2 Chapter 60: Back To The Scythe

Waking up with the distinct pain of having one's neck relieved of their head and other such injuries across the body, Lucilla reluctantly forced herself to roll out of bed. Barely able to move her body she fell to the floor with a loud thud, causing her to groan in pain. She had died again. No matter how many times she went through this process it never got easier.

Planting her hands underneath herself, she pushed her body up from the floor. The phantom pain from her death wasn't going to stop her from eating. Once she pushed herself off the floor and stood on two unsteady feet like a newborn fawn, the monster woman walked over to where her two swords leaned against the wall. She carefully picked them up, still in their sheathes and strapped them to her waist.

"How are you feeling?" Geminus asked with concern.

"Good morning! Are you okay ma- miss Lucy?" Spoke a very young sounding voice energetically.

"Morning Gem, Fil." Lucilla responded. "I'm fine."

"Thats good!" Said Filia cheerfully, while Geminus simply made a sound of acknowledgement.

Filia had awoken a couple months ago. Since her soul was even younger and less complete than Geminus, she tended to sleep a lot. She also sounded much younger than her sister. If Lucilla had to compare it to a human child, she would say Filia was between the ages of seven and eight while Geminus was either eleven or twelve.

Filia had also warmed up to Lucilla much faster than Geminus. Like a baby duck imprinting onto the first creature, they see. Geminus was also friendly, but she avoided getting too close, and a certain distance could be felt between the two of them. Lucilla was however thankful the two of them didn't seem to hold any secrete goals behind her back like some of her other allies.

Their only desire is to have someone wield them. Their souls are incomplete and young; unable to fully stabilize without being used. Not many can use them, and they don't know when the next person who's able to hold them might come along. They were heavily invested in her wellbeing in such a straightforward way that Lucilla couldn't help but appreciate it.

"What the plan today, Lucy?" Geminus asked Lucilla as she slowly made her way down the hall.

"After I eat, we're going to work on changing your guy's forms." Lucilla answered. "You said it was possible without forcing it with Celestial Energy, and I want to try it now."

"What do you plan to turn us into?" Asked the curious Filia.

"Is it another scythe?" Geminus questioned.

"Yeah." Lucilla said with a nod. "Miss Ovana would like me to turn you into a halberd, but I figured a scythe would be easier since I'm familiar with it."

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Standing in the training yard of the outpost, Lucilla unsheathed her two blades. She was ready to start practicing but paused, she realized she had very almost no idea of how to proceed. Her Goddess wasn't here at the moment to lend advice either.

"Did you really get stuck on the first step?" Geminus asked exasperated.

"It's not... her fault..." Filia said half asleep.

Appreciating the support from the youngest, Lucilla chose to ignore Geminus remark and ask her a question instead. "Do you know what I'm supposed to do then?"

"... The only thing I know is that you're supposed to connect with us in some way." Answered the older sister.

'Connect with them?' Lucilla thought with a frown. She was incapable of gaining new emotions or losing old ones, making connecting with these two difficult.

Ovana did say it was technically possible to forcefully let new emotions and feeling stick, but it would take a lot of mental effort. She wasn't really sure if she even had the skill to do something like that in the first place. Yet the easiest way to connect yourself with another is by having an emotional attachment to them.

'Wait, I'm assuming she means personal connections.' Lucilla realized. 'She could've meant something completely different.' 

"What do you mean by connect with you?" She prodded. "Is it a physical connection or...?"

"I'm unsure myself, but I don't think it's a physical thing." Responded the eldest. "... I think it might be emotional, or even something deeper than that." 

"Great." Mumbled the silver haired woman. "I'm not able to really able to do anything then, am I?"

"... What I'm about to suggest is very dangerous." Geminus started, very hesitantly. "If you aren't careful there's a good chance your own sanity or even your life could be in danger."

"Just tell me what I need to do." Lucilla said with determination lacing her voice.

"You don't remember, but you had actually woken me up for a short period of time. It was shortly after... the death of your sister." She paused as she felt a dangerous pressure emanating from Lucilla. Swallowing her fear, she continued speaking anyway. "The reason I awoke during that brief period was thanks to your negative emotions. The Miasma inside me reacted to these emotions and jolted me awake." 

"So, I should be able to do the same thing here?" Asked the silver haired woman

"Probably.... It's dangerous, however. I work as a medium for both Mana and Miasma which allows you to channel both types of power through me and into the world." Explained Geminus. " It is possible for this to happen in the opposite direction. Feeding negative emotions to the Miasma inside me could risk a rebound onto yourself, allowing it to claw away at your mind, and in the worst case kill you if your insides rot away first."

"... But I this might work right?" Lucilla pressed.

"Only for a little bit." Spoke Filia. "Too much is a no no."  

She had an abundance of negative emotions to spare. Without another word Lucilla closed her eyes and looked into her own soul. She reached in and pulled at her pain and grief of her sister and mothers. These dark memories will fuel the fire of destruction she wished to sow. For now, however she will harness this growing darkness from within and bath the twin swords in it's cold embrace.

There, she felt the connection. It was a horrible and rancid connection that could break at a moment's notice Instead Lucilla fought to maintain it as she slowly tried envisioning the sister turning into the scythe. Through this fragile and vile connection Lucilla could feel a little bit of her celestial Energy being taken from her body to aid in the transformation process.

-- -- --

The prosses wasn't fast, but it wasn't slow either, the whole thing too a little over a minute before it was done. Lucilla felt tired; her mind clouded by fatigue. She was fine physically, but the mental tole this had on her was far greater than she had thought. It was made worse by how unprepared she was. However, she still stood tall in the end, the large scythe in hand.

"Are you two alright?" Lucilla asked far more annoyed than intended.

She didn't get an answer back. Closing her eyes she tried reaching out to them through the lingering effects of their temporary connection. It was brief and hard to notice, but she could feel the two of them were just asleep. She didn't have the skill to read other souls just yet, but focusing on them now, she could tell the two sisters souls seemed slightly more dormant than before.

"At least you're not dead." Lucilla grumbled, still feeling far more upset than normal. "Guess I'll be using you guys as a scythe again for the foreseeable future."

Lifting her foot to take a step and leave the training area, the crimson eyed woman noticed she couldn't move. Looking down she realized the ground was frozen around her, freezing her feet in place. It wasn't a lot of ice and with just a little more force she could easily break free, but her surrounding still surprised her. She didn't realize her surrounding had changed until just now.

There must've been Celestial Energy mixed in with her magic too, because the ice seemed permanent, and had yet to disperse from the lack of Mana. 'I need to learn how to control my Mana when I'm upset.' She thought as they started walking again.

Glancing at the scythe that were her two younger, yet still older companions, she couldn't help but wonder when they would awake once more. She hoped it wasn't too long, since she suspected she needed them awake to change their forms again. She would need to test that theory later just to make sure.

With dark emotions stirring in her chest, Lucilla procced to the outpost exit. She needed to hurt someone and guarding the gate was her only real option to let loose as she saw fit. She didn't have to worry about the consequences of killing while there. Not that she was a fan of killing, but it would be a lie if she didn't get a little enjoyment on harming those that hurt her.

"Another day in purgatory." She joked darkly.