Crimzon's secondary magic training [private]

Aether sat quietly in the middle of what was once appeared to be a sprawling marketplace in ancient times, his tower shield turned to its side and attached to his back and his best friend-turned-golem sitting beside him, her other-worldly metallic fingers intertwined with one another, her hair and battle dress making a soft green glow. Aether had recently obtained and transplanted within him a lacrima which held the power of the Bone God, turning him into a bone god slayer. It whispered to him when he first received it but now that it was a part of him he could hear its voice clearly, a deep tone that at some points resembled bones colliding within one another to produce a voice from another realm. Ahh I remember this village, wonderful place it once was. Most of the people that lived here made their living off of harvesting the power of the sun using the bones of my children. The voice spoke to him. Of course one I found out they were using my children’s corpses I sought to it myself that their civilization crumble. The voice laughed to itself, bones clattering in Aether’s mind as it did so. It was quite…humerus. The bony voice clattered again in an attempt to laugh as Aether tilted his head down and sighed. But enough with these attempts at tickling your funny bone for now, have you sent word out to those who bare the ability to take down gods? The voice questioned. “They have been notified, one should arrive shortly.” Aether replied in a hushed tone beneath his mask, opening his one uncovered eye to look out towards the only entrance by foot into the square. Good then I still have time to tell some jokes, I've been thinking of these ones for millennia! Aether sighed once more under his breath and kept his eye focused on the entrance

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Aether focus on the entrance was wearing thinner with every joke, eventually he just lay back and spread himself on the ground and looked up at the sky. Why didn’t the skeleton want to play in the grand magic games? groaning again Aether didn’t even bother to respond to the voice this time. Because he didn’t have the guts! with every bad joke aether felt as though he was sinking further into the ground, guided by the clattering, bony laugh of the voice of the bone god. When Anima heard the groans of her best friend and the person who provided her new body after certain events perspired where she looked to him to help a village that was the epicentre of an experiment in reanimating the dead, in which she ultimately lost her life and resulted in Aether killing her undead corpse after she died in his arms. She stuck around him however, her soul trapped from moving on. It took her a few weeks to discover how to talk to Aether, and another few weeks after he discovered he could use a golem as a host body for her soul, so here she was. “More bad jokes?” she asked Aether, who simply groaned in response. A grin spread across her lips as she loosened her grip on her hands and poked Aethers shoulder. “You could say they’re…bad to the bone.” Aether groaned again and sat up, staring at his old friend who had the widest and stupidest grin across her face. The sounds of clattering bones filled his mind before the voice spoke Now I see why you brought her back! Fantastic sense of humor! I think you've got yourself a keeper there brittle one! Aether was too busy looking at his best friend and attempting to ignore the voice in his head that none of them noticed the approaching fiery aura until it reached the entrance to the broken down marketplace.

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The voice was the first to notice the god slayer’s arrival and quickly shut himself up in hopes of getting Aether to notice before the man spoke out. Your mentor has arrived brittle one. The voice whispered to him, causing Aether to stop his staring at Anima and look at the man with his one uncovered eye, briefly flashing black then back to normal white to make sure that whatever he was looking at wasn’t some illusion of the spirit of the bone god, but he seemed alive enough and the aura emitting from the man seemed real enough. Standing up he bowed to the cloaked man. “Thank you for coming, it must be difficult for you to free your time for someone such as yourself.” Standing straight once again he began to give a quick once over on the man Aether took in his attire and muscle mass, clearly a seasoned fighter on looks alone but for now he couldn’t tell if the man was a close range powerhouse, long range cannon or a mix of the in between. Now this is an aura I haven’t felt in a long time! the voice laughed, forcibly causing its own aura to mix in with Aether’s in hopes of the god slayer’s mentor told him about this. This man was trained by Hephaestus himself! And I think I’m detecting hints of Prometheus in this magic aura! Lucky bone isn’t he? I wonder if he’ll react to my aura. the voice spoke, bones clattering in Aether’s mind.

