HP: The Arcane Thief - Chapter 74: Incoming Danger and Akiko's Proposal

Chapter 74: Incoming Danger and Akiko’s Proposal

Chapter 74

—Netherworld—

Conversation Continued

“Halt!” interrupted the Lycan King. “Do you take us for fools? You have a nose!”

“…..” Lily was honestly at a loss for words for a moment. Voldemort, you noseless bastard, would it have killed you to upgrade your looks?

Though Icitra wouldn’t stay quiet as well. “She speaks the truth. Lily Potter ne Evens is indeed an otherworlder who arrived from the same rift as Voldemort himself. I can personally vouch for her.

The Vampire Queen giggled, “Not all otherworlders have to look alike, Fenisùlfr. I don’t remember having furry ears, and neither do I have a tail.”

“You—” The Lycan King was about to respond, but Icitra interrupted him.

“Rulers… We have some important information to share. Could you leave your squabbling for later?” She asked irately, making the two Rulers actually stop talking. Turning to Lily, she said, “Continue.”

Lily nodded, “So, I was saying Voldemort is just using you guys as his pawns. His real goal has always been to use you as sacrificial pieces. He doesn’t care one bit about your lives. He’s just trying to conquer you all by dividing you!”

Fenisùlfr wasn’t convinced, “Look, girl. I will not say I’m happy with losing my Race’s freedom to an outsider. In fact, there are a hell lot of things about him that make me want to crush his head.

But… we have also gotten some undeniable benefits after joining him. The monsters attacks have stopped, and these Bloody Vampires don’t bother us anymore.”

Previously, before they were attacked by Voldemort’s forces, the Lycans and Vampires were in a war with each other. They had wasted so much manpower that they had difficulty even protecting themselves from the ever-present monster attacks. But after they had surrendered to Voldemort, there were no more monster attacks and the war had also stopped, letting them recover and heal their wounds.

“The Vampires had been attacking you?” Celeste smiled at Fenisùlfr, but this time, her smile looked dangerous. “Don’t make us out to be the villains now. You Lycans are the ones who started this war in the first place.”

Fenisùlfr also flared up. “You bloody liar! Who was the one whose minions killed our brethren for no reason?!”

“I already said it, it was an accident. They didn’t mean to do it.”

“What a load of—”

“Guys…Guys!” Lily Potter waved her hands in the air appearing very weak in the presence of these powerhouses.

“That’s what I’ve been talking about! None of you actually started it…..It was Voldemort!” She revealed, mystifying the two rulers.

Lily took that opportunity to explain everything.

“Don’t you see? Voldemort first sowed discord between your people. He was the one who killed the members of your races in the beginning. He made you all fight among yourselves, while he also increased the frequency of monster attacks.

While the Lycans and Vampires, two of the most powerful species are locked in war, weakening each other, all the burden of handling the monster attacks falls on the Dark Elves, making them weak as well.

Don’t you guys see? You guys have been trapped in Voldemort’s schemes long before he even revealed his existence!”

The Vampire Queen and the Lycan King both went silent, with different expressions on their faces. Celeste didn’t seem surprised, only intrigued while the Fenisùlfr looked surprised. No matter what, these circumstances were too much in favor of Voldemort. And now that they thought about it, it all fit together.

“Is this true?” Asked the Vampire Queen, looking serious for the first time. “If it is, then how did he make the members of our races attack each other? I checked them personally. There were no signs of mind altering magic on them.”

Lily sighed, “The magic you guys use is quite different from the magic we use in our world. Of course you wouldn’t find any traces. Did you know we could communicate like this? This is also something from our world.”

The Vampire Queen had no answer to that. This was indeed a very novel and convenient way of communication. And indeed, she couldn’t find out what kind of magic was used to make this.

The Lycan King also figured it out.

BOOM

“That Snake!” He roared, banging his feet on the ground. If what the girl was saying was true then that bastard had indeed gotten them good. They had been dancing to his tune all this time while as he overtook most of the Netherworld. So many of them had died meaningless deaths while the bastard reaped all the benefits. This was so infuriating and humiliating at the same time that Fenisùlfr couldn’t control his outburst as his whole palace shook with his howl.

