Chapter 24: Ch. 24 New developments
"There you are Galileo. We were looking for you." Hours after the party Meraleona finds Galileo sitting by himself on the roof of the Vermillion estate. He didn't look at her, just stared blankly at the sky. You just up and vanished. Not that-"
"Who do you think would win out of me and Magnus?"
"Huh? Where did that come from?"
"Just answer."
"Magnus."
"I thought so." She confirmed it for him. At first he thought his system was just exaggerating to motivate him, but there was indeed a noticeable gap between them. `Lumiette and his siblings thought so. He recognized Magnus had pulled ahead some, nothing tougher training and a few new moves couldn't fix, but to think he barely had Galileo in his sights anymore was beyond shameful. Magnus' gifts felt more like charity now and he couldn't even give them back. "So earlier, you didn't think your 'baby' brother could control the chaos, did you?"
"Being honest I didn't. You may be strong, but you've shown me nothing to make me believe you could do that."
"You thought Magnus could have? Why did you try to butt in?" Meraleona punches him in the back of his head "Ow what the hell!"
"I wasn't gonna hit you on your birthday, but you're starting to annoy me. If you think you're falling behind catch up, plain and simple."
"I know that."
"That's all there is to it. Until then I'll keep looking out for you, my 'BABY' brother. I swear Leo acts more mature than you…when you're done crying come inside." Meraleona jumps off of the roof and leaves him alone.
"(She's an intriguing woman…)"
"(Got a nice body too.)"
"What the-?" Galileo had forgotten about them but Veldora and Ddraig settled down a while ago. Now joining them in his soul Galileo finds himself before the two dragons once again. "When did you two get all buddy buddy? And you, quit ogling my sister!"
"Veldora has proven himself a worthy adversary in combat, he lives up to the name true dragon."
"Hahahahahahahahaha! The heavenly dragon is not a title to be taken lightly either."
"So you're friends now? Good that makes this simple, I want you to show me strong ancient dragon moves. I need way more power that what I have right now."
"Why should we bother teaching him Ddraig?"
"…I'm your host. Don't old monsters usually want a strong host?"
"Don't know, is there even anything in it for us?"
"Maybe if there was some kind of system where we could exchange someone's hard earned points for some entertainment in this expanse of low level madness."
"That would be a good idea. Now who could supply them for us?"
"(Are these bastards trying to extort me for system points? And low level? That's just cold…)Wait, how'd you even know about that!?"
"See Veldora he was holding out on us."
"The fox was right!" Since he and Magnus were linked as jinchuriki Veldora and Ddraig could go visit Kurama and vice versa. Over on Kurama's side they saw him living lavish in Magnus soul. He had gourmet food and snacks, countless volumes of manga and light novels with their anime counterparts, every video game console currently available hooked up to a one hundred meter screen(which often gets destroyed when he rage quits), a beanbag chair, and many other modern commodities that would make any otaku think they died and went to giant heaven. "He told us all about the system, cheapskate. We want cool stuff or no help from us."
"Fine( system give them access.)" A system interface appeared in front of each of them.
"Yeah it worked!"
"I told you." The two ancient dragons high fived laughed victoriously.
"What the- don't you have any points?" Veldora was pained to see all those great items unobtainable because he had no points.
"I have plenty more, but I need them for more important things, so you guys are on a budget."
"What are we gonna do with this little bit of points?"
"Don't know. If you want more, help me earn them. So, let's get stuff done." Galileo took a fighting stance.
"Well he did honor his end…"
"I guess we can show him a thing or two then."
Ddraig and Veldora spit blobs of their respective elements and they take human shapes. "Meet Vel and Dray. We won't teach you anything unless you can defeat them first."
"Sounds easy enough."
"Without using any elemental abilities. That includes void."
Elsewhere Magnus had secluded himself in a barrier in anticipation of his system presents. "(I wonder if upgrading his body again was all that good an idea? He barely learned to use the true powers of a demon or azure dragon, it's hard to tell if he'll use these new gifts any better. I'd feel bad to trap Ddraig and Veldora with him if he isn't going any further…At least he started to check his system, if he didn't get the other primal elements the mutation wouldn't have worked the way it did. With a little more pushing he may be close to waking 'that' up. Then maybe he'll finally be a worthwhile rival for me again.)"
"Magnus it's getting dark out how long are you going to stay in there?" Noelle had come to check on him since he was taking so much time. "Is this one of those system things?"
"Yeah It'll be just a few more minutes. You don't have to wait for me."
"I'll stay here and see how it plays out. Sounds a lot more interesting than watching Asta and Yuno's hundredth challenge. They'll com[ete over anything." She brings an ornate chair out of her storage ring, getting comfortable for the show.
