Arc Of Embodiment (Hiatus) - Chapter 59

-Orario-

Loki, Hephaestus and their respective Familia members that came with them were sitting in a conference room in Jaune’s base. Jaune was just staring at everyone, he didn’t know why Hephaestus came here in the middle of the night with Tsubaki, as for Loki, he knew why she was here.

Loki was looking at Jaune with analysing eyes. Jaune can tell that she was very curious of him, he figured that Loki’s Familia probably told her what happened in the Dungeon. Looking at Hephaestus, Jaune didn’t have any idea why she was here at all.

“So…What is it you need from me?” Jaune asked.

“Hmm…I’m just here out of curiosity. I heard from my Familia that you did such amazing feat in the Dungeon a few hours ago. I would like to see whether they are exaggerating or not,” Loki said. She was not lying when she said that she was here out of curiosity, but it was a lie when she said that she just wanted to see if her Familia were exaggerating. In truth, she was here to figure out how he was able to cause the Dungeon to lock up.

“Half-truths, Heh? You don’t have to tell half-truths to me, I already know what you really want. You want to find out how I was able to cause the Dungeon to seal itself when that only happens when a God is present, right?” Jaune said.

“Haaa…Well, there’s no point in lying. That’s right. I wanted to know how you did it…at first when I heard what they said, I thought you may have been a God that was disguising himself, but upon seeing you, I know that’s not the case. This just caused me to be even more baffled, so, how did you do it?” Loki said with a sigh. She was the goddess of mischief, discerning a disguise would be simple for her, but she saw that Jaune wasn’t wearing any disguise at all and she’s never seen him in even or heard of him, hence Jaune wasn’t a God, so…How?

“That’s a secret~ Why should I tell you?” Jaune said with a sing-song voice.

“You’re right. You have no reason to tell me, I was merely just curious,” Loki said.

“He-he. You’re lucky that you’re not one of the arrogant Gods/Goddess out there, because if you try to use your so called status as a God to force me, I don’t mind kill you,” Jaune said chuckle at first before he became serious and started to realise killing intent and a release of some of his power to send a message to them not to piss him off. Hephaestus and Tsubaki felt the killing intent, but it was very weak, this was the same for Loki’s Familia, except for Loki herself since Jaune concentrated it on her plus with a bit of a release of his power.

Jaune knew that Loki is mischievous in nature, that means that if he didn’t warn her, she would start poking her nose on Jaune’s business, he didn’t want that since Ruby and the others are still training and he didn’t want that disturbed. Loki poking her nose it doesn’t belong may cause some issues for him that would be a bit annoying, he would rather use his time to help the others break their mortal shackle rather than waste time dealing with those obnoxious Gods.

Though that may be. Jaune isn’t afraid of a little trouble, they can try and cause trouble for him, but they should expect the same treatment from him and if they piss him off enough or go overboard, then there is no future for them, except for death.

When Loki felt Jaune’s killing intent, she knows that Jaune was serious, she could bȧrėly stand it and she was already using her Arcanum to counter it, but with little effect since she was afraid of using too much, that would just cause her to be sent back to Heaven.

“Alright. I won’t bother you anymore than I already have…Let’s go back to the Twilight Manor,” Loki said to Jaune before turning to her Familia and instructing them. Everyone was ready to head back…but.

“Spar…I want to have a Spar with you,” Ais said. Jaune was amused that she would do that as she wasn’t this way in the Anime or light novel. Koneko who was beside Jaune was just snickering at her.

“Why?” Jaune asked. He knew exactly why she wanted to spar with him, but he wanted to hear it from her directly. He looked at her with a serious expression, he was doing it again without realising, he was charming her with his natural charms without an innate ability like Freya’s Charm which is an ability she has as a Goddess of Beauty.

“Because I need to find out what makes you strong so that I can gain enough strength to achieve my goal,” Ais said. She didn’t know what was happening, but she felt like she can just tell anything to Jaune.

“And what would that goal be that needs you to become strong?” Jaune asked.

“I need to beat the One-eyed Black Dragon and rescue my mother,” Ais said. She didn’t know why she was readily answering Jaune when she has never even spoken to her Familia about her goal, not even Riveria who she has the closest relationship with.

“Is that so…Alright then, let’s head over to my training room…Follow me,” Jaune said. Hephaestus came here to meet with Jaune hasn’t even said a single word, but she was curious about what Loki said earlier, so she wanted to see how strong Jaune was, but it wasn’t a big deal to her. If anything was a big deal to her, it was the materials used to make the building she was on and the enchantments on it to make the space inside bigger, it was surreal.

When everyone arrived on the training ground, they saw just how huge it was. It had to be this big since the people who are training in here uses the simulator, which can simulate an entire city.

“Just how big is this place?!” Tiona asked. This place seemed to be bigger than the entirety of Orario.

“It’s big, and there are other facilities here as well, such as a forge, warehouse, etc…” Jaune said.

“How did you make something like this? I’ve never seen such a huge area stuffed in such a small container,” Hephaestus said.

“Magic and Science,” Jaune said.

“Science? What’s that?” Tsubaki asked.

“Science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. That means studying the working of the world without the usage of magic or anything spiritual. For example, the study of the Human body, or the atomic structure of minerals, etc…” Jaune said.

“That sounds interesting…” Hephaestus said with deep interest.

“Anyway…Enough about that! We’re here to see the spar between Jaune and Ais!” Tiona said with an energetic attitude. Jaune then faces Ais.

“Alright then. First, I will not get serious in this fight, I will match your strength. Second, I suggest you come after me with the intent to kill or else you won’t be able to do much against me. Third, you can use all your Magic and Skills, but I won’t be allowed to use my Magic. Lastly, to make this worthwhile, let’s make a bet, if you lose, You Ais will be staying with me…” Jaune wasn’t finish saying what he wanted before he was interrupted by Loki.

“No way! That’s not happening! Who knows what you may do to her?!” Loki said with anger in her eyes.

“If you let me finish then you would know what I wanted. Anyway, if you lose you’ll stay with me as a helper while I train a group of people,” Jaune said. Thankfully he wasn’t interrupted again. Loki’s anger finally disappeared.

“And if I win?” Ais asked.

“That’s up to you, you can ask me for any one thing. You can even ask me to train you to beat the One Eyed Black Dragon or ask me to save your mother. The only thing you can’t ask of me is to harm someone I deem innocent,” Jaune said.

“Hah?! I get your strong! But do you think that you have the power to defeat the One Eyed Black Dragon!” Loki said. She may have back down earlier since she didn’t want to be sent back to Heaven, but for Jaune to believes that he was capable of being the One Eyed Black Dragon was just stupid. Oh, how wrong she was.

“Maybe, maybe not. But an Arc never goes back on their words, that means we will die trying no matter what when we give our word,” Jaune said. If people heard this from someone else, then it was laughable, but to hear it from someone that as strong as Jaune, is another thing, because people with immense power has no need for lying.

“So? Would you gamble?” Jaune said.

“I accept…” Ais said without hesitation.