My primary focus was on guiding Hazeel through the process. All I could do was leave Rexir and Leresa under Vanessa’s guidance. I was able to condense Hazeel, and even though she lost consciousness through the process, she successfully became the buster sword she had been holding throughout the ritual.

Her weight was surprisingly light in my arms. Had she spent some of the photons to restructure her weight? My chest swelled with pride at her proficiency with the particles, and I smiled at her finished work.

The sword now had a very holy feel to it. A black iron hilt with a dragon’s head for a pommel made way for a brilliant silver blade. The blade itself was jagged, and looked more like a saw blade than anything else.

Unfortunately, I then turned to check on Rexir and Vanessa’s progress. I could tell we were screwed by the way Rexir unnaturally took in the photons. The particles were swirling around him, without him absorbing any of the photons.

“Is he ok?” I asked Vanessa, who had beads of sweat trickling down her face as she stared at Rexir.

“Yeah, he’s doing alright. He’s just taking a bit to adjust to the photons from the outside. I’ll see if I can coax them into him.”

“Is that dangerous?” A concerned Leresa asked. Vanessa looked over to me and I recognized the look very well.

“It’s no more dangerous than just leaving him to try and figure it out for himself.” I responded, and Vanessa gave me a thankful smile.

Leresa accepted the answer, and refocused herself against Rexir’s chest. She rested her head on his shoulder, and said, “You can do it, Rexy. I know you can.”

Rexir breathed out forcefully, and he began shimmering with light. “He’s doing it!” Leresa shouted excitedly. The light became brighter, and I could see the photons rushing inside his body to accommodate the energy needed to transform.

“Leo, help me, now!” Vanessa roared, and I rushed over with Hazeel in hand. Rexir threw back his head and let out a guttural cry before swinging his arms wildly. He knocked away Leresa, who slid all the way to the wall.

She struggled as she stood up, a look of fear in her eyes. “Leo, Vanessa! Help me get to Rexir!” The imperial prince drew the sword he had taken for the ritual.

“I-I can hear him in my head! He’s in a lot of pain!” She was practically sobbing at those final words, but it gave me a bit of assurance.

“That means the ritual was successful, to a point. I don’t believe his life is in mortal danger. Leave this to us, Leresa. We’ll subdue him, easily. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to do this. You just go upstairs and tell the castle staff to evacuate.”

Leresa’s gaze lingered on Rexir, and it took Vanessa practically screaming her head off for the woman to finally concede and ensure the safety of her future citizens.

She rushed out of the room, and Rexir stretched out his hand, reaching out to her. When she was no longer in sight, the prince let out an ear-piercing cry.

He charged the nearest person with his sword, and Vanessa quickly dropped back to my side.

“You’ve actually dealt with this crap before?” She asked incredulously, and I nodded with a slight smile.

“Yeah. You don’t remember but it was your cousin’s coming of age ritual.” She gawked at me, and we both leapt to either side of a blade that had slashed in between us.

“Which cousin!?” She asked, dodging as Rexir took various swings at her. “No, wait, don’t tell me. Was it Miho? Or maybe Maya?”

While I did like the fact that Vanessa was a bit more willing to admit that she had lost her memories than before, we were currently in a bit of a predicament.

“Neither, actually. It was a cousin you had only met once beforehand, so I’m not surprised you can’t guess her. Regardless, you need to focus. When the ritual went wrong for them, your cousin lost her vision in one eye. There’s no telling what the ritual used as a source of energy instead of the photons until we subdue Rexir.”

Her eyes widened, and immediately she pointed a finger at Rexir, letting loose a beam of energy. The beam hit Rexir and passed right through him. Vanessa’s eyes widened, and I just barely intercepted Rexir’s slash with Hazeel’s new sword form.

I swatted him away, and he crashed through a wall and cratered into the ground. I turned to Vanessa and put a hand on her cheek. “I’m so sorry! I forgot you don’t have any memories of that incident.”

Vanessa fell to her knees and was still breathing heavily. “You’re ok now.” I kneeled next to her as she trembled. “This is what makes these situations difficult. The excess photons in Rexir’s body are offsetting any photons that try to interfere with him. Why did you think I didn’t immediately transfer him out?”

Vanessa looked into my eyes and asked, “Do I want to know what happened for you to learn that?” If she still was in a mood to joke around, she should be alright.

I shook my head, and stood up. I held out my hand for her to take, and she just stared at it. I could hear Rexir stirring behind me, and wanted to tell Vanessa to hurry up, but I knew that this was a decision she had to make on her own. Partnership was a two way street, and you can’t force cooperation and trust.

Rexir walked in a slow gait towards me, and Vanessa finally took my hand. We omitted the pledge, mostly because I wasn’t sure Vanessa remembered it. Vanessa became the golden version of her sword form: Morning Glory.