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Anima was a bit late to notice, still looking at Aether upon the man’s arrival with a confused look on her face before she looked in the same direction he was and began to awkwardly shuffle around and get up before bowing down, her large arms outstretched behind her and almost scraping the floor when she stood up straight again. “We would like you to help teach him the ability to use god slayer magic. We recently acquired a lacrima that would allow him to tap into the power of the god but so far all he can do is just hear the voice of the gods power trapped within.” Aether winced as Anima told the armored man what had happened and what was currently going on, turning to give her an annoyed look before reverting his gaze back at the cloaked figure. “Apparently this god is quite the fan of puns, especially bad bone puns.” Anima continued as the voice dialled back on releasing its aura a bit. The nerve of this girl! And to thing I gave her praise not just a few moments ago! I find my jokes to be very humerus! Aether groaned after failing to block the voice out but quickly regained his composure and looked directly into the eyes of the brunette man standing before him, noticing something that seemed like a small flame burning within his eye Aether grinned behind his mask. “And right now it’s telling me he can sense you were trained by an old friend of his, I believe his name was Hephaestus?”

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“Aether. Aether Lepan. Second Generation Bone God Slayer and Dimensional mage” He said before nodding towards the green golem beside him. “This is Anima. Physical Enhancement mage.” As the man began to approach and remove his cloak Aether made a motion with his hand towards Anima to back away, causing her to nod at him and jump back to land on a building with a soft thud before sitting down with her legs crossed and arms by her side to overlook the training. Aether removed his baggy clothing to reveal his own, black and white, combat-ready suit. The shoulder area and the area around the lower back was open and the suit itself was flexible enough to not allow for any restriction in mobility but still held together extremely well. This will be tough training brittle one, let’s hope you don’t break, for both our sake.

“Before we begin I’ve got some things I have to put away.” Aether announced in response to the armored mans question, getting down on one knee and placing the palm of one of his hands to the ground. The shield that was attached to his overcoat began to rise and float over to Aether, along with the overcoat attached to it just as a portal opened up beside him, a swirling red vortex that had no pull and merely led to Aether’s on personal pocket dimension. The overcoat and shield floated down to enter the portal and as it entered made not a sound other than the sound of the portal closing behind it.

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As the portal closed he stood up once again and faced the man. The voice in his mind laughed and spoke out. Ohohoho! I didn’t know you wielded the power of Chaos brittle one! This training might go smoother than I expected! the sound of bones clattering once again in his mind as he tried to block it out. Imagine my surprise when the one who wishes to gain my power wields the power of the void itself! Brittle one you may be but I have never met a brittle bone who is a space weaver! Aether smiled slightly behind his lipless mask, never has anyone really seen or felt him using his magic and reacted in the same way that this god has, well the spirit of the god at least, it gave him a little bit of a boost in his confidence in attempting to learn the Bone God’s power. That reminds me of this great joke! And it was then his confidence immediately crumbled with that one line. Why do skeletons absolutely despise winter? Aether sighed and tilted his head forward in a defeated fashion as the voice began to tell jokes again. Because the wind just goes straight through them! With each joke the bones chattered together like someone attempting to play the xylophone on a ribcage. Oh don’t be such a sore bone! That was humerus! I guess some times its not tibia. Aether groaned again and clutched his head as the voice of the old god continued to tell the horrible jokes that were bad to the bone.

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Aether held out his hand after hearing his temporary mentor explain the beginnings of god slayer magic and how it is the most corrupt magic in Earthland, so corrupt that not even other slayers would be able to consume it. The man held his hand out with his palm facing up and a small black flame began to burn in his palm. Even though it was a small flame Aether could feel the intensity within the flame. Ohohoho just like good ole Hephaestus’ flame you could forge a fantastic blade on that fire! I wonder if he forges his own weapons? They’d be fantastic quality if he paired up with a god slayer who learned from Pluto. He always found the best quality materials but kept them all to himself. Never really talked to the other gods that much either and kept to himself so that might be one reason. Aether ignored the ramblings of the old god and held his hand out similar in fashion to how the fire slayer had summoned his flame. Concentrating on the palm of his hand and clasping it tightly before opening it again and a bone as black as night began from what appeared to be a femur started to form in his hand slowly. After a few seconds the bone had completely formed with some cracks of purple along the outside. However the bone only lasted a short time afterward and shattered into black powder. Determined not to give up however Aether continued to attempt to make the femur perfect.

