Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth was about to speak up to try and derail the topic quickly, but Shiro gave him al ook that said 'shaddap!' before grinning a bit "well, truth be told what i use is a special brand of projection magic called Tracing, projection magic lets you create simple items out of prana that may last a while, if the World's influence doesn't nibble at the structure containing the prana to unravel the projected item in question, Tracing however is a step up, as it literally create -true- copies of items out of Prana, straight down to it's very metal composition, it's forged methods, it's gained history with its wielder, and any abilities the weapons may have." he then would hold up his free hand and focused a bit "Trace... On." he said, hypnotizing himself, before the wire framework of the weapon he was choosing from his Reality Marble, oddly enough, it'd look -exactly- like Roxas's Oblivion Keyblade. "there is a downside of course to Tracing, mainly the costs would be astronomically high if not accounting for methods to which would cut the cost down in the creation step, which i have such a method, unfortunately... said method is also kind-of a by-product of my distortion." he chuckled a bit lightly "said method is a Reality Marble, a 'Blight' on the Fabrics of reality once actualized, it can rewrite reality to suit the invoker's needs, mine, known as 'Unlimited Blade Works' is a simple marble, as it records and stores -all- weapons i see into itself, most particularly it does so with swords the easiest due to my Origin and Element in Thaumaturgy, which is 'Sword' for both. granted, i can record Spears, Axes, lances, even Bows/Arrows, and armor and Shields, but the further away from the notion of 'Sword' i get, the higher the prana cost unless i use them over and over again to familiarize myself with them to the point where it'd be natural instinct." Shiro then took a breath and looked up to the cave ceiling "... when my Reality Marble is manifested, it is a partly clouded sky set in a perpetual sunset, embers floating up from the ground ,Gears can be seen churning in the sky like clockwork and across the 'wasteland' as its called, swords and other weapons will be sticking out of the ground, ready to be used by its master, either for raining upon opponents, or to be weilded at a moment's notice. this is the reason why i can utilize Keyblade fighting so quickly, is because i've been watching you, Crystal, and Xion, and Roveth as well." he would then dismiss the traced Oblivion Keyblade, letting the blue particles fade away in his hands "one skill i'm fond of using is the art of 'Breaking' Phantasms, which are crystalized Myths and Legends in the form of weapons, Gae bolg, one i mentioned before, is a 'Noble Phantasm', if i broke it, and altered it to form as an arrow.. i could devastate a good chunk of land and take out many an opponent with it."

meanwhile as Shiro explained his capabilities with tracing and of course boring Roveth with it since he was intimately familiar with Shiro's work, Axel would at least move back as well, having heard most of this, and wanted to talk to Crystal while the others are distracted "so Crystal... think we can go talk elsewhere, so we don't disturb Shiro's explanation and Exposition?" he asked innocently enough while starting to get up from the table silently.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"That sounds like quite a sight to see," Roxas thought the whole thing sounded pretty complicated, but it was very interesting and he was intrigued to see Shiro suddenly duplicate Oblivion like that. "Maybe once you've rested you could show us."

Xion was much more confused by Shiro's explanation as he used terms that she wouldn't have been familiar with being so much more new to his company and all whereas Roxas had at least encountered some of Shiro's abilities during some of their earlier meetings.

"So, have you got any particular sword that's your favorite?" Roxas wondered since it sounded like Shiro had an awful lot to choose from. But there had to be one or two among them that he was most proud of, right?


