At the Kurenai Village age regiment camp, someone decided not to go battle the Kushi Villagers. Bored by the silence, Tento makes a swing connected to a pinecone tree to enjoy the winter chill, without any snow.
—I still haven't found a weapon that goes well with me.
"Hello."
—When I ask Lucy-san to be my sensei, and start fighting more earnestly, would I find it then?
"Excuse me, Flamingo's Sin."
'Will he take someone with no weapon of choice like me?'
—Wait, will he even teach me, though? After all, he seems to be after something great unlike me who wants to live a normal, rich life?'
Ten's thoughts come to halt, as a drawing gets placed before him. Unperturbed —not worried about the Bushi killing him— Ten frowns, and places his hands on his chin, as he tries to understand the contents of the drawing.
'Did a monkey draw this?'
—Monkeys can do better than this.
'It must be a duck's feet.'
His frown deepening, he observes more, and gets his face closer to the drawing.
"Have you seen this person?"
—Mmm, since she called this gorillina elefante a person, there is only one man here with red and amber on him.
Keeping his thoughts to himself, he nods.
"He'll be back before midday."
—If this is indeed a person.
"Thank you, cute boy."
Tento's brows twitch at the compliment, taking a look at the girl. She is surprisingly stunning, then again, what makes a woman beautiful?
»»»Their face, physical traits, body language, behavior?
'At least she is on the same level with Scholar-san's girlfriend, I guess.'
—But why do I want to fight her?
"By the way, a Tama-Artist seems to have spread gasses around here to attract profound beasts. Do you want me to take care of them?"
Tento grins, shaking his head.
—The scholar has become a Tama-Artist...'
"Although my father doesn't look like a Flamingo's Sin, you strangely look like him."
—I want to beat the crap out of this lady!!!
***
Back on X-You Mountain.
Muso is suddenly blown away, into segments of body tissues by Lucy's Otsuchi, before it returns to its owner.
The attack was too fast for mortal eyes to see; even Miyato close to where it happened, barely caught a thing. However, that didn't mean he didn't see a thing.
'That silver thing...'
His thoughts pause for a cough of blood.
'Just what was it? Is it the thing Shinji-kun talked about?'
Turning his head toward Lucien. He sees him taking Shinji to his shoulder, before running to him. Arriving, Lucy picks him up, and he dashes toward the rear. And during the process, Miyato places a metal book into Lucien's armor.
"Everyone, it's our loss!" Shinji yelled to the Kurenai Village mortal warriors, "Our lives are not worth the sacrifice!"
On the other hand, Tsukino who is having a perfect run, by chopping heads like tomatoes, wants to encourage them to fight some more. However, the Kurenai warriors have lost motivation after seeing Miyato's defeat.
What makes it worse is the sudden shout from a Kushi Village veteran: "Don't let them escape! Kill as many as you can, for us to gain advantage for the upcoming battles!"
»»»An announcement of victory.
Tsukino's clicks her tongue in disdain, retreating with the others. Suddenly, her gaze locks on the trio at the back, and a devilish smirk forms on her lips.
As she passes by them, she mutters loud enough for them to hear: "For all the people you killed and misdirected, I hope you two burn in hell."
Hearing her, Shinji's expression becomes aghast, as his pseudo-hatred for her vanishes. Meanwhile, Lucien releases a small mutter in place of the man on his shoulder.
"If only you knew what he did to keep you safe."
Not caring whether she heard his words or not, Lucien descends the mountain slower than the others, thanks to the weight he is caring, doing his best to dodge the arrows from the Kushi Village Warriors vehemently chasing him.
When there is no Kurenai Villager in sight, an arrow manages to stab his shin —luckily, the others aren't hitting vital spots.
Giving up, he whispers to the man on his left shoulder.
"Isn't it time for the Main Character to act?"
Shinji drops his mask, revealing a smirk.
"You catch on fast: let me show you a Main Character move."
In a space —primordial space— close to the beige-brown-haired young man, hidden from everyone's sight, a pink-wind-like-spirit moves to a palm sized, diamond rose shaped jewel.
As this happens, Shinji takes a deep breath, before letting out...
...what is coming out of him isn't air; but, a storm of white fog that forces all the Kushi Villagers to pass out.
Lucien lets go of Shinji and Miyato —already past heavens gate. Slowly, he turns to the living one with a look of admiration.
"That's amazing. Having the Shojo as a girlfriend has benefits."
Shinji shrugs, conjuring a silver katana in his hands, as Lucien's nonchalant voice rings in the air:
"Did you find out that the Tama-Artist Awakening Ceremony is biased? They let some children of mortal birth drink fake Faith Tama. On the other hand, those of perfect birth are given the true product."
"However, the true reason you failed to become a Tama-Artist is that you laked Faith. All that is needed to be a Tama-Artist is Faith. The Faith Tama is a means of assurance if one lacks Faith in themselves, and the power they are to receive."
Shinji didn't know this. Nonetheless, he is slightly thankful that he heard these words now, since he is a doubting man.
»»»Lila had to feed him four bottles of the (poop in liquid form) Faith Tama to be a Tama-Artist... maybe, he gained a little faith in himself because she was next to him.
Sighing, he raises the katana in his hand, slicing off Miyato's head in a swift motion.
"Do you have it?" Seeing Lucy shake his head, he adds, "Figures. What made you suspect that I became a Tama-Artist?"
"Your girlfriend has been showing up at the camp more frequently..."