"Suit yourself. I can't say for sure what will happen, so don't relax too much."
"Ok do your thing and explode or whatever (Every time he gets a new power something crazy happens to him. I hope he's going to be okay.)"
"I'll be fine like every other time, but thanks for the concern."
"Shut up!" A blast of water smashes into the wall of his barrier.
"(Jenny how much long-)" Magnus caught an extreme headache from the blue. His head felt hot, like someone ignited his brain with Ameterasu, no it felt even hotter than that. The pain was unbearable even for someone as powerful as Magnus, he could only cradle his head in pain.
"Magnus what's wrong? What's going on?" She was already out of her seat approaching the barrier.
"Stay back, I don't think the barrier will-" He barely opened his eyes and a golden light bright as the sun illuminated the box he contained himself in. The light was so bright that the surrounding area seemed to regress to broad daylight yet the sun was still low in the air and dropping. Noelle couldn't even look directly at him anymore and approached with her eyes closed. She wasn't sure if she should interfere, but she had to make a choice quickly the barrier was beginning to sizzle and melt under the intense heat.
"Magnus I'm-"
"More barriers! I said I'll be fine!"
"Ok!" Just before before the barrier fell several more layers appeared to take their place. "(Please come out safe!)" Moments later the lights die down and the sky returns to normal. "Magnus you did it, good work!" The barrier instantly comes down and she runs to hug him. Looking at him up close, she notices the change in his eyes. "Magnus your eyes changed! They're beautiful, take a look!" She holds up a mirror made of water for him.
Looking back into his own eyes it was as if he stared into a universe. At the center where his pupils were, a glorious sword sitting at the center shining like a sun. In the place of the rinne-sharingan's magatama, there were now swords rotating on their own orbits like planets around that sun. Of the many changes the system had brought him this may have been his favorite.
While he admired his new eyes, he received a system notification. "(Happy thirteenth birthday Magnus for this year's gift, you have been given the divine grace 'Sunshine'. Due to the mixing of compatible powers "Rinne-sharigan, Shinigami powers, Unlimited blades works, primal chaos constitution and divine grace 'Sunshine' your eyes have become the Heavenly sword emperor's eyes. I hope you make good use of them.)"
"(You know I will.)"
Done watching Magnus watch himself Noelle causes the mirror to rupture splashing him in the face. "Don't fall in love with yourself, that's why I'm here. Let's go inside it's cold out here." Since the show was over and Magnus was out of danger, she had no more desire to be outside. "I bet those brothers of yours haven't stopped fighting long enough to noticed what happened. Come on let's go back."
"(Hey Jenny if I got Sunshine does that mean Galileo got darkness?)"
"(Yes, he got the demon king's level of darkness.)"
"(I wonder if it reacted anything like mine did. Can you put him through?)"
"(He's not responding. Should I try again?)"
"(That's fine he's probably still in his feelings, we'll talk later.) Heavenly sword emperor Magnus Pendragon... damn I'm cool."
"Umm e-excuse me, are you really Magnus Pendragon?" A soft voice caught Magnus and Noelle's attention.
"Who's asking?"
Turning around he finds himself looking at a shivering young girl with long golden blonde hair and big black eyes. She had delicate features and a timid demeanor twiddling her thumbs trying to build up the courage to introduce herself. The girl wore what once looked like an elegant pink dress, but now it was ripped up and covered in mud. There were cuts and bruises all over her body and her silky hair was badly tangled. "M-Morgiana…Pendragon" she shyly spoke her name. Magnus and Noelle could only stare at each other in shock.
After washing up and being provided a new outfit Morgiana was escorted to the dining room where Magnus, Noelle, Asta and Yuno were all waiting seated at the table.
"So that's the girl claiming to be a Pendragon?"
"I-I…" The flustered girl could barely get a word out to speak on her own behalf.
"You don't have to glare Yuno, you'll scare her." Yuno was confused as to what she was scolding him for, he thought he looked normal. "Don't worry, he just looks mean."
"She kinda looks like a girl Magnus." Asta was already in her face studying her features. "It's scary how much you two look alike. Nice to meet ya! I'm Asta Pendragon!" He holds out a hand with his usual big friendly grin.
She stares blankly at him for a second before shaking his hand. "Hi, I'm Morgiana Pendragon."
"Asta never fails to get people to open up. Still he's right now that I look at her cleaned up, she does look a lot like you. Do you have a sister or cousin you never introduced us to?"
"As far as I know my only family is these two. (Jenny?)"