Crystal, meanwhile, nodded to Axel and would accompany him into one of the side tunnels. "I had a feeling this might come up sooner or later," Crystal would say while remaining fairly calm although the signs of carefully masked potential embarrassment were just beneath the surface if certain buttons were to be pressed.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro chuckled seeing the confusion on both of their faces, but more prevalent in Xion's "well, before we go off-world, i'll show everyone my Reality Marble, as i don't get to use it often in full manifestation." he said, while pondering on Roxas's question "well, i do have a few constant go-to weapons for various needs." he said, idly tracing out the huge Stone blade that shouldn't be -classified- as one even though it is "this one in particular sitting next to me is a blade carved from a pillar of a stone temple that worshipped the Demi-God Herakles, it is nameless, however, this blade has been imbued with a skill known as Nine Lives: The Hundred Shooting Heads, a technique which Herakles used to defeat the Hydra's hundred heads in one move." he chuckled a bit "frankly, it also conveys an extra bit of strength augmenting, but not enough to weild it effortlessly one handed, so i have to reinforce my body to do that capability." he then let that traced weapon shatter, and next brought out a small spiral like blade, which looked much like a drill more than a sword "This sword, known as Caladbolg II, is an altered copy of the original Caladbolg, wielded by Fergus Mac Roiche, i use this one as a 'Broken Phantasm' and reformed as an arrow to fire it off, due to its abilities of bending and warping space around it, making it impossible for teleport using people to dodge it due to this space bending capabilities. also kicks up a -very- pretty explosion." he said with a chuckle, before moving on to the next two sword in his long list that he'd trace within a heartbeat, as a white and black chinese falchion landed in each hand of his, the black falchion had red lines going through it making it look like hex plating on the blade "these, are Kansho and Bakuya, they are my mainstay weapon of choice for Melee Combat due to their extra effectiveness against monsters, and the fact that they have a.. magnetism towards each other, meaning i could do this~" he said, moving and flinging the two swords out, wihch began to circle around like boomerangs in the air, takign wide arcs to show themselves yet not hit Roxas, Xion, or roveth, before they would come flying back to Shiro's hands "using that magnetism ability to create a technique i use called Kakuyoku Sanren, i would throw two sets of these, sometimes three sets, to come in ready to attack opponents, while i myself hold a pair broken.." he said, focusing, and using Trace Overedge on the blades, making them grow, and become large winged-like blades "like so, and all of the blades go through attacking an opponent." he said, grinning a bit all the while as he dismissed the two blades afterwards "there is one other i hold.. dear to my heart, as shattered as it is."he then sighed, shaking his head "unfortunately due to my exhaustion i can't show it directly right now due to the fact this last sword i have in my long list... is what is considered a 'Last Phantasm', it is the crystallized will of mankind's hopes for victory... The Sword of Promised Victory, Excalibur." he said simply enough.


Axel of course would lean against the wall, and cross his arms a bit looking crystal over "so... i'll be quite blunt. what are your intentions with Roxas?" he said quite simply, sure, it might be an embarrassing question, but it was one he needed to ask, as he didn't want to see his best friend get hurt emotionally should these two become entangled in their emotions and all.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"You'll have to show us another time then," Roxas nodded with regards to Shiro's mention of being too worn out at present to manifest the aforementioned Excalibur. "Still, it's pretty amazing that you can create and store so many weapons after only having seen them. And from what we've seen you can also copy special techniques like Cloud's Omnislash as well. So, that must mean you're pretty talented with all your weapons, right?"

"But it sounds like doing so also puts an enormous strain on his body whenever he uses those weapons and techniques," noted Xion. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"


Crystal made a concentrated effort to keep a straight face, even as the redness was setting in yet again and no she still wasn't getting used to it. "My intentions... well, I'd be lying if I said didn't like him... because I do and I've kinda known that for a while now. I mean, it definitely started as just a dumb crush and I figured nothing would come of it so I did my best to ignore it and that was easy as long as I was off on my adventures with Shiro not paying it any mind, but since we've been together more now it's getting harder to really ignore. Roxas isn't blind to it either. He's noticed already, although I don't think he totally understands what that actually means. And that's fine with me because I do understand what you've all had to bounce back from. I just want him to have a chance to be safe and happy. Being manipulated by tyrants who plan to overthrow gods isn't exactly a healthy lifestyle. Roxas is sweet and kind, and he deserves to be free of anyone who might try to take advantage of him for their own ends. Being near him now as an actual friend, right now that's what makes me happy. Back when we first met I couldn't even manage that much."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro hummed in agreement to Roxas's asking of him showing excalibur later, even if technically it's suicidal to do, with the way he's grown as of late, and f he's in his Reality marble, he could call on it easier... "this is true Xion, even though i can use certain abilities like Nine Lives or Omnislash, if my body cannot cope with the stress, like for example my Ranger form can withstand utilizing them with no penalty, but even if i max reinforced my body outside of Ranger Morph, i can't use Nine Lives to its fullest and rely on Nine Lives Blade Works, which is only nine slashes compared to the literal hundreds, and Omnislash is out unless i want to devastate my muscles in my arms for a good few weeks." he then hummed "Kakuyoku Sanren is actually a skill i made with Kanshou and Bakuya, so i can do that no matter the form without stress, but yeah it is stressful on the body. another downside of Tracing in general, is while i do make full copies like i showed, they are still -technically- not the original, so at best i can get a grade below the original's in power and the like." he thought on it "but, one's experiences and uses in it, could easily make it surpass that limitation, as a friend of mine used to say about my skills 'your blades may be pale copies compared to the originals, but remember this, there is no reason as to why the copies can't surpass the originals.' i still follow that rule to this day in fact." he grinned a bit lightly.