Meanwhile, Celeste appeared much calmer in comparison, but her smile had gone and black veins were now visible on her pale white face, and her eyes had gone completely dark. She looked beautiful and terrifying at the same time. She had her doubts about this from the beginning when Voldemort had showed up, and she still had some doubts left, but it is almost certain now. Voldemort was the reason behind the deaths of so many of her brethren. Of course she was incensed.

“Calm down, Fenisùlfr, Celeste. What’s done is done. We can’t change the past. But we can’t let the bastard continue to rule us. That’s why, we need to put our differences aside and join forces.” Said Icitra.

The Vampire Queen sighed, “What can we even do now? We’re under oath to him.” Fenisùlfr growled at that.

At this moment, Lily raised her hand once again. “There are ways around that. Our main priority right now is to gather our forces and monitor his movements. We want to know what he’s planning.”

Fenisùlfr shook his head, “I don’t know anything. Haven’t heard from the bastard for months.”

Celeste on the other hand, appeared solemn, “I’ve tried to send my spies to him. They haven’t found what he’s doing exactly, but one thing is for sure. He’s up to something, and whatever it is, he has had moderate success already.”

Lily paled. This is exactly what she was fearing. Whatever Voldemort was up to, it could only be related to one person: her daughter.

…..

— HOGWARTS —

The day after making the bet with Rose, Akiko and Axel stood in the clearing in the early morning. Today, Akiko was going to teach him seriously for the first time and Axel was looking forward to it.

“So, we’re finally coming to Lightning Ninjutsu?” Asked Axel.

Akiko nodded. “We are. But there’s a lot of other things I’m going to have to teach you as well,” she said seriously. The Organisation was no joke. If they were going to take it down, she was going to have to teach Axel a lot more than just Lightning Ninjutsu.

Axel nodded. “So, are you going to teach me the real use, or like the ones you used on me?”

Akiko looked surprised for a moment, but then the corner of her lips lifted slightly. “Both.”

‘Now we’re talking,’ thought Axel. In their fights until now, Axel has been able to glean one thing for sure. Akiko is mostly specialized in Killing. Meaning most of the techniques and Jutsus she has learnt are meant for delivering a lethal blow to the opponent. So of course she mostly didn’t use them on Axel. But Axel was still able to tell that she could do more than what she just did.

Just take the Jutsu he had witnessed her doing on the very first day for example, It had destroyed the whole tree trunk quite easily. And of course, Akiko knew more Jutsus like that which she didn’t use. It’s like how wizards don’t use spells like unforgivables or Fiendfyre in normal duels.

And Axel can’t have her hiding these types of Ninjutsu. He knows that he has many enemies out there. First, there’s the Organisation from Atlantis, and then there’s Voldemort and his army. So, there’s no way he would be satisfied with learning just the non-lethal and less destructive techniques she had shown him until now. That’s why, he was satisfied when she said she’d teach him Lethal Ninjutsus well.

“Let’s begin then,” he said eagerly.

Akiko nodded.

“I’m going to assume you don’t know anything and start with the basics of Ninjutsu. Ninjutsu consists of two components: shape manipulation and nature manipulation. Through nature manipulation, you summon the nature of magic you need to use. Then you use shape-manipulation to mold that magic into your desired Ninjutsu.”

Axel was a bit confused, “I thought you just had to do HandSeals to cast a Jutsu?”

Akiko shook her head.

“To cast a successful Jutsu, simply doing the HandSeals is not enough. You have to focus on the precise execution of Nature and Shape manipulation and hand seals to help you do that.”

‘Well, that makes sense,’ agreed Axel inwardly. If it was that easy then everyone would have learned to cast Jutsus easily.

Akiko continued, “In a sense, Nature and Shape manipulation is even more important than Hand Seals. Because, if you perfectly grasp these two concepts, you will theoretically be able to cast Jutsus without having to do any hand seals.”

“Sounds good.” Axel grinned as he imagined spamming lethal Jutsus one after another.