"(I have nothing on this girl, the circumstances of your birth remain a mystery to me. Unlike Galileo, you don't even have birth records to help piece together your first three years. Only the father's accounts. So I can't help much with figuring out your lineage, sorry.)"
"(It's ok, I'm sure we'll get some answers soon enough…) You don't have to stand there in the doorway. Have a seat."
Morgiana nods and sits at the closest chair to her, at the far end of the table from everyone else.
"You don't have to sit so far away" Morgiana was startled when her chair was suddenly hoisted into the air. Asta carried her seat with her in it and placed it right next to Noelle. "It'll be hard to talk all the way over there."
"Thank you..." She looks down and goes back to twiddling her thumbs.
"Please stop that. I don't like seeing people waste time twiddling their thumbs figuratively or literally. It's a pet peeve of mine."
"I'm sorry!" She buried her face in Noelle's sleeve, she looked embarrassed like she wanted to cry."
"Way to go Magnus." She glared daggers at him.
"(She's way to sensitive…) H-hey it's not that serious, you can do whatever makes you feel comfortable."
"No, it's ok…I'll stop if it bothers you."
"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions." She nods her approval. "I apologize if I should be familiar with you, but how are we related?"
"You're my big brother. You were separated from us at a very early age."
"How did that come about?"
"I-I don't know, mother says you were called to somewhere far away…This must be where she meant."
"Mother? Who would she be?"
"Mika Pendragon."
"Who would 'our' father be then?"
"Arthur Pendragon of Camelot."
That was the answer that startled Magnus. THE King Arthur Pendragon was supposed to be his father? How could that be? There was no Camelot in this world, he checked extensively. If a king had two kids by the same woman, does that mean this Mika was supposed to be his wife? Then what about Guinevere? He only got more questions the more he thought about it. "So how did you get here."
"When I awoke about a month ago, everything I knew was gone. After hearing about a house Pendragon in this strange land I thought, it could be someone I knew. So, I came here and found you brother."
"What happened before you awoke?"
"I can't remember, many of my memories are blurry."
"Then how can we be sure of what you're saying?"
The sharpening of Magnus' tone scared her a little but she looked back into his eyes and answered as directly as she could. "I can't prove anything, but I know my name is Pendragon. You share my name, and look very similar to me, we have to be related!"
"(That isn't enough to guarantee blood, but it doesn't seem like she's lying. Her knowledge of king Arthur's legend is off though. Considering Me, Gali, and Lumiette stories can change.) Alright I want to test one thing. If you pass, I'll believe you and you can stay. If not, you leave immediately."
"That sounds kind of harsh Magnus."
"I'll do it!" She had a glint of determination in her eyes. She was intent on proving her legitimacy.
"But you don't know what it is yet? What if I ask something strange or dangerous of you?"
"I know my big brother won't try to hurt me."
"You sound so sure, very well…look into my eyes once more." Doing as instructed, Morgiana found herself lost in the solar system of swords. With each rotation she went deeper and deeper into a trance. Soon memories came flooding back to her. She remembered a view she'd seen countless times sitting on her father's shoulders as they looked at all of Camelot from their castle. Her mother was there too. She was a beautiful woman with sleek black hair, she appeared to be of Asian descent. On the back of her shirt a red and white Uchiwa was stitched on to it. Then the scene changed to her being carried away screaming for her parents from the same castle now burning down. The sound of fighting could be heard all around as knights and demons, gods, and monsters all killed one another. That was all Magnus needed to see for now. He looked at his little sister who had tears streaming down her face, staring back her round eyes now the trademarked red of the Uchiha. Morgiana had awakened the sharingan. What more proof could he ask for? ("So I'm actually the son of King Arthur and an Uchiha woman? This girl is my flesh and blood little sister. I want to know more about her, but it seems she's been through a lot. Best not to add to her stress for now.) Sorry about that Morgiana. Make yourself at home, what's mine is yours little sister."
"Morgiana you're crying? What did Magnus do?" Noelle wiped her face with a napkin.
"It's nothing, I'm happy to see my brother again."
"It's been a long day I'm going to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be even more busy, you should all get some rest too. One of the servants can show you to your room when you're ready."
"Don't worry about it, I'll show her around. We can have a little girl time before bed."
"Sure, don't stay up too late. Good night."
"I hope you like it here Morgiana, see you in the morning."
"Night."
Asta and Yuno follow suit and leave Noelle with Morgiana.
"I'm glad to finally have another girl here! Let's be good friends Morgiana."
"Me too, I've never really had friends before."
"REALLY? We'll have to fix that."
"Yes, I would like that very much."
"Tell me Morgiana, have you ever tried a taco?"