Questions and restrictions.
This chapter was supposed to be out 10 hours ago; I had some commitments and left the timer on, which didn't work, as it seems to happen many times. Anyway, apologies for the delay.
Well, as always, if anyone wants to read 3/7 chapters ahead of my two stories, that's possible on my (P)(A)(T). If not, I still appreciate you reading my two stories. Thank you very much!
That being said, have a good night and happy reading to everyone!
(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori
[...]---[...]
As much as I always took care of my oral hygiene, my teeth always tended to be slightly yellowish. I blamed genetics; my dentist, the cups of coffee. Maybe he was right... Just maybe...
But that had changed, thanks to my Semblance.
"My teeth are white," I murmured as I looked in the mirror and ran my tongue over them. Not only had my teeth become unnaturally white, but they were also sharper and completely symmetrical.
It was a completely unnatural white color, the same color, if not even whiter than a sheet of paper. Just one activation of my Semblance and I became the perfect advertisement for every dentist.
"Yes, they are," Ozpin spoke before asking playfully. "I don't think you went to the dentist between the blinks of my eyes, so there must be another reason for this change."
"I awakened my Semblance," I replied with a sigh and tossed the mirror back into the VoidBag. This, at least, was an aesthetic change I wouldn't complain about.
What were all these changes in my body these past few days? Magical puberty?
"I understand. Congratulations on awakening your Semblance so early," Ozpin congratulated me. "Some people go their whole lives without figuring theirs out."
"Thank you," I thanked. The comparison wasn't entirely fair, but I wasn't going to point that out.
Being frozen in time also kinda helped me. My teeth still tingled because of it, almost numb, if that was even possible.
I ran my tongue over my teeth again. Was this the taste of time? Or of non-time, in this case. It was a lethargic, monotonous taste in a way, which made sense...
Damn! Non-time having a lethargic taste to me made sense... What has my life become?!
"So, Jinn, right?" I turned to the still very naked woman and extended my arm for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, I'm Devas."
Jinn looked at me with a strange look on her face before smiling eagerly and shaking my hand. "Nice to meet you, Devas, I'm Jinn, the guardian spirit of the relic of knowledge!"
She seemed excited and happy, which made me feel a bit bad. If it weren't for the completely absurd sequence of events, I probably would have cut her in two out of reflex thinking I was being attacked.
"So... What are you?" she floated around me. "Are you human? You look human... But... I don't know, this is so cool!"
But again with this damn question? Is this some kind of joke or something?
"Yes, I'm human, probably a bit different from the ones you know, but still very human," it was more of a certainty than probably, but that's okay. "And you? Are you a spirit or is that just a title?"
She had pointed ears, which reminded me of an elf, but also was kinda illusory. She could be a Djinn as well, which was more likely actually.
Jinn opened her mouth to reply before furrowing her brow and huffing, puffing her cheeks.
"Is that a question? Two questions left for this century."
"No, that's not a question," I quickly spoke. Was this some kind of limitation preventing her from answering things normally in a conversation? "And wasn't it three questions?"
"Yes, but one question has already been asked of me this century," Jinn clarified.
"Ozpin?"
"It wasn't me," the man raised his hands. "Seems like the Spring Maiden came here before us..."
"Why not ask all the questions then?... Actually, why not take the relic?" it didn't make sense to ask only one question and leave the relic here...
"Wait..." I murmured. "... To ask a question to Jinn, wasn't it necessary to call her name?... How many people in the world know that name?"
Ozpin widened his eyes. At the same time, Jinn spoke floating beside me.
"Is that a question?" she puffed her cheeks. It seemed like she was annoyed at not being able to converse normally.
"No," I denied looking at her before turning to Ozpin. "If the Spring Maiden were someone on Salem's side, the relic wouldn't be here. If the Maiden didn't stumble upon some old book that told about the relic..."
"It must have been someone I talked to about Jinn... That or a traitor from Salem's side, but those don't live long," Ozpin frowned thinking before widening his eyes.
"Raven..." he murmured. "You said she was a Maiden, didn't you?"
"Yes, but what are the odds?..." With Amber being the Fall Maiden, there were only three left. One in three... "Thirty-three percent chance."
