Steel and Mana

Chapter 58 – Mikan’s Choice

With the artifact chosen, I visited Mikan the following day, with Sasha accompanying me. Entering her room, she looked worse for wear, her eyes having big, black bags under them, in deep contrast with the radiance given off by her ancestor's magic. Yuri was right; she was not in a good place mentally. Even I could tell that looking at her.

"Ah, I didn't know you were coming..." She murmured, trying to fix her loose robes as she spent all her time cooped up in her room, going out less and less.

I was expecting Elyzien to show up and say something, but she remained silent. That is good, too; maybe she thinks I am finally here to negotiate or tell her I was wrong and ask for more knowledge. What she miscalculated initially was that she had already given me everything I needed... I had all I required in my head; I just had to sort them out, which was the slow and challenging part. She had simply given me the master key and saved me the time of lockpicking every book I memorized for their knowledge.

"No worries, please, sit." I gestured towards the couch while we sat opposite her, having the small, empty coffee table between us.

"Are you here to...?" She looked at us, but I shook my head with a smile.

"No, we came to speak with you."

"I don't think I can persuade her, Young Viscount..." She started immediately, but I raised a hand to stop her.

"I don't need to. I am not here to talk with a fragment of the past but to speak with you, Miss Morningstar. About what you want to do in the future."

"I... don't think I understand."

"We already talked about it once, but I want you to join this city. I am willing to build you a temple where you can live and also teach about the Six Gods."

"But you also said that people here... are not really fond of the church. I learned what happened and why, so I can understand it... What they did was not how it should be."

"I didn't say it would be easy. Still, I would let you do it. I won't deny it to those who want to practice it, as it has been around for over 3,000 years... But there would be changes."

"Such as?" She asked, and I could see genuine interest and drive in her once again. I knew that faith meant a lot to her, and probably it remained the only thing she still considered her own after learning her magic was 'fake.'

"You will have to rewrite it. You must go through all the lore you know and would later teach and rework it. I will allow you to preach if you remove every meddling in it caused by the Empire. I want you to identify all the modifications that point towards the Empire and its bloodline being special and omit them from the texts. Fully. Without exceptions."

"I see... Should I replace them with... you?"

"No." I answered her question and ignored the slight snark underlying it, as it was a logical conclusion on her part. "I want it to be free from politics. It should be separated from the state wholly. The church will have no power and no associations with it. You can preach freely, but you can't convert. The people will decide what to believe. What I want you to teach them are morals and what seems to be the core value within the Six Gods' words: The expectation that we can reach their Realm one day. Not the chosen ones, not the select few, but we as a collective. Do you understand me?"

"I... I think..." She mumbled, feeling her face flushed a little as she became visibly excited again.

"I will establish a new department that will be independent but part of the Ministry. You will be the new Head of the Church and integrate into my society. Your only role will be to provide culture and enrich it for my people, and not to control, shackle, or order them around. If I learned one thing about humans, it is that faith can't be beaten. Sooner or later, people will turn to something they can worship, so it is best if I get ahold of it early."

"I will need a lot of time to redo everything, Young Viscount, but I... I think I can do it! Please, let me do it! I am not afraid of challenges, and the teachings of the Six are valuable! It tells us the indomitable spirit of the people and that Heaven is within our reach!" I wanted to tell her that those Six probably talked about what I witnessed when I died, but it was too late to start explaining.

"There is only one problem." Sasha spoke up, taking it over from me. It was time to talk about magic, so it was her time to act as the leader of all mages under my rule.

"Ah... yes..." Mikan shuddered, her previous fire quickly extinguished, going back into a lethargic mood, lowering her head.

"It is not an unsolvable problem."

With that, she took out the chosen bracelet and placed it on the table. It was already set up completely and only had to be put on Mikan's wrist to activate it. Watching her face, she clearly didn't recognize it, but as she leaned forward, almost touching it, we heard Elyzien's voice, commandingly making her hand stop.

"Don't you dare touch it! Mikan, it's a trap!"

"Trap?" I laughed while Sasha only smiled, watching as the old spirit took up a visible form, filling the room with her golden mist and the scent of vanilla.

"It is not." Sasha continued, ignoring Elyzien, speaking directly to Mikan, "This device here is something that will neutralize magic. Wearing it, you will no longer feel the interference or be able to try and influence magic. Elyzien Morningstar would have her peace at last."

"You think it would work on me?!" She snorted, her anger making the rolling mist churn around us, "I am Morningstar! I am the top witch of Ishillia, made our armies invincible, and have the blood of the Gods within me. Do you think you can contain the powers of the Goddess Orsi? Many tried it, but none managed to do so... I know of this trivial formation you have on it, even if you modified it. My powers will break it!"

