User blog:Thrycius/Zheiro and The Moonlight Sculptor: Chapter 11

'''Disclaimer: This is a crossover fanfic between Brave Frontier and The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor. I don't own either of those; they belong to their respective owners, namely Gumi/Alim and Nam-Hi-Sung (남희성) respectively.'''

'''Disclaimer (extended): This crossover fanfic now also contains some elements from the Type-Moon universe, owned entirely by Kinoku Nasu. I don't own anything from there, either.'''

Is this your first time seeing this story? Go directly to chapter 1 here!

“Ugh… “ Zheiro groaned as he stepped into the next area, looking around only to find some dubious looking building in the middle of a creepy looking graveyard littered with dead and rotting trees. “This place is cold and spooky. Just what is this place?”

“This is the Monster’s Nest, and it’s exactly what it sounds like.” Thrycius said with a laugh. “But before we begin, I want to discuss how you did on your battle against Luna.”

“Oh, right! How is that rude woman doing, anyway?” Zheiro asked worriedly.

“I CAN STILL HEAR YOU, YOU STUPID OAFS!” A roar came from the Remains of Mirza they had just left behind, causing Zheiro to twitch.

He wouldn’t have to do battle against her again, would he?

“As you can hear, she seems doing just fine,” Thrycius laughed. “More importantly, let me tell you my evaluation of your battle against Luna so that you can learn how you could improve.”

“Let me guess, 30 points or something like that?” Zheiro asked dejectedly. “I know I have a lot to improve on, but I’m definitely working hard on everything you’ve been telling me to do—”

“No, no, nothing so low. I would say 85 points or so actually, considering your skill level. You did quite well.” Thrycius interrupted with a smile.

“Wait, really? 85 points? ...You’re not going to say it’s out of a thousand or something, right?” Zheiro asked in disbelief.

“Ha ha ha! Good response! But no, I’m not that cruel. I really would rate it an 85 out of 100, for someone of your skill level. Fighting someone with a lance with only a sword is quite difficult, after all. A skilled lance user wouldn’t have even let you get close, constantly threatening you with the point while preventing you from easily grabbing it. Luna may have some skill, but as she was there she was no master.”

Zheiro quickly whipped his head around, expecting the rude lady to shout something in response to being insulted, but heard nothing instead.

“How did you know her name, anyway?” Zheiro asked, turning back. “Is there some legend about a woman who guards those ruins?”

“No, no, of course not.” Thrycius said, shaking his head with his usual grin. “Luna was both a strong and beautiful soldier, who inspired many of her allies as she fought at the frontlines of La Veda until the very end during the great war with the gods. I’m sure you know that occured quite some time ago, so there’s no way she could be alive now. That’s why I called her a copy— because the real thing has to already be dead. Besides, the current form that we saw earlier was clearly when she was not at her strongest.”

Zheiro half expected the rude lady to shout at them again, but like before there was no response.

Why was Luna able to hear him and not Thrycius?

“Not at her strongest?” Zheiro finally asked. “But if she was a copy, then wouldn’t everything from her legend be copied over? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“That’s because the legend is copied only up to a point.” Thrycius replied. “No summoner has been able to fully copy anyone’s legend upon summoning someone, and must work to regain their strength by fusing beings that carry some amount of experience within them.”

“I’m not even sure if I want to know how that works,” Zheiro admitted. “Fusing other beings into them? Really?”

“That’s right. It’s not exactly a pleasant experience for the ones being used as material for fusion, but that’s just how it works.”

“So…” Zheiro said slowly, “Are you telling me that they are actually fusing other people into their summons? What happens to them, the ones that are being used as materials?”

“Well, technically yes, but they are really just using other copies as fusion materials. That, or a certain group of supposedly rare beings that can carry and store vast amounts of knowledge and records of the past, enough to make even me jealous. Then again, compared to me, what they store is very specialized.” Thrycius said, nodding his head as he crossed his arms. “So in the end, they really can’t compare with me.”

Zheiro sighed at his companion’s antics, before he noticed something his companion had just said.

“Wait a moment,” Zheiro suddenly spoke up. “Didn’t you say that even copies think and feel like any other person? You said it’s not a pleasant experience, so what happens to them?”

“Once fused, they are gone forever. You could argue that they exist within the copy they were fused into, but there’s no evidence of that, not to mention the copy does not change their behavior in any way. Like I said, it’s not exactly a pleasant experience, but most summoners, if not all of them, just don’t care.”

Zheiro frowned. Did summoners really have the right to toy with beings that could feel and think just like them? They may not be the real thing, but it still felt wrong to him.

“Anyway, we’re getting off track here; we were supposed to discuss your duel with Luna,” Thrycius said, breaking Zheiro out of his thoughts. “You seemed to have forgotten your training when the fight first begun.”