"Fifty percent, actually," Ozpin sighed. "Atlas has the Winter Maiden, and as far as I remember, James didn't tell me she passed on her power." Meaning she's still alive.
"What's left? Spring and Summer..." I murmured. If only Raven's mana smelled like flowers or something that reminded of spring or something it would be easier, but no...
As much as Raven's mana smell was different from Cinder's and Amber's, it wasn't that different for me to put a title like 'Spring'.
"Did Raven know Lionheart?" I asked after a few seconds of silence thinking. A theory forming in my head. "More importantly: did Lionheart know where the vault was?"
"Yes to both questions," Ozpin answered. "Why?"
Ignoring that Lionheart knowing where the vault was basically confirmed that Salem knew this information too...
"Just a hypothesis here... But let's suppose for now that Raven is the Spring Maiden. What are the chances of her coming here shortly after getting the powers and pressuring Lionheart to spill where the vault was?"
Ozpin frowned.
"High, Raven has always been the most aggressive of the Branwen siblings..." And Lionheart was cowardly and shy, but that wasn't said out loud.
"Hadn't Qrow said before that Raven had fled?" I let my thoughts out. He said she did it because she chose the tribe over Yang and Taiyang, but what if it wasn't that, or not just that?
Lionheart also turned out to be a traitor... Hadn't Ozpin said something like that before?
'Something happened to Leonardo for him to make that choice...'
...Damn! There were too many coincidences here.
Raven, who had fled, was the possible Spring Maiden, the Maiden who was the only one who could enter the vault to ask Jinn the question, the question that had been asked... Lionheart being one of the few who knew where the vault was...
A memory practically screamed in my mind when I put all these pieces together.
'You'll find out that Ozpin isn't as transparent as he pretends to be. I wonder what your reaction will be when you know what you're really up against...'
Those were Raven's exact words. Before, I had thought it was just her talking about Salem, thinking that Ozpin hadn't told me about the Grimm Queen... But what if it wasn't?
And if it was that, the question Raven asked, which Lionheart heard, which made all this happen? Raven fleeing, Lionheart betraying Ozpin? Besides his cowardice and the threats Salem's minions made, of course.
"Was it Raven and Lionheart who came here?" I asked without directing my question to anyone. Ozpin remained silent, as for Jinn...
"Is that a question?" Damn! I couldn't even get mad at the woman; she seemed as frustrated as I was.
"It's been centuries since I had a conversation with someone and these restrictions keep getting in the way..." Jinn muttered irritably. Centuries?
"Is that something the Brother Gods put in to restrict your responses?"
"Is that a question?" Her dry look was confirmation enough. Because with every new piece of information I learned about these two brothers, they seemed more and more like two dicks in the ass?
"That's it, screw it!" I was trying to save, but I'll make an exception here. I want to see these two fucking gods stop Jinn from typing something into the stream.
I pulled an invitation ticket from the inventory and said aloud: "Invite: Jinn, the guardian spirit of the relic of knowledge." Jinn's widened eyes and her lips forming an 'O' were confirmation enough for me to know it had worked.
I didn't even need to tell her to accept before her hand blurred just before a cell phone appeared in front of her.
"Is that... Is that what the old man was using before?" Jinn held the phone and turned to Ozpin, looking at his pocket, I could still feel the phone. "What is this?"
"Put your nickname and try typing in the stream." I pointed to the phone in her hands. Jinn looked at me confused for a second before starting to mess with the phone quickly.
I focused my attention on the (CHAT) for when Jinn wrote something, but I didn't need to, since for the second time since Kazuma's death, a message had appeared in the (CHAT) that I had set as 'Important Messages'.
What was the criterion for a stream to deem a message important, I didn't know, but at least it helped me here.
[A “JinnOfTheLamp” joined the stream!]
"Is that a pun?" I murmured. Damn, was there an Aladdin version in Remnant?
"Yes! Can you see the nickname I chose?" Jinn asked excitedly with the phone in her hands. "I created it inspired by a movie that today's teenagers like."
"Isn't that movie a reference to you?" I asked. Jinn froze with her mouth slightly open before huffing and typing quickly on the phone. I took the time to pull her into a private (CHAT).
