"It seems my father's actions annoyed you, but let me guess the reasoning he gave is something along the lines of 'If I tell Orb all of the secrets of the world, he won't be able to have fun discovering it himself', or something like that."
Freezing, I say, "THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE WOULD SOUND LIKE!"
"It's what I would expect from my father; he tends to do things that cause the most excitement for the receiver. Though he tends not to mean any harm by doing them."
"Among all of the things he didn't teach me about spirit energy was one of them."
From Dragoste's hand, the book he is holding falls, so I quickly move to catch it.
"Are you really telling me that my father sent a legacy into the world without informing him of spirit energy? I am so sorry!"
Dragoste starts to bow his body in a nervous spasm, like Cyrus when he is nervous, so I say, "Don't apologise, besides you didn't put me in danger, and I have been attending Eliot and Pine's classes in my spare time, and comparing my information with Avram. It has actually been fun going over some historical events I knew and figuring out which ones involved spirit energy. At the very least, Capti was right about that aspect."
"Capti? Is that some kind of name for my father?"
My hair turns bright blue, and I say, "I am so sorry, I didn't mean to dishonour him in that way, it is just a name I got used to calling him. It is ludicrous of me to pretend I am close enough to be using such terms to refer to him."
"No need to get shy about this, besides just from the way you behave, I can already tell you were raised by my father. The complete lack of personal space is telling."
Looking at Dragoste, I notice that my body is right next to his, so I quickly lunge to the other end of the room, and I say, "I APOLOGISE!"
Laughing, Dragoste says, "The entire time since we started talking, you've been moving closer and closer to me. My daughter barely even acts like this when we talk. Definitely a sign of my fathers influence I say."
"Was Captivant like this?"
"No Capti?"
"NO!"
Smiling, he says, "All the time, the famous whore that is my father had very few boundaries with people, though many didn't mind. He would talk with those he met, try to understand them, then start speaking their language, all while showing genuine respect and love to each of them. People tend to melt when they meet someone like that. Despite being a human, he was incredibly popular here, something I wish I had as a prime minister."
Dragoste expression sadden and he cheeks start drooping a bit. So I move up to him and hold them up while saying, "I have had a wonderful time talking with you today. But more than that, just from flipping through you're books, I can see how more of your work is specifically about helping nightmares have more comfortable lives despite their curses. It is admirable, and as you talk of you're people, I can feel the love for them in your voice."
"You're a smooth talker, Orb, a future pervert in the making like my father."
"I AM NO SUCH THING!"
Dragoste laughs and says, "No, but you're technically a hero."
"Ehh?"
"Fighting Gurmand, the leader of the biggest criminal organisation, is Blestemate, and being in charge of his arrest makes you a national hero."
"He was really that much of a problem for you guys? Despite a strong and admirable, I wouldn't say an entire country's army like you guys should struggle with him?"
"He has the support from many different nightmares for his aggressive foreign intervention. Blestemate used to heavily interfere in how nightmares abroad were treated, though it has become far more isolationist in the last few centuries due to a plurality of issues that you should know if you read the history of the eras. Our queen no longer leads large crusades against humans for the abuse nightmares suffer at their hands, and this has increased our public perception, but at the same time, many also see it as showing the humans our belly. So Lotus Sângeriu has gone past our border and used excessive force to both attack humans and defend the nightmare. While reclaiming their bodies."
"I didn't know Dark wolf was like that."
"He is an admirable man who loves his people, yet his anger is destructive overall. If more people adopted it, we would enter an era of great immorality like our behaviour during the age of Levav. So I thank you for capturing him before he tries anything on Radonitsa."
"Ehh, no problem!" I didn't really mean to capture him, but it is good that he won't be starting any problems for this celebration.
"Though we will probably have to release him soon due to the support he has from the general public," Dragoste says with an immensely stressed smile.
"Are you okay?"
"Absolutely, now, as thanks for your effort, pick any book you desire."
"Really?"
"Of course, our collection is vast, take your pic-,"
As I reach my hand towards a book, Dragoste grabs my wrist, and then he asks, "Why that book?"
"You see, since we entered this room, your eyes have moved towards this book every 5 to 20 seconds. You have also stood in the way that would prevent me from reaching it."
"Happenstance."
"Captivant constantly talked of an album that had all of his favourite family photos taken with a camera bought from Elpída by his wife. I believe he said the cover was the same colour as his wife's hair, so white and pink, just like this book cover."
"Any other book."
"Are you not a man of your work, Dragoste?"
"I am a man in a certain position, I don't need certain photos of myself coming out."
"Don't worry, I am trustworthy," I say, trying to struggle my hand against his.
"I don't believe you to be immoral, Orb, I just think in your excitement, you might go around showing lots of people."