Axel hummed in thought as he continued to listen and kept his judgments for a few moments, when Crystal finished her explanation he raised an eyebrow and looked at her lightly "one thing.. when -did- you two first meet anyway? i can understand if it was after Roxas reappeared on Destiny Islands, but from the way you talk it sounds like you've met him long before that, but at the time.. he and i and Xion were all with the Organization..."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"That probably goes for you, yourself, as well, I would think," Roxas pointed out. "The more you practice and the stronger you get, the more you can exceed your own bodily limitations, right? Although, even if what you do now isn't totally perfect, it's still pretty cool to see in action."

"You certainly taught Vanitas a lesson he won't soon forget," added Xion. "You and Crystal also tag-team incredibly well considering I don't remember either of you discussing what you planned to do before we went into battle, but it sure looked like you had anticipated each other's reactions."


Crystal thought about it before she explained, "Well, we weren't properly introduced until he reappeared on the Destiny Islands, but the three of you did spend a lot of time sitting on the clock tower in Twilight Town and I was basically stranded there for a whole year after Sora restored the worlds that were plunged into darkness and closed off a lot of the boundaries between the worlds making it rather difficult to travel to anywhere. I enrolled myself in school and probably bumped into Roxas more than once at the ice cream shop or simply wandering around town. Keep in mind, making friends wasn't at the top of my list of priorities at the time and it took me nearly drowning one day at the beach and meeting Xion before I really warmed up to anyone. As for Roxas, he was cute, but he seemed aloof and constantly preoccupied with his own thoughts, probably worrying over the two of you now that I think about it, and as for me, I was attempting to seem ordinary enough to blend in. Then you all suddenly stopped coming to the clock tower, which kinda made the whole town seem a bit more sad and lonely, and shortly after that the boundaries between worlds started to open up again and I left the first chance I got."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro of course blushed at all the compliments and praise "yes well, it's stil going to be a while before i manage to get that strong, my path is long and arduous indeed, but i've at least gotten skilled enough to use it in battle, i remember when first starting out i could barely project anything except maybe a short sword or kitchen knives." he said giving off a meek smile and chuckle "as for myself and crystal.. well, we've been together for a long while, so we know each other well enough to watch each other's backs. she knew the moment Vanitas had been sufficiently distracted i could capitalize on it but i needed a bit of setup time so she provided it, granted it's not always so flawless, but we get by." he lightly smiled a bit "still, with you two, Axel, and roveth also keeping the unversed off our backs also helped quite a bit." Roveth naturally snorted and snarked out "my my.. how humble you are Aibou." he said, while Shiro just sweatdropped at roveth "oh come on, it -was- a team effort!"

Axel just closed his eyes to think then, before nodding "right then, well, that's all i want to know for now, so long as i make this clear.. don't toy with Roxas's feelings or break his heart, otherwise you might be in for more than a blistering lecture." he said, -clearly- acting like the overprotective big brother to Roxas despite usually probably being labeled as the laid back cool one.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"You're a good friend, Axel," Crystal smiled thoughtfully. "I care a lot about Roxas so I want to let him figure out his own feelings for himself, whatever those feelings may be. It's not like anyone can tell anyone else how they're supposed to feel. That's something we all have to come to terms with on our own. Roxas had a really rough start with that so until he's gotten the hang of it the best thing is probably to give him the space he needs to work that all out. His heart is precious and fragile, as hearts are prone to being, and I don't want to see it get broken either."


"Not to mention it probably helped that Vanitas was already majorly ticked off and being that angry prevented him from seeing through that whole diversion," Roxas had to agree with Shiro on that point. "It wouldn't have gone nearly so smoothly if he hadn't been so easy to provoke."

