carina with the help of his waist.
Of course, Carina couldn't break through his infinity, and so he was allowed a moment of reprieve.
Carina had been flung away to God knows where, and might try to stab him while he's asleep.
It was a brief encounter, but an impactful one nonetheless.
Neviro chuckled as he struggled to continue walking towards Ignazio, his infinity buzzing against his skin.
He smiled as his Six Eyes buzzed, a black and white view of the world slowly appearing to him.
A fitting end for a happy dream, he'd like to think.
As he sighed, looking at the boatload of idiots he'd kidnapped and helped.
Juju-stroll!
[A/N: Some supplementary material from the above story! I don't know how to transition into it TvT]
The medieval fair. The time where literally everyone drops their work and leaves for far away merchants coming to sell their wares and gain profit. It also features worshiping gods, and a ritual. The ritual was only allowed to be performed by knowledgeable and skilled people in jujutsu, in order for it to be done right, and send the residual cursed energy of dead non sorcerers and sorcerers alike, to pass on, hoping that Hades would have mercy on them.
Naturally, a wielder of the Six Eyes is a good choice for the occasion, as the ritual consisted of first sacrificing an animal, then drawing a complicated seal only the most knowledgeable sorcerers would even bother to make, and then lastly, chanting out some spells non stop throughout the entire process. All spells had to be different.
So, Neviro would of course be whisked away by such an act, in order to learn the proper seals needed.
“Good luck, bro!” Sera hugged him upon realizing that her big brother was now going to perform in the most prestigious ritual on the entirety of the Bronze Sea.
Asher gave him an unreadable expression.
Luna was understandably very concerned at the fact that her brother would probably be unable to perform properly at the ritual due to the lack of time on his end, but Neviro dismissed her concern. She knew better than to worry about this. Even if he didn't have limitless, he still had the Six Eyes, and that was enough.
Aurora let out an awkward smile. She did not know how to react to that information. “Good luck, I suppose?”
Ah, he knew his family would give him the love he needed most. He sighed, as he saw Aurora pull out a game of chess while Sera sat down as he walked away to practice.
Seeing the seals at first sight made him realize how much he hated living.
“First, a circle.” Kessler instructed, using his cursed energy to carve out a circle, then using his magic energy to ignite said circle without moving a muscle.
“A circle..” Neviro bent over, attempting to draw the seal with a cursed energy enhanced finger. He then used the cursed energy he had to ignite the seal, which responded, but with a red hue instead of the blue that his grandfather’s seal had.
“Right, you can't use magic.” Kessler sighed.
“Have you ever tried Reversed Cursed Technique?” Kessler asked Neviro, who shook his head.
“This ritual revolves around converting negative energy into positive energy, just like Reversed Cursed Technique. You have two options for this. Either you input so much energy into the seal it multiplies against itself and becomes Reversed Cursed Energy, or you throw in magic. Base Cursed Energy will only make the curses worse.”
Kessler explained as he used Reversed Cursed Technique on the seal upon extracting the magical energy from it. The seal then began to glow a white instead of blue or red.
“Reversed Cursed Technique is really hard, I know. You've still got to do it somehow.” Kessler told Neviro.
“I'd like a second opinion.”
Neviro responded, sweat dripping from his head.
“You have my permission.”
Neviro dragged Aurora from her game of chess, which ended in a stalemate by Sera simply outsmarting her in a losing position. He placed a palm on her back and began funneling cursed energy into her.
“What the-”
She almost swore, but realized her grandfather was near. She clamped her mouth shut.
“I want you to output reversed cursed energy onto that seal over there.”
“Using your sister as a conduit doesn't seem that much like something the ‘prodigy’ would do.”
Aurora poked fun at her brother's inability to use such a technique. Said brother then responded by funneling even more energy into her, forcing her to start using Reversed Cursed Technique to avoid damaging her body with such a large amount.
“She's right, Neviro. You can't rely on your sister at times like this. She may be able to use Reversed Cursed Technique, but she's only 9. You’re 14, and you should've surpassed her tenfold by now.”
Kessler expressed slight disappointment.
“Then again, Cyril did say something about a binding vow, so I won't blame you.”
“Thanks?”
Neviro questioned.
“So can I go now?”
Aurora glared at her older brother, unimpressed.
“Yeah yeah, go play your game of chess. Just save a game for me, ‘kay? I wanna destroy you for running your mouth like that.”
Neviro jests, his smile evident in the fact that he wasn't even angry at her in the first place. Aurora responded by blowing a raspberry and a middle finger, only to be stopped by Kessler.
“Aurora! I told you not to do that gesture. It is rude and unbefitting of someone of royal stature!”
“Yeah, yeah. Sorry, grandfather.”
Aurora gave a default response.
“Go play.” He dismissed her.
She left, leaving only the two men in the room.
“Look, I understand not being able to use seals, but please, just fake it until you make it. I'll give you some of my own magical energy.”
Kessler made a ball of pure magical energy in his palm, before handing it off to Neviro.
“Crush this ball at the ritual to activate all the seals within.”
Neviro nodded.
“Good. Now, as for the chanting…”
Meanwhile, Luna left her study, only to find her 2 sisters and brother looking at an intense game of chess.