“Well, I wasn’t prepared when the fight started,” Zheiro argued. “You were the one who made her attack me before I was ready.”

“Zheiro, that kind of logic can quickly get you killed, you know?” Thrycius reprimanded. “If someone wants to kill you, they won’t wait for you to be ready to face them first. I won’t expect you to be ready at all times, but at least remember your training once the fight has already started.”

“Okay, I get it. I’ll try not to forget.” Zheiro conceded. “So? What else did I do wrong?”

“Not much, actually. You did a very good job maintaining distance until it was time for you to attack, and you had countered her attack beautifully.”

“Hold on. Didn’t you say before that the Moonlight Sculptor has to take initiative and strike first?” Zheiro asked. “I didn’t do anything but wait for her to attack first.”

“No, your judgement during the battle was correct.” Thrycius said. “Charging recklessly at a lance user who is already ready to meet you is suicide. Maintaining correct distance is a very important aspect of battle, second only to footwork.”

“I don’t remember you mentioning anything about maintaining distance, though,” Zheiro frowned. “And besides, it seems counterintuitive when you’re always telling me that I need to strike first. “

“Zheiro, no matter what kind of fighting style you use, mastering the spacing between you and your opponent can be the difference between life and death,” Thrycius said. “Really, there are a lot of things you need to watch out for in a fight. Taking the initiative and striking first is certainly important, even more so for the Moonlight Sculptor, but it is not the only important thing you need to worry about.”

“If it’s so important,” Zheiro asked, “Then why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Well, about that,” Thrycius said, scratching his head as he grinned. “I kind of forgot. I’m a storyteller, not a teacher or a swordsman, so you’ll have to excuse me for that.”

“Are you serious? It’s a matter of life or death for me, and you just… forgot?” Zheiro asked in disbelief. “That’s not exactly something you can easily forget, is it?”

“Well, excuse me for being in a rush,” Thrycius said with a laugh. “There was a lot to cover in so little time, not to mention we were rushing to move on to the next area to get some distance between us and the assassins.”

Zheiro sighed. “Okay, I get it. What do you have to say about my battle against Luna?”

“Hmm. Your footwork was also quite well done; if you hadn’t executed it properly, you might not have countered so easily. Really, you did a really good job despite not having started learning the techniques until recently.”

“Could I be a genius or something?” Zheiro asked, feeling a little excited. “I didn’t think I would master it that quickly.”

“A genius? No, you’re not one,” Thrycius bluntly said with a laugh. “It’s because of all the hard work you’ve put into practicing it nonstop. I’ve seen you practice it even while fighting against monsters, which I have no problems with. And that’s not mentioning that you did have a good basis for it despite being a sculptor, or the fact that the constant fighting I’ve put you through prepared you better than I thought for learning these techniques. If you were really a genius you would have mastered it much sooner than you did. But that’s no matter; keep up the good work, because the rest of the techniques won’t be as easy to learn.”

“I-I see,” Zheiro dejectedly replied, before perking up a little again as he remembered something. “Right, you mentioned something about a challenge for me here?”

“That’s right,” Thrycius nodded. “Before we can move on, there’s a task I will need you to complete.”

“And that is?” Zheiro asked excitedly.

“Bring down some skeletons.”

Zheiro stared at his companion for a few seconds, who simply grinned back at him.

“...That’s it?” Zheiro finally asked.

“Yep.”

“...There’s a catch, right?” Zheiro asked in disbelief “Telling me to fight monsters is nothing new. They’re going to be really strong, or hard to kill, or something, right?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that.” Thrycius said, waving his hand as he laughed. “I’m just going to have you bring down some skeletons, without destroying them.”

Zheiro blinked. “...Is that even possible? Taking down skeletons without destroying them?” He asked. Considering this was Thrycius, however, there probably was meaning behind it, even if he couldn’t understand why or how yet.

“To be more precise, I’m going to be having you cut away at the darkness controlling the skeletons. Even if they are without souls, you might as well put them to rest, right?” Thrycius asked, grinning.

“Cut… away the darkness? Without souls? Hold on, I have a lot of questions,” Zheiro asked. “Those skeleton monsters you speak of, they are undead, right? And they actually don’t have souls?”

“Yep,” Thrycius confirmed, nodding his head. “It’s a common misconception, but the skeletons here don’t have souls. Rather, they are controlled by a dark force, which I want you to cut away from.”

“And I suppose being able to cut the darkness away is required for someone like me wanting to be a Moonlight Sculptor.” Zheiro said, trying to put two and two together.

“That’s right. As a Moonlight Sculptor, you need to learn how to cut away at the intangible. I’m not really expecting you to make clean and precise cuts right now, so it’s okay if you attempt to cut away at the darkness with brute force.” Thrycius admitted, crossing his arms. “Unfortunately, your training with magic hasn’t gone as far as I would have liked, so we may end up having to stay here for a while.”