"I promise to only tell my friends, even if I lose control."
"Who do you count as a friend?"
"Everyone I talk to."
"YOU SEE THE ISSUE!"
"I DO NOT!"
I try to pull the book towards me, but from Dragoste's hair, the bones attached to them grow towards me and try to strike me, so I take a few steps back, and say, "You think that will stop me."
But Dragoste merely grabs the book, and start to run out of the room. So running after him, I shout, "Hey, don't run away."
Using spirit energy, I start to chase after him as he runs down the hallways, but as I run, Dragoste says, "Everything in this home is an heirloom from my parents and grandparents."
Hearing this, I start to feel hyper conscious of everything around me, but hearing one of his bones coming towards me, I dodge, and say, "You won't get away from me!"
He dashes into a room in the distance, and I quickly chase after him, entering the room.
As I move inside, I see a large open area filled with nothing. Standing at the end of it, Dragoste says, "No fear of breaking things in here, so I can properly restrain you here, Orb."
Jumping up and down to stretch my body, I say, "Right now, if you think you can stop me when I don't have anything holding me back, you'll be mistaken."
Swinging the book in front of his face, Dragoste says, "Sorry, Orb, but I happen to be rather strong."
Activating my legacy on my legs, I lunge forward using snowboost and try to grab the book, but Dragoste keeping up with my speed, sidesteps me while swinging the book in my face.
Landing on my hands, I quickly rotate my body and swing my leg towards his hand, trying to knock the book out, but he pulls it back in time. Flipping my body up, I continuously move to try and grab the book, yet he continues to dodge while swinging the book in my face.
So I say, "Red branch battle arts; Tulip!"
My speed increases and I move around all around the room, and Dragoste says, "That really hard to keep up with, and without spirit energy to sense you a nightmare like me is stuck."
"Then give up and save yourself the embarrassment."
"Too bad that I still haven't been trying."
From his back, small bones pierce through his clothes, and from those bones, more bones spring out, and then they all fly towards every inch of the room, forcing me back.
The bones quickly retreat, and Dragoste says, "From this point onwards, you'll never get past halfway in this room."
"We'll see about that, you coward."
I lunge forward, and the bones move towards me, so I take a step back and instantly move to the right and then forward, but more bones emerge from the bones to chase after me.
So I quickly move onto one of the walls using my legacy as a foothold, then I dash towards him, but the bones move towards me far too quickly. Despite the mass of them completely blocking his sight, he manages to instantly react to any of my movements.
Activating my legacy on my arms, I freeze the bones and shatter them, but just as quickly as I break them, they start to regenerate with almost no time in between, which pushes me back again.
I can't just seem to break through and make it to the outside.
"Orb, should I get a chair?"
"Keep talking, but know in the end that book will be mine."
He lets out a yawn. I start saying, "Keep building it up. Red branch battle arts; Passiflora."
Lunge forward and using one big push, I smash into his bones, breaking them, and then as they regenerate, I start to freeze them, and continuously freeze and push forward.
I am pretty sure that Dragoste can at least sense the area around his bones. Otherwise, there could be no way for him to see. But at the same time, that must mean there are some nerves within his bones, which gives me a direct pathway to his body.
In the giant mass of bones I take a deep breath, and as the bones turn to attack me I continuous move around and dodge again and again, and again, building up rotation within my bdoy, and then when they build but, I slam my fist into the front of the mass and say, "Helix battle arts spiral."
The spiral moves into the bones, and soon they all stop around me. I was barely able to build up a strong one in this cramped space, but it seems to still be effective. I quickly freeze the bones in front of me and break through. Seeing Dragoste stunned from the spiral, I say, "It's my victory!"
Dragoste throws the book to the side, and then sends his bones towards it, making me move right over to the book, to try and grab it, but then from beneath my bones, rising through the floor and pierces me through the heart.
"It looks like it is my victory," Dragoste says.
As I regenerate, I say, "I didn't think you would go for my heart, I thought it was coming for my leg."
"I know you can regenerate, of course, I would come for you're heart."
Grabbing the book, he says, "It looks like it is my victory."
Sighing, I say, "This is not fair. If I were able to build up a stronger spiral, I wouldn't be in this situation."
"That technique you were using, you call it helix battle arts, correct?"
"Yep. I learned it while in Jedidah, though it has been a struggle to advance it without a master."
"Who taught it to you?"
"A man named Naji, but he died quickly after it."
"Did he not pass down the ultimate art of the battle arts?"
"No, he had no time. But I think I might have seen it." I can only guess his buff form was something across that line. "Still, I am struggling to build up spirals as efficiently as Naji did; he was so small yet barely had to move around to make strong ones."
Smiling, Dragoste says, "Well, I think I might have an idea about that."
"Really?"