She stretched her arms, and looked at the position.
White was Asher and Black was Sera.
While it was known that Neviro was probably the best at chess because of his ability to read forward several tens of moves before anyone even makes a move, the little siblings wanted to surpass him in that regard as well.
White was at positional disadvantage as it basically had only a safely castled King, a knight and a bishop on the opposite side of the board to the castled King, both of which are being threatened in some way or another.
Luna rolled her eyes.
“Tag out.” She told Asher. “You’re older than all of us and yet Sera is beating your ass.”
“Shove it.” Asher growled out.
“You think you have what it takes to beat me? You can't even perform your lapse technique properly.”
Luna was crushing him.
“Fine, you win.”
Asher grumbled as he left his seat.
Luna first moved the rook to e1 to check the king.
Sera, unable to castle, moved the king out of danger and cursed Luna for her foresight.
Luna then checked Sera once more with the dark squared bishop, forcing Sera to move her king back to the original position it had been.
Luna then whisked away Sera’s knight sitting right beside her, capturing it as Sera’s king was checked.
Sera moved her king into f8, protecting all her pieces but blocking her rook.
Luna checked with the bishop once more.
Sera moved her king to e8, unable to see the threat produced by Luna.
Chess blindness got the better of Sera as she placed her queen on d2, threatening the rook.
However, that was not what Luna did that for.
Luna’s knight took on c7, producing checkmate.
[Here's the pgn for anyone who wants to see the game. Luna took over at move 15 after black moved.
1. e4 e5 2. d3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bc5 4. d4 Bxd4 5. Nxd4 Nxd4 6. Qxd4 exd4 7. e5 Qe7 8. c4 dxc3 9. bxc3 Qxe5+ 10. Be2 Qxc3+ 11. Bd2 Qxa1 12. O-O Qb2 13. Bc3 Qxe2 14. Na3 Nf6 15. Bb4 Qxa2 16. Re1+ Kd8 17. Be7+ Ke8 18. Bxf6+ Kf8 19. Be7+ Ke8 20. Nb5 Qd2 21. Nxc7# 1-0]
“Checkmate.” Luna claimed victory over Sera in Asher’s stead.
“I- what-” Sera was completely dumbfounded by how Luna had bested her, when just several moves before she had a crushing advantage.
“Take this L.” Luna said with an unwavering, stone cold expression.
“Fineee, you win.”
Sera grumbled.
“Hey guys, what'd I miss?”
Aurora returned, a large amount of cursed energy in her possession.
Meanwhile, meanwhile, Neviro was still working away at the memorization process.
“静かなる敬意、我ら彼らを休めん
倒れたる魂、地上の旅路終わりぬ, itsamiku-”
“Wrong!”
Kessler whacked Neviro upside the head.
“That was very wrong!”
“Wh- where?”
“It's supposed to be:
静かなる敬意、我ら彼らを休めん
倒れたる魂、地上の旅路終わりぬ
慈しみの導き、霊は舞い上がる
冥界ハデスへ、闇と光交わる所へ
荘厳なる行進、彼らに別れを告げん
厳粛な祈り、記憶に彩りを添えん
影の抱擁に、休息を見いださん
平穏なる進路、永遠の静寂が流れん
凡ての世界を超え、本質は昇りん
見えざる領域、永遠が広がる所へ
ハデスの領域、優雅に彼らを抱きしめん
安らぎを見出す、穏やかなその抱擁の中に
If you can't even chant the first verse, you can't do it properly!”
“Why can't you host it, Grandfather?”
Neviro asked his elder.
“Because all the other nobles demand the f*cking six eyed child, for gods’ sake! I would've done it myself!”
Kessler replied, clearly furious.
Neviro flinched at that statement.
“Useless trash! No eating until you’re done!”
Neviro gasped. “N-no! Please, I need to eat!”
“Nope.” Kessler left.
“Why the f*ck am I so useless..?”
Cursed energy flared up from within him, getting the attention of his siblings who all rushed into the training grounds.
“Bro? What happened?”
Sera asked Neviro, who could barely contain the tears in his eyes.
His grandfather, the one who had believed in him since the beginning had left him to figure it all out for himself.
“Those atoms threatening to spill out.. those are tears, aren't they?” Luna asked.
“Yeah, they are.” Neviro wiped them away. “Your big brother will be fine.” He smiled weakly.
“Are you hurt?” Asher asked him.
“Nah, just.. leave me be, okay? I need to recite this.” He points to the verse carved into the floor.
“You’ll be able to accomplish that in no time, as long as we help you!”
Sera enthusiastically chortled as Aurora inputted reversed cursed energy into him, hoping to affect his emotions with the positive energy flowing through him.
“You can do this.”
Sera placed a palm on his shoulder.
“You’re practically the only one who can, aside from maybe grandfather.”
Neviro sighed.
“I know, but I..”
“Don't think of anything else. Just focus on wh
at you want to do. I mean, that's literally how you master things, right?”
Asher told him, adopting a small smirk.
“Yeah, you’re right. I got this.”
He stands up, smiling.
“Let's do this.”
On the day of the medieval fair ritual, Neviro performed successfully and competently, knocking out all of the accusations from the nobles that he was absolutely useless.