"Then why are you speaking so much? Why sound so afraid?" Asked Sasha, making me chuckle; I liked it when her fire showed its wild side. "We don't trust you, but we do trust Mikan. You have been living within her without telling her. You have the power to help her, yet you have remained silent for more than two decades! You let her indulge in fantasies, and even now, when she is down, you don't help her up! What kind of witch are you?"

"Is this how you repay saving your pathetic loverboy? Weren't you begging me like a snotty kid to save him? Wench... I would spat on you if I could!"

"Elyzien!" Mikan yelled, looking surprisingly angry all of a sudden, "Stop it!"

"Shut up, do not interfere!" She snapped back at her, looking down on Mikan with disgust. So, this is the true Elyzien, huh? The little manipulator... albeit not a good one, it seems. "I told you to go and seduce him with your body!"

"You!" Mikan flared up at once, heaving heavily, and maybe it was the first time I saw her genuinely angry.

"I know full well why you saved me." I interjected before the two could continue, "You saw me, saw this place, and more importantly, saw Sasha. You immediately knew you could use us in your revenge plot. Not because she begged you, not because you grew a heart. No. It was because you could use us."

"You think you know?" She laughed, sneering at me before glancing at Sasha, "You know nothing, you powerless barbarian... You don't even know what you are or what she is, do you? Heh... Don't try to speak like a sage because you are nothing but a cockroach with a bit of a bigger head. Your knowledge and power are nothing compared to mine!"

Now, that was interesting... she was right; she did let something slip that I did not know about. I wanted to ask more, but that was an impossibility by now. We have gone too far, and we have long passed the sign of no return.

"I had enough!" Mikan shouted, her chest heaving up and down. Without any more questions, she grabbed the bracelet and put it on without further hesitation.

Elyzien wanted to say something, but she was instantly dispelled, gone like a mirage as all the mist around the room whirled, withdrawing into Mikan's body at once.

"Silence..." She whispered, looking around, blinking her silver eyes that slowly turned golden, making me raise an eyebrow. Was this an effect of Elyzien's presence being suppressed or the bracelet's doing? "I can't feel her, my... I mean, Elyzien's powers. It is gone..."

"It isn't." Sasha answered, standing up, walking over, and gently holding her hand, "She is just being suppressed. She is the magic within you, and now she is trapped, unable to break through her cage.

"But she said-"

"No matter what she said, she was lying!" I interjected, leaning back and watching them, "She is no longer whole but only a being of mana. If she would be that powerful, why could you influence her? Why would she be disturbed by you? Why would her mana leak out from within you? She had a big mouth to mask the fact she wasn't as powerful as she tried to present herself!"

"..."

"Mikan Morningstar," I said, standing up, fixing my clothes, "now it is finally only you. Being magicless is not bad; you can do just as much as any witch. Maybe even more!"

"As a priestess..." She murmured, rubbing the bracelet on her wrist that would now be an accessory she would have to wear constantly. "I want to try. I want to do what you presented, Lord Leon! I am willing to be a priestess and reform the faith which is infested by the Empire's ideals! By people like my ancestor!"

"I am glad to hear it!"

"I will do my best!" She bowed, holding her hands between her breasts, "Elyzien Morningstar said that she has the blood of the Goddess Orsi, which is a blatant lie! Blasphemy!"

"Okay, okay!" I chuckled, holding her shoulders, making her raise back up, "Don't need to go inquisitorial on me right from the get-go!"

"Inqui... inqi... what?" She blushed, not understanding it.

"Nothing!" I grinned, letting her go. "For the next week, I will keep up the surveillance on you, so please endure Yuri's presence for a little more. You will be free to move around after everything is in order and no sign of Elyzien is detected within or around you."

"I thank you for the chance!" She repeated again, bowing multiple times towards me, then to Sasha. "I will work hard!"

"Until the temple is built, you will live with us in the palace, and then you can move into your new home. I will consult with you when designing the temple, but I will let you rest for now. I know what happened is sudden and was a lot, so reorganize your thoughts, Priestess Mikan... then I will introduce you to the rest of the ministers when my next meeting arrives."

...
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"Are you thinking about what she said?" Sasha asked me later that night as we were lying in bed. Luna was already asleep beside us with a satisfied, silly smile while Sasha let her head rest on my chest.

"That too." I answered, stroking her hair, "And about how long that little cuff of ours will hold out. I hope it will last long, but I will now know what to look for. Did you notice that her eyes turned golden after Elyzien was suppressed?"

"Um, I did! The magic aura around her was gone in a snap; I could feel it fail. It was... weird. Brr... I am glad I don't need to wear one of those!"

"I will have to get some history books. She said she knows something about me and you, which makes me feel weird."

"I think she was simply trying to play around to make us not go through with it. Or she felt you were not like anyone else when she brought you back!"

"Hmmm, maybe." I nodded, as it did sound highly possible. Whatever it was, it wasn't imperative. Or... was it? Why do I feel like this, then? Why can't I get it out of my head...?