I smiled at the familiar feel of her in my hand, but had my pleasant thoughts interrupted by Rexir’s sword. I parried the weapon with Hazeel, and then used Morning Glory’s pommel to clock the princeling on the head.

The photon infused weapon did the trick, and Rexir fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes, dropping his weapon. A silver light surrounded his form, and in its place the ceremonial sword that he had wanted to become.

“Well, that was significantly easier with your help. Hazeel is still unconscious, so she can’t channel photons through her yet. Thanks Vanessa.”

… You’re welcome. Hearing her voice in my head through the mental link, tears nearly came to my eyes at the familiar sensation. I took a deep breath, and Vanessa changed back into a human at my side.

I handed her Hazeel and crouched down beside Rexir. “Go get Leresa, tell her to get a bed ready for Rexir. I just need to purge him of the excess photons still.”

Vanessa looked as though she wanted to stay, but she eventually climbed back up the stairs we had come down initially.

I placed a hand on Rexir’s chest and started to drain the photons from his body. Usually it wasn’t a good idea to do this while the target was in blade form, as it would cause severe pain being forcefully transformed back from a weapon to a human, but in this case I couldn’t see any other option.

Rexir slowly became human again, the sword growing in size until it was around Rexir’s body height in length. Slowly, the silver-like steel took on a humanoid shape, until I was looking at a steel-covered Rexir. Lastly, the steel coating receded back into his chest, and onto the silver mark drawn on there.

I thought to sit up Rexir, but with the possibility that he might have gotten a concussion from the blow to the head, I decided against it. I waited until Vanessa had come back and told me the room’s location before transporting him to his own bed.

When we arrived, Leresa was waiting with tears in her eyes. She let out a relieved sigh upon seeing her betrothed, and refused to leave his side until he woke up.

We waited in silence for what must have been hours before Rexir finally opened his eyes. Leresa hugged him, and Rexir’s eyes went wide before hugging her back. The two shared their embrace, with Leresa even acting outside of her comfort zone and kissing Rexir.

The prince smiled sadly, and opened his mouth. “...” Only, nothing came out. My heart sank as I realized immediately that the ritual had used Rexir’s voice as a sacrifice.

Vanessa cocked her head, and Leresa had buried her head in Rexir’s shoulder after the kiss, so she still couldn’t see what had happened.

Vanessa turned to me, and something on my face must have said something to her, because she paled immediately. “No, it’s all my fault. I didn’t… I wasn’t…!”

Vanessa crouched down, hugging herself. I started to move toward her, but Leresa turned around to look at me, stopping me in my tracks. “Leo? Vanessa? What’s wrong? Why are you-”

Her head snapped around and she looked at Rexir, her eyes searching through his for a moment, before she burst into tears and clung tightly to the prince.

---

It… was a strange feeling. Rexir realized the moment he woke up that he could no longer communicate in a normal way. His attempt at a laugh only produced silence, causing his eyes to go wide. He could tell that Leo also knew what had happened to him.

The otherworlder wore a grimace the likes of which Rexir had never seen, causing the prince to smile sadly. He would probably never get his voice back, but that wasn’t too bad for Rexir.

No, the imperial’s smile quickly turned from one of sadness into one of acceptance. He had gained what he had longed for the most - a way to communicate with his loved one.

Leresa turned away from him to look at Leo and Vanessa. Rexir noticed that Hazeel was nowhere to be found, until he saw a sword almost as large as he was tall leaned against the entrance to the bedroom.

The smile on his face grew wider. So, she had succeeded then, that was good. He hadn’t been paying attention to what the other three people in the room were saying, and for a moment he was afraid his hearing had gone as well, but that suspicion was shattered along with his eardrums at Leresa’s painful cry.

He held his love tightly, and she responded in kind, crying out all her emotions into his now wet chest. He looked over her shoulder, and saw Leo comforting Vanessa. The girl thought that the accident was her fault, didn’t she?

That’s not right. The real cause of the accident was being underprepared. Had Rexir himself not rushed to attain this new power, then perhaps he would still have everything he needed. How many months had Hazeel exposed herself to the mysterious particles around Leo before attempting the ritual?

Rexir sighed in exasperation. Or, well, tried to, anyway. Suddenly, he got an idea. Tell Vanessa it’s not her fault.

When his partner hadn’t responded, Rexir grew a bit worried that he had failed in this part of the ritual as well, so he thought a little more forcefully, Tell Vanessa and Leo that the accident wasn’t their fault.

Leresa looked up into Rexir’s eyes, and stared there for a moment. Can you hear me, Less? She nodded her head and hugged him even tighter than before, practically squeezing the air out of him in the process.

Less, please stop squeezing me so tightly. When she refused, he sighed. Frustrated that he couldn’t actually sigh anymore, he pinched Leresa’s cheek and she let go in shock. Listen to me. Tell the nice people who gave us powers that I take full responsibility for this.

She turned around to say something, but he said something else that made her freeze. Oh, ask them when training begins as well.