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Aether attempted to create it again a few more times with each bone shattering into a powder every time. Come now weaver! You can weave doorways to other worlds what’s so difficult about creating a single bone? The old god shouted in his mind. I mastered bone in a few hours after my own creation! I have no doubt that you can achieve mastery in a few months weaver but this is just appalling! Perhaps you need a visual demonstration on the structure of bone? Aether’s eye flashed a brief dark purple, the representation of the old god passing on the knowledge of the creation of bone into Aether, from the outer shell right down to the marrow. Taking this newfound knowledge Aether began to craft his next bone, building it from the inside out instead of from the bottom up. The marrow forming quickly with a hardened bone forming quickly around the marrow, taking the form of a human femur with no cracks along anywhere around the outside of its hard shell. In all forms of matter the bone that he had just constructed was flawless, aside from the fact that it was pitch black and almost pure corruption the bone was perfect. Fine bone, but it could use some touch ups here or there. You’ll get used to making these things eventually void weaver. The voice of the old god complimented as the bone fell into the palm of Aether’s hand. As he twisted it around to make sure that the bone truly had no flaws he thought it looked as though it had come directly out of a human corpse that was burnt to a crisp.

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Taking in the advice from his mentor he looked down at the bone in his hand and willed it to disperse, causing it to turn into black powder much like his failed creations beforehand. He attempted it once again as the armoured man stepped back and drew his sword. The femur formed once again in his grasp, its midnight shade making no reflection as if absorbing all the light that hits it as Aether gripped the bone tighter. Too busy examining the newly formed perfected bone Aether didn’t even get a chance to react to what his mentor had said before he had already begun to run straight for him. Aether’s first instinct was to study his muscle movements then block with a thin tendril but he wouldn’t have enough time to deflect the blow with one so he began to enter a state of panic. Weaver! The bone! Use the bone! Forge your blade space weaver! The old god shouted in his mind, causing him to snap out of his panic and bring the newly formed bone up to collide with the blade, altering its form as it flew through the air to make it take the shape of a khopesh. The ball of the bone closest to his clenched fist became a miniature skull to form a pommel, the bone at which he had gripped became wrapped in spongey cartilage to provide a better grip on the weapon itself to form the hilt, The rest of the bone began to pull back with the swing, taking the form of some sort of lengthened fishing hook made of scorched bone.

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The blades collided, bone against metal, mentor against trainee, god against god. Aether never really caught the name of the god he was drawing power from until it finally hit him in the adrenalin rush as he moved to make a blade that could deflect the blow. Osiris, god of the afterlife, death, life and resurrection. Those few moments that he had to form the weapon drew from his knowledge of the gods recorded past and the knowledge of the old civilization in which he ruled. The khopesh was mainly a weapon that was used in ceremony’s and as a means to rip shields from enemy troops but as of right now Aether would be using it to block the weapon that was going to end up slicing him if he didn’t do anything. Ohohoho now there’s a blade I never thought I’d see again. Not many people in this age focus on the ripping of defence and just focus on getting in before they can set up a defence. Not my favourite weapon but it has its uses, but you probably already knew that if that weapon was the first thing that came to mind to protect yourself. Osiris spoke in his mind Nice construction as well, you fixed the flaws as you shifted the bone into its new shape. You must have a good understanding of the creation and reconstruction of the bones in order to do something like this. Aether twisted the blade to shift the weight to slide the sharp edge of the incoming blade so that it would become caught by the hooked edge.

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The aura of the flame god slayer clashed against his own, heat seemingly washing over him as his own corrupted aura attempted to protect him. This burning bone is skilled in close combat, retreat for now and attempt to assault him from afar. Nodding and noticing that the armored mentor had allowed his blade to become caught he tried to pull away but with the sword caught and his grip on the blade growing tighter Aether decided to allow himself to be carried along with his blade and flung through the air, khopesh still in hand as the bone reverted back to the shape of a femur once more before shattering. Flying through the air Aether twisted his body to look at what the flame god slayer was preparing just as an arc of black fire shot from his sword in the general direction of where he would land. Think quickly space weaver, those flames are sure to hit their mark if you land and you won’t have time to prepare a defence. The old god Osiris advised, but Aether already had a plan in mind for avoiding the blaze. Quickly forming three small, straight rib he imbued it with the corrupted energy of the old god and threw it in the path of the blaze in the shape of a wedge, with all three glowing a midnight black before two walls of black bones taking the shape of a cow tipper appeared where they once were, with Aether safely inside just before the black blaze raged the half pyramid.