Lucien takes a shot pause, observing the shy expression on the young man.
"When I saw a strange liquid come from your palm and go into the porridge you gave Miyato, it confirmed my suspicion that she turned you into a Tama-Artist, using the reason that you had to kill someone for her... Someone who was a threat to the Bushi is the best candidate."
Not minding the later part of Lucy's words, Shinji furrows his brows, exclaiming his bewilderment out, "That was more than 100 meters away from you?! Weren't you training?!"
Lucy shrugs, turning his head to the dead body.
On the side, the man in scholar robes compliments in his thoughts, 'As expected from someone who doesn't act unless he is confident in getting a close enough result.'
Smirking, Shinji conjures a white pill-tablet in his hands from his Tama, before throwing it at the red-hair.
"Some poison can be medicine; the same can be said vice versa."
Lucien doesn't rush to consume the pill, and takes off all the arrows sticking to him and his armor. Meanwhile, Shinji uses this chance to wrap Miyato's head in a cloth. Afterward, he burns the body with an acid made from his Tama. Next, he cures Lucy's flesh wounds.
Before they start to descend X-You Mountain, Shinji narrows his brows, as he requests: "Show it to me, the power you have awakened."
»»»Although others might not have seen it, Shinji saw the silver hue on his hands back in chapter three.
Without hesitation, Lucien extends his left hand forward, and a silver chroma starts to emerge from the wrist upward.
"There is something that ticked me for a long-time about the First Human. He wasn't born like us, he was created. From that, I got the idea that he didn't have blood, he gained blood. After all, what was in him was from the Origin of Life, and that's why he didn't die at first."
Lucy pauses, taking the sword Shinji made, before striking his left hand —clang! The sword breaks. Taking his hammer, the silver tincture envelops it.
Meanwhile, he continues.
"The First Human didn't have Rei in him. So, what did the First Human use to fight stage 4 profound beasts?"
Shinji crosses his arms, nodding slightly. The Story of the First Human is farfetched and fragmented to bits, which prompts most to consider it a fairy tale.
"Although not direct, the First Human had an inheritance from the Origin of Life; over the years, people have forgotten that inheritance, because it's hidden within us."
"The inheritance is the soul. Using this, I just focused my mentality to believe in the idea that there is a power hidden in my soul that needs to be used."
"It was hypothesis at first, but when I killed Mama, I awakened a hidden power in my soul, through my love for her."
Lucien turns to the side, slightly swinging his otsuchi.
Boom!
A huge creator is left on the mountain, leaving Shinji's jaw dropped.
—I thought his training didn't get him anywhere, but this...
Holding his mouth to hide his grin, Shinji listens carefully.
"Firstly, we need to have faith in the soul, which is hidden in our blood. Lastly, we need love in someone or ourselves. Afterward, the power will awaken."
"If we find a way to let souls take the place of our blood, it would be more effective. Currently, the power has to go through my blood first, delaying it."
"The more I use the power, the more I feel used to it. It's soothing to the body; I feel more alive, like my days of life are increasing."
"I didn't use the maximum output, since I was in a rush to show you... also, it's exhausting to use."
Shinji is already salivating at the new power, not recorded in history books.
Seeing himself in a legendary story, the Main Character places his hands before him. Closing his eyes, he swiftly enters a state of self-hypnosis, forcing himself to believe everything Lucien said.
He mummers, "There is power in my soul. My inheritance from the the one who gave me Life. It's cool, it's perfect for the Main Character..."
Crack—!
Something akin to pink flames of lightning strokes escape the young man's arms, and forces him to yelp in fear, "Ahh! I'm on fire!"
Instantly, the glow ends, and the young man falls over to the ground, with a thud from exhaustion.
Smiling slightly, Lucien picks him from the ground, alongwith Miyato's head.
"At your level, too much faith will do harm to your body. Take your time; don't force it."
'You could have told me sooner!' Shinji yelled in his thoughts.
The feeling just now was nothing short of terrifying, and he almost peed himself for crying out loud!!!
Ignoring his deathly glare, Lucy throws Miyato's head up and down in the air like a ball.
"With this, we don't have to find an excuse to why we were late."
Shinji nods. He also has a plan for it. Putting everything at the back of his head with a smile, he suggests, "This is my creation; you name it."
As someone not fond of attention, Lucy remains calm, agreeing. However, he never thought of naming the power before.
After a minute of thinking of his mother's teachings, he got a name.
"Entropy: a measure of the amount of energy in a physical system that cannot be used to do work, that only we can use."
Shinji nods. Although he wants to ask if Entropy and Chaos aren't the same thing, he moves to a cold announcement.
"Derniere-san, your life is a play to some people, and those people want to end your life, together with everyone who knows you."
He didn't need to say where he got that information.
Meanwhile, Lucy doesn't show a reaction to it —indifferent as usual.
"I sort of knew it. The things that happened in my life appeared to be staged; I acted to the rhythm. This is why I trust you, backstabbers, than anyone."
Shinji's face contorts, but Lucien doesn't take his frustration into thought.
"This group, plotted many times for Mama to kill me. At times, it looked like the kyuketsuki in her was being controlled..."
Lucien takes a deep breath, stopping himself from releasing a tear.
"The one responsible for the murders is the group. I confirmed this, since the kyuketsuki always had specific targets on her rampages."
"Although the group wants to silence me, who would talk to me besides guys like you?"
Shinji narrows his eyes.
'How much more things are you hiding, Lucien Derniere Etoile?'