[JinnOfTheLamp]: Yes, a faunus maiden found the relic a few hundred years ago and created this tale inspired by me, it ended up becoming a movie… (Emote of a Mini-Jinn poking a cell phone with her finger).
Interestingly, she was already a (MEMBER) of the stream, Stark bought it for her. The guy was fast.
"I can write without being restricted..." Jinn murmured while typing with an increasingly larger smile on her face.
I had about half a second to react before being embraced by the huge blue woman and having my head shoved between her two breasts.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Jinn repeated quickly as she tried to suffocate me.
I was in a dilemma here. I tried my best to keep the stream as PG as possible, at least in the more explicit part, fights deaths happened but that was inevitable and beyond my control.
So, as much as I wanted to respond with a "You're welcome," I avoided opening my mouth. I didn't think ending up with one of Jinn's nipples in my mouth was very PG.
Thanks to that I was basically trapped and slowly suffocating in a death that Kazuma would definitely approve of.
Ozpin didn't seem very eager to help me get out of my blue prison; I could feel the fun leaking out of the guy for miles. Pushing her didn't seem like the best option here...
I ended up having to use my secret weapon and pulled the Slime Staff from the inventory. Millia came out moments later falling into my hand.
It took about ten seconds for Jinn to stop thanking me and realize Millia...
"What are you?! You're so cute! I'm discovering so many new things today! THE BEST DAY EVER!"
Jinn was happy, Millia confused, and I was free.
[...]
"Sorry for my lack of manners, I got more excited than I expected," Jinn apologized to me and Millia, who was on the shoulder of 'Great and cool Aunt Jinn!'
Millia said Jinn reminded her of the Fae, especially her Aunt Alice, who was the same size as Jinn, even though Jinn was smaller.
The Empress of Light was enormous, who would have thought...
"When did you learn Valean, Millia?" I looked at the little slime who had managed to have a basic conversation with Jinn.
"I haven't learned much yet, I only know a little!" Millia quickly wrote. "I wish I could talk to everyone else like in Terraria! :D."
It's a good thing I don't have diabetes, or Millia would probably end up killing me with so much sweetness.
"I don't want to be a party pooper, but we still have to ask Jinn the questions," Ozpin commented, drawing everyone's attention. Jinn shot him an annoyed look.
Something tells me that the part 'It's been centuries since I've had a conversation with someone' made her hold a grudge against Ozpin. The guy just came, asked the questions, and left?
"Jinn, about earlier. Was it Raven and Lionheart who came here?" I pulled the conversation back to me. Jinn didn't even try to respond verbally and pulled out her phone.
[JinnOfTheLamp]: Yes, the two of them came a few years ago. Leonardo Lionheart didn't seem very happy to follow Raven Branwen, but he did after she threatened him.
The cheerful smile on her face as she typed the words quickly only grew bigger and bigger. She was even swinging her legs in the air.
"I was right then..." I looked at Ozpin. "Something Raven asked contributed to what those two did." I wouldn't absolve them, even though they heard what they heard, it was still their choice in the end.
"Yes..." Ozpin lowered his head and sighed.
"You know what she asked." It wasn't a question, I stated. "It was something involving her last words, wasn't it?"
"I have a vague idea, but yes, it was something involving Raven's last words." Ozpin looked at me and then at Jinn. "You want to know what the question was, don't you?"
"Yes. Are you afraid I'll react like those two?"
"Maybe..." Ozpin sighed. "But I know you won't." It was more of a reassurance to himself than anything else.
"Jinn, what was the question Raven asked, and what was your answer?" I asked the blue woman, who didn't hesitate to start writing.
[JinnOfTheLamp]: Raven Branwen asked me: How can I kill Salem. My answer was: You can't, because she's immortal.
It wasn't just me and Ozpin who fell silent, even the stream's (CHAT) stopped for a second before exploding with messages.
I rubbed my forehead in thought. It was obvious that Salem was immortal, damn it! Ozpin claimed he had been fighting with the woman for centuries, anyone who could put two and two together would figure that out. The important thing here was to know what kind of immortality she had.