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Remembering spotting two blazing crescents moving in the direction of where he would land Aether quickly created another four black ribs, lodging three of them into the walls to reinforce them and a forth to plant into the ground to prevent it from becoming superheated. The bone pyramid structure doubled its thickness and rose up out of the ground slightly just as the second arc of flame came crashing into it. Quick thinking space weaver, you’re getting better with each bone you make. But how did you know that the bones would make this? The voice questioned, clearly wondering how Aether possessed the knowledge to cause the bones to do such a thing. “I gave them instructions to form the pyramid with their duplicates, specifically to form a square pyramid. So when I left one out it didn’t completely form.” Aether explained softly under a hushed breath in order to not allow his mentor to hear, though with the shape of the pyramid it was unlikely he would have heard him if he talked normally. Clever, it’s almost like you created a skeleton warrior. But simpler instructions and more bones. Aether smiled slightly behind his mask and allowed the bones around him to crumble into dust as he stood up and faced his mentor once again. Keep up this training and you’ll master bone in no time, space weaver. Osiris spoke. That skeleton comment I made earlier reminds me of a joke! Want to hear it? Aether groaned again as the old god started making more bad jokes and puns about bones.

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Aether ignored all the jokes that the old god in his mind made and began to formulate countermeasures to any further attacks, his mind working like clockwork formulating bone construct concepts and how they could work, his one uncovered eye darting around the arena as he thought of likely constructs that would best defend and counter fire. ”You're taking into account the anatomy and bone structure, which I commend. But as good as you are at crafting, let's work on making your creations stronger. So you will need to learn how to handle a stronger attack, you can be stationary and create whatever you wish, but I wont pull this attack as much as the others.” His mentor spoke out, explaining what he would attempt next and give Aether enough time to prepare himself for the next attack, which wouldn’t be as weak as the previous attack and would likely destroy any poorly made bones if he rushed their creation. Focusing on the area around his palms he concentrated on condensing the corrupt energy to strengthen the density of the bones he was creating, creating a few more ribs and keeping them in his grip. More ribs? How many walls to you plan to create this time space weaver? Osiris questioned That many won’t be able to hold back an attack stronger than the last ones, even if you pulled the same stunt twice. Which is why I’ve come up with another option. Aether responded, grinning beneath his mask. ”Ready?” His mentor shouted, preparing his own attack as Aether nodded and held the ribs up like he was going to use them as throwing knives.

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As the armored mentor charged his attack Aether got into a running stance, both arms spread behind him with five pairs of ribs in total in his grasp placed between the gaps in his fingers, left foot forward and right foot prepared to kick off from the ground into a sprint. Even from this distance Aether could feel the heat emanating from the charging metal of the sword, but the feeling of running away didn’t even cross his mind for as soon as the flames had come from the brunette’s blade Aether was prepared to defend against the blaze. As soon as Aether noticed the tensing of his muscles within his arm he made his rush straight towards the incoming attack as the wall of fire was released from the blade, bringing the ribs together to form crosses, throwing two ahead of him which he would step on and shatter, causing black bones to erupt from the ground and encase his legs in a bone exoskeleton, throwing a third cross into the air to catch later as he shattered the remaining bones in his hands to create similar exoskeletons on his arms, catching the final cross and smashing it into his chest to complete his armor, the corrupted bone surrounding the rest of his body and head, uniting the other parts of the armor to give him complete protection from the incoming head and blaze. All this happening within mere seconds as the wave drew closer and closer towards him. He didn’t doubt that he had enough speed to safely pass through the blaze as he continued to rocket towards the wall and jump, twisting in the air as if he himself was a spear being thrown at a target merely to simply curl the flames around him as he passed through the wall of fire to land safely roughly three meters in front of his mentor, sliding an extra two meters before bones sprung out of the souls of his exoskeleton, halting his movement suddenly and causing a gust of tailwind and black embers to flow past him. "I think I'm getting the hang of this."