"Come to think of it, it's surprising to think from how we first met that this whole time Crystal was actually a skilled warrior," Xion pointed out. "She masks it so well I honestly believed she was just one of the local kids from Twilight Town."

"That must have been hard on her considering she seems much more herself with a Keyblade in hand," Roxas observed.

"My first weapon of choice before becoming a Keyblade wielder is actually a katana," Crystal would have returned at that point after her conversation time with Axel. "I've also practiced with a variety of other types of swords and weapons, but because of my size I'm better at handling lightweight or magic-based weapons."

"Right, and a Keyblade happens to be both of those things so when you were chosen to wield one you must have taken to it like a natural," Roxas realized easily enough as that much was fairly obvious.

"Not exactly," Crystal looked slightly embarrassed. "I had already spent years learning the way of the sword with a truly excellent teacher and I still needed a proper Master to show me the right way to use a Keyblade. It took a lot of practice."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Axel of course had followed, but ept silent as Shiro sighed, and leaned back to continue eating his ice cream bar which wasn't much left, truth be told, before idly tossing the stick into a nearby trash can as he looked to Roveth, before his dark halfl ooked up from the star chart in his hand trying to map out possibilities to get back to Twilight Town, as he looked into his light's eyes, before they both nodded, as roveth turned to the others and spoke up "while this riveting talk of people skills and embarrassing my light with praise is nice, we never finished our discussion of where we should go to start our trek back to Twilight Town." he said, with Axel piping in as he looked amused from the antics "my vote's for Treasure Planet, since it seems Crystal knows about it and all, she could give us a tour and show us how to do Solar Sailing." Shiro shrugged lightly, chuckling "i'm alright wherever we go." he said, while Roveth seemed to Abstain due to being the one holding the Star World Map.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Sounds like a plan," Roxas also agreed. He was more than a little bit curious about this Solar Sailing thing that had gotten Crystal so excited earlier. If she thought it was that cool, then Roxas figured it must be something pretty amazing.

"No arguments here," Crystal seemed pretty happy. It had been a good while since her last visit, but she did have some practice with her own personal hoverboard so she was confident she wouldn't have gotten too rusty.

"It sounds like fun," Xion also agreed. "And Crystal is a pretty good tour guide."

And Crystal was blushing once again, although this time it was more subtle and purely from being put on the spot rather than other forms of embarrassment. "I guess we'll see how well I remember it," she scratched behind her ear looking a bit sheepish. "Anyway, we should probably rest up. I'm going to need my wits about me if I'm going to get on a Solar Sailor again."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro and roveth nodded, with the latter proceeding to turn off the map, and headed off to their rooms in short order, Shiro so he could pass out and sleep, and get enough energy for tomorrow so he could do one last thing here, and at the same time show off a bit before they leave. Axel of course just chuckled at the blushing Crystal, but said nothing moreo n it and headed to bed too, since he needed some sleep as well, stil lfairly new to the ranger business and all.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Roxas and Xion would have also gone to their respective rooms to sleep through the night and emerged again the following morning to regroup with everyone, particularly to see this Reality Marble thing that Shiro had been so eager to brag about. Roxas was especially interested to see more of these alleged swords that would be inside. The fair few they had seen already were pretty cool and seemed to have some interesting history to them and it sounded like there were a whole lot more to be seen.

"Feeling better today?" Xion greeted Crystal who seemed to be substantially less fidgety and flustered than she had been the day before.

"Considering I'm going to be doing something insanely cool and dangerous to have fun, I'd say it's probably the excitement," Crystal grinned. "I am so ready for this!"

"It sounds like we're going to be in for quite a show today," Roxas chuckled in amusement. "But first, Shiro did promise to show us his Reality Marble so let's hold him to that so he can't weasel his way out of it."