"Immortal how?" I pointed at Ozpin. "He's immortal too, I've killed an immortal before, there are several types of immortality, which one does Salem have?" The Deerclops, in the form it was in, wouldn't die of old age, it was more energy than physical at that point, if nothing killed it, it would just keep wandering until something did.
Not only Jinn, but Ozpin and the (CHAT) were shocked by my statement. Only Millia seemed unaffected by my words.
The first to recover were Ozpin and Jinn. It would take a while for the (CHAT) to return to normal.
It was Ozpin who answered me.
"I turned Salem into a pile of ashes and scattered them to the wind." The man still had surprise and shock in his eyes as he spoke. "She just reformed herself and attacked me again."
Okay... That complicated things a bit.
"Was it the bright guy who made her immortal?" I pointed to Ozpin's chest, where the divinity of the god of light was.
I ignored Jinn's huff when I said 'The bright guy' and waited for Ozpin's response.
"Yes. The Brother of Light cursed her to never die and to always wander the world as a being of endless life." Melancholy leaked from him in waves. There was a story behind it, but it wasn't the time to ask.
"Jinn?" I looked at the woman. This time, she only spoke aloud.
"The old man basically said it all. Salem cannot die as long as the world turns; as long as there is a world, there will be Salem." She added.
"Have your restrictions loosened?" I asked. She had provided some information there.
"No, at least not without using this cellphone." She looked at me as if she wanted to ask me dozens of questions but restrained herself. "I can't answer anything you don't already know, but in this case, I can use some loopholes to supplement the knowledge you already have on hand."
Helpful, even though it wasn't necessary, since the stream solved that problem.
"You've never done this before." Ozpin looked at Jinn, surprised.
"You never even greeted me." She pointed at me. "He did, they were some of the first words he said!"
I'm sure my first words to her were 'I'm damn confused' followed by 'Why are you naked', but oh well. She seemed resentful towards Ozpin.
Seems like being polite has its advantages...
"I... You're right." Ozpin sighed. "It seems I let my resentment focus on someone who didn't deserve it." Jinn nodded and said nothing, but she seemed to understand why Ozpin did what he did.
The relics were creations of the Brother of Light, so it wasn't so surprising that Ozpin held a grudge against Jinn, even if she didn't deserve it, it seems.
As for Salem... Her basically being cursed to not die as long as Remnant exists was more complicated... But still, manageable in a way.
"Does Salem regenerate the wounds she receives or only when she 'dies'?" I made air quotes with my fingers and resumed the conversation. Ozpin was the one who answered me.
"She regenerates, destroying her body only accelerates that regeneration." Ozpin stared at me. "You're taking this information calmly..."
"I'm more turbulent inside than I let on." I scoffed. Just a bit, really. "If I chain the woman up and throw her into space, would it work, or would she just reappear in Remnant if she committed suicide?" I turned to Jinn.
She opened her mouth before pouting and quickly typing on her cellphone.
[JinnOfTheLamp]: It would work, even if Salem's body is destroyed, she will reappear a few meters from the location of her destruction. (Emote of a Chibi-Jinn pointing to the broken moon).
"Well, there you have it, we found a way to stop Salem." I clapped twice. "No need to panic, see."
Few things were truly immortal, even fewer that couldn't just be kicked to the curb and forgotten.
I just needed to figure out a way to build a rocket, since from what I read in the CCT, Dust doesn't work in space.
Ozpin looked at me as if I had grown a second head.
"Salem won't just stand still and let herself be thrown out of the world." He pointed out wisely. "I've tried sealing her, throwing her into the sea, into a volcano, she always manages to free herself with her magic, it's not that simple."
He didn't comment on Dust not working outside the atmosphere, he probably knows I wouldn't say something like that if I didn't have a solution.
"She won't free herself if thrown into the vacuum to wander frozen until the planet explodes." Even if she could teleport herself, I doubt it's something of planetary range that would be the distance of when she would wake up when the drugs keeping her asleep ran out.
Damn it, and all this was in case I couldn't kill her myself. The source of her immortality was something divine, I didn't like to overestimate myself, but I had confidence in the Divine Anathema.
If Sun Breathing works on her too, it's another weapon against the Grimm Queen.