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Retracting the spikes from the ground back into the boots of the exoskeleton Aether stretched to test the flexibility of the armor after diving through the scorching wall of corrupted fire in what he would assume would lock the joints of the armor but he found it still very flexible and lightweight despite how dense it actually was. There was no doubt in his mind that this was going to be the best quality exoskeleton he will make for a long time, so he might as well get as much out of it as he could whilst he was still training. Letting his arms relax at his side he felt the old god speak in his mind. I have to say space weaver, I’m impressed. I’m starting to have second thoughts on my second thoughts on you not being worthy of my power. I believe its time you learned of my origins. The earth beneath his feet seemed to quake, but it quickly fell silent as though time itself had stopped, Aether himself felt as though he was experiencing an out of body feeling as he gazed around. Soon enough a cloaked skeleton appearing behind his mentor, a staff of black bone adorned with a dragons skull in its grasp. “I am the god of the dead, living, afterlife and resurrection.” The figure spoke “Osiris” Aether whispered under his breath, only for the figure to let out a bone chattering laugh. “Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while! But that is only one of me as I have had many names over the ages in which your kindred bones have prospered. I was first known as Osiris, then Nekros, Nergal, Michtantecuhtli, Donn, Yeomra, Daebyeol, Supay, Hades, Thanatos, Hel, you name the death deity, that was probably me.”

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“So then what is your true name?” Aether questioned, still a little shocked to hear that the god that he was drawing power from was all of these ancient dieties. ”Now now space weaver, I can’t just tell you my true name. Names have power, even in death, they can command the living, the dead and the inbetween. Though I suppose I can’t have you calling me Osiris forever, so you may refer to me as what the world now calls me. Nathir, God of Death and the Afterlife, and with that I am also the god of life and Resurrection.” Bowing with his arm across his chest, Nathir finally introduced himself to Aether despite all that Aether had been through during the implantation and his training. “What is this?” Aether questioned, gazing around at the area that was once the ancient marketplace but seemed to be frozen in time with the ground beneath his feet cracking and turning a dark midnight black. ”We are conversing in your mind, I have not enough power to manifest myself in your plain so we must take here, but not for long as our time is brief, so for now whilst I can I will inform you of what this power you now have is capable of accomplishing and my past as the Bone Demon God.” And with that Nathir began explaining a condensed version of how he conquered various continents and his origins as the Bone Demon God and all the capabilities of bone before Aether was sent back into his body roughly a few seconds before the ground beneath his feet ruptured.

Before the ground erupted beneath his feet Aether quickly threw up a half capsule shape beneath him expanding from the soles of his feet which would carry him up into the air along with the blazing heat and chunks of earth. “Now, I want you to go all out on me. Give me all you've got.” His mentor shouted out from below him, standing upon the only piece of black earth that wasn’t upheaved among the blast. Absorbing the capsule into his exoskeleton Aether reformed the arms of his exoskeleton to take the shape of blades, his feet becoming pointed like a drill tip and using gravity to his advantage and with his basic knowledge of aeronautics came diving down where he was standing when the ground erupted beneath him, where the earth had become soft within the blast allowing him easy access to the necropolis that was held 50 meters beneath the plaza.

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As soon as he had landed he created and threw six ribs in a hexagonal pattern around the hole he had made that were set create a wall between them and imbed in the ceiling as soon as all of them detected the corruption of a god slayer. This would cause the hole to close if his mentor decided to either jump down or simply flush him out by sending fire down to incinerate him, trapping the guild master down here with Aether, or causing another eruption of fire on the surface. Regardless of what would happen Aether quickly made his way over to a tomb Nathir had told him about in the mindscape, the tomb of his first child who’s bones were imbued with the magical energy of Sol Invictus. There was only three bones within this tomb, each appeared to glow a dull gold, the skull, the femur, and the humerus, each of them seemed to hum with the energy of the undying sun. I’m sure my son would not mind you using him in this way, he was always one to help those of the living. Nathir spoke in his mind, allowing Aether to consume one of the bones of the remains of his son. With that Aether picked up the femur and took a bite, the energy along with the bone it was stored in flew into Aethers mouth, absorbing and completely refilling all the mana he had used till this point with what felt to Aether as though he just doubled his max amount of mana. His exoskeleton had shattered upon impact with the stone floor of the necropolis and turned to dust but now he probably had enough to recreate the armor he had to hold back the creation of the exoskeleton for now for a full out attack if the flame god slayer decided to jump down.

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