“So we’re staying here until I succeed, then?” Zheiro asked, looking around at the dreary place. It was not really a place anyone would want to stay for long, Zheiro thought to himself, considering how haunted the place looked.

“Yes, or until we run out of skeletons for you to practice on. Although,” Thrycius said, tilting his head as he said so, “The chances of that happening are quite slim. And if you really did somehow manage to clear out all the skeletons in the area without figuring out how to do this, I might as well just give up on teaching you Moonlight Sculpting.”

“Wha—!” Zheiro took a step back, whipping his head over to stare at his companion. “But didn’t you promise that you would teach me?”

“If you were unable to do even this much, then Moonlight Sculpting might as well be impossible for you.” Thrycius replied without mercy. “Therefore, you better not fail. I do have pretty high hopes for you, after all. Anyway, I’ll set up a base for us to return to every night here, so feel free to start now.”

“Hmph.” Sarui said to herself as she stepped out of the woods, looking around at her new surroundings. “The humidity here is pretty bad too, but it's not as bad as the snowfields I saw earlier.”

A sudden flash of light raced across the sky, followed by the roar of thunder as Sarui continued to observe her surroundings.

“And it’s certainly much more interesting than the boring and dreary snowfields,” Sarui said, nodding to herself. “It’s not that great of a place, but not that terrible, either. But certainly not a place I would like to paint in even if the scenery isn’t too bad. I’ll have to remember it properly if I want to paint it later. But more importantly, it seems like our little sculptor went this way.”

Sarui smiled to herself. She was definitely getting close now, based on tracks she had been following.

And thus, she took off running through the Magutagal Wetlands, as if unaware of the rain constantly pelting her face or the occasional lightning that arced overhead.

Later that day, Sarui reached the Remains of Mirza.

“This place…” She looked around as she stepped out of the rain and into the ancient ruins filled with a solemn, holy air. “This place is boring. Whoever made and decorated this place also lacked a sense of art. Maybe I should touch this place up a little bit, give it a bit more flair.”

Sarui thought about it for a second, before deciding against it.

“I’ve already wasted enough time in those caves. Once I beat that sculptor, I’ll just have to come back here too.” She eventually decided with a nod. “Yes, this entire continent really does need quite a bit of fixing up. And what better person to do so than me?”

With a laugh, Sarui quickly strode through the ruins.

It didn’t take long for Sarui to reach the exit, but waiting for her was a certain woman armed with a lance and an abusive mouth.

“Out of my way, woman,” Sarui roared down the hall, long before she was even close to the ruin’s actual exit. “I have business to attend to, for the sake of art.”

“Art? The hell is this idiot talking about?” The woman, who could only be Luna, shouted back patronizingly. “I don’t give one zel about whether anyone’s here for art, to save the world, or to throw a stupid party; no one’s getting past me as long as I still stand.”

“You sure talk tough for a weakling,” Sarui responded, still marching on her way over. “I thought a lady like you would understand, but it turns out your personality is just as foul as your mouth. If you’re not getting out of the way, I’ll just make you.”

“Ha!” Luna barked. “I’d like to see you try!”

Sarui never slowed down her pace as she drew out a giant paintbrush, twirling it around like a spear before pointing the tip of the brush towards the woman who stood in her way, still marching on her way towards the exit.

“A… paintbrush?” Luna ridiculed, tilting her head. “Are you stupid? There’s no way you can beat me with that twig!”

With a roar, Luna stepped into range, thrusting the giant lance she held in her hands at Sarui.

Without even batting an eye, Sarui made no attempt to dodge or evade, boldly stepping into Luna’s blow as she parried the lance with her paintbrush—

And Luna suddenly found herself getting a faceful of paint and bristles from the paintbrush.

“Gyaack!” Luna incomprehensibly spluttered as she fell to her knees, coughing and spitting out paint as she wiped her face and eyes off. “The hell was that for?”

When Luna was able to see again, Sarui had already disappeared out the exit, leaving only her behind— and an obvious trail of paint leading outside.

Luna could only stare blankly at the trail for a few moments, before she regained her senses.

There was only one thing she could say about what just happened.

“That is one stupidly crazy woman.”

''A/N: Zheiro's part of the story seems a little shorter than usual. Oh well.''

Sarui took the cake this chapter, anyway.

''For those who haven't realized yet, Sarui is attuned with fire (Thrycius is water and Zheiro is of earth, if you forgot). I'm pretty sure that's enough explanation for her reactions to the different areas in Mistral, exaggerated as they were for comedic purposes.''

It should also be pretty obvious that Sarui will be catching up as well, probably next chapter, so look forward to that.

''Also, Luna got wrecked twice in a row by artists, gg Luna. xD''

''Anyway, like usual, please leave a comment even if you didn't like it; constructive criticism is always helpful. Thanks!''

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