"With the plans to stop the evil woman up to date, let's move on to the next topic?" I said softly. Salem was a problem? Yes, but for the future.
I was sure the woman would end up appearing in front of me in this one month I had in Remnant for some reason or another, but until then, I had better things to do.
How to ask where the hell the Summer Maiden was. I'll get that sword, even if I have to break into that Vault with my own hands!
[…]
"So, in your world, there were no gods?!" Jinn, now about one seventy tall and dressed in a white summer dress that I found inside the Voidbag, asked.
It was late, and frankly, I didn't much care for sand. After grabbing a few samples and tossing them into the VoidBag, I suggested we leave the vault.
Jinn, of course, wanted to come with us, and I readily accepted. As much as she could answer my questions through the stream, if she wanted to leave the vault, I wouldn't stop her.
Ozpin was also not against the idea. So, even though something told me that Jinn's existence would bring me more trouble in the future with the two sibling gods, I still had her Lamp on my waist.
The only rule I imposed was for her to wear clothes when in public, as far as I remembered, public nudity was a crime, well, at least on Earth. A question to Jinn later confirmed it was the same here.
I was ready to sew together an improvised dress using a curtain for Jinn before she simply started shrinking. I found out she had some degree of control over her own size there, being able to shrink and enlarge her body within certain limits.
Why she had chosen this height among all others I didn't know, but the dress was because summer was her favorite season and, in her words, white accentuated her skin's blue and matched the gold of her accessories.
Was it ironic that her vault was Spring? Yes, but I wasn't going to point it out.
"No, none. Nothing supernatural, actually." At least that's what the stream said.
I casually replied, looking around. Mistral at night was as beautiful as during the day, maybe even more so, thanks to the bridges and lanterns that illuminated the streets.
It was late, three thirty in the morning, so the flow of people was low even with the festival atmosphere, but even these few people were looking in our direction. Jinn attracted a lot of attention, not that she seemed to care, much more busy spouting questions in my direction.
There were two reasons why Jinn was walking instead of returning to the Lamp. The first was to draw attention to us.
It was certain that the information of a blue woman walking in Mistral would reach the ears of someone in Salem's circle, and hopefully, it would attract her attention away from Mistral since the relic was no longer here.
The kingdom was already screwed up, thanks to Lionheart, relieving some of that pressure by diverting the attention of the immortal witch away was my way of helping.
As for the second reason, that was simpler: Jinn wanted to walk.
"Incredible..." She murmured, taking light hops. Millia didn't seem to mind the movement, the little slime still on Jinn's right shoulder.
Neither I nor Ozpin had asked Jinn any more questions, at least not the serious ones. Now that we had 'unlimited questions,' we were waiting to return to Beacon to ask how to cure Amber.
"One question. Your Lamp, is it something important to your existence?" I asked, casually glancing sideways.
"Is that even a question?" Jinn huffed. I couldn't help the laughter that escaped my lips.
"Never mind, it's not important." I waved as she reached for her cellphone to type on the stream. I could find out that answer later; I wasn't in a hurry to decide if I would melt down that Lamp or not... I think there's material there for a dagger, maybe a pistol...
Ozpin seemed content to remain silent during the trip out of Mistral. He seemed more at peace than when we arrived, even though his emotions were still murky.
Qrow, Glynda, and James called moments after we left the vault, complaining about how he could keep such a secret, but after some shouting and promises not to lie about the enemy's mortality, everything seemed to be fine, which relieved Ozpin.
I guess my 'apathy' towards Salem's immortality helped there; I wasn't worried, which helped them not worry either, Ruby's words and not mine.
I didn't know what to think about being everyone's anchor, but it was better than seeing everyone desperate.
"Where are we going?" Jinn chirped. "Before the Vale, I mean."
"I just have to do something here first." I looked to the top of the mountain outside the kingdom and waved my hand, making the Bull-Head appear. "I'll be back in a few minutes; you can take off if you want, Ozpin."
"Need any help?" Jinn was the one who asked.
"No, it's quick... I'm going to do something I should have done a long time ago." Terraria wasn't a good place to bury a body, Kimetsu wasn't either, but here... I think it would do.