"I'm not sure he'd ever deny the opportunity to show off his Reality Marble," Crystal responded with a knowing smile. "Shiro loves the opportunity to stretch his mental and magical energies."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro chuckled as he followed everyone out, thankfully his own sleep was quite dreamless as well , Roveth of course following with a neutral expression ,given he was once a part of Shiro it would be no surprise to him to see the Reality Marble, of course Axel did pipe up "true, but if i remember right, he doesn't get to use it often due to the fact that his skills and tracing were usually enough, or if he got pressed, raining down hundreds of blades out of nowhere like Xehanort did with those keyblades tended to get the job done." Shiro would nod as he rolled his shoulders, and cracked his neck "too true, too true.. this'll be the first time in a while i've done this." he said while smirking a bit, once he stood with everyone within the general area, he closed his eyes, searching deep within, and soon, his body would start to light up with his circuits starting to flare, energy crackling off them as he opened a blue eye, as it slowly started to turn steel grey in color "I am the Bone of my Sword..." he intoned, deep and heavy as his voice also hollowed out, showing he was slipping into his 'trance' now. "Steel is my Body... and Fire is my Blood." the area around him and everyone began to waver and ripple, as the heat literally wafted off his body, and started making the entire area slowly go hazy. "I have Created... over a Thousand Blades." with that, images slowly started to appear, showing bladed weapons of all kinds flittering in and out of existance like elusive ghosts. "Unknown to Death..." small embers started streaking around like little firelights, but nothing harmful in general towards anyone. "nor Known to Life..." the swords would start showing more often, even a few starting to appear stabbed in the ground in various places. "Have... withstood pain to create... many weapons." he intoned, closing his steel-grey eye once more and put a hand to his chest and knelt down as more blades became manifested in the area, the embers slowly growing brighter "and yet, These hands.. will never hold anything..." gears could now start to be heard grinding in the area, yet none are to be seen, at the same time a ring of fire started forming around Shiro as light shined down on him as well "so... as i Pray, Unlimited Blade Works!" he called out, snapping his eyes open, and giving a small smirk, before the flames whirled upwards, and expanded quickly, pulling everyone into Shiro's own soul, so to speak, where in the skys, rustic yet still very well oiled gears ground against each other in the twilit skies, and across the desert-like cracked wasteland that had floating glowing embers flittering about like faries.. were... "an unlimited number of blades.. the finest of finest blades!" Shiro would stand up, facing everyone with a small sad smile, though he hid the sadness the instant he noticed it mentally as well.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

The small sad smile wouldn't go unnoticed by Crystal, although she said nothing to draw attention to it and instead averted her gaze to take in the surrounding scenery. Roxas and Xion were already looking off into the distance, amazed by what there was to see. Roxas was taking a particular interest in the sheer variety of weapons and wanted to get a closer look at some of them as he wandered off toward a particular selection that had caught his eye.

"This really is amazing," Roxas acknowledged while he looked around. He did have to wonder, though, just how many battles Shiro had seen and participated in to have witnessed so many amazing weapons. The incantation also called into question just how much misery and suffering Shiro had endured to conjure up a place like this. It was awe-inspiring and majestic, one might even say it was beautiful, but with it there also seemed to be a sense of deep underlying despair. Shiro didn't merely create and store these weapons to be used when called upon. It was as if the weapons themselves were a fundamental part of his being. It was all right there in the incantation he used to summon his Reality Marble. And suddenly what Crystal had said before when he'd mentioned how she must love Shiro to stick with him in the face of all the trouble he gets himself into, but how it wasn't the same way she might love somebody else. They were close and there was a strong connection, but Shiro firmly believed himself to be a blade to be honed and seemed to disregard himself as a human being and Roxas guessed that Crystal had been unable to change his mind about that. She could share Shiro's burden as his friend, but that was the only way she could truly reach him.

That's too harsh, Roxas thought to himself. Somehow their dynamic did manage to work, but now that Roxas was seeing this side of things it almost seemed too painful. How did they both bare it? Well, at any rate, Roxas did gain a certain new respect for Shiro and his abilities, albeit at the cost that he now seriously had to wonder about the poor guy's stability.

Xion was admiring some of the more ornate blades in the collection while walking along idly. "There are so many... how do you even know which ones to choose?"

"I don't know how he chooses, but some of these blades definitely see more use than others," Crystal responded while glancing around in general. She noticed that Roxas appeared to be deep in thought while examining some of the blades in another spot. Crystal wondered if he might have noticed the tragic nature behind Shiro's impressive power. Shiro was pretty good about hiding it, but it wasn't too difficult to see through it either.