"That just leaves my third wish?" Ranma wondered.
"Not quite," Nabiki said quickly. Everyone looked to her in mild surprise. Nabiki smiled. "Come now, Saotome. Think about what's happened so far."
Ranma felt his tail twitch. "Well, I started by trying to wish away my curse, but ended up adding another curse on top of it instead."
"With your enemies this really is safer," Bell added. "Besides, with the base-order interactions between lycanthropic and aquachaotic templates the majority of imperfections of mortal magidesign are…" Bell's voice trailed off at the glazed look in Ranma's eyes. "Sorry. Essentially you don't have the bad parts of being a werecheetah or being a jusenkyo victim."
"Does that mean my girl curse can't be locked?" Ranma wondered.
"Not permanently," Bell warned, "but that doesn't mean you can't be made to avoid hot water. Remember the cat tongue incident?"
Ranma offered a low growl. "Yes."
"Huh," Nabiki offered, filing away the important points of that. "And then you got a blessing which should help cover the other bad parts of what you are. Like wererat assassins."
Ranma shrugged. "Yeah, which leads me to the third wish."
"But what do you really have already?" Nabiki pressed.
"I…what?"Ranma stammered.
Akane frowned at Nabiki. "What are you talking about, Nabiki?"
"Easy, little sister. We don't really know what it means for Ranma to be a werecheetah, or to have Bastet's blessing. And we don't want to waste this last wish on something we don't need."
Ranma frowned. "So before I make a third wish I should learn…" his head turned down to look at the books Bastet had given him. He picked up Learning to Shift Forms for Beginning Weres and said, "This."
"He can be taught," Nabiki said wryly. "You and Akane should both read through that, then we can start figuring out the’blessing.’" Nabiki turned to Bell. "Can you help with that?"
Bell smiled slightly. "Every goddess’s blessing is different," she said pleasantly. "The actual power granted to Ranma is easy enough to explain, however." She walked over to Ranma and gently placed her hand on his chest. Then she sang…something. With all the other events the Tendo household had played host to, today and earlier, no one would have guessed that a woman singing would be the most miraculous of those events. Bell’s song seemed wordless, but the air itself vibrated with meaning. The household resonated with the song, and the walls seemed to make a chorus. The Divine is here, and we are blessed by Her presence.
The utterly beautiful voice was then accompanied by streamers of multicolored light forming code more complex than any computer could hope to process. It was a gentle aurora that filled the room, and Ranma was only slightly disturbed by the fact that they were streaming out of his heart.
No one else was in any state to notice.
Ranma found his voice first, but for the first time in recent memory, he sounded humble. "What is that?" he asked meekly.
"That is Bastet’s Blessing manifested for you to see," Bell said simply. She waved her hand and the blessing faded from view and the mortals recovered. "In simple terms, it is nothing more than an insignia. Ranma has been marked as a servant of Bastet, and has not received any additional powers. However," she said with the pleasant firmness of any mother cutting off a tantrum before it starts, "Bastet has some measure of influence over Ranma now. Which means she can levy her powers in his favor when he needs them. You have a powerful ally, Ranma, for as long as you live. Possibly for as long as your clan lives, if you serve Bastet well."
Ranma nodded slowly, numb. "I don’t get it."
WHAM.
Bell and Kasumi looked around mildly at the collective faceplant. "Oh my," Kasumi sighed. "I think Miss Belldandy is saying that Miss Bastet will help you when you need it, like supplying those books and that amulet."
"Hey, sealing my bite isn’t going to cause problems is it?" Akane asked, recovering slightly.
"I would need to ask Bastet to be sure, but I doubt it," Bell said. "Actually removing that enchantment could disrupt the balance of magics that define a lycanthrope, but suppressing it with an additional enchantment should leave the balance stable."
"What about me?"Ranma asked.
"Technically, you are not a lycanthrope," Belldandy told him. "Your enchantments are based on Jusenkyo, a much older and stronger magic than Iceron’s experiments." She looked at his blank expression. "Your wish makes you a special case," she simplified. Wasn't Skuld supposed to be the one that confused people with technical talk?
"Oh," Ranma said.
"Well now that that is out of the way," Nabiki said, "Ranma, you and Akane study that book."
Kasumi turned to Bell. "Oh, will you stay for dinner?"
Belldandy smiled to Kasumi. "I would be honored to share your dinner table, Kasumi-san."
Kasumi waved off the honorific and made her way to the kitchen. To no one’s great surprise, Belldandy followed. Those two seemed like two of a kind, they did.
Kuno Tatewaki, age seventeen, Blue Thunder of Furinkan High and rising star of the kendo world, arose from his meditations. He did not recall entering meditation, but he often found that his encounters with the foul sorcerer Saotome required cleansing his noble mind. Indeed, the throbbing pain of his mighty intellect comprehending the depravities visited upon him by the fiend was particularly acute on this occasion.
"Stop deluding yourself and wake up, fool!" an unfamiliar voice blared. The pain in Kuno's head intensified.
Theoc Wheyt shook his head and smacked Kuno again. "I've had my share of mortal 'clients' over the millennia, but you take the cake!"
"Cease your actions against my most noble self, wretch!" Kuno bellowed, jumping up and waving a bokken. He glared at Theoc.
Theoc Wheyt was one of the few deities who constantly changed his appearance, rather than sticking with a single visage for centuries at a time. At present, he chose to appear as an old wretch. Vaguely decrepid, thin, grey haired, thick glasses, and a wheezing voice. It was an image he had plucked from Kuno's mind, a crazy old man who worked at Furinkan that Kuno respected. "Do you know what just happened, boy?"
"The foul mistress of the demonic Saotome used trickery to evade Heaven's wrath!" Kuno declared.
Theoc boggled. "Quite so!" he agreed. "But you must know that you could never defeat the servant of Bastet without aid. She is far greater than you, mortal. But if you do manage to best her champion, Ranma, the blow to her will be tremendous!"
Theoc Wheyt had far too much experience in such things to gag over the blatant falsehoods spewing from his mouth. He was a god, class one category four specialist license, endowed with the responsibility of crafting those villains against whom a hero could cut his teeth. So he took some 'deserving' mortal soul and crafted him into such an obstacle. Sometimes it called for a monster, sometimes for a demonic cult, sometimes a failed hero. Every god had contracted his services at one point or another, except for Kami-sama himself (He preferred to handle His prophets' miracles personally). It was always a trick both getting the doomed mortal to cooperate and finding a proper adversity for the hero to face.
"You doubt the power of the Blue Thunder!?" Kuno raged.
With Kuno, it was best to play to his delusions. "Ranma Saotome is a werecheetah, my young friend. Your sword cannot cut him. Your bokken cannot break him. As you are now, you have no weapons to wield against him."
"Then I will grow stronger and find new weapons!" Kuno declared.
Theoc smiled. "And that is why I have rescued you from Ranma's mistress. I am Theoc Wheyt, and I will turn you into that which you must be to fulfill your purpose."
Kuno frowned. "What do you have to offer one such as me, who is already blessed by the Heavens?"
"I will help you unlock the power of that blessing," Theoc promised. Hmm. Yes, that would help. "Hold your bokken to the sky," he commanded.
Kuno reflexively did so; it was his favorite pose after all. Bright blue sparks shot along the wooden blade as he held it aloft. "Behold!" Theoc cried grandly. "The Blue Thunder's power unleashed."
Kuno lowered his bokken to his eyes and watched it crackle with power, which faded quickly. He looked up at Theoc. "Teach me more," he demanded.
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(Posted Sat, 03 Sep 2011 15:14)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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