It didn't take me long to climb the mountain; my current speed, even while holding back, was fast enough to do this in a few minutes, even with me climbing relatively slowly, well, my slow, in this case.
Mistral was the Orient of this world; it wasn't exactly Japan, but it would do. The Sakura trees were similar, at least.
I took a few minutes to search for the best spot and ended up choosing a location surrounded by trees, with an open space in the middle where I was sure sunlight would gently fall in the morning.
I carefully dug the grave and made sure to craft a small, simple but well-made stone tombstone, placing some flowers and drawings that Alice had made before in HOTD on top of the tombstone.
"Alice is fine; I just want you to know that." I spoke softly as I crouched down and placed the body in the grave. "You saved her." The man had done his part as a father.
Even now, his body still had a smile on its face...
I covered the grave with soil, and only after a minute of silence, I left. With that, I had fulfilled my promise to Alice and buried her father in a beautiful place.
"Done?" Ozpin asked.
"Done."
With a wave, the Bull-Head came to life and began to fly back to the Vale, to Beacon.
[…]
The journey back to Beacon was smooth, well, as smooth as it was possible in Remnant. At least the Grimm were good training; I managed to learn some things about my Semblance and my Aura thanks to them.
The first thing I found out was: [Mystery] was something broad. What criteria my Semblance used to catalog what was and what wasn't [Mystery], I didn't know, but it was pretty broad.
Second: I could use my Semblance with something other than my teeth. It was still more effective if I just bit whatever I wanted to devour, but if I focused on using my Semblance with a strike using my hands or feet, even with Houtengeki, it worked.
It was less effective and consumed more Aura? Yes, but it worked, which was a relief, since I didn't need to start biting my enemies.
Third: My Aura regenerated more slowly if it was depleted. Before, I had lost part of my Aura; the time it took to regenerate the same amount that had regenerated now was less than half.
It was good to find that out now than in a tighter situation.
I could also feel that my Aura was slightly stronger, more resilient. It was a minimal difference, but it was progress and a way to get stronger.
The fourth piece of information was unrelated, but I ended up discovering it anyway: Jinn didn't like clothes.
Alien thought, indeed. I should have expected something like that, actually; she wasn't human, of course her way of thinking would be different from humans.
Why didn't she like clothes? Because they were restrictive and inefficient, clothes also didn't change size along with her.
Jinn didn't have the taboo of nudity, of course; she knew what it was and understood it to some extent since she had almost all the knowledge of the past and present... She just didn't care...
When I asked why she was naked before and she answered me 'Why wouldn't I be?'. She was serious. She saw no reason not to be; for her, it was natural.
Damn, it was the first time I really realized the depth of the difference between one race and another, the difference in thought...
Of course, the part where she said 'in public' was three people and up and taking off her clothes when we were alone was just to tease me, I could see that clearly on her face.
She didn't even try to hide it and admitted that she didn't know how I would react as she knew with other people, the fun was too much. I didn't even have the excuse of the stream since it was off at that moment.
Damn blue woman. If only Jinn was like this, I didn't want to know how the Devils from DXD would act.
Jinn put the dress back on the moment we arrived at Beacon, but no matter what I said, she didn't put on underwear, and it wasn't to tease me this time; the resentment there was real.
"Don't ask... Just... let it go."
I didn't feel like pushing the subject.
[...]---[...]
You guessed what I was going to do to bypass Jinn's restriction... It was kind of obvious, but there you go...
Well, as some people commented and sent me private messages too, I won't follow Jinn's show canon strictly, I'll change several things. (I have a woman with a green theme and pointy ears who doesn't like clothes, and now I have a woman with a blue theme and pointy ears who doesn't like clothes... Only the one with the red color is missing...)
Devas finally fulfilled the promise to Alice as well and buried her father!
Finally, the next chapter should have a little time skip like what happened in the previous chapter. I'll rush a bit through this mid-arc since it's going to be more of the same, of course, I'll still focus on the important parts, but what isn't...
Well, that's it, it's damn late, I'm going to sleep. Good night to everyone and happy reading!
PS: The next chapter is Mystia's interlude.
PSS:Any theory as to why Jinn doesn't like to wear panties? It's kind of obvious, actually.