Akiko clicked her tongue, “Don’t be so hopeful. If it was that easy, then no one in the world would have stood a chance against Ninjas. The most that ninjas can do is to shorten the number of Handseals. But direct casting without no hand seals is almost considered impossible.”

Axel shrugged, “One can always hope. Anyways, I can perfectly learn the HandSeals in one go. So I just need to quickly learn the shape and nature and manipulation, right?” He asked. With his perfect memory and dexterity, he could perfectly learn all the HandSeals in one go. So the only thing actually preventing him from casting Jutsus is this.

But Akiko only shook her head, “It’s not something that can be learnt or taught instantly. I can only give you the key information and guide you through it, but you can only slowly learn Jutsus through a lot of practice.”

Axel frowned, “Why is that?”

“Well, because it’s a complicated process. You can’t grasp the flow in one go without being able to see it yourself.”

Axel was just going to accept that fact, until he realized something. He smirked, “Yeah, I understand. It must be quite difficult, for most people.”

‘Unless they can actually see the process,’ he thought in his head.

[Arcane Eyes]

“Let’s begin then.” He said, ready to observe the process.

Akiko nodded, “Let’s start with the most basic one: Lighting Release: Lightning Bolt. It’s a simple Jutsu with which you can fire a bolt of lightning through the palm of your hand or through your fingers.”

“The hand seals are bear, ox, tiger, monkey, dragon….” She said, also showing the hand seals.

“When you do the bear hand seal, you have to imagine the lightning nature magic coming into your body. When you feel it, you have to make sure to pass it through the Life gate. Life gate is…” she began to describe the entire process and Axel realized why Jutsus were secrets that couldn’t be copied just by learning the HandSeals and why it was difficult to learn them.

“Well, this seems more difficult than magic,” Axel commented after she was done.

Akiko nodded. “It is. And they only get more complicated if you want to use this for other purposes. That’s why we are also taught wand magic. But, as far as combat magic is concerned, Ninjutsus are clearly superior. Once you get it down and master it, the power, damage, speed, everything can be higher.”

Axel thought about the Jutsus Akiko had used, especially the last one, in which her speed had increased exponentially. “Well, can’t argue with that. That Lightning technique which increased your speed was amazing.”

“The Ancient Forbidden Jutsu.” Akiko winced upon remembering it. “That was only Half of the technique. The other half is supposed cover my body with a protective Armor of Lighting.”

“…. Damn. That sounds dangerous.”

Akiko nodded, “Of course it is. But it’s quite dangerous to the caster as well that’s why it’s forbidden. In fact, no one is actually able to master it for a long time. The most someone has progressed in the last two centuries is me.”

2 centuries? Axel couldn’t understand it. “Why is that?” He asked.

“Well, the control and lightning affinity needed for it is quite high. Plus, very few ninjas have even been able to access it, since it’s such a guarded technique.”

Axel swallowed his saliva, “You will teach it to me if I ask, right?”

Akiko rolled her eyes, “How greedy are you? Learn the basics first. Dream later. It will take years before you even reach that level.” She said as she made the first seal of Lightning Bolt Ninjutsu. “I’m going to perform the Jutsu. Watch closely.”

‘You bet your talent I’m going to watch this closely, girl.’ thought Axel as he increased the intensity of his [Arcane Eyes].

Akiko slowly made the HandSeals as she cast the Jutsu for real this time, following the exact process that she had described. Sparks began to be generated at her fingertips.

“Lightning Release: Lightning Bolt!” She chanted casually, as her hand launched a powerful Bolt of lightning, creating a burnt depression in the tree which she had aimed at.

ZAP!

“Now it’s your turn. Try with less intensity, and don’t expect much success on the first try—” she was saying as she slowly turned her head towards Axel, only to see him—

Zap!

Before she could do anything, Axel had already cast a similar Lightning Bolt right where she had. Though the power was admittedly quite lower, but it was definitely the same Lightning Jutsu that Akiko had cast moments ago.

????

To say Akiko was shocked would be an understatement. How was Axel able to do it on his first try? Even she had taken at least a whole day before she was able to do something like that!

‘Are you going to beat me at Ninjutsu as well?’ She thought blankly, looking at the tree where the Jutsu had impacted. She was feeling embarrassed for saying those words earlier. But…

‘This is good.’ She thought, thinking about the organization. She had long stopped expecting any help from her grandfather. He was a powerful man, but a peaceful one. So, if she had to stand a chance against Kraken, she needed exactly someone like Axel.

Axel is like an unpolished gem. He has lots of imperfections. In a life-or-death fight, there are ways he could be bested. But, that is to be expected from someone with no systematic combat training or experience. These are things that can only be forged when he receives professional training for a long time. And she could do that for him. And once she has removed his impurities, and once she has properly polished him, if the two of them join forces, her dark affinity and his Lightning… revenge wasn’t just a pipe dream for her.

…

The training went on for a while before it was time for Axel go on and do his own training.

“By the way, what did you do yesterday?” Asked Akiko as he was leaving.

Axel raised his eyebrows, “Even you know about it?” He asked, but then shrugged helplessly. Of course she did. It would be weird if she didn’t.

Because yesterday’s matter had, sadly, blown up, and now everyone knew that Rose Potter and Axel Hunt had made a bet in which the loser would do whatever the winner wanted. Of course, it was blown in the sense that everyone was trolling Axel for making such a stupid bet.

With her spectacular performance last year that won the Gryffindor team the Inter-house Quidditch Cup, Rose Potter was already considered the best seeker at Hogwarts. And if that wasn’t enough, the videos of her previous matches and training had gone viral, leading to her getting good comments from some experts as well. And Axel, who was trying to compete with someone like Rose, was simply absurd to everyone. So, Axel was currently getting trolled all over the internet in various ways. There were memes, there were voting polls, and betting pools, all heavily in favor of Rose’s winning.

“It’s really surprising how blind these people are. To treat a prodigy like you like this…” she said with some disdain.

Axel rolled his eyes, “So what? I’ve always been treated unfairly, but it doesn’t affect me in the least anymore.” Axel had long stopped expecting anything but the absolute worst from the people. So, it didn’t affect him in the least what others thought about him.

But Akiko didn’t seem reconciled.

“I don’t understand the system here. They judge students more based on their ability to tolerate cramming for written exams rather than their practical ability. There are no real rewards for being the best, no preferential treatment for the prodigies and hard-working students. The only rewards you get are some meaningless house points which, turns out, can get you absolutely nothing.”

Axel had to smile at that, “That judgment is surprisingly accurate.”

“You know, you should come to Mahoutokoro,” Akiko proposed out of the blue, looking absolutely sincere about her offer.

???

“You’d receive the best treatment there. Custom training, custom diet, and forbidden knowledge. I’ll make sure you get everything there. You have the potential to be the best ninja in the world, and no one here even recognizes that, let alone giving you any benefits.”

Axel thought about it and nodded solemnly, “Thanks for the offer. I’ll think about it.” Honestly, he didn’t think it would be a good idea to leave. In the future, Hogwarts was going to be the center of all the activities. And he’d rather be in on the action than let the situation get worse in his absence. It is not just a matter of his treatment. The World can turn upside down if Voldemort is allowed to take over, and then he can say goodbye to good treatment in any part of the world. That’s why he’s hesitant to leave Hogwarts for other places.

But, who knows what the future has in store for him? No one can tell where he might end up.

Though if there’s really a bastard out there who can, that person better not make life more difficult for Axel than it already is, or Axel would have to consider breaking the walls to end whoever it is.

Walking back into the Castle, as he passed by the Great Hall, Axel had to pause in order to look at the crowd that was gathering here. Students from both Hogwarts and Mahoutokoro were milling around the message board, talking excitedly about something.

“Weird sisters at Hogwarts?!”

“What are you going to wear? I’m considering to go for a Nundu.”

“I can’t think of anything yet.”

“Well, think fast! There’s not much time left.”

Getting closer to investigate, Axel found a poster on the board.

HALLOWEEN COSTUME PARTY

ALL STUDENTS INVITED

Axel scoffed. A party? What a waste of time. As if he’ll be go there. His life is in danger here.

….

A.N.: Of course he’ll have to go there. It’